My Tern

[Sumpter250]

[quote="MasonJar What's the reason for the stepped mast? And that schooner is a beautiful thing. Andrew[/quote]

If you are referring to my comment, "the masts are stepped"....... it means the mast has been lowered through the deck, and the "key", carved at the bottom of the mast has been set into the "slot" in the top of the keel. This, and the wedges driven around the mast where it goes through the deck, keep the mast in place and prevent any "rotation" of the mast itself.
If you mean the lighter spars at the tops of the masts, these are the "topmasts", and aside from a place to prominently display flags, sails, can also be set there.
If you "go back" a few posts there's a color photo of the two mast Schooner Stephen Taber, that shows the same Two Part Main mast, Her fore mast, doesn't have a topmast.
I have seen a few Two Mast schooners, whose "topmasts" have been removed. ( the topmasts are hoisted up through the trestle trees ( fore and aft) and cross trees ( port and starboard ), and held in place by a fid, through the bottom of the mast that rests on the trestle trees. They can easily be taken down by removing the fid, and lowering the topmast )
Most square rigged ( rectangular sails set across the mast instead of fore and aft ) vessels have three part masts...lower mast, topmast, and top-gallant mast . USS Constitution "Old Iron sides" had three part masts, as did the clipper ships like Sea Witch, and the Whale Ship Wanderer, that sails out of Mystic Seaport Village and Museum, Mystic Conn. .
Pete Seeger's 87' Hudson River Sloop, "Clearwater", has a Topmast. I learned a lot about ship building, watching Clearwater's construction up in South Bristol, Me. . Her mast, makes a telephone pole look like a toothpick. :o

If anyone else has questions about ships and ship rigs, ask. I'll do the best I can to "enlighten".

[MasonJar]

Pete,

Thanks for the explanation. I think I was using the wrong term. What I wanted to know was why is the upper part of the mast off-set as seen in your pictures? I would have thought that a splice of some sort would've been stronger?

Btw, this is the Brilliant, a bulk oil carrier (originally in barrels, later in a tank). She was the largest steel 4 masted barque in the world. I believe that record still stands, as she was built in 1901, and most ships built after were steam powered. My great grandfather was first mate until 1906 or so.

Andrew

[Sumpter250]

That's one good looking Barque.
"My Tern" is going to a weekend show in Schaumburg, IL., along with the four module set. Tomorrow is set-up, and Saturday and Sunday are the days of the show.
Had a few other projects that needed attention, so the "Tern" hasn't had any more done. I might Trade her out, for a bit during the show, and try to get some more rigging done. I'll know better after set-up.

[faraway]

Beautiful old sail ships. I loved to see them when I lived in Hamburg. They were sometimes open to the public and my father went with me down to the harbor (Landungsbruecken) for visiting them.

This norwegian schooner brig Leon was the hobby of my late father after he retired. He got the original plans and built the wooden model from scratch. It has a place of honor now.

IMG_4693 by faraway52, on Flickr

[Tyson Rayles]

Beautiful ship!

[Catt]

WOW! That is one awesome model. Reinhard,your father was a true craftsman.

[Sumpter250]

It is a rare day that I see photos of a model so well done. The sails are as close to perfect as I have ever seen!!
I am curious to know what material was used to make those sails, I would like to try to make sails that would even "Look Close" to those.
That's one of the reasons I model the sails furled....the other reason is that most of my vessels are in harbor and moored. ( and they are in 1:87 scale ).

That ship, a "Norwegian schooner brig", here in the U.S., would be called a "Brigantine".

"Leon", was featured in Harold A. Underhill's " Plank-On-Frame Models and Scale Masting & Rigging" Volume 1.
I knew I had seen that ship somewhere before.

