Brucealanevans

As I work on the very complex and difficult (at least for me) running rigging on my CW Morgan build, some of my standing rigging has gradually stretched, and some that I have "twanged" while trying to work in inaccessible places have slackened.
Are there any tricks for tightening a line short of snip and reattach? Doing this will not be easy or in some cases of multiple stacked stays in tops now crowded with multiple eyes, blocks, and rigging even possible.
Looking at pictures I realize the standing rigging was not uniformly taut, but I'd like to improve the appearance a bit if I can do it without causing more eyesores than I'd be addressing.
Thanks for any experience or thoughts.
Bruce

Mike
The New Bedford whaleboat (Model Shipways) was the first wood model I built (and unfortunately looked it!). The planks are pre-cut for the clinker build over a removable form. Definitely easier as far as the planking itself goes because of that, although careful glue application is necessary if the moment of truth when the hull is removed from the form is not to be traumatic.
A great model at a scale that allows a lot of fantastic detailing. You'll enjoy it.

Was interested but some of the experiences related in the amazon reviews (US) were downright scary!
Will keep using a hairdryer.

Was interested but some of the experiences related in the amazon reviews (US) were downright scary!
Will keep using a hairdryer.

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.

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.

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).

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).

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 worked on the scrap piece a bit. Experimented with removing the char, as well as getting a feeling for working with the grain. Also interested in how long the xacto blade tip stays sharp enough to remove thin shavings  -  hint; by the time I did this much, the blade needed to be changed earlier.
The work was on the two straight edges bottom and left, and the part of the curves near the lower left corner. First removing the char which worked best shaving from above at a slight angle to create a sloping side, then rounding after that.
I am getting a feel for this to a small extent.
I'm using an optivisor and would not be at all comfortable trying this only with my (old) unaided eyes with reading glasses.

I worked on the scrap piece a bit. Experimented with removing the char, as well as getting a feeling for working with the grain. Also interested in how long the xacto blade tip stays sharp enough to remove thin shavings  -  hint; by the time I did this much, the blade needed to be changed earlier.
The work was on the two straight edges bottom and left, and the part of the curves near the lower left corner. First removing the char which worked best shaving from above at a slight angle to create a sloping side, then rounding after that.
I am getting a feel for this to a small extent.
I'm using an optivisor and would not be at all comfortable trying this only with my (old) unaided eyes with reading glasses.

I worked on the scrap piece a bit. Experimented with removing the char, as well as getting a feeling for working with the grain. Also interested in how long the xacto blade tip stays sharp enough to remove thin shavings  -  hint; by the time I did this much, the blade needed to be changed earlier.
The work was on the two straight edges bottom and left, and the part of the curves near the lower left corner. First removing the char which worked best shaving from above at a slight angle to create a sloping side, then rounding after that.
I am getting a feel for this to a small extent.
I'm using an optivisor and would not be at all comfortable trying this only with my (old) unaided eyes with reading glasses.

I worked on the scrap piece a bit. Experimented with removing the char, as well as getting a feeling for working with the grain. Also interested in how long the xacto blade tip stays sharp enough to remove thin shavings  -  hint; by the time I did this much, the blade needed to be changed earlier.
The work was on the two straight edges bottom and left, and the part of the curves near the lower left corner. First removing the char which worked best shaving from above at a slight angle to create a sloping side, then rounding after that.
I am getting a feel for this to a small extent.
I'm using an optivisor and would not be at all comfortable trying this only with my (old) unaided eyes with reading glasses.

I worked on the scrap piece a bit. Experimented with removing the char, as well as getting a feeling for working with the grain. Also interested in how long the xacto blade tip stays sharp enough to remove thin shavings  -  hint; by the time I did this much, the blade needed to be changed earlier.
The work was on the two straight edges bottom and left, and the part of the curves near the lower left corner. First removing the char which worked best shaving from above at a slight angle to create a sloping side, then rounding after that.
I am getting a feel for this to a small extent.
I'm using an optivisor and would not be at all comfortable trying this only with my (old) unaided eyes with reading glasses.

At a bit of a standstill waiting for replacement mast dowels (don't ask how I could mistake rounded for squared from the plans). I realized if I wanted to have furled sails on the model, I'd need to figure out the jibs prior to rigging the forestays.
So I started researching on this site and experimenting.
Made (cut down) jibs from two thicknesses of silkspan painted with white glue/a bit of ochre paint/water after drawing the seams on one of the inside surfaces of the sandwich. The seams don't show well in the pictures, but they're appropriately understated but visible if you look. If I decide to have some of the sails only partially furled they should look good
 

 
Then after drying, turned a small seam with thread inside drawn out a the corners for attachment. Added rings  (there are 10 of them) made from black coated copper wire and mounted the whole on a block with a copper rod thru the rings to keep things aligned while I re-wetted and folded the sail.
I'm reasonably pleased with this - the package should be smaller once it's bound down. Probably about half the diameter it is at present.  I'll finish the other and mount them when I do the forestays. I think just the two.
Suspect the spanker/gaff at the mizzen might be more of a challenge.
 

 
I've made a decision to go with sails (furled) so I guess I also will be acquiring yet another display case. We're going to run out of room to put ships if I'm not careful, but given the speed with which I'm working not likely to be a problem.

I'm waiting for an order from Chuck to continue running rigging and sails on my C W Morgan, so I thought I'd give this a try.
Used glue stick to fasten carving to a cheap wood plaque my wife picked up to try some paint/stenciling on (the reverse side) and now I'm ready to go. Also fastened down the scrap piece to practice on including best way to remove the char.
Until Syren order comes, I'll play with this.

I'm waiting for an order from Chuck to continue running rigging and sails on my C W Morgan, so I thought I'd give this a try.
Used glue stick to fasten carving to a cheap wood plaque my wife picked up to try some paint/stenciling on (the reverse side) and now I'm ready to go. Also fastened down the scrap piece to practice on including best way to remove the char.
Until Syren order comes, I'll play with this.

I'm waiting for an order from Chuck to continue running rigging and sails on my C W Morgan, so I thought I'd give this a try.
Used glue stick to fasten carving to a cheap wood plaque my wife picked up to try some paint/stenciling on (the reverse side) and now I'm ready to go. Also fastened down the scrap piece to practice on including best way to remove the char.
Until Syren order comes, I'll play with this.

I'm waiting for an order from Chuck to continue running rigging and sails on my C W Morgan, so I thought I'd give this a try.
Used glue stick to fasten carving to a cheap wood plaque my wife picked up to try some paint/stenciling on (the reverse side) and now I'm ready to go. Also fastened down the scrap piece to practice on including best way to remove the char.
Until Syren order comes, I'll play with this.

I'm waiting for an order from Chuck to continue running rigging and sails on my C W Morgan, so I thought I'd give this a try.
Used glue stick to fasten carving to a cheap wood plaque my wife picked up to try some paint/stenciling on (the reverse side) and now I'm ready to go. Also fastened down the scrap piece to practice on including best way to remove the char.
Until Syren order comes, I'll play with this.

I'm waiting for an order from Chuck to continue running rigging and sails on my C W Morgan, so I thought I'd give this a try.
Used glue stick to fasten carving to a cheap wood plaque my wife picked up to try some paint/stenciling on (the reverse side) and now I'm ready to go. Also fastened down the scrap piece to practice on including best way to remove the char.
Until Syren order comes, I'll play with this.

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).