HMS Snake by Beef Wellington - FINISHED - Caldercraft - Scale 1: 64 - First wooden ship build

[Blue Ensign]

Hi Jason, nice work on that serving and stropping.

 

The Burton Pendants were important bits of kit used to attach tackles for heavy lifting and ideally they should go over the masthead before the shrouds are rigged.

 

As far as gluing the masts in place I tend to only apply a small smear of glue, which is good enough to hold in normal handling but in the event of a catastrophe I can ultimately twist them out. This has happened to me in the past.

 

As far as bunt and leech line blocks are concerned either on the yard or as feeds beneath the top for the lines, my view is even without sails they should be fitted, even if the actual lines are omitted.

 

A lot of the running rigging was taken down with the sails, but for those to wish to show it a common practice is to knot the bunts and leech lines which would otherwise be attached to the sail cringles, where they pass thro' the yard blocks and then having passed thro' the feed blocks belay them at the  appropriate point.

 

That's what I intend to do on my Pegasus.

 

I can relate to what you say about becoming obsessive about the rigging detail I seem to be sucumbing to that somewhat as well.

 

Cheers,

 

B.E.

Edited December 9, 2013 by Blue Ensign

[Beef Wellington]

Can I ask which Lever book you are referencing?

 

The book is "The Young Sea Officer's Sheet Anchor" by Darcy Lever.  I find it useful in conjunction with Petersson's rigging book because it has really good illustrations of each of the major components and shows how different blocks, for example were attached.  Its also great because its essentially a manual to illustrate how a real ship would be rigged in step by step order - the text can be a little tough to follow though in places.

[Beef Wellington]

Hi Jason, nice work on that serving and stropping.

 

The Burton Pendants were important bits of kit used to attach tackles for heavy lifting and ideally they should go over the masthead before the shrouds are rigged.

 

As far as gluing the masts in place I tend to only apply a small smear of glue, which is good enough to hold in normal handling but in the event of a catastrophe I can ultimately twist them out. This has happened to me in the past.

 

As far as bunt and leech line blocks are concerned either on the yard or as feeds beneath the top for the lines, my view is even without sails they should be fitted, even if the actual lines are omitted.

 

A lot of the running rigging was taken down with the sails, but for those to wish to show it a common practice is to knot the bunts and leech lines which would otherwise be attached to the sail cringles, where they pass thro' the yard blocks and then having passed thro' the feed blocks belay them at the  appropriate point.

 

That's what I intend to do on my Pegasus.

 

I can relate to what you say about becoming obsessive about the rigging detail I seem to be sucumbing to that somewhat as well.

 

Cheers,

 

B.E.

 

Thanks so much B.E. - I was afraid you were going to say that ! I sense some pendants in my future and some rework/additions on the top blocks.

[mort stoll]

Hi Jason,

 

On my first builds I glued the masts in place. After reading both Lever and parts of Lees on how the rigging supported the masts on my last 2 builds - Connie and Rattlesnake - I did not glue the masts. I had no trouble keeping them secure as the shrouds and standing rigging kept them in position and secure as they said they would. I intend not to glue them in my Snake as well.However if you have an issue with the mast holes that is another matter. The mast bases will give you some support and you can as they did back in the day put wooden pieces- I forget the term - if they will fit between the mast collar and the mast for further support.

 

Hope this helps,

Mort

[Landlubber Mike]

Hi Jason,

 

On my Badger, I ended up gluing the masts in.  I figured it was one less variable for me to have to control.  It was nice having firmly established masts so that I could run the standing rigging with taut lines right off the bat, rather than constantly fiddling and checking to make sure that the mast hadn't moved a bit, needing more tension on the other side, etc. That being said, gluing the masts gave me a lot of anxiety, as you really only have one shot to get them right

 

Now that I have a better understanding of how the various standing rigging works, I might consider not gluing them in on my next build.  I've been attaching the spars to the masts the past week or so, and I haven't been able to firmly glue them in place.  I am using pins and glue, but there still is a bit of flex in the spar.  It's actually working out well, as I've been able to add the running rigging lines and use the lines for tiny adjustments to get the spars to the correct orientation.  I imagine that it would be a similar process with similar benefits with the masts, so I can see why many prefer not to glue the masts in.

