Sloop-of-war, PELICAN model scratch build.

Almost there, Crackers, as I am just attaching channels and rails.  Nice work.  Can't wait to see her done.  I have two wooden boats in my stash, but only peeked in the box and sealed them back up so as not to be tempted.

bob

The shrouds are now ready for placement. The purpose of the shrouds was to provide lateral support to the mast as well as a ladder for the crew to gain access the upper portions of the mast. The shrouds were secured by deadeyes that had tarred rope lanyards to tighten the shroud should the shroud become slack. Here, a template is provided to make evenly placed foot ropes on the shroud. The foot ropes are secured to the shrould by passing a needle through the shround and secured at the end of the shroud by a clove hitch. A tip of glue is attached to the shrould if the foot rope be lose.

Happy modeling   Crackers 

The foremast is now ready after the top gallent mast is added, the caps, top mast trestle trees and the lower cap. The lower trestle tree is set aside ready to be attached to the low mast. The black bands on the lower mast are wooldings, which were tarred ropes wrapped as bands to prevent the mast from splitting when under stress.

Now that the bowsprit is attached to the foredeck and the martingales rigged as well as the bobstays, the foremast can now be put in place.

I have a whole library of reference books, which I refer to quite often. One of the best reference book is "Rigging Period Ship Models",by Lennarth Petersson. By detail drawings, the author shows clearly how standing and running rigging is belayed to masts, yards and sails. Now that the PEDLICAN is to be rigged, this book will remain by my side.

Happy modeling    Crackers  

Anthony, your work is a pleasure. You have so many techniques for detail.

Harrumph- punch a second hole below the reef line for the thread to make the knot.

Might I ask, in envy, where did you learn these things?

Bill

The starboard anchor is now in place followed by the port bower anchor later. On sailing ships, their anchors were securted against the shop's bows. The large ring above the wooden stock was hoisted clear of the water through lines rove into the catheads. The fluke end of the anchor was hoisted up by tackles located on the foremast. Once cleared, the anchor was lashed by ropes, or later chains, to the fore rail. The large hemp hawse was rove trough deck rings to the hatch opening covered the hawse cable locker where the cable was stored in a coil.

Hauling, or weighting anchor was a laborious work The hauling was done by messenger lines, or ropes attached to the cable and a capstan. As the anchor crew turned the capstan, the messinger lines were tied and untied as the cable was fed into the hawse locker and coiled into loops by crew inside the locker.

Now that the bower anchors are secured, it is time attach the bowsprit to the hull and do the first rigging of the ship model.

My next task after reefpoints are in place, is to have footropes attached. Not an enviable place for persons with height anxiety phobia when trying to furl a sail. The material for the footropes is black thread soaked in glue, the excess glue is squeezed out and the thread is allowed to dry. The dryed black thread is stiff as a wire. From the plan, the footropes are made out with a compass divider and tied to the scotch taped spritsail yard. The footrope on the yard is tied and glued. The bottom ends arer carefully glued using a tipped dowel to apply the glue. I piece of white computer paper serves as a background to highlight the procedure.

Here is the completed footrope attachment.

The completed spritsail yard.

My next building of the PELICAN will be the both anchors attachment before the bowsprit is fixed to the hull.

This template is where small holes will be punched in to receive a needle and thread on the surtface of the silkspan material.

Below where the holes have been punched in on the silkspan surface, a second template is added to receive the woven thread that will become the sail reefpoints. The needle is inserted into the holes threaded into the vertical slots and brought back to the next hole, then broughtg back to the next vertical slot. This process is repeated until the right side of the sail is reached. The thread is cut in line with the edge of the sail and glued so as not to unravel.

I should have mentioned the the second template is held in place on the sail with two paper clips on each side of the silkspan sail, so that the template will not slide off the sail. The reefpoint ends are snipped off with a sharp razor blade at the bottom of the template. When the template is removed, the reefpoints will hang in all directions. At the tip of a small dowel, glue is attached so the this glue to applied to the ends of the reefpoints, so that the reefpoint will hang in a vertical direction downward.

