Louie da fly

Looking good, mate. I agree, walnut's not a good carving wood. The best is apparently boxwood, but I've never tried it - I have stacks of pearwood and apricot wood, which will probably last for the rest of my lifetime. Steven

Yes, I found that out by accident as well. Great for holding things that would otherwise not stick. Beautiful work on the spinet, by the way. My brother once began scratch building a harpsichord (he was about 19, as I recall). Unfortunately his ambition was greater than his abilities and he never finished it. A pity, really. Steven

Ah, understood. I thought it was a language problem. Steven

Thanks everybody for the likes and comments. OC, strictly it should probably be better described not as a replica (since so much is unknown) as a speculative/theoretical reconstruction. I've just been playing with carving out blocks. When I first started I just made them circular with a hole in the middle, but as I've gone along I've been thinking - what the hey, it doesn't take much more work to make them look like real blocks, so gradually I've been making them closer and closer to the real thing. No sheaves at this scale, obviously, and just a single hole for the thread to go through (two would split the block), but I've started making them longer and shaping them more like a real block, adding a groove for the strop and putting the hole closer to the end of the block, like it's got a sheave, (though I'm not always as successful as I'd like with that - the one below has it pretty much in the centre). Note the enormous match stick which I keep to fool you guys into thinking this stuff is really small. And I've been making eyebolts (or perhaps fake ringbolts) out of thin wire, wrapped around a needle. So far I've got just about all the running rigging attached to the larboard side of the forecourse - buntlines, martnets (forerunners of leechlines), clewlines, halyards, lifts, sheets, tacks, bowlines and braces, and I've started on the starboard side. No footropes - they hadn't been invented yet. On reflection it would have been easier to do each line on both sides at the same time, but I'm learning as I go and each line required enough getting my head around it without also doing it twice. It did make the whole thing a bit lopsided, especially as I've been keeping the downhauls taut with tiny clothes-pegs, which have been weighing that side of the sail down. Now that I'm more confident, when I get to the next sails I'll be doing both sides simultaneously. And next time I won't add the topsail until I'd done all the rigging on the course. It made access very difficult. Well, we live and learn. Still bumbling along - taking long breaks between steps so I can recover my equanimity and face the next step with a fresh mind. But making steady progress and pleased with how it's going. Steven

Welcome, Daniel. When Dave E said don't be shy, he meant don't be too cautious or timid (scheu? timido?) if you want to ask questions. Everyone is very helpful and we only learn by asking questions. Steven

No soup for you! Steven

Coming along nicely, mate! Steven

Of course - how could you doubt it? Steven

Thanks Druxey. I don't need them at the moment, but I might try it if it becomes necessary. Steven

Queen Victoria Monument - just outside Buckingham Palace Steven

Thanks, Druxey. That certainly reduces the mucking around I have to do. I made sure I got some cotton thread today - not a perfect colour match, but close enough (particularly as thread thread this thin it's hard to make out the exact colour anyway). I thought I'd post a few progress pics of the ship as it looks overall. Coming along nicely, but so many ropes. But I'm finding it gives me a more than just intellectual understanding of how everything works together - it's all been a bit vague and conceptual up to now, so the hands-on stuff is doing me good. Oh, and the painted sails are looking nice, too - (they're actually more colourful than they show in the photos). Steven

I had the same problem with threading the deadeyes, and I ended up doing the same thing - remove the deadeyes, thread them and put them back on again. I don't know what other people do, though. Steven

Well, now you know. A wide range of opinions regarding whether or not to show sails. Keep in mind also that ships often had only a few sails set and the rest furled - and when a ship went into action it reduced its canvas to "fighting sails" - usually just topsails and headsails, such as in this painting of the Shannon vs Chesapeake. And here's one of the whaling ship New Phoenix, hove to with just topsails, headsail and driver set. Steven

I think you'll find a wide divergence in opinion on this one - I've done both, but despite the reasons you've quoted against sails, I feel sails are a sailing ship's raison d'être, so should be shown. Yes, the fabric available is never going to be fine enough to replicate real sails to scale (though even this can be largely solved by using silkspan). I think there are valid reasons for both furled and unfurled, and it's often a matter of what you're intending to portray. It would be quite interesting, for example, to show a ship hove to, so the sails on one mast are facing the opposite way to the others - or a ship with sails drying, or partially furled. As far as which ships can pull unfurled off best, I think they all look good under full sail, but I particularly like the look of the sails on ships of the late 16th/early 17th centuries. On the other hand, a lateen sail is particularly beautiful as well. All a matter or personal preference. Steven

You're right, Druxey. The polyester is a b*gger to work with. I'm thinking of getting some cotton thread the same thickness, and dye it to match. It would certainly be easier. Fortunately I only have to make four sister-blocks for the whole ship - just two for each course - according the C.E. Anderson, the topsails seem either to have had martnets or buntlines, not both - and as the topsails were a lot smaller in 1545, the chances of the Great Harry having martnets on them are pretty low anyway. Steven

