USS Constitution - Model Shipways

[GGibson]

Hey Peter! Send an email to Ben at Ropes of Scale. He'd be happy to explain the difference. He is awesome. Nice guy with a great company.

I have just been getting the regular polyester and haven't had any issues.

 

[rturcic72]

Since my Constitution will never be under full sail and exposed to the stresses of the wind aloft, I think I can live without the little bit of taper between the deck and the cheeks, this time.

Next time? For sure!

True, lol.

 

[mtbediz1]

I've never used polyester thread, so I can't really comment on it. I make my own ropes using cotton thread. If you're going to use cotton rope you may need to run it through beeswax to keep the rope from looking fuzzy, that's what I do.

 

[Der Alte Rentner]

I consulted my AI agent. After polling every ship building site out there, and a bunch of other resources, he came back and suggested I get the synthetic line because there's a little bit of stretch in it and it doesn't fuzz. As far as the cable rope is concerned, that was also the recommendation, in that it looks more like real rope than the other stuff. I already have the rope on order.

 

[Der Alte Rentner]

Shoot! I forgot to take a picture of the bees after I drilled the holes for the sheaves. Oh well, I’ll point those out later. For what it’s worth, the Hunt practicum seems to ignore these.

To form the octagonal and the tenon at the aft end of the jib-boom, I needed to use the dividing attachment on the Proxxon XY table. But bolting that beast on has always been problematic. So I built a holder for it, making it a lot more convenient to use. A couple of trips to the hardware store, a little bit of time, and voila! another tool in the kit. Frankly, I wish I'd thought of this a lot earlier. It's so much easier to use the dividing attachment this way..



Rotating the divider 45 degrees at a time, I formed the octagonal on the last three quarters of an inch of the jib-boom.
After that, I cut the tenon that will mate with the jib-boom saddle later. There will be a bit of cleanup on this piece to square off the rounded end of the tenon.



And speaking of sheaves, there’s one at the aft end of the jib-boom as well. However, I haven’t yet found what line feeds through it, so I don’t know what diameter drill to use. Hunt’s practicum shows the sheave, but there’s no mention of any specifics.





Absent any other information, I'm just going to drill a 1 mm hole. Eventually I'll find out what goes through there, and, if I have to, I'll make the hole larger.

Cheers

 

[dockattner]

Nice idea. I see you have created a bed extension. For future reference: if you take the bed extension off you can bolt the dividing attachment to the XY table. But I'm guessing you already knew that!

 

[Der Alte Rentner]

Paul, true enough, I can bolt the dividing attachment to the XY table directly, but it's a royal pain in the backside. It's not really made to bolt on this way - with the knob up. Trust me, this rig is so much easier to use and, as I said earlier, I wish I'd done it a long time ago. Also, with this set up, I can clamp the holder at an angle to facilitate compound cuts.

 

[GGibson]

Hi Peter! Looking at my Constitution - All Sails Up And Flying book and its discussion of the jib boom, do these pictures provide any insight for you?

 

[GGibson]

I consulted my AI agent... As far as the cable rope is concerned, that was also the recommendation, in that it looks more like real rope than the other stuff.

Great... thanks AI agent...

Hey Peter, can you take a wide picture of the dividing attachment jig on the Proxxon? Trying to see how the whole thing looks. Very interesting solution!

 

[mtbediz1]

And speaking of sheaves, there’s one at the aft end of the jib-boom as well. However, I haven’t yet found what line feeds through it, so I don’t know what diameter drill to use. Hunt’s practicum shows the sheave, but there’s no mention of any specifics.

If you look carefully, these sheaves are also found on the topmasts and topgallant masts. These sheaves are used only when the masts are removed and reinstalled during maintenance; otherwise, they remain unused.

 

[Der Alte Rentner]

If you look carefully, these sheaves are also found on the topmasts and topgallant masts. These sheaves are used only when the masts are removed and reinstalled during maintenance; otherwise, they remain unused.

Shoot! I could have skipped them? Oh well. Too late.

Today, I questioned whether or not I'm on the cusp of senility. Case in point:

While on the phone with my brother, I was distractedly staring at the plans in front of me and noticed for the first time that I screwed up the dolphin strikers.



So, that had to be fixed.



Then back to the jibboom and cradle.

 

[Der Alte Rentner]

Gregg,

I saw your request for a wide shot of the divider rig only after I posted the above. If you look at the last photo, you'll see the rig from the top. Basically, it's an L shaped base with the divider bolted to the bottom of the L.

I'll try to remember to take some photos of it tomorrow. But it's really a very simple structure.

 

[Der Alte Rentner]

Hi Peter! Looking at my Constitution - All Sails Up And Flying book and its discussion of the jib boom, do these pictures provide any insight for you?

I wish I could say yes, but sadly I'm still in the dark. Since I've been adding sheaves, even if I don't know what they're used for, at some point the effort may be rewarded. If in no other way than academic. (Thinking back to Mustafa's comment above).

 

[g8rfan99]

Hey Peter
I feel your pain especially after having to reconstruct the spar deck bulwark.
Good job on the rework and the jib boom is looking great. Still hoping you decide to go for the upgrade on your mill

 

[Der Alte Rentner]

Ugh, posting to either site using the phone is a pain... Touch One wrong icon, all your efforts go up and smoke. Here is try two.

Gregg, photos of the dividing attachment holder.


And, Paul, compare the last two photos for the design flaw in the divider when it comes to mounting it with the knob up.