building the model shipways kit of the colonial schooner ... · royal navy, he arranged for her to...

Introduction

These “shop notes” have been prepared forthose of you who enjoy the hobby and wishto take their modeling projects to the nextlevel. If you have been building ship modelspredominately from kits and find yourselfdeviating from the kit-supplied instructionsregularly, then this manual may be of interestto you.

I have been building ship models for decadesand now almost always build them from scratch.I spend hours of research gathering every bitof information on the ship before I can begin todraft a set of working plans and specifications. Ioften find myself doing this for a model of whicha kit already exists and can be bought fromany hobby shop. However, once you open thebox for the kit, it quickly becomes clear that thelevel of detail presented in the instructions andsupplied materials will only build a model that is“OK” in appearance. In order to raise this levelto “spectacular” you realize that many modifica-tions will be needed. A lot (if not all) of the orna-mental castings and materials will need to bediscarded, and rebuilt from scratch. Seasonedship modelers affectionately refer to this phe-nomenon as “kit bashing”. This is what I willattempt to describe as I document my building of

the Model Shipways kit for the Colonial SchoonerSultana.

I do not intend to spend much time discussingthe history of the vessel. Some of this hasalready been documented in the kit-suppliedinstructions and can be easily researched on theinternet. It can be summed up quickly as is notedon the website for the replica that now resides onthe Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. I recommendvisiting this website as a start to your ownresearch.

http://www.schoonersultana.org

“The Sultana was built in the yard of renownedBoston Shipwright Benjamin Hallowell in 1767.The Sultana might have gone on to little histori-cal note if it weren't for coincidence. Sir ThomasAsquith, the wealthy merchant she was built for,decided she wouldn't be worth the expense ofkeeping as the combination cargo vessel & yachthe'd imagined. But through connections in theRoyal Navy, he arranged for her to be boughtinto a new fleet the Admiralty was assembling ofsmall, nimble vessels to ply the North Americacoast as Revenue Cutters.”

Building the Model Shipways kit of the colonial schooner

Sultana

by Chuck Passaro

This little schooner of 50 or so tons is very important to model builders, not becauseof its history, but because this is one of the fewnamed early American schooners of which adetailed plan and draft survive. American shipbuilders during this period were more likely tobuild a ship from a builder’s model rather thanfrom a designer’s plan. Most, if not all of thesurviving plans, were drawn by the Royal Navy.Ship modelers can now build only a preciousfew named American vessels that were eithercaptured or bought into service by England priorto the Revolutionary War.

Lauchlan McKay explains this in the PracticalShipbuilder (1839). ‘As vessels are almost universally built from models in the UnitedStates, and as it is much the most accurate andpreferred method, I shall commence by showingthat mode of construction’

Draft made by the Royal Navy afterit was bought into

service.

He then goes on to discuss the reasons why thiswas the case.

‘ The ship-builder has labored, in the larger por-tion of our country, under the necessity of workingby guess. The publications of other countrieshave been large and expensive, full of intricacy,scientific rather than practical, and consequentlyof little use to the uneducated mechanic.’

Fortunately for us, we have the draft of theSultana made by the Royal Navy after its pur-chase (Above). The scale for the Model Shipwayskit is 1:64. The overall length is 17" with a heightof 15". This is a relatively small ship model, buteven at this scale, we can add a significantamount of detail. I almost wish that every shipmodel kit came with two sets of instructions. Onefor the beginner using only a few details, and asecond that covers as much about the ship aspossible.

The SchoonerBALTICK

1765Watercolor, unsigned.Built 1763 Newbury,

Mass. 45 tons.

Photos showing the replica of the Sultana which is available for tours along the Chesapeake Bay.

prop placed into a cutout of the rudder. Even withthese modern adaptations, the images make forsome useful clarification as we progress throughthis project. At the bottom of this page is a paint-ing that has been frequently published. Not onlyare the plans for early American ships scarce, butpaintings and drawings of named vessels are alsoelusive. The Baltik is an excellent example of aschooner similar in appearance and rig to theSultana. It offers some interesting details for thepaint scheme and rigging to which I will referlater.

Even if the kit does not come supplied withmaterial for these features, the instructions andtechniques used to create them should be clearlydescribed. I believe that many modelingenthusiasts give up the hobby too soon becauseno such material is readily available. This is thereason why I have written this companion to thekit-supplied instructions.

The photos below show the replica of theSultana. Even though the builders of this replicatook pains to keep the ship historically accurate,modifications were made to keep the vessel upto current maritime codes and safety regulations.They built the replica with an inboard engine and

Getting Started...

Upon opening the box, notice the familiar kit supplieditems for a solid hull model. There is the usualroughly cut solid hull along with a small package ofpre-cast fittings, not to mention the almost alwaysinsufficient amount of strip wood in various shapesand sizes. The plans accompanying the Sultana kitare quite good and, based on this information, theinadequate materials can be turned into somethingquite remarkable. As we will soon see.

The very first thing that we need to do on the hull isto remove the bulwarks. We will be using a differenttechnique later to create them. One of the more frus-trating tasks when carving a solid hull is to thin downthe bulwarks. I am sure that you will be relievedknowing that we will not have to do this.

Remove the bulwarks with a sharp blade or chisel.Remember to always carve in a direction away fromyour hands and body. I have seen some nasty cutsover the years, many of which have resulted in a tripto the emergency room for stitches. The wood isvery soft and carves easily. The only portion of thehull that may be tricky is the bow where carving willbe against the grain. The photo above shows thehull with the bulwarks removed to the deck level. Donot sand the deck smooth at this time. We will takecare of this later and correct the deck camber afterwe shape the outside of the hull.

Now that the bulwarks have been removed, cut outthe two templates shown in the photo (right). Use a#11 blade in your hobby knife. As the kit-suppliedinstructions mention, do not use scissors. Scissorsmay distort the template around any of the moresevere curves of the template.

Before you use the templates, test them against theblueprints to see if they are accurate. I was surprisedto see that the templates were not even close to theshape and dimensions on the plan. The forward halfof the template isn’t to bad. The station lines lined upwith those on the plan with only minor fluctuations.Correct the templates before you use them.

The other half of the template was far from being correct. The station lines were way off the mark. Theentire template was about 1/16” too long. I cut it tothe proper length and corrected the station lines tomatch the blueprint. My guess is that after multipleprinting, the correct scale was lost. Luckily, the overall shape of the hull appears to be correct. Thephoto below shows my corrections on the templates.They are shown in red. These station lines and theother reference points should be transferred to thereverse side of each template before you use them.They will be easier to use when you are shaping theother side of the hull.

Two templates with corrections shown in red

Shaping the Hull...

The bottom of the hull must be sanded beforethe using the templates to determine the hull’scorrect length. Use a sanding block to ensurethat the underside of the hull (where we willattach the keel) is perfectly flat. Locate the centerline of the hull and draw a reference line onto it.This line should be continuous, running down theentire length of the deck, as well as continuingdown the stem and along the keel and sternpost. This is the line, over which we will positionour template. See the photo above.

You will notice that the two templates do not fittogether along station 4 as they should. The tem-plate fits fairly well at the bow, but the sternneeds some carving. You could remove thisexcess wood by hand using a chisel or a sharpblade in your hobby knife. I prefer using a sand-ing drum on my Dremel rotary tool. Using theflexible shaft attachment, I slowly removed thewood. I only removed small amounts of woodat a time. Stop periodically to check the hullagainst the template. The final shaping of thestern is done by hand using sand paper. For me,it is easier than carving with a blade because Iwould be doing so against the grain of the wood.Yes, this does make a horrible mess. However,this will be one of the few instances where wewill not be carving or sanding by hand..Since we will plank the counter of the stern,the entire stern was carved 1/16” smaller than

the template requires. The correct profile of thestern and counter were carved to allow for theaddition of 1/16” thick x 1/8” wide planking. Aftershaping the stern to match the hull profile, Iadded an additional 1/16” of wood below thecounter. This can be seen in the photo below.Rather than try to carve only the counter whichwill be planked, I found it easier to remove a full1/16” off of the entire stern and build the areaback up below it. This allowed me to create auniform ledge, on top of which the counterplanking will sit. I will agree, at this stage of theproject, it does not look pretty. But it does nothave to. The area below the counter and waleswill eventually be painted white. The surface willof course be prepared before we paint it.

Stern with additional 1/16”piece of scrapwood. This wascarved and sandedto match the shapeof the hull . Noticethe ledge, on top ofwhich the plankingfor the counter will sit.

Once it is completed you will never notice theseam between this additional wood and the hull.Once the proper length and shape of the hull isestablished, it is important to redraw the centerline down the hull. It may have been sanded offwhile working. The remaining 9 templates willsoon be used to determine the final shape of thehull. They must be positioned along this line.

However, before we can use them, more refer-ence lines need to be drawn onto the hull.Measure the width of the keel from the plans thatindicate a 4 mm wide keel. The width of the keelneeds to be drawn down the length of the hull. Itis also carried up the stem and stern post. Simplydraw another line 2mm to the left and right of thecenter line to establish the keel width. See thephoto (above) showing these two lines in red.

Red linesreference the width

of the keel. Placethem 2mm from the

center line.

We can now begin to reduce the thickness of thehull at the keel. Unfortunately, the best way tocarve the hull is difficult to describe in writing.Using a flat blade on your hobby knife, startslowly removing small amounts of wood alongthe keel. Stop just short of the reference linethat you created as this remaining wood will beremoved using sand paper. Remember toalways carve with the grain of the wood. Begin alternating the use of the flat tipped bladewith the addition of a standard #11 pointed blade.

Start carving mid ship and work your waytowards the bow, then reverse towards the stern.When completed the keel should be 4mm” thickand look similar to the photographs below. Onlyafter completing this initial carving should youuse the remaining 9 templates to define the prop-er hull shape.

Reference lines can be drawn along the keelwhere each of the 9 remaining templates will bepositioned. Start carving at mid ship (template#4). Don’t remove too much wood with one passof the blade. Only shave off small amounts toavoid gouges and deep holes. If this shouldhappen, the holes can be filled with some woodfiller.

This is one of the advantages of building a solidhull model. You will notice in the photos belowthat I used some wood filler to conceal the seambetween the additional piece of wood at thestern. Sand the entire hull smooth when you arefinished. Use a medium grade of sandpaperfirst and finish it up with a finer grade.

4mm wide

1/16” space left for deck planking

Preparing the Hull for Planking...

The model will be planked above the wales andon deck. These modifications will drasticallyimprove the overall appearance of the model. To prepare for this planking, the hull will requiresome additional carving. The deck’s surface isthe first area that requires our attention. Theplanking material I used was 1/16” thick and 1/8”wide. I purchaced these basswood plankingstrips from a local hobby shop where they costabout 30 cents each. I needed about 35 of thesestrips to complete the model. I suggest buying afew extra strips just in case there are some thatget broken. They may break when we bendthem while planking.

Because we know the thickness of our deckplanks, the decks must be lowered by 1/16”. Thetemplates that were used to shape the hull havethe top of the deck noted on them (TD). See the

photo (left). Draw another line 1/16” below the(TD). The hull will need to be carved down tothese marks along the bulwarks. It representsthe deck level without the planking installed.Luckily, the deck camber as machine carved bythe manufacturer is not correct. The deck doesnot slope enough toward the bulwarks. You maybe able to achieve the correct depth along thebulwarks by simply sanding the deck camber.Use the templates when you are finished to besure.

The sides of the hull must also be carved abovethe wales to accept the hull planking. We mustestablish the position for the wales first. This isnot difficult to find. The 9 station templates canbe used to mark the bottom edge of the walesalong the hull.

Sheet one of the blueprints has the body plan. Itincludes the location for the wales. Position thetemplates on top of the body plan and draw a ref-erence line to indicate the bottom of the wales.See the photo below (left). These referencepoints should be transferred onto the hull. Aflexible wooden strip (batten) can be placedalong these reference points. Hold it in placetemporarily with some small pins. See the photobelow right. Check the hull at various angles toensure that this batten has no unsightly dips orrises as it runs from bow to stern. Any correc-tions should be made now before we begin carving . When you are satisfied with its position,draw a pencil line down the entire length asshown in the same photo. Repeat this procedureon the other side of the hull. The hull can nowbe carved to a depth of 1/16” above this reference line.

Reference for the bottom of the wales

I used two types of Xacto blades to carve thehull above the wales. I used the standard #11blade and a flat blade (#17) for all of this hullshaving. I characterize this process as shavingrather than carving. I will do my best to describethis process in writing. See the photo below forthe two Xacto blades used.

Carving this “ledge” into the hull is a slowprocess, but it is not difficult. It should look likethe hull as shown in the 3 photographs on thispage. To carve this “ledge” use the standardpointed #11 blade to score along the reference

line you just created. Score it to a depth of 1/16”.We will be using the same sized planks for thehull that we will use for the deck. Begin removingthe wood up to this scored line by shaving smallamounts of wood at a time. This can be donewhile still using the #11 blade.

After you have defined this “ledge”, remove thewood above it with the #17 blade . Slowly workfrom mid ship towards the bow. Then turn thehull around and shave from mid ship towards thestern. Remember to only remove small slices ofwood with each pass of the blade. Always carvewith the grain.

The entire surface of the hull should be sandedsmooth when you are finished. Use the templates again to ensure that the hull has thecorrect shape. There should be a consistent1/16” of space between the template and the hullabove the wales. Sure, this does take sometime to do, but I assure you it will be worth it.

First Plank

Plank Bending Jig

Planking the Hull...

We are almost ready to plank the hull. I like todouble-check the shape of the hull one moretime before I commit to planking it. Photo copythe deck layout from the blueprints. Cut out eachdeck as shown in the photo above. As you cansee, the cap rail was left on the deck layoutswhen I glued them onto the model. Rubbercement was used to hold the templates in place.The edge planks for the forecastle and quarterdeck were left on the template for the main deck.An additional plank will be added to the face ofeach step lengthening each of them. The sameis true for the raised deck at the stern. The edge

plank for that area was left on the quarter deck’stemplate. This will all make sense when weplank the deck. The real reason for doing this isto see that the outside shape of the hull is correct. You will be surprised how much addi-tional wood may need to be removed. Thesetemplates should fit perfectly to the edge of eachdeck where the bulwarks will be located.

When you are satisfied with all of this checkingand re-checking, you can start planking the hull.As mentioned earlier, the basswood strips are1/16” thick x 1/8” wide. The curve at the bow isquite extreme. I wouldn’t attempt to bend thewood strips as you are gluing them to the hull.They might break while under the stress of thebend. Its easier to pre-form this curve with theuse of a jig. The jig is shown in the accompa-nying photo. As you can see, it is a very simplejig. Soak the wood strips for about 15 minutes.Then carefully and slowly bend them into the jig.When they dry, the strips will maintain the curveyou created. The white paper glued to the sur-face of the jig was traced from the deck layout.It represents the curve of the bow at deck level.I was able to pre-form 4 strips at a time in thisjig.

With an ample supply of pre-formed plankingstrips, you can start gluing them onto the hull.Instead of cutting them into smaller lengths, youcan glue one continuous strip from bow to stern.Place it along the ledge you carved into the hull’sside. The individual plank lengths are simulated.I drew some reference lines onto each side ofthe hull. The lines were spaced 10mm apart.The first line was drawn at station #4. You cansee these lines in the photo on the previouspage. After each strip was firmly in place, I tookthe flat edged (#17) Xacto blade and scoredeach strip at specific intervals along the plank.Each plank segment was 6 reference lines inlength. When this was finished, I glued the nextstrip onto the hull.

This is a very effective method for smaller mod-els. It is by no means the only way to achieve asatisfactory result. It is just as easy to cut theplanks to their actual lengths before you gluethem into place. However, one continuous stripwill make the creation of the bulwarks much easier. This will make more sense as you readthrough the next few paragraphs.

As you can see in the photo below, the simulat-ed joints look just fine. Work your way up thehull until you get to the surface of the deck at midship. Make sure that you scribe these simulatedjoints into each strip before moving ahead to thenext one. When you get to the planking strip atthe deck level, it should extend above the deck’ssurface. See the diagram above that my daugh-ter was kind enough to color in with somecrayons. You can see the arrow pointing to theplank that extends above the decks surface.

Using one continuousstrip makes it easier tocreate the bulwarks forthe bow and quarterdeck.

After you glue thisplank into position, itwill be time to place thefirst plank on the insideof the bulwarks. Theoverlap should giveyou enough surfacearea to glue this plankonto it. Notice howthey follow the contourof the hull’s shape.

After the glue for this plank dries, place the nextstrip on the outside of the hull. Continue in this fashion until you have reached the desired bulwark height. Always remember to alternateone strip on the outside of the hull followed byanother on the inside of the bulwarks. As longas you maintain the overlap with each plank, theprocess should go smoothly. Take the measure-ments for the bulwark height from the plans.

Remember to add an extra 1/16” to this meas-urement because we haven’t added the deckplanking yet. The deck planking will be 1/16”thick. See the photo below which shows oneside of the hull planked. Also note how the plankjoints were staggered from row to row. This is inkeeping with the planking techniques employedduring that time period. Sand the top of the bul-warks to the correct shape afterwards.

