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

[Keith Black]

 Bittersweet seeing the sails being added. Beautiful work as always, Keith. 

[michael mott]

Doing some catching up Keith, Wow what a superb job you are doing The rigging and sail making do look right I think that at the scale that you are working that "sewing" anything on the sails would detract from what looks like beautifully made sails. Our eyes put the "sewing there" because that's where the sewing is supposed to be!

 

Wonderful work as ever.

 

Michael

[shipmodel]

Terrific work, Keith - 

 

As one who has struggled with making and hanging sails, I am truly astounded with how well yours came out.

No need for a third hand when your two do such great work.

 

Dan 

[wefalck]

I would echo the previous speaker concerning the praise!

 

Didn’t realise before how complex the peak-halliard is. Haven’t seen anything like that before. A couple of bridles yes …

[mbp521]

Excellent work Keith. Call me weird or insane, but I love rigging. It’s one of my favorite parts of the build. Something about all the ropes going every which way just adds something to the lure of ships. 
 

-Brian

[Retired guy]

Isn't it a brilliant feeling when you have worked out how you where going to make, then make said item and then install onto the build, and what you have done 

looks absolutely perfect and all looks to scale Keith.

 

Regards

Richard 

[BANYAN]

Stunning work and detail as usual Keith; it is always a pleasure to see the updates you have done.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[TBlack]

That peak halyard(s) is quite elaborate!

[Valeriy V]

Keith, I continue to admire your work and continue to learn from you.

Great job and great result!  

[FlyingFish]

What he said...

[KeithAug]

On 9/14/2022 at 3:37 PM, druxey said:

Perhaps I missed this; but how did you replicate the color-coded synthetic line?

 

On 9/14/2022 at 4:18 PM, ccoyle said:

I was wondering the same thing.

Druxey / Chris - I'm not that clever. The string is shiny and I think the reflection is giving the impression.

[KeithAug]

On 9/14/2022 at 6:28 PM, wefalck said:

Didn’t realise before how complex the peak-halliard is. Haven’t seen anything like that before.

 

23 hours ago, TBlack said:

That peak halyard(s) is quite elaborate!

Eberhard / Tom.

 

Yes it is complicated - the gaff is huge so I suspect they need the mechanical advantage. They aren't very consistent on how they rig the peak halyard. Sometimes the top bock is the double and sometimes the double is the middle block.

 

[KeithAug]

Nils, Druxey, Chris, Keith, Michael, Dan, Eberhard, Brian, Richard, Pat, Tom, Valeriy, Andy. Thank you all for your generous comments they are much appreciated.

[wefalck]

On colour-coded cordage: I suppose one could imitate that, when you make your own rope. One could add to one of the strands a length of the finest fly-tying yarn that is available in many different colours. Colour-coding, however, seems to be more common in braided rope, than in traditional one.

[druxey]

Great impression, Keith! And yes, wefalk, 'modern' synthetic is braided rather than spun. However, I suppose one strand of spun line could be colored to give the correct impression.

[FlyingFish]

5 hours ago, wefalck said:

One could add to one of the strands a length of the finest fly-tying yarn that is available in many different colours

I was just thinking that... as a fly tiers we are fortunate to have available synthetic and natural threads in a huge range of sizes and colours, from 18/0 (VERY thin) to 6/0 (you'd tie a button on with this) and everything in-between. I'm sure any modern braid could be replicated on a rope walk machine quite easily. 

I must say to my (inexperienced) eye the scale is spot on Keith, and whether it's the reflection or not, it looks just great!

[FriedClams]

Really wonderful work Keith - fantastic.

 

Gary

[KeithAug]

Thank you all for your continuing interest and kind words.

 

I did a bit of a work assessment this week and decided that i should comfortably get this project completed by Christmas, at least that is the target.

 

I am still working on the mainsail.

I made the boom fixing for the tipping lift on a template - to get both sides identical.

