Preussen by Ian_Grant - Heller - 1/150 - PLASTIC

[Ian_Grant]

If you don't already have it, a good reference is Harold Underhill's  "Masting and Rigging the Clipper Ship and Ocean Carrier".

 

Very many excellent diagrams, but doesn't go down to the detaisl of block sizes and rope diameters.

 

Looking forward to seeing some pics of your ship!  There aren't very many windjammers on this site.

[Veszett Roka]

On 1/3/2022 at 7:53 PM, Mr Rogers said:

Thanks for the reply, Ian.

 

I am in the process of building the PASSAT. It is my first sail ship and at first I didn't worry too much about the rigging. After more and more research though it gets more and more intimidating. I just finished laying the deck and I don't have much time to work on the model so I am quite far from working on the rigging. I hope I can figure it our when I get there.

 

If you allow me an offtopic note under your log Ian? For Passat builders, here is a half-hour documentary from Peking, the true sister ship of Passat. Luckily both of the old ladies are museum ships today, probably tons of reference pictures available, so this is more than a curiosity. Man, what a life it was!

[Ian_Grant]

Veszett, it's all good!  Anything windjammer 😄.......That's a great documentary - they actually screened it one night for us when we were aboard "Royal Clipper".

[Ian_Grant]

Got the handrails (evergreen .040" half round) on without too much bother. Once you get one end started it is easy to CA the tops of the stanchions 4 or 5 at a time. Also added the ladder and its brass handrails to the flying bridge, and the 2nd compass. All five masts now have the four whips for the lower topsail sheets and lower yard lifts in place.

 

I noticed the boat chocks are not really the proper curvature to match the boats but at this point I am not going to risk damage by trying to file them.

 

Oh, and I have now knocked off and re-glued the starboard chimney of the boiler hut. Twice.

 

I think I am at last ready to go full into rigging mode. 😃🤓

 

ps Had a 3rd pic but it won't upload despite several attempts (server error 200???).

LATER EDIT:  It seems a fix for this is to submit your post, then immediately "edit" and upload the picture again. Worked for me this time, so it's added below.

 

 

 

Edited January 8, 2022 by Ian_Grant

[Ian_Grant]

At long last I have added the lower and topmast stays to the jigger mast. I braced the jigger from aft to allow these to be tautened in the correct position. I've also coiled up some groups of lines to reduce the mess somewhat.

 

I like the look of the "rigging screws" on these stays at the foot of the mizzen. Here we see the pump added afterward. The large holes remaining are for two brace winches, not yet rigged. Once all the blocks are on the mizzen it can be glued in.

 

Here we see the machinery at the foot of the jigger. The port lower capstay is threaded through its rigging screw at the lower right. I got that far and realized I have not figured out what to do with all the shrouds and backstays. You know how all the ships seem to have several seizings all painted white? They need to be between the ratlines which are spaced at about 1/10 inch in this case. I need to find some un-fuzzy white thread because I don't want to fiddle with paint here. Need to make a clip-on paper template to plan ratline locations and hence locate seizings. Here is where the chickens come home to roost, because I did not get all the rigging screw heads accurately aligned.

 

Edited January 8, 2022 by Ian_Grant

[Ian_Grant]

Somewhat of a milestone - all five masts are now glued in. The lower and topmast stays are installed except for at the foremast. At the foot of each mast, all rigging lines to the bitts are attached with the groups coiled and dangling over the bulwarks.

 

A less happy milestone - I knocked the starboard chimney off the boiler hut, for the third time!  This time I am leaving it off for now; it's obviously a snag hazard.

 

I think I need to rig the lower shrouds next, but before that I want to pre-attach all lines belayed at bulwark pins. The molded pins are mere tiny bumps, even smaller than those on the bitts. Probably small brass rod will be substituted for those pins actually used (I'm omitting all the bunt lines and probably staysail halyards and downhauls and definitely their sheets). I calculate 45 pins used per side....ouch! It adds up quickly with 5 masts.....Also need to think about the lower tacks and sheets.

