HM Brig Supply by Jobbie - Caldercraft - Scale 1:64

[Jobbie]

In the last month, my 27 year career in the Royal Australian Air Force came crashing to a halt. I’ve been medically discharged as a result of a spinal condition. 
 

As a retirement gift, my darling wife graciously allowed the release of funds to purchase a Proxxon DB 250 wood lathe and turning chisels.

 

Whilst I wouldn’t class them as essential, these are certainly making the turning and tapering of masts and yards for the Supply easier. And it’s really a joy to use.

 

The HMS Supply once again replaces plastic kits on my bench. 

[AJohnson]

Sorry about the end to your career and medical discharge.  Hope you have things sorted for you going into 2023.  Enjoy your new tools from the “Admiral”! 😉

[Jobbie]

The lathe is making short work of the yards. Sawdust everywhere!

[Jobbie]

If someone asked me if C Nepean Longridge’s book ‘Anatomy Of Nelson’s Ships’ helped me in getting the trestle-trees correctly horizontal on top of the mast’s cheeks, I can truthfully answer yes.

[Jobbie]

I’ve found a couple of errors in the kit in regards to the bowsprit.
Sheet 2 of 6- (Mast and yards);

Whereas the build instructions state “Glue on the jib-boom saddle (138) to the bow-sprit as shown on the plan”, the plan itself refers to part 137.

 

Part 138 is the correct part. It’s listed as 138 (Jib-boom support saddle) in the parts list and is pre-cut, located inside the Lubber’s Hole on the 1.5mm walnut sheet.

[Jobbie]

This leads to the second error. Part 137 (fairlead saddle) isn’t shown on any plan or written in the instructions. To find out where it’s placed, I had to take a photo of the bowsprit on the boxtop and zoom in a great deal. The fairlead saddle’s placed just forward of the bowsprit’s gammoning to separate the spiritsail boom’s running rigging (#3 x2 & #20 x1) before they’re tied to cleats (Sheet 3 of 6- (Shrouds & ratlines.) - Top view.

 

however. Maybe the fairlead saddle’s a deliberate omission by Caldercraft. The saddle has an 8mm internal diameter and the bowsprit’s 6mm dowel.

[Jobbie]

This brings up the third bowsprit error. There aren’t enough cleats (part 85 - casting - qty 25) in the kit to complete the bowsprit as shown on sheet 3. The cleats are placed as follows (Sheet 3 of 6- (Shrouds & ratlines.) - Top view. From stern to bow;

4x cleats across the rear edge of the ship,

2x on the bulwark capping either side of the tiller,

7x around the base of the mainmast,

2x inside the bulwarks either side of the main hatch,

2x inside the bulwarks either side of the forward hatch,

7x around the base of the foremast.

24 total - 25 supplied.

 

On the same plan, and indeed on the photos on the box-top, there’s 6x cleats shown on the aft end of the bowsprit. I’m 5x short if this is correct. 
 

I’ve emailed JoTiKa / Caldercraft / Shipwrightshop.com (whatever they’re calling themselves this week) with a view of correcting these errors in the plans for future customers. I’m not holding my breath. 
 

Initially, I was just going to cut down on the number of cleats on the masts and move some to the bowsprit, but I don’t like how they look now. I’ll hopefully buy new cleats from Float-A-Boat, the Australian supplier, once they reopen in February. Happy to pay for them myself. 

Edited January 7, 2023 by Jobbie
Coherence.

[Jobbie]

Wooldings. 
There’s rope wooldings on the foremast and iron hoops on the mainmast. 
 

According to Longridge’s “Anatomy of Nelson’s Ships” book, the British Admiralty changed from rope wooldings to iron hoops a few years before Trafalgar- 1805. HM Brig Supply was part of the First Fleet- 1788.

 

That tracks. 
0.5mm black hemp as rope. Black cartridge paper as iron. 

[Jobbie]

Tops.
The image on the box-top shows the tops painted black. They look great but I want to plank them.

 

I have 3mm x 1mm basswood leftover from another kit, so I’m simply laminating the pre-cut tops. My hope is to have their edge-boards painted black and placed flush around my planks. I’ll paint the undersides black.

Edited January 7, 2023 by Jobbie
Grammar.

[robdurant]

If you're using pva glue (or carpenter's glue) you may find it a good idea to weight these down flat until they're really dry. The moisture from the glue on the one side of the parts can cause them to warp and it's nigh on impossible to get the twist out of them again.

