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

[Bluto 1790]

Thanks for your comments Tom and Jason and the others for the likes.

 

The last of 1,892 ratline knots has now been tied!

(After the tedium endured tying them all I felt it was worth a couple of minutes to count them.)

They're all in this photo if you care to count them >>>

The above photo also reveals that all 3 topgallant/royal masts are now permanently in position.

With the exception of the mizzen royal stay and backstays, the mizzen is now virtually complete >>>

The braces for the topmast and topgallant yards are shown as being belayed to the taffrail but I felt that was going to be too crowded together with the lines that are already made off there, so I made a change to their tying off points.

The topgallant braces are routed like this >>>

. . . and the topsail braces like this >>>

Main royal stay and backstays, and fore topgallant and royal backstays still to be fitted then attention will be focussed on finishing the bowsprit and turning and preparing the remainder of the yards for fitting.

Foredeck and quarter deck cannons still to fitted and some work on the ship's anchors also await. 

 

[Bluto 1790]

Especially since I started the rigging, when big 'sticks' started sprouting upwards and in all other directions, I've tried to be as "unclumsy" as possible and although there have been a few times spars and rigging threads and other things have been caught by my hand or whatever, they have all survived the experience - - - until now.

 

I managed to clunk the starboard bumpkin - - - and >>>

I attempted to save it by applying a little PVA glue and holding it in position by using a thread looped through the block which was clamped on to the mast top. I wasn't very confident it would work, and my lack of faith was justified when, the next morning it looked like this >>>

I wasn't keen to rip it off to start again as it's glued and dowelled into the knighthead and also glued and nailed via a metal bracket on to the head timbers so I drilled a 1mm hole as close as I could in the centres of both parts of the casualty and inserted a 1mm brass wire, then glued the two pieces together again >>

. . . and (hopefully) back to normal (it feels at least as firm as the original) >>>

[toms10]

On 8/6/2019 at 7:34 AM, Bluto 1790 said:

Thanks for your comments Tom and Jason and the others for the likes.

 

The last of 1,892 ratline knots has now been tied!

(After the tedium endured tying them all I felt it was worth a couple of minutes to count them.)

 

Hi Jim,

Are you sure about the number of knots?  I think you might have miscounted.  You should count them again. 😉  Looks great.  Bummer about the bumpkin but it looks like a great fix.  Nobody will be the wiser.

Tom

[mtaylor]

Nice work on the repair.  

[Bluto 1790]

 

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

11 hours ago, toms10 said:

 

Hi Jim,

Are you sure about the number of knots?  I think you might have miscounted.  You should count them again. 😉 

Tom

Tom ~ I'm on to you! . . . I know your game - - - you want me to count them again hoping I'll come up with a lower figure coz you've still got to start your ratlines !!!

[Bluto 1790]

Some 3 weeks since my last posting and if the ship doesn't look much different it's not because there has been no work done -- quite the opposite.

Several deadeyes and blocks have been fitted all around the ship and I discovered one thing that should have been done much earlier.

Well, four things --- the blocks for the main and fore nave lines as well as the blocks for the main and fore topgallant halliards.   When I had prepared the mizzen lower top I had fitted the block (and lines) for the topgallant halliard before fitting the top to the mast.

I should have done the same for the main and fore . . . but didn't.  More seriously, because there is no nave line on the mizzen it had escaped my attention that these should have been fitted to the main and fore tops BEFORE the tops were fitted to the masts.

If anyone reading this is like me, and has never before reached this stage of a build, you might want to learn from this little oversight of mine. It might appear "little" but it didn't feel little when I was in the middle of trying to fit these pesky blocks to the underside of the tops with all the shrouds and backstays in place!  That was one very tricky and awkward task I wouldn't want again.

Just one pic with all the backstays now rigged >>>

The two clamps hanging there are clipped on to the main and fore topgallant halliards to prevent them from escaping back through the mast sheaves before the spars are ready to be attached.

All spars/yards with the exception of two stunsail yards and the spritsail and spritsail topsail yards have been turned. Some work still to be done to most of the yards before they make this ship look like a real ship.

The main yard is now finished >>>

That main yard is presently in a "safe box" as, it being more than half of the length of the hull (taffrail to beakhead) it would present a very big target for potential damage so it won't be meeting the main mast until the ship is almost complete.

[toms10]

Hi Jim,

It must have been quite an adventure tying those blocks.  Creative vocabulary would have been used if it was me!  At least it is behind you.  She is coming along very nicely.

