Flying Fish by Jared - Model Shipways - 1:96

[ClipperFan]

8 hours ago, Jared said:

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

@Jared it wasn't my intention to embarrass you with Vlad's prowess at craftsmanship. It was merely to help out seeing how others have dealt with similar rigging projects you will do. As for skill level. The farthest I've progressed is building the 3' Revell Cutty Sark, so my abilities are way behind pretty much everyone on this site, including you.

[gak1965]

Looking great. I was wondering how to make the figurehead from the pieces and just gave up and made a new one. 

 

I also kind of cheated with the bobstay shackles. I drilled a hole in the brass that was mounted on the prow, used that to drill a matching hole in the wood, glued the brass strip in place, and then glued an eyebolt into the lines up holes in the bow and brass. It worked, but yours is more real.

 

Regards,

George 

[ClipperFan]

@Jared  Nice craftsmanship building your chainplates. I've attached a picture of the starboard bow of Glory of the Seas, so you can see how the upper end of the bobstay chainlinks connect to 'deadeyes'. Shackles on the bowsprit originate at the base of the two outermost iron bands. I hope this helps you with this part of your build. 

[Jared]

No worries - I wasn't embarrassed at all.   I truly admire fine workmanship and appreciate your input to my log Clipperfan. Thank you.

[Jared]

Thanks George.  The figurehead was quite simple.  I simply glued the wing on using gel super glue.  I then painted a clear primer on the wings and later, white acrylic paint.

 

I was going to crimp a brass strip then drill a hole through the cramped part through which I would make a ring to attach to the bobstay chain.  However I kept breaking my drill bits and came up with the soldering approach.  It took me quite a few tries to get it right.   Working at such a small scale with vision problems is quite challenging.

[Jared]

The chain jackstays on the bowsprit have been completed and mounted as shown in the accompanying figure.   I found the rigging the lanyards between the hearts to be quite challenging, owing to the awkward underside location of the jackstays.  Required a lot of patience and steady hands to complete.

[ClipperFan]

@Jared nice second effort on getting those bobstay chainlinks tighter. They look nice. Happy 4th of July!

 

[Jared]

Thank you.   Happy July 4th.

[Vladimir_Wairoa]

On 7/3/2024 at 12:09 AM, Jared said:

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).

 

Very nice on that bow Jared. lovely. 

[Jared]

Here I have added the martindale backropes (chains) and the martindale stays, probably the most challenging part of my build so far (Photo 1).  The bowsprit shrouds (chains) were then added, producing a web of chains, hearts and brass strips when all was done (Photo 2).

 

Edited July 8 by Jared

[Jared]

Happily just completed the four  bowsprit guys.  It was slow delicate work, but easier than the chainwork because of their more accessible location.

 

The footropes were then added (Photo 3).

 

 

 

Edited July 15 by Jared

[ClipperFan]

@Jared

Nicely done. She looks real clean, neat and tidy.

[Jared]

I made the ring-shaped belay pin rack which mounts to the mizen mast from a 1.5 mm thick piece of scrap plywood to which I glued a 0.5 mm scrap of bass wood sheet.  I then traced the design with a compass on it. 

 

The holes for the belay pins were drilled on a Dremel drill press, fitted with a Proxxon X-Y table.  The ring shape of the belay rail was then filed and sanded to shape.  It was then mounted on the mizzen mast, painted and fitted with 10 belay pins.

[ClipperFan]

15 hours ago, Jared said:

I made the ring-shaped belay pin rack which mounts to the mizen mast from a 1.5 mm thick piece of scrap plywood to which I glued a 0.5 mm scrap of bass wood sheet.  I then traced the design with a compass on it. 

 

The holes for the belay pins were drilled on a Dremel drill press, fitted with a Proxxon X-Y table.  The ring shape of the belay rail was then filed and sanded to shape.  It was then mounted on the mizzen mast, painted and fitted with 10 belay pins.

@Jared

 thanks for sharing your spiderband construction process with us. Nobody would have known you incorporated brass reinforcement had you not told us.

[Jared]

1 hour ago, ClipperFan said:

@Jared

 thanks for sharing your spiderband construction process with us. Nobody would have known you incorporated brass reinforcement had you not told us.

