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A question for you Dom if you don't mind. I've seen pictures of many models with a fife rail both fore and aft of the fore mast.. Billings has both. Campbell only has the one in front. What does she have now.
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Cutty Sark, Vintage Billing Boats BB564, 1:75.
- Thread starter DomCee
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Hi, the ship just has the single fife rail at the foremast at the moment as per Campbell's plans.
I did delve into the history a little bit when I was deciding what to do. Longridge has two fife rails with the after one being slightly smaller in size and the columns are also a different design (see the link here to Part 24 .. Foremast rails ). I do not know if Billing's plans were correct at some time in the ships history but, I suspect the ship may have had two similar fife rails when she was first tea rigged simply because they would have needed as many pins as possible at that time. I think the fife rails were altered after she was cut down for the wool runs and the stunsl's were not needed .
Hope that helps.
I did delve into the history a little bit when I was deciding what to do. Longridge has two fife rails with the after one being slightly smaller in size and the columns are also a different design (see the link here to Part 24 .. Foremast rails ). I do not know if Billing's plans were correct at some time in the ships history but, I suspect the ship may have had two similar fife rails when she was first tea rigged simply because they would have needed as many pins as possible at that time. I think the fife rails were altered after she was cut down for the wool runs and the stunsl's were not needed .
Hope that helps.
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Thankyou Dom. I think that helps. The fact she has been around so and worn so many coats of paint does allow a lot of flexibility in modelling.
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Part 33 Working on the Masts - Hit the Rocks - Again!
The ship has been temporarily “becalmed” for a few weeks while I was sorting out the garden ready for spring planting and doing some house projects (my new computer was also a complete PITA to set up after my old one died - it was 14years old so, I guess I was pushing my luck anyway!). Having made some progress on my other “projects” I tried to find a bit of time to work on model just to keep things ticking over. Things were going OK but then I struck a rock (well, a kidney stone) which left me low in the water!! I knew I had another one rattling around but it had not given me any trouble until now. It’s not as bad as the horrendous one that sent me to hospital at the end of 2023 so I am hoping it will pass without any surgical intervention! Hopefully, I will be back on course with a good wind behind me soon.
However, Clipper Captains were able to “ghost” their ships through the doldrums so to take my mind off things I have been working on the masts.
Lower Masts: with the dimensions decided as I discussed in Part 31 (b, c) the first thing was to prep. the lower masts dowels. The dowel sizes I decided on were 10mm for the Fore/Main (tapering to 7.5 mm) and 8.5mm (tapering to 7 mm) for the Mizzen. I had to buy some 10mm dowels for the Fore/Main which turned out to be not so easy because the usual suppliers did not have any long lengths in stock in a decent hardwood. I finally found some 1 m lengths on-line but when they arrived, they were all as straight as a dogs back leg! Not to be defeated, I put each dowel into a drill and ran it slowly so that I could find sections that were reasonably straight and then cut those out to use. I turned the ends down and fitted a brass sleeve which is a sliding fit for my socket size and then tapered the masts to the correct dimensions using my electric drill, a broad flat file and various grits of emery cloth.
Trestle Tops: I decided to make the tops from some solid wood. The actual tops are constructed from angle iron to form the frame with wooden slats on top (but wood will do!).
I cut the main shape from some 2 mm sapele and then milled some 1 mm slots to represent the slats. There are more slot/slats than I made but I could only go down to a 1mm diameter cutter and trying to put more slots into the wood would have made them very weak.
The Trestle Tree Tops: These consist of the tops, the cross trees and the spreaders for the upper backstays. There are also some fairleads on the after side of the rear cross tree.
Main Mast Upper Cross Tree and Spreaders
I made the tops by milling them from some solid basswood and used 3x1.5mm oak strip for the Cross Trees and Spreaders.
The Caps: on the ship the mast caps are constructed from iron bands. I did not have any suitable fittings, so I soldered different diameter brass tubes together to match the mast diameters and filed them to fit each mast section snugly.