Tom

[Bluto 1790]

9 hours ago, toms10 said:

Hi Jim,

It must have been quite an adventure tying those blocks.  Creative vocabulary would have been used if it was me!  At least it is behind you.  

Tom

Hi Tom,

I may have made some very expressive utterances during that "fun exercise" !!!

[Peter Cane]

I have just read through your entire build log.

You must be very proud of your accomplishments.

My....you had some staying power!

She is a handsome ship I will say.

Loved the use of garlic netting too! Also other  Genius tips.

I do not think you should continue to doubt your skills after that little lot.

Hat off to you Sir.

Beautiful detailed model.

The works!

Thanks for sharing that.

Pete

[Bluto 1790]

Thanks for your comment, Pete and the others for the likes.

 

I've not posted anything for around 5 weeks but I've been busy finalising the yards for rigging to the masts and bowsprit/jib boom/flying jib boom.

 

These 4 yards for the main and fore masts sure take some time to get ready with all the irons, stunsail yards, blocks, footropes etc. etc. etc. . . . !

I think it took me the best part of a week of evenings just to prepare the main yard . . . then there were all the others to tackle.

 

All of that would be OK if I hadn't had another mishap.  After all the masts were fully rigged and the fore had its topgallant yard rigged, my shirt cuff caught the foremast truck . . . and another sickening C-R-A-C-K.

It didn't snap off but ended up like this >>>

This happened around 3 weeks ago and I can only see two options -- 1) destroy the backstays, T/gallant shrouds, the T/gallant/Royal mast itself along with everything attached to it and create a new one then rebuild it all --- I REALLY don't want to have to do this.  Or 2) rely on the Royal forestay which runs to the forward end of the flying jib boom to pull the 'bend' out of the Royal, and hope that would hold it securely until the ship goes into a case.

 

In any case I've been working to get those very long, sharp, thin booms fitted to the bowsprit so that I can test my hoped-for remedy of stabilising it with the forestay.   I'm about a couple of days away from completing the jib boom/flying jib boom.  I hope to be back posting here and not on Ebay trying to sell an almost complete HMS Leopard !!!

[GrandpaPhil]

I can’t “like” that.  

That’s always rough when something breaks like that.

 

Just hang in there.  At least a top royal and top gallant mast isn’t too hard to remake if absolutely necessary.

 

Your Leopard looks awesome.  I’m looking forward to seeing progress.

[toms10]

Hi Jim

my take away from this is always wear a short sleeve short when modeling. 😜. Hang in there, we have all broken a thing or two even on purpose sometimes. Hopefully you don’t end up with too much to redo. You are not ready to abandon ship yet. It is coming along very fine. 

Tom

[Bluto 1790]

22 hours ago, GrandpaPhil said:

I can’t “like” that.  

That’s always rough when something breaks like that.

 

Just hang in there.  At least a top royal and top gallant mast isn’t too hard to remake if absolutely necessary.

 

Your Leopard looks awesome.  I’m looking forward to seeing progress.

Thanks for your comment Phil ~ I can't like that posting either . . . it must be my most unliked post!

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18 hours ago, toms10 said:

Hi Jim

my take away from this is always wear a short sleeve short when modeling. 😜. Hang in there, we have all broken a thing or two even on purpose sometimes. Hopefully you don’t end up with too much to redo. You are not ready to abandon ship yet. It is coming along very fine. 

Tom

Hi Tom, thanks for your comment.  I was only kiddin' about Ebay! - - - after all that time and effort there's no way I'll be abandoning the build!

 

I beavered away at it a bit today and now as well as being full height, it is also full length as I got the jib boom and flying jib boom attached. 

It was a bit of a double-edged sword as, while I wanted to get that done, in view of my recent mishaps, I've also been a bit reluctant to make the ship even more of a target!

In any case I've now attached the fore Royal stay and as I hoped, it has pulled the mast back into perpendicular.  I've still to attach the martingale and rig its stays so I hope that will further help to stabilise everything.  >>>

The spritsail and spritsail topmast yards had already been prepared and waiting to be fitted so I took the chance to fit them before rigging the fore royal stay.

The spritsail yard requires 2 thimbles mounted atop the yard on each side and for these I used 4 copper eyelets >>>

The spritsail yard was fairly straightforward to fit to the bowsprit but the topsail yard looked like it may have been a bit more tricky.  So, I fitted it to the jib boom before fitting the jib boom to the bowsprit. >>>

I had overlooked the fitting of 2 blocks - 1 on either side of centre, and these proved rather tricky to fit when the topsail yard was already in position.

