Lancha Chilota by JacquesCousteau – Scale 1:32 – Chilean Coasting Sloop

[wefalck]

When there are eye-bolts, blocks would be shackled or hooked to them. The blocks would be either internally stropped in metal, or there would be an external strop in rope with an eye for the shackle/hook. The splice or the whole strop could be served and there would be a seizing between the block and the eyelet.

I suspect that on a boat like this there may be a few windings of wire replacing the shackle …

[Thukydides]

3 hours ago, JacquesCousteau said:

Also, how much of a strop would be served?

Now this is much earlier than your time period, but according to the Art of Rigging in 1806, strapping of 4 in diameter and above are wormed parceled and served and less than that just served. They discuss how the serving is done on shore and the lengths just cut off as needed. It is not clear if the splice to join the two ends of the strop (which they state is in the **** of the block :)) was then served over, but I would guess not.

 

p44:

https://books.google.ca/books?id=Cq1WAAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

3 hours ago, JacquesCousteau said:

Specifically, I'm stuck on how blocks were joined to eyebolts and the like. If I'm going with rope-stropped blocks, would it make more sense for a block to be tied directly to the eyebolt, or to an eye in the strop on one side of the block and then to use a separate line to join the block eye to the eyebolt?

I am not sure exactly what you are asking here, but in general I would expect that the lower down and more permanent the block, the more likely it is to be directly attached to the structure / eyebolt. The higher up and less permanent it is the more likely it is to use a lashing to attach two ends of a loop or to use hooks. I don’t have any sources for this assertion, just what I have observed the tendency in the examples I have seen and logic (I would assume that it was much harder to do this on the top of the mast as opposed to on deck).

 

The mast is looking good. Nice job on the fix.

[JacquesCousteau]

Thanks, @wefalck and @Thukydides! Your responses are very helpful and make a lot of sense. I decided against serving the strops themselves, as while it may be accurate, it would substantially increase the amount of work to do and would make the stropping thread much harder to work with. 

 

I also decided to use hooks to attach blocks to eyebolts, following the examples in photos of the gaff. This required making hooks, which was a bit of a process. Hats off to the many of you who work in smaller scales, making tiny fittings is tricky work! Last year when Crafty Sailor was having its going-out-of-business sale, I picked up two sets of photo-etch hooks in 5mm and 2mm. Looking at them alongside the blocks I have for this build, though, they seemed alternately too big and too small. I tried making a couple hooks from the thinnest brass rod that I have, but found it too difficult to make hooks smaller than 5mm or so due to the thickness of the material. I then tried with 24-gauge wire and was able to get a smaller size, but the coating got very ripped up and they didn't look very good. At that point, I remembered that I had a small bag of eyebolts made of thin brass wire, which worked much better and after a false start resulting in a very oversized hook, I was soon able to make hooks of about 4mm. The hooks are not particularly consistent in shape, but I figure that they're widely spaced enough on the model that it won't be all that noticeable. Below, between the photo-etch hook sets, there are, from left to right, the brass rod hooks, the 24-gauge wire hooks, and then the brass eyebolt hooks, with a 4mm and 5mm block below (and my finger for scale). Of course I only notice now that some of the hooks will need the eye parallel to the hook instead of perpendicular, but that's not a difficult fix before painting.

 

I also did a bit of prep on some blocks. The "beautiful blocks" from ModelExpo look very good to my eyes, but I went to soften some hard edges with fine sandpaper and found that their wood is actually a lighter color than they appear (presumably they look darker because of laser char or some other effect of the manufacturing process). So, I sanded one lightly on all sides, and then stained with minwax golden oak. Below, the 4mm single block has been left untouched, while the 5mm double block was sanded and stained. I think it's a subtle difference, but a nice one. 

 

I also did a bit more work on the rigging, this time focusing on the forestay. I began by serving a length of black line. Once I reached the desired length, I secured the end of the serving, but didn't snip it off. Instead, I did a false slice through the opposite end of the served area, forming a served loop, as seen below. The idea was to then continue serving around the splice and a bit down the stay.