 

I then released I had missed off the forward hoop for the topping lift attachment point. A bit annoying as it was more difficult to install with the boom mounted. The strap was made form thin brass sheet and then then bent into a ring.

Before rigging the topping lift I needed to temporarily secure the boom in position with a length of string.

 

With this done I attached the "triangular" wire and rigged the topping lift.

 

The topping lifts are fed throughout 2 blocks that attach just below the cross tree.

The next job was to attach the reefing lines. The leach reefing line attaches at the boom, then goes up to the reefing cringle before descending back to a pulley on the boom. From here it is led forward to the mast. At the mast it feeds through a bobbin before being tied off to a belaying pin. The next photo shows the reefing line passing through the bobbin.

I turned the bobbins from black plastic and added the attachment lashings.

 

The bobbins were then lashed to eyes on the mast.

I didn't have any photos of the luff reefing line so I had to improvise. I rigged the line both sides, through bobbins and on to the cleats on the forward end of the boom.

 

With this done I then moved to rigging the boom sheet. The sheet runs between the two largest winches on the boat taking a wondering path through numerous deck and boom mounted blocks, all very complicated.

 

I have only roughly tensioned the sheet in the above photos. Iwill need to do final adjustments when i rig the boat on a port tack.

 

And finally an overall shot.

I now need to do a bit of measuring up for the topsail. 

 

 

Edited September 23, 2022 by KeithAug

[mbp521]

What an impressive build Keith! I sit here in amazement, gawking at the details on your boat, and as to how closely you have replicated each one of them to the real thing. 

 

-Brian

[druxey]

Brilliant! The bobbins/bullseyes are a nice detail.

[TBlack]

I think you're going to need a ladder to measure for the topsail!

Tom

[Bedford]

That's just superb Keith and yeah, that's one convoluted main sheet

[BANYAN]

The plaudits offered by other builders are well deserved Keith, let me add to the list of appreciative followers.  This is a very high-quality model of an interesting subject - it has made for many hours of pleasant reading/viewing.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[michael mott]

Lovely work Keith, I am surprised that the harnesses for the main sheet are just wire with no protection against chafing the wood boom. That wire would cut into the wood of the boom with the amount of pressure that the main would generate.

 

Michael

[KeithAug]

15 hours ago, michael mott said:

I am surprised that the harnesses for the main sheet are just wire with no protection

Michael - they have a very thin covering of what  I presume to be leather. I couldn't reproduce it without it looking much too bulky so I left it out. 

I should add that the covering doesn't look up to the job of protecting the boom, it seems to be much too thin. On Altair the boom was plated where the wire wrapped around it, which seem to me to be a much better engineering solution.

Edited September 24, 2022 by KeithAug

[KeithAug]

Thank you Brian, Druxey, Tom, Steve, Pat and Michael.

 

This week Germania reached her full height with the completion of the main topsail.

 

Having measured the space between the main mast and the gaff I adjusted the drawing of the topsail. The sail edge lengths needed to be reduced by up to half an inch to get a good fit.

The topsail yard and jack yard were offered up against the sketch to check for fit. The foot rule gives and indication of size.

The topsail sail material was then placed over the drawing and the shape, seams and reinforcing details were traced on in pencil. The sails cloth was then removed and the sail was cut out.

 

Rip stop tape was then used to represent the reinforcing and the edges were wired and taped.

The topsail yard was then laced on.

Followed by the jack yard.

The topsail yard halyard was then attached and threaded through the shave in the main top mast. Then the sail was hoisted using the halyard. It was rather satisfying to see the sail being hoisted. It must be quite a task on the real thing.

I then rigged the downhaul. I couldn't resist a shot from below looking up at the sail.

 

 

 

Edited September 30, 2022 by KeithAug

[druxey]

Oooh! Very impressive, Keith!

[Keith Black]

 That looks so sweet, Keith. 

[bruce d]

Fabulous. Just fabulous.

[Bedford]

Mate, this just keeps getting better!

That is a huge slab of canvas to haul up from below and you raised it from the correct side too