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

[egkb]

Brilliant to see Snake back on the Table Bud .. Nice reworking also.. Have to say she looks a treat !

 

All The Best J.

 

Eamonn

[Robert29]

Really nice work Jason.  Very detailed and great images of your work.

 

Robert

[Beef Wellington]

Thanks all for the continued interest and kind words,  unfortunately progress has been halted due to running out of certain line.  I have an order into CMB for some more but with the current situation may take a while, work will resume as soon as the supply chain catches up...hopefully I can get some Queen Anne Barge time in in the interim.

Edited March 27, 2020 by Beef Wellington

[Vane]

Great to see you back in business. I have so many projects going and nothing gets finished. I also hope to returen to my Snake someday. At least i finished the deck some month ago. When Working on several builds its probably better to aim for Good enough and actually finish something rather than perfection in everything and not finishing anything. HMS Jason is your masterpiece where no compromise should be accepted. But this one is already far beyond Good enough so just wrap things up. 

[6ohiocav]

Jason,

 

I can empathize with the challenge of picking up the reins after a long break and having to hone old skills. We are in about the same boat (pun intended). We stopped at about the same time and about at the same stage of our first builds. Your model is outstanding.

 

Let's encourage each other to finally cross the finish line. I am trying to convert my State's order to "shelter in place" to "park my butt in the shipyard."

 

By the way, rigging from forward to aft and lower to higher is definitely the approach. It will keep your standing rigging taught as you continually pull the masts back to the stern and gives yourself as much room as possible for your hands and tools.  Good luck.

[Beef Wellington]

Vane, as soon as the new thread arrives I'll be back on it, have no fear.  Unfortunately, or fortunately, the journey for me is more satisfying than the destination, and I find the huge difference in skills being worked to be mutually beneficial.  I'm enjoying working with wood again on the QAB building a foundation and is a nice complimentary distraction to rigging - here I find the stock thread supplied to be the main source of frustration which is a shame....and while all that is going on the back of my brain is thinking about how to approach the planking and headworks on Jason, as well as approach the rope coils and anchor puddening on Snake etc.

 

Darrell - thanks for the encouragement and kind words.  I'll hopefully get some time soon to peruse your build log as well.

[drtrap]

Good to see you back Jason!!

[Beef Wellington]

The Mizzen has arisen:

 

I can see why build logs tend to neglect rigging relegating it to a bit of a dark art - its so hard to reach a point where one can step back and say 'done' because nothing quite seems to get finished before its necessary to do something else before its too late.  Anyway, the mizzen rigging is now essentially complete.  This area proved to one of the more challenging so far 'learning the ropes', but also just because of the increased fiddliness factor and decreased access.  The plans also proved more challenging in this area due to their either lack of clarity or incompleteness.

 

Before starting, this was my last chance to address some things that have been annoying me.  The kit supplied ladders going to the stern platform just seemed too bulky, so these were ripped off and replaced with custom made items that just felt a little more to scale, and less visually obtrusive.  These proved challenging to make in walnut due to the splinter factor, but necessary to avoid introducing a new wood.  The ships wheel was also given some coats of a wash to try and make it a bit attractive from the flat brown colour I had used way back when I started (Pre-fix situation below):

 

 

 

Rigging could then proceed, planning ahead proved key due to the many elements that need to be fitted in a very tight space, especially below the tops (tye, parrels throat halliard etc).   Petersson's Rigging Period Ship Models and Lever's Young Officers Sheet Anchor provide invaluable to bridge contradictions and lack of clarity in the plans.  Items of note as follows:

• Boom Sheets - went with single vs a double arrangement as illustrated on the plans as I couldn't find another example like this
• Gaff throat halliard - the positioning of the gaff is slightly different on each plan, I had to lower my original placement to allow for the two double 5mm blocks, luckily the pin hole was obscured
• Single boom horse - Common practice seems to have a knotted horses on either side of the boom.  I just couldn't get this to look right and the image of a young schoolboy with rather large and unruly ears kept coming to mind....so in the end I just went with a single and it seems to do the trick other than to purists.
• Blocks for main topsail brace - One of the first blocks I had installed has to be removed, a double block on the mizzen for the main topsail braces as indicated on the plans.  It was clear that this just wouldn't work with the crossjack and gaff in place as it needs to sit above the gaff.  I elected to remove and replace with 2 single 5mm blocks with a longer clearance from the mast to avoid interfering with the various rigging elements in this space as illustrated in Petersson.  These are held temporarily in place with sewing thread.

Close up pictures of where things ended up that hopefully can assist others (errors are of course mine):

 

 

Finally, some overall shots...

 

 

[Keith S]

I'm really enjoying this build because this little ship has a very similar barque rig to HMS Terror, which is what I am building. Your work is excellent and I'm sure to benefit from your research. Well done for mounting the yards in the correct position. I see a great many ships, built without sails, that depict the upper yards in the position they would be in if the sails were flying, rather than down where they ought to be. A small detail, but once you notice it, it's hard to un-notice!  I admire uour work and I'm looking forward to shamelessly copying your rigging!

