Flying Fish by Jared - Model Shipways - 1:96

[Jared]

Since the last update I have begun working on the the topmasts & bowsprit.  These have been loosely mounted on the ship.  In the past few days I have built the top on the fore topmast (see photo).  I will be painting the top white.  The trickiest thing about building top was the fabricating and mounting the cleats on the spreader.  I had to try different types of wood incl. multilayer strips before I finally found something I could cut without the tiny wood pieces falling apart.

 

 

[gak1965]

@Jared, you might consider strengthening the spreaders a bit. I glued a strip of brass on the underside before painting. It's not obvious and it kept things from breaking on more than one occasion.

[Jared]

Thanks George for this great suggestion.  I was very concerned about them breaking or bending when attaching the rigging. 

[Jared]

Quick update.  The spreaders on the 3 topmasts.  I was hoping to start adding the blocks to the masts, but discovered on size of blocks was missing from my kit.  While I await the missing parts from Model Expo, I will work on the bowsprit and jib-boom.

 

I implemented your suggestion George to strengthen the spreaders with copper strip on the main topmast and mizzen topmast spreaders.  I added copper strip where I could on the already completed spreader on the fore topmast as doing otherwise would have required a complete rebuild of the structure.  Adding the cleats to the 2 new spreaders went much better than what I encountered on  the fore topmast.  Put it down to learning from experience and using finer tweezers.

[Jared]

Spent all day today building the dolphin striker.  This tiny part turned out to be one of the most challenging pieces to date.  All of the small metal fittings on the dolphin striker were made by bending thin blackened copper wire.  For the  lower metal band I used adhesive copper tape.  The lower fitting was made from a single piece of wire.

 

On another note, I mentioned that I discovered the other day that I was missing one size of wooden blocks.  I contacted Model Expo and soon after I received a reply that the missing blocks were on the way.  What fantastic customer service!! 

 

Edited October 29, 2023 by Jared

[Wawona59]

I've had good experience with Model Expo's customer service as well.  Even though I bought my Flying Fish in 1996, ME sent me a complete set of bulkheads, keel and planksheer to replace the parts that I screwed up. (see my build log to see how bad I did).  No questions asked.   Now, I'll just start over and do it right this time.  I hope to be back working on the Fish soon.

[Jared]

My kit was purchased around 2008.  

[gak1965]

They do have good customer service. I needed more brass for my Fish

[Jared]

Over the weekend I made significant progress on the Bowsprit, Jib Boom and Dolphin Striker.  The work on the Bowsprit and Jib Boom was fairly easy.  The paint scheme is as per James Buttersworth's Flying Fish painting.  The various holes for the ring bolts and other rigging components are difficult to see but have been completed. 

Edited October 30, 2023 by Jared

[Rick310]

Coming along well!Rick

[Jared]

Today I complete the topgallant masts.  The second photo show a side view of the model, with the various masts loosely attached.  I still have more to do on them, including installing fids, eyebolts, and blocks.

[gak1965]

Lots of progress Jared; looking absolutely great!

[Jared]

After a prolonged absence to do some travelling and other stuff, I have started up again on my Flying Fish.  I have been installing the various blocks and eyebolts on the masts, as shown by the photo below.  I just discovered that all the holes I had predrilled for the many  belay pins are too tight and need to be redrilled 😞

[Jared]

Over the last 2 days I have been focusing on finishing off the deck so that I can begin the rigging phase of the model.  All of the belay fin holes had to be redrilled as they were too tight for the Belay pins.  I tried to chemically blacken the metal belay pins that came with the kit but was disappointed by the results as they a came out as a rusty dark black.  After painting them black I mounted them on the pin racks as shown in the photos below.    I noticed that at the bow section of the boat I had missed building the 2 sheet pin rails and had some time ago erroneously misread the plans and drilled a few holes in the top rear plank of the forecastle.  As you can see in the photo to the left, these errors and omissions were corrected. 

 

I also tried blackening then painted as above the 4 boat stanchions and mounted them loosely on the boat for the photo.  These won't be permanently mounted until the model is nearly finished, to avoid accidently breaking them off.

 

[Rick310]

Welcome back!!  Good to see you are working on the Fish again.  She is coming along nicely! 
I’m trying to get the mizzen topsail yard done so I can finally move on.  It’s been a learning process so hopefully the other yards will progress faster.

Rick

[Jared]

Thanks Rick.   My challenge will be making all the intricate  metal structures that link the yards to the masts. Lots of techniques to learn. 