Lower Main Top Cap
Fore, Main and Mizzen sections with cap bands and tops
Next Up: There are a lot of fittings that I need to add but at least I now have all the mast sections sized up correctly. I also need to make the cheeks and mast footings. One of the key things that I will need to treble check is the yard spacings so that they will match the sail set that I purchased from HisModel. I will index the sections and tops so that they will all align correctly when I make the final assembly. Once that is all done, I can paint and varnish all the parts and assemble.
The ship has been temporarily “becalmed” for a few weeks while I was sorting out the garden ready for spring planting and doing some house projects (my new computer was also a complete PITA to set up after my old one died - it was 14years old so, I guess I was pushing my luck anyway!). Having made some progress on my other “projects” I tried to find a bit of time to work on model just to keep things ticking over. Things were going OK but then I struck a rock (well, a kidney stone) which left me low in the water!! I knew I had another one rattling around but it had not given me any trouble until now. It’s not as bad as the horrendous one that sent me to hospital at the end of 2023 so I am hoping it will pass without any surgical intervention! Hopefully, I will be back on course with a good wind behind me soon.
However, Clipper Captains were able to “ghost” their ships through the doldrums so to take my mind off things I have been working on the masts.
Lower Masts: with the dimensions decided as I discussed in Part 31 (b, c) the first thing was to prep. the lower masts dowels. The dowel sizes I decided on were 10mm for the Fore/Main (tapering to 7.5 mm) and 8.5mm (tapering to 7 mm) for the Mizzen. I had to buy some 10mm dowels for the Fore/Main which turned out to be not so easy because the usual suppliers did not have any long lengths in stock in a decent hardwood. I finally found some 1 m lengths on-line but when they arrived, they were all as straight as a dogs back leg! Not to be defeated, I put each dowel into a drill and ran it slowly so that I could find sections that were reasonably straight and then cut those out to use. I turned the ends down and fitted a brass sleeve which is a sliding fit for my socket size and then tapered the masts to the correct dimensions using my electric drill, a broad flat file and various grits of emery cloth.
Trestle Tops: I decided to make the tops from some solid wood. The actual tops are constructed from angle iron to form the frame with wooden slats on top (but wood will do!).
I cut the main shape from some 2 mm sapele and then milled some 1 mm slots to represent the slats. There are more slot/slats than I made but I could only go down to a 1mm diameter cutter and trying to put more slots into the wood would have made them very weak.
The Trestle Tree Tops: These consist of the tops, the cross trees and the spreaders for the upper backstays. There are also some fairleads on the after side of the rear cross tree.
Main Mast Upper Cross Tree and Spreaders
I made the tops by milling them from some solid basswood and used 3x1.5mm oak strip for the Cross Trees and Spreaders.
The Caps: on the ship the mast caps are constructed from iron bands. I did not have any suitable fittings, so I soldered different diameter brass tubes together to match the mast diameters and filed them to fit each mast section snugly.
Lower Main Top Cap
Fore, Main and Mizzen sections with cap bands and tops
Next Up: There are a lot of fittings that I need to add but at least I now have all the mast sections sized up correctly. I also need to make the cheeks and mast footings. One of the key things that I will need to treble check is the yard spacings so that they will match the sail set that I purchased from HisModel. I will index the sections and tops so that they will all align correctly when I make the final assembly. Once that is all done, I can paint and varnish all the parts and assemble.
The 3 pictures showed a impressive amount of rigging, Dom. But the start is there with you nicely made mast parts.
Regards, Peter
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I have this kit with fittings set and am due to go to Perth I June. Whereabouts are you
That’s why she is somewhere on my list …… I love rigging.
Keep following yours with great interest.
Regards, Peter
Kurt Konrath
Kurt Konrath
Three masts, with three sets of shrouds with ratlines, oh my fingers and shoulders are aching just looking at the number of clove hitches to be tied.
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Part 34 Sizing the Yards
Very busy Spring - needed a break so, my wife and I decided to head off to the hills and do some hiking in the Lake District - very nice! Sadly, all good things must come to an end.
