Erik W

In the last couple of weeks I've finished the gun tackles on 9 of the 10 carronades.  It took some trial and error to get these the way I wanted them.  My first attempt at seizing both blocks might have been more prototypical, based on the photos I was looking at, with a noticeable small gap between the block and the rear of the attached rigging hook, with the seizing in between.  This though made the two blocks on the sides of the carronades closer to one another, which to my eye, looked less visually appealing than having the blocks spaced further apart.  So, I settled on rigging the blocks with the back of the hooks nearly touching the blocks and with the seizing done using 72 denier 8/0 W fly tying thread (see bottom photo), rather than small sewing thread.   This also kept the seizings from looking too bulky, which I've noticed from looking at photos of other builds, can tend to happen when rigging smaller blocks. 
 
One accidental challenge I made for myself is not paying attention to Chuck's instructions for using 28 gauge wire to make the eye bolts on the carronades.  I inadvertently used 24 gauge wire, but formed to the correct outside diameter as shown on the plans.  When I realized this, I thought it would be no big deal.  The problem is that it left a hole that Chuck's 3mm black plastic rigging hooks barely fit into.  Some eye bolts wouldn't take the hooks at all, or the hooks broke while trying to attach.  So . . . . I had a sheet of the old brass 3mm hooks.  I super glued two of those together so they're the same .020" thickness as the black plastic hooks, and then was able to bend them as required.  I only used these on the rear blocks where the hook is vertical, so intermixing the black plastic hooks with the brass hooks wouldn't be noticeable.  And I figure accidentally using the thicker 24 gauge wire for the eye bolts vs. the correct 28 gauge wire isn't noticeable since the outside diameter of the loop is the same as it would be with the smaller diameter wire.  Anyway, that's my cautionary tale of why reading comprehension is important in model building.  Haha!
 
Also, between the making the breech rope and the gun tackles, I'm feeling much more self-assured as I approach the rigging phase of the build.  I'm more confident that the outcome of the rigging will be of the same standard I've achieved for this build thus far.
 
Erik

Glenn,
 
And I appreciate your recommendation a few months ago.  The fly tying thread works great for small applications.
 
Erik

Yikes!  That was always my fear at that stage of my Cheerful build.  Having to remove something I had glued in place.  Nice job on not breaking anything!  And you're right in wanting to correct noticeable mistakes now.  Anything out of sorts at this stage will just create and compound problems down the road.
 
Erik

Truly beautiful workmanship Albert. What ships are they?

Hi dear friends and colleaugues, this is the current state of my laboratory with several models underconstruction, both french and english.

Great beautiful work marsalv.

Nailing wales.

Albert and Mustafa, thank you for the encouraging comment and everyone else for your likes. This weekend I was visiting France with the German delegation and was able to take part in a great meeting with my French colleagues. Here are a few impressions.
 

 

 

 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glenn,
 
And I appreciate your recommendation a few months ago.  The fly tying thread works great for small applications.
 
Erik

In the last couple of weeks I've finished the gun tackles on 9 of the 10 carronades.  It took some trial and error to get these the way I wanted them.  My first attempt at seizing both blocks might have been more prototypical, based on the photos I was looking at, with a noticeable small gap between the block and the rear of the attached rigging hook, with the seizing in between.  This though made the two blocks on the sides of the carronades closer to one another, which to my eye, looked less visually appealing than having the blocks spaced further apart.  So, I settled on rigging the blocks with the back of the hooks nearly touching the blocks and with the seizing done using 72 denier 8/0 W fly tying thread (see bottom photo), rather than small sewing thread.   This also kept the seizings from looking too bulky, which I've noticed from looking at photos of other builds, can tend to happen when rigging smaller blocks. 
 
