Finishing the Fore Deck Fittings... Inside of the Opposite Cap Rail
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Anchor davit Winch bits Finishing the Fore Deck Fittings... inside of the opposite cap rail. This bracket can be seen in the photo above. They will be painted black. There are only a few fittings that need to be completed before we move ahead to the next phase of this project. The winch bits are supplied as a casted piece which That will be the creation of the masts and bowsprit and finally needs to be painted. I decided to paint the bits to match the rigging of the Phantom. Start by fabricating the anchor the color of the stained wood used throughout the model. davit out of 22 gauge black wire. Simply bend the wire to It was sanded and filed first to clean it up. The elements conform to the shape of the davit as it is shown on the plans. of the winch itself were painted black. Handles were A small bead or drop of super glue was placed on the tip of added as shown on the plans. They were shaped out of the davit and allowed to dry. It formed a nice round bead 28 gauge black wire and glued into pre-drilled holes on when dry which after being painted black, finishes it off very the sides of each winch drum. The entire assembly was nicely. glued onto the deck in its proper location as taken from the plans. The bowsprit will seat into these bits as you The davit is glued into a hole that was pre-drilled in the prop- can see in the photo above. er location on deck. An iron bracket was simulated by using a small piece of copper tape (left over from coppering the Finally, paint the anchor black after cleaning it up with hull) and glued against the inside of the cap rail. This boat some sandpaper. Glue it onto the deck. We are now would have carried only one anchor davit but would be mov- officially finished with the first half of this project. The able for use on either side of the ship. For this reason, we model as completed up to this point is shown in the photo need to create an additional iron bracket and place it on the below. A B Sheaves Wooden Jackstay C Eye bolts & iron band D Gaskets (28 gauge wire) Stretching Screw The Bowsprit... The sheaves were made next. They were simulated by drilling a small hole through the entire bowsprit on both The bowsprit will be made from a length of 1/8” square ends of the sheave slot. The slot was then carved a little diameter wood. The bowsprit inboard will retain its square deeper with the pointed end of a very small, round shape. Outboard it will be rounded (Picture “D” above needle-file. The sheave itself was made to look rounded, shows how the square portion of the bowsprit stops at the after which, I used a lead pencil to draw on it because the end of the stem). Cut a piece to its proper length using the graphite ads a nice touch of authenticity. Photo “B” shows plans to find the exact measurement. the sheaves as completed. There are many ways to shape the square portion of the Next, the wooden Jackstays were made from 1mm square bowsprit and make it round. The easiest way for me was to strips of basswood cut to length. They were glued to the sand it by hand. There are only a few masts and spars that top of the bowsprit. A series of tiny holes were drilled need shaping for this model and it isnt very time-consuming through these for the gaskets. This can be seen in photo to shape them all by hand. I started by using a sharp #11 “C”. There are seven holes along each jackstay. blade to rough carve it to an octagonal shape. Sand paper was used to round it off. When that was completed, the At this point it would be a good idea to test fit the bowsprit rounded portion of the bowsprit was tapered slightly towards to see if it will slide easily under the cap rail and sit com- the outboard end. (See photo “A” above) fortably into place. If it fits well, remove it from the model so the gaskets can be added. The gaskets were used to The inboard end of the bowsprit will be seated into the secure the furled sails to the bowsprit. They should be square space provided in the winch bits. It probably won’t made out of rigging line but I used 28 gauge black wire fit without reducing its thickness. Photo “C” shows how I cut instead. The gaskets need to hang with a gentle curve. away a small portion of it on the underside of the bowsprit. On the real ship they would have been heavy enough for It was cut so after the end was inserted into the winch bits it gravity to take care of it. This is not the case on our little protruded 1/16” out of the other side of the bits. model. Threaded rigging line would not hang properly and is difficult to work with on small details like this one. The locations for the sheaves and iron straps were drawn Pieces of the wire were bent around the base of a drill bit onto the bowsprit for reference. They were taken from the that was the proper diameter. The ends were glued into blueprints. the holes along the jackstay. The results are displayed in Cleats Gammoning Iron Stretching screw photo “D”. The ends of these “U’” shaped wires were bent and glued some small eyebolts into them. After they were at a right angles with a needle-nosed pliers so the gaskets dry, the wooden toothpick was carefully carved and sand- would hang correctly. ed, thinner and thinner, until it looked the appropriate scale. A small slot was made through the middle and Completing the Bowsprit... painted black afterwards. These are not easy to make. You should give it a try, but if it proves to be difficult there are other options. You can make them out of wire as The outboard end of the bowsprit has an iron band around mentioned in the instructions, or omit the stretching screw it with three eye bolts. The eye bolts will be used for the all together. Omitting this little detail will not hurt the over- standing rigging (Bobstay, footropes and bowsprit guy). all appearance of the finished model. Small turnbuckles You could use a strip of left over adhesive copper for the and stretching screws are also available commercially. iron band. I used some automotive pinstripe tape. It You will need three of them for the Phantom. If you comes in many colors and is usually 1/8” wide. It is also should decide to buy them, be prepared to pay a lot of self-adhesive. There are many options here and these are money for them. I am far to cheap to buy them. I will only two that you can try. I took some of this and cut a strip admit that the stretching screw shown in the photos (see to 1.5 mm wide. I wrapped it a few times arount the the previous page for the unpainted stretching screw) is a bowsprit and painted it black. Even though it was already little large for the model. I am willing to live with it. Each black, I didnt like the glossy finish and painted over it with time I make one of these I manage to make them smaller acrylic paint. and smaller. Eventually I will be able to fabricate them to the proper scale. Three eye bolts were made from 28 gauge black wire. I made my own even though the kit comes supplied with After placing the stretching screw on the bowsprit, we are them. Those supplied are to large and not to scale. It almost ready to glue it into place permanently. Before doesnt take long to make them as they are needed. They doing so, pre-drill a small hole on both sides of the were glued into pre-drilled holes on the bottom and sides of bowsprit inboard. These will be used to secure the cleats the “iron band”. The drill bits needed for such small holes after the bowsprit is glued into place. The cleats should are very tiny. They are no bigger than the diameter of the be treated the same way that was mentioned earlier. wire being used. You will probably break quite a few of Insert a pin into the bottom of the base of each, and glue these and having a small supply on hand is a good idea. them into these pre-drilled holes. (see the photo above) The photo above (and on the previous page) shows this band with eye bolts in place. The gammoning iron is all that remains. This was made from some left over copper tape. It was bent to the shape Paint the bowsprit white inboard and stain it outboard. shown on the plans and glued around the square portion of the bowsprit outboard. The ends on each strap It is easier to make the stretching screw now before gluing stopped on the stem 1/16” below the bowsprit. It was the bowsprit into place permanently. The kit supplied painted black when completed. (see the photo above) instructions describe how to make this using 28 gauge Bend a copper strip 1mm wide to this shape for black wire.