[Beef Wellington]

Very slow progress of late, combination of not much time, waiting for some supplies (cleats and 3mm double blocks for under the tops) and general busyness.  Worked on completing some of the pendants.  Seems these should have been split and then served around the mast, I cheated and simply attached some line on the other side and seized to the main pendant - these are totally cosmetic so should not be an issue.  Given that these will probably be hidden by the shrouds this may have been a waste of time, but I'm finding that practice is not a bad thing to build confidence.  I believe that one of the main purpose for these was to tension the shrouds.

 

Although when served the line tends to be quite stiff, I'm not sure how to keep the pendants hanging realistically, I think the best bet will be to simply wait for the shrouds and these will naturally push these down.  Haven't done any touch up on these.

 

 

The Burton pendant on the mizzen

Edited March 29, 2014 by Beef Wellington

[realworkingsailor]

Nicely done.

 

If you want to get the pendants to hang realistically, you can try this:

Soak with acrylic matte medium, OR a dilute mix of white glue and water. Suspend a weight from the pendants until dry.

 

Andy

[NMBROOK]

I had the great pleasure of reading through your log for the first time this morning Jason.I have to say I think this a fabulous build.The fact that this is your first makes it even more commendable.

Great work!!!

Kind Regards Nigel

[Sjors]

Great Jason !

 

The serving is awesome !

And that pendant looks perfect !

 

[jim_smits]

Jason,

 

Received Lever. So far has ben very informative, so thanks for that.

 

Can I ask how you are serving all of your rigging at the moment? I've given it a go (no serving machine) and I have major problems with the lines twisting and then uncoiling if I release the tension slightly.... Puzzled...!

[Beef Wellington]

Andy, Sjors and the 'likes' - thanks as always for the ideas and the support

Nigel - nice to have you stop by!

Jim - I got the serving machine from Alexey through this site.  Bottom line, I splurged not really knowing much about what I wanted or what was needed.  http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/1594-serving-machine-20-not-just-serves-ropes/#entry33197.  Seems to work well.  I'm sure it would be possible to make your own as many others have done but I really want to spend as much free time as I can on the build rather than the tools!

[jim_smits]

Aha! you bought the machine....!! Already splashed on a soldering kit and airbrush setup..... Can't afford serving machine as well and my letter to Santa is long gone....

 

That makes sense then...! On that note what thread size are you doing the serving with?

[Beef Wellington]

Jim - I have no idea what the size is (not marked anywhere) but its definitely finer than the 0.1mm line supplied in the kit (which I think is of questionable accuracy).  I went to a local craft store and simply bought a whole bunch of threads to see what seemed to work best (the one used is labeled "polyester-glace finish cotton" if that means anything).  Its made by Coats and Clark - others probably have suggestions on the best stuff to use but I didn't want to obsess over it.

 

As for the machine, seams to be a necessity to do any serving - even with it, practice and experimentation is the order of the day and I suspect its a skill that requires many years to perfect (if ever) so decided you need to start somewhere.  Its also a considerable time suck

[jim_smits]

I snapped and bought the serving machine. Wasn't as expensive as I thought in the end.

 

I have some very thin polyester thread - Gutermann Sew All. That should be equivalent to what you're using.

[Sjors]

Jason,

 

Your serving is great !

It's just what you are saying....practicing !

And just like Jim, I also use Gutherman thread !

They have so much colours that there is always a colour that you need.

And it looks if you have made it with a rope walker     

Easy to do also the seizing around the rope, not fuzzy.

Try is one times.

And between you and me.....I also bought a serving machine from Alexey.

Last thing to do for me, wish you are Merry Christmas and a good New Year !

 

[Beef Wellington]

Sjors - I seem to have had an "attack of the fuzzies" recently , I'm going to try a tip that Arthur used with liquid shoe polish, seems there are plenty of options also with the clear acrylic sealer and diluted PVA glue.  Just need to figure out what works best for me in different situations.

[j21896]

Hi Jason,

 

Your rope work is looking as nice as your wood work!  No small task that!

 

Per your reference to it, I've picked up the Darcy Lever book -- just in case I ever get to the rigging portion of the build  

 

Merry Christmas to you and Yours,

 

Robert

 

 

 

[Sjors]

Jason,

 

I'm using beeswax and then the real stuff.

I'm not seeing any fuzz anymore ( when I don't forget to use it  )

 

[Sailor1234567890]

MMMMMMMMM. Big scale model building. She's looking great. Keep up the good work. We'll all sit here and take her in as you build.

