David Lewandowski by Ferrus Manus - FINISHED - Pyro - 1/96 - PLASTIC - Polish racing yacht from modified American Cup racer kit

[Ferrus Manus]

Hey folks! Me again. Today i am starting my first true build log on this forum. This log will concern a project i am doing for a friend, a modified version of Pyro's American Cup Racer (G. L. Thebaud) from 1958. This project will not be a total bash, not even close. However, i am heavily modifying the rigging and including parts from other kits to facilitate that. I will end up ordering high-quality cloth sails for this ship from HiSmodel in the Czech Republic.

 

Anyway, wish me luck! obviously, i will be asking many questions. 

 

[Ferrus Manus]

On Friday and Saturday i got started on the painting and general hull assembly. First, i ended up using soft-grit sandpaper to rough up the smooth hull for better paint adhesion. For the most part, i was happy with the result. However it took several coats to smooth out the paint job, with mixed results. The hull plastic was white, which ended up highlighting inconsistencies in the paint.

(We'll just cover it up with shade, they'll never know) 

As you can see, i started on the bowsprit assembly:

Apologies for the grainy image quality, my phone is 5 years old. The instructions were not clear on how the bowsprit was to be attached to the hull. As the box art shows, the bowsprit extends well into the hull and sits attached to the deck and anchor winch. There was no hole in the front, but instead an indentation. I erroneously thought the bowsprit was to sit in that position in the bow indentation, which took considerable sanding to achieve. I guess this is a fictitious vessel and not a true copy of the G. L. Thebaud, so i will let it slide. Mostly because i do not have the means to un-sand the base of my bowsprit. I drilled the proper holes for the bobstay/collar chains, whose holes were non-existent and whose eyebolts did not come with the kit. I ended up stealing some from my old HMS Victory kit (which i will unceremoniously rob of more rigging elements for this project) and inserting them into the holes. 

 

The next step of this project will be to finish the bowsprit tackle, drill holes for necessary eyebolts in the deck, and paint the deck as well as hatches, mast housings, and other deck furniture. 

[Ferrus Manus]

On this week's episode of Me Making Mediocre Models:

 

I installed the remainder of the (extremely simple) headgear tackle, using spare lengths of chain from my complete Cutty Sark kit:

Once again, i apologize for the warzone that is my workspace, as well as the horrendous image quality. This will be a continuing theme throughout this build log. 

 

Afterwards, i continued working on the deck (now complete)

I ended up having to drill nine holes for eyebolts, all of which are visible in the images. There were also two preexisting circular holes in the deck sections on the port side. Apparently, they were for two blocks on the port side. These were completely useless, mind you. I thought that was stupid, so i covered up the holes with a spare pile of blocks and a rope coil. I put another smaller coil on the starboard side for effect. 

 

My next task will be to install the masts and standing rigging, as well as the u-shaped mast pinrails once my brass belaying pins arrive. 

 

Thank you for putting up with my antics for this week. Be back soon!! 

 

 

Edited August 20, 2022 by Ferrus Manus

[Ferrus Manus]

This will be the fourth installation in this series. I put the main rails on, after fixing their fittings in place. After that, i installed the kit-supplied deadeyes, which could probably use some paint touch-up. 

 

Then, i got started on the standing rigging. The stays were simple enough to install. I ended up using thin line for the upper forestays and thick line for the rest:

Don't you like my doors?

 

After i finished the forestays, it was time to install the shrouds. I did this using the two-shrouds-on-the-same-side layout, like most ships of the time: 

I used a variation of this, where a single line, tied at the mast top, makes shrouds 1&2, 3&4, etc... You know what i'm talking about. 

 

After this was done, it was time for the most fun part of all... ratlines!!!

To make the ratlines, first i ripped a blank piece of paper out of one of my college-ruled notebooks and cut it to size. Then, i used clear tape to affix the paper to the top and bottom of the #1 and #4 shrouds on each side, threading the piece (sticky side facing inward) outboard of the #1 and #4 shrouds, and inboard of the #2 and #3 shrouds. Then, i simply super-glued lengths of thin tan thread to the shrouds, following the pattern of the lines of the paper. 

I am assuming all who read this already know how to do this, as most of you are more experienced than i am. This is my very first attempt at scratch ratlines, and so far, it has been a resounding success. 

 

I am proud of my work today, and will likely have the standing rigging done by the end of the week. 