 

 

Edited January 19, 2022 by Ian_Grant

[Veszett Roka]

Hi Ian,

 

in the background i made a little research. Preussen's chimneys were foldable. Let me cite the picture from the wreck: You can see a round shaped holders for them, at the top of the boiler room the short base visible. This is why we didn't see the remarkably high columns on some pictures - the crew fold them back to the holder when they were not in use, and raised if needed but in this case the sails had to be furled.

So you just followed the practice to lay down the too high chimney. 

[Ian_Grant]

Interesting! Thanks Veszett! Now I need to make those holders somehow 😉 😄

[Veszett Roka]

4 hours ago, Ian_Grant said:

Interesting! Thanks Veszett! Now I need to make those holders somehow 😉 😄

 

Well, tell me to STFU, if too many pieces

[Ian_Grant]

Forestay and fore topmast stay added. I really should get on to those bowsprit guys, but I've not been looking forward to trying to thread through the netting 🤪.

 

And of course the brackets for the chimneys when folded down 😁

[Ian_Grant]

On 1/3/2022 at 1:53 PM, Mr Rogers said:

Thanks for the reply, Ian.

 

I am in the process of building the PASSAT. It is my first sail ship and at first I didn't worry too much about the rigging. After more and more research though it gets more and more intimidating. I just finished laying the deck and I don't have much time to work on the model so I am quite far from working on the rigging. I hope I can figure it our when I get there.

Ole, just a thought:  for rigging your Passat or any of the windjammers, a good book to have is "Masting and Rigging the Clipper Ship and Ocean Carrier" by Harold Underhill.

[Mr Rogers]

On 2/11/2022 at 5:54 AM, Ian_Grant said:

Ole, just a thought:  for rigging your Passat or any of the windjammers, a good book to have is "Masting and Rigging the Clipper Ship and Ocean Carrier" by Harold Underhill.

Thanks for the recommendation, Ian. I'll look into it!

 

 

[Ian_Grant]

Work proceeding very slowly.

 

Rigged the bowsprit guys and stitched the netting to them, but haven't trimmed the netting yet.

 

Pre-rigged the lower sheets and tack ends to winches or bitts. Anyone building Preussen would be wise to attach these before adding masts and walkways. The winches are tucked beneath the pin rails and were painful to reach. Also had to drill four missing sheave holes in the hull. Example tack leading from sheave to bitts and coiled on deck. Sheet leading from sheave to winch and coiled on deck. The winch drum end is that little green thing to the right of the first two "eyescrews". Speaking of the drums, they taper towards their ends and I remember thinking that would be a problem. It was, as the threads persist in slipping off the end when one attempts to wind them onto the drum. Future builders - recommend attaching a slightly larger disc to their ends to retain threads.

 

Now thinking about belaying brace trim lines, which need triple sister blocks that Heller does not mention. Made them from sets of three 15/0 seed beads glued to a short strip of evergreen. That's one poking up just to the right of the eyescrews. Not a near replica of reality but good enough. Now trying to decide what to do to associated belaying pins for these brace ends to attach (existing pins are mere bumps).

 

Also decided to add the shrouds to a masthead just for something different to do. In the interest of not taking years on this build like on Victory I did not serve the centres or clinch them round the masthead. I simply tied each pair in a clove hitch around the masthead. Good enough at this scale, or as Victor J says "close enough for jazz".

 

Edited February 24, 2022 by Ian_Grant

[Nirvana]

Ian, that a nice start of the rigging. You are getting close to an end.

[Ian_Grant]

To quote Winston Churchill, more or less, "This is not the end, or even the beginning of the end, but merely the end of the beginning".

[Ian_Grant]

On 11/12/2020 at 3:29 AM, Veszett Roka said:

 

Thanks Ian,

 

no, i didn't read Newby's book, but its on my wishlist from now, thanks for the tip! 

