dunnock

I’ve been working on a few different parts to Speedy over the last 10 days or so, trying to get to a more ordered approach to the remaining rigging. First I decided it was time to finish rigging the remaining yards and spars. I have largely followed the plans but made rope (instead of brass PE) stirrups using 0.45mm rope. The horses are also made from 0.45mm. They look a bit untidy at the moment but this will be sorted out with some matt varnish and small weights at the end. Next I finished the boat cradles by adding 2mm pear strip cut from spare sheets to lift the boat above the hatch coamings. The boat is lashed to the cradles and is then removed while rigging proceeds. I have added the tackles to the main stay while access to the centre line is still relatively free. The tackle above the main hatch is made from a long block seized to 0.45mm pendant. The falls are 0.25mm with a single 3mm block and hook. The forward hatch tackle siezes directly to the stay and uses the same set up for the fall. They will belay to wherever is convenient when all the other ropes are in place. I made life difficult by not adding the long lift blocks before fitting the lower mast caps. Thankfully neither masts nor caps are glued so I was able to lift the caps off to make them more accessible. The blocks are seized to a long strop of 0.4mm and clove-hitched around the cap. Getting the length of the strops right takes a bit of fiddling and would have been better to have done it earlier before setting the topmasts. In a similar vein, I ought to have fitted the jeer blocks before now. Again it’s tricky getting the strops to the correct length. It’s made slightly easier by using false splices so the lengths of each part can be adjusted in situ before using a dab of CA to fix. The blocks hang from the cleats on the mast head crossing to the opposite side of the mast. With the lift and jeer blocks in place, I can continue adding the rigging that runs down the centre line. The jeers are first and I used 0.35mm rope, a little heavier than specified in the plan but nearer to the 2 ½” rope given by Steel. They are tied off at the bitts For the lifts I used 0.25mm rope spliced to the yard arm and then run through the blocks and down to the forward belay rack for each mast. I’m continuing with the leech and buntlines using 0.2mm line. Since I'm not adding sails, I have knotted the ends before threading them through the yard blocks. Threading the lines through the blocks under the tops is a fiddly job being so crowded together but after a few attempts I get there. When both sides of the yard are threaded I will run them down to be tied off once again at the bitts. Will there be enough room I wonder? Thanks for looking in and for the continuing likes and useful comments David

Thanks to all for the likes and to @Thukydides and @TBlack for comments and feedback. I've reworked the preventer stays, reducing the size of the mouse and using a fabric from a pair of tights to cover them which is less bulky than self-adhesive fabric strapping. I have used 0.45mm rope for the stay. I'm happier with the reworked preventer stays but now I'm not so sure about the stays. David

Hi Daniel, I have tried using fly-tying thread for siezings before but not for serving. I struggled with it because I couldn't control the static and the filaments were always flying apart. What is the meaning of the 10/0 specification? I'm not adding sails but I will add running rigging following references from Lees, Petersson and others ... including buntlines. As for where to belay them, on Diana they were tied off at the rails but from Chris's rigging plan, I think they attach at the bitts which will become pretty crowded so we shall see. David

Topmast Stays and Preventer Stays I made a mouse for each stay from some 2mm dowel first drilling a hole for the stay, shaping one end, cutting off 4mm from the dowel and then shaping the other end. The dowel is covered in fabric strapping. The stays are made from 0.45mm rope served to 20mm below the position of the mouse. The preventer stays are 0.35mm rope which I decided was too fine to serve. Once set up and on reflection, I think that the mouse is oversized and it may have been better to use unserved 0.45mm rope for the preventer stay which would still give sufficient differential in size between stay and preventer stay. I may yet change the preventer stay and mouse. In the meantime I’ve finished the ratlines on the topmast shrouds and finished off the backstays. David

Thanks Al. I'm sure that you'll enjoy building Speedy. It makes a fine model and there is scope to make it your own.

