Chuck

In my opinion I think the jury is still out on whether that was standard practice. I have seen contemporary models built with the ports painted both ways. Its just a personal decision. One must remember that you would need to be 100% confident with your planking around the ports otherwise painting the edges would reveal every flaw. That is something not worth doing for such a minor detail where contemporary evidence suggests strongly both methods were employed. This is true even if it was just a modeling convention used by even contemporary builders. I believe a builder should use their own judgement on whether "kitchen sinking" their model is worth compromising the overall look and craftsmanship of their final work just for the sake of being able to say that it was correct....assuming there was no concrete evidence that this was standard practice. Its really no different than deciding whether holly should be used below the wales to stylistically represent a painted hull. In the end its just a stylistic choice based on how much you like that look vs. any other. Having said all this, the Contemporary model of the Winnie does have the plank edges painted red as well. But yes it does look sloppy. Also note the tabbed planking into the port..... This photo shows many interesting features you may or may not choose to model. For example the thicker shear plank in the waste which does extend all the way to the stern and up to the cap rail. This feature is historically correct yet you rarely if ever see folks planking there models this way. This is a feature I plan on actually showing on my new version of Winnie. Mike just paint it the way you prefer. 😊 Chuck

.025 light brown for grapnels. Rusty....perfectly executed. I should have the rigging packages on my site to order by Monday but hopefully sooner. Chuck

Looks pretty good to me Simon....

Nice progress Jeff. That is exactly what it should look like at this stage.

It is my personal opinion that it is correct as I show it. But everyone can make their own own decision. Its a simple thing to adjust although it would be wrong for the period in my experience. In the Kriegstein example....yes the rigging is new....but the horse is not. You only need to contact the owners of that beautiful model to find that out. I dont know why everyone is fixating on this.....just do it the way you would prefer it to be. I have said dozens of times that both methods are acceptable. Yet the same people keep obsessing and challenging. Let us not forget that I am making a model of a model here......and this is the way it is presented on the contemporary model. You folks can alter it very easily. Just please stop beating a dead horse about it....literally. If you want me to say that all of you "over the tiller" guys are correct and it was never done the way it was show....I will do so if only it will put this issue to rest.

This has been discussed a few dozen times already.... Its the way they did it back then. Around 1750 they started switching to above the tiller. Contemporary models. rigging plans and paintings show it below the tiller as I did it. There are many many many primary sources that conclude beyond a shadow of a doubt that this was the case. Chuck

Working on it!!! Unfortunately other suppliers dont seem to respond and ship orders as promptly as I do. For the rigging package I am still waiting for brass strips and the mailing tubes to package them up. I am also waiting on wood to make new kits. Just waiting and waiting!!!..Urgh😢

Im waiting on a few orders to arrive.....but hopefully sometime next week.

Nope....these small workboats just had the lines belayed whereever they could. Two lines on a belaying pin etc..... Wrapped around a thwart....Belayed to the shrouds above the deadeyes or to blocks on the backstays.

That looks very good. Interesting choices. Your craftmanship is clean and crisp. One thing i would suggest after doing such superior work on the hull however would be to improve on those belaying pins. It would be a shame to go with out of scale pins in what is otherwise a gorgeous model. They look a bit bulbous and squat ... Other than that though really beautiful work.

Real nice start....looking good.😊

Looks great Ken. I cant wait to see it at a meeting up close.

Once the jib and foresail halliards were done all I really had to do was rig the flag halliard. This will complete the rigging.....once I add the rope coils to all belaying points. The flag halliard (.018 light brown) Is run through the simulated sheave on the starboard side of the ball truck on top of the mast. Both ends run down to the deadeyes where they are belayed. One to each deadeye. Then they are finished up with some rope coils so the belaying looks credible. I adjusted the tension on all lines and then finished every belaying point off with a nice neat rope coil. The flag was made in teh usual way and you will get one with the rigging package. This pretty much finishes off the model. Here are some photos. The only thing I have left to do is make a few oars. I will get to that soon. But the model is pretty much done. The grapnel was finished off with some .025 rope as well. Let me know if you have any questions. I will now try and catch up with the instructions so you guys can get this far too!!!