Hey Veszett; did you ever read his book? Entertaining and sometimes quite funny.

[Veszett Roka]

On 2/25/2022 at 11:14 PM, Ian_Grant said:

Hey Veszett; did you ever read his book? Entertaining and sometimes quite funny.

Unfortunately not yet. There is no available copy in local antic shops, so i'm checking the internationals.

[Ian_Grant]

Plodding along. I find my tolerable sitting time at this is quite short which does not bode well for a quick finish. Still working on tying lines off at deck level. Pretty tedious. Added shrouds at another mast, and rigged another brace winch just to change things up. Three of these to go, what joy!

 

Main issue is that I want to carry on from my experimental RC galley rowing mechanism (see below) to further testing which will need the pool open, and spring is coming..............

 

 

Edited March 6, 2022 by Ian_Grant

[Ian_Grant]

On 2/28/2022 at 9:01 AM, Veszett Roka said:

Unfortunately not yet. There is no available copy in local antic shops, so i'm checking the internationals.

Veszett, there are recent printings. Mine is a William Collins 2014 edition.

[Ian_Grant]

In a moderate burst of energy, I wound threads on the remaining brace and halyard winches. All 17 are now glued to the decks with threads coiled. No more empty holes in the decks! The only remaining parts are the yards, four boat davits, and two walkway planks beside the boats.

 

The coils are getting a bit ridiculous, I must do some real rigging soon before it becomes a hopeless tangle.

 

 

The foot of the mizzen, with Jarvis winches both before and abaft.

 

[Veszett Roka]

On 3/15/2022 at 2:53 PM, Ian_Grant said:

Veszett, there are recent printings. Mine is a William Collins 2014 edition.

Hi Ian,

 

My copy just arrived from UK. Yummy! It is a Grafton 1981 paperback, but well preserved.

[Ian_Grant]

I got tired of tying lines on and just coiling them, so in a fit of madness I fitted all the lower shrouds. They're just tied off with a grey seizing at the rigging screws for now and as yet untrimmed. Later (much later) when I make a guide for ratlines I will add the white seizings on each. I might regret this later when adding upper braces to the bulwark rails behind the shrouds, but they'd just be too long to have hanging in coils in the interim.

 

I also uncoiled the lower braces from the winches and passed them up the masts through the requisite blocks where they now dangle as coils again. This was easier to do now before I add more standing rigging. The decks look better with only the upper halyards still coiled on them.

 

Here we see the shrouds and dangling lower brace coils.

 

The foot of the mainmast with braces from the Jarvis winch going up to to their blocks. Sorry about the focus. In hindsight I wish I had drilled new holes to move this Jarvis winch closer to the mast; for some reason this particular one is about three times as far from its mast as all the others which makes the braces nearer to interfering with the main lower yard. I could have added more blocks to divert them but at this point I will leave it.

Edited March 25, 2022 by Ian_Grant

[Ian_Grant]

All standing rigging (except stays and backstays on the royal) complete on mizzen and jigger masts. There sure are a lot of backstays on these steel ships - at hounds, fixed yard bands, and mast caps as well as all the usual backstays. No wonder they could drive them so hard.

 

I added the forward-most boat on each side as they are now behind a wall of backstays. I decided to tie on the upper braces terminating at the mizzen bulwark pins after all; these can be seen coiled in the first pic, emerging between the mizzenmast shrouds/backstays. I will now do this at each mast in turn before adding its backstays, for access reasons.