Also, in the picture above, the jib traveller (ring) looks oversize there, but it needs to be that size as it has to run along the jib boom AND the flying jib boom.

Once I saw these 2 yards on the ship I just had to continue to add some of their rigging >>>

For anyone building, or thinking of building HMS Leopard (Hello Tom) from the same plans as I have, the plan(s) show no belaying points along the fiferail and although I added 4 on each side of center (8 in total) I've had to use several of the timberheads as belaying points as well.

So far I've estimated that I'll need at least 14 tying-off points so it might be a decent idea to add as many pins as can be squeezed in along the fiferail.

[GrandpaPhil]

Nice recovery!

 

Looking good!

[toms10]

Jim

The repair looks fantastic. Thanks for the heads up on the belaying pins. I am starting to study these and other rigging plans for the bow sprit as I am thinking that will be the next section I will be working on.  Lot of stuff going on in a small area. Your model is really looking good with the evolving rigging. 

Tom

[Bluto 1790]

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

 

Just a quick visit here to amend the number of lines/stays that need to find a home along the fiferail:-

 

First, the fore topmast stay and preventer have been there for a while -- that's 2.

The spritsail and topmast yard halliards -- that's another 2.

The spritsail topmast yard lifts --  another 2.

The spritsail yard lifts combined with the topsail cluelines and sheets -- another 4 (2 each side).

The jib boom & flying jib boom guys -- a further 4.

The jib stay & flying jib stay outhauls -- add 2,

and jib stay & flying jib stay inhauls -- another 2.

 

Assuming that I haven't forgotten or not yet discovered any more, that makes 18 lines needing belayed up front --- and that's without having any sails rigged!

 

Edited just to add that while routing all these lines I tried to be as practical as possible and keep them out of the line of fire of the 2 bow chaser guns, the starboard gun being already in position.  I know that no-one is ACTUALLY going to fire any of these guns! - - - but it would have annoyed me if any of these lines had been in 'line of fire'!

 

Edited October 2, 2019 by Bluto 1790

[mtbediz]

Beautiful ship and very good work. Congratulations.

[Bluto 1790]

Thanks for your comment, Mustafa.

 

'Front end' rigging all done now. Martingale fitted and also rigged.

That vertical 'stick' above the martingale isn't the bowsprit flagstaff, it's just a cocktail stick inserted where the flagstaff will eventually live.

I then fitted the main topsail yard >>>

Although the remaining 3 yards are 'ready and waiting' I've held off fitting them for now as there are a few other tasks that now need attention.

Among the other tasks are the anchors. The 2 smaller anchors were a bit of a disappointment when they arrived.  They only consisted of the basic undrilled anchor and the 2 pieces that make the stock. No flukes or metal to create the ring were included.

 The above picture also shows the flukes that I had to make. As I had no brass of the correct thickness I cut these flukes from 1mm thick maple that I had previously used for other tasks. I epoxied them on to the anchors. It didn't matter that they were wood as it all ends up black.

[toms10]

Hi Jim

“That vertical 'stick' above the martingale isn't the bowsprit flagstaff, it's just a cocktail stick inserted where the flagstaff will eventually live.”

 

Cocktails are very important. Oh, I meant cocktail sticks. 🍸😁. Nice job on the bow rigging and anchors. Your model is turning out quite nicely. 

 

Tom 

[Bluto 1790]

Thanks Tom for the comment and the others for the likes, and I feel it will be cocktail time quite soon!

 

I decided to press on with getting the yards on the masts ~ it's got to get done sooner or later, so now was the time.

 

I had already decided I would work from stern to stem and as the main topsail yard was already present the main yard was next. This was my first adventure at fitting a yard with a nave line, two truss pendants, and two jeers.

I began by  pushing the sling up through the hole in the top and holding it there by means of a clamp, suspending the yard roughly in position while I made attempts at getting the pendants reeved through their respective eyelets in the nave line and their opposite pendant. I expected to be there a while, perhaps uttering foreign sounding words as I struggled to get the lines where they were meant to go, but I was surprised that I got the job done in fairly quick time with few "misses".

Then it was the turn of the jeers. A photo in my previous post above shows the upper jeer blocks lying above the top. I had deliberately placed them there as I imagined that reeving the jeer lines there would be much easier than trying to reeve them through the blocks if they were underneath the top so that's how I did the lines. It was a bit tricky but I managed to get that job done without too much trauma. When I pulled the upper blocks down below the top, the lines were twisted and I had to unpick the lines and do it all over again ~ this time with the blocks in their proper position -- under the top. It was a bit challenging, but not nearly as difficult as I had previously feared it might have been - - - and at least this time I could see that the lines weren't going to be twisted.

