hollowneck

The backstays...continued. Setting-up a backstay with just one of the handy, flexible arms of my QuadHands jig. To hold the small blocks securely, I slip a smaller alligator into the jaws of a larger alligator. That's called Natural Selection!...Before I ran the block's tackle ropes I colored the boxwood block (see below). A view of the slightly cumbersome, yet extremely helpful jig that helps get tricky rigging jobs done. A close-up of the Matte Medium adhesive I use on block lashings; it sets pretty rapidly...in the background, some Syren Ship Models DIY 3 mm deadeyes. After lashing the boxwood double sheave block to the stay line I colored it with the alcohol-based ProMarker to match the ship's other blocks. Hidden amongst the deadeyes is a small (3 mm) single sheave block that has to tuck into a very tight spot for the shifting backstay tackle lines. I wish I'd mounted these when I was setting-up the deadeye shrouds... I ran out of 5 mm double sheave pear blocks. Luckily, had a small lot of boxwood ones from Syren Ship Models in my stash. These blocks are nice but require some adroit filing so that the rope will optimally nest in the grooves. Very fiddly...but the diamond flat file makes pretty fast work of prepping these guys...the outside edges of the these blocks also need to be rounded-off slightly. My diamond dust- encrusted flat file and indispensable #72 thumbdrill. More Syren Ship Model build-them-yourself, three-layer, superduper, lasered boxwood 3 mm deadeyes. Once you've assembled them (easy) and break them off their "sprues," the holes need to be opened-up, the rope recess needs filing and finally the edges need to be rounded-off, just like the square blocks. I also ran out of these small deadeyes. I needed just two more to finish-up the backstay rigging. I have no idea why I ran out. Looked all over the floor for too long. Cleaned my workbench. Checked all the little baggies one more time. I know there are two Vanguard-supplied ones lurking somewhere. I'll find them after I've prepped these and completed the stay. That's the way of the model ship builder. The thumbdriill makes yet another cameo appearance. In addition to opening the DIY deadeyes from Syren, their boxwood blocks also need their holes opened-up, especially after coloring which I suspect shrinks them ever-so-slightly and makes it impossible to get any rigging line through the sheaves. A progress photo. Main and Foremast stays completed. Mizzen stays left to do, then Voilá!...off to manufacture her 13 spars, July's task. If this Vanguard kit is your first, you can be confident that the extensive rigging plan sheets included with the kit are comprehensive and accurate. There are some nicely drawn rigging details to point in the right directions, but the numerous processes and techniques is one of the reasons you're here in the MSW forum; if you have questions about any aspect of this challenging process, the helpful answers are likely posted and explained here in Build Logs like this and in the extensive topical categories. Checking the position of the topmast for perpendicularity. My small level (like my short steel ruler) is very helpful. It's got a magnetized strip on one edge so I simply stick it on a nearby lamp so it's at-hand and doesn't get lost on my bench. The bubble knows! Checking the level of the hull BEFORE checking anywhere else, per the previous photo on checking the perpendicular alignment of a topmast. I'm confident that the placement of my level at this particular checkpoint reports an evenly balanced hull. More bubble reporting. Once the tops are level with the previously-checked stern level, the arrow points to a good sign you'll get the topmasts even when you tighten-up and secure all the mast backstays. I included these leveling photos to show the process I use for aligning and mounting all the stays. Once the multiple levels are checked, you can then visually verify that the topmasts aren't skewed to either starboard or port by looking straight-on from the bow: all the masts should align. From either side of the model, it's also important to see that you haven't over-tightened the stays; doing so will cause the topmasts and gallants to bend toward the stern at an unnatural angle. This should be pretty obvious if you've over(or under) done it. The mainmast is raked slightly to aft, the mizzen mast slightly more so whereas the foremast should be dead vertical to the waterline/foc'sle deck.

I like your simple solution for this task. I've always "eyeballed" them myself. These are always fun to affix... I mark visualised spots with a fine-tipped pencil for the mounting holes. When my wife and I were last in Scotland we had to visit the village where Clair (of STARZ Outlander series) had her foreshadowing vision. We weren't the only American fan/tourists standing next to the fountain in the square...we became huge fans of Outlander Seasons 1-4. I hope you can get the Starz app to download and catch-up!