 

It came to bother me that the wheelhouse windows were empty cavities whereas all the skylight ports are painted a sky blue, so I managed to pry off the wheelhouse roof. Plan is to paint some styrene sheet sky blue and glue on inside the walls then reapply roof. Sadly my sky blue paint has dried up so off to the hobby shop, sometime........you can see some sheets lying to port of the wheelhouse with blobs of what I thought was the correct paint but it was too green.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 9, 2022 by Ian_Grant

[Kevin-the-lubber]

I don’t know how I’ve missed this log, Ian. I knew you were doing the galley but not this lovely little (not) gem. I must read through the log more slowly presently. This is very much my kind of ship, with all that busy-ness on the decks. Actually, I’ve remembered why it wouldn’t have registered - I don’t think I could handle 1/150. How do you find it compared to the Vic? It looks quite large despite the scale. Either way, it’s looking fabulous. Are there build plans available?

 

Incidentally, if you liked that Eric Newby book (which I haven’t read) can I recommend two others by him - A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush, and Love and War in the Apennines. The former was very popular in the mountaineering community back in the day.  

[king derelict]

Short Walk is a great book some real understated exploration and adventure

Alan

[bcochran]

On 4/8/2022 at 7:19 PM, Ian_Grant said:

All standing rigging (except stays and backstays on the royal) complete on mizzen and jigger masts. There sure are a lot of backstays on these steel ships - at hounds, fixed yard bands, and mast caps as well as all the usual backstays. No wonder they could drive them so hard.

 

I added the forward-most boat on each side as they are now behind a wall of backstays. I decided to tie on the upper braces terminating at the mizzen bulwark pins after all; these can be seen coiled in the first pic, emerging between the mizzenmast shrouds/backstays. I will now do this at each mast in turn before adding its backstays, for access reasons.

 

It came to bother me that the wheelhouse windows were empty cavities whereas all the skylight ports are painted a sky blue, so I managed to pry off the wheelhouse roof. Plan is to paint some styrene sheet sky blue and glue on inside the walls then reapply roof. Sadly my sky blue paint has dried up so off to the hobby shop, sometime........you can see some sheets lying to port of the wheelhouse with blobs of what I thought was the correct paint but it was too green.

 

 

 

 

 

And to think I am worried about rigging the Cutty Sarl in 1/96.  I love to look at your pictures of your work.

[Ian_Grant]

Kevin, thank you for the kind words. Yes, these big steel windjammers are quite picturesque. I especially like the elevated storm gangways, for some reason. And from some of the photos I've seen of these ships in a storm I can see why they were needed!  Her hull is about 9" longer than Victory's, but the bowsprit is very much shorter than Victory's. A model of her at 1/100 would be magnificent and fun to build. Yes the scale is smaller, but her rigging is much less intricate than 18th century practice, albeit with everything repeated five times on her five masts which does get a bit tedious. The repetition will get even worse when I start hanging six yards on each mast! I haven't looked for build plans, but a chap named Neville Wade has built an RC model of her so he must have found them somewhere. Here are Neville's ships, not as detailed as some but very pretty on the water. After I get the galley working I'd like to build an RC square rigger next.

 

http://www.cocatrez.net/Water/NevilleWadeShips/index.html

 

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?2205250-Neville-Wade-s-Radio-Controlled-Square-riggers

 

Thanks for the Newby book tips - I'll have a look for them. And do look for "The Last Grain Race" for yourself. It's interesting, vividly written, and funny at times.

 

Edited May 24, 2022 by Ian_Grant

[Ian_Grant]

Bruce, thankfully the Preussen lacks deadeyes which is a blessing at her scale. And these big windjammers had no studding sails.

 

I like your Cutty Sark progress, keep up the good work!

[Kevin-the-lubber]

9” longer than the Victory is getting large - I guess that’s why they went for 1/150, so it’d still fit in the average house. I read somewhere recently that this was part of the general design brief for these larger models.

 

Its a pricey kit though, about £150 it seems, whereas the Passat is only £65. So many models…. I’d best finish the CS before getting distracted!

[Veszett Roka]

4 hours ago, Kevin-the-lubber said:

Passat is only £65

Hi Kevin,

i'd like to emphasize again that the Passat kit is actually a renamed Pamir. See my comment here. However, if you think for build Pamir instead of Passat, that is a very good kit.