Granado by RMC - FINISHED - Caldercraft - 1:64

[GrandpaPhil]

Your Granado is coming along nicely!

 

I’m sorry to hear about your Christmas plans, but it is good to hear that you and yours are safe.

[RMC]

Thanks for the kind thought mugje.

[RMC]

Thanks too GrandpaPhil.

[RMC]

The shrouds are finally complete.  I'm rather sick of the sight of them.  The first two photos show one of the the main topgallant backstays.  Any deck furniture to be seen in the background is dry-fitted.  I'm hoping we can make our belated 'Christmas' trip tomorrow, and if so, will try to finish the various yards over the next week or so.

 

 

 

Now here are the various shrouds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[RMC]

Well things didn't exactly go to plan.  Christmas ended up being a non-event, but we eventually made it down the the coast last Saturday- unfortunately.  We did however have two, pleasant, uneventful, though smokey days, and among other things, I made progress on a few spars.  Then new years eve came - 40 deg. C - strong winds, power down (and will be for at least a week) and instructions to stay put as the access road and the main highway were both blocked.  We were then told to evacuate on Thursday.  We spent 4 hours in our car (along with about 300 other cars) waiting for the road to be cleared.  We were supposed to go out in 30 car convoys escorted by police and fire vehicles.  The fires had other ideas.  Same arrangement Friday and after another 4 hours in the car waiting for access to the highway, we made it to the highway and home Friday night.  It's normally a 2 1/2 hour trip door to door. People were wonderful - kind and considerate through all of this.  The damage done we saw on the way home is beyond comprehension.  Our house there should be OK, given its position, though embers are a problem as today is supposed to bee ven worse than new year. 

 

Anyway here is progress.  Happy New Year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[RMC]

Some progress has been made, but other things have intruded.  I have concentrated on attaching the various blocks and deadeyes to the bowsprit.  It has turned out acceptably, though I did a better job on Vanguard.  Here is the result.  At the moment the bowsprit has been dry-fitted.  The photos show up the faults and there are a few small adjustments to be made as a consequence.  I found the plans to be of variable quality.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Vane]

Looking great!

 

Just a question: what are these?

[Kevin Kenny]

Nice

[RMC]

Vane: the 'rope' wound around the bowsprit shown here,  and those similar on the masts, is 'woolding' and the 'metal' (cartridge paper) hoops on either side are woolding hoops.  Hope this helps.

 

Kevin: thanks for the comment.

[Vane]

Ah.. so both Iron and Rope is used at the same time on this ship. 

[jwvolz]

Nice work on the bowsprit Bob. 

[RMC]

Thanks Joe. 

 

I have a problem the the plans - again.  I cannot find the dimensions and detail of the mizzen yard on page 4 - where it should be.  It is shown on plan 5 to be about 190mm long and the centre section looks to be 46mm (octagonal?) then 4mm tapering to 2mm.   Does this appear to be correct? Does anyone have more information?

[jwvolz]

Bob,

 

I no longer have my plans, but according to the AOTS book the Crossjack yard is 183mm in length with a center section of 49.5mm. AOTS shows it round in the full diameter center section, so no onctagonal. I merely started the taper from that full diameter center section. It's hard to get the diameter from the AOTS drawings accurately as they are 1/96, and I converted the above measurements to 1/64. Your numbers look close.

 

The mizzen topsail yard is octagonal in the center section according to the book, and I did build it that way. 

[RMC]

Thanks a lot Joe.  It didn't occur to me to look at the AOTS book.

[flyer]

Just checked my old plans sheet4:

The mizzen yard is the crossjack yard, has a length of 190mm and is  made from 4mm dowel.

The centre part is 46mm in length and is 4mm round (should probably be octagonal).

The two, 72mm long, outer parts taper from 4mm to 2mm.

Cheers

Peter

[RMC]

Hi Peter

 

I belatedly found yesterday afternoon that the crossjack yard and the mizzen yard are the same thing.  I am now, of course, a far more knowledgeable person.

[RMC]

The bowsprit is now permanently mounted.  The gammoning proved a bit tricky as a result of the changes I made to the fittings around the bow.  I will delay mounting the jiboom as long as possible.  Sticking out as it does, it's like a magnet for destruction.

 

 

 

 

Edited January 15, 2020 by RMC

[Gahm]

Beautiful work! 

 

Thomas

[RMC]

Thanks Thomas.  A bit of encouragement is always welcome.

