popeye2sea

Not so modest!!  It looks really nice.  I like the netting above the head rails. It's a nice addition.
 
Regards,
 
Henry

Steels Art of Rigging specifies stirrups at 'proper' distances, two three or four on each side of the yard.  Flemish Horses are only mentioned in connection with topsail yards.
Falconers Dictionary of the Marine states the same thing with almost identical wording
 
Regards,
 
Henry

Anything that needs hauling by hand will most likely stay hemp. Even if other parts of tackle (pendants, etc.) were chain or wire. For example, in clipper rigs, the sheets for the courses were chain from the sail to just through the quarter block, then wire down to the tackle block, and the blocks were rove with hemp.
 
Regards,
Henry

Anything that needs hauling by hand will most likely stay hemp. Even if other parts of tackle (pendants, etc.) were chain or wire. For example, in clipper rigs, the sheets for the courses were chain from the sail to just through the quarter block, then wire down to the tackle block, and the blocks were rove with hemp.
 
Regards,
Henry

There is also the fact that all these lines work as part of a system. Where one line is pulling upwards or outwards, an opposite line is pulling downwards or inwards.  You get your tension set up automatically that way. For instance, your boom probably has a sheet line at the end of it that will add a downward pull.
 
Also, if you can arrange it while prepping for your build.  Try adding weight to the parts by incorporating metal inserts or fittings. That might just add enough weight to snug up a line.
 
Regards,
 
Henry

There is also the fact that all these lines work as part of a system. Where one line is pulling upwards or outwards, an opposite line is pulling downwards or inwards.  You get your tension set up automatically that way. For instance, your boom probably has a sheet line at the end of it that will add a downward pull.
 
Also, if you can arrange it while prepping for your build.  Try adding weight to the parts by incorporating metal inserts or fittings. That might just add enough weight to snug up a line.
 
Regards,
 
Henry

To properly belay a line to a pin the first turn is around the lower part of the pin and then straight up around the top part. In other words, no cross over.  The next turn is to cross the line over itself around the lower part of the pin and then the last turn is to throw a half hitch over the top.  You end up with 2 thicknesses of line over both the top and bottom parts of the pin. That will provide enough friction to hold any load.
 
As a practical matter, there would not be that large of a variation between the diameters of lines coming down to pins.  Anything much bigger than an inch in diameter would probably be belayed to a kevel, knight head, or large cleat. One size of pin throughout the whole vessel would be entirely plausible and practical.
 
Regards,
Henry
 
 

The top figure employs the more modern style of rig (relatively) with the falls suspended from the mast tackle pendants and a triatic stay. The second figure shows the older method of employing a mast pendant and guy assembly (1600's to early 1700's, I believe).  (Note the round tops and the tye and halliard arrangement for the yards).
 
Regards,
Henry

Camp is over and back to, and that allowed me to finish Trophy Of War #10.... only two more TOW to go, so the finish line really is in sight. This TOW is not quite done...  I experimented with oversizing the sword so it could be seen easier. It looks too big to me when it is laying on the hull, so I will downsize the sword hilt and point. The  various strips in the skirt appear to have large "buttons" (decorations) at the top at the waistline; I snipped off some of the really tiny nail heads that I have and applied a few. I will add a few more as shown in the St Phillippe monograph drawing, but frankly, who will ever notice that little detail? You may note that I did NOT choose to contour or shape the armored breastplate, as apparently shown by the subtle lines on the midsection of the drawing.... that appeared to be way too much work for little gain.
 
I have referred to Marc's post #356 above multiple times, which is Hyatt’s description of the first Royal Louis in 1677. The apparent use of gold is extraordinary to me, and it makes sense that the first Soleil Royal would also be completely festooned with gold decorations, listons d' or, Trophies Of War, etc. I haven't painted a model in 45 years, let alone used an air brush, so there will clearly be a steep (but hopefully short) learning curve!
 

 
And the menagerie grows...
 

The Mossy Shipyard got another upgrade today. I installed an internet bridge.  One was installed on the corner of the house and the other on a tree beside the garage. 
 

 
I went through the garage and put a tension line across to the shipyard. 
 

 
I knew I put that outlet up there for a reason:-)
 

 
The next thing that I know we’ll do is a flagstone walk.
 

 
I brought these molds back a while ago.
 

 
 
I can see a lot of time involved just trying to put the puzzle together:-)
 

Okay, now you are getting to the fun part - bringing all of this to life!
 
