Tallshiptragic

Ah fair enough. Bellona isn't a model you'd want to have a major mishap with paint. Enjoying your build so far.

Looking very good so far harlequin. Are you painting her in the Nelson stripes or with the blue topsides and friezes.

Yep that sounds very familiar Bob. From what I have seen, I'm surprised any ships get built at all in Australia anymore. The red tape and paperwork needed when it comes to permits which only cover one job, one area for a fee, then have to go through it all over again. It's definitely an eye opener being exposed to these shipyards but I couldn't work there myself. With a hospitality background My brain is wired to time restrictions and always under time pressure, so I know I couldn't cooe! Haha I'd just get too bored

Thanks very much Patrick for your comments. I still think I'm quite a novice compared to some of the master modelers on here as their work is superb to say the least, but I'm happy with how my Leeuwin is turning out

Actually it's the unions. But I'll leave it at that, starts to get very complicated.

My blocks from Syren just arrived and they look fantastic! These are for the majority of the running rig, single, double and triple sheeve blocks. These are the 5mm size blocks which work out as 28cm in length exactly the same as those on the real ship. There are 6 larger blocks for the throat halyards of both gaffs and the halyards for the t'gallant and upper topsail which are a scale 0.9cm but plan to make these ones up.

The shunt lines act as a safety rope and each person attaches an ASAP which is a mobile small arrest device (these are always on the shunt line and never removed by trainees) via a carabiner and lanyard to a full body harness. If you were to fall while climbing aloft the ASAP locks and you don't fall. On the yards there's a steel safety line which run just under the jackstay which you clip onto with a carabiner - trainees always have two lanyards with two carabiners so they're always attached before releasing one. On the yard there isn't an ASAP but as its horizontal the carabiner will hold you in place. When they go through their training they're told to grab onto to standing rigging if possible as another safety measure in case the harness or safety gear fail (this hasn't happened luckily) so the lanyard isn't the only thing holding onto the persons weight, though they are rated to take 300kg of weight so much more than any person onboard. I'll attach photos of the ASAP so you know what I'm talking about. We have maybe one or two trainees fall a year, though it's usually always due to a slip. Though all permanent crew are trained in rescue aloft and jump into action right away to get the trainee down. Sometimes a trainee will slip but pull themselves back up - even if they loose their footing on the shrouds and don't actually fall, trainees must return to deck and be checked out before returning aloft. Luckily in 29 years Leeuwin hasn't had a major incident though with accidents around the world we've changed and adapted our safety. When trainees go aloft there's also always a watch leader or boatswains mate (our volunteer crew) aloft with them and at least one permanent crew member on deck, so in case of an incident the alarm can be raised.

Yards dry fitted the fore course and lower topsail yards are both fixed. The bunt is attached by an iron bar and pivots on a bolt. There is a secondary attachment made up of a small length of chain which bolts via a shackle at the top of the bunt of the yard to the mast (about 2 foot of chain) in case the iron bar was to fail. The lower topsail yard also doesn't have lifts. The upper topsail and t'gallant yards are both moving yards. They're attached via an iron bar to a thick leather collar (parrel) which is itself made of two parts and attached with a steel band. A halyard then can lift and lower the yards to position. These two yards have standing lifts, as in they're not a block and tackle arrangement but rather a single piece of line. When the yard is set with sail the lifts droop down without any weight in them but when the yard is lowered the lifts become taught and act a secondary precaution for keeping the yard in place. It wasn't until I placed all yards on I realised the t'gallant is about 0.5cm too long! Easily remedied luckily. At least it's not too short

Thanks very much John. I'm not surprised about the museum, what's really funny... When we're on the slipway - we use BAE in Henderson - we're not allowed aloft to do any rigging work even with our harnesses and shunts etc. the shipyard want us to erect scaffolding not only from the deck up but from the ground up! And to have cherry pickers! Even though as permanent crew we're more than qualified it doesn't fit in with 'working at heights' permits without them... But working at a shipyard is a whole other story.

Clip on loops also made up with the same line as the shunts I made up. These are used to clip on when handling staysails on the foremast and the gaff topsails on the main and mizzen. Again thanks to OH&S in the workplace, the idea of if you don't want to fall off... Don't let go, doesn't cut it anymore.

Shunt lines now attached. As we're a training ship Al trainees and crew have to be clipped on while aloft. These I had to make up out of red and black thread. On the real ship we use a braided safety line like you would use for absailing. This is a reddish orange and black coloured line so I used red and black thread to mimick the line, I think it looks the part ok. On the mizzen and main masts there is one shunt line per side which runs right up to the mast cap and ties on to a shackle with a topmast shroud. The foremast has two lines each side, one forward which runs to the top like on the main and mizzen and one aft which runs to the base of the second futtocks. This is so more trainees and crew can climb aloft quickly to man the yards - the main and mizzen is mainly for furling the gaff topsails. Though on the main mast, our trainees are encouraged to challenge themselves and climb to the very top as we have a special plaque on the cap top. I won't say what the plaque says as we don't tell our trainees either only those who make it to the top know The last pic shows trainees climbing aloft being clipped onto the shunt line.