 

Unfortunately it didn't work out. My set of helping hands seems to be getting a little loser, despite tightening the screws, and while I've been able to serve straight lengths of line ok, it was impossible to serve around the splice. The rope, which was doubled on the loop side, kept wrapping around itself instead of letting the serving wrap around it, and it became very difficult to maintain tension. I had to stop. So instead, I decided to go for a simpler method of using a couple of seizings to make the loop in served black rope, as seen below.

 

Finally, I did the jib halyard block in the way that Wefalck suggested several posts ago. I used a 4mm block (sanded and stained) as several photos seem to show a smaller block, relative to the gaff halyards, in this location. To strop it, I followed the instructions that Chuck Passaro recently posted on Syren's blocks page, finding it to be clear and easy to follow. The only change was that I ended up using a few half-hitches instead of just wrapping the seizing thread, as I found it hard to maintain pressure otherwise. After stropping the block into place, I did a false splice at the other end to create a loop to fit around the forestay.

 

I then trimmed it and tried to serve around the splice, which was a bit difficult and didn't turn out very smooth. I still found the result acceptable, though.

 

Below, in an unfortunately blurry photo, the forestay has been temporarily put in place, as has the jib halyard block, which will look better once the halyard puts a bit of pressure on it so it doesn't try to pop upward.

 

I think I'll make the gaff throat halyard in the same way, just larger so it loops around the masthead. I'm debating whether I should serve the masthead loop, though--I think I should--and whether that serving should be black or brown. Probably black to match the shroud and forestay serving, although those are meant to be wire while the throat halyard block stropping will be rope.

[Jim Lad]

Just catching up. You're making very nice progress.

 

John

 

[Paul Le Wol]

Hi Jacques, your rigging is really looking good. If you are making hooks and eyes with the coated annealed wire and it gets scratched you can burn the coating off with a mini torch or a lighter. It will turn a dark grey colour and won’t need to be painted.

[JacquesCousteau]

4 hours ago, Paul Le Wol said:

Hi Jacques, your rigging is really looking good. If you are making hooks and eyes with the coated annealed wire and it gets scratched you can burn the coating off with a mini torch or a lighter. It will turn a dark grey colour and won’t need to be painted.

Thanks Paul! Unfortunately I don't have annealed steel wire, the 24 gauge wire I have has a black plastic coating. I need to pick up some annealed wire soon, it would be a lot stronger and wouldn't require painting.

 

10 hours ago, Jim Lad said:

Just catching up. You're making very nice progress.

 

John

 

Thanks John!

 

I've now primed the metal parts that I've made so far, after first bending the chainplates into shape. This proved a bit frustrating, as I first tried sticking the hooks and thimbles (the latter of which will go on the ends of the shrouds and forestay) onto a bit of double-sided tape for priming. I didn't realize just how sticky our double-sided tape was, though, and it left a ton of residue. After soaking in alcohol overnight, it still took quite a bit of work to scrape it all off. I ended up instead placing the small parts, like the larger parts, on a loop of 28-gauge wire for priming instead.

 

 

I also finally added the cleats to the hull, although I still need to add a couple eyebolts with rings and a pair of the blocky double-cleats (not sure if there's an actual term for them) as well to finish up the deck furnishings.

[JacquesCousteau]

After having primed the metal parts, I was able to paint them dark grey with acrylic paint and to add a dash of dry-brushed rust coloration and some pencil marks to highlight certain areas, although the varnish seems to have darkened things slightly.

 

 

I added the horse rail, making sure to leave room for the tiller. Unfortunately the wood split on the right side while I was test fitting, but I was able to glue it back into place and re-drill the hole (this time using a slightly bigger bit so that the horse wouldn't get stuck).