[Sumpter250]

First, my apologies to many who may be confused by some of the terms I use here..... I am guilty of "Common Knowledge Syndrome", as in, " I know what it is, so everybody must know.
I'm posting this picture:
   
to help explain, and define some of the terms. The three masts on the left side of the picture belong to two different vessels. The one, in the center is on a sloop, the other two are on a schooner, which is closer to the camera.( yeah the fore mast of the Schooner is shorter than the main mast )
The white area is the "doubling of the mast" in this case where the lower mast and the topmast are joined, so ! from the bottom, up, we have the "cheeks". These are the "shelf support like" pieces with the curved forward edge. On top of the cheeks,are the trestle trees ( two timbers running parallel to the center-line of the hull, one on each side of the mast ),
and the cross trees ( The three timbers running across the trestle trees ). At the top of the lower mast is the mast cap.
This has a square slot at the aft end, and a round hole at the forward end. The top of the lower mast has been cut square to fit in the square slot. the topmast passes through the round hole in the cap. Once the topmast is hoisted through the "trees" ,until the square bottom of the topmast is level with the bottom edge of the trestle trees, and the rounded upper part of the topmast is in the round hole through the cap, a fid ( wedge ) is inserted through a slot, cut through the bottom of the topmast, and that fid rests on the upper edge of the trestle trees, holding the topmast up in place.
The reason for "doubling" the mast, is to make the combined mast easier to repair, or replace ( trees, strong enough , and tall enough, for a single piece mast in a large ship, are rare indeed ) Hope that is a little clearer than mud

Class dismissed :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

[doctorwayne]

Thanks, Pete. I always like learning new stuff....remembering it, though, is something else altogether.

Wayne

[faraway]

It is a rare day that I see photos of a model so well done. The sails are as close to perfect as I have ever seen!!
I am curious to know what material was used to make those sails, I would like to try to make sails that would even "Look Close" to those.
That's one of the reasons I model the sails furled....the other reason is that most of my vessels are in harbor and moored. ( and they are in 1:87 scale ).

That ship, a "Norwegian schooner brig", here in the U.S., would be called a "Brigantine".

"Leon", was featured in Harold A. Underhill's " Plank-On-Frame Models and Scale Masting & Rigging" Volume 1.
I knew I had seen that ship somewhere before.

Yes, he had that book or a similar one. It was my gift when he retired. Later did he find a shop (in the Netherlands?) to buy the full prototype documentation of the body, the sails and all the roping. That was when he seriously started to do the model.

The sails are made of fabric. It toke a long time until he found a matching fabric. He told me sometime at the phone when he was hunting Hamburger shops for the right fabric. I remember he has the same problem with the threads to match the different ropes of the prototype. Different color and different thickness.

He did several parts of the ship multiple times until he liked the outcome. He was a fan of precision and had endless passion. I would like to have inherited some of that....

[Sumpter250]

He did several parts of the ship multiple times until he liked the outcome. He was a fan of precision and had endless passion. I would like to have inherited some of that....

Admirable qualities indeed. I would also have to think He was a man of great patience, at least with his model building.

I have been refining, and developing my own skills for over 60 years, and there are still things I haven't quite got the knack of, but, I keep working at it. { signature lines 1 & 2 apply }

[modelsof1900]

Thanks you very much to all for the explanation into sail ships and ship model building. Very good looking models of great craftsmanship, all!
Hewever there is a question. Because there are double yards on three masts of the four masted "Brilliant"? I think that there are to set one sail at each yard. And than two yards nearly at some position?

[Sumpter250]

Thanks you very much to all for the explanation into sail ships and ship model building. Very good looking models of great craftsmanship, all!
Hewever there is a question. Because there are double yards on three masts of the four masted "Brilliant"? I think that there are to set one sail at each yard. And than two yards nearly at some position?

Finally got time to do a little research on "Brilliant". Each of those yards, on each of the first three masts, carried one sail each.
I do not remember seeing that in the American Clipper Ships, so was a bit unsure.
Looks to me that the lower of the "two yards" was fixed, and the upper one of the pair, was lifted up to deploy its sail.
This might have been arranged that way so less men were needed aloft, to manage all the sails.
I still haven't found any "explanations", so I'm only guessing.

[modelsof1900]

Sumpter, thanks!
Yes, this would be a very logical explanation.

[shortliner]

Sumpter - just in case you missed it you, and others, may appreciate a possible small space prototype for a Maritime Inglenook with a run-round in addition. I suspect you will appreciate the left -hand side Pensacola, Fla.
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