All ratlines now added port and starboard You may notice the shrouds on the starboard mizzen topmast don't go all the way up and stop about the height of the mizzen top. This is done on purpose. There's no real need to climb to the top on both sides on the real ship, if there is a problem with the mizzen gaff topsail or the nav light at the mizzen cap we use the port shrouds.

Great start! And I also had the same experience with planks on my Diana. I would group them into best to worst and found I had enough with left over planks by using the worst planks for cutoffs in smaller areas. I'm tempted to build another Diana as I sold my last model. I painted friezes and made up my own sculptures as I didn't like the PE stuff to make her a little different. I don't have many pics left of her. I had a build log on the original forum, yet when it crashed I lost it and most of my build photos. But here's a couple.

Still a ways to go yet Patrick. I've ordered blocks from Syren for the running rigging which should be here by the time I return from my next couple of voyages away. Then the sails will need to be made up. Another smallish update, all port ratlines on the main mast now attached

Ratlines now done on the port lower mast and upper top mast shrouds. Still a few to go but going well I think.

Ratlines started on the lower foremast shrouds.

Thanks Patrick All shrouds now attached and working on the fore mast backstays. Once these are done I'll adjust the tension of the lower shrouds then the rat lines can commence

All other forestays are now attached. These are starting from the lowest above the forestay, the fore topmast stay, inner jib stay and outer jib stay. These three stays are attached to shackles at he base of the second futtocks. The upper most is the fore t'gallant stay which attaches by a shackle to the foremast cap. All four stays run down to the jib and jibboom and run through a sheave. The end of the stays then run back along the jib and jibboom and attach to fixed turnbuckles which adjust the tension of each stay. I've mimicked the turnbuckles out of various plastic rod. These are actually quite small and are covered in a plaster type of material which is soaked in grease. Then the entire unit is tarred for protection. So simple rod to diameter painted black looks the part scame wise. Amazingly even at this scale, some things are still quite small to model. Also as I'll be modelling the headsails furled... All this will be covered up as the headsails will sit on top of all this.

Further progress on stays. Forestay now also attached. This is one line which wraps around the foremast with the two ends attached to turnbuckles on deck. The two halves of the stay are then seized together.

Thanks Kees and Patrick. As for my next build, I think I'll be tackling the Batavia and testing out the kit from Hans he is about to sell. It'll be 1/75 and just under 1m in length so a nice size to work with and display easily. Thought I'd show a closer view of how the shrouds attach. On the plate under the futtocks 'd' shackles attach the top eye of the shroud to he mast. I've made shackles out of brass bend to shape. The shroud is 'spliced' onto these and the bottom of the shroud attached to the turnbuckle.

Started the shrouds and stays on the mizzen. I'm using Barbour flax linen threads for the standing rigging and .35mm for the seizing. The stays and shrouds are then painted black to replicate the tarring and the seizing white. The real ship the stays and shrouds are steel cable, seized in hemp then completely tarred. The white seizing is where the rope attaches to itself after passing through the eye of a turnbuckle/bottlescrew. These aren't tarred but painted white so can be cut off easily without damage to the shrouds/stays.

Thanks guys. Flew home on the weekend have a couple weeks off the ship as they - I - managed to find a relief. I took the foremast up with me on the ship and built up the futtocks while away. I've now shaped the foremast and fore t'gallant mast and added the futtocks, eyes and futtock shrouds. The basic mast is now painted and all three masts have been stepped into the model.

On the attached photo if you look at both booms of the main and mizzen, you will see a block and tackle on each under the boom itself. This is the preventer in its stowed position, which may help to describe the original sketch. The fixed part of the preventer is a little more than 2/3 aft of the length of the boom, the forward part attaches to an eye on deck just aft of the last shroud for when we're sailing full and by. When sailing with the wind and the booms are needed to be pulled out, this same preventer is attached to a single line which is fixed forward of the shrouds of that mast.

Cornwall model boats sell evergreen styrene strips, sheets etc you name it they've got it.

Sorry but, never experienced anything to do with a flying topsail. Flying jobs and stay sails yes, but not a square. The cutter would have rat lines up to the futtocks. Looking at the scale, you could furl the topsail from the futtocks without the need for foot ropes on the yard. On duyfken - similar to halve maen if your in the states - we had to fuel the topsails from the futtocks.