USS Tennessee 1869 by Keith Black - scale 1:120 - Wood Hull Screw Frigate - ex Madawaska 1865

[Tony Hunt]

This is what makes model making so interesting. It's not just making the tiny components - itself requiring a lifetime of acquired art and skill ( and tools!) - but the research into the arcane aspects of shipbuilding, rigging and seamanship practices of whatever period you're working in. Endless fun for an inquiring mind and a patient heart.

[Keith Black]

58 minutes ago, Tony Hunt said:

but the research into the arcane aspects of shipbuilding, rigging and seamanship practices of whatever period you're working in. Endless fun for an inquiring mind and a patient heart.

 

 Tony, research can be very enjoyable except when you desperately need an answer and all your research efforts come up dry. Then it becomes very frustrating and the harder you search the more frustrating it becomes. At some point one has to go with best guess and let the devil take the hindmost.  

[Tony Hunt]

Yes, but when you unpick a piece of the puzzle it is very satisfying indeed. This is a lovely model Keith, and I'm really enjoying the great job you're doing of bringing it back to life. Be patient, you're doing a great job. I suggest going back to those wonderful photos you have, there is so much detail in them.

 

Sometimes I think I enjoy the research more than the modelmaking.

 

Edited June 13, 2021 by Tony Hunt

[mbp521]

Keith,

 

Catching up on your build. Love the display case, man what a great find.
 

I have yet to do a build that didn’t come with a rigging plan (never done a scratch build of a full rigged ship), and at this point I hope that I don’t have to. But on the bright side, at least you only have to figure out half of it, since for the most part everything will be mirrored between the port and starboard sides. 😜

 

Seriously, keep plugging away at it though, you’ll get there. 
 

-Brian

[Keith Black]

 It's been a very long time since my last post and shortly I'll share what I did over over the summer but first I need to attend to the important stuff.....

 

 Kevin, Eberhart, Mark, Tony, and Brian, thank you for your kind comments and thank you to all for the likes.

 

 I spent most of the summer learning the how and the why of rigging. Initially I was looking for a rigging plan that I could 'plug and play' but after countless downloaded rigging plans, no such plan sprang forth. In fact, three masted rigging plans (and ship models for that matter) for the time period between 1860 and 1890 are few. So, with Peterson's book, downloaded rigging plans and MSW build logs (thank God for MSW) I sat about trying to understand rigging that would be applicable to the Tennessee.

 

 Before the start of summer rigging totally confused me, I just couldn't make heads or tails of it. I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer but I'm not the dullest either. I think it was just a mental block I had to work through. After months of going over and over the rigging information I'd accumulated I can now say I understand rigging, a little. I'm no rigging guru by any means but I can now view a build and understand the why of the ship's rigging I'm viewing. It's a new world that has been opened to me and as I said before, thank God for MSW!

 

 In the beginning the one logical rigging plan I could use for the Tennessee was the Kearsarge suggested by Roger Pellett. In the beginning because I was so "new" to rigging I couldn't see the forest for the trees. But I've come full circle back to the Kearsarge rigging plan and even though the mizzen's are set up differently, I'll be able to use the Kersarge's rigging plan as a templet for the Tennessee. 

 

 I've been viewing the H and H photos trying to make the necessary adjustments between the Kearsarge and what I'm seeing in the photos. My wife and I are fortunate to own a 27 inch iMac so I'm able to enlarge a photo to 14 x 26 inches without pixelation. I've been using the attached photo to account for all the lines. Some of the lines are very faint to the point of it being a guess and by golly. I printed six copies of the attached photo, one copy is for lifts, one for braces, one for back stays, one for the standing stays, one for gaffs, and one for the halliards and I'm now tracing the lines of each category but not all of the lines are clear and when I come to one that's not, I reference the Kearsarge rigging plan and fill in the blanks. 

 

 I'm now confident I'll be able to successfully rig the Tennessee. It may not be 100% historically correct but hopefully the rigging will be functionally correct.

 

 In August I attached some blocks on the foremast and fore main yard. Now that I have a 'plan', some of those blocks need to be either moved or removed completely. I had/have no way of drilling the holes for the mast accurately when I made the mast. I drilled the hole angles as best as I could but I intentionally oversized them. In anticipation of rigging I shimmed the mast where they are correctly aligned side to side and with the correct rake. They are so tight in their holes that I had to smear vaseline on the shim faces. I wanted them tight where I didn't pull them askew when attaching the stays. I also got the spider bands done. 

