Moonbug

The upper mizzen shrouds are a repeat of the lower shrouds with smaller line. They're 2.5" circular, translating to .32mm in diameter with .15mm lanyards.  The foremost shroud served its full length, the other shrouds served just below the hounds and the aftmost line is the backstay.  Each shroud is paired with the rear pair splitting off as the third shroud and the backstay. 
 

 
 The process is the same as the lower shrouds for me, I have my smaller version of the "deadeye measurer" illustrated in post #283. I measure out the shroud, mark the necessary length that needs to be served with a tiny spot of white paint, serve the line, then rig it to the mast. Once again, I go back and forth from port to starboard to make sure the mast ends up straight.  All that said - the backstay did present me with a choice to make.  The kit instructions show the backstay attached to deadeyes hooked into eyebolts just forward of the quarter badge. Lees has the backstay attached to a deadeye plate bolted into the ship just above the badge, and the FFM shows a small stool fitted above and aft of the quarter badge (also shown in Vadas' vulture. Although I've been leaning toward the FFM with most things, I simply do not have the room around my quarter badge to accommodate a ledge. So I opted for my own version - an eyebolt and deadeye plate just above the badge, but I also attached the deadeye to a plate/chain then the eyebolt. I realize this departs from accuracy slightly, but it keeps lines from being fouled and is also pretty pleasing to the eye to me.  It was definitely a bugger getting the deadeye evenly rigged amongst all the things happening back there however. 
 

 
 
 
I kept most of the deadeyes loose until they were all rigged, then tightened and seized all the lines and lanyards. 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 

The upper mizzen shrouds are a repeat of the lower shrouds with smaller line. They're 2.5" circular, translating to .32mm in diameter with .15mm lanyards.  The foremost shroud served its full length, the other shrouds served just below the hounds and the aftmost line is the backstay.  Each shroud is paired with the rear pair splitting off as the third shroud and the backstay. 
 

 
 The process is the same as the lower shrouds for me, I have my smaller version of the "deadeye measurer" illustrated in post #283. I measure out the shroud, mark the necessary length that needs to be served with a tiny spot of white paint, serve the line, then rig it to the mast. Once again, I go back and forth from port to starboard to make sure the mast ends up straight.  All that said - the backstay did present me with a choice to make.  The kit instructions show the backstay attached to deadeyes hooked into eyebolts just forward of the quarter badge. Lees has the backstay attached to a deadeye plate bolted into the ship just above the badge, and the FFM shows a small stool fitted above and aft of the quarter badge (also shown in Vadas' vulture. Although I've been leaning toward the FFM with most things, I simply do not have the room around my quarter badge to accommodate a ledge. So I opted for my own version - an eyebolt and deadeye plate just above the badge, but I also attached the deadeye to a plate/chain then the eyebolt. I realize this departs from accuracy slightly, but it keeps lines from being fouled and is also pretty pleasing to the eye to me.  It was definitely a bugger getting the deadeye evenly rigged amongst all the things happening back there however. 
 

 
 
 
I kept most of the deadeyes loose until they were all rigged, then tightened and seized all the lines and lanyards. 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 

Before the upper shrouds can be rigged, the upper burton pedants have to be laid over the mast heads. The upper burton pendants are done basically the same as the lower ones with a couple of exceptions - they're only on the main and fore masts and they're a bit smaller. So instead of using the little nuts I shaved down for the lowers, I used a brass tube notched, cut, and sanded. The line is listed as 3", so I'm using .35mm served it's length and then tied with eyes around the thimbles. 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The upper mizzen shrouds are a repeat of the lower shrouds with smaller line. They're 2.5" circular, translating to .32mm in diameter with .15mm lanyards.  The foremost shroud served its full length, the other shrouds served just below the hounds and the aftmost line is the backstay.  Each shroud is paired with the rear pair splitting off as the third shroud and the backstay. 
 

