OK, I mentioned that the rudder pendants in the plans were not exactly authentic. I removed the ropes I had installed. Using actual photos of the HMS Victory in England, I determined how to rig them. The pendants are actually chains and ropes. The chains are attached to the rear edge of the rudder above the waterline with eyebolts and rings. Then up to the transom and fed through 2 more eyebolts and rings. Here the chains terminate. A heavy rope pendant is then spliced to the end of the chain with an open hook and ring and the hook is seized with rope to keep the pendant from slipping off the chain. The pendant then continues up through another eyebolt in the hull and through a hole in the hull just under and towards the rear of the mizzen channels. According to research, this arrangement would allow the rudder to be used if the tiller were damaged, and also helps to keep the rudder from being washed away should damage of the gudgeons and pintles occur.
The starboard side hull entry port with planking ladder installed. The metal parts supplied in the kit were fine and just needed some cleaning up and painting. The 2 columns supporting the roof were metal wire in the kit. I used 2 small cannon wheels and toothpicks to create columns that were tapered and looked more decorative.
Next up are the chain wales.
Hi Everyone,
Just an update on this build. Have been working on the chain wales and shroud lanyards. Since everything has to be made from scratch, it is a slow process. Will have some photos soon.
The port side chain wales, lanyards, and stools are completed. I prefer to rig the lanyards as they are placed on the wales. I find it easier this way to later on attach and rig the shrouds and back stays.
All of the chain wales and stools with pre-rigged lanyards are completed. I also started placing some of the eye rings and blocks on the decks for rigging later.
A word of caution. The photos shown here depict the eye bolts and blocks around the mast heads that the plans show. If you are going to rig her proper, and add the sails, the number of belay points to the decks at the mast heads is about 3 times more than shown. Once the masts are in place, it would be quite difficult to add all of these. Do the research on the rigging beforehand and add all of the rings and blocks now while you can still get to the decks to do so.
On another note, I have a friend who is a seamstress, and she will created and sew the sails for me.
One thing I am NOT is someone who can sew. The admiral does not like to either.
Next up I think is to work on the ship's longboat.
I finally finished the ship's boat. The kit supplies a resin hull shell which is a good starting piece (see 1st photo). You can go as far as you like with details. I just used the resin hull for a form and reshaped it some, and then completely covered it with everything from planking to wales. The inside was also covered with gratings, seats, and all sorts of equipment. The plans go into fairly good detail with hull construction and accessories. If you decide to go with considerable detailing as I did, you can create a nice 2 masted skiff type boat. I think it came out pretty well. Of course, all of the pieces have to be made from scratch with your own materials.
I will show the boat placed on the deck with all of the accessories on the next post. I still have to make the cradles and place all of the accessories in the boat.
I put about 20 hours into making this little boat.
I have completed the boat cradles and placed the boat on the deck along with all of the accessories stored top side. I cut a small piece of white tissue paper and wrapped it around the mast and booms to simulate the sails being stowed as well.
I don't have any idea what comes next but I will think about it.
I have constructed the base of the bowsprit and the top for the spritsail topmast. While the plans in this kit are very good, this is one area where they are poor. The plans show dimensions for the round mast top, but totally ignore the necessary cross tree that has to support it from the bottom. I used my experience from building other ships with this type of mast top, and the photo gallery on the Euro website. The gallery does have a closeup photo of the underside of the top, which shows the cross tree. (Thanks Pete!) I estimated the lumber size at 2x2mm for the small legs and 4x2mm for the main beams. The 2 small legs are attached at both ends of the square opening in the top, and the main beams are spaced at exactly 5mm apart on the inside and located across the opening where the doubling will be placed for the vertical top mast. The bracket attached to the bowsprit end is made of 2 pieces of 3mm plywood laminated together and shaved to a total width of 5mm, then cut to the proper shape using tracing paper over the plans drawing. I am going to paint the entire round top black before placing it on the end of the bowsprit base.
Next up is to place the mast top on the bowsprit and build the rest of the mast.
I have constructed most of the bowsprit and mounted it on the ship. The jib boom will not be placed until the foremast is completed and stepped. This way I can move the ship around without snapping the long bowsprit. I still have to install the bobstays, gammonings, spars, sails, and rigging.
