dafi

Well, what can I say. I'm only away for a few weeks because of work and already my tinkering room doesn't want to let me back in ...

"What does THIS strange man want here?!" was one of the nicer questions I had to listen to ...

After some persuasion à la "man cave whisperer", I was allowed to do something in there after all. In the meantime, I had revised my lists of blocks for the Victory again. I had noticed that McKay had left out some quite some blocks in the AOTS and that there were also some errors among them. I had therefore plowed through the entire Steel of 1795 and worked through the various entries, compared them and selected the most plausible variant, possibly adding variants. All in all, there were significantly more blocks added, both the standard blocks and the special types. But more on that later.

The last thing I did was to replace the square shoulder blocks, which are used on the ship today and which McKay also shows, with contemporary round ones. The main yard continues to serve as a model playing field. Here is a reminder of the last status.





Next came 3 x 2.5 mm blocks on each side for the belly and nock gordings.



Check on the tweezers whether the paint application is complete and either brush on the tweezers immediately ...



... or after the block has been pinned. Place a strop around the fixed block as described before ...



... and checked the length in place. Since the block hangs in front of the yard, the legs must of course be different lengths.



The pointed tweezers with clamping function do a good job here, first one side ...



... and neatly trimmed, and the other and you're done 🙂



Here is a comparison of the simplified version with a simple knot on the top of the yardarm and the more correct solution with a lashing.

Since the lashing is tricky to thread, a classic needle helps.



And this is how it should look 🙂



With this technique, I'm now just as fast for the small blocks as I am for the large ones 🙂

XXXDAn  

Well, what can I say. I'm only away for a few weeks because of work and already my tinkering room doesn't want to let me back in ...

"What does THIS strange man want here?!" was one of the nicer questions I had to listen to ...

After some persuasion à la "man cave whisperer", I was allowed to do something in there after all. In the meantime, I had revised my lists of blocks for the Victory again. I had noticed that McKay had left out some quite some blocks in the AOTS and that there were also some errors among them. I had therefore plowed through the entire Steel of 1795 and worked through the various entries, compared them and selected the most plausible variant, possibly adding variants. All in all, there were significantly more blocks added, both the standard blocks and the special types. But more on that later.

The last thing I did was to replace the square shoulder blocks, which are used on the ship today and which McKay also shows, with contemporary round ones. The main yard continues to serve as a model playing field. Here is a reminder of the last status.





Next came 3 x 2.5 mm blocks on each side for the belly and nock gordings.



Check on the tweezers whether the paint application is complete and either brush on the tweezers immediately ...



... or after the block has been pinned. Place a strop around the fixed block as described before ...



... and checked the length in place. Since the block hangs in front of the yard, the legs must of course be different lengths.



The pointed tweezers with clamping function do a good job here, first one side ...



... and neatly trimmed, and the other and you're done 🙂



Here is a comparison of the simplified version with a simple knot on the top of the yardarm and the more correct solution with a lashing.

Since the lashing is tricky to thread, a classic needle helps.



And this is how it should look 🙂



With this technique, I'm now just as fast for the small blocks as I am for the large ones 🙂

XXXDAn  

Well, what can I say. I'm only away for a few weeks because of work and already my tinkering room doesn't want to let me back in ...

"What does THIS strange man want here?!" was one of the nicer questions I had to listen to ...

After some persuasion à la "man cave whisperer", I was allowed to do something in there after all. In the meantime, I had revised my lists of blocks for the Victory again. I had noticed that McKay had left out some quite some blocks in the AOTS and that there were also some errors among them. I had therefore plowed through the entire Steel of 1795 and worked through the various entries, compared them and selected the most plausible variant, possibly adding variants. All in all, there were significantly more blocks added, both the standard blocks and the special types. But more on that later.

The last thing I did was to replace the square shoulder blocks, which are used on the ship today and which McKay also shows, with contemporary round ones. The main yard continues to serve as a model playing field. Here is a reminder of the last status.





Next came 3 x 2.5 mm blocks on each side for the belly and nock gordings.



