Thukydides

Model shipways also has some new blocks which are made from pear and look quite similar to the ones that Vanguard used to supply. Not as good as the Syren blocks, but they do have the smaller sizes you are looking for.

The model is looking good Chris.

Your rope work is an inspiration Johann.

It is not hard to cut the lengths. All you need is a craft knife. and to measure carefully. If you go slowly and carefully you shouldn’t have any problems. As a first time builder I can say I ran into many much harder problems than cutting scale length planks :). I would recommend you plan out the planking pattern and maybe even draw it on the false deck to assist.

You could also try a middle road and wait till after the lower shrouds and ratlines are on. They are are the main reason why you would want unimpeded access to the area. Also they are pretty strong so if you bang them a bit there is not as much risk you will cause damage unlike single lines that are going everywhere later in the build. Though I would fit the PE associated with them before doing the shrouds. Just another option

I like the modifications you are making, they do add some visual interest to the ship.

That is a fantastic display. The root ball really adds to the overall look.

You could definitely do this. There is a cheerful log somewhere (I can't remember which one now, I think the name started with a j) where they did this which might give you ideas. It would be a nice way to make your model a little unique. Back when I was thinking about doing speedy as my second build I did have some thoughts on doing something like this.

Welcome to the forums. That is a nice looking model you have there.

Great job, the flag looks really nice. You should be proud of her.

She looks fantastic BE. Another great build.

No actually there wasn't it is fairly soft and I just pushed it down and it held its shape. It is not particularly strong and I had to use some super glue to hold it in place in the eye splice. As I mentioned I am not sure I would recommend the method. If I was going to do it again I would probably use a harder plastic and heat or just go with brass. I should also say that the pictures are not of the actual thimbles I made as they were too small to really get on camera. So I cut an example thicker slice just to document the process.

Log #84: The Topgallant Yard I continue to slowly pick away at the mainmast. Things are getting really delicate now as there is so much to catch an errant hand on. I have pretty much run out of 0.25mm rope and so had to order some more. As I need this for the topsail bowlines I have two wait before I can finish up the topsail yard. In the meantime I continued to work my way up and next up were the pendant for the topgallant sheets. I had originally planned to use one of the kit provided thimbles, but when I put it on the model it looked completely out of scale so I decided to improvise. First I took a plastic tube I had on hand (I believe it came from a water balloon) and cut off a small piece. Then I used a sculpting tool to press out the sides to make a thimble. I then held these on a pin and painted them black. I cut a piece out of each to make them smaller and open on one end so they bended like a teardrop. Then I sized around them. This was quite a fiddly process and in the end I probably should have just looked harder from some metal I could do this with, but in the end I got them to look ok. Here they are on the model. Next up was the topgallant yard. This was straight forward with an eye splice that I served over to hold the yard. I used 0.25mm rope based on the steel table. The line runs through a sheave in the topgallant mast and down to the base of the mainmast. Here there was a bit of a canundrom. The kit calls for it to be attached to a 4mm double block which then is paired with a 3mm single with a hook attached to the deck (note this double plus single arrangement is also what Peterson describes). However this doesn’t make a lot of sense to me as all the other yards only have two single blocks and they are much bigger and heavier than the topgallant. Furthermore the 0.25mm line looks tiny on the 4mm block. If I had a 3mm double I probably would have used it but in the end I decided to just use two 3mm single blocks. This is also consistent with the Steel table as it only seems to list single blocks for the topgallant halliard. You can see below the upper of these two blocks. As I ran out of 0.25mm rope I can’t finish the tying off of this line until I get the extra I ordered in the mail. And here is the model in her current state. I am getting close to the end now. Just a few more lines to tie off on the mainmast and then I will be on to the bowsprit.

Maybe better to hold off on the glue till all of them are tied. That way if you need to go back and fix one it is easier. You are making good progress. Ratlines are also not my favourite part of the build.

This is true of a lot of the PE. You can make it look significantly better by filing them or in some cases glueing two pieces together to make them thicker.

