HMS Fly Build (Amati) 1:64 by Nomad

AllanKP69 said:
Hi Nomad
What is the purpose of the rounded portion at the top? Wouldn't the cap be in danger of twisting if the mast top is round?

Looking at some contemporary pics they are all left square as Lees describes -- The head is left square and was one tenth the length of the mast. He makes no mention of a round portion near the top. The last picture is for a Swan class ship mast from The Fully Framed Model Volume IV by David Antscherl.
Thanks
Allan
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Hi Allan, and thanks for your interest. I believe you are perfectly correct. The rounded bit at the top of the mast is the end that takes the mast cap, which has a round hole to receive it. This is as per the Amati kit's supplies and instructions. But I have since noted in further research that this end was very likely square as you mentioned, and many Swan class modellers create new caps with square holes to accommodate the mast top, which is also shaped square for the purpose. This is something I will certainly take on board in future builds if required :)
 
Nomad said:
Thanks Dom. A good idea looking for quality ropes for your build. I purchased a couple of reels from Ropes of Scale for the reasons you mentioned and can confirm that they will make a definite visual impact to your model. Things that look real in miniature often do. They are a bit costly (by my budget at least) and take forever to reach us here down under, so unless I can convince the Admiral to foot the bill for all of the Fly's rigging I may just go with the supplied Amati stock which, overall, is not too bad either :)
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I think some nice rope will look really good on the model. Unfortunately, everything is very expensive these days but, given the number of hours spent on the "hobby", it's probably not that bad (there are much worse things to spend your money on!). I actually haven't priced up the Ropes of Scale stuff but it might be a big "OUCH!" for the Cutty Sark given how much rigging there is on it. I'll check around some more but I think RoS is probably the best. I have seen Ohla's video on making ropes with her rope walk but I certainly don't want to go down that route!
 
The two spare topmasts (fore and main) will eventually serve to suspend the ship's boat in the waist. Everything is loosely fitted at this stage. The boat will be lashed to the masts in some fashion or the other and the masts will in turn be lashed to the rail assemblies at either end. I imagine there will also be some block and tackle in the rigging later on to hoist the boat on and off it's topmast supports.

1305_20240829_hms_fly.jpg
 
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With the vertical masts done and dusted, attention now shifts to the horizontal spars. There are a total of ten yards for the bowsprit, main, fore and mizzenmasts, a driver gaff and boom, and a further eight stunsail booms for the main and fore yards and their respective topsail yards, all to be cut to a precise length and tapered as per the ship's plans. I used a little hobby plane to taper the longer of these spars with varying degrees of success, but in the end I found it easier to shape them with sandpaper as I had done for the other (vertical) masts.

1310_20240829_hms_fly.jpg
 
Nomad said:
With the vertical masts done and dusted, attention now shifts to the horizontal spars. There are a total of ten yards for the bowsprit, main, fore and mizzenmasts, a driver gaff and boom, and a further eight stunsail booms for the main and fore yards and their respective topsail yards, all to be cut to a precise length and tapered as per the ship's plans. I used a little hobby plane to taper the longer of these spars with varying degrees of success, but in the end I found it easier to shape them with sandpaper as I had done for the other (vertical) masts.

View attachment 467921
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They are looking very nice, Mark. Sometimes is the old fashion sanding a good option.
Regards, Peter
 
Nomad said:
The two spare topmasts (fore and main) will eventually serve to suspend the ship's boat in the waist. Everything is loosely fitted at this stage. The boat will be lashed to the masts in some fashion or the other and the masts will in turn be lashed to the rail assemblies at either end. I imagine there will also be some block and tackle in the rigging later on to hoist the boat on and off it's topmast supports.

View attachment 467920
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Good morning Mark. Just perfect my friend. Dit is verstommend!!! Cheers Grant
 
Hi Mark,

just back from holiday and catching up.

Lovely job on the spars very nicely matched port and starboard tapers, not the easiest of thing to do by hand.

I did look at the Ropes-of-Scale and Syren to get an idea of how much it would cost to fully rig and you are right - big "OUCH"! According to Longridge, the Cutty Sark needed 11 miles of rigging which equates to some 300 meters at scale. Including wastage it will be pretty expensive to do the whole model in scale rope and I would probably prefer to put that cost towards a really decent model in the future. I think I will go down the route of using nice rope for the major standing rigging (stays, shrouds and runs where the ropes are more obvious to see) and then use some cheaper stuff for the rest of the running rigging. However, I'm still a long way off that stage so I will cross that bridge later.