Above Grasmere in the Lake District with the Helvelyn and Fairfield Ranges in the Background
I managed to find some spare time over the week-end to work on the ship so I picked up where I left off working on the masts. I thought the next place to go was to start sorting out the yards so that I could at least post a little bit of progress. The actual yards are attached with various types of trusses depending on their positions but, I decided to just go with the kit fittings. These consist of some Goose-neck ring fittings for the masts and brass sleeves on the yards which are then connected using brass pegs (which makes life a lot simpler!). I did find that the socket rings on the masts were a little on the loose side so I sleeved them with a small piece of brass tube to give a tighter fit (I could have also used some slightly larger brass pegs).
Sizing: I have carefully looked through all my references and compared notes. The Fore and Main Mast Yards are the same size with the additional Skysail on the Main. The Main also has a Spencer Gaff attached to the mast by a Goose-neck just below the Lower Top. The Mizzen Mast is fitted with a Spanker Boom and Gaff, both of which are attached by Goose-neck fittings. According to Longridge, the Spanker Boom is tapered from the centre with the fore end being about ¾ and the aft being 2/3 of the largest diameter.
I am sizing the Masts and Yards as “Tea Rig” and I will fit the Stunsail Booms on the Yards but I am not adding the Stunsails (too much!!!!). On the actual ship the Stunsail booms are placed on the Fore and Main Course, the Fore and Main Upper Topsail, the Fore and Main Top Gallant and the Main Royal. When the Stunsails were used there were some swinging booms attached to the outer bulwarks to attach the lower stunsail sheets to but they were normally unshipped and stored on the top of the deck house with the spare yards to avoid damage when not in use (they are no longer fitted to the ship).
The picture shows one of the Main Course Stunsail Booms and its iron ring band fittings. The base of the Spencer Gaff can also be seen just below the Trestle top. Also, note that the Lower Stunsail Booms are fitted below the yards whilst on the Upper Topsail and Topgallant (Main) are fitted above the yards. The booms extend out about 1/5 of the yard length in their retracted positions with just the ends being tapered down to ¾ of the main diameter. The Yards are all painted black and the Stunsail Booms are varnished (with just the ends beyond the yards being black). The Spanker Boom and Gaffs are all painted white.
Here are the scale sizes of the Yards and Booms
The yards supplied in the kit are not of the best quality wood, but they are pre-tapered. I decided to replace the Royals and Skysail yards because the kit ones were spilt and cracked on the ends and rather than repair them, it was just as quick to make new ones. I was going to use the Spanker Boom from the kit but as I was slitting it to fit the Gooseneck it split so I made a new one from some oak dowel that I had spare. I used some grain filler on all the yards and rubbed them down with some fine grit to prepare them for painting. I cleaned up the kit fittings and blackened them with some brass black but they will all be painted according to Campbell’s plans.
There are quite a few other fittings that are needed (I will have to compromise on some of the detail simply because of the scale size). I will need to study Longridge’s descriptions for each Yard and fit them out accordingly. The lower main yards need iron bands - 1/4 and 1/2 bands, the ring bands that support the stunsail booms and a spider band about 1/8 from the end of the yards. I will need to make those as there are none in the kit. There are eyelets fitted along each of the yards for the Jackstays which are used to attach the head of the sails to. The Jackstays are fitted to the foreside of the centre line along the Yards. The actual rods are ¾ inch diameter which would be 0.25mm at the scale size but, Billing uses 1mm rod which is too large (especially on the upper Yards) so I need to decide which size would look best (probably 0.5mm as a compromise). Foot ropes and blocks for the downhauls, braces and lifts etc. are needed.
Yard Jackstays and some of the fittings on the yards
The Yards and Booms
Next up: I will make all the fittings that are needed for the yards, fit them and then paint them. Once I have finished the Yards, I will be able to check their final fitted positions on the masts so that they match my sail set. Quite a lot of fiddly bits and pieces to be working on so I will just slowly work my way through them.
Very busy Spring - needed a break so, my wife and I decided to head off to the hills and do some hiking in the Lake District - very nice! Sadly, all good things must come to an end.
Above Grasmere in the Lake District with the Helvelyn and Fairfield Ranges in the Background
I managed to find some spare time over the week-end to work on the ship so I picked up where I left off working on the masts. I thought the next place to go was to start sorting out the yards so that I could at least post a little bit of progress. The actual yards are attached with various types of trusses depending on their positions but, I decided to just go with the kit fittings. These consist of some Goose-neck ring fittings for the masts and brass sleeves on the yards which are then connected using brass pegs (which makes life a lot simpler!). I did find that the socket rings on the masts were a little on the loose side so I sleeved them with a small piece of brass tube to give a tighter fit (I could have also used some slightly larger brass pegs).
