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| Mantua 'Astrolabe' - 1:50 | ||
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| aew |
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aew   Registered Member #1929 Joined: Wed Nov 30 2011, 03:05pmPosts: 2826 | 22nd July 2008 More Standing Rigging I still had some work to do on the lower masts, namely the crow’s feet on the tops. First problem, I discovered that I only had three sizes of rigging cord, although there were supposed to be four sizes in the kit. The missing size was 0.75mm. The smallest cord supplied was 0.25mm which I had used to rig the guns. This was a man made fibre (polyester?) and although it is extremely strong, has no fuzz and is brilliant for seizing, it just doesn’t look right. So, off to the model shop. I bought a bubble pack of 0.5mm AL cord (8142) and two small (flattened) reels of 0.25 AL cord. I made up the crows feet by taking a piece of 4x2mm strip and drilling a line of holes along it and finally shaping it into an ellipse. I laced it up with the AL 0.25mm cord. I wasn’t particularly impressed with this cord, it only has two strands and is actually 0.4mm diameter. It was also fuzzy. It was at this point where I tried the match flame trick for de-fuzzing the cord. After I’d put the fire out, I re-laced the crow’s feet.  I omitted to take any photographs of these at the time but this was the result: PICT_A_1301  Time to move up a level. Now for the topmasts. Second problem, no futtock plates were supplied for the topmast shrouds. I opted to cheat slightly and bent a piece of brass rod to form a loop around the deadeye with a smaller loop below it for the futtock shroud. I soldered the ends of these loops together. I then attached the futtock shroud directly to this smaller loop with an eye splice rather than via a hook. I again omitted to take any photographs of these at the time but they can just about be seen in this recent picture: PICT_A_1302  Now for the lower ends of the futtock shrouds. Actual construction of the futtock staves and catharpins was relatively easy – once I got the length of the catharpins right! The trick seemed to be to tie one end loosely in place and then make off the other end properly with a clip holding the lower end of the futtock shroud below the futtock stave. Seizing these ends to the lower shrouds was the final job. Again, this is a recent picture: PICT_A_1303  The next stage was more or less a repeat of the rigging for the lower masts. At this point, I would like to thank whoever came up with the idea of using liquid shoe polish on the standing rigging. I know it’s black, not dark brown, but it does a wonderful job. This time the photograph is contemporary with the ship at this stage: PICT_A_1304  Quite a bit of rigging was required on the bowsprit at this point as I wanted to fit travellers for the fore staysails and these needed to be in place before the fore topgallant and royal stays. A bit more bending and soldering of brass rod was again required. The first pieces of running rigging were required at this time, the jib stay and flying jib stay and their outhauls. For these, I used the 0.7mm AL cord I'd bought and was very impressed with it. It is either man made fibre or contains a high proportion of man made fibre, but it is grey, quite soft and has no fuzz at all. Unfortunately, when I later attempted to buy some more, they had sold out. When I now search for this on the web, it looks different and is advertised as being cotton so the specification may have changed. I subsequently bought some Graupner cord locally which looks reasonable but the dreaded fuzz is back :!: Yet again, this is a recent picture with the spritsail yard in place: PICT_A_1305  Moving up once more, a change of plan was called for in shaping the topgallant/royal masts. These have a ball finial on the top. I could either make the ball separately, which would allow me to taper the masts as before using a plane, or make them in one piece and taper them some other way. I opted to make them in one piece. I turned the ball in the lathe and turned the taper in stages, progressively increasing the amount protruding from the collet and finally sanding it smooth. The topgallant shrouds are not made off at either the cross trees or the futtock stave. They continue down to the lower top where lashings connect them to the back of the futtock plates. I made the cores for these from the tube of a ballpoint pen by simply filing a groove round the outside and then cutting off the pieces with a sharp knife. Very quick and cheap. The ship had now reached its full height and length: PICT_A_1306  Another milestone reached, that completes the standing rigging. (Well, almost, there’s just a small item outstanding, the ratlines). [ Edited Tue Apr 17 2012, 04:45pm ] | ||
