HMS Bounty by Captain Al - FINISHED - Artesania Latina - Scale 1:48

[Captain Al]

LA, take a look at my posts 207 on page 10 or 11.  These are the best closeups I have.  There are lots of others on these pages from other builders and you should be able to sort things out from the overall collection.  I don't know if you're doing the A.L. kit but I think you are.  In that case, you can join me at least in being absolutely confused as to what blocks go where.  The parts list for blocks in this kit is not only confusing but I've found there is sometimes no connection between what A.L. says a block is and what you can clearly see on either their pictures or drawings.  I'm still wondering if block 417 is single or double cause its clearly both in two different places.

 

I think in one of my pictures you can see that I misaligned the sheave hole in the sprit portion.  That's one reason to do it over.  The other reason is cause my hearts are stropped very badly; there is no room to reeve them.  I'm going to remove most of the blocks, take apart the two sections, fill the misaligned hole, turn that section about 45 degrees and drill a new hole (this time being super careful on its position).  As for putting on new blocks, that is going to take more research and consultation.  I'm facing the same confusion now with the masts.  I have the Peterson rigging book and I'm hoping to use it as a guide.

[Dan Vadas]

I've been thinking of using some real seizing line waxed which I have left from my sailing days but its just too big.  And someone once posted that any of the waxed stuff draws and holds dust.  Have you found that a problem?

 

 

Not at all. I'm not sure if it's a wax as such, or more of a very thin plastic coating. Either way, it's good stuff to use .

 

  Danny

[Captain Al]

I've now run into a bit of a measurement problem.  I've been working with my mast parts with a bit more stick than I will eventually need.  In other words I always planned to cut them to size as a last step.  I left maybe 10-15 mm at the bottoms of each stick.  So now I'm ready to cut to size and have encountered this problem.  The drawings which A.L. provides and the lengths shown on their parts list do not jibe -- for the mizzen top mast (the lower and topgallant are OK).  The parts list calls for a stick 192mm in length.  When I (as well as my good buddy Boyd) measure the drawing it is only 185.

 

Complicating this is the fact that when checked against the dimensions shown in McKay, the A.L. length (whether it be 185 or 192) is off by a lot.  McKays drawings indicate a top mast of 24' 3.5", and after careful math, that would be only 154mm at 1:48 scale.  The lower mast also computes to far more length than McKay's real life measurements.  I could not find the length of the top gallant in McKay.

 

So what now?  My thinking is that since the lower and top gallant seem to match (ie A.L.'s parts list and drawings match) and the top mast is the only one in question vis a vis A.L.'s listing, and since we know that A.L.s  scaling isn't very perfect anywhere on the model, not to mention the many typo errors throughout,  it seems like the best thing to do is just cut the top mast down to the 185 instead of 192.  To leave it as 192 would probably do no harm, but aesthetically it would leave a lot of mast below the trestle tree and look funny.

 

Any opinions?  Anyone else find this as they built A.L.'s Bounty?

[Captain Al]

Sunday afternoons are as good a time as any for a quick update to the log.  Before that though I want to give a big thank you to Danny V.  I think we all realize and appreciate what an extraordinary resource we all have in Danny.  I've been into many different endeavors in my time but I've never been blessed with someone so generous with their time, understanding of the pitfalls and frustrations that beginners have, and willing to share what is an incredible store of knowledge and know how.  Danny's been advising me the past couple weeks as I pondered (almost to death) the intricacies of mast building and its relation to the rigging, and without his help I know I'd have abandoned my beloved Bounty and started building a pirogue. 

 

My last post was about whether to make the mizzen top mast 192 mm as the A.L. instructions said or 185 as the A.L. drawings showed.  I didn't get much feedback from anyone (but my fellow Bounty builder Boyd -- I like the alliteration) so with his concurrence I cut off the bottom 7 mm.  Lesson learned here was to trust in my own ability to read plans and figure out when A.L. had made a mistake (which they tend to do).  So with that issue out of the way, I am moving forward with building the structure of the mizzen mast.

