Flying Fish by Rick310 - Model Shipways - 1/96

[Rick310]

Thanks Rob!  I am followed your advice to work from the mizzen, forward.

I‘be learned a lot from your experience, also from George and Jared!

Rick

[Rick310]

Well, September was quite a month. Finally retired after 40 years as an Endodontist (root canal specialist) and 45 years as a dentist!

The admiral and I celebrated by taking a Viking Meditation cruise in between clearing out the office and our daughter’s wedding in Ohio.

The fore and main tops still needed to be painted, planked and fitted out.  Both the main and fore topmast were made prior to the cross trees to insure accurate spacing.

The topgallant masts were also made as described by EdT in the YA books.

Finally got the tops planked and fitted out.

The topgallant tops were made same as the lower tops.  The spreaders are 1/32 inches brass.  I found it extremely difficult to cut .030 inches thick brass on the table saw and ended up filling them to a rough shape.  Fortunately after painting, the inconsistencies are not very noticeable.  I made the mistake of using copper for the cross bar. This was much too soft and didn’t hold the shape of the spreaders.  I ended up desoldering them and replaced them with 24 gauge brass wire that I filled flat on 2 opposing sides. This worked great and was easy to do and I will use brass wire again if I ever need to make spreaders in the future.

Both sets of caps were made and banded with thin ,005 thick brass strips.  

Finally, items such as bolsters, fid plates chapping battens, blocks and sheaves were added.  I used 26 gauge copper wire for the futtock shrouds which were glued to the futtock band with cyano.

Shackles were made with 26 gauge copper wire.  Eyebolts for the shackles were made with either 26or 28 gauge copper wire depending on the location.  I’m trying to avoid using 28 gauge copper wire as I have had problems with it breaking, especially when it is manipulated.  The eyebolts, once twisted up seem strong enough.  Shackles were made per EdT, at approximately 1/16 inche .  All eyebolts that have lines attached, have shackles.

Finally, the ball shaped trucks were turned on the lathe, painted gold and I will use either straight pins or brass rod for the spires.

I think this completes the masts.

I added some of the rigging lines such as the toping lifts and mizzen course brace lines at this time as they will be difficult to access later.

 

 

 

 

[Jared]

Nice modellIng.   Congrats on your retirement!

[Rick310]

Thanks Jared!  Loving retirement!

Rick

[gak1965]

Congratulations on retiring, I hope you enjoy it. The model is looking fabulous!

 

George 

[Rick310]

Thanks George!

I’m loving retirement and having the time to work on the Fish!

Rick

[Rick310]

I decided to put the mast sections together to see how they look and to check for alignment.

Still want to add some blocks and rigging line, but that is going to take some time as I figure out the sizes and lengths and prepare the lines.  Also , started to make the jib boom.

Merry Christmas to all!

Rick

[Jared]

Nicwe work.   Merry Christmas

[gak1965]

Very nice indeed.

 

Merry Christmas!

[Keith Black]

 Rick, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your family. 

[Rick310]

After completing the masts and ensuring that everything fit well and was straight (I don’t intend to glue the mast sections together), I moved on to making the jib boom, the 3 Spencer booms and the spanker.

All were made per EdT

I started with the jib boom, which was made of AYC.

The bands were made of copper tube and strips.  For most of the bands, this involved heating and expanding the band on a tapered metal rod until it fit on the boom.

The bowsprit band which houses the jib boom was formed with approximately 1/16 inch copper strip that was reduced to.010 inch thickness,  the tab on the starboard’s side was first bent to shape and soldered.  A #75 hole was drilled in the bottom of the band that placed over a pin in the bottom of the bowsprit to secure the band in location. The ends were then wrapped around the bowsprit and the jib boom and the tab was formed and  glued on the port side with cyano.  This allowed the jib boom to be held securely in place while allowing it to be removed for safety.

I decided to make shackles for the jib boom guys with thimbles made from 1/32 inch brass tube that was cut and filled to approximately 1/32 inch thickness.

Trying to solder the eyebolt: shackle combo to the bands was difficult and frustrating because I kept soldering the shackles to the eyebolts as well which kept the shackles from moving freely.  After multiple attempts and way too much time, I finally managed to get 2 bands made.  Not sure I’m going to try that again.