 

I am now working on the messenger for the anchor cable.  It's proving very awkward indeed.  This is the port side.  It doesn't look right to me.  In the instructions there is reference to the 'inboard face of the standard' - which seems to be the support of the barrel.  I can find no other reference to the term. Shown in the photos is my method, but it may well be wrong.  Comment/help is very welcome.  If it is wrong it may be undone easily -  it is all essentially dry-fitted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jwvolz]

Bob,

 

Looked at mine and it looks similar. Hard to get a great view since it is in a case... One thing, maybe be reduce the size of the messenger a bit to better differentiate it from the actual anchor cable. Mine is about 1/2 the size of what you have there. 

[jwvolz]

Here's a few pictures. Hard to get ones through the case. 

[RMC]

Thanks a lot Joe

Am away at the moment. I'll reply in detail when I return home.

 

Bob

[flyer]

First of all, I think the two messengers should be spliced end on and thus forming endless slings with a few turns around the windlass (to create enough friction), leading aft trough those blocks at the aft mortar bed and back onto itself.

 

In operation the windlass moved the messengers continuously round and round while the anchor cable(s) were temporary bound to the messengers to be pulled by them. The aftmost attachment was always taken off, brought forward to fix the newly inboard brought part of the cable to the messenger again. The cable aft of the messenger was lead below to be stowed there.

 

Taking photos of the finished model wasn't easy but I hope you find some useful information there.

 

Cheers

Peter

 

 

 

[RMC]

Thanks Joe and Peter for taking the trouble.  I appreciate it.  Both sets of photos are really helpful.

 

Joe: The specifications in the kit for the 'rope' are 1mm for the messenger and 1.8mm for the anchor cable.  I have decided not to use the kit-supplied thread as it is out of character with the rest of the Syren thread I have used.  The following photo shows Syren 2mm thread (top), 0.88mm thread (middle), and the kit's 1.8mm thread.  In fact the kit's thread is about 1.5 or 1.6mm.  I intend to stretch the Syren 2mm thread a little to make it a bit closer to 1.8mm.  I hope this will result in effective differentiation of messenger and cable

 

Peter:  I think you are right about the 'endless slings' of the messengers.  I hadn't really given it much thought before.  Again, thanks for your help.

 

Bob

 

 

[RMC]

The messenger and anchor cables are now done.  I made it needlessly hard for myself by doing this far later than the instructions suggest.  There is a lot of rigging that made things quite awkward. The lesson in all of this is to do it as early as possible.  Next time I may even read the instructions.

 

This shows two of the nippers tying the cable and the messenger together.  They are kept taut by hanging light weights to each end, applying dilute PVA, then cutting them off when dry.

 

 

The anchor cable is kept taught as the messenger and cable are tied together.  Incidentally, the anchor cable first needs to be fed through the hawse hole then towards the stern.  I taped a length of copper wire to the cable which made it far easier to correctly position the cable as it went under the fore deck and out the other side.

 

The finished article....

 

 

[jwvolz]

That came out looking great Bob!

[RMC]

Thanks Joe.  I'm just glad it's finished.

 

Progress may may get a little slower here.  We had brown rain last night (rain and dust) and everything is covered in a thin layer of dried mud.  With the water restrictions we have, making things moderately civilized will take some time.  Never seen anything like it before - but then I've said this so often this summer.

[RMC]

I haven't had much opportunity to work on the boat.  Here is progress such as it is.  I have begun on the ratlines for the main mast shrouds - probably my least favourite part of the job..  I will do six rows alternately starboard and port to make sure the number of lines on each side line up properly.  Here is the first six on the starboard.

 

[RMC]

Very slow progress. After the January fires we now have floods.  Locusts must be next.  At home we had 350mm of rain over the weekend before my rain gauge overflowed. The cleanups have been time consuming, but we are far better off than many.

 

Here is progress.  The ratlines continue unfortunately.  The other side is done to the same level.

 

As a break from the ratlines I have made up the main stay.  The plans specify 1.3mm thread.  The Syren thread comes in either 1.37mm or 1.14mm sizes.  In fact, the 1.37mm is closer to 1.5mm and the 1.14mm appears to be just over 1.0mm.  I have made up both.  I'm afraid the serving on both is only adequate.  This shows the difference in the thread sizes.

 

Here is the1.37mm in place ...

 

and the 1.14mm.

 

At the moment I lean towards the narrower thread.  The thicker thread looks just a bit too thick.  Comments welcome.

 

 

 

[Beef Wellington]

Bob, for what its worth, I'd vote for the thicker thread - purely because it may provides a little contrast to the other stays which will obviously thinner as they go up the mast.  Something that I find visually more satisfying for some reason.  Looking great BTW, don't beat yourself up over the serving!