Check on the tweezers whether the paint application is complete and either brush on the tweezers immediately ...



... or after the block has been pinned. Place a strop around the fixed block as described before ...



... and checked the length in place. Since the block hangs in front of the yard, the legs must of course be different lengths.



The pointed tweezers with clamping function do a good job here, first one side ...



... and neatly trimmed, and the other and you're done 🙂



Here is a comparison of the simplified version with a simple knot on the top of the yardarm and the more correct solution with a lashing.

Since the lashing is tricky to thread, a classic needle helps.



And this is how it should look 🙂



With this technique, I'm now just as fast for the small blocks as I am for the large ones 🙂

XXXDAn  

Yes, dafi knows how to do it, dafi hasn't forgotten anything ...

...

...

... the wrecking ball!





What happened again?

I always say it, my biggest problem is getting the big exhibit in P. out of my head.

For almost 20 years now, I've been looking forward to those great special shoulder and quarter blocks that I discovered back then back there, building them exactly according to McKay and Bugler's plans and, in my exuberance, not even realizing that they are much rounder in the classic literature ...

Thank goodness there are some people in my german pack and also here in the MSW who are not so obsessed and have a keen eagle eye and have pointed this out to me. Thank you!

So I made new rounder blocks. I used this too to do some more research, as I was slightly irritated at the first pass when I noticed that these blocks on the foremast lower mast and topsail are all the same size, just like on the main mast lower mast and topsail. Thanks to you @druxey for reassuring me in theses sizes and confirming this on the basis of Steel's information.

At this point, in response to a few questions, I would like to repeat the painting method: first, using an old disheveled brush, two layers of very thin paint in a darker brown, which is the base color. The thin paint makes it easy to get to the sides without pasting over the holes.



The highlighting color in a lighter brown, applied with a dry brush, is applied on top. This emphasizes the edges and the depths remain slightly darker, which gives optical depth. And the deliberately uneven application of color keeps the whole thing alive and no longer looks like plastic.



Then the grand finale: as the new round blocks are the same size as the old square ones, simply press the new ones back into the strop from the side and you're done.



The same with the sheet quarter blocks, before - after http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif





You see dafi still can do it http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif

XXXDAn


PS: All those of you that already got a delivery of blocks will get a free upgade of the blocks in question http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif

Well, what can I say. I'm only away for a few weeks because of work and already my tinkering room doesn't want to let me back in ...

"What does THIS strange man want here?!" was one of the nicer questions I had to listen to ...

After some persuasion à la "man cave whisperer", I was allowed to do something in there after all. In the meantime, I had revised my lists of blocks for the Victory again. I had noticed that McKay had left out some quite some blocks in the AOTS and that there were also some errors among them. I had therefore plowed through the entire Steel of 1795 and worked through the various entries, compared them and selected the most plausible variant, possibly adding variants. All in all, there were significantly more blocks added, both the standard blocks and the special types. But more on that later.

The last thing I did was to replace the square shoulder blocks, which are used on the ship today and which McKay also shows, with contemporary round ones. The main yard continues to serve as a model playing field. Here is a reminder of the last status.





Next came 3 x 2.5 mm blocks on each side for the belly and nock gordings.



Check on the tweezers whether the paint application is complete and either brush on the tweezers immediately ...



... or after the block has been pinned. Place a strop around the fixed block as described before ...



... and checked the length in place. Since the block hangs in front of the yard, the legs must of course be different lengths.



The pointed tweezers with clamping function do a good job here, first one side ...



... and neatly trimmed, and the other and you're done 🙂



Here is a comparison of the simplified version with a simple knot on the top of the yardarm and the more correct solution with a lashing.

Since the lashing is tricky to thread, a classic needle helps.



And this is how it should look 🙂



With this technique, I'm now just as fast for the small blocks as I am for the large ones 🙂

XXXDAn  

Well, what can I say. I'm only away for a few weeks because of work and already my tinkering room doesn't want to let me back in ...

"What does THIS strange man want here?!" was one of the nicer questions I had to listen to ...

