HMS Unicorn by ianmajor - Corel - Scale 1:75, 1748 to 1771

[hamilton]

Hi Ian:

 

It's been a while since I've had an opportunity to peruse the developments here in depth, and i must say that my time spent here was well-rewarded! I love and admire your careful approach to building and the details you're adding here are very impressive.

 

A few pages back you do a mast comparison between Steele and Corel....Reading through your tables reminded me of doing exactly this same exercise some long while ago now for my Blandford. I did a 3-way comparison, using Corel's plans (both from the deck and an adjusted calculation based on where the mast partners in the hold would have been situated), Lees (who has a mast and spar calculator at the end of his book, as you'll have no doubt discovered) and Goodwin's drawings in the Anatomy of the Ship. I was both surprised and unsurprised to see how much difference there was between these sources. I had assumed that Goodwin and Lees would be in close agreement, but there were minor differences here (which might have resulted from a mistake in my own baseline calculations). Of course Corel was often far off - on the long side as yours seem to be......

 

Anyway, in the end I split the difference between Lees and Goodwin, and most often followed Goodwin where there was doubt or recognisable difference.

 

In any case, this is beautiful work - looking forward to more

hamilton

[Landlubber Mike]

Ian, great work as usual.  The cosmetic changes to details like the steps and arches really improve your build.  I have to say, I don't know that I would have the guts to redo my work like you have been doing

 

John, the transom came out very nicely.  Just out of curiosity, how did you do the letter for the ship name?  They came out really well, with perfect spacing and color matching.

[JohnB40]

Mike,

I used Dry Transfer Decals made by Woodland Scenics.....   www.woodlandscenic.com

They have different fonts,I chose EXTENDED ROMAN R.R.-GOLD. There are 5 sizes of letters per sheet.

I then used DullCote spray for protection and to take the shine off.

 

Ian,

I am thinking ahead to when I follow your waist modification,which I think looks brilliant. Are bulkheads 4 through 10 where they come through the gun deck really obvious due to the narrower width of the waist walkways? If you had done the mod before the top deck was in place,would you have removed them?

 

Take care, John

[ianmajor]

Thank you all for your likes.

 

Nenad, 

 

Thanks for dropping in. Great to see you getting stuck in to the CS again.

 

BE, 

 

Thanks for your nice comments on the cranks. I keep looking at them thinking I can do better than that. They look fine in the flesh but the close up photos make them look too thin in the bosses. I may revisit them when I finish up the hull exterior trim. It is good practice for when I go back to the valve gear on my locomotives. (Sacrilege! )

 

Hamilton, 

 

I love your Blandford. It has come out extremely well despite your apparent reservations about the kit. A real testament to your skill. 

 

On Lees, I got hold of a copy of the second edition (1984). Along with the formulae in appendix 1 to calculate the rigging sizes it also has an appendix 2 which has tables giving the sizes of actual ships. This is very useful.

 

From comparing Steele with the corresponding part of Lees (1794) I think Lees has simplified in some areas which would give minor differences. 

 

 

[ianmajor]

John,

 

That transom looks great. I need to paint the castings. I am interested in the way you have painted the flags. I can see you have produced the Scottish Saltire on the left and the English cross of St Goerge on the right. I had been wondering what flags to paint there. Did you get that arrangement from a particular source or is it your interpretation? There would not be the red diagonal cross of St Patrick since that only appeared on British flags after the Unification of Ireland in 1801.

 

On mine I am thinking of blocking off the upper panes as per the photo of one of the contemporary models that Mike has in his log (and comparing with ZyXuz's). The castings for my early version of this kit are different to the later ones. The lights/windows in mine are blue plastic with the frames molded in to them. The blue plastic actually goes right across the rear of the plywood that supports them.

 

On the bulkheads in the waist area. The upward extensions of bulkheads 6 and 8 are pretty obtrusive. I have covered them with planking to camoflage them as much as possible. I will be making a 28ft pinace to sit above the waist area which will hide them a little.

 

If I was doing this all again I would cut those extensions off so that I could have the gangboards only 2 planks wide as they should be. This would require some new knees to support them.

 

Bulkhead extensions 4 and 10 are also visible but not quite so bad so I would possibly consider leaving those.

 

I would certainly try to raise the quarter deck a few millimeters to get the step up from the waist area. Have a look at Dan Vadas' Vulture log entry 932 (here)  for inspiration.

