Badger by Landlubber Mike - FINISHED - Caldercraft - 1:64 - Brig

[Landlubber Mike]

Thanks very much for all the birthday wishes.  Thanks also John, AVS and Bigcreekdad for the comments on the build.  I'm about to turn back to and wrap up the Badger after a fairly long hiatus with the birth of my twin girls.  They are starting to sleep the night (or at least most of it), so I should be able to get back to the shipyard.  

 

In the meantime, I've been finishing up the Amati Hannah ship in a bottle kit that I started alongside the Badger.  Hoping to get that wrapped up this month, but adding the "sea" to the bottle has been tricky.

[Landlubber Mike]

Well I had a little time the last few days, so thought I would ease back into the build by building the anchor buoys.  Let's just say they took me probably four or five times longer than I thought they would    I have to clean them up a bit, but here they are.  I was fairly pleased for the first attempt at making them.

 

To build the buoy, most people I see use wooden dowels.  I started down that road, but ended up switching the black sculpey clay.  I used that clay earlier on the build for the mouse stays - it's easy to mold, quick to bake in your oven, and comes in various colors.  I was able to make a bunch of different sizes until I got to the size that I thought worked best, and it was much quicker than working with dowels by hand or on my lathe.  Once baked, I painted them with brown acrylic.  The acrylic ended up acting more like a wash than a paint on the clay, which ended up giving it the look I was hoping for (not solid, but sorta worn and weathered) without using different shades of brown and black as I first thought I would end up having to do.  

 

The buoy harness (if that is what it is called) was probably the biggest pain for me.  There are eight ropes running along the length, and two rope bands that go around the width.  The bands only are knotted at the four ropes that start from the opposite end of the buoy, and lay over the other four that start at the end closest to the hoop (hope that makes sense)  I started by first making a "spider" with two lengths of rope that crossed each other with one of them making the harness loop at the top.  Glued the spider to the top, and the first half portion of the "legs" down the length of the buoy.  Then I repeated with the other side.  That was fairly easy, but figuring out the bands was tricky.  I tried doing pre-made bands to slide onto the buoy, but they never looked right.  I ended up taking the approach of cutting a length of thread, and tying each of the four knots one by one working around the diameter of the buoy.  Once the knots were done and dabbed with diluted PVA, I cut the extra lengths, and glued the legs and the bands onto the buoy.  That part took me a few hours to figure out how to do, but they came out ok I think. 

 

Next up - furled sails (finally).

 

 

 

Edited September 25, 2013 by Landlubber Mike

[ianmajor]

Mike,

 

Nice to see you back in the (Badger) modelling harness!

 

The buoys are impressive. Colour looks spot on to my eyes.

Edited September 25, 2013 by ianmajor

[Beef Wellington]

Very nice Mike...something else to copy!

[Blue Ensign]

Anchor Buoys are tricky little beggars to make and rig, and those look really good Mike. 

 

I hope I can  achieve similar when I get around to doing them.

 

Cheers,

 

B.E.

[riverboat]

Nice job on the buoys Mike, they came out real nice, color looks spot on too!! Anchors are nice also! What's the size of the buoys you made??I have yet to make those, I have a problem with my left eye (AMD), so its been a little difficult trying to finish up the Supply, hopefully

I can finish up soon

Frank

[Landlubber Mike]

Thanks Ian - I couldn't be more pleased the way the color came out.  Didn't realize that acrylic paints would act more like a wash on clay than actual paint.

 

Jason, I appreciate the kind words but if anyone does any copying, I'll be shamelessly copying from your Snake build - very crisp detailed work.

 

B.E., thanks for the compliment - it means a lot coming from you.  I'll be curious to see which approach you take, as I'm sure I'll be able to learn for my second build.

 

Frank, so sorry to hear about your eye.  I hope everything gets better.  For the size of the buoys, I just guessed from looking at pictures of other builds that I saved from online, as well as from the Monfeld "Historic Ship Models" book (which is fast becoming one of my favorite resources).  Based on the other pictures, I tried to approximate the buoys as a little less than half the length of the stock of the anchor.  I think they are about 15mm in length - any smaller and it would have been close to impossible for me to do the harness.  I originally made two other pairs, but visually they looked a bit too big.

