Shenandoah 1864 by SGraham - FINISHED - Corel - Scale 1:50 - American Civil War-era Cutter

[jct]

Hi Steve,

I think you 'frog' look good, are you using kit supplied rigging line?  It looks good in your pics,servings are especially nice

J

[SGraham]

Thanks, J. The line is from Chuck. When I finish this build I think I'm going to check into learning how to make my own.

 

Steve

[jct]

Chuck does make some really nice stuff, you sure can't go wrong with it, waiting for some of his cast canon barrels to arrive.  I think you will enjoy the process, like I said in another post it's cool to watch it form on the walk and the learning curve is fairly short, nice way to spend a quite afternoon.

J

[@macbride]

Steve,

Greetings once again from Iowa City!

Your progress is terrific!!!  Beautiful work.

I have been doing other projects, but when I get back to the

Shenandoah, your documentation will help me tremendously.

 

Cheers!

 

Andy

[SGraham]

Good to hear from you, Andy! Did you finish the paddleboard?

[@macbride]

Yes!  Got some good use out of it last summer, too!

I am also nearly done with a 14 ft wood kayak, and I've also

built several small, simple model boats (kayak, canoe, etc.)

to work on my model skills.  The Shenandoah was way above

my head, and maybe still is... we shall see!

 

Andy

[SGraham]

I've got plans for a 21' Chesapeake Light Craft double kayak. My wife and I were going to build it and use it, but we ended up getting a really cool old 17' Folbot Super folding kayak instead. We certainly paddled some miles in that. I got rid of it after I placed her in a nursing home. I don't think I'll ever build that huge double now--I don't know where I'd keep it.  Here's a pic of my Folbot Greenland 2 that I still paddle sometimes. I take out one seat and put the remaining one amidships. What model/make is your 14 footer? Someday I might like to try to build one. Did you post build logs on any of the small craft? Lots of questions, I know.

 

Steve

[SGraham]

I spent some time today in the shipyard and made a little progress. I repainted the mast boot a lighter color to match the bulwarks. Also, I stropped up some blocks and attached them to rings and ringbolts around the mast. Then I made up a fife rail, I think you call it. I built it per the plans, sort of, and liked how it looked until I set it on the ship. It was too wide. The rear posts sat partly on the chain pipes. I think I placed the holes for the chains a tiny bit too close to the center line of the deck. I really didn't want to build another rail, so I just notched the undersides of the rear posts to slide over the edge of the chain pipes. Also, the fife rail looks really chunky to me. I don't have it glued down yet, so I'll live with it a few days to see if I want to try another one. I suppose it's not going to matter too much since it's going to be festooned with rope coils.

 

Anyways, I detailed the steps I took to make the rail for posterity's sake.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Steve

[captainbob]

Great detailing, absolutely beautiful.

 

Bob

[src]

Steve,

Been following along quietly of late. Awesome details and joinery like usual. Love the mast hoops.

Sam

[dgbot]

Did you use a shrinking ray gun?

David B

[SGraham]

Thanks, Bob and Sam! David, where do I get one of those? Does Byrnes sell them?

 

I got around to putting the belaying pins in the rails and noticed that they looked downright chubby. I decided to put them on a diet. I chucked them handle-first into the foredom tool and then the other way around. A few seconds turning against a file and then a couple of grades of sandpaper took off a good amount of material. Now they are thinner, but no two are quite alike. Sort of like the scuppers. This ship is really starting to follow a pattern...

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Steve

[JesseLee]

Those pins look much better. I had to thin mine down too.

[SGraham]

Thanks Jesse. I remembered you doing that on your Scottish Maid build.

 

I added a topmast. The mast cap was a real challenge. It's a lot of mast for a little ship.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Steve

[jct]

Hey Steve...she is really coming along and looking very nice in the process, I wouldn't worry to much about the belaying pins, by the time you get rope coils on  them they wont show much anyway...the fife looks good, that is its proper name.  Some ships used to carry fife players to play while the sailors heaved and hawed, they would stand behind the rail to stay out of the way...thus fife rail

J

[SGraham]

Thanks J! For some reason your description conjures up pictures of Barney Fife in his deputy's uniform, his one-and-only bullet in his shirt pocket, glaring at the sailors while they work, shouting, "We've got to nip it in the bud, men, nip it in the bud!"

[jct]

:D

[SGraham]

This evening I had a chance to get my head back on straight out in the Glacial Progress Boatworks after a long week of trying to civilize sophomores.

