HMS Leopard 1790 by Bluto - FINISHED - 1:80 - 50 gun ship - PoB

[toms10]

Hi Jim,

Really nice idea and job on the cross trees.  The overall look of the project is really coming out nice.  Someday I will start rigging but not anytime soon.  Especially at the pace I am going.  On the bright side your log is making a great reference for me.  Thanks for sharing.

Tom

[albert]

Hi Jim very nice work.

[popeye the sailor]

good to see your making progress Jim......nice work on the cross trees {one more to make, I see}.   love the view of the whole ship,  she's really looking great!  

     rigging looks super too!

[Bluto 1790]

On 5/30/2018 at 7:00 AM, popeye the sailor said:

good to see your making progress Jim......nice work on the cross trees {one more to make, I see}.  

Thanks Tom, Albert and Popeye for the comments, and to the others for the likes.

 

Popeye, the crosstrees for the foremast are already made but I haven't made the trestletrees yet and as I'm away on a week's sailing holiday in Croatia at the weekend, it'll be another couple of weeks before that job is done . . . but I have done another 6 ratlines on each side of the foremast!
 

Edited June 6, 2018 by tlevine
empty space eliminated

[Bluto 1790]

Finished the fore shrouds' ratlines  >>>

Spent a couple of nights preparing 8 futtock plates and mounting the deadeyes in them for the foremast, then did the  futtock shrouds and hooks (not sure if these hooks have a more 'nautical name'?) >>>

Then fitted them pesky little ratlines . . . the lowest one was the trickiest owing to the tight space to work in >>>

Beginning to find my way a bit with the ratlines and they don't seem just so tedious as they were with the main mast.

Got just over half way up the mizzen mast right now.  They're still 'adjustable' at present and can be slid up or down the shrouds. I'll wait until they're at the top before equalising them, trimming the tails and putting a drop of CA on each knot to finally seize them in position >>>

 

Edited in an attempt to remove the bottom picture which is a duplicate of the 3rd picture in this post - - but failed !!!

 

I have no idea how that photo got in here twice ??? - - - and can't get rid of the unwanted one !

[toms10]

Edited in an attempt to remove the bottom picture which is a duplicate of the 3rd picture in this post - - but failed !!!

 

I have no idea how that photo got in here twice ??? - - - and can't get rid of the unwanted one !

 

Hi Jim,

Don't worry about the extra picture.  You can never have to many pictures of nice things.  Great work.  As for the never ending ratlines it could be worse... a 4 masted ship!

Tom

[mtaylor]

Took care of that pesky photo link.  It must have been deleted at the source at it was just a link.

 

Good looking rats.

[Bluto 1790]

18 hours ago, toms10 said:

Hi Jim,

. . . . .  As for the never ending ratlines it could be worse... a 4 masted ship!

Tom

Thanks Tom and Mark for the comments and the others for the likes.

 

. . . and thanks Mark for editing my post!

 

Tom ~ as for it being a 4 masted ship - - you're right! . . . . .

. . . . . BUT what about this >>>>

 

>>>

 

>>

 

>

[toms10]

Jim,

That is a model for someone who dwells in Dante's unpublicized 8th circle of hell; a special one reserved for us psychotic modelers.  Maybe we will meet each other there someday along with a host of other MSW members.

Tom

[Bluto 1790]

Rigged the main topmast stay and preventer >

 

Although the above pic shows the fore topmast shrouds rigged, the main topmast stay and preventer were rigged first.

The other end of the stay and preventer >

Since the fore topmast shrouds were now in place it seemed right to rig the stay and preventer >

Somewhere in the middle of doing these stays I decided to create and fit the fairlead for the bowsprit.  The first one was done freehand and didn't turn out too well so I turned to my milling machine to do it 'properly'.

Not considering that a solid piece of wood could be strong enough at that small size, I made a piece of 3 ply from thin slices of Makore.  In the piece left over from my first attempt I drilled a 1mm hole near the centre and used that hole on which to pivot the wood while on a wooden jig attached to the travelling table on my milling machine.  The workpiece was spun around its axis while the fairlead holes were drilled. The table was then moved enough to be able to partially cut the inner curve by spinning the piece, then moved again to another position to cut the outer curve.

The following pics should explain what I did >    

and on the bowsprit >  

AND ~  ALL lower mast ratlines are finished! >

Once the topmast ratlines are done I won't be looking to be doing ratlines for a while!

This is the second post I have had to edit to say that at least one photo is out of sequence -- and I don't know why . . . AND I can't fix it !!!!!

The last photo immediately above here SHOULD be the 3rd photo in the post.