 

I'm attaching an article I found online on how to build anchors, which had a section on anchor buoys.  I pretty much followed his approach, except that (1) I used black clay as the medium for the buoy, and (2) in doing the harness bands, rather than building the band and slipping it on while using rubber bands, I just took a piece of thread and knotted it as I went around the buoy.  I wasn't sure of the scale that the author was working in, but I used 0.5mm black thread for the harness and I think the buoy came out to around 15mm in length, aside from the rings at the top and bottom.

Anchors.pdf

[texxn5]

I like the bouys Mike, lookin' good

[Landlubber Mike]

Thanks John!  I'm keeping an eye on your Morgan build which is coming out fantastic, as that will be the next ship I work on (probably work on it as a parallel build with the Corel Unicorn).  I'm actually considering avoiding paint completely on the build, and using ebony for the hull and some light colored wood (maybe holly) for the masts and spars.  I'm also considering adding sails to it as well.  At the rate it has been taking me to finish the Badger, it will probably be a 15 year process for the Morgan

[texxn5]

Hi Mike, glad you're enjoying the build. Good luck with your Morgan of the future. That sounds really cool using ebony. Please try to get it done before 15 years or I might be too old to see it or worse yet remember what it is...lol. I'll be glad to get back in the shipard and accomplish some building some day.

[riverboat]

Thanks Mike, you sent me the pdf a while back, I just wasn't sure how long they were, now I know

Frank

[rdsaplala]

Lovely work on the anchors and bouys, Mike, they look great!

[Landlubber Mike]

Thanks very much Aldo, really appreciate it.  Nice work on the Triton

 

I've been researching how to do the furled sails, and have some confusion on how to approach the jib and flying jib sails.  It looks like I'll need to add jib stays and travelers.  Didn't realize it would all be so complicated, but I think I'm too stubborn at this point to drop the furled sail idea (especially after all the research I've been putting in).  I asked for some help at the post below in case anyone has any ideas:

 

http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/3761-adding-jib-and-flying-jib-sails-to-badger/

 

Thanks!

Edited September 29, 2013 by Landlubber Mike

[j21896]

Hi Mike,

 

Those anchors and buoys came out great!

 

Somehow I had lost track of your Badger build (did you change your username post-Crash?), but I'm back along for the ride.

 

Cheers,

Robert

[Landlubber Mike]

Hey Robert, thanks very much.  I did change my MSW handle - I thought this was a little more distinctive.

[Landlubber Mike]

After delaying on creating the furled sails, I finally took a stab at doing one this weekend and furled the main topgallant sail.  I ended up coming up with a process that involved zero sewing, aside from running the thread to bend the sail to the yard.

 

Hope it looks somewhat right - it's probably a tad bulkier than it should be, but I think it came out better than I expected.  I'll try and detail my construction process with the next one.  Thanks for looking in.

 

Edited October 13, 2013 by Landlubber Mike

[texxn5]

Looks really good Mike, keep it up and you'll get em all done.....

[riverboat]

Look'n good! Mike..... I'll bet you're happy to get started on them   you'll be finished before you know it . Don't forget to brush them with diluted white glue when you finish shaping them.

Frank

[Landlubber Mike]

Thanks John and Frank, I really appreciate it.  

 

Thanks for the tip on brushing them with the diluted PVA.  I was wondering whether I should given that they are tightly furled and tightly brailed with the gaskets and aren't going anywhere, but it's probably a good thing to to

[ZyXuz]

nicely done, Mike

don't forget to share ur technique

[ianmajor]

Mike,

 

Very nice job. I also would be interested in how you did this. I can never get cloth type stuff to behave itself!