Thanks.  To clarify this rail is all wood.  The plywood layer was quite strong on its own.  The thin basswood layer was only added to increase the thickness to 2 mm.   

 

 

[ClipperFan]

48 minutes ago, Jared said:

Thanks.  To clarify this rail is all wood.  The plywood layer was quite strong on its own.  The thin basswood layer was only added to increase the thickness to 2 mm.   

 

 

 @Jared

rereading your description, I recognized my mistake. What read to me as brass was actually basswood. For future reference, is it possible to save yourself an extra step by  considering thickness that paint adds? Just a thought.

[Rick310]

Nice job on the spider band!  Although I used a single piece of boxwood, I like your idea of using plywood overlayed with basswood.  Looks great and should have strength to prevent splitting.

Rick

[Jared]

This weekend I attacked the gin-blocks (labelled iron blocks on the model plans).  They form part of the rigging used to raise and lower the topsails on the fore, main and mizen masts.

 

A pair of gin-blocks mount on the tressel cross trees under the upper tops (on p&s sides).   This wasn't very clear from the drawings and I am thankful to George (GAK1965) for helping me understand what was needed.

 

The gin-blocks are somewhat complicated to make due to their small size and complexity.  Fortunately George presented an elegant way to make them in his FF build log (pg. 14).  The only thing I did differently was to lightly solder the brass bits together as I was having too much difficulty trying to hold everything together with superglue.  My finished gin-blocks are shown below with some on the intermediate steps.   The black paint is a great way to hide craftmanship challenges that are better not to be  shown 🙄.   

The last photo shows the gin-blocks mounted on the main mast.  Anticipating later rigging the chains through them will be tight and challenging I fed avthin steel wire through each to help me fish the chains through them later in the build.

 

 

Edited July 29 by Jared

[ClipperFan]

4 hours ago, Jared said:

This weekend I attacked the gin-blocks (labelled iron blocks on the model plans).  They form part of the rigging used to raise and lower the topsails on the fore, main and mizen masts.

 

A pair of gin-blocks mount on the tressel cross trees under the upper tops (on p&s sides).   This wasn't very clear from the drawings and I am thankful to George (GAK1965) for helping me understand what was needed.

 

The gin-blocks are somewhat complicated to make due to their small size and complexity.  Fortunately George presented an elegant way to make them in his FF build log (pg. 14).  The only thing I did differently was to lightly solder the brass bits together as I was having too much difficulty trying to hold everything together with superglue.  My finished gin-blocks are shown below with some on the intermediate steps.   The black paint is a great way to hide craftmanship challenges that are better not to be  shown 🙄.   

@Jared nice detail work on those tiny gin blocks!

[Jared]

Thanks for your encouraging feedback.   In the last 2 days I have added the spencer mast to the lower mizzen mast.   The hoops for the sails were made from a Manila file folder.  The band that holds the mizzen and Spencer masts was made with difficulty from a  brass strip which I bent and soldered.  Unfortunately the space between the spencer and mizzen masts is greater than it should be, but not much I can do about it.  Hopefully the standing rigging will hide this.

 

And speaking of standing rigging I completed the siezing of all the lower shroud line, using a rigging tool I made some years ago when I built the Morgan whaler.   The lines in the lower fore and main masts were made using 0.035" black rigging thread (not supplied in the kit).  The line on the lower mizzen is 0.028".  All lines were waxed before siezing with black sewing thread (common whipping knot).  The white line in the last photo was used to better demonstrate how the siezing knot looks.

Edited August 1 by Jared

[Jared]

Looking for some feedback as to whether to make my ratlines tan or black.   There is a long thread on this topic at: 

After reading through it all the comments I am still left wondering which way to go.  It is surprising that none of the more notable rigging books in my collection talk about the color - were the ratlines tarred or not? 

 

My thoughts are for using tan ratlines - this is how they are  on the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, which I visited and photographed two years ago.  Any thoughts?  Thanks.