After some persuasion à la "man cave whisperer", I was allowed to do something in there after all. In the meantime, I had revised my lists of blocks for the Victory again. I had noticed that McKay had left out some quite some blocks in the AOTS and that there were also some errors among them. I had therefore plowed through the entire Steel of 1795 and worked through the various entries, compared them and selected the most plausible variant, possibly adding variants. All in all, there were significantly more blocks added, both the standard blocks and the special types. But more on that later.

The last thing I did was to replace the square shoulder blocks, which are used on the ship today and which McKay also shows, with contemporary round ones. The main yard continues to serve as a model playing field. Here is a reminder of the last status.





Next came 3 x 2.5 mm blocks on each side for the belly and nock gordings.



Check on the tweezers whether the paint application is complete and either brush on the tweezers immediately ...



... or after the block has been pinned. Place a strop around the fixed block as described before ...



... and checked the length in place. Since the block hangs in front of the yard, the legs must of course be different lengths.



The pointed tweezers with clamping function do a good job here, first one side ...



... and neatly trimmed, and the other and you're done 🙂



Here is a comparison of the simplified version with a simple knot on the top of the yardarm and the more correct solution with a lashing.

Since the lashing is tricky to thread, a classic needle helps.



And this is how it should look 🙂



With this technique, I'm now just as fast for the small blocks as I am for the large ones 🙂

XXXDAn  

Yes, dafi knows how to do it, dafi hasn't forgotten anything ...

...

...

... the wrecking ball!





What happened again?

I always say it, my biggest problem is getting the big exhibit in P. out of my head.

For almost 20 years now, I've been looking forward to those great special shoulder and quarter blocks that I discovered back then back there, building them exactly according to McKay and Bugler's plans and, in my exuberance, not even realizing that they are much rounder in the classic literature ...

Thank goodness there are some people in my german pack and also here in the MSW who are not so obsessed and have a keen eagle eye and have pointed this out to me. Thank you!

So I made new rounder blocks. I used this too to do some more research, as I was slightly irritated at the first pass when I noticed that these blocks on the foremast lower mast and topsail are all the same size, just like on the main mast lower mast and topsail. Thanks to you @druxey for reassuring me in theses sizes and confirming this on the basis of Steel's information.

At this point, in response to a few questions, I would like to repeat the painting method: first, using an old disheveled brush, two layers of very thin paint in a darker brown, which is the base color. The thin paint makes it easy to get to the sides without pasting over the holes.



The highlighting color in a lighter brown, applied with a dry brush, is applied on top. This emphasizes the edges and the depths remain slightly darker, which gives optical depth. And the deliberately uneven application of color keeps the whole thing alive and no longer looks like plastic.



Then the grand finale: as the new round blocks are the same size as the old square ones, simply press the new ones back into the strop from the side and you're done.



The same with the sheet quarter blocks, before - after http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif





You see dafi still can do it http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif

XXXDAn


PS: All those of you that already got a delivery of blocks will get a free upgade of the blocks in question http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif

He is quite tall for the times with 1,80 cm being 71".
 
XXXDAn

Did I miss where you indicated the height of your seaman?
 
Google tells me the average height in 18th century was 65”..

I was most surprised by the stirrups: 3 feet below the yard.

When I held my scale seaman next to it, my suspicions were confirmed: damn deep ...

... I would have instinctively hung it 4 mm higher so that my little Able Seaman had a chance of getting over it.
 
If you add up the 90 cm, the thickness of the yard is up to 60 cm, as in the case of the main yard. That's 150 cm, just under my chin. Then there is also the depth of the yard  to consider, so that in addition to the 90 cm length under the yard, there is also approx. 0.5 x the diameter of the yard. Another escalating factor is that the horse can sag quite a bit in the middle between two stirrups.
 
To be able to judge this better, I trained two Able Seamen, one for the thickest part of the big yard with a diameter of 60 cm and one for the yardarm with a diameter of 30 cm.
 
First the variant with 3 feet under the yard. The sailor on the thick yard has very bad cards. The tar jacket on the thin end fits better.