Dom
 
There was more to preparing the yards than first met the eye - well my eye anyway - but all is happily progressing according to plan. All of the cleats and stunsail boom brackets have been installed with just the stirrups, footropes and various blocks still to go.

1315_20240927_hms_fly.jpg

A brass pin was inserted at the centre of each spar to attach it to its mast, and provided an opportunity to dry-fit the yards and check out the symmetry of all the spars on the ship as a whole.

1320_20240927_hms_fly.jpg

I found I have needed to makes notes of all the things that have not yet been fixed permanently in place. It is quite a long list and growing all the time, but necessary. If I take the hull and give it a light shake it is amazing how many things still dry-fitted will fly off the ship :p

1325_20240927_hms_fly.jpg

Thanks for checking in :)
Mark
 
Nomad said:
There was more to preparing the yards than first met the eye - well my eye anyway - but all is happily progressing according to plan. All of the cleats and stunsail boom brackets have been installed with just the stirrups, footropes and various blocks still to go.

View attachment 473265

A brass pin was inserted at the centre of each spar to attach it to its mast, and provided an opportunity to dry-fit the yards and check out the symmetry of all the spars on the ship as a whole.

View attachment 473266

I found I have needed to makes notes of all the things that have not yet been fixed permanently in place. It is quite a long list and growing all the time, but necessary. If I take the hull and give it a light shake it is amazing how many things still dry-fitted will fly off the ship :p

View attachment 473267

Thanks for checking in :)
Mark
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This is now already looking impressive, Mark. That will be more with the rigging.
A new chapter of your build.
Regards, Peter
 
Nomad said:
There was more to preparing the yards than first met the eye - well my eye anyway - but all is happily progressing according to plan. All of the cleats and stunsail boom brackets have been installed with just the stirrups, footropes and various blocks still to go.

View attachment 473265

A brass pin was inserted at the centre of each spar to attach it to its mast, and provided an opportunity to dry-fit the yards and check out the symmetry of all the spars on the ship as a whole.

View attachment 473266

I found I have needed to makes notes of all the things that have not yet been fixed permanently in place. It is quite a long list and growing all the time, but necessary. If I take the hull and give it a light shake it is amazing how many things still dry-fitted will fly off the ship :p

View attachment 473267

Thanks for checking in :)
Mark
Click to expand...
She is looking absolutely wonderful !
 
Nomad said:
There was more to preparing the yards than first met the eye - well my eye anyway - but all is happily progressing according to plan. All of the cleats and stunsail boom brackets have been installed with just the stirrups, footropes and various blocks still to go.

View attachment 473265

A brass pin was inserted at the centre of each spar to attach it to its mast, and provided an opportunity to dry-fit the yards and check out the symmetry of all the spars on the ship as a whole.

View attachment 473266

I found I have needed to makes notes of all the things that have not yet been fixed permanently in place. It is quite a long list and growing all the time, but necessary. If I take the hull and give it a light shake it is amazing how many things still dry-fitted will fly off the ship :p

View attachment 473267

Thanks for checking in :)
Mark
Click to expand...
Good morning Mark. What a beauty. Now the fun starts playing with ropes and making a gazzilion knots. Cheers Grant
 
Lovely build! Are the yards already attached to the masts and the masts fixed in place at this point? The reason I ask is that many folks find it easier to tie the various blocks to the yards ahead of time and adding the hoops on the top and bottom of the woolding windings is much easier before the masts are secured in place. All of this can be done if they are already in place, but a bit more cumbersome. Then again, very little about rigging is easy. :)
Thanks for sharing your build.
Allan
 
AllanKP69 said:
Lovely build! Are the yards already attached to the masts and the masts fixed in place at this point? The reason I ask is that many folks find it easier to tie the various blocks to the yards ahead of time and adding the hoops on the top and bottom of the woolding windings is much easier before the masts are secured in place. All of this can be done if they are already in place, but a bit more cumbersome. Then again, very little about rigging is easy. :)
Thanks for sharing your build.
Allan
Click to expand...
Thanks Allan. No, nothing fixed in place yet. I wouldn't dare. Masts have not been stepped and all sections of the mast are still dry-fitted. The yards are simply pinned to the masts for now for alignment purposes. If I give the hull a good shake a lot of things will fly off the ship ROTF
 
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