Francis Pritt by Jim Lad - FINISHED - Scale 1:48 - Australian Mission Ship

[popeye the sailor]

WOOOOO HOOOOOOO!   you masted her..........good for you!  

[BANYAN]

You,ve been hiding your progress John,   She's coming along very nicely.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Jim Lad]

About time I put up another update.  I've been making slow progress but have been somewhat distracted by some health issues that seem to be just about sorted now.

 

The photo that Bedford took shows her in the display case at the museum.  The spars are only temporarily placed there when I'm not working on her as they are basically nothing more than shaped sticks at the moment (well, not quite, there has been a little done).

 

I've now got the anchor made (it's roughly in its final stowed position in the photos) and have been working on the various mast bands.  They all need to soldered up (can't do that at the museum) but I have to firstly, find some time at home and secondly, wait for the effects of anaesthetic to wear off properly so that I can use soldering gear safely.  I also have the lower sheet blocks attached and their cleats fixed on deck plus the steering ropes are rigged, but not yet fixed in place.

 

As well as the soldering, I now need to make some mast hoops as I can't fit cheeks or mast bands until the hoops are over the masthead and bedded down.

 

By the way, the black 'thing' on the midships cabin is the mizzen boom crutch.  It tucks into the toe rail on each side near the tiller, so I had to get it properly fitted for size while there was nothing in the way around that area.

 

John

 

 

 

 

 

[Omega1234]

Hi John

 

Nice work! I hope your health issues are definitely behind you now.

 

All the best

 

Patrick

[captainbob]

Always good to see your progress.  Good work.

 

Bob

[Cathead]

Looks very nice. Best wishes on getting back to full health. This is such a neat model.

[Jim Lad]

Thanks for the likes and the good wishes, folks!

 

John

[mtaylor]

Lovely work as always John.   I do hope those health issues are only minor...   

[popeye the sailor]

look'in really sweet John.........you can't rush a fine build.     hope you feel better soon.

[Jim Lad]

Thank, Mark and Denis!

 

John

[michael mott]

Good to hear that the health issues are sorted John, the model looks fantastic.

 

Michael

[Jim Lad]

Thanks, Michael.

 

John

[BANYAN]

Looking really trim John; hope the health is back  to normal for you soonest.

 

Best wishes

 

Pat

[Jim Lad]

Thanks, Pat!

 

john

[ggrieco]

Hello John,

 

I just love the shape of this hull! And beautifully crafted as well!

 

Glenn

[Dan Vadas]

Great work as always John . I hope to see her next weekend when I pay a visit to the Museum.

 

  Danny

[Jim Lad]

Thanks Danny.  When will you be in?  I'll be there Saturday.

 

John

[Dan Vadas]

We're going on a Harbour Cruise on Friday John, and will probably take a quick look into the Museum the same day. Have to go home the same day.

 

  Danny

[Jim Lad]

Just a quick update with some rough photos of the current state of play.

 

The mast bands are made and fitted, although those on the mizzen need a paint touch-up at the moment - and I even managed to remember to make and fit the mast hoops before I put the bands on permanently.  The bowsprit rigging has also been done.  The two circles of wood sitting on the deckhouse will be the lifebuoys that are triced up in the mizzen rigging.

 

The Pritt will now come to a grinding halt for a while as I have another urgent modelling project that's going to take all of my attention for a while.

 

John

 

 

 

 

[Cathead]

I'll look forward to your resumption, and wish you the best on the other project.

[captainbob]

the current state of play.

 

John

 

 

I love the way you, "play".

 

Bob

[popeye the sailor]

looking super John.........the fiddldy bits are the fun part  

 

what's the other project?   

[russ]

John:

I am constantly amazed by your work. I never know exactly how to phrase my amazement. She looks great.

 

Russ

[Jim Lad]

Thank you one and all for your words of encouragement.

 

Popeye - I need to make a set of boats for a model of the barque 'Herzogin Cecilie' that's being rebuilt for the museum.

 

John

[captainbob]

I hope you do a build log on them.

 

Bob

[Mirabell61]

Thank you one and all for your words of encouragement.

 

Popeye - I need to make a set of boats for a model of the barque 'Herzogin Cecilie' that's being rebuilt for the museum.

 

John

 

Sounds great John,

 

do you perhaps have plans or a nice picture of the "Herzogin Cecilie" although you "only" appointed for the boats ?

 

Nils

[popeye the sailor]

I agree with Bob......a log would be super!  ship's boat can be a trial to make     I've never seen pictures of  'Cicilie'.......got pictures of my second cousin........but she's not as pretty to look at           {just kidding}    love to see progress on this as well  

[Jim Lad]

Hadn't actually thought about a log for the boats (silly me).  I'll either start a log or put up a series of photos of progress once they're done.

 

John

[Jim Lad]

Now that the boats for the 'Herzogin Cecilie' are finished, I can finally get back to work on the 'Pritt'.  I've finished the iron work for the masts and the masts are now fitted.  When fitting masts I use a tiny dab of glue on the mast coat that touched only the mast and the deck, so that removing the masts (if ever required) is just a matter of cutting away the mast coat, while in the meantime the masts are held securely.

 

I had held back on fitting the masts as I hadn't been able to figure out from the photos the form of the spreaders that support the topmast shrouds, but a close ponder over a very highly magnified enlargement of the foremast had revealed that the spreaders are iron rods with holes in the end that are fixed to an additional mast band, so these have now been fitted.  By the way, I'm not quite sure why the 'Pritt' had these upper shrouds.  They're attached right at the top of the mast, but that's not really very far above the main shrouds and the 'Pritt' is the only pearler I've ever seen that has them fitted.  She's also the only pearler I've ever seen with the running stays on both masts, as well, so perhaps she was sailed very hard at some time in her life and needed the extra support for the masts.

 

The photos below show the model with the masts fitted and some of the standing rigging over the mast heads.  The third photo is a close up of the mainmast with the spaghetti of partially installed rigging and the spreaders.

 

John

 

 

 

 

 

[druxey]

Welcome back to Pritt, John!