Nice photos, B.E! This beach is gorgeous and one of the only ones in Wales where you can get into the water to swim or surf. Perhaps these are actually neolithic standing stones covered in moss. I know - The Time Lord from Doctor Who will have the answer!

There are no less than 26 mast stays on this ship. These long, heavy ropes hold and stabilize the topmasts (and topgallants). Without a doubt - for this modeler - the stays are the most challenging aspect of rigging a ship of the era. Shrouds and ratlines are tedious but pretty straightforward to achieve without too many challenges - as shown in my previous posts. This is not the case with all the mast stays. It is very easy to get the port-to-starboard tensioning of these lines wrong. If one doesn't proceed with caution on this rigging step, the masts will easily bend, or appear askew. Each stay line (again, 26 of them) risks pulling the masts out of visually acceptable side-to-side alignment. The stays exert forces on the slender topmasts that need to be carefully "balanced." To help get this aspect of rigging correct, I alternate the stays from port-to-starboard and, when possible, leave all the final alignment tensioning until both sides have their stays in-place. I find this symmetry crucial. The various blocks and deadeyes on all the stays permit selective tensioning and work identically to their real-world counterparts. Also, setting-up the control blocks and fall lines for the stays - in their very tight channel quarters - also contributes to the challenges of the late-stage standing rigging. I've started with the foremast stays; shown here is the breast backstay (on the right) and the shifting backstay. The arrows point to the unusual spots to tie-off the fall lines from each tackle block. The falls wrap around the base of each shroud deadeye at the channel boards. Each stay shown here has three (3) tackle blocks, in three descending sizes (5, 4 & 3 mm). Setting-up the tackle off the model I find is close to impossible. Some of these blocks can be set-up with a third hand clamping tool but getting the length of the lines (particularly important for side-to-side symmetry) to be evenly positioned can only be accomplished by adjusting each stay tackle in-situ, by eye and with some temporary alligator clip clamping. This view points to the three blocks necessary for the breast backstay and shifting backstay tackle lines. The breast backstay fall lines (on the right) can be seen tied-off and lying at the base of two shroud deadeyes (below the right arrow). The main tackle block for the breast backstay is a 5mm single sheave one (topmost block); the shifting backstay has a 5mm double sheave. All my blocks are pear and from either Falkonet and Syren Ship Models. I stain my rigging blocks to make them appear darker per their real world counterparts. Stay lines in progress on the foremast. The arrows point to three lines temporarily rigged. A fourth line ( the port side foremast shifting backstay) is the next up for mounting. The first stays (breaststays) have been "tensioned" so that the topmast isn't skewed sideways. The stays will get secured at the tackle blocks (and deadeyes) after all the stay lines are rigged to the respective mast. Your model must be constantly rotated during all these critical processes to view the affects of your work with these rigging processes. If you can't see what you're doing with these rope lines and how they affect the mast positions you're going to run into highly unsatisfactory results. Like the "ratlining" ("ratt'lin down") from the earlier stage, none of this work can be hurried.

Thank you, Matt. Late night rigging keeps us out of the local bars...

Hey Tom, you got that right! Spot the FLAW(s), that's all you'll ever see of your own work...unless you can deal with knowing this will be the case afterwards. As the Budweiser beer slogan a few years back reminded us: " If you poke it, you own it!" This will be a ton of work, but I'm more than halfway on changing the deck color. My photos (old iPhone) are a little too warm and the "orange hue" is much less pronounced in real life. I've judged it to look a little like teak. This shipyard has the BEST PRECIOUS TIMBER!!! Thanks for your encouragement. I'm anxious to see your next OCD project.