 

I have discussed the raising of the quarter deck with Mike. The deck line as per Corel does not match the deck line as per Chapman. See the image below:

 

 

This is a copy of part the Corel diagram 2. I have marked the Corel deck lines in red (the upper one is the quarter deck, the lower line is the upper deck). I have also marked the Chapman deck lines in green. As can be seen the Chapmam decks do not sweep up as much as the Corel ones. The Chapman quarter deck is also higher near to the waist.

 

To adapt the kit to the Chapamn lines would require fairly major modifications to the keel piece and to bulkheads 12, 13 and 14. It would also affect the line of the gun ports.

 

What about leaving the upper deck as is and changing the line of the quarter deck to match Chapman? Mike and I rejected that approach because the line of gun ports on the upper deck would no longer be parallel to the line of the gun ports on the quarter deck.

 

If I was doing this again and opted not to alter the upper deck line, I would have raised the quarter deck uniformly along its length by a few millimeters - as per the blue line. The quarter deck ports would break through the tops of the solid bulwarks, but they do on the Chapman plan.

 

I will be adding an open bulwark rail and supports for swivel guns on my quarter deck.

 

It is also worth noting that the companion way that I have in front of the capstan would be better behind as per the Lyme diagram in the NMM. I have had to foreshorten the rear cranks of the pumps due to them being cramped by this companion way.   Main thing to watch out for, if you want to do this, is the positioning of the beams strung between the bulkhead extensions.

 

(Time for Mike to drag me back to the realms of reality - AGAIN. )   

Edited May 27, 2014 by ianmajor

[Mirabell61]

Some progress on the Brodie stove.

 

Photo 1 shows the completed base. The brick pattern was produced using an old "Linka" set. The set consists of rubber molds and a powder similar to plaster  of Paris. Top right in the picture is a white block of brick produced in a mold. I needed two of these to make the base. Where they joined left some small holes which will be covered by the drip tray when everything is finished. I painted the brick block over all dark grey. When this was dry I dry brushed the bricks with red bauxite colour. If this is done carefully it leaves the "mortar" between the bricks a grey colour.

 

The base was completed with a walnut surround attached with PVA glue.

 

A quicky was the drip tray which appears in the bottom left of the picture. I was feeling lazy so I used a piece of brass channel (top left). This was the right width but slightly too deep. The ends were over size pieces of 0.4mm brass. I soldered these on the ends then filed them down to size. Finally I filed the whole tray down to the correct height.

 

The down side of using channel is that it has rounded edges - some careful filing can disguise this. 

 

Photo 1

 

Stove 13.JPG

 

love that stove Ian,

 

also the challenge of consequently soldering instead of glueing parts on...

respect, very well done !

 

Nils

[JohnB40]

Hi Ian,

I found the colour scheme for the transom decoration whilst googling about one evening. I entered 18th century Royal Navy,George ll heraldry,coat of arms,amongst many other searches and eventually up popped one with the royal coat of arms with just 2 flags behind. I think it was from William lll reign.It had St George's cross and the Scottish Saltire..... This made sense to me. For the flags behind,I just thought of the yellow royal scots flag and red ensign would be appropriate. I should have bookmarked it as I sure can't find it again.

John

[Landlubber Mike]

Hi Ian, thanks very much for sharing your work on this.  Looking at the Chapman plans versus the Corel plans, I think you're spot on as usual with respect to the line of the quarterdeck and upper deck.  A few other differences I noticed from the Corel plans:

 

1.  The height of the bulwark area of the quarterdeck section on the Corel plans gets narrower as you move forward.  From Chapman, the height seems to stay the same.

 

2.  The bottom decorative moulding at the end of the railing along the quarterdeck on Chapman seems to be a bit forward from where the Corel plans show it, as well as it should be a tad lower.

 

3.  The quarterdeck on Chapman seems to end right at the top of the decorative moulding in (2) above.

 

4.  The quarterdeck and the upper deck on Chapman seem to run parallel to one another.  

 

 

With these things in mind, I've modified the Corel plans as seen below:

 

 

 

Hopefully the changes are fairly clear:

 

1.  The top blue line at the quarterdeck bulkwark tops is the readjusted height of the bulwarks so the area stays at a consistent height (addressing observation #1 above).  It worked out to a slight slope of 1.5-2mm in added height at the fore area.  This is easily addressed on the model (I think!) because you can just use full, untapered planks to achieve the consistent height.