 

 Thank you for visiting and thank you for your continued support. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 1, 2021 by Keith Black

[BANYAN]

Look forward to seeing your rigging progressing Keith.  Welcome to my rigging world (research, uncertainty and frustration) .  One author I have found very useful for the rigging of our period is 'Seamanship' by Commander G.S. Nares of 1868.  Others that may help are 'Seamanship' by S.B. Luce also 1868 and 'The Boy's Manual of Seamanship and Gunnery', 2nd Edition, by C. Burney, 1871.  All of these are available as free PDF downloads.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[mtaylor]

You took a deep dive into the pool, Keith and I do believe you'll do well using the Kearsarge. 

 

I'd like to think that the rigging on those beasts had something in common with the Constellation (the last full sail frigate) but with steam, rigging became something a bit different.  

[mbp521]

Keith,

 

I find that the research is half the fun of the build. Given that I am only on my second build that I have done any research on, I am by no means an expert, but digging through tons of information on a particular ship or part of the ship sometimes uncovers a treasure trove of information. I also have to admit that if it weren’t for MSW I would have never attempted a scratch build or done any research on any build and just built straight from the kit. 
 

Unfortunately there are those ships that the information is just totally limited to one or two photos and you have to resort to similar (or sister) ships to get a general idea of how it looked. To me the in depth research gives me the satisfaction that I did what I could to make sure the outcome is as true to real thing as possible, and if it happens to be somewhat off, no one is none the wiser due to the limited information. 
 

I’m really looking forward to seeing your progress after all of your research. Thanks for teasing us. 
 

-Brian

[mcb]

Hi Keith,

It's good to see this project come back.

[Glen McGuire]

Hey Keith - Your perseverance is an inspiration.  Can't wait to see some pictures of the rigging in progress.  Fantastic build so far!

[KeithAug]

On 11/1/2021 at 10:28 PM, Keith Black said:

I just couldn't make heads or tails of it. I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer but I'm not the dullest either.

 

Keith - Maybe you can emulate the "Scarecrow" and get a diploma in rigging, then you can be really smart.

[FriedClams]

Great to see your Tennessee log coming back to life Keith. Even though you were thinking through the rigging and building the model in your head, it can be therapeutic to step back from the physical building to give time for the cobwebs to clear.

 

I’ve always enjoyed reading your log and look forward to seeing you work through the rigging. Your explanations are always clear and concise and I’m hoping to get a better understanding of what I refer to as “all those ropes”.

 

Gary

[rwiederrich]

Keith…… glad you are moving forward.   I love rigging and so much is typical, so you should have good success.  
 

 

Rob

[Keith Black]

On 11/1/2021 at 7:35 PM, BANYAN said:

Look forward to seeing your rigging progressing Keith

 Pat, thank you for your support and again for all your helpful links.

 

On 11/1/2021 at 8:11 PM, mtaylor said:

You took a deep dive into the pool, Keith and I do believe you'll do well using the Kearsarge. 

 Mark, thank you and I agree.

 

On 11/1/2021 at 9:00 PM, mbp521 said:

I’m really looking forward to seeing your progress after all of your research. Thanks for teasing us. 
 

 Brain, thank you for tagging along and your continued support. 

 

On 11/1/2021 at 11:14 PM, mcb said:

It's good to see this project come back.

 MCB, thank you!

 

On 11/2/2021 at 9:22 AM, Glen McGuire said:

Hey Keith - Your perseverance is an inspiration.  Can't wait to see some pictures of the rigging in progress.  Fantastic build so far!

 Glen, thank you for stopping by and thank you for the complement. 

 

On 11/4/2021 at 12:45 PM, KeithAug said:

Maybe you can emulate the "Scarecrow" and get a diploma in rigging, then you can be really smart.

 You make me laugh Mr. Keith, there aren't enough diplomas in the world to remove my 'Scarecrow' stain. 

 

On 11/8/2021 at 6:48 PM, FriedClams said:

I’ve always enjoyed reading your log and look forward to seeing you work through the rigging. Your explanations are always clear and concise

 Gary, that from one of my heroes means the world to me. 

