mikiek

I thank everyone for the likes and comments. And now a bit of good news, rigging is finished. Kinda sorta. I got shorted 4 pins. These are the white wooden ones - no idea what size. I do happen to have some walnut pins in the same size but they would look a little funky next to the white ones so I'm painting them to match. Should be dry in an hour. Ropes are already threaded thru the pinrail so all I have to do is drop the pins in place. On a side note, speaking of paint. I haven't painted anything in probably 2 years. All my paints - Tamiya - are sitting in the garage which gets pretty hot and fairly cold at times. Tamiya uses a different type of top on their jars. None of the metal top with cardboard seal inside. It's all plastic and apparently seals very well as the bottle I used had the paint in perfect condition. I was impressed. If I remember you can buy just the bottles to store colors you have mixed. I still have jars of colors that I used for Niagara. So next is the usual tidying up. I'm gonna use a compressor and blow some air around to clean up the deck. Then tighten sail rigging, clip the excess rope and make and hang the coils on the pins. I do need to check what kind of stand comes with the kit. This one is gonna go to my father for display at his place. He has been waiting a long time for me to finish this. So have I for that matter.

Of course I can't stand it. Wanna keep on keeping on. So I finished the starboard side (excess rope still in excess) Some of the sails are crooked because I need to brace the port side so I can even them out. I also wanted to take some pix so one thing led to another. So here's Enterprise from the starboard.

The interior or your boat, both materials & colors is so cool looking. I'd love to see you take a few macro photos of that. I suspect it would be very realistic. Glad you got the cap rail off.

Wow Elijah - I'll consider myself lucky this time. All I had to do was snip a rope and restrop some blocks. I was reviewing the plans for the braces and came across a pleasant surprise. I guess I wasn't thinking but I had expected braces to be a weeks worth of work. At least given my limited availability. The plans show only 6 more ropes to install! Two per yard. I forget that Niagara was double masted with 4 yards per mast. Enterprise only has 1 mast with square sails and only 3 yards on that mast. I got most of the starboard side done tonite. I could be finished rigging tomorrow!! I do still see a good 1-2 weeks of cleanup, tightening rigging and placing coils. But the little light in the dark looks more like a headlight now.

MORE REWORK ☹️😩😠 - the rigging plans were done a little different than some. Instead of one large drawing with all the rigging shown, Constructo chose to break out the drawings into smaller units. There are I think 8 drawings all together. I like this approach as it helps me localize my effort on a certain sail or mast and the drawings are much simpler and less crowded. A lot harder to overlook something. Or so he thought. It turns out that in several places - the foot of the fore mainsail for instance - different rigging is shown in more than one drawing. The clew of that sail shows 1 block hanging there in one drawing. So that's what I did. Unbeknownst to me there was another drawing showing 2 more blocks hanging off that same corner. So I had to remove the original block and strop 3 more to the eyeloop in the corner of the sail. That might have been easy if the sail was not installed yet (remember I have installed this sail twice so far) but when it is mounted and the eyeloop is about 8 inches in the air it gets interesting. And no way was I going to pull that sail a 3rd time. The Lauck Street seizing method saved my bacon again and I was able to get 3 blocks stroped to the eyeloop with the sail still hanging. A little piece of magic but it worked. Some of the various rigging drawings in the plan One drawing showing the sail corners I was referring to. Another drawing showing the same corners. Three blocks stroped to the sail eyelit. I can see the hem is getting frayed from all the abuse. But this time it should be right.