This is how the reefpoints should look on the silkspan sail before the sail is attached to the spritsail yard. Notice that the reefpoints almost hang down in a vertical position. In the real world of past sailing ships, reefpoints probably did not stay in a vertical position, but flapped around when the energy of the wind hit on the back of the sail.

Yes, that is a bad habit I have when a project gets boring, I put it aside until the modeling sprit catches hold. I promise to finish to the bitter end.

Now, to continue, to make a spritsail to attach to the spirit sail yard. Since no sail arrangement were on the Hahn ship plan, I had to make a guess of what a sprit sail would look like on the bowsprit model. This was acomplished by for cutting out a paper spritsail and attaching it to the bowsprit.

Here, the paper sail is attached to the bowsprit to see if it looks correct.

From the spritsail template, a silkspan sail is cut out and ready to have reef points attached to this sail.

Here are the materials needed to make reefpoints. A upper template to make holes where the needle will be inserted with thread. A lower template that will serve as a guide for the reefpoints position and of course a needle and thread, in the case a light brown upholstery thread, which is stronger than regular sewing thread.

To make reefpoints, two templates are required. The top one is to locate on the sail where the reefpoints are to be located by placing the template on the sail and punching out holes on the sail surface. The second template is place below the punched out holes where a light brown thread will be stitched to simulate reefpoints.

With needle ready, the reefpoints will be attached.

Good to see you back at the helm, Anthony!

Phsaw! Two years? My Airfix Victory has been on the ways nigh on ten years now.

Twisting an ankle while pushing on a capstan bar is small hurt. Falling from the yard arm by missing the foot ropes could cause major damage to one's life. With my fear of heights, only the barrel of a gun pointed in my direction could get me up there.

Happy modeling   Crackers  

Oho!

      Looking at this confirms just what I thought .Yer as Nuts as the rest of us! Nice Work there! T.B. P.S. Ships weren't built to accomodate the crew remember. So if they twist an ankle  while on the capstan, Oh Well !

Note,You ARE being watched sir !

After a two year hiatus, I am to continue the PELICAN project. I got burned out modeling and put the project aside. I had no idea it would take so long for me to make up my mind. I promise to continue to the final end on this project when it is completed.

To continue my project is to work on the spirit yard that is attached to the bowsprit. This yard is painted black as was the custom on some Royal Navy sailing ships. To attched the foot ropes, the yard is scotch taped to a surface. Next, black sewing thread is soaked in glue and pulled into a straight line and allowed to dry as stiff as wire.

The ends of the foot ropes were tied to the yard, but others were glued in place and trimed. Trying to knot these ends would have been more that I could achieve. The actual sail for this yard will be attached after the sail reef points have been attached to the sail. My next post will be how I make reef points on sails.

Happy modeling   Crackers  

I've often wondered that myself , thank's gmorrison , love what you are doing cracker's

G Morrison, thanks for the advice on why the reef points on the sprit sail is displayed in an "X" arrangement. Your logic is certainly correct on why the sprit sail is reefed in this manner to prevent dragging on the water surface. On some sprit sails, circular holes were placed on each lower corner of the sail to drain collected water. So, your suggestion certainly merits practical value.

Happy modeling         Crackers    

Anthony, very nice work.

I don't know the answer to your question, but I have an idea that I think is right.

The bottom of the sail is pretty close to the water. The spritsail would be set only when sailing downwind, the ship will be on one tack or the other, and therefore heeled over to one side or the other. Especially one with a schooner rig.

By reefing the bottom of the sail at an angle, it would keep the leeward bottom corner of the sail out of the water. This means changing the reef when tacking, but in a downwind tack where a spritsail is set and the little ship is on a run, tacking wouldn't be something that happens too often.

But dragging a sail in the water will really slow you down.

Crackers,

Excellent job so far!

Bill

MASTING, RIGGING WITH SAILS of the HMS PELICAN.

