HM Cutter Alert by Thukydides - Vanguard Models - 1:64 - first build

[Thukydides]

2 hours ago, AJohnson said:

Thank you for sharing your insights and learned techniques for working on such small ropes. I am definitely going to try an emulate your work on my Trial when I get time to return to it. 
One solution I have been trying for fixing rope is “Matte Medium” used for acrylic paintings, it dries clear and has a matt finish. So far it has not left a white or flakey residue. I have got Liquitex branded, a small bottle to experiment with. 

Thank Andrew,

 

As with Alan, I appreciate the suggestions.

 

I should give matte medium a try, however I have been using acrylic matt varnish which is essentially the same thing with a bit of resin in it (so a bit stronger).

 

With the polyester rope the issue is that it doesn’t bond to glues as well as cotton rope does and so if you need the bond to have strength then I have found that I generally only trust supper glue or fabric glue if the joint will be under tension. I did a test a number of posts back where I tested the strength of various glues to hold a knot and fabric glue came out the winner. I then just add watered down matt varnish over to remove the shine (to be fair I coat everything in matt varnish once it is fully secured on the model).

 

With larger ropes the visibility of the glue is not a problem as it wicks into the gaps and you don’t see it, but with the tiny ropes it is hard to ensure that not too much glue goes on the surface. The other issue is the amount of bending that happens in a given area. Larger ropes (by virtue of their size) have much more gradual bends as I am working with them (sticking needles into them, getting them into place etc…). In a perfect world if I use the correct amount of glue, at the correct dilution and don’t bend the ropes much afterwards then there is no issue. The white stuff comes from either too much glue or the glue has been separated in some points from the rope leaving an air gap. I have found that with smaller ropes this is pretty much inevitable. The picture I showed was the worst example of the 4 I did just to illustrate the point (also in this particular case the area was going to be covered so I wasn’t being as careful as I would have on an area that could be seen).

 

This is all to say that it is totally possible to use glue and not have it look bad, I have just been removing it as much as possible as particularly on tiny dark ropes which I need to serve, the chances of a slight error leading to a bit of white stuff is really high. Also if I don’t use glue then it is easier to undo work that I don’t think is good enough without having to completely start over.

Edited March 31 by Thukydides

[Thukydides]

I have been working on the other pendant and trying to be more precise, add more twists to the serving line and using even less glue than before.

 

I think I am finally at the point where the flaws are not visible with the naked eye.

Once everything is under tension on the model I will give it a coat of watered down matt varnish to make extra sure everything stays in place.

Edited April 2 by Thukydides

[AON]

The camera doesn't lie. I see no blemishes at all. Well done!

When will you be scheduling classes?

[BrochBoating]

30 minutes ago, Thukydides said:

I have been working on the other pendant and trying to be more precise, add more twists to the serving line and using even less glue than before.

 

I think I am finally at the point where the flaws are not visible with the naked eye.

Once everything is under tension on the model I will give it a coat of watered down matt varnish to make extra sure everything stays in place.

 

Holy moly etc.

[Thukydides]

Log #79: Rose Lashings

I received some more rope in the mail. Ben made me some extra small rope for the lashings.

With this now in hand I can finally finish the spreadsail yard. To help with the lashing I cut the end off of a safety pin and bent it till the ends pointed straight. I then used it to weave back and forth over and under for the lashing.

Once I had three loops on each side I began winding the rope around through the gaps between them to create the rose lashing. after the final loop I brought the ends up through the lashing.

Then finally I tied knots in the ends and used a very small amount of super glue to secure the knots before cutting the ends. I could get no clear answers on how the ends of the rose lashing were secured and so I decided to go with replicating the illustration in Lees.

This was the better of my two attempts, the other doesn’t look quite as good, but from normal viewing distance it looks good enough that I decided not to redo. And with that I am finished with the spreadsail yard. I do still need to add the topsail sheet blocks, but those can easily be slipped on at any time and so I may wait on them a bit.

I plan to pin this yard to the mast, but first I need to add a few more ropes that will run down the base of the back of the mast as once the braces are in place it will be hard to access that area.

[jpalmer1970]

Your intricate rope work at this scale is very impressive !

