Rigging

While still working on the hull of the ship, I started thinking of the rigging which is one of the most important parts of every model. This is a very complex issue and there are whole books dedicated to this. The reason why rigging is so important is simple: it is more visible than the hull. When someone looks at a model ship it is the tangle of ropes that attracts attention not the bottom of the hull. The best way to represent rigging is to make it as close to real it to reality as possible. In order to do so I studied book and dozens of web pages and internet forums.

First of all I had to prepare some thin threads. It is important that their diameter is corresponds to the scale on the model, otherwise they will look too thick.

Rigging on any ship can be separated in to main categories: standing rigging and running rigging. Standing rigging includes all the ropes that support masts (shrouds, stays and backstays), yards and other spars (i.e. any pieces of wood/metal). The term means that when the ship is moving under sail they are more or less fixed, not that they cannot be adjusted.

Running rigging is used for raising, lovering and controlling the sails. It is called like that because it is often being adjusted i.e. runs through pulleys. There will be different number of lines with different functions for different types of rigging.

I had to select two different types threads for standing and running rigging one must be slightly thicker and darker than the other. Since I had no black ropes I had to color them.

Ship: masts and details

On the Christmas holidays I have spent some time on the ship. I was working on masts an yards and some other wooden parts of rigging. Here are some photos:

The main mast is almost finished. Note the black thread winded on it. They were used to bind together the parts of the mast (it wasn't not made from a singe piece of wood). I also started adding some details my model such as railings of the foredeck and quarter-deck.

Main project

I want to clarify the structure of my main CAS project.

The core of it is the on going building of a model ship. But the main project of ship building involved two sub projects, which were independent activities on their own but were linked by the main target of improving my skills in model making and general knowledge of the topic i.e. sailing ships.

The sea knots learning project:

The rigging is more complicated than it may seem. Not only does every single rope has its own name and purpose but also the way they are connected and laid is different and depends on the type of the ship, its size time and country in which it was build. Historically French ships were different from British or Dutch.

I decided to enrich my knowledge of sea knots in order to practice them before I will use them on my model. Although it probably won’t be possible to see the difference between different knots on the model I will be satisfied because I will know that is is done correctly. And satisfaction is not the least important part in making models.

Sailing

As I mentioned earlier in this blog during summer I learned to sail. Me and my dad sailed a small keelboat. This also contributed to my main project. I learned the how basic rigging works on practice and also applied my knowledge of sea knots.

Ship, update

After quite a long break I continued working on the ship.

I continued the planking of the hull. When the planks reached the level of the deck I had to stop. I had to first attach the upper parts of ribs that will support the bulwark (the part of the hull that goes above the deck level. Then I realised that to do that I have to first finish the deck otherwise it will be very hard to cut the edges of the planks.

The work on the deck was quite boring since I had to repeat same tasks many times.

So I decided to do something else for the sake of variety. I started making the masts. I already had the sticks that I have previously cut to the needed shape and length. Now I had to paint them. I was not sure about the colour. I searched in a couple of books but they had no exact information because the information about the ships of Columbus is very limited. After looking at photos of different models on the Internet I became convinced that there is no clear information available. In general, the masts are supposed to be of the same colour as the hull, but I thought that if I make them a bit lighter. This would make them stand up from the hull and the standing rig, which will also dark.

After doing that I decided to go back to planking and continued working on the upper decks. I started planking the upper parts of those decks after painting the bottom part brown. It was important to do that in that particular order otherwise I would screw the plankking with paint.

Halloween

Last Thursday I took part in the organizing the Halloween party. I helped Shun with making and selling sandwiches.

The plan was to provide snacks for the Halloween disco. We had to decide:

·         What types of sandwiches we want to sell

·         Whether we want to sell hot or cold sandwiches

·         What supplies will we need

·         What the price will be

·         Where will we locate our shop

Since we decide to make warm sandwiches, which was a good decision because they tasted much better than cold ones, we had to find sandwich makers. We decided to sell ham, ham and cheese and cheese sandwiches. We decided to locate in the psychology room that was close to the entrance to the disco and provided enough space. We agreed on a price of 50 roubles for ham and cheese and 40 for both ham and cheese. However later we decide to change prices and for the sake of simplicity sell everything for 50 roubles. Also we sometimes offered discounts like two for 80 roubles.

After that we had to organise the process in the most efficient way. I was making sandwich and Shun was cooking it in the sandwich maker. In order to keep them warm, we cooked only a few and then waited until someone ordered more.


We also were also selling some other snacks like sushi triangles and some sweet bakery. These were precooked.

                                     

This activity was a an example of service. It also involved raising awareness of issues of global importance since the money raised from selling the sandwiches will go to charity.

Although in general everything went well, there were some difficulties. We did not plan what the demand for the sandwiches will be and therefore did not really plan how much supplies we will need. So we ran out of bread quickly and had to send Jonny for to buy some extra.

International day

Last Friday before the holidays I took part in organizing the International Day. This was a preplanned service activity

On Thursday I helped with setting up the gym for the evening talent show. This included assembling the stage and making a screen for the film that was shown during the concert.

On Friday I took part in setting up the hall for the lunch. We unpacked the food that the students have brought and arranged it on the tables. Later when the parents started to arrive at school I showed them the way to hall and helped them to find where their kids were. During the lunch I helped with serving food.

After the end of the talent show we took the chairs back to the school. I took part in disassembling the stage and helped with taking the musical instruments (piano and the drums) back to the music room.

Overall the day was a great success. However there were some minor issues that we did not think about. One of them was the type of food that the students brought. Everything was very tasty but when we were unpacking the food it was sometimes hard to understand what type of food that was. Especially with pies and other pastry it was hard to guess what the stuffing was. And when students and teachers asked during the lunch what was inside and we did not know that ourselves.

We also had to consider the ethical implications of our activities when we were planning the activities. For example, at first we wanted to divide students into groups by their countries. However after some debates we declined this idea. We wanted the students to be united not divided. There would be competition between teams and we did not want it to be in the form of competition between people from different countries.There were a couple of other small planning issues with organising the national food, which we managed to solve.

Ship: reflection

I decided that the ship will be my main project. It involves both creativity and action because it involves me developing new skills and applying them to the model. The model itself is a challenge for me as it is the first fully wooden ship I am making.

Being reflective I have to mention that most things went well. For example I found working with wood was easier than I expected. That was because I looked for different types of plywood in advance and finally I found a piece that fitted perfectly. I first cut the edges with a small saw and then used a sharp knife for more precise adjustments. The key thing there was the sharpness of the knife. After I started changing the blade regularly it became much easier.

After I broke one of the parts I found out that the sheet of plywood is easier to break in direction than in another. So the parts should be placed in certain order on the sheet before cutting out.

To sum up I would like to say that the ship project is a good CAS activity for me because it requires me to learn new skills and undertake some challenges. It also shows commitment and perseverance in my activities. I faced some problems while I was working on it (I mentioned them earlier in this blog) that I managed to overcome successfully. It is an activity that I initiated myself. I required some planning when moving from step of “the production process” to another.

I also decided to take part in organizing the international day by helping to set up the gym for the concert and the talent show.