SolidHull

Overlap the plank jointsto create the bulwarks

Some of you might be wondering why I didn’tplank the entire model. If you wanted to do thisit would have been just fine. There are truly nolimits to how far you can “bash” a kit. I just keepreminding myself, “if I was going to modify this kitto such an extent, I might as well have built themodel from scratch”. So I back off just a littlebit. The results are still leaps and bounds betterthan a model straight out of the box. I don’t wantany of you to hold back if you see something thatyou absolutely must modify. The beauty of thishobby is that there are no set guidelines.

I also prefer the bottom of the hull be smoothwhen finished. It creates a nice contrast with thetexture of the planking above it. Once painted,the bottom of the hull really shows the lovelyshape of this schooner. This is my own personalpreference but I hope you will agree.

With that said, I will turn to the art of trunnelmaking. Instead of making wooden trunnels, Ichose to use a different technique. After the hullwas planked, I drilled a series of holes for thetrunnels. You can see the locations in the photobelow. Then I filled the holes with some Elmer’swood filler. I thinned the wood filler (which iswater-based) down with some water. Then Ismeared it into each trunnel hole with my fingers.When the filler was dry, I sanded the sides of thehull. The effect is quite good, and I believe onpar with the time-consuming method of produc-ing wooden trunnels. If ever there was a projectto try this technique, the Sultana kit is the perfectchoice. The counter was also planked and trun-neled. See the photo above. I sanded the hullsmooth and stained it. I used MinWax Golden

Oak stain. I prefer the golden hue over othercolors. I hope you will agree that all of the hullcarving was worth it. The model will look muchbetter this way. It has a much richer look. Iwouldn’t have been satisfied after painting thehull with some yellow ochre acrylic paint.

I did paint the hull below the planking. It waspainted white. The white paint simulates the tal-low that was used to protect the wood below thewaterline. This was the first of what will end upbeing many, many coats of paint. I will sand the bottom of the hull with sandpaper between eachcoat. If the white is too stark for your tastes,then stain can be applied over it and buffed off.This reduces the brightness of the white paint.When painting the bottom of the hull be sure tothin the paint before you use it. When the paintis too thick it leaves heavy brush strokes.Sanding between coats will help prevent this.

Keel, Stem and Sternpost...

The stem will be added first. The measurementsand shape of the stem can be traced from theblueprints. The tracing should be transferred to apiece of wood that is large enough to fit its shape.The wood should be 4mm thick. I am using thebasswood strips that came supplied with the kit.Three pieces of this strip were glued together so Iwould have enough surface area to work with.See the photo above (left). The stem was cut outwith a sharp #11 Xacto blade. A scroll saw couldalso be used for this and would probably cut yourworking time down significantly. The stem wastest fit on the hull and adjustments were madewith some sandpaper. When I was satisfied withhow the stem fit, it was tapered to 3mm thick onits outside edge. This feature is shown on theplans. In my opinion the taper shown on theplans is to severe. The taper I gave the stemwas less pronounced.

Before I glued it onto the hull, the slot for thebowsprit gammoning was drilled through it. Itwas much easier to do this while the stem wasoff the model. The hole for the bobstay was alsodrilled at this time.

After gluing it to the hull, the keel was cut tolength from a piece of 4mm x 4mm basswoodstrip supplied with the kit. Then the sternpostwas shaped and added after the keel was gluedonto the model. The sternpost needed to be cutfrom a larger piece of wood (still 4mm thick)because it is wider at its base than it is near thecounter.

When all of the pieces were glued permanentlyto the hull, they were sanded smooth. The bot-tom of the hull was also sanded again. It was allpainted white. Several more thin coats of whiteacrylic paint were used. When I was happy withthat finish, the topsides were also resanded andrestained. See the photo below.

The Transom...

Now that the planking is completed we can turnour attention to the transom. The hole for therudder will be drilled before we begin. The rud-der will follow the angle created by the sternpost. This hole must be drilled through at thesame angle. Draw the shape of this hole ontothe counter. See the photo above. Use a drill bitsmaller than the hole’s actual size. I used a typical cordless drill. The bit used was extralong. I happened to have a drill bit that was 6”long. the extra length allowed me to follow thecorrect angle along the stern post without the drillgetting in the way. The hole was cleaned up withsome needle files afterwards. It was filed tomatch the shape of the hole as originally drawn.

I examined the drawing of the transom shown onthe plans. It is a safe representation of the tran-som for the Sultana. I have seen several differ-ent interpretations during my research. Some

were quite elaborate. They had carved scrollsand fancy molding. I decided to stick with amore cautious rendition. I will make the transomsimilar to the replica in Maryland.

I photocopied the transom from the plans. Thecopy was taped to the model to check its fit. Thewidth of the transom was correct. However theheight was not. A second copy of the transomwas altered as shown above. The height wasextended by 3/16”. The altered transom wasalso test fit on the model. I was happy with howit looked. The photo below shows the templatetaped to the model. You can see that I alsoaltered the height of the curved areas aboveeach window. Several more copies of thealtered transom were made. We will need themduring the next few steps.

The transom was made from two layers of 1/32”basswood sheet. To create the first layer, tape acopy of the template to a sheet of wood asshown in the photo below. Cut each window outwith a sharp blade (including the window frame

New lines added to increase the transom height.

molding). Then cut the entire transom free fromthe sheet by scoring it along the outside edge.

The second layer was made from a new sheet inthe same manner. However, this layer only hasthe three larger shapes removed. See the photobelow that shows the second layer glued intoposition. They will not be glued together at thistime. The window frames need to be createdfirst.

I wanted the windows to appear more realistic onthe model. I didn’t want to paint them onto thetransom. I wanted the window panes to appearmore glass-like. I took a sheet of clear acetateand placed it on top of a drawing of the transom.Using some automotive pinstripe tape, I placedsome thin strips on top of the window molding.The automotive pinstripe tape comes in many dif-ferent colors and widths. It is self adhesive andmade of a strong nylon material. The tape I usedwas 1/8” wide. I cut the tape into small strips.Each strip was less than 1mm wide. See thephoto (right) for details. I placed a green piece ofpaper under the film so it would show more clear-ly in the photograph.

The first layer of the transom was placed on topof this film to check the position of the windows.See the photo below. When I was satisfied Ipainted the reverse side of the acetate black.When viewed from the front side it reflected thelight nicely. This is difficult to see in the photos,but I am sure you will like the results. Theacetate was trimmed closer to the window framesand glued to the back of first transom layer. This

first layer was then glued onto the model. Thesecond layer was glued into position afterwards.If I had glued the second layer onto the first onebefore it was placed onto the model, it may havebeen to thick. I was afraid it would have beentoo difficult to bend the entire assembly to theshape of the transom. The transom has a distinct convex curve and there isn’t much surface area for the glue to take hold (especiallyalong the bulwarks).

The transom is not completed yet. There is stillsome work to be done. The photo below showshow it looks up to this point. The transom wasstained and the overall shape was adjusted withsome sandpaper.

A basswood strip was glued to the edge of the transom for the cap rail. It was a kit-suppliedstrip that was 4mm wide and 1mm thick. Thewood was soaked for 15 minutes and bent toshape. A small overhang was left on the outboard side of the transom when I glued it intoplace. No overhang was made inboard. The caprail was sanded and painted black. See thephoto above.

The two molding strips shown in the photo(above) were added next. They were very thinstrips of wood that came supplied with the kit.The wood was very dry and rough. They neededto be sanded and stained before being used.They were eventually painted black but the stainkept the wood strips from becoming to stringy.

They were painted before they were glued ontothe model.

To make the stern a little more interesting, Iadded some trim as shown in the first photo. Amanila office folder was used. I often use thesefolders for trim on my models. The color is veryconsistent with the wood being used. Thin stripswere cut from the folder. The strips were stainedthe same color as the transom. They werestained before I glued them onto the model. Theglue changes the porosity of the paper folder andcauses the stain to set unevenly. If done first,the strips will take the stain beautifully. The cen-ter of these framed panels were painted black. Ifinished the transom by staining the pinstripetape (window frames) as well.

Cap was added with overhang outboard Molding strips added

Trim added forextra detail

Fashion pieceWales

The wales...

The wales were added next. Wooden strips areincluded with the kit. They are 4 mm wide and 1 mm thick. The strips were soaked in water andpre-formed in the plank bending jig. The fashionpieces were also shaped from thismaterial. You can see the fashion piece in thephoto on the previous page. The fashion pieceswere glued onto the hull first. Then the waleswere glued into position afterwards.

Some people may find it easier to paint the walesand fashion pieces before gluing them onto themodel. These photos can be misleading. Themodel is not very large and painting the walesneatly is a challenge. I am much to lazy to maskout the surrounding areas. I must admit thatsome times I can’t wait to glue them onto themodel. I can’t fight the urge to see how themodel will look with these elements in place.However, I often regret my impatience when itcomes time to paint them.

The Cap Rail...

The bulwarks were painted red prior to creatingand installing the cap rail. The cap rail was cutfrom a sheet of basswood that was 1/32” thick. Ibought it at a local hobby shop. It was 6” wideand 12” long. This was not supplied with the kit.I find it much easier to create the cap rail from asheet rather than bend a strip to the hull’s shape.Simply place the hull (deck-side down) on top ofthe basswood sheet. Press the sheet firmlyagainst the hull and trace the outline of its shape.Measure the width of the cap rail from the plans.The cap rail will be 4mm wide. I drew anotherline on the inside of the traced outline keepingthem a distance of 4mm apart.

Each section of the cap rail was cut free with asharp #11 blade. I cut outside of the referencelines producing a larger unfinished rail that wasabout 6mm wide. I sanded it to the correct widthafter I glued it to the top of the bulwarks.

Another view of the wales in place

Finished cap rail Unfinished cap rail

There will be a slight overhang inboard and out-board. Keep this in mind while sanding the caprail to it’s finished width. I rounded the edges ofthe rail with some sandpaper before paintingthem black. The edges should not be left sharp.

When completed, add a 1/32” x 1/32” strip ofmolding as shown in the photo above. It willneed to be glued into place before we can addthe decorative scrolls in the next step. Blend theend of this molding into the small section of caprail as shown. It should be sanded so the seambetween the two is not visible.

Decorative scrolls (Volutes)...

The scrolls can be created in many differentways. It is unfortunate that this detail is not men-tioned in the kit-supplied instructions. The scrollsare very important to the look of the finishedmodel and require careful attention. Normally Iwould carve these details out of pearwood orbasswood. I have a variety of micro chisels

bought over the years. But these scrolls are tiny.Really Tiny. So I thought another techniquewould work even better. I will create the scrollsout of Sculpey. Sculpey is a clay that hardensafter placed in the oven for 15 minutes at 275degrees. It is readily available at most hobbyand craft stores. Sculpey is inexpensive andcomes in many colors. I chose a tan color thatclosely resembled unfinished wood.

I have never used Sculpey on a model beforeand wanted to give it a try. After some experi-mentation, this is how the scrolls were made. Iworked the clay with my fingers until it becamesoft. Then I rolled it into a tube-like string by rubbing it across a flat surface with my finger.Wax paper helped to keep the Sculpey fromsticking. See the photo above for details. Thetube was rolled into a scroll very easily. It waslike baking miniature sticky buns. You will needtwelve scrolls for the Sultana. Half of themshould be made going clockwise. The other halfshould go counter clockwise.

Molding strip

Sculpey scrolls before being baked

Sculpey scrolls completed

Scrolls are glued into placeinboard and outboard

Gap between them was filledwith Elmers wood filler

Blend the strip here with sandpaper so the seam is not visible

After thirty minutes I had made 20 small scrolls. Imade a few extra just in case. They were placedinto a pre-heated oven for 15 minutes at 275degrees. When the scrolls cured they weren’t theconsistency and texture I had imagined. Theywere somewhat rubbery and flexible. This wasOK with me. They looked just great. Had Idecided to carve them out of wood, the first scrollstill wouldn’t be finished. It would have taken medays to carve the 12 scrolls out of wood. I con-sider myself to be an experienced wood carverbut I don’t think they would have looked as niceas the Sculpey scrolls.

I picked the best looking scrolls from the litter andglued them onto the model. See the photo onthe previous page for details. They were placedinboard and outboard. The flexibility of theSculpey made it easy to work the scrolls intoposition. There will be a space between the twoscrolls that should be filled. I used some Elmerswood filler for this. They were sanded when dry.I used very fine sandpaper to blend the scrollsinto the surrounding areas so the seams wouldnot be noticeable.

When I was satisfied with the results, I paintedthe cap rail and scrolls black. Four or five coatsof thinned acrylic paint were used. I sandedbetween each coat which also helped to concealany seams between all of these elements.

Quarter Badges...

The quarter badges were also made fromSculpey. They were a little more difficult to makethan the volutes. I wanted to add many detailsbut their small size made it a challenge. I creat-ed some home made tools while experimenting

with the badges. Small diameter wooden dowelswere sanded to a sharp point. These dowelswere used like a pencil to sculpt the clay. I foundit was easier to take small pieces of Sculpey andadd it to the badge a portion at a time. The additional clay was pushed and molded with thepoint of the wooden dowels until I was satisfied.

The quarter badge were sculpted on top of aphotocopy I made from the plans. This helpedme keep the badges at their correct scale andshape. With a little more practice these badgeswould have turned out even better.

The windows were made the same way as thethose for the stern. Automotive pinstripe tapewas adhered to a clear acetate sheet. Thereverse side of the acetate was painted black. Itwas glued behind the completed quarter badgeand placed onto the model. (see below)The same photo also shows the double beadmolding that I added to the hull. The breaks inrun of the molding are where the channels will belocated. The channels will be added later. Thebeaded molding could have been made fromscratch but I bought it from a local hobby shop.

SculpeyQuarterBadges

Before Moving Ahead...

A hole needs to be made on deck. This willbe used for the ladder of the only open hatchon the model. Adding more details to modelnow would make it more difficult to create. Iintend to mount the rudder next and wouldn’twant it to get damaged.

The hole was made using the cutting bitshown in the photo (above). It was placedinto the flexible shaft of my Dremel. Thewood was extremely soft. It didn’t take verylong to cut this hole to a depth of 1”. Thehole was made slightly larger than the actualsize of the hatch. This made an awful mess.The corners were squared off with some needle files.

Cuttingbit used

1A

Note:Carveddetail

Pintles

Gudgeons

1B 2 3

Depth of1 1/4”

Making the Rudder...

The rudder was traced from the plans and trans-ferred to a piece of wood. The wood suppliedwith the kit was 4mm thick. The rudder as shownon the plans, lacks many details. The drawing isvery crude. I researched different rudder stylesfor a schooner of this size and time period. Ihave a copy of Harold Hahn’s “The ColonialAmerican Schooner”. There were several photosthat showed the rudder for his model of theschooner Halifax. This is the design I chose toreplicate.

The photos (1A & 1B) below show the rudderafter I cut it from the wood with a sharp #11blade. It was sanded to shape afterwards. Thecarved detail in the same photos was carved withthe same #11 blade. Make sure the rudder islong enough so it will protrude through the holeon deck. It should extend 5/16” above the deck’ssurface. Before you add any more details, testthe rudder on the model to see how it will fit.The rudder hole should be large enough that therudder can swing naturally after it is mounted.Make the rudder hole larger if you need to.

Photo 2 shows some molding that I used tocreate a rabbet down the face of the rudder. Thisis a nice little detail that was common on ruddersat this time, especially the schooners intended tobe used for pleasure.

The rudder is attached to the stern post withhinges called “pintles and gudgeons”. These arethe two halves of each hinge. The pintle beingthat which is attached to the rudder and the gud-geon is attached to the hull.

The kit-supplied instructions suggest that theycan be made from cardboard. This simply won’tdo the job. It also says that the brass strip sup-plied with the kit can be used. This strip is a littlewide and out of scale to be seriously considered.I purchased some sheets of copper years agoand have enough to last me a lifetime. I havemany thicknesses available. I chose an appropri-ate thickness and will use it to create the gud-geons and pintles. Unfortunately, you will needto buy some sheets of raw material or strips ofbrass at the correct scale I cut the copper sheetinto strips about 1/32” wide as measured fromthe blue prints.

Photo #3 on the previous page shows the stepsfor creating the gudgeons and pintles. The cop-per strips are thin enough so they can be bentover a piece of 22 gauge wire. Six strips werebent over the wire as shown in the photo. Thesix strips were then bent around a block of woodthat was the same thickness as the rudder. Thiscreated the final shape for our gudgeons and pin-tles. They are identical except the pintles willhave a small length of 22 gauge wire glued intoplace.

Gudgeons

This is the only

gudgeon toextend onto

the hull

Pintles

The rudder was painted white below the water-line. I painted the first coat before gluing the pin-tles into position. The pintles were glued ontothe rudder at a right angle to the inside edge ofthe rudder. This angle is clearly shown on theplans and in the photo above. You can also seethat I simulated the heads of the iron nails secur-ing the pintles to the rudder. I took a piece of the22 gauge wire and dipped it into some superglue (cyanacrylate). Carefully place a small dropof glue onto each pintle. it will dry in the shape ofa droplet. Try to space these drops an equal dis-tance apart. Once they are painted the dropswill look like the heads of iron nails.