 

2.  The red circle on the far left is roughly the new position of the decorative moulding (addressing observation #2).  It's a tad lower, and the difference between the top of the moulding and the top of the upper deck below is about 30mm.  

 

3.  The modified upper deck line is marked as the blue lower line.  It seems to intersect at about bulkhead 12.  Working from the top of the moulding marked in red, I sketched the new quarterdeck line in red keeping a consistent 30mm height between the two decks.

 

4.  The yellow circles are the portholes, which include an additional a fifth additional one at the front of the quarterdeck.  Using the modified quarterdeck level and upper bulwark line, the portholes seem to open up fairly consistently with Chapman.

 

Taking a step back and looking at the plans, I think the upperdeck and quarterdeck lines should sweep up a little higher at the stern.  So, for the quarterdeck, I think I'm going to follow the line of the Corel plans starting around the area of the last upper deck gunport.  I'll make a corresponding change to the upper deck line as well.

 

I think if you really wanted to be consistent with Chapman, you probably would need to reduce the bulkhead height just above the upperdeck gunports.  I thought about doing that, but that would take a lot more rejiggering of the plans, and I think I'm planning on changing them enough at this point.  Changing the bulkheads is tricky business, so I'm trying to minimize them as much as possible.

 

If you don't mind, I think I'm going to add this to my build log just for completeness.  Hope I didn't hijack your log too much

[ianmajor]

A bit of progress around the rear end. I have now added arches, pillars and sills around all the lights.

 

I will soon be re-attaching the thinned, rear casting. Before doing so I am trying to decide whether to paint it as per John's version above or whether to 'guild' it. Will the guilded version be more in keeping with the natural wood effect of the rest of the ship? I am not sure. Below is a photo with the casting held temporarily in place with clothes pegs. Any views on this point?

 

 

Also I think the galleries should have been mounted about 2mm lower to make the lights line up better. Something else for others to look out for.  

 

The arches and pillars also unfortunately highlight the higgledy-piggle nature of the glazing bars on early Corel plastic casting.

Edited June 7, 2014 by ianmajor

[Landlubber Mike]

Hi Ian, I really like the modifications that you made with the arches, pillars and sills.  The stern looks very much improved.  I like how you covered up the top arches on the middle windows.  I'm thinking of doing something similar on my build

 

On your question about whether to paint or gild the transom decoration:  I think either would look very nice, but if it were me, I think the answer would depend on how much paint you used in other areas of the ship.  If you are not planning on using paint on other areas of the model (or use it very sparingly), I would gild the decoration for more consistency.  If you plan on painting the figurehead and use paint throughout other areas of the ship, then painting would be a nice option (for example, if you were going to paint white stuff on the hull, the figurehead, the cannons and some of the deck items).  Just my thoughts, and I bet whichever route you choose it will come out nicely.

[JohnB40]

Hi Ian,

 

I think the transom and gallery work turned out great. Turning the top arches of glass panes into decorative ones looks more like Chapman's stern elevation,I think Mike also interpreted it this way. It also puts the cabin ceiling in a more realistic place height wise than boarding up the bottom row of panes.

As to painting,it is your personal choice mate,I had to paint mine because of the pot metal material of the part. I think guilding on the natural wood looks nice,but again Mike is right,it depends on how much other painting you are going to use. You could try painting the just flags to get an idea of how you feel about it,you can always strip it with some lacquer thinners.

 

I have a couple of questions for you.........

 

Do you think it is a good or bad idea to finish off the transom and galleries before placing the guns on the lower deck and fitting the upper deck,or wait until most of the hull and upper works are finished?

 

Could you please explain to me where you think the holes in the stem for the anchor hawsers should be? I know you wrote about this in one of your posts but I can't seem to find it.

 

Regards, John

[ianmajor]

Mike and John, Thanks for your input. You have me thinking. A third option that sprang to mind reading your comments was to paint the castings a sort of box wood colour - I could then pretend that I carved them myself.  Perhaps not.

 

And everyone thanks for the likes.

 

John. In answer to your questions.

 

I was originally going to leave the transom and gallery detail until after I had fitted and rigged the guns on the main gun deck. I changed tack on this when Mike pointed out his experience of previously fitted guns popping out of place when attempting to do work on the hull. So I decided to finish off the exterior before rigging the cannon. The fittings on the quarter and fore deck will be finally fixed after I have rigged the cannon. My main reason for doing this is that I need to attach some beams under the edges of these decks on the leading and trailing part of the modified waist area. I can't fit them until the cannon are in place, and I can't clamp them with some of the fore/quarter deck items are in place.

