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JRGlasoe

New member
Hi All Modelers of the Alliance:

I started sailing in Northern Minnesota and, due to the long winters, took up modeling my dreams. Hand crafted from 2x4s or any flotsam to float by, I got hooked. Back then, without the internet, I literally had no idea there were kits let alone experts or "hobbyists."

Years later, living in Coronado, CA allowed me to sail nearly year round; it was then, 20+ years ago, that I built my first Dumas Lightning. My real-world sailing was done on Chrysler O'Days, Hobie Cats and Wayfarers. The Wayfarer is what I consider the British equivalent of an American Lightning. Hence, I had a model that looked like my Wayfarer. She was called My Big Red Woody - much to the delight of my sons and chagrin of their mother. And to push the point, I had a matching red Volvo, who's licence plate holder said, "If you thought the car was Red, wait until you see my Woody." Living in Coronado, you're surrounded by Navy.

All the remains is the hull (see pics 1-3) and my embarrassment since they reflect my skills at the time) but I keep it around for the memories and now, after reviewing MM2CVS9's efforts on his Lightning, I was challenged to bring her back to life and learn from those "skills" as I correct the mess.

With retirement around the corner and the pandemic, I thought I'd try again... I built my second one just this last month and I got hooked all over again. While I understand the quality of the materials for the kit isn't "furniture" grade, the mahogany won me over (see pics 4-6) . And, again, seeing the detailed documentation (thank you MM2CVS9!) and his ability (completely unwittingly) to address my questions before I even know to ask them, I figured this alliance was going to be not only productive, but very rewarding. I'm redoing the rigging on my second one, including the sails (lesson learned: don't have paint anywhere near sails.)

My boat plans always include the answer to the question where is this thing going to displayed? I have little room. So now all models must have a home before I begin. So, with that in mind, all my brothers are getting Viking ships at some point, two sets of grandsons (ie, two sets of brothers) get a Lightning, each, and I'd like to do a Dragen Yacht for myself. That should keep that "modeling" bug of I-wonder-if-I-can-do-this busy.

Goals: 1- become more competent about rigging, 2 - Learn the craft/art of planking, 3 - Study color/varnish/finishes.

I've read all 21 O'Brian Aubrey/Maturin books in the series and would love to actually sail on a "brigantine" (or equivalent), my interests lie in the direction of Vikings (long family of Norwegians, here) and Yachts. But, I like those books so much, I'm going also listen to them while I work.

Looking forward to engaging, documenting and assisting as needed.

Jon

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:skipper:Arrrr matie, welcome aboard the Good Ship Lolly Pop... We are a fine bunch of folks, plus an Efrikan Savage (SA Dave). We are very helpful and occasionally insightful. :soldieron Model On!
 
Found your post and I'll be watching with interest.
That appears to be the Dumas kit of the Lightning. That's the basis for my build as well. Almost anything you do to that kit is an improvement.

Good modeling

EJ
 
Thanks. I agreed with your assessment; it was a collection of wood called a kit.

Starting the search for these parts.

J
 
Welcome aboard Jon. Really nice build you have there. Love the passion you ship builders have. As you can tell we have all sorts of models around here but showing off your work might inspire others to sand the ol' main mast....:coolio2:

Come on in, the water's fine!
 
Welcome Jon and I commend you on the fine 'calling cards' you posted showing your work. You may not be all that thrilled with the results but i would kill to be able to do that. Still, I am looking forward to seeing your improvements. Welcome aboard once again!
 
Welcome aboard. I actually have done a little sailing. I found I didn't like the cold water, but catching the wind was fun.
 
Permission Granted! (Proper response from the officer aboard the ship ;))

Nice work there!

Regards,
 
Hey Jon! Welcome to MA! Glad to have you along. I have found it amazing how many little things that can be shown and learned from all the different builds. Hope you come to believe the same as we have some really outstanding builders here and everyone is always helpful with any questions you might ask.
 
EJ,

Probably not what you expected, but when you get a chance or time...

