Flying Fish by gak1965 - FINISHED - Model Shipways - 1:96

[Tigersteve]

Really great, complex work. 
Steve

[gak1965]

6 hours ago, Tigersteve said:

Really great, complex work. 
Steve

Thanks Steve

[gak1965]

On 8/6/2023 at 5:33 PM, Jared said:

Re:  "By the way, if anyone knows how to embed a more proper two column view - I'd love to know - otherwise I'll just copy/paste this sorta messy version."   I use PowerPoint to create mine then do  a screen capture to produce a Jpg. file to post

Yeah, I did that for my table of yard sizes, although I find the text doesn't zoom well. I also tried rendering an HTML table but it rendered as the HTML tags rather than as a table...

[Vladimir_Wairoa]

Looking great George, 

oh seeing all backropes of mast hung,  I feel you. 

i see you do enjoy work. perfect V

[gak1965]

Thanks Vlad, it does feel like I am getting close to the end, although despite my current work, I have to add to the list of things to do with no items removed.

 

So, the mizzen yards are built. Photo below shows them, and I put some rulers in the frame to indicate size. These are way smaller than the main and fore (the skysail yard is only 2.5 inches wide). I wound up buying some extra 1/8 and a package of 1/16 inch dowels to make the topgallant and royal/skysail yards respectively. The 1/16 yards will be useful for the stuns'l booms as well, as the 5/64 (7.5 inch at scale) dowels were too large for all but the main course yard. This way, I'll have less to shave off and will be more likely to make better formed booms. Anyways, "iron bands" and eyebolts done, cranes in place, iron sheet blocks built and attached and jackstays in place; ready to paint. The black yard is the main spencer boom, just need to put it on once the mizzen yards are in place.

 

 

So, the list. I realized that I forgot the mizzen halyards, so the list is now:

 

mizzen yards: 5                                 Jib halyards: 4

     lifts: 10                                           Jib downhauls: 4

     sheets: 10                                     Staysail halyards: 2

     clews: 8                                         Staysail downhauls: 2 

     halyards: 4

Spencer gaff: 2 1                              Braces: 30 24

     topping lifts: 2 1                          Stun'sl booms on hull: 2

     vangs: 4  2                                    Stun'sl booms on yards: 12

Spanker boom: 1                             Davits: 4

     sheets: 2                                           Boat tackle: 4

Spanker gaff: 1                                 Decals: 3        

     throat halyard: 2                         Gilded balls on mast trucks: 3

     peak halyards: 1                         

     topping lifts: 2

     outhaul sheets: 2

     vangs: 2

     ensign halyard: 1

 

Change:

+5 (mizzen halyards)

-0 (nothing off the list

Net = +5

Remaining items: 107

 

[sigh]

Well, the braces (24) will go quickly once the yards are in place. And, once painted (and with the foot ropes in place, it was only about 2 weeks to clear what is basically 37 items (yards, halyards, lifts, clews, and sheets) for the main, so maybe not too long before we see yards on 3 masts...

 

Thanks for looking in,

George

Edited August 23, 2023 by gak1965

[gak1965]

Starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, so another update. First, made the spanker boom and gaff:

 

 

Everything painted black. Top to bottom spencer, spanker gaff, spanker boom, mizzen yards.

 

 

Two yards prepped with foot ropes and key blocks skysail (above) and course (below):

 

 

And first mizzen yard bent:

 

 

The free ends of the lifts (or more to the point their tackles are not yet fully in place, so I can't knock them off the list, but coming.

 

One thing I found out is that I am going to hit a wall after the mizzen top yard because (deep sigh) I don't have enough 1/8 double blocks. More on order, not sure when they will arrive. If I finish the top yard before the extras arrive, I guess I'll work on the stuns'l booms.