I decided to paint the gudgeons and pintleswhite. You could also paint them black. Thisdecision was based on my own tastes. I am nothere to debate historical accuracy. Either colorwill do the trick.

The gudgeons were gingerly coaxed into positionon the rudder assembly. The photo above (left)shows the completed assembly. It was test fit onthe model. As you can see in the same photo,the gudgeons were left longer than needed.The finished assembly can be test fit on the hulland the lengths for each gudgeon measured andmarked. You will notice in the photo above(right) that the bottom gudgeon is the only onethat was extended onto the hull. The top twowere only made long enough to cover the stern

post. These were cut to length with scissorsbecause the copper wasn’t very thick. Glue therudder assembly to the hull being careful to prop-erly line up the three gudgeons. Keep themevenly spaced and angled and don’t use toomuch glue. Paint the gudgeons white and touchup the pintles to finish this step. The simulatednails were also added to the gudgeons beforethey were painted.

Deck Planking...

It is time to turn our attention to the deck plank-ing. The decks will be planked with basswood.The strips are 1/16” thick by 1/8” wide. Theplanks would have been 8” wide on the full-sizedship. This was the typical width for deck plank-ing during the mid 18th century. The pre-scribedplanking sheet that comes with the kit is not thecorrect scale. Each plank would be only 3 to 4inches wide on the actual ship. That is why weare not going to use it. Planking the deck withindividual strips will look better and the treenail-ing will be a lot easier.

The face planks and edge planks should beplaced on the model before we start planking thedecks. The face planks were added first. Theywere positioned on the face of each deck break.See the photo above which shows the face plankat the stern. You will need to apply some pressure to the ends of this plank so it will

conform to the camber of the deck. These planksare also 1/16” thick.

After the face plank was glued into place theedge plank was positioned on top of it. The plankshould hang over the edge a little bit. The edgeof the plank that hangs over the deck should berounded off with some sandpaper.

The deck can now be planked as shown in thephoto above (right). Notice how the rudder holewas defined by cutting the planks at an angle.The best way to plank each deck is to start at thecenter line. Place a strip on both sides of it. Youcan see this line in the same photos. Worktowards the bulwarks from the center line. Youcould also run a pencil down the side of eachplank before you glue it into position. The dark-ened edge simulates the caulking that was placedbetween the planks on the real ship. I opted notto do this because I prefer a less uniform appear-ance. You should experiment with different waysto show the caulked seams. Some folks like touse a black sharpie marker on one side of eachplank. The results are a little dark for my tastes.

The position for all of the hatches were drawnonto the deck for reference. The measurementsfor the hatches were taken from the plans. Theywere drawn to the outside edge of the coamings.

The deck was stained the same color as the hullplanking. It was treenailed (trunnels) using the

Face plank stained

Edge plank stained

Face planks painted red

Edge plank stained

same technique we used for the hull planking.Holes were drilled and filled afterwards withsome Elmer’s wood filler. Sand it smooth andapply your stain. When the aft deck is finishedcontinue working your way towards the bow.The quarter deck was planked the same way.This deck has two hatch coamings and is muchlarger. There are some extra details worth mentioning. First, the face planks will be paint-ed red to match the bulwarks. See the photoabove for details. The edge plank will also havea notch cut out of it. The plans show the forwardhatch set into the edge plank. The 1/8” wideplank should be notched as shown in the samephoto. The width of this notch was 1/16” (or halfthe overall width of the edge plank).

Edge plank stained. Note that it isnotched for the hatch coaming.

Face planks painted red.

In addition to these details, the deck plankingwas laid down in staggered lengths. Use thesame technique we used to establish the buttjoints for the hull planking. Score each plankbefor you glue the next one into position. Theplacements of the joints are clearly shown in thephoto above (right). I also drilled the holes forthe trunnels before moving ahead to plank thedeck at mid ship. It helps break up these mundane tasks into smaller ones that are more tolerable. Each deck was sanded, trunneled andstained before I moved on to the next one. Ipainted all the hatches black at this time. Whenwe place the gratings over these areas, the black

1/32” x 1/32” cut as shown diagonally

Tool used to give the waterway its concave shape

Joggling into the margin plank

Margin plankthat will accept

the joggled deck planks

Waterway completed on the model

Note the concave shape

paint will help hide the fact that this is a solid hullmodel with no internal structure. Planking thedeck at mid ship should be routine at this point.The face planks and edge planks were glued into position at the bow. See the photo on the previous page. Then the deck can be completedas were the others.

The deck at the bow will need some extra attention. The deck planks would have been joggled into a “margin plank”. The margin plankshould be glued into position first. It was cut froma basswood sheet that was 1/16” thick. I usedthe same technique that was used to create thecap rail at the bow. Trace the overall shape of

the bow by turning the hull upside down on the basswood sheet. The margin plank will be 1/8”wide and glued down in one piece. The notchesfor the joggled planks will be cut after the marginplank is glued in position. As before, start plank-ing at the center line and work your way towardsthe bulwarks. Only the last four planks need tobe joggled into the margin plank. The photosabove show how this was done. I cut the for-ward edge of the plank into its joggled shape.Then I placed it over the margin plank as shownand traced the notch onto it. Using a sharp # 11blade, I cut the notch into the margin plank.When you are satisfied with how the plank fits,glue it into position. After you treenail the deck,

sand it smooth and apply your wood.

The waterway was added to the model next. It isshown in the photo below. The waterway shouldhave a concave shape as it rests along the bul-warks. The waterway was made out of a strip ofbasswood that was 1/32” x 1/32”. It was shavedto the profile shown in the diagram on the previous page. The waterway does not yet havethe concave shape desired. It was still gluedonto the model as is. Once in place, I used atool to create the concave shape. This tool ispictured on the same page. It is normally used tosculpt clay. I used it to help create the Sculpeyquarter badges. They come in a variety of sizes.You can find them at any craft store in close proximity to where the clay and Sculpey are displayed.

The metal ball on the end of this tool was used to burnish the waterway into its concave shape.Slowly run the tool down the waterway whileapplying some pressure. It will literally crush thebasswood waterway into the correct shape.Remember, the wood is extremely soft and canbe easily manipulated into shape.

Drilling the Scuppers...

This would be a good time to drill the scuppersinto the hull. In addition to that we might as welldrill the holes for the two masts. The scuppersallow water to drain from the decks. There willbe five scuppers on each side of the hull. Thephoto above shows the locations for all of them.The scupper holes were drilled with a 1/32” drillbit. The holes were not drilled all the waythrough the bulwarks. The scuppers are onlysimulated. Each of the holes were drilled to adepth of about 1/16”. They weren’t deep enoughto penetrate through the other side. The scuppers along the waterway were treated thesame way. They were drilled partially through thebulwarks at a sloping angle. Pay careful attention to line the scupper inboard with its corresponding partner on the outside of the hull.The holes may have some frayed edges after youdrill them. If this happens they can be cleanedup quite easily. Take a wooden dowel that is

1/16” in diameter. Sand one end of the dowelinto a blunt point. You can put this point intoeach hole and twist the dowel quickly to removethe frayed wood. It leaves a much cleaner edge.You can also run a pencil into each hole to darken it. The scuppers would have been linedwith lead and the pencil does a good job of simulating the appropriate finish.

The holes for the two masts were also drilled atthis time. The position for each of them wastaken from the plans. Choose an appropriatesized bit and carefully drill the holes. The kit-supplied instructions has a diagram that showsyou how to build a small jig. The jig will help youdrill the holes at the correct angle. The mastsrake significantly towards the stern as you cansee on the plans. (See page 8, fig.10)

The Hatches...

The next task I wanted to tackle was the completion of the hatch coamings and gratings.I will be discarding the kit-supplied metal castingin favor of building them out of wood. The samemethods will be used for all of them. The firstthing I did was install the coamings (frames) forall of the hatches. I used a strip of basswoodthat was 3/16” wide and 1/32” thick. The stripswere cut to the appropriate lengths and gluedinto position as shown in the photo on the nextpage. Simply glue the strips along the insideedge of each hatch. Normally the corners forthe coamings would either be mitered or have

Scuppers drilled into the hull

lap joints. Since I will be painting the coamingsred to match the bulwarks this detail will not be necessary. You can glue another piece of 1/16” x 1/32” strip along the inside of the finishedcoaming to create a ledge for the grating to sitatop. I found that the grating fit tight enough thatthis ledge was not necessary. I only created theledge for the main hatch which will have aplanked cover rather than a grating. You can seethat ledge in the photo below.

The gratings were not made from scratch. I used some grating strips that were purchasedfrom Model Expo. The Model Expo part numberis MS2873. These finished gratings are veryclose to the correct scale. I could have madethem from scratch but only two packages of grating strips were needed. Sometimes it doesn’tpay to build an item from scratch when there are perfectly suitable alternatives available. The grating strips if made from scratch wouldn’t havebeen any different than those purchased. In thiscase the time saved was more valuable. Thehatch just aft of the windlass should be altered asshown in the photo above. The forward corners

of the grating were removed so there wasenough room for the anchor cables to fitthrough. The anchor cables will enter theselarger holes after being wrapped around thewindlass drum.

The main hatch will be built the same way. Asmentioned earlier, the only difference will be thegrating is replaced with planks (cover boards).There will be 5 planks. A ledge was createdinside the coaming for these boards to restupon. Use 1/32” x 1/8” basswood strips to cre-ate the ledge inside the coaming. Before Iglued the cover boards onto the hatch, the eyebolts and rings were added first. The eyebolts have small rings used as handles. Thesewere made from 28 gauge black wire. I usedneedle-nosed pliers to shape them. They arevery tiny and it takes some practice to createthem efficiently. After you make a few eye boltsand rings you should get the hang of it. Therings should be placed into the eye bolts. Gluethese into pre-drilled holes on each side of thecover boards. See the photos below for details.

Grating strips and hatch under construction Completed hatches with gratings

Hatch just aft of thewindlass

A ledge is created for planks to be set on top of. Eye bolts and rings made from 28 gauge wire.

will need. You will have to consider the width ofthe runners in you calculations. Cut your steps to the appropriate length. When the steps havebeen made you can glue the entire assemblytogether. I used super glue. The completed ladder will be somewhat delicate so handle it with care. It should be sanded to remove anyexcess glue. The ladder can be stained andplaced into position on the model. See the photos above for more details. All of the hatchesare now completed. The photo below shows the project as it stands thus far.

Kit Supplied Blocks...

I would like to say a few words about the kit supplied blocks. We will soon need these for multiple tasks. Most of the kits available commercially contain blocks that are very squareand unattractive. The Sultana kit from ModelShipways is no exception. It is very tedious tocreate the blocks from scratch in the quantities

Making the Ladder for the Hatch...

The ladder for the hatch was made from a strip ofbasswood. The strip was 1/32” thick. To makethe ladder easier to build I have provided a tem-plate above. Simply print out this page and use itto create the runners for the ladder. Place abasswood strip on top of the template and drawsome reference for each step. These are shownas dashed red lines on the template. There is aleft and right pair shown on the template. Thetemplate will ensure that the steps are positionedat the correct angle. I used a hobby saw withvery fine teeth to carefully create the mortises foreach step. Only a few passes along each reference line are needed to score each mortiseto the correct depth.

The steps were cut from the same sized basswood strip. The finished width of the laddershould fit snugly into the hatchway. Measure theopening of your hatch to establish the width you

Use the template below

to create theladder for your

model.

The completedladder.

needed. This is especially difficult at the requiredscale. There are single and double blocks thatare only 3mm long. It is possible to make thesefrom scratch but the task is not very enjoyable.So rather than discuss the techniques used tomake them from scratch, I will suggest you modify those provided with the kit. The endresults might just surprise you.

The photo above shows a single and doubleblock that have been modified. It also shows apair of blocks that have not been altered. Someof you may not see a big difference betweeneach pair. If that’s the case, you don’t have tospend any time making adjustments. I hold ablock between my thumb and fore finger andsand it to the shape shown. The blocks need tobe rounded and not square. There shouldn’t be any hard edges. The grooves for the simulated sheaves were touched up as well. The fine-toothed saw blade we used earlier wasrun through each groove several times. It cleansthem up and makes them more defined. Theholes for the sheaves may also need to beredrilled. This may seem like a lot of work but itmakes a big difference to me. I didn’t modifythese blocks in one sitting. That is not my idea

of fun. Each block is modified as they are need-ed. They will be stained a “Golden Oak” whencompleted.

There are a couple of commercial sources thatmake excellent blocks. You can buy them in avariety of sizes. They are: Bluejacket ShipCrafters (www.bluejacketinc.com) and TheLumberyard for Model Shipwrights (www.dlum-beryard.com). Keep in mind that buying goodquality blocks online can get expensive quickly.

You might be asking yourself why I am spendingso much time on this subject. When you look ata ship model, the blocks are a tell-tale sign of amodeler’s skill level. To the trained eye theseblocks are a dead give away as to whether themodel was built from scratch or not. In the end,only you can decide if this is important.Throughout this project other situations will betalked about. Should you make your own rope?Should you carve your own cleats? The list isendless. My goal is to make this ship model so it looks as if it was made from scratch. The proofis in the pudding and I will let you decide.

Traveler Rod for the Boom Sheet...

The traveler rod is used to secure a double block.This double block is used for the boom sheet.It’s location varies depending on which set ofplans you happen to be looking at. In fact, theplans for the Model Shipways kit show the raveler positioned as shown in the photographs(left). However, the kit-supplied instructions suggest that it should be placed on deck. I amalso using the rigging plans by Howard Chapelle,Portia Takakjian and Karl Heinz Marquardt as reference. All of these plans have drastic contradictions. For the most part, I will be

Modified blocksKit supplied

blocksKit supplied

blocksModified blocks

Traveler rod for the boom sheet installed.

STEP 2: I created the legs and base for the bin-nacle. Use a strip of basswood that is 1/32” thickand 1/16” wide. The base of the binnacle has avery pleasing scalloped edge. Cut two pieces tolength for the front and back of the binnacle.Rather than shape them while off of the binnacle,I found it easier to do so after they were glued inplace. Draw the design onto each strip beforeyou glue them on. Two more strips were cut tolength and glued into position on each side of thebinnacle.

The corners weren’t mitered because after agood sanding the binnacle will be painted. Withall four strips glued into position the scallopeddesign was sanded to shape. I used a combina-tion of needle files and fine sandpaper wrappedaround a drill bit. See the photo above for thedetails of step 2 completed.

sticking with the kit-supplied plans. The informa-tion they are based upon are said to be the mostup-to-date and reliable. Even so, I will make afew changes which will be discussed later.

The traveler rod was made from 22 gauge blackwire. Take the measurement from the plans forits length. It should be glued into two pre-drilledholes. But before you glue it into position a double block needs to be stropped to it. Thisdouble block also needs to have two little brassnails placed into each side of it. The nails willobviously need to be shortened. This detail isshown on the rigging plan. The brass nails willbe painted black. The running end of the boomsheet will be belayed to one of these pins. Tiethe block to the traveler rod and glue it onto themodel. The photos on the previous page showhow it should look when finished.

The Binnacle…

The kit comes supplied with a metal casting of abinnacle. Since I am attempting to improve theoverall appearance of the model, I will not beusing it. This casting is not the correct size any-way. It is much too short and a little wide. I willbuild the binnacle from scratch using the planssupplied with the kit. The binnacle was paintedred when it was finished so the methodsdescribed take this into account. If you want tostain the binnacle, some minor changes may bewarranted. The plans show a brass bell mountedon top of the binnacle. I have decided to omitthis feature. It is unclear where the bell wasplaced on the Sultana if it had one at all. Thereplica in Maryland has the ship’s bell hangingfrom the aft side of the main mast. I am stillundecided as to whether or not I will include one.

STEP 1: I used a strip of basswood that was5mm x 5mm for the foundation of this binnacle.The binnacle is very small measuring just ½”wide and just as tall. I tried to add as much detailas possible. Cut a length of basswood ½” long.On top of this piece place two smaller cubes ofbasswood. See the photo above for the details.These smaller cubes are just under 3/16” long.Sand this assembly with some very fine sandpaper.

Step 1

Step 2

STEP 3: A 1mm x 1mm strip of basswood wasglued onto the binnacle to represent the moldingabove the base. After it was glued into place theedges were rounded off with some sandpaper.Another strip of 1/32” thick basswood was gluedinto position for the back of the compass com-partment. The back of the binnacle was sandedsmooth after applying some wood filler on theseams. I didn’t want to see any of the seams forthese various pieces after it was painted. Seethe photo above showing step 3 completed.