 
 The process is the same as the lower shrouds for me, I have my smaller version of the "deadeye measurer" illustrated in post #283. I measure out the shroud, mark the necessary length that needs to be served with a tiny spot of white paint, serve the line, then rig it to the mast. Once again, I go back and forth from port to starboard to make sure the mast ends up straight.  All that said - the backstay did present me with a choice to make.  The kit instructions show the backstay attached to deadeyes hooked into eyebolts just forward of the quarter badge. Lees has the backstay attached to a deadeye plate bolted into the ship just above the badge, and the FFM shows a small stool fitted above and aft of the quarter badge (also shown in Vadas' vulture. Although I've been leaning toward the FFM with most things, I simply do not have the room around my quarter badge to accommodate a ledge. So I opted for my own version - an eyebolt and deadeye plate just above the badge, but I also attached the deadeye to a plate/chain then the eyebolt. I realize this departs from accuracy slightly, but it keeps lines from being fouled and is also pretty pleasing to the eye to me.  It was definitely a bugger getting the deadeye evenly rigged amongst all the things happening back there however. 
 

 
 
 
I kept most of the deadeyes loose until they were all rigged, then tightened and seized all the lines and lanyards. 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 

Thanks Chuck, and also all ya'll following along.  Always appreciate the encouragement. 

Before the upper shrouds can be rigged, the upper burton pedants have to be laid over the mast heads. The upper burton pendants are done basically the same as the lower ones with a couple of exceptions - they're only on the main and fore masts and they're a bit smaller. So instead of using the little nuts I shaved down for the lowers, I used a brass tube notched, cut, and sanded. The line is listed as 3", so I'm using .35mm served it's length and then tied with eyes around the thimbles. 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The Jibboom is pretty straight forward, though a little delicate at 2mm toward the tip.  I started with a 4mm diameter dowel and shaved an octagon into the base as I'd done with the other masts.  This time however, I documented a little closer how I do it.  I mark the dowel and put it in the vise, then I cut the mark with a razor to prevent myself from shaving off too much wood. Then I use the mini chisel to shave a sliver at a time until I get the flat portion I need.  I rotate the dowel to do four opposite sides, then shave off the remaining corners to create the octagon.  Finally, I touch it up with the hand held miniature sander.
 
 
 
 
 
As I mentioned, the walnut is pretty soft, so this still comes out as "octagon-esque" and not as clean as it would with boxwood or something similar - but not terrible in my estimation.  After the chiseling it goes into the lathe for shaping and sizing. The shoulder is cut and shaped on the outboard end. Once removed from the lathe the two sheaves are simulated (one at the base the other near the shoulder) with two holes drilled and a notch cut between the holes. Finally, it's given a couple coats of paint and wipe on poly.
 
 
 
I've dry fit the jibboom to make sure it fits, looks good etc.  I won't mount and rig it permanently until I absolutely need to of course, as the jibboom remains the number one snagging hazard on the ship during rigging. 
 
 
 

 
 
 

Although the t'gallant masts are a bit less complicated to craft in terms of shape, they are QUITE small in terms of diameter at this scale and very, very delicate. Once again, this is where I wish I had more boxwood with which to work.  I did however start out with square strips with these, as that technique is ultimately easier. 
 

 
  All of the fids are made from a brass strip shaped on my belt sander. I only drilled holes in the two larger fids, as the smaller ones are just too small to accommodate holes that no one is ever likely to see.
 

 
With all the masts (except the Jib boom) constructed, they are painted.  I am most likely going to change the paint scheme to match TFFM and have the most upper parts of the masts (including the caps) all black from the hounds on up.
 
 
 
 

The cheek blocks on the upper masts are so small that they definitely need to be made from boxwood, as nothing else I have will lend itself to this level of sanding and shaping. First, I took a 1 mm by 2mm strip of boxwood and put it on my Byrnes saw with a slightly thicker black adjusted all the way to do some milling. I cut a couple of notches in the strip, then sliced off 1.5 mm strips to create the cheek blocks. The sheaves are made from thicker pins / nails cut off at 2.5mm lengths. Holes are drilled in the sides of the cheeks and the sheaves are slid into the holes.  I did mount these sheaves a little lower in the cheek block slots instead of the center to make sure I have enough room to feed a line when it becomes necessary.
 