 

So, the list:

mizzen yards: 5 4                            Jib halyards: 4

     lifts: 10                                         Jib downhauls: 4

     sheets: 8                                      Staysail halyards: 2

     clews: 10                                      Staysail downhauls: 2 

     halyards: 4

Spencer gaff: 2 1                              Braces: 30 24

     topping lifts: 2 1                          Stun'sl booms on hull: 2

     vangs: 4  2                                    Stun'sl booms on yards: 12

Spanker boom: 1                             Davits: 4

     sheets: 2                                           Boat tackle: 4

Spanker gaff: 1                                 Decals: 3        

     throat halyard: 2                         Gilded balls on mast trucks: 3

     peak halyards: 1                          Fairleads on shrouds: 8

     topping lifts: 2

     outhaul sheets: 2

     vangs: 2

     ensign halyard: 1

 

Change:

+8 (shroud fairleads)

-1 (mizzen course yard)

+0 (corrected 8 sheets and 10 clews, not other way around)

Net = +7

Remaining items: 114

 

For some reason my list keeps growing every time I add things to the ship. I feel like Achilles, perpetually unable to catch the tortoise. Hopefully, no more major additions, and I should be able to get one more yard, 4 lifts, 1 halyard, and maybe some stuns'l booms if the new blocks take some time.

 

Thanks for looking in!

 

George

 

[gak1965]

One last weekend update. I've added the mizzen top yard and the mizzen topgallant yard, with the halyards and lifts for all three (including the course). I can't do the chain sheets and the associated clews until the double blocks arrive, hopefully soon. In the interim, I'm going to add any missing blocks for the braces, and work on the stuns'l booms. As can be seen, I've test fitted the spanker boom (it needs stuff added to it), but it's at least out of the way now. 

 

 

Ship as it currently appears:

 

 

BTW, for the cognoscenti out there. I was looking at the Boston Daily Atlas article (http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/News/BDA/BDA(1851-11-04).html) that @ClipperFan and others have pointed out, and it lists the lowest yard on the mizzen as a crossjack. I've seen indications online that it's called a crossjack (a) only if it carries a sail, (b) only if it doesn't carry a sail, and (c) regardless of whether it carries a sail. The article doesn't talk about the specifics of the sails that it carries - except to say that it carried sails peculiar to clippers: royal (!) stuns'ls, staysails, watersails, and a ringtail. Was it common for clippers to carry a sail on the crossjack? The Butterworth painting shows a sail, but Crothers says it was unusual. For royal stuns'ls are those just the stun'sls footed on the topgallant stuns'l boom? In Anatomy of the Ship for the Constitution those sails are called topgallant stuns'ls, but did the lingo change? I would have thought a ringail would require a set of booms similar to a stuns'l boon on the spanker boom and gaff, but there is nothing there. And watersails? What I've seen described is some kind of stuns'l that sounds like it hangs from the stuns'l boom mounted on the hull and dropping nearly to the water. I'm not planning on putting on sails, but has anyone even heard of such a thing?

 

Anyway, the list:

mizzen yards: 5 2                            Jib halyards: 4

     lifts: 10  4                                       Jib downhauls: 4

     sheets: 8                                      Staysail halyards: 2

     clews: 8                                      Staysail downhauls: 2 

     halyards: 4

Spencer gaff: 2 1                              Braces: 30 24

     topping lifts: 2 1                          Stun'sl booms on hull: 2

     vangs: 4  2                                    Stun'sl booms on yards: 12

Spanker boom: 1                             Davits: 4

     sheets: 2                                           Boat tackle: 4

Spanker gaff: 1                                 Decals: 3        

     throat halyard: 2                         Gilded balls on mast trucks: 3

     peak halyards: 1                          Fairleads on shrouds: 8 4

     topping lifts: 2

     outhaul sheets: 2

     vangs: 2

     ensign halyard: 1

 

Change:

+0 (Nothing Added!)

-14 (2 yards, 2 halyards, 4 fairleads, 6 lifts)

-2 (corrected to 8 sheets and 8 clews)

Net = -16

Remaining items: 98

 

As always, thanks for looking in.

