Cat Esther by GrandpaPhil - 1/64 - CARD

[GrandpaPhil]

Got a new shipyard supervisor:

That’s Griswold the Blacksmith.  

He showed up yesterday with a hammer in one hand and a copy of Steel’s Elements of Mastmaking, Sailmaking and Rigging in his other hand.

 

Griswold said I have four hulls laid up in my shipyard that need finishing and offered to help get them done.

 

So, I accepted.

 

[Glen McGuire]

1 hour ago, GrandpaPhil said:

That’s Griswold the Blacksmith.  

A blacksmith supervising a card model build?  What could possibly go wrong?  🔥🔥🔥

You are a brave man, Phil!!

[GrandpaPhil]

Lol!
 

He’s been knocking out all the different types of blocks:

Now, we’ll see if he can get the rest of them done and all of the metalwork pieces for the rigging made and put that copy of Steel to use!

Edited May 5 by GrandpaPhil

[GrandpaPhil]

Griswold finished all the blocks and is making the giant deadeye looking things.

We only need 4, but are going to make 6.

 

The first one is done.

 

After we make these, we will make all of the mouses for the stays.

 

Then all fittings will get painted and rigging will commence!

[GrandpaPhil]

It should be noted that Griswold is mostly made from the pieces of a 28mm (1/56) scale barbarian from the game Frostgrave, that would be equivalent to a 7 foot (2.11 m) tall person in 1/64 scale.

 

That will help with scaling perspective.

The book is 14” (35 cm) tall and wide in 1/64 scale.

 

I made the book from basswood.

 

Edited May 6 by GrandpaPhil

[Coyote_6]

Looks good Phil.  You'll only break or lose one when you make "just enough".  Griswold is doing fine work.

[GrandpaPhil]

Thank you very much!

 

Griswold finished all of the rigging fittings and inked them brown:

This isn’t a warship, which has a lot more, but there were still plenty of fittings to make (at least a couple hundred).

[GrandpaPhil]

The rigging begins with a humble bow gammoning:

[GrandpaPhil]

The foremast loading tackles are done:

Griswold is pleased with his work, he can load his barrels of mead now:

 

[Coyote_6]

Wow that looks nice Phil.  The symmetry is awesome.

[GrandpaPhil]

Thank you very much!

 

All lower loading tackles are done:

Here is a side on shot of the ship:

I missed the third set of tackles on each lower mast and found a set on each top mast.

 

That makes for 8 sets of tackles that I didn’t plan for.

 

Needless to say, I made some more double blocks.

 

The hooks are made from steel wire.

I am being much more careful with reading the rigging plan so I don’t miss anything else.

 

This plan is the most complete, rigging wise, that I have ever built from, so it is a learning process.

 

The only other square rigger that I have ever built at decent scale was a Mamoli Endeavour which was 1/100 scale, and therefore still simplified significantly.

 

The Solferino was pretty complete, rigging wise, but it was only 1/200 scale and therefore only had half the rigging it should have had.

 

We’ll see how this turns out.

 

Next up for me rigging wise is the Revenge.

 

[GrandpaPhil]

Loading tackles are done:

Shrouds are going in with the foremast lower shrouds installed:

No shrouds, stays or backstays will be tensioned until all standing rigging is installed and awaiting tensioning to prevent mast warping.

[GrandpaPhil]

Main shrouds are up:

[GrandpaPhil]

All lower shrouds are up and fore stays are being installed:

Shrouds have traditionally been very difficult for me.

 

This is one of the quickest shroud installations that I have ever done.

 

The mouses are painted wood and I made them from dowel rods.

Edited May 19 by GrandpaPhil

[GrandpaPhil]

All forestays and the port backstays are up:

nothing is getting tensioned until the rest of the backstays are up.

[GrandpaPhil]

Lower shrouds, stays and backstays are all on.

 

Everything is tensioned.

 

I’ll tie everything off tomorrow and start the upper shrouds.

[GrandpaPhil]

All lower shrouds and stays are tensioned and tied off:

I have the upper shrouds prepped for installation:

I kept breaking the little dead eyes so I need to make more, but I will wait until I run out so I know how many to make.

 

I have five left and I need eight, but I am sure that I will break more, lol.

 

These are 1/8” (3mm) in diameter.

[Javlin]

Looking Good Phil but you Crazy

[GrandpaPhil]

Javlin,

  Thank you very much!  This model has been a good learning model!

 

All shrouds are done and I have started on ratlines!

[GrandpaPhil]

Working ratlines:

The lower foremast ratlines are done and the lower starboard main mast ratlines are done.

[GrandpaPhil]

Still working ratlines:

Life has been very busy so I’ve only been working on my model periodically, for a few minutes at a time.

 

[Coyote_6]

Keep moving forward!  They look great.

 

Steve

[GrandpaPhil]

Ratlines are done!

 

I’ll post pictures later.

Edited June 29 by GrandpaPhil

[Keith Black]

 The ratlines look good, Phil. Did you use the weave method? 

[GrandpaPhil]

Thank you very much!
 

I tied them with overhand knots.

[GrandpaPhil]

Ratline pictures:

 

I just tie my ratlines by hand.

 

This is the third set I’ve done for a 3-masted ship, although the mizzen mast and both sets of top mast ratlines only had 2 shrouds apiece to tie off to, which made finishing the ratlines much easier.

 

Revenge has double the number of shrouds.

[GrandpaPhil]

I haven’t had time at home to work on my model for a couple of months now because life has been crazy busy.

I have greatly missed working on my model, so back to work!

 

Here are Esther’s spars:

They need shaped and painted.

 

The booms and gaffs need jaws.

 

I am going to try and make parrels for this model.

[Michael Mash]

I do the same thing.  Sometimes, for small spars I can roll them from paper.  But most of them I make out of wood, and they are well suited for rigging.

 

[GrandpaPhil]

The yards and spars are rough carved:

I’ll finish them up with sandpaper and then paint them.

 

The gaff will get jaws.

 

The boom will get a hook to attach it to the mizzen mast, and some “iron” banding.

[GrandpaPhil]

I’ve been sick all week, so I’ve taken the opportunity to relax, and have been doing some low-key model making.

All yards, the boom and the gaff are done.

The main pieces for the four anchors are also either made or in the process of being layered up.

 

I still need to make the flukes.

Part of card modeling is making lots of pieces to get proper thickness.

 

It’s just the nature of the beast.

 

I used the measurements and based my drawings for the anchors off the drawings and tables in Zu Mondfeld’s “Historic Ship Models”.

 

They are actually sized for a 20 gun brig, which I figured would be of equivalent size and weight to this Cat.