One accidental challenge I made for myself is not paying attention to Chuck's instructions for using 28 gauge wire to make the eye bolts on the carronades.  I inadvertently used 24 gauge wire, but formed to the correct outside diameter as shown on the plans.  When I realized this, I thought it would be no big deal.  The problem is that it left a hole that Chuck's 3mm black plastic rigging hooks barely fit into.  Some eye bolts wouldn't take the hooks at all, or the hooks broke while trying to attach.  So . . . . I had a sheet of the old brass 3mm hooks.  I super glued two of those together so they're the same .020" thickness as the black plastic hooks, and then was able to bend them as required.  I only used these on the rear blocks where the hook is vertical, so intermixing the black plastic hooks with the brass hooks wouldn't be noticeable.  And I figure accidentally using the thicker 24 gauge wire for the eye bolts vs. the correct 28 gauge wire isn't noticeable since the outside diameter of the loop is the same as it would be with the smaller diameter wire.  Anyway, that's my cautionary tale of why reading comprehension is important in model building.  Haha!
 
Also, between the making the breech rope and the gun tackles, I'm feeling much more self-assured as I approach the rigging phase of the build.  I'm more confident that the outcome of the rigging will be of the same standard I've achieved for this build thus far.
 
Erik

In the last couple of weeks I've finished the gun tackles on 9 of the 10 carronades.  It took some trial and error to get these the way I wanted them.  My first attempt at seizing both blocks might have been more prototypical, based on the photos I was looking at, with a noticeable small gap between the block and the rear of the attached rigging hook, with the seizing in between.  This though made the two blocks on the sides of the carronades closer to one another, which to my eye, looked less visually appealing than having the blocks spaced further apart.  So, I settled on rigging the blocks with the back of the hooks nearly touching the blocks and with the seizing done using 72 denier 8/0 W fly tying thread (see bottom photo), rather than small sewing thread.   This also kept the seizings from looking too bulky, which I've noticed from looking at photos of other builds, can tend to happen when rigging smaller blocks. 
 
One accidental challenge I made for myself is not paying attention to Chuck's instructions for using 28 gauge wire to make the eye bolts on the carronades.  I inadvertently used 24 gauge wire, but formed to the correct outside diameter as shown on the plans.  When I realized this, I thought it would be no big deal.  The problem is that it left a hole that Chuck's 3mm black plastic rigging hooks barely fit into.  Some eye bolts wouldn't take the hooks at all, or the hooks broke while trying to attach.  So . . . . I had a sheet of the old brass 3mm hooks.  I super glued two of those together so they're the same .020" thickness as the black plastic hooks, and then was able to bend them as required.  I only used these on the rear blocks where the hook is vertical, so intermixing the black plastic hooks with the brass hooks wouldn't be noticeable.  And I figure accidentally using the thicker 24 gauge wire for the eye bolts vs. the correct 28 gauge wire isn't noticeable since the outside diameter of the loop is the same as it would be with the smaller diameter wire.  Anyway, that's my cautionary tale of why reading comprehension is important in model building.  Haha!
 
Also, between the making the breech rope and the gun tackles, I'm feeling much more self-assured as I approach the rigging phase of the build.  I'm more confident that the outcome of the rigging will be of the same standard I've achieved for this build thus far.
 
Erik

I finished the breech ropes.  I definitely got better at the seizings as I did more of them.  It's hard to see, but the seizings on the starboard side are a bit more clean looking than the port side.  More importantly, I feel more comfortable with this intro to rigging stage of things.  So, I may actually be able to do a credible job of rigging this thing after all.  Now onto the gun tackles . . .
 
Erik

In the last couple of weeks I've finished the gun tackles on 9 of the 10 carronades.  It took some trial and error to get these the way I wanted them.  My first attempt at seizing both blocks might have been more prototypical, based on the photos I was looking at, with a noticeable small gap between the block and the rear of the attached rigging hook, with the seizing in between.  This though made the two blocks on the sides of the carronades closer to one another, which to my eye, looked less visually appealing than having the blocks spaced further apart.  So, I settled on rigging the blocks with the back of the hooks nearly touching the blocks and with the seizing done using 72 denier 8/0 W fly tying thread (see bottom photo), rather than small sewing thread.   This also kept the seizings from looking too bulky, which I've noticed from looking at photos of other builds, can tend to happen when rigging smaller blocks. 
 