 

Regards,

George

[ClipperFan]

George,

Illustrated London Times, 22 September 1866 "The Great Tea Race from China to London, the Taeping and Ariel off the Lizard" actually shows the use of both water sails by each racing tea clipper (the ones beneath the lowest studding sail boom) and even a jaime green sail (the trapezoidal sail rigged beneath the Taeping's bowsprit). The only one not illustrated, which you asked about is a ring tail, which is an outrigger sail to the spanker.

FYI: I really like your "to do list" and how you cross off each task as you complete it.

Edited August 29, 2023 by ClipperFan
added information

[Rick310]

George,

Really great job!!  Getting close now.

Every painting I‘ve seen always shows a sail on the crojack( lower mizzen) yard although they are rarely portrayed as set.   This may be because when set, they would block the wind to the main course.  The term crojack yard may be a holdover from earlier times.

Where are you getting your blocks from?  I am trying to get some more from Syren but they have been unavailable for some time now.

Rick

[gak1965]

16 hours ago, ClipperFan said:

llustrated London Times, 22 September 1866 "The Great Tea Race from China to London, the Taeping and Ariel off the Lizard" actually shows the use of both water sails by each racing tea clipper (the ones beneath the lowest studding sail boom) and even a jaime green sail (the trapezoidal sail rigged beneath the Taeping's bowsprit). The only one not illustrated, which you asked about is a ring tail, which is an outrigger sail to the spanker.

FYI: I really like your "to do list" and how you cross off each task as you complete it.

Crikey. And I see the royal stuns'ls as well. Those watersails look dangerous to me, catch a wave and rip off the booms, and do goodness knows what other damage. Of course you'd only set them for light winds, so when there is a lesser chance of waves...

 

I wonder if there was a ringtail iron or if they just lashed a short spar onto the spanker boom and gaff. The Butterworth painting doesn't show it, so I guess I'll leave it for now.

[gak1965]

4 hours ago, Rick310 said:

Every painting I‘ve seen always shows a sail on the crojack( lower mizzen) yard although they are rarely portrayed as set.  

Yeah, same here, even though I keep reading that it wasn't standard, and that the yard was mainly there to foot the topsail. Supposedly, the way to tell is if the yard has footropes (no footropes, no sail bent), but that isn't likely to be resolved with the data we have available.

 

4 hours ago, Rick310 said:

Where are you getting your blocks from?  I am trying to get some more from Syren but they have been unavailable for some time now.

Just from Model Shipways, standard blocks. At this point the Syren blocks would be beautiful blocks in a sea of mediocrity. Supposedly they shipped yesterday. I can mount the remaining yards and their lifts and halyards (without the halyard tackles) and then work on making the stuns'l booms until they arrive.

 

As it is, I'm off to Boston tomorrow to help one of my kids move (all of 1.5 blocks, but she needs to keep all of her stuff overnight in a truck because her old lease ends on Thursday and the new lease doesn't start until Friday, and the insanity of Boston rentals is that there is no way to start early or extend a day. The upshot of which is that I will have some enforced 'no build' time for the blocks to reach me.

 

Geirge

[ClipperFan]

George,

Here's a first hand account of "setting the ringtail" on the replica topsail schooner Pride of Baltimore II by the captain of the vessel. I thought you might enjoy reading how the actual practice is done. My apologies for multiple repeat images. I'll get it down to one if I can figure out how to do that....

 

 

https://pride2.org/captains-log-setting-the-ringtail/it.

 

 

Edited August 30, 2023 by ClipperFan
added image

[gak1965]

I've built the PoB, no obvious irons in the plans on the main boom (and these are based on the actual ship, so no guessing).  Must just be lashed with the top raised like a stuns'l yard

[ClipperFan]

@gak1965  fascinating that you were in on the building of Pride of Baltimore II. The picture appears to show the top of the ringtail has its own spar which is rigged to the spanker sail. The base looks like there's a short spar rigged to the spanker boom and another thinner one rigged to the sail. Interestingly enough, my choice of this particular ship was random, just because it had such a nice clear picture of a ringtail. 

[gak1965]

Sorry, misunderstanding. I built a model of the PoB II, not the ship.