Hi Rowboat - it will definitely take a few tries to get your technique worked out. But I think it will be worth it. Frapping can be used elsewhere - not just the gun tackles. So it's worth perfecting. I looked around on the site that I bought my kit from for the sail upgrade but did not see it. The other possibility, although unlikely, is that I bought the kit and most all my kits made in EU from a shop in the UK. Cornwall Models. It's been a while since I have bought another one but when I was buying them the euro kits are much cheaper from there. They don't pay import fees that we pay when a euro kit is shipped to a US shop for resale. They have a few kits that are literally 1/2 the price of the same kit by the same manufacturer sold in the US. Shipping is a little more maybe 10% but their turnaround is way better than any US shop I have purchased from. Orders usually arrive in 3 days by UPS. They have a huge selection of kits too. But any way maybe the euro version of the Constructo kit has different sails than the one they wholesale to the US. Sorry and the length of the Niagara log. I do have a tendency to run my mouth sometimes. And I did a whole lot of experimenting on the side for that build. A lot of that had to do with the fact that out of the box the kit is modelled after the current day replica which is not the same as the historical original. Given there are no plans for the original there was a lot of debate about historical accuracy in the log. Everything from the deck furniture to the colors of the boat.

A scissor end might be pretty useful. I guess Amazon's supply is pretty limited. I don't remember seeing scissors or locking varieties there.

Hey Elijah - good to see you and I hope you are well. I went back to look at that pic again and as usual, I'm seeing all sorts of little things that don't look right. For one, my sails are starting to appear wrinkled. They had such a good shape to them after I starched and ironed the heck out them when I first put them on. They don't look so smooth now. Probably from big fat hands brushing them around.

Good progress tonite. I have pinned and/or repinned all loose ropes. So everything is fastened down now. Next step will be a readjustment of all the ropes I can work with - the ones where I didn't glue the pins. The alligator forceps which I mentioned a while back were a huge help tonite. I posted a thread on them in the tools forum. Check it out. So a quick readjust and then I'll start in on the braces. The bad thing there is I will have to seize ropes to the yard tips - not an easy task when they are all installed. That's the last real task. After that more adjusting and finalizing the ropes/pins and then hanging coils on the pins. There is definitely a light shining in the darkness.

I did a quick search of this forum to be sure these haven't been posted before. Searching for alligator pulled up some threads that were referring to clips so maybe I am safe. This tool is an incredible help for rigging. I had never seen or heard of them before. I had to take my dad to the ear doctor and the guy had a whole tray of them. As soon as I saw them I perked up and my eyes opened pretty wide. Immediately all sorts of ideas are going thru my head. I'll put up the pix and see if you have the same reaction - assuming you haven't seen them before. I've put them next to the hemo's I have tried to use for similar tasks in the past just so you can see the difference in how they work. With the alligators I can literally reach into the boat from the starboard side and grab ropes on the port side. I have been using them all evening as I pin running rigging. The beauty of these is when you open them wide they don't spread open at the other end like regular hemo's or forceps will and that leaves you much more ability to work in tight spaces - see the comparison picture. They come in several sizes and are available on Amazon for a reasonable price. I am finding the longer ones are the most useful. As I am finishing up rigging on a build I have really been able to put a pair thru its paces and they are a real winner. I am able to grab some ropes, pins, etc that would have been impossible to do without them. Hope this helps some of you.....

The mainsail is back on again but as you can see from the pic I have ropes dangling everywhere again. I hate re-doing stuff. Actually it's not quite as bad as it looks, the ropes with clips on the end need to be pinned but the others are just excess rope after being pinned. As I said earlier, from now on I will not trim ropes, glue pins or put rope coils on until the very last minute. This leaves room for a final re-tightening of everything and it's really going to need it. That may end up being the biggest lesson I learn from this rigging. So I better get used to leaving a mess until the final stages of rigging.

Makes ya wonder where the model manufacturers get their ideas from 🤔 It's not too late to run the clew line down the back side of the sail.

I posted my question over in the rigging forum and got an answer. Kinda like I thought the rope (clew) is siezed to the yard and then run down the front of the sail to the corner. It is then fed into the block at the corner and run back up to a block on the yard, then down to the bitts. Hopefully I can seize a rope to the yard without taking the sail off 🤨 I need to get going on that - there are only 4 more loose ropes to pin down. That will be a pretty big milestone although there is still the braces to install. And I also gotta figure out something to do with the coils hanging on the pins. I'm leaning towards taking them all off and recoiling most of them. Then I still need to find a better way to make them naturally bend over the rail and hang down.