Now that all the elements of the hull construction has been completed, it's time to begin masting, rigging and sail attachment of the model. Starting from the bow to work toward the stern of the model, the bowsprit is constructed with the Union Jack flag attached to its staff. Block pullies for the sprit sail is attached to the cap, painted black, as well, as the bee block for rigging when the sprit sail is in place. The bowsprit's heel is is placed in line with the foremast and supported by the stem, to situated its length exactly on the center line of the ship like all the other masts.

The sprit sail yard, painted back like most of the British ships of that period, is now ready to receive its sail, after the sail has been sewn with reef points, yard lashings, clew loops and cringles. The model sail is made from slikspan dyed with light brown acrylic paint diluted in water, then dried.

The main source of model rigging and masting has been "Rigging Period Ship Models" by Lennarth Petersson. This publication is a gold mine of drawings and diagrams which show how each separate item of both standing and running rigging is fitted to the masts, yards, and sails. On page 69, is an illustration of the sprit sail on the bowsprit. Making the "X" style of reef points as featured on this illustration, will be a challenge. Instead of this configuration, it would seem that the reef points would be arrayed in a horizontal manner to be bent to the sprit sail yard. Perhaps someone on the Forum could explain why the sprit sail reef points are as seen on this illustration.

Happy modeling      Crackers   

My cannons are ready after being selected from an unusual source. Over the years, my wife collects items for her hobby. Years ago, she acquired some plastic figures which she does not remember what they are used for, so they were put aside and forgotten. When I mentioned that the model of the PELICAN required cannons, she remember her plastic figures, who were otherwise useless.

Perhaps some of you on the Forum can tell me what these figures represent. The cannon on the right is 3/4" long on the barrel, which is just right for the correct scale required for the PELICAN model. When adjusted, the cannon fits snugly under the gun port of the model.

The plastic cannon on the left is trimmed of its wheels and the rear support as shown on the second grey cannon. The armament is painted black on the barrel and brown on the carrage. Wampum beads are painted and glued for wheels. The last cannon of britania metal is what is available at Bluejacket Shipcrafters for $3.70 each, times 18, the number of cannons required on the model, which adds up to a sizable chunch out of my meager budget. The redone plastic cannons may not be correct, but the savings is worth the effort.   To be continued.

Happy modeling      Crackers

Thanks for your reply, Jim   No, the guns are not from a kit. They are plastic figures that my wife collected from a location she does not remember. On a stroke of good fortune, these figures happen to be at the scale for the PELICAN's cannons. The cannons werte modified to be replicated for the ship's armament

Happy modeling    Crackers

RE:  "...balsa hull of the Revenue Cutter MORRIS from an old Ideal Model Ship Construction set.   ... , then it would be planked with 1/4 inch popsicle stick planks cut from my Micro-Mark hobby table saw. I have always thought popsicle sticks would make nice planks, since they are clear and blemish free."

Thanks for this great "How-To" build.                                                                               I already started saving my grandkids popcicle sticks.

 Were the Guns part of the original kit?  They sure look to scale.

       Jim.

nice work cracker's , enjoying this build .

steve5

Windless in temporary place on the deck of the PELICAN. A cannon ball rack can be seen next to a cannon. Ther cannon balls are pellets from a shotgun shell for bird hunting.

Scratch built windless for the scratch built model. The eyelets from an old boot will be shaped in place on the bow of the PELICAN to represend the hause hole cover. The inner end of metal of the hause was connected in a bolster in order to give the anchor cable a smoother run by minimising chafe and protected the cable from nipping on a sharp edge when the ship rode at anchor. While at sea, the hause hold was often plugged to prevent heavy bow waves from entering the foreward part of the deck. The ship's bell on the top of the windless was shaped from another boot eyelet.

Happy modeling   To be continued       Crackers   

Ship model purests might blanch and wince when they realize what was used for belaying pins on the belaying rack of the model.

It was the trim tips of the bristles of a common household broom. The bristles are yellow to simulate wood and are the right size for scale on the belaying rack. Granted, this material is unusual, but it seem to fill its role as intended.  To be continued.

happy modeling    Crackers