[Jobbie]

I did. Thanks. 
 

After all that, I find I’m not too happy with the look of the tops. They’re a different wood strip to the deck and look more bleached. I don’t have any deck planks left over to re-lay the tops. I’m thinking about painting over the planks with black to match the kit’s box-top photo. Thoughts?

[Jobbie]

I’ve had a response from Caldercraft regarding the errors in the plans:

 

”I have now had a chance to look through the information that you provided and, as you say, there are a couple of human errors on the plans/parts list which we have now corrected with your assistance.

Errors 1 and 2, with regard to the incorrect part number (#137 should be #138) on plan sheet 2 has now been corrected and positioning of part #137, previously missing, has now also been added to all plans.

Error 3, the incorrect quantity of cleats, #85, being provided/shown on the plan sheets has now been corrected.

 

We are always grateful to customers reaching out to us with potential errors in order to put things right;  with the greatest will in the world, it doesn’t matter how many times we proof read and check over plans/manuals something always gets through!  Despite the kit of Supply being on sale for many years, from the serial number it appears your kit was manufactured in 2014, to my knowledge this is the first time these issues have ever been raised.

 

We are more than happy to send you the 5 additional cleats in order to allow the kit to be completed as intended.”

 

Very pleased with their response. 

[TBlack]

I wouldn’t worry about trying to match the deck planking. Who says they have to match?

Tom

[Jobbie]

Well, after Caldercraft advised me they were going to send me the 5x missing deck cleats, I waited three months. 
 

Nothing arrived. 
 

I re-sent the email, asking if they were in the mail. My email enquiry received no response. 
 

So I just bought some from my local supplier. AU$2.95. My wife tells me I should have just bought them months ago. Yep.
 

So… Five months later… I finally have the parts I need. Time to progress the build. 

Edited June 8, 2023 by Jobbie

[Jobbie]

The bowsprit’s now mounted, gammoned and three stays have been rigged with eyelets, hooks and deadeyes. 

[Jobbie]

The fore and main topmasts have now been drilled through at the bottom. The beam that supports their weight (the fid) is pushed through once the mast has been lowered through the lower mast’s caps.

[Jobbie]

The chesstrees and crosstrees were cut out of the parts frame. I took the opportunity to remove the last two remaining kit parts from the frames: The ladder sides for the quarterdeck. 
 

After a bit of work, the trees were fitted near the topmast’s uppers, resting on the “hounds”; the point where the mast changes from an octagonal taper to a smaller diameter square. 
 

The topgallant masts rest on the chesstrees with a fid in the same way the topmasts rest on the mast’s tops further down.

 

I’m really enjoying myself. It’s been too long. 

[Jobbie]

I was planning on wrapping the anchor cables twice around the winch, then through the main deck’s forward hatch, but only 500mm of 2.5mm natural hemp is supplied for the anchor cable. 
 

So I’ve had to simplify the anchor cable’s routing method.

 

A clove-hitch at both ends of the cable to prevent unravelling, then two in the centre with a cut in between. 2x 250mm lengths per anchor. A simple bight at the anchor’s ring that’s been west-country whipped, then only once around the winch. I’ll drill two holes through the deck behind the winch and push the cables through. 
 

Shrouds;
The plans recommend a piece of wire with two 90° bends 15mm apart be used to space the deadeyes apart before lashing them. So…yep. That happened. More west-country whipping. 
(Ten years of being a Scout leader has paid off.)
 

The quarterdeck ladder’s been mounted: the last of the deck fittings. 
Huzzah!

Edited June 14, 2023 by Jobbie

[Jobbie]

My anchor cable solution.

I’m not overly impressed by the length provided. An extra 20cm wouldn’t have bankrupted JoTiKa…. But here we are. 
 

The front four shroud deadeyes have been rigged to length. I’m calling it a night. 

[Jobbie]

Caldercraft 1:64 HM Brig Supply.

With the fore-mast’s lower shrouds and rat-lines completed, I’m thinking about how I’m going to suspend the fore-yard. 
 

Referencing a drawing from the book “The Anatomy Of Nelson’s Ships”, I’m trying to improve on the kit’s accuracy. 

But I’ll simplify it a fair bit because it’s not the Victory…

So I made elm-cleats out of Evergreen styrene and glued them to the fore and main-top. I left them open at the top end. Then I wound 0.5mm thread around the tops using 2mm rod as a spacer, then dropped them into the open cleat before closing its top off. Rinse and repeat three more times. (I’ll paint the styrene black later.)