[Beef Wellington]

A few pictures to show the completed deck items before the masts go in.  Definitely seems to be a little more crowed than kit supplied parts and layout but I'm pleased with how its turned out.

Edited December 28, 2013 by Beef Wellington

[Dfell]

Beef Wellington (Jason) - I enjoy looking at your build as it is quite inspirational and it is hard to believe it is your first build !! Your workmanship is exceptional !!

 

Keep it coming.....

 

Cheers

 

Doug

[texxn5]

Very nice deck view.  Good to see your progress.  I'm almost at the masting stage myself, so it will be interesting to follow your work.  The decks do get crowded don't they?

[Beef Wellington]

Top Masts

 

These were made with walnut dowel rather than the supplied beech as I wanted to be able to leave these unpainted.  The kit supplied dowel was also a little undersize (5.5mm vs the 6mm required).

 

I found these to be tricky to make using only files as each end requires to be 'squared' and they need  their faces to match otherwise the cross tree will not align correctly.  The taper on the dowel was done on a mini proxxon lathe although I think using a regular drill and sandpaper would have worked just fine.  I tried to make the section below the cross tree octagonal in cross section but it could definitely be better.

 

The instructions call for the bottom of the top mast to be left squared of with smaller dimension than the rest of the mast.  Didn't like that so built up this with some spare walnut planking.  This was then shaped to be octagonal in line with what seemed common practice.

 

Need to be careful going forward, as taking this approach means that if I want to install the top mast cross tree off the ship (my preference) I'll need to ensure the mast cap placed first as it won't fit afterwards due the above modifications.

 

Overall, took a lot of time but was pretty happy.  I know it wouldn't hold a candle to BEs beautiful top masts but seems a simple improvement to the kit as supplied.

 

 

[Blue Ensign]

Impressive deck shots Jason, I love 'em, and those masts look good to me, I'd be well pleased with them.

 

B.E.

[jim_smits]

Your deck looks fantastic Jason. The extra detail of the chimney and on the companionway look great.

 

I like your adjustments to the masts. I went the rather simplistic route of cutting the square sections of the mast from the dowel.

[j21896]

That sure looks like a fighting ship Jason!  Those deck shots are beautiful-- they really show off your fine craftsmanship.  In fact, if you felt like posting a few more overall shots, that would be okay too (hint, hint)   

 

I like your idea to go with walnut for your masts -- they're looking great.  You and B.E. have me eyeing that mini Proxxon lathe.

 

Cheers,

Robert

 

[Sjors]

Thanks for the pictures Jason,

 

Your deck is looking fabulous !

Really a great job !

The mast are also perfect.

Now soon at the rigging....

And now a question for anybody.

I have recommended Jason to use beeswax for the ropes.

Jason was reading that it eats the ropes away.

For me it is the first time that I hear something like that.

Maybe someone can clarify it for us ?

I use it all the time and I have no problems with it.

But then, it is not standing for years yet.

 

[Beef Wellington]

Doug, John, BE, Jim, Robert, Sjors - Thanks a bunch for kind words.  Getting a lot of loose ends done and seems randomly capturing in my log.  I've suddenly started having issues imbedding pictures in my posts, not sure if its some site incompatibility itself or my PC.

 

Robert - your pictures are below.  As I've said before I don't want to bore people but please let me know if you want to see more!  The base is home made any still not finished but this was a good opportunity to see how it looks with the ship.

 

Completed the blocks on the tops, as I've mentioned previously the instructions only call for single blocks on the fore top.  However, even though I probably will not rig any buntlines, I did want this to be as authentic as possible.  Research didn't seem to provide anything specific but in general it seems that a couple of double blocks on each 'corner' was somewhat typical so this is what I went with.  Followed same method outlined earlier, these seemed to take forever to make, there were certainly rejects and structural failures during installation, as well as having to fill holes that I'd previously drilled.  Luckily these proved to be not too noticeable.

 

Edited March 29, 2014 by Beef Wellington

[j21896]

Thanks Jason -- beautiful! I can't speak for others, but from where I sit, the more pictures of this build the better!

 

I like the base too.  Does the hull just sit in the supports, or is it fastened to them?

 

Robert

[Sailor1234567890]

I have to agree. She looks awesome.