Cutty Sark, Vintage Billing Boats BB564, 1:75.

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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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!).


1745088133521.png

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.

1745088185463.png
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.

1745088249032.png
Lower Main Top Cap

1745088288953.png
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.
 
DomCee said:
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!).


View attachment 514670

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.

View attachment 514671
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.

View attachment 514672
Lower Main Top Cap

View attachment 514673
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.
Click to expand...
The 3 pictures showed a impressive amount of rigging, Dom. But the start is there with you nicely made mast parts.
Regards, Peter
 
Robmelbourne said:
Hi Dom,

I too have this kit. Purchased it cheap on Facebook marketplace, but mine had the Fittings inside, all in the one box. What I am interested in is those sets of rigging you purchased and the photo etch decor. Did HiSmodel carry them as a standard pack/item? I will have to have a look at their site. I had a quick look and what a range they have! I will see if there is anything remotely like it here in Australia, but no doubt will have to reach out overseas.

Rob
Click to expand...
I have this kit with fittings set and am due to go to Perth I June. Whereabouts are you
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top