Germania Nova 1911 by KeithAug - FINISHED - Scale 1:36 - replica of schooner Germania 1908

[noel_colledge]

I am pretty sure I saw some posts by archjofo on his incredible build as to how he prepares very thin leather, might be worth a scout.

[wefalck]

Nice blockmaking - I agree that sometimes the old, traditional methods and techniques turn out to be the best. I did a lot of experimentation on this and then basically came back to something similar as described already 50, 60 years ago in modelling textbooks.

 

I like the idea of the half-round sanding jig !

 

There are leather-splitting tools on ebay et al. (there must be thousands of craftsmen in China and India, so there is apparently a huge market for specialist tools like this), but Johann (archjofo) indeed made his own to produce leather only a few tens of milimeters thick.

[KeithAug]

Thank you all for the likes and comments. The leather preparation advice is noted and will be put to good use when I get round to finishing the saddles.

 

I decided it was about time for a bit of rigging. Learning from my last build I plan to change my approach. The fore and aft rigging will be done first, then the sails will be mounted and finally the shrouds will be fitted.

 

The fore and aft rigging will be done with Beadalon multi-stand  steel plastic coated wire.

 

Before starting I needed to make a number of spreaders. Four of these are needed and their purpose is to prevent the stays from the main and fore masts binding on the upper masts.

 

The sketch below shows their form and their position on the fore mast.

 

 

The frame part of the spreaders was made form .016" brass sheet. This was marked out and then glued to a piece of scrap !/8" ply. Strips of the correct thickness were then cut on the table saw.

 

 

1mm holes were then drilled to locate the spreader bar and attach the 3 shackles.

 

 

To get the symmetry correct I bent the strips in pairs. To ease handling I stuck each pair to a piece of masking tape before bending.

 

 

 

 

I kept the matched pairs together with a piece of wire.

 

 

The spreader bar was turned from 1/16" brass rod and the sides / spreader bar were soldered together to form the spreader.

 

 

I only think I need 4 but made 6 just in case.

 

 

I then bent up shackles form .020" wire and made strops from the beading wire, wire guards and heat shrink tube.

 

 

 

And that is as far as i got.

[wefalck]

Love all those details - unfortunately my project's scale is too small to go down to that level  😠

[druxey]

Clever tip, using masking tape to align the pairs! Thanks - I shall remember that one, Keith.

[Retired guy]

Brilliant Keith 👍

 

Regards

Richard

[KeithAug]

Thank you Eberhard, Druxey and Richard for commenting - also thanks to everyone for the likes.

 

Most of the last week I have been working on the fore to aft rigging but I did start by fixing the radar (thank you Eberhard) - before and after shots below:-

 

 

 

I also needed a number of medium sized bocks for the running back stays (2 pairs), so I spent a day making a few.

 

 

 

I also made a few strops which I then realised were not needed - but never mind they will be needed later.

 

 

It find it is almost impossible to take good photos of overall rigging so I just took photos of specific areas.

 

Getting the tension correct in all stays is a bit of a trial but in the end I managed it - the next photo shows the flying jib stay tensioner.

 

 

The jib and flying jib stays were also mounted at this stage.

 

 

The top of the jib and fore stays are shown in the next photographs.

 

 

I then moved to the stern and installed the pair of running back stays for the lower main mast. The photo shows the top attachment.

 

 

Followed by the bottom - both are tight at this stage but the leeward side will be slackened off later.

 

 

Then the main topmast running back stays were rigged.

 

 

I then rigged the brace for the main mast. (It braces the top to the bottom via the dome (satellite coms?) bracket.

 

 

The stays joining the fore and main masts were then rigged.

 

 

I have a few more deck fittings to make, life rings, stern light, and flag staff. I will have a go at these next.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 23, 2022 by KeithAug

[Keith Black]

Keith, great realistic detail. 

[FriedClams]

Beautiful detail work Keith.  Wonderful!

 

Gary

[BANYAN]

Very nice work Keith, that rigging is top-notch. 

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Bedford]

I'm going to have to buy a thesaurus to keep commenting on this build, superlative, superlative, etc, etc and so-forth.

[Veszett Roka]

Simply marvelous. It is real, not need to think what this or that could be, all of the fittings, ropes, rods, and other things are perfectly recognizable at first sight. Few models can present this 'feature' for me. Accept my congratulations, even it worth nothing.

[mikegr]

I couldn't imagine that a sail boat model could be so fascinated to build until I saw this.

[FlyingFish]

Pearl clutchingly good work, Keith. In fact, t'riffic.

[michael mott]

Hello Keith, a bit of catching up, very nice work on all the rigging details, nice choice of color for the "whippings" on the ends.

 

Michael

[KeithAug]

Thank you Keith, Gary, Pat, Steve, Veszett, Maker, Andy and Michael and than you everyone for the visits and likes.

