Hi as you do not have actual detail then perhaps follow the way other J class yachts are rigged, they were all much the same. Endeavour had two crosstrees and bracing.

I found this quite easy to do with nylon covered fishing wire and drilled holes with stainless steel hooks made by bending to shape. A small pair of round nose pliers do a great job making small hooks.

I used tubing for the crosstrees paint everything white. As I said I had an extruded model yachting mast with a luff groove. But you can do very well with a jackline at the rear of the mainmast as well.

Perhaps the mast was tapered but I would not bother. Certainly avoid mast rings as these were not used for the dedicated build J class but were on some of the older yachts converted to run under the J class rules.

If she is to be on display as you say make sure the sails set well I used melamine film for mine, it stays set without having cloth limpness. Also you can cut it out with scissors and draw lines and it looks quite good.

Does Velsheda have the wide main sail boom? If you look carefully you will see that the sail can be set along the many cross pieces to give an aerofoil section, it is not just tethered at the clew end of the sail.

Good luck with the build, I constructed my yacht back in 2006 and it was featured in Marine Modelling International magazine. It took much longer to build than I had allowed for, but that's life.

regards

Roy

Hi you seem very concerned about the mast. Do you have detailed information on it? Is it the original design or the new one? If you stick to making a scale model there is a lot of work in connecting the mainsail to the mast and boom.
I found that I would make a small item and then find that this had been changed for racing, for example the location and fitting of the mast shrouds. I also could not find out what a mysterious filled in circle on the plans was. It turned out to be the location of a second smaller mast for sailing across the Atlantic. Information comes in dribs and drabs!
As I was only interested in a sailing model for my 1 : 35 scale J Class Endeavour, I opted for extruded 11.1 dia aluminium mast with a luff groove as per modern practice. It is difficult to find detail of the masts in this era as most pictures want to show the enormous sail area.
At a sailing model length of a metre or similar then for sturdyness one is forced to follow model yacht practice. I have found that paint judiciously applied can make practical fittings much less obtrusive.

What information are you working from? Also is your model of the original or the one sailing at the moment.
All the current full size J Class yachts sail about a foot lower in the water and have propellers. This is due to modern yacht regulations and the fitting out for hiring / staterooms safety etc. All gives a greater hull displacement.
I found just one picture of the new Endeavour being launched and you can see a propeller intruding into the rudder area. I know for a fact that her hull was re-imagined and she sails a foot lower in the water. The answer is usually that they are adhering to the 'Spirit of the yacht'.
The deck layout of winches is quite different to the original as well. On my model I took liberties and moved a couple of deck winches so that I could secure a large hatch opening.
My deck planking is 2mm wide and at it's widest there are 76 planks. Do check photos carefully for deck detail as most have an unobtrusive hand hold / bracing just a couple of inches high sticking up from the deck around the edge of the hull as there are no stanchions. I suggest you might consider varnishing the deck using a cloth wrapped around your finger to spread the varnish thinly and do avoid a shiny finish, matte looks much more to scale.

The general public do not realise that all of the original J Class were built of metal and they were only meant to last a year or so.
I believe there is just one new J Class which uses wood laminate for the hull but with modern adhesives(?). All the others being metal hulls

Look forward to more of your build.

Roy

Hi I can echo redpmg, the brushed battery drill motors have armature windings to give a high torque at low speed and will drain a battery very quickly. They are much the same as those for model cars, you are looking for fast acceleration.
Our model boats need motors operating at the other end of their spectrum usually with lots more turns of wire on the armatures. It is horses for courses!
If you buy from the model suppliers you will not go far wrong.

best regards
Roy

Hi the model looks good in the photos.

I have a Dumas kit I am working on and am amazed how poor quality the wood is, and the fittings are.

It took me ages to track down Dumas from here in the UK but I got most of the fittings changed out. Some were just featureless blobs.

The wood was very poor quality even for 20 years back. I started again a year back as I had made many underwater parts to go with the model. The glass fibre hull is good although I see that the new release of the kit has a plastic hull.
However the boat is in sight of the finishing line now and when some areas have been sorted out it will be OK.