[AJohnson]

5 hours ago, jpalmer1970 said:

Your intricate rope work at this scale is very impressive !

Agreed! 🤯

[Thukydides]

Log #80: Raising the Squaresail & Spreadsail Yards

Thank you everyone for all the encouragement. One of the nice things about this stage of the build is it feels like every time I sit down to work something small has been added to the model. So there is progress to see.

 

I am continuing to pick away and slowly add to the rigging of the model. I made a small adjustment from my previous plans as I realized that all of ropes for the yards all need to belay down to the base of the mast. Consequently I am planning on raising them all and letting any braces hang loose until I no longer need access to that area.

 

First up was to raise the spreadsail yard. This yard I pinned to the mast (though I didn’t use any glue) to help hold it in the correct place and allow me to put tension on the ropes. I also got the pendant for the topsail yard done.

I belayed the fall for the spreadsail yard lift down to the bits and coiled some rope in the same way that I did for the inner tie.

You may also notice from this picture that I have fixed the anchor cable in place. This was done with spots of super glue at various positions. I have decided in the end not to include any of the spare yards I made as they didn’t look aesthetically pleasing and the only place that made sense was the first shroud. However, my less than optimal job on the ratlines means that putting a straight yard against the first shroud accentuates the fact that it is not straight.

 

Next was the squaresail yard. This rises on a horse and so I used one of the kit thimbles to serve as the guide.

It is a bit over scale, but I didn’t feel like trying to find another solution so I left it as is. And below you can see the spreadsail yard with everything attached ready to go on the model.

The horse caused me a huge amount of trouble as I kept making small mistakes that necessitated doing it all over again. In the end it took 5 attempts to get it right.

 

The horse was made with a 0.6mm rope and I used the 0.2mm rope I have for the rose lashings for the seizing. I used 0.35mm rope for the lanyards. The deadeyes should really be a bit smaller, but I just used spare kit ones.

I still need to figure out how I will ensure the yard creates tension on the square sail yard. It currently wants to lean to one side which I won’t be able to fix till I add the bowlines and the clewlines for the topsail run in front of it. The problem with this yard is it would be held level by the sail, but there is no easy way that I can see to hold it steady. I had previously considered adding the reef lines and then attaching them to the spreadsail yard as that is the approximate location they would attach to the sail. I will make a decision on this later.

Edited April 11 by Thukydides

[Isaiah]

I hope that someday I could build a model as good as this.

 

Would you say it’s worth it to buy

aftermarket rope that’s smaller than 0.5mm? How noticeable would it be compared to say, Amati cord for example.?

[Nipper]

I found on my Alert that the spreadsail yard had a mind of its own until I fitted the braces.  

 

Congrats on your beautiful work - a real inspiration and a joy to follow.

Nipper

 

[glbarlow]

4 hours ago, Thukydides said:

but there is no easy way that I can see to hold it steady.

I pin the backside of the yard to the mast with a little CA - completely invisible and holds it in place. The gentle torque of the appropriate lines keeps it squared up beyond that.

 

Your servings look great, well done.

Edited April 10 by glbarlow

[Thukydides]

1 hour ago, glbarlow said:

I pin the backside of the yard to the mast with a little CA - completely invisible and holds it in place. The gentle torque of the appropriate lines keeps it squared up beyond that.

 

Your servings look great, well done.

Thanks Glenn,

 

The issue with the squaresail yard is it is on the horse so not directly on the mast. The spreadsail yard I did pin to the mast to help hold it in place.

[Thukydides]

5 hours ago, Isaiah said:

I hope that someday I could build a model as good as this.

 

Would you say it’s worth it to buy

aftermarket rope that’s smaller than 0.5mm? How noticeable would it be compared to say, Amati cord for example.?

Thank you, I appreciate the compliment.

 

I would say that with the exception of the painting where I have some prior experience I brought to bear, everything else is just a matter of going slowly and  carefully and reading lots. I have had the benefit of many fine alert build logs to follow. I truly believe that if you take your time you could do as good or better than I did for much of this build.

 

I personally thing better rope makes a huge difference. Though you sometimes can't see the details per say, it is noticable. For example my lashings look much nicer when I use actual rope as opposed to thread. Also nicer blocks also help.