For your same stated reasons, I would steer away from bright gold or yellow ocher.  The admiralty style model of the SP chose yellow ocher, but this can be a bit much:

You could go the route of John Ott, and use a light sand color as a base, and then overlay that with a darker brown, translucent acrylic wash that will get into all the crevices and give the TsOW some depth.

Personally, I would avoid anything too polychrome.  You don’t want the ship to look like the U.N.
 
However, if this were my model to paint, I would probably take one of the following approaches.
 
First approach:
 
Over a primer base (flat black), I would spray a uniform, matte acrylic dark bronze (almost black, but still brownish).  Over that, I would selectively dry-brush either a bright bronze metallic acrylic, or I’d dry brush bright metallic bronze powders (later sprayed with a matte, clear fixative).  These types of powders are available through the same outlets that supply railroad modelers. The idea is to merely catch the highlights, here and there; part of a shield edge, here, a spear shaft there, etc.  You are trying to avoid any sense of gloppiness in the dry-brushing.  There are endless dry-brushing tutorials on YT.
 
The advantages of this approach are several.  If there are any particular aspects of any given trophy that you wish to de-emphasize, then they will fade into the background of the darker base color.  Overall, the TOW will show a strong contrasting silhouette against whatever color you choose to paint the planking of the hull.  The bright bronze highlights draw attention to where you want it most.
 
Second Approach:
 
This is a slightly more advanced (read: more work) version of the above, which should yield an even greater sense of depth.
 
Over a black primer, airbrush a matte acrylic dark brown that is not nearly as dark as the black bronze, but not too light either.  Over that I would spray a clear acrylic dark brown wash (matte) that will get into all of the crevices.  Finally, I’d dry-brush with either bright bronze acrylic paint or powders.
 
As for prepping your hull to paint, here is what I would do - so far as the TsOW are concerned.  First, clean both hull halves in light, soapy water.  Once dry, I would place a patch of blue paiters’ masking tape, in each TOW position.  Rub the tape down firmly with the pad of your finger.  Sharpen a #2 pencil to a WICKED point.  Holding each TOW in-place with light finger pressure, lightly trace its outline onto the blue tape.  Be sure to stay as close to the border of the TOW as possible (the reason for that wicked point).  For the trophies where there is a profusion of thin shafts, and flag staffs protruding outside of the shields, I would not concern myself with masking outside of the shield.
 
Next, use a razor sharp EXACTO (#11) to  cut a heavy 1/32” inside those lines.  Doing so, will ensure that you have a good-sized glue area (mostly the shield area, but also cannon barrels, flags, etc), and that the shield will overlay the planking color completely.  Finally, pull away the outer tape, and your hull is ready for primer and paint.
 
I would also spare myself the difficulty of painting the TsOW on the model.  I would simply follow one of the above paint protocols, off-model, and then you can attach them and have perfect borders.  As you noted before, this also enables you to distress wash your hull planking without the encumbrance of the TsOW.

I had finally found the time to finish off a few little things around the stove. It was slowly becoming what I wanted http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif

Here are two colour versions, one with a classic red brick floor and one with the typical southern English yellow-beige floor covering.



And here in the detail shots you can also see the warming trays that could be hung on the handrail of the cooker.


Of course, the stove also includes the kitchen area. I have chosen the wickerwork that can be seen on the contemporary model of the Princess Royal and others.



The whole thing is a cute little kit of 22 parts. The drive chain is twisted copper wire and the rail is bent wire, for which there is a template.



Here are a few more details:

The base plate with catch tray and tube for the fresh air supply from the deck below ...



... the stove body ...



... the holders for the skewers ...



... the distiller with all its attachments ...



... ... and the cowl, all that's missing is the round cover plate against rain and storm.



As usual, the ensemble was finished with a little diluted ink and a white drybrush, and the metal parts with a little graphite.

XXXDAn






PS: And it took me a while before I had the courage to print the warming trays directly and completely. But all the attempts to glue the holders on with holders were just horrible in the result ...

 

With every effort, your trophies get better and better, Eric.  That was a clever idea to use the kit cannon barrels.  It really adds a nice bit of detail with the fleur-de-lis that adorn the barrels.

Here are the four (mostly) finished Trophies Of War (out of thirteen total TOW).
 

 
I decided that I need to learn how to make flags next, as three of the TOW have flags like this...
 

