Brucealanevans

I just finished the ratboards for the first level of the masts. Dozens of boards and hundreds of knots. A tedious job I had to break up to an hour or so a day, so took a long time. I also inexplicably installed the main shroud ratboards on one side with the "free" shroud aft rather than forward - of course I didn't notice until I was putting the LAST on one. After some bad words, I had a long job picking off the securely knotted and glued ratboards without ruining the shrouds which would have been VERY difficult to replace.
At any rate finally done. Looks OK but looking at the close up picture below a bit untidy. Still looking way up at perfection! Never pays to look too close.
Thanks for the likes and kind words.
After a few days break will start on the next level of masting. Back to another tedious job - serving the lines for shrouds.

The lower topsail is now up and rigged except for the braces which I'll add later (like the Lower main yard).
It turns out the hardest thing is tying off the lines, especially on the pins that are along the sides - they're hard to get to, I'm working at a distance, and I simply can't make the nice loops to tie them off authentically and pretty. Hopefully rope coils will hide a multitude of ugly ties.
The next yard up will also have the sail set, and the top sail will be furled.
I'm not fitting the fifth yard since as far as I can tell that was not rigged when two lookout stations were fitted.
The good news is each successive yard moving up is less complicated.
(Until I get to the foremast lower yard).

Er ....

Maybe not today. One of my blocks was wrong and the topsail sheet - a combination of chain and rope - was more fiddly than anticipated. Got those done and the stirrups up. Run some lines tomorrow and up she goes.

Well I began working on the spars, starting with the lower main yard.
Oof - I was afraid I'd really hit the wall on this one. Where you look at the plans and what you've already put together and what you've mounted and say to self "how in the world am I going to be able to do that?"
Lessons learned in working slowly past that low point:
 
Look at the plans again and again and again. Note everywhere there is a block attached and do it with the spar in hand so that a nice seized end is possible. I ended up with too many ugly tie in place knots.
 
Look at the plans again and again to make certain every eyebolt is in place while the area is accessible. If it's going to be hard to get to tie a loop of line through it for later. When I was building the mast I saw that the eyebolt for the chain from which the yard hangs was going to be poorly accessible due to the cheeks so I put a loop of line through it and was able to tie the end of the chain to it using that line when the yard was mounted. It would have been better to attach a length of chain to it right away before mounting.
 
For blocks that will be hard to get to - and maybe for all blocks - go ahead and measure and put the final line through them before mounting. You will end up with a nest of lines to manage but the alternative of trying to get the line through the blocks when things are mounted is, at least for me, extremely difficult. I have snapped off and repaired 4 (!) davits while rigging this yard because of this. I'm gradually learning to be very aware of how I withdraw my arms/hands and tweezers from a tight place after rigging something. When mounting blocks to eyes either before or after confounding bits of construction, remember to check carefully whether the block needs to have the "origin" line stropped to it. I had to remove a couple of blocks are re-rig them because I missed this.
 
I've rigged a furled sail for this yard and didn't leave "ears" that were quite long enough. This reduced the visual prettiness of the main sheets.
 
Aside from that a couple of challenges of the model itself:
 
The chain block (attaches to the underside of the yard and passes the upper main yard's sheets from a sheave on the ends of the main lower yard down towards the deck for belaying) in the kit is a simple piece of solid metal. I couldn't do anything with that so I had to fabricate one that would not only pass the chains but allow them to be adjusted. Unfortunately my skill level is not such that I was able to do this in scale so the chain blocks for the main and fore lower yards are too big. Oh well, looks OK to me.
 
The lower mainsail sheet passes through a sheave in the hull outside to inside and ties off to a pin that is nearly inaccessible due to the shelter roof. It goes up to the block at the corner of the sail - on the yard in my furled sail - and back down to an eye on the rail near the sheave. There would be no way for me to adjust and tighten this line at the belaying pin. Using a right angle forceps with tiny remove action jaws I was able to snag a loop onto the underside of the pin and twist it over the top and pull it tight with a tweezer. Then I rigged the line "in reverse" and will adjust and tighten it at the eyebolt which is accessible.
 
None of the lines have been tied off yet. There are so many with partially opposed actions that adjusting them is going to be a bit of a challenge. I just finished the last line - the main yard lifts - this morning and I think I'll let things sit for a day or two before I tied them all off.
 
Overall this one yard has been much more work and anxiety than I had ever anticipated. Hopefully with lessons learned the next one will be easier. I'm going to have one or two upper sails set on the main and fore masts - we'll see how that works. There is a barely accessible eye just under the main top for a block that is part of the lower foremast brace. I'm already concerned about being able to rig that without further destruction.
 