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| aew |
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| aew Registered Member #1929 Joined: Wed Nov 30 2011, 03:05pmPosts: 2826 | 9th September 2008 The spars. I elected not to do the ratlines at this time, partly because I didn’t fancy the job and partly because I saw it as a ‘finishing off’ job. Although this decision didn’t cause me any particular problems, I should have tied them at this stage. It would have been slightly easier as the yards and their rigging did subsequently get in the way to some extent. I started by constructing the spanker boom and its gaff. These were apparently quite straightforward, requiring only that the dowel be tapered the requisite amount followed by cutting a slot on the end to accept a ‘Y’ shaped plywood yoke to fit against the mast. Having done this however, there seemed to be no way to locate the spanker boom vertically on the mast. After seeking advice, it transpired that not only should there be a saddle on the mast for the boom to rest on; the plywood yoke was a very poor representation of the way the boom end should look. I therefore opted to see if I could manufacture something a little more accurate. The following picture shows the gaff, with the modified boom below it. Rather than use a simple cord loop around the mast, I turned some parral beads as shown: PICT_A_1401  After comparing the two ends, I decided to carry out the same modifications to the gaff . The sequence is shown in the next picture: PICT_A_1402  The next job was actually a mistake. I can’t quite say it was caused by following the instructions because there weren’t any, but it was caused by following the rigging plan and the picture on the box. The job in question was the construction of the cross jack yard, the mistake was to fit it with stun’sl booms. I later discovered that the cross jack yard doesn’t carry a sail and shouldn’t have stun’sl booms. Things actually worked out well, the boom irons I made for this yard were my first attempt. I improved the design for the next ones and these prototype versions were later removed, together with the booms. I was able to re-use the latter as the main topsail yard stun’sl booms. These were the stun’sl boom irons I made for the cross jack yard: PICT_A_1403  PICT_A_1404  The yards themselves are simply tapered lengths of dowels. They are circular section throughout their length. The kit contains some long brass eyelets to use as stirrups for the footropes. Instead, I opted to make my own. I used some 0.5mm cord and tied a loop round a 1mm drill. I applied diluted glue to the loop and about 12mm of the cord. I finally cut off about 75mm of the cord, applying a spot of glue to the cut end. I repeated the procedure for the next three stirrups. I then drilled a 1mm hole through the yard at the position of each stirrup. When the glue had dried, I trimmed off the loose end from the loop and then threaded the glued end up through the hole in the yard. The width of my tweezers handle served as a gauge for the distance of the loop from the yard. It was then simply a case of winding the free end twice round the yard, crossing the turns over at the bottom where the stirrup emerges. This allows the surplus cord to be cut off just where the stirrup emerges on top of the yard. Some more diluted glue holds the turns in place. The assembled cross jack yard can be seen in the next picture: PICT_A_1405  From this point, fitting these parts wasn’t too much of a problem. I made two fiddle blocks for the vangs as only conventional blocks were provided in the kit. I also had to cut two slots in the mizzen top for the cross jack sling. This view of the mizzen mast shows these parts in place: PICT_A_1406  The construction of the main yard was virtually the same as that of the cross jack (except that this time the stun’sl booms were supposed to be there!) The difference lay in the method of fitting. The yard is hoisted into place using two pairs of blocks and tackles, the jeers. These apparently could be removed once the yard was attached to its sling and hence whether to model these is optional. As the model may end up without sails, I opted to include these. This picture shows the main yard being raised and about half way up: PICT_A_1407  By this time, I was on a roll. Progress is much quicker when you know what you’re doing! The fore yard was simply a repeat of the main yard. This picture shows the first of the fore jeers in place. The other two lines are the truss pendants. PICT_A_1408  The lifts for the other yards can also be seen in this picture. Since taking the pictures, the cross jack no longer has stun’sl booms! | ||
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| teleman |
