Ronald the lucky guy!
It also looks very good on you!
One can sew, the other helps with the painting of the ship details,
they have one thing in common:
. . . . they are our wives with a good heart.

Michel-C.

Ps: my wife is asking, as she is not good at sewing, if a visit to you would get me something like this sewn? She liked your new outfit . . .

Roycv: Spraying starch on the cloth before marking out the shape seems like a very good idea. Idea duly nicked.

Sorry Roy😥

I didn’t get to mention, Catharine has also sewed two shirts with matching hats, both have nautical themes.

Yes, I have a jewel!

Ronald I am humbled!! You have such a rare find. I was tolerated after our 2 children were born and we have a pecking order in the family.

There are several cats and 2 dogs ahead of me and they are all dead! I just drop down the order as the next cat arrives.

I am supposed to be the handyman for the things that break and in my spare time I make model boats.

Knowing one's place is a fundamental part of life, but being happy with it is a matter of conjecture!

Roy

Roy it’s too bad you are not in the good graces, but my wife is a supporter of my work. She often extols my hobby to others and accompanies me to events. She photographs me and the boats going through their paces, talking to bystanders who wander by during our fun float events.

The fellas enjoy having her at the events too and if she doesn’t come along, they will come along to me asking “where’s your wife today?”

So Roy, I am sure if you get that Honey Do List finished, she might come to one of your events too, especially if you name a boat after her!

I have the Mrs.B and the Lady Cathy, and another with Catharine

Wives are never impressed with our achievements, I am still working through areas where I was found wanting from 50 years ago. I will never catch up so just accept the inevitable, "Yes dear" covers most of it!
Roy

Ron

I got a used machine (about 30 years) from the sewing machine dealer. I can run a diesel plow truck for 29 yers, but not a new sewing machine. geez!

I just tape cloth to the cutting table and tape the pattern to the cloth and start cutting. No? Sorta like my mother & sister did 50 years ago. Straight pin the pattern to the cloth and cut away

Hi don't forget to spray starch on it to make it stiff for drawing on the template for the sails.
All the best
Roy

My wife helped me to buy cotton poplin today and she is pre-washing it before showing me how to use an old Singer sewing machine. I said, I wanted to make the sails this time. She said fine, but not on her good sewing machine!

Watch for further results as I follow Gary Webbs clear instructions see on his video DIY Cotton Sails.

The details and sail plan of the RG65 'test boat'
1 at the tack
2 the full sails

The luff of the jib is sewn over to accept the boltrope, but the leach is simply cut with a chisel point soldering iron that heat seals the edge.

Alessandro boils his cotton cloth first before beginning the cutting. I remember my mother buying fabric and washing it first before dress making.

Thanks RossM,
That does indeed clarify things for me. In future, if I'm looking for a lightweight material to make sails from, I'll search for ripstop nylon. Good to know.
I found the cotton I bought had a quirk that I hadn't been expecting; I used a steam iron to iron in the hems (I expect there's a nautical term for these), and found that, as a result, the edges of the sails had shrunk somewhat. This was after I'd washed the material at 90 deg C. I left them like this, thinking it might help with the sails' performance. Not sure whether or not it does. To clarify, the mainsail had lost about 6mm in both the length and width. Don't know if the photos will help.

Thanks for the good description of the WARP of the fabric😀. I find it easiest to do by holding it up to the light

One must study the ripstop material carefully and determine which thread is the heavier. That thread is the Warp of the fabric and must follow the Leech of the sail.

“Weaving pattern:
In rip-stop nylon, the warp threads are woven with thicker reinforcement threads at regular intervals, creating the distinctive crosshatch pattern”.

One cannot just take this cloth and cut out a sail pattern anyway they deem fit. Try it yourself and see if I am right?

JohnJ1

I found in my research that the weight of ripstop nylon material for a full size spinaker (very light) is appropriate for the sails of a model boat. I hope that clarifies things for you. I have tried this material on an RG65 sloop, as a set of replacement sails and found the results acceptable

Hi Ron,
When i built my Bearospace Emma, I used cotton bought from Nylet which works well as far as I can tell.
Aero-Naut sailing boat kits come with something which is very light. In most of the BOMs, it's described as sail material, but in one BOM, it was called spinnaker material. I'm assuming that this means material for full-size spinnakers; I can't really see how spinnakers can work on models. Having said that, I've seen (on YouTube, IIRC) a guy and his wife in an electric dinghy going out with the model and physically making alterations to the spinnaker's setup midsail. I have seen clever ways of using them on models, but I'm pretty sure it would be too complicated for me to attempt.
Back to Aero-Naut, they sell sailcloth on their website in various colours, but I don't know if it's the same stuff. Worth a look, perhaps.
One thing to be aware of regarding this material is that it needs reinforcing around holes. I use self-adhesive reinforcement and 3mm eyelets and I've had no problems since (I had a few tear-outs prior to reinforcing the holes).
Hope this is of some use to you,
John

I agree with Luckyduck.

Hi Ron, however, thinking about recent naval models with sails, I believe that one of the best examples to follow is that of RossM.
I also really liked the sails and related stitching of the AndyN, Flaxbybuck and Rogal118 models.
However, there are many beautiful examples that I am now forgetting.

Cotton poplin is easy to work with, and takes colours easily if required. Learning to use the bosses sewing machine made making my sails very easy, albeit with a bit of guidance from her ladyship. A lot depends on the eventual look you want of the finished craft. A modern yacht/skiff needs modern looking materials, a classic yacht/ skiff needs more cotton/canvas looking sails.

Hi Ron, if I didn't have to make the sail look realistic (so not like current sails) I would have considered other synthetic (light but strong and tightly woven) waterproof fabrics.
In my case I chose cotton poplin but I'm not particularly satisfied.
I'll update you on the stitching.

Ray and Gary have said to stay with Cotton poplin. Rag and Gary use wundaweb a seam glue product similar to what you are using.

Thanks for sharing your ideas Ross.

Keep those responses coming!!

Hi Ron,

These are mine, 10 panel and 2 panel jibs. It has been suggested that double back tape, using an interlock seam, and using 3 strips of double back tape is sufficient to hold. I tried pulling the seams apart, it's hard to do,. this way I can get draft in the sails

These are in polyester cotton, I hope to move up to ripstop soon

Ross