I'm using silkspan painted with dilute yellow woodglue and a bit of ochre paint after drawing the panel seams with a sharp white pencil. I fold the seams around a line (about 3 mm overlap) and glue them with fabric glue while drawing out a small loop at each corner and tying it off.
 
This kit is much more of a challenge than I expected when starting it. I'm learning a lot to apply to my next build if I ever finish this one.

I've finished the running rigging for the Mizzen. Thought it was nearly perfect until I snapped the boom lines with a wandering elbow while tying off the final jackspar lift line. The repair is OK, but the nice symmetry and nice tight lines I had prior are, well, not so perfect now.
Earlier, I had notice that I forgot to install the cleats on the inside rim of the aft rail that needed to go on before the hurricane house was roofed. I had just stuck them on the top of the rail but every time I looked at the aft view it irritated me as the two cleats pretty much obstructed the view into the hurricane house showing the wheel, the lifesaver, and other details.
I finally just cut them off to force myself to figure out a way to glue them to the inside edge of the rail through the small opening. I ended up putting a pin head into the base of two wooden cleats, drilling small holes through the rail from the outside, and after covering the pin with medium CA guiding them into the hole from the inside with an angled tweezer, then turning them 90 degrees before the glue set. Not perfect, but better than before especially once the boom lines were tied off to those cleats.
 
I put in all the lines to handle the spanker, including head and foot uphauls/outhauls and downhauls/inhauls, as well as the brails for gathering the sail into its current configuration. Since I am not setting the gaff sail I simplified the rigging there.
 
Next I'll start on the mainmast yards completing them off the ship. Will have to figure out how and to what level of detail to handle the sail rigging since they all will have furled sails. I may take a bit of a break to put together my HobbyZone shipyard building board for a change of pace and to get ready for the next ship.
 
Current plan when running rigging is complete is to add the cutting stage which will complete the model except for the whaleboats. I'll likely start the next ship then (probably Grenado) and work on the whaleboats on and off at that time. I don't want them to detract from the model so I don't think I want to sit down and make all 7 without something else to work on to keep from rushing the repetitive work involved.
 
Here are a few pictures.                                                                 -

Finished hoisting the Main Topgallant yard (sail furled) and all the attendant running rigging except for the braces.
Now I put the ship up and away, and begin working on the foremast yards. Hopefully the experience of the main yards and the trouble spots due to not recognizing things best done before anything is mounted will stand me in good stead, as this will be essentially a repeat of the mainmast yards. I will repeat the same mixture of set and furled sails on the foremast.
For simplicity sake and my sanity, I have not set/rigged for the staysails. Apparently the main staysails were often not set, but I probably should have set the mizzen staysails - will, however, leave well enough alone.
Learning a lot, and rigging my next full ship - likely Grenado - will hopefully benefit from the experience.

A stressful and disappointing morning in the shipyard ....
All I had to do today was tie off two topsail clew lines and add a couple blocks and the static lift.
Unfortunately, tying off the two lines was very difficult due, again, to access to the belay points. In manipulating a 6" tweezers through a maze of obstacles, I managed to tie them off at the cost of breaking off a couple of lower main yard blocks when putting unintentional pressure on the main lower yard and "plucking" several foremast stays to the extent that they are now slack. Very unsightly.
I repaired the broken ties to the blocks and restrung things, but lost the perfect 90 degree placement of all the yards whose lines are already tensioned and tied off. I still don't know exactly what I'm going to do about the stretched and slack fore-stays, but I think I'm going to have to walk away for a few days. I was hoping to get the last top-gallant yard up before taking a break, but that's not going to happen.
Ups and Downs; lots of "next time I'll do it THAT way", etc.

I wish I had done this, Maze of ropes and spars is right.

Rob
My Morgan (build log in progress) is the first fully rigged ship I've attempted. Been working on it for 3 years. With more time now that I'm retired (I'm 67). The end of the running rigging is in sight!
It is a challenging build with a lot of scratch work but I've learned a lot, and if the result is not contest worthy it (so far) is certainly "living room" worthy and I love just looking at it. I'm glad I took the challenge. Have fun and consult John's (texxn5) build log and his website at.charleswmorganmodel.com. Saved me multiple times.from errors.
Bruce

Thanks all for the pointers.
There is much I will do differently on my second fully rigged ship based on this feedback and my experience.
The main problem I have with the Morgan is the relative inaccessibility of the majority of the belay points making tying any kind of secure knot without glue an impossibility at least for me. Unfortunately I glued the pins in (what WAS I thinking?).
Oh well, the first build is an education.

Thanks all for the pointers.
There is much I will do differently on my second fully rigged ship based on this feedback and my experience.
The main problem I have with the Morgan is the relative inaccessibility of the majority of the belay points making tying any kind of secure knot without glue an impossibility at least for me. Unfortunately I glued the pins in (what WAS I thinking?).
Oh well, the first build is an education.