[ClipperFan]

@Jared Vladimir & @rwiederrichboth give detailed descriptions of their metal work for connecting yards to masts in their Glory of the Seas builds. Vlad's 1:72nd scale build even articulates left, right and even diagonally just like on the actual ship. I'm sure either one would be happy to discuss their techniques with you.

[Jared]

Thanks for this info.  Appreciated!

[ClipperFan]

10 hours ago, Jared said:

Thanks for this info.  Appreciated!

@Jared you'll be relieved to know that unlike Glory of the Seas which was equipped with Howes Rigs for upper and lower topsails, your earlier Flying Fish wasn't rigged with such advanced equipment, which hadn't been invented yet. All yards on your vessel have identical relatively simple shackles.

[Jared]

Finishing up on the masts, I have added the heels for each topmast and topgallant mast.  To do this, I filed the bottom of each mast square then built up the heels by gluing a thin plank to each.  They were then sanded down to the required sizes and the top edge/corner of each heel was hand carved carved to shape with a razor blade.  A hole was drilled through the bottom of each heel into which a small piece of brass rod (fid) was inserted.  The fid, which rests on the trees, bears the weight of the mast. I believe this completes the construction of the 3 masts, except a few metal parts (trusses and eye bolts) which I will add later. I would like to get started on the lower standing rigging and work on this as I tackle the metal work and yards.

 

 

Edited June 22 by Jared

[gak1965]

Jared,

     Glad to see you back and working on the Fish! She's looking great!

 

Regards,

George

[Jared]

Most of the holes in the masts and bowsprit for the remaining eyebolts, sheaves and metal fittings have now been predrilled (Photo 1).  I also finished off the fish figurehead, having added on the wings (Photo 2).  The bowsprit has been secured in place (the other masts shown in the first photo are loosely fit in place for now.  I am not ready to start rigging the bowsprit.  The kit drawings call for a number of  wooden hearts for the standing rigging, but supply none in the kit, so I have started scratch building my own (Photo. 3).

[Rick310]

Nice job on your figurehead!  I am also making my own bullseyes for the bridles for the bowlines.  I will also have to make some for the rigging as none are included in the kit and the ones commercially available for sale are too big.  So far I’ve had to purchase additional belaying pins, deadeyes, blocks rigging line, and wood, just to name a few.

Rick

[ClipperFan]

@Jared your Flying Fish is shaping up to be an elegantly beautiful model.

[Jared]

Thanks ClipperFan and Rick 310.   My kit had plenty of deadeyes but was missing a couple of other parts.  Model Expo was advised and the missing parts were quickly sent with no fuss at all.    Over the past few days I have made 14 hearts and 6 bullseyes.   Looking forward to starting the rigging of the bowsprit this week.

Edited July 1 by Jared

[ClipperFan]

@Jared pg 27, post #785 of @Vladimir_Wairoa has excellent details with photographic proof of how McKay's clipper Glory of the Seas had her bowsprit rigged. The first image is Michael Mjelde's bowsprit rig illustration, next is a detail from the 1877 Glory docked at San Francisco, next 3 are Vladimir's model. Note how rigging is not evenly spaced but staggered closer to the tip. I hope this helps!

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 2 by ClipperFan
additional information

[Jared]

Thank you for this info.   Great photos.

 

[ClipperFan]

@Jared credit for all pics go to @Vladimir_Wairoa who took all of them. I merely rotated and lightened up the first illustration. Vlad also did a great write up on his entirely scratchbuilt rigging process. The specific post referenced is to his bowsprit rigging series. What's incredible is that this was Vlad's first foray into rigging. All of his yards fully articulate, not just sideways but also vertically like on actual vessels. That's why he chose the larger 1:72nd scale. Both @rwiederrich and Vladimir's build logs have a wealth of rigging details.

 

[Jared]

Vlad's workmanship is incredible!  Museum quality for sure.  Unfortunately my skill level is nowhere near that.    🫣

[Jared]

I completed the iron straps on the stem that attach to the bowsprit bobstays.  These were made by soldering a brass ring through a short section of brass strip, something much easier to say than do.  After a number of failures, I figured out a way to do this.   The brass strip was then bent to fit the stem and cut to the final length (Photo 1).   Using very fine stainless steel wire I linked one end of the tiny diameter chain to the brass strip and the other end to a wooden heart (Photo 2).

 

Edited July 3 by Jared