[Landlubber Mike]

Thanks very much everyone.  I ended up doing an amalgam of things from other furled sail resources that I found.  Here is a pictorial of how I proceeded.  I wanted to find a way to furl the sails without needing to do any sewing - given that the sails are tightly furled, I think you can drop off a lot of the lines (hems, reef, etc.) which was why I went the furled route.  Hopefully this looks convincing.  Also, please excuse the pictures against my hobby cutting mat, which has seen better days

 

The cloth I used was the thinnest weight cotton (muslin I think) that I could find at JoAnn's Fabrics.  Frank (riverboat) was very kind to send me a sample of the cloth he used on his Supply, which I was able to find at my local store.  After washing and ironing, it was soft and thin enough to use.  Thanks very much Frank!  Others use tissue paper and silkspan which are thinner, but likely need to be painted afterwards.  I wanted to avoid using paints, and thought that the fabric I found had a nice natural color that worked for my build.

 

The first item was to draft the sail plan for each of the sails.  Much of this was guesswork from using the plans with distance between the yards.  The Caldercraft plans have the topmast and topgallant yards in the lowered position (note, however, that the lower yards are always fixed), so to I had to draw the plans with the yards in the raised position to create the plan for the full sail.  These were sketched out on paper.

 

 

Next step was to reduce the size of the sails to avoid them looking too bulky.  Tightly furled sails should be about the size of the yard, so resources I've seen said to reduce the sail by 1/3 to 1/2 or more.  As you'll see, I ended up reducing the sail to probably only 1/3 of the full sail volume.  The shape may seem a bit odd, but it's intended to reduce the sail volume as you get closer to the ends of the yards, as well as include the clews which are the dog ears on the bottom.  The sails will be folded twice to not only get the dog ears to the top of the sail, but also to pull more volume of the sail to the middle of the yard.  The pattern is folded a bit as I practiced how those two folds would work.

 

 

Next up was to cut out the sail using the pattern.  Hems are usually added to the edge of the sail to avoid issues with the cloth fraying, as well as to give a stronger area on which to sew the various lines (so the thread doesn't pull through and rip the thin cloth, especially where the sewed holes are close to the edge).  I found a way to avoid all that - anti-fray adhesive  It worked very well in not only preventing fraying as the cloth was cut, but it also stiffened up the fabric a tad bit to make cutting the cloth in straight lines very simple and strong enough to sew close to the edge without needing a hem.  I also used Aleene's fabric glue in various steps to glue the cloth - it is thicker and much tackier than diluted PVA, which made for much quicker gluing times without needing pins or clamps to keep the glued portions together - a few seconds of holding them together did the trick.  Both adhesives glued clear, without any sheen, and without stiffening the cloth much at all.  It's probably worth trying them out on whatever cloth you use as a test to make sure you get similar results.

 

 

 

Next post will show how the sails are bent to the yard and furled.

Edited October 14, 2013 by Landlubber Mike

[Landlubber Mike]

First, the clews are created and attached.  I made them using 0.25mm natural thread from kit.  I ended up making them a tad longer and ran them into the sail and up along the outside edge a bit farther than necessary to ensure that the clews were visible when the dog-ears were folded down.  They were attached with fabric glue.

 

 

 

Next step was to bend the sail to the yard.  I didn't take pictures while this was in process, so hopefully the following description makes sense.  I used 0.25mm thread here as well.  First step was to mark on the front of the sail the points where the thread would be run through the sail - I marked points 5mm apart.  Second, I used a running knot to attach the line on one end of the yard.  Third step was to run the line from the front into the rear of the sail, then as you loop it over the yard, run it underneath the prior line and repeat til the end.  It got a bit tricky with the yard horses and blocks, but after a while you get the hang of it.  Once the sail was fully attached, go back and tighten the lines by pulling the vertical line towards the other end of the yard, and down along the top of the rear of the sail.

 

 

 

Next step was the first fold.  From the front of the sail, the bottom half was folded up so that the bottom line between the two dog ears was at the top of the sail.

 

 

Next step was to fold the bottom corners up and in, to help add more volume to the middle of the yard, and reduce the volume at the ends.

 

 

Next step was to furl the sail and attach the gaskets.  From my research, when furling the sails, the sails were "gathered up" such that the sail was folded into an accordion type of pattern with the final fold up and against the top of the yard.  That was a bit hard to do at this scale, so I ended up just folding and rolling the sail up from the front until it was tight against the yard.  Took a few tries, which helped I think to get the cloth more relaxed to get a tighter furl.  