One accidental challenge I made for myself is not paying attention to Chuck's instructions for using 28 gauge wire to make the eye bolts on the carronades.  I inadvertently used 24 gauge wire, but formed to the correct outside diameter as shown on the plans.  When I realized this, I thought it would be no big deal.  The problem is that it left a hole that Chuck's 3mm black plastic rigging hooks barely fit into.  Some eye bolts wouldn't take the hooks at all, or the hooks broke while trying to attach.  So . . . . I had a sheet of the old brass 3mm hooks.  I super glued two of those together so they're the same .020" thickness as the black plastic hooks, and then was able to bend them as required.  I only used these on the rear blocks where the hook is vertical, so intermixing the black plastic hooks with the brass hooks wouldn't be noticeable.  And I figure accidentally using the thicker 24 gauge wire for the eye bolts vs. the correct 28 gauge wire isn't noticeable since the outside diameter of the loop is the same as it would be with the smaller diameter wire.  Anyway, that's my cautionary tale of why reading comprehension is important in model building.  Haha!
 
Also, between the making the breech rope and the gun tackles, I'm feeling much more self-assured as I approach the rigging phase of the build.  I'm more confident that the outcome of the rigging will be of the same standard I've achieved for this build thus far.
 
Erik

Glenn,
 
And I appreciate your recommendation a few months ago.  The fly tying thread works great for small applications.
 
Erik

In the last couple of weeks I've finished the gun tackles on 9 of the 10 carronades.  It took some trial and error to get these the way I wanted them.  My first attempt at seizing both blocks might have been more prototypical, based on the photos I was looking at, with a noticeable small gap between the block and the rear of the attached rigging hook, with the seizing in between.  This though made the two blocks on the sides of the carronades closer to one another, which to my eye, looked less visually appealing than having the blocks spaced further apart.  So, I settled on rigging the blocks with the back of the hooks nearly touching the blocks and with the seizing done using 72 denier 8/0 W fly tying thread (see bottom photo), rather than small sewing thread.   This also kept the seizings from looking too bulky, which I've noticed from looking at photos of other builds, can tend to happen when rigging smaller blocks. 
 
One accidental challenge I made for myself is not paying attention to Chuck's instructions for using 28 gauge wire to make the eye bolts on the carronades.  I inadvertently used 24 gauge wire, but formed to the correct outside diameter as shown on the plans.  When I realized this, I thought it would be no big deal.  The problem is that it left a hole that Chuck's 3mm black plastic rigging hooks barely fit into.  Some eye bolts wouldn't take the hooks at all, or the hooks broke while trying to attach.  So . . . . I had a sheet of the old brass 3mm hooks.  I super glued two of those together so they're the same .020" thickness as the black plastic hooks, and then was able to bend them as required.  I only used these on the rear blocks where the hook is vertical, so intermixing the black plastic hooks with the brass hooks wouldn't be noticeable.  And I figure accidentally using the thicker 24 gauge wire for the eye bolts vs. the correct 28 gauge wire isn't noticeable since the outside diameter of the loop is the same as it would be with the smaller diameter wire.  Anyway, that's my cautionary tale of why reading comprehension is important in model building.  Haha!
 
Also, between the making the breech rope and the gun tackles, I'm feeling much more self-assured as I approach the rigging phase of the build.  I'm more confident that the outcome of the rigging will be of the same standard I've achieved for this build thus far.
 
Erik

Glenn,
 
And I appreciate your recommendation a few months ago.  The fly tying thread works great for small applications.
 
Erik

Glad the fly tying thread is also working for you. 

In the last couple of weeks I've finished the gun tackles on 9 of the 10 carronades.  It took some trial and error to get these the way I wanted them.  My first attempt at seizing both blocks might have been more prototypical, based on the photos I was looking at, with a noticeable small gap between the block and the rear of the attached rigging hook, with the seizing in between.  This though made the two blocks on the sides of the carronades closer to one another, which to my eye, looked less visually appealing than having the blocks spaced further apart.  So, I settled on rigging the blocks with the back of the hooks nearly touching the blocks and with the seizing done using 72 denier 8/0 W fly tying thread (see bottom photo), rather than small sewing thread.   This also kept the seizings from looking too bulky, which I've noticed from looking at photos of other builds, can tend to happen when rigging smaller blocks. 
 