I made off the pendants, the nave line, the jeers and the lifts but left the braces off as there were still a few lines to be belayed behind the main mast and with the shrouds and backstays I didn't want to clutter up that area any more with the main braces.

I moved to the foremast and rigged the topsail yard which was, if anything a little more involving and challenging that had been the main topsail yard as everything is a little tighter around the working areas of the fore mast.

Then the fore (course) yard. Well, if I thought the main yard had been challenging, I was about to discover a new meaning of the word "challenging".

There were significantly more lines going down the lubber hole in the fore lower top and everything was much tighter than I had found in the same area of the main.

On this occasion there were definitely some foreign sounding words uttered and some spells away from the ship in the knowledge that it "would be easier when I returned"!  It took more than a happy amount of attempts to get them pesky pendants reeved through the eyelets they were supposed to go through while trying to ensure that they went down the correct side of the multitude of lines already going down in the same tight space. The jeers were equally frustrating, mainly due to the significantly reduced workspace but perseverance eventually paid off.

All lines for the fore topsail and course yards have been made off.

 . . . and last night, Saturday 26th October 2019 was definitely a major milestone in this ship's build as the final two rigging lines were belayed!

The main braces had the honour of completing the rigging! . . . unless I've overlooked something ???   

In the photo above the fore course lifts and braces still had to be done. (They have now been made off.)

That port side bower anchor was just placed in position 'to see how it looked'. That anchor rode won't be the one I will use as it's looks like it's straight from the laundry! I'll want the cables to look like they've been to the seabed!

Still have work to do on all the anchors, finish a few carvings at the stern, fit the bowsprit jackstaff, turn and fit the main lower stunsail yards that lay along the main channels - - - and somehow figure out how I;m going to make two somethings that will pass for stern lanterns.

And I'm sure there will be a few other things that I'm not remembering right now . . . . .

 

[toms10]

Well done Jim.  I am definitely going to use your log photos to help guide me through my rigging.  You must be getting excited, you are definitely entering the home stretch.  The proverbial light at the end of the tunnel is starting to flicker.

Tom

[Bluto 1790]

12 hours ago, toms10 said:

Well done Jim.  I am definitely going to use your log photos to help guide me through my rigging.

Tom

Hi Tom,

I suspect you're working from the same plans as I have and you've probably also got Petersen's rigging book?

As you know, the plans won't help you much with the rigging but the book was invaluable to me, although it's for a frigate and I still had to be a bit inventive with some belaying points as well as the routes some of the lines took to get 'home'.

The poop deck behind the mizzen mast is woefully short of pins and I added 5 cleats to the mast as well as 2 pinrails each with 5 pins as you saw in an earlier post of mine.

The quarterdeck behind the main is fairly well supplied with pins (according to the plans) but I also added 4 cleats to the mast down behind the jeer bitts although only 2 of them have been used.

On the foredeck the plans only show the pinrails immediately ahead and abaft the foremast. I added 4 pins on each side of the belfry (8 in total) along the forecastle rail and all these pins are populated with lines.

I also added 4 cleats to the foremast.

Along the fiferail, again no pins shown on the plans but I added 8 (4 on each side) and these, along with all the timberheads there, are all fully subscribed, in fact I had to lead the 2 jib & flying jib inhaul lines back to the pinrail ahead of the mast.

In addition to the above, I had to 're-invent the wheel' with the route and final positions of a few lines that I just couldn't get 'to fit' Petersen's rigging guide. 

 

[toms10]

You are correct about the plans and rigging book. Sounds like I will be doing the same with adding cleats and pins all over the place. The good thing is there really is no right or wrong way to rig the lines as long as the are orderly and make sense. Adding the cleats to the masts was a good idea I had not thought of. 
Tom

[Bluto 1790]

Hi Tom,

Just jumping in here to mention one other 'adjustment' I made to the rigging.

A while back I noticed that a straight line from the main yard back to the snatch block for the main brace was going to collide with the aft end of the hammock cranes on the poop deck so I added an extra block on the outboard end of the taffrail at each side to ease the route of the main braces. See the photo. >>>

[Bluto 1790]

Although it's a few weeks since the last of the rigging was done, Leopard's keel is still not about to rest on its proper base yet.

There have been several small peripheral jobs to be done and although they're 'small', they're 'big' in terms of the time it is taking to get them done!