Thanks all for the pointers.
There is much I will do differently on my second fully rigged ship based on this feedback and my experience.
The main problem I have with the Morgan is the relative inaccessibility of the majority of the belay points making tying any kind of secure knot without glue an impossibility at least for me. Unfortunately I glued the pins in (what WAS I thinking?).
Oh well, the first build is an education.

Thanks all for the pointers.
There is much I will do differently on my second fully rigged ship based on this feedback and my experience.
The main problem I have with the Morgan is the relative inaccessibility of the majority of the belay points making tying any kind of secure knot without glue an impossibility at least for me. Unfortunately I glued the pins in (what WAS I thinking?).
Oh well, the first build is an education.

Finished hoisting the Main Topgallant yard (sail furled) and all the attendant running rigging except for the braces.
Now I put the ship up and away, and begin working on the foremast yards. Hopefully the experience of the main yards and the trouble spots due to not recognizing things best done before anything is mounted will stand me in good stead, as this will be essentially a repeat of the mainmast yards. I will repeat the same mixture of set and furled sails on the foremast.
For simplicity sake and my sanity, I have not set/rigged for the staysails. Apparently the main staysails were often not set, but I probably should have set the mizzen staysails - will, however, leave well enough alone.
Learning a lot, and rigging my next full ship - likely Grenado - will hopefully benefit from the experience.

The lower topsail is now up and rigged except for the braces which I'll add later (like the Lower main yard).
It turns out the hardest thing is tying off the lines, especially on the pins that are along the sides - they're hard to get to, I'm working at a distance, and I simply can't make the nice loops to tie them off authentically and pretty. Hopefully rope coils will hide a multitude of ugly ties.
The next yard up will also have the sail set, and the top sail will be furled.
I'm not fitting the fifth yard since as far as I can tell that was not rigged when two lookout stations were fitted.
The good news is each successive yard moving up is less complicated.
(Until I get to the foremast lower yard).

Finished hoisting the Main Topgallant yard (sail furled) and all the attendant running rigging except for the braces.
Now I put the ship up and away, and begin working on the foremast yards. Hopefully the experience of the main yards and the trouble spots due to not recognizing things best done before anything is mounted will stand me in good stead, as this will be essentially a repeat of the mainmast yards. I will repeat the same mixture of set and furled sails on the foremast.
For simplicity sake and my sanity, I have not set/rigged for the staysails. Apparently the main staysails were often not set, but I probably should have set the mizzen staysails - will, however, leave well enough alone.
Learning a lot, and rigging my next full ship - likely Grenado - will hopefully benefit from the experience.

A stressful and disappointing morning in the shipyard ....
All I had to do today was tie off two topsail clew lines and add a couple blocks and the static lift.
Unfortunately, tying off the two lines was very difficult due, again, to access to the belay points. In manipulating a 6" tweezers through a maze of obstacles, I managed to tie them off at the cost of breaking off a couple of lower main yard blocks when putting unintentional pressure on the main lower yard and "plucking" several foremast stays to the extent that they are now slack. Very unsightly.
I repaired the broken ties to the blocks and restrung things, but lost the perfect 90 degree placement of all the yards whose lines are already tensioned and tied off. I still don't know exactly what I'm going to do about the stretched and slack fore-stays, but I think I'm going to have to walk away for a few days. I was hoping to get the last top-gallant yard up before taking a break, but that's not going to happen.
Ups and Downs; lots of "next time I'll do it THAT way", etc.

A stressful and disappointing morning in the shipyard ....
All I had to do today was tie off two topsail clew lines and add a couple blocks and the static lift.
Unfortunately, tying off the two lines was very difficult due, again, to access to the belay points. In manipulating a 6" tweezers through a maze of obstacles, I managed to tie them off at the cost of breaking off a couple of lower main yard blocks when putting unintentional pressure on the main lower yard and "plucking" several foremast stays to the extent that they are now slack. Very unsightly.
I repaired the broken ties to the blocks and restrung things, but lost the perfect 90 degree placement of all the yards whose lines are already tensioned and tied off. I still don't know exactly what I'm going to do about the stretched and slack fore-stays, but I think I'm going to have to walk away for a few days. I was hoping to get the last top-gallant yard up before taking a break, but that's not going to happen.
Ups and Downs; lots of "next time I'll do it THAT way", etc.

