HMS Vanguard by RMC - FINISHED - Amati/Victory Models - scale 1:72

[RMC]

It must be fairly close.  It's certainly a liver-damaging plane ride away.

 

Belatedly I have realised that the ship's boats have to be finally mounted before the rigging goes much further. Their supports are now fitted to the cross beams - those for the middle boat have been raised by 1mm.  This now provides a little more room for the smaller boats on either side. Now they all fit quite well, though rather tightly.  

 

Lashing the boats is of course the next problem and I will follow your suggestions. (See p23 of this log). It's certainly going to be an awkward job.

 

incidentally, I have looked closely at the photo on the kit box.  As far as I can tell, the lashing of the boats shown there is inconsistent with the plan (Instructions p.17). As well the middle boat has a couple of rigging hooks lifting the lashing on the middle boat . (See plan 8.) I am inclined to do the same, but the practicalities may rule it out.

Edited October 11, 2015 by RMC

[RMC]

If I figure it out, you'll be the first to know. But at this stage, to do it looks as if each boat must be tied down separately.

[RMC]

Arthur: I hope the following will work.

 

Each boat should be separately lashed - there will need to be two eyelets between each one.

 

1.Tie loose lashings around the middle boat.  They should be of a length that will enable the rigging hooks to be hooked on in a manner similar  to the photo on the kit box.  Once the right lengths of these lashings is determined and fixed, the boat should be slipped out from under and set aside.

 

2. The boats on either side should then be glued down and lashed. Without the middle boat to get in the way their lashing should be fairly easy.

 

3. The middle boat should then be slipped under its (loose) lashing and stuck down.

 

Obviously all of this hinges on whether the boats have already been fixed. If they have, only the middle one would need to be removed, but this would be rather fraught.

 

Here's hoping ....

[RMC]

The free end of the shroud controversy is finally settled - at least as far as I am concerned.

 

 

 

 

The mountings for the boats are fitted and though it is a tight squeeze, they fit

 

 

 

The middle  boat is 1mm higher than specifiied to provide a slightly bigger gap between the boats

 

 

The following photos show the gap between the boats. The middle boat is about 1mm to the left of centre more than I would like.

 

 

None of the boats have yet been fixed. I will attempt to lash them down in the manner described in my previous post.

Edited October 13, 2015 by RMC

[Beef Wellington]

And mighty fine do those shrouds look Bob!  What size is that line you used?  The boats look great from where I'm sitting.

[RMC]

Jason: thanks for the comment. The line for the shrouds is by Syren - 'brown rigging 1.37mm'. With serving it's about 1.6mm.

[RMC]

Thanks Arthur. At least we've all learned something - well  I have anyway. All of the discussion has been another example of just how helpful people are on this site.

 

Now as far as shrouds are concerned - only about 30 or so to go.

[RMC]

The ship's boats are finally lashed down. The result has been acceptable, though not as specified in the plans, and not without a few dramas. 

 

My modification of the position of the lashings is a result of the error I made some time ago in spacing the cross-member supports. As well, I ended up using a method different than the one I suggested to Arthur a couple of posts before this one.

 

Anyway, this works.

 

Each boat is fitted and lashed down separately. Do not glue all the boats down at once and then try to lash them down.  It may be possible, but at the least, the lashing would be quite difficult.

 

Before gluing each boat to its supports, lashings  were prepared with an eyelet fixed to one end, and on the other, an eyelet the position of which could be adjusted.  The fixed ends were glued to holes drilled beside the boats' supports on the starboard side of the model. The lashings were passed over the boat to holes drilled on the other side of the boat's support and the lengths appropriately adjusted to provide a firm fit. The boat at this stage was NOT glued down. Once the lengths of both lashings were properly adjusted, first the boat was glued down, and then the eyelets on the 'adjustable' end of the lashings were fixed to holes drilled in the cross-member supports.

 

The first three photos, I hope will give you the idea - though I seem to have put them in the wrong order.

 

 

 

This shows the adjustable end of the lashing.

 

 

Below is the middle boat temporarily fitted and the lashings adjusted.

 

If the boats are fitted sequentially in this manner, ready access is provided for fitting and gluing the eyelets on the right side of each boat. The following three photos show the boats complete.

 

 

 

Edited October 23, 2015 by RMC

[mort stoll]

It looks very nice. You did a great job.

