HMS Victory by Yabuhebi (Chris) - Caldercraft - 1:72

[kiwiron]

Great work, your photo's are a great help to me as I flounder along. I'm onto my Foremast now. I lined up my Bowsprit Gammoning the best I could but found it lined up even better sliding the Bowsprit out a couple of mm. 

[Yabuhebi]

14 hours ago, wvdhee said:

Great job and amazing patience 👏 

Thank you Walter....of course, you're not down stairs when I spend 75% of my time sweeping under the bench trying to find all the pieces I keep dropping. 

 

I assure you, no patience then!!!!!

[Yabuhebi]

Work, work, work!

 

I have my fingers in multiple tasks here. 
I'm painting the structures for the mizzen mast black and the mizzen mast itself yellow.

While that dries, I have continued working on the hammocks. I won't do them all at once, they get tedious and I'd rather do other things!

 

I did the other hammock for the poop deck. I am not entirely happy with this one. I wasn't very careful when I cut the netting prior to installing it. Because of that, I cut too far into the next row and the looping frayed or cut.

 

When trying to sew the netting to the hammock line, it wouldn't take. I had to go down a layer and this created a lot of fringe. I tried gluing the top as I went, but it doesn't quite work. You can see that on the poop barricade hammock and opposite poop rail. Too much fringe and it is very hard to try and cut away.

 

 

 

I then did the waist hammock. This one seemed to go much easier with the wooden bannister. In addition, I was VERY careful cutting the netting to get ready. Not a lot of frayed edges or bad fringes. Like others, I opted not to attach netting to either side where the anchor or hull stairway is. 

 

But, I thought in the real world they would put something up while underway. So in boredom, I created a little net that rolls up. So silly..... 

 

 

 

I also started on the yards. Going from left to right per the blue prints, the next set of yards after the bow family were the spritsail and spritsail topsail yards.

 

They require little pieces of 1.5x1.5mm walnut strips to be shaped as stop cleats on each end.

The larger spritsail yard also requires 2 sling cleats (#381). There is something showing on the topsail yard, but it is not labeled....

 

 

I went to the references I have on hand and was able to deduce that the smaller yard also has sling cleats.

They are mentioned in Longridge's book and I just received James Lee's THE MASTING AND RIGGING OF ENGLISH SHIPS OF WAR 1625-1860.

 

I found a wonderful deal on AbeBooks for about $65USD used. It came from one of their sellers Frey Fine Books. Frey did a tremendous job, the original dust cover is in new condition and they covered in a clear cover and actually wrapped the book in paper before boxing it. Just above and beyond.

 

Both books really get into the details of it all. Lee's provides dimensions for any and all parts of the rigging. It was very comforting to be able to convert both Lee and Longridge's real life dimensions of feet/inches into millimeters and have them come out almost perfectly. 

 

I now have to clear space so that these books are open and ready for the rest of this project. I am headed into an area that I have no experience in!!!!

Can't wait.

Chris

 

Edited Monday at 12:53 AM by Yabuhebi

[Yabuhebi]

I'm wrapping up the mizzen mast and was reviewing some past builder logs to start getting a plan in my head for what is next.

 

I came across Robert29's blog and a few references to adding a driver boom saddle to the mizzen mast.

To the best of my knowledge, there is just one reference to this part....#212 driver boom saddle.

 

That's it. It isn't in the rigging or hull manuals. I just went downstairs and pulled all of the unopened rigging blueprints and see nothing. Other than the location of the driver boom.

 

The mizzen only blueprint doesn't have anything on it and the generic plan for all three masts is also lacking any reference to it.

 

Longridge does mention the saddle. Describing it as a semi circle bracket supported by 7 fluted brackets. Ironically, it does not give any dimensions as to where it would be on the  mizzen. Surprising as he is very detailed as to where many parts need to be located. There is nothing in Lee's book and McCay doesn't show the saddle in any of the drawings for the mizzen.

 

I suppose I can guess where it should be based on Robert's pic below. I suppose a millimeter error here or there is only a few inches in real life....

[Yabuhebi]

As  I'm working on the yards, I think I've finally put together how the manual wants them done. 

 

The manual mentions using brass wire to make the outermost rings that are placed in holes drilled at the ends of the appropriate yardarms...over the boom iron straps. Again, that's it. No mention of the part numbers (#493-496) or how they are put together.

 

It does mention booms and that they should be above the yard and 45 degrees in front of it so that any and all blocks attached to the yards are behind the booms. 

 

But the word boom is used interchangeably with other pieces...mainly the driver boom and driver gaff. No worries.

