Charles W Morgan by Brucealanevans - FINISHED - Model Shipways

[Brucealanevans]

The presence of 10 davits and 10 lashing posts makes the rigging work a real challenge. One might consider adding them later. Doesn't help with the shelter roof tho. One might consider dry fitting that until the rigging is done. That probably presents another set of issues tho.

About to hoist the topsail yard and sail, but I have to wait for some small chain to arrive from ME. The halyard is almost all chain and I've run out. Suspect I've used smaller chain in some places where the larger chain should have been used since I have a lot of that.

 

On another topic my wife bought a wooden chocolate frother the head of which as too big to fit the chocolate pot she bought. Asked if I could sand the four extensions down? I said sure and was back up from the shipyard in one minute. Gotta love that Byrnes sander!

[Brucealanevans]

A stressful and disappointing morning in the shipyard ....

All I had to do today was tie off two topsail clew lines and add a couple blocks and the static lift.

Unfortunately, tying off the two lines was very difficult due, again, to access to the belay points. In manipulating a 6" tweezers through a maze of obstacles, I managed to tie them off at the cost of breaking off a couple of lower main yard blocks when putting unintentional pressure on the main lower yard and "plucking" several foremast stays to the extent that they are now slack. Very unsightly.

I repaired the broken ties to the blocks and restrung things, but lost the perfect 90 degree placement of all the yards whose lines are already tensioned and tied off. I still don't know exactly what I'm going to do about the stretched and slack fore-stays, but I think I'm going to have to walk away for a few days. I was hoping to get the last top-gallant yard up before taking a break, but that's not going to happen.

Ups and Downs; lots of "next time I'll do it THAT way", etc.

Edited November 15, 2016 by Bruce Evans

[Cathead]

How frustrating. I've certainly found that a clear head, after taking a break, can come up with a solution more easily than a frustrated head. Good luck.

[Brucealanevans]

Thanks Cathead, I hope so.

I will likely work on the topgallant yard off the boat - no danger there!

 

I do have to say that rigging this model is extremely difficult due to all the obstacles accessing the belay points and the complexity of the rigging.

 

I am looking forward to doing a model that does not have all the stuff in the way that the whaler has. First, I have to get through this one.

Edited November 15, 2016 by Bruce Evans

[Brucealanevans]

Finished hoisting the Main Topgallant yard (sail furled) and all the attendant running rigging except for the braces.

Now I put the ship up and away, and begin working on the foremast yards. Hopefully the experience of the main yards and the trouble spots due to not recognizing things best done before anything is mounted will stand me in good stead, as this will be essentially a repeat of the mainmast yards. I will repeat the same mixture of set and furled sails on the foremast.

For simplicity sake and my sanity, I have not set/rigged for the staysails. Apparently the main staysails were often not set, but I probably should have set the mizzen staysails - will, however, leave well enough alone.

Learning a lot, and rigging my next full ship - likely Grenado - will hopefully benefit from the experience.

Edited December 2, 2016 by Bruce Evans

[Scoot]

Looking good Bruce. Love the comment "my next full ship-likely Granado".  Goes to show you, the rigging of this ship ain't got you down.

Love it. 

 

 

Scoot

[6ohiocav]

Bruce,

 

I have been silently following along and had to finally make a post to your wonderful log. I am sharing your pain on the challenge of rigging my Niagara. I want to thank you for alerting me to the necessity of planning. I am trying to follow your lead as I lay out a road map to my own rigging maze.

 

Your ship is simply beautiful.

[Brucealanevans]

Thanks all for the comments and likes.

This is the first fully rigged ship I've built and the experience has been invaluable. My previous builds (New Bedford whaleboat and Picket Boat #1) sharpened my miniature carpentry skills and guided my shipyard equipment acquisitions but did nothing to prepare me for a successful rigging process. Once I finish this rigging I'll be more ready to put it all together to try and raise my standards to a higher level. That's why I have Grenado on the shelf and will attack it before the Confederacy which has minimal rigging. Also, I have an extra display case for a fully rigged ship.