[Isaiah]

5 hours ago, Thukydides said:

 

5 hours ago, Thukydides said:

 

I personally thing better rope makes a huge difference. Though you sometimes can't see the details per say, it is noticable. For example my lashings look much nicer when I use actual rope as opposed to thread. Also nicer blocks also help.

Looks like I’ll have to pay extra for the small stuff then!

 

There’s no question I’ll be buying Syren blocks, most standard blocks are awful.

[Thukydides]

I had some time this morning to tidy up the lines so here is a minor update.

 

I belayed the squaresail lift to one of the cleats on the mast. I also tied off the lanyards for the horse.

I currently am using two clamps hanging by some spare rope to keep the squaresail yard lift under tension to set the shape of the rope.

Next up are the bowlines for the squaresail yard. I really should have added these before I raised it, but I will do them now and let them hang loose so they don't get in the way.

[glbarlow]

Nice coils and rope work. Your effort and skills on the details really makes your model stand out.

[Freebird]

Just amazing!

 

Best Regards .... Rick

[Thukydides]

Log #81: Squaresail Bowlines

Thank you again to everyone for all the kind words. As I have had the past few days off work continues briskly.

 

I decided to tackle the squaresail bowlines next. After considering the matter for a while I decided to follow the diagram in Lees which shows them with a half hitch followed by a sizing. Technically there should be two sizings according to lees, but at the tiny scale we are working I felt that was bridge too far for me at the moment.

 

To make sure everything was proportional, I did a lot of measuring and ratioing based on both Lees and Goodwin before I even started so that I knew the exact length of every piece I was going to make.

 

First step is serve a length of line for the eye.

Next I spliced the eye and served over the splice.

This was done 4 times with 2 longer ropes for the falls and 2 smaller ones. Then I also added 2 lines with no serving on them. You can see both completed bowlines below.

To attach them to the yard the method I came up with was to make the loops off model and then slide them onto the yard and pull them tight. Since the half hitch plus sizing essentially makes a noose that can be tightened as desired, it made the process of sizing and then positioning the bowlines much easier. This also enables me to adjust their positioning later to make sure they don’t interfere with the clew lines.

And just for display I temporarily tied the line to a timber head at the bow. It is still not exactly clear to me where the squaresail bowlines are belayed to as Goodwin only shows them ending near the catheads, but doesn’t elaborate on what exactly they were tied to. I am going to do some more reading as they will be hanging loose for a while anyways to enable me to access the base of the mast.

 

I still need to tie the second set to the other side of the yard, but this was all I had time for today.

Edited April 12 by Thukydides

[Gregory]

Re the bowlines, I can see what Petersson says later, if you don’t get an answer before then.

[Thukydides]

Just now, Gregory said:

Re the bowlines, I can see what Petersson says later, if you don’t get an answer before then.

I never thought to check Petersson, I do have his book.

[Gregory]

Just looked at my copy, ( Fore and Aft Craft ) and bowlines are not shown.

 

Were you looking at the photos in front of AOTS?  One photo shows bowlines going out to the end of the bowsprit, but of course, we can't see where they lead.

My best guess would be the pin rack in front of the windlass.

Edited April 12 by Gregory

[Thukydides]

1 hour ago, Gregory said:

Just looked at my copy, ( Fore and Aft Craft ) and bowlines are not shown.

 

Were you looking at the photos in front of AOTS?  One photo shows bowlines going out to the end of the bowsprit, but of course, we can't see where they lead.

My best guess would be the pin rack in front of the windlass.

Yes AOST.

 

The bowlines for the topsail go out to the end of the bowsprit and then back to presumably the pin rack. However the bowlines for the squaresail are only shown on p107 with the line terminating on the tip of the cathead.

[Gregory]

Interestingly, the rigged model of Hawke is not showing any bowlines on the square sail (?).    I, personally, would be reluctant to model them in the absence of sails.

However, I certainly wouldn't fault you for including them.  I think your best guess would be as good as any.

[Thukydides]

15 minutes ago, Gregory said:

Interestingly, the rigged model of Hawke is not showing any bowlines on the square sail (?).    I, personally, would be reluctant to model them in the absence of sails.

