dafi

Come on baby...don't fear the Reeper Baby feel the thread...don't fear the Reeper We are ready to tie...don't fear the Reeper I still owe you the last line ... (oh what a pun!!!) ... but how did this start again? I just wanted to try out the new blocks ... ... but the packet string was apparently not the right thing. That is why I had my fun on the Reeperbahn ;-) And I realised something else: The blocks were too small for the 32 pounder :-0 That´s why I am now using the smaller 12-pounder for the next test - it was faster than doing bigger blocks ;-) Here a picture from a working stage, comparing old and new ... ... and this was the result: *jumpingofhappiness* Not yet perfect, but the direction is right :-) Lieber Gruß, Daniel *happilysinging* Come on baby...don't fear the Reeper Baby feel the thread...don't fear the Reeper We are ready to tie...don't fear the Reeper Baby, I´m your man ... lalalalalaaaaaaa...

Oh these days I used the whole 2,5 meters of my Reeperbahn :-) The anchor cables and messengers were due As the small motors were to small dimensioned, I had to use the electric drill. And for long ropes or ropes with many single threads ... ... one has to knot each of the three strands on the predrilling side together for not getting small lumps. Three of the resulting cables were laid further to create the bigger ones ... ... and for an enjoyable result :-) The anchor cable has a diameter of 2 mm which equals about 24" circumference on the original, the messenger should have about the half, this one being still too thick with 1,5 mm. This means, half of the yarn is not resulting into half the diameter. Interesting is, that even though I used the same proportions of the colors Tan and Rusty Dun, the resulting cable have different colors. Possibly because the messenger is tighter laid, there is not as much light from the surface penetrating the outer yarn and being reflected inside. To compensate I added one part of white to the existing two colors ... ... and the result can be seen compared to the middle messenger. On the bottom the thinner messenger of 1 mm is shown, which - using the same colors as the first one - appears lighter due to be laid less tight. That the first messenger was laid too tight I realised, as some of the outer fibres were broken ... ... so less tension was used for the following cables. The problems on the broken one I was able to fix by cutting off the bitts and smoothening it with Uhu-Plast. Next came parcelling and servig That one is for you Evan ;-) I realised, that on a lot of great models, the parcelling and serving made the cable too thick, due to the too thick diameter of the material used. But as the fishing line is like dental floss, it flattens up while beeing wrapped around ... ... and even shows the structure underneath, something I saw on the originals :-) Still a little ink or chalk to get the plastic gloss off, and it will be ok. And of course I could not resist, to try out a spliced eye on the messenger :-)

Sometimes, yes sometimes I wonder why-why-why ... ... but after looking at my first lashing trials done with supermarket yarn for the tampions and the apron, 0,3 Krick line for the lashing and a breech rope laid out of the same material ... ... and when I compare with my own material ... ... I do remember why :-) Lieber Gruß, Daniel

Baby feel the thread...don't fear the Reeper ... and now we are going through the thick ;-) Some of the samples that came out: Here are the different raw materials that were used from right to left: No 20 crochet thread - the thinnest from the wool shop -, a 0,4 mm metal thread for comparison, the fuzzy yarn from the supermarket, the 3/0 Uni, the 6/0 Uni, das 8/0 Uni, the 17/0 uni and the fil au chinois. Here the macros from the tests (the laid ropes were done in an early stage, so they are still quite uneven), the numbers indicate the number of strands. Supermarkets´yarn Fil au chinois 8/0er Uni After I found no color scale in the shop, I ordered all colors that were not unsuitable for sure. So I used the surplus colors for the tests, here the Rusty Brown: The great result is, that I can do everything I need with the Uni 8/0 :-) :-) :-) And again the numbers indicate the number of single strands. The AOTS of the Vic shows a nice tablature about all the ropes and their required sizes. And once again I see, that we often take too thick lines for the rigging ... The lower shrouds should be a 30, the ratlines the pure yarn!!! Twists and turns Apart from the 2 and 3 stranded rope it is possible to make Z and S laid ropes as required :-) Those two ones mentioned have first to be untwisted, which results in a more uneven rope. But as they are so thin that it is impossible to be seen in a model of that scale, there is always a possibility of cheating ;-) :-) Colors One of the reasons to do my own rope was to be able to choose the color. The available once for the standing rigging are too black, the one for the running rigging to colorful. Research in the reenactment-scene shows faded grey ropes: http://europe-today.ru/2012/03/stroitelstvo-kak-1200-let-nazad/. I choose the color Tan, as it is avaliable in 8/0 and 6/0 and I will help perhaps with a little bit of ink once it is installed. For the black I found a nice solution: I mix colors while laying :-) Black with dark brown gives exactely the shade I found on old tarred ropes :-) The color can be nicely adjusted by the quantities of the colors within the mixing. Also you can nicely see the different hands on the picture. As for the running rigging I will possibly also mix in some strands of a less colorful yarn. Laying cables And then the hour of truth: Using the self made ropes to make cables for anchor and shrouds: Looks promising ;-) Baby feel the thread...don't fear the Reeper The best is, the production now goes so easily and uncomplicatedly that I will not prepare to much rope in advance and will lay it as "just in time production" in the needed quantity and thickness while rigging :-) So the first production for the lower deck is done ... ... and please tune in again when we come to the next line of the famous song ... Come on baby...don't fear the Reeper Baby feel the thread...don't fear the Reeper We'll be able to tie...don't fear the Reeper Alles Gute, Daniel

