Maine three-masted schooner by Bedford - 1:54 - RADIO

[Jim Lad]

Yes, I too am wondering why you're going to the trouble of rigging deadeyes when you don't have a deck on as yet.

 

John

[Bedford]

Elementary my dear Watson/Watsonette.

I have to get all the running rigging set up and working before I can close the deck, hence the standing rigging as it holds the masts in their correct location and provides anchorage for the stays'ls.

 

Once all is set up and working I will unship the masts and rigging and finish the deck and deck furniture then re-fit the rest. It isn't a big deal to loose the lanyards and remove it all.

 

Back to the chain plates, the white line is level with the deck so when you think about it they aren't that long really, just over 2mtrs at full scale with only half of that below deck level.

[Jim Lad]

There you go!  Easy to see who doesn't build RC around here!

 

John

[Bedford]

Mate, I may not be building rc either, that remains to be seen!

 

It's all a case of the blind leading the visually impared at this point. As I have said before IF I build another such vessel it will be done VERY differently. But I do have a subject in mind....................

[captainbob]

This show gets better all the time.  You're on the right track.

 

Bob

[Bedford]

Shrouds are on, I don't think I need to do the top shrouds because the top masts are stable enough to mount the running rigging etc so they can wait til later. As a side note I calculate a bit over 1400 knots in the rat lines! Once I re-learn the technique they are pretty quick and easy.

 

 

 

 

[popeye the sailor]

looks great Steve.......now you need to get all your measurements, so you can frame in the mast plates.

[captainbob]

It's already looking good, it will look so much better on the water.  I can hardly wait.

 

Bob

[Bedford]

Long way to go yet Bob, better  get stuck into the Lettie to pass the time.

[michael mott]

Steve this is looking great and the thing is that you have already had her in the water, I am envious! I am looking forward to that day as well.

 

Michael

[Bedford]

I've been a little bit busy over the weekeknd.

 

 

 

 

I think the next step will be to make sails.

Edited April 27, 2014 by Bedford

[Jim Lad]

You have been busy indeed, mate!

 

John

[Bedford]

I have made the sail templates to make sure it all fits, next job is to make the sails and see if I can get them to work the way I want them to.

 

Even though the sails are just cardboard it looks magnificent, I think it is going to look brilliant under sail.

 

 

 

 

I am hoping this pic will give a good idea of it's presence in a room

 

 

[captainbob]

 

I am hoping this pic will give a good idea of it's presence in a room

 

 

In a place of honor I hope.

 

Bob

[Jim Lad]

She' going to look brilliant on the water, mate!

 

John

[JerryTodd]

That flying jib seems a bit high

[Shazmira]

Steve, gee I go away and WOW! Definitely a prescence for sure!

[Bedford]

You're right Jerry, On the half scale drawing it looked ok but once I put it up there I thought the same as you. Nothing is concrete yet so I will work on that.

[JerryTodd]

I'd look at the photos of the actual boats - they often fill in where plans fall short.

[Bedford]

Yeah thats the plan, busy making other sails for now though.

[popeye the sailor]

looks great Steve!

[Bedford]

The machine work on the sails is done. Next on to the hand sewing.

 

 

[Bedford]

I was dreading the hand sewing that would be required to attach the bolt ropes to the sails so I thought about it and decided it was worth trying to do them on the machine with a zig zag stitch.

 

I tried and failed a few times on scrap sail fabric, the main problem was that the machine process seems to stretch the fabric a little while the rope does not stretch, result, puckering right along the edge of the sail.

 

After some thought I decided to try a wider zig zag stitch that would reach completely across the rope without stitching through it. This worked beautifully and because the zig zag just encases the bolt rope I can just draw it through the stitching until the sail pucker is gone. It worked a treat.

 

 

Unfortunately I have ran out of cotton with two tops'ls to go and I have yet to stitch the guides for the lazy jacks into the sails. I figure I will pin a cord to the sail where I want the guides to be and stitch it to the sail with a tighter zig zag stitch. Then I can just pull a small amount through and create a loop at intervals up the sails for the lazy jacks to go through. Again I need more cotton to do this so the sail maker has gone home for the day.