 
 

 
 
 

It has been a few days since I've posted, but that doesn't mean I haven't been hard at work int he shipyard.  I started the topmast journey so I could get the upper standing rigging underway. Not long before I went on my hiatus, I'd done the extra top masts that are mounted on the deck as practice - back in post #255.  The problem was, that had been such a time ago that I'd forgotten much. The good news - I kept decent notes.  I have also since then printed my Swan reference for the masts, yards, and spars.  The one on top is resized from 1:48 to 1:64.   One point of learning for me - as we all know, I've been following Dan Vadas' vulture - which has three t'gallant masts. However, other Pegasus builds and swan builds only have two t'gallant masts with the mizzen only having top mast.  My reference schematic from TFFM have three laid out.  It took me a while to find the addendum note in TFFM that explains the third t'gallant mast on Swan class ships didn't occur until the 1790's.  So my 1776 version will only have two.
 

 
Some minor adjustments were made to my "practice" masts and a fair amount of math was done then I hit the lathe.  For the Fore and Main top masts I decided to go with a larger diameter round mast and square off the bottom and shape rather than start with a square.  This is done for a couple of reasons - but mostly because I have a limited supply of lumber, and a VERY limited supply of the harder woods such as boxwood, etc.  So I am using the dowels that come with the kit - good quality, but definitely softer.
 
 
 
 As you can see above (and remembering my practice run), the top masts are broken down into several sections starting with an octagonal section, squaring off where the fids are located, moving into octagonal again, then rounding and tapering toward the top. Another octagonal section will house the upper crosstrees and trestles, then taper round again.  Making these sections is quite difficult in my opinion.  After trying various cutting and sanding techniques, I ended up using my new mini veritas chisels to create the octagonal sections.  Even so - because of the softness of the wood - I'm going to call these "octagonal-esque."  The silver lining as this will all be painted black and so my lack of precision will be obscured a bit.
 
 
 
All all of the top masts and t'gallant masts contain a number of sheaves.  As we know, sheeves and this scale are really, really difficult to pull off.  I can still manage to construct the lower sheaves for the top masts in the way that I did those on the hull and bulwarks, but all the smaller sheaves are simulated by drilling a couple holes and carving out a 'sheave like' notch.  For the 'real' sheaves, I drill out the holes and patiently adjust with my smallest pin file. The sheave itself is a cut off piece of round brass notched, sanded down, and slid into the slot.
 
 
 
The crosstrees and trestles are from the kit.  A smidge oversized, but definitely doable. Especially since, once again, this will all be painted black.  The mast caps all did need to be redone because the kit versions do not accommodate room for the eye bolts, etc.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The euphroes and crows feet ended up being way more finicky than I anticipated.  Yikes.  First of all, they're pretty darn small at the 1/64 scale.  The fore and main are supposed to be just over 6mm at scale with the mizzen at a little less than 5mm.  I quickly determined that I wasn't going to be able to do that and get the holes I needed drilled, so instead I went about creating the euphroes the other way around. Boxwood is a must for these parts as they are very small and delicate.  I drilled the smallest diameter holes I could get, as close as feasible, and let the overall length of the euphroes determine themselves. Six holes for the mizzen, 10 holes for the fore and main. The mizzen ended up at about 7mm, and the fore and main at about 10mm.
 
 
 

 
The edges were cut using my thinnest pin file to make room for the serving. An eye is served, then the euphroe wrapped, then a 3mm block, then another eye.  The block-end of the euphroes are seized to the stays for each mast. I started with the idea of serving it by feeding a line through the stay and wrapping it. This is how I did the mizzen.  But this ended up not being the best method.
 

 
The reason is because of how difficult it is to maintain the tension on the crows feet balanced with the euphroes.  If you tighten the crow's feet too much, it pulls on the stay until it is out of place. If you keep too much tension on the stay, when you loosen it, all the crows feet relax and are askew. I hung a clip off of the stay to keep it reasonably taught for the mizzen until I could rove all the crows through. Which, in itself, is not an easy task without snagging just about every fitting on the ship.
  
