USS Constitution by Brewerpaul - FINISHED - Mamoli - scale 1:93 - Cross-section - First wooden ship model

[Brewerpaul]

What are y'all using to drill all the tiny holes on your ships? I have a cheapie set of micro drills and pin vise, but those drills are not all very sharp,and super fragile. I've broken several so far. Ironically, some of the drills broke in the middle of the twisted part, and the broken end was sharper and worked better than the original drill.

I wouldn't mind paying more for a set that works and lasts better, as I'll have lots of holes to drill on this build and an upcoming Pride of Baltimore II.

How have people drilled holes in really tight locations? I wanted to drill holes for rigging the main deck cannons but found that my pin vise was too long.

Thanks for all the great advice and feedback so far.

[GrandpaPhil]

I try to predrill small parts.

 

Here is my pinvise and drill bit set:

The trick is not put any pressure on the bit.  As you can see from the gaps in my bit set, I have also lost many drill bits.

[Brewerpaul]

I know what you mean about pre-drilling. This is kind of like a chess game where you have to think 10 moves ahead! Some things I don't think I could have predicted though, such as the holes for cannon rigging rings.

[GrandpaPhil]

That comes with experience.  

 

I am still learning, too.  One example of a valuable learning experience is that I drilled most of the holes for the eyebolts, for the cannon rigging (on the bulwark side), from the outside of the hull because I failed to plan for them during construction.  That would also work for you in your current situation.  Just put a little filler in the holes from the outside and paint over them.

Your build is coming along beautifully.  Well done.

 

Edited April 17, 2020 by GrandpaPhil

[Brewerpaul]

I've shaped the 3 mast sections,built the fighting top minus the rail which looks like it would get in the way while rigging. I drilled and inserted the uprights with no glue,drilled the rail and epoxied it to the top of the stanchions. I'll take it off and put it aside for permanent installation later. The fighting top isn't glued to the cheeks yet,although they're in place. My question now is what attaches the lower end of the second mast section (topmast?) which overlaps the top of the mainmast. The fit between the cheeks is very loose and as far as I can tell from the instructions and other builders' logs it's supposed to be that way. What do I attach it to? I could glue shims to it to give a close fit to the cheeks I suppose. The same will probably apply for the topmost section of the mast.Help!

 

[GrandpaPhil]

The bottom of the topmast sits on the crosstrees or mast top.  The top is secured by the mast cap.  Here is mine from the Prince de Neufchatel:

It is from before I painted the masts so you can see how they go together.

[Brewerpaul]

I've been working on the parts of the mast, and another part mysteriously vanished into the black hole in my house. I was thinning down the topgallant (love that word!) sanding and test fitting the tiny top crosstrees, when they simply vanished.They weren't on my lathe table* where I was shaping that mast, and they weren't on the other workbench where I've been building the ship. Gone. I'd already painted it white, so spotting it shouldn't have been difficult. Oh well, time to fabricate one. I did this by gluing two 1x1mm strips together and then using the resulting 1x2 to make the tree. It's not perfect but it's small enough that from a bit of a distance it should look OK.

BTW- the plan calls for a hole to be drilled in the topgallant mast for a line to run through. I did that, but it made the mast so flimsy that it snapped. I made another and will figure out another way to handle that line.

An amazing coincidence happened today. I was listening to an audio book of Conan Doyle's The Dealings Of Captain Sharkey detailing the works of a pirate chief. At one point, someone recognized a particular ship whose main yard was known to have been split and fished. Not long ago I wouldn't have known what that was. The amazing part is that at that VERY moment, I was applying the fish to my ship's main yard! What are the odds?

* have a metal lathe which I use to make wooden Irish penny whistles. It's proven useful for tapering mast parts and yards.