 

From these rope coils hang the jeer-strops: Thicker rope to which the jeer-blocks are attached at the bottom.

These pass  through the lubber’s hole.
 

Rope around the yards pass through the block’s pulleys and take the weight of the lower masts. 

The ropes will be lashed to the deck and tied off by the cleats around the base of the masts.

[Jobbie]

I’ve attached the gaff-booms before I rig the main shrouds. 

Advice sought:

The plans show the support rope for the driver gaff passing through three blocks at the rear of the main mast-head before dropping vertically down to be lashed on a cleat at the base of the mast. 
 

But the main-top’s in the way. Should the rope pass through the right-hand side lubber’s hole? (Where it will rub.)

Or down behind the top? (Where it will rub.)

or should I drill a small hole in the main-top behind the mast for the driver gaff rope to pass without impediment?

 

(Edit) Solution: Duh…I’ll just move the lowest of the three blocks to sit at the rear edge of the main-top. 
Simple. Sometimes you have to hit the “submit” button before nutting it out. 

 

Edited July 6, 2023 by Jobbie
I answered my own question.

[Jobbie]

Because there’s virtually no weight to the driver-gaff, its running rigging appeared too loose. So I’ve added two extra ropes down to the quarterdeck to keep it under tension. They’re not in the plans but they don’t look too out of place. (I hope.)

 

The three blocks for the gaff’s tackle are supposed to be all mounted behind the main mast-head. The rope’s run down the mast would be fowled by the the top, so I relocated the lowest block to the rear of the top. I made it a double block to accommodate both the upper and lower gaff’s tackle in the same manner. 

Edited July 7, 2023 by Jobbie

[AJohnson]

I think the three blocks should be at the back of the mast and the rope passing through the "lubbers hole" in the platform.  However the over-scale kit blocks and lashing to the mast push them too far out and so snag the platform.  

 

Your "cheat" to hold the gaff rigging in tension you could simply change to an "Ensign Halyard" and attach a flag to it! 😉  Though that usually was belayed further aft nearer the taffrail.

 

Looking good! 👍

Edited July 11, 2023 by AJohnson

[Jobbie]

I’ve completed the main-mast’s shrouds and ratlines.
The futtock shrouds and catharpins have been finished as well. I’ll fit the main and fore-stays before moving onto the topmast shrouds. 

[Jobbie]

The fore-stay and main-stay are 1.5mm rope. I’ve dyed them black with Indian ink on a paint brush.

[Jobbie]

I’ve now completed the top-mast’s shrouds. I’ve been using some leftover Artesania Latina black 0.25mm rope for the ratlines, but I’ve finally run out of it. So the fore topmast’s port’s ratlines are done with the Caldercraft supplied natural 0.25mm rope. They’re soon to be dyed black with Indian ink. I’d done a test; one of the lower ratlines was natural colour, then dyed black. I honestly can’t remember which one….So, that’s good!

 

On to the topmast’s backstays. 

[Jobbie]

Oh, Great Oracle, a question….
Main topgallant backstay.

 

My plans for Caldercraft’s 1:64 HM Brig Supply show the stay (highlighted in yellow) terminates on the fore-mast’s top.

 

C. Nepean Longridge’s Anatomy of Nelson’s Ships book only really relates to HMS Victory. It shows the main topgallant stay terminates at a v-shaped stirrup lashed to the foremast trestle-trees which support the fore-top. 

Would there be a different termination method on smaller logistics vessels such as the Supply?

 

Also, for bonus points; the main topmast’s backstay (highlighted in blue) show the line passes through a block at the masthead, then passes through the top to terminate at the deck. As there’s no hole in the platform behind the masthead, how would I do that? Drill a hole?

[Jobbie]

The termination of the main topgallant backstay was easier than expected. I followed the book’s method of a vee-stirrup on the fore-top. 
 

The main topmast’s backstay drops through the port-side lubber’s hole. 

[Jobbie]

All the standing rigging has now been completed with no real problems. 
 

The yard-arms had been completed a few months ago. Time to hang them. 

[Jobbie]

The brass topsail yard’s parral ribs have been airbrushed with Vallejo black primer before assembly with the parral trucks (beads).

Edited August 28, 2023 by Jobbie