Sails.
Names of sails.
Sail colours.
Sewing sails.
Bolt ropes.
Bonnets and reefs
Bending.
Gaff sails
Staysails.
Sprit sails
Furled sails.
Set of sails
|
As already mentioned
at the beginning of this book in the section "Types of model", there
are many detail parts of the rigging which can only be shown if the
model is fitted with sails. It is an unfortunate fact that the
appearance of many model
ships is made very much worse by their sails, and as they are very
large
items, the overall effect is even more disastrous. Hence the first
commandment:
take extra special care with the sails!
One of the main errors is the use of material which
is too thick and too coarse - many model makers then claim that it was
their intention to indicate the coarse structure of the woven sailcloth
of genuine sails.
In the section "Material scale" I have already
mentioned that this is complete nonsense. If you reduce the woven
structure of genuine sails by 48 or 72 times, it can hardly be seen at
all. The best material
to use for model ships' sailcoth is white cotton cambric, or some other
very thin, lightweight, closely woven type of material, with as matt a
surface as possible, but nevertheless not transparent. Buy plenty / of
the material, as you will use up a great deal of it cutting the sails
to shape, not forgetting the seams and tabling. You will also need the
sail linings and bands, which are often forgotten. Don't count your
pennies here, as a few more shillings spent will save you a lot of
trouble. The dressing of the material can be washed out with warm
water, which will also make the material more pliable. If you intend
showing the sails furled on the yards, you should still remove the
dressing. For small models, incidentally, Japanese tissue will be found
to give a good effect. The next stage is to tie the yards temporarily
to
the masts at the correct positions, and cut paper templates for the
shape
and profile of the sails. If one of your sails has a bonnet, cut the
template to include this, and trim the whole sail to shape. When it
fits correctly, you can separate the bonnet part.
When checking the size, the first thing to get right is the width of
the sails. The head of the sail was always slightly less than the
distance between the yard arms. In the case of the lower sails the
shortfall was about 12ins on each side, and for the top gallant sails
it was about 6ins on either
side.The foot of the sail, i.e. the distance between the clews, was the
same length as the head of the sail immediately below it. The foot of
the
sail itself had the shape of an arc of a circle, so that it would not
chafe
against the deck erections, the rail, the stays or the top crow's feet.
The height of this arc of roach was 0.04 to 0.05 x the width of the
foot
of the sail. British warship sails, other than courses, in the 18th and
early 19th century had no roach.
Until the beginning of the 19th century the sails
were quite markedly bellied - the older the more so - then after 1830
they became rather flat. Check the belly of your sails with the paper
profile templates, and please note that a sail was less bellied the
higher up on the mast it was located.
If the sails are to look right, it is important to get
the direction of the material's weave correct. It always runs parallel
to the length of the individual cloths, to which we will return
shortly. On square sails the weave always runs perpendicular to the
yard (i.e. vertical).
In the case of lateen, stay, gaff and lug sails the weave always ran
parallel to the leach, i.e. parallel to the side of the sail facing the
stern. |