Come on baby...don't fear the Reeper Baby feel the thread...don't fear the Reeper If one is stuck one should do what should have been done in the start - Listen to your inner voice and listen to the others :-) Not: "I-wanna-have-a-ropewalk-and-do-same-nice-ropes-as-seen-on-the-modelling-exhibition" but "I-need-great-ropes-for-my-Vic" :-) That changes a lot as I am building a completely different scale. Changes a lot towards the materials and the usage of the walk. So freshly focussed back to work: First listen to the others: Oli/Modellbaumechaniker and Holger/Pollux from my german forums gave me the right hints for the right materials. Fil au chinois and flyfishing lines were the right hints! http://www.neheleniapatterns.com/html/filagant.html http://www.baker-flyfishing.com/shop/bindematerialien_faeden.php?v=n183 And this is what came: The bigger bobbins are the fil au chinois, numbers for the colors see the picture The smaller bobbin sare from the flyfishing, Uni-Thread green 8/0 the thin one, orange 6/0 the middle one, the thick 3/0 and the superthin 17/0 The fil au chinois is cotton with very little fussy bits, the Uni is free of fuzz :-) The Uni has a large range of colors avaliable, unfortunately not all colors in all sizes. The 8/0 and 6/0 are great for my purpose, the 3/0 has the great appearence of colored dental floss and the 17/0 is also quite uneven and transparent. First tests proved to be the right direction sizewise :-) Left the fuzzy thread from the supermarket, my thinnest possibility before this date. Then comes the fil au chinois, the Uni 8/0 and the Uni17/0, always the original strand, then two, 3 and 6 stranded with blocks of 3 mm, 2 mm and 1,5 mm for comparison. And the first test also showed that turning the axis by hand is a tad tiring and the cordless screwdriver is a little bit unhandy and also too insensitive ... ... So ... ... reopening the Fischertechnik box from my youth, getting the motors out, glueing them with double sided tape onto the machinery, here the pretwisting side to be seen ... ... and the laying side ... ... the motor can be turned sideways to reposition the hooks ... ... and felt was put untderneath for easy gliding, and a steel ruler in the middle to control the movements of the sliding parts :-) Both sides were clampedto the rail to be able to put the yarn properly. After chasing behind the bobbin for several times, a holder like the sewing machines ones was introduced, and from there the the yarn was brought to the hooks of the pretwisting side - I am showing a 6-stranded rope - ... ... and after 3 times twice forth and back ... ... the yarn was fixed on the laying side. The steel ruler shows the movement of the slide - I use 10% on this rope - loosen the clamp on the laying side, the pretwisting hooks start turning and the opposite slide starts moving miraculously towards the predrilling slide :-) If the required distance is achieved, I clamp both sides onto the rail, and the three strands are laid until the required tension is achieved ... ... some CA for fixing ... ...going with the fingernails over to release unwanted tension ... ... and you can make a clean cut :-) Lessons learned You can see two things: First: I am not using any more the little guide block :-) No difference to be seen apart from that it is much more even ;-) Secondly: I am fixing both sides while laying the rope! In the first trials I had the trouble, that the start of the rope was coming out nicely tight and the second half was much more loose ... I realised that at the start of laying the pretwisting slide does not move, and the shortening of the rope is only compensated by the lateral spreading of the yarn. Just later on the slide starts moving. But it was not just after I forgot once to remove the clamp of this slide and got out a great and even clean cable that I realised, that the loosness of the rope came from the missing tension on the other side. The next tests without the guide and fixed slides prooved to be successful :-) Just if the motor is having to work too hard, I stop it and I loosen the tension a tad by carefully moving the slide and then contimue. Come on baby...don't fear the Reeper Baby feel the thread...don't fear the Reeper ... and the part that should be pronounced is: feel the thread :-) XXXDAn

