Making sails

[Justin tillman]

I’m new to wooden ship modeling, and on my second ship(Model expo Kate of Norfolk) and it has sails.
I’m looking for help in how to make the sails. Any advice, videos or tutorials would be greatly appreciated.
The kit has a sheet of plain cloth and no instructions. I know I can get the measurements of the sail from the supplied blueprint/drawing.

 

[AllanKP69]

Cloth sails are never to our scales, but if you want to use cloth, maybe consider getting some VERY high thread count material. Sewing by machine looks awful to many folks as it is so far out of scale but there alternatives. You could also consider making them with silk span which has been addressed a number of times here at SoS. You can do a search using silk span or silk span and get some good information.

Allan

 

[Namabiiru]

Check out Olga Bocharev’s Ragusian Carrack (I’m sure I butchered the spelling of all of that) build on this site. She includes a great video on how she makes her sails.

 

[AllanKP69]

For authentic looking sails at our scales check out the following. It has the first two segments of three. Allan

 

[Justin tillman]

Check out Olga Bocharev’s Ragusian Carrack (I’m sure I butchered the spelling of all of that) build on this site. She includes a great video on how she makes her sails.

I saw her videos,( she does great work) but WAY too complicated for me as a beginner. Was hoping for something more simple

 

[Justin tillman]

Cloth sails are never to our scales, but if you want to use cloth, maybe consider getting some VERY high thread count material. Sewing by machine looks awful to many folks as it is so far out of scale but there alternatives. You could also consider making them with silk span which has been addressed a number of times here at SoS. You can do a search using silk span or silk span and get some good information.

Allan

Thank you for the advice, I’m not sure where to get that stuff and was just wanting to make simpler (nice looking) sails

 

[AllanKP69]

Thank you for the advice, I’m not sure where to get that stuff and was just wanting to make simpler (nice looking) sails

You can get it on line. It is not expensive and you can make realistic sails simply.
Allan

SIG SILKSPAN TISSUE

Silk Span Tissue An old favorite for Free Flight and Control Line models. Can be applied wet (white only 24" x 36" sheets) PACKAGE OF 6 PIECES SELECT USING THE DROP DOWN MENU

sigmfg.com

 

[AndyA]

I’m new to wooden ship modeling, and on my second ship(Model expo Kate of Norfolk) and it has sails.
I’m looking for help in how to make the sails. Any advice, videos or tutorials would be greatly appreciated.
The kit has a sheet of plain cloth and no instructions. I know I can get the measurements of the sail from the supplied blueprint/drawing.

Note that there is an old debate among ship modelers. Traditionalists argue that only a waterline model should be considered for rigging sails. The concept is that the underbody and the sails of a full-size vessel could never be viewed simultaneously; therefore, that situation should not be recreated with a model. If you're considering leaving the sails off, you have a good reason. Fair winds!

 

[Justin tillman]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I just bit the bullet and jumped in with both feet and a sewing machine. Got the sails sewn and hanging (temporarily) on the ship.
I will start rigging them in place tomorrow
I think they turned out pretty good.

 

[Namabiiru]

Justin,
I think they look great. On larger vessels with more complex rigging, it makes sense not to display sails. But on a ship such as this, I think they do a lot to complete the presentation. You should be very happy with those sails.

 

[Namabiiru]

Note that there is an old debate among ship modelers. Traditionalists argue that only a waterline model should be considered for rigging sails. The concept is that the underbody and the sails of a full-size vessel could never be viewed simultaneously; therefore, that situation should not be recreated with a model. If you're considering leaving the sails off, you have a good reason. Fair winds!

The traditionalists’ argument would seem to suggest most full-hulled models should be displayed with furled sails, which are arguably even harder to achieve in-scale results.

 

[Justin tillman]

Justin,
I think they look great. On larger vessels with more complex rigging, it makes sense not to display sails. But on a ship such as this, I think they do a lot to complete the presentation. You should be very happy with those sails.

Thank you, I’m happy with them, it was just a little scary to try and figure out. Plus I couldn’t put it off any longer and just made them.

 

[Justin tillman]

The traditionalists’ argument would seem to suggest most full-hulled models should be displayed with furled sails, which are arguably even harder to achieve in-scale results.

