Anchor replacement source?

[Scotty W]

Unfortunately one of my cheap cast anchors was deformed in my 1982 Artesena Latina kit of the 1/50 scale Swift 1805 Virginia Pilot Boat and broke during a repair attempt. I glued it CA glue and it held. While finishing it, it broke again so I tried to solder it and melted it. It’s beyond repair and need replacement(s). The other one is ok, for now. lil’ help please.
 

Edited February 23, 2023 by Scotty W
Typo auto correct ugh

[Bob Cleek]

Just order a couple more from one of the parts suppliers. They'll be the same, if not better, than what came in the kit.

 

See: Amati Model Ship Fittings (agesofsail.com)

[Scotty W]

Thanks Bob, I tried the site you suggested but they apparently don't ship to the US.  I found a close match on ModelersCentral.com and ordered there.  I assume the measurement they give is the height of the anchor from crown to ring.  I needed 26mm but 30mm was the closest I could find anywhere.  It's a kit too which will be fun to put together and you're right, much more realistic than the cast crap that was in the 50 year-old kit.  The shipping was more than the anchors though.  I had to replace the blocks but found those on Amazon made by Model Shipways with free Prime shipping.  The 5mm size I needed seems to be out of stock at other sites.  Spending more on replacement parts than the kit cost. lol

[Bob Cleek]

Ages of Sail (agesofsail@gmail.com), a ship modeling store, is located in the San Francisco Bay Area in San Lorenzo, CA and are a forum sponsor. Hard to believe they don't ship within the U.S. Maybe you were looking at the Amati link. Anyway, good move on upgrading the kit castings. Quality varies widely between manufacturers and it's a rare kit that can't be improved by some aftermarket parts. At least a 1984 vintage kit will probably have Brittania alloy castings instead of lead-based castings like the older kits. The lead castings had a bad habit of developing "lead bloom" or "lead leprosy," when they started oxidizing and crumbling to dust. 

[Scotty W]

I clicked the link you gave me and tried to order but when I got to the Ship to it only gave UK as a country and wouldn’t let you change it. It did say Amati I think. I then went on a Brave search and found them at ModelersCentral.com. Forget google. While waiting I tried my first stropping of blocks with the repaired blocks and ropes that are being replaced. Tweezer tying I call it, fun, fun. Getting the hang of the whipping clove hitches.

 

Edited February 24, 2023 by James H
Amended language

[Scotty W]

I finally got my two after-market anchors from Modelers Central in Australia and love them. I got the ring they supplied installed but it looks too small to me. I’m thinking of using the two un referenced larger rings that came with the ship kit. Unless I missed it, the instructions never talk about anchor assembly and which rings to use. I’m thinking the ones in the bag would look more appropriate. What do you think?

 

Thinking this is better but having trouble making the ring round.

What do you think? Thanks.

Edited March 25, 2023 by Scotty W
Added pic

[Maury S]

Scotty,   ...and of course you're going to serve the ring, right?

Maury

[Ian_Grant]

My opinion - that ring is too big. Just my opinion.

[Scotty W]

You’re both right I believe. Ian I will attempt to cut a little off the ring and bend around whatever fits to shrink the diameter from 6 to 5mm. Maury, I’ve never served a ring before as this is my first ship. I wonder where resources are to show me how to do that. Thanks!

[Knocklouder]

 Yes the ring looks a little big.  Seizing the line to the ring, not the ring itself . 

[Scotty W]

1 hour ago, Knocklouder said:

 Yes the ring looks a little big.  Seizing the line to the ring, not the ring itself . 

I had planned on seizing the line to the ring.  I think Maury is talking about winding thread around the ring like you'd serve a rope and I haven't researched if that would have been on an 1805 Pilot Boat anchor but would add some detail.  I will have to find out the best way of doing that if it's required.  I can shrink the ring a little but will be fiddly as most things with this ship are.  If it breaks when bending, and it might cause it's old and corroded a little I see when looking close, I'll have to get some appropriate sized wire and make more.  I annealed them before brass blacking them but still not sure it will withstand any more of my abuse. lol  The crew of this ship must have been super strong men because there is no wench to weigh the two anchors at all.  The cables just loop around the knightshead from what I see in the kit and that would limit them to anchoring in very shallow water (which may have been the case) since you can't put that much line on the knightshead.

Edited March 25, 2023 by Scotty W
typo

[Scotty W]

Ok, took the ring off, straightened the wire and measured and cut it to as close to 15.7mm as I could to result in a 5mm diameter once bent. Fortunately, it didn’t break. How’s this for size? It’s not quite a circle but you get the idea. Still working it, fiddly. May have to reburnish it unless I choose to serve it with thread. The jury’s still out.