Edited October 13, 2022 by Ferrus Manus

[Ferrus Manus]

I ended up pausing this project in favor of completing my 1/96 USS United States model. Now that she's proudly on my shelf, i am getting back to the David Lewandowski. I ended up choosing not to spend 75 bucks on sails for a (relatively small) ship. For some reason, HiSmodel prices them unusually high and i couldn't find them on eBay. 

 

That being said, i am employing the help of my wonderful Grandmother, whose sewing skills FAR exceed my own, to help me with making custom sails for the vessel. 

 

My plan is to cut out the plastic sails from the sheet and mark the corners, trace the outside lines, and then measure and draw the lines on the sail for reef points and stitch lines in the sail. Then i will have them stitched and after that is complete, i will cut the sails out and likely add some form of bolt ropes, where applicable. 

Edited September 12, 2022 by Ferrus Manus

[popeye the sailor]

hey there!  glad to see your posting your projects.........is the United States in progress as well?   Pyro is an old kit.........for how long I've been building models,  I don't recall ever trying one.  is there to be a forestay at the first step of the main mast?  the shrouds and back stays counter the tension of the fore stays.  super job so far  

[Ferrus Manus]

Where have you been!?!? The USS United States is proudly on my shelf, finished, as you have seen. There will not be a forestay at the main mast top, as the G. L. Thebaud did not have one, as far as i know. I am about halfway through putting the blocks on the yards. The plastic quality is surprisingly, VERY good. Easy to work, hardy, and nimble. However, they have zero clue how ships go together, and expect you to put this together in a weekend, with mediocre at best results. I have not gotten to Joann Fabrics yet. I might continue working on the kit tomorrow. I will use my newfound freedom to extend the foot of the mainsail, as the kit supplied sail only reaches about 4/5 of the way to the end of the main boom. 

Edited September 22, 2022 by Ferrus Manus

[Ferrus Manus]

I was wrong!! The G. L. Thebaud is rigged like the Bluenose in terms of the forestays. I will have to change it, probably tonight. 

[popeye the sailor]

makes me want to get the 'Bluenose Project' started...........I have the hull frames already built.  three boats....the Bluenose,  the Bluenose II,  and the America,  all in 1:65 scale.  it will equate to quite a few sails  

[Ferrus Manus]

Earlier (September) I ended up rerigging the mainstays according to the image previously posted by myself, because i had done them according to the box art, but (big surprise) they were inaccurate. At this point, none of us should trust kit instructions to tell us how to rig a ship. I rerigged them in the standard schooner configuration, shown below:

Then, i ended up finishing the standing rigging, ratlines and all. I just simply copied the foremast rigging to the main mast. This was the final result: 

Quite frankly, i am satisfied with this result. Of course the image quality is terrible. The sails are underway, the machine is set up and the templates have been drawn and shipped off to my Grandmother. We did some careful planning, and decided on a normal stitch pattern with a very small roll of extra fabric on the sides of the sails, to prevent fraying. I liked this idea best, because it kind of simulates a bolt rope, and also makes it easier for me to lash the sails to the yards. 

This is all assuming i go the cloth route and not the paper route. I have looked into paper sailmaking for model ships, and if the cloth method does not work, which i am assuming will work, i will make the sails out of (i am assuming) bond paper, as several MSW shipwrights have laid out. 

 

That is all for this week, as i do not really have a timeline for the sails and these things take careful planning. The first sail will just be a prototype, after all. 

[popeye the sailor]

well worth the effort    the rigging looks very good!

[Ferrus Manus]

I am thinking of starting my next project, the Revell 1/96 Golden Hinde, while i wait for sails.

[Ferrus Manus]

I have a question for the 3 or 4 of you here: Should i set topsails or not? I think that either would look pretty cool. If not, i am at a loss as to how to rig the lines. I am assuming it would be done rather similarly to how jib lines are rigged without the sail itself there. However, gaff topsails on modern racing yachts have several methods of rigging. This, being a ship that flies standing gaff topsails, could have them rigged in any number of ways. The sails themselves would not be there at all should we decide they should not be added, i.e. they will not be furled. If anyone could find me a useful diagram of how a standing gaff topsail works and how it is rigged, that would be awesome. I know the basics, but i want to know more than just the basics.

[Ferrus Manus]

The first sail is here! Aren't you all excited? Is anybody here? it's getting lonely.

 

Anyhow, with much fiddling, i began lashing the mainsail to the spanker gaff, and then the boom.