 

I'd already put a few of the detail parts together -- the trestle and cross trees were fitted together and things like the spreader, bolsters, cheeks, and some of the stiffeners were ready.  I put on the spanker gaff support and its stiffeners yesterday.The platform was built as was the stanchions and railing.  Drilled the holes in the platform coaming for the stanchions.  Lots of little things.  Still lots of things to do.  But I just wanted to get on with it, so this afternoon I took the plunge and glued the trees to the mast. 

 

I knew this was a critical process of orienting things correctly.  I've already misaligned a sheave hole in the bowsprit and I didn't want to do that again.  Alignment, I sense, is critical in 3 dimensions here.  So I did my best using different devices to mortise for the cheeks as straight as I could (forward and aft), and be ready to put the trees on with the same orientation.  I was undecided whether to put the cheeks on first, then lay the trees over them, or do my best to set the trees on correctly and then put the cheeks snugly under them.  I opted for the trees first for this reason:  it seems much easier to get the proper rake to the trees than to these little thin cheeks which were going to sit in the mortises and would have to be perfectly parallel to each other or the trees would sit cockeyed.  These pictures show what I'm talking about.  The trees needed to sit with a 6 degree tilt forward so when the mast itself is installed with its 6 degree rake aft, the platform would sit level to the water.  Lots more to do but its a start on something that's really been hanging me up.  So I feel pretty good.

 

Forgot to note that the mast itself is held in a vise and made perpendicular with squares, T's and levels.  Everything I could find except a plumb bob.

 

 

[Jparsley]

Nice going It's tough to get all these angles in correct position looks like you're getting it done though

[Captain Al]

Going forward small steps at a time I put the bolsters (A.L. calls them chocks) and cheeks on this morning.  Nothing to brag about except to say at least I didn't forget them.

[Captain Al]

Thinking forward a bit I realize I probably need to change course and work on getting my channels in order and make up some deadeye chain arrangement.  There isn't much more to put on this mizzen lower mast before I fit it to the boat, and I'll need to do that so I can loop the shrouds over them and put the chains in the proper angle.  So I'll set aside the mast until I have the chains made up and the channel fixed.

 

Recall that I already drilled holes in the channels for the deadeye chain plates.  But having drilled them too far inboard, I'm faced with either filling and redrilling holes, or filling the holes and cutting slots in the channel edges to slip the chain into.  I've decided to do the slots as I don't like the size of the holes that would be needed to insert the chains that I want to make.  Besides, slots are more authentic.  They'll be covered with a closure strip of 1.5mm x 5.  The process of cutting these slots is pretty straightforward other than lining them up with the angle the shrouds will take up to the mast head.  I'll get that angle and then use a razor saw to cut the opening (maybe have to sand or file them a bit wider than the saw blade kerf, but I don't know that yet).

 

I've been worried about knocking the channels off as I sawed the slots, so I've rigged up a bit of a bracing system to hold the channels rigid while I make the cuts.  Much better I think than my fingers.  See pix below.

[rcmdrvr]

Captain.  I looked closely at your bowspirit photos.  Great photos and great work.  I have found the quite useful.  The problem I am running into is at the forward end of the bowspirit.  The plans mention sheaves, jib hooks and blocks.  I just don't get how the sheaves are installed.  Are they placed in blocks and attached like a block.  Is the bowspirit slotted and they are placed there.  I am at a lost as to how they are installed.

[Captain Al]

The last thing I need to add to the lower mizzen before I'll put it on the boat is the lower woolding with a block (or two?) seized to the mast by the wooldings.  I think this is what I'm seeing in my drawings, but this is one area (reading drawings) that is certainly not my area of expertise.  So I'm going to post some pix of the A.L. drawings of this area and hope anyone can help me answer these questions:

 

1.  How are the blocks seized to the mast?  It looks like the beckets are part of the wooldings.  My thought is to strop the block leaving several inches of thread on both sides of the knot, and then wrapping those around the mast as the wooldings.  Is there a better way?

