Bounty launch by Cathead - FINISHED - Model Shipways - 1:16 - small

[mattsayers148]

Hey Cathead,

 

Looking really nice. I don't know if you checked out the Kitbashers guide, but I put a picture if K & S 320 assorted metal pieces. You can get these packs for a couple bucks on eBay and get them in about a week. I was able to sift through the pieces and find everything for the pintles and gudgeons without making any cuts. There's an endless use for these, same with CaptainSteve's steampunk gears(also found on eBay).

 

Matt

[Krelis]

I have a bit of a spreading hull syndrome myself...nice little boat!

[Cathead]

Work was interrupted by a visit to the in-laws last weekend, but I am moving forward. I have a deadline; I would very much like to complete this model by the end of February, as we will be travelling for most of the month of March and I would hate to leave this log, and project, hanging unfinished.

 

Unfortunately, following the work CaptainSteve and Matt has influenced me to do more than I initially intended, so we will see. I have gone from not even intending to include masts, to now wanting sails and wrapped oars. This is not good for my agenda.

 

Here is where the launch stands today.

 

 

Oars are carved with first staining. I think I will do one more coat, then wrap them. These took less time than I expected, perhaps two hours for all of them. Masts are carved and stained, with brackets attached. They are not glued in, though.

 

The metal work I was so agitated over is done, to my acceptance if not my satisfaction.

I found that the small drill bits I purchased for this project from ModelExpo do not drill through brass, even chucked into my cordless drill. This threw me for a loop as I could not pin/nail anything in place. So for the mast partners, I shaped the brass strip, then nipped off the heads of four nails (viva la France!) and glued them in place to simulate the effect. I then painted the partners with black model paint and weathered them with brown pastels. I glued them in place, and they look well enough to me.

 

As for the pintles/gudgeons, I went to a hardware store and bought compatible lengths of brass tubing and rod, then used these to make the basic structure by wrapping brass sheet carefully around the tubing using pliers. It is not perfect, but it represents the form well enough for me. They ended up slightly oversized from the plans, but I can live with that. I painted them as I did the mast partners.

 

Again because of the drill problem, I glued these onto the model. This meant I needed a good flat surface to clamp onto, so I did not add the nail heads as I did the mast partners. Now that they are solidly attached, I will scrape some paint off to provide a good gluing surface for nail heads, then carefully repaint the final result and weather with pastels. Again, good enough for me if not for a real craftsman. I do not like metal and am glad to be past this part.

 

Okay, not quite. The tiller is shaped and stained, and I will soon be attaching it with brass strip handled as for the mast partners.

 

Next up: 

- Staining and wrapping oars

- Shaping & staining spars

- Cutting & finishing sails. I am leaning toward displaying spars lowered, with furled sails, as I do not find the shape of the raised sails very attractive. This lets me show detail and full rigging without full sails.

 

I have no idea if I can complete all this in the next two weeks, but deadlines can be marvelous things for focusing one's attention.

Edited February 15, 2015 by Cathead

[CaptainSteve]

Go, CH !!!

 

Edited February 14, 2015 by CaptainSteve

[Cathead]

An observation, then a question:

 

 

In planning to wrap my oars, I developed a concern. As shown in the plans, I thought the wrapping would be too far down the oar; it did not not look proportioned. Recalling that Milton Roth's "Ship Modelling from Stem to Stern" had a diagram on oar proportions, I went to page 145 and found that, sure enough, the wrapping location here was noticeably further from the blade. 

 

In the image below, the "true" oar is wrapped at the Roth location. The yellowish scrap is wrapped at the plan's location. Note that if wrapped to the plan, the oars will set between the pins so far in as to catch against the mast, whereas Roth's location allows for free movement.

 

 

So I wrapped all my oars at this location instead, and am happy with the result.

 

On to the question. I have decided to display the model with yards lowered and sails furled, partly to save work & time, partly because it is a different look than I have seen elsewhere, and partly because I just do not find the full sails attractive. So I am experimenting with furling while Mrs Cathead does the basic sail sewing (bless her!).

 

I have been surprised to find little information on proper furling, especially for simple sails like these rather than full ship-rigged square sails. Below is a test run with scrap fabric and dowels. I am curious of folks' opinion as to whether something like this approximates the right look. Two notes: this scrap is not tied onto the dowel, so the head wraps over the upper edge of the yard more than it would in the final product, and I did this quickly so that the folds in the furl are larger than I would work carefully to achieve in the real thing. Oh, and as there are no lines attached to the clew and tack, those also look slightly different.

