Lynx 1812 by SaltyScot - Manuta-Panart - 1:62 - building as Mosquidobit

[Ronald-V]

That's indeed a nice "scratch" upgrade! Well done 👌

[Jolly Jo]

Nicely done, Mark. So much better than the plywood piece (plywood, why on earth...?)!

[SaltyScot]

6 hours ago, Jolly Jo said:

plywood, why on earth...?

 

Right? You can't shape it at all. it just falls apart. A lot of the fittings are the same and will be scratch built as well. Fun times!

[Coyote_6]

2 hours ago, SaltyScot said:

A lot of the fittings are the same and will be scratch built as well. Fun times!

At least you have a large amount of raw material!!  Holy cow that was a small part from that big ol' block.

 

 

[SaltyScot]

26 minutes ago, Coyote_6 said:

At least you have a large amount of raw material!!  Holy cow that was a small part from that big ol' block.

 

 

 

Actually, I have two of them Steve. A friend of ours wanted a felled black walnut tree out of her yard and asked around if anyone wanted some. I have two bowl blanks like this and some more off-cut pieces. So yes, plenty of raw material. I just love the smell of black walnut sawdust when you are working the wood!

[SaltyScot]

Today was mast and spar day. While it was still comparatively cool this morning (82F 🤨), I decided to sand down the masts and bowsprit on my lathe. I also wanted to sand down the yards and boom while I was over in the wood shop. After measuring, cutting and labeling the yards, I took them over to be worked on:

 

 

The more astute amongst you will notice that some of the labels are not correctly named. I have since resolved that issue after talking to @Dr PR and clarifying the correct terminology for a few of the pieces (thank you again, Phil!).  The masts and bowsprit were sanded down on my lathe:

 

 

 

And checked with a set of calipers adjusted to the corresponding width:

 

 

For the smaller yards I used a slightly different method that worked just as well as long as I did not let the wood "run free". I had to keep the sandpaper in contact with it so that it didn't flex:

 

 

Once the temperature got just too unbearable and reached the forecasted 93F I shut down the shop (which has no a/c .... yet), and came back inside to the comfort of my shipyard to get on with other small tasks. Among other things I made the hawse hole covers that will be fitted to the hull tomorrow:

 

 

A WORD OF WARNING TO THOSE FOLLOWING THIS AND BUILDING THE SAME KIT:

 

The plans on the second sheet show the rigging for this model. @Dr PR was kind enough to point out a flaw in these plans when I shared them with him regarding a separate issue. Below is an image of the plans with the parts in question outlined with a red ellipse. Underneath the image is what Phil said about them:

 

 

The drawing you posted has a peculiarity - probably a mistake. It shows studding sail booms at the ends of the upper yard. But these booms were fitted only on the yards at the bottom of the studding sail. Since there is not a fourth yard above the topgallant yard (the royal yard) there would not have been a studding sail above the topgallant yard. Therefore there would not be a studding sail boom on the topgallant yard.

 

The foot of a studding sail was attached to the studding sail boom. The head of the studding sail was attached to the studding sail yard. This yard was raised with the studding sail halliard through a block on the end of the yard (yard arm) above. There was no studding sail boom on the highest yard.

 

For your model there should be studding sail booms on only the lower two yards.

 

I am truly grateful for his insight and willingness to help out us newbies  

 

 

 

 

[Keith Black]

48 minutes ago, SaltyScot said:

I am truly grateful for his insight and willingness to help out us newbies

 That's the great thing about MSW. The willingness of of nearly everyone to share information with one another. We are the Collective. 

[Kenchington]

3 hours ago, SaltyScot said:

The foot of a studding sail was attached to the studding sail boom. The head of the studding sail was attached to the studding sail yard.

A week ago, I would have agreed absolutely and firmly declared that there could be no other way.

 

However, after having all four volumes taking up shelf space for more than 20 years, I am finally working through Jean Boudriot's remarkable "74-Gun Ship" (the English edition).  In Volume 3, he presents French practice of circa 1780 as spreading the head of each stuns'l to blocks on the boom on the yard above, as its foot was spread to the boom below.

 

Boudriot did not footnote every little detail and a few of his claims are surprising, so I'll not swear that he must have been right. Besides, what was done in France in 1780 may never have been done in the US during the War of 1812. (Why drag around the extra windage of stuns'l gear on the t'gans'l yard when the stuns'l is very rarely set and the alternative of hoisting a short yard for the head is being used successfully by your neighbours?) So if it was my model, I would follow @Dr PR . I just wouldn't be as dogmatic about it as I used to be!

