12 - Chainstays

12 - Chainstays

Well, here we are at the end of the summer and I have failed to post anything since March! As usual, no excuses; just idleness on my part, although I have been doing a bit of work on the model in the interim.

Before we get on to that, though, we did get in our annual trip to Florida. Split our time between the Orlando and Fort Lauderdale areas this year. Pretty much standard fare in the Orlando area but the Fort Lauderdale harbour proved interesting. Also stopped over in Daytona Beach on the way home to check out driving on the beach. Not many places left that you can do that - and even at Daytona, you are restricted to certain stretches of the beach. However, with segments four or five miles in length, this is enough to give you a feel for the experience. Here are a few shots:

Mansions in Fort Lauderdale harbour:

And their toys:

Hollywood Beach:

Miami Beach:

And early morning on Daytona Beach before the crowds get there: 

And now to the real subject of today's post - the chainstays. The chainstays are the metal straps affixed to the hull which secure the mast shrouds. In the picture below, their location on the hull can be seen in this shot of the Bluenose II, currently undergoing a major rebuild in Lunenburg, NS.

The shrouds are secured to the chainstays by pairs of dead-eyes and landyards that permit adjusting the tension of the shrouds.

 I had made the dead-eyes to be used with the chainstays at the same time as I produced the blocks, the only difference being that I used hardwood for the dead-eyes rather than boxwood, The reason for this is that I felt there might be more of a need to put stress on the dead-eyes and if so, the boxwood would not likely stand up to the demands placed on it.

I made the chainstays themselves out of strips of copper sheet. To permit affixing the dead-eyes, I merely curled one end over. With a few drilled holes for the securing bolts, the chainstays themselves were basically complete.

Curled-over end:

Pre-drilled for attaching hardware: (Should have drilled the holes before painting!)

Next it was time to assemble the dead-eyes. Fortunately, Jenson has included a detailed description of the deadeyes in his book, including a 'lacing' diagram for the lanyards: 

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In some of my research, there was a suggestion to rig the dead-eyes using a template but it was not clear how this was to be done. I decided I would pre-assemble the dead-eyes and then adjust the lanyards individually after installation of the chainstays on the hull and rigging the shrouds. 

The first item of business was to fasten a dead-eye to each of the chainstays. I initially tried using thread but this wasn't stable enough; plus it probably didn't replicate the full-size version in any event. Instead, I threaded wire through the chainstay and then used the resulting loop to insert the dead-eye. 

Pulling on opposite ends of the wire tightened the dead-eye to the chainstay: 

A few twists to fully tighten the wire around the dead-eye and a snip close to the chainstay and we're ready to start threading the upper dead-eyes.

Threading the dead-eyes was fairly straightforward - once I got the first two or three under my belt; easy to get it wrong if you don't pay attention. The only tool I devised was to use a piece of small wire to aid in getting the "lanyard" through the holes in the dead-eyes.

The first step was to knot one end of the lanyard. (In the full-scale version, there is a stopper as well, but that was a level of detail I felt I could do without,)

The 22 upper dead-eyes ready to be threaded to the corresponding dead-eye fastened to the chaistay.

Then is was merely a simple matter of following Jenson's diagram to reeve (thread) the lanyard through each pair of dead-eyes.

Repeat 21 more times and you're done!

Next post, I'll describe rigging the bowsprit.  Cheers!

11 - Some Initial Rigging

Well, it's that time of year again - time to head to Florida, so there will be another hiatus (forced as opposed to idleness on my part!).

However, before I go, here is a bit more rigging, Similar to the last post but this time dealing with some specific aspects of the fore and main sails.

I briefly covered the details of the gaffs in a previous post so this is a bit of a review. Both main and fore gaffs are similar, in that they have "jaws" or "forks" that hold the gaff in position on the respective masts. However, the forks on the main gaff are bent or curved in order to maintain a purchase on the mast when the gaff is raised and angled fairly steeply upward. They also have a pivoting wood block ("clapper") - positioned in the throat between the jaws - that provides a larger bearing surface against the mast.

Here are a couple of shots of the main gaff, showing the bend in the forks, as well as the clapper positioned against the mast. Also in the pictures is the lifting cradle, to which the throat halyard is attached.