Rowboat - the Niagara log on page 15 shows another way you could frap those tackles. Just a couple of pieces of thick wire stuck into a piece of wood. If you scroll down a bit farther there is a pic of a real gun with tackles frapped. That was the pic that set the hook for me. It's an awesome look and the deck isn't all cluttered. There is a trick you will be running into when you start pinning your rigging. The rope that falls from a sail or yard is pinned into the rail and then cut right under the rail. The coil that hangs over the pin is a second piece of rope. I debated doing something similar with the fraps. Lace up the blocks and cut the end near where it comes out of the block. Then use a second piece of rope to do the winding. No one will know but you. In the end however, I went with a single rope.

Rowboat - thank you for the kind words. Niagara offered a lot of opportunity for many different types of construction and techniques. As far as how to for frapping, the 3rd hand tool will be your best bet. Just lace up your 2 blocks with rope then put the blocks in the alligator clips. Get the clips the distance you want the blocks to be - probably about 1". Take the rope as it comes out the last hole and pull it up to the opposite block. At that point tie a half hitch around the ropes right under the block and put a spot of CA to hold it there. Then just start winding the rope towards the other block. Not too tight. when you are done winding you can put in another half hitch the keep the rope from unwinding. The trick is having enough rope to wind almost back to the other block and dangle an inch or so to the deck without having too much throw away. So keep track of how much rope you use on the first few you do. I'll try to find some pix tonite.

Hey Allan - This was not the only rigging diagram for the build. Instead of 1 drawing with everything, Constructo has about 8-9 separate drawings. Each with a small portion of the rigging. So it is possible that some of what you guys say are missing, may be on another drawing. I kind of like that approach as I can tackle small portions of the rigging and I'm certain that I have overlooked something - assuming the drawings haven't overlooked something. Unfortunately, none of the lines are labeled so it is difficult to follow along with what you guys are saying. I think my original question is resolved - I will sieze a line to the yard, run it down the front to the corner, lace it thru the block at the corner then up the backside to the block on the yard. It just seemed weird that a rope would be stretched down in front of a sail, possibly keeping it from filling completely. Probably just me thinking too much. Thanks to all for the feedback

Per & Allan - thank you for clearing that up. It's kinda what I thought but it just seems odd to have a rope laying on the front side of the sail. Seems like under a strong wind the ropes might keep the sail from filling completely. Allan - the thing you describe with the tack block. That isn't shown on these plans is it?

Per - there is no indication of how the rope is tied off. I'm guessing a loop siezed around the yard?

This is Enterprise 1799. The rope pointed out in the diagram. If I read it correctly it would be siezed to the yard then run down the front side of the sail to the corner then under and back up the back side to the block? Or maybe under the sail into that block at the foot and then back up? Seems like a rope running down the front of a sail could keep it from filling properly. Hope someone can set me straight....

Maybe my first real stumper. The rope pointed out in the pic - hope the pic will scroll . I I read it correctly it would be siezed to the yard then run down the front of the sail to the corner then under and back up the back side to the block? Seems like a rope running down the front of a sail could keep it from filling properly. These dang instructions don't give you the names for the running rigging ropes. I will probably post this in the rigging forum too.

Hello Rowboat - regarding the gun tackles - the technique is called frapping. It is not something recently made up, they actually did that back in the day. The other option is to coil the excess rope on the deck - a look I don't really care for. There's lots of ways to do it. The easiest is to use some sort of third hand tool - something that can hold a few alligator clips. Assuming you already have two blocks laced up, clip blocks in two alligator clips, get them the distance you want, take in the slack rope. At the block where the free end of the rope comes out, stretch the rope to the other block and tie a half hitch right at the block. You can put a dot of CA on the hitch to hold it. Then start winding the rope towards the other block. You might check my Niagara build log for details. I may have posted pix there. I don't remember for sure, but I think I bought the sail upgrade kit for this model. I remember dreading having to hem all the sails and then being quite surprised that the hem was already there. If the hem is not in your sails you will want to add one. My Trajta build has some notes on that as those sails did need a hem and I did them all by hand. I'm not sure if it is possible with square rigged sails, but the lateen sails for my Arrow build I just double folded the edges and glued with CA. The I ironed the heck out them to smooth it out. Be careful, a hot iron can scorch the material. Good luck...

