popeye2sea

All of the gilding on my Soleil Royal build is done with Testors Gold enamel.  I am very pleased with the results.  The one thing you have to make sure of is that you stir or remix the paint frequently.  Even after very short periods of time the pigment starts to settle out and the finish starts to go on very dull.

First, wash the parts in warm soapy water to remove any release agent.

The method you use to glue the parts together really depends on the type of glue you are using.  If you are using a liquid solvent type of plastic cement (actually melts the two parts together) an efficient way of joining the hull halves together is to put the parts together and then run the glue applicator along the joint.  The cement will wick into the joint by capillary action.  It's easier than applying cement to the halves first and risking over gluing or messy smears while trying to fit the hull halves together.

If the sails are fitted with up-hauls and down-hauls it would be easier to furl them at the mast rather than like is shown in the graphics.

Stay tackles in conjunction with yard tackles would be used to sway out cargo from the holds.  The yards would be braced round so that the tackle was more in line with the hatch.  The tackles would be hooked to the load and the stay tackle heaved upon to hoist the cargo clear of the hatch.  Hauling on the yard tackle and easing off the stay tackle would swing the cargo over the side of the ship till the yard tackle bore all the strain.  Easing off all together would lower the cargo to the pier or the lighter alongside.

The upper blocks for the lifts were sometimes fastened to the mast with a pendant that passed through the shrouds so that the block was outboard of the plane of the shrouds.   That may make it a little easier to re-rig the lifts after you fit the shrouds in place.

Side note:  Watch out, if you changed the intended angle of the mast your shrouds may not fit properly.

Wow.  Simply amazing.  Great build and great photos.

Thanks Russ.  I'll look into getting some.

Russ, is there a benefit to using a waxed cotton like Japara?

Looks like crown moulding.  You could just leave it like that.

Outstanding work.  Looking forward to see the finished deck mounted.

It has been a particularly cold and snowy one.  I'm getting tired of shoveling snow and I'm looking forward to the warmer weather. The predictions are for more cold and snow/rain through July.....um....I mean, tonight.

Yes, but as you pointed out, the cool thing is that you now understand not only how to use and recognize each line but also how to rig it properly.

It is amazing the amount of knowledge that we acquire in the building of these ships.  Naval architecture, naval engineering, rigging, coopering, ships chandlery, woodworking, sailmaking, rope making, armaments, etc. etc.

That's exactly what I was referring too, also.   It's not just the thickness of one line.  Your trying to draw four items through, the line doubled and two sides of whatever your using to draw.  The hole in the block now has to be three or four times larger than it should be.

Seems to me like your better off hardening the line with a drop of CA

She's almost done and looks really sweet.

I also have found a bunch of extra items called for in my kit (blocks, eye bolts, and belaying points) with no corresponding lines running to them in the rigging plan.  The converse seems to be true also.  Some lines called for in the plan do not have a fair lead or a good belaying point.  I think that mine is a case of poor quality control and follow up with changes in the plan during the kit development.   (Sounds like an official excuse anyway  )

I'm going with the method of attaching all blocks to the spars and masts prior to installing and rigging, so I have been through the entire rigging plan several times to determine the sizes for each block and where it will fasten to.  

All part of the learning curve, I guess.

The other thing to consider is if the hole for the line is big enough for the line as well as the threader then the hole is out of scale (too large).

SOS, I have been reading some of your tales from boot camp.  Brought back a lot of memories from my own experiences at Great Lakes RTC.  I was company clerk.  They must have done something right back then because I retired as a Chief.  Good times

Once you serve, it's in your blood forever.  It's one of the reasons I build ship models.

The sails are really looking great.  I especially like the second photo of the ship in front of the window.  The angle and the lighting on the sails shows them off to good effect.

I only play a Marine on TV .   I am a retired Navy Chief.  I joined an 1812 Marine re-enactment unit to stay involved with the USS Constitution, which I was also stationed aboard for a short time.

The distinction between whipping and seizing is that whipping is applied to a single rope to prevent unlaying and seizing is joining two items together.

There are several styles of whipping, i.e: plain, palm and needle, sail makers and there are several types of seizings, i.e: cross (or throat), racked, flat and round.

My time aboard USS Blandy DD 943 in the early 80's included plenty of plane guard duty, also. We still used the bos'ns chair to send personnel back across and in return got movies, ice cream and mail.

Things really do not change much over the years.

I recently read that the purpose of the bentinck shroud was to take the additional stresses imposed from the upper masts when the ship is rolling heavily.  The bentinck shrouds were usually set up during heavy weather and not carried all the time.

Not sure of the validity of that but I thought it worth mentioning.

That splice looks really good.  I have found that the splicing goes a lot easier if you use a needle threader.  Push it under the strand  and pull the end to be tucked back through.

Mihial,  I am looking forward to watching your build.

You should move this thread to the build log section.  You'll get more views and commentary there.

Regards,

Henry