Come on baby...don't fear the Reeper ... Let´s go back to the glorious days, when a little dafi was all proud reporting about his own-build Reeperbahn (ropewalk) ... ... showing happily his first ropes ... ... and all the crochet threads he bought in the neighbourhood and the world-wide-web ... ... and how he rope-walked and walked the rope ... ... changed his place into a painters place ... ... and did many-many-many test to find the one and only right and trueful color for his new ropes ... ... until he questioned: What am I doing here? As nicely to be seen ... ... everything much to thick for his purpose ... :-( And the colors? Did not work either ... the pure stain wrong colors, mixing did not work ... the black was too blueish, mixing with dark brown resulted in blueish blackish ropes with a brown core as the brown penetrated and the black resided just on the surface ... other paints and inks were not so successful either ... ... and also the ropes were too uneven, the start always tighter done than the end, as can be seen, the middle line is the start and the one underneath is the same rope, just the end ... ... ok, think it over ... ... and especially ... Don´t fear the Reeper

First chapter: the rope walk ... simple wooden box, some cogwheel from Fischertechnik out of my dark juvenile past, 4 mm aluminum wire bent to hooks... ... the movable counter part and the runner ... ... some screws as guides for a 2,5 meter curtain rail ... ... and getting a range of crochet thread from the grandma shop in the city. And these are the results - the three brown ones (nr 2, 5 and 8 from the bottom) are the reference from Krick 0,3, 0,5 and 0,7 mm: Holy impatience, they are not yet dyed but I could not resist putting them in place to see how they react and look in place ... ... and, does not look too bad :-) The build was rather easy and simple. But now it will get tricky: Finding the right materials and the right way of using it concerning the right amount of twisting and tension. cogwheel - old stuff Curtain rail - old stuff Wood - 1,58 Euro Aluminum - 1,50 Euro Feeling - priceless ;-) All the best, Daniel

For my scale of 1:100 I needed to develop some skills new to me in rope making. This was what was needed: The range of 0,2 mm thread for ratlines and tampion lanyards and cable laid anchor cables of 2 mm. This is the story of the odyssey ... Daniel

Missing was the plate that holds the pawls, that was easy, little bit of Tamia tape and color ... ... then the two retractable bolts that secure the pawls in a horizontal position if not to touch the stops. Also taped a tad lower ... ... a tiny hole drilled and a small wire. And already to be seen the next thing, the clamps on the trundlehead. More tricky, as paint would not work because of the splitline and all sheet was too thick. So took some 60 gr paper, colored it with Copic-Marker to avoid white edges ... ... backside with CA and front with the right paint ... ... and I was able to cut stripes, less than 0,5 mm wide and less than 0,1 thick :-) Glued them on using very pointed pincers, as pointed, once it fell out of my hand and stuck vertically in the table :-) Now that is all I wanted to represent ... ... here the concave form of the upper chocks, understandable ... ... if seen the angle the rope goes around the rips. Still have to find out the right thickness and kind for the messenger. Unually the literature talks about 24 inch for the anchor cable and half of it for the messenger. But I do not know if it is laid like the anchor cable or if it is a "normal" rope of the given strength as seen today on the Vic. On the bottom you see the 24 inch anchor cable, left the 12 inch laid one and right a "normal" one (which is a tad too thin) ... ...and the same 12 inch to compare with a 17 inch one as sometimes thicker diameters are given for this purpose. Usually it is said to have 4 rounds around the capstan, so we will see who will do the race :-) Lieber Gruß, Daniel

