DelF

I was also concerned by 'waves' in the gun port pattern, but as Richard and SpyGlass said it turned out fine - see here.

I use a thin strip of fine grit sandpaper wrapped around the spar a couple times. I find the chuck then grips without damaging the wood. If I wrap it good and tight the spar usually spins reasonably true, and as I'm not using cutting tools it doesn't need to be 100% perfect.

Just wondering why you need the extension? You can handle long spars through the hole in the headstock. For convenience, I've fitted the 3-jaw chuck to replace the collets the lathe comes with which makes it easy to hold the part of the spar you want to work on close to the chuck (with thick paper or card wrapped round the spar to protect it from the jaws). If you're concerned about the tailstock, I rarely bother with mine, preferring to hold the spar with my fingers holding the sandpaper. I would never suggest that on a full-size or metal working lathe, but it is perfectly safe on the DB 250 so long as you keep fingers well away from the chuck. No different to using a power drill to shape spars, as many people do. If you've not got it, the chuck is Proxxon part 27 026:

Oh no! Another build I'm going to have to add to the to do list. I was very tempted to go for it when I read Meddo's log and seeing you build the barge will probably push me over the edge 🤪. Too many models, not enough time!

More great work, and great to see you getting so much good use out of the mill.

I really must get hold of some of that weathering powder - your barrels are the most realistic I've seen. Derek

Well done for persevering Glenn. I particularly like the realistic way you've wrapped the excess lanyard round the shrouds. One tip you might want to consider. When I've finished seizing a deadeye into a shroud and I want to trim the excess shroud, I put a small drop of very thin CA onto the shroud at the point I want to cut it and let it harden before I do so to ensure the end doesn't fray. Then, a dab of brown or burnt sienna simulates the leather cap used to protect the open end of the shroud.

I can only echo what these guys have said - outstanding work!

Ouch, I feel your pain!🥺 Another reason why it's not a good idea to make up the whole mast in one go. I did the same with Speedy, and am now finding it awkward to rig the shrouds.

Excellent work. I wish I'd followed your lead in rigging the lower masts first on my Speedy build. I followed the kit instructions and completed each mast assembly before rigging, then cursed having to seize the shrouds and stays round the mastheads in situ. I'm currently repeating the curses as I struggle with the topmast shrouds. However I must say you're brave fitting the railings on the tops at this stage. If I did that I'd be sure to break them before I'd finished rigging! Derek

Good solution Glenn - I'll try that dowel jig next time.

Thanks Sailor. The crowsfeet protected the stays from being rubbed and damaged by the lower edges of the topsails, and prevented the lower edges of the sails from getting caught up in the rims of the tops. The euphroe is just a specialised block to get the correct tension on the crowsfoot line. Somewhere earlier in the log is a discussion about the origin of the word - basically it stems from the Dutch for 'young woman'. The mind boggles

I only rigged the breech ropes on my Royal Caroline, but I admit I was more interested in appearance than historical accuracy. I agree with other folks that too much clutter can detract from other aspects of the model. Of course, real-life sailing ships were very cluttered and crews had to work hard to keep everything ship-shape, but this was a royal yacht so perhaps we can forgive them for not wanting all that rigging spoiling the guns! On my latest build, HMS Speedy, I fully rigged all 14 guns with 2mm blocks and that was an exercise in patience! Rather than go that far, you might want to consider adding some details like the triangular shot garlands shown in the AOTS book you have (see photo below). I like your swivel guns by the way, and wondered if you had also considered replacing the cannon barrels. I don't know if the kit has changed since I bought mine a long time ago, but I found that the cannon barrels were too large according to AOTS - 40mm when they should have been around 32mm. I replaced them with ones I got from the Model Dockyard (now sadly closed) and I can't remember what brand they were, but they looked much more in scale. Unfortunately it meant I also had to make my own carriages but that was an interesting little side project. This is the only picture I can find of mine (it's difficult to photograph now as it's in a case): Derek