Roy

Hi lucky find! Did you know that the plans are available? I can find the catalogue details if you want.
Roy

Hi Vic Smeed has a world record for the number of models built from his plans and as you say he was a prolific model boat designer.
The Genie 36R yacht photograph on the cover of the magazine includes his daughter and the pond is at Hemel Hempstead where the offices were at the time.
The last model yacht he designed was Star Baby a smaller version of Starlet and was designed to run on the shallower waters of the model boating pond in Verulamium Park, St. Albans. I have a photo of the very first Star Baby, built by his friend Vic Driscoll.
He used to live locally in Croxley Green, he was in his ninetys when he died.
He also edited the Meccano Magazine for a time as well.
Roy

Hi RinMunich, I went to Hamburgh and saw the various ships in a historic part of the harbour, several of them available as kits. That was maybe 7 years back now.
The BIG model railway has to be worth going to see, it is stunning in the numbers of Layouts by Country that there are, and all sequencing through night and day avery 20 minutes or so. There is a very nice waterway with ships sailing as well.
I expect it has moved on again since I was there. Needs about 4 days minimum and do'nt forget a boat trip around the harbour area, it is all on a very big scale.
Amazing visit.
Roy

Hello if you can read the posts but not able to reply you need to log in again. Eventually you can permanently log in. I am sure you have not been banned!

What kind of boats do you like, they do cater for most although sometimes the interest is low.
regards Roy

Hi Joe I usually manage to work out the CLR using the bath. I put a strip of masking tape about where I expect it to be then use a pencil to push the yacht sideways. I mark the tape and work my way along pushing and marking. When I can always use the same point to push the yacht sideways several times that is what I opt for.

Some say to not have the rudder in but I always leave it in place. I then place the C of E 4% ahead of the waterline length of the CLR. That decides where the mast position is. This works for my scale and sailing yachts.

Does this work out for competitive yachts? Perhaps you use another method?
regards Roy

Hi I agree the racing machines are of a different order. I only do scale sail, but at the moment I am working on a 27 inch loa hull I bought on Gumtree, well actually I have 2 very similar hulls They look identical but have some small variations in beam, both carved out of a single piece of wood a bit like a half size Marblehead from the late 50's.
They are really well made (and I am b****y fussy), only needed a bit of cleaning up. It was a bargain 2 beautiful hulls for £30 the pair, I had to go to Salisbury to pick them up but well worth the journey.
I have, like yesterday, just set one of them up with the sails from an Aeronaut Bella. Fortunately the hulls are hollowed out and now I shall fit the RC ready to get out and sail asap.
I will take some photos and work out how to post them.
regards Roy

Hi I see you use a smaller tube tied to mast for the gooseneck. I now solder the tube to a larger diameter tube which is a close fit to the mast. But in place of the bent wire I use a plastic aileron hinge.
They come in varying sizes and are a very strong plastic. I use ones about 3 mm dia. and each hinge is about 3cm long. This allows the boom to move vertically while the lower part of the hinge rotates in the smaller tube.

The boom is drilled out to take the plastic hinge but it is easy to cut it a bit shorter if necessary. This is then glued in place
I drill a very small dia, hole in the portion of plastic hinge protruding beneath the tube and slip in a tightly fitting wire to stop the gooseneck from pulling out.
I also fit a boom vang to limit upward movement of boom.
If you feel it is a bit obvious then choose a neutral colour and 'paint it out'.
Roy

Hello steaming is not the only way. If it is relatively thin wood then try spraying with window cleaner. This contains ammonia. Ammonia is a bit dodgy to play with but it will make almost any wood extremely supple.

Heating can also help or just soaking in hot water bending to a shape and then drying it with a hair drier works well.
With planking try the hot water treatment, pin the plank in position and dry it out before glueing in place.
Roy

Hello I can only speak for 27 and 40 Mhtz but occasional glitches can be caused by not having the can of the motor de-coupled with a capacitor.
They happen every few seconds as interruptions to the motor and I use the 0,1 micro farad ones used for de-coupling the brushes to get rid of them. You can use the prop shaft as an 'earth' in a plastic hull.
I must get back to building my Bugsier 3 it has been years since i started.
Roy

Hi I have made 2 Bobby's in the past. They run very well on an MFA 380 on 6 cells. I did try extra power as an experiment and she tries to turn over and is out of control. I currently have a brushless motor in one of them and she planes nicely. I think about 20 watts is about right for power.
Telectra is a wee bit longer, and I think Twinkler was also a free plan in RCM & E.
regards
Roy