HMS Snake by jim_smits - Caldercraft - First Build

[Craigie65]

Lovely job

[drtrap]

Great work !!

[Beef Wellington]

Looking great Jim.

[jim_smits]

Been a little while since the last update.

 

Busy with all sorts (including Ballahoo!) but I have my partner moving in currently so the house is a huge state of flux at the moment.

 

Finally got round to removing the main and fore stays for refitting. Used the serving machine in anger for the first time, and after a little playing around got the technique sorted in my head. Made an estimate of 15cm of line to be served to give the loop around the mast, the mouse and a little further down the stay. Made the mouse in the end by simply serving back and forth over a 1cm length of line favouring one end to give the correct shape. A couple of dabs of GS Hypo to secure and sorted.

 

Added the heart blocks to end of the stay, and many thanks to Gil Middletons build, with a false splice. The technique takes a little while but gives a really good tidy result. Almost want to redo all my shrouds, almost.....!

 

Added the lanyards between the two heart blocks and frapped. This looks far better than my old lanyards.

 

Only three more to go....

 

The last photo shows the improved splice for the upper heart block and the old method for the lower. Should have replaced the lower before frapping but I think I can replace in situ.

Edited March 14, 2014 by jim_smits

[jim_smits]

Also feeling slightly smug as I've just picked up a 1st edition copy of James Lees - Masting and Rigging English Ships of War for £8.50 from eBay.

Edited March 14, 2014 by jim_smits

[Beef Wellington]

Hi Jim, very nice shots.  I followed the Petersson approach around the hearts and seized them - if I can justifiably go with seizing I'll take it every time   You should have no worries about me catching you up

[jim_smits]

Hi,

 

The fore and main mast stays have now been fully refitted and lanyards added and frapped. Glad I made the decision to go back and redo all of these. The tension in the stays is far better and the frapped lanyards look much nicer than my original attempt.

 

Now working on the backstays for the foremast.....

 

 

[drtrap]

I'm glad in seeing the whole restoration Jim.

Keep in touch! 

[jim_smits]

I'm officially awarding myself 'Muppet of the Week'.....!

 

Busy adding backstays to the fore top mast. Had gone through the process of seizing a loop around the mast, and spent a while tying a series of half hitches to perform the seizing. Just need to trim off the short length of thread forming the back stay to leave the seizing and the main length of stay. However, like a halfwit I proceeded to snip the wrong thread and chopped of the long length of the actual back stay itself. DOH!

 

Cue muttering and slightly blue self depreciation.

 

Whilst I only lost 10 minutes of actual work, it was the sheer basic stupidity of the error that stood out.....

[egkb]

I have all of that sorta stuff to look forward to Jim..

 

All The Best

 

Eamonn

btw Those Fore/Main Stays look the business though !

[jim_smits]

I am now finally back ahead of where I was before the great disaster of 2013....!

 

Spent a while last night drilling out the centre of my mounting pedestals and corresponding holes in my mounting board. Two guide holes through the keel of the ship, and a couple of long screws were fed through the bottom of the base, up through the pillars and into the keel of the ship. It is all nice and solidly mounted.

 

 

Progress made on backstays for the fore top mast. There are three on each side, each of which is slightly different. Finished the three on starboard side. Just need to finish one final backstay on the port and then it is on to the main mast.

 

 

Outboard view of the backstays showing the three different types.

 

 

Inboard view showing the belaying of two of the backstays. Eventually, I will add coils to each of the belaying points to finish.

[egkb]

Glad to see you back (and indeed ahead) of where you were before the bowling ball 'Cat'astrophe !

Snake looks amazing.. she is really coming along, I know most people hate rigging but it is the thing that always seems to bring a ship alive.

 

I've always liked those pedestal type stands, they seem to look very 'clean', much less fussy than the standard support that comes with kits.

 

All The Very Best Mate.

 

Eamonn

[Beef Wellington]

Thanks for the great detailed photos Jim, stand (and all) looks fantastic.  Hope mine turn out as good.  Very basic question, did you just belay the lines to the pins or tie with some kind of knot?

[jim_smits]

Hi Jason,

 

The lines are belayed at least twice round the pin and then fixed with some GS-Hypo, no other knots required. Once you've belayed twice the line should lock itself in with just some slack at the loose end. I normally weight down with a croc clip whilst i glue.

[texxn5]

Looks good Jim. Gives me some ideas. Good to see you back.

[jim_smits]

Work is continuing at a good pace on the back and mainstays and I think I have the end of the standing rigging in sight! Just a couple more backstays for the top masts to complete and then I need to fit the two top gallant masts. I already have the main top gallant prepared, I will just need to repeat for the fore top gallant. After that, add in a pair of backstays for each and the main stay.

 

I'll update with photos once complete. Hopefully with a bit of hard work, this will be done by the weekend.

 

Then it's onto the crazy fun of working out all of the running rigging diagrams..........

[jim_smits]

I'm looking at installing the main topmast stay and preventer stay. I am however stumped by the plans lack of detail in regards to the belaying point for the tackle.