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 Registered Member #1925 Joined: Tue Nov 29 2011, 05:32amPosts: 1276 | Wow Arthur she loks great. I like your lego thing. Nice going... Mario | ||
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| midnight |
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 Registered Member #609 Joined: Tue Jan 05 2010, 03:34amPosts: 46 | I saw your finished model on the now defunct DDM Arthur . You turned out a great model , it's a credit to you . Cheers Dave | ||
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| aew |
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| aew Registered Member #1929 Joined: Wed Nov 30 2011, 03:05pmPosts: 2826 | Thanks for your interest gents. That was my first POB build and there are several mistakes in there. The trouble is, I know where most of them are! (I'm sure there are even more I don't know about!) | ||
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| aew |
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| aew Registered Member #1929 Joined: Wed Nov 30 2011, 03:05pmPosts: 2826 | Some Rigging Fittings I realised fairly soon after I started on the running rigging that I would need some cleats along the way. I ordered what I thought would be a suitable selection at the time of another order. When I received them, I was very disappointed. The smallest ones were metal castings and didn’t seem to be of very good quality. The larger, wooden ones, were well made but much too large and looked far too ‘modern’. I therefore decided to see what I could manufacture. I started with a 4x2mm mahogany strip, made a saw cut to mark the appropriate length, and then shaped the top and one end of a cleat: PICT_A_1501  I then cut off the part finished cleat and shaped the other end: PICT_A_1502  I next cut the heads off some brass pins, drilled holes in the base of the cleats to accept these, and fitted the pins into the cleats with a drop of super glue. I used a pin chuck to drill the holes, leaving just enough of the drill bit protruding to drill almost (but not quite!) all the way through the cleat. PICT_A_1503  The small cleats were intended to be used to secure the gun port lids. I decided I’d been a bit harsh in my criticism of them. Simply rubbing the bases of them on a sheet of wet and dry for a few seconds made them look quite reasonable and once the line was secured to them, they would look even better. I tried the brass blackening solution, more in hope than expectation as the saying goes, but to no avail. Dull black paint was called for. I stuck a couple of strips of sellotape to a piece of wood, doubled back on themselves such that the sticky side was uppermost, and lined up my cleats: PICT_A_1504  If you look closely, you can see the distortion that had initially put me off, one end is higher than the other. In reality, it just isn’t noticeable. A coat of paint later and this was the result: PICT_A_1505  After removing them from the sellotape I ran the bases over the sheet of wet and dry again, just to remove any adhesive prior to gluing them in place with super glue. [ Edited Fri May 25 2012, 01:26pm ] | ||
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| aew |
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| aew Registered Member #1929 Joined: Wed Nov 30 2011, 03:05pmPosts: 2826 | More Rigging Fittings The kit doesn’t show the yards secured to the masts in any way. Each one is supported by a block and tackle with only the braces to locate it. I opted to make up some truck parrals, although I had reservations as to whether I would be able to make small enough ones for the topgallant yards. In the event, having ‘practiced’ on the topsail yards, all went well. To make the trucks, I drilled four holes in a strip of 6 x 1mm hardwood (I don't know what it was - I selected it at the local model shop - but it looks like beech). The holes are laid out to make 2 trucks lengthwise along the strip. I then used this as a template to drill a set of four holes in the other end of the strip. After I'd drilled those four, I slid it back slightly so the end holes of the 'template' were aligned with the inner holes of the lower strip, put a pin through to keep them in line and drilled 2 more holes. I repeated this until I'd drilled a dozen holes (3 pairs of trucks). I then cut off the 3 pairs and split them down the middle to give pieces for six trucks. I then slid them all on to two pins to line them up and carved them to shape. PICT_A_1601  I turned the beads from some small section dowel by simply inserting a short length in the rotary tool. PICT_A_1602  The holes were drilled at the same stage using a pin vice. PICT_A_1603  The trucks should be fitted using one continuous line, however I opted to use separate lengths to assemble the trucks and to attach them to the yards. This made assembly much easier. PICT_A_1604  The completed article looks like this: PICT_A_1605  | ||
