MarisStella Ragusian Carrack by Signet [COMPLETED BUILD]

Peter Gutterman said:
Your sails are exceptional. They give life and animation to your model. More like sculpture, very animated and aesthetically pleasing.Okay
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Thank you very much! I guess you, like I, do not agree with Anderson's statement "Artificially 'bellying' sails may look artistic on a purely decorate model, but on a real scale-built model they are an abomination."
 
I wonder if Mr. Anderson has ever seen Henry Culver's model of the Sovereign of the Seas at the U.S.N.A. museum?
It is as fine a work of historically documenting a ship by modeling as it is an artistic masterpiece. But then, who am I to pronounce such assessments? :rolleyes:
 
Signet said:
The mainsail was quite the project for me. Again, for the most part I'm only showing the results; all of you know how to rig far better than I.

The mainsail and bonnet after sewing the boltrope in place:
View attachment 427292
I figured that like most Catholic nations in the Mediterranean, the first few words of the "Ave Maria" would be lettered on the sail to help align the bonnet to the mainsail. I originally translated the words to Croatian, but then remembered that all nations would use Latin from the Catholic church.
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Here the bonnet has been attached to the mainsail (thank goodness for the "Ave Maria" or I'd probably have screwed that up.
View attachment 427294
I went ahead an made up the parrel for mounting. I'm not certain that design parrel would have been used, but like the looks of it, so...

Using Olha's method for shaping and stiffening sails, this was the result:
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The edges had "crinkled" down some, so I re-wet them to activate the starch, and hung the sail by its edge using clamps for weights to take them out:
View attachment 427298
I think the curve came out pretty well:
View attachment 427299

I mounted the sail using a pin for more strength, then attached the halyard and parrel lift, then the clewlines, slablines, lifts and leechlines, which did not depend on the angle or fore-to-aft placement of the sail. Finally, added the sheets, tacks, braces and bowlines, to determine the final location of the sail. And this is the result:
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Next, the topsail...
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WELL DONE MATT- Bolt ropes are well done made
 
On to the topsail. I decided to work on all three of the remaining sails at the same time. The sails included with the model have a border around the outside which is folded over:
1708743845123.png
The center sail is the bonaventure lateen sail, which was not included with the kit, but rather made by me using scrap sailcloth from the kit. The thread used is close to the same color as the rest, but is not as shiny or reflective as on the kit sails, so looks darker. The difference seems not that great in person. As before, I inserted #22 black annealed wire in the hem to help shape the sails, and then sewed the overlapping hems all around.

Using the larger lateen sail as an example, I first glue the boltrope in place and (sometimes) let the glue dry. Most often I don't wait, resulting in glue sticking to my fingers (which is satisfying to peel off over time), but it's best to wait, of course.
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In process of sewing the boltrope in place:
1708744140343.png
I personally like this method of attachment. It is very close to what has been documented in the kit instructions as being used at the time, and I've seen similar methods published elsewhere, but rather than separate each triple stich being tied off and separated, the thread is pulled from back to front over the boltrope, further holding it in place, between each triple stitch. I like the appearance and to me, at least, it makes sense.

Continuing along the next sail edge, to encircle the sail:
1708744269356.png

The three remaining sails with boltrope in place, prior to attaching to the spars:
1708744334606.png

I won't bore you, nor expose my poor rigging workmanship any further, by posting in-process rigging photos, but here are a few views showing the topsail and rigging in place:
1708744409338.png
There isn't as much "bow" due to the wind on this sail, due to it being held more tightly by the violin blocks attached to the main course spar, it's smaller area and its severe arc in the sail foot. I have some fine-tuning of bending the wire a bit, but it will get mis-bent during construction, show I'll wait a bit.
1708744700514.png
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This model is really testing my 80-year old fingers and agility (or lack of same) with the rigging, constantly not having enough room for hands and fingers, plucking other rigging, etc. This will be my one-and-only full rigged ship model (since I was in my teens, anyhow), and I'm glad it's not the more complex rigging of larger ships. I just marvel at Olha's videos, making knots and tying belaying pins like they were full size in front of her, but that's not happening here.