STEP 4: A 1/32” strip of basswood was used forthe top of the binnacle. There will be a slightover hang on all four sides. After I glued it intoplace I rounded the edges with some sandpaper.Then I added three strips of very thin basswoodto simulate the face of each drawer and cabinet.The strip was 0.5 mm thick. They were glued

into position as shown in the photo for step 4.The compass itself was made from a woodendowel of an appropriate diameter. I didn’t glue iton the binnacle yet because the inside of thecompass compartment will be painted black first.You could also cut a small square of acetate anduse it as the glass window for this compartment.I decided to omit this detail because I was afraidit would obscure the view of the compass. Thecompass was painted gold.

STEP 5: I drilled three small vent holes intoeach side of the binnacle. They are difficult tosee in the photo of step 5. It shows the binnacleplaced on deck. Once the holes were drilled theentire binnacle was sanded as smooth as possi-ble. I used some very fine sandpaper . Theinside of the compass compartment was paintedblack and the exterior painted red. Several thincoats were used until I was satisfied with theresults. Once the paint dried, four brass nailswere cut to length so the nail heads could beused as the drawer knobs. They were placedinto pre-drilled holes and painted black. The binnacle was lashed to the deck on both sides ofthe binnacle. Small eye bolts were made andglued into the sides of the binnacle. Two addi-tional eye bolts were glued into the deck. Thephoto shows the binnacle on deck before Irigged the lashing. I will be using tan rigging lineseized on both ends. Black line can also beused but in this one instance I thought the tanline would look even better. The rigging line supplied with the kit was used.

Step 3 Step 5

Step 4

Ladders to the Quarter Deck…

The plans show one step (port and starboard) foraccess to the quarter deck from the waist. Thisdetail is presented in a variety of ways dependingon the set of plans you have. It is a fact that theheight from the waist to the quarter deck is lessthan 20”. Only one step is needed. Yet someplans show two. Another has none. I havedecided to use one step. The MS plans showthis step located on the break of the two decks.There are no runners for them. They appear tobe mortised directly into the bulwarks and thebreak in the deck. I have decided to create apair of steps with runners instead. These areshown in the photo above. I have providedanother template should you agree with my opin-ion. This is a great example of why “kit bashing”is so wonderful. There are so many interpreta-

tions (plans developed by notable naval histori-ans) available for the Sultana that you can easilyproject your own style and vision.

Elm Tree Pumps…

The pumps will be made from scratch. Take alook at the kit supplied casting in the photo belowand there should be no debate as to why. Thepumps were very simple to make. Only four com-ponents were needed for each pump. The onlychallenge was trying to fabricate a matching pair.Make two of each part and complete them at thesame time. This will help ensure that the twopumps look alike. The main drum or “log” wasmade first. An appropriate sized dowel was cutto length. Take the measurements from theplans. I sanded these to an octagon shape. Log pumps were usually eight-sided. I scored

Use the template below

to create theladders for your

model.

Kit-supplied pumpScratch built pump Pump drum (log)

Bracket for pump handle

Spout for pump

Pump handle

each seam around the diameter of the log with a#11 blade. This will make the eight sides moredefined after they are stained. Some black auto-motive pinstripe tape was wrapped around eachpump. It will simulate the iron bands. The tapewas cut 1/32” wide. This iron band was placedabout 1/32” below the top of the pump.

A hole was drilled into the top of each pump. Itwas large enough that the pump walls looked thecorrect thickness. The hole was only drilled to adepth of 1/32”. I used a pencil to darken theinside of the hole. These pumps were sometimeslined with lead so I used a pencil to simulate thatfinish.

The brackets that hold the handles were madenext. You can see how they were shaped in thephoto. This shape was traced onto a strip ofbasswood 1/8” wide and 1/16” thick. They wereshaped with some files and sandpaper. The outside edges were rounded. A slot was madeon the top of each bracket to accept the pumphandle. I used my Xacto saw blade with fineteeth to carefully score the slot. The slots weremade wider by running some sandpaper throughthe each of them. The handles will be less than1/32” thick so the slots need to be wide enoughto accommodate them. Two small dots weredrawn onto the outside of these slots to simulatean iron pin. This pin would have allowed thepump handle to pivot up and down. Glue thebrackets onto the pump when you are finished.

The handles were made the same way. Tracethe shape onto a basswood strip that is 1/32”thick and 1/8” wide. Shape them with some filesand drill a small hole into the end of each handle.Some 28 gauge wire was shaped like an eye boltand inserted into this hole. See the photo on theprevious page for details.

The spout for each pump was made from a 2mmx 2mm strip of basswood. A tiny hole was drilledinto the end of each spout. They were gluedonto each pump at a right angles to the handle.They will be glued onto opposite sides of eachpump so they will face outboard after glued intoposition.

The Windlass…

The windlass was also supplied as a cast metalfitting. It’s not horrible but I decided to build onefrom scratch anyway. A windlass made out ofwood will have a much better finish. Iapproached building the windlass the same way Ido with all of my fittings. I break it down intosmaller components that will be easier to build.The photo above shows all of the windlass com-ponents before I assembled them. The firstpieces I built were for the windlass drum. Thiswas broken up into five segments.

The center sprocket was made first. I chose awooden dowel that was the proper diameter. Themeasurements were taken directly from the plans.I cut a small piece of the dowel to length and filedthe teeth into it. A small needle file was used.When it finished I painted it black and set it aside.

The two center portions of the drum were cut tolength. They will ultimately be glued onto bothsides of the black sprocket. Both were shapedwith some sandpaper. The windless drum shouldbe sanded into a hexagonal (six sided) shape.They are also tapered to a smaller diameter oneach end. It takes a little practice to keep theedges consistent and even. When they were fin-ished I drilled the small holes into it as they wereshown on the plans. You will notice that the

holes are square and not round. The holes arevery small and can’t be easily shaped with a # 11blade or files. So I took a nail and filed the tipsquare. I pushed it into each hole and appliedsome pressure. The wood was so soft that theholes conformed to the square shape desired.This is a very effective way to create holes of anyshape. The basswood I am using is extremelysoft.

The two outside sections of the drum were pre-pared exactly the same way. All four sectionswere stained. Then I used some pinstripe tape tosimulate the iron bands wrapped around them.They were cut into very thin strips like I havedescribed for other tasks earlier.

Finally, the two supports for the windlass drumwere traced from the plans. Some basswoodstrips were chosen that were the correct thick-ness (1/16”). I sanded them to shape being verycareful to create a matching pair. Both supportswere painted red. The entire windlass wasassembled afterwards and glued onto the model.I was very pleased with the results consideringhow easy it was to build. It was well worth discarding the windlass supplied with the kit.

Finishing Up the Deck Fittings…

There are only a few more fittings to complete.To start, the pawl for the windlass drum wasinstalled. The plans show the pawl simply bolted

to the edge plank on deck. I wasn’t satisfied withthis approach. Normally the pawl was insertedinto a post positioned in front of the drum’ssprocket gear. This was how I decide to modelthat feature. You can see the post painted red inphotos below. A small strip of brass was insertedinto a slit on the post.

The galley stack could have been built fromscratch. But after looking at the one suppliedwith the kit I decided to use it. The casting need-ed to be cleaned up with some sandpaper butoverall it was acceptable. As I mentioned previ-ously, sometimes the time saved is more valu-able than creating something from scratch. Inthis case, a scratch built stack would not haveturned out significantly different from the one kit-supplied. I painted it black and glued it into position.

The tiller was finally made and glued to the rudder head. See the photo above for details. I wanted to hold off on adding this as long as possible. It is vulnerable to breakage and has atendency to be pulled free after getting acciden-tally hooked on other items. It was simple tomake. I used a 2mm x 2mm strip of basswood.It should retain a square shape for the end thatconnects to the rudder. The other side wasrounded starting at about the center of its length.The tiller tapers to a very slender point. I placed asmall black bead on the tip of the tiller. Thesebeads are very inexpensive and can be bought atany arts and crafts store. They are normally usedto make necklaces and jewelry. I keep an amplesupply available in different sizes and colors.When I glued the tiller onto the rudder I wanted tostrengthen the joint. A small piece of 28 gaugewire was used. It was inserted into a hole thatwas drilled into the square end of the tiller.Another hole was drilled into the rudder and thetiller was glued into position.

The bitts are all that remain to be built (the railjust in front of the fore mast). This is a verystraight forward procedure. Take some stripwood that is the correct dimensions and cut theposts to length. Carve some notches that willaccept the rail. I also sanded a chamfered edgearound the top of each post to ad some detail.Glue the assembly together and install it on deck.I decided not to paint the bitts red and stainedthem instead. See the photos on the previouspage.

The Catheads…

The plans have several detailed drawings of thecatheads. They are shown from many differentangles. Take the measurements from these

drawings and cut a basswood strip to length.Two catheads are needed so try and keep themas a matching pair. They can be shaped asshown in the photo below. Make note of thecutout on the bottom of the cathead. The cutoutis shown with red lines in the photo. It will helpcorrectly seat the cathead in position on the bul-warks.

The cap rail was notched as shown in the samephoto. The catheads were glued into thesenotches. The position for each cathead wascarefully measured and marked along the caprail before I cut the notches. I recommend takingmeasurements from more than one referencepoint on the model. The placement for each cathead is crucial to the building of the head railsso take your time.

Modifiedcleats

Kitsupplied

Notch incap rail

Cutout

Carvedcleat

After I created the basic shape for the catheadsthe small details were added to them. Twosheaves were simulated on the end of each cat-head. I drilled the four holes for both sheaves.Then I took a pin vice and scored the spacebetween each pair of holes. This created thegroove that simulated each sheave. You shoulddo this on the top and bottom of each cathead.

A small eye bolt was made from 28 gauge blackwire and added to each cathead. You can seethem in the photo on the previous page. A cleatwas also glued to the top of each catheadinboard. You will have to decide if the cleatssupplied with the kit are acceptable to you. Justlike the blocks, the cleats should be modified orcarved from scratch out of wood. They need tobe slimmed down in appearance. I provided aphoto on the previous page. It shows two cleatsthat were filed to an acceptable size and shapeas compared to a pair that was not. The cleatson the Sultana were probably made of wood.You could also create them from scratch where anatural finish is more desirable. The cleats onthe catheads will be painted black so I used themodified metal cleats. The same photo alsoshows a cleat that I carved from basswood.The catheads were painted black and glued intoposition. The photo above shows the catheadscompleted and glued into position.

Hawse Holes and Bow Details…

Since most of the deck structures are now completed, I will start to add the details along thecap rail. The first thing I addressed was thenotch for the bowsprit. You will notice that the

bowsprit will extend above the cap rail after it isinstalled. I used a dowel that was the samediameter as the bowsprit to establish the correctplacement and angle. The notch was cut to thecorrect depth with a hobby saw and then roundedwith some needle files. The inboard end of thebowsprit will be eight-sided. The shape of thenotch will be modified when it is time to install it.

I noticed that the stem was to short after I test fitthe dowel (bowsprit) in position. I added a smallpiece of wood to lengthen it. This “patch” is hard-ly noticeable and after the head rails are createdwill be almost invisible. I recognized my errorsome time ago and could have fixed it so no onewould have noticed. I made a conscious decisionto leave it as is so I could mention how everyonemakes mistakes. It happens to the best of usand the remedies for these errors are usuallyeasy to make. Try not to get discouraged when

something similar happens to you. Once themodel is finished, no one will ever see the erroras long as you correct it with skillful craftsman-ship and care.

I examined the plans for the positions of thehawse holes and gun stocks. I placed referencemarks on the model for them. The hawse holeswere drilled and cleaned up with a needle file. Itis interesting to note that the hawse holes arenot shown on the original draft. There seems tobe a difference of opinion whether the Sultanaactually had hawse holes. Of the three plans Iam using, Portia Takakjian doesn’t show themon her plans. Howard Chapelle has them locat-ed on the outside of the gun stocks. The replicain Maryland has them where they are located onthe kit-supplied plans. I decided to stick with thekit-supplied plans and placed them where theyare shown in the photo.

The gunstocks were easy to make. I made twoof them as shown in the same photo. An ironband was simulated with a thin strip of black pinstripe tape. I also drilled a small hole on thetop of each gun stock for the swivel guns. It iseasier to drill them before you glue them ontothe model. They were glued into position after Inotched the cap rail to accept them. Afterwards,I drilled two holes on the outside of each stockand filled them to replicate trunnels. I may paintthe gun stocks black but will leave them naturalfor the time being. I will make that decisionbefore I start rigging the model.

The knightheads won’t be placed onto the modeluntil after the bowsprit is in position. I added 4modified cleats as shown to the top of the caprail. They were painted black. Measure carefullybefore you glue them into place. Make sure youleave enough room for each knighthead on bothsides of the bowsprit.

Timberheads…

I will continue working along the cap rail at thebow. Seven timberheads will be positioned atopthe cap rail aft of each cathead. They weremade using a strip of 1/16” thick basswood. Itwas the same material that was used to plankthe decks. Each timberhead measures 4mmhigh and 2.5mm wide. I transferred the generalshape for each timberhead to the strip andshaped it with a #11 blade and sandpaper. Seethe photo above which shows a timberhead that Icreated. They are cut from the strip after theyare finished because the strip makes it easier tohold as I am shaping them. The tops of eachtimberhead were beveled to add some interest.They were also tapered to 2mm at their bases. Iused the plans to find the exact locations for thetimberheads and glued them onto the model.Afterwards, I painted them black.

One gun stock should be made for each side ofthe hull as well. They were made the same wayI made the others earlier. You can see where Iglued them onto the hull in the same photo.

Timberheadsbeing shapedon a stickand then cutfree.

Head Rails, Head Timbers and Cheek Knees…

The head of any ship model is one of the morechallenging areas to build on any project. It isalso one of the most expressive and beautifulaspects of a ship. The head rails, cheeks andhead timbers are quite complex. The number ofparts and angles need to intersect and connectwhile maintaining the graceful curves we havegrown familiar with. As always, I managed tobuild these components by breaking down thetask at hand into smaller individual projects.There are many different techniques for con-structing the head rails for a ship model. I willselect the method depending on the finish beingused and the scale. Since I will paint the headrails black, basswood was chosen for the materi-al. I would have used boxwood but I didn’t haveenough of it to complete this operation. Basswood should be just as suitable.

I shaped the cheek knees first. There are twoknees on each side of the stem. The photo

above shows them in place on the model. I con-structed each cheek in two pieces. The firstpiece was the section glued to the stem whichcurves gracefully into a small scroll at its end.These sections were glued onto the modelbefore I carved the pieces you can see on thehull above. I was very careful when fitting themtogether. The seam between each segment waspainstakingly blended together with wood filler soit wouldn’t be seen after I painted them. Theywere traced from the plans and transferred to abasswood sheet that was 1/16” thick. See thephoto below. I cut them out with a fresh #11blade and sanded them to shape. 1/16” is toothick for the cheeks and was chosen so thecurved area where the stem meets the hull couldbe shaped. Otherwise, the cheeks were thinneddown to 1/32” along their length.

The photo above shows the lower cheek fromtwo angles. I cant describe how tiny thesepieces actually are. The dime in the photo givesyou some indication. Even at this scale it is pos-sible to carve a “fancy” profile into the edge ofeach piece. A scraper was created using abrass sheet. The profile was filed into the brassand run along each edge of the knee 10 to 15times. The end results are shown above. Eachpass of the scrapper tool was made with thelightest of pressure. If you press down to hardthe wood will break or fray. Notice in the photohow the scroll of the upper cheek was extendedabove the top of the stem.

Cheek knees

After the cheeks were glued onto both sides ofthe stem, I filled the void between them with someElmer’s wood filler. This was the same techniqueI used when filling the space between the Sculpeyvolutes earlier in the build. You may have noticedmy generous use of wood fillers through out thisproject. I am very comfortable using it for manyapplications. You might not see other modelersusing it as frequently but the end result is the onlything that matters to me. You will either be sur-prised when I use it or disappointed. But whenthe model is finally finished my hope is that noone would be able to tell how it was done.

I created the head rails next. The cheeks werethe only portions of the head that I was able totrace directly from the plans. All of the remainingelements, including the head rails were shaped bytesting and retesting. To make this process a littleeasier I used some 22 gauge wire to determinethe curve of the upper and middle rails. See thephoto above (left) where the wire has been placed

on the model. I was able to view the wire inplace from a variety of angles and made smallcorrections until I was satisfied. The wire wasremoved and traced onto a sheet of basswoodthat was 1/8” thick. The extra thickness wasneeded for the portion of the head rail directlyunder the cathead. The head rail was cut freewith a # 11 blade and sanded to shape. I usedthe scraper to create the molding profile andglued it onto the model. The head rails werepainted black before they were permanentlyglued into position. I also notched the moldingalong the bow so the head rail would lay flatagainst the hull. The same process was repeat-ed for the middle rail except the thickness of thebasswood sheet was only 1/16”. While gluingany of these elements onto the model I wasdetermined to achieve a symmetrical appear-ance when the model was viewed from the bow.

It was finally time to create the head timbers.This is in my opinion, the most difficult part ofthe head to complete. If the model was built50% larger it would have been much easier.Therefore I chose a simplified approach here.