Edited August 10, 2018 by Bluto 1790

[mtaylor]

Jim,

Looking great and I like the way you made the fairlead.

 

As for the photos... upload them.  Then move the cursor to where you want the photo.   After that, go down to the photo you wish to "paste" and move the mouse down near the bottom of the image.  Two "buttons" should show up. On one side is "delete" and on the other is "add".    Hit the add.   Then scroll down to the next place for a photo and repeat.

 

I hope this helps.

[Bluto 1790]

Hi Mark, 

Thanks for your comments.

 

As for the photo issue - - - what you described is exactly what I do every time. Before I click the "Post" button I always review the entire post just to ensure that everything is where it should be as well as for spelling etc.  As I had experienced a problem with my post 2 posts ago, I was very particular with the last one and made very sure that all the photos were where they should be . . . but immediately after posting, one of them misbehaved!

Prior to these two posts I have never had a problem, although I have read in other builders' posts that they have had similar experiences.

[toms10]

Jim

Nice work. It is going to be a very nice piece when completed. I am actually spending the last day of a week long trip in Ireland. Your boat looks much nicer close up now that I am here and closer to it. 😀

Tom

[6ohiocav]

Jim,

 

The pain I share in your frustration over photo sequence is tempered by the beauty of your ship. I can't figure out how to overcome this software glitch either.

[Bluto 1790]

Finally rigged the mizzen topmast shrouds then made a start on the ratlines.  Got 9 done on the port side and about 3 on the starboard side then decided to have a break away from all that tying of knots > > >

It felt like time to have a try at creating the figurehead. The 'carvings' on the stern had been made from air drying modelling clay as I had never done any wood carving and ended up with reasonably acceptable items.

Out came the clay and made a couple of attempts at the figurehead - - - both were disasters!  The figurehead is much bigger than any of the stern carvings and it is also 'full width' and I just couldn't get that clay to work for me.

A small scrap piece of softwood (I think it was Pine) served as a 'testbed' for my first ever attempt at wood carving. I expected it would have been as much of a disaster as had been my clay attempts.  I glued the drawing of the figurehead onto the wood and roughed out the profile on the bandsaw then proceeded to try to give her the shapes she needed with a craft knife and some riffler files.

I left some wood on at the feet in order to have something to hold while I tried carving. I also cut a central groove in the excess wood so that it would sit over a dummy beakhead.  After initial carving I was surprised that it almost resembled the drawing! > > >

I made 'her' with her face looking forward - the drawing showed her face looking to starboard but I wasn't sure if that was just meant to be a representation. Also, my 'woman' didn't have a nose and at first I couldn't figure how I could ever give her a nose. I eventually drilled a 0.8mm hole and glued in a tiny piece of wood and she has now ended up with a rather pointy nose! Also, at first, she was a bit fat and I don't think she would have been very happy with that so after considerable carving and filing and sanding she now looks a bit slimmer.

Initially, the softwood carving was just meant to be an experiment and I acquired a piece of Bass wood in order to make the "real" figurehead but it turned out worse than the pine edition and it also broke in a couple of vulnerable places, so I've gone with my first one.

In the picture above the starboard Leopard can be seen crouching behind her feet.

Although these Leopards are quite tiny, as well as being only half width, I decided to carve them from the Bass wood. I glued a drawing on one side of a piece of the wood, roughed out the profile again on the bandsaw and carved both sides of the 'Leopard' on the same piece of wood > > >

(Yes -- you're right . . . nothing on that piece of wood looks like a Leopard!)

Back to the bandsaw to slice each Leopard almost off the wood > > >

(Still nothing looking like a Leopard yet!)

Maybe something resembles a Leopard now? > > >

One of the Leopards crouches somewhat inconspicuously behind the feet of the figurehead > > >

 

[toms10]

Hi Jim,

Michaelangelo has nothing on you! The figurehead is looking good.  I am a bit away from the carving stage and like you I have zero experience.  But hey, that is half the fun of this hobby.  We get introduced to all kinds of new things.  Congratulations on conquering your first carvings.

Tom

[Bluto 1790]

Thanks for your comment, Tom.

 

In my post above I said the Leopards were inconspicuous crouching there on the beakhead and I was less than happy with them.  They were almost invisible because of the colour of the basecoat I had applied, so I removed them and re-painted them with a paler base colour then 're-spotted' them.  The spots look black BUT they are dark brown.  Here's a 'before-and-after' comparison >>>

They may be a little bit pale but at least now they can be seen on the ship. (I felt they were a waste of time previously, and didn't notice how invisible they were until I looked at the photos.  They didn't appear as invisible in reality but I find that photos seem to give a false impression.)

