allanyed

Clever set up with the alligator clips!! I am thinking of pre-rigging frapped running out tackles which will then be hooked to the bulwark and carriage and this is a nice little set up I might try. Thanks for sharing. Allan

Hi Christian, If you do a search here at MSW on this Ships furniture forum you will find information that may be useful. One example is

Gregory, I have never heard of installing running rigging before the standing rigging but it does sound interesting. I understand setting up blocks and lines to the spars and such before setting the spars in place and securing the running lines but that would be about it. I can see how the standing rigging might be in the way at times, but the same would hold true, even more so, if the reverse is done and the standing rigging had to go around the running rigging. Govtech, You might want to consider investing in a good "how to" rigging book such as volume IV of The Fully Framed Model. Allan

Mark, Found it, THANKS. Three decker,,,,, hmmmmm, not sure I want to tackle that kind of project at any scale. Then again....... Ah well, if I was 40 years younger with more time left than has gone by, maybe......

Welcome Bruce!!!! Before jumping into a build be sure to spend a few days or more researching here at MSW. You will get a good idea of what is involved with scratch building, kit building, or kit bashing. There are fantastic tutorials and articles on most every aspect of a build in the articles data base here. Due diligence is the key before spending your hard earned money. With 40,000 members there is what probably amounts to close to a million years of experience here at MSW to be shared with you if your own research is not getting you some of the answers you are seeking before jumping into a specific project. Allan

Welcome to MSW (I think) With a screen name like dodgy hack you have added another reason for me to fear Australia, what with the jumping , huntsman, and Sydney funnel web spiders, giant poisonous brown snakes, bull ants, dropbears, killer magpies, crocs, dingos, giant pink slugs, and the list goes on. (Yeah I know dropbears are SUPPOSEDLY a myth, but I wonder........) Hope to see you start a build log and I will be watching for any odd creatures hiding in the hull........ Allan

Have you watched the videos of the ten year San Salvador project? There may be some clues there as they did a ton of research before building the replica. I have no idea how accurate they have been but the old video here is quite interesting. There are lots of photos of this ship on the net since she was launched that show the chain plates which look like those of the 17th century. Also, there are photos of a 16th century galleon at the RMG Collections site. The model is modern (1988) but based on contemporary information. Note that one of the builders of the model was noted author James Lees. The description of the model is as follows: Scale: 1:96. A full hull model of a Spanish galleon (circa 1588). Built in the solid and plank on frame. Model is decked, equipped and fully rigged, including details such as a pair of anchors, deck gratings, flags, decoration around the stern and bulwarks, and a number of scale figures in the rigging and on deck. This model and the English equivalent (SLR0358) have been built from a design by David White, formerly of the NMM, based upon contemporary evidence and known naval architectural design. By comparison, the Spanish ships were much higher and rounded in the midship section. Spain did not possess a permanent force of sailing warships in the Atlantic before the 1570s. Twelve royal galleons built between 1568 and 1570 were deemed to small for fighting ships, and the three building programmes between 1578 and 1591 aimed to produce large ships that could carry a great deal of sail, many guns and would be able to overcome their opponents. This model represents one of the new, large galleons of the Armada period. You can get high resolution photos from RMG. Allan

Bill, Your wish has come true with several kit makers. When you are ready for your next kit, look at the logs here at MSW and study the photos closely. You will be able to see the difference between the poor quality kits and the high quality kits. This includes quality of materials, scale of parts and instructions. Allan

There are contemporary deck plans, and there are contemporary deck plans. I spotted the incredibly detailed drawings of all decks of a 60 gun British ship circa 1745 in Caruana's volume II of English Sea Ordinance of all places where he credited RMG as the source. I went to the RMG collections and found the drawing there so it is available in low resolution for free, but I am thinking I may have to go for a high res copy for future use. It is not often that I have seen deck plans with such detail. While it is specific to a fourth rate and based on the 1745 Establishment, I am sure it will be at least partially useful in many respects for other vessels and eras including a good bit of the 1719 Establishment. https://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/81698.html Allan

Just ran across a deck drawing for a 1745 Establishment ship that is incredibly detailed, much more than most contemporary drawings in that it shows every ledge as well as carlings and beams and much more. It is for a 60 gun ship, but the information is likely applicable to other sizes in that era. Caruana showed it in Volume II of English Sa Ordinance and credited RMG. I went to the RMG collections and found the drawing there so it is available in low resolution for free, but I am thinking I may have to go for a high res copy for future use. https://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/81698.html Caruana notes that this may be the Weymouth on which Murray Mungo served as a carpenter. I saw that you are checking in here at MSW Don, so I hope you see this and that it helps you. Cheers Allan

Welcome. Do we call you Sascha or Wreck or just 1919? You will be very happy you came aboard as you now have tens of thousands of helpers!!! Allan