[Knocklouder]

I have never served  a ring, not to say it's not done , just I never heard of it. It looks good, by the time you tie on the big old anchor  rope you won't see it,     

[Scotty W]

Everything you wanted to know about anchors but were afraid to ask:

 

https://heritagensw.intersearch.com.au/heritagenswjspui/bitstream/1/10611/1/Noth Head Achors Sydney CMP.pdf

 

 

[Dr PR]

Scotty,

 

Many vessels didn't have a winch or capstan. The anchor was hoisted using a tackle (or two) hauling on a "messenger" line that was tied to the anchor cable. The cable was hauled in until the tackle two-blocked, and was then secured with "stoppers." Then the tackle was run out and the messenger tied to the cable again. The stoppers were released and another bight of the cable was hauled in, and so on.

 

I describe the process here:

 

https://modelshipworld.com/topic/27410-small-ship-anchor-handling/?do=findComment&comment=787942

 

[Scotty W]

Something like that after Brass Black…

[Scotty W]

What is “two blocking”? Is that applying two blocks inline to half the force needed to apply a force in a certain direction like the blocks used on my guns to aim and reload it? 

[popeye2sea]

Two-blocking is when the two blocks that make up the tackle are drawn together until they touch. The result is a jambed up tackle that needs to be manually overhauled to work again.

 

BTW, the wrapping of rope around the ring of an anchor is called puddening.

 

Regards,

Henry

[Knocklouder]

Well now I seen it, puddening, thanks for the info. You learn something new everyday.   Your anchor looks good Scotty.  I will follow along quietly, as I sea I am in over my head  lol .

[barkeater]

As an alternative, this anchor was made out of ebony and shows the puddening.

Richard

[allanyed]

On 3/25/2023 at 2:33 PM, Ian_Grant said:

My opinion - that ring is too big. Just my opinion.

Scotty, no reflection on you at all, but these anchors do not look right.  Not only the ring, the bands around the stock as well.  They look to be far too thick and the proportions overall look a bit off.   The photo above in Richard's post shows a great looking anchor.  These are easy to make with simple hand tools.    Lacking ebony, wood painted black works very well as in the photo below.  Contemporary anchor drawings are below as well.  They are not necessarily for your ship, but may give you an idea on proportions.

Allan

 

 

Edited March 27, 2023 by allanyed

[Roger Pellett]

Scotty,

 

When building a Virginia Pilot Boat, less is better.  In the very early 1800’s a Royal Navy officer painted pictures of several of these interesting craft.  They were very simply rigged and outfitted, usually a solid low “log” rail instead of bulwarks, and no standing rigging (shrouds or stays). 

 

There is no need to include a second anchor as paintings usually show just one.  Use the one that came with the kit and move on to your next project.

 

Roger

[Scotty W]

I melted one of the 50-year-old kit anchors trying to repair it. I ordered two anchors from the only source I could that closely resembled the original kit anchors, albeit they were 4mm too long in the shank, from clear around the world in Australia, ModelersCentral.com.  After paying so much (shipping) and waiting so long for these after-market anchors, I'm going to use both of them along with both of the guns that were included with the old kit. The hoops look great to me in this scale.  I had to scratch build one of them from brass strip I had filed down to thickness and width because I lost one of the smallest hoops when squeezing it onto the stock to remove the gaps. It broke the stock as well since I suck at this but I CA glued the splintered stock back together and covered the join with the scratch built brass hoop. 

 

This is a legacy build for my long gone father who I gave the kit to in 1984.  He would want it strapped, so I will include my Australian anchors and two guns and may leave a model i-Phone laying on the cabin roof. lol  This is a learning build, my first timber ship, not a recreation of an actual ship that existed and I love my new anchors and gun rigging and now building the kit supplied stand since the mast rigging is next, maybe.  I'm going to just strap the anchors to the side of the hull using the extra unused rings on the deck near the foremast to rig the line and wrap the anchor line around the knightshead and leave a coil next to it since this ship certainly only anchored in shallow water.  I could run the cable through a hole in the deck near the knightshead and tell everyone there's an electric wench down below that weighs the anchor. lol  I just got through varnishing the polished brass base stands as I'm readying to put the ship on it's base before proceeding to mast rigging because if I wait, I'll break something off while mounting it to the base, so base first.  But I digress. Anchors away!

 

Perhaps I'll scratch build super accurate anchors on my next build.  Thanks for the info.  I will add the puddening to the rings if I can figure out how to do it.

Edited March 28, 2023 by Scotty W
typo