 

Edited May 13, 2020 by Keith S

[BenD]

This is looking real good. Starting to look shipshape ✔️

 

I'm still struggling with coppering the hull... 

[yvesvidal]

Very impressive.

 

Yves

[Robert29]

Beautiful rigging. 

 

Robert

[6ohiocav]

Great progress. Good decision on the ladders

[egkb]

Hey Jason, yup those Ladders look the business, Snake's rigging is beginning to look serious now too, half expect to see dock yard workers out on those yards  

 

All The Best Mate

 

Eamonn

[cog]

Looks good, some loose ends to tie up, but it does have a tight fit I might add. No sloppy lines hanging around

[Beef Wellington]

Thanks gents for the continued support and kind words.

 

@ Eamonn - Honestly feel like I bit off more than I can chew here, but the end does seem within reach now which is a good feeling

@ Carl - its a mind game!  The rope tends to stretch a little after installation, so its a constant matter of installing, but not securing, and tying off in an order that doesn't cause a problem by taking away access....feels like playing Jenga.

 

Before I continue with much more rigging I need to get going on a ships boat that I'd like to install.  None are provided in the Snake kit, so I'm high-jacking one of the ship's boats provided in the Diana kit.  I'm therefore keeping the building of these boats in that log (link below) to avoid confusion as it comes from that kit, even though hopefully a finished product will eventually appear here....

 

 

[Redleg6]

Outstanding!  I still haven't opened the box on my planned Snake build, but I've  been following your outstanding work, and a number of others, for many months--and staring at the picture on the box lid--all the time wondering just how much confidence a crew would have to have in their captain, to set sail without a ship's boat (or three) on board, just in case.  Looking forward to seeing how you shoe-horn it in.

[mort stoll]

I bought 2 boats from CMB and mounted them on the stern quarters. worked out well.

 

Mort

[Ronald-V]

Such a beautiful ship!

[drtrap]

Cheers Jason.

May I ask you, finally have you worked the yards from top down or the opposite?

Thanks

 

Stergios

[Sjors]

Hello Jason,

 

Your work is as usual...great!!!

Almost to the end?

 

Sjors

[Martin W]

Hi Jason -- I hope you've survived the blackout and that your electricity is back on.  It's hard to work on a build in the dark, eh?

 

Cheers,

 

Martin

[Beef Wellington]

Hi Folks,  have been away from the shipyard and this site for quite some time, and I've missed the friendly interaction.  Looking forward to catching up with everyone's builds soon!

 

@Martin - welcome to the neighborhood!  We got lucky and didn't lose power in the storms, hope you stayed safe.  We definitely need to connect at some point so I can pick your brains 🙂

@ Sjors - Good to hear from you old friend, its been a while!  Will check out your new model soon.

@ Stergios - the yards were rigged from bottom to top.  Not sure if that is the recommended way, but it made sense to me to do that way because the lower masts require quite a few items of rigging to be in place near the mast and it seemed that this would be harder if the lines from the top masts were getting in the way.  Maybe personal preference?

 

The cutter has finally been finished and the details of the final stages of construction are posted in my 'Jason' build log.  Figuring out where to place the cutter onboard Snake was a little bit of a challenge.  It seems inconceivable that a ship (sloop) like Snake would not have at least one boat, but there is simply no space to place one.  I could find no examples of solutions to this in practice (recognizing that other ships may well have had raised davits), and it seems somewhat logical to mount the supports on the coamings which would also be supported by the deck beams underneath.  Finally in position, its clear that even a modest 24' cutter has little room to spare.

 

With that done, now rigging can continue, hopefully some progress possible soon...

 

[egkb]

Great to see u back J

 

Eamonn

[Kevin]

now you are well and truly back, will we be seeing lots of updates, like the good old days lol

[Beef Wellington]

Cheers everyone, grateful for the continued interest to keep some wind in the sails...

 

@Kevin - I think you and I have similar workstyles, the difference though is that you get a lot more done!

 

Rigging Update...

 

As previously mentioned, rigging just does not lend itself to updates as there always seems to be just one more job to complete before an update would be appropriate.  Pretty much all rigging in the main and mizzen mast areas is complete.  This definitely required some planning ahead to ensure room to work.  The main topgallant braces were the last added as the place seriously limits access in an already tight space.  Also redid a few completed rigging items in the bowsprit that have been bothering me, but before starting rigging in earnest, I felt the old girl needed a fairlead saddle.  After trying, unsuccessfully to make something out of wood, I found that gluing a couple of styrene strips together and then bending around a dowel while steaming kept the styrene with the right curve.  The profile could then be better approximated and the hole drilled...far from perfect but looks OK to the unaided eye (the paint was used at this point only to get some contrast on the surface).  One item that continues to annoy me is the application of a single 'bee' as per the plans.  I can find no other example of this and it just doesn't seem correct, and means that a fore topmast preventer stay cannot be rigged, but sadly that is just not fixable at this point...