 
Finally getting a balance took several tries and much adjusting.  What I decided to do with the other masts, was to keep every seizing and knot loose until the crow's feet were roved through - then I could tighten the blocks and each component individually until tension was maintain and the stays were not distorted.  Once again, using a clip to loosely hang off the stay was helpful, but being able to adjust the block that is seized along the stay was most beneficial. 
 

 
Using this method - it didn't take quite as long to get a decent result on the main and foremasts. 
 
 
 

 

The upper mizzen shrouds are a repeat of the lower shrouds with smaller line. They're 2.5" circular, translating to .32mm in diameter with .15mm lanyards.  The foremost shroud served its full length, the other shrouds served just below the hounds and the aftmost line is the backstay.  Each shroud is paired with the rear pair splitting off as the third shroud and the backstay. 
 

 
 The process is the same as the lower shrouds for me, I have my smaller version of the "deadeye measurer" illustrated in post #283. I measure out the shroud, mark the necessary length that needs to be served with a tiny spot of white paint, serve the line, then rig it to the mast. Once again, I go back and forth from port to starboard to make sure the mast ends up straight.  All that said - the backstay did present me with a choice to make.  The kit instructions show the backstay attached to deadeyes hooked into eyebolts just forward of the quarter badge. Lees has the backstay attached to a deadeye plate bolted into the ship just above the badge, and the FFM shows a small stool fitted above and aft of the quarter badge (also shown in Vadas' vulture. Although I've been leaning toward the FFM with most things, I simply do not have the room around my quarter badge to accommodate a ledge. So I opted for my own version - an eyebolt and deadeye plate just above the badge, but I also attached the deadeye to a plate/chain then the eyebolt. I realize this departs from accuracy slightly, but it keeps lines from being fouled and is also pretty pleasing to the eye to me.  It was definitely a bugger getting the deadeye evenly rigged amongst all the things happening back there however. 
 

 
 
 
I kept most of the deadeyes loose until they were all rigged, then tightened and seized all the lines and lanyards. 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 

The upper mizzen shrouds are a repeat of the lower shrouds with smaller line. They're 2.5" circular, translating to .32mm in diameter with .15mm lanyards.  The foremost shroud served its full length, the other shrouds served just below the hounds and the aftmost line is the backstay.  Each shroud is paired with the rear pair splitting off as the third shroud and the backstay. 
 

 
 The process is the same as the lower shrouds for me, I have my smaller version of the "deadeye measurer" illustrated in post #283. I measure out the shroud, mark the necessary length that needs to be served with a tiny spot of white paint, serve the line, then rig it to the mast. Once again, I go back and forth from port to starboard to make sure the mast ends up straight.  All that said - the backstay did present me with a choice to make.  The kit instructions show the backstay attached to deadeyes hooked into eyebolts just forward of the quarter badge. Lees has the backstay attached to a deadeye plate bolted into the ship just above the badge, and the FFM shows a small stool fitted above and aft of the quarter badge (also shown in Vadas' vulture. Although I've been leaning toward the FFM with most things, I simply do not have the room around my quarter badge to accommodate a ledge. So I opted for my own version - an eyebolt and deadeye plate just above the badge, but I also attached the deadeye to a plate/chain then the eyebolt. I realize this departs from accuracy slightly, but it keeps lines from being fouled and is also pretty pleasing to the eye to me.  It was definitely a bugger getting the deadeye evenly rigged amongst all the things happening back there however. 
 

 
 
 
I kept most of the deadeyes loose until they were all rigged, then tightened and seized all the lines and lanyards. 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 

Before the upper shrouds can be rigged, the upper burton pedants have to be laid over the mast heads. The upper burton pendants are done basically the same as the lower ones with a couple of exceptions - they're only on the main and fore masts and they're a bit smaller. So instead of using the little nuts I shaved down for the lowers, I used a brass tube notched, cut, and sanded. The line is listed as 3", so I'm using .35mm served it's length and then tied with eyes around the thimbles. 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Before the upper shrouds can be rigged, the upper burton pedants have to be laid over the mast heads. The upper burton pendants are done basically the same as the lower ones with a couple of exceptions - they're only on the main and fore masts and they're a bit smaller. So instead of using the little nuts I shaved down for the lowers, I used a brass tube notched, cut, and sanded. The line is listed as 3", so I'm using .35mm served it's length and then tied with eyes around the thimbles. 
 