More larboard rigging for the forecourse and fore topsail. First the martnets (historically, they were the precursors to the leechlines). Quite a complex system - first I had to make a couple of sister blocks (same as a fiddle block, I think). You can see a complete one between the matchstick and the tiny peg - another in progress held in the peg - drilling 2 holes in a piece of wood so close together, it usually splits, so I've glued it back together again and held it in the peg to dry. And the tackle - one rope though the top sheave of the fiddle block, then running through another block; the other rope through the bottom sheave, running to a (triangular) deadeye - currently partly glued to the strop (thanks henrythestaffy for those wonderful 3D printed deadeyes! And in place - you can see the single block attached just below the fighting top - it's used to haul the whole assembly tight when furling the sail - and the fiddle block just below that - and running from the fiddle block is a line that runs to the deadeye (about a third of the way up the shrouds in the second photo) which has its lanyards - or more correctly, martnets -through the holes. And the martnets roughly in place - what I thought was the right placement of each lanyard on the leech turned out to be completely wrong - it all got twisted up - I had to re-do them several times, but worked out ok in the end. Then tightening the martnets so they hang right. I'm using polyester thread which is VERY springy, and I had to wet it and then glue it down to get the acute angle where the lanyards go through the holes, and to get the threads to hang naturally like rope. And finally, the martnets at the front of the sail - at the other end of the rope that goes through the bottom sheave of the fiddle block. Of course this will have to be done again on the starboard side, and then I have to repeat the whole thing for the main course. But first, I've made a start on the larboard buntlines, then the bowlines - so many ropes! I'll put photos up when I've done them. Steven

Nice work on your first planking, and filling and sanding should smooth it off well. However, may I suggest that before you begin second planking, you check out the planking tutorials at https://modelshipworld.com/forum/98-planking-downloads-and-tutorials-and-videos/ - these show you how best to achieve the best planking finish, the way it was done with real ships. Good work! Steven

Beautiful workshop. I'm envious. Steven

Success! I've found upholstery thread that does the job in the right colour, plus some other kind of thread which I can't remember that's a tiny bit thinner, in off-white cotton (which can be dyed to match the existing thread). Just started replacing the tacks and sheets, and it looks good. No photos so far. BTW, thanks everybody for the likes and supportive comments. Steven

Obviously there's no defaulters on this ship - otherwise that rust would have been chipped off and painted over . . . Steven

Thanks, mate. If I don't get any joy with the crochet thread (today) I'll start looking at upholstery thread as an alternative. Steven

Such a beautiful ship. I'm sure you'll do her justice. Steven

Starting to rig the fore course and topsail. I've been following Anderson, as he's the nearest thing to contemporary for this period - only 60-100 years too late. But is it just me or do others think he's really difficult to read? I find I have to have my wits about me to follow what he's saying. First thing I did was the topsail halyard and tye, but Anderson says the tye went through a sheave in the topmast. There's no way I was going to try drilling a hole in that fore topmast (or the main topmast, for that matter) - look how thin it is! So instead I faked it - a short section of tye leading out from the front of the mast, and another, longer one from the rear, running down to a block just below the base of the fighting top - apparently the same bit of rope, but in fact each wrapped around the mast by a single turn, looking rather like a parrel. I decided to leave the parrel truck off - too confusing. A "runner" goes through the block - the fixed end to the port side, the runner to another block with the halyard, which has its free end and fixed end both going to the starboard side. I decided to do ALL the rigging for the larboard side of the forecourse, and once I'd done that do the starboard side. So far I've done clewline, sheet and tack, plus the topsail sheet (all left loose for the time being). The sheet for the course is supposed to start from a ringbolt or eyebolt set into the side of the hull just in front of the main channel. I hadn't planned to bother with that - that would be pretty tiny, but then I though "Why not?" - so I got some thin wire, wrapped it around a sewing needle and actually made an eyebolt that looks right! And I've found a good way to introduce "belly" into the sails. When I added the boltropes, the scale was so small that there was no way I was going to be able to sew them on - so I just ran a bit of PVA (white) glue along each edge of the sail and glued cotton onto the edge to act as a boltrope. Now I find that if I dampen the glue and curve the sail (eg with a bit of thread holding up the clew) the curve stays in the sail when the glue dries. But now I'm a bit stuck - I began by using cotton crochet thread, which was great for the shrouds and stays, but now I need something a bit thinner for sheets, tacks etc. Unfortunately the thread I have is either too thin (sewing cotton) or too thick (crochet thread). I'm going to have to look further afield and get something in between. I know there is good rigging line available but the sizing conventions for crochet thread are in numbers - No. 10 is thick, 20 is thinner etc. and they bear no relation to actual sizes in inches or millimetres, so if I want to order from a ship rigging supplier I have no frame of reference - I can't compare the stuff I want with the stuff I already have. I'm waiting till tomorrow to go to a specialty sewing etc shop to see if I can get finer crochet thread. Otherwise . . . Steven

I haven't visited this build for a while. You've certainly made good progress! Steven

Actually, that rust looks very good in the photo. But it might look different in real life, so you might be right in wanting to tone it down. Maybe leave it for a few days and come back to it with new eyes - you might find you like it after all. Steven