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Author Topic: Jerry C's rebuild of "Elizabeth Jonas".  (Read 5099 times)

Jerry C

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Jerry C's rebuild of "Elizabeth Jonas".
« on: December 10, 2012, 05:39:10 pm »

There follows a copy and paste of a post I wrote in another thread which saves me writing it out again. Sorry if some of you have already read it.
In the early 50s my uncle aged about 18 was in hospital with terminal leukaemia (Hodgkins disease). The bods in the science museum had recently drawn up plans for the "Elizabeth Jonas" from info saved by Samuel Pepys held at the Bodlean Library. The scale was 1/96 and the museum built a 1/48 model. My uncle wrote to the curator and asked for a copy of the plans and any photographs they had. Over the next year he made a 1/96 model while bed ridden. He and the curator corresponded on a regular basis until he finished the model. On completion the curator came up to Wolverhampton to visit and see the model. According to my gramps the curator was so impressed that he asked if they could display it at the museum. My gramps wasn't keen because it would be all he had left of him after Roy died(very shortly after this). The model was never kept in a case and over the years deteriorated very badly. The sails, made from nurses aprons, are rotten and disintegrate when touched as does the rigging and all horizontal surfaces are 1/4" deep in filth. My mother gave it to me recently with a view to me restoring it. I got in touch with Rory Cook the curator of ship models now and related this epic to him and asked if I could visit the museum with a view to photographing their model for rebuilding mine. He couldn't have been more accommodating. We arranged a date and time and he met me at reception, took me up to the display and left me to take as many pictures as I wished with or without flash. If I need any new copies of their photos or new plans I only had to ask. He gave me copies of the original Samuel Pepys drawings and notes on rigging and spars which hadn't been available to my uncle.
Today I started by removing the sprits'l and its yard and rigging. I also removed a loose piece of the portside beak. A lot of the 3 ply has delaminated and will have to be rebuilt. The paint is water soluable (poster paint). I will repaint/refresh where I can with silk acrylic.
Jerry.

dreadnought72

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Re: Jerry C's rebuild of "Elizabeth Jonas".
« Reply #1 on: December 10, 2012, 08:28:26 pm »

That looks stunning - I love Elizabethan ships. Please keep the photos coming!

Andy
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Norseman

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Re: Jerry C's rebuild of "Elizabeth Jonas".
« Reply #2 on: December 11, 2012, 12:11:50 am »

Great reason for refurbishing her - I'm sure you will enjoy it. It will be nice to watch too.
Dave
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Jerry C

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Re: Jerry C's rebuild of "Elizabeth Jonas".
« Reply #3 on: December 21, 2012, 08:34:50 pm »

I've made a start on the front pointy bit. The port card was hanging on by a thread so I removed it. The fore and aft strakes (3ply) had delaminated so, where possible, I found the missing bits of centre ply and glued them all back together again little by little. It's slow,fiddly and painstaking work. The cross grain situation means they fall apart at the slightest touch. Where I didn't have the bits I just glued outer to inner and so the result is slightly thinner strakes. Not too noticeable to the untrained eye. I practiced on the detached card then repeated on the attached starboard card. I painted and  attached the port card then painted the starboard one. The forward face of the fo'c'sle I did same on athwartships strakes. I have only refreshed the paint on this area and left the triangles alone on the grounds that I know I can't do them justice so left them until a better man than I can at a later date. On the blue between the lower two strakes are meant to be some squiggly bits in yellow. I tried with a fibre tipped fine liner pen but it wasn't compatible with the acrylic blue. I then tried it with yellow acrylic and a very fine brush but it was rubbish so this area also I will leave on the "do no harm" principle. 10 days work with some Xmas duties thrown in and not a lot of progress to show for it.
Jerry.

pettyofficernick

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Re: Jerry C's rebuild of "Elizabeth Jonas".
« Reply #4 on: December 21, 2012, 11:50:16 pm »

Will look nice when it's done, Caldercraft do a range of period paints in their Admiralty paints range if you are having trouble matching colors. I shall follow with interest, nice work so far.
Nick.
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spooksgone

