19th Century Fisherman by Ferrus Manus - FINISHED - 1/96 - little project to keep me sane

[Ferrus Manus]

If you were here for my Spanish Galleon build, you know that I built a scratch boat for the ship. This will be about the same, but it will have sails, more rigging, and be a more accurate interpretation of a boat of its day. 

 

We begin immediately (for my sake). Stick around! 

[Ferrus Manus]

I marked out all of the holes i will have to drill in the frame of the boat. All of these will be for belaying pins. There will be eleven eyebolts, all of which will just be glued on. 

Edited September 25, 2023 by Ferrus Manus

[Ferrus Manus]

I cut and laid out all the spars, and where they will go. 

[Ferrus Manus]

I have done up the interior paint job. It's okay, but i readily admit it would be better if i had some better brushes. 

Luckily, this isn't the point. This is mostly an exercise in rigging at a nearly-microscopic scale. 

[allanyed]

Ferrus manus.... (that looks like a flesh hand in the photo😀)

Have you looked at the methods used in the books by the masters of the tiny scale, McCaffery, McNarry and Reed?  They cover how to make rigging items such as blocks, what materials to use for lines, and more.   Your scale is larger by comparison, but there may be some great tips for you.

 

Allan

[Ferrus Manus]

I have never heard of any of them. Can you navigate me to their logs?

[allanyed]

FM

They do not have logs as far as I know, but rather really fine books.  Examples of where to buy them are below, but you can find more with a quick search.

 

Ships in Miniature by Lloyd McCaffery, Ship Models in Miniature by Donald McNarry, Building a Miniature Navy Board Model by Philip Reed .  Used copies can be found on the net.

https://www.amazon.com/SHIPS-MINIATURE-Classic-Manual-Modelmakers/dp/0851774857

 

https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/ship-models-in-miniature_donald-mcnarry/809946/item/11675885/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=pmax_high_vol_frontlist_under_%2410&utm_adgroup=&utm_term=&utm_content=&gclid=CjwKCAjwgsqoBhBNEiwAwe5w05wB-HnnCRai6e9CtxTveUJykqoZNyCqe5-ln8wsDXSZI03IEQOltxoC0xIQAvD_BwE#idiq=11675885&edition=3619299

 

https://www.abebooks.com/9781848320178/Building-Miniature-Navy-Board-Ship-1848320175/plp

[bruce d]

FM, good advice (as usual) from Allan, and another book by Philip Reed is close to your stated needs:

PERIOD SHIP MODELMAKING An Illustrated Masterclass

It's on Ebay, AbeBooks and other places as well.  In iit he walks us through building Prince de Neufchatel in 1/192 scale.

McNarry and his wife were superb modelmakers and won quite a few pots at early Model Engineer Exhibitions in London.

 

HTH,

Bruce

[Ferrus Manus]

The boat's frame is painted and fitted into the hull. I changed a few of the pin locations, added a few more eyebolts, nothing major. 

[Ferrus Manus]

By the way, i'm not a person with freakishly large hands. In fact, my hands are relatively small and thin. 

[allanyed]

Hi FM

At the scale you are working, very nice work.  Just curious as your topic is titled fishing boat, but with seven thwarts, it strongly resembles a ship's boat circa 17th-18th centuries.   No matter, very neatly done!

 

Thanks for sharing!

 

Allan

[Ferrus Manus]

That's because it is. This is originally a boat from my HMS Victory kit, i just wanted to turn it into some kind of oyster boat. 

[allanyed]

One of the old time oyster vessels is the skipjack used in the Chesapeake, and their small boats that hung from davits on the stern.  There are several builds here at MSW on these vessels you may find interesting.  The first pic below shows a pair of Morales Bay Company boats, quite different than the Chesapeake skipjacks.  Your model could very well suit, but maybe consider removing some of the thwarts which were meant for multiple rowers.

