Jared

I have completed the standing rigging on the foremast.  The forestays have been secured to the bowsprit and jib-boom, but not yet to the hull.  It has been a learning curve for sure.  Slow exacting work with a few  difficult challenges thrown in to make things more interesting.  

Thanks for your interest and encouragement.

Thanks Rob.   I really appreciate your clear explanation of the well thought out approach you follow when rigging.  It will be very helpful as I work through the rigging challenges ahead and try to adapt your recommendations to my present state of build.  Thanks again.

Thanks Clipperfan.   A detailed article describing Rob's technique will be extremely valuable to this community.  I have about 30 books on model ship building including a several of major well known works on rigging.  These  explain in great detail and with wonderful drawings how tall ships were rigged.  However when it comes to guidance for rigging model ships,  the suggested rigging sequence is covered in one or two paragraphs with little additional explanation.  I think your article will fill a real void!

Thanks Rick.  I am sure every method if rigging will have its unique challenges.  With respect to the cross trees, GAK had a great idea for making then more robust by gluing a small brass strip underneath the fragile wooden spreaders.  I followed his method and am glad I did.

Looking forward to seeing your wonderful progress.

I fully agree.  As each new line is added my model is beginning to look more and more like something special.   I expect to complete the standing rigging on the fore mast this week.  My biggest  regret so far is installing the lower yard on the fore mast before completing the standing rigging.  I have accidently hit it so many times 🤬.

Given that my that the lower main and mizzen masts are already glued in place, I would appreciate advice as to how to best proceed from this point.   My thinking is that once the standing rigging is complete on the fore mast I should finish off this mast with yards and halliards and lifts before moving on to rigging the main mast, and subsequently, rig the mizzen mast.   Installing the yard braces to be left to the end or there abouts.  

Thanks

Been actively working on the fore topgallant mast.  While the mast was off the ship I added the standing rigging lines to the topgallant section and the lift grommets for the  toppgallant,  and royal yards.  The grommet for the topsail yard was also made, but will be added later after the standing rigging lines for the royal mast have been applied.

I simplified how I made the lift grommets (photo 1&2) using superglue instead of solder to secure the wire to the brass thimble.  Once 2 of these were made it was very simple to make the lift grommet by twisting the free end of each wire around the adjacent piece (photo 3).  The upper futtock shrouds with small bullseyes were made in a similar manner (Photo. 4)

Photo 4&5 show the present state of the rigging with the fore  topgallant shrouds.

The discussion on the previous page of this build log of the FF's bow / forcastle has been quite facinating and the research has been quite thoughtfull and eye opening.  Thanks to all of the contributors!

Thanks.  Attached is a photo of my lightning rods. 

Nice craftmanship.  For the lightning rods at the tops of the masts, I used the pins that come with new shirts.  I painted the plastic ball part with a metalic paint and cut the metal pin part to the desired length.  I glued the ball to the top of the mast with super glue.  I used a small drill to create a bit of depression at the top of the wood mast to provide a better seat for the ball.

I recently remade all of my topgallant masts out of a stronger wood than the kit's basswood due the breakage problems.  I have decided not to add the lightning to the mast tops until the rigging is complete, to minimize risking knocking them off (again).

Just completed rigging of the shrouds on the fore top mast section.  It had to be completely handmade on the ship, as the lower and topmasts had already been glued in place.

Having done this, I can more fully appreciate Rob's method of rigging the masts off-model.  I can't begin to describe how many times I bumped into the fore lower yard while tying the lanyards and ratlines.  The lower yard lifts, which had already been rigged,  also got in the way.  However, after 2 challenging days, I got it all done.  

Thanks Rick and ClipperFan.  I intend on making the gaffs and all of the other thin spars using the hardwood dowels.  Fortunately only a relatively small diameter the lower diameter spars have been made so far from the basswood so not a lot to remake.

Back at it again.  I found a speciality wood store that had a variery of hardwood dowels of diameters 1/8", 3/16", 1/4 and up.  They were labelled birch or maple.  I was easily able to remake my 3 topgallant masts by turning these on a drill and sanding away carefully and using calipers.  I glued strips of basswood to the base of each mast and sanded them to the required shape, as shown in the photo (the new fore topgallant mast) I not added the fids or top lightning rods yet.

Congratulation on your retirement Rick.   Welcome to the life of leisurology.  I look forward to seeing your continuing progress on your beautifully built Flying Fish.