 

 

All diagrams of furling I have seen apply to large sails with lines running up to blocks along the mast, etc, producing a different and more complicated pattern. It seems to me, after reading the research done by Matt and Steve, that this very simply rigged boat would simply have had its sails folded up under the lowered yard and lashed onto the yard. 

 

What think you all?

Edited February 27, 2016 by Cathead

[CaptainSteve]

Dang, CH !! After reading your observation above, I went a-running for my modelling room ... and, sure enough, you are spot-on !!

 

As to furling your sails, I think it's a great idea. As you mentioned, it's a look that not many go with. I'm still to get to the installation of masts and spars and the rigging, but I was thinking of going for mostly unfurled with bunt-lines lifting the sails up just slightly to show off the interior and details. O'course, any rigging gear added will have to be of my own design (with thanks to help from Matt), due to MS providing very little insofar as actual rigging instructions (beyond clew-lines & lifts) for the Launch.

 

My one comment, and feel free to ignore it completely, is that I would think it difficult for the weakened, under-nourished and sickly crew to furl the sails as perfectly folded as yours looks to be, bearing in mind that this Launch was extremely over-crowded.  

Edited February 17, 2015 by CaptainSteve

[mattsayers148]

Nice job on the sails(hats off to Mrs Cathead) and on your oar with added research. Since you want your sails furled, CaptainSteve's point on the crews physical condition makes sence.

 

One idea, toss it if it doesn't work/look good, is complete the sails and rigging first. Then allow the spar and sail to lower, with careful assistance. The men were most likely ill, so they would furl as best as they could, yet somewhat sloppy. I've seen many of the furled sails be placed in the boat, however space was critical. My thought would be that they would raise the furled sail and draw the lower end of spar and belay to pin at base of the mast. It would be out of the way for the men and still show off your sails.

 

On the furling, the model placed reef points are accurate(they change around 1800 to point on the lower part of the sails). At that time the reef points were only used to reef the sails. To furl, the tack and clew lines were used to wrap(furl). This way the reef point will just be bunched with the rest of the sails and unseen. The finished look is a spiraled wrap from ends into the middle(no reef points used or showing). This would also help in your schedule because you wouldn't need to spend too much time on the sails and spars since they're largely unseen.

[Cathead]

Points well taken, folks. I like Matt's idea of displaying the furled sail raised partly out of the way, I had intended to place it lower on the mast, as if it had just been gotten ready to raise or had just been furled. Your idea will help display the interior without the yard in the way.I was intended to furl onto the yard before installation, thinking this would be easier than fussing with it over the hull.

 

Steve, as for the crew's condition, I thought that test batch above looked pretty sloppy, but if it looks too neat to you, perhaps I don't need to practice further! In addition, I am not necessarily envisioning this model as the launch while Bligh & co. were using it, just as a representation of the launch overall. So I am ok with it being a bit neater than, say, halfway through the voyage, for display purposes.

 

Matt, as for the sails, don't praise yet, what you see above is just a scrap piece of cloth with no stitching. I (she) am (is) only hemming the edges, not bothering with the interior bracing or reef points, since as you note, they will be hidden in the furled sail and save a lot of unnecessary work. Mrs. Cathead had asked if I could make the whole assembly operational (i..e yard could be raised & lowered, etc.) but I have managed to fend off that temptation. Perhaps the next time I build a small boat. I am mostly holding to my goal of building the kit solely with the materials provided, so adding the extra tackle needed for more complicated maneuvres is out.

 

If the tack and clew lines are wrapped around the furled sail, ending up in the middle, where do they go from there? One presumes they should still have quite a bit left over; does that leftover then get drawn down and belayed to a pin? 

[CaptainSteve]

I am not necessarily envisioning this model as the launch while Bligh & co. were using it, just as a representation of the launch overall.

 

CH, I am a firm believer in the Golden Rule here at MSW:

The Captain ALWAYS has final say on their build ... unless over-ruled by their Admiral.

 

... (i)f the tack and clew lines are wrapped around the furled sail... where do they go from there?

One presumes they should ... get drawn down and belayed to a pin? 

 

That's where I was guessing, also.

Edited February 17, 2015 by CaptainSteve

[mattsayers148]

I agree with CaptainSteve, that the excess would look best belayed near the bottom of the mast. Just be sure to tie/seize lines around the bundle, it might be creepy to come down one morning to see your model set sail. If you ever do decide to make functional sails, do a lot of research first, the Admiral might not take too kindly at redoing the whole thing. Oh, any lines should just be coiled in a circle. My first sail job I had them all neatly wrapped, bundled and hung neatly from the belaying pins. That's when my sailor buddy said they're only like that usually in port.