Finished hoisting the Main Topgallant yard (sail furled) and all the attendant running rigging except for the braces.
Now I put the ship up and away, and begin working on the foremast yards. Hopefully the experience of the main yards and the trouble spots due to not recognizing things best done before anything is mounted will stand me in good stead, as this will be essentially a repeat of the mainmast yards. I will repeat the same mixture of set and furled sails on the foremast.
For simplicity sake and my sanity, I have not set/rigged for the staysails. Apparently the main staysails were often not set, but I probably should have set the mizzen staysails - will, however, leave well enough alone.
Learning a lot, and rigging my next full ship - likely Grenado - will hopefully benefit from the experience.

A stressful and disappointing morning in the shipyard ....
All I had to do today was tie off two topsail clew lines and add a couple blocks and the static lift.
Unfortunately, tying off the two lines was very difficult due, again, to access to the belay points. In manipulating a 6" tweezers through a maze of obstacles, I managed to tie them off at the cost of breaking off a couple of lower main yard blocks when putting unintentional pressure on the main lower yard and "plucking" several foremast stays to the extent that they are now slack. Very unsightly.
I repaired the broken ties to the blocks and restrung things, but lost the perfect 90 degree placement of all the yards whose lines are already tensioned and tied off. I still don't know exactly what I'm going to do about the stretched and slack fore-stays, but I think I'm going to have to walk away for a few days. I was hoping to get the last top-gallant yard up before taking a break, but that's not going to happen.
Ups and Downs; lots of "next time I'll do it THAT way", etc.

Finished hoisting the Main Topgallant yard (sail furled) and all the attendant running rigging except for the braces.
Now I put the ship up and away, and begin working on the foremast yards. Hopefully the experience of the main yards and the trouble spots due to not recognizing things best done before anything is mounted will stand me in good stead, as this will be essentially a repeat of the mainmast yards. I will repeat the same mixture of set and furled sails on the foremast.
For simplicity sake and my sanity, I have not set/rigged for the staysails. Apparently the main staysails were often not set, but I probably should have set the mizzen staysails - will, however, leave well enough alone.
Learning a lot, and rigging my next full ship - likely Grenado - will hopefully benefit from the experience.

Finished hoisting the Main Topgallant yard (sail furled) and all the attendant running rigging except for the braces.
Now I put the ship up and away, and begin working on the foremast yards. Hopefully the experience of the main yards and the trouble spots due to not recognizing things best done before anything is mounted will stand me in good stead, as this will be essentially a repeat of the mainmast yards. I will repeat the same mixture of set and furled sails on the foremast.
For simplicity sake and my sanity, I have not set/rigged for the staysails. Apparently the main staysails were often not set, but I probably should have set the mizzen staysails - will, however, leave well enough alone.
Learning a lot, and rigging my next full ship - likely Grenado - will hopefully benefit from the experience.

A stressful and disappointing morning in the shipyard ....
All I had to do today was tie off two topsail clew lines and add a couple blocks and the static lift.
Unfortunately, tying off the two lines was very difficult due, again, to access to the belay points. In manipulating a 6" tweezers through a maze of obstacles, I managed to tie them off at the cost of breaking off a couple of lower main yard blocks when putting unintentional pressure on the main lower yard and "plucking" several foremast stays to the extent that they are now slack. Very unsightly.
I repaired the broken ties to the blocks and restrung things, but lost the perfect 90 degree placement of all the yards whose lines are already tensioned and tied off. I still don't know exactly what I'm going to do about the stretched and slack fore-stays, but I think I'm going to have to walk away for a few days. I was hoping to get the last top-gallant yard up before taking a break, but that's not going to happen.
Ups and Downs; lots of "next time I'll do it THAT way", etc.

Finished hoisting the Main Topgallant yard (sail furled) and all the attendant running rigging except for the braces.
Now I put the ship up and away, and begin working on the foremast yards. Hopefully the experience of the main yards and the trouble spots due to not recognizing things best done before anything is mounted will stand me in good stead, as this will be essentially a repeat of the mainmast yards. I will repeat the same mixture of set and furled sails on the foremast.
For simplicity sake and my sanity, I have not set/rigged for the staysails. Apparently the main staysails were often not set, but I probably should have set the mizzen staysails - will, however, leave well enough alone.
Learning a lot, and rigging my next full ship - likely Grenado - will hopefully benefit from the experience.

Finished hoisting the Main Topgallant yard (sail furled) and all the attendant running rigging except for the braces.
Now I put the ship up and away, and begin working on the foremast yards. Hopefully the experience of the main yards and the trouble spots due to not recognizing things best done before anything is mounted will stand me in good stead, as this will be essentially a repeat of the mainmast yards. I will repeat the same mixture of set and furled sails on the foremast.
For simplicity sake and my sanity, I have not set/rigged for the staysails. Apparently the main staysails were often not set, but I probably should have set the mizzen staysails - will, however, leave well enough alone.
Learning a lot, and rigging my next full ship - likely Grenado - will hopefully benefit from the experience.