HM Armed Cutter Alert (1777) - Vanguard Models - 1/64 - Completed Build

Bill-R said:
Hello Smithy,
For some reason I have not been getting updates of your build even though I am following it. I just caught up and your work is looking great.

Bill
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Well thanks Bill.

When I first came here I followed almost everything and got so many notifications that I’d often neglect to read the updates. As the novelty wore off I became a lot more selective. Subsequently, as my interest in the hobby declined, I’ve stopped automatically following/watching anything and simply glance at the What’s New tabs when it takes my fancy.

There really aren’t that many active threads here so there’s usually only a few posts of interest per day to glance at while sitting with my early morning tea. In a way, of course, I’m still following everything. :)
 
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Smithy said:
Did you enjoy those huge Dickensian sentences? One per photograph was the aim. The style of the next update may be Hemingway or possibly semi-literate millennial if I can manage that. :D
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Quite impressed with your huge Dickensian, and I’m sure you could absolutely pull off any of those, but I’d love to see what you could manage with Douglas Adams. ROTF
 
Smithy said:
to catch the wind (interesting phrase, someone should write a song about that - oh, they already did)
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Good thing Donavan ducked.
It could of been;
Boom!
There goes a noggin' clear Starboard
From the shoulders that it was once harbored,
From ill-fated luck
I didn't hear Duck
And my torso became outmaneuvered.
Tra-La
 
The Ships Cat said:
Good thing Donavan ducked.
It could of been;
Boom!
There goes a noggin' clear Starboard
From the shoulders that it was once harbored,
From ill-fated luck
I didn't hear Duck
And my torso became outmaneuvered.
Tra-La
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Did you just write that?

If you did then, “boom boom boom boom, I’m goanna shoot you right down.”

See what I did there and there?
 
I rigged the boom today. It was mostly easy. It had some tough parts. There are now many ropes in the way. It is hard for me to tell which ropes are in front and which ropes are behind. This makes my eyes go funny. I feel a bit sick. It is bad being sick in the eyes.

Making pictures is hard now. The new lines hide in the jungle of ropes. Today I made pictures only of the interesting parts .

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This is the rope system that pulls the boom up and down at the back of the boat. This part next to the mast stays at this level. It rests on the shelf on the mast. The rope goes out of the top of the picture and up to the masthead. Then the rope goes through a block . At last it goes back down to the far end of the boom. The boom is a long and heavy thing. The blocks in the photo make the men who pull on the rope three times stronger. This is the magic of the ropes.

I cheated. The block at the bottom should not be there. It should be out on the channel but that was too hard for me today. I do not feel guilty. No one will know. No-one will care.

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This tackle is used to hold the boom and sail against the force of the wind. It lets the helmsmen pull the boom in or let it go out to meet the wind in the best way.

Again I cheated. Today I could not fit a cleat. That was too hard for me. I made the rope's end go to an eyebolt. I do not feel guilty. People will only notice the coiled rope end. They will not know of the missing cleat.

I do not know if these things matter to me. Perhaps it matters to you when I cheat. You will judge me.

(with love for EH)
 
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The Ships Cat said:
It looks fantastic Smithy mate, extremely impressive.
And to be honest, no one would ever know of your "alternative embellishments" if you didn't keep telling everyone ;)ROTF
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That’s the point really, said Smithy, none of this matters. Here I am, brain the size of a planet, spending my valuable time building a boat that won’t float. The most intelligent being within thirty parsecs of me is me and still I have to put blocks together upside down and do request appearances. Really I don’t know why I bother….
 
Smithy said:
That’s the point really, said Smithy, none of this matters. Here I am, brain the size of a planet, spending my valuable time building a boat that won’t float. The most intelligent being within thirty parsecs of me is me and still I have to put blocks together upside down and do request appearances. Really I don’t know why I bother….
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He doesn't do requests, but he DOES do Douglas Adams ROTF
 
Everybody back to my gaff then. Let’s partaaay!

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That’s the complicated gaff halliard and the… other rope. Ignore the weight, that’s to perhaps straighten out the springy polyester thread in the absence of a couple of tons of wet sail.

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Both ropes terminate at the bitts.

Easy enough but a fiddly job at times and threading ropes cleanly in and around all the rest of the lines required a lot of do-overs.

Soon it will all be over.
 
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The polyester thread is brilliant for the way it smoothly slides through complicated block systems. Its stiffness is a problem. You see how it appears in the photograph above to be defying gravity. The gaff has very little weight to pull it taut. The thread has not enough weight to overcome its own stiffness.

Ringing like that is totally unacceptable to me. It’s reminiscent of the worst of the interior decoration boats and immediately defeats any attempt by even a sympathetic viewer to see it as a real vessel.


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Unfortunately, the photograph above has come out upside down but it’s not really necessary anyway. Vanguard models seem to have realised that the weightless gaff will look stupid and they have included in the instructions a line which runs from the end of the gaff to the end of the boom and then it secured to a cleat on the boom. This line is not mentioned in anatomy of the ship and may be a complete fabrication. I can’t see its purpose but what do I know?

Whatever, it does the job. It looks quite good to me, outlining the edge of where the sail would be and at the same time drawing the rigging of the gaff taut.

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That’s better. That was 10 minutes work that really made a difference.;)
 
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