 

Then the gaskets were installed.  I started with one in the middle, and then added three to each side roughly evenly spaced out.  These were fairly easy to do using a running knot, and then using tweezers to help tighten the furl as the gasket was tightened (sometimes with the help of some fabric glue to help keep the material furled).  After a few final adjustments, the knots were sealed with diluted PVA, and then the extra lines cut off.

 

 

 

Finally, using fabric glue, the dog ears for the clews were bent downward and glued into position.   

 

 

There you have it - the no sew method of furling sails.  I spent an inordinate amount of time researching and thinking about how to do these, so hopefully these look relatively authentic.  I know that opinions differ on whether sails should be attached or not, but I think furled sails add a nice touch and are a good compromise given the scale issues with adding full sails - plus, these are sailing ships after all

 

I think there were lines running from the clews downward which helped to keep them in their downward orientation (and probably keep the furl tight).  I haven't figured out where those lines go, so if anyone has the answer, I would love to hear it

 

The topsails and courses will be a bit trickier, given that they have blocks for the bunt lines, and yard horses.  I'm thinking that I will pre-rig the bunt lines by gluing a portion of the line into the sail to be furled, which will eventually be run through the blocks.  The instructions have the line started at the block by knotting one end of the line before it is run through the blocks - I think, however, that the line is technically started at the buntlines in the sail which are run through the blocks on the yard.  Haven't fully figured that out yet, so again, would love to hear from anyone with answers on how that works.

 

I also have to do a little more research on the spanker and jibs - the spanker should be relatively straightforward, but how to reduce the sail to remove bulk while maintaining the brail lines will be tricky.  The jibs are are complicated, in that there are hanks, jib stays and travelers that need to be attached.  All part of the fun I suppose

 

Thanks for looking in!

Edited October 14, 2013 by Landlubber Mike

[riverboat]

Nice presentation Mike !!

[ianmajor]

Very good  description Mike - clever stuff.

 

Did you do Origami when you were little?  

[ZyXuz]

very good demonstration, Mike!

Thanks for sharing it!

[Beef Wellington]

Mike - love the approach, I too had been thinking of leaving of sails but your method could look very nice indeed - better (in my opinion) than having the sails unfurled because it seems to obscure so much of the ship.  If you haven't already, could I suggest you add this as a topic in the masting/rigging/sails section so its not lost in your build log - this would be a very valuable resource to others and as you know its so hard to find build logs sometimes!  You've definitely inspired me to try this (when I eventually get there!).

[shark bait]

Mike,

This was a great demonstration and I agree with Jason. I am also building the Badger, but am only at the second planking stage. I tried furling a sail on my last build, but didn't trim it enough and ended up with too much bulk. Your work looks great.

Thanks, Bill

[Landlubber Mike]

Hey guys, thanks very much for the kind words.  It's very humbling, especially coming from great modelers such as yourselves.

 

Jason, that's a good idea.  If I can get some time, I'll try and post a separate thread there.  Hopefully it's just a matter of cutting and pasting, as I have had issues with uploading pictures sometimes.

 

Bill, your Badger is coming along great.  You should try the furled sails again.  You see people mentioning cutting the sail back by 1/3 to 1/2, but as you can see, I think I probably ended up removing about 2/3 of the total sail volume for the furled sail - and even then, it probably could have been cut back further.   Looking forward to seeing your build progress.  It's too bad about the crash - there were probably close to a half a dozen Badger builds on the MSW 1.0 site, in various states of completion.  If you have any questions, I'm happy to help out to the extent I can.

[flyer]

Hi Mike

 

As I am an absolute fan of furled sails I love the way you provide your ship with them. I was wondering if you could possibly further improve the look of those sails with a few simple seams (perhaps just penciled on) down the sail and by gluing a piece of bolt rope to the top of it?

Or do you think this wouldn’t make a noticeable difference making the additional trouble worthwhile?

 

Cheers

Peter