 

2.  I've been trying to determine for weeks if a 417 is a single block or a double.  A.L. calls it a "block."  Not much help there.  The drawings are ambiguous to me.  Up by the platform they clearly look like doubles sitting next to 342 single blocks.  But down below they look like singles.  That's how they appear throughout other drawings.  No consistency.

 

3. Whether the 417 is single or double, are there two of them seized at right angles to one another or just the one?  In the frontal view I see none (because of the view point), but in the side views there's also just one.  EXCEPT when you look at the little blowup top view.  Here it looks like there are two at right angles.  What gives?

 

Thanks any and all who can help me on this.

[Captain Al]

LADon, lets go to your log and I'll try my best to answer some of your questions.  But as you probably read above, I'm going to redo much of what I've done on this bowsprit.  Too bad, huh?

[Captain Poison]

My interpretation is that the 417 block is double and the single 342. In your fourth image instead of using a single triple block, they suggest to join a 342 and a 417... It is amazing how A.L. not specified in greater detail (why they use two different blocks with the same number I do not understand, must be an error).

 

The image shows two 417 on the mizzen mast (is not my ship),

in the second image does not appear the blocks 417, the author did it the way that Petersson suggests in his book

Edited October 27, 2015 by Captain Poison

[Dan Vadas]

Hi Al,

 

1.  How are the blocks seized to the mast?  It looks like the beckets are part of the wooldings.  My thought is to strop the block leaving several inches of thread on both sides of the knot, and then wrapping those around the mast as the wooldings.  Is there a better way?

 

 

Take another look at one of those pics I sent you in the PM - they use a Collar similar to this one :

 

 

 

  Danny

[Captain Al]

Thank you both CP and Danny.  I should have learned long ago not to trust a schematic drawing from Spain to be accurate to the nth degree.  Danny, of course your method with its collar and stiffeners not only looks better and is more real, but it is actually easier to build I would think.  Giving A.L. the benefit, its just my inexperience that led me to the conclusion that what I was seeing in the drawing was actually how they'd seize it.  The little line coming from the wooldings is perhaps just their labeling line.  But, it could have been placed below the wooldings, couldn't it?

 

CP, all roads seem to lead to 417 being a double.  And I'm going to put it on even though I think its part of the running rigging which I want to shortcut wherever possible as I'm not going to raise sails.  I believe this block is for the gaff sail halyard.  Having studied the A.L. drawing for how that line is rove, I'm pretty convinced A.L. has made another boo boo in the arrows they use to indicate direction.  Oh well.

[Captain Al]

So here I am almost 4 years into this project and 2 1/2 since I posted last.  Lots of water under the keel so to speak, including long dry spells (working on the model) during which time I was either not inspired, very confused or doing chemotherapy.  To be honest, the chemo was the least of my hurdles in so far as progress on the model was concerned.

 

I reached the masting and rigging point and found that I was spending much more time doing research and looking at pictures in books and on the net.  It was then that I learned two things: (1) when it comes to masting and rigging it pays to know what you're doing before you start.  By this I mean you should be thoroughly grounded in the terminology and be able to read the rigging plans so that you know when you strop on a block what line its for and where it will start and end.  Clearly on a ship like Bounty that would take alot of experience and reading and that wasn't what I signed up for.  (2)  For the first time I really understood what some people meant when they said this kit was too advanced for a first time builder.  I had muddled through everything up to this point, making adjustments and masking over mistakes in the woodworking phases.  I really enjoyed doing that and worried little about mistakes.  Even the hull planking, which some others dred, came out pretty well, albeit with tons of time and lots of glue and clamps.