Tony, Saw this stuff a few years ago and from what I remember it does not look anything like rope and the sizes are limited. There are dozens of sizes of rigging on a ship, but for a model usually 4 or 5 sizes of running and 3 or 4 sizes for standing rigging suffice, depending on the scale. You mention black. Keep in mind that Stockholm tar on ship rigging in the days of sail was more of a dark brown. I agree with the comment above, if at all possible get a color that you want, staining just adds another potential for a mistake. If you must stain, In addition to numerous stains and methods mentioned here at MSW there is also commercially available Stockholm pine tar which mixed with purified linseed oil makes a good stain that supposedly offers UV protection if you must stain your rope. Allan

Bill, This drawing from Lees' Masting and Rigging, page 49 may also be of some help. Note that in a lot of kits many drawings, including the one you posted, look nothing like what would be found on a real ship. You can check realistic methods in a number of books and on some builds here at MSW so you're not relegated to using erroneous kit information. Allan

Will I searched for 30 minutes for the post you referenced about Thomas Gahms with no luck. I put in Thomas Gahms in the search box and nothing came up except your own posts. The search system is not always easy to use so sorry for asking but could you post the specific URL. No doubt my lack of computer skills is the issue, but would appreciate your help none-the-less. Tx Allan

Glenn, I agree on not tree nailing for scales of 1:64 and smaller. For 1:48 and larger, it is not difficult to make trennals to scale for the hull planking using bamboo and a drawplate. (I have never been able to make them consistently to scale with any other wood species with the plate or drilling cores or other methods.) For the hull, at 1:48, a 1" to 1.25" trennal is 0.02 to 0.026" diameter which can be easily done with bamboo on a good quality draw plate. Even so, making the required 10,000 tree nails is no small task. For deck planks, a good motto might be that when in doubt leave it out. The treenails were covered and not visible, but if the model builder wants them to be seen, the scale needed even for 1:48 would be very difficult to achieve. The majority of models we see with tree nailed decks look like they have a case of the measles or chickenpox because of the scale issue. Allan

Fair price and pretty powerful program is TurboCad. All the plans for the Euryalus books that Wayne Kempson produced were done with TC. It can be used for 2D, 3D, and can produce STL drawings for 3D printers. Drawings can be saved in many formats. Allan

If and when you can provide more details on this material I for one would love to see how it goes and do some experimenting as well. There are plenty of sources for rice paper that I found but not with heat activated acrylic coatings nor can I find any information on a coating to apply myself. Perhaps matte medium such as used with silk span would work in place of the heat activated glue. Hope you can provide more info!! Thanks Eberhard Allan

Bitao Not only are you doing better, your work is better than most and I believe a lot of it is due to the fact that you take advice very well and do not accept mediocrity. Allan

Paul, LOVE your workmanship! One of the things that jumped out for me is the deck planking. So many kits have the butts alternating every other strake which never happened in reality. Yours is done correctly and VERY nicely. Cheers Allan

Derek, Totally makes sense to me👍 😀 Allan

She looks like a nice project but had me confused at first. I looked for a ship named the Duchess of Kingston and soon found there was no ship with that name. But, then I saw on a photo of the kit box it shows this was a yacht built FOR the Duchess and it is a match to the contemporary drawing at RMG. Interestingly the contemporary drawing shows a LOT of detail including something I do not recall seeing very often. It has the body plan and profile as usual but it also has a section plan at the fore part of the QD with the frames. This pic shows the chocks at the floor and futtock heads as well as internal and external planking. Nice touch for a scratch builder wanting to do a POF model. Allan

I find surgical blades to hold an edge a bit better than Xacto blades but I don't try to use them for everything because they are more prone to breakage than the Xacto blades as Greg mentions. Blades, be it Xacto, Swann Morton or similar, a razor saw, and high quaility chisels and/or knives of various sizes and shapes can be combined to handle most anything needed in our hobby. I would throw in a few Xacto or other after market saw blades such as a key hole saw blade for the tight little areas. Allan

Gregory, Thanks for the chuckle, you are man after my own heart!!! Allan

Gregory, you mentioned you found cloth with a high thread count. Can you share the source and what the actual thread count is? I have searched for appropriate scale cloth for ages with no luck. The highest thread count for fine shirts I have been able to find over the past years is 750 and this is silk and the material is not cheap. With a 750 TC, the thread is three times too large to be close to scale. Canvas has a thread count of about 50 to 100 per inch. Duck is typically about 45X35 TPI. At a scale of 1:64 the TC on the model sail would have to be 2880 per inch to match duck canvas. For 1:48 it would have to be 2,160. I have found 800 to 1200 count bedding which looks better but there is no way to sew edge or panel seams so they would be remotely close to scale. Allan

Welcome home!!!! Looking forward to your Rattlesnake build log. Allan