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| twintrow |
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| Registered Member #121 Joined: Tue Jul 21 2009, 04:41amPosts: 436 | Great job Arthur. I've always disliked the parral assemblies that come with kits (plastic beads), now I won't have to use them. Thanks for the tip. Tom | ||
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| aew |
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| aew Registered Member #1929 Joined: Wed Nov 30 2011, 03:05pmPosts: 2826 | 31st October 2008 Yet More Rigging Fittings I now found I needed yet more cleats, shroud cleats this time. After a few abortive experiments bending pieces of wire and attempting to lash them to the shrouds, I finally settled on the following arrangement. I started by bending a piece of brass rod to form the horns and soldered it to the end of a straight piece of rod. The solder is only to hold things temporarily. PICT_A_1701  The next step was to take a piece of thin copper wire and wind a couple of turns round the spot where the two rods were soldered together. After re-soldering this spot, the excess brass rod was cut off and the ends cleaned up: PICT_A_1702  Now, using the free ends of the copper wire as seizing, the cleat was attached to the shroud: PICT_A_1703  PICT_A_1704  After the obligatory coat of tar (well, black paint), this was the result: PICT_A_1705  X Finally, this picture shows the topsail lifts made off to the cleats, honest, the cleats are in there somewhere! PICT_A_1706  | ||
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| aew |
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| aew Registered Member #1929 Joined: Wed Nov 30 2011, 03:05pmPosts: 2826 | 19th December 2008 The Ships Boat And now for something completely different: Well, a bit different anyway. The ships boat appears to be a revision to the kit. Rather than a lack of instructions, this section is almost over-kill. There are 21 colour pictures showing the assembly sequence and the accompanying text is reasonably well written and doesn’t appear to be the output of a translation programme. Looking at the pictures on the box and the one black and white picture in the instructions, it seems that the boat itself has also been revised. PICT_A_1801  As the instructions say, you can dry-fit the parts together in a couple of minutes. (The light coloured band is where the layer was attached to the sheet. The edges were sanded later). PICT_A_1802  As I mentioned some time ago, I was quite impressed with this part of the kit, but also amused by a mistake that I found. The construction method is intended to represent a clinker built hull and achieves this by employing a ‘bread and butter’ construction method. The nice little touch that impressed me was that the laser cut parts were actually cut at an angle to give each piece a bevelled edge, e.g. the aft end of each layer was cut at the same angle as the stern post. PICT_A_1803  Spotted the mistake yet? The only layer that has to go a specific way up is the one with the laser etched planking, that layer is upside down! Ah well, a few minutes sanding reversed the bevel. Now, back to the revisions. The boat shown on the box and in the black and white picture has three bench seats across the hull; the one supplied has only a single bench with two large circular bosses that are presumably intended to take rowlocks. With help from DDM forum members, I decided that these had to go and I would fit two vertical pegs as rowlock for each oar position. I opted to retain the single bench seat and fit row locks for oarsmen there and at the bow seat. PICT_A_1804  After a little surgery and some preparatory sanding, I glued the layers together. (Fitting the rudder to the keel is supposed to be the first job but I left it to the end as the tiller looked a little fragile). PICT_A_1805  PICT_A_1806  I debated whether to paint it or not, but eventually decided to paint the outside and stain the inside. I did, however, opt to paint the keel, stem post and rudder black rather than red. (Despite the reflections in the picture. it is a matt finish). PICT_A_1807  I fitted the pins for the rowlocks and made up two pairs of oars, which I lashed to the seat. All that then remained was to make up a couple of slings and hang it from the stern. PICT_A_1808  Note: This part of the kit seems to be a bit of modelling licence on Mantua’s part. It seems more probable that Astrolabe carried two boats, one on each side on davits. The position of the guns on the model doesn’t permit this arrangement. | ||
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