 

Mort

[RMC]

Lashing for deadeyes? Help needed.

 

 

 

I have decided to lash the deadeyes for the foremast shrouds - though at this stage not to finally fix them. The two photos above show how I propose to do the starboard side. The knot behind the deadeye  in the photos is behind the right eye facing (ie. the eye towards the stem). Is this correct? If so, on the port side would the knot be behind the eye towards the stern? (All the rope is left laying - whether this makes any difference ....)

 

 

Petersson's representations (again) seem to me to be inconsistent. This whole shroud business is driving me crazy.

 

Any assistance would be welcome.

 

 

Mort. thank you for the kind comment, and thanks all for the likes.

Edited October 24, 2015 by RMC

[RMC]

Thanks again Arthur.

 

I hope I have followed you correctly.  This is what the lanyard on the starboard side now looks like. I will not finally fix the lanyards until all are in place.

 

 

Edited October 25, 2015 by RMC

[RMC]

Oh, well, fortunately nothing is fixed.  Thanks for taking the the time to help.  I really appreciate it.

 

It's just after 10pm here, so I'll redo that lanyard tomorrow and post a photo to make sure it's OK. I have to get up at 3am tomorrow for the rugby, so tomorrow is going to be a long day.

[RMC]

Here is the latest, and I hope final, iteration of the shroud saga. I certainly hope this one is right.

For some reason I had trouble obtaining a clear photo.  I hope these provide the general idea however.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 26, 2015 by RMC

[Beef Wellington]

The other benefit I found doing it that way is that it actually helps maintain the tension which allows adjustments to be made just in case anything gets pulled out of alignment, and before finishing of any of the lashings.  Looks great either way.

[RMC]

Arthur: it's really obvious now. I don't know how I missed it. (But then again, I can never find my glasses or car keys either. ) If you are ever happen to be in Sydney, the drinks are on me - though I know it's a long way to come for drinks.

 

Jason thanks for the comment.  (There may even be a drink for you too. )

[RMC]

The lanyards for the foremast shrouds are done - though I will not finally finish them off at this stage. The whole thing has been a (mainly self-inflicted) drama. I am quite pleased with the port side, not so pleased with  the starboard. One of the deadeyes there is a too high; one a too low, despite attempts to adjust them.  Redoing them is really not on.

 

I was not careful enough with the lengths of the wire spacers. I shall be more careful in future, though at this stage I feel as if I ever see another deadeye, it will be far too soon.

 

The following two photos show what I certainly hope is the correct way to do the lanyards. If it is not, please keep me in blissful ignorance.

 

 

 

Here is the starboard - I will probably redo the lanyard on the first set of deadeyes (on the right  side of the photo) as it is wound around the shroud three times - all the others are wound four.

 

 

and the port side.

 

Edited October 28, 2015 by RMC

[GuntherMT]

The result looks very good RMC.  The difference in number of wraps on the two lanyards you are considering re-doing is not obvious when looking at the photo's, I would not have noticed if you hadn't pointed it out, but that may be one of those things that will bug you forever if you don't make it right for yourself.

[RMC]

Thanks Brian. I think I will replace that lanyard (not that I'm obsessive), but at the moment I'm working on the main mast and trying to forget about deadeyes for a while. Incidentally we visited the national parks in Arizona and Utah recently - you live in a beautiful part of the world.

[RMC]

The main mast is now stepped and the the top has been mounted.

 

To make the sides of the top properly aligned fore and aft, a straight piece of wood strip was placed on one of the hounds (?) and the strip was sighted along the deck planking.

 

 

 

 

The fore top and main topmasts have been dry-fitted.

 

 

 

 

And I couldn't resist - the lanyard on the forward deadeye has been replaced.

Edited October 29, 2015 by RMC

[RMC]

Mary Rose Museum.

 

My wife and I will be going to a wedding in Dorset in mid-May next year.  We had hoped to go to theMary Rose Museum on the way home towards the end of May. I have now learned that most of the museum will be closed until (likely) sometime in July.

 

Question to those who may have been to Portsmouth:  is it still worth a visit for a couple of days?