It was going a bit slow lately but I had enough fun mistreating materials and machines. Plenty of trials and "go back to start"-messanges. But this was done with the necessary style ... ... means laughing at all problems that occur and if you see the bounty ... ... and this came out as the family shot with the capstan V1 that was installed until recently and the final version nine and three quarter on the right ...hihihihihihi... But looking back to what had happened ... ... lot of different informations about the capstans, all more confusing then enlightening ... ... the first real interesting hint came from Goodwin in his "HMS Victory Manual" stating that the jeer capstan looks to be original. The main capstan is said to be a 19th century copy, but it took me a moment to realise, that the main capstan is not the one in front of the mainmast, but behind and that the jeer capstan that Goodwin means is the fore capstan ... ... and he also says this original capstan has 12 bars on the trundlehead and 14 on the fdrumhead. But all the pictures in the book only show 5 bars on the trundlehead, my own pictures showing the same too ... ... and starting to understand a little bit the history of the capstan, starting with no bars on the trundledead (or better with no trundle head at all), afterwards introducing a capstan with 5 bars then later on with 10 bars and in the end twelve. Then I found a picture in Arming and Fitting showing an early double capstan with the settings seen on the Vic´s jeer: Few on the trundlehead, many on the drumhead, right timing for the building date of the Vic ... ... and then another one in NMM :-) http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/79873.html Ok, one done. But I was thinking, as the second one - the main capstan - is not original, it easily could have been replaced already in the first 40 years in between the build of the ship and 1805, so why not showing the more modern and classical one with 10/12bars. That seemed to be a interesting attempt to show both versions in one build. And NMM gives a proof of one ... http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/68383.html And the 5 ribs on the bottom apparently give a better grip on the thicker cables than the 6 ribs on the upper level where thinner ropes were worked: Ok, that idea sorted out, new material prepared resulting in the different stages here shown ... ... and after a many trials and errors, lots of nasty "crack" noises, I finally managed to get out 4 decent ones :-) The chocks were glued in before the last turns on the machine, so they got a good basic form, the lower ones got the curved in form that enables the cable not to get stuck on them ... ... prepared the pawls ... ... and the stops ... ... carved in the splitlines ... glued the stops ... ... stuck in the pawls, the usual black ink for the inner edges, a litte white brushing for the highlights and some wooden paint to simulate color-clipping of the paintwork on the outer surfaces ... ... placed some rope around ... ... and it looks like it was meant to look like that :-) Alles Gute, Daniel

Sometimes one can sit on one´s working place ... ... and see it coming ... ... coming deep from inside Mordor ... ... one realises, one can feel it, one knows it ... ... latest once the dark spirits make one forget to change the direction in between pre-twisting and laying ... ... and even put evil curses upon the tools of enlightment ... ... when the high tension for laying bringing even the otherwise undestructable Fischer Technics to melt ... ... so what do you do as an experienced modelmaker? Some Rings to center them all, Some Ring to bear them, Some Rings to twist the yarns and lay them In the Land of Dafi where the ropes lie. After V1 just had highly developed rudimantary full wood bearings, I decided not to go for the expensive ball bearings but to use brass screw nuts, just drilling out the threads, and I found myself in possesion of wonderful guides for the axles, still fitted washers in between wood and Fischer Technics in order to decrease the coefficient of friction and got a machine ... ... that works much better than ever bevore :-) Amicalement, a relieved Daniel PS: ... even the skies cleared, I saw it with my own eyes, I feelt it and I took the picture, that is the place that I want for my next workshop ;-) ...hihihihihi...

Even though Goodwin seems to be quite confident about the preventer breech ropes, I did not yet find sufficient evidence in the historical literature. Chapman from the german forum found a hint in Caruna´s "English Sea Ordnance" that they where meant to be rigged "in extreme conditions". The only drawing I found in the is of unknown origins to me. Does anybody knows the origins of this one? What is the rope in C for? I doubt that there are two ropes fitting through the breech ring. Also it does not seem logical to me with the preventer rope to run through the whole deck. Also it would be much more stable to rig the tackles onto the breech itself instead onto the rope. On top the length of the breech rope in drawing B seems too short - something like the loop around the back of the carriage seems to be missing - and the diagonal tackles in drawing D usually are shown to go to the eyebolt on the opposite side. The basic idea seems logic, as Marquart and Lee show a lot of redundant systems for the ship´s rigging in war times with second preventer systems. And the big gun could be easily put hors combat if just the original breeching rope is damaged by flying splinters. The fitting and the usage of the prventer is nicely shown by Goodwin for the gun in action. But how was it lashed? By looking through a lot of historical drawings there was one way of lashing the original breeching rope that would make sense in this context. This is a try as a a basis for discussion: And in sitiu :-) Any opinions or knowledge about that one? All the best, Daniel