Main gaff components.

Main gaff in raised position.

Note the simulated metal reinforcing applied to both fore and main mast to protect them from wear when the booms are in the raised position.

With the main and fore sails fitted to their respective booms and gaffs, it was time to install the main and fore sail peak halyards.

Main sail peak halyard

Fore sail peak halyard

The only difference between the main and fore peak halyards is the number of bridles - three in the case of the main sail (shown above, top) and two in the case of the fore sail. Note that the bridles are considered standing rigging and hence are black. This stems from the fact that standing rigging was usually tarred for weather protection.

In conjunction with the peak halyards, the throat halyards were also installed. The fore sail throat halyards are relatively straight forward, comprised of single three-sheave and two-sheave blocks, yielding a 4X mechanical advantage. 

Fore sail throat halyard.

Given the weight of the main sail and gaff, the block arrangement for the main throat halyard requires more mechanical advantage. For this reason, three double-sheave blocks plus a single-sheave block are employed, to yield a 6X mechanical advantage.

Main sail throat halyard.

(When determining the mechanical advantage of a pulley system, merely count the number of lines that are supporting the load. In the case of the fore sail, there are four. The other two lines do not directly support the load and hence don't contribute anything other than to change the direction of the pull. Of course, there is no "free lunch"! While it will only take 1/6th the effort to raise the main sail - plus a bit more to overcome friction - you will need to haul in six times more line. In the case of the main sail, that amounts to about 360 feet of line!) 

With both peak and throat halyards fitted, the rigging is starting to take shape. Note that the spreaders had previously been fitted as well. (See also that I forgot to wax my lines. Close-up shots show some fuzz - need to get that sorted when I get back!)

That will have to suffice for now. 

If I get the opportunity, will post a few pictures while in Florida.

TFL

10 - Sails, and a bit of Rigging

Without benefit of assembly instructions - or any prior experience in building model ships, for that matter - I have been thinking about how to commence the assembly phase of this build, particularly when it came to the rigging. One of the articles I've read recommended installing the standing (black) rigging first, and then the running (white) rigging - assuming, of course, that you've already installed the masts and other related hardware.

However, I was a little reluctant to permanently install the masts, only to encounter a mistake or an omission and then have to try and correct my error. Also, anticipate that it's easier to work on the deck furniture without the added complication of booms and rigging in the way. Consequently, I've decided to mount the main and fore masts in a temporary "deck" (actually a short piece a 2x4) and install as many of the sails and associated rigging as possible before proceeding to other matters. Once I'm satisfied with the result, it will be a relatively simple matter (I hope) to move the completed mast assembly to the actual deck and continue with the rigging.

But before we get to that, a bit of a carry-over from my last post. Besides using the metal rings that I made for attaching the mast hoops to the sails, I also installed them on the three jibs.

After running lengths of standing rigging through the rings, the jibs are ready for installation.

Putting the jibs aside, it was time to install a few blocks for the main and fore sails. It shortly became apparent that my enthusiasm at repeatedly trying to thread the "rope" through the small holes in the blocks would rapidly wane. Fortunately, the holes were large enough that a piece of looped wire could snag the "rope" and pull it through.

This served to speed up the process considerably and this tactic will be useful throughout the build - provided the holes encountered don't get much smaller!

As it turned out, deciding to "mock up" the mast assemblies before permanently installing them was the right choice. When re-working the sails that had come with the original model, I had assumed that their dimensions were accurate to scale and neglected to double-check. This oversight came back to haunt me when I fitted the fore sail to the mast and discovered that it was too long. Trying to make it fit would result in the fore boom being positioned too close to the deck and the lifting blocks would end up touching - not exactly what I had in mind.

Several solutions involving re-sizing the sails were considered and discarded as either too time consuming, or possibly introducing other undesirable issues. The solution arrived at was to merely lengthen the fore mast by about an inch. A length of dowel, machined and bored, did the job, and one of the bands of the fore boom yoke will conceal the joint line. While this will result in a non-scale height for the mast, it will make the final assembly much more acceptable.

With that distraction out of the way, I could get on with mounting the sails and fitting hardware. Here are is where we are now; this is the fore sail.

Repeat once more for the main sail and then it's on to the top sails.