Bowsprit rigging:

The bowsprit rigging shown on the plans has to be the least clear of any on this model, and it seems to have been significantly simplified to the point of non-utility/confusion in a couple of cases.  I've decided to follow Lever and Lees (an excellent reference!) and leverage Petersson.  Any mistakes in interpretation and execution are of course my own...

 

I also felt that Snake deserves a 'traveller' (the jib stay being completely omitted from the plans) which needed to be installed before the jib boom horses.  This was made from a single brass wire ring, a spare PE rigging hook, and mutilated PE swivel mount.  This was my first attempt at soldering, which let me know in no uncertain terms that I have much to learn!  The hook is a little big, but looks acceptable to my eye once fully installed.

Moving on to the various rigging elements...

• Spritsail sling:  The sling was made of a served line and fitted according to Lever and Lees - essentially the same as for the yard slings.
• Spritsail stirrups and horses: These were all fitted in situ once the spritsail yard was installed to ensure the stirrups hung vertically
• Jib Boom Horses: (Lees P51) Secured to eyes in the bowsprit cap, and lashed around the end of the jib boom
• Inner/Outer Martingales:  There does not seem to be single definitive reference to help, and it seemed necessary to piece together info from a variety of sources.  Lees indicates the late 18^th/early 19^th century was period of rapid changes in dolphin striker/bowsprit rigging over a pretty condensed 20yr period.  I decided to rig 2 martingales.  The inner martingale was seized around the traveler, and the outer martingale seized around the jib boom end.  Both were taken through blocks lashed to opposite sides of the bowsprit to lead them over the spritsail yard, and secured using a gun tackle setup to a timberhead.
• Jib Stay: (Petersson P19) A block was added to the fore topgallant mast to carry the jib stay, one end lashed to the traveler and the other secured via a tackle to inboard starboard pin rail.
• Fore Topgallant Stay: (Petersson P61) Led through an eye seized to the bowsprit end and secured to the stay using thimbles, a collar and a lashing which was frapped.
• Jib Outhaul: (Petersson P21 & P62) One end seized to the traveller, led through a sheave cut into the bowsprit to a tackle.  Petersson indicates use of a violin block, Lever suggest use of both a violin and a double block system.  For a bit of variety (and because I’ve become increasingly unhappy with the look of the supplied items), a double block system was used and this was secured to a timberhead.
• Jib Boom Guys: Seized around jib boom end and secured using a gun tackle to a cleat on the capping rail
• Spritsail Yard Halliard: (Petersson P59) Secured to a timberhead per Petersson, rather than pin rail as called out on the plans.
• Spritsail Braces: (Petersson P47) Plans are reasonably
• Spritsail lifts: (Lever Ch40, Petersson P64 and plans) Secured to timberhead per Petersson, rather than pin rail as called out on the plans.
• Bowsprit horses and netting: (Petersson P91, Lees 84) The location of the eyebolts seems to be shown both on the front face and top of the timberheads, and settled on the top mounted option.  These were simplified a little to and simply seized to the eyes rather than using an eye and lashing.

The bowsprit netting was made from two brass wire pieces fed through the line, which were secured with some fine thread.  This was then suspended using a couple of clamps on the keel former offcut from "Jason", which allowed the ropes to be secured and wrapped around the wire.  Each turn was secured before moving onto the next.  It helped having this under slight tension throughout.  

The following show how everything ended up....

And finally...the overall state of where things stand:

 

Edited November 9, 2020 by Beef Wellington

[Blue Ensign]

Looking very nice Jason, some good 'fixes' there to get around making those tricky little fittings.

The cutter is a great little addition to the deck, beautifully made.

 

B.E.

[Matthew13]

Hi just got a question about hms snake it’s going to be my next build 

just asking if it’s possible to plank the deck before fitting if I take inner bull work planking in to account as I want to do paper seams on the deck planks and trying to clean the planks up afterwards when the false deck is in stalled might be a bit of a struggle

thanks for any advice you may be able to offer

 

matthew

[Sjors]

Are you in a tv studio with that green?....

But you can see everything.

And as always......great job!

 

Sjors

[Beef Wellington]

Thanks BE - thanks for checking in, your builds really got me fascinated with the minutia of rigging, this was a continued learning exercise...and something that you really have to do to confirm your understanding makes sense.  Working with the kit supplied line is a frustration in many respects, but perhaps an apprenticeship test.

 

Matthew - to your question...I can probably only provide an opinion.  Access the deck is pretty good at that stage and a don't think you'd have too many problems.  The bulwarks are pretty vertical so see no obvious reason why you couldn't plank the deck off the ship, but not having done it I couldn't say definitively.  You've piqued my interest though and you should also check out the other Snake builds in progress.  If you do move forward with Snake, definitely start a build log and you'll have lots of interest, including me.