HMS Vulture 1776 by Dan Vadas - 1:48 scale - 16 gun "Swan" class sloop from TFFM plans - Finished

[dgbot]

Nicely done, I wou ldn't mind doing a beauty like that but I do not have my tool shop here.

David

[GLakie]

Nice job Danny. Looking ahead to when I start my build, you're going to be a tough act to follow. 

 

Cheers

[SailorGreg]

Thanks Danny. She's looking lovely!

[Mirabell61]

Very good looking Danny,

 

just a question....,  how do you slip the lower top platforms over the masttop with the shroud rigging on, are the rectangular outcuts so large ?

 

Nils

[popeye the sailor]

looks awesome Danny!

[Dan Vadas]

Thanks for the kind comments Ben, John, Sherry, Piet, David, George, Greg, Nils and Popeye - much appreciated .

 

how do you slip the lower top platforms over the masttop with the shroud rigging on, are the rectangular outcuts so large ?

 

 

Nils - the holes in the Tops are just large enough to slip over the shrouds.

 

Fore Mast Shrouds

 

With the completion of the Fore Mast ones I've finished fitting all the lower shrouds :

 

 

 

 

 

 

My apologies for the poor quality of the pics - it's very difficult to take good ones with the lighting and backgrounds in my caravan .

 

  Danny

[Dan Vadas]

It's one of my MOST favourite things Brian, especially when they turn out well. I love all things associated with rigging, yes even tying Ratlines .

 

  Danny

[Jim Lad]

I agree with you, Danny - rigging's great fun.

 

John

[gjdale]

Looking fabulous Danny, despite the challenges of taking pictures in the caravan!

[Mirabell61]

Ultra good work Danny !

 

its now the most interesting part for the final apearance of the shipmodel, the rigging and perhaps (the sails ?)

Please would you kindly also Show some pics of a view into the hull outcuts from external view, as you have spent so much wonderful Fitting out on the internal decks and their Details.

Your Vulture is  such a delight to see in all stages of build Danny , you`re  Setting the mark very high and I love it...

 

Nils

[mhegazi]

Great as usual Danny

 

this epic build is becoming a ship modeling reference 

 

cheers :-)

[Dan Vadas]

Thank you mhegazi and Nils (I'm still not sure about how many sails I'll be fitting, if any).

 

Main Stay

 

Apart from the Anchor Hawse the Main Stay is the largest rope on the ship at 1.4mm diameter. It fits to the mast top in similar fashion to the mizzen stay, and is lashed to the stay collar at it's lower end. The upper end is served to a few scale feet below the mouse :

 

 

 

 

I'd forgotten to fit the Main Preventer Stay Collar before I'd permanently fitted the foremast. It made the job slightly more difficult. To prevent the collar from shifting upward two cleats are glued to the sides of the foremast :

 

 

  Danny

[scratch]

Beautiful work Danny . I have lost count the amount of times I have re-read your log and drooled over the construction pictures .

 

 

Dave

[Dan Vadas]

Thanks Dave, make sure you wipe your screen and keyboard every now and then .

 

Main Preventer Stay

 

The Main Preventer Stay is smaller than the main stay (1.0mm diameter) and fits around the mast head above the main stay. It's lower end lashes to the preventer stay collar on the foremast :

 

 

 

  Danny

[dgbot]

Your build log should be edited and taken to a publisher as an addenum to the Swan books.  Bravo.

David B

[GLakie]

Shrouds and stays are looking fantastic Danny!

 

Cheers 

[jaerschen]

First class rigging that you showing here Dan, great.

[Jim Lad]

She continues to impress, Danny!

 

John

[Dan Vadas]

Thanks again David, George, Juergen and John .

 

Fore Stay and Preventer Stay

 

The Fore Stay and Preventer Stay are very similar to the Main Stays :

 

 

 

 

This concludes the lower part of the standing rigging. I'll be fitting Ratlines for the next week or so .

 

  Danny

[dgbot]

I am surprised you did not take aa few drinks doing those shrouds.  Nicely done and very neat.

David B

[newbuilder101]

Excellent work on the rigging! Everything looks tidy, precise and lovely.

[DBorgens]

Danny,

Haven't browsed your log in a while. Amazing work! Please keep posting pictures, they give us something to aim for.

Enjoy the rigging!

Dave B

[Stringer52]

I saw Tommy Emmanuel in concert recently. As I watched his incredible skill, I couldn't help thinking, "Wow, if there are any beginning guitar students in the audience, they'll probably just toss their guitars in the trash, throw up their hands and say, 'Oh, forget it!'."

As a beginning shipbuilder, I look at pictures such as these and want to do the same thing.

But then again, they are a great source of inspiration ... for the skill involved, the patience and just the dang coolness of it all.

Thanks for posting them.

P.S. These pages are certainly going to the top of my bookmarks. Im sure I'll want to return.

Keep up the great work.

 

John

Owensboro, KY, USA

[dvm27]

Danny and Tommy are both Aussies so maybe all Australians are gifted? After seeing Tommy in concert I wanted to turn my Matin guitar into timber for my ship model.

[GLakie]

There's no doubt about the gifted part, but a good way to look at it is to see it as realizing what can be possible with practice and the idea of never giving up.

Cheers 

Edited November 19, 2014 by GLakie

[Dan Vadas]

Thanks very much David, Sherry, Dave, John, Greg and George .

 

John - George has hit the nail on the head. None of my previous 12 or 13 wooden model ships have turned out anywhere near as good as this one, although each was better than the previous one. It all comes with practice .

 

Mast Tops

 

Construction of the Mast Tops begins by rebating each plank to half it's thickness where they will overlap. This was done on the Byrnes saw by first cutting a series of slots to half thickness :

 

 

The excess was cut off with an Xacto knife :

 

 

Finally they were finished with a sanding stick :

 

 

 

  Danny

[michael mott]

Beautiful work on the rigging Danny.

 

Michael

[Dan Vadas]

Thank you Michael.

 

The planks were overlapped and glued together. Note the change of direction in the fore-aft and athwartship planks :

 

 

 

Then the outer edge was trimmed to shape :

 

 

To make the outer rim I rebated the straight sections with the table saw. The curved forward piece was milled and trimmed with an Xacto chisel :

 

 

 

The four pieces were glued to the platform and a sloping angle was cut into the curved section using a sharp Xacto blade :

 

 

The Battens were fitted next :

 

 

Finally, all the holes for the topmast deadeyes, stanchions, crowsfeet and blocks were measured, drilled and filed :

 

 

 

 

  Danny

[popeye the sailor]

nice looking tops Danny

[scratch]

Lovely work indeed Danny . Are you going to keep this one or pass it on to the family / museum ? And just a bit off topic , did you get around to doing anything on the stage coach ? Was looking forward to see how she turned out .

 

 

Dave

Edited November 28, 2014 by scratch