If I refer the 3 feet to the center of the yard, it's better.

If you relate the 90 cm to the upper edge of the yard, it fits best. Here the sailor has the opportunity to use the horses at the thick point, the colleague on the outside still hangs at a similar height.

To confirm this interpretation of Steel's specification I had a closer look from the side.

The red part of the stirrups is about 3 Feet and it looks perfect both for the simply standing on it as for the working in a upswung position.
 
If one takes the other descriptions the remarks to the simplyfied "3 feet underneath the yard" it would possibly read like this:
Stirrup long 3 Feet, nailed to the top of the yard, with enough overlength to do 3 turns around the yard. Hangs behind and underneath the yard.
 
Could this interpretation be correct?

XXXDAn
 
 
 
 
 

I was most surprised by the stirrups: 3 feet below the yard.

When I held my scale seaman next to it, my suspicions were confirmed: damn deep ...

... I would have instinctively hung it 4 mm higher so that my little Able Seaman had a chance of getting over it.
 
If you add up the 90 cm, the thickness of the yard is up to 60 cm, as in the case of the main yard. That's 150 cm, just under my chin. Then there is also the depth of the yard  to consider, so that in addition to the 90 cm length under the yard, there is also approx. 0.5 x the diameter of the yard. Another escalating factor is that the horse can sag quite a bit in the middle between two stirrups.
 
To be able to judge this better, I trained two Able Seamen, one for the thickest part of the big yard with a diameter of 60 cm and one for the yardarm with a diameter of 30 cm.
 
First the variant with 3 feet under the yard. The sailor on the thick yard has very bad cards. The tar jacket on the thin end fits better.

If I refer the 3 feet to the center of the yard, it's better.

If you relate the 90 cm to the upper edge of the yard, it fits best. Here the sailor has the opportunity to use the horses at the thick point, the colleague on the outside still hangs at a similar height.

To confirm this interpretation of Steel's specification I had a closer look from the side.

The red part of the stirrups is about 3 Feet and it looks perfect both for the simply standing on it as for the working in a upswung position.
 
If one takes the other descriptions the remarks to the simplyfied "3 feet underneath the yard" it would possibly read like this:
Stirrup long 3 Feet, nailed to the top of the yard, with enough overlength to do 3 turns around the yard. Hangs behind and underneath the yard.
 
Could this interpretation be correct?

XXXDAn
 
 
 
 
 

Finished rigging out the carronades adding the necessary ring bolts to the carriage, barrel and inner bulwark. I’m still trying to find a good and repeatable process for stropping blocks but threading thin wire through the blocks and then clamping them helps to stabilize them.

At this scale, even the finest of thread has a certain amount of ‘spring’ to it forcing the near-weightless gun carriage out of its pivot. As such, I lengthened the pivot with a short section of carbon fibre rod. After hooking up the tackle, I dampened the thread with a wet paint brush to get it to lay flat(ter) on the deck. I considered adding a weight to the underside of the carriage but it seems to be working out ok as is.


Way back (mid 80s) when I first assembled the cannon one trick I had read about to give the barrels a more metallic appearance was to rub powdered graphite on the barrels after painting them black. This is achieved by rubbing a pencil over a piece of sandpaper. A carpenter’s pencil is best. I suppose nowadays there’s a paint that would do the same but the graphite did its job quite well giving the barrels a bot of a metallic sheen.  
Comparing this picture to Longridge gun tackle (fig. 67), I see I have the single and double blocks and where they are hooked reversed. That’s an easy fix.  Note: all of the old netting and plastic stanchions will be replaced.

With a compass, I scribed an arc on the deck where the carriage would travel on its rollers. May need to darken it some, albeit, it’ll be near invisible to anyone but myself 😁

Added a coil of rope beside the knighthead to mimic the image in Longridge Plate 72. For the purists, maaaybe that’ll compensate for the fact that I dispensed with a long-tackle 😁

A short length of wire drilled through and glued in the end of the boomkin will help to locate it in the hole in the resin knighthead.