The "fighting tops" railing cloths (screens) have been added to all masts. I hand painted strips of bond copier paper with "crimson" acrylic, then trimmed each panel to fit its railing. The "cloths" are attached with tiny spots of matte medium to hold them in place. When dried, I laced a .1 mm rope along the wooden top rail to simulate the lacing of these cloth panels to the railings. The lacing rope is the same material as the crowsfeet rope. Aft view of the mounted cloth screens. I decided to change Camilla's deck color. It's taken me awhile to figure out how to accomplish this rather dramatic change to my model. The lighter colored decking (still visible on the midship's gun deck that I've lived with thus far in the build) just wasn't going to "cut it" for my ship's eventual diorama setting; HMS Camilla will be pursuing an enemy ship (French schooner. Who else?) on a choppy sea in the English Channel with plenty of water drama. After several test tries on leftover deck material with varying wood colors, I chose one that would simulate a slightly weathered oak deck, for a considerably darker "used" look. I chose the alcohol-based Promarker ink (Cinnamon) color, which to my eyes, did the trick. I also rubbed this alcohol stain with a pinky fingertip (where it would fit!), small cotton tip swabs as well as using a dry brush technique with a tiny 0000 lining brush to even-out the coloring and to minimize "splotchiness." I still have some delicate work left to do in a few areas to achieve a little more consistency. I didn't want to go "overboard" with this weathering approach, just enough to make my ship's deck look more realistic to better match the rest of my build's color palette; it would be very easy to over do it. Another view looking aft with my deck color change implemented. Again, the color shift to the darker oak decking is quite evident compared with the lower gundeck which still has the lighter color that I initially used on all the decking of the model. My strong overhead shop lighting emphasizes the uneven coloring on the gangway in the foreground. It isn't this obvious when the model is out from under the intense light where the decking doesn't appear quite as "orange" colored. To similarly colorize the gundeck to match the upper deck's new color, I'll temporarily remove the boat and the three skids for better access. I'll use the same tiny brushes, mini cotton swabs and the Promarker tips to carefully apply the alcohol stain into the many nooks n' crannies per previous: this is going to take awhile to get right - and a challenge I wasn't anticipating at this late stage! I wish I'd made this decking color decision much earlier - of course - since it would have been considerably easier to accomplish. Once all the decking has been color-finessed, I'll get back to some interim rigging: mounting the breast stays. I will then warm-up my Ibex finger plane and Proxxon mini-lathe for shaping the spars...

Thanks B.E. & Theodosius. Progress at this point is measured in very incremental steps, slow and steady as she goes. I just ordered some needed materials for sailmaking and creating diorama water...having these on a shelf to stare at gives me additional incentive to plow forward - not that I dislike these final rigging stages. Another somewhat tedious but important mini-project (before making sails and "bending" them to their spars) is crafting a few dozen rope coils. I'm saving the painting of Chris' included superbly sculpted 3D resin figure for last: for my build, it's Camilla's beloved Captain Pennypincher, who - when after all the sails are bent and unfurled - has told his crew they'll get an extra ration of grog.

Thanks druxey for the kind words! Now I can go to bed and have restful, no anxiety sleep...

Back to Rigging. Shop time in the summer months slows waaaaaaay down for me. However, it doesn't disappear! An update on tools, materials and a little technique on one of the final stages of Camilla's standing rigging. The ratlines need trimming after some minor adjustments to the shrouds. All three masts now have their crowsfeet. Tying-off the ratlines to the futtock shrouds; tricky business tying-off clove hitches in these tight spots. A pair of fine tipped tweezers are essential for this work. After making final adjustments to each ratline I apply a tiny dab of Liquitex Matte Medium to each and every clove hitch "joint." As an adhesive, it dries within a few minutes and when dry is transparent and as the name suggests, matte. This is a better solution than applying CA or aliphatic glue. Over time, these rope knots can slacken and droop, randomly, depending upon the tension one initially applied. It's worth the additional time to take this final step after all the hours invested in this repetitive task. After the joints have dried, I use my tweezers and favorite pair of embroidery scissors to trim off the excess rope ends. The rope I used for the shrouds (Ropes of Scale, an NRG sponsor) is dark brown .7 & .8 mm. The ratlines are made from Ropes of Scale . 25 mm dark brown rope. These sizes present a good approximation of the relative rope sizes used on these ships. In this photo, it appears as though I'm snipping the thick main preventer stay, which I assure you I am not!! My tweezers is pulling an excess ratline end taut so I can more easily snip it off with needle-nosed scissors. A Tip: When doing this tedious, repetitive work, set a time limit for yourself. For me, this is not more than 3-4 hours maximum in a build session. I've found that if you spend too much time doing this critical work, you'll tend to get lax on the details. The "ratt'lin down" task can be a little "Zen-like"- a monotony of tying-off endless loops of tiny thread (rope) can almost put one in a trance-like state. That's when things can go South quickly if you don't check your work! And the clock. Take a break. In fact, I took a whole week between the main and the mizzen rat-lining! Some builders use a paper guide for adding ratlines. I "eyeball" my lines with frequent caliper checks on their spacing and also check that my side-to-side intervals are nearly identical as this symmetry is important. Note: Our visual acuity is very unforgiving when looking at objects in a horizontal plane that are the tiniest amount askew. Ratlines need to be level to the deck and consistent across the entire width of the shroud; this fact is especially true on the topmast rigging, which are the most difficult ratlines to execute cleanly. The next step for my build - before I get to mounting backstays and fashioning Camilla's many spars - is to make some cloth "screens" for all the top railings. I'll use regular bond copier paper for these, painted in an appealing crimson color. I'll lace each to the railings while I still have decent access before the breast and backstays are added. I've done a little research on the "cloths" in Lee's, their purpose and with some further advice from member druxey, I've decided to add these. Some of the period models I've seen in various museums show these on fully-rigged English warship models. On past models I mounted fine netting across the top railings. This model, something a little different.