However, I certainly wouldn't fault you for including them.  I think your best guess would be as good as any.

Frankly there are a lot of question marks about the bowlines in general on alert, but as I am not doing sails the general convention is to rig them to the yard the sail would be on.

 

I am going for a no sails, but as much running rigging as I can possibly include sort of asthetic and they also help to steady the squaresail yard which has very little else bracing it.

 

As previously noted I am not going to be securing them for a while to allow access so I have lots of time to consider where best to run them to.

 

Thanks for your input :).

[Nipper]

Chris' s manual for Alert - see rigging Plan 15 - shows all three sets of bowlines belayed to the rail in front of the windlass.

 

Nipper

[allanyed]

On 4/11/2024 at 10:39 AM, Thukydides said:

I had some time this morning to tidy up the lines so here is a minor update.

Daniel,

Not only is your workmanship grand, the photography is exceptional as well.

Allan

 

[druxey]

Just catching up with you, Daniel. Very neat and nicely done!

[Thukydides]

Log #82: The Topsail Yard

Following up on the question of what to do with the bowlines I decided to go with the kit arrangement and belayed them to a double block at the bow and then to the pin rack on the windlass.

These are just loosely in place so I can adjust everything once all the yards are fully in place.

 

In the meantime I continue to work my way up the mainmast and next up is the topsail yard. This necessitated the stropping of a number of blocks. You can see below my new method for doing this. I simply serve a long length of line, use thin super glue to secure it at the appropriate length and cut to size. I then glue both ends to the back of the block forming the loop.

 

If I am careful and do a clean cut you can barely see the line and this I have found seems to be the most secure way of doing this.

Once the loop is on the block I can use the serving machine to do the seizing. I have found that I can now make the block right first time as opposed to my older methods which inevitably necessitated a number of remakes.

 

I also made two blocks with eyesplices in the ends to be lashed to the yard.

I then lashed them with a rose lashing. Now that I am starting to get the hang of them they are not that hard to do.

The ends of the clew lines are secured with a timber hitch knot as per Lees. This is much less complicated than the arrangement shown in Goodwin.

 

And with that the yard was done. For the clewlines I used 0.25mm thread and for the sheets 0.35mm. The blocks were all stropped using 0.35mm line sized with the fly tying line. The rose lashing was done with 0.2mm line as previously described. For the lift I also used 0.35mm line. All of the blocks on the topsail yard were 3mm. Ideally I would have used 2.5mm blocks for the clews, but I didn’t have any so I had to make do with the 3mm ones from the kit.

I decided to hold off on the bowlines for the topsail as I found I can slip the loops on the yard easily and then pull them tight and this way I don’t have to worry about another set of ropes to snag.

 

You can see below the yard hanging on the model.

Nothing is permanently secured yet as I have clamps hanging from the falls to make sure everything stretches properly. As is my usual practice I will go back in a few days and start securing the lines one by one. I will discuss where I am belaying everything to at that time.

Edited April 25 by Thukydides

[jpalmer1970]

Excellent work! Your attention to detail is certainly paying off here.

[Thukydides]

Log #83: Tying off the Ropes

Thank you to everyone for looking in and for the encouragement. I always like this stage of the build as the tying off and making rope coils goes very quickly, and so you get lots of visible progress after a long period of preparing the yard off model.

 

I believe I have shown this before but here is my jig for making the rope coils.

The top loop starts out on the pin that in the picture has nothing on it. Then once I have done a few loops I twist it and fold it over. Then I finish the hank by continuing to loop the rope and insert the end into the gap between the two loops for the cleat.

 

Once it is done I use a dab of super glue to fix the loops together and the end of the rope in place and then give it a few blasts with the hair dryer to try and get it to stay in shape.

 

I then slip it onto the cleat and use super glue spots to tack it into place. You can see below I have belayed the topsail lift to the mast cleat on the left and the starboard topsail sheet to the cleat on the right.

Then the larboard topsail sheet was belayed to the left cleat in the below picture. The right cleat is holding the previously belayed squaresail yard.

I am going to hold off on belaying the clewlines until I get the topgallant sheet lines in place so I can make sure they avoid each other. Below you can see the current state of affairs.

Edited April 25 by Thukydides