First oups: I still owe you the answer for the anchor cable: How much of the 8/0 fly fishing line was used for this anchor cable ... ... of 2 mm diameter and a length of 1,5 meters? Different guessings were 80 to 300 meters. And here is the solution, it is quite easy: Each of the 3 Strands was done out of 3 threads in different colors, hook in 4 times, duplicated because of running forth and back on three hooks multiplied with the length of the walk of 2,5 meters: 3x3x4x2x3x2,5m=540 meters But anyway, here we go again ... (no, I am not starting to sing again ...) ... second oups ... ... it is all Pollux´s mistake ... ... as he gave me the hint of a even thinner thread in our german forum ... ... and what is this?? - on top for comparison a 0,1 mm copper wire. - then the Uni 8/0, my favourite - the new Caenis 20/den two stranded laid - the new Caenis 20/den à la nature - one of dafi´s hair - the new Caenis 20/den four stranded laid To show the size a small montage as closeup: I scaled in a way that the 0,1 copper wire has a thickness of 10 pixels. My hair has 9 px, the Caenis has 8 px which means about 0,08 mm :-) My favourite Uni 8/0 looks like a real anchor cable in comparison ... But why laying such thin cables? The fly line is like dental floss, it is very uneven and does not keep its shape. Bent around a corner it looses it round shape, flattens up and gets twice as thick. Also I have the feeling it is easier to knot and can be easier tried to be given a nice slag. That is all for now, Daniel

Okokok, I am back to what I like most: Destruction!!! ... but what is it this time? Yeah ... ... there were two fighting tops missing :-) Ok, get naked and we have literally two topless tops, hihihihi, dafi likes that. Just for comparison there is too the old fore top with the old batten design. And here is my newest acquisition: some scaler from the dentist department ... ... made a guide with the correct width for easy engraving ... ... flattening the build up edge with the spatula ... ... and engrave a second time. Tilting left and right makes nice even grooves. For straight continuations around the testle trees I build a small special guide ... ... and for cleaning everything up I used the small Dremel bristel-brushes. Revolution speed as low as possible and with little pressure, otherwise the plastik may melt, guess why I do know this ... Ok for now, Daniel

And see, you were so blinded by these pettiness that you did not see the essential things in the last picture - the thimble ... This was a side product of having to paint the white sheaves. Thinking how to do them out of black material. Remembered a trick from the WW1 plane builders, that do the locks of the bracing wires by heating up a Q-Tit and pulling it to the needed diameter. The same system as we use to du with sprue it keeps the hole inside in the right proportion to the diameter. This in mind I thought this could also work in a bigger diameter, slipped some 8 mm sprue into the machine ... ... drilled slowly with 4 mm turning the chuck by hand ... ...heated up and pulled (ok could be done more evenly) ... ... and cut onto the right lengths and got a nice variety of discs, sheaves and raw material for thimbles :-) Tried to enlarge the ring by using the cone of the drill did not really work. Used two needles as marlinspikes to do a splice ... ... put the required disc in, tacked it with a drop of CA, adjusted and finally glued it properly in position and opened the hole carefully a little bit more with a drill ... ... and worked on the edges with the 1 mm cherry miller. The proportions still could be improved, but I found a nice solution for myself for the thimbles :-) In the size I am building it is a little bit difficult to do them out of metal tube or injection needles. All the best, Daniel I hope to not disappoint you too much - in last case we have to found a self-help group, something like "dafinists anonymus" or so ... :-) :-) :-) XXXDAn

When i just did the micro blocks, it all continued with an answer from Jan here in MSW: You will drive yourself insane! My guess is that your next "problem" will be to get these tiny blocks stropped according the rule book Next you will realize that blocks have sheaves, that sheaves are held into position by iron pins, that these pins have nail like heads, that.... etc. We will follow your route to insanity with ever increasing admiration! Jan OK-OK-OK, Jan´s challenge was accepted :-) The stropping we had already, so the next is ... ... put a 1 mm poly rod into the machine, drill with 0,4 mm, turning the chuck of the lathe of course by hand ... ... and cutting it off still on the drill to 0,5 mm slices ... ... and this is the result of the production. So what is missing next for some good blocks? The casing: So milling a double slot and a single slot into a 2,5 mm x 1 mm batten ... ... doing some carving ... ... colored the disks with marker for not adding to the thickness ... ... inserted the disks and the axles ... ... and cleared it up. And here the family shot with the benchmark, the wonderful 2 x 2 x 2 mm block from JB. While stropping I finally re-remembered the great power-splice, which makes things easier and cleaner, prepared a loop ... ... and slid the block into it, secured with glue and ... *drummrollandsmallfanfare* ... and the thing on place :-) Lessons learned: It is really possible to make blocks of 2,5 x 2,5 x 1 mm with turning sheaves! And by pulling on the loose end, the tackle works much easier than the other ones without :-) :-) :-) The most difficult? Checking if the sheaves are turning after securing the axles with glue. Managed to do this with the point of a needle. Confirmed positivly! ;-) Liebe Grüße Daniel

And now the quiz: How many meters of 8/0 fishing line are used for this anchor cable of 1,5 meters? Diameter is 2 mm. Good luck with guessing, estimating or calulating :-) Lieber Gruß, Daniel

Come on baby...don't fear the Reeper Baby feel the thread...don't fear the Reeper We are ready to tie...don't fear the Reeper I still owe you the last line ... (oh what a pun!!!) ... but how did this start again? I just wanted to try out the new blocks ... ... but the packet string was apparently not the right thing. That is why I had my fun on the Reeperbahn ;-) And I realised something else: The blocks were too small for the 32 pounder :-0 That´s why I am now using the smaller 12-pounder for the next test - it was faster than doing bigger blocks ;-) Here a picture from a working stage, comparing old and new ... ... and this was the result: *jumpingofhappiness* Not yet perfect, but the direction is right :-) Lieber Gruß, Daniel *happilysinging* Come on baby...don't fear the Reeper Baby feel the thread...don't fear the Reeper We are ready to tie...don't fear the Reeper Baby, I´m your man ... lalalalalaaaaaaa...

Oh these days I used the whole 2,5 meters of my Reeperbahn :-) The anchor cables and messengers were due As the small motors were to small dimensioned, I had to use the electric drill. And for long ropes or ropes with many single threads ... ... one has to knot each of the three strands on the predrilling side together for not getting small lumps. Three of the resulting cables were laid further to create the bigger ones ... ... and for an enjoyable result :-) The anchor cable has a diameter of 2 mm which equals about 24" circumference on the original, the messenger should have about the half, this one being still too thick with 1,5 mm. This means, half of the yarn is not resulting into half the diameter. Interesting is, that even though I used the same proportions of the colors Tan and Rusty Dun, the resulting cable have different colors. Possibly because the messenger is tighter laid, there is not as much light from the surface penetrating the outer yarn and being reflected inside. To compensate I added one part of white to the existing two colors ... ... and the result can be seen compared to the middle messenger. On the bottom the thinner messenger of 1 mm is shown, which - using the same colors as the first one - appears lighter due to be laid less tight. That the first messenger was laid too tight I realised, as some of the outer fibres were broken ... ... so less tension was used for the following cables. The problems on the broken one I was able to fix by cutting off the bitts and smoothening it with Uhu-Plast. Next came parcelling and servig That one is for you Evan ;-) I realised, that on a lot of great models, the parcelling and serving made the cable too thick, due to the too thick diameter of the material used. But as the fishing line is like dental floss, it flattens up while beeing wrapped around ... ... and even shows the structure underneath, something I saw on the originals :-) Still a little ink or chalk to get the plastic gloss off, and it will be ok. And of course I could not resist, to try out a spliced eye on the messenger :-)

Sometimes, yes sometimes I wonder why-why-why ... ... but after looking at my first lashing trials done with supermarket yarn for the tampions and the apron, 0,3 Krick line for the lashing and a breech rope laid out of the same material ... ... and when I compare with my own material ... ... I do remember why :-) Lieber Gruß, Daniel

Baby feel the thread...don't fear the Reeper ... and now we are going through the thick ;-) Some of the samples that came out: Here are the different raw materials that were used from right to left: No 20 crochet thread - the thinnest from the wool shop -, a 0,4 mm metal thread for comparison, the fuzzy yarn from the supermarket, the 3/0 Uni, the 6/0 Uni, das 8/0 Uni, the 17/0 uni and the fil au chinois. Here the macros from the tests (the laid ropes were done in an early stage, so they are still quite uneven), the numbers indicate the number of strands. Supermarkets´yarn Fil au chinois 8/0er Uni After I found no color scale in the shop, I ordered all colors that were not unsuitable for sure. So I used the surplus colors for the tests, here the Rusty Brown: The great result is, that I can do everything I need with the Uni 8/0 :-) :-) :-) And again the numbers indicate the number of single strands. The AOTS of the Vic shows a nice tablature about all the ropes and their required sizes. And once again I see, that we often take too thick lines for the rigging ... The lower shrouds should be a 30, the ratlines the pure yarn!!! Twists and turns Apart from the 2 and 3 stranded rope it is possible to make Z and S laid ropes as required :-) Those two ones mentioned have first to be untwisted, which results in a more uneven rope. But as they are so thin that it is impossible to be seen in a model of that scale, there is always a possibility of cheating ;-) :-) Colors One of the reasons to do my own rope was to be able to choose the color. The available once for the standing rigging are too black, the one for the running rigging to colorful. Research in the reenactment-scene shows faded grey ropes: http://europe-today.ru/2012/03/stroitelstvo-kak-1200-let-nazad/. I choose the color Tan, as it is avaliable in 8/0 and 6/0 and I will help perhaps with a little bit of ink once it is installed. For the black I found a nice solution: I mix colors while laying :-) Black with dark brown gives exactely the shade I found on old tarred ropes :-) The color can be nicely adjusted by the quantities of the colors within the mixing. Also you can nicely see the different hands on the picture. As for the running rigging I will possibly also mix in some strands of a less colorful yarn. Laying cables And then the hour of truth: Using the self made ropes to make cables for anchor and shrouds: Looks promising ;-) Baby feel the thread...don't fear the Reeper The best is, the production now goes so easily and uncomplicatedly that I will not prepare to much rope in advance and will lay it as "just in time production" in the needed quantity and thickness while rigging :-) So the first production for the lower deck is done ... ... and please tune in again when we come to the next line of the famous song ... Come on baby...don't fear the Reeper Baby feel the thread...don't fear the Reeper We'll be able to tie...don't fear the Reeper Alles Gute, Daniel

Come on baby...don't fear the Reeper Baby feel the thread...don't fear the Reeper If one is stuck one should do what should have been done in the start - Listen to your inner voice and listen to the others :-) Not: "I-wanna-have-a-ropewalk-and-do-same-nice-ropes-as-seen-on-the-modelling-exhibition" but "I-need-great-ropes-for-my-Vic" :-) That changes a lot as I am building a completely different scale. Changes a lot towards the materials and the usage of the walk. So freshly focussed back to work: First listen to the others: Oli/Modellbaumechaniker and Holger/Pollux from my german forums gave me the right hints for the right materials. Fil au chinois and flyfishing lines were the right hints! http://www.neheleniapatterns.com/html/filagant.html http://www.baker-flyfishing.com/shop/bindematerialien_faeden.php?v=n183 And this is what came: The bigger bobbins are the fil au chinois, numbers for the colors see the picture The smaller bobbin sare from the flyfishing, Uni-Thread green 8/0 the thin one, orange 6/0 the middle one, the thick 3/0 and the superthin 17/0 The fil au chinois is cotton with very little fussy bits, the Uni is free of fuzz :-) The Uni has a large range of colors avaliable, unfortunately not all colors in all sizes. The 8/0 and 6/0 are great for my purpose, the 3/0 has the great appearence of colored dental floss and the 17/0 is also quite uneven and transparent. First tests proved to be the right direction sizewise :-) Left the fuzzy thread from the supermarket, my thinnest possibility before this date. Then comes the fil au chinois, the Uni 8/0 and the Uni17/0, always the original strand, then two, 3 and 6 stranded with blocks of 3 mm, 2 mm and 1,5 mm for comparison. And the first test also showed that turning the axis by hand is a tad tiring and the cordless screwdriver is a little bit unhandy and also too insensitive ... ... So ... ... reopening the Fischertechnik box from my youth, getting the motors out, glueing them with double sided tape onto the machinery, here the pretwisting side to be seen ... ... and the laying side ... ... the motor can be turned sideways to reposition the hooks ... ... and felt was put untderneath for easy gliding, and a steel ruler in the middle to control the movements of the sliding parts :-) Both sides were clampedto the rail to be able to put the yarn properly. After chasing behind the bobbin for several times, a holder like the sewing machines ones was introduced, and from there the the yarn was brought to the hooks of the pretwisting side - I am showing a 6-stranded rope - ... ... and after 3 times twice forth and back ... ... the yarn was fixed on the laying side. The steel ruler shows the movement of the slide - I use 10% on this rope - loosen the clamp on the laying side, the pretwisting hooks start turning and the opposite slide starts moving miraculously towards the predrilling slide :-) If the required distance is achieved, I clamp both sides onto the rail, and the three strands are laid until the required tension is achieved ... ... some CA for fixing ... ...going with the fingernails over to release unwanted tension ... ... and you can make a clean cut :-) Lessons learned You can see two things: First: I am not using any more the little guide block :-) No difference to be seen apart from that it is much more even ;-) Secondly: I am fixing both sides while laying the rope! In the first trials I had the trouble, that the start of the rope was coming out nicely tight and the second half was much more loose ... I realised that at the start of laying the pretwisting slide does not move, and the shortening of the rope is only compensated by the lateral spreading of the yarn. Just later on the slide starts moving. But it was not just after I forgot once to remove the clamp of this slide and got out a great and even clean cable that I realised, that the loosness of the rope came from the missing tension on the other side. The next tests without the guide and fixed slides prooved to be successful :-) Just if the motor is having to work too hard, I stop it and I loosen the tension a tad by carefully moving the slide and then contimue. Come on baby...don't fear the Reeper Baby feel the thread...don't fear the Reeper ... and the part that should be pronounced is: feel the thread :-) XXXDAn