Fashioned a rail and stanchion with wire and trial fitted the fore netting. 

 
 

In between watching the Women’s World Curling Gold medal game (GO team Homan!), I tackled (literally) the starboard side purchases on the knighthead. Worked my way over to the port side and did same, with slightly different treatment of the loose ends. Temporarily parked the Fore Royal Stay on the cleat on the port knighthead since, as Longridge states, the Fore Royal Stay “makes fast to the fore stay collar, or with a purchase to the port knighthead” 🤷‍♂️ Loosely installed the gangboard/mariner walk and port boomkin.


Top view of gangboard/mariner walk I see I have the opening for the Main Preventer Stay a couple of grates further forward than others I see in this forum. Is that an issue? I also see I have the main and preventer stay collars reversed (an easy fix). 

Fashioned a temporary collar with the three thimbles (the centre of which supports the fore topgallant stay) from .75mm thread reinforced with CA. The collar wraps around the “necking of the jibboom”, as described by Longridge. I call it temporary but since it’s a fairly obscure bit of detail it may end up being the permanent solution.

 

Great work.
 
Interestingly, when comparing McKay + Longridge with Steel, I noticed that Steel replaced most of the long tackles with normal double blocks. Only not those on the forestays, which are still listed there as with long tackles.
 
I usually fix the fall with a half hitch between block and hook and, depending on the situation, either wrap the overlength in a bunch or wrap the rest around the fall, which I would do on the stays.
 
XXXDAn

This is still the time of no uniform for the seaman 🙂 Preferred color blue and white, but not as uniform but as the purser usually bought larger stocks of cloth to be sold at the sailors and therefor som uniformity came into the game. But on the other hand plenty sailors wore their privat cloths, thus giving all shades of contemporary colors.
 
Marines were more disciplined in that sense, sometimes were more regulated, as were the midshipman and officers.
 
XXXDAn

Great work.
 
Interestingly, when comparing McKay + Longridge with Steel, I noticed that Steel replaced most of the long tackles with normal double blocks. Only not those on the forestays, which are still listed there as with long tackles.
 
I usually fix the fall with a half hitch between block and hook and, depending on the situation, either wrap the overlength in a bunch or wrap the rest around the fall, which I would do on the stays.
 
XXXDAn

What does “tied off” look like - with a clove hitch around the collar?

Hi Ian,
Many thanks for your guidance!! I was eager to install the resin knighthead so as I indicated in #25, I wanted to account for all of those purchases. LOL, I guess this is one case where I took Longridge a bit too literally. Is that even possible? For the Inner, Outer and Flying Martingales, he finishes the description by saying each of these  “sets up with a purchase to the knight head”.  Whereas, for the other three terminations - fore topmast stay & preventer stay, fore top gallant stay - he specifically mentions “tackle”. Obviously I interpreted this as meaning, tackle, no tackle 🤦‍♂️Good news is, I can fix this.

I’m making steady progress on the bowsprit rigging and finally got around yesterday to installing the new resin knighthead (pictures below). But I have a question. Longridge’s Plan No. 10 (pg. 266) shows six purchases on the knighthead - shown below. The descriptions that follow in the relevant pages lead me to believe that these ‘purchases’ are the 6 Ringbolts installed on the knighthead. But the Fore Royal Stay (described on pg. 224) also finds purchase on the knighthead, per Longridge: “the Fore Royal Stay then makes fast to the fore stay collar, or with a purchase to the port knighthead”.
1. What/where is the Fore Stay Collar? The for royal stay passes through what Longridge describes as the 2nd bowsprit collar, the starboard side of which supports the block for the Flying Martingale.
2. Ignoring the above (since it’s an “or” statement), where on the knighthead does it purchase (the cleat?) and by what means (hook, eye splice, etc.)?   

It certainly starts to get crowded on the bowsprit. Note: the natural thread and black blocks are from the old Heller config and are to be removed.

The tackle below is for the Fore Topgallant Stay. What do I do with the loose end - make a coil? And is this loose end what Longridge refers to as, the “fall”?