 
 
 
 
 

It has been a few days since I've posted, but that doesn't mean I haven't been hard at work int he shipyard.  I started the topmast journey so I could get the upper standing rigging underway. Not long before I went on my hiatus, I'd done the extra top masts that are mounted on the deck as practice - back in post #255.  The problem was, that had been such a time ago that I'd forgotten much. The good news - I kept decent notes.  I have also since then printed my Swan reference for the masts, yards, and spars.  The one on top is resized from 1:48 to 1:64.   One point of learning for me - as we all know, I've been following Dan Vadas' vulture - which has three t'gallant masts. However, other Pegasus builds and swan builds only have two t'gallant masts with the mizzen only having top mast.  My reference schematic from TFFM have three laid out.  It took me a while to find the addendum note in TFFM that explains the third t'gallant mast on Swan class ships didn't occur until the 1790's.  So my 1776 version will only have two.
 

 
Some minor adjustments were made to my "practice" masts and a fair amount of math was done then I hit the lathe.  For the Fore and Main top masts I decided to go with a larger diameter round mast and square off the bottom and shape rather than start with a square.  This is done for a couple of reasons - but mostly because I have a limited supply of lumber, and a VERY limited supply of the harder woods such as boxwood, etc.  So I am using the dowels that come with the kit - good quality, but definitely softer.
 
 
 
 As you can see above (and remembering my practice run), the top masts are broken down into several sections starting with an octagonal section, squaring off where the fids are located, moving into octagonal again, then rounding and tapering toward the top. Another octagonal section will house the upper crosstrees and trestles, then taper round again.  Making these sections is quite difficult in my opinion.  After trying various cutting and sanding techniques, I ended up using my new mini veritas chisels to create the octagonal sections.  Even so - because of the softness of the wood - I'm going to call these "octagonal-esque."  The silver lining as this will all be painted black and so my lack of precision will be obscured a bit.
 
 
 
All all of the top masts and t'gallant masts contain a number of sheaves.  As we know, sheeves and this scale are really, really difficult to pull off.  I can still manage to construct the lower sheaves for the top masts in the way that I did those on the hull and bulwarks, but all the smaller sheaves are simulated by drilling a couple holes and carving out a 'sheave like' notch.  For the 'real' sheaves, I drill out the holes and patiently adjust with my smallest pin file. The sheave itself is a cut off piece of round brass notched, sanded down, and slid into the slot.
 
 
 
The crosstrees and trestles are from the kit.  A smidge oversized, but definitely doable. Especially since, once again, this will all be painted black.  The mast caps all did need to be redone because the kit versions do not accommodate room for the eye bolts, etc.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The cheek blocks on the upper masts are so small that they definitely need to be made from boxwood, as nothing else I have will lend itself to this level of sanding and shaping. First, I took a 1 mm by 2mm strip of boxwood and put it on my Byrnes saw with a slightly thicker black adjusted all the way to do some milling. I cut a couple of notches in the strip, then sliced off 1.5 mm strips to create the cheek blocks. The sheaves are made from thicker pins / nails cut off at 2.5mm lengths. Holes are drilled in the sides of the cheeks and the sheaves are slid into the holes.  I did mount these sheaves a little lower in the cheek block slots instead of the center to make sure I have enough room to feed a line when it becomes necessary.
 
 
 

 
 
 

Although the t'gallant masts are a bit less complicated to craft in terms of shape, they are QUITE small in terms of diameter at this scale and very, very delicate. Once again, this is where I wish I had more boxwood with which to work.  I did however start out with square strips with these, as that technique is ultimately easier. 
 

 
  All of the fids are made from a brass strip shaped on my belt sander. I only drilled holes in the two larger fids, as the smaller ones are just too small to accommodate holes that no one is ever likely to see.
 

 
With all the masts (except the Jib boom) constructed, they are painted.  I am most likely going to change the paint scheme to match TFFM and have the most upper parts of the masts (including the caps) all black from the hounds on up.
 