 

On 11/8/2021 at 8:14 PM, rwiederrich said:

glad you are moving forward.   I love rigging and so much is typical, so you should have good success.

 Rob, thank you so much. I have no idea how many times I've gone to and through your Great Republic build rigging phase for insight and inspiration. 

 

 A great big thank you to all for the likes and thank you to all for dropping by.

 

 

 After months of inactivity and setbacks, I'm finally making progress! 

 

 Initially, stropping a single block was taking me almost 10 minutes, I'm down to two minutes at most with one minute being average. In time one develops techniques, fingers learn their respective rote, and a rhythm ensues. Therein lies the pleasure of the task for without that pleasure stropping some 400 to 450 blocks would become a burden destined for failure. I'm far for from completion but I'm out of the gate at a good clip.

 

 I'm currently working on the foremast and respective yards. The foreyard takes 18 blocks, the topsail yard, 14 and the topgallant yard, 7. I've attached some blocks to the foremast but many remain needing to be attached. The topsail yard needs to be painted, foot rope strung, and blocks glued in place and all the foreyards need to be sealed.  

 

 At this scale, compromise is a necessity. I'm not using eyes and hooks, once the wire is wrapped round the block I twist the wire at the end and snip to length required and glue in the block's location. The reasons I'm not using hooks and eyes are, scale, my clumsy left hand, and tight working quarters. If I used hooks and eyes and during the final rigging stage a hook stretched or came unhooked, it wouldn't take but about fives times of that nonsense before I lost it. So to negate that outcome I'm just gluing the little buggers in place. I wish I had Eberhard's skills but alas.......

 

 I'm pleased with the scale of the blocks in relationship with the surrounding components and the coloration of the blocks. 

 

 In my next post I'll go over the way I'm stropping blocks and how they're installed in detail with 8 x 10 black and white glossy photographs. I would have done so now but my camera needed to be feed right after the attached photos were taken. 

 

 Thank you again to each and everyone of you!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 12, 2021 by Keith Black

[mtaylor]

Marvelous work and very well done.  I doft my cap to you.

[FriedClams]

  400 - 450 blocks, dang.  
 

6 hours ago, Keith Black said:

I'm pleased with the scale of the blocks in relationship with the surrounding components and the coloration of the blocks.

They look great, like they belong there and have always been there.  Nice progress Keith!

 

Gary

[BANYAN]

The yards and other spar look really good Keith; nice work.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[mbp521]

What an excellent start Keith.

 

The tedium of stropping all those block will be well worth it in the end. I would have to break the monotony though by stropping a few then installing them on the yards; wash, rinse, repeat until they were all done. I also really don't think the hooks will be missed, from what I see everything looks great!

 

-Brian

[clearway]

Havn't looked in here for a while- wow really coming along now- the rigging is my favourite bit (so i keep telling myself)!

 

Keith

[lraymo]

Hi Keith, I love your ship and the rigging. Your expertise is impressive!  One day, I hope to be able to do rigging like yours, but in the meantime, I get to watch and learn from following your build!  Thanks!

[KeithAug]

On 11/11/2021 at 9:04 PM, Keith Black said:

400 to 450 blocks would become a burden destined for failure.

The madness of the model shipwright is amply demonstrated. lovely work Keith but it  boarders on masochism.

[Keith Black]

 Mark, Gary, Pat, Brian, Keith, Lynn, and Keith......thank you so much for your kind and supportive comments. Thank you to all for the 'likes' and taking the time to follow along. 

 

  Here's how I strop blocks with wire.  

This is the wire used.

 Tools used to form the wire. For blocks that require a thimble I made a wood form (stick) for the first step in forming the wire.

 The different block sizes required. Top row, left to right, in inches,  .12, .15, .175, and .19

 Bottom row deadeyes, left to right in inches,  .11 and .16

 The doubles and triples used (not pictured) are the same size as the top row. 

 I cut and form enough wire to strop as many blocks possible as I can before I have to give my eyes a rest.

 The wire on the left is for a block without a thimble, the one on the right is for a block with a thimble. 

 Block stropped with a thimble. 

 First step in forming  wire for a block without a thimble. I've marked the jaws of the pliers for the different block size widths. The wire is bent over the jaws.

 The wire is squeezed to set the width. 

