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

Smithy said:
Secret society? No, absolutely the opposite. The Lunar Society were more like us. They were a gang of intelligent mates with an interest that linked them together - the practical applications of science.

It was thirty years ago when I knew all about them but I’ll try to remember some of the big names. Remember this was the mid eighteenth century when industrialisation, urbanisation, capitalism were really taking off. Some historians claim that there was no individual great man who started it all, others said that without James Watt’s steam engine, the Industrial Revolution wouldn’t have happened. My thesis was that it took COMMUNICATION to light the fuse. Groups of like minded people getting together and bouncing ideas off each other. The Royal Society was one such. The Lunaticks were a more informal but immensely influential gang of mates.

Erasmus Darwin was one of the founder members and probably the best physician in the country. He was a doctor to the king. He developed medical science through the scientific application of observation of his patients. But he was interested in the science of everything. He made a lot of observations of nature he was among the 1st to speak of evolution which turned out to be very important because he was the grandfather of Charles Darwin. Erasmus said realised that evolution happened but it took Charles to work out the mechanism of it. Without Erasmus, I wonder what would’ve happened…

Josiah Wedgwood the potter. Josiah applied science to the industry of making pottery. He would make experiments with different glazes different clays different temperatures. Thousands and thousands of them. He is very famous in this connection, but his major achievement was in inventing double entry bookkeeping and running his ‘manufactory’ on sound financial lines. Something we now take for granted but until then no one knew if they were making a profit or loss!

It happened that his friend Erasmus was interested in windmills. And Josiah used one of Erasmus designs for a compact windmill with no external sales to power his pigment grinding mill. Josiah also had many breakages moving his pottery along the poor roads. Erasmus and others of the society had an interest in canals so they financed one to take Josiah’s pottery safely to market. This brought Joseph Brinkley, canal engineer Into their orbit and led to many technological advances.

Another man with a manufacturing business was Matthew Bolton of Birmingham. He worked in light engineering making all kinds of trinkets. His contribution to the century was to realise how effective machines could be for making many thousands of identical items. His work eventually lead on to interchangeable parts and the production line. Matthew is mostly remembered for his partnership with James Watt the Scottish engineer associated with the development of the steam engine. Also a member of the Society. James would have produced nothing very much without his friend Matthews manufacturing genius, and financial backing.

And so on…

There were about 20 members altogether and if you make a chart connecting each one to the other members whom he helped you end up with the network of influence which I believe was hugely important in the genesis of the industrial revolution.

Oh dear, I’m getting interested in it all over again…
Click to expand...
Good information. thanks
 
Jack Sparrow said:
Good information. thanks
Click to expand...

You are welcome Jack. I could write 350 more pages for you if only I had the time.

Now my interest in those men has been resuscitated, I want to read Jenny Uglow’s book … at last.

Unfortunately, I’m not allowed to buy it. Talking with my son yesterday we discovered that I spent more on books last month than his mortgage payment. He has challenged me to get through this pension month (24 Oct to 23 Nov) without buying, renting, borrowing or stealing any books, without obtaining even one in any way.

I haven’t passed a month like that since I learned to read! He and I are both stubborn competitive people so I mean to succeed.

I’ve secured an agreement with my wonderful local bookshop not to sell me any books though I’ll still visit there and read them on the shelves. (I’ll make a list for next month) I have to go in, they give my dog biscuits and he’d miss them awfully.
 
Smithy said:
You are welcome Jack. I could write 350 more pages for you if only I had the time.

Now my interest in those men has been resuscitated, I want to read Jenny Uglow’s book … at last.

Unfortunately, I’m not allowed to buy it. Talking with my son yesterday we discovered that I spent more on books last month than his mortgage payment. He has challenged me to get through this pension month (24 Oct to 23 Nov) without buying, renting, borrowing or stealing any books, without obtaining even one in any way.

I haven’t passed a month like that since I learned to read! He and I are both stubborn competitive people so I mean to succeed.

I’ve secured an agreement with my wonderful local bookshop not to sell me any books though I’ll still visit there and read them on the shelves. (I’ll make a list for next month) I have to go in, they give my dog biscuits and he’d miss them awfully.
Click to expand...
you it is books, me it is tools and ship models. I have about 6 ships to build and lots of tools. I like trying to figure out how to use a tool and apply it to shipbuilding.
 
Rudder Hanging and Rail Finials​

I think I mentioned my strange dislike of fitting the rudders to model boats?I still have no idea why because they always go right for me, fitting perfectly. Anyway, I had epoxied the pintle/gudgeon brass pieces to the rudder and the next thing was to drill the sternpost.

PA240026.JPG

Because the top of the rudder has to slide into its housing before the rudder and sternpost can be brought together, I couldn't make the brass pins actually touch and mark the drilling locations all in one go. However, the third pin from the keel was close enough to the post for me to mark and drill its hole.

