Thukydides

I have accumulated a few over the years. Some get used more than others. I just buy them as I have a use for them and over the years you accumulate a lot as apart from a few colours I rarely run out as I use them in such small amounts. Also the top shelf is made up of every additive under the sun which tend to come in large bottles and I use them by the drop:).

welcome aboard

I like the modification you added to the mast cap.

Yes it is surprisingly big now. Part of the reason I originally was trying to delay attaching the bowsprit was for that very reason. But given all the trouble I had with the bowsprit it is probably the way to go. I am to the point in the build where no matter what I do I am going to have restricted access. I try to keep it towards the back of the desk but yes I am a bit worried I will catch it at some point.

Thanks @Glenn-UK and @AJohnson. The glue set and so I took a quick shot of the whole thing now that the dimensions of alert are mostly set.

Log #64: The Bowsprit As I discussed in my last post, I decided that I needed to do the bowsprit next before I proceeded with any more rigging. As you will see this is another lesson in “it would have been much easier if I had planned ahead”. First step was to make the bowsprit itself. This was done in the same manner as the other spars with my drill. I decided to paint the end red as I liked the look of that better than the black suggested by the kit. This was done in a similar manner to previous painting. I highlighted the sides towards the bottom, the top I left largely one bright colour with some less pronounced highlights towards the inboard end and the edges. You can see a progress picture below after I had blocked in the main highlights before I started glazing to smooth the transitions. I also decided to rework a lot of the ironwork as in many cases the kit version didn’t really match Goodwin and also at times looked a bit flimsy. These were made using scrap from the kit PE. The eyebolts you see below that were attached to the rings were the ringbolts from the kit PE with the attaching point not cut off so I could insert them into a hole. For securing the bowsprit I scratch built using the edges of the thicker PE sheet from the kit. You can see it below compared to the kit version. After blackening you can see the result. I also drilled a simulated sheeve into the end of the bowsprit as per the Goodwin arrangement. For securing the bowsprit I first attached the plate. And then I attached the rest. Notice all the damaged belaying pins. The whole process of drilling the holes for the iron bars to secure the bowsprit was fraught with problems. At one point I completely broke the whole assembly and had to reattach everything and in many cases add some paint touches to hide the damage. It would have been much easier if I had planned for all this from the beginning. In the picture you can see me gluing the ring to the plate. I have a clamp holding the laniards away as I don’t want to get glue on them accidentally.

Despite the bubbles I think she looks really good. You can’t really see them from the top. Epoxy can be quite frustrating at times.

Great job, it looks really good.

Ya I was thinking something along those lines, but I was wondering if anyone had any definitive answers as to what the practice was. I have been considering rigging the mizzen on alert, just as something a bit different.

I haven't gotten to this point, but one thing I have seen people do is super glue the end of the line in place and then make the rope Hank separately and put it over the glued line.

Beautiful work

That is very kind of you, I will definitely send you a short list (I just have to whittle it down first :))

How are you finding them 7 months later? How close do you need to be to stay in focus? The build is looking really good :).

Very nice. I always appreciate some good research. I am jealous of your ability to go visit the archives. All my research is restricted to descriptions of the items or what happens to be digitized being located across the pond.

I had the same problem. Goodwin gave a length for the breach ropes which was too long for the size of the ship. Though I discovered this after the first two so I had less to redo. Great work

It is looking really good.

Thank you, though it is only tidy when I take pictures 😄. When I am in the middle of rigging the desk very quickly becomes a mess of reference books, tools and supplies.

Log #63: Rigging the Preventer Stay Thank you to everyone who has stopped by and commented and given encouragement. With the Mainstay done, I moved on to looking at the Preventer Stay. Here there is even more variety than with the Mainstay. Goodwin depicts Alert with two closed hearts. The odd thing about his depiction of this arrangement is that the line connecting the heart to the stem is thinner than the preventer stay. This does not make a lot of sense to me as it is a single line and so why have a heavier line at other parts when the thinner one will be the weak point. The Hawk model simply depicts the preventer stay attaching to the stem using a single thimble. The science museum model shows the preventer stay below the mainstay or possibly this is another line and there is no preventer stay. The kit goes with two thimble sized together and Chuck’s Cheerful has no preventer stay. When it comes to other builds on MSW, most have gone with the kit arrangement, but Blue Ensign decided to go with the Goodwin arrangement using the closed hearts. This latter arrangement consistent with Goodwin is what I decided to go with in the end. In this case I don’t really have a good reason for picking this over the others apart from I liked the look of it the best. The one change from Goodwin I made as to use the same 0.8mm cable for the section attached to the stem as I felt this made more logical sense than using a lighter line. If I was being strictly correct I should probably have had a metal bit inside the served loop that attaches to the stem. However, I felt it wouldn’t really be visible and so I just stuck with serving the area. I also made a small adjustment to the masthead as I was having problems with the stays slipping down. I added an eyebolt just above the last of the pendants to keep the stay from slipping down the mast. Even if not strictly correct it is barely noticable. And with that the main standing rigging is done. In my previous log I mentioned that I was planning on next adjusting the tension on all the lines, but looking at a few other logs and thinking some more I think that I first need to get the bowsprit on the model. This may just be me trying to procrastinate on the ratlines :), but as much as I have enjoyed the rigging, it is very fiddly work and I like the idea of doing a slightly different type of task for a bit. Thanks for stopping by and here is a shot of the current status of things.

