baskerbosse

Thanks Bob, I do have Campbell's plans, and thank you very much for the pointer to Lou's pictures. Those are very interesting. I don't know what to make of that picture of two deaeyes aft of the poop deck break?! To me, it looks like the location of Campbells foremost deadeye is somewhere between these two? At the moment, I'll stick with moving the shrouds forward one step and the following shift of the topgallant, royal and skysail braces. (Plus of course, add the missing backstay to the vacated deadeye) I'll revisit the topsail braces when I have the yards up to see how it looks. Billings seem to have replicated the lower three braces from the foremast onto the mainmast. In the middle, both between foremast and mainmast, and between mainmast and mizzen, there is a double block and a single block for the three lower braces. Something Campbell's plans do not agree with. Another interesting difference between Campbell and Billings is that the main topsail braces are made fast to the same boomkin as the the main brace block (also same as fore mast) on Billings, whereas in Campbell, they are made fast to eyebolts next to the two brace blocks. However, I may stick with the Billings rigging plan for the main lower three braces anyway, since following Campbell requires a sheave in the poop railing for the main braces. Due to the Billing hull design, it would be near impossible to rig in this way. (The railing is too low and the railing cap is too fat) (I want to minimise changes anyway, -This was supposed to be a case of 'just put the rigging back the way it was'.. :-) ) Cheers, /Peter

Here we go.. :-( I'm not sure I can let this pass.. The mizzen shrouds are one step too far aft. The Billing Boats rigging diagram has the mizzen shrouds in the right place: The fore mizzen shroud is parallel to the mast. Problem is, the Billings deck layout does not have a deadeye in this position. This would be on the rail, the same way as the deadeyes for the other masts, -and not on the poop deck. Billings have all the mizzen deadeyes on the poop deck. This error seems to appear on most built Billing models of Cutty Sark as far as I can tell (and some others) including the ones built by Billings themselves (Box art and catalogue) Another curiosity: there are blocks for three mainmast yard braces in this location. Billings would have you run the braces for topgallant, royal and skysail first to blocks on the mizzen mast, then down very close to the mizzen yards (potentially interfering with their movement and the billowing of the sails) and down to these blocks. (in the plans I bought on the Cutty Sark (actually onboard -at the museum), these take a seemingly more reasonable run down along the backstays to the mizzen pinrail, in the museum plans, this location has a deadeye and two single blocks for the main topsail braces that then would come from a more reasonable forward direction. Interestingly, the Billings deckplan seems to have the correct number of deadeyes on the poop deck. -They just omitted one of the topmast backstays. Suggested fix for the Billings model: Add one deadeye parallel to the mizzen mast. Move all mizzen shrouds one step forward. Add one more topmast backstay to the resulting empty deadeye. Move the run of the topgallant, royal and skysail braces to the mizzen pinrail. Move the Main topsail braces to two single blocks next this new deadeye. Has anyone else done a similar modification to a Billings Cutty Sark? thanks, Peter

Your CS looks excellent! Much better detail than mine!

She sure is! Thanks! I can see why I picked this ship. Just noticed the mizzen shrouds are wrong. The Billings plans are ambiguous here, so basically, the fore mizzen shroud is missing and there's an extra aft. Fingers itching to correct.. :-/ I DID decide not to start correcting errors though..

Well, delays suffered due to easter and ratline tying slowdown. Picking up speed again now. :-) Fore mast shrouds ratlines done.

Yes, the little plastic eyelets on the plastic blocks are the main drawback on this kit. They snap very easily, making it hard to put tension on the rigging.. If one snaps once the rigging is done, it's near impossible to fix. :-( However, since this model is a bit of memorabilia, replacing them would be like wiping a bit of it. I have to try to resist improving it. Just rig/renovate/finish off.. ​The eighties kit, as I bought it, required you to saw out all plywood parts, decks deckhouses etc out of sheets of wood, no laser cut parts here at all! :-)

All masts up. Standing rigging coming along nicely:

This model has a couple of issues with accuracy, stemming from me wanting to replicate the look from the Billing Boats box art. (see attached pic of box) I will still finish it according to my initial intentions. That is, -I will not attempt to fix it. :-) For example, in the catalogue, the yards look dark blue, so the model has dark blue yards. Also all yards are in their top position. (As they would be if the sails were set) All three masts are up now. However, looks like I never rigged the foremast lower shrouds. The lower deadeyes were never installed. Lower foremast shrouds also lacks ratlines and deadeyes. The fore yards also seem to lack foot ropes and falls. There's going to be a little bit more modelling than I thought.. :-) Starting to take shape though. (Added picture; -Stropping some deadeyes. Don't like the Billing Boats block/deadeye design with brittle plastic eyelets.. :-( )

Hi all, Just joined the forum. I have a couple of half finished things to finish off, so apologies if I'm not starting from the beginning. First up is my old Cutty Sark model, started in the eighties that was pretty near finished, but I'm now re-rigging. (Next will be my Corel Wasa, that is much less progressed) The model was nearly done, save for some rigging details on the fore mast. However, in order to take it with me to Australia, I took the whole rigging down, so I'm restarting from this point. (Added picture of model some 5 years ago, before packing and transporting to Australia) Just starting on the mizzen now: