vossy

Finished rigging the bowsprit guy lines.  The red arrow shows them running up in parallel from the beakhead to the spritsail yard, and then diverging to different points on the sprit.
 
The manual wants you to use a single thread for both sides of the black line, which requires you to seize a block into the attached line near the beakhead, and which would make precise alignment difficult (or impossible for me).  So I started at the beakhead end with one line per side, got the blocks lined up (with a slight slant to the stern to match the direction of the guys), and then attached them to the appropriate points on the sprit.  Not sure why the manual doesn't do it that way.
 
OK, getting close now.  What's left for the main ship is the anchors and the lanterns.  Then I will build the small boats.
 
Regards,
David
 

Quarter davits done.  A few comments on these:
 
I have not yet fixed the running end of the lifts, and that's because I won't know how far out I want them to swing until I build the boats and decide which ones I want to hang on the davits.  The plastic clip you see provides some mild tension on the lift for now.  
I left them natural walnut (vs. painting black) to provide some interest and make them more visible.  They have not been varnished yet, because when I do that I will probably cause the hinges to seize, so again I need to wait until I have the angle set and the boats hung.  So they look a little rough right now.  
There will be block & tackle for the boats -- I'll add that when I hang them.
 
Regards,
David

Fore and main cluelines, tacks and sheets done.
 
Some of these go through holes in the hull and are anchored below the skids.  It's super difficult to do that last, when you are trying to tension the lines.  So I started there, got them anchored, and then rigged back to the eyebolts on the exterior of the hull -- and it's easy to tension there.  Three points of tension have to be balanced at the same time.
 
Regards,
David

Your racing through it now David. It looks awesome. Well done. I like the flag addition too.
 
Chris
 

Driver boom built, mounted and rigged.  Also the jackstaff for the ensign.
 
Regarding the ensign:  there are no flags supplied with this model, and I thought a small ensign would be a nice addition.  So I researched British ensigns of that period, and found a good picture that I could download.  I then used Photoshop to resize it, and also to do a "flip horizontal" on the image so that the backside would come out properly.
 
Looks nice on the model.
 
You may notice that the lanterns aren't on.  I held off on that to avoid pranging them, but now that the boom sort of "protects" that area, I can add them at any time.
 
Regards,
David

Finished building, mounting and rigging the Driver Gaff.  One of these pics shows the gaff better, and the other one shows the rigging bettter.
 
One comment:  the instructions say to rig both the mizzen top yard and the mizzen topgallant yard braces before rigging the vang.  I did the top yard brace because the angles put some downward pull on the gaff, but the topgallant brace would pull up.  So after the top yard brace I rigged the vang, which puts nice downward pull on the gaff and also helps to align it side to side.  Then the topgallant brace and I could put some tension on it because the vang anchored the gaff down.  Just a small note for those who might be building a step or two behind me.
 
Regards,
David

Braces now done.  Next step is the boom and gaff, which look semi-complex to build and to rig.
 
Regards,
David

The lifts, sheets, buntlines and cluelines are now done on all 3 masts and the bowsprit.  Pictures attached.
 
Next step is braces.  It moves along more quickly once you get to the "real" rigging stage.
 
Regards,
David

Main mast yard lifts, sheets, buntlines and clewlines done.
 
Regards,
David

Finished the foremast yard lifts and sheets (plus "bunt" and "clew" lines, whatever those are).
 
I used flash in the dark with no white background so the rigging would show up.
 
Regards,
David

Thank you all for your  get well soon and likes. I have had a lot of time to think these days.  Seems like that's all I could do lol. All though I have been working on the ship for a few days now , I get really tired  after a few hours. So the Frist Mate says I have to take the weekend off 🙄.  
  But my planking went well. Best one so far, hope that carrys  on to my next ship the Pegasus  lol. I can't wait for that one to finally  start.   . So ,next week it will be the whalers,  then on to the deck furniture,  mast, sails and done lol.,but lets not get ahead of our self lol. Here is my Nina as she sits now. 



9

Ahoy everyone,  well finally work has rezoomed,  after a long serious  respiratory illness, I have recovered enough to get a few hour a day back in the shipbyard. Still get very tired after a few hours but a quick nap and I am good to go. I have lots of out side work to catch up on,  so work will progress  slowly at first.  
 The First Mate  is keeping a close eye on me so I don't get to exhausted.  
  I have worked on the deck as far as I want to go for now, because I will be doing the planking  and will be turning the ship upside down and everyway to get the planks on.. A few pictures  only, but It's  a start. 

Bowsprit yards done and mounted.  Pictures show bow-on view with some arrows added so the yards are more identifiable, and a top-down view.
 
Now the real rigging can start!
 
Regards,
David

Mizzen yards done and mounted.  Now just the bowsprit yards left.
 