Profile of the scraper wasrun down each side of thehead rails and cheeks

Head railsand uppercheek

Head timbers are .5 mm strips positioned as shown

Head Timbers

The head timbers were created using thin bass-wood strips .5 mm thick. The strips were 2mmwide. I placed the first strip on the inside of thehead rails as shown in the diagram above.Please excuse my crude rendering. After allthree head timbers were glued into position I cutsmaller strips which were glued between thehead rails. I positioned them from the outside ofthe head rails as shown. They were glued to theoutside of the three longer head timbers. Thisincreased the thickness of the timbers givingthem a more realistic appearance. I wouldn’thave chosen this technique except for the factthat the head rails are all painted black. Thishelps hide the fact that the head timbers weren’tcarved from a single piece of wood. The smallscale of this model makes it very difficult to carvethem neatly.

Channels and Deadeyes...

The channels were traced from the plans andtransferred to a sheet of basswood 1/16” thick.When you trace the channels from the plans besure to adjust the width of each channel. A bead-ed molding will be glued to the outside edge ofthe channel making it wider. Your initial tracingshould be adjusted with this in mind. See thephoto (right).

I carved both ends of each channel to match theprofile of the molding we will be gluing to thefront of each. This was the same double beaded

Both ends of thechannel have been

carved to match theprofile of the beaded

molding along thehull and the front

edge of each channel.

Beaded molding

molding that was glued along the hull. This pro-file can be made using a scraper similar to theone we used for the head rails. The area weneed to shape is so small I decided to use a #11blade to carve it instead.

I carved little notches along the outside edge ofeach channel where the four deadeyes will bepositioned. I used the plans to find their exactlocations. These notches were cleaned up usinga small needle file that was square in shape.

Once all four channels were completed I paintedthem black and glued them onto the model. Themolding for the outside edge of each channel willnot be used at this time. The deadeyes need tobe stropped first. They will be placed into the

notches on the channels and the molding gluedinto position afterwards. See the photos above.

I built a small jig to help me prepare the dead-eyes. The jig was just a block of wood with asmall brass nail glued into it.. The head of the little nail was cut off so it would be easier to slipthe wire strops on and off. I used 28 gauge blackwire to create the strops for the deadeyes.

Using a needle-nosed pliers, I squeezed the wiretightly around the nail. This formed the loopwhich will be used for the chainplates later on.While still holding the wire with the pliers I bentthe two trailing ends of the wire as shown in thephoto above. At this point the wire was removedfrom the jig.

A deadeye can be held in position while youbend the wire around it. It should stay in placelong enough so you can crimp the the other endwith the pliers. The excess wire was trimmedwith a pair of scissors. The assembly is essentially finished but the deadeyes should besecured further so they wont be pulled free whilesetting up the laniards. Some modelers willargue that the ends of the strop should be sol-dered together. I confess that I have never sol-dered anything for a model since I started build-ing them. What I chose to do was apply somesuper glue (gap filling) along the entire outsideedge of the deadeye. When they were dry Isanded them down a little and painted themblack. I have never experienced a situationwhere a deadeye was pulled free while rigging

the shrouds. This is for me a simplifiedapproach, but why complicate matters when itseems to do the job just fine. The deaeyeswere placed into the slots on the channels andthe strip of molding was glued over them.

The Figure Head…

The figure head for the Sultana was removed bythe Royal Navy after it was purchased. It isn’tclear if it was replaced with something otherthan the full length figure of a woman originallyused. Even so, I will create a figure head usingSculpey. I think it will make the model moreinteresting. I also wanted to experiment furtherwith using Sculpey. I am not an expert onsculpting with clay and can’t offer you any tipsor suggestions. I took many books out of thelibrary on sculpture and decided to give it a try.Most of those books mentioned how a claysculpture needs a wire skeleton. The figurehead is only 1” tall and I concluded that a wirearmature wasn’t needed.

The Sculpey I chose to use was the same coloras the quarter badges. I decided to sculpt thefigure directly on the stem of the model. I admitthis was a lazy approach. I had no idea if theSculpey was going to stick to the model and beimpossible to remove. The figure head needs tobe removed when finished so it can be baked inthe oven for 15 minutes. It will be baked at a

temperature of 250 degrees. I started by addingsmall pieces of Sculpey at a time. A small rectangle of clay was placed on the stem to represent the torso. To this I added the neck,head and legs. The arms weren’t added until afterI was satisfied with the details now being sculpted.I used a variety of tools including tooth picks,paper clips, and wooden dowels. After a fewhours I was happy with the results so the armswere attached and the work continued.

I was surprised how easy it was to remove the fig-ure head from the stem. It didn’t stick at all. Iplaced it onto a cooking tray and baked it for 15minutes. After it cooled I continued to fuss with it.I used a #11 blade to carve it further. Again, I wassurprised at how beautifully it carved. If this hadbeen a boxwood figure head I am sure it wouldhave crumbled at the more fragile areas. TheSculpey held up nicely.

Finally it was glued to the model permanently andtouched up with some paint. I used some warmbrown acrylic paint to “antique” the sculpture.After applying the paint, I immediately wiped it offso only the cracks and crevasses were filled. Thiswas my first attempt at this and there is clearlysome room for improvement. Take a look at thecast metal figure head supplied with the kit. Ithink you will agree that this is a step in the right direction. I hope you will give it a try.

Poop Rails…

The rails for the poop and quarter deck are thelast major project before building the masts andbowsprit. Building the rails was fairly straight for-ward. The first thing I did was create the cap forthe rail. It was easier to do this now before therail stanchions were installed. I used a basswoodsheet that was 1/32” thick. The sheet was heldfirmly in place on top of the bulwarks so I couldtrace its actual shape. The cap for the poop railwill be an exact match. I wouldn’t have beenable to do this had the stanchions been in place.The edges of the cap were rounded with somefine sandpaper. I would prefer not to leave anyhard edges. You can see the cap laying on deckin the photo above.

With the cap for the rail finished, I started buildingthe rail stanchions. Basswood strips 2mm x 2mmwere used. Place some reference points alongthe bulwarks where the stanchions will be placed.Take their positions from the plans. Please note

that the stanchions become shorter as the railprogresses towards the stern. The stanchionsalso have a slight taper to them. Each is largerat it’s base and should be sanded as such.

When the rail is finished it will be very delicate.The stanchions need should be reinforced sothey don’t break free later. To do this, I placed apin (22 gauge wire) into the bottom of each stan-chion. I pre drilled a hole then glued the pin inposition. See the photo above. Correspondingholes were drilled along the bulwarks to acceptthese pins. I didn’t glue any of the stanchions inplace permanently. I pushed them into the holesso I could double check their height first. Iplaced the cap for the rail on top of the stan-chions in order to see if they required someadjustments. Only after I was satisfied did I gluethem in place permanently. You might notice thatI didn’t pin the cap to the rail stanchions. Superglue will be sufficient here. If the rail was goingto break free it would do so at the base of eachstanchion. The completed rail is shown below. It

was painted black. It is also worth mentioningthat the stanchions were placed at a right angleto the waterline. They should be straight up anddown. I have seen many completed Sultanamodels that had the stanchions and gun stocksraked drastically towards the bow or stern. Theplans clearly show the vertical orientation for both. This is a simple observationwhich seems to be over looked often.

Gun Stocks and Swivel Guns…

I added the swivel gun stocks along the quarterdeck rail. The location for each of them wastaken from the plans. They were made the sameway that the four gun stocks were created alongthe bow (only these are longer). After they wereshaped I chamfered the two outside edges to

give them more detail. A thin length of pinstripetape was wrapped around the top of each stockto simulate the iron band. I also drilled a smallhole into the top of each gun stock to accept theswivel guns.

Rather than notch the gun stocks, I decided tonotch the molding along the hull before gluingthem on permanently. Their locations were care-fully established before the notches were made.I haven’t decided yet if I will paint the gun stocksblack or keep them stained as shown in thephoto above. I realize that most of the imagesand models show the stocks painted black but Ireally like the way they look this way. After Iglued them to the hull, several treenails weresimulated for the gun stocks the same way I didfor the hull and deck planking. See the photoabove.

I was going to scratch-build the swivel guns.After close examination of those supplied withthe kit I felt they were satisfactory. I’m not thrilledwith them, but after I clean them up they will lookjust fine. I weighed the time needed to build newones from scratch vs. the time saved if I usedthem. The difference in appearance would notwarrant such a time expenditure. I used somesand paper and files to remove the castingmarks. The handles for the swivel guns were toothick for my tastes so I carefully thinned themdown. I painted them black and did my best tomatch the handles to the color of stained wood.The Sultana carried only eight swivel guns. Iplaced six of them along the quarter deck railand the two remaining at the bow. See the photoprovided on the previous page.

The Ship’s Boat…

The Sultana clearly carried a small boat. It wasmost likely a small yawl or “jolly boat”. I havebeen researching how this boat would have beensecured on deck. What surprised me was thelack of information available. Not only with the kitbut with all of the plans and drawings I have forthe Sultana. In my opinion the boat would havebeen towed behind the Sultana and only storedon deck during long voyages. I was going tobuild the model without it but have given it a sec-ond thought. I don’t pretend to be a naval histori-

an but will try to document my decisions herebecause I know how frustrating the lack of infor-mation available can be. Take it all with a grainof salt and decide for yourself if this makes anysense.

I have been looking at the small laser cut liftssupplied with the kit. I am very curious how finea boat these pieces will make. Rather thanscratch-build one I will give the “mini-kit” a try. Ifit turns out horrible I can always build anotherone afterwards. I will of course build it different-ly than described in the instructions.

First, there are seven lifts supplied. The instruc-tions say to glue only 4 together and add theremaining 3 later in the building process. I threwcaution to the wind and glued six of the liftstogether. I removed the seats (thwarts) from lift #5 because I will add more realistic thwarts later.Look at the photo on the cover of the instructionmanual. The boat has a strange shape. It lookstoo high and “boxy” in my opinion. In an attemptto remedy this I will only use the six lifts men-tioned. See photo #1 above. The lifts wereglued together with super glue.

Once dry, I established the correct angles of thebow and stern. The bow was rounded under andthe stern was raked. When I was satisfied Iestablished a center line down the bottom of the

1 2

3 4

boat (along the keel). I carried this line up thestern and bow as well. The general shape of thestern was drawn as you can see in Photo #2. AnXacto blade (#11) was used to rough- carve theboat’s shape. I started working on the outside ofthe hull first (opposite of what the instructionssay). Using various grades of sandpaper I managed to shape the hull to a satisfactoryappearance. The sides of the hull were very thinin some areas and left little room to carve theinterior. To solve this problem I coated the interior of the hull with wood filler and allowed itto dry. Not only did this build up the thin areas ofthe hull but it rounded the bottom as well. I wasworried that the boat would look too flat-bot-tomed. I carefully sanded the interior of the boatuntil the sides were 1/32” thick. Photo #3 showsthe boat after I completed this stage of the project.

Rather than fitting the interior of the boat withdetails I decided to paint the exterior first.Several coats of paint were used to get a finish Iwas satisfied with. I wanted to get the first coatout of the way. The color scheme chosen was asimple one. I added a thin strip of molding 1/16”below the top of the bulwarks. This molding waspainted black. I painted it before gluing it to thehull. The hull below this molding was paintedwhite. Everything else including the interior willbe stained “Golden Oak”. Photo 4 shows theboat after the first coat was painted.

Progress on the interior went smoothly. The bottom of the yawl was ‘flat-bottomed’ eventhough I used some wood filler to round it off. To compensate for this, I decided to fake theboat’s frames. Normally the frames would besteam bent to span across both sides of the hull. Because the bottom is so flat this wasn’t possible. Instead, I cut some .5 mm thick stripsof bass wood to use as the floor boards andglued them into position. Five strips were usedas shown in photo 5. A small space was left

5 6

between each floor board. Then the frames wereglued individually along the boat’s sides. Theysimply rested on the edge of the floor boards.Basswood strips .75 x .75 mm were used for theframes. The frames were spaced about 1/8”apart. You can see one side of the frames com-pleted in the same photo # 5. Also note that theframes do not extend to the top of the bulwarks.Each frame terminates about 1/16” below the topedge.

In photo 6 the risers were added. The riser is thestrip of wood shown glued across the frames.The thwarts (seats) will rest on top of these risers. Basswood strips .75 x .75 mm were usedfor the risers. I added the thwarts as shown inthe same photo. The thwarts were made from .5mm thick strips. To finish it up I used thin brassstrips to simulate the gudgeons for the rudder.These strips were painted black. The yawl willbe placed on some cradles and lashed to thedeck. It will be located over the main hatch. Tomake it more interesting I made some smallaccessories which were placed in the boat. Imade a small rudder with pintles (small brassstrips). The tiller for the rudder was made usinga length of 22 gauge wire painted black. It wasinserted into a pre drilled hole in the rudder. Twooars were made using the plans as a guide fortheir size and shape. A tow rope was coiledneatly with one end seized to an eye bolt in thestem. See the photos showing the boat completed and lashed to the deck. Normally the yawl would have been towed

behind the Sultana. It would only be stored likeshown on long journeys. The Sultana is a smallship with little room on deck for the sailors tomove about. Even though this is the case, theyawl makes the model more pleasing and inter-esting to look at. The cradles used to store theboat are different sizes. A larger cradle was usedunder the bow to lift the ship above the height ofthe main hatch. A smaller one was placed on thecenter cover board of the main hatch. It wasused to stabilize the keel of the boat and doesn’tneed to be very large. The yawl will be lashedtightly to the deck.

The boat was lashed to four eye bolts glued intothe deck. The eyebolts were placed alongsidethe boat’s cradles. See the photo above. Therigging I used was .018 tan rigging line fromModel Shipways. Two hooks were fabricated outof 28 gauge black wire. I used a needle nosedpliers to bend the wire into shape. One end ofeach lashing had the hook seized to it. A closeup of a seized hook is also shown above. After Ihooked the eyebolt, the remaining free end ofeach lashing was seized directly to the eye bolton the opposite side of the boat. I alternated thelashings so a hook would be visible on bothsides of the model.

Tan rigging line was used for all of the runningrigging on this model. I don’t like the fact that itlooks so new and clean. Before the lashing wasplaced on the model permanently, I pulled theline through an oil pastel. I use oil pastels in

place of beeswax. You can choose any color toyour liking which will add some depth to the rig-ging lines. I chose a warm brown oil pastel.After you run it through the pastel, pull the linethrough your fingers to even it out. The color willsettle in between each strand of the rope giving ita richer appearance. The oil pastels are very softand also “knock” down any fuzz on the line. Ayellow ochre oil pastel will be used to achieve thesame results on the black standing rigging for themodel. I will be using 3 diameters of rigging linefor the model (.008, .018, and .028). I purchasedthem from Model shipways in two colors (blackand Beige) for the running and standing rigging.The kit doesn’t come supplied with enough vari-ety and if you really wanted to strive for accuracy,up to 6 different diameters of each color could beused. The rigging plan shows the true scalediameter for each line to be rigged. Based onthese measurements I carefully marked the planwith the size line I want to use. This will make iteasier for me when the rigging begins. I prefernot to contemplate which size is more appropriatealong the way which would slow me down.

Bowsprit and Jib Boom…

The rigging plan has all of the measurements andconstruction details for the masts and spars. Ifollowed these plans but have also made a fewchanges along the way. These changes will benoted as I proceed. I made the bowsprit from alength of wood that was square. It was easier forme to create the eight sided portion of thebowsprit from square stock rather than a rounddowel. I used a #11 blade to shave the eightsided portion to shape and afterwards it was

cleaned up with some sandpaper. The plans indi-cate that the inboard portion of the bowsprit wassquare and then progressed to eight sided. I didnot create it this way. That end of the bowspritwas made entirely octagonal.

When I was satisfied with the eight sided end ofthe bowsprit, the forward end was rounded byhand using sandpaper. The eight sided detail isdifficult to see in the photograph above butshould be clearly visible. I established the properangle of the inboard end and test fit the bowspritin place. Small adjustments were made until thebowsprit sat with the correct rake as shown onthe plans. The notch in the bow may also needsome tinkering in order to establish that angle.Then I carved a tenon into the forward end of thebowsprit so it could be slipped into the hole of thecap.

I added the small chocks to prevent the bowspritgammoning from slipping. One chock is shown on the plans but I used three. An additional chock was glued along side the originalas shown with a red line in the photo above.Another pair of chocks were glued into positionjust aft of the cap (one on each side). Theseprevent the bobstay and shroud collars from slip-ping and were not shown on the plans. The repli-ca in Maryland was rigged this way and it was agenerally accepted practice at that time.

I made the cap and jib boom next. These wereeasily made using the plans as a guide. A tiny

28 gauge wire was used to simulate the brackets to attach the jack staff. They were gluedto the staff before being attached to the cap.

Three eye bolts were glued into the cap. One in the front (under the jib boom) and one in the middle of each side.

Additional chocks added to both sides Simulated sheave

sheave was simulated in the forward end of thejib boom. Two holes were drilled through the jibboom .75 mm apart. The space between eachhole was recessed. I used the tip of a nail toform the recess between the holes. This did agood job of simulating a sheave, especially forone that is this tiny. The jib boom was slidthrough the upper hole of the cap and rests atopthe “saddle” or “jib boom rest” as it’s called. Thiscompletes the initial assembly of the bowsprit. Ipainted and stained the individual pieces before Iglued them together. You can see the colorscheme I chose in the photos that follow. This isa personal choice and you may opt to use a dif-ferent approach.