 

Trevor

 

[SaltyScot]

1 hour ago, Kenchington said:

I just wouldn't be as dogmatic about it as I used to be!

 

Great to hear from you, Trevor! Yes, I will be following Phil's sound advice (I have already laid those two extra booms aside that I cut this morning). It is now my belief that one could take various tomes to hand and find conflicting ideas about any nautical subject in most of them. History is just like that.

[SaltyScot]

4 hours ago, Keith Black said:

That's the great thing about MSW.

 

Yes, Keith, it most certainly is.

[SaltyScot]

Hi folks. The summer is drawing to a close but the weather has been soooooo perfect these past two weeks it seemed a crime to be indoors. We have been busying ourselves with activities on and around the Chesapeake Bay (sailing, fishing etc.) and have loved every minute of it!

 

 

But, I did manage to devote my attention back to the Lynx recently and wanted to post a quick update. I made a small jig so that I could cut all the deck planks to the same length. My little mini chop saw took care of the job in short order:

 

 

 

I cut the planks a little longer than the required 80mm and let them hang out of both ends of the jig. After cutting the one side I simply reversed the pnks, butted them flat up against the outside edge using a flat piece of wood and cut the other ends. They are all nice and equal.

 

Next up was the masts. The cross and trestle trees are a simple affair on this ship and there is no top on them according to the plans. If necessary, I can add one if needed. As I mentioned earlier on in the build log, I remade the mast caps out of maple but scrapped them and decided to go with walnut. The plywood kit supplied ones were awful. I have not added the cheeks yet on either mast and the rake angles are not final, the masts are just sitting in place for now so that I could see how she looks. 

 

 

 

 

All this has been my excuse for not yet tackling the intricate and, from what I have read, rather frustrating job of nibbing the deck planks. I cannot put that off any longer however because I need to get on with the rest of the ship once it is done. That will be my next task (or perhaps I will prep the yards and boom....??) We will see.

 

 

[Coyote_6]

She is pretty.  I love the last shot where you made the background disappear - nicely cropped - really accentuates her lines!!

[Dr PR]

I nibbed the deck planks on my topsail schooner build, and I am currently nibbing the planks on my minesweeper build:

 

https://modelshipworld.com/topic/19611-albatros-by-dr-pr-finished-mantua-scale-148-revenue-cutter-kitbash-about-1815/?do=findComment&comment=605072

 

https://modelshipworld.com/topic/37060-uss-cape-msi-2-by-dr-pr-148-inshore-minesweeper/?do=findComment&comment=1109001

 

The schooner planking wasn't too bad because the planks were 5 mm wide. The minesweeper planks are 1/16 inch (1.6 mm) and it is much harder getting neat nibs!

 

I hope someday to resume my 1:96 scale USS Oklahoma City CLG-5 model, and I was planning on planking the deck with nibs. But those planks will be about 1 mm (0.040 inch) wide and there is NO WAY I can nib those tiny planks neatly!

 

[SaltyScot]

14 hours ago, Dr PR said:

I nibbed the deck planks on my topsail schooner build, and I am currently nibbing the planks on my minesweeper build:

 

I had actually looked at this, Phil because I have that particular build bookmarked for reference purposes. Very nice work indeed. I shall attempt to get it done as well as you have. My procrastination is me gearing myself up to do it  

[SaltyScot]

Folks, I am still out here alive and kicking. As the cooler weather moved in the CEO and I were able to carry on working on our patio extension behind the house. It is a big patio, ergo it is a big extension. I have not abandoned my build, just moved it down my priority list for a wee while as we get on with the house.All is not lost and I have not forgotten about you all  

[Kenchington]

Good to hear that, @SaltyScot! I'm in the same status as you: Alive, kicking but not building models.

 

Amongst other tasks, I'm touching up the paint on the house. But when I went to scrape the living-room window, the paint came off and revealed ... nothing. Nothing but a big hole, where ants had eaten everything away. So now I have to get a new window installed, complete with rebuilding the house structure around it. What a joy!

 

Trevor

[SaltyScot]

21 hours ago, Kenchington said:

What a joy!

 

What a nasty surprise, Trevor! Has that made you want to check all the walls on the house now? I truly hope that was the only one.

[SaltyScot]

I am back in the shipyard and so very happy to be there. We got A LOT of work done here at home throughout the summer and, every chance we got when the wind was accommodating, we were out on the bay in the sailboat. Now, however, it is time to turn my attention back to my Lynx build and get her moving along. 