 

I have also made the mast hoops.

 

 

I used up all the 0.5mm brass wire I had and got 16 hoops per mast which should put one every 22mm. I need more wire for the tops'ls.

 

 

I made the hoops by wrapping untempered wire around a steel bar of the correct diameter and then using pliers I twisted the ends of the wire together through 180 degrees and then cut the tails about 1.5mm outside the twist to form two interlocking hooks.

 

 

[Jim Lad]

Looks like we now know the best place to go for our new sails!

 

John

[Bedford]

For a fee John, a BIG fee

[JerryTodd]

Real bolt ropes are sewn on in a particular way to get the most strength via surface contact.  They aren't hanging on the edge of the cloth, but are laid on the cloth on one side of the sail and stitched between two strands of the rope and through a third strand.

 

 

On my sails, I cheat a little.  I use a bead of fabric glue to reenforce the attachment of the bolt rope to the sail and though it's stitched in the same manner, I skip 2 or 3 strands each stitch.  The fabric glue lets you get away with this, and the stiches almost disappear into the bolt rope's strands.

 

   

 

The sail itself is anchored at one end with a weighted line off the other end.  This keeps the edge taught without stretching the sail and allows you to work without it flopping all around uncontrollably.  I put about a 2 inch bead of glue down and stitch that much.  Nice thing is you can leave this, take a break, and come back to it later.  Yes, it is tedious, and I am not known for my patience.  Being able to walk away now and then got me through 7 sails so far on Constellation (10 more to go) and 8 sails on Pride without getting myself on the evening news.

 

 

 

I use DuPont Supplex cloth for sails.  It's made for outdoor wear and is water and UV resistant.  It's very light and forms nicely on the model.  It doesn't shrink or stretch excessively and is stain resistant.  A very nice thing about using a synthetic fabric is it melts.  I used a pointed soldering iron tip to make grommets for reef points, lacing holes, and any other holes needed in the sail.  This makes nice sealed edge holes that won't open up or cause a run in the sail.

 

   

 

I made cringles and eyes in the bolt rope by taking a turn around a round wooden toothpick to hold the eye open as I stitch past it.  Every eye is tightly lashed in it's opening and on either side as the bolt rope is stitched on.

 

 

I opted to draw on the sail cloth panel seams on my sails with a .003 permanent ink pen, so I'm not beyond cutting corners myself 

Victor Yancovitch also used Supplex for his sails on Royal William and sewed the panel seams.  It took a lot of trial and error over a couple of weeks, with a lot of wasted cloth before he and his wife finally got it sorted out.  He also machine stitched on his bolt ropes, and after the model was sailed he found several places where the bolt-rope had slipped through the stitching and had to be hand seized in various placed to prevent that happening again.

 

 

Again, I only offer you a view of the road some have been down already - the route you take is up to you.

Edited May 12, 2014 by JerryTodd

[Bedford]

Very interesting Jerry.

 

I did try to find suplex but no-one knew what it was and online I kept comming up with something else from memory.

 

I therefore went back to the cotton cloth idea. It should be supple enough to gather when I hall down the sails ( I hope )

 

She may not sail very often either but I have kept the sail templates so I can always make her a new set should the need arise.

 

I will be hand stitching all and sundry to ensure nothing goes astray.

 

Steve

[captainbob]

Try spelling supplex with two P's.  http://spandexworld.com/c3/catalog/browse/52

 

 

Bob

[Bedford]

Thanks for the link Bob, it reminded me, I only ever found womens clothes when I searched for supplex. I have added the link to my favourites under model suppliers for future reference.

 

If I was to use it for sails I would have to go for "nude" because I just can't put stark white sails on a tall ship. They had canvas and canvas was never stark white.

[captainbob]

“Nude”?  Be careful.  You know we refer to ships as “She”.       

 

Bob