NOTE: This is the only mast that I mount on the ship that is only partially constructed. I have a rather unconventional method of completing the entire mast off ship. That includes all of the mast sections and tops, spars, standing rigging, running rigging, sails, and flags. You will notice this coming up.
I have completed the bowsprit bobstays and shrouds. Also the gammonings and the fare lead rigging blocks mounted on the forward gammoning for rigging routing from the bowsprit. Pretty straightforward.
Next up is the spritsail topmast shrouds and then on to the masts.
Completed the foremast top. The plywood supplied in the kit for the base of the top was badly warped, so I used some 2mm quality walnut sheet instead.
Both sides were planked with finish planking strips from the kit. The crosstrees and trestletrees were assembled on the top so the spacing could be accurately obtained for the thickness of the doubling for the top mast.
There is also an error in the plans. It shows the dimensions for the bolsters at 10mm tall and 5mm wide, and 10x5mm lumber is supplied. The height of the bolsters should be 5mm and the width 5mm, so some 5x5mm lumber was used. The bolsters are mounted directly on top of the trestletrees which have a height of 5mm, so the combination of the trestletrees and the bolsters make 10mm in height.
Next up is to paint the top black and assemble the topmast, top, and lower mast.
While on the subject of errors, the plans show the square base of the top mast at 9.5x9.5mm. It should read 9.5x7.0mm. The thickness has to be the same as the top of the lower mast, which is 7.0mm
I am almost embarrassed to show my meager progress with Ken and Mark so far ahead of me on this build, but here is where I am. The foremast is fully constructed. My methods are different from most other builders as I previously mentioned, in that I fully construct the masts off ship. This includes the spars, running rigging, and sails . With my work bench in a corner, it is not possible to walk around all sides of the ship, so I find it much easier to move around the mast for the rigging without having to rotate the whole ship. I still have to stitch the sails on, but my seamstress has not completed all of the sails yet. Once the sails are on and all of the running rigging attached I will place the stunsail booms. When sewing on the sails the booms will get in the way.
Once the mast has all of the sails and rigging, it will be stepped into the ship. All of the stays and running rigging will be finished and lastly the lower shrouds. By adding sails, the amount of running rigging increases considerably.
Just an update. Even though I have not posted in a while, I have been making progress. The seamstress finished most of the sails. She sewed the basic sails and the wife and I added the framing ropes and the cringle loops to the corners. All of the reefing tie ropes had to be added as well. I am now in the process stitching the sails to the foremast and adding all of the running rigging. Once all of this is completed, I will post some photos before stepping the mast into the ship. I have also completed the construction of the mainmast, but have not added the spars yet.
I have completed the construction of the foremast off ship. This includes the spars, sails, and almost all of the running rigging. It will now be stepped into the ship and the standing rigging completed as well as the lower shrouds and attaching all of the running rigging to the deck. With addition of the sails, the amount of running rigging increases substantially.
Like I mentioned before, I prefer to complete the masts off ship so I don't have to rotate the ship continuously to attach the rigging and sew the sails. This method works well for me.
OK, the foremast is stepped into the ship. Now comes the fun part of completing all of the associated rigging. Unlike most builders, I actually enjoy the rigging the most.
I added parrels to the course and topsail yards.
I finished all of the foremast running rigging that could be done at this point in the build. That was a lot of rigging. The plans are vague in some areas as to the belay points for some of the rigging. I had to rely on books from R.L. Anderson, Keith Julier, and the photo gallery from Euromodels for some information. Having experience in rigging these types of ships with full sails also helped. Having to do all this research makes this project all the more fun.
I also added the mast caps where the mast meets the deck.
Next up is the standing rigging for the foremast and the bowsprit running rigging.
The spritsail topmast backstay is a complicated array of blocks in a spiderweb like pattern. In order to get the whole thing to balance and tensioned evenly, I built a jig. I traced the diagram first from the plans and taped it to a board. Then using small nails I built the thing on the board. I will remove it and place it on the ship. More photos to follow. I used this method on the Sovereign of the Seas which had several large and even more complicated arrays for the mizzen mast upper stays and they came out perfect.