[homer]

Hi Bruce, Your work continues to impress. I need to get back to working on my Morgan. My wife and I turned our house into income property and bought a new one a few blocks away, early last month. Hence, between all the paperwork, packing and recent move two weeks ago I haven't been able to spend any time on the ship. I'm sitting in Maui at the moment on a pre-planned vacation so I guess I shouldn't be complaining! Return home early next week then back to the unpacking and set up of my hobby desk, etc.! So, it will probably be another few weeks (hopefully not too much longer) before I get back to it. 

 

I did want to check your progress and it is superb.  Ron 

[russ]

Your work is really quite good. I especially like your rigging and sails. I will make a note of the thickness of your sails for future reference. Thanks for posting.

 

Russ

[texxn5]

Looking great Bruce, keep it up and enjoy the new toys!  Finished mine a year ago today.....sure doesn't seem like it.  Looks like I've finished my 1/16" Whaleboat on the 1 year anniversary of finishing my Morgan....strange coincidence. 

John

[Brucealanevans]

I haven't posted progress because the foremast was just duplication of the mainmast yards, and I also took a week or so away to recharge. Having said that, I must be learning something from this process since the foremast went easier (altho the belay points were also more accessible, which helped.

Certainly doing the Morgan for my first truly rigged ship turned out to be a real challenge. Some bits don't bear real close inspection, some lines had to be spiced, etc. etc.

At any rate, the running rigging is now done except for the braces and placing rope coils. I expect that to take me a week or perhaps two. Then the Morgan goes into it's case in the living room while I build the whaleboats. Unless I add the cutting stage first.

Edited February 8, 2017 by Bruce Evans

[russ]

It is a very nice looking model. Your sails came out well, I think. Congratulations.

 

Russ

[Tigersteve]

Yes- well done!

Steve

[Brucealanevans]

Thanks for the likes.

Today's task is painting the last set of blocks white, for the braces but also for the tack lines (sheets) for the two jibs I've set (forgot those in my enthusiasm at being almost done with the rigging!).

First post in this log 3 years ago, about 2 months after I started the build.

I'll post a full set of pictures once the rigging and cutting stage are done, as the boat goes into its case awaiting the project of building 7 whaleboats. I'm looking forward to a miniature carpentry task after all this rig(ing)amarole.

Edited February 9, 2017 by Bruce Evans

[Brucealanevans]

Running rigging is now done.

New candidate for repetitive mindless job of the month: making dozens of rope coils for the belay point (last picture).

The rest are views of the essentially complete Morgan with coils for the spider bands and mainmast pinrail yet to be placed. I was hoping to be completely done (except the 7 whaleboats) before I leave the country for a week, but the coils took longer than expected and I won't have time to do the cutting-in stage and the paint touch ups here and there that it needs.

Only a day or two work remaining.

Edited February 17, 2017 by Bruce Evans

[russ]

Beautiful work. Great attention to scale and detail. The overall ambience is really good.

 

Russ

[Brucealanevans]

The drawback to learning on the go (first rigged ship) is that it's like having your first grade, fifth grade, and eight grade school projects jumbled up and presented together.

On the plus side I've learned better ways to do most things and stuff NOT to do.

I'm fairly pleased with it tho, for all its little warts.

Edited February 18, 2017 by Bruce Evans

[Tigersteve]

I think you should be proud of this ship. It looks great. Doesn't look like an easy one to build.

Steve

[texxn5]

Wow Bruce, been away for a few works and dang - you're finished!  Outstanding work.  You have done a wonderful job with this ship.  It is difficult, to say the least.  You have just shown me that I am so happy I built the Whaleboats prior to finishing the rigging so that all I had to do was tie them off to the davits, do the Cutting-In-Stage and mount the ship to the base, plus my little extras - whale-and rigged whaleboat to the base.  If I would have had to make whaleboats after all the rigging I think I'd still be working on it....Great my friend, you should be very proud.  Hope all has been going well for you,

John

[Brucealanevans]

Finished the cutting in stage today.

The Morgan (ship) is done.