This is the Sweet Spot, Daniel. Welcome. Friendly, expert help and answers to just about anything you can think of about ship modeling!

I don't think the count will matter unless it is a BESPOKE model...🤣

Clever B.E., this may be the worst (reverse) pun I've heard this year! How can Ms. B.E. possibly be "on your case?" Nice choices on the channel knees and deadeyes. Both hues/wood choices suit perfectly with your build.

Keep that pinky finger away from sandpaper or your MAC will remain locked forever!

Love the bench towel. So far, no apparent signs of blood, the true sign of an artisté...

This was a difficult decision for me too, deciding what to do with the fit of this decorative piece. I decided to "trim-off" a piece of the fretwork and mortise it against the top rail - as shown in the manual. I've noted that your approach aligned it nicely but the compromise was an awkward slope to the roof tiling. Here is a pic of how I approached this area. I also used a section of flat Evergreen styrene for my HMS Camilla capping rail and it worked a treat; I'm glad you also decided to paint it black. The ochre didn't look good to my eye either as this contrasting color interrupted the clean, continuous line of the black capping alongside the quarterdeck. I have a new aphorism for us detailed-obsessed ship modelers: Macro Never Lies...or, if you're feeling very satisfied, take a macro photo and see if you still feel the same way about your work. Your model is looking superb, B.E. Captain Barnacle must be pleased! Your hand painted transoms was such a good decision.

I believe Indy's main topgallant mast would get entangled with the crystal chandeliers at the Watton's residence.

...don't tell anybody but I kinda like rigging....I hope to finish rigging by the end of July. As the Plague recedes, Summer beckons!

Beautiful work.

These puzzled me too. The large "hoop"- as well as the symmetry - is certainly something not intended for running rigging. I'll bet you're correct on these serving as crutches for a boom used for emergency jury-rigging broken rudder steerage.

Details, m'Lord, mere details.

Nice detail. the slotted entry for the rope makes really good sense!

Very interesting and clever...a mold to align and hold ribs. But I'll need to buy a load of those precision clamps!😆

You've read my mind, Chris: the transatlantic telepathic distance presents no hindrance! For HMS Camilla, I'm planning on having one (1) superb, miniature Lord Cochrane placed on her Quarterdeck - and no others on board - this, a departure from including a small complement of crew figures on my diorama models. As you've suggested, having a single figure is adequate to show scale and admittedly, this is experimental on my part. If, at the end of the day, if it looks "goofy", inappropriate, I'll figure-out a way to add some more crew figures(pun intended). We'll see what presents itself when HMS Indy exits the shipyards in a year or two...should a Vanguard gun crew magically appear in the next few months, all bets are off! One gun crew = five (5) sailors X 64 guns = 320! Gulp.

Psych!🤯...easily TWICE. Oh well, creative license by film directors.. should I build this one with sails I'm planning on having a separate room to display her! (if one browses through my history of builds below, most of them are displayed in my home, so I am truly fortunate to have SPACE..."The Final Frontier...") Not bragging, just thankful.