 

Anyway, to make a long story short, when I realized I was in over my head with the masts and rigging I decided to build just far enough that the model would look nautical (though not precisely so) and (to the inexperienced eye) kind of complicated.  I was looking for ways do more by doing less.  I didn't want to leave it with just bare poles sticking up from the finished deck.  So I've done all the lower shrouds, ratlines, platforms etc.  Then I did most of the standing rigging.  But I found of course that without upper masts there was no place for some of the stays to start or to end.  So I began really to improvise.  As I progressed I used my own sailing knowledge for some of the lines.  In the end I accomplished what I set out to -- I finished the masts and rigging to a point where it looks visually like masts and rigging that are in process.  I never did expect to put sails on so that's as far as I needed to go to feel I had finished the job.

 

I've spent the last month working on details and here's where the fun comes.  I used up most of the stuff A.L. provided (barrels, cotton bales, etc.) but there was still lots of room down below.  So I began to sort of paint a picture of what would be going on down there.  I added ballast rock, wood and chain bins, rolled hammocks, a ship's wright compartment with a yard being prepared for install, along with a set of trestle and cross trees and a mast cap that the carpenter would have been fitting out (or repairing).  A sea chest for tools and a bench rounded out that cabin.

 

Above deck I did alot of little things that hopefully give life and authenticity to the build.  Coiled ropes, water barrels (lashed to stanchions), a hanging bucket and mop.  Fun things; many of which were just done spontaneously and simply. 

 

Nothing left but to build a stand for it.  The pedestal type fittings that came in the kit need to be prepped for when the hull can be turned upside down.  At this stage in my build that isn't going to happen (I hope).  So I'll probably build a cradle type stand.  Then a plexiglass case (I can't believe the cost of plexiglass -- another reason that this will be the last of this size I build and another reason why not finishing the masts etc. was probably a good thing).  Tip to all the A.L. Bounty builders:  make sure you have some where to put the darn thing when its done.

 

Here's a couple sample pictures to end this build log.  A full set of pix can be found in the Gallery section.

 

[Steve 12345]

I think your build is great however I am sorry if this offends you but I just can't accept it as complete without the upper mast I am sure others feel the same but won't say so I am giving an honest opinion that is my opinion and mine only please don't be offended 

[Keith_W]

I agree with Steve, she doesn't look complete without the upper mast. 

 

Good on you for working through chemo. 

[Mike Dowling]

I know the trials and tribulations that you have gone through with this build. For what it is worth I think you have done magnificently for a first build and you should be very proud of your labours. Well done Sir!!

[thomaslambo]

Hi Al,

 

She looks beautiful, one of the best planking jobs I've seen on this very difficult hull type.  Put her in a case and enjoy the work you've done.

 

And thanks for all your help and support on my build...still years away from completion  

[Captain Al]

I think I labeled the build (in the Gallery at least) as 3/4 complete.  Never said it was complete.  No offense taken by any commentary.

[usedtosail]

Whatever you call it, it is a great job. Nicely done.

[Steve 12345]

Hi captain al my comment was not based on your gallery pics it was based on the status of the build .its been a pleasure to follow your great build I'm sorry it's finished would have like to see the top mast fitted but hey each to there own you have a great build there and something to be very proud of I look forward to your next build 

[husky1943]

Howdy Captain Al,

 

She is a real beauty!  Love all the detail.

 

Ciao for now

[RichieG]

Al, I'm just looking at this for the first time, and it looks great! Hard to believe that it's your first model!

(and glad to hear that you're thinking of starting on the Mayflower; I'll be looking forward to that, as we can 'work together on it')

[Grendel]

Hi Al,

 

Congratulations on a beautiful build. Your build log has helped me considerably with my build of this same model.

I've looked through all your updated gallery photos and you've done a fantastic job. As others have said, It's all the more impressive being your first model!

 

[Captain Al]

Thanks guys for the kudos.  I was really a learning process from start to "finish."  Often times I just went on the theory that if there's a will there's a way.  Planking the hull as a good example.

[S.Coleman]

Congratulations on finishing your build. It looks amazing. Well done. Top notch job.