Mayflower Galleon 1:100 (The pilgrims journey)

[Don Boose]

Superb model, outstanding images, and a fascinating narrative of your research and build.

Don

[abhovi]

It is always good to invest in talent.

[Michael Mash]

Hello Radek,
Your work displays the value of research.
The Mayflower never looked better.
Mike

[RdK]

Hi @ all!

Thank you friends for the words of encouragement! There is still a lot I can improve with. For instance my handling of the glue is still too messy I believe. Also despite using the beeswax the threads still fluff, the longer I handle them...

Material and methods
I use single thread and for the upper shrouds and backstays a double-threated/winded rope. For the yards I use round wooden birch sticks 4mm and 2.5mm in diameter.

After some messy rigging (pic 1&2) as here depicted on the top main mast, the standing rigging is finally finished. In pic. 3 you can see again how I rig the small blocks for the running rigging (pic. 4):

1. Prepare a thread, a loop and the block.
2. Glue the block with one side to the thread using the CA gel.
3. After winding the thread around the block, I use tweezers to keep the block in place and tighten the loop around its neck (red arrows).
4. Use the CA to fix the knot and cut off the unnecessary three threads.

I started with the yards by using a round grinding machine at my workplace (used for grinding and polishing rock samples) to sand them in shape with a grinding sintered plate (150rpm) and do the fine sanding by hand with some 200 sand paper (pics 5&6). Would I need to do them by hand, I would not be ready until next year and my wife would not be happy about the mess in our kitchen (my work space for the modeling is still our kitchen table).

The rest of the pictures show the Mayflower with the standing rigging - standing.

I tried to do better pictures with my new snapshot digicam but somehow I still need to get used to the focussing...

At the moment I prepare the yards and the sails.

All the best for now!

-Radek

[Michael Mash]

Those bow and stern images give me a chance to admire the smooth hull work.
Mike

[RdK]

Hi @ all!

I started with the sails, which means a lot of sawing and poking the needle in my fingers... ...Au!

Material and Methods

I used informations from two books: R.C. Anderson "17th century rigging" and Wolfram zu Mondfeld "Historic Ship Models". I also looked at different drawings and pictures of the Mayflower to get inspiration regarding the setting of the sails. I decided to set all sails of the Mayflower under a strong wind from behind her right side, or in other words: Broad Reach on Starboard Tack .

Picture 1 shows how I do my sails: First I draw the sails on the fine linen colored with black tea. Then I cut them out with a small margin of 5-10mm. I bend the margin and saw first the edges and then imitate the sawing of the individual cloths (Pic. 2) by sawing a ...more or less ... straight line down the sail from head to foot. Then I finish the sail by using some drops of the CA gel to seal the seam and cut off all unnecessary parts of the linen and threads. When a bonnet is used (pic. 3), I saw it as depicted on pic. 4, which is taken from the book "Historic Ship Models" by Mondfeld.

When the sail is ready, I will shape it into a "blown" form by using sand, foil and some clear varnish. More on this in the next post.

Then I attach the sail to the rail and the rail to the mast. I tried it out on the spritsail and after some fiddling around (pics 5&6) I came up with what is seen in the rest of the pictures. The rigging lines are not glued in place yet.

So much for now, have to go and saw a bit more...au!...Au!!

-RdK

[birder]

Very cool Thanks for the sail detail, I've not tried sails yet although hope to

[Michael Mash]

Hello Radek:
I really enjoyed those fine images of the work at the bow.
Mike

[RdK]

Hi @ all!

Thanks, birder and Mike, glad you enjoy.

A small update on the Pilgrim's journey:

Running rigging is tedious work and a real mess compared to the standing rigging. It takes a lot of time preparing all the blocks and the thread/yarn/ropes. I also decided to make the sails look dirty, and... maybe have overdone it a bit... Feel free to give constructive criticism...
But this project is for me a learning process in trying out old methods and new things, so I will leave it as it is and continue from there... I've also found a new source of yarn for my thicker ropes, but more on that in a later post (Episode IV: A New Rope )

Here is how the Mayflower looks like, with very, very dirty sails....Hey, after all it was a long journey to cross the Atlantic and surely the sailors were not cleaning the sails during that stormy autumn time back in 1620.
I have also seen pictures of sails even more dirty than these...

So here's only one picture of the update (I played around with some image filters...). More will follow soon, when the fore mast is set completely.

Rgds,
Radek

[Vermin_King]

I think the sails give it an antique look. A family heirloom that has sat on the mantel for generations. I wouldn't beat myself up over the sails. I think they look great