 

I haven't made a lot of progress in the last week, house guests took their toll and I spent some time fitting a DRO to the mill.

 

I did a bit of turning to make the stern light. 

 

 

 

I then made the flagstaff from a bit of mahogany dowel with brass fittings.

 

 

 

I have decided however that it looks a bit heavy so I will thin it down a bit.

 

The stern rails have 2 life rings attached. These are of the larger type - 30" external diameter (.83" at scale size).

 

I glued 2 pieces of .040" plasticard together, drilled the central hole and then turned and shaped the outside diameter.

 

 

I needed to shape the inside diameter so I machined out a bore in a piece of wood and pressed the rings into it. I then shaped the bore.

 

 

With the rings still in the wooden jig it was mounted in the mill and the notches were cut out and drilled to take the grab rope.

 

 

Not much progress but the guests have now gone so things should improve.

 

 

 

Edited March 2, 2022 by KeithAug

[KeithAug]

I continued with the life rings as per the photo.

 

 

It isn't very obvious from the photo but the life rings sit in wire baskets. The leather pouch holds the line and this is tied off to the rail.

 

I started making the basket from .025" wire. I made two formers from scraps of wood and used these to bend the the "hoops" which retain the life ring.

 

 

The free ends of the hoops were connected by micro-bore tubing.

 

 

I then slotted a piece of plywood to create a soldering jig and I bent the wire which joins the hoops. The hoops and joining wire were then soldered together.

 

 

I then tested to life rings in the baskets.

 

 

The baskets were then lashed to the guard rails using black cotton.

 

 

 

The pouch is quite small so I cheated and formed it round a piece of scrap wood cut to size. Sail tape (painted brown) to simulate leather was then stuck to the former with 3 lines added to give 6 ends. 4 lines attach the pouch to the guard rails and the other two attach to the life ring and the rail.

 

 

 

I painted the life rings and added the reflective strips and the grab ropes.

 

 

The rings were then pushed into the baskets and the life line was tied off.

 

 

 

 

I think I am going to make a start on the launch next. 

 

 

 

[Keith Black]

 And the mundane becomes a masterpiece. Nicely done, Keith. 

 

 

Edited March 8, 2022 by Keith Black

[druxey]

Terrific detail work, Keith.

[wefalck]

And no one imagines how much work goes even into such mundane pieces of equipment ...

 

The launch is quite big, where is it actually stowed on board?

[Retired guy]

Very nice Keith 👍

 

Regards

Richard

[michael mott]

Brilliant bit of kit there sir.

 

Michael

[BANYAN]

Very nicely executed, you make this look all too easy Keith; but we know the amount of work and thought you have put into these.

 

cheers

 

Pa

[KeithAug]

14 hours ago, wefalck said:

The launch is quite big, where is it actually stowed on board?

Eberhard,

 

 

Starboard side between the davits installed some time ago.

[wefalck]

... takes up a lot of space! I wonder how it would affect the sailing, as it is probably quite a deck-load.

[KeithAug]

5 hours ago, wefalck said:

I wonder how it would affect the sailing, as it is probably quite a deck-load.

 

Eberhard,

 

Sometimes they sail with it on deck.

 

 

And sometimes they don't.

 

 

They also seem to spend a deal of time sailing with it replaced by a dinghy.

 

 

It must increase the C of G and reduce the metacentric height (while also increasing the starboard list). My guess is they take it with them on position cruises and then land it and rely on the dinghy while racing or cruising within the local area.

 

I will also be making the RIB which sits on the port side.

 

[wefalck]

That's what I would have thought.

 

It's quite fascinating to see such a schooner being operated by a well-trained crew - around 2000 I was sailing in the British Virgin Islands, when in one of the little ports we stayed one of them arrived at dusk under sail, bearing up to the jetty with precision and taking down the canvass in a matter of seconds literally and making fast. Unfortunately, the next morning, when I wanted to check-up on her, she was already gone again.

 

I finally got around to really read John Leather's 'Gaff Rig' and he write quite a bit about the crews of these pre-1930s yachts, their professional crews and captains, many if not most of which in Europe were fishermen from SE England. They fished in the winter and manned the yachts for racing in the summer.

[KeithAug]

1 hour ago, wefalck said:

around 2000 I was sailing in the British Virgin Islands,

Very nice little restaurant on the east coast of Just Van Dyke i recall. I was there in about 2005 - generally very nice but we found the sailing was a bit constrained by the closeness of the islands.  Great snorkelling at RMS Rhone and at the Baths on Virgin Gorda. On the negative side we found the BVI's a bit over run by noisy catamaran gin guzzler types.

[KeithAug]

Thank you for commenting Michael, Richard, Pat, Keith, Druxey and Eberhard. Also thank you to everyone who has visited and liked my work.

[TBlack]

Given the weight of the schooner, and the weight of the launch, I doubt that the C of G or Metacentric height is altered significantly. I think deck access is

more important.

Tom