[Canute]

So many good ideas to make notes on. I hope to hold up the standard you've all set.

 

I don't know yet what the Admiral has in mind with respect to the sails. She did say the kit's colors would look good, up on the fireplace mantle. Sounds like I'm painting the hull in gray and white. I hope she let's me weather the jewel.

[CaptainSteve]

I hope to hold up the standard you've all set.

 

 

You already have !!

[Cathead]

Progress: the end is in sight!

 

The sails are sewed with a basic hem around the edges (thank you, Mrs Cathead!); nothing else will show in the finished furled form. I did lay a line within the foot seam, with loops at each end, to allow for attaching the clew and tack lines. I realize the real thing had rope sewn along the outer edge, instead of within the seam, but that is too much for me on this project. Furled, it is hard to tell the difference.

 

Below is one sail stained and hanging to dry. I used a cup of water, with drops of oak stain (the yellow color of my thwarts) and black model paint added until test swatches came out the way I wanted them. Then the sails were dipped in, swished around until evenly absorbed, and hung to dry. I did the same with long stretches of line, to darken the natural white down to a similar color; you can see these hanging to dry as well. In a wood-heated house, things dry very quickly! I did not bother ironing the sails as they will be furled anyway and the creases will not show.

 

 

The foresail is attached and mostly rigged, as shown below. I bound it to the yard, using a process I will illustrate when I do the mainsail later today, then carefully furled it and used lengths of line with reef knots to roughly bind it up. I encountered an unexpected quirk, when finding that the wider foot of the sail ended up with a long, odd-looking projection past the yard ends when furled. After some thought, I simply folded these extensions back under the yard and tucked them under the furling lines, as that seemed like something a tired crew might do (h/t/ Steve).

 

Despite intending to use Matt's advice to display the yard mostly vertical, the square lash I used to bind this assembly to the mast did not allow for this, but did allow for a cocked angle, which I find pleasing. So I just chose a height partially down the mast, high enough to show the interior but low enough not to unbalance the appearance of the model, and went with it. Clew and tack lines are belayed to pins. i have not yet added the foremast halyard (through the block at top of mast) as I needed to stain more line overnight. I also have not yet neatly coiled the extra line. But this progress approximates my final layout.

 

 

I have also finished my metalwork, attaching the tiller and simulating nailheads by nipping them off the nails and gluing the heads onto the strip before repainting. I think it looks well, and has the benefit of both sides looking the same (rather than a bent or nipped off nail on one side as the instructions say). The rudder swings nicely through about 150 degrees and I have had to be careful not to catch it on anything.

 

Left to do this weekend:

 

- Attach mainsail to yard, furl, and lash to mainmast. 

- Run both yard halyards through blocks and belay.

- Add stays to both masts.

- Trim and coil all lines.

 

Optional: I may or may not get to the details like chest & barrels. These can be done later and do not directly affect the display of the finished boat. 

 

Oh yes, I forgot: a significant reason for posting this now, before completion, is for any last feedback on the appearance of sails and such. Anything I should do different or that I have not thought of? I have not glued any rigging, only tied and lashed, so everything can be readjusted if necessary or desired.

[Cathead]

The launch is nearing completion. I have done all the rigging, but kept it all tied only, no glue, so that I can make adjustments later if desired. This also necessitated some careful line coiling on the model to keep the long ends orderly in case I need them later. Below, you see my  methods for making rope coils. 

 

 

For coils hung from belaying pins, I made a small jig of dowels and scrap wood. This can sit right on the thwart next to the line being coiled, minimizing uncoiled excess. Clamping it in place with a reversed clothespin helps. The excess line is simply wound around the pegs, then lashed across the middle with a series of clove hitches. Fine tweezers with angled tips made this fairly straightforward. Then the coil was eased off the jig and hung in place. As many tended to stick out sideways, I hung small metal clamps from the bottom of each coil and let them dangle overnight; this stretched the coil to a more realistic orientation. I could have brushed glue on these while still on the jig, to keep them especially orderly, but I want them loose for now. So the price of that is a few disorderly coils, but that is acceptable to me.

 

For several Flemish coils, I laid a piece of masking tape sticky-side-up on my work surface, then stuck another dowel peg on it. Then I wound the line carefully around the peg, using tweezers to gently nudge it into a tight coil. After a few turns, the dowel can be removed and fingers suffice for massaging the loops into place. The tape holds just strongly enough to keep the coil together. When at the desired size, I brushed some full-strength wood glue onto the coil and let dry, at which point it was easy to strip from the tape and lay on the deck. 