I ended up going with the normal, everyday spiral lashing. After i finished with that, i made up the gaff and boom tackle, which included the standing part of the vangs, the standing element of the boom outer lifts, (whose blocks can actually slide on the rope, to ease setting up the lifts), as well as the auxiliary boom guy.

How the hell do i rotate an image!?

 

That does it for this post, shortly i will attach the whole rig to the mainmast, and set up all the rigging, at which point i will post again.

 

[ccoyle]

On 11/11/2022 at 8:59 PM, Ferrus Manus said:

Should i set topsails or not?

 

It comes down to personal preference, though I do like to see them included on schooners. How to rig them? There I can't help you much.

 

8 hours ago, Ferrus Manus said:

Is anybody here? it's getting lonely.

 

Ah, this is part of the curse for those of us who choose to build obscure subjects in less popular media. We don't get as many oohs and aahs, but some are watching. I try to get around to everyone's build logs now and then, but we have a lot of them to follow, so sometimes it is a few weeks or even months before I catch up. In the end, though, build what you like, regardless of audience appeal -- that's what I do.

 

Cheers!

[Ferrus Manus]

Thank you. I will likely end up rigging the topsails. Yes, this is a one-of-a-kind build from a kit that not many people have modeled. I know how to rig a gaff topsail, my question about how to not rig the sail is no longer valid. I am currently haggling an eBay model seller for a good deal on a revell 1/96 Golden Hinde. Stay tuned for my next build log, lol!! I am happy with how this ship is turning out. 

[Prowler901]

I personally really enjoy the more obscure subjects.  And, you're doing a beautiful job.  Keep up the good work!

 

Todd

[popeye the sailor]

hey there     as Chris said......it's up to you.  I looked in on a couple of other forums {real boats and sailing}..........sounds rather confusing to me.  then again,  I'm not a real sailor {I play one on modeling sites}. they appear to furl for the majority of the time in use......only taken down for repairs.    running rigging via blocks at the top of the mast and at the end of the gaff...thinking there ought to be a fastening at the base of the gaff for the bottom corner of the top sail,  but not sure how that is done.  a model always looks good under full sail   

[Ferrus Manus]

There is a rope at the bottom corner of the gaff topsail that falls down to the deck. 

[Ferrus Manus]

3 hours ago, Prowler901 said:

I personally really enjoy the more obscure subjects.  And, you're doing a beautiful job.  Keep up the good work!

 

Todd

Personally, i like obscure models that i have never seen built before. The previous two small kits i built were the 1/100 San Gabriel, and the 1/100 English Brigantine, originally revell and heller kits, respectively. I quite liked building both. I have never seen either one constructed on this build log, however. My next project will be the second or third time in MSW history that the revell 1/96 Golden Hind will be built. 

[Ferrus Manus]

There are no gaff topsails on the schooner Altair in this image, neither furled nor unfurled. They were not set. The Altair is very similar to what i am constructing now. There are pictures of the Altair flying topsails as well.

[Ferrus Manus]

Today, i rigged the mainsail and its gear to the ship. Amazingly, i was able to completely avoid gluing the gaff to the mast. I ended up adding two lines to the sail, that i saw on the Altair- an outhaul, and a reef line. How often these were used, i do not know. But given the relatively small number of sails on these given ships, the ability to reef sail would prove immensely valuable. I did not include standing boom lifts, opting for running ones. Also, i have not added the flag halyard to the gaff peak yet. It will belay to the boom. I quite like the fact that i opted to make all of the guys separate lines, instead of one super complex one. As per the quality of my work, that is for you to decide.

[Ferrus Manus]

Apologies for being AWOL for a month. I was working on the ship and finishing my schoolwork for the semester. As much as i love my ships and you guys, school comes first. However, i got a lot done while i was away. I got the foresail and the headsails installed, and quite a few other things done.

 

This is the David Lewandowski as per tonight:

I bet you all wish you had doors like mine. 😉

 

Another thing i have done is install the rigging for the fisherman sail and outer jib, which i did not think i would see myself installing. I also had a fairly substantial issue where the main gaff throat halyard would keep snapping close to the belaying pin, but i got that issue fixed. I have done several other things that i did not foresee myself doing, like getting the tertiary flag halyards installed. Don't be fooled. I thought they would be some of the easiest lines on the ship. 