The drawing of the figurehead appeared to show her with 'blowing-in-the-wind' fly-away hair.

I couldn't imagine how I could carve that, so I glued thin strips of black tissue paper to her head hoping to create that illusion.

Also, she has had further breast reduction work done as, although her waist was reasonable slim, above there she looked like a black-haired Dolly Parton! > > >

[toms10]

4 hours ago, Bluto 1790 said:

 

Also, she has had further breast reduction work done as, although her waist was reasonable slim, above there she looked like a black-haired Dolly Parton! > > >



I didn't want to say anything.  Didn't want to risk bring the discussion down the gutter and getting a warning.   The cats look much better with the lighter color.

Tom

[Louie da fly]

They're obviously snow leopards, just emerging from winter . . . 

 

Steven

 

PS: In heraldry a "leopard" has no spots - in fact the name leopard denotes a lion(!) passant gardant (walking past in profile, but looking at the viewer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopard_(heraldry) 

Edited October 3, 2018 by Louie da fly

[Bluto 1790]

On ‎10‎/‎2‎/‎2018 at 1:06 PM, Louie da fly said:

They're obviously snow leopards, just emerging from winter . . . 

 

Steven

 

PS: In heraldry a "leopard" has no spots - in fact the name leopard denotes a lion(!) passant gardant (walking past in profile, but looking at the viewer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopard_(heraldry) 

Hi Steven ~ I'll take 'Snow Leopard' !

 

As for the spots (or lack thereof) - - - the drawing is somewhat vague, although it hints at a few spots as there are a few shown there >>>

When I look at that enlarged pic above, it does appear that the face is meant to be looking to the side rather than straight ahead.

(The actual size of the cat on the drawing is only about 12mm, or about a quarter of the size of the above as I view it on my laptop monitor.) 

Apart from the natural colours of the wood and the black parts of the ship, the only colour I have used is on the figurehead so I think I'll just carry on with the 'Snow Leopard' colours . . . maybe I should re-name the ship HMS Snow Leopard ???  !!!

 

[popeye the sailor]

looks good  Jim  

[Louie da fly]

Well, those are what heraldry would call a leopard "proper" (in its own natural colours), and a blazon (heraldic description) would certainly take the trouble to point out that it was a real leopard rather than a "leopard".

 

Carving hair to look natural is an absolute bugger. Generally most carvings of people tend to oversimplify its features and curls etc, even when, as shown below, the thing is enormous (designed to be seen from quite a distance). 

 

I've done a little at 1:50, but when the scale gets down to 1:80 as you're doing, it becomes almost impossible. Generally, at that size the finer detail becomes pretty hard to see with the naked eye anyway. Looking good.

 

Steven

 

[Beef Wellington]

Hi Jim, just a thought, I wonder if you were to go with the 'yellower' initial colour, it would fit in better to my eye.  You could try doing the spots in relief with a drill bit, and highlighting with a slightly darker colour which I think would be a little subtler.  All artistic opinion of course.  Looks great in any event.

Edited October 5, 2018 by Beef Wellington

[Louie da fly]

If he's lying down rather than sitting on his haunches, the leopard would be described in heraldry as "couchant" - if he was looking at you, rather than straight ahead, he's "gardant". So he'd be "a leopard proper couchant gardant".

 

Steven

[Bluto 1790]

Nine months have passed since my previous posting . . . and Leopard has had nothing done to her in most of that time.  After my time with the figurehead I made another attempt to get some more ratlines done and by the time I had one side of the mizzen topmast done I was once again 'ratlined-out'  (My doctor says I have 'ratlinitis ad nauseum' -- I hope it's curable!)

A couple of weeks ago I finished the other side and then finished both sides of the main topmast ratlines. 

The foremast still awaits its topmast ratlines, but it was time to divert to something less brain numbing.

I turned the main yard (along with its studdingsail yards), the fore course yard and the mizzen topmast & topgallant yards.

Here are the main & fore yards >>>

The main yard is close to being ready for assembly with the studsail yards and irons done, the truss pendants and the yard jeer blocks fitted and the sling still to be properly attached.  (The fore yard is still just as seen above).   Because of their length, the 2 above yards won't be fitted to the ship just yet as they would make it very wide and very vulnerable to clumsy shipyard workers!