Making the traveler ring... I sell these already made for Cheerful but for this kit you will need to make your own. This one is much smaller but its really simple to make, You will get a split ring about 1/4" round that is made from 1mm micro tubing. You will also need to make a hook and a simulated shackle from 24 gauge black wire. Because this model is 1/2" scale the hooks are a prominent feature of the rigging. You should take your time with these and try to make some really good looking hooks. Practice a bit and I am sure you will get the hang of it. They are so much better than using photoetch versions that you can buy. Also note that I have slid a decent length of 28 gauge black wire into the split ring. Leave a portion of it hanging out as shown. Once again this is my method of making a traveler ring that requires no soldering at all. It will stay together perfectly and they look great. So if you need one for another project, consider this method. Then slip your shackle and hook onto the ring. You will of course need to make sure that the eyes in your hook and shackle fit onto the ring when you make them. Try and keep these pieces small because most of the time I see folks making huge hooks and shackles for the traveler ring and it will look really funny. The hook goes between the two eyes of the shackle. Then bend the ring like you are going to close it up but before you do....slide the end of the 28 gauge wire into the other side of the ring. Guide it through quite a bit as this is what keeps everything together. I slowly inch it in the other end using a needle nose pliers. Once blackened this will look very good. Here is a look at the traveler ring in position. The jib halliard is hooked to the traveler ring while the outhaul is seized to the shackle. You must rig both of these to get the proper tension on the lines. This is all sown on the rigging plans. The outhaul uses .018 light brown rope while the jib halliard uses .025 light brown rope. The other "loose end" of the outhaul run through the sheave on the tip of the bowsprit. Then it foes down to the sheave on the stem (starboard side). Then you can bring the running end inboard and belay it around the first thwart. Finish it up with a rope coil. The jib halliard is preety straight forward. Just like the halliard for the foresail. You make up some blocks with a hook. Its shown on the rigging plan and all of those loose ends are belayed to the pins around the mast.

Thank You!! 😊 Time to step the bowsprit. The bowsprit irons can be made many different ways. You can use brass for all the parts and do some soldering if you want. That is one method. I did use some brass but I also simplified the process so I wouldnt have to solder anything. The photo below shows the two brass bars 1/16" x 1/16". The longer one was pretty simple. I just cut the strip to length after filing a pin in one end. You could also file this pin into both sides if you like. It will be blackened later before I add them to the model. The second smaller piece was the same. I filed a small pin into one side. BUT I also drilled a small hole through the other. This is for the little brass pin. I used a #66 drill bit. The trick is to use a light tough and let the bit cut through the brass. To much pressure and you will break the bit. Then I rounded off that end. Both of these pieces need to be measured off your own model. They are shown on the plans but because there will be so many small differences you need to measure your own model for their length. Finally...black tape was cut to 1/16" wide and wrapped around the bowsprit to simulate the iron rings. The brass strips will be pinned into these. Once blackened and with the use of some weathering powder you wont be able to tell they are two pieces or not metal. You could also use boxwood strips and just use some black wire for the pins. If you paint them black and weather them you wont be able to tell. Its up to you. You must figure out exactly where the tape bands should be before you commit to gluing everything in position. Measure carefully. Then drill a small hole in the bottom of the aft end of teh bowsprit. Make sure the sheave on the other end is facing the correct way first. That would be a big mistake. You will need to drill a hole through the thwart for the larger brass strip with the pin facing up (unless you put a pin on both sides then it doesnt matter). But once again you must drill the hole in the right place. You only have one shot at this. Make sure you test the bowsprit in position and figure out where on the thwart you need to drill the hole. I used a #49 drill bit. Then I squared up the hole with a small needle file. Once done you can see how convincing it looks. The pin was glued into the hole on the tape (simulated iron ring) on the end of the bowsprit. The bottom can be pinned into the platform or just glued into another hole through the platform. Its up to you. Finally.....the small brass piece was glued into a hole drilled into the other iron strap (tape). Then a small brass pin was used to secure the other end through the stem as shown below. Make sure these are glued in good. You must carefully find the length for this brass piece because it determines the angle for the bowsprit. If the brass strip is too long or short then the bowsprit will not sit at the correct angle. You can see that I also added the foresail halliard. The single block was hooked into an eyebolt at the aft side of the stem. Note the optional thimble on the block.

Making rigging progress. Will have more details once I get back from the dentist. But here is what the longboat looks like today. Just have the bowsprit to install and some running rigging. Almost there. Gaff was rigged first...then it was time for the shrouds followed by the backstays. Most of the lines were attached prior to placing this on the model. Deadeys and shrouds are hooked to the straps. So they were prepared ahead of time. Including the straps and hooks for the backstays. Finally the forestay... Note how the straps were bent to fit around the molding. The shrouds, backstays and forestay were served but only where they are seized around the mast. The area served extends about 1" below the where it was seized. This is an optional detail. You dont have to do this. But it does look good. Chuck

I anticipated this and made tgose ears a bit large. Once planking is fone and you apply the frieze, you will bo doubt have to sand off more and even resuce and lower the top edge of the transom.