I am really hauling ropes here, because i want to present the vessel to it's namesake on Christmas Day. It will be his Christmas present, and i will have to find time in his schedule to do so- he is the pastor of my church, and thus a busy man. I also asked his opinion of the crewmen and if they should be added, and he said it would be nice to have them on the ship, if i was up to it.

 

Long story short, here are the painted crew figures:

These are 1/96 scale figures, so they are all less than an inch in height. The family printer was finally reloaded yesterday, so tonight i finally got the flags printed. There will be a Polish flag flying from the peak of the main gaff, and a Polish yachting association ensign flying from the main truck, as per international flag etiquette. 

I have elected to fly the topsails. I have them sitting on my desk right now. I will likely install them tomorrow. Tomorrow night, i am going out to obtain water-slide decal paper, which will be used for the nameplates. You guys should expect a post tomorrow with an update on the ship's rig, and on friday i will fly the flags, install the nameplates, and put the men at their posts.

 

Cheers and goodnight (at least to those of you on the American west coast)

[Ferrus Manus]

This is not the end of the journey, sailors, but we are getting close. Today, i set the topsails, on the fore and on the main. The sails were easy to rig, as i expected. My father is quite impressed at the attention to detail i have put into this kit, as am i. He says that even though he cannot see much room for improvement, every ship is slightly better than the last. I would agree with him if i had not seen the work of actual professional model shipwrights (Woodrat, Kirill4, and more) The attention to detail i paid in this kit surpassed every other i have made- never before did i think i would spend five months on such a small ship. Maybe that is because i did the rigging from scratch. I don't think anything can ruin this model, even as bad as my luck sometimes is. We are officially out of the woods, and i can finally decompress. 

 

This is the David Lewandowski as it stands right now, proudly flying full sail.

I had the bright idea to crop and adjust some of the images to enhance the detail and make it more visible. One thing i sometimes like to do along the way is look at the ship bow-to-stern or vice versa, just so i can look at my handiwork all at once and take in all that glorious detail. 😉

This is the first time in a long while that i have felt legitimately proud of myself. The moment where a model just comes together, and all you have left to do is the finishing touches, is a moment and a feeling that only a fellow model shipwright can truly appreciate. 

 

This is not the end, however. The most important parts of the ship have yet to appear. I went to the local craft store for decal paper, which, thank God, they had. 

However, no ship is truly complete without an identity, a nationality, and a crew... so stick around! 

Edited December 23, 2022 by Ferrus Manus

[Ferrus Manus]

Hello all. We are done. The work is finished, and the David Lewandowski sails.

 

This is the finished vessel:

The vessel flies the flags of a nation rising from the ashes like a phoenix reborn. She cuts through the sea like a swordfish on the hunt, bringing glory to her nation. All in all, Polish nautical history is a sorely overlooked subject, even in this forum. Polish history is often forgotten by all but the Poles themselves, which is not as it should be. In fact, the Polish know much more than those in more Western nations about the dangers of ideologies that infect our world today. 

 

This is a ship that might have sailed. While this type of vessel is relatively common in the States, historical vessels are unfortunately very rare in Poland. This ship would have been built in the 1920's, meaning it would have to have survived both World War Two and the Soviet occupation of Poland, while also enduring the icy temperatures of the Baltic Sea. While this ship did not exist, others like it certainly did. However, most of them are forever gone. 

 

All in all, Polish nautical history deserves the resurrection that the nation itself has undergone in the past two decades. As much as the Poles have been through in the past century, their nation shines as a beacon of light to all or Eastern Europe. Their persecution at the hands of evil dictators has only strengthened their resolve to survive, and this ship is, as much as it is a gift to someone dear to me, a testament to the glories of the Polish at sea. I implore you fellow shipwrights to discover the world of the history of Polish ships. 

 

Today, the David Lewandowski, and thus this build log, are finished. I hope this journey was as enlightening for you as it was for me. From the bottom of my heart, i thank you for sticking around and seeing me through this wonderful project.

 

I am not going away, however. Don't you worry. I will be starting a new build log soon, of a ship i have already started: the Golden Hinde. I hope to see you all, and more, there.

 

Cheers, and Merry Christmas to you and yours. 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 24, 2022 by Ferrus Manus

[SZKUTNIK]

Ahoy!

Piekny jachcik.  WesołychŚwiąt

[Ferrus Manus]

WesołychŚwiąt 😄

[Ferrus Manus]

Very nice USS New Mexico build.