Loracs

Greeting all, I tried the roband hitch... I must say that I'm having a hard time with it. My issue is that I end up with an ugly square knot. I have a hard time with it and hate the look locally. In addition, it is taking me forever at each knot. I'm considering going back to the first method, less accurate for the period and type of ship, but easier for me. I'm thinking of a slightly different method that may look better once done. Back to the testing phase. This is the drawback with beginner. Not having it done before, you can't really anticipate issues/difficulties. Efficiency/speed go down the drain really fast... this is a necessary learning curve, I guess.

oh dam... reading your post and few others... you are right: one break and the sail fall apart. Not a good approach for warship. Furthermore, I like to incorporate a realistic approach to build as much as I can (except for decoration, where I take some liberties). Ok, I only have the two very small ones done. Let me do the roband hitch... will need to figure out the knot, first. I see that you have a short tutorial with the Golden Hind. Thanks for the comment... a nice early catch. BTW I like how you sowed the rope around the sail. That will be my next time.

Attaching Sails: I chose two of the smallest pieces as examples, so you can get a more detailed look. I'm not set up to sew the sails. So I use alternatives. First the edges are reinforced by cutting and gluing a small 3 mm fabric. I used fabric glue, which remains flexible after drying. The glue further strengthens the edge... a nice bonus since you can sew the tread very close to the edge without ripping the fabric. The vertical sewing lines are just painted in using "Posca" pen 0.7mm. I had a hard time deciding between ivory and beige.... I settled on the first. The paint seeped into the fabric and can be seen on both sides. Finally, I sew the sail on the spar using a single tread. You can see the details on both sides in the pictures.

Last stretch home... before adding the sails.

Attaching Blocks: Not a huge update, but some may be curious about how I attached the blocks to the spars. Obviously, this is pretty basic for most of you... but I like documenting the build process in general. Basically, the pictures illustrate the steps. One thing to be careful of in the early steps is to have the sizing smug but lightly. With a serving rope, the sizing will lock in place otherwise. You still need to pull the ends of the rope to tighten the block and later to the spar. One end to tighten one loop, the other for the second. Experiment a little first. Once done, you can then "lock" everything down very well by pulling on the sizing, lock in place by adding a tiny drop of CA glue. This is zoomed in 3x. The block is 2.5mm. The is 0.35mm initially, likely 0.5mm after serving.

ok, I came across a small delay. I build, shaped and added the blocks to the spars few months ago... before starting the standing rigging. One thing I learned since (thanks Kirill4 for that) is that most of the blocks were set to spars and masts, even other fixtures using served lines. The reason THEN was to strengthen the rope in point of friction for durability. So, for realism, it is good to do that. However, there is a practical reason for modeler: When you fix in place small blocks to spars... the block's rope remains somewhat flexible (i.e. it can stretch a little). The problem is that we (or I) cut the block rope pretty close for esthetic. Adding CA glue to the end help keep it in place but the serving can still move a little under "stress" and the knot loosen. Sometime, even fall apart. Using a served rope for fixing blocks as two advantages: 1) serving harden significantly the rope, so it does not stretch much, 2) the serving act as grooves for the sizing, so there is far more resistance to pull and tug. Lastly, when serving a rope, I add a very thin layer of fabric glue to the rope using a toothpick. Thin enough so it is only under the serving and does not spill to the outside. It further helps to limit stretching, and help getting a clean serving that stay together when the rope is cut. Summary: I decided to cut and redo the blocks on the spars. Just guess how much pain having to redo a block that fall apart AFTER you have the spar set on the ship with ropes all around... not fun. FAR BETTTER to deal with it ahead of time. A small set back... but a mistake I won't be doing again.

Thank you both... really appreciate. ;_)

Ok... I keep changing my mind. I don't like a full sail display because it covers too much overall. However, although I like furled sails... the material is too thick to have a good roll. I may have found a middle ground that I will test later (need to attach the sails to the spar first): Display the model with sails set semi-furled as set when drying the sails. Saw a couple pictures and I think it worth a try.

a simplier version... maybe a little more elegant?