Come on baby...don't fear the Reeper ... Let´s go back to the glorious days, when a little dafi was all proud reporting about his own-build Reeperbahn (ropewalk) ... ... showing happily his first ropes ... ... and all the crochet threads he bought in the neighbourhood and the world-wide-web ... ... and how he rope-walked and walked the rope ... ... changed his place into a painters place ... ... and did many-many-many test to find the one and only right and trueful color for his new ropes ... ... until he questioned: What am I doing here? As nicely to be seen ... ... everything much to thick for his purpose ... :-( And the colors? Did not work either ... the pure stain wrong colors, mixing did not work ... the black was too blueish, mixing with dark brown resulted in blueish blackish ropes with a brown core as the brown penetrated and the black resided just on the surface ... other paints and inks were not so successful either ... ... and also the ropes were too uneven, the start always tighter done than the end, as can be seen, the middle line is the start and the one underneath is the same rope, just the end ... ... ok, think it over ... ... and especially ... Don´t fear the Reeper

These thimbles were a side product of having to paint the white sheaves of my micro blocks. Thinking how to do them out of black material. Remembered a trick from the WW1 plane builders, that do the locks of the bracing wires by heating up a Q-Tit and pulling it to the needed diameter. The same system as we use to du with sprue it keeps the hole inside in the right proportion to the diameter. This in mind I thought this could also work in a bigger diameter, slipped some 8 mm sprue into the machine ... ... drilled slowly with 4 mm turning the chuck by hand ... ...heated up and pulled (ok could be done more evenly) ... ... and cut onto the right lengths and got a nice variety of discs, sheaves and raw material for thimbles :-) Tried to enlarge the ring by using the cone of the drill did not really work. Used two needles as marlinspikes to do a splice ... ... put the required disc in, tacked it with a drop of CA, adjusted and finally glued it properly in position and opened the hole carefully a little bit more with a drill ... ... and worked on the edges with the 1 mm cherry miller. The proportions still could be improved, but I found a nice solution for myself for the thimbles :-) In the size I am building it is a little bit difficult to do them out of metal tube or injection needles. All the best, Daniel I hope to not bother you too much - in last case we have to found a self-help group, something like "dafinists anonymus" or so ... :-) :-) :-) XXXDAn

And it continued with an answer from Jan here in MSW: You will drive yourself insane! My guess is that your next "problem" will be to get these tiny blocks stropped according the rule book Next you will realize that blocks have sheaves, that sheaves are held into position by iron pins, that these pins have nail like heads, that.... etc. We will follow your route to insanity with ever increasing admiration! Jan OK-OK-OK, Jan´s challenge was accepted :-) The stropping we had already, so the next is ... ... put a 1 mm poly rod into the machine, drill with 0,4 mm, turning the chuck of the lathe of course by hand ... ... and cutting it off still on the drill to 0,5 mm slices ... ... and this is the result of the production. So what is missing next for some good blocks? The casing: So milling a double slot and a single slot into a 2,5 mm x 1 mm batten ... ... doing some carving ... ... colored the disks with marker for not adding to the thickness ... ... inserted the disks and the axles ... ... and cleared it up. And here the family shot with the benchmark, the wonderful 2 x 2 x 2 mm block from JB. While stropping I finally re-remembered the great power-splice, which makes things easier and cleaner, prepared a loop ... ... and slid the block into it, secured with glue and ... *drummrollandsmallfanfare* ... and the thing on place :-) Lessons learned: It is really possible to make blocks of 2,5 x 2,5 x 1 mm with turning sheaves! And by pulling on the loose end, the tackle works much easier than the other ones without :-) :-) :-) The most difficult? Checking if the sheaves are turning after securing the axles with glue. Managed to do this with the point of a needle. Confirmed positivly! ;-) Liebe Grüße Daniel