Some additional details were added before Iglued the bowsprit onto the model. Three eyebolts were made out of 28 gauge black wire.One of these was glued into a pre-drilled hole inthe front of the cap. This eye bolt will have a sin-gle block seized to it. It will be used for the tackleof the outer jib stay. The two remaining eye boltswere glued into the side of the cap (one on eachside).

I lashed the jib boom to the bowsprit with .018black rigging line. The line was treated with ayellow ochre oil pastel as mentioned earlier.These details can be seen in the photographs.The jack staff was added to the assembly next.

A dowel was hand-sanded to the correct diame-ter. It was tapered to a slender point and a smallblack bead glued on it’s tip. The bead was usedto simulate the ball cap of the jack staff. Thejack staff would have been secured to the insideof the bowsprit cap. I bent two small lengths of28 gauge wire into a “u” shape and glued themonto the jack staff. This was done before thejack staff was glued onto the cap. After the staffwas finally glued to the cap it looked as thoughthe “brackets” were drilled into the cap whichwas the impression I wanted to simulate. Idecided not to paint the jack staff at this time andwill live with the stained finish for now. I willcomplete more of the model before I commit topainting it black.

The collars for the bobstay, shrouds and stayswere also added to the bowsprit before it wasglued onto the model. You will need three closedhearts and two open hearts for these collars. Iused a bass wood strip 1/8” wide and 1/16” thickto create the closed hearts. The finished heartsare 3.25 mm on each side. I started by drawingthe outline of a heart on the end of the strip.Through this I drilled the center hole of the heart.The hole was shaped further using a neddle fileto obtain it’s triangular shape. Only after I wassatisfied with the shape of the hole did I cut theheart free from the strip. To finish it up I filed agroove along the edges of the heart with anothersmall file. This isn’t a quick process. We will

Collars for the closed hearts(bobstay and shrouds) wererigged to the bowsprit by fusingthe ends of the collar with superglue. See the photos on the nextpage which show how to fusethem together.

Closed heart collars

Open heart collars

need many hearts for the model. I only neededthree for this procedure so they were the onlyones I made. The same process was used tocreate the open hearts but they will be larger.The open hearts were 4mm on each side. Seethe photos on the previous page.

Black .018 rigging line was used for these collars. You can see how they were seized tothe hearts in same photos. The hearts were allpainted black. Please note on the plans that thecollar for the bowsprit shrouds have two hearts.I decided to create individual collars for both ofthem instead. Once they are rigged on thebowsprit that detail would be lost do to the mod-els small scale. Because of the small scale Ialso opted not to form small eyes in the ends ofeach collar. I simply used super glue to fuse theends of the collar together neatly. I didn’t tie adouble knot. This would have looked sloppy. Icrossed the ends (1/16” overlap) and applied theglue along the seam where they overlapped. Iused a scrap piece of 28 gauge wire as myapplicator. A drop of glue was placed on the tipof the wire and neatly applied to the seam of thecollar. This is more than sufficient and is quitestrong. The super glue soaks into the threadand both lines fuse together as one.

The shroud collars were also placed on thebowsprit followed by the two open heart collars.The open heart collars were left longer than theothers. They won’t be permanently glued to thebowsprit. They will hang loose until their partnerhearts are secured with a laniard. You could addthese later but I found it easier to do so at this

time. The bowsprit can now be glued into it’s finalresting place on the model. Be careful and try toestablish the correct angle and position before theglue dries. The photo above shows the bowspritglued onto the model.

How to Fuse a line together with super glue

1. Make a simple overhand knot. Not a doubleknot. Just criss-cross the line once.

2. Apply glue neatlyto the seam with anapplicator. Allow itto dry fully. Theglue in this photo isnot dry andappears shiny

3. Cut off the looseends with a verysharp blade.

This is a doubleknot. This shouldnot be used foryour collars.

Now that the bowsprit has been glued onto themodel I can finish up some additional details.The knightheads were made from 3mm x 3mmstrips of wood and glued on the cap rail. Onewas placed on each side of the bowsprit. Youcan see them in the photo above. I used a roundneedle file to create the detailing around the topof each knighthead. I painted them black.Afterwards I used .75mm x .75mm strips to framethe inboard end of the bowsprit on deck.

The gammoning for the bowsprit was done with.028 black rigging line. Detailed instructions onhow to set up proper gammoning is not providedin the kit supplied manual. There is however a

very well done illustration in the kit supplied man-ual for Model Shipways Fair American. Thismanual is available for download in PDF formatfrom the www.modelexpo-online.com website. Ihave reproduced that illustration below and highlyrecommend that you take a look at the entire sec-tion on rigging there. The Fair American kit is alarger scale but is rigged using similar modelingtechniques. It is interesting to note how suchdetailed information varies from one kit to anoth-er. I guess the Sultana kit contains less detailbecause it is considered an entry level project.

I seized a small eye into the end of the riggingline and followed the procedures shown in thatillustration. Please note how the fore stay collaron my model was positioned on the forward sideof the bowsprit gammoning. The kit-suppliedplans have that collar positioned close to the hullnext to the stem. I decided to change its locationbased on where it was located on the replica inMaryland in addition to other sources. You cango either way and it would be considered accu-rate depending on whom you talk to.

Much of the standing rigging on the Sultana wasserved. Certain rigging lines were wrappedentirely with a smaller rope and then coated. Theserving protected the rigging line from gettingchaffed by the sails and damaged by other linesthat might come in contact with them. On a larg-er model it is possible to show this level of detail.Our model of the Sultana may be too small formany of us to show served lines neatly and accu-

A B

D

C

A. Bowsprit Gammoning B. Fore Stay CollarC. Knightheads D. Framed bowsprit with .75 mm bass wood strips

rately. I have decided not to serve the standingrigging for this model. I think that the servedlines would look too heavy. You would need tostart with a .018 line or smaller in order for it tolook good after the serving was completed. Thatsize line would not be thick enough to use for theshrouds where only a portion of them need to beserved.

The bobstay was rigged with .018 black riggingline. It is doubled along its entire length. I seizedthe end of the line around a heart. Three addi-tional hearts were carved for the bobstay andshrouds. Another seizing was made around thedoubled stay 3/4” from the heart. One loose endwas left generously long. The other was trimmedclose to that seizing. I reeved the long endthrough the hole in the stem. I used an alligatorclamp to hold the bobstay at the stem while Iestablished the correct distance between theheart and its collar. I left a space just over a 1/4”between the two hearts. After I established thatdistance the bobstay was seized at the stem. Iplaced additional seizings along the entire lengthof the bobstay which was doubled. It was fin-ished with a laniard as shown. (Tan .008 riggingline was used for the laniards)

The bowsprit shrouds were added next (.018).There is one on each side of the bowsprit. The

shrouds will have a tiny hook seized into one endand a heart on the other. You can see one of theshrouds in the photo above. The hook will beplaced into an eye bolt glued on the hull. Take itsposition from the plans. It should be placed intothe wales. The heart was placed at the oppositeend with three seizings. As before, the heartsshould be spaced about 1/4” from its partner onthe shroud collars. The easiest way to establishthe correct distance would be to hook the end ofthe line into the wales first. Use an alligatorclamp to hold the heart on the other end. Youcan make any adjustments with the clamp inplace. When you are satisfied with the place-ment of the heart unhook the shroud leaving thealligator clamp in place. With the clamp in placeyou will still be able to seize the heart perma-nently with some sewing thread. It was finallysecured with a laniard after it was hooked to theeye bolt.

The footropes were finally added to the model. Iseized one end of the footrope to an eybolt andthen glued that eyebolt into the bow of the model.I used .008 tan rigging line for the footropes. Theother end was seized to the eybolt on the side ofthe cap. Dont pull the foot rope taught. Insteadleave it loose so it hangs as shown in the photoabove. To finish it up, tie some knots along theentire length of the footrope at 1/4” intervals.

Bobstay

Shrouds are hooked to an eye bolt

Footropes

Shrouds

laniards

Constructing the Masts…

The main and fore masts are virtually identical.At least as far as the construction process is con-cerned. The differences between them consistmainly of the lengths for each mast and the posi-tions of the blocks and eye bolts. The main mastwill also have a boom rest. Once again, themany blueprints I have for the Sultana vary con-siderably with regard to their details. I followedthe plans that came with the kit making only afew changes. I must note that the wooden dow-els supplied with the kit were inferior and warped.They had many knots as well. I replaced themwith some beech dowels that I bought at a localart supply store.

I started by tapering the lower masts. I carefullymeasured and cut a dowel to length. I added a¼” to create a tennon that will be inserted intothe deck when the mast is stepped. I almostalways taper my masts and spars by hand. I prefer the feeling of having more control overshaping them. It may take a little longer but Ihaven’t found another method that makes mefeel as comfortable. If you prefer, the dowel canbe chucked in a power drill. Turn the drill on anduse some sandpaper to taper the mast as itturns. After the mast was tapered to my liking, Ibegan carving the tennon and squaring off themast head. A #11 blade was used to rough cutthe squared portion of the mast. I eventuallyused some fine sandpaper to smooth out therough spots. The edges of the squared portionwere chamfered as shown on the plans. An

additional tennon was carved at the top of themast which will be inserted into a correspondinghole in the mast cap. This tennon was squareand not round like the tennon carved at the footof the mast. See the photo provided.

When both lower masts were finished I added thedetails to them. The boom rest was added to themain mast. The plans show the boom rest ascompletely encircling the mast. I have decided toshow the boom rest on the aft most side of themast only. Half of a complete circle was carvedfrom a basswood sheet. The sheet was 1/32”thick. Under this I glued three chocks to supportthe rest which were made from 1 mm squarestrips. The fore mast does not have a boom rest.After a little research I added a small chock onthe aft side of the fore mast. Harold Hahn usesthese on his schooners to prevent the masthoops from sliding down the mast and resting ontop of the mast cleats. You can see it in thephoto provided. This detail is not shown on theplans.

Seven mast cleats were glued around each mast.I cleaned them up with needle files as mentionedearlier in this guide. They were painted blackand glued into position. The bottom of each mastwas painted red before I glued the cleats inplace. I also painted the squared portion of themast heads black before proceeding to constructthe mast caps and trestle trees.

I did not use the cast trestle trees and caps pro-vided in the kit. I made new ones from scratch.The trestle trees were easy to build. I traced the

A

B

D

C

A: Fore Mast completed B: Main Mast unpainted C: Boom Rest D: Unpainted mast detail (fore and main mast)

shape of the bibs from the plans. They were cutfrom a 1/32” bass wood sheet. A thin strip wasglued along the outside top edge of the bibs asshown in the accompanying photo. Slots werecut along this upper edge to accept the threestrips of wood to complete their construction. Idid not use the plans to establish the width of thetrestle trees. Instead I used the lower masts as aguide to ensure they fit properly. A small eye boltwas glued into the bottom of the aft trestle treebrace. This eye bolt will be used for the gaff rig-ging. A double block was seized to this eye bolt.The trestle trees were painted black and setaside while I created the caps. The caps weremade the same way that the bowsprit cap wasearlier. One square hole and one round holewere drilled and shaped. Small eye bolts wereglued into the sides of the cap for the yard lifts.Tiny single blocks were seized to these eye bolts.The main cap will also have an eyebolt glued intoits aft edge for the topping lift. The caps were

also painted black. Don’t glue these to the lower masts yet. You willhave to create the mast hoops first. Nine masthoops were made for each mast. I have decidedto rig my model without sails. so the hoops won’thave to be very strong. The easiest way to makegood looking mast hoops is to make them fromstiff board. I used a plain manila office folder. Ithas a great creamy color that resembles thecolor of the bass wood we are using. The folderaccepts stain well. I cut several strips 1mm widefrom the folder. The strips were stained and cutto length. Each strip was 27mm long. I simplywrapped a strip around a wooden dowel that wasslightly larger than the diameter of our lowermasts. I over lapped the ends of each strip andused supper glue to form a tight connection.Apply this glue with an applicator so the finishedhoop doesn’t stick to the dowel. The finishedhoop should slide off easily. You can see thehoops in the photos throughout this chapter.

Mast hoops made froma manila office folder

Trestle tree constructionfor both masts.

1/32” Bass wood sheet usedfor the bibs.

Another small strip was gluedon the outside of that.

Nine mast hoops per mast

Chock on fore mast only

Seven cleats per mast

3mm (S) whip block

.018 rigging line used to simulate thimbles port andstarboard of fore mast only.

Thimble

Only after you slide the finished hoops onto yourmasts should you glue the trestle trees and capspermanently in place.

The top masts can be tapered and shaped as wedid with the lower masts. The heel was squaredoff and the top of each mast was shaped asshown on the plans. Afterwards a small sheavewas simulated as detailed on the plans as well.This sheave will be used for the top sail yard hal-liards. A small ball truck was carved from a basswood strip and glued to the top of each mast.This should have a sheave drilled through it forthe flag halliard. Unfortunately the ball wouldcrumble if you tried to drill through it. I will useanother approach to rig the flag halliards. The rig-ging plan shows small single blocks seized to themast but this is not historically accurate. I drilleda tiny hole through the top of the mast (just belowthe ball truck) instead.

I didn’t bother drilling a fid hole into the heel ofeach top mast. The entire top mast was paintedblack except for the ball cap that was glued ontoits tip. Afterwards the top mast was slid through

the trestle tree and the cap and glued into posi-tion. I simulated the fids rather than have thempushed through a hole in the mast. A small strip(.75mm) was glued on both sides of each topmast as shown in the photos provided. The fidprevents the top mast from falling through thetrestle trees. If done neatly no one will everknow it doesn’t protrude through the mast. Infact, so much rigging will cover this area that ifyou chose not to show the fid it would not detractfrom the finished model.

Before stepping the masts many more blockswere added to them. These are shown on theplans but I have also provided some photos witheach block labeled. Different sized single (s) anddouble (d) blocks were used. The sizes are alsonoted in these photos. Most commercial kits arenotorious for not supplying sufficient quantities ofblocks. You may need to purchase some addi-tional blocks as we get closer to completing themodel. All of my blocks were modified as men-tioned earlier in this guide.

The masts are now completed to the point where

Ball Trucks

2.5mm (S) blocks each sidefor topsail yard lifts

NOTE therake of

both maststowards the

stern

Eye bolt for topping lift onmain mast only

Simulated sheaves through bothtop masts for topsail yard halliards

2.5mm (S) blocks on eachside of both mast caps

5mm (D) block for stays

3mm (D) blocks

3mm (D) blocks under trestletrees of both masts lashed

to eye bolts

they can be permanently placed (stepped) on the model. Some folks don’t glue the masts into posi-tion. They prefer to let the rigging hold them in place. They do this in case the rigging and mastsget damaged and require some future doctoring. I don’t prescribe to this method and always gluethe masts into the deck permanently. Before doing so, several blocks and eye bolts were gluedaround the base of both masts. If you check the rigging plan you will see a whip block on the foreside of each mast. This 3mm single block was seized to an eye bolt and glued into a pre-drilledhole on deck. The fore mast also has an eye bolt on the port and starboard sides. Normally a smallthimble (bullseye) was seized to these eye bolts. A lanyard will be set up to secure the main andmain top mast stays with these thimbles. Rather than use a commercially purchased thimble, I sim-ulated one by creating an eye in .018 black rigging line. The thimbles available commercially aretoo large and would look over scale.

One last detail should be completed and you can gluethe masts into position. The mast coats (wedges asdescribed in the instructions) were made using a lengthof 22 gauge black wire. A ring was formed so it fitstightly around the base of each mast. I painted themred. You can see them in the detailed photo a couple ofpages back. When you step the masts on your modelbe careful to establish the correct angle (rake). Bothmasts are raked towards the stern as shown on theplans. If you decided to glue them to your model, thenyou should view the masts very quickly from a variety ofangles to ensure they are aligned properly. You have todo this fast before the glue sets. I recommend that youuse white glue (carpenter’s) instead of super glue. Itwill give you more time to adjust the angles of yourmasts.

How to findthe correctangle for thechain plates.

1.The chain plates were made from 28 gauge black wire.I used the same jig we used for the dead eye strops. (above)

2. Chain plates are positioned with a nail as shown . Length of the chain plate is marked with a pencil including where I will bend it to fit into the strop. Remove the chain plate afterwards.

3. It is reinserted after being cut and bent as shown above.4. Crimp the bent end down with a needle-nosed pliers.5. Touch up the chain plates with some black paint (finished).

1 23

45

Rigging the Shrouds…

Now that the masts are in position I turned myattention to rigging the shrouds. The shrouds arerigged around the trestle trees and secured witha lanyard on the channel. To prepare for this, thechain plates will have to be created first. Thechain plates will hook into the dead eye stropswe positioned in the channels earlier. I used thesame jig to create the chain plates that I used tocreate the dead eye strops. It was just a littlebrass nail glued into a piece of wood with itshead cut off. You can see a chain plate beingmade in the photo on the previous page. Eachchain plate was made from 28 gauge black wirebent around the brass nail. I squeezed the wiretightly around the nail so the tail was neatly doubled and about ¾” long.

