BenD

Cleaning these ships is a real pain in the behind. It requires lots of gentle brushing and damp cotton swabs. Riggin line can catch dust and never really get clean.

I got a custom case from https://www.acrylicjob.com/ and it has looked great for years and keeps my HMC Sherbourne dust free.

The rigging cord you used was probably Cotton. Moisture will make it sag. Did it rain near you recently? Also Cotton will relax/loosen after rigging so It needs to be rigged fairly tight.

Another culprit could be that some of your siezings got loose.

Well done so far! I love it when people use bright gold on the decorations. 

Welcome to the wooden model addiction club!

Found this gem about the HMS Warrior. I visited her back in 2014 along with the Victory, both incredible ships.

This isn't some easy kit to copy that has 6 bulkheads and a hand full of pre cut parts + White metal castings. I bet they would try though...

7 minutes ago, Gregory said:

The original posts seems to be talking about using it off the spool for rigging line.

I have seen some yarns out there that do have a decent rope like texture but they are honestly only marginally better looking than kit "Rope". Then there would be the trouble of finding all the sizes one would need.

I've tried Crochet yarn before and it doesn't make the best rope. The DMC stuff in the smaller sizes is ok but good luck finding some of that. 

Gutermann Skala makes perfect fuzzless rope. Colors 464 tan and 696 Dark brown can be found on Wawak.com 

Another amazing thread to use is Gutermann E thread. It is hard to find so I order it directly from A&E. I plan on making it available for sale on my website hopefully soon. shipping this stuff is going to be costly... If can be found on https://www.toko-kurzwaren.de/ but it can take over a month for them to ship it to you. That site also sells Serafil thread in all sizes and colors.

If you look on Crafty Sailor you will find the MK blocks range from 2mm - 7mm. They are missing 6mm blocks but you can find that size at https://vanguardmodels.co.uk/

I do plan on making them myself someday. If I can make them quickly with the help of a CNC machine I will sell them on my site. I also wonder if they can be 3D printed with Dark brown resin and look decent. 

1 hour ago, glbarlow said:

CA is fine used properly for some rigging, just not on rat lines. I’m really not sore why a horse hoof would be detached from a horse, let alone why you’d put it on a stove. 

You can make glue out of Horse hooves. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoof_glue

Greetings everyone,

I've been asked a few times about dealing with the shine on my Polyester rope. My answer every time is that they use diluted matt varnish after rigging. Why after you might wonder? After using varnish the glue will no longer seep into the rope and stay at the surface making weaker knots and seizing's. I've done some testing and was surprised to find that thin CA and even diluted PVA will permeate into the core of this rope.

As you see below the untreated sample is on the left and the varnished sample is on the right. From left to right we have Black, Dark Brown, Tan, and Light Beige. Vallejo Matt Acrylic Varnish was used and two coats were applied. One coat was enough as the second didn't make a noticeable change. The dilution was 1/2 water and 1/2 varnish. It was very easy and quick to apply.

This picture was taken under bright desk lamps. Direct lighting really brings out the shine.

The picture below was taken with natural light coming through a window.

The Dark Brown has the most change compared to the rest. Not only was the shine removed but it made it darker and more like the standing rigging I've seen on ships that use traditional Stockholm Tar.

Another bonus for using Acrylic Varnish is that it will give some UV protection. This is especially important for people placing their models close to a window.

What a massive heap of parts! Do you have enough space on the work bench for this beast?

I've added Black and Light Beige cable-laid rope to my shop. They range from 1.1mm to 3.8mm like the last ones. As usual they are sold by the meter. The next product to be worked on is left-hand/S-laid variants for Black and Dark Brown.

For those of you that didn't see @James H did a great review of some of my Polyester ropes. Check it out here > product review / Rope and cable - various sizes - Ropes of Scale 

https://ropesofscale.com/products/polyester-black-cable-laid-rope

https://ropesofscale.com/products/polyester-light-beige-cable-laid-rope

Looking good!

The 2.4mm cable does look better for this large frigate. 

3 hours ago, allanyed said:

Does the kit explain about gain on the planks as they approach the bow where they would  not overlap at all.  The video episode 2 shows some gain but he does not really explain about it.

 

Thanks

Allan

The kit has the planks pay on each other like the fist picture in that diagram. Difficult to add detail like that on a kit even at 1/24th scale.

WOW that is a huge ship! The Sphinx is so small beside this. The Inde has a quite a bit of width also, definitely has the bones of a ship of the line.  

The planking is done and the hull is off the planking jig. Somehow I managed to glue some of the jig onto the hull but it eventually all came loose. Now it might be time for some wipe on poly!

I think I'm getting the hang of my new camera. The photo editing software that came with the camera was also really decent. It's easy to white balance and sharpen up the images.

4 minutes ago, starlight said:

For the benefit of a newbie such as myself, could you or @BenD go over the advantages/disadvantages of synthetic rope over cotton?

Cotton is a more traditional material for rigging and it does have a decent texture and no sheen. It does however have the dreaded fuzz that needs to be dealt with. I do treat the cotton with PH neutral PVA to help reduce it. 

Gutermann E Polyester makes perfect scale rope but it has one drawback... Shine. Watered down Matt Polyethene varnish does fix that and it's fairly easy to apply after rigging. It's mostly the black and dark brown rope that need it. 

6 minutes ago, Keith Black said:

As all the cotton needs to be replaced why not go poly?

The cotton has a more rough and rustic look to it that might fit the look of the model better. The choice is entirely up to calt4 of course. 

5 minutes ago, Keith Black said:

Ben, do you only use cotton? What are your feeling about polyester?

I have both in my inventory. The polyester is superior in strength and in looks, It's a bit shiny but that is easily fixed with some diluted Matt polyurethane varnish.

Cotton will fit in better with a restoration like this I think.

@calt4 I'm still waiting for the samples you sent. I think my cotton rope will probably be the best choice. If not I have lot's of thread at my disposal. 

This will be quite a lot of work to restore. I'll be following your progress for sure!

I found Another video about rope making. This time it's some old timer Spaniards in the countryside making cordage. It shows the processing starting with the hemp fibers to the final product.

There are subtitles for this video, I don't know how accurate they are...

Shipping costs are a problem. I've been using Oversize letter-mail in Canada with success for around $2-$3. A tracked parcel in Canada is over $20... For US and international Canada post has decent rates with untracked air-mail usually for under $10 -200g. If I get a very small order I have been able to sneak them in regular letter-mail without issue. I only sell rope so I don't use boxes or have to ship things weighing in pounds so that keeps it cheap and easy.

https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-66309 Some photos of a Cruiser class ship. You can see the gallows' with the capstan between them.

I'm at the same stage on my HMS Snake, It's pretty much the same kit with a few changes. 

For the deck you will want a light coat of Matt polyurethane. You don't want to darken it anymore than it is. Decks were regularly holystoned and would be a quite bright color. 

The copper plates will need some CA remover for the seepage spots. After that you may want to polish it all so they can all age evenly. Probably best to leave it honestly as it looks ok.

What do the cannons look like? If they are cast white metal you might want to get some resin ones or turned brass.