Sizing: I have carefully looked through all my references and compared notes. The Fore and Main Mast Yards are the same size with the additional Skysail on the Main. The Main also has a Spencer Gaff attached to the mast by a Goose-neck just below the Lower Top. The Mizzen Mast is fitted with a Spanker Boom and Gaff, both of which are attached by Goose-neck fittings. According to Longridge, the Spanker Boom is tapered from the centre with the fore end being about ¾ and the aft being 2/3 of the largest diameter.
I am sizing the Masts and Yards as “Tea Rig” and I will fit the Stunsail Booms on the Yards but I am not adding the Stunsails (too much!!!!). On the actual ship the Stunsail booms are placed on the Fore and Main Course, the Fore and Main Upper Topsail, the Fore and Main Top Gallant and the Main Royal. When the Stunsails were used there were some swinging booms attached to the outer bulwarks to attach the lower stunsail sheets to but they were normally unshipped and stored on the top of the deck house with the spare yards to avoid damage when not in use (they are no longer fitted to the ship).
The picture shows one of the Main Course Stunsail Booms and its iron ring band fittings. The base of the Spencer Gaff can also be seen just below the Trestle top. Also, note that the Lower Stunsail Booms are fitted below the yards whilst on the Upper Topsail and Topgallant (Main) are fitted above the yards. The booms extend out about 1/5 of the yard length in their retracted positions with just the ends being tapered down to ¾ of the main diameter. The Yards are all painted black and the Stunsail Booms are varnished (with just the ends beyond the yards being black). The Spanker Boom and Gaffs are all painted white.
Here are the scale sizes of the Yards and Booms
| Yard Length | |||
| Tea rig | 1:75 | ||
| FORE | m | mm | |
| Fore course | 23.8 | 317.3 | Stunsail booms (2.75mm tapering to 2mm at the end) |
| Lower topsail | 20.7 | 276.0 | |
| Upper topsail | 19.5 | 260.0 | Stunsail booms (2.5mm tapering to 1.9mm at the end) |
| Topgallant | 14.6 | 194.7 | Stunsail booms (2.5mm tapering to 1.9mm at the end) |
| Royal | 11.6 | 154.7 | |
| MAIN | |||
| Main course | 23.8 | 317.3 | Stunsail booms (2.75mm tapering to 2mm at the end) |
| Lower topsail | 20.7 | 276.0 | |
| Upper topsail | 19.5 | 260.0 | Stunsail booms (2.5mm tapering to 1.9mm at the end) |
| Topgallant | 14.6 | 194.7 | Stunsail booms (2.5mm tapering to 1.9mm at the end) |
| Royal | 11.6 | 154.7 | Stunsail booms (2 mm tapering to 1.75mm at the end) |
| Skysail | 10.4 | 138.7 | |
| MIZZEN | |||
| Mizzen course | 18.3 | 244.0 | |
| Lower topsail | 16.5 | 220.0 | |
| Upper topsail | 14.6 | 194.7 | |
| Topgallant | 11.9 | 158.7 | |
| Royal | 10.1 | 134.7 | |
| Boom Lengths | |||
m | mm | ||
| Spanker | 15.8 | 211.0 | largest diameter 4mm (centre), tapering to 3mm at the fore and 2.8mm at the end |
| Spanker Gaff | 8.6 | 138 | largest diameter 3.7mm tapering to 2.4mm |
| Spencer Gaff | 5.8 | 93 | largest diameter 3mm tapering to 2mm |
The yards supplied in the kit are not of the best quality wood, but they are pre-tapered. I decided to replace the Royals and Skysail yards because the kit ones were spilt and cracked on the ends and rather than repair them, it was just as quick to make new ones. I was going to use the Spanker Boom from the kit but as I was slitting it to fit the Gooseneck it split so I made a new one from some oak dowel that I had spare. I used some grain filler on all the yards and rubbed them down with some fine grit to prepare them for painting. I cleaned up the kit fittings and blackened them with some brass black but they will all be painted according to Campbell’s plans.