To finish each chain plate I ran a bead of gap fill-ing super glue (CA) along both sides of it. Youcould also solder the two wires together as one.As I mentioned earlier, I prefer to use super glue.When the glue was dry I sanded each side flatwhich gave it the appearance of a flat single ironstrap rather than two individual pieces of wire. Ipainted the chain plates black when they werefinished.

The chain plates will follow the run of theshrouds and the angles for each of them wereestablished. A photo on the previous pageshows how I established the correct angle for

each chain plate. I simply tied a string aroundthe lower mast (at the mast head) and pulled thestring taught in front of each dead eye along thechannel. I marked the hull with a pencil whereeach chain plate will be nailed. The referencepoint was drawn 1/8” above the wales. I drilled asmall hole into the hull for each chain plate.

The lengths for each chain plate will vary alongthe channel. I measured the length for each oneusing the method shown on the previous page.First, I used a small brass nail to hold the chainplate in position. Then I marked it where thechain plate will bend to fit into the dead eye strop.In addition to this I also placed another referencepoint above this mark to indicate the overalllength of the chain plate. I removed the chainplate from the hull and cut it to length. Then Ibent it at a right angle at the reference mark andrepositioned the chain plate on the hull. This timeI inserted the bent tip into the strop first. I verycarefully crimped the bent portion of the chainplate onto itself to complete the installation. Afterall four chain plates were completed I touchedthem up with some black paint.

With the chain plates completed it was now timeto rig the shrouds. There will be four pairs ofshrouds on each mast. The first pair will berigged on the starboard side. I used .028 blackrigging line. A pair of shrouds is created when asingle length of rigging line is doubled at the masthead and seized. The line should wrap around

model. Before you begin, the sheer poles shouldbe lashed to the shrouds. The sheer poles willprevent the dead eyes from twisting while you rigthe ratlines. See the photo above. I used a basswood strip that was .75 x .75 mm. Cut the stripto length and stain it before you place it on themodel. You may also opt to paint them black. Itwas easier for me to glue the sheer pole onto theshrouds first. Then afterthe glue dried I lashed itto each shroud. Thesheer poles are posi-tioned directly above thedead eyes. You can nowsee why it is so impor-tant to have all of yourdead eyes lined up properly. If they werepositioned at differentheights it would look justawful.

The ratlines were normally spaced about 15”apart. On our model I spaced each row just under¼” apart. I have seen other modelers use a tem-plate positioned behind the shrouds to help themmaintain equal spacing between the rows. I sup-pose it would also help to keep the rows parallelto the waterline. The Sultana has only fourshrouds and I decided to “give it a go” without theuse of a template. You can use whatever methodthat will work for you but the template seems toget in my way when I make the clove hitches oneach shroud. I used clove-hitches on all four

the lower mast and be seized above the trestletrees as shown in the photo on the previouspage. When the first pair is in place bothshrouds should be set up with their lanyardsbefore rigging the second pair on the port side.You should alternate the shroud sequence fromstarboard to port when rigging each shroud pair.

A dead eye was seized into the end of eachshroud. This dead eye will be spaced ½” from itspartner on the channel. To establish this dis-tance I used an alligator clamp to hold the deadeye. I made tiny adjustments until the proper dis-tance was established. When I was satisfied, Iseized the dead eye while it was still held in thealligator clamp. Two additional seizings weremade above this which were spaced as shown inthe photo on the previous page. I painted thedead eye black and proceeded to set up thatshroud with its lanyard. The rigging plan andinstruction manual has a diagram that details theproper way to set up the lanyard. Please note inthat same photo how the dead eyes are evenlyspaced and note the orientation of the dead eyeholes. Only after the first shroud pair was finished did I rig the next pair on the oppositeside of the hull. I was very careful not to pull themasts too tightly to one side. The shrouds werepulled taught with the lanyards but not over done.

Now that the shrouds were placed on the model Iproceeded to rig the ratlines. This can be atedious and unfulfilling experience. My onlyadvice would be not to rush through it. Take yourtime because it will be a prominent feature on the

Sheer poles

shrouds. In real practice the fore and aft-mostshrouds would have had the ratlines lashed tothem through an eye spliced into each end. Iused the thinnest black rigging line which was.008 diameter. I secured the first clove hitch withsuper glue and afterwards preceded to clovehitch the remaining three shrouds. I did notsecure these with glue immediately. Before doingso, I made any adjustments to the ratline in orderto insure that the shrouds weren’t being pulledtogether. I also adjusted the height of eachclove hitch before placing a drop of super glue oneach of them.

Upon completing the ratlines I glued four modifiedcleats to the inboard side of each shroud. Seethe photo provided for details. Their positionswere taken from the rigging plan. Once again Ifound it much easier to glue the cleats to theshrouds first and then lash them (.008 black rig-ging) afterwards when the glue was dry. Thelashing was tied around the center of each cleat.These cleats absolutely, positively need to bemodified. They would look far too thick and clum-sy if they weren’t. I slimmed down each cleatwith some needle files and painted them blackafter placing them on the shrouds.

Rigging the Stays…

Once the ratlines are finished you can start to rigthe stays. I will try and show how each one wasrigged but you should refer to the rigging plansprovided with the kit. I have made some modifi-cations to those plans and will describe them as Igo. I started by rigging the forestay, inner jibstay

and outer jibstay followed by the fore topmaststay. They were placed on the model in thatorder. I must mention before we begin that fig-ure 27 in the kit supplied instructions is plaguedwith errors. Rather than point each of them outplease don’t use it.

The instructions mention that ALL of the stays forthe Sultana were seized around the mast heads.I have decided that the forestay should be riggedusing a mouse instead. I will let you decidewhich is more appropriate. In Harold Hahn’sbook “The Colonial American Schooner”, the rig-ging plans for Hannah and Halifax show theforestay rigged with a mouse. Other sources Ichecked also follow this rule for schooners of thissize and time period. Black rigging line (.028)was used for the forestay. This is the heaviestline rigged on the Sultana other than the anchorcables. If you wanted to use a heavier line Iwould recommend that it not exceed .035. Thiswill be the only stay where a mouse is used.

An eye was seized in the end of a generouslength of rigging line. The mouse was created 2 1/4” from this eye. See the photo below fordetails. A simplified approach was used to cre-ate the mouse. I made a pear shaped mouse by

Cleats lashed to shrouds

2 -

1/4”

Mouse Construction

coiling some sewing thread around the stay. Itwas firmed up with some super glue when I wasfinished. I must point out a mistake that I made.In the photo you will see that I have the pearshaped mouse reversed. The largest end of themouse should face towards the eye.Unfortunately I did not realize this until long afterit was placed on the model. I have decided toleave it as is. Live and learn. The line drawing Iprovided shows the correct orientation for themouse.

I secured the forestay around the mast head andfinished it up with a lanyard on the bowsprit. Youwill need to make two more hearts for the stayswe are about to rig. They will be set up using thesame techniques I described for the bowspritshrouds. See the photo above. The inner jibstaywas rigged in the same manner. The only differ-ence was that a mouse wasn’t used. Instead, a

simple seizing was used to secure it around thetrestle tree of the fore mast (.018 rigging linewas used).

The outer jibstay (.018) was seized around thetrestle tree also. However, it will then runthrough a small ring on the jib boom called atraveller. Then it proceeds through the sheavein the jib boom and sets up into a simple tackle.The traveller was made from 28 gauge blackwire. I used the same technique we used tostrop the deadeyes along the channels. Onlythis time I removed the deadeye after forming it.See the photos on the next page. Finally asmall piece of sewing thread was tied aroundthe top of the traveller to finish it up. This wasfirmed up with a drop of super glue. The trav-eller was painted black prior to being used.

While rigging the outer jibstay I found that it was

Fore topmast stay = (.008)Outer Jibstay = (.018)

Fore stay = (.028)

Inner Jibstay = (.018)

easier to complete the tackle first. Seize a2.5mm single block into the end of the stay.Then place its partner on the eyebolt on the cap.The running end of the tackle can be secured toa cleat at the bow. Figure 30 of the instructionmanual has a good diagram showing how thisshould be done. When that tackle was complet-ed it gave the necessary tension to reeve thestay through the jib boom and traveller so I couldseize it around the trestle tree. Dont Forget to ad

a rope coil to thecleat where you tiedoff the tackle. Thereare many ways toform rope coils. Iusually just wrap theline around an appro-priate sized dowel. Iadd a drop of superglue with an applica-tor to keep it from

unwinding before I slip the coil off of the dowel. Ifthe coil needs to bend at an angle (as is the casehere) another drop of glue is added and the coilis bent to shape. It will hold that shape when dry.

The topmast stay was finally rigged as shown onthe plans. I used .008 black rigging line for thisstay. At this time I could move ahead and finishall of the running rigging on these four stays. ButI decided to add the main and main topmaststays first. The main stay (.018) and main top-mast stay (.008) are fairly straight forward. The

only challenge here was navigating my fingersand tools behind the shrouds to set the lanyardsat the foot of the fore mast. If you recall, I simu-lated the bulls eye on deck for each of thesestays by creating a seized eye from rigging line.Another eye was seized into the end of eachstay. The lanyard will be formed between these

two simulated bulls eyes.In hind sight I guess itwould have been better tohave rigged these twostays first, before theshrouds and ratlines (or tohave just set the lanyardsup and clip the stays tem-porarily to the mainmast.). After a little fuss-ing the lanyards werefinally completed.

Once the lanyard for themain stay was secure Iran the loose end throughthe large double block onthe aft side of the fore

mast. Then I seized the stay around the mainmast as shown in the photo on the next page.The lanyard for the main stay was set up on theport side of the fore mast while the topmast staywas on the starboard side. The main topmaststay was rigged in the same way. However, itwas seized around the main topmast as shownin the same photo.

1 2 3

Traveller construction

Anchor Construction

Anchor stock

Anchor Construction…

I thought it was a good time to take a break fromrigging the model. I think the backstays wouldmake it more difficult to rig the boom, gaffs andyards. The backstays will be rigged after theboom and gaffs are in place. I find its nice tobreak the rigging up a little bit with other smallprojects. So I decided to construct and mountthe anchors. They will be mounted on the modelwith anchor buoys. Ships similar to the Sultanawould certainly have had them. There were strictlaws and codes that mandated the use of anchorbuoys while in a harbor or port. They weren’tused for the Sultana’s benefit. They were usedso the other ships wouldn’t get damaged by theanchor and cable. Stiff penalties were broughtagainst a ship’s crew when they failed to use abuoy. The kit doesn’t come supplied with them

but they are very easy to make. Details such asthe anchor buoys will set your model apart fromthe others who build the model straight out of thebox.

I used the cast anchors supplied with the kit.They were of course cleaned up with some sand-paper and filed first. I discarded the anchorstocks and made new ones from scratch. I preferwooden stocks and didn’t want to paint the kitsupplied castings. I used a bass wood strip 1/8”x 1/16” to create each half of the anchor stock.See the photo above for details. Their size andshape were traced from the plans. You can seethat they are tapered on both ends. You will needto carve a small groove into the center of eachhalf. When they are glued together the anchorshould fit tightly through it. Thin strips of automo-tive pinstripe tape were wrapped around theanchor stock to simulate the iron bands. The ringfor each anchor was made from 28 gauge blackwire.

Main topmast stay (.008)

Main stay (.018)

Lanyards for thestays on eachside of the mast

1 2 3 4

The anchor buoys were made from Sculpey. Youcould however, carve them from wood but I want-ed to continue my experimentation with thismaterial. A buoy from this time period wouldhave ranged from 2’ to 4’ long depending on thesize of the ship. I decided on the smallest sizesince the Sultana was a small schooner. TheSculpey was shaped into small beads 3/8” long.See the photos above for details. Six were madewith the intention of picking the best from the “lit-ter”. An eye bolt was shaped and inserted intoeach end of the buoy. The eye bolts were notinserted fully (1/32” remained between the buoyand eye).

Photo #2 shows how I prepared a harness foreach buoy. Two will be needed for each. Threelines were knotted along another length riggingline. It took a little time to space them properlyso there was an equal distance between them.The harness was wrapped around the buoy andfused with super glue as described earlier. Thethree knotted strands are seized at the eye boltas shown in photo #3. The space between thesethree lines should be tested before the harness isglued around the buoy permanently. The sameprocess was repeated on the other side of thebuoy to complete them. Only this time the threelines of the 2nd harness were run under theexisting harness before being seized to the eyebolt on the opposite side. (018 black rigginglines were used for each harness)

When the buoys were finished I weathered themwith some brown acrylic paint so they wouldn’tlook so new and clean. The photo below shows

how I rigged the buoy to the shrouds first. ThenI set up another length of tan (.008) rigging lineto the anchor as shown in the line drawing onthe previous page. The end was tied to theshroud at the same place where the line for thebuoy was fastened. To finish it up I lashed arope coil to the shroud in that same location. Imust mention that I also placed the anchor cableon the ring of the anchor before I placed it ontothe model. A generous length of .045 tan riggingline was used. The other end was run beneaththe head rails and through the hawse hole. I

Place arope coil

here

wrapped it three times around the windlassdrum. Then I pushed the end of the cable intothe corner hole of the hatch directly aft of thewindlass. I was careful not to pull any of theselines taught. I painstakingly worked them untilthey hung loosely and natural. This was not asimple thing to achieve to my satisfaction butwas well worth the time spent. Finally, eachanchor was lashed to a timberhead as shown inthe same photo.

Boom and Gaffs...

I had to replace all of the dowels provided withthe kit for the boom, gaffs and yards. Most werebadly warped and open grained. I could have

asked Model Shipways for replacements but Ibought some beech dowels at a local hobby shopinstead. The boom was assembled first and wasvery simple. The appropriate sized dowel waschosen by measuring the diameter against theplans. The dowel was tapered by hand as shownin the photo above. The jaws for the boom weretraced from the plans and shaped from a basswood sheet 1/32” thick. Small holes were drilledthrough the jaw ends so I could string the parralbeads. Drill these holes before you cut the jawsfrom the sheet. They will be much too fragileafterwards and the wood will split. These beadsallowed the boom to move with less friction onthe main mast. They are not supplied with the kit

Eye bolt

Iron bandsParral beads CleatsSheaves

Topping lift (.018)

Tackle for topping lift(.008)

3mm singleblock

Tackle for topping lift

belayed herewith rope

coil.

Foot ropes(.008)

Boom Sheet(.008 rigging) 4mmdouble blocks

and were purchased separately. They are soldseveral 100 to each package.

The boom will be left natural and not painted.Eye bolts and cleats were attached as shown onthe plans. I also added some black pinstripetape to simulate iron bands around the jaws.This detail is not shown on the plans. Twosheaves were also simulated at the end of theboom as shown in the 2nd photo above. Itshows the boom completed and ready to berigged on the model. The sheaves are createdby drilling two small holes about 1/32” apart.The space between them was recessed with thetip of a pin vise.

I secured the boom to the main mast so it sat onthe boom rest. The mast hoops should sit ontop of the boom jaws. Then I rigged the toppinglift first. A 3mm single block was seized to theend of a generous length of .018 black riggingline. The other end was seized to the eye bolton the aft side of the cap. See the photo on theprevious page for details. I carefully adjustedthe length of the topping lift so the single blockwas approximately 1 ½” from the end of theboom. You will have to hold the boom tip abovethe transom in order to check that the distancelooks correct. Check the plans to obtain theexact angle and distances. The tackle for thetopping lift was rigged using .008 tan riggingline. After running the loose end through the aft-most sheave of the boom it was belayed to thecleat on the Starboard side of the boom. It wasfinished off with a rope coil.

The boom sheet was rigged as shown in figure34 of the kit-supplied instructions. It is an accu-rate diagram however it shows the traveller ondeck which is incorrect. A 4mm double blockwas seized around the boom for this tackle.See the detailed photo provided on the previouspage. The running end was belayed to the pinon the double block (seized to the traveler). Asmall rope coil was hung on this pin afterwards.I used .008 tan rigging line for the boom sheet.Knotted footropes (.008) were added to theboom to complete the boom rigging. The knotswere placed the same distance apart as thosefor bowsprit foot ropes.

The main and fore gaffs are constructed using thesame methods described for the boom. In thiscase they were both painted black before attach-ing the blocks and eye bolts. Please note that themain gaff should have an eye bolt glued into theunderside of the jaws. This detail is not shown onthe plans. It will be used for the throat downhaul.The fore gaff will not have this feature. See thephoto above for details. After they were complet-ed to the stage shown in the photo I placed themonto the model. They were secured around themast with black parral beads strung through theirjaws. I rigged the main gaff first.

The rigging for the main gaff was completed inthe order shown below. See the accompany-ing photos for details. Also examine figure 33in the kit-supplied instruction manual.