[rwiederrich]

On 7/31/2024 at 7:55 PM, Jared said:

Looking for some feedback as to whether to make my ratlines tan or black.   There is a long thread on this topic at: 

After reading through it all the comments I am still left wondering which way to go.  It is surprising that none of the more notable rigging books in my collection talk about the color - were the ratlines tarred or not? 

 

My thoughts are for using tan ratlines - this is how they are  on the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, which I visited and photographed two years ago.  Any thoughts?  Thanks.

Ask yourself....it is a fact they tarred or oiled the shrouds and backstays...no issue there...so what makes the ratlines any less susceptible to weather and decay then these other structures?  When they rerigged the Constitution  several years ago, they used all black line to simulate the actual tarred line of the original rig.  Lanyards too, are part of the standing rigging...susceptible to the same elements and decay.  Though they are used to sinch up the shrouds...they are NOT part of the running rigging.  Tarr-em.

 

Cutty Sark is no longer a working ship....she is set up for tourist, and many such details have been slightly altered for maintenance purposes.

 

Rob

[Rick310]

Completely agree with Rob,  keep them black!

Rick

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  Standing rigging should be black 'for sure' (or at least a dark brown to simulate a dark oil treatment).  Note that the H.M.S. Victory is also a 'museum ship' in dry dock, and they also have tan ratlines and deadeye lacings on it ... perhaps this is the reason that there are many Victory (and other) builds 'copying' this practice, thinking that it 'must be' authentic if its on the ship today.

  As for running rigging, I prefer a 'definite' (medium) tan or light brown color, because if it is a light tan it tends to photograph as 'white' ... too much contrast.  White rigging line is 'right out'.

Edited August 2 by Snug Harbor Johnny

[Jared]

Thank to each of you for your feedback.  Black ratlines it will be.   There were suggestions in the forum I had linked to that the ratline were more lightly treated than the other standing rigging.   If left untreated I would expect thin lines to deteriorate quicker, however, they could be easily replaced as needed on the fly.

 

I am saddened to learn the rigging on the present day Cutty Sark isn't as it was historically.

[rwiederrich]

26 minutes ago, Jared said:

I am saddened to learn the rigging on the present day Cutty Sark isn't as it was historically.

Well...I wouldn't say it is not historical.  At any point in time a vessels rigging changes for various reasons......all being historical...but not necessarily historical to all points in a vessels history.

In most cases...to protect the public and to preserve and provide for adequate maintenance...some items have to be altered from their original condition.  A minor detail the general public is totally unaware of. 

 

Rob

[rwiederrich]

1 hour ago, Snug Harbor Johnny said:

  Standing rigging should be black 'for sure' (or at least a dark brown to simulate a dark oil treatment).  Note that the H.M.S. Victory is also a 'museum ship' in dry dock, and they also have tan ratlines and deadeye lacings on it ... perhaps this is the reason that there are many Victory (and other) builds 'copying' this practice, thinking that it 'must be' authentic if its on the ship today.

  As for running rigging, I prefer a 'definite' (medium) tan or light brown color, because if it is a light tan it tends to photograph as 'white' ... too much contrast.  White rigging line is 'right out'.

On a single vessel there may be a dozen different colored lines.  All dependent on the life of the line.  Newer lines are darker.....and older lines fade and become grey.  Still functionable, but discolored.

 

I try to use at least 3 colors of line on my models to represent this phenomenon.

 

Rob

[Jared]

Thanks for all the feedback.  Over the weekend I discovered Ashley's book of knots.  In this encyclopedia of nautical knots  he mentioned that the ratlines were lightly tarred.

 

Work on the model is progressing painfully slowly.   I managed to lash all of the lower formast shrouds in place. Patience is the name of the game!

 

 

 

[ClipperFan]

2 hours ago, Jared said:

Thanks for all the feedback.  Over the weekend I discovered Ashley's book of knots.  In this encyclopedia of nautical knots  he mentioned that the ratlines were lightly tarred.

 

Work on the model is progressing painfully slowly.   I managed to lash all of the lower formast shrouds in place. Patience is the name of the game!

 

 

 

@Jared the word "painstaking" comes to mind when I look at such carefully detaied work. If it helps any, this is mighty impressive work.

[Rick310]

You are making a nice start on the rigging!

Rick