Thank you, I’m happy with them, it was just a little scary to try and figure out. Plus I couldn’t put it off any longer and just made them.

The traditionalists’ argument would seem to suggest most full-hulled models should be displayed with furled sails, which are arguably even harder to achieve in-scale results.

Furled sails? Is that when they are rolled up and tied to the mast. If so maybe in the future, I saw a couple videos on doing them like that, they look really nice.
Someone posted about using silk span and doing that

 

[AllanKP69]

I just bit the bullet and jumped in with both feet and a sewing machine.

Neatly done job. Hard to see in the photos, but did you sew the bolt ropes into the seam or will you add these by hand so you can hang the sails?
Some find it easiest to glue it on with white PVA or matte medium then hand stitch so the loops at the tack, clew and head corners stay in place.
Allan

 

[AllanKP69]

Furled sails? Is that when they are rolled up and tied to the mast

It is when they are rolled and usually tied to a boom or yard or even wrapped around the forestay on modern sail boats using a roller furler. I have not seen any rolled and tied to a mast, but maybe some member has seen this done as well.
Allan

 

[Namabiiru]

Neatly done job. Hard to see in the photos, but did you sew the bolt ropes into the seam or will you add these by hand so you can hang the sails?
Some find it easiest to glue it on with white PVA or matte medium then hand stitch so the loops at the tack, clew and head corners stay in place.
Allan

That’s a great idea. I’m in the process of doing sails for my Gallic fishing trawler, and the bolt ropes are going to take forever. That may make things a little easier.

 

[Namabiiru]

Justin, since you went to the trouble of stitching in the reef points, do you plan to add reefs? They would not be difficult and would add a lot of pop to the sails. If you are not familiar with the term, reefing the sails was a process of shortening sails to catch less wind by tying short pieces of rope around a boom or spar.

Here’s a photo of my lobster smack with some of the reefs highlighted

There are a few ways to do reefs. One is to cut your reefs to length and glue one end to the reef points on each side of the sail. Another is to run the reef line through the sail and then secure the top end with a single stitch. The latter is more authentic, but also more work.

 

[AndyA]

The traditionalists’ argument would seem to suggest most full-hulled models should be displayed with furled sails, which are arguably even harder to achieve in-scale results.

Generally, it is rare for a large vessel to be in a situation where the underbody and the sails are visible. Your are correct in pointing out that when that situation does occur, it is very likely that the sails will be furled. In parts of Britain, large tidal ranges make the grounding of vessels (thereby exposing their underbodies) is a common occurrence as shown in the photos below. In the first two photos, grounded vessels are shown with furled sails. In the third photo, a smaller vessel is shown grounded with its sails set. I think that leaving the sails up on that schooner was risky and hence an uncommon practice. An unexpected breeze could cause serious damage. All photos are from The Merchant Sailing Ship: A Photographic History by Basil Greenhill and Ann Giffard.

The one arrangement that I would avoid is a full-hull model with billowing sails set and pulling. To my eye that's too much like some kind of fantasy vision with a ship sailing across the sky. Fair winds!

 

[Justin tillman]

Neatly done job. Hard to see in the photos, but did you sew the bolt ropes into the seam or will you add these by hand so you can hang the sails?
Some find it easiest to glue it on with white PVA or matte medium then hand stitch so the loops at the tack, clew and head corners stay in place.
Allan

Add them on as I rig the ship. I wasn’t sure of go long to make them

 

[Justin tillman]

Justin, since you went to the trouble of stitching in the reef points, do you plan to add reefs? They would not be difficult and would add a lot of pop to the sails. If you are not familiar with the term, reefing the sails was a process of shortening sails to catch less wind by tying short pieces of rope around a boom or spar.

Here’s a photo of my lobster smack with some of the reefs highlighted
View attachment 510674
There are a few ways to do reefs. One is to cut your reefs to length and glue one end to the reef points on each side of the sail. Another is to run the reef line through the sail and then secure the top end with a single stitch. The latter is more authentic, but also more work.

I haven’t thought about it, I was just trying to interpret the blueprint from this kit as best as I could. There are no instructions or directions for how to make sails or any parts of the sails