 

[Brewerpaul]

I realize that these shrouds and deadeyes don't look very good, but for now, I'm thrilled with them! Rigging these have always scared the heck out of me but with help and examples on MSW plus several good YouTube videos, I have learned how to deal with the particular perceived difficulties that always perplexed me. I know pretty much what is wrong with these and how I can do them better when I do the actual rigging of this model. I'm going to be ordering better standing rigging as soon as Syren has it available,so I figured I might as well learn and practice with the beige cordage supplied in the kit. I'll rip these experiments out when I get the good ropes but in the meantime, I have a grip on how to seize shrouds at the mast top,how to seize a deadeye into the end of the shroud, and how to lace the lanyards,getting them all even. Next up,I'll try some different ways to add the ratlines.

By the way, the cord supplied in the kit for the shrouds was nowhere enough for 6 shrouds,even if I had wanted to use it. After rigging these three shrouds, I have enough left for only one single shroud. Sheesh...

Edited April 28, 2020 by Brewerpaul

[Brewerpaul]

Ratlines! I'm so happy to have the ratline bugaboo out of my head. They're not perfect but for my first few I'm really happy.

I used the plan to trace the shroud and ratlines onto a paper to use as a template but it flopped all over the place. All I really wanted it for was to uniformly space the ratlines. I cut a piece of basswood strip the correct width and used that as a gauge for each line.Easy.

I think what had scared me in the past was the daunting task of tying hundreds of tiny knots onto the shrouds,keeping the tension right so as not to pull the shrouds together. I saw references to sewing the lines which sounded a lot simpler, but the pictures I saw didn't look right,with the ratline just passing through the shroud,so I came up with a compromise which I'm happy with.

Using my strip gauge, I passed the line through the first shroud, wrapped it once around the second shroud, and then through the third shroud. I didn't try to straighten out the ratline at this point; I just left some longish thread at each end. I sewed all of the ratlines that I've done so far all at once, not adjusting any of them. Then I put a tiny dab of white glue on the front and back of each center loop of the ratline,pulling out excess slack and snugging up the loop. I pinched each loop front and back with my fingers which removed excess glue and worked it into the cord. Next, I wrapped the ratline once around the first and third shrouds in turn and secured them with glue as above. The glue dried enough to hold those wraps within a few seconds. Working my way up I did each ratline in the same way, then trimmed all the ends. For a simple "cheat", I think they look pretty decent. Whether or not this technique will pass muster once I get some Syren cordage, or on the larger scale of my upcoming Pride of Baltimore remains to be seen.

[Brewerpaul]

Rigging confusion!Any guidance would be appreciated!

I'm trying to get a grip on what these various lines do. Several look like some kind of lifts,such as the one through block 178. That runs to a block on the main top,one end attached to the top yard and the other running down and attached to 111 which is a main shroud. How would this be attached to the shroud? How would that line be used on the real ship,with no free end to haul on? There are similar lines,201,191 and 181 coming down from higher yards and attached to that same shroud.

What does line 221 do? Or the line coming down to pin 219 on the fife rail?
Is there an online reference explaining what various running rigging lines in general do? Thanks.

Edited May 10, 2020 by Brewerpaul
Add missing information

[Brewerpaul]

Woo hoo! I was finally able to order mini rope from Syren for my standing rigging. I haven't been idle in the meantime though. I've been working on my yards and attaching blocks to them. With a little sanding and cleaning out of holes, the stock blocks will do for my purposes. I've taken the easy way out, using black 28ga wire to attach the blocks. Not authentic but from a bit of distance, they don't look too bad IMO. I've also used this wire for stirrups and footropes for which it has the advantage of holding the "sag" of the footropes.
In attaching blocks, I'm learning my way around the running rigging a bit better--literally learning the ropes, which is where the term came from. I see that in addition to the blocks attached to the yards, there are some that I'll want to pre-install on the mast,so I'll rip out the practice shrouds,deadeyes and ratlines that I've done and take the mast out of the hull so I can work at a more convenient height.

