Scratchbuilding a B&O stick lighter: Pt. III 5. 6.
6. Here are the lower part of the mast stays. Getting the stays all taut is probably the most trying part of building this mod- el. However, if you can get it right, it looks great. Not completely satisfied, the author is still working on this. You can see how they are made up, starting with a shackle at the bottom, then a length of chain, then the turnbuckle and ending with the cable of the stay itself.
5. At the top of the mast, the two spiders can be seen with the various eyes for the stays and running rigging blocks. The uppermost block is for the boom lift tackle and has two sheaves. The one just below it has three sheaves, one each for the port and starboard vangs, and the center one is used for the main lift tackle. As these blocks move depend- ing on the angle of the boom, they hang from short pieces of chain.
when the boom was not in use. The crew could then take up the slack so the boom was held firmly in position and would not swing when not in use. Now for some adjusting. Gently push
down on the end of the boom until the main boom lift tackle becomes taut. If you need to adjust the position of the boom up or down, loosen the end of the line from its temporary spot on a towing bit and, using tweezers, gently tease ei- ther more or less slack as you need it. When the boom is where you want it, tie off the end of the line again. Hook the free block of the lift tackle to the mid- point of the chain. Untie the end of the main lift tackle, and, using the tweezers again, gently take up any slack until both the main boom lift and the main lift tackles are both taut. Do not place a lot of strain on the lines; use just enough pressure to get the lines to run
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straight between their various points. All that’s left now are the vangs. Bring one of the lines up and through the outer sheave of the triple block on the same side. This line runs through its related cheek block (the blocks mounted on either side of the boom). From here it runs down to the block on the deck and back up to the cheek block, where it terminates. Run the other vang on the other side of the boom. Now gently work the slack back towards the hoist, pulling everything taut as you go. Just remember: not too tight. When all the lines are tightened to your satisfaction and all the loose ends have been neatly tied off, careful- ly apply a drop of cyanoacrylate to each knot. I also added a drop of cyanoacry- late at every point where a line passed through a block and where the lines pass over the pulleys in the gallows
frame at the bottom of the mast, plus where they pass over the hoist drums. When the cyanoacrylate dries, care- fully trim off all the loose ends and use flat black paint to tone down any shine from the glue. Lay the barge on its side and trim the excess line off under the deckhouse. Glue the ends to a nearby bulkhead or stringer.
About the last thing is to hang some fenders over the sides. Fenders could be almost anything. Looking at photos, I have seen beautifully made rope fenders,
the ubiquitous automobile
tires, and what looks for all the world like lengths of tree branches. The last were probably just pieces of driftwood picked up by the crew as the lighter went about its work in the harbor. These would be slung over the side by lengths of rope passed through the scupper openings in the rails, or hung from cleats or the towing bitts. A cou- ple or three crew members lounging about (or hard at work) and an inter- esting assortment of deck cargo will bring the model to life. By the way, if you do provide a cargo for the lighter, don’t forget to place it on some planks (dunnage) so that the crew can pass slings under it in prepa- ration for lifting. If your lighter does not have a deck cargo loaded, you might want to neatly stow some dun- nage somewhere on deck. This could be random lengths of 2″×4″, 4″×4″, or 4″×6″ timbers.
FEBRUARY 2013
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