I'll put it somewhere safe and begin working on the whaleboats. Since I've been ignoring other projects and interests to push to get to this stage, I'm going to limit myself to mornings in the shipyard till the whaleboats are done and mounted.

Here's the cutting in stage:

 

[homer]

Absolutely beautiful!! 

[Brucealanevans]

On to the whaleboats.

Each is made up of 7 lifts glued together and then carved/sanded to profile.

I glued all seven sets, and set to work on the boats that will be the spares stored upside down on the boat bearer/shelter of the Morgan.

My references suggest that these were primed only, to be painted when needed to replace a lost boat.

Below are the two boats, one with only the fore and aft profile sanded and the other (exterior shaping) complete. About 3 hours work to turn the left hand example into the right hand result.

[Brucealanevans]

I decided to move ahead with one whaleboat, just to figure out how to approach the construction, what tools and wood to use, etc.

I have finished one to the primer stage shown below, but now have decided to get them all to this stage before doing the detailing.

It's a lot of work, and I suspect doing another four will take me some time as I only spend a few hours 4-5 days a week working in the shipyard, and we've been doing a fair amount of traveling.

I did have my first opportunity to fire up my new Byrnes thickness sander to create some 1/64 thickness sheet for these.

[russ]

Nice work on the whaleboat. The details at this scale are very good.

 

Russ

[Tigersteve]

Very nice work!

Steve

[texxn5]

Hi Bruce, great looking little boat.  Aren't they fun....lol.  Each is a little project.  I built mine when we were in Connecticut at an RV park.  Sat outside on a picnic bench - gave me something to do that needed to be done and boy was I glad I did it.  It was easy for me to keep motivated when it came to finish time.  You have a very nice Morgan congrats my friend.  I am currently working on the Niagara which I told myself I was not going to build anymore ship models since I don't have any more room.  I have a website on it if there is any interest, just click link below.  Happy Easter, and you're almost done.

John

 

http://www.niagaramodel.com

[Brucealanevans]

After about a month of going downstairs to the shipyard, and looking at 4 7 layer wood sandwiches waiting to be hollowed/carved and deciding to do something else, I decided to force myself to get back to work on the whaleboats. I'm sure that the admiral's proclamation that I could not start a new project until they were done had nothing to do with it!

So each day I brought a boat to stage one (inside hollowed out and outside sanded down) for 4 days. Then each day bringing one boat to stage two (fine shaping, installation of rails, keel, bow chocks, and rubbing strips). 8 days and this is where I am right now. About 4-5 hours each day (some waiting for glue to set).

Now I'll put the ribs (visible ends), taper them, and install the first two runs of the ceiling planking on all four boats as stage 3.

[Brucealanevans]

Rib (ends) glued in place on all four boats, and tapered towards the lower end so that the ceiling boards will lay well.

First ceiling board glued in place on all four boats.

I'm going to do these in parallel; it's psychologically easier than doing a lot of work on one and then starting all over again on two, three, and four.

I'm using some boxwood 1/32 x 1/16 strips I have for these ceiling boards, and used boxwood 1/32 x 1/32 for the ribs. I've used up all the small basswood strips that came with the kit as well as additional ones I got some time ago. The boxwood is a pleasure to work with - the ease with which fine chisel work for the tapering can be done is night and day over the basswood.

Next project, whatever it is, will use basswood (or limewood) kit wood only for first planking where a second one will be done. Given the time I spend working on these (3 years plus on the Morgan) the investment in good wood is reasonable. I wish I'd made the skylight on the Morgan from boxwood so I could have had the correct number of rods - the basswood uprights split if I tried to drill the correct number of holes for the rods, so I had to reduce the number.

 

[Brucealanevans]

Slow but sure.

Turns out the limiting factor is deciding how much detail to include in these little whaleboats.

I've finished the interior and painted the interior details and the ceiling boards.

Now on to the thwarts - as I know from my New Bedford Whaleboat build years ago these are more complicated than simple planks.

We'll see how much translates to this scale and my ability to work with itty-bitty parts.

The rail ended up a bit too thick but I can live with that.