Sloop from Roslagen by bolin - FINISHED - 1:50

[bolin]

I have continued with the stand and case.

 

The boom is extremely long on these boats. So the hull needs to be placed quite a bit forward on the base.

The case is now complete. It's made from 3 mm plexi glass. The base is oak with a coat of oil.

 

I choose to glue it with UV hardening glue. Unfortunatly it was a bit hard to control the amount from the tube, so there are some drops here and there. I hope that when the model is in there, they will not be as apparent as they are in a picture in out door light.

 

[bolin]

The first step in rigging is the rudder. The rudder is rather large compared to the length of the water line. So I think that the blocks are needed to handle force on the relatively short tiller.

 

The blocks I got from HiSModel in the Czech Republic. The ones I got are in beech, which I have then stained to get a tarred look. The quality of these blocks are definitely comparable to the ones I have previously bought from Vanguard Models.

 

From the same source I got brass belaying pins. These I have first blackened, and the painted.

 

 

[bolin]

I short visit to the smithy, and we have an anchor. The parts are soldered together from brass wire.

 

The traditional type of anchors for the Stockholm archipelago is said to be grapnel anchors with five tines. I'm not sure if that is true, especially not for the later era of these ships. Most pictures and models I have seen shows a common stock anchor, in particular those with foldable stocks.

 

However, since my model is of a smaller type, and is from the later part of the 19th century rather than early 20th, I decided on the grapnel type. Maybe the grapnel type was also easier to make in the local smithies in the archipelago?

 

 

[wefalck]

I gather the bottom of the archipelago would be glacial till with a lot of pebbles of various sizes on the surface, so a grapnel would be a good choice.

[bolin]

Yes that is the most common type of bottom.

[bolin]

I have now started with the sails.

 

I plan to use paper. It is taped to a frame and I use a spray can with parchment colored acrylic paint. When the paper dries, it shrinks and becomes flat. I have previously tried to use a roller to paint paper for sails, but it was messy, and it was hard to get rid of the wrinkles.

The mast, boom and gaff has got the blocks attached. The mast top has also been painted in traditional colors. The green top and white band seem to have been rather common for these ships.

 

 

 

[wefalck]

Re. the bottom of the archipelago ... I am a geologist, after all, who studied in Kiel 

 

I tried small paint rollers on paper sails, but it does not work very well, as it leaves a slightly rough surface - foam is better than fleece. However, spray-painting is the best solution. At the beginning I used the frame-method or suspended the paper from its corners. Today, I cover a piece of cardboard with clingfilm and lighly tape the paper onto this - make sure to not wet the paper too much, as then the back will not look nice, with paint accumulating at certain points due to capillary effects. In this way I also make 'built' sails, i.e. sails composed of individual paper strips to simulate the cloths and doublings.

 

[bolin]

The sails are coming along nicely.

I have glued a bolt rope around the edge using PVA glue. Now I'm working on the reef points.

 

The next challenge will be the hanks for the stay sail. As far as I can tell, they should be ordinary omega shaped ones tied to the sail.

 

 

 

[bolin]

I managed to make hanks and attach them to the stay sail without too much trouble. I just hope that they will not come loose when I start the rigging.

 

After that, I have continued with the rigging. The shrouds and stays are waxed linen thread, which I had at hand.

 

I used my homemade serving machine, but gave up after I had served the shrouds. It either needs to be rebuilt or written of as a failure and replaced by a sturdier one. The main problem is to keep the tension in the line. The sides are too weak, so they flex inward.

 

The skipper has also been painted and is now ready to get onboard his new ship. He's from a set of figures by Preiser.

 

 

 

 

[Nirvana]

Very nice job!

The skipper waiting for his ship.

[druxey]

A little spot of dilute white glue or  acrylic matt medium will secure the hanks for you.

[wefalck]

I am fixing things such as the hanks and knots with a dab of solvent-based varnish. A drop of solvent allows you soften this, if you need to move the part.

 

As to the serving machine:

 

- you could add wooden stay at the top to keep the sides spread

 

and/or

 

- use a kind of serving mallet, i.e. a short piece of brass tube to fit over the rope to which a 'handle' is hard-soldered; cut/grind away about half of the tube opposite the handle; the serving yarn is wound a couple of time around the handle for friction - this device allows you to keep the tension on the serving yarn, while not pulling on the rope to be served - there are other somewhat more sophisticated version her on the forum, check out e.g. 'archjofo's' log.

[Mark Pearse]

It's hard to see on the photo, but does the mast have thumb cleats, or something like that, that the shrouds pull up against.

 

thanks, Mark

[bolin]

I have secured the knots on the hanks with diluted PVA glue as druxey suggests. I'm still a bit worried that the "hooks" at the end of the hanks are not bent enough, and that the line could glide of when I start to rig. We will see. I did not consider the need, or possibility, of reversible knots using a solvent-based varnish as wefalk suggests. Currently I only have very dark shellac at home, but have ordered some de-waxed bleached flakes that should arrive in a few days. I will need to experiment some when I get it.

 

Thanks for the tip about a serving mallet. It's fascinating that the full scale methods often works when building in miniature scales. I will try to improve my current serving machine before I build a new one, but I was very close to press the "order" button for new cog wheels yesterday... And archjofo's log indeed gives a lot of ideas on how to build a better serving machine. Thanks for the tip.

 

Mark, yes there are cleats on the side of the mast, for the shrouds to pull up against.

 

[druxey]

You can dissolve white glue and acrylic medium with rubbing alcohol.

[bolin]

After a fair bit of thinking and planning the best order to rig the ship I have decided to most of it off board.

 

In preparation of that I temporarily stepped the mast so that I could tie the dead eyes with the correct length of shroud. As can be seen on the photo, the rake of the mast is forward. This would somewhat compensate for the unbalanced sail plan.

The fore stay dead eye could not be tied while the mast was stepped. The stay needs to be threaded through the hanks that has already been tied to the sail before that.

The main sail has been tied to the gaff and mast, and the running rigging has been installed.

And with the fully rigged mast, I can start to tie down the lanyards and adjust the position of the mast.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[bolin]

The last piece added, the flag.

 

It's been a little over a year in the making, and now it is finished! My sloop from Roslagen.

 

It started in part as a project to hone my skills in clinker builds, to enable me to build the medieval long-ship. Along the way I have read a lot about these ships and as I learned more I have become more fascinated and interested. The research part of the build has definitely been one of the more rewarding aspects.

 

I also feel like I have learned a lot as a model builder during this project. Some of the choices I made early on would not be the same today. Primarily, I would not have made the hull from lime wood. I would have used something harder.

[wefalck]

Love those traders and work-boats of old ! Nice rendering !

[Mark Pearse]

You've done a wonderful job. An interesting boat, a couple of things are especially interesting: With the person in the model for scale you realise just how big the boat is, especially the rudder & tiller arm are huge; also it's interesting how high the freeboard is.

 

I'd love to go for a sail on that!

[druxey]

Congratulations on a  fine result! A very interesting subject indeed.

 

So, what's next?

[GrandpaPhil]

Congratulations!  Nicely done!

[mtaylor]

Very well done and quite a beautiful slope.  Congratulations.

[G.L.]

This has become a very nice model. congratulations!