A couple of questions or confirmations about fittings:
  1. Sail Material: vintage bed sheet, white seamed with Aileene's Tacky Glue (Yes?)
  2. Turnbuckles: From what source did you acquire the turnbuckles? Based on your pictures and what I gleaned from your build text they are 20mm and brass? Each boat requires 6, etc.
  3. Standing Rigging: SR is from a single strand of wire from BNA Model World (Australia.) But I'm going to assume any stainless steel 7-strand wire of .0085" (with any single strand at .027") gauge would work?
  4. Running Rigging: RR is Syren, .018 dia., tan
  5. Eye screws: Unable to determine their actual size vs. their scaled size. But I have the ones that came from the Dumas Kit and can get it from the kit I have
  6. Rings: Unable to determine their actual size vs. their scaled size. I will guesstimate, but I'm gathering that the turnbuckle eye-holes will determine that?
  7. Soldering: any "special" modeler's solder? or? (BTW: what are you using as a "third" hand that holds the pieces to do the soldering?)
  8. Die cut brass cleats: Ages of Sail painted with (hang on, three different spellings: Molotow, Molitow, or Molitov (!) and an active verb of "Molotoved") Liquid Chrome paint (pen) (Side note: I guess Molotoved is like being "googled," but deadlier...) Correct?
A question of How To:
  1. Standing Rigging: I'm attaching drawings of the four different stay constructs. Crude as these are, I think they represent what I saw in your pic. Did I get these sets laid out correctly?
  2. What is the "block" used on the spreader for the main's rear stay above the tiller?
Thank you! If I can get this down, I'll be able to do the other three with some efficiencies learned from this effort.

Jon
Front Stay.jpg
Stays.jpg
 
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Welcome aboard Jon. Really nice build you have there. Love the passion you ship builders have. As you can tell we have all sorts of models around here but showing off your work might inspire others to sand the ol' main mast....:coolio2:

Come on in, the water's fine!
Thank you!
 
EJ,

Probably not what you expected, but when you get a chance or time...

A couple of questions or confirmations about fittings:
  1. Sail Material: vintage bed sheet, white seamed with Aileene's Tacky Glue (Yes?)
  2. Turnbuckles: From what source did you acquire the turnbuckles? Based on your pictures and what I gleaned from your build text they are 20mm and brass? Each boat requires 6, etc.
  3. Standing Rigging: SR is from a single strand of wire from BNA Model World (Australia.) But I'm going to assume any stainless steel 7-strand wire of .0085" (with any single strand at .027") gauge would work?
  4. Running Rigging: RR is Syren, .018 dia., tan
  5. Eye screws: Unable to determine their actual size vs. their scaled size. But I have the ones that came from the Dumas Kit and can get it from the kit I have
  6. Rings: Unable to determine their actual size vs. their scaled size. I will guesstimate, but I'm gathering that the turnbuckle eye-holes will determine that?
  7. Soldering: any "special" modeler's solder? or? (BTW: what are you using as a "third" hand that holds the pieces to do the soldering?)
  8. Die cut brass cleats: Ages of Sail painted with (hang on, three different spellings: Molotow, Molitow, or Molitov (!) and an active verb of "Molotoved") Liquid Chrome paint (pen) (Side note: I guess Molotoved is like being "googled," but deadlier...) Correct?
A question of How To:
  1. Standing Rigging: I'm attaching drawings of the four different stay constructs. Crude as these are, I think they represent what I saw in your pic. Did I get these sets laid out correctly?
  2. What is the "block" used on the spreader for the main's rear stay above the tiller?
Thank you! If I can get this down, I'll be able to do the other three with some efficiencies learned from this effort.

JonView attachment 129250View attachment 129251
#1 - Yes. The bedsheet was in appearance a high quality tight weave cotton sheet, apparently custom made, as it had embroidered monogram on it. It was slightly yellowed, with age maybe? Not a stark white like a new sheet would be. I can mail you a chunk of it if you like. I've got the whole sheet minus about 2 square feet that I'll never use.

I tried to keep things in scale by converting inches and fractions of inches to scale of 1 inch = 1 foot. Plus, what seemed to look right to my eye.