 

 

Here are examples of the finished coils in place, along with another detail shot of the rudder/tiller metalwork in better light than my last attempt.

[Cathead]

And, the completed model:

 

 

It does not have the beautiful detail of others' work, but it meets my criteria of a displayable out-of-the-box build that will look very nice on our bookshelves (preferably near my actual Bounty).

 

 

This was great fun, taking about 50 hours of work based on my notes. I am greatly appreciative of all who followed and commented on the project, helping me through a rough spot, inspiring & teaching me new things even when I ended up following a different course than suggested. 

 

 

Now my attention turns to what comes next. I will be away and otherwise very busy with work for the next month, in fact I will likely not be on MSW at all until April, starting around the end of this week. So I will sadly miss (at least for now) the ongoing progress of others' launches.

 

But I do have an interesting choice for my next build. Here are three options I am considering:

 

1) Scratchbuild the Arabia, sidewheel steamer which sank on the Missouri River in 1856.

 

This was excavated recently and is the subject of a fascinating museum in Kansas City, Missouri, to which I have been many times. I live near the river, and this would be a fine companion to my first-ever ship build, the scratchbuilt sternwheeler shown in my signature

 

2) Scratchbuild the James Caird, the 22' lifeboat in which Ernest Shackleton and five other men navigated 800 miles of southern ocean, in winter, from the coast of Antarctica to South Georgia Island.

 

The voyage was undertaken to seek help for the remainder of his crew, stranded after their 1914 expedition ship was crushed by ice. I have read extensively on the subject, Mrs Cathead has even seen the real boat, and it would make a fine companion to my Bounty launch, another open boat used in a historic voyage of survival. This has the added interest that it seems a very rare model subject; I can find no other record of a scale model being built, although photographs and information are available.

 

3) Tackle a more complicated kit. I am particularly drawn to the Model Shipways Charles Morgan, as I am also fairly well-read regarding whaling and would enjoy diving deeper by building an actual ship. I was hoping to visit the real thing this spring as part of travels, but the weather in New England is making this look unlikely. It has the up- and down-side of being a very common build, and I am generally drawn to the uncommon (just look at my previous builds), but it would occupy me for some time and would be a known product with near-guaranteed success.

 

I would be interested in thoughts on these ideas, but if not, thank you for following!

 

[Keith_W]

Congratulations on finishing your boat! She's a beauty! 

 

That paddle steamer looks like an interesting subject. But ... a 3 decker does not strike your fancy?  

[Canute]

Dang, I nearly swallowed my gum!   A three decker   Twould be a rather largish chunk.

 

Your launch does look good. Congrats.

 

And I'm drawn to that paddle wheeler, too;since it's around the American Civil War time frame I'm fond of.

[mattsayers148]

You know while I was building my launch I was thinking about Shackleton too! It would make an excellent build to go along side your launch. Their trip seemed to be more white knuckled(literally) than Bligh and his men. And then he refused to stay while a boat went to rescue his men! Talk about heart and determination! It's been a long time since I've heard mention of that heroic voyage. Great job on your launch, the pics are excellent.

[CaptainSteve]

Superb job on your Launch, CH !!!

 

As for your next project ...

Well, of the options you've listed, I'd go for the paddle-steamer.

But that's only if it were up to me, which it ain't.

 

As you have definitely proved that you've already got the skills, my suggestion would be to go for a project which is going to hold your interest. 

[Cathead]

3 out of 4 for the steamer, interesting. I suppose it is the most unusual. I have a month to think on it. If I did do that, I would be very tempted to build all the internal framing, too, as I have books & diagrams showing details of such things drawn from excavated wrecks, leaving it open like an Admiralty model on one side. This could occupy me for years!

 

Thank you all for the likes and input, I will have fun revisiting all of your ongoing projects when I return.

[CaptainSteve]

CH,

I lifted the following from my own log ...

 

Thus I will have a barque on bark.

I do hope that you and MrsCH will be listening to Bach at the same time.

 

... and was wondering if either of you had a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree ... ??

 

Sorry. I'll show myself out !!!

Edited April 1, 2015 by CaptainSteve

[Cathead]

Both actually have a Bachelor of Science (B.S.), which is all too fitting.

[Knocklouder]

Great job on your build, Congratulations 

         

Bob M

 

[Cathead]

Wow, has it really been 8 years? Thanks for digging up and enjoying this old chestnut!