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Drazen, Sorry but I cannot help myself on this one. You wrote "The yellow shade does not appear on pear wood, so, better to use pear as building material. " This is just my own opinion, but my response is "better not to use CA as a building material" Allan

Hi Dave, Welcome to MSW. Please tell us a little about yourself including where you are from. Regarding your question, I am not very familiar with French ships, but the Art of Ship Modeling by Bernard Frolich gives a little information on rigging for French vessels. Looking at the many model photos in this book, the standing rigging actually looks to be "un-tarred but he writes that, he uses two basic rigging colors in DMC cotton, dark (walnut) for standing rigging, and beige for running rigging. He does not differentiate for various years, but the book includes ships both before and after 1764. Your call in the end, but dark brown for standing rigging (not black) and tan for running should be OK. I defer to experts on rigging French vessels in this motley crew of ours at MSW. Allan

Keel to coils, superb!!! You set the bar higher than most of us can reach, but it will be fun (and frustrating) trying to do just that!! Allan

Steel (1805) and the Shipbuilder's Repository (1788) list scantlings for a 16 gun cutter, 80'6" and 80' ( Length from the forepart of the stem at the height of the hawse holes to the aft part of the sternpost at the wing transom respectively.) Unfortunately there is nothing in either on cutters smaller than 16 guns. Allan

Kurt, I need to try the soaking idea next time I use the draw plate. My only concern is that if the bamboo swells when soaked in water, after being drawn through the plate, and then dries, it will be smaller diameter than intended. Not the end of the world and surely can be accommodated for if consistent. Have you seen this as an issue? Thanks Allan

For what it's worth, the tree nail cutter attachments were pretty limited in sizes. A good draw plate, including the one from Byrnes, allows anyone to make treenails to much smaller sizes than cutters. Too often we have all seen oversized treenails on otherwise super fine models and they appear to have the measles as a result. Bamboo strips and a draw plate will give anyone the capability of making all the sizes anyone could hope for. Bamboo will go to the tiniest diameter with very little effort and will be stronger than any other wood at those super small diameters. Bamboo skewers can be split several times then taken through the draw plate to make trennail stock. One package of skewers yield many thousands of treenails. If someone wants only the appearance of treenails, not the actual strengthening they give, it is far easier to just drill appropriate size holes and use a good wood filler in an appropriate color. Allan

Gregory, Longridge is indeed clear on belaying points for a first rate of the late 18th and early 19th century, but the types of rigging are extremely different than earlier periods so I assume (which is often a mistake) belaying points will vary, especially as there were no pin rails for much of the 18th century and earlier. Druxey, if I was closer to Annapolis and could spend week or so there taking photos and sketching lines to their belaying points, that would be a super project. I do have a lot of photos of many of the models there, but I never took any with the mindset of preparing rigging drawings. Maybe this would be a good project for Grant Walker and/or the model club that meets and works in their shop :>) Same could be said for someone in Paris or Holland et al to put together something on those nations. Allan

The biggest problem for me has always been finding specifics on belaying points. Anderson gives some written details and drawings as does Lees and a few others, but these are far from complete. Before the use of belaying pins, the information is even more scarce. If there is a source of definitive information on belaying points, I would love to see it. It would be great if someone had the time to trace rigging lines on various contemporary models and prepare a complete treatice and drawings on where all the lines are belayed for various rates, nations, and time periods. Allan

YT- I agree totally with your statement "never use Cyanoacrylate adhesive in scaled ship building for anything . Period. " CUDOS!!!! Allan

Ed, When you consider the planking thickness of the decks, the wales, the diminishing strakes, bottom planking, and rails (not to mention internal planking) there can be many different thicknesses. No matter how accurate the saw, the best investment I made to be able to have proper thickness of planks is a thickness sander. A good one such as the Byrnes will allow you to produce planks at a thickness within a few thousandths accuracy. I don't know that there would be so many different thicknesses for either the Morgan or Rattlesnake, but if there are, a thickness sander is a good solution to getting what you need. Allan

As she was only 320 days from launch on May 31, 1911 to her sinking April 15, 1912, and the fact that she was a luxury liner and no doubt extremely well maintained, I very much doubt weathering would be evident. Maybe some scrapes and bruises from docking and such, but weather related wear does not seem likely to me, except for some barnacle growth below the water line. Allan

Encyclopedia of Markings and Decorations on Artillery by Mendel Peterson may have what you need. It covers multiple nations. Allan

Druxey probably knows as much or more about painting various materials than anyone here, but you may find this product interesting. It gets great reviews: https://www.amazon.com/Jacquard-Products-JAC1000-Secondary-Assorted/dp/B00A6WIW70?psc=1&SubscriptionId=AKIAINYWQL7SPW7D7JCA&tag=aboutcom02thesprucecrafts-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B00A6WIW70&ascsubtag=2578201|nb432bcfd89e84e259a00e359946186f814 Allan

I agree that Sparex works extremely well. Soldering pastes, pickling materials, and other items for small metal work can be found in many places, but Contenti has been my go to place for a long time. The pickling powder can be had for $5 for a 2.5 pound bag that will last a lifetime in this hobby of ours. I am not involved with them in any way other than beng a happy customer. Allan