 

I hung two pairs of shrouds with their deadeyes. I had delusions of grandeur running through my head all week. Early in the week I read that the foremost shrouds are served for their entire length. Of course, I was going to do that! How hard could a little bit of serving be? Well, suffice it to say that only the tiniest portion got served, up near the eye that passes over the mast head. I did find a diagram of jig to serve lines with. I'm not patient enough right now to build a jig, though, and the fancy served shrouds will have to wait for my next boat--maybe.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Steve

[mtaylor]

Steve.

 

Looking very impressive.   Here's a link... for $45 it's not a bad bit hardware:  http://shipahoymodels.com/equipmentforsale.htm  Near the bottom of the page.  I have one and while it's not fancy or high-tech like Alexey's, it does a good job.

[jct]

Hey Steve,

She is really coming together, very nice...I wonder why they would have served the entire shroud line, did your reference say?  I just use a couple alligator clips stuck in a board with holes drilled at the proper length, super low tech, is kind of a pita though.

J

[SGraham]

Thanks Mark. That's exactly what I need. Trying to do it by hand was simply an exercise in futility. I may give that a try.

 

Hi J. Here's what I found in George Biddlecombe's The Art of Rigging. He says on cutters, the shrouds "are fitted and put over the mast-head, similar to those in ships. They are wormed throughout" (p. 111). He also says for cutters or vessels with one mast, "The stay is fitted over the mast-head, similar to that in ships; only wormed its whole length" (111). 

 

For ships, Biddlecombe says, "The eyes of all the shrouds are parceled with worn canvas, well-tarred, about one fathom and a half [9 feet] on each side of the middle, for large ships, and proportionably for smaller; and the served with spunyarn one-fourth of the length; each turn of their serving is laid close, and strained tight round, to prevent the water from penetrating. The foremost shroud is served the whole length" (52).

 

So I guess I should have served all the shrouds and the forestay, being that I'm building a one-masted vessel. If I had that serving tool Mark spoke of, I'd do it, and I suspect it would look very nice. I'll aim to do it on the next build.

 

Steve

[SGraham]

I added the last pair of shrouds this afternoon. The last empty pair of deadeyes is for the backstay. I also installed the bobstay, I think it's called. It goes from the top of the stem to the masthead. I sure like the rope and boxwood blocks I got from Chuck.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Steve

[@macbride]

Steve,

In case you haven't taken a step back & looked at the big picture recently, your ship is looking AMAZING!!! I'm in awe of what you've done. When I move ahead with this ship, your log will be invaluable. So: Cheers & Thank You!!!!!

 

[SGraham]

Thanks Andy, I really appreciate it! I'm looking forward to seeing your Shenandoah take off again.

 

Steve

[jct]

Wow...I can only mirror Andy's comments, beautiful model, excellent workmanship,  you've done a superb job...I can't wait to see here finished. Thanks for the info...I'm going to be starting the English long boat soon...I'm guessing she would fair from the same shroud treatment.

J

[SGraham]

Thanks J! I'm not sure how applicable Biddlecombe's comments are to mid-19th century cutters, or to your longboat for that matter. But I think those shrouds and stays completely served would be a good looking touch.

 

I made a little bit more progress. I swapped out the wooden belaying pins for some brass ones. I darkened them to a dark bronze color. I think I like how they look better than the wooden ones (too beefy). I also made up some mast hoops for the topmast. They're a good deal smaller than the hoops down on the lower mast. I needed to put them on before I could add the upper shrouds and stays. I almost forgot to do them. Lucky save! I added a shot of them on the dowel to show how I sand them and buff them out after shellac. If I try to sand them off the dowel, they start to delaminate.

 

Thanks for reading, and for the "likes."

 

Steve

[dgbot]

Nice job on your hoops. They look great.

David B

[SGraham]

Thanks David, I appreciate it!

 

Here are the topmast deadeyes and futtocks, I think they're called.

 

Steve

[jct]

Nice...is she gonna carry any sail?

[SGraham]

I have a question about the forward rigging. If you look in the first photo, you'll see an untarred rope that runs parallel to the bowsprit right next to it. It attaches to the knights head with a laniard. In the next photo you see where it passes through a single block at the tip of the bowsprit and heads back up toward the masthead. In the next photo you see where it attaches to the top of the lower mast. This line/stay is what I'm supposed to hang one of the head sails on. Should it be tarred? It's on the diagram showing the standing rigging, but Corel doesn't differentiate between rigging colors on the plans or in the instructions. It seems like it should be tarred along with a similar line that runs to the top of the topmast. The thing is that they both pass through blocks. Does tarred rigging ever pass through a block? It seems unlikely to me.

 

Thanks!

 

Steve