 

As a result, I have a set of plans and I was looking at my model and whilenI put stuns'l irons on the square topsail, I didn't see any irons on the mainsail, so concluded that they just lashed the ringtail boom.

 

 

[ClipperFan]

6 hours ago, gak1965 said:

Sorry, misunderstanding. I built a model of the PoB II, not the ship.

 

As a result, I have a set of plans and I was looking at my model and whilenI put stuns'l irons on the square topsail, I didn't see any irons on the mainsail, so concluded that they just lashed the ringtail boom.

 

 

No problem, I'm just let down that you weren't involved in the construction of the actual ship. As for mounting irons for a ringtail, it's quite possible there were later modifactions to add them. That's what we saw with Glory of the Seas. She had extensive modifications during her long lifetime. 

[gak1965]

So, I am in Boston helping to move one of my kids, and these were in the hotel (a residence inn in Charlestown, just off Constitution Wharf. Donald McKay and some of his ships:

 

 

And a very nice model of the Flying Cloud, which my photo does not do justice.

 

 

Regards,

George

[ClipperFan]

@gak1965 thanks for sharing these

wonderful pictures. The large Flying Cloud model is beautiful and impressive. If you have any more pics, I'd love to see them. 

[ClipperFan]

@gak1965 thanks for sharing these

wonderful pictures. The large Flying Cloud model is beautiful and impressive. If you have any more pics, I'd love to see them. Of course, just like every other McKay replica, no matter how well crafted, the bow is completely wrong. She's missing her distinctive naval hoods and cutwater and just like all other Flying Fish models (which admittedly is a pet-peeve of mine) the figurehead is tacked on, almost as an afterthought...

Here, based on Duncan McLean's actual description of her at launch, is what her prow should actually look like.

Edited September 1, 2023 by ClipperFan
grammar correction

[gak1965]

Here are a couple more

 

 

It's a beautiful model. Interestingly, it is really nice looking but is rather light on the running rigging. It has the halyards, lifts and braces, and the sheets, but dispensed with the clews, staysail outhauls and halyards, bunt and leech lines and associated blocks, and the footropes. Amazing how beautiful a model you can make with just the basics.

[ClipperFan]

 @gak1965 thanks for sharing a couple more pics of this lovely model. You're right too. Where I've really come to appreciate extensive rigging is with Rob and Vladimir's complex Glory of the Seas line work. I'm in the midst of doing a 2nd write up about the completions of their 2+ year modeling projects. The more I get into it, the more that there seems to be to still cover. Honestly, I don't think I ever realized how complex and painstakenly detailed it is.

Yet, of all Donald McKay's wondrous extreme clippers, I have to admit that his double-record setting Flying Cloud is still my favorite. This goes back to it being my earliest Revell model with its stirring box top art as a Christmas gift as a kid. I did a fairly decent job building her but made one crucial mistake. I misread the instructions and painted her entire portico roof red. After she had her sails and rigging I realized too late that the instructions meant just the water buckets and not the roof. Still, she had a lovely, impressive lofty sail profile. In addition, she has the most aggressive bow and waterline profile, very much yacht like. Someday I'd love to rework her hull and deck, incorporating her impressive sail plan. As originally launched, she was a real beauty!

Edited September 2, 2023 by ClipperFan
content fix

[douglaspbrown]

Hi! Just found this build log. Your build is looking great. Keep up the excellent work!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 4, 2023 by douglaspbrown

[gak1965]

16 hours ago, douglaspbrown said:

Hi! Just found this build log. Your build is looking great. Keep up the excellent work!

Thanks @douglaspbrown!

 

Well, back from Boston, where I was one of many gray haired men helping move adult children. My younger daughter is out of college - she (now) works in Boston rather than goes to school there - but I have to say that many of the parents of the students moving in on that same day were alarmingly young, at least to me. We had our kids relatively late (we were both 33 and 35 when they were born), but seeing so many mid-40's parents taking their kids to college definitely makes one feel one's age. 

