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HMS Leopard; 4th Rate 50 Gun Ship; 1790; P.O.B. 1:80

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Jim Gorrie

Wed Oct 16 2019, 08:56pm

Registered Member #4728

Joined: Wed Jan 27 2016, 11:17pm
Posts: 72

Thanks for your comments, Novastorm, Charles and Slobodan.

A quick update to say that I've now fitted the main (course) yard. This is my first experience of fitting a yard that has 2 truss pendants, a nave line and jeers. I first suspended the yard on its sling which I reeved through its hole in the top and held it there by means of a small spring clamp on the sling.
I then reeved the truss pendants through the nave line and then through the other eyelets in the opposing pendants. It's very busy up there under the main top and just doing these pendants proved very challenging!
Then for the jeers. I did reeve the lines through the upper blocks white they were sitting above the top, but when I pulled them down into their proper position under the top the lines were all twisted, the starboard side being worse than the port but they both needed the lines pulled out and done again.
This time I attempted them from underneath the top and to my surprise I found they were easier than I had previously feared. In fact they were easier than the truss pendants had been.

The nave line, pendants, jeers and the lifts are all rigged but I've left the braces off for now as I still have to belay at least 2 lines behind the main mast and it's already very congested around the mast with the shrouds and the backstays as well as a whole lot of other lines already belayed all over the quarterdeck. So I don't want to make it any busier by adding another couple of lines on each side of the ship until I've finished belaying lines there.

Jim Gorrie

Mon Nov 11 2019, 02:39pm

Registered Member #4728

Joined: Wed Jan 27 2016, 11:17pm
Posts: 72

Moved on to the fore mast and fitted the topsail yard which was reasonably straightforward - - - then the fore course yard which educated me to a different level of the meaning of "challenging".
"Challenging" was a word I used when describing the rigging involved in fitting the main course yard but the much more limited space available around the fore lower top and its lubber holes, combined with the amount of lines already going down these holes gave an added dimension to "having fun while rigging"!
With the aid of a few strange sounding words and a few breaks away from the ship, after what seemed like an awful long time, the truss pendants and jeer lines eventually found their way through the various eyelets and blocks on their way to their respective belaying points.
Here's the ship looking like it is now fully rigged, although at the time of this photo the fore course yard was still awaiting its lifts and braces and the main course yard was awaiting its braces.

For my build, Saturday 26th October last is definitely a significant date as on that evening the last two rigging lines (the main braces) were finally belayed.
Since then, there have been several 'peripheral' items receiving attention before the ship is finally ready to go into the display case.
The anchor buoys -- of all the rigging I have done on the ship I think the most difficult single item has been these pesky buoys -- they have been the equal of the difficulty I described in the 2nd and 3rd paragraphs above.
Creating the buoys was fairly simple >>>

So far, the anchors on the port side are attached. The plans I have show nothing of the anchors nor how they are stowed. My knowledge on this subject is limited to what I have seen on photos of other modellers ships and how their anchors are stowed - - and there seems to be no "standard" method of doing this, so I have stowed them in the best way that fits around and along the fore channel >>>

I'm sure the following two items have a proper nautical name, but I don't know that name. They are blocks set in a metal 'stand-off' frame mounted on either side near the aft end of the hull. I understand they are used in the rigging of the fore course sail? Here is one of these 'mystery things' >>>

And here is the starboard one attached to the hull >>>

The main lower stunsail yards - - it was nice to make something uncomplicated for a change! >>>

Although now fully rigged (for a ship without sails) she still had no real identity. It was time to change that. I really wanted to create the lettering for the name by myself and I DID try but when it came to cutting out these tiny 5mm letters they looked truly awful and I didn't want to make the ship any worse. So I bought a sheet of letters.
Here are some of my own attempts -- you'll see why I didn't want to use these! >>>

The following photo also shows the rudder pendants >>>

Still have to finish preparing the starboard anchors, the stern lanterns, then have a good look at the whole ship to see if there is anything that I've overlooked.
I'm still working my way around the ship, making and attaching coils to the belaying points. I'm finding this quite tedious especially trying to loop them over the pins which are now very busy with lines coming in at all angles and making it very congested. I still have around 20 to get done. Here are a few on the poop deck >>>

Charles

Mon Nov 11 2019, 08:05pm

Registered Member #1923

Joined: Mon Nov 28 2011, 06:07pm
Posts: 872

Very precise work
Almost done then years to enjoy

aew

Tue Nov 12 2019, 09:00am

aew

Registered Member #1929

Joined: Wed Nov 30 2011, 03:05pm
Posts: 2838

The end is in sight.
All those 'little jobs' are the things people tend to notice!

Jim Gorrie

Tue Nov 12 2019, 09:54am

Registered Member #4728

Joined: Wed Jan 27 2016, 11:17pm
Posts: 72

Thanks for your comments, Charles and Arthur.

aew wrote ...

The end is in sight.
All those 'little jobs' are the things people tend to notice!

. . . and all those 'little jobs' seem to take forever!

Jim Gorrie

Mon Nov 18 2019, 09:17pm

Registered Member #4728

Joined: Wed Jan 27 2016, 11:17pm
Posts: 72

"Little jobs" becoming fewer.

Stern lanterns: I didn't really know how to progress with these. First, I made some attempts at soldering 0.5mm brass wire into what I hoped would resemble the frames of the lanterns but the results were pretty awful.
I then tried whittling a 9mm dowel down into an eight sided tapered shape and ended up with this >>>

I wasn't happy with the white painted "glass" and wanted something a little more transparent.
I bought a clear 8mm diameter Perspex rod and using a wood chisel whittled the end down to a hexagonal shape tapering down to around 5mm at the 'thin end'. >>>

These brutal close-ups make everything look so awful - - - the parts aren't so awful in reality!
Here's another brutal close-up >>>

. . . and on the ship (in a rather blurry photo) >>>

Another 'little job' I almost overlooked was the bowsprit Jack. I already had an image of a Jack and found a free (and quick) website where I flipped the same image horizontally. Here's the original with the flipped one below it >>>

I printed both images, cut them out and glued them back to back while crinkling the flag to give it a fluttering appearance >>>

Charles

Tue Nov 19 2019, 02:25am

Registered Member #1923

Joined: Mon Nov 28 2011, 06:07pm
Posts: 872

first rate work

NovaStorm

Wed Nov 20 2019, 11:21am

Registered Member #5618

Joined: Sat Sep 22 2018, 02:33pm
Posts: 383

Your doing a great job all the little details are really bringing it all together nicely. The new lanterns are much better too

Jim Gorrie

Thu Nov 21 2019, 08:22pm

Registered Member #4728

Joined: Wed Jan 27 2016, 11:17pm
Posts: 72

Thanks for your comments, Charles and Novastorm.

Leopard now has a permanent home. From oak saved from my neighbour's previous kitchen doors I created a base as Leopard's permanent "dock".
Here it is with two pedestals also turned from that same oak >

On their own, the pedestals won't support the ship in a vertically stable way so a cradle (also from the oak) will keep the ship upright. >

I had considered making my own acrylic case but the considerable extra work of creating a wooden frame persuaded me to buy a commercially made case. I also bought a custom made engraved brass name plaque.

You've probably guessed - - - the brass plate is also mounted on my neighbour's oak!

Leopard is now safely concealed away from this ship builder's clumsy hands and also the probing hands of my grandchildren!

It's just over nine years since I started the build although as there have been a few lay-off periods it's probably nearer to six years in the build.