Finally have the anchors prepared and ready. One particular item (well, two of the same) that has been particularly challenging to rig has been the anchor buoys. They have been equally as challenging and frustrating as any other aspect of the rigging on the entire ship - - - but they're done now . . . YAY!

Creating the basic buoys was fairly easy . . . their rigging was something else >>>

The plans I have show nothing of how the anchors were stowed and my knowledge of this is limited to what I have seen of other modellers stowage of their anchors. There appears to be no 'standard' method of stowing and lashing anchors so I have done what fits best around and along the fore channels on both sides.

A couple of blocks are mounted in 'stand-off' metal brackets and are attached, one each side, to the hull between the main and mizzen masts. I'm sure they'll have a proper nautical name but I don't know what it is. I believe these blocks are used in the running rigging and are associated with the fore course sail. Here's the one on the starboard side >>>

The main lower stunsail yards were a welcome uncomplicated venture for a change! Here's the starboard side >>>

Up to this point (after 9 years) this ship has had no real identity. It was time to change that. I really wanted to create the lettering myself . . . and I DID try, but when I tried to cut these tiny 5mm letters out the results were pretty appalling. When you see them you'll understand why they weren't going near the ship! 

I opted to buy a sheet of self adhesive vinyl letters >>> 

The rudder was a project I made several years back and it's been in 'the box' since. With its pendants >>>

A small detail, but there are so many of them are the coils for looping over the belaying pins . . . AND they're very frustrating trying to get them looped over (and to stay looped over!) when there are now so many lines making everything very congested. I've done around 20 of them and there must still be at least another 20. (I'm scared to count them!)

As far as I'm aware, apart from these coils, there are just the stern lanterns to be done then Leopard can rest her keel in her proper base.

[Bluto 1790]

Slowly getting on with the rope coils while at the same time trying to get something to work that may be acceptable as stern lanterns.

I don't loop the coils directly over the pins but instead loop over just a single 'strand' of the 'rope'. Back in 2003 when I sailed on H M B Endeavour we were shown how to attach the final loops to the pins.  I'll link a video which shows the 'normal' way to attach the loops.

Here is one of the loops I make showing a single 'strand' above the loop which I hang over the pin >>>

The video is over 6 minutes long but the relevant part is just a short part between 2 mins 12 seconds and 2 mins 25 seconds.

Here's the video >>> 

 

Edited November 16, 2019 by Bluto 1790

[Bluto 1790]

Small tasks are now almost done.

 

Stern lanterns:  My first attempts at this project involved trying to solder pieces of 0.5mm brass wire into window frames for the lanterns but that venture was pretty dismal.  I then had a go at whittling an 8mm dowel down into an 8 sided shape tapering down to about 5mm at the 'thin end' and ended up with this >>> 

I didn't like the white painted "glass" and hoped to be able to get a more transparent look.  I bought an 8mm clear Perspex rod and used a chisel to whittle it down to a tapering hexagon shape and decided to go with that. (These brutal close-ups make everything appear much worse than they are in reality!  Even the unused section of rod in the photo below, despite being perfectly crystal clear, looks second hand here.) >>> 

And on the ship >>> 

The window 'frames' are black paper cut into strips of 0.5mm widths. 

 

I almost forgot the bowsprit Jack.

I had an image of a Jack in my gallery and used a free website to flip the image horizontally and both images are seen in the pic below >>>

I printed them, cut them out, glued them back to back and crinkled them to resemble a fluttering shape >>>

[paulsutcliffe]

Hi Jim

I'm not sure if you are aware but that would be the wrong jack to show for 1790, that one was incorporated in 1801 when Ireland was brought into the fold so to speak, this one,

would be correct for this period, hope that helps (in terms of accuracy) 

Regards

Paul

[Bluto 1790]

Hi Paul,

 

Yes, I was aware of the dates and the correct flag for 1790, but I kind of argued with myself that as the ship survived until 1814 then either flag would probably have been OK ! (at least within the right time period.)

(The correct 1790 flag would have been easier as I wouldn't have had to have it flipped and it couldn't have been displayed upside down either  )

 

I'm sure there are (in fact I KNOW there are!) a few more "slightly less than accurate" features on the ship so I'm not unduly worried about the flag!

Edited November 20, 2019 by Bluto 1790

[Matrim]

This is a great build.. Question - how fiddly was it to work at 1:80? I attempted 1:60 with my last and found that almost too small so am considering 1:48 for the re-start but (even for a frigate) that is much larger.