Albatros by Dr PR - Mantua - Scale 1:48 - Revenue Cutter kitbash about 1815

[Dr PR]

I have been doing a bit of calculations for the anchor buoy and ratlines.

 

ANCHOR BUOY

 

Marquardt (p 192) says a "normal" anchor buoy was 54 x 30 feet (1.37 x 0.67 meters). At 1:48 scale this is 1.125 x 0.625 inches (28.6 x 17 mm). This is almost as long as the shank of the anchor on my model! Marquardt does say smaller anchors had smaller buoys.

 

I looked for photos of models showing the anchors and anchor buoys. I found four.

 

A = length of anchor shaft (head to crown)

B = length of anchor buoy

 

Photo     A          B         A:B

    1      0.938  0.3215    3.00

    2     0.319   0.109      2.93

    3     2.78    0.922      3.02

    4     0.328  0.147       2.23

 

So actual anchor buoy length is about 1/4 to 1/3 the anchor shaft length.

 

Since my model's anchor is very close to actual scale for a schooner of the model's size, and the anchor shaft length is 1.716 inches (45.2 mm), the anchor buoy should be about 0.57 inches (14.5 mm) long, and (using Marquardt's proportions) about 0.318 inches (8.0 mm) wide.

 

RAT LINES (Ratlings)

 

Lever (p 25) says ratlines were spaced 12 inches (305 mm).

Marquardt (p 172) says 12 to 16 inches (305 to 406 mm), with 13 inches (330 mm) most common.

Lees (p 44) says 13 to 15 inches (330 to 381 mm).

Mondfeld (p 288) says 15 to 16 inches (381 to 406 mm).

Chapell (Fishing Schooners p 586) says 16 to 16.5 inches (406 to 419 mm).

 

So there you have it. Ratlines were definitely spaced just about any distance you want!

 

For my model, an American schooner, I will go with Lever, Marquardt and Lees 12-13 inches, or about 0.25 inches (6.4 mm) at 1:48 scale. I would rather use Chapelle's 16 inches because I would have to tie a lot fewer knots!

Edited 17 hours ago by Dr PR

[Dowmer]

If you need ideas on how to do a flag that is light and drapes naturally, Chuck Passaro on this site does a nice tutorial on how he does his flags and they look very realistic. It might be in his Cheerful cutter build. I followed his method for the small flag on my longboat.  Link is in my signature.  It turned out pretty well.

[Dr PR]

Dowmer,

 

Thanks for the link for the flag. I don't know if my printer (Brother LED printer) will print on paper that thin. It is a laser-like printer with a very hot fuser, and I can't run anything through it that might melt (would destroy the fuser). That rules out taping the tissue to a heavier sheet of paper. I'll try hand feeding the tissue paper - the worst that can happen is a paper jam.

 

Farther down in Chuck's post he shows how he makes the anchor buoys. The longboat buoys are a bit simpler than what all the books show.