There are quite a few other fittings that are needed (I will have to compromise on some of the detail simply because of the scale size). I will need to study Longridge’s descriptions for each Yard and fit them out accordingly. The lower main yards need iron bands - 1/4 and 1/2 bands, the ring bands that support the stunsail booms and a spider band about 1/8 from the end of the yards. I will need to make those as there are none in the kit. There are eyelets fitted along each of the yards for the Jackstays which are used to attach the head of the sails to. The Jackstays are fitted to the foreside of the centre line along the Yards. The actual rods are ¾ inch diameter which would be 0.25mm at the scale size but, Billing uses 1mm rod which is too large (especially on the upper Yards) so I need to decide which size would look best (probably 0.5mm as a compromise). Foot ropes and blocks for the downhauls, braces and lifts etc. are needed.
Yard Jackstays and some of the fittings on the yards
The Yards and Booms
Next up: I will make all the fittings that are needed for the yards, fit them and then paint them. Once I have finished the Yards, I will be able to check their final fitted positions on the masts so that they match my sail set. Quite a lot of fiddly bits and pieces to be working on so I will just slowly work my way through them.
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Aahhh, the Lakes. I haven’t been there for quite a while but plan to revisit north yorks later this year.
I used 0.2mm brass rod for the jackstays, they looked great. I guess your challenge will be the eyelets. I’ll be following your rigging with great interest as one of the reasons I stalled was because it all started to look very complicated at this point, juxtaposing assembly with rope work.
I used 0.2mm brass rod for the jackstays, they looked great. I guess your challenge will be the eyelets. I’ll be following your rigging with great interest as one of the reasons I stalled was because it all started to look very complicated at this point, juxtaposing assembly with rope work.
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Hi Kevin,
We always try to get up to the Lakes at least once a year. This year was just ridiculously warm for Spring, we usually expect rain, more rain, snow, wind, more rain and if the sun shows it's face for a few minutes, we think we've done well! We haven't been up to the North York's for a few years but that is a very nice place to visit and we'll try to get over there as well in the not too distant future.
Scale is very hard to get right on models, small features can just "disappear" or, be so flimsy it's just not practical to do. I am going to attach the sails to the Jackstays so I think using 0.5mm rod will be better just to make them a little bit more sturdy without being too far over scale. The smallest eyelets you can buy are the Amati ones made from 0.5mm copper but the ID of the eyes are 1mm and are too large. I tried making some very small eyelets from thin wire but it was almost impossible to do so I gave up out of frustration. I have just been trying a different method to make some small eyelets which might work - they look OK but it's very fiddly work and quite slow to do so, it may take me a long time. There are a few bits and bobs needed to finish off the hull before I will start on the rigging proper (such fun!).
Dom
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I ran into the same kind of eyelet issue with the blocks. The diameter of the bar is too small to have any strength if printed so, in my work-up, I was twisting 0.2mm jewelry wire around a 0.3 or 0.4 drill bit in a pin vise, then glueing that into the end of the printed block (which had the holes designed in). Do-able but tedious and there are a lot of these blocks on the ship. It was just one more item in a long list of things where I decided inspiration might strike if I paused for a while. In fact I did have a promising idea but haven't pursued this yet, which is to have strops made in PE. However, the twisted wire might have mileage for the jackstays.
Yes, spring has been pretty good, hasn't it. For my part, I was able to do the final part of the Camino Frances in Galicia a few weeks ago, something I've wanted to do for a little while. Very easy compared to most walks in this country, but part of my rehab after having an ankle fused last year, in the hope that I might be able to do some of our own classic walks again later this year or next, Scafell, Tryfan and so on.
Yes, spring has been pretty good, hasn't it. For my part, I was able to do the final part of the Camino Frances in Galicia a few weeks ago, something I've wanted to do for a little while. Very easy compared to most walks in this country, but part of my rehab after having an ankle fused last year, in the hope that I might be able to do some of our own classic walks again later this year or next, Scafell, Tryfan and so on.