That looks wonderful! A really nice job with those. The thicker floorboards can be tricky and you made it look easy.

Check this out... https://www.wawak.com/Gutermann-Mara-30-Top-Stitch-Button-Hole-Thread-Tex-100-328-yds Chuck

Unfortunately not all colors are available in all sizes. But yes that is the correct color number. You cant rely on the color chart either. The colors only vaguely resemble the swatches. There are plenty of sources in the states. I am fortunate to live just 6 miles from the garment district in NYC. So i can get everything pretty easy. So no need for me to buy online. I have decided to stick with all natural stuff and am waiting for my supplier to custom dye a batch to match the lighter color shown. Its gonna be a few weeks though before i get it.

Yes they specified the brand and colors as 100 percent poly.

I have a lot of time to think about what I am going to do. At the very least I will think about adjusting the color but for the foreseeable future nothing will change. As mentioned, I asked my current supplier to match both colors and send me samples. I will see how that goes. In the end though, eventually I will have to decide on whether I will continue to make black rope any longer. Its not a very good choice for standing rigging at all. Just removing that one color would be a huge help to keep costs and time in check. Folks have just gotten used to it being available in kits and use it out of habit rather than based on what actual tarred rope looked like. That may be the way to go and it will save me a bundle and let me continue using the catolin in the 3 remaining colors. OR it would allow me to try and make another custom dyed version that would allow me to to just choose one for running rigging. Time will tell. But for now and probably the next six months or so....nothing is going to change. I am nearly fully stocked with rope right now too!! But alas...the info provided is good for others to consider should they want to make polyester rope.

I have also asked my current supplier to dye me a batch of the current thread I am using in the same colors as the polyester rope. So I am excited to see what that will look like. Once I get it I will experiment with it and see how it goes. Not to get off-topic but I amy as a business decision to help moderate the time and labor involved in rope making, select another color for running rigging. I like the poly colors a great deal. Then I will discontinue the current colors and go with just one for running rigging. We shall see...much to think about in the coming year. Chuck

Thats the issue really....it boils down to economy. The cost for cotton and linen as a commodity is going through the roof this year. Many think I charge too much for my rope now. So I cant raise prices and now must absorb the price increase for my catolin thread. If I made the polyester stuff and charged more because I would then be making natural fiber rope in 4 colors and 36 sizes by hand.....along with polyester in two colors and 18 sizes. Its just impossible. I can only do one or the other. Consider that I must make at least 800 feet of rope every single day right now to keep enough in stock. Its maddening. I may however cut down on the current colors and drop two of the catolin colors and just make light brown and dark brown moving forward so I could offer two choices of polyester rope. But then the people wh o love my light tan and black rope would be upset. I would lose a lot of business. Other than that, I just cant even consider it. So before I make such a decision....I must gauge what interest is out there for this stuff. I literally just ordered $1000 worth of cataolin before the price goes up on January 1st. That is about a 3 month supply.

B.E. you would be surprised how well it hangs once you get accustomed to it and the tricks you would use. Once again....no need to wet down like you would cotton or linen with diluted white glue while getting it to hang properly. My tests included hitting it with the hair dryer to relax it in any shape.... No need to stretch it at all. I go back and forth with which of these two colors I like best. Which do you guys prefer? Should I decide to use it I would select only one for the same reasons. Getting back to the heat knife. My experiments were pretty exhaustive. I found that if you didnt knot the ends before heating it in the oven or using a hair dryer, the rope would just unwind horribly almost its entire length. So my thoughts were that using a hot knife would also have the same effect. If you touched the end and it didnt immediately seal, it would unravel like crazy. The sam is true for dipping rope untreated with heat in water, either hot or cold. The rope would just unravel badly. Some glues worked but I dont know which ones the guys were using at the museum. That seemed to time consuming to me and if you forgot to do it when cutting you would regret it. Same is true if you didnt get a good bond. So there are trade-offs. The poly does have a slight sheen which I dont like. But its not noticeable really or distracting. It is also very stretchy. That is not a problem but you will need to get used to it. If not for anything else....I found it important to post my findings and experiments here and every can give it a try and make up their own minds. Its worth the effort. I am hesitant to not use any material just because its the current "rule" or traditional line of thinking that MUST be observed because well known builders and institutions have said so. Times are changing and the traditional materials are getting more and more expensive and less and less high quality. There may come a time where we must adapt. As a business I this stuff is constantly on my mind. Chuck