6ohiocav

Mike,
 
Did you notice that the 3/32 blocks are about half the size of the wheels, just like your photo.
 
Yes to the pin rails.  I did them months ago.  I also have to add the additional eyebolts, and as soon as I figure out how to color the Brittania cleats (paint or brown blackening product), I will be dressing up the bulwarks.  Then I have to work on the rudder and tiller. Then add the deck furniture. The only thing I still have to build is the capstan.  All of the rest are done waiting to be installed. Should make some significant progress in the next couple of weeks.

Long Gun Rigging
 
Before heading out for the weekend, I had the chance to construct and rig the two 9 pound long guns. Took all night.
 
My ship is now fully armed. Beware Commander Barclay!

It may only be a lake, but I can tell you from experience having been raised near Lake Erie, that it can be a beast in bad weather.  The lake is relatively shallow and when the wind picks up, you can expect high waves. There have been epic storms on the lake. Securing equipment to the deck was definitely a concern of Commodores Chauncey and Perry and their officers in the US Great Lakes fleet.

Lesson learned - don't create the quoins until you have mounted the guns.

Oh, and by the way, no matter how hard I tried, I did damage the guns, sleds, bulwarks and deck. I will have a lot of touch up painting to do, especially now that I have seen my photos.  I am amazed what the photos reveal. The worst thing was that I knocked two barrels off of the base while torqueing the breech line eyebolts into the hull. I still have to fix the stern most port gun.
 
A couple of pointers.  Make sure that the holes in the bulwarks that are accepting to eyebolts are large enough - even oversized. I opened my holes. The eye bolts have to slip in easily.  It is to hard to force them, and when you do, be prepared to do some damage when your tweezers slip off.  Even though the holes were larger, the medium CA that I used for attaching worked fine. None of the eyebolts were pulled out when I was tugging on the tackle ropes.

Thanks for the input and encouragment Mike, Joel and Brian.
 
Mike,
 
I will be making faux coils - only need about 100.  I have not exactly decided how to do it.  I have seen some great techniques on this forum.  I will be experimenting with that later this week.  I have absolutely ditched the idea of coiling the rope tails on the ship. No room.
 
I have the barrels of the guns nearly flush with the outside of the bulwarks.  I have to assume the guns would be out further when fired, but I chose this position since it gave me the best look on the tackles. If I put them out further, the gun tackles would be so short, that the blocks would essentially touch each other. Note that the two forward gun sleds are pushed farther out due to the curvature of the hull.
 
The new problem I discovered is that all of my quoins that I produced are not high enough. I built them to size based on the plans. I am wondering if perhaps my deck sits too low.  A higher deck would elevate the back of the carriages and force the guns to point a bit downward and the quoins would fit. As I look at it now, there are going to have to be much larger.  I haven't decided whether to add a piece to the existing ones, or create new ones.
 
Mike, CA,
 
On my breaching line, I actually measured it to be correct.  Before I decided on the length, I pulled a sled all the way back on the carriage, and then stretched the line through the eyes to the bulwarks.  From memory, I think that was 3 inches. There is a lot of slack on the breeching lines.  Figuring that this was a heavy rope, I have tried to press it down to drag on the deck as best I can.  I used Syren rope.  Great product.  At this size, it won't hang on its own, but if you place it to where you want, it will stay there.

Brian,
 
Thanks for the tip.  I put a drop of glue on top of the cascabel to hold the loop in place but I know I can tighten it up some. I'll give the glue mixture a try.  I need to mix some up anyway for the rope coils. 

Mike,
 
Did you notice that the 3/32 blocks are about half the size of the wheels, just like your photo.
 
Yes to the pin rails.  I did them months ago.  I also have to add the additional eyebolts, and as soon as I figure out how to color the Brittania cleats (paint or brown blackening product), I will be dressing up the bulwarks.  Then I have to work on the rudder and tiller. Then add the deck furniture. The only thing I still have to build is the capstan.  All of the rest are done waiting to be installed. Should make some significant progress in the next couple of weeks.

Long Gun Rigging
 
Before heading out for the weekend, I had the chance to construct and rig the two 9 pound long guns. Took all night.
 
My ship is now fully armed. Beware Commander Barclay!

It may only be a lake, but I can tell you from experience having been raised near Lake Erie, that it can be a beast in bad weather.  The lake is relatively shallow and when the wind picks up, you can expect high waves. There have been epic storms on the lake. Securing equipment to the deck was definitely a concern of Commodores Chauncey and Perry and their officers in the US Great Lakes fleet.

I put my nose to the grindstone and knocked out the rigging of my 18 carronades. What a challenge. The breech line was by far the most intricate. I had to seize a eye bolt on one end, then thread the line through the carriage and carronade and then seize the other end. I set up two vices to string the very short line, and did my best to wrap the seizing line. I actually got the hang of it after about 5 efforts. Then I had to install the eyebolts to the bulwark. I only broke of 2 guns off their bases. My thumbs are simply too big.
 
I still have to do the inhaul tackles, but thought I would wait until I install all of the other deck structures to make sure so that I can properly place the deck eyebolts. I have the blocks stropped and waiting. I also have to rig the two long guns. My eyes are shot, so that will have to wait.
 
Here are some photos.

Mike,
 
I just went back through my log, and as I thought, I posted a picture of a completed carronade with a quoin in post #17.  And I think I figured out my problem.  Sitting on a flat surface caused the trucks to raise the back of the gun. With the barrel level, that causes the quoin to fit snuggly.  However, that is not how the guns sit on the ship. The plank sheer where the front mounts raises the front of the carriage to offset the height of the trucks.  My carriages on the ship are about level. Heck, my deck is actually 1/16 higher already.  If I had simply laid planks on top of the bulkheads, this would actually be worse.
 
