Cutting and sewing sails

[Charlie pal]

Hello all, hope all are well. 

     To date, I have built four wooden vessels. Made a ton of

Mistakes along the way, but have learned a lot thanks to many of you on this board and information from various modeling books.

I also learned that many kit Instructions leave a lot to be desired and ,in my case at least , had ,to be read, over and over again until I 

Understood what they were referring to.

But the challenge of "figuring it out", made it that much more

Rewarding when I did.

Anyway, have a ton to learn yet, Which brings me to my question.

Never have cut and sewn a set of sails, but would like to give it a shot.

Can anyone suggest w here to get information in this regard,?

,.....Thanks..,..Charlie

 

 

[allanyed]

Charlie,

Unless you are building at about 1:24 scale or larger, cloth sales will likely be way out of scale, especially noticeable being any attempt at sewing.  Many beautiful models have been ruined when rigged with cloth sails due to being out of scale.   Two alternatives, rig without sails.   If you must have sails consider using silkspan.  This has been addressed  a lot  lately here at MSW.  One example is the December 4, 2020 post on making sails with silkspan in the BoothBay 65 build log.    For a step by step explanation with a lot of detail on making sails consider purchasing the supplement to Volume IV of The Fully Framed Model by David Antscherl for $7 from SeaWatch Books

www.seawatchbooks.com/ItemDisplay.php?sku=115003   

You can also check out the video  www..youtube.com/watch?v=g_m_VWzk4w8  

Between these three sources you will have some alternative styles/methods using silkspan as well as having answers to most, if not all, of any questions that may arise.   

 

Edited April 1, 2021 by allanyed

[Rik Thistle]

Charlie, thanks for asking the question and Allan thanks for the link ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_m_VWzk4w8

 

It was very an interesting video. I'm a long way off from ever making my own sails but at least I now have an idea of what to prepare for 😉

 

Thoughts -

- there was a lot of effort went in to making the wooden sail proforma

- Pt 2, with the sail cut to size, jumped to Pt 3 with the sail already fixed to the mast. I'd have liked to have seen how the sail is properly attached to the mast.

- IIRC, I've watched his turnbuckle video in the past

 

Tom Lauria -  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7JA3n2QuMoR2b68BzfxSoA/videos .... has a lot off good videos on his channel....sigh...here goes another day watching videos 😉      

 

Regards, Richard

 

Edit: Tom's website, for more interesting stuff  ... Thomas J. Lauria http://tjlauria.com/galleries/                  

Edited April 1, 2021 by Rik Thistle

[PietFriet]

As others have said, don't sew sails as it is not to scale. I use glue and a very thin marker to make sails. The material I use are from a recommendation on this site "Art Gallery, Pure Elements - PE433".

 

Also consider furled sails as a way to rig the ship. The trick is to cut the sails such that the thickness looks real. Landlubber Mike has a nice tutorial on that.

 

Edited April 1, 2021 by PietFriet

[toms10]

Charlie,

I am in the middle of putting sails on my Leopard right now.  I used silkspan  and paper combination on a 1:85 scale and the scale looks pretty good.  In hind sight I will probably use silkspan for the center ply the next time.  The paper makes them a bit "stiff".  I put some pics in my build log on how I did it.  The method was actually an idea from a fellow member.

Tom

[Charlie pal]

Thank you all for ,your informative responses. I actually, like the look of a classic fully rigged ship. The sails do hide much of ,that.

I know there are vessels that look a great with full canvas, such as the Americas cup defenders, of the early 1900.,

Couple of years ago, I bought, an old, unstsarted kit by constructo of the ,,1934 ,,British challenger "endeavor" ..,.the sails were precut, sewn with built in cringles. Actually was able to raise and lower them as well as adjust the sheets.

Again, thanks to all. Will do more homework before I, think about setting sails.