 
 
 

Just a couple of shots of the upper masts repainted (the mizzen top at least) and fitted in place with the fids. 
 

 
 
 
 

The Jibboom is pretty straight forward, though a little delicate at 2mm toward the tip.  I started with a 4mm diameter dowel and shaved an octagon into the base as I'd done with the other masts.  This time however, I documented a little closer how I do it.  I mark the dowel and put it in the vise, then I cut the mark with a razor to prevent myself from shaving off too much wood. Then I use the mini chisel to shave a sliver at a time until I get the flat portion I need.  I rotate the dowel to do four opposite sides, then shave off the remaining corners to create the octagon.  Finally, I touch it up with the hand held miniature sander.
 
 
 
 
 
As I mentioned, the walnut is pretty soft, so this still comes out as "octagon-esque" and not as clean as it would with boxwood or something similar - but not terrible in my estimation.  After the chiseling it goes into the lathe for shaping and sizing. The shoulder is cut and shaped on the outboard end. Once removed from the lathe the two sheaves are simulated (one at the base the other near the shoulder) with two holes drilled and a notch cut between the holes. Finally, it's given a couple coats of paint and wipe on poly.
 
 
 
I've dry fit the jibboom to make sure it fits, looks good etc.  I won't mount and rig it permanently until I absolutely need to of course, as the jibboom remains the number one snagging hazard on the ship during rigging. 
 
 
 

 
 
 

Next up is the Mizzen stay as getting this rigged prior to the mainmast shrouds ensures that I have proper access - particularly to the collars which I find to be a little fiddly anyway. Starting with said collar - the Mizzen stay is 5.5" circular, so I'm .60mm served with Mara 120 for the collar and .75mm for the Mizzen stay itself. The collar is pretty straightforward and is seized the same as the bowsprit collars on previous posts. The hearts are closed and for these I'm going with Chuck's Syren product - easy to put together and work with - including filing an indentation around the edge within which the strop will fit. The lashing is .15mm for mostly aesthetic reasons - it's the smallest rope that I have that still retains some "visual to the naked eye" detail.
 
  
 
  The stay itself has a mouse near the masthead so creates a bit of a challenge in terms of planning and execution. The top portion is served to just below the mouse with an eye into which the rest of the stay are inserted.  To get the serving correct, I started by looping the end of the stay then feeding my serving line (mara 120) into the stay via sewing needled.  The eye was 'hand served' then I was able to load the entire thing into my serving machine to do the rest of the portion that needed it.
 
 
 

 
The mouse is a sanded dowel that is drilled out with a hole just big enough to accommodate the served line. I don't have an exact diameter of the bit that I used because I started with "very small" and then gradually increased bits until the serving line barely snugged its way through.  
 
 
 
I've seen quite a few different ways to simulate the 'woven' texture of the mouse. My option was this bandage.  My Admiral happens to be allergic to latex and cannot use just any type of bandage, so we have a few different versions of fabric bandages. This particular one had the look and feel of weaving at the correct scale. The added bonus is that it has adhesive - though I did had a dab of CA to ensure it does not come loose.
 
 
 

 
  The mouse is listed as three times the diameter of the stay, but the bandage added a little bulk - so I did have to scale the mouse down a tad as the original effort was a little big for my taste. Ultimately I just 'eye-balled' it until it looked right to me. The mouse is then painted first black, then brown to try and match the color of the stay. Finally, the lower end of the stay is seized to a twin closed heart to the collar and lashed.  One note in the second picture below - although the lashing behind the mast looks much lighter - that's a trick of the camera where my overhead light was shining - all the lashings are the same color. 
 

 

 

Post One Hundred and Seventy-four
18’ cutter – fitting out.

4571
A shot of the gratings and footwalings which are laser cut. A much better option than the brass etch version.👍
These take a little fettling to get them to sit fully down involving bevelling the underside of the parts, and shaving down the frames as required.
 
The kit sternsheets are combined with the aftermost thwart.
This is an arrangement I don’t like primarily because the grain of the thwart tends to run the wrong way and the set-up  makes it more difficult to  fit the vagaries of  individual hull constructions.