Log #62: Rigging the Mainstay Having finished the last halliard pendant it was time to move on to assembling the next stage of the mast. However, at this point I noticed an inconsistency in Goodwin which I want to briefly discuss. The following is a diagram I have been using to organize how I went about ordering the mast head, but there is an issue with block number 26. This is referred to as the foresail halliard, but in all other places in the book, the foresail halliard block is sized to the mainstay, not to the masthead. Additionally it appears to me that the Hawk model follows the sizing to the mainstay convention. I have assumed that this was just an error on Goodwin’s part and plan to size the foresail halliard to the mainstay (this is also how the kit instructions say to do it). Next up was attaching the cheeks (I think that is what they are called). These were glued and clamped in place and left to dry overnight. Then on to the mainstay. There seem to be two possible ways to turn the stay in the deadeye. First there is the method used by the Kingfisher model and that is the one recommended by the kit. This was also chosen by Chuck for his Cheerful model and most models of Alert I have seen appear to go with this method. The second is to wrap the stay back down around the deadeye and size it there. This is the method used in Goodwin and on the Hawk model. I decided to go with the later method as I went with the Hawk arrangement for the running backstays so I might as well go with the theme. Most other models I have seen use the kit arrangement so this allows me to do something a little different. I sized it using the 0.2mm line Ben custom made for me. So with that the mainstay is attached. Next up is the preventer stay and then I will have to go through all the standing rigging to adjust the tension and secure it in place.

Ah I understand. So I much prefer the look of actually cutting the planks into their proper lengths, but I can't answer for you what you prefer. I would say that it is not much extra work so if you prefer the look, I would recommend going for it.

So what I mean by not bending up is essentially it is too long. It should terminate a bit earlier, I would guess right at the beginning of the notch. I have drawn in red on your picture what I would guess it should be. In terms of the lengths I don't think it matters that much for the first layer. The process is the same you just do it on a smaller scale.

Good progress. It is hard to tell from the photo but you garboard plank may rise a little too much up the stem. It should essentially run straight to meet the stem not curve up on it or you will have trouble fitting all the planks in and the run of them won't look quite right. Not a big deal for the first layer, but as this is your first major build you really want to use the first layer as practice for the second. I don't have a good picture of my first planking on alert, but see the below link for the post on the second planking in which you can clearly see the garboard.

Great job. Congrats on an excellent model.

Log #61: Shroud Batons & Running Backstays With the shrouds secured I decided to add the shroud batons before too many other ropes end up making everything difficult to manipulate. To make them I cut off two 40mm lengths of the leftover pearwood thin strips used for the molding and sanded them until they were smooth. Then I gave them a quick coat of WOP. I attached them to the shrouds using clove hitch knots and gave them a coat of varnish to hold them. You may notice that I have not trimmed the ends of the thread yet. This is because it is possible that when I am doing the final tension on the standing rigging there is always the chance the tension may cause the baton to shift slightly. If this happens I don’t want to have to reattach each knot and so with the longer ends I can just pull it tight again if it releases. Once everything is finalized I can cut them short and bend them behind to secure them. I have also been slowly adding to the ropes at the top of the mast. I mentioned in my last log that I had the pendant for the gaff done. For this I used 0.6mm line sized with 10/0 fly tying thread. For the block I followed the kit arrangement and used a 4mm double block. I also got the first of the pendants for the halliards finished. This also used 0.6mm line sized with 10/0 fly tying thread. For the block I used a 3.5mm block (3mm ones recommended in the kit seemed too small). I had wanted to use 4mm single blocks for this, but I was unable to find any (due to these blocks being made in Russia, they are hard to come by these days). I also have completed work on the running backstays. For this I decided to go with a single tackle option for the folowing reasons: It is consistent with the arrangement on the Hawk model. This model is dated to around the time of Alert. Now there was likely a significant variation on cutter rigging, but I figured this was at least a reasonable choice. I liked the look of it better than the double tackle option such as on the Kingfisher model detailed in Peterson. If choosing between two equally valid options, I tend to go with what I aesthetically like. It is less work than the the double tackle option. I used 0.5mm rope to run from the fiddle block through the pendant and secured it to the hull using one of the Syren large hooks. For the tackle I used 0.45mm rope and a 3.5mm single block. Again here I would have liked to use a 4mm block, but I had to make do with what I had. Up next, I need to add 2 more pendants and then I will be able to start assembling the mast and move on to the mainstay and preventer stay.

The faring looks good to my eye, but if you haven't already you might want to use some thinner batons to test that everything lies flat. Not faring properly was one of the errors I made and it caused me lots of grief later on.