Is the planksheer to high? There is no way.  It too sits on top of the waterway and on top of the bulkheads. It can't be anywhere else.
 
Because the back of my carriages are no longer raised, the quoins simply don't fit. I never saw this coming.  More redo work.

That thing looks awesome. In fact if I didn't know how actually tiny that was, I would think that was a full size tackle. I can't wait to see how that looks on the ship.

Mike,
 
I will be interested in seeing how the frapping works out. Having handled these tackles, I suspect that it is going to be pretty difficult. I don't think doing the frapping off the ship would work, since you would have to loosen the tackle some to drop the hooks in the eyebolts and then tighten them.  Doing that while they are in place might work ok with the train tackles, since there is some room to maneuver, but the gun tackles, being tucked in tight to the gun, would be a challenge. Of course, it may be easier than making coils.

Lesson learned - don't create the quoins until you have mounted the guns.

Mike,
 
I just went back through my log, and as I thought, I posted a picture of a completed carronade with a quoin in post #17.  And I think I figured out my problem.  Sitting on a flat surface caused the trucks to raise the back of the gun. With the barrel level, that causes the quoin to fit snuggly.  However, that is not how the guns sit on the ship. The plank sheer where the front mounts raises the front of the carriage to offset the height of the trucks.  My carriages on the ship are about level. Heck, my deck is actually 1/16 higher already.  If I had simply laid planks on top of the bulkheads, this would actually be worse.
 
Is the planksheer to high? There is no way.  It too sits on top of the waterway and on top of the bulkheads. It can't be anywhere else.
 
Because the back of my carriages are no longer raised, the quoins simply don't fit. I never saw this coming.  More redo work.

Oh, and by the way, no matter how hard I tried, I did damage the guns, sleds, bulwarks and deck. I will have a lot of touch up painting to do, especially now that I have seen my photos.  I am amazed what the photos reveal. The worst thing was that I knocked two barrels off of the base while torqueing the breech line eyebolts into the hull. I still have to fix the stern most port gun.
 
A couple of pointers.  Make sure that the holes in the bulwarks that are accepting to eyebolts are large enough - even oversized. I opened my holes. The eye bolts have to slip in easily.  It is to hard to force them, and when you do, be prepared to do some damage when your tweezers slip off.  Even though the holes were larger, the medium CA that I used for attaching worked fine. None of the eyebolts were pulled out when I was tugging on the tackle ropes.

I put my nose to the grindstone and knocked out the rigging of my 18 carronades. What a challenge. The breech line was by far the most intricate. I had to seize a eye bolt on one end, then thread the line through the carriage and carronade and then seize the other end. I set up two vices to string the very short line, and did my best to wrap the seizing line. I actually got the hang of it after about 5 efforts. Then I had to install the eyebolts to the bulwark. I only broke of 2 guns off their bases. My thumbs are simply too big.
 
I still have to do the inhaul tackles, but thought I would wait until I install all of the other deck structures to make sure so that I can properly place the deck eyebolts. I have the blocks stropped and waiting. I also have to rig the two long guns. My eyes are shot, so that will have to wait.
 
Here are some photos.

That thing looks awesome. In fact if I didn't know how actually tiny that was, I would think that was a full size tackle. I can't wait to see how that looks on the ship.

I put my nose to the grindstone and knocked out the rigging of my 18 carronades. What a challenge. The breech line was by far the most intricate. I had to seize a eye bolt on one end, then thread the line through the carriage and carronade and then seize the other end. I set up two vices to string the very short line, and did my best to wrap the seizing line. I actually got the hang of it after about 5 efforts. Then I had to install the eyebolts to the bulwark. I only broke of 2 guns off their bases. My thumbs are simply too big.
 
I still have to do the inhaul tackles, but thought I would wait until I install all of the other deck structures to make sure so that I can properly place the deck eyebolts. I have the blocks stropped and waiting. I also have to rig the two long guns. My eyes are shot, so that will have to wait.
 
Here are some photos.

I put my nose to the grindstone and knocked out the rigging of my 18 carronades. What a challenge. The breech line was by far the most intricate. I had to seize a eye bolt on one end, then thread the line through the carriage and carronade and then seize the other end. I set up two vices to string the very short line, and did my best to wrap the seizing line. I actually got the hang of it after about 5 efforts. Then I had to install the eyebolts to the bulwark. I only broke of 2 guns off their bases. My thumbs are simply too big.
 
I still have to do the inhaul tackles, but thought I would wait until I install all of the other deck structures to make sure so that I can properly place the deck eyebolts. I have the blocks stropped and waiting. I also have to rig the two long guns. My eyes are shot, so that will have to wait.
 
Here are some photos.

Just opened my package from Syren.  Thanks again Chuck.
 
Back to the Shipyard for some intricate stropping and seizing. Oh Joy!

Just opened my package from Syren.  Thanks again Chuck.
 
Back to the Shipyard for some intricate stropping and seizing. Oh Joy!

I have missed more than my share as well, some mentioned on this log, but most buried in the confines of my own embarrassed mind. 
 
I believe the 3mm blocks I purchased from Syren are also listed as 1/8.  If you can handle the minuteness of these little buggers, I recommend them.  I believe the finished product is to scale and looks really good.  I am very pleased with the result. 
 
Functionally, I can see why there would be a double block instead of a single one at the ship wall. Moving these heavy carronades in and out, left and right, would be a real chore, and would warrant a heavier rigging.  The miniature double blocks also look real neat. There is no additional work, and the doubles are actually easier to handle - at least I have not dropped as many as the little singles.

This is what guided my decision to use a double block at the bulwark.