Few Tears Before the Mast….Part 2

Ready for the off. The first thing I start with are the thicker bamboo skewer parts - the lower steps of the masts and the bowsprit. Everything you need for the this phase is in the picture above

Before I start chopping up lengths of bamboo skewers and cocktail sticks it is worth pointing out, again, the design philosophy behind the models. I cannot emphasise enough the fact these are not built in any scientific way whatsoever - they are built to what I think they should look like or the oft-repeated ‘purely representational’ or ‘Hollywood-esque’ standard. 

Right then, having got that out of the way its on with the show….

The first thing to do is to mark out the lengths you need for each step of each mast. I usually cut the pieces off as I go rather than marking everything up beforehand.

The first part completed. These are the thickest parts of the masts.

The sizes I have used are as follows (from left to right): Bowsprit - 1”, Foremast - 2 x 11/2”, Mainmast - 2 x 1 3/4” and Mizzenmast -  1 1/2”.

I find it useful to lay the parts out as above so you can see where you are at - it helps to visualise the end result. A note of caution though - make sure you keep the right bits with the right bits!

The next step is to cut out the spars from the cocktail sticks. Again, I tend to cut these out as I go rather than marking up a batch and it is also helpful to work through each mast in turn.

The spars duly cut out and arranged as per their final destination

You can see that there are rather more of these than for the skewers. The sizes used are as follows: Bowsprit - 1/2”, 1”, 1 1/4”, Foremast - 3 x 1”, 1 1/2”, 1 3/4”, Mainmast - 1”, 2 x 1 1/4”, 1 1/2”, 2” and Mizzenmast - 2 x 1”, 1 1/2”

The spars angled at roughly forty five degrees are all 1” - these are the gaffs for the nautically inclined!

All the constituent parts laid out in their correct order along with the all-important fighting tops

For the record it actually took me longer to type this blog post than it did to measure and cut out the pieces you see above! You can also appreciate the essential need to make sure that everything is kept in the right place - there are after all 27 pieces to take care of.

In respect of the sizes used I have merely taken what looks about right and just gone with it - remember I am essentially copying another model.

What we are hoping to replicate - at least as far as the masts are concerned!

The final part of this series of posts will be the assembly stage and I hope to write that tomorrow.