The main and fore Spencer booms were originally made from AYC, but were too fragile and kept breaking where I drilled the hole for the  in haul/out haul.  I ended up making them from boxwood, which is much stronger, although darker in color but hopefully will not be that noticeable.

The mizzen Spencer and spanker were made from AYC , as they are much larger booms.

Bands were made per the jib boom with shackles in the eyebolts on the spanker (I found a technique that worked consistently when soldering the eyebolts to the band)

The pendants for the Spencer booms were made of black thread (.08 for main and fore booms and .012 for the mizzen).

All have brass thimbles for the blocks to attach to.  I’m not really happy with the knots around the thimbles as they look too bulky to me.  The lines are secured to the thimbles with cyano.  I may redo these if I find a better way to do it.

The spanker was rigged with the foot ropes and topping lifts.  The knots in the foot ropes were made per Nic at Bluejacket.  Thanks again Nic!!’

All thread for the running rigging ( smaller than .08, which I buy from Syren) was dyed with walnut dye per EdT, then pulled through a bath of very dilute white glue.

The yoke on the inboard end of the mizzen spencer was shaped out of 2 pieces of AYC and drilled for 3 brass bolts of .02 inch brass rod. The parral. was made from22ga copper wire.

The cleats were made from brass wire and copper strips, soldered and filled to shape.  
The in haul/ out haul was also rigged on he spanker and secured on the cleats.

[Jared]

Nice metal work!

[gak1965]

Magnificent!

[Rick310]

Thanks Jared and George!

Rick

[Rick310]

I was just about ready to start rigging the mizzen mast when it occurred to me that

I needed to make a decision about where the davits for the quarter boats were going  to be located and the brackets installed.

My concern is that the davits and the davit guys will interfere with the run of the main topsail brace and the main course sheets.

The plans place the davits forward of the mizzen channels and looks to possibly be in conflict with the running rigging.  In this 

position, the davits could be swung inboard, which would allow the quarter boats to be stored inboard.  This position is also shown on the Flying Cloud model at the Boston museum of Fine Art, and EdT’s extraordinary model of the Young America.

Alternatively, both the Buttersworth painting and the China Trade painting show the aft davit between the 2nd or3rd deadeyes on the mizzen channel.  This would obviously prevent the quarter boats from being stored inboard.  According to Campbell, in his book the China Tea Clippers, some ships kept the quarter boats on the davits for the voyage, triced up high.

In any event, I need to know the exact spacing between the davits to accurately place the forward davit brackets.  This meant having a quarter boat to measure from.  Therefore I decided to go ahead and make one of these boats now and not wait until the rigging was completed as previously planned.

I had already made 5 boats (see prior post), 3 of which were mounted on the foreword deck house roof.

The 2 remaining boats are for the quarter boats if I decided to use them.

I attempted to cut one of the boats in half on the table saw ( bad idea as it is not symmetrical and the smaller half had to be shimmed).

These were then caved out and glued to the keel, stem and stern post.

Very small strips of boxwood, for the ribs, approximately 1/32x1/32, were cut on the table saw with absolutely no consistency.

These were glued to the inside of the bulwarks and clamped.  Note in the pictures the liberal use of Bondo to get curves that would not break the ribs when glued.  The boat was then painted flat white.  I also made the rubbing strakes which were soaked in water and clamped to the hull and when dry, painted blue to match the other boats.

The rest of the interior will be made of boxwood and stained with Ipswich pine.

My wife and I are off on a short vacation, which gives me time to decide where to place the davits. Decisions decisions!

Does anyone have any thoughts?

[gak1965]

Rick, 

     This isn't necessarily correct but here's where I put the davits

 

so between the 3rd and 4th mizzen shroud (counting fore to aft) and just aft of the main chainplates. I found that running the davit lines was complicated, but I was able to do so without interference if I was careful. The build log entry is here: 

 

The boats are looking great!

 

GAK

[Rick310]

Thanks George!

I’m using your model as the example for the placement of the davits!  Pretty sure I will do the same.

Rick