Presently, the ship is kept up on top of the fridge/freezer in the kitchen and there is only about an inch (25mm) of headroom above the main topmast and the ceiling so as yet there are no topgallant/royal masts fitted.  (My wife won't let me cut a hole in the ceiling!)  So, although the mizzen topgallant yard is ready for fitting there's no mast there to which to attach it.   I have now fitted the miz. topmast yard. >>>

Right about now is when I felt I had to make modifications to the belaying system on the poop deck around the mizzen mast.   There is a woefully inadequate amount of belaying points in this part of the ship.   The deck plan shows only 7 pins on the rail behind the mast with NO BELAYING POINTS anywhere else on the poop deck.  So, being the master of my own ship here, I decided to over-rule the ship's architect and have added a pinrail of 5 pins each on both sides of the deck >>>

 

The "official" pins on the rail at the mast are already almost fully populated with the crossjack truss pendant and lifts, the peak and throat halliards and the spanker boom topping lift - - AND - when their turn comes, I'll have to find a home for the main topsail and topgallant braces somewhere on the poop deck.

(As yet, I haven't discovered what else might need to be belayed to a point on the poop deck.)

As the taffrail is already a bit busy with the vangs and boom guy pendants I didn't want to belay any more lines there, so the mizzen topsail braces have been belayed to the aftmost pins on each of the 'new' pinrails I have fitted on the deck.

 

I have sent a memo (emails didn't exist in 1790) to the ship's architect advising him of the modifications.

Edited July 10, 2019 by Bluto 1790

[ccoyle]

33 minutes ago, Bluto 1790 said:

and Leopard has had nothing done to her in most of that time

But she still looks great!

[toms10]

3 hours ago, Bluto 1790 said:

Right about now is when I felt I had to make modifications to the belaying system on the poop deck around the mizzen mast.   There is a woefully inadequate amount of belaying points in this part of the ship.   The deck plan shows only 7 pins on the rail behind the mast with NO BELAYING POINTS anywhere else on the poop deck.  So, being the master of my own ship here, I decided to over-rule the ship's architect and have added a pinrail of 5 pins each on both sides of the deck >>>

Hi Jim,

Glad to see you are back at it.  The model is really looking good.  I to wondered where all the lines were going to be belayed.  There just doesn't seem to be enough belaying pins on the drawings.  I like the extra pin racks on the poop deck.  That deck is relatively bare and so makes sense to add some there.  I am sure I will be doing something similar when I get to that point.  Keep up the good work and if the Admiral won't let you cut a hole in the ceiling above the refrigerator then maybe you can just get a shorter one!

 

Tom

[Bluto 1790]

Those fore topmast shrouds are still looking for someone to complete the ratlines. (Actually, today I fitted 5 on the port side.)

 

The mizzen topgallant/royal mast has been ready for several months but due to lack of headroom at the ship's storage place it hasn't been fitted yet.  Since my last post I wanted to get the main and fore topgallant/royals made. I started on the main and after 2 failures finally got that one turned.  Here are the first 2 failures along with the 3rd one which survived the lathe >>>

It's very frustrating spending 30 minutes being ultra careful with these very thin lengths of wood only to see them breaking!

My first attempt at the fore t'gallant/royal also ended the same as the first two above.  I was so annoyed and just couldn't face beginning again so I tried to salvage the lower section by flattening it off at its 'cap' and trying to drill a 2mm hole/mortice down the centre to hopefully accept a 2mm tenon on the bottom of the royal mast.  I don't know if, in reality, these masts were made separately and joined by means of a mortice and tenon joint, or if they were made as one mast???  In any case I thought I'd give the 2 part mast a try. Turning the 2mm tenon wasn't a problem - - - drilling a 2mm hole EXACTLY in the centre was potentially going to be the problem.  I don't have a 'clever tool' or device for centre drilling in a round rod that is only 4mm in diameter so it had to be done by eye . . . and I would only have one chance to get it right.  >>>

Finally, the happy trio >>>

It's probably more than 2 years since I made the bumpkins for the forepeak but have kept them off the ship until now >>>

. . . and I rigged the starboard cat tackle (the port side has been there for a while) and hung some nuts and bolts on them trying to get them to hang more naturally >>>

The first of the mizzen and main topmast backstays are also now rigged ( I WILL get back to these ratlines one day!) >>>

Couldn't go to all that trouble turning the topgallant/royals with seeing how they look on the ship.

(It IS a tall ship now . . . or it will be once these masts are fitted permanently) >>>

 

[toms10]

Jim

progress looks great. I feel your pain regarding wiring on something for a while only to have it break near the end. Hope you hit the lottery so you can hire someone to finish up the rat lines. You will probably need most of the lottery winnings to pay the person. I am sure they don’t come cheap!😁

Tom

[Beef Wellington]

Definitely NOT the horrible Old Leopard!  Your solution on the upper masts with the tenon worked out very well it seems.  Great work Jim, love the full hull shots.