PA240027.JPG

The top piece of brass is inside the hull so the pin on that piece was cut off and discarded. Then the third piece from the keel could be inserted into its hole for the second piece from the keel to scratch a location for the next hole. And so on until all three holes were drilled out as accurately as possible with a pin vice. There was no chance of error. Nothing could go wrong. Well, actually the lowest hole needed to be enlarged into a slot because it was just a little off. A high speed setting on my proxxon drill made it work like a micro router for this.

On with the epoxy.

PA240028.JPG

And on with the rudder.

It's too high.

Yesterday I wrote, "Something that I have done before but strongly dislike is hanging a rudder. I have no idea why as it's never failed or even been difficult. It just scares me." That was like standing on top of a hill in a thunderstorm, wearing wet copper armour and shouting "The Modelling Gods are pathetic idiots!!" at the top of my voice.

And so I'm now cursed with a rudder that's nine inches higher than the keel instead of three. Woe, woe and thrice woe! At the moment it makes my eyes hurt when I notice the terrible error but I suppose I'll get used to it.

Eventually.

Maybe.

PA240029.JPG

On the plus side it will make fitting the tiller slightly easier. :)

It's funny how a mil or two of misplacement of the rudder made me really angry at myself but any other shoddy work on the boat doesn't bother me at all. What IS this rudder thing to me? Was I beaten with one when I was a child? Did one fall from the sky and crush my pet hamster? Am I over-analysing again?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And finially,

PA240030.JPG

First time carving wood since third year woodwork class aged 13, where I made a model of a sperm whale and accidentally sawed its tail off while taking a short 'cut' because the filing was a bore. My mission this time was to carve a curvier, sexier finial than the kit supplied skinny wee thing which reminds me of another model, the sixties icon Twiggy.

PA230021.JPG

The skinny wee thing.

PA240031.JPGPA240032.JPGPA240033.JPG

And there's mine in all of its glorious imperfection.

It took ages to make that tiny piece including a lot of time trying to find it on the carpet after its many attempts to escape the torment. I think it is curvier and sexier and when the glue is dry and I can do the final sanding, blending and rounding off of edges, it's going to be the Marilyn Monroe of rough tree rail finials.

Will the other side be a perfect match? Not on your Nelly! Do I care? Serious answer, no I don't care at all. These will be the best part of the boat for me because they are the bits with a lot of imperfect 'me' in them. It's the imperfections that we build into our models that raise them from 'interesting', which is the best compliment I ever received for a plastic model, to beautiful, which is what people say about wooden ones.

Perfection, which is only really possible with machine manufacture, is unhuman. Take a photo of a face, cut it down the centre and mirror one side to get a perfectly symmetrical face and you'll find it looks repellent. Real people have wonky noses, off-centre smiles and so on and look beautiful to us (as long as both eyes are on the front of the head, there are limits). Organic stuff like wood and rope appeals to the same sense of 'imperfect beauty'.

That's a lovely thought to a wrinkly and distorted old bloke like me and also a splendid excuse for not trying too hard with the models. We can allow some tool marks to remain on frames and lower decks - they were finished with hatchets and adzes! Anything in 'officer country' probably got a lot of polishing but back then, that meant rubbing it with sand, not chrome plating everything. So I say chill out people, lower your standards of perfection and let the beauty in.

Except on rudders of course. Make those infernal things perfect. It's the only way we can be safe!!!!
 
Last edited:
The Ships Cat said:
Not so far mate, but WOW, that was fascinating reading of the Lunatics, loved it Thumbsup Thumbsup ;)
Click to expand...

Damn, I really should have written my version...

If I'm not careful I'll wind up writing page after page about these guys here so instead I'll post a link to a not bad summary on Wikipedia HERE. And an Amazon link to Jenny's excellent book HERE. It must be a good book because its been in print for decades now. (Hint. look for a second hand copy elsewhere.)
 
Smithy said:
How did you like Marilyn the Finial?
Click to expand...
Loved it, you're as crazy as this man.
The other day I was looking at that bulkhead with the handrail leading from the companionway and thought "you know what ? I reckon they would have had a roster pinned on that wall" ROTFROTF
So I made one and "pinned" it to the wall.
Never in a month of free beer would you see it when it's finished, but I know it's real ROTF

20241025_070209.jpg
 
Alan Smith said:
53 pre-read copies of Jenny Uglow;s Lunarians on the Abe Books website. Starting at £2.16 plus post.

9780571196470 - The Lunar Men:the Friends Who Made the Future by Uglow, Jenny, Used - AbeBooks

THE LUNAR MEN. The Friends who made the Future 1730-1810. by Uglow, Jenny and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at AbeBooks.co.uk.
www.abebooks.co.uk
Click to expand...
How do Deadeyes reach escape velocity all on their own?
Constant acceleration to reach excess of 9.81 Metres per second squared ? :p ROTF
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top