 

Anyway - build logs aren't supposed to be philosophical treatises, so, progress. All of the square yards are now bent; having installed the mizzen royal and skysail yards, along with their halyards and lifts. All the yard blocks are installed, including the blocks that have six of the eight clews (the ones that use tackles - the top, topgallant, and royal) with their associated lines, but not with the actual clew blocks yet. The not yet done anything with clews are the lines clogging the deck that you can sort of see in the second photo which I will deal with as I add the corresponding sheets. I've also added the remaining 4 trucks that are used as fairleads.

 

 

 

The ship as a whole. At some point I will move this to a location more conducive of good pictures, but for now this will have to do.

 

 

 

So, the list:

mizzen yards: 5                               Jib halyards: 4

     lifts: 10                                         Jib downhauls: 4

     sheets: 8                                      Staysail halyards: 2

     clews: 8                                        Staysail downhauls: 2 

     halyards: 4

Spencer gaff: 2 1                              Braces: 30 24

     topping lifts: 2 1                          Stun'sl booms on hull: 2

     vangs: 4  2                                    Stun'sl booms on yards: 12

Spanker boom: 1                             Davits: 4

     sheets: 2                                           Boat tackle: 4

Spanker gaff: 1                                 Decals: 3        

     throat halyard: 2                         Gilded balls on mast trucks: 3

     peak halyards: 1                          Fairleads on shrouds: 8

     topping lifts: 2

     outhaul sheets: 2

     vangs: 2

     ensign halyard: 1

 

Change:

+0 (Nothing Added!)

-12 (2 yards, 2 halyards, 4 fairleads, 4 lifts)

Net = -12

Remaining items: 86

 

As always, thanks for looking in!

 

George

 

[gak1965]

Friday, I had mounted the starboard side chain sheets, set the blocks on the starboard clews, and was thinking I was going to be on a roll. However, after being a NOVID for all this time, I now have it, so likely going to be a gap before much in the way of additional progress.

 

Regards,

George 

[bhermann]

Sigh, hope you feel better soon - can't wait for the next round of shots to be available!

 

Bob

[ClipperFan]

@gak1965 Don't feel bad. After a great 0-13 Covid-19 tests, my perfect record was ruined on the 14th one. Doctors say it was due to staying in a hotel. Fortunately all my shots were up to date. Besides feeling like being run over by a Mack truck, symptoms were fever, some congestion and stomach pains. In a couple weeks, it was over. All that was needed was Tylenol. 

Your making remarkable progress.

[Rick310]

Feel better soon my friend!!

Model looks great!!

Rick

[gak1965]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the well wishes!

 

Saturday and Sunday we're pretty bad, mostly fever, headache, and body aches with a sore throat and occasional cough. Fortunately none of the bad symptoms (shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, poor oxygenation, mental confusion), plus I'm relatively young (well, I'm 58, that sure as heck seems young now whatever I might have said 15 years ago) and had received the initial series, plus like 3 boosters. I was waiting on the new vaccine, thinking it made more sense to wait a couple of weeks and get the up to date one in September rather than in March, but that may have been a miscalculation. Hindsight is 20/20 I suppose.

 

As I was researching the reentry to society rules on the CDC website, I found the formal difference between mild, moderate, and severe, and I definitely wound up in the mild category. So far my wife and my younger kid (who was visiting us) are clear, so, fingers crossed, it's only me. If the fever continues to stay away tomorrow, I can start moving out of my isolation some (while masking) and can ditch the mask early next week. That may mean access to my workbench later this week, so we shall see.

 

Regards,

George 

 

[Rick310]

Glad to hear that your case is mild!

COViD is confounding for sure.  Both my wife and I have had all vaccines and boosters, but my wife came down with Covid a year ago.  I did not isolate from her and I didn’t come down with Covid or test positive.  I tested every day and stayed negative.  I contacted COVID in May but don’t know how I got it.  My case was also very mild with no respiratory symptoms at all, just aching, chills and a fever for about 36 hours.

Feel better soon!!

Rick

[Jared]

I wish you a soeedy recovery George.  Covid is on a surge now, even for those fully vaccinated many times.  3 family members living in 3 different cities have had it in the last month.