 

It was then time to try stropping a block with a hook--in this case, the peak halyard block, as I already had a double block stained and ready. Once again, I followed Chuck Passaro's stropping instructions, which I'm finding to be very clear and relatively easy to do, with the modification of doing a few half hitches instead of just wrapping the seizing. I also had some difficulty getting the super glue (which you mostly wipe off immediately) right, as it was very easy to either wipe off too much and have nothing stick, or to not wipe off enough and end up with a shiny spot (which I'll try to take down with a bit of matte varnish). The false splice turned out pretty neat. I'm using .45mm rope from Ropes of Scale for the blocks, and 140-size fly tying thread for the seizings.

 

Sharp-eyed viewers may note that I accidentally used the wrong hook for this--I should have used one with a perpendicular eye instead of twisting the eye of the stropping 90 degrees. Oh well, I think it's hard to notice unless specifically looked for.

 

Now that I finally have the necessary hooks, I'm finding block stropping to be pretty fun. I know this is all pretty basic information to be documenting here, but it's new for me.

 

I'm quickly reaching the point, though, where I'll need to do a bit more woodworking to make the gaff and boom.

[wefalck]

I had discovered decades ago that making half-hitches eases the seizing of blocks etc. a lot and keeps the rounds in place. The only issue is that one can see this on one side, so strategic placing of the 'hitch' to become mostly not visible is a good idea.

 

If you are averse to using an organic solvent-based varnish (e.g. diluted clear nail varnish) for securing rigging, you may want to try the cement they use in nail-studios to stick artificial nails to ladies' real nails. I recently discovered that this is a mixture of CA and metacrylic monomers: it sticks quite fast, but you have several minutes to adjust things before it fully cures. It is not as 'nasty' as pure CA and forms strong bonds. It should be readily available in your part of the world.

[JacquesCousteau]

A bit more progress. First, I stropped the block for the topping lift. I forgot photos, but it's the exact same process as for the peak halyard block, just with a smaller 4mm block (as a number of photos showed smaller blocks for the topping lift).

 

Next, the gaff boom and gooseneck. I had puzzled over exactly how to make this for a while, as none of the photos I could find are very clear on this part. About all I could say for sure is that it wasn't like the goosenecks discussed in John Leather’s The Gaff Rig Handbook, or like those shown in build logs for other vessels--notably, there was clearly no band around the mast. But then I realized that one of José A Garnham's sketches included a side view of a gooseneck arrangement. It clearly shows two eyebolts lined up on the mast, with a hinge of sorts attached to the front of the boom, and a bent rod inserted to allow it to pivot.

Source: http://lanchaschilotas.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/1MG_2946-2L.jpg

(Note: that’s the address for the screenshot. However, the page no longer seems to be up. I’ve noticed several images and pages on Garnham’s lancha chilota site seem to have gone down, unfortunately.)

 

I decided to make this arrangement in the same way as I made the eyebolts in the masthead--using paper for the metal strip on the boom and for a metal base for the eyebolts, and then three wire eyebolts linked with a bit of brass rod. Below, the mast eyebolts are shown.

 

The boom portion, meanwhile, required finally making the boom. After looking at a lot of photos, I decided that a boom roughly half the diameter or so of the mast at its widest point seemed reasonable. I made the boom from some of the same alder sheet I'm using for the Bateau de Lanvéoc's frames, cutting a 5/32-inch wide strip, tapering it, and then rounding it off with a mini plane and sandpaper. I did not do a great job of shaping it and it's very slightly curved if you look down its length, but many booms seem to have been bent slightly like that from their weight and use, so I just arranged the gooseneck eyebolt so it would curve slightly upward.

 

Finally, the metal "key" going through the gooseneck eyebolts was twisted from some brass rod. With that, I was ready for a test fitting. (Of course, many of the parts still need to be painted.)

 

As can be seen, I probably could have stood to position the mast eyebolts slightly closer together--I wanted to leave room for a bit of motion, but this is probably a bit excessive. I'll need to consider whether I want to remove and replace one of the mast eyebolts, or something else, or to just leave it as it is. The gooseneck is functional, though, and I think looks a bit better at a normal distance. As can be seen below, I used simple thread as a rough topping lift and sheet to keep the boom from flopping around too much in test fitting. 