 

IMOH the hawse holes are too low on my model. I have drilled them as per the plans. The following images shew the model and the plans. The red arrows point to the hawse holes and the green arrows indicate the level of the upper (main gun) deck. The images also shew that the main diagram only has one hawse hole per side (and chain!) where as diag 4, correctly, shews two hawse holes.

 

You may also observe that I have a gaping joint to fill and that the plans are starting to look as careworn as I do. 

 

 

 

The next image is an extract from the Chapman diagram that I annotated as part of a discussion that I had with Mike.  You can see the riding bitts on the upper deck although the hawse holes are not marked. (Note also the stove on the lower deck - that must have been cramped!)

 

 

The hawse holes should open on to the same deck as the riding bitts. So on the model they should be higher - probably in line with the lower piece of ebony.

 

If you have a look at Chuck's Winchelsea log page 1  you will see some images of his plans. If you click on them they will open up to a slightly larger image. Look at the cross section part of the diagrams and you will see where he has the hawse holes with respect to the upper deck. The Winchelsea is a slightly larger design was based on the Lyme class.

 

  

[Blue Ensign]

Love that stern shot Ian, and the headworks look to be coming along just fine. In my opinion these are two of the critical areas that can make or break a model, and your improvements are cetrainly making it.

 

B.E.

[ollyweb]

A bit of progress around the rear end. I have now added arches, pillars and sills around all the lights.

 

I will soon be re-attaching the thinned, rear casting. Before doing so I am trying to decide whether to paint it as per John's version above or whether to 'guild' it. Will the guilded version be more in keeping with the natural wood effect of the rest of the ship? I am not sure. Below is a photo with the casting held temporarily in place with clothes pegs. Any views on this point?

 

100_1789.JPG

 

Also I think the galleries should have been mounted about 2mm lower to make the lights line up better. Something else for others to look out for.  

 

 

 

 

 

The arches and pillars also unfortunately highlight the higgledy-piggle nature of the glazing bars on early Corel plastic casting.

 

 

 

Hello Jan, this solution to the stern I like very much and is very similar to the ships of the class "Pallas", beautiful arches, I would have left more space under the windows as I did in my Unicorn for the name of the ship, but not I know if it is right.

You're doing a very detailed work.

At the moment I am dedicated to the bow area "snakes" inspired by the work of Ray on his Diana:

http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/707-hms-diana-by-ray-caldercraftjotika-a-38-gun-heavy-frigate-1794/page-16

 

Hello

Gianni

 

 

[Landlubber Mike]

Hi Ian,

 

Painting the decoration a "boxwood" color would work out nicely as well.  I thought about that after my earlier reply.  ChrisLBren has a good demonstration of the technique on his Confederacy I believe - I recall that he painted the brass Caldercraft ship's wheel and I believe the figurehead using Chuck's technique.  

 

Thanks also for the information on the hawse holes and for pointing out the various items on the Chapman plans.  I am glad the ship's stove is on the lower deck, as if it was one deck higher, I would have embarrassed myself putting one together next to your stove

 

On finishing the exterior of the ship before installing the cannons, I tended to work with my Badger in my lap often times, which accounted for a lot of my cannon issues.  If one is a little more careful around the model, then one probably wouldn't have as many issues 

[JohnB40]

Thank you Ian for the info.

 

Another vote for the boxwood effect.....Well worth trying..

 

Regards, John

[HIPEXEC]

Nice work!

[ianmajor]

Guys, Thank you very much for the kind words and suggestions. I think I am swaying towards the "boxwood" effect for the castings. I will have to get my paint shop organised.

 

Gianni, I would have liked to put a name below the lights on the stern. The problem I felt about blanking out the lowest row of panes was that the lights would then be too high with the tops above the quarter deck line. I spent a fair bit of time debating this point before I started!

 

Well I have been doing a bit of milling to produce a spectacle plate for the rudder. I clamped a suitable piece of brass to the mill table. First I milled its thickness down to 2mm. This is probably too thick but the Corel hinge parts are quite wide (there are only 3 sets) so I felt this thickness would be consistent.

 

Next up was to run the milling bit across the end to make it square, then drilled two 0.8mm holes 6mm apart across the piece. Then with a 5mm milling bit lined up with the mid point of the two holes I cut out the central slot. The rest was shaped using a 1.5mm mill bit including squaring up the central slot. Also the eyes were thinned down. The result is in the first image.