-Peak Halliard- It will be set up with a tackle onthe starboard side and belayed to a shroud cleat.I seized a 2.5 mm (S) block onto the end of a gen-erous length of .008 tan rigging line. The otherend was run through the double block on the masthead. I pulled it through the starboard sheaveuntil the single block was positioned at a pleasingheight off of the deck. Then I glued the peak hal-liard in the double block to maintain that position.It will make it easier to set up the tackle whichwas completed next. The other end of the tacklewill be a 2.5 mm (S) block that has a hook drilledinto it. This block will be hooked into an eye bolton deck. The position for the eye bolt was takenfrom the plans. The hook and eye bolt wasshaped out of 28 gauge black wire. I seizedanother length of .008 rigging line to this block touse for the tackle. This line was run through the

Main and fore gaff construction

(.008)

2.5mm (s)

2.5mm (s)

cleats)

eye bolt on maingaff only

4mm (s)

single block on the end of the peak halliard andback down through the hooked block on deck.The running end was belayed to the shroudcleat and finished off with a rope coil. The otherend of the peak halliard was run through the sin-gle block rigged to the gaff. Then it was takenback up through the double block and seized tothe tip of the gaff as shown in the photo.

-Peak Downhaul (port) Flag Halliard (Starboard)I used .008 tan rigging line for both. They weretied to the boom cleats as shown and then runthrough the single blocks seized to the tip of thegaff. Their loose ends were then belayed tothose same cleats and finished off with somerope coils.

-Throat Halliard – Some tan rigging line (.008)was seized to the single block attached to thegaff jaws. This was a little tricky. After a fewattempts I was successful. The running endwas taken through the double block on trestletree. Then it was finally brought down to thedeck where it was set up in a tackle on the portside of the model. This tackle is identical to theone we created for the peak halliard. Only thistime we will need to seize the 2.5 mm (S) blockonto the running end of this halliard while it is onthe model. I was careful to make sure it waspositioned at the same height above the deck as

the block for the peak halliard. See the photo pro-vided.

-Throat Downhaul - The throat downhaul wasseized to the eye bolt on the underside of thegaff’s jaws. It was brought down to the boom cleatshown in the photos provided. Finish it off with arope coil. I used .008 tan rigging line for the throatdownhaul.

Main Gaff Rigging

Peak halliard (.008)

Flaghalliard (.008)

Throathalliard

(.008)

Throatdownhaul(.008)

PORT

A

D

D

B

B CC

A

E

E

STARBOARD

A= Throat downhaul B= Peak downhaul C= Flag halliard D= Tackle for throat halliard E= Tackle for peak halliard

The fore gaff was rigged in the same manner.It was secured to the mast with parral beads.Rigging for the fore gaff was completed in the fol-lowing order.

-Peak Halliard – Was completed as described forthe main gaff, only this time the tackle was set upon the port side of the hull. See the photo to theright for details.

-Peak Downhaul- The downhaul (.008) wasrigged by tying a generous length of line to themast cleat shown in the same photo. It was runthrough the 2.5 mm single block seized to the tipof the gaff. Then I brought it back down to thesame cleat and finished it off with a rope coil.

-Throat Halliard- Rigged as described for themain gaff, only this time the tackle is set up onthe starboard side of the model.

-Vangs- I will hold off on rigging the vangs untilafter the yards are completed. They will just getin the way and make rigging the yards more diffi-cult. I will describe it in detail afterwards whilefinally completing the back stays as well.

The Topsail Yards...

The topsail yards were cut to length and taperedby hand. The measurements were taken fromthe plans. If you examine the plans, you willnotice that the yard on the fore mast is longerand slightly thicker in diameter than the yard forthe main mast. I took this into considerationwhen I was constructing them. The tips of theyard arms were carefully shaped with a #11 bladein my hobby knife. I scored each end of the yardby rolling it under my blade. Be sure not to applymuch pressure because you don’t want to cut thedowel straight through. I only wanted to create ashallow cut all the way around the yard. Then Iwhittled small shavings of wood back to this line.

Two small cleats were shaped from a strip ofwood 1/16” x 1/16’ thick. See the photo on thenext page for details. After they were assembledI painted both yards black. To finish them off Iseized 2.5 mm single blocks to both ends of theyards for their braces.

Peak halliard

Throathalliard

Peak downhaul

Details of the fore gaff rigging

The halliard was rigged to the topsail yard usingthe “sheet bend” shown in figure 31 of the kit-supplied manual. I would like to note that the rig-ging plans for this kit are outstanding comparedto most available commercially. It is a testamentto the Model Shipways brand. The illustrationclearly shows how to rig the halliard to the centerof the topsail yard. After a generous length of(.008) tan rigging line was secured to the yard asshown, I rigged them to the model. I willdescribe in detail how I completed the rigging onthe topsail yards. Each line was rigged in theorder presented below.

- Halliard for the topsail yards - The loose end ofthe halliard was run through the sheave createdin the topmast. I adjusted the position of theyard and then glued the halliard into the sheaveso that position could be maintained. The topsailyards will be placed in their lowered positionabout ½” above the cap. Then it was runthrough a whip block on deck. This block is a

2.5 mm single block hooked into an eyebolt ondeck. A hook was shaped from 28 gauge wireand glued into a pre-drilled hole in the block.There is no tackle used for this halliard. Afterrunning the line through this block it should bebelayed to the aft-most shroud cleat. The hal-liard for the main topsail yard was set up on theport side with a whip block while the fore topsailyard was belayed to starboard. They were fin-ished off with a rope coil.

- Truss – Once again the drawing for the topsailyard truss is shown in figure 31 of the instruc-tions. I created an eye on the end of some .008tan rigging line. The truss was rigged as shownin that diagram and it would be difficult todescribe it better than it is displayed there. Thetruss will hold the yard securely against the topmast.

- Braces – The braces were also rigged using.008 tan rigging lines. I seized the end of these

Topsail YardRigging (.008 tan riggingline used for all)

2.5mm (S) blocks Cleats

Halliard for thetopsail yards arerun through awhip block -hooked to an eyebolt on deck andbelayed to ashroud cleat.

Braces

Lifts

Halliard

lines to the shrouds as shown in the photoabove. Then they were run through the singleblocks on the yard arms. From here they werebrought back to the shrouds where I had seizeda 2.5 mm single block. These blocks wereplaced just below the initial starting point for thebraces. After running the line through the blockthey were belayed to a shroud cleat as shown inthe photo above. Finish it off with a rope coil.The braces are rigged identical for both the foreand main topsail yards.

- Topsail yard lifts – Once again, tan rigging line(.008) was used to rig the lifts. I seized the endof the lifts to the yard as shown in the photoabove. Then they were brought up through thesingle blocks secured to the topmast. They werebrought back down to the cleats at the base ofthe mast and belayed there. Before doing so,adjust the lifts so the topsail yard is level andpositioned correctly. Finish them off with a ropecoil. The lifts were rigged identical for both themain and fore topsail yards.

Lower Yards…

The lower yards were cut to length and taperedas previously described for the topsail yards.The lower yard for the fore mast is also slightlylonger and thicker in diameter than the one forthe main mast. The photo below shows thelower yard completed for the main mast with allof the blocks attached. Both yards should be vir-tually identical when finished. After painting themblack I rigged the blocks. Please note that black.008 rigging line was used to secure the blocks tothe yard. The brace pendants are ½” long and Iused 2.5mm single blocks seized to their ends.A 3 mm double block was lashed to the center ofthe yard as shown in figure 32 of the kit-suppliedinstructions. It will be used for the halliard.

Two single blocks were seized together andplaced on the ends of the yard arms. One ofthese blocks (2.5mm) will be used for the topsailsheet while a smaller one is for the lifts. Thesingle blocks for the lifts were sanded even

Topsail yardlifts arebelayed tomast cleats

Topsail yardbraces arebelayed toshroud cleats

Lower Yard Construction

3mm (D) block2mm (S) block2.5mm (S) block

2.5mm (S) blockBrace pendants (.008)

smaller with a finished size of only 2mm. Thisdetail is shown in the same photo. All of theblocks used were modified as discussed earlier inthis builder’s guide. They were all meticulouslysanded to a more accurate round shape. Whiledoing so, I sanded those for the lower yard liftseven smaller. Two inboard single blocks werelashed to the yard and it was finally ready to beplaced on the model. These last two (2.5mm)single blocks will be used to take the topsailsheet down to the mast cleats where they will bebelayed. When both yards were completed Irigged them to the model in the order presentedbelow.

- Truss for the Lower Yards - The lower yard forthe main mast will be fitted with a truss. The yardon the fore mast will not. The plans have a

detail drawing for this truss. It shows the looseend of the truss being carried to the trestle treeswhere it should be belayed. The only problem isthat the plans don’t indicate where or how theloose end should be tied off. Rather than guess,I decided to use the same simple truss describedfor the topsail yards.

-JEERS (Halliards and Slings) – These yardswere lowered to the deck often. The jeers (acombination of sling and halliard) were used todo this on the Sultana. The halliard will be set upwith two double blocks secured to the mast witha sling. The sling is pictured above (left). Thesling is also shown in figure 32 of the kit-suppliedinstructions but is not labeled as such. To createthe sling, seize a generous length of (.018) blackrigging around a double block. Then, an eye wascreated on both ends of the sling as shown. I willtry and save you the grief of determining howlong each leg of the sling should be. Thosemeasurements are shown in the same photo.The completed sling was secured around thetrestle tree and lashed together through the twoeyes with some tan sewing thread. It shouldn’tbe pulled tight but instead left to hang naturallybelow the trestle trees.

1-1/8”

3mm (D) block

Sling for the lower yard halliards

3/8”

Whip block for the halliardA

B

C

D

D

A= Halliard for the lower yards B= Braces C= Top sail sheet D= Lifts

The halliard (.008 tan rigging line) will be securedto the double block of the sling and reevedthrough the double block on the center of theyard. It would be best to strop the halliard to thedouble block of the sling before you place thesling on the model. This would be very difficult(as you can imagine) if the sling was already inposition. As you can see, there is quite a mazeof running and standing rigging at this point in theproject. The running end of the halliard was thentaken down to the deck where it passed throughthe whip block we placed in front of the mast.From here it was belayed to a mast cleat and fin-ished off with a rope coil. The halliard and slingswere fashioned the same way on both the foreand main masts. See the photo above.

- Top Sail Sheets - The topsail sheets wererigged with .008 tan rigging line. A double knotwas formed on the end of the line and drop ofsuper glue was added. The sheet was passedthrough the single block on each end the yard.See figure 32 of the kit-supplied instructions.Then it was run through the single blocks weplaced inboard on the yard and taken down tothe deck. Their loose ends were also belayed tothe mast cleats and finished off with some ropecoils. The top sail sheets were rigged identicallyfor the lower yards of the main and fore masts.

- Lifts – A generous length of .008 tan rigging linewas used for the lifts. I secured the end of theline to the single blocks located on the mastcaps. From here they were run through theremaining single blocks on the ends of each yard(above the top sail sheets). The running endwas brought back up to the originating singleblocks on the cap so they could be taken downto the deck. The lifts were belayed to any mastcleats not yet occupied. On the fore mast Idecided to belay the running ends to the bittsinstead. I thought that the model would lookmore interesting this way.

- Braces for the Lower Yards - These wererigged the same way as the braces for the topsail yards. Single blocks were seized to theshrouds just below those used for the top sailyard braces. The running ends were belayed tothe shroud cleats specified on the plans and finished off with some rope coils.

Vangs and Back Stays…

Now that most of the rigging has been completedI felt it was a good time to finally complete thevangs and back stays. The vangs were onlyadded to the fore gaff. As mentioned in the kit-supplied instructions, they most likely were notused on the main gaff. The vangs were rigged

Detail of sling andhalliard(jeers) on themain mast

Vangs on the Fore Gaff

(.008) tackle

belay to cleat

2.5 mm (S)block

2.5 mm (S)block hooked

into an eyebolt on deck

using .018 black rigging. A 2.5mm single blockwas seized to one end of that line. The block isused for a tackle. The other end of the tacklealso uses a single block of the same size. It isfitted with a hook and made from 28 gauge blackwire. It was hooked into an eye bolt on deck asshown in the photo on the previous page. Checkthe belaying plan for the exact locations on deck.There are two vangs, one on each side of thegaff (port and starboard). They are seized to thetip of the gaff and brought down so the singleblock is about 2” off the deck. I was very carefulto make certain the blocks for both vangs werelined up across from one another. The tackleswere set up (.008 tan rigging) and belayed to acleat as shown in that same photo. They werefinished off with a rope coil.

The back stays were handled the same way asthe vangs. They were set up with a tacklehooked to an eye bolt on deck. The runningends of these tackles are also belayed to cleatslocated on deck. The same sized rigging lineswere used. Check the belaying plan for the loca-tions of the cleats and eye bolts. The only differ-ence here is that each backstay (port and star-board) was seized to the topmast. See the photoprovided showing the running back stays for themain and fore masts. I must note that accordingto the plans the back stays for the main mastwere belayed to the quarter deck railing. I amnot convinced that this was the method used tosecure them. I decided to add some cleats ondeck like the other stays instead.

VANGS

RunningBack Stay

RunningBack Stay

Jib Rigging…

We are in the home stretch here folks. Only afew more details remain and the model will befinished. The rigging plan in the kit clearlyshows the placement for all of the single blocksfor the jib rigging. These blocks are all 2.5 mm. Isecured them as noted on the plans. Two blockswere positioned high up on the inner and outerjibstays. You can see in the photo above thatthey are lashed around the seizing of the staysnear the trestle tree. Another single block waspositioned just above the heart on the inner jib-stay. The remaining single block was tied to thetraveler on the starboard side.

I rigged the downhauls first. Another single blockwas seized to the end of some (.008) tan riggingline. The lines were run through the lower singleblocks and belayed to the cleats on the rail(Either side of the bowsprit). These were fin-ished off with some rope coils. I spaced the blockfor the downhaul about ¼” above the singleblocks lashed to the stay and traveler. I placed adrop of super glue in each sheave to establishthis position before belaying the end of the line tothe cleats.

The jib halliards were done next. The halliardswere stropped to the single blocks secured highon the stays. From here they were reeved

Outer JibHalliard

Inner JibHalliard

Inner JibDownhaul

Outer JibDownhaul

Jib StayInhaul

2.5mm singleblocks

2.5mm singleblocks

2.5mm single blocks

through the blocks on the end of each down-haul and taken back up to their originatingblocks. Each halliard was run through theseblocks and brought down to the deck where Ibelayed them to a mast cleat. You could takethem down to the bits and belay them thereas well.

Lastly, I rigged the jib stay inhaul. A lengthof (.008) tan rigging line was seized to thetraveler on the port side. There is a nicedetailed drawing of this on the rigging plan.From here it was brought to the only remain-ing cleat on the rail (starboard side of thebowsprit). Check the belaying arrangementon the rigging plan. Finish it off with a ropecoil. All of the rigging is now completed. Theonly task remaining is to raise the flags.

The Flags…

Flags are provided with the kit but they arefrom the wrong country. The kit came sup-plied with several American flags from the18th and 19th centuries. The Sultana wasnever sailed under American control (unlessyou are referring to the modern replica). Ihave created several flags appropriately usedby the Royal Navy at this time. Simply printout this page and cut the flags out using asharp hobby knife. Fold them down the cen-ter line and glue them together using anElmer’s glue stick or similar product. There isnothing worse than a stiff flag rigged on aship model as if it was actually left on themoon. I have seen this many times and you

probably have as well. To remedy this Itake the flags and wrap them around awooden dowel. I continue to work the flagevery which way imaginable. The foldsshould run diagonally and not vertically. Thefolds should radiate from the top cornerwhere the flag hangs. The worse thing thatcould happen is I ruin the flag. Then all Ihave to do is print out another one. Try toavoid repetitious folds. The flags shouldnever be bent or creased. The moment thathappens, throw it away and start over.

I decided to hang the large flag from thegaff halliard instead of from an ensign staff.Either way is acceptable. I have seen thestaff attached to the stern in various waysand haven’t liked any of the interpretations.The kit shows the tapered dowel drilled intothe top rail of the transom. What evermethod you choose this one should definite-ly be avoided.

The flags are secured to their halliards bydrilling tiny holes in the corners of them.The flags are then lashed to the halliard orstaff with some sewing thread after runningit through these holes. I created a pennantfor the model in addition to the smaller flagflown on the jack staff. I decided not to usethe pennant after all but will provide it any-way in case you disagree. After I riggedthe pennant I thought the flags overpoweredthe model so I removed it. Some folksmight think the Royal Navy ensign flown onthe stern is too large. I personally like alarge flag there. It is reminiscent of thoseearly oil paintings showing huge flags waving in the wind during battle.Anyway, THE MODEL IS NOW FINISHED.

I hope you are happy with your Sultana. This project has been an interesting one. I hope it has inspired you to try other solid hull ship models, especially those kits now being offered by Model Shipways. These relativelyinexpensive kits can turn out fantastic with a little creativity and modification.

Chuck Passaro

building the model shipways kit of the colonial schooner ... · royal navy, he arranged for her to...

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