Furling top main sails: I cannot find much information about furling sails. Tried a few folding approaches (hopefully I will remember this one hehe!)... this one seems close. Am I on the right track? This is using the full sail (the one above top left). I don't really want to shorten them since they are all done now. This is only a test piece, please don't mind the ties (too big and wrong color), am just wondering about the overall shape? Let me know what you think?

Ratlines DONE!. My My that was tedious. Took several months, mainly because I just could not bring myself to do it. But the edge of starting a new ship motivates me to finish this one first. 1250 clove knots later... completed. Saw several approaches to the ratlines. For me, it was the simplest: a) tweeter and scissor, of course. b) a popsicle stick to adjust spacing as I go, c) a level to parallel to the water, and finally d) patience, a lot of it. This allowed me to easily reach behind to make the clove knots. Next step, more rigging and the sails. They were already made a few months ago.

Ratlines really up close.

@Knocklouder LOL LOL

Hello Kirill4, fantastic pictures. I did not know that the lanyard/shroud color. Great information. Not sure I can fix easily now. About the ratlines, at this scale 1:64, I'm using only 3-ply treats - the smallest I have. I did want to be very thin.

Stand: It is time to get back to "The Revenge" after some time off building a Greek bireme. It's difficult to come back since I left off with only a fifth of the ratlines done. I have to say that this is not my preferred activity... by far. For a change of pace, and to work with wood again, I decided to tackle the stand. Got some pretty wood pieces and got to work. I want a solid and heavy base for such a large ship. The bulk is handmade using a simple design, incorporating a few pieces from the kit. I may not do another update until the ratlines are done... which will take a while. In addition there are the coming holidays. Here it is, the stand: Note: I am having still few additional transversals with the ship picture. Forgot, those are extra for later if i ever need them final (not glue).

Thanks a lot all... now I need a good set of tutorials for blender, maybe one focusing on model ship modeling... but that may be a lot to ask. The learning curve seen very step though.

On this topic, any good reference on modeling ship with CAD software. I'm an utterly beginner planning to try using FreeCAD/blender, both of which I never really used. They are freeware and quite comprehensive though.

Thank you GrandpaPhil, always fun building a new ship.

I really like to keep the wood color... often going out of my way to try to model only with it. Thanks for the compliment, appreciate all. Indeed, a lot trickier than I initially thought. You need to be very patient with this one. I almost give up a couple times.

Final update: Completed the build by adding a few accessories and temporary rigging. I'm not sure if I will be adding the 42 paddles. Let's say that the ship was "converted" into a transport and/or reconnaissance ship. This little ship will travel with me at Christmas as a gift. Will set up the final rigging then. Hope you enjoy. It's always fun to do those weekly updates. Short term, I will be returning to "The Revenge" to complete the build with the addition of the sails.

Greek eyes: Just a small update... had little time this week. Build the greek eyes with pearwood left over from another kit.

Deck: The deck is finally completed. The kit supplies little to build the floor-doors. I designed it a little differently. First, the frame is built using T-shaped strips (2x2 mm strips glued over a 3.25mm strips). This creates the little space around the doors that I was looking to achieve, as well as a recessed layout. Metal RAM: the copper is starting to oxidize slowly, which is a little bit more realistic. That's all for this week.

Bow: I finally completed the bow. Added some copper to simulate metal. Very shiny now but will tarnish brown/greenish soon enough. That's pretty much it. CA stain gave me quite some problems here, a reminder to be more careful while planking. Worse to fix than to use sparingly.

The caulking is just perfect like this... well done. With the length of time it takes to complete a ship, it often almost irresistible to have a peak at the final result. I time, I even finish a section if I know there is no more work to be done. Fantastic deck, well worth the time. New tools!!! come on... I don't have those, please stop teasing!! Hehe 🤩

Hull: closing the gap, a little more, done! I really like the mix and match color pattern. A beauty in its own right. Dozens of color variations. This is the advantage of planking at 15-20' length or 10-12 cm/plank. Stern: only a few words can truly summarize the experience: Holy @#$@@ #$#$#@@@!! Special mention: the Ultimation slicer is really worth it. Accurate and reproducible cuts. The blade is so sharp... and stays sharp. I'm really liking it. For me, it was worth the price if you are planning on multiple ships. Who among us is not!