4577
I find it easier to cut away the thwart and make a replacement from spare fret. I have also filled in the open stern area to create an additional bench seat.

4570
At the bow I thought the area looked a little unfinished with  the remnants of the mdf construction block on view.
 
The kit plan (sheet eight) does show a small fore deck in this position but I can’t locate such a part with the 18’ cutter fittings.

4582
This benefits from facing up using spare fret, and the addition of a breasthook above it.
 
One other puzzlement with the 18’ cutter is the height the thwarts and sternsheets relative to the wash strakes.

4579
They are positioned as per the kit and instructions, but have very little freeboard. It is not a case of fitting them too high as the scale figures show a correct height between thwarts and footwaling.

4580
There is only 2mm between thwart top and wash strake top. This equates to 5” at scale.
Working up from the 1:48 scale drawings of an 18’ cutter in The Frigate Diana AotS book the difference should be around 11”
 

The new Vanguard resin cutter, what a beauty that looks, shows a much greater depth between the seating and wash strakes which looks more appropriate.

4583
Even so, visually the wooden version is a pretty little thing, and for most casual viewers this disparity won’t even register.

4588
I am fairly happy with the ‘clinker’ look but it does need a good clean-up.
 
 
B.E.
08/05/2024
 
 

Just a couple of shots of the upper masts repainted (the mizzen top at least) and fitted in place with the fids. 
 

 
 
 
 

It's always a pretty big step when you knock off the lower ratlines. Just a couple of additional notes - the first six lines on the top and bottom of both the main and fore shrouds skip the foremost and aftmost shrouds. Otherwise the process is the same as the mizzen - skipping every few lines to prevent the shrouds from squeezing together or skewing.  I used a long ruler to make sure  my graph paper was positioned properly to the match the lines of the ship and the other ratlines. 
 
 
 
  I also wanted to note here that it is quite important (especially at this scale) to let the diluted PVA dry completely before you try and trim the edges otherwise the knots will unravel and you'll have to redo some lines. After the end knots dry, I use a brand new blade on my scalpel, hold the end of the rope as tightly as I can with my smallest tweezers, then gently cut the rope as close to the knot as possible with a slow back and forth sawing motion using only the weight of the scalpel. Trying to "slice" the rope does not work here and results in pulling and fraying.
 

 
This is also one of those places where it really does make a difference when you use higher quality lines - another benefit of making my own.  The polyester fibers do have a tendency to slip a tiny bit, so going through and adjusting the clove hitches across each ratline is paramount to maintaining some semblance of evenness throughout the rigging. I have some a bit more slack than others, but overall I'm pleased with the end result. As we all know - this is one of those times when patience really does pay off.
 
  
 
 
 
For those who are curious - a total of 784 clove hitches including the ratlines across the futtock shrouds. 
 

The Jibboom is pretty straight forward, though a little delicate at 2mm toward the tip.  I started with a 4mm diameter dowel and shaved an octagon into the base as I'd done with the other masts.  This time however, I documented a little closer how I do it.  I mark the dowel and put it in the vise, then I cut the mark with a razor to prevent myself from shaving off too much wood. Then I use the mini chisel to shave a sliver at a time until I get the flat portion I need.  I rotate the dowel to do four opposite sides, then shave off the remaining corners to create the octagon.  Finally, I touch it up with the hand held miniature sander.
 
 
 
 
 
As I mentioned, the walnut is pretty soft, so this still comes out as "octagon-esque" and not as clean as it would with boxwood or something similar - but not terrible in my estimation.  After the chiseling it goes into the lathe for shaping and sizing. The shoulder is cut and shaped on the outboard end. Once removed from the lathe the two sheaves are simulated (one at the base the other near the shoulder) with two holes drilled and a notch cut between the holes. Finally, it's given a couple coats of paint and wipe on poly.
 
 
 
I've dry fit the jibboom to make sure it fits, looks good etc.  I won't mount and rig it permanently until I absolutely need to of course, as the jibboom remains the number one snagging hazard on the ship during rigging.