 

 

The brass was turned over and the eyes were thinned from the other side. The spectacle plate was then parted off giving 7mm long legs. Each leg had a pair 0.8mm holes drilled in them. The shape was then improved by hand filing.

 

 

Next was a test fitting to the rudder.

 

 

Before fixing this in place I will make some chain with 1mm links (BE has some useful info in this area in his Pegasus log page 56 entry 834 (link) . I am also contemplating a rudder coat. Hum.

 

 

[Blue Ensign]

Nice job on the spectacle plate Ian, I look forward to seeing the results of your chainmaking.

 

B.E.

[Landlubber Mike]

Very nice work Ian.  I almost wish that I could spend an afternoon with you to learn from you on how to do metalworking.  You really are a pro, all the more impressive given the small scale of the work.

 

Is the spectacle plate for the rudder chains?  On my Badger, I took the easy way out by bending a piece of metal strip, drilling holes into the strip and rudder, and inserting a small eyebolt on each side.  Yours looks much much better

[ianmajor]

Mike,

 

Yes it is indeed for the rudder chains. It is worth noting that the same shape of metal work but with plain glass in the holes was mounted vertically over the fireboxes of steam locomotives in front of the crew and was also called the spectacle plate. And of course with lenses in we stick them on our heads and call them spectacles (though now most people call them glasses). My 3 year old granddaughter told her teacher that "Everyone wears glasses except my granddad. HE wears spectacles."

 

If you were here I suspect it would only take me 5 minutes to teach you what you don't already know. The rest of the afternoon would be better spent wandering around the nearby Derbyshire Peaks.

 

BE,  below some chain that I produced using the info that you pulled together in your Pegasus log. Based on 1 inch bar (scale 0.25mm) and 4 inch links (1mm) I used 28 gauge brass beading wire (0.3mm diameter) and a 1mm by 0.4mm cross section former. I used the usual method of wrapping the wire many times around the former then used a piercing saw to cut along the links to separate them. After each turn I used the pliers to gently squeeze the turn to ensure an oval shape. The result after several hours work was 2.2cm of chain (about 22 links). I need about 160 links.

 

 

To be honest it looks no better than some of the cheap jewelry that Woolworths used to sell (shame they went bankrupt).

 

I have only one decent pair of fine tweezers and to do a quicker more efficient job I could do with two. The small pliers are rather too large for this job.

Edited June 19, 2014 by ianmajor

[NenadM]

WOW, man, that is exactly I plan to do. Considering huge amount of chains in Cutry Sark, is it worth?

[ianmajor]

I have completed the length of chain required. In the end I produced one with about 240 links. In fact once I got me eye in it didn't take long - about 15 minutes to create 30 links and then about 15 seconds each to add a link to the chain. Need the jewelers lens to do this.

 

Nenad, I suggest you rope in your local knitting circle if you want to produce large quantities of chain this size.

 

I also produced a few homemade split pins with 0.6mm eyes and a few slightly larger round links to hook the chain to the spectacle plate. 

 

All these items were then blackened.

 

 

They were all then fitted in place. I put a baton across the stern in which to mount the split pins. I looked at various models and actual ships to try to decide where to position it. The incorrect stern shape and lack of stern post required somewhat of a compromise. The outer ends of the chain are just hanging for now.

 

 

 

 

[ianmajor]

I thought you might be interested in how I make the split pins. It is very easy.

 

I don't twist the legs together for a variety of reasons.

 

If you are not careful when doing the twisting one leg remains straight and the other twists around it making a very insecure loop. The act of twisting the wire fatigues it and if the legs are over twisted to get a nice tight eye the wire will fracture between the eye and the legs. This may not show up until after the eye is in use.

 

To make homemade split pins all you need is a die, some fine pliers, cutters and an old drill bit with the required diameter of the split pins eye.

 

The die is a scrap piece of metal, in my case a 1mm thick piece of NS. Somewhere near the centre drill a hole which is twice the diameter of the wire that you are going to use - the wire will pass twice through this hole. On one side lightly counter sink the hole.

 

 

Clamp the die in a vice. Pass the wire through the hole from the non countersunk side. Bend the end of the wire in to a loop then pass the end of the wire back through the hole in the die. Put the drill bit in the loop of wire. If the wire is on a reel there is no need to cut it off at this stage.

 

(Poor photo replaced).

 

 

Grab hold of the two wires on the non countersunk side and pull firmly. To avoid crossing and fracturing the wire keep the drill bit horizontal and the gap between the jaws of the pliers vertical.