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Re: Jerry C's rebuild of "Elizabeth Jonas".
« Reply #5 on: December 22, 2012, 12:29:45 pm »

What a fasinating project. You must have patience of a saint.
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derekwarner

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Re: Jerry C's rebuild of "Elizabeth Jonas".
« Reply #6 on: December 22, 2012, 09:44:25 pm »

Jerry...this Elizabeth Jonas has very fine and attractive under water lines by the bow  :-)) ....totally unlike the bolbus designs of the Columbus era  >>:-( which must have been as hydrodynamic as a cube with rounded sides.... <*<
 
What type of glue/glues are you using for the reconstruction work?
 
Will you build a glass display case for her next life?........
 
I am sure many will enjoy the rebuild thread.......Derek
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Jerry C

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Re: Jerry C's rebuild of "Elizabeth Jonas".
« Reply #7 on: January 01, 2013, 12:44:57 pm »

Cheers Derek, happy new year to all. Her lines forward are as you say improved. One thing we all tend to forget though is that these vessels were unable to point into the wind by much less than about 80deg and at best make good 90deg so most of the time had wind and sea behind. Makes a big difference. I'm using thin superglue. The technique being, join together dry then use capilliary action to get the glue in! These pics show what I'm up against and the pound coin hopefully gives an idea of how small it all is. I can't for the life of me think how I'm going to reave some of these tiny blocks. Some are 1/4 grain of rice size!
Today I removed the wreckage of the fore t'gallant mast, complete with yard and sail intact. I used this sail to experiment on with various means of cleaning. The first was a gentle soft brushing with a weak solution of sugar soap. I let it soak for 20 minutes then rinsed with cold water under the tap. The good news is that it's still here and not down the plughole. Watch this space for what it's like when dry.
I've found I can clean some of the thicker standing rigging of dust with a soft paint brush without breaking it. I want to save and leave un disturbed where ever possible but I will have to repaint parts close behind rigging and this will be challenging. The rope(thread) is very dry and brittle. I plan to paint with sanding sealer which will draw the shellac into the fibers and when dry will replace some of the strength. (in theory).
Any way here are a few pics. It all looks really rough at this magnification but to the naked eye is OK.
Jerry.

Norseman

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Re: Jerry C's rebuild of "Elizabeth Jonas".
« Reply #8 on: January 01, 2013, 08:57:46 pm »

Re the tiny blocks - could they be done in a modelling putty and formed around some thread?

Dave
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Jerry C

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Re: Jerry C's rebuild of "Elizabeth Jonas".
« Reply #9 on: January 01, 2013, 09:51:10 pm »

What a clever idea. Lateral thinking, love it. I want to use the blocks I have but will give that a try for any missing blocks. Thankyou.
Jerry.

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Re: Jerry C's rebuild of "Elizabeth Jonas".
« Reply #10 on: January 01, 2013, 10:45:52 pm »

Good evening Jerry, and a happy New Year to you sir. Re small blocks, Jotika do wooden blocks and deadeyes down to 2.2mm, and 0.25mm rigging thread to go with them. The 2.2mm blocks are truly tiny, when I built HMS Pickle I nearly went blind doing the rigging. And  at 80 pence for 10 won't break the bank..... :-)) :-)) :-))

http://www.shipwrightshop.com/shop/contents/en-uk/d18_Single-Sheave-Rigging-Blocks.html
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Jerry C

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Re: Jerry C's rebuild of "Elizabeth Jonas".
« Reply #11 on: January 02, 2013, 02:43:56 pm »

Happy new year to you too Nick. Your Jotika blocks noted. Had a look on the link and was suspicious of the pics. Maybe one size fits all? So I thought I'd do a bit of Macro 2 pics. It would appear my smallest block is 2.5mm.. At that size a mere breath down the nose blows them away. On my previous restore I had the problem of the blocks splitting when pulling a thread through. I used a fine spring wire diamond as a pull through from a fly tying kit. For these I will need something finer, any suggestions?
Jerry.