Regards,
David

This is my most recent plastic kit, the Revell 1/400 "Queen Mary 2" with a Gold Medal Models photo-etch upgrade set and a KA wooden deck set.

What type of plastic ship models do you have? Here are a few images of my work modifying plastic kits:

Fore topgallant yard up.  So now on to the mizzen yards, which are simpler to build than the fore and main yards.
 
Regards,
David

Built and installed the fore topmast.  Knocking them off, one by one.
 
Regards,
David

Welcome and good luck Sam. Ask heaps of questions!
 
Chris
 

Welcome and good luck Sam. Ask heaps of questions!
 
Chris
 

Welcome and good luck Sam. Ask heaps of questions!
 
Chris
 

My first wooden kit was the Amati Santa Maria. Probably not considered a "true" beginners kit but I chose it because I loved the subject. I found it challenging but totally rewarding. Sure there were many parts that really perplexed me at the time, but by asking here, and reading many books and posts I managed to produce what I consider to be a really nice model.
 
So I always say, with some caveats, choose a subject that interests you. The caveat? I would steer clear of "expert" kits like large Victory's etc. You will see very experienced builders on this forum sometimes can run into problems with those type of kits. Also, I think you should probably prepare yourself for the fact that every kit, no matter what level, will likely present problems of some sort or another. No kit will fit together 100% perfectly the way the instructions say it will. They all require some sort of tweeking to come together.
 
Building a model ship is a very repetitive process and can even get boring. Especially if you start with something too big. Ask some of the advanced builders on this site how much fun it is rigging all the cannons or doing the ratlines on a large scale Victory? My Santa Maria offered me the chance to do simpler cannons, less ratlines and probably most importantly for a beginner, a far simpler planking due to the shape of the bow. I would steer clear of bluff bowed vessels like Victory, Bounty, Endeavour etc. I would also recommend any vessel you undertake to have double planking. The first planking will give you a great idea as to how planking is done and doesn't have to be perfect. It also makes the second layer, which you want to be a perfect as possible, much easier to do.
 
Good luck on your journey.
 
Chris
 

The fore yard is built and rigged onto the ship.
 
Going on a trip for a couple of weeks so won't be posting again until latter part of June.
 
Regards,
David

My first wooden kit was the Amati Santa Maria. Probably not considered a "true" beginners kit but I chose it because I loved the subject. I found it challenging but totally rewarding. Sure there were many parts that really perplexed me at the time, but by asking here, and reading many books and posts I managed to produce what I consider to be a really nice model.
 
So I always say, with some caveats, choose a subject that interests you. The caveat? I would steer clear of "expert" kits like large Victory's etc. You will see very experienced builders on this forum sometimes can run into problems with those type of kits. Also, I think you should probably prepare yourself for the fact that every kit, no matter what level, will likely present problems of some sort or another. No kit will fit together 100% perfectly the way the instructions say it will. They all require some sort of tweeking to come together.
 
Building a model ship is a very repetitive process and can even get boring. Especially if you start with something too big. Ask some of the advanced builders on this site how much fun it is rigging all the cannons or doing the ratlines on a large scale Victory? My Santa Maria offered me the chance to do simpler cannons, less ratlines and probably most importantly for a beginner, a far simpler planking due to the shape of the bow. I would steer clear of bluff bowed vessels like Victory, Bounty, Endeavour etc. I would also recommend any vessel you undertake to have double planking. The first planking will give you a great idea as to how planking is done and doesn't have to be perfect. It also makes the second layer, which you want to be a perfect as possible, much easier to do.
 
Good luck on your journey.
 
Chris
 

My first wooden kit was the Amati Santa Maria. Probably not considered a "true" beginners kit but I chose it because I loved the subject. I found it challenging but totally rewarding. Sure there were many parts that really perplexed me at the time, but by asking here, and reading many books and posts I managed to produce what I consider to be a really nice model.
 
So I always say, with some caveats, choose a subject that interests you. The caveat? I would steer clear of "expert" kits like large Victory's etc. You will see very experienced builders on this forum sometimes can run into problems with those type of kits. Also, I think you should probably prepare yourself for the fact that every kit, no matter what level, will likely present problems of some sort or another. No kit will fit together 100% perfectly the way the instructions say it will. They all require some sort of tweeking to come together.
 
Building a model ship is a very repetitive process and can even get boring. Especially if you start with something too big. Ask some of the advanced builders on this site how much fun it is rigging all the cannons or doing the ratlines on a large scale Victory? My Santa Maria offered me the chance to do simpler cannons, less ratlines and probably most importantly for a beginner, a far simpler planking due to the shape of the bow. I would steer clear of bluff bowed vessels like Victory, Bounty, Endeavour etc. I would also recommend any vessel you undertake to have double planking. The first planking will give you a great idea as to how planking is done and doesn't have to be perfect. It also makes the second layer, which you want to be a perfect as possible, much easier to do.
 
Good luck on your journey.
 
Chris