Over all, the chart is a huge time saver, but always best to double check. It helped me find a couple errors that I made when preparing the mast and spar scantlings for Litchfield 1695. But be careful using the chart at http://modelshipworldforum.com/ship-model-rigging-and-sails.php as there are errors n the chart. For example, for a 4th rate between 1685 and 1699 it gives a length of the spritsail yard as 90 feet. According to Lees' Masting and Rigging for this period, the length should be 1/2 the length of the fore topmast, that is 90 feet divided by 2 = 45 feet. The sprit topsail yard is in turn 1/2 the length of the sprit sail yard, that is 22.5 feet, not 45 feet as shown on the chart. I suspect the length of the spritsail yard was taken as the same as the fore topmast by mistake rather than 1/2 the length. Also, the sprit topmast should be 17.8' long, not 12.6 feet using the Lees' calculation that it is 0.33 X the length of the main topmast for this time period. These may be the only errors in the entire data file but as always, check (measure) twice, cut once. Allan

I thought this would be an easy one to address but after speed reading appropriate sections in Seamanship Age of Sail by John Harland I found there was a lot to do in preparing and actually anchoring. In short, the anchor was dropped one at a time and the ship moved away from the anchor(s) with wind and tide until the anchor(s) bit. The number and selection of sails used when anchoring was depend on the wind conditions and direction. The hawser(s) was wrapped around the riding bitts a turn (sometimes twice) then secured once the ship pulled tight and anchor bit. I was unable to find any mention of using capstans or windlasses in anchoring. The number of anchors used could be as many as three or four, depending on wind and tide. There were different sequences used when coming to an anchorage head on with wind dead aft, coming in before the wind with the tide, coming in before the wind and against the tide, and anchoring on a lee shore, the last requiring as many as four anchors letting go first the weather sheet, then the weather bower, then the lee bower and last the lee sheet anchor. The helm was used at times to maintain the ship tight against the hawsers, and again there is no mention of using the capstans. There are about 28 pages on anchoring and mooring and there are numerous drawings showing the maneuvering in different situations in Harland's book. I am sure there are other members with more knowledge on this, but Harland is usually a reliable source of such information. Allan

Bazz A quick search and simple description shows that at the time of Trafalgar in 1805, Victory carried the following. Gundeck: Thirty Blomefield 32 pounders 9' 6" long barrel Middle gundeck: Twenty-eight 24 pounders 9' 6" long barrel Upper gundeck: Thirty 12 pounders 8' 6" long barrel Quarterdeck: Twelve 12 pounder 8' 6" long barrel Forecastle: Two 12 pounders 9' long barreland + Two 68 pounder carronade 5' 2" long barrel The carriages of the 24 and 32 pounders would be 72" long but the carriages of the 12 pounders approximately 67" long. Scaling down, the 32 pounder carriages would be 19mm long and the 12 pounders 17.7mm long. The carronade mountings are of course a different design altogether. Allan

The following may help. Note that the reef knots indicated are in fact square knots. Allan

My all time favorite for planking ships' boats is holly. When wet it is extremely flexible for bending into frames over a forming plug and works very well dry for the planking. If the boats were painted white, the wood itself will negate the need to add paint. For other pieces European box or Costello Box are both great. Just one more opinion..... Allan

Greenstone Wreaths (on English ships at least) were no longer used on new ships built from about 1703 so this ship is likely 17th century. The carvings are more ornate than would be found on ships built in the 18th century. Do you have the name of the ship in the photos? Allan

Based on photos and plans that I could find that are appropriate to French ships in the 18th century, I believe the outboard rail would be a series of permanent U-shaped stanchions called hammock cranes in which hammocks would be stowed after being rolled and passed through a measuring ring when not in use. They would be walled in with canvas or netting. Per a description from Goodwin, the English first secured the cranes with a single spike into the plank sheer but then later followed the French practice of having the bulwarks partially built up and cranes were secured to the inboard side of the bulwark rather on than on top of the plank sheer. There would be no rail at all around the waist. The inboard rail on the replica is indeed more likely to prevent lawsuits due to not following modern safety practices. The ship's boats would be hoisted over these hammock stowage rails so there was no need to make them flexible or removable. Allan

Jeffrey This may be an easy way out, and specific to one or two vessels. Zephyr 1779 (14 gun brig) drawing https://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/85176.html If you download and print the drawing you can measure the angle pretty accurately for that brig. You can compare it to Swift (8 gun brig sloop), 1783 as well. https://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/84645.html Allan

Chuck If you don't have a drawing program that you are comfortable using but you can scan the image, PM me and I maybe I can do this for you. If you prefer, the easiest thing to do is as Druxey describes. Allan

Try McMaster Carr https://www.mcmaster.com/steel-bars Allan

I assume you are silver soldering so an iron would not work, I have a block of material made for soldering at most any temperature. It is soft enough to dig into it which I have done on numerous occasions to hold a piece in place. Hard to describe in words so if my explanation is unclear, I can try to post a photo or two to give you an idea of what has worked for me. Using a wire to hold things in place does work but you would need to make sure it cannot be heated to the same temperature. Clip on an alligator clip on the piece not to be soldered and it will draw away enough heat to keep the hold down piece from being soldered. If it is still a problem, clip to the wire that is not to be soldered with a wet piece of cloth or tissue in the alligator clip as well. Allan