[Beef Wellington]

I would have to say yes - last time I was there I was dragging my kids around as well but they had a blast, between Victory, Warrior and the multiple museum exibits, harbor tours etc there is plenty to see and do just in the dockyard.  Add to that walks along the waterfront and the other historical sites (not forgetting maybe a few stops at 'The Still and West' pub) there's a lot to experience if the weather cooperates.  Of course depends on your pace, but everytime I have been I've never felt I had enough time to get around everything at a comfortable pace.

[RMC]

Thanks  for your reply Jason.  It's certainly a disappointing that the Mary Rose is unlikely to be open for business. I was quite looking forward to it, and fortunately my wife tolerates most of my ideosyncracies.  Your description I think gives us the go ahead anyway.

 

Perhaps my wife can exercise her further toleration in the The Still and West.  In one way or another, this may turn out to be quite an expensive exercise, and I know who will be paying.

[RMC]

The catharpins for the foremast shrouds are done, though there is a little touching-up to do. I found it a very fiddly job indeed. One mistake to avoid is to cut off the brass rod to the correct size.  This makes it difficult to tie the rod to the formost and rear shrouds.  Cut the rod larger than necessary, then when the rod is installed, cut it off to size.

 

In the process of all of this I bumped and damaged one of the catheads (I'm surprised I hadn't done it before this). While it wasn't knocked off completely, it ended up at a rather unsatisfactory angle. I was unable to completely restore it without causing further damage. The repair however is not too bad and I really don't think anyone (except me) would notice it.

 

 

 

The shrouds for the main mast are more or less complete. They have come out quite well, but I will give them a couple of days to settle down before tying off the lanyards. At the moment I think I'm shrouded out.

 

 

 

Edited November 13, 2015 by RMC

[RMC]

Thanks Arthur. I'm afraid I didn't enjoy the process very much at all.

 

As usual I have a question.  You may remember I incorrectly put the row of six eyelets behind the mainmast bitts, rather than in front of them. I would prefer to leave them as is.  Now that you are quite advanced with the rigging, with this experience, do you think this is likely to be a problem?  If it does cause problems later, I will need to replace or duplicate the row of eyelets in the correct place very soon while I still have reasonable access.

[RMC]

Thanks again Arthur. Your photo really helps. It does seem odd that there is no provision for belaying pins in the bitts. If I can  get access to the bitts to drill a few holes for pins, I guess now is the time to do it.

[RMC]

Progress on the shrouds has been glacial. Having two tiny anarchists (1 1/2 and 2 1/2) for the last two weeks has tended to slow things down - especially their grandfather.

 

At least the shrouds for the mainmast are now done, as are the catharpins.  A couple of belaying pins have been put onto the bitts at the fore and main masts. As one of our (late) sports boadcasters would have said, "forward progress".

 

The deadeyes came out acceptably, though they are not as even as I would like. For no good reason I had quite a bit of trouble with them (more than with the formast shrouds). I ended up re-doing some of them, which did improve matters a little.

 

 

The catharpins were also rather fiddly.  Leaving the brass rods longer than specified and adjusting their length after they were attched to the shrould certainly made it easier (see my earlier post).  My knot tying is not up to boy scout standards I'm afraid and it's something I need to improve.

 

 

 

Here are the belaying pins installed on the bitts. It's hard to see how more  than two would fit comfortably.  In looking at the photos, it just occurred to me that it may be time to put the boarding pikes in the rings provided.  Doing it later may be quite difficult.  Comments/advice welcome.

 

 

 

Edited November 25, 2015 by RMC

[Beef Wellington]

Bob - would probably make sense to put the boarding pikes in, although you seem to be entering the 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' zone..if you are anything like me its more likely the former.  No reason to beat yourself up over the deadeyes, they look really good from here.  

[RMC]

Arthur and Jason - I'm really in two minds about the boarding pikes. Extra rigging will make it more difficult to put them in; putting them in, then rigging is likely to cause damage. I will probably put them in soon and cross my fingers.

[RMC]

The boarding pikes are in and my fingers are crossed.  Despite the risk of damage later, think it probably is the right time to do it. Access is not easy even at this stage, and with more rigging, it's likely to be far more difficult.

 

 

 

 

I have also stepped the mizzen mast - now for even more deadeyes.

At this stage, all of the topmasts are dry-fitted.  The photo below gives the appearance that the masts are not parallel. In fact they are.  I presume it's an artifact of the camera lense.

 

 

 

Edited November 27, 2015 by RMC

[RMC]

Bettina - 14 likes?  You've made my day.