Allan

 

[Ferrus Manus]

I was thinking something between a skipjack and its boat. A fully rigged boat, but still a boat and not a ship. 

[Ferrus Manus]

Mind you, all kinds of fishing vessels existed at that time. Who knows, maybe some were in fact repurposed ships' boats? 

[Ferrus Manus]

I installed the mast step and bowsprit step, and glued in both structures.

This is intended to be one of those boats that looks like it's just spars, with the actual boat being kind of an afterthought. 

Sort of like this smack, but slightly more extreme. It will have a sloop rig with a jackyard topsail. 

[Ferrus Manus]

I did the majority of the standing rigging except the backstays. 

Is there anything i should change, improve on, etc? After this, i will continue with the rope thimbles that will serve as "blocks". 

[allanyed]

Even though they are from the 18th century there are great photos of a longboat that may be of some help on the RMG site   https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-66291 

There are also sail plans for various boats of 1869 at RMG https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-87011  and

https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/search/de horsey rig

 

W.E. May gives sizes of running and standing rigging lines as well as mast and boom diameters for various size boats. on pages 98 to 104 in his book The Boats of Men of War 

 

Allan

 

[Ferrus Manus]

I have done the backstays in the style of a fishing schooner: 

This will be rigged as a gaff cutter sloop. You could probably see that when i laid out the spars. 

[Ferrus Manus]

does anyone know if Rweiderrich does small boats, or does he just do clippers? This boat is intended to be from around the same time period (and place of origin!) of his subjects, 1850s/60s/70s eastern American seaboard. If he has experience with small boats, he would be a valuable resource here. 

[Ferrus Manus]

"The Ship" by Bjorn Landstrom just showed up in the mail, and let me tell you, i would've spent a lot more than 20 bucks on it. Incredible book; I'm currently reading the section on carracks. 

[Ferrus Manus]

Today, i got the first sail bent. I cut it out by eye, trimmed it down, and then made a stupid mistake. I lashed the sail to the yard and boom, which i painted yesterday, before i remembered to stain the sail. I went for it anyway because why not. I poured myself a cup of coffee, but the coffee wasn't for me. I dipped the sail, spars and all, into the coffee, not knowing if the hot liquid would strip the paint, which would mean a junk sail and a second paint job. 

Luckily, the paint didn't strip. For "jaws" for the gaff and boom, i simply tied a rope around the end of both and tied the ends around the mast. I made "mast hoops" by running a line through the head of the sail and tying it around the mast.

Here is the finished result, minus gluing and trimming the knots.

[Ferrus Manus]

@Knocklouder, have you seen this yet? 

[Knocklouder]

Looking good my man. 

[Ferrus Manus]

This is the proposed size and shape of the gaff topsail, laid out on the table. Jackyard topsails were the largest variant of gaff topsail, and often rivaled the size of the main gaff itself. Racing yacht riggers used them to legally increase the sail area of their ships via a loophole in racing rules, hence their prevalence on the racing yachts of the early 20th century. 

Edited September 29, 2023 by Ferrus Manus

[Ferrus Manus]

I have yet to tie the loops that will become the rigging thimbles, so i have to finish that at least for the main gaff before i do anything with the gaff topsail. 

[Ferrus Manus]

That's a wrap on the main gaff. The peak and throat halyards actually do through the same thimble down to the deck. The boom lifts are standing because there aren't enough pins for them to be running. 

[Ferrus Manus]

I rigged the jackyard topsail as i had laid out, then partially rigged the staysail. I used rigging line for the stay hoops. 

I have yet to rig the sheets, halyard, downhaul, and tack. 

[Ferrus Manus]

Probably after the Senora Fielden, if i'm not completely burned out by then and never wanting to build a model again, i want to partially scratchbuild a 1/96 Cutty Sark kit into a McKay-style extreme clipper. 

[Ferrus Manus]

I would like some input here. Should i have an inner jib and outer jib along with the staysail, or just the outer jib?