#2 They came from harbormodels.com . They have 3 sizes. I ordered all three, because I wanted a visual comparison. I wound up using the medium size which is from 5/8 to 7/8 inches long. I could have used the short ones too. They are solid brass and actually do function as they are the real thing, just very small. I thought about trying to make them Chromed, but because of the age of this particular boat maybe brass is also appropriate. Plus, being ex US Navy, we just LOVE the look of freshly polished brass. :)

#3 Most of what I used was a twisted stainless steel wire, 7 strands wound around a single strand into a wire rope. Each strand is .008 inches dia, forming a rope of .026 inches dia. It was the nicest, smoothest looking stuff I found. I selected this one I guess, because it looked good to my eye. I miss cut one of the strands and wound up needing more. I couldn't remember or find the same stuff so I ordered something from BNA that I hoped was the same. This was an Art Wox Product, #AW60012. I had ordered 3 different diameters, again, because I wanted to actually see it. The artWox was 6 strands with no center strand, but the strands were .008" and the rope was .0255 dia. The two aft shrouds are done with that wire. They look to me to be slightly smaller in diameter but I think it's because the twist is slightly different. That's OK as the aft shrouda are also shorter. I used clippings about 3 or so inches long, stripped the individual wires from them and used them as wrappings or whippings to form the loops at the ends. Then, put CA glue on that part to keep things together and smooth at the cut ends.

#4 - Yes, although you could use anything that pleases the eye. Syren rope looks pretty good, but an even better looking stuff comes from Cottage Industry Models if your really fussy about things.

#5 - Eye screws that came with the kit looked kinda big to me, so I went shopping at the hardware store. I now have about 15 sizes in my parts box and use whatever looks good to me. The ones for the stays and shrouds are about .199 inches dia OD at the eye.

#6 - Again, the kit had no rings. I was trying to figure out how the rigging was assembled and decided on this method, so went to Hobby Lobby jewelry section and bought a selection of rings. I found that any tension on them when tightening the turnbuckles they would spread open, so soldered them after the connection was made. These are about .160" dia OD.

#7 - Soldering, I use chips of solder from a bit of "Staybright" solder. Clean first with Staybrite flux, then apply a tiny bit of plumbers tinning flux, stick 2 or 3 little chips of the solder to the tinning flux, then heat. Lots of ways to do this. This just works for me.
I use a fisherman's fly tying vice to hold blocks for strapping and such and for holding small items when soldering.

TTbXtVz.jpg


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#8 - The cleats are die CAST, made of pot metal I think. The paint pens are Molotow - https://www.molotow.com/en/applications/marker-applications/liquid-chrome I get them at my local hobby shop. The car guys really like them for chrome trim.

The rigging drawings are really good. See the pictures of mine. The block on the main stay I made. Kinda looks like a "heart" block. I didn't want to mess with ordering one lousy block, so made one out of a piece of scrap.

Sorry about the quality of the pics. I should use a tripod and remote trigger or something. It's just a little Canon point and shoot camera.

The wire, straitened some cut pieces of each strand for wrapping the ends at the Eyes, rings, turnbuckles.

UsehR5R.jpg


At the deck

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The top of the turnbuckles

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The top of the jib stay, showing the jib lift line

tcsvT7E.jpg


The aft shrouds at the spreader bar

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Top of the mast - fwd shrouds, backstay, mainsail lift, brass jack stay.

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The heart block at the mainstay split over the tiller

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A cleat for the mainsail lift. This was a cleat like the ones from the kit. I bought more from Dumas, plus several sizes from other sources. I'll use what looks appropriate in size for the various functions / places.

MPOBbxr.jpg


For the stays and shrouds, disassemble a turnbuckle. I attached the deck eye, ring and bottom turnbuckle eye together. Then put the wire rope through the top turnbuckle eye hole, bent it back on itself and wrapped it with a single strand. Be sure you have a long enough piece of wire that you can terminate it at the other end. I didn't, cut one too short and had to wait 8 weeks for more wire to arrive. I placed the upper eyes, re assembled the turnbuckle leaving it about as "open" as I could, fed the wire through the top eye. Then, at the top eye, pulled the wire fairly taught, bent the wire, then removed the wire and the eye, removed the top eye of the turnbuckle so I could work on placing the wire on the eye where It was bent and wrapping it at the top end. Then, put the top eye back in the hole and reassemble the turnbuckle. When you have both sides done, you can tension each side so the mast is strait and it takes out any "sagginess" in the wire. It works great. You can adjust the tension just like on the real boat. You can even straighten a somewhat bent mast. Sounds a lot more complicated than it is.

Hope this helps.

EJ
 
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Welcome aboard, JR! I have a really long funny story about the first sailboat voyage Teresa and I made as a couple. I'll save that for another time, perhaps.
Happy Modeling!
 
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