 

 

Besides the gooseneck, I'm also wondering whether the boom should be tapered slightly more. In any case, I'm enjoying this build quite a bit, and am definitely learning a lot from it!

Edited 22 hours ago by JacquesCousteau

[Jim Lad]

Haven't looked in for a while - she's looking magnificent!

 

John

[Thukydides]

7 minutes ago, JacquesCousteau said:

Besides the gooseneck, I'm also wondering whether the boom should be tapered slightly more. In any case, I'm enjoying this build quite a bit, and am definitely learning a lot from it!

Aesthetically I feel like it needs a bit more taper near the end, but I was looking back through your reference photos and the below one doesn’t seem to have much taper. Also it looks a little bent so I think any imperfections in the symmetry of the model boom probably only add to the realism.

In any case she is looking really good.

[JacquesCousteau]

1 hour ago, Jim Lad said:

Haven't looked in for a while - she's looking magnificent!

 

John

Thanks!

 

1 hour ago, Thukydides said:

Aesthetically I feel like it needs a bit more taper near the end, but I was looking back through your reference photos and the below one doesn’t seem to have much taper. Also it looks a little bent so I think any imperfections in the symmetry of the model boom probably only add to the realism.

In any case she is looking really good.

Thanks! I do think I'll taper the aft end a bit before painting. Incidentally the photo you shared shows another detail I'd like to include on the gaff spar, which has been extended slightly (or perhaps it was a repair) at the tip. I think it would add a bit of character to the model. 

[JacquesCousteau]

I started work on the rudder hinges, making one out of 1/64x1/16‐inch brass strip. It ended up protruding about 1/8 inch beyond the rudder, which is a bit more than I would like--as can be seen below, the gap is a bit excessive.

 

I still have a hard time making precise bends in brass, which is part of why it sticks out too far. As can be seen below, the 90-degree bends aren't very precise, and the bend for the pintle is simply too big. I'll have to try again.

 

That said, it occurred to me that this piece could also potentially be used to replace the eyebolt on the end of the boom, as seen below in a test fit. This would fill a little more of the excess space between the gooseneck eyebolts. The main issue is that the loop for the gooseneck pin is quite large, so the boom will bounce around quite a bit more than with the eyebolt unless I pinch the loop closed or something. 

 

With the metalwork (real and faked) on the mast finished, I was able to add all the standing rigging to the masthead. The shrouds were put in place and seized together with black fly-tying thread, first the starboard pair, then the port. Then, the fore stay was added. I made sure the standing rigging was snugged down against the crosstrees, clamped the lines at the bottom of the mast with clothespins to add a slightly bit of tension, and then applied watered-down white glue to hold everything in place.

 

It was then time to add the throat halyard block, which, instead of being hooked to an eyebolt like the other masthead blocks, is stropped around the masthead. This proved tricky to do. First, I served a short length in the middle of a bit of rope.

 

I then looped the served portion around the masthead and tried to seize the loop closed. This was very difficult for me to do, as there were a lot of moving parts to juggle--the rope, the seizing thread, and the mast itself were all sliding around. Eventually I used a dot of glue to secure the rope to the masthead in the proper location, but it was still tricky to seize it shut. I ended up deciding to seize it a bit further down the line first, as shown below, and then to seize closer to the masthead.

 

While this certainly made it easier to add the closer seizing, unfortunately, that first seizing wasn't quite centered. I therefore added a further, properly centered seizing between the two I had made, to be against the top of the block, and then cut off the lower seizing, carefully removing the glued fibers as best as I could. I was then able to finally add the block, as can be seen below, which I held down in the proper position with sewing thread before adding watered-down glue to hold everything in place around the masthead.

 

With all the blocks added, the masthead is now complete!

[Paul Le Wol]

Excellent!