 

 

If you have pulled firmly enough the wire will have closed around the drill bit. You can help this by pressing the loop towards the hole with a piece of wood.

 

Trim the legs to length. For a split pin cut the legs a different length. This will make the legs easier to feed in to the hole in the model. With the pliers gently close the legs up parallel to each other.

 

If you want a hook hold one leg only on the non countersunk side of the die, waggle it side to side, then pull it sharply to one side to break it off as in the picture.

 

 

The result one split pin (slightly larger than the ones used on the chain) and one hook. Each took about 30 seconds to make.

 

 

 

   

Edited July 7, 2014 by ianmajor

[Blue Ensign]

Blimey Ian what a labour of love to produce that chain. I'd have lost the will to live after about 20 links

 

Looks excellent on the stern with the spectacle plate, well done

 

B.E.

[Landlubber Mike]

Very, very nice work Ian.  The rudder chain looks really spot on.

 

Is the chain fully installed now?  The rudder chain was literally the last, or second to last thing that I installed on my Badger because I worried about it getting caught.  You could always tape it or otherwise secure it to the hull.

 

I like the extra moulding you put at the bottom of the stern counter.  It looks nice, and it looks like it helped secure the chain in place.

[JohnB40]

Hi Ian,

The rudder and chains look really good....Thanks for the baton idea for hanging the chains.

 

John

[hamilton]

Incredible detail and wonderful craftsmanship - I don't cease to be impressed by your metal work, Ian - and your modelling skills overall! Beautiful stuff

hamilton

[ianmajor]

Going with the "boxwood" look the nearest paint that I had was Humbrol M62 which I believe is called leather. The matt finish gives the right effect but I would probably have been better using gloss paint with a matt varnish.

 

The thinned and fettled transom casting was painted and refitted. I also painted the castings on the galleries to make them less garish. I think it looks much better. I am banking on the lime wood toning down in time to match the lime along the gun ports. It sticks out somewhat at the moment.

 

 

It was also time to give the Unicorn a full horn. I turned a complete replacement from brass. It is 1.8mm diameter at the base and 7mm long with a 7 degree taper. I included a 1.6mm diameter parallel part on the base for fixing.

 

I amputated the stump using a fine bladed piercing saw then drilled a 1.6mm hole in the Unicorn's head. The casting is white metal which has a nasty habit of binding on to small bits so that they won't go in or come out. This risks breaking some of the bit off in the hole which makes life very difficult. So I lubricate the bits well for white metal. The best lubricant - good old fashioned spit. 

 

The new horn was glued in and for the first time in 40 years it looked the part. I now have to make sure I don't impale myself on it. There follows a before and after shot, the paint job needs a bit of correction. The black marks in the before shot is corrosion. White metal has the habit of disintegrating into dust after a period of time (I have seen precious ancient railway locomotive models crumble - very sad.)

 

 

A couple of items to do before returning to the waist. I am going to fit fenders on the side of the hull and lids on the rear three and first two gun ports. I need to make some hinges on the lids, no problem, but I also need to decide how to mount them securely. The lids them selves are one layer of lime strip and one layer of mahogany strip with their grain at right angles to each other.

 

 

 

[ianmajor]

In parallel with the construction work I am producing a belaying schedule. I need to do this now so that when I return to the deck furniture I know what rails, timberheads etc I need to add.

 

The approach I am taking is to make a schedule from Lees p170 for the 1719 20 gun ship (being close in size to the Unicorn). Then to apply the rigging changes (Lees p158) that occured between 1719 and 1748 to (hopefully) get the rigging as the Unicorn was when it first sailed. I have also noted the changes up to 1771 to cover the rigging during its lifetime.

 

It has thrown up some interesting points such as no slings before 1773.

 

One item has disappointed me. The entry that says "1745 - introduction of gaffs on small ships". This knocks my idea of a lateen rigged mizen on the head - I thought it would look really good!

 

Another interesting point is racks for pins. The models contemporary to Unicorn do not have pin racks so I am not using these. However, an entry for 1745 changes says "belaying pins used on racks on the shrouds of small ships".  Lees 1719 deck layout shows pin racks in the mizen shrouds and timber heads on the mizen rail (6 per side) with a comment that suggest one or other would be used. Now assuming Unicorn was classed as a small ship I will have to work out how to firmly attach a rack to the mizzen shrouds.

 

Anybody any thoughts on this?