One accidental challenge I made for myself is not paying attention to Chuck's instructions for using 28 gauge wire to make the eye bolts on the carronades.  I inadvertently used 24 gauge wire, but formed to the correct outside diameter as shown on the plans.  When I realized this, I thought it would be no big deal.  The problem is that it left a hole that Chuck's 3mm black plastic rigging hooks barely fit into.  Some eye bolts wouldn't take the hooks at all, or the hooks broke while trying to attach.  So . . . . I had a sheet of the old brass 3mm hooks.  I super glued two of those together so they're the same .020" thickness as the black plastic hooks, and then was able to bend them as required.  I only used these on the rear blocks where the hook is vertical, so intermixing the black plastic hooks with the brass hooks wouldn't be noticeable.  And I figure accidentally using the thicker 24 gauge wire for the eye bolts vs. the correct 28 gauge wire isn't noticeable since the outside diameter of the loop is the same as it would be with the smaller diameter wire.  Anyway, that's my cautionary tale of why reading comprehension is important in model building.  Haha!
 
Also, between the making the breech rope and the gun tackles, I'm feeling much more self-assured as I approach the rigging phase of the build.  I'm more confident that the outcome of the rigging will be of the same standard I've achieved for this build thus far.
 
Erik

In the last couple of weeks I've finished the gun tackles on 9 of the 10 carronades.  It took some trial and error to get these the way I wanted them.  My first attempt at seizing both blocks might have been more prototypical, based on the photos I was looking at, with a noticeable small gap between the block and the rear of the attached rigging hook, with the seizing in between.  This though made the two blocks on the sides of the carronades closer to one another, which to my eye, looked less visually appealing than having the blocks spaced further apart.  So, I settled on rigging the blocks with the back of the hooks nearly touching the blocks and with the seizing done using 72 denier 8/0 W fly tying thread (see bottom photo), rather than small sewing thread.   This also kept the seizings from looking too bulky, which I've noticed from looking at photos of other builds, can tend to happen when rigging smaller blocks. 
 
One accidental challenge I made for myself is not paying attention to Chuck's instructions for using 28 gauge wire to make the eye bolts on the carronades.  I inadvertently used 24 gauge wire, but formed to the correct outside diameter as shown on the plans.  When I realized this, I thought it would be no big deal.  The problem is that it left a hole that Chuck's 3mm black plastic rigging hooks barely fit into.  Some eye bolts wouldn't take the hooks at all, or the hooks broke while trying to attach.  So . . . . I had a sheet of the old brass 3mm hooks.  I super glued two of those together so they're the same .020" thickness as the black plastic hooks, and then was able to bend them as required.  I only used these on the rear blocks where the hook is vertical, so intermixing the black plastic hooks with the brass hooks wouldn't be noticeable.  And I figure accidentally using the thicker 24 gauge wire for the eye bolts vs. the correct 28 gauge wire isn't noticeable since the outside diameter of the loop is the same as it would be with the smaller diameter wire.  Anyway, that's my cautionary tale of why reading comprehension is important in model building.  Haha!
 
Also, between the making the breech rope and the gun tackles, I'm feeling much more self-assured as I approach the rigging phase of the build.  I'm more confident that the outcome of the rigging will be of the same standard I've achieved for this build thus far.
 
Erik

In the last couple of weeks I've finished the gun tackles on 9 of the 10 carronades.  It took some trial and error to get these the way I wanted them.  My first attempt at seizing both blocks might have been more prototypical, based on the photos I was looking at, with a noticeable small gap between the block and the rear of the attached rigging hook, with the seizing in between.  This though made the two blocks on the sides of the carronades closer to one another, which to my eye, looked less visually appealing than having the blocks spaced further apart.  So, I settled on rigging the blocks with the back of the hooks nearly touching the blocks and with the seizing done using 72 denier 8/0 W fly tying thread (see bottom photo), rather than small sewing thread.   This also kept the seizings from looking too bulky, which I've noticed from looking at photos of other builds, can tend to happen when rigging smaller blocks. 
 