I like your Idea Richard and may follow. I'm not sure that I could trust myself to make a clean cut of the excess plank below the wale. David

Great build and log with lots of useful tips and ideas I'll be interested to see the results of your CA and Superphatic tests BE David

Supplies from Canada and Czech Republic arrived so quickly that I didn’t get time to begin Harpy, although work on Speedy, did involve the Harpy kit. I decided the wooden cutter was no longer salvageable. Instead I’ve raided Harpy’s box and made up the 3D printed version. I made up the boat cradles from the Speedy kit and have hit a snag. It maybe an unforeseen consequence of adding rounding to the hatch coamings but the cutter rests on the ledges rather than the cradles. It wouldn’t do for Cochrane to be banging is head every time he came on deck so I’ll have to cut some new ones to make the boat sit above the hatches. With new supplies of rope and blocks, I can continue with the rigging. Topmast backstays are added using 0.45mm rope. The shifting backstays are also completed using 0.45mm rope for the pendants and 0.25mm for the falls. It wasn’t clear to me where they belayed but I have used the nearest convenient belay pin. The falls are not fixed so they can be moved if necessary. I'll add ratlines, finish lanyards and trim ropes once the topmast stays are completed so it's on with those now. The likes are much appreciated and thanks for looking in. David

I had begun to fit the booms before Daniel’s @Thukydides tip on fitting the topmast shrouds next and as I couldn’t see any reason not to, I finished fitting the lifts and halliards. I have fitted the pendants for the vangs but not completed the falls. I was unsure where the peak hallliard should belay. For the moment I’ve tied to the aft starboard shroud. I now turned to the topmast shrouds. As for the lower shrouds, the forwardmost shroud is fully served and the others to about 4ft, scale 18mm below the halfway point. I used 0.45mm dark brown rope.. The shrouds were set up with deadeyes in the usual way. I thought 0.1mm looked a bit thin for the lanyards. According to Steel they are 2” corresponding to 0.25mm. Next up are the stays and backstays but I failed to order enough of the finer brown rope from RoS so I can add the ratlines, futtock staves, catharpins and sister block but then I will wait for new supplies. The good news is that meanwhile, the Master of the Shipyard has ordered a start on Harpy and thanks to all the blogs already on MSW @Blue Ensign, @Glenn-UK and @Richard44, there is some great advice and tips that I will benefit from. 😊 David

An excellent result Walter on these delicate little boats. David

Thanks for the heads up Daniel. For some reason, I'm finding it difficult to put together a plan for rigging Speedy so I will follow your advice and move to the topmast shrouds before continuing with the yards. If I find that they are getting in the way I can unrig them as they're not glued in. David

I’ve been working on the lower yards. I’m a bit short of the smaller diameter ropes from RoS so I’ve used 0.4mm Gutterman thread for most of the strops. While the yards are not fixed to the masts, I thought it easier to add the ropes for the jeers. The plans do not show any yard tackle pendants but I assume that they must have been present. I used 0.7 mm rope and 7mm long tackle blocks. They will eventually be rigged with falls and hooked to the futtock shrouds. I prefer the look of rope stirrups rather than the PE brass ones supplied. They are made from 0.35mm rope. An eye is spliced in the lower end and the other end attached to the yards with three wraps and then glued. The eye hangs 15mm below the top of the yard. The horses are 0.45mm rope and are first to go onto the yardarm, followed by the yard tackle pendant, the combined sheet and lift blocks and finally the brace pendant. The yards are pinned to the mast but not glued. I thought I would see if I could hold them in place using only the trusses. I may come to regret this but for now, with the falls in place, it seems to work. The I want to continue with the running rigging of the lower yards as far as possible but it occurred to me that it might be worth adding the driver boom and gaff while the main mast is still accessible. David

Sorry to hear about your health problems. Hope you're on the way to recovery and can get back to Sparkler in the spring David

Well done Rob - a lovely result. David

I’ve been making progress on the yards. The octagonal sections for the lower and topmast yards were marked, roughly cut with minature chisel and then sanded to finish. I find it pretty difficult trying to get even sides to my octagons starting from round dowel. I think that next time I will try harder to find some square section. Smaller sizes are readily available but anything above 6mm seems more difficult to come by. After finishing the octagonal sections, the tapering is done in the lathe. I followed the plan sheets’ dimensions in most cases. Having cleaned down the lathe and all the dust, I assembled the yards for this photo and then realised that I had only made 4 stuns’l booms and need another 4. I also need to make two boomkins so the lathe will have to come out again. But first I’ll finish dressing the yards. The gaff and boom jaws needed a bit of tweaking. I first cut them in two and filed a groove along the inner edges to fit around the booms and glued them in place. I sanded in a lot more taper to the jaws and then rounded off the edges. They were finished off with three ‘iron’ bands cut from black card. All the yards and booms are painted matt black ready to start adding the blocks. Thanks for the likes and for looking in David