 
I can't remember what video I saw on YouTube, but a modeler was making a WW2 tank in 1/32 scale, and he made tarpaulins to cover parts of the tank. He didn't show how he made them, but I figured that ApoxieSculpt could be rolled out paper thin. I soaked my roller in ice water, which is something that Doris said she did, and it seemed to help.
 

 
The flags need to be approximately 5mm x 4mm in size...
 

 
And the first practice attempt at wrapping the flag on a staff and trying to create tassels on the edges of the flag... it probably will help if I put the tiny flags in the freezer for a bit before I attempt to work them, as that will make the flags stiffer and less pliable. Regardless, it looks like this technique of making flags will work for me, and the task will be much easier than I thought.
 

 
 

Phew... this 4th Trophy Of War has been the most complicated yet. This is what I ended up with, and paired with the drawing that I was trying to emulate. Without a doubt, wrapping the "rope" around the anchors was the most difficult part of this exercise! I still have to add a tiny piece of rope to the upper left anchor eyelet, but I want the glue bonds to dry thoroughly first.
 
 

 

 
I continued my extensive use of copper wire, tapping different guage sizes into flat sheets to make the flukes, the decorative bands on the shield, the fletching of the spear, etc. I am finding that in some situations, using copper wire is easier/faster than using Evergreen sheet or ApoxieSculpt. For example, several light taps on 28 guage copper wire made a plausible fletching on a spear. I manufactured all of the component parts for both TOW before assembling both together at the same time.
 
My other TOWs followed a predicatable pattern... make the first set and then decide I can do better. I will NOT make this set over... I can live with this!
 
 

 

 
And a parting shot from normal viewing distance.... yeah, I can live with this first effort.
 

A block and tackle system can have blocks with multiple sheaves (pulleys). If there is only one block with a single sheave, then the tackle is called a whip. This type of system provides no additional mechanical advantage (purchase).  It is in fact no more than a lead block, which is a block employed to change the direction of the pull, or lead.
If you add another single block to the tackle system, now you have a two part, or two fold purchase. The load is supported by two parts of the rope, therefore the mechanical effort is halved. You can keep adding sheaves to the blocks and "purchase" more force applied to the load. You can have any combination of sheaves for the upper and lower blocks, single, double, triple, or more. One block will usually be fixed in place while the other moves with the load (see figure below).
In the case of your halliard, the lower block is fixed to the deck and the upper block is spliced on to the end of the runner.
Let us assume that you have a tackle arrangement where the hauling (running) end of the rope emerges from the top block.  In order to haul that rope you have to be almost beneath the tackle. This limits the number of men that can be employed for the haul. If you add a lead block at the deck level you can change the direction of the pull to horizontal and now you can employ more hands to tail on the rope.
 

 
Regards,
 
Henry

Indeed, as is shown in the illustration the runner and halliard come down on opposite sides of the ship. The standing end of the runner (to the left in the picture) commonly had a hook spliced on to the end and was hooked to an eyebolt near the bulwark or rail. The halliard may be in two or more parts with its standing end hooked to an eyebolt opposite the eyebolt for the runner.  The lower block of the halliard tackle would be hooked or seized to either another eyebolt close by or the same eyebolt. If the halliard was only a single whip (two part) there would be a leading block at the bottom instead of a tackle block. The hauling part of the halliard would belay to a pin on the rail.
 
Typically, the halliards for the yards as you go up the masts would switch sides. For instance, the halliard for the topsail yard would come down on the starboard side while the one for the the topgallant yard would come down to port, while the royal would belay to starboard again.  The halliards would also switch sides from mast to mast also.
 
Regards,
 
Henry

And I was also finally able to finish the capstans.

All the parts had been in the making since well into last year, but I never really had the chance to finish them. Basic programming strictly according to plan is always done quickly, but until the look of the printout refreshes my eyes and heart in terms of model making, it takes a few more rounds of printing, tinkering and improving, version #15 is the normal case here.

Here is an intermediate version, the brass tubes have now been replaced. Still mising are the bevels on the wedges below the ribs, which allow the rope to slide smoothly from round to pentagonal or hexagonal. I take such pre-prints for color samples, and lo and behold, it looked stupid in this color scheme.

Here is already the penultimate version. [Note to self: HOPEFULLY!] Good enough for a prototype. [Note to self: HOPEFULLY!]
And what do I always say? Before applying the aging, a clean base coat must be applied. Here you go.


And then life gets in: The wood starts to show at all the rubbing points of the rope on the drums. After several tests, I decided on a non-covering drybrush, which gets across most of what I would have liked to show.