The mizzen lateen spar, sail and rigging are next. I'm hoping the rigging connections will be easier to reach with them. Until next time!
 
Signet said:
Thank you so much, I really appreciate it!
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Hi Signet, I’ve just caught up with your build, again I’m very impressed with your work, I think that you’ve a very good eye for how things should look. Again an interesting and informative log, one that I think I can benefit from, keep up the great work.
 
Ken said:
Hi Signet, I’ve just caught up with your build, again I’m very impressed with your work, I think that you’ve a very good eye for how things should look. Again an interesting and informative log, one that I think I can benefit from, keep up the great work.
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Thank you very much, Ken. It has been an enjoyable build for me. Most difficult for me has been getting inside the rigging to make the rope attachments. My fingers and lack of expertise has really made that hard. Luckily, this will be the last rigged ship I will do, going I think to an admiralty build for my next project.
 
Continuing on to the lateen mizzen sail, I won't bore you with the details and connections, as you all know them better than I, but here are the results:
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1709433521509.png
I had a lot of problems rigging the ropes to the various connection points on the deck. Even with some purchased rigging tools, I might spend half an hour on a single rope connection, and even then it only stays because of a blob of super glue. I'm afraid you won't find me posting any close-ups of this work like Olha and others have. But between my eyes, my fingers and my lack of sufficient skills, it's pretty sloppy. But stand back, and look from afar, and it looks pretty good, I think.

The blue tape marks the center-of-gravity of the model, as I've been working on the display stand. I'll probably post it next. And then on to the last sail - the bonaventure sail, which I believe is a first for those modeling this ship, so it will make it a bit different at least. Until next time.
 
I decided to work on the stand for this model next. I based this design on Olha's design for the stand for her Carrack.

I don't have access to a jig saw, so I joined a woodworking friend at a local tool show, showed up with my piece of walnut with the shape drawn on, and conned one of the demonstrators to rough it out for me. The result was better than I'd have been able to do, took less time and made for an interesting show. The result:
1709522850672.png
I used a contour gauge to measure the hull contour amidships. I purposely left added height of this piece at the bottom because I couldn't yet determine the exact height.

I would have liked the longitudinal piece of the stand to be longer and wider, but I instead used some walnut I had on hand from different project (if I ever decide to build that carriage clock I designed, I'll have to find another piece). I got brass pedestals to use for the base, and the height of them (45mm) plus the longitudinal piece of walnut would determine the height of the stand:
1709523089159.png
This would help determine how much to cut off the bottom of the crosspiece.

After routing the edges with a 1/4" round bit, the pieces start to look a bit better:
1709523535030.png
I also realized that while I had a decent contour for the bottom of the hull, I really had no reference to vertical. That is, while I centered the contour as best I could, the keel would determine the actual location side-to-side, and that in fact could rotate the whole model. So I balanced the ship model on the crosspiece (yeah, my whole almost-complete model on a 3/4" wide piece - nerves Redface), and measured the angle of the mainmast, which should be 90 degrees. Turned out, surprisingly, that it was very close: 89.6 degrees (per digital device). Even though this is very close, it still meant it was off by 1mm across the 6" width. I did my best measurements of the amount to trim off the bottom of the crosspiece, and marked it, at the required angle, with tape to help make an accurate cut:
1709523620420.png

I then notched both pieces for a secure connection using a table saw:
1709523668343.png
I actually mis-measured the bottom notch on the crosspiece, so it ended up off-center. That turned out to be a good thing, because when then re-checking everything I realized that simply centering the crosspiece and the pedestals was no guarantee that the line between them would be exactly straight and properly fit the keel.
1709523781444.png
Placing and centering the pedestals brought this to light:
1709523895923.png
I therefore widened the slot in the crosspiece so as to allow it to move far enough to be centered. Using a piece of 6mm walnut from the kit sheet containing the keel, I used it to find the correct location to have everything in line:
1709523987138.png
Sorry if tilting your head to look at this hurts; it did hurt my neck, but takes up less space this way.