Hello William,
 
congratulations for your persistence and the want to learn!

If this is the mizzen mast the Slice is right, if this is the main or fore mast then the pendants should be looped over the masthead in a pair like the shrouds do. Here a cutout from Peterssen.

 
As for the blocks, McKay apparently omitted them - as it was for many years on the V. in P. Steel is using Single 24 Inch for main and fore (15 and 36 in AOTS and the spreadsheet that I did send), and 11 inch for the mizzen. Also for Runner and fall that are hooked in there Steel uses normal single and double blocks, as for most of the literature there are long takle blocks mentionend.
 
For your build there is a sprue in the standing rigging section called "Pendants of Tackles" 015-036with enough good blocks of the said size. Also the 11 inch for the mizzen and topmasts can be found there 🙂
I added a PDF with an overview which blocks to be found on what sprue, hope it helps.
 
I did some more crosschecking on the matter of blocks and added some more blocks to fit for different rigging sources. All those that already did purchase blocks, there will be a new version of the spreadsheet and free "extension set" coming soon 🙂
 
XXXDAn
Layouts Blockversand V3.pdf

Yes 🙂
 
XXXDAn

Thank you Daniel.  So should I use this pendant on the mizzen while I change course for the main and foremast?

Well, I finished the starboard bowsprit shrouds and installed the bobstays. Fuzzies abound and one of the bobstay lanyards got away on me length wise 🤷‍♂️ As my daughter would say they’re kinda, meh 🫤

I’m still focused on the bowsprit at the moment so now that I’ve mapped out the various lines, how they’re routed, and the associated blocks and other rigging bits, I tried my hand at making the jib traveller. On reflection, I realised that although this is a kit, there’s still a certain amount a scratch building required so it makes for a good blend of skills. Anyway, I’m quite pleased with the results. I started with the shackle and bent a length of wire around a 1mm drill bit for the ‘eyes’. No idea what gauge the wire is but it too is about 1mm. Repeated for the other side and got pretty close to the desired shape.

Moved on to the main ring and wrapped same wire around the end of a pencil. On page 224 Longridge states the travellers (rings) are, “considerably larger than the circumference of the spars to enable them to move freely”. I did a test fit and the circumference seemed about right. I cut off the extra lengths of wire with my Dremel and left the end of the ring open so I could slide on the shackle and hook. I bent the stem of a brass eyelet for the hook and stropped two 2mm blocks, one per side. I superimposed my creation onto Longridge’s drawing and ‘reasonable facsimile’ comes to mind. I pinched the ends of the ring closer together and closed the gap with some thick CA. Note: I do not have any thimbles (there should be 4) so when I get to that point of the rigging, I’ll simply seize the appropriate lines around the traveller.

Test fit on bowsprit. Not sure I have the orientation correct bit it fits. Phew 😮‍💨 

Btw, if anyone has any suggestions as to how they strop 2mm blocks I’d love to hear them. They’re so diabolically small, to steady them, I first passed 2 wires through each of the holes and clamped them in my alligator clips. I then proceeded with the ‘stropping’ (that sounds like a punishment…arguably, at this scale, it is!😜). I tried two methods:
1. I tied a simple knot and sealed it with a tiny drop of CA.
2. I wrapped the line around the block, put a tiny drop of CA on the top of the block and proceeded to twist the two halves of the line together.
One of each method is on my traveller. 

 

Thanks, Ian!  I’ll see if I can smooth those fuzzies as you pointed out.
LOL, so I guess I can expect those random bits of beeswax will just keep be reappearing. Like those explosive darts Wiley Coyote deployed to attack the Road Runner, only to have them reappear constantly during his subsequent attempts to snag that annoying little *@#&^! Talk about random 🤦‍♂️
Good catch on the natural threads coming out of the hull. They are from my original bobstay configuration that followed the Heller instructions, i.e., where the 2 segments of the outermost bobstay originated in the hull and had two splices. Dafi corrected me on this so those are now removed and, per his guidance, I drilled a 3rd hole below the original 2.