And someone else has bombed into the picture: The capstan bars ...



... to match the capstan.


I made a template for alignment, using corrugated cardboard as a base to sink the upper part of the drum into and bring the spars to paper height ...


... bars inserted into the capstan and the capstan inserted upside down ...


... bars aligned and glued.



Then the swifter is pulled in and that's it.




And here are the individual parts, the middle piece is available in two heights, depending on how the battery deck is fitted with gratings.





XXXDAn

Back to work on Trophies Of War after 10 day hiatus due to a Canadian fly-in fishing trip, etc. With all of the gear in the basement that needs unpacking... my attention strayed to the ship to finish my second set of TOW (2nd set of 12). As I contruct each set, I am attempting different techniques/materials, which will hopefully help in the future.
 
This is the TOW I was trying to create...
 

 
And I completed two of these after having a redo on the helmets that I made before my trip..
 

 
You can see the extensive use of 28 guage copper wire... I stretched a two foot length of the 28 guage wire by hanging a weight on one end, which resulted in a very straight piece. I cut the rings on the staff from 1.5mm brass tube. The plume on the hemlet is AppoxieSculpt clay as I was experimenting to see if I could get a bit more texture. The shiny amber blob on the helmet is a tiny dab of Gorilla Glue; I couldn't figure out to make the helmet a bit more three dimensional by giving it a dome shaped quality. My "super glues" were either too thick or too thin to reliably form and hold a dome shape before trying, but Gorilla Glue seemed just right and resulted in a very symmetrical dome shape, especially viewed from the side (the tiny air bubbles are not pock marking the surface, but are buried in the blob and won't be visible after painting. 
 

 
Finally, instead of making the helmet from 0.13mm thick styrene, I beefed it up to 1mm thick and then added additional pieces for the protective visor and cheekpiece in an attempt to make the helmet have areas with varying thickness to hopefully create some shadows, as it is the centerpiece of the assembly. Of course, I am not satisfied with the original helmets that I made! (these are very simple helmets with no plumes, so they should be easy to remake).
 

 
However, I am a bit burned out on helmets and need to try a "one off" TOW that has a different shape (with NO helmets)... the weaponry will be very easy to make from 28 guage copper wire.
 

 
 
 
 

Indeed, as is shown in the illustration the runner and halliard come down on opposite sides of the ship. The standing end of the runner (to the left in the picture) commonly had a hook spliced on to the end and was hooked to an eyebolt near the bulwark or rail. The halliard may be in two or more parts with its standing end hooked to an eyebolt opposite the eyebolt for the runner.  The lower block of the halliard tackle would be hooked or seized to either another eyebolt close by or the same eyebolt. If the halliard was only a single whip (two part) there would be a leading block at the bottom instead of a tackle block. The hauling part of the halliard would belay to a pin on the rail.
 
Typically, the halliards for the yards as you go up the masts would switch sides. For instance, the halliard for the topsail yard would come down on the starboard side while the one for the the topgallant yard would come down to port, while the royal would belay to starboard again.  The halliards would also switch sides from mast to mast also.
 
Regards,
 
Henry

Another important ratio:
 
10 blocks made = 1 swallow of your favorite alcoholic beverage.
 
This ratio can also be acceptable as 5:1 when making particularly difficult blocks.
 
Regards,
Henry

Another important ratio:
 
10 blocks made = 1 swallow of your favorite alcoholic beverage.
 
This ratio can also be acceptable as 5:1 when making particularly difficult blocks.
 
Regards,
Henry

Another important ratio:
 
10 blocks made = 1 swallow of your favorite alcoholic beverage.
 
This ratio can also be acceptable as 5:1 when making particularly difficult blocks.
 
Regards,
Henry

More progress on finishing the edges and backs.
The edges round over and polish up nicely with the burnishing burr mounted on the drill.  I am moving on to the backs of the pieces.  The nap of the flesh side of the leather needs to be knocked down and polished and a coat of dye applied. I don't need it to be super finely finished because it will be on the inside of all the cross belts when worn. It just needs to be whiter instead of raw leather.
 
Below are the items used to accomplish this part.  Tokonole Burnishing Gum, a thin spreader, and a wood burnishing tool

In this second photo, you can better see how much the nap is knocked down. The piece on top is finished ready for white dye.

Next step is dying the backs white followed by white edge coat, and the pieces will be almost ready for assembly.
 
Regards,
Henry
 

I never posted finished pictures of my stagecoach.