Using this position, I then glued the crosspiece in place, adding weights to hold everything tight:
1709524063559.png
You'll notice that sanding had been done at this point.

After the glue dried, I filled the gaps and placed two screws to hold the assembly better together:
1709524121810.png

After two coats of Minwax Rub-On Poly, we have the completed stand:
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I added felt to cover the bottom, as well as the curved portion contacting the hull. The final result, with the ship model in place, looks like this:
1709524279000.png
So, that will work for me. The stand couldn't have been that much longer, holds the model securely but is easily removed, looks good but doesn't detract from the model itself. That will do.

Now, about that bonaventure sail..... :)
 
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wow - two weeks not looking at your log - and the sails are almost finished - the sails are very good
and I agree also with your opinion about the stand - it is fitting very well with this type of ship - I like it - and btw very good executed
 
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shota70 said:
wonderful work on the sails :)
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Agreed!
Signet said:
I decided to work on the stand for this model next. I based this design on Olha's design for the stand for her Carrack.

I don't have access to a jig saw, so I joined a woodworking friend at a local tool show, showed up with my piece of walnut with the shape drawn on, and conned one of the demonstrators to rough it out for me. The result was better than I'd have been able to do, took less time and made for an interesting show. The result:
View attachment 432402
I used a contour gauge to measure the hull contour amidships. I purposely left added height of this piece at the bottom because I couldn't yet determine the exact height.

I would have liked the longitudinal piece of the stand to be longer and wider, but I instead used some walnut I had on hand from different project (if I ever decide to build that carriage clock I designed, I'll have to find another piece). I got brass pedestals to use for the base, and the height of them (45mm) plus the longitudinal piece of walnut would determine the height of the stand:
View attachment 432403
This would help determine how much to cut off the bottom of the crosspiece.

After routing the edges with a 1/4" round bit, the pieces start to look a bit better:
View attachment 432404
I also realized that while I had a decent contour for the bottom of the hull, I really had no reference to vertical. That is, while I centered the contour as best I could, the keel would determine the actual location side-to-side, and that in fact could rotate the whole model. So I balanced the ship model on the crosspiece (yeah, my whole almost-complete model on a 3/4" wide piece - nerves Redface), and measured the angle of the mainmast, which should be 90 degrees. Turned out, surprisingly, that it was very close: 89.6 degrees (per digital device). Even though this is very close, it still meant it was off by 1mm across the 6" width. I did my best measurements of the amount to trim off the bottom of the crosspiece, and marked it, at the required angle, with tape to help make an accurate cut:
View attachment 432406

I then notched both pieces for a secure connection using a table saw:
View attachment 432407
I actually mis-measured the bottom notch on the crosspiece, so it ended up off-center. That turned out to be a good thing, because when then re-checking everything I realized that simply centering the crosspiece and the pedestals was no guarantee that the line between them would be exactly straight and properly fit the keel.
View attachment 432408
Placing and centering the pedestals brought this to light:
View attachment 432409
I therefore widened the slot in the crosspiece so as to allow it to move far enough to be centered. Using a piece of 6mm walnut from the kit sheet containing the keel, I used it to find the correct location to have everything in line:
View attachment 432410
Sorry if tilting your head to look at this hurts; it did hurt my neck, but takes up less space this way.

Using this position, I then glued the crosspiece in place, adding weights to hold everything tight:
View attachment 432411
You'll notice that sanding had been done at this point.

After the glue dried, I filled the gaps and placed two screws to hold the assembly better together:
View attachment 432412

After two coats of Minwax Rub-On Poly, we have the completed stand:
View attachment 432413
I added felt to cover the bottom, as well as the curved portion contacting the hull. The final result, with the ship model in place, looks like this:
View attachment 432414
So, that will work for me. The stand couldn't have been that much longer, holds the model securely but is easily removed, looks good but doesn't detract from the model itself. That will do.

Now, about that bonaventure sail..... :)
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Perfection! Wonderful model, perfect presentation. Congratulations! Okay First Place Metal Gold StarGold StarGold StarGold StarGold Star
 
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