Sovereign of the Seas by 72Nova - Airfix - PLASTIC

[Tumblehome]

Like others watching this thread, I'm amazed to see each instalment.

 

Just got my own Airfix Vasa kit, after reviewing Michael's previous build, much to the same scale.

Opening the box, I'm already scratching my head!

 

It illustrates the potential these kits have for those who dare.

[72Nova]

Thank you for the compliments gentlemen, Ian the 100wt silk thread works great for the crow feet and upper stays along with the 50-60wt polyester thread for some of the other lighter lines. 

Tumblehome I hope my Vasa build log will be of some use to you. 

Wish you all the best on your build and do hope to see your progress?

 

Michael D.

 

Edited November 24 by 72Nova

[72Nova]

Work of the fore course continues with the rigging of the buntline blocks and the furling of the sail, I still to manipulate it some and tone down the white before finishing up the gaskets but looking good so far. My plan for the martnets is to let them hang down below the yard instead of drawing them up tight above the yard like I did on the Vasa, this will be quite the challenge.

 

Michael D.

 

 

 

[72Nova]

The furled sail is for the most part completed along with mocking up the rigging of the single jeer, next I'll be working on the sprit sail yard while I figure out the martnet situation. Thanks for looking.

 

Michael D.

 

 

[fmodajr]

Michael,

As always, beautiful workmanship.

So much fun to follow your work.

 

Frank

[Kenchington]

You have a very nice representation of the sails!

 

There's more than one way to furl a squaresail and I'm not sure how it was done on English warships in the mid-17th Century -- though the (unreliable) Payne engraving shows the royals drawn together into a vertical, tube-like bundle ahead of the mast, which is a known technique of later decades. That source also shows the furled main course much as you have the fore course on your model, with sheets and tacks (hence the hidden clews) near the quarters of the yard. Maybe that wa show it was done but, through the 18th and well into the 19th, the clew garnets and clewlines pulled the clews up to the slings of the yard. When the sail was furled, the two clews (with their multiple blocks and general bulk) were hung outside and forward of the furled bunt of the sail. I don't know whether you should (or could) represent that but worth thinking about before you add the other sails?

 

I can't suggest how you handle the martnets. Their elegant draping shown in the Peter Pett portrait does look lovely but would be hard to reproduce in a model and does not look very practical at sea.

 

Trevor

[72Nova]

Thanks Trevor,

I will attach the clue of the sail later on and still undecided on the martnets, I might just rig them as I did on my Vasa with 2 per side instead of 4 and I think will look fine as in this picture.

 

Michael D.

 

 

[Kenchington]

Nicely shown! But you have interpreted the martnets as brails, gathering the sail from both sides. I have supposed (perhaps wrongly) that they were like buntlines, pulling the edge of the sail to the yard across the forward face of the bunt. It would make a big difference when furling, as there would be no easy way to fist the canvas into a "skin" when it was gathered up tightly by a brail.

 

But maybe the idea of forming a weather-tight "skin", with the rest of the sail inside, was a later development.

 

Trevor

[72Nova]

Thank you, Frank, for the wonderful compliment. I've been experimenting with how I'll be displaying the martnets and this is early in the mockup stage, I think using just two will suffice in their presentation at this scale.

I'm still undecided on where to run the falls, either under the top attached to the stay or taken up to the topmast top with pendants. As always, I appreciate the comments and recommendations.

 

Michael D.