Pictures in the next post.

       

09 - Sails

Have managed to get the sails pretty well sorted out in the last few days. Portions of this work have taken place at various times almost from the beginning, so this will be a summary of what has transpired to get to this point, which included removal of the original hardware, re-sewing the sails and the installation of more appropriate hardware, etc.

First of all, here is a shot of the original sails that came with the model. I've already removed the brass rings that had served to secure the sails to the masts.

The first order of business was to remove the brass eyelets. Here's a shot of the fore sail, showing how the eyelets detract from any scale appearance.

Once the eyelets were removed, the edge treatment of the sails left quite a bit to be desired, including the black thread edging (not on the full scale sail) and the non-scale appearance of the sewn edge. 

Without going into detail, I fashioned metal rings for all corners of each sail, leaving enough length in each "arm" to allow it to be glued to the sail. A boltrope was also sewn into each edge that would be fastened to a spar (booms or gaffs), or to which metal rings would be secured, either for attaching mast hoops to the sail or for securing the sail directly to standing rigging, eg, the jib to the jib stay.

I also removed the original reef lines from the main and fore sails - again, these were vastly out of scale and too few in number.

As a bit of an aside, there is a need for quite a few metal rings on this model, in various sizes. After making a few individually, I devised a way of essentially mass-producing them. Start with a metal rod of the appropriate size to produce the desired ring diameter - a drill bit serves nicely. Then wrap metal wire around this rod.

Once wrapped, use a cut-off disk on a Dremel tool to slice off the rings.

Repeat several times and you will have enough rings to meet your needs.

Here is a shot of a ring applied to a jib.

The following shots show the results of my efforts to date. Note the changes that I made to the top sails to correctly match the configuration of the full size sails. This is needed in order for the sails to clear the junction of the bottom and top masts. Mast hoops have now been installed on all sails as needed.

The main and fore sails fastened to the respective booms. Note the revised reefing lines.

As a last point, here are close-ups of the main and fore gaffs, again with the sails attached.

Next, I'll try and get the masts sorted.

08 - Mast Hoops

This is another post to catch up on some of the build that I managed to get done some time ago.

One of the least faithful depictions (and there were many!) of the original model was the use of brass wire to represent the mast hoops - and then using only three of these for the main sail when the full size vessel has 15! As the mast hoops are a fairly prominent feature, I felt they warranted as much attention as the rigging blocks. Here is how I made them.

One of the references I found on-line described making the mast hoops from thin wood shavings. While this approach would obviously replicate very closely the structure of the full size hoops, I doubted that I would have the patience - or the skill - to produce satisfactory hoops in this manner.

Instead, I elected to form the hoops from rolled card stock. This simplified the basic procedure to one of rolling glued card stock around a suitably-sized form, and once dry, slicing rings (hoops) from the resultant tube to form the basis of the final item. Although I ended up painting the hoops after I had completed the assembly, I initially tried to reproduce a wood-grain pattern on the tube. While it looked OK on the tube, the pattern, such as it was, was not apparent once the slices were cut off and was a wasted step.

The following pictures show the sequence of steps. Again, having a lathe simplified the process but a similar approach could be taken using a power drill.

1. Dried and painted cardboard tube on the form and mounted on the lathe.

2. Showing thickness of rolled cardboard, about three-four sheets thick.

3. Preparing to cut off a mast hoop.

4. A potential mast hoop.

5. Formed wire, used to make the fastening ring.

5. Showing the fitting arrangement of the fastening ring and mast hoop.

6. Hole drilled in the mast hoop.

7.  Fastening ring inserted in the mast hoop, with the loop perpendicular to the edge.

8.  To finish off the mast hoop, I epoxied the wire inside the hoop and once dry, I painted the assembly. Tried to get a colour that matched the full-size hoop, but that proved harder that I had initially envisaged, and not fully satisfied with end result. But will live with it.

Here are a set of completed hoops, attached to the fore sail. The diameter of each hoop is large enough to cope with the thickness of the wire epoxied to the inside and once installed on the mast, the wire will not be visible. Also note the orientation of the attaching ring, which will correctly link with the sail ring when the hoop is on the mast and positioned horizontally. 

On to the sails.