 

 

The tackle pictured is attached to the stay at the sister block (N), and to the deck at block (J) using one of the deck eyelets. The missing detail is where the line that is passed through the tackle is belayed to. The belaying plan as below shows what is belayed to where. By process of elimination, non of the numbered pins or points are matched to the stays.

 

 

Would the line be belayed to the mast cleats pictured on the plan? Or somewhere else?

[Beef Wellington]

I've been staring at the same thing as well Jim.  The pins are taken up, so I think it would be appropriate to secure around the fore mast pin rail itself between the pins.  Would be done in the same way as the lines in the above picture for 23, 7 & 26 attaching to the forebits which don't have any pins either (not quite sure how those will work exactly!).  Petersson seems to reflect this also on page 17 of his book.

Edited April 3, 2014 by Beef Wellington

[jim_smits]

I've had a stab at it and got the first of the two stays rigged in place. I have gone with the option of belaying the line to one of the spare mast cleats for the time being. As far as I can see the plans show ( and I have constructed) a mast with five cleats in place, with only two of these indicated as required by the rigging plans.

 

I'll get the other stay completed tonight or tomorrow and follow up with some images.

 

Also completed the fore mast top gallant, so will fix this and the main mast top gallant in place and rig the back stays. Another query is thrown up here and that is the fore mast top gallant stay which is shown to be tied to the top gallant and then passes through a block at the end of the jiboom. However, the plans are about as clear as a pile of mud when it come to the end of this line. It sort of appears to show a mouse (and therefore loop) around the fore mast stay heart block on the bowsprit. Doesnt really make sense to me. Any ideas?

 

Other methods for rigging the fore top gallant stay show the line attached to the jibbom and passing through the top gallant and then belayed via a set of blocks to one of the fore mast channels. This seems at odds with Snake plans as there would aleady be a pair of back stays rigged in place.

[Beef Wellington]

Jim - I can only offer humble opinions based on my reading of sources.  I think the Snake plans are deficient in a number of ways for the standing rigging, the key theme throughout is that the minor standing rigging is shown as having standing lines terminating without any means of  adjustment (either with a blocks or simple thimbles and lashing).  I'm sure thats to simplify the rigging which seems reasonable, but then I do think this could shown more clearly.  Can't remember if you have Petersson, but if you do look at page 61.  The stay would go through the block as you describe and with a thimble, this can then be secured to a thimble attached to the collars of the forestay hearts with a simple lashing.  Thats at least is how I was planning to do it.

Edited April 5, 2014 by Beef Wellington

[jim_smits]

Cheers Jason

 

Yes I have got Petersson, so I'll have another look at that tonight....!

Edited April 4, 2014 by jim_smits

[mort stoll]

I was thinking of attaching it to one of the mast cleats.

 

Mort

[jim_smits]

Good building session today and over the last week; I have now completed all of the standing rigging as per the plans and this feels like another big step towards completion.

 

Completed the Main Topstay and preventer stay after deciding to belay to two of the spare mast cleats. It was a touch tricky to complete the rigging of the sister block and single block, as I needed to hook the single blocks to the deck eyelets that were between the foremast and pinrail.

 

 

 

Also completed the top gallant fore stay, and thanks to Jason, by use of a pair of thimbles to rig the end to one of the forestay heart blocks.

 

 

The ship really does start to come alive with all of the extra rigging in place.

 

 

 

Need to check all of the running rigging plans and add any remaining blocks required to the masts. Next main steps will be to put together all of the spars. Change of pace first perhaps, and to complete the second planking of the Ballahoo kit.

[Beef Wellington]

Nicely done Jim.

[Beef Wellington]

Jim - backing up a little to the question of main topstay and preventer stay.  I believe that the foreyard and mainyard will need to have two trusses rigged, these also go through blocks and need to be secured to 2 mast cleats (these are not numbered on the plans, which suggest that the mast cleats are not needed when in fact they are) - take a look at the lower right diagram on sheet 5.  Just wanted to pass this on as this may affect your thinking on where to secure the stays.

[jim_smits]

Hi Jason,

 

Thanks for the heads up. Had a double check of the plans and on mine it shows the fore and main yard trusses will be belayed to points 8 and 9 respectively on the belaying plan. Both 8 and 9 correspond to mast cleats as you say but I had allowed for this and left the foremast pair of cleats clear on my build when rigging up the main stays.

 

Are the mast cleats not numbered on your plans?

Edited April 11, 2014 by jim_smits

[jim_smits]

In fact Jason - See the image of the belaying plan above.

 

The fore yard trusses will be belayed to cleats marked point 8 on the plan. I have belayed the stays to the cleats just behind them.

[Beef Wellington]

Jim - You're absolutely correct - the area marked on my plans showing the trusses is a not printed too well and I couldn't make out the 8 & 9, now I know what to look for that they are definitely marked there!  Cheers mate.

[drtrap]

Hi Jim

I'm trying to "study" the photos related to your No 142 post but can't see anything. Have u changed their format or that's a technical error?

Thanks

 

Stergios

 

By the way, about the anchor rope a question, what kind and size of line did you use? 

[jim_smits]

Hi Stergios,

 

I've fixed the missing pictures in that series of posts.

 

As for the anchor rope, I used a 2mm rope ought from Cornwall Model Boats, cant remember the make though.

 

Jim