Thanks for your suggestions ClipperFan.  The recent break occurred to the mast as I was rigging it off the ship, trying Rob's approach.  I think my only option if the problem continues is to bite the bullet and remake all of the thinner spars using a stronger wood like boxwood or degamme.

Thanks ClipperFan.  For now I have used super glue for the repair.  On another similar tip  break of the jibboom  superglue wasn't enough and I had to resort t epoxy which so far is doing well.  In both cases the breaks occurred in a thin area where there was a drilled hold for rigging.  If I could of I would have drilled into the wood on both sides of the break and inserted a steel pin as an internal splint.  I can tell you that it took hardly any force to cause these breaks.  I am going to try applying superglue around other fragile mast sections to strength. them in hopes of preventing such problems as I go forth.

After spending a week tracing the various standing and running rigging lines I am  back at rigging again.  I am going to adapt Rob's approach of rigging the masts and yards  off the model as best I can, as all the lower masts are already glued in place as is the fore top mast. 

I spent much of today agonizing over how to build the lift grommet for the fore skysail yard.   The first figure shows it is made of siezed rope with a thimble in each side loop.  The line is 2" rope, which at scale equates to 0.007" dia. thread.  I knew there was no way I would be able to produce it from thread.   After a lot of thought I came up with another approach using thin black wire for the rope part and thimbles made from a  thin narrow strip of brass.  The sequence and final result is shown in the photos.

I have one major criticism about this model kit abd it is the choice of fragile basswood for the masts.  As I was assembling the grommet on the thin mast the mast broke in my hand at a point where a hole had been drilled for the shysail hailiard.   I have glued it back together but still need to do more work on it to make the repair look better.

If you expand the photo I attached, you will see someone tried to repair part of the sail using a mesh fiber tape.  There is also damage on other sails, with some small pieces of sail broken off.  She is in discussion with a tall ship builder regarding repairing some of the rigging that has become loose. 

As I recall from one of the Revell tall ships I built when I was a kid, the plastic sails were supplied in the kit.   

I have a friend who inherited a fully rigged Revell plastic model of the USS Constitution from her father.  The model, made many years ago had been fitted with the kit's plastic sails.  Over the tears the sails turned yellowish and became brittle and broken.  A photo is attached.  I suspect sunlight exposure was consequential here.

Will plastic block affect the lifespan of the model?  Will they become brittle with time (20 years)?  I have read about plastic models deteriorating with age, especially if exposed to direct sunlight.   

Thank Rob.  I knew that the lower fore yard lift was going to be even more  difficult if I tried installing it after the main stay.  That us why I installed and rigged the lower fore yard and the lifts when I did.   

I am going to take a bit of a pause and think out the remaining rigging sequence to completion more carefully.  I will also consider your yard  pre-rigging suggestion.  Thank you.

The 2 things I fear most is pulling out a lift eyebolt and snapping off (again) the end tip of the bowsprit.  That is why you can see a pair of thick dowels "guards" extending from the base of my model at the bow.

Thanks Rob.  Your rigging work is impeccable.   I had to learn much of what you recommended  the hard way!    And it was painful in many ways.   When I started the lifts I quickly realized it would be impossible to rig the lower blocks to the  eyebolts that were already secured under the fife bar.  The only feasible option I could think of was to pull out the eyebolts, then attach a lower block, rig the upper block (see photo) and then, with great difficulty, reglue the eyebolt (assembly) back in place.  🤬  

As to the rest of the running rigging,  my current plan is to I limit this to the yard braces, halliards, downhauls, lifts and vangs.  

Thanks to both of you for sharing your rigging knowledge.  To clarify, the rigging sizes I have been using have been as per the kit's plans.  All rigging threads supplied in the kit or purchased as additional sizes from Model Expo were double checked for size by myself using a microscope with a micrometer.  

The particular tan thread I used for the 5" lift line was made by Mantua.  It is free of fuzz but is relatively stiff (feels like it has been starched).  This makes it harder to tighten, especially around sharp bends.   I had to be extremely carefully during tightening not to pull out the eyebolts secured to the deck under the fife rail.

For the remaining lower yard lifts I will have to use the same line to preserve a uniform look.    The upper lifts are of smaller diameters so they should be much easier to work with.

Thanks as always for your feedback and encouragement.  Much appreciated.  

I tried tightening the port side lift.  It's about as far as I can go.  I then fitted the main stay which included rigging through bullseyes and making 2 tiny cleats on the fore mast.

Your build is coming along very nicely.  Interesting historic account if the launch, especially the style of the writing.