What size were the carronades on the niagra? If you look at the topic linked below I posted the size of the blocks and rope and the number of them as of 1798 for the British. Now this is a little earlier than your time period, but by that 1790s it seems the mounting systems for carronades has begun to solidify so it is likely still applicable. That being said as @allanyed notes American practice may have been different. https://modelshipworld.com/topic/36354-gun-positions-and-their-associated-tackle/?do=findComment&comment=1042700

GIMP is free if anyone is looking for a Photoshop alternative. And it does most of what Photoshop does.

I only just stumbled across this build. I see you are following your usual practice for insane detail at a tiny scale. It is looking great.

Nice fix, one of the great things about wood is there is almost always a way to fix just about any problem if you are willing to put in the time.

Log #83: Tying off the Ropes Thank you to everyone for looking in and for the encouragement. I always like this stage of the build as the tying off and making rope coils goes very quickly, and so you get lots of visible progress after a long period of preparing the yard off model. I believe I have shown this before but here is my jig for making the rope coils. The top loop starts out on the pin that in the picture has nothing on it. Then once I have done a few loops I twist it and fold it over. Then I finish the hank by continuing to loop the rope and insert the end into the gap between the two loops for the cleat. Once it is done I use a dab of super glue to fix the loops together and the end of the rope in place and then give it a few blasts with the hair dryer to try and get it to stay in shape. I then slip it onto the cleat and use super glue spots to tack it into place. You can see below I have belayed the topsail lift to the mast cleat on the left and the starboard topsail sheet to the cleat on the right. Then the larboard topsail sheet was belayed to the left cleat in the below picture. The right cleat is holding the previously belayed squaresail yard. I am going to hold off on belaying the clewlines until I get the topgallant sheet lines in place so I can make sure they avoid each other. Below you can see the current state of affairs.

Great job. Your planking turned out really nice.

Log #82: The Topsail Yard Following up on the question of what to do with the bowlines I decided to go with the kit arrangement and belayed them to a double block at the bow and then to the pin rack on the windlass. These are just loosely in place so I can adjust everything once all the yards are fully in place. In the meantime I continue to work my way up the mainmast and next up is the topsail yard. This necessitated the stropping of a number of blocks. You can see below my new method for doing this. I simply serve a long length of line, use thin super glue to secure it at the appropriate length and cut to size. I then glue both ends to the back of the block forming the loop. If I am careful and do a clean cut you can barely see the line and this I have found seems to be the most secure way of doing this. Once the loop is on the block I can use the serving machine to do the seizing. I have found that I can now make the block right first time as opposed to my older methods which inevitably necessitated a number of remakes. I also made two blocks with eyesplices in the ends to be lashed to the yard. I then lashed them with a rose lashing. Now that I am starting to get the hang of them they are not that hard to do. The ends of the clew lines are secured with a timber hitch knot as per Lees. This is much less complicated than the arrangement shown in Goodwin. And with that the yard was done. For the clewlines I used 0.25mm thread and for the sheets 0.35mm. The blocks were all stropped using 0.35mm line sized with the fly tying line. The rose lashing was done with 0.2mm line as previously described. For the lift I also used 0.35mm line. All of the blocks on the topsail yard were 3mm. Ideally I would have used 2.5mm blocks for the clews, but I didn’t have any so I had to make do with the 3mm ones from the kit. I decided to hold off on the bowlines for the topsail as I found I can slip the loops on the yard easily and then pull them tight and this way I don’t have to worry about another set of ropes to snag. You can see below the yard hanging on the model. Nothing is permanently secured yet as I have clamps hanging from the falls to make sure everything stretches properly. As is my usual practice I will go back in a few days and start securing the lines one by one. I will discuss where I am belaying everything to at that time.

Fantastic, I really like your bottle builds.

Great job. You should be proud of her. Do you have plans for what you want to do next?

Looks great. One thing you can experiment with next time is putting even more blue in the shadows. If you look at icebergs in real life they look bluer in the shadowed lower portions and whiter on the top.