[Brewerpaul]

While waiting for my Syren rope I added the blocks that needed to be mounted to the mast. Still no rope, so I thought of mounting the yards to the mast before adding standing rigging. I figured that without the running rigging the yards would still have plenty of play to move them out of the way when I eventually added the shrouds. I thought that rigging slings and jeers would also be easier unencumbered, so I went ahead and did it. I didn't belay any lines to pins, but left plenty of line to do that later. The "lifts" in the picture are merely sewing thread used temporarily. So far I don't think this was a bad idea. In the meantime, my Syren rope has arrived and it's beautiful stuff. One problem...I estimated rope diameters using Syren's chart and the line I ordered for the shrouds looks too large. I'll post a picture later to see what you all think.

On a different note, how do you all go about squaring mast tops and bases of bowsprits? Mine are definitely not up to snuff on this model, and I'd like to get it right next time. I saw one video on using a milling machine for that purpose and it worked well but I don't have one of those.

[Brewerpaul]

Here's that Syren shroud temporarily lashed to a deadeye. I don't think the size is right but I'd hate to invest in smaller line. I can't return this for replacement as, following Syren's recommendation, I've uncoiled it and re-wound it on a gizmo to keep it from snarling.
Think I can get away with this size?

[Brewerpaul]

Did the lower ratlines,as described above, using a piece of the right size planking to space them. In the first picture I used the method I showed above,sewing the lines then simulating knots by wrapping and gluing the excess tails around the shrouds, then trimming.

 

In the second picture,all I did was sew the ratlines,glued the ends to anchor them, then trimmed them. I'm happy enough with this easier method for a ship of this scale,especially since as a cross section which I'm mount on a narrow shelf on the wall. Side views won't be a major view. When I build my next (POBII) I'll do them right.

 

BTW-- why are my shrouds and deadeyes twisted? This didn't happen until I laced the lanyards,which I find mysterious.

[Brewerpaul]

Started lashing the deadeyes for the futtock shrouds. Dang! Working with those tiny deadeyes is tricky.

[Brewerpaul]

Standing rigging is done! For a first time effort,I'm happy with her so far. By the time I got done with the topmast ratlines I'd gotten a lot better with them,so I tore out the mainmast ratlines and re-did them.

One of the things that had kept me from knotting the ratlines was worrying about tying all those clove hitches. I just couldn't figure out how to do them. So, I started the topmast shrouds with a simple overhand knot on the first shroud, then using a little sewing needle hook gizmo pulling the ratline cord through,around the shroud again and pulling through again. That's a poor description of what I was exactly doing, but whatever I did, I ended up with a perfect little clove hitch. Once I realized that, the work went a lot faster and looked quite good.

Last night I sent to start the running rigging and right away found that I didn't have any 5mm blocks. Don't know where they went. Maybe I used them in place of a couple of 4 mm blocks by mistake, in which case I wasn't willing to undo them. Then I remembered a picture in a book I"d found in a second hand book store a jillion years ago. The book is Ship Model Building by Gene Johnson, 1944. The picture showed how to carve your own blocks and with the help of that, I made 2 of my own 5 mm blocks. I'm quite happy with them. They're not perfect but once they are mounted they'll look fine.  NOW I can continue that running rigging!

[Brewerpaul]

Well, here she is, warts and all! All in all, for a first effort I'm pretty happy with this model. I learned a lot of skills and tuned up my manual dexterity which will come in handy when I start my Pride Of Baltimore II in a day or so. First, I need to clear off the work bench including the small lathe which is taking up valuable bench acreage.

Things I wish I'd done better;

Deadeyes more level and finished off better.

Planned ahead and drilled holes in the hull for rigging the cannons before I got other deck stuff in the way.

Figured out a better way to attach the topmast futtock shrouds to the mainmast shrouds.

Squared the tops of each mast a lot better. I'll practice on a lot of cheap dowel before I tackle the Pride's masts and bowsprit.

I didn't make coils of "rope" for the belaying pins -if I get inspired I may  experiment with that a bit and if I come up with a convincing way to do it I'll add them.

I had hoped to print a flag from the Constitutions year of launch and fly that at the masthead. Again, I may still do that.
Now, on to the next!

[jvalan]

Thanks. This will help me.

[GrandpaPhil]

Congratulations!  Well done!