 

However, I'd love to add these 'booms' or more correctly stunsail yards. I can't find any reference that provides the actual length of these yards.

I can guess and probably get pretty close to the length, and probably guess as to the width too.

 

Anyone have an idea? I have searched online for the specs on stud sail yards, stunsail yards, etc. Not much in the stat category.

McKay and Longridge have similar drawings. Lee and McGowan show the yards, but no real dimensional detail.

 

Thanks!!!!
Chris 

[Yabuhebi]

Still a little tweaking and touch ups to the masts, but I really like them. 

 

I didn't notice until I took a picture, but the last hammock netting I did, the colors didn't match up! They looked fairly good a few days ago, but now it seems whiter and cleaner. 

 

I do know that I stained the first three hammocks in coffee before attaching them. I then left the coffee in a plastic cup. Figured I would use it as I needed it. I don't drink coffee so I have to rely on my wife to make it....I have no idea how!!!! Lol.....

 

When I soaked that last piece in and pulled it out, it had little chunks of coffee in it. Oops. What do I know. I guess I rinsed it out a bit too much.

 

Not much I can do, but I am going to stain enough of the lace material to do the rest so they are at least consistent. 

 

I really hate the close up pictures, but man, when I stand a bit away from her, she really is starting to look good.

I just have NO IDEA where I'm going to put it when it's done!

 

Thanks to all!

Chris

 

[kiwiron]

Looking very nice, mine looks o.k from about 20 feet away. I know where every mistake is I've made but hopefully anyone looking at it won't be able to tell. Keep up the great work, Nice to get to the end of the hammock nets. 

[Yabuhebi]

11 hours ago, Yabuhebi said:

As  I'm working on the yards, I think I've finally put together how the manual wants them done. 

 

The manual mentions using brass wire to make the outermost rings that are placed in holes drilled at the ends of the appropriate yardarms...over the boom iron straps. Again, that's it. No mention of the part numbers (#493-496) or how they are put together.

 

It does mention booms and that they should be above the yard and 45 degrees in front of it so that any and all blocks attached to the yards are behind the booms. 

 

But the word boom is used interchangeably with other pieces...mainly the driver boom and driver gaff. No worries.

 

However, I'd love to add these 'booms' or more correctly stunsail yards. I can't find any reference that provides the actual length of these yards.

I can guess and probably get pretty close to the length, and probably guess as to the width too.

 

Anyone have an idea? I have searched online for the specs on stud sail yards, stunsail yards, etc. Not much in the stat category.

McKay and Longridge have similar drawings. Lee and McGowan show the yards, but no real dimensional detail.

 

Thanks!!!!
Chris 

 

 

Well!!!! Look at this...it was here the whole time!

I was just going to wing it and have the stunsail booms be half the length of the yard they were married to.

 

I started prepping the fore yard and there it is....WHOOP!

 

It's funny, there is not reference to the word stunsail in the rigging directions. Not one. Not even for stun or sail! The parts manual does reference the iron straps for the boom.

 

So I am back in action!!!!

 

 

[Yabuhebi]

I have both the fore main and topmast yards close to done.

I was able to use the kit's cast iron pieces for the rings that will hold the main yard to the stunsail booms.

 

There is a piece of photo etch banding that goes on the end of both yards. One of the requirements is to create a wire ring/hoop system that would allow the stunsail boom to slide out when needed. I used brass wire that I annealed and bent into the proper shape.

 

I could not drill through the iron banding once I had installed it. The trick would be to drill it while it's flat and then install.

The second tip is it might be better to also drill into the ends of the yards BEFORE you begin tapering. This way there is enough meat to grab onto to and make sure you have a properly centered hole.

 

I didn't do that for either of the yards and I was forced to cut the tip of the banding off to get access to the end of the yard. It was easy to drill the hole in the fore main yard. As of right now, I cannot get the drill into the smaller topmast yard. At 2mm, it's just too small for the bit. Which means I will have to use a smaller width wire for the hoop ends....

 

I used regular styrene banding for the middle of the yards and clean PE sprue for the tiny banding around the iron ends of the yards.

Once painting, a lot of that blends in...I haven't taken pics yet.

 

One more thing....when doing the topmast yard, the plans call for only 4 wooden strips around the center with some spacers in between. I assumed it would be the same .5x4mm size, but it is the smaller .5x3mm. I used the 4mm strips and could only get 3 around it. I tossed about taking off and redoing, but it was late and I think once it's painted and all of the jeer blocks are installed, it will get lost in the forest.