 The wire is the squeezed at the top to square the shoulders. If the 'legs' aren't at 90 degrees to the top, they need to be pulled till they are otherwise the top will not be square when the wire is twisted.

 The blocks I purchased are single sheave hole blocks. The sheave hole closest to the block end always goes to the twisted end of the wire. When twisting the wire the block must be held firmly but gently. the .175 and .19 blocks can take a bit of pressure, the .12 and .15 not so much. They WILL crush if too much pressure is applied with the pliers and will also split if the wire is over twisted. 

 Once I'm satisfied with the twist length and tightness I give the block a final squeeze to even the wire height along the block's sides. 

 

 I am drilling a hole where a block needs to be placed, cutting the twisted end to length, and CA glueing in place. For larger scale projects the twisted end can be made with eyes or hooks. That amount of detail for this scale is not feasible.  

 

 Again, thank you to my MSW family for all your kindness.  

Edited December 5, 2021 by Keith Black

[mbp521]

Nice tutorial Keith! Thanks for the info.  I think that I have tried a similar method with wire before but I always either seemed to split the blocks with too many twists or I crushed them with the pliers. That’s probably why I mostly strop them with rigging line. Of course I most likely was using too big of wire for the process. I’ll file your method away and give it another shot with a smaller gauge wire when I get around to doing some more rigging. 
 

-Brian

[mtaylor]

Lovely work, Keith.  I don't envy your eyes on this mini-project.  Mine would cross after the first one.

[Glen McGuire]

Great lesson, Keith.   Thanks for the detailed instructions.

[lraymo]

Yikes, they are so small! How are your eyes holding up?  These are beautiful!!!

[FriedClams]

Nice work Keith!  As others have already stated, a very helpful tutorial and an excellent result.  That goes in my notes folder.  So, how many more do you have to go - 435 ? 

 

Gary

[Keith Black]

On 12/4/2021 at 4:40 PM, mbp521 said:

Nice tutorial Keith! Thanks for the info.  I think that I have tried a similar method with wire before but I always either seemed to split the blocks with too many twists or I crushed them with the pliers. That’s probably why I mostly strop them with rigging line. Of course I most likely was using too big of wire for the process. I’ll file your method away and give it another shot with a smaller gauge wire when I get around to doing some more rigging. 

Thank you, Brian. This wire is also softer and is much easier form.

 

On 12/4/2021 at 5:28 PM, mtaylor said:

Lovely work, Keith.  I don't envy your eyes on this mini-project.  Mine would cross after the first one.

 Thank you, Mark. I don't envy folks with good eyesight, too many mistakes.

 

On 12/5/2021 at 1:20 PM, Glen McGuire said:

Great lesson, Keith.   Thanks for the detailed instructions.

 Thank you and you're welcome, Glen.

 

22 hours ago, lraymo said:

Yikes, they are so small! How are your eyes holding up?  These are beautiful!!!

 Thank you, Lynn. I have to stop and give my eyes a rest more frequently now than I used to but thank God for the ability to still see somewhat well. 

 

 

2 hours ago, FriedClams said:

Nice work Keith!  As others have already stated, a very helpful tutorial and an excellent result.  That goes in my notes folder.  So, how many more do you have to go - 435 ? 

 Gary, thank you. I'm not sure as to the exact number but I think I'm roughly a quarter the way through.

 

 

 I'm working one the last yard to populate with blocks, the main topsail.  The total number of blocks for the yards is 105 I think the mast and gaffs will take approximately 200 including the backstay deadeyes. Deck blocks, 25 to 30? Channel deadeyes, 140.

 

 Geez, I just added those up and the total is 475! I'm only 20% there. I think it's safe to say that blocks will be a prominent  feature as long as my fingers hold out.  I still think back to the thought I had years ago, "how hard can it be". It's I good thing I didn't know otherwise I would not have met you nice folks. 

 

 Thank you to all for the likes and for for following along. 

[KeithAug]

On 12/7/2021 at 11:03 PM, Keith Black said:

Geez, I just added those up and the total is 475! I'm only 20% there.

Excellent work but i think we all need to get a life. Having delivered the tutorial you could farm the work out to your audience and check how well we have learned.

[Keith Black]

1 hour ago, KeithAug said:

Having delivered the tutorial you could farm the work out to your audience and check how well we have learned.

 Then I've gotta stop what I'm doing and schedule visits to all the various mental hospitals.