Crowsfeet contd. Finished rigging the crowsfeet this morning. I think they've turned out reasonably well, and without pulling the stays out of line too much - to my eye at least. After they passed down through the last starboard hole in the tops, the crowsfoot lines were tied off to their adjacent loops under the rims. In the photo the spare ends of the lines are awaiting trimming. The crowsfoot tackle was tied off with a couple of half hitches below the block on the stay, and the free end seized to the stay with fly tying thread: I tried to keep the crowsfoot line in reasonable tension as I wove it through the holes in the top and the euphroe block, but that wasn't easy as the line was coated in beeswax and tended to slip back through the holes. One trick I found helpful was to pinch the line between my fingers each time I passed it through the euphroe. This imparted a sharp 'V' shape to the line which tended to hold (presumably because of the beeswax) and prevented the line slipping back through: The beeswax caused one minor problem, part of which can be seen round some of the rim holes in the previous photo. It tended to scrape off, leaving a deposit on the top and also on some of the line itself. This was easily fixed using a hot air gun on its lowest setting (a hot air gun designed for craft projects, not paint stripping!) which melted the loose beeswax back into the line and rendered it invisible. One final point worth sharing, partly to plug my favourite extra-hands tool but also to emphasise how careful you need to be when threading the line. On the foremast crowsfeet I managed to damage the line by catching it on a tool I'd carelessly left lying nearby. Needless to say you need to avoid catching the line on the ship as well - I found it very easy to snag guns, channels and other protrusions when I let my concentration slip. Anyway, I had to attach a new line to the euphroe block, and thanks to good old quadhands I was able to do this without removing the block and its tackle from the stay: And yes, I know my rigging looks a mess but that's because I don't like to finally tension up lanyards until all the relevant elements are in place and I can make sure all the forces and counterforces in the rigging are balanced, hence the spare lines all over the place. It'll all come good in the end, I hope😬 Topmast shrouds next, I think. Derek

Many thanks Glenn, Glenn, B.E., James and Theodosius for your kind comments, and for the likes. I read your Pegasus log before attempting the crowsfeet on Royal Caroline, and took note of your advice on distorting the stays. I found it impossible to avoid completely, but with care it can be mnimised. Completely agree - a fine balance to achieve but worth it for a part of the rigging I find interesting and visually attractive. I'll post a final update on the crowsfeet shortly. Derek

Crowsfeet I decided to fit these before the ship got too cluttered with yards and so forth. Crowsfeet are one of my favourite parts of the rigging - I just think they add interest and visual appeal. However they can be tricky to get right, particular problems being making sure the lines look straight and even, and that the crowsfeet don't pull the stays they are attached to out of line. The crowsfeet are identical on the fore and main masts, so I'll describe how I tackled the latter. Line For the crowsfeet themselves I used 0.1mm line. 1200mm for each mast gave me enough for the job with about 200mm to spare. I didn't want them to stand out too much, so I darkened the off-white line slightly using very dilute van dyke crystals. I found it was also very helpful to run the line through a block of beeswax, both to lay the fibres down but also to aid in pulling the line through lots of very small holes. Stiffening one end with CA was essential. Tackle I had several 2mm single blocks left over from rigging the guns and these were ideal for the crowsfeet tackle. The first job was to seize a block to the main preventer stay about six feet below the mouse - this worked out at 28mm on the model. Nothing fancy, I just tied some fine black Gutermann sewing thread round the block with a single overhand knot, applied a tiny dab of CA, then tied the thread round the stay with a reef knot and more CA, then trimmed. To handle the tiny block I dug out the little jig I used when rigging the guns: Next came the euphroe block. I did consider making my own out of boxwood as I had for Royal Caroline, but that was hard enough at 1:48 scale so in the end I decided to use the photo-etch from the kit, which I think turned out fine once blackened. The other 2mm single block for the tackle is seized to one end of the euphroe block. Before fitting the strop round the 2mm block I seized the 0.1mm tackle line to it, using brown fly tying thread: Used the jig again to tie the strop round the block: Then seized the block to the euphroe. The final job was to seize the crowsfeet line to the other end of the euphroe block, again using brown fly tying thread. Here's the completed tackle ready to fit to the model: The next picture shows the start of the rigging process, with the crowsfoot line fed down through the central hole in the top rim and the tackle set up at the lower end of the euphroe. After reeving the tackle line through the block on the stay and back up through the block on the euphroe, I fastened the running end temporarily to the stay with a half hitch. I kept tension on the tackle whilst I did this with a clip on the crowsfoot as shown. The rigging from then on was relatively straightforward but needed some concentration to get the sequence right and keep proper tension on the line. From the position shown above, the crowsfoot line goes up through the next hole to port of the central hole, from the underside of the rim, then down to the first free hole in the euphroe (ie not the one the crowsfoot line is seized to). The line goes through the euphroe from port to starboard then down through the first hole to starboard of the central hole, back up through the next hole to starboard, down to the next hole in the euphroe, and so forth. Problem If everything had worked out the sequence should have ended when the line came down through the single hole remaining on the port side, from where it would have been hitched to an adjacent loop of line under the rim. It was at this stage I realised something was amiss - I had a hole left over in the rim! A spare one on the starboard side. My understanding was that the number of holes in the rim should be twice the number in the euphroe block plus one. There are eight holes in the euphroe block so I assumed there would have been 17 in the rim; there are actually 18 in both tops. However, checking in James Lees' Masting & Rigging I found several diagrams of tops with even numbers of holes. Although Lees' description of rigging crowsfeet matches mine (his example has 11 euphroe holes and 23 rim holes) I reasoned that there must be a method that utilises an even number of holes in the rim. In the absence of any information on historical practice I decided the easiest and neatest solution would be lead the line down from the final port side hole, through the bottom hole in the euphroe (the one the 2mm