 

I had been procrastinating with regards to the deck plank nibbing. The thing is, once I actually sat down and started to work on it, and once I got into a routine, it was really quite enjoyable. The first few attempts were at the bow and they will be hidden by the bowsprit support, that is why I started there. I am enjoying being back working on her:

 

 

 

 

I have a ways to go yet, the planks will need a good scraping once done, but she is shaping up nicely, at least in my eyes  :

 

 

I don't know if any of you have ever heard of John Prior Gardner? The people we bought our sailboat from, very keen yacht racers by the way, have now become good friends. As it happens, the wife's father knew John who was a master model ship builder (and yacht racer). When they came over here and saw my Endeavour model, it prompted them to lend me this book about his life (he passed away in 2019):

 

 

It is a beautiful story of his life at sea and the ups and downs of producing museum quality model ships. I can truly recommend it to anyone who is serious about model ship building and anything remotely related to it.

Edited Tuesday at 08:34 PM by SaltyScot
Text added

[Coyote_6]

Mark,

 

The book title is compelling.  As long as it looks correct to the builder, at least the builder will be happy!

 

Is it this guy?

https://www.fishermensvoice.com/archives/201809CastinesJohnPGardnerAndHisShipModels.html

 

Your nibbing looks very clean.  Well done!

[Glen McGuire]

49 minutes ago, SaltyScot said:

I had been procrastinating with regards to the deck plank nibbing.

 

I'm not sure what nibbling is, Mark, but if this is what you are talking about, that's some very nice work!

[Dr PR]

With your nibbing it looks like you are trying to cut each plank at the same angle. This is wrong, and you are about to discover the problem in a big way. The farther aft you go the deeper you are cutting into the waterway/nibbing strake/margin board. Eventually somewhere close to midships you will have to cut all the way through it.

 

The purpose of nibbing is to avoid sharp pointed ends on the planks. These will tend to catch on ropes and other things dragged along the deck, and the plank tips will break off. And it is just easier to cut the nib than it is to try and match angles between the planks and margin boards exactly.

 

As a rule of thumb, never cut more than half way through the margin board. In some cases an even shallower cut is called for.

 

If the angle back along the margin board is less than 45 degrees (green lines - look closely) there is no nib and the plank is cut straight along the edge of the margin board. This is optional - it doesn't hurt to nib these planks too.

 

If the angle is greater than 45 degrees the plank is always nibbed into the margin board. The width of the squared off part at the end of the plank (red line) is about 1/2 the plank width (I have seen examples where it was 1/3 the plank width).

 

The angle of the nib at each plank is different. From the center of the plank the angle back is determined by where the edge of the full width plank meets the edge of the uncut margin board (dashed blue line). The nib cut (red line) runs from this point to the center of the plank at the squared-off end.

 

Near midships the edge of the margin board is almost parallel to the edge of the plank. Here you will need to be creative. Nib the plank as usual at the end. Then cut back to where the plank edge is half way into the margin board. Then cut straight back along the plank edge, never cutting more than half way through the margin board. At the other end of the deck do just the opposite for the outer plank, and nib the remaining planks normally.

Edited yesterday at 07:09 AM by Dr PR

[SaltyScot]

18 hours ago, Coyote_6 said:

Is it this guy?

 

Yep, Steve, that's him. I see that a lot of what Ms. Dinsmore wrote there was taken straight from her book. He was a very interesting guy.

Edited 18 hours ago by SaltyScot

[SaltyScot]

17 hours ago, Glen McGuire said:

I'm not sure what nibbling is, Mark, but if this is what you are talking about, that's some very nice work!

 

 Thanks, Glen. I just call it that because that is what I have seen others call it. Perhaps there is a true nautical term for it out there somewhere, who knows.

[SaltyScot]

7 hours ago, Dr PR said:

With your nibbing it looks like you are trying to cut each plank at the same angle. This is wrong

 

Ooops. I am glad that got pointed out before I went much further. You are right, Phil, I am having to cut into the margin board a little too much. I am pretty much equal on both sides at this point so I can adjust accordingly moving forward. We will see  

[Kenchington]

21 minutes ago, SaltyScot said:

Perhaps there is a true nautical term for it out there

Joggling -- usually, though Smyth didn't include that term (or only with an unrelated meaning) and nor did Paasch, so I don't know whether it was in use before the 20th Century.