pettyofficernick

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Re: Jerry C's rebuild of "Elizabeth Jonas".
« Reply #12 on: January 02, 2013, 06:01:23 pm »

Hi Jerry, I have built a couple of Caldercraft Nelson's Navy kits, and find their blocks and deadeyes to be of good quality. The holes for rigging are sized to accept their range of rigging thread, which I think starts a 0.25mm, very fiddly, but look good when finished. I use a little superglue to twist a bodkin onto the end of the thread to aid threading into the blocks. The hardest part I found was tying the strops on, locking tweezers and hemostats are really handy for putting tension on things when tying off etc. Here's a couple of photos of one of my plank on frame efforts, not perfect but I was happy with it. I have some close ups of the rigging process somewhere in my computer, so I will hunt them down ans post a couple if it helps.
Regards,
Nick.
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Jerry C

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Re: Jerry C's rebuild of "Elizabeth Jonas".
« Reply #13 on: February 28, 2013, 02:38:45 pm »

Just in case anyone's missed me I have made no progress since the last post due to temporary disabilities due to old shoulder injuries. Been through the NHS system and now getting help from physioterrorist. Hopefully can make progress but so far only pain. In the intervening time have sailed my Xmas pressie (a Surmount 800) a few times and am enjoying her. Also I like the 2.4gig Tx as its about half the weight of my graupner. Holding my arms in one place for any length of time really hurts.
Jerry.

Norseman

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Re: Jerry C's rebuild of "Elizabeth Jonas".
« Reply #14 on: February 28, 2013, 09:30:14 pm »

Physioterrorist  :o
What a great description.
Hope it all goes well for you, and meanwhile you are certainly in the company of one of the webs greatest collections of ailments - The Mayhemers ... Even the servers below par.

Dave
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Jerry C

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Re: Jerry C's rebuild of "Elizabeth Jonas".
« Reply #15 on: February 28, 2013, 10:13:32 pm »

It's said the difference between a physio and a terrorist is that you can negotiate with a terrorist!
Jerry.

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Re: Jerry C's rebuild of "Elizabeth Jonas".
« Reply #16 on: September 17, 2019, 11:12:40 pm »

Sorry to bump this topic up after 730 days but I sometimes look through the archives and found this interesting topic. Naturally I wondered how this marathon job was/s going, and obviously hope that Jerry is alright.
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Jerry C

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Re: Jerry C's rebuild of "Elizabeth Jonas".
« Reply #17 on: September 18, 2019, 09:44:48 am »

I did finish it and even made a case for it but this is the best pic I can find atm. I’m in good health thanks and building Jerry’s second steam launch on here.
Jerry

Jerry C

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Re: Jerry C's rebuild of "Elizabeth Jonas".
« Reply #18 on: September 18, 2019, 09:48:02 am »

Jerry C

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Re: Jerry C's rebuild of "Elizabeth Jonas".
« Reply #19 on: September 18, 2019, 10:38:29 am »




Pic of Golden Hind with original photo of Uncle Roy.
Jerry

Jerry C

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Re: Jerry C's rebuild of "Elizabeth Jonas".
« Reply #20 on: September 18, 2019, 10:55:15 am »

There’s a bit of confusion here. The first pictures are of Elizabeth Jonas which the text refers to. I first restored Roy’s first model of Golden Hind. On completion I started E J but it was too much for me this as the details much much finer and my shoulders let me down so I handed her in to my younger brother for him to sort. The thread continued briefly with G H. to completion. Sorry about that. I don’t even remember starting  this thread on here as I’d done it on a blogspot site. This is marked below as Santa Maria blog cos that’s what we thought it was at first.
Jerry.

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Re: Jerry C's rebuild of "Elizabeth Jonas".
« Reply #21 on: September 18, 2019, 11:16:07 pm »


Good to know she got restored. At least you gave it a good start, and importantly stopped where you found the going tough, as sometimes, people try and push on and fudge things.


I will have a look at your steam launch topic :-))
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