I have a few logs that are finished - maybe 2-3 years ago - and it looks like some of the posts from other members are missing. I was reviewing my Gundeck Section log (see link in signature) and there are quite a few posts that I made, thanking someone for a compliment or comment but I don't see the other guys post. My Arrow log appears to have the same problem. Also, from the Activity menu option > Activity that I Started is missing a lot of threads including several build logs. As I don't actively review those threads I can't say exactly when this might have happened. I first noticed yesterday.

Have still been trying to do some tidying up before putting in the fore mainsail. And I have come to one conclusion when doing rigging with sails. OK actually several. As I was bringing rig ropes down to the pins I glued some of the pins in place. VERY bad move!! Suggestion - take some time when making your pin rails. The holes for the pins should not be oversized. The holes need to allow the skinniest tip of the pin to fit in easily but should show some resistance when the fat part of the pin is inserted. If you do that you should not have to glue any of the pins in place. The reason here is pretty simple - I have had the need to constantly adjust the tension of the running rigging as more is added. Big fat hands push against ropes already in place - and those will loosen. You need the ability to adjust the ropes all the way to the end of the build. I'm sure the more experienced of you are just going DUHH. Another gotcha I just concluded tonite. The coils that hang on the pins are separate from the ropes that are actually pinned. As usual, I wanted to finish out sections as I worked on them so after I pinned a rope I would add the coil over the pin. IMO this is a terrible idea. The coils are only fluff, they serve no purpose for the build. And if you need to tighten/loosen a pinned rope you have to take the coil off to access the pin. I'm thinking those coils should be almost the last thing you do in the build. With those alligator forceps I mentioned earlier, adding the coils later is not too big of a task. I did actually start to hang the fore mainsail tonite. That immediately pointed out several blocks that I did not install when making the mast. I did get them in tonite but with all the rig & sails in the way it was a real bear.

Geez no posts since April. With this stay at home thing I am completely losing track of time. Don't know what day it is most of the time. Or maybe that's old age setting in. I have slowly been fastening up all the rigging loose ends. Still got the fore mainsail to hang but it was a very good idea not to do that until all the other running rig was pinned and coiled. It would have been awful trying to reach in around that sail. Speaking of reaching in, I came across a tool I had never seen before, although apparently it is very common at the ear doctor. They are called alligator forceps. I won't even try to describe them. Just Goggle. If you are like me, the second I saw them I knew they could be very useful. They come in various sizes, I'm finding the longer ones are the most useful. They have helped with rigging quite a bit for reaching thru rigging and across deck to grab something on the far side. The beauty of them is the jaw is just at the tip so you are able to open them up without having to spread the other end 3-4". I'm really struggling with getting rope coils to hang over the pins. The rope just isn't heavy enough so that it hangs naturally - pulled down by gravity. I have tried putting Elmers at the loop end and then holding it bent until it dries. The idea being one end of the coil is angled slightly. That end goes over the pin and lays on the pinrail and then angles downward at the edge of the rail. This sort of works but still doesn't look natural. Sad thing is almost all the coils are in place and I'm liking the look less and less. Would hate to have to redo them all - would be a big waste of rope. If I do I may make a mock up pinrail to hang the ropes and get them shaped before they are installed. I think they do need some glue on them so that they will hold their shape over time. Matter of fact I may head out and give that a go now. No new pix. The last ones I posted are pretty much what she still looks like. Later.....

The jig for the guns is extremely helpful. Can be painful too. I lost a lot of sleep fretting over the size of ropes, blocks, etc. I thought the size ropes speced in the plans looked a little wimpy. Almost every nite rebuilding the jig with various combinations of pieces. Took me almost a month to decide. Whatever you do with the breech ropes just remember those were big, heavy ropes. However they were hanging they would have drooped anywhere they could. This is another place where using some lacquer or Elmers to help the ropes hold shape will add a lot to the final look. The eye notices stuff like that.