One accidental challenge I made for myself is not paying attention to Chuck's instructions for using 28 gauge wire to make the eye bolts on the carronades.  I inadvertently used 24 gauge wire, but formed to the correct outside diameter as shown on the plans.  When I realized this, I thought it would be no big deal.  The problem is that it left a hole that Chuck's 3mm black plastic rigging hooks barely fit into.  Some eye bolts wouldn't take the hooks at all, or the hooks broke while trying to attach.  So . . . . I had a sheet of the old brass 3mm hooks.  I super glued two of those together so they're the same .020" thickness as the black plastic hooks, and then was able to bend them as required.  I only used these on the rear blocks where the hook is vertical, so intermixing the black plastic hooks with the brass hooks wouldn't be noticeable.  And I figure accidentally using the thicker 24 gauge wire for the eye bolts vs. the correct 28 gauge wire isn't noticeable since the outside diameter of the loop is the same as it would be with the smaller diameter wire.  Anyway, that's my cautionary tale of why reading comprehension is important in model building.  Haha!
 
Also, between the making the breech rope and the gun tackles, I'm feeling much more self-assured as I approach the rigging phase of the build.  I'm more confident that the outcome of the rigging will be of the same standard I've achieved for this build thus far.
 
Erik

In the last couple of weeks I've finished the gun tackles on 9 of the 10 carronades.  It took some trial and error to get these the way I wanted them.  My first attempt at seizing both blocks might have been more prototypical, based on the photos I was looking at, with a noticeable small gap between the block and the rear of the attached rigging hook, with the seizing in between.  This though made the two blocks on the sides of the carronades closer to one another, which to my eye, looked less visually appealing than having the blocks spaced further apart.  So, I settled on rigging the blocks with the back of the hooks nearly touching the blocks and with the seizing done using 72 denier 8/0 W fly tying thread (see bottom photo), rather than small sewing thread.   This also kept the seizings from looking too bulky, which I've noticed from looking at photos of other builds, can tend to happen when rigging smaller blocks. 
 
One accidental challenge I made for myself is not paying attention to Chuck's instructions for using 28 gauge wire to make the eye bolts on the carronades.  I inadvertently used 24 gauge wire, but formed to the correct outside diameter as shown on the plans.  When I realized this, I thought it would be no big deal.  The problem is that it left a hole that Chuck's 3mm black plastic rigging hooks barely fit into.  Some eye bolts wouldn't take the hooks at all, or the hooks broke while trying to attach.  So . . . . I had a sheet of the old brass 3mm hooks.  I super glued two of those together so they're the same .020" thickness as the black plastic hooks, and then was able to bend them as required.  I only used these on the rear blocks where the hook is vertical, so intermixing the black plastic hooks with the brass hooks wouldn't be noticeable.  And I figure accidentally using the thicker 24 gauge wire for the eye bolts vs. the correct 28 gauge wire isn't noticeable since the outside diameter of the loop is the same as it would be with the smaller diameter wire.  Anyway, that's my cautionary tale of why reading comprehension is important in model building.  Haha!
 
Also, between the making the breech rope and the gun tackles, I'm feeling much more self-assured as I approach the rigging phase of the build.  I'm more confident that the outcome of the rigging will be of the same standard I've achieved for this build thus far.
 
Erik

Yikes!  That was always my fear at that stage of my Cheerful build.  Having to remove something I had glued in place.  Nice job on not breaking anything!  And you're right in wanting to correct noticeable mistakes now.  Anything out of sorts at this stage will just create and compound problems down the road.
 
Erik

Yikes!  That was always my fear at that stage of my Cheerful build.  Having to remove something I had glued in place.  Nice job on not breaking anything!  And you're right in wanting to correct noticeable mistakes now.  Anything out of sorts at this stage will just create and compound problems down the road.
 
Erik

Yikes!  That was always my fear at that stage of my Cheerful build.  Having to remove something I had glued in place.  Nice job on not breaking anything!  And you're right in wanting to correct noticeable mistakes now.  Anything out of sorts at this stage will just create and compound problems down the road.
 
Erik

Johann,
 
I agree with Greg above, your rigging really sets the standard for what can be accomplished.  As I enter the rigging stage on my build (currently with the carronades and cannons), I'm inspired by your work.  While being a beginner myself, your close-up high resolution photos are very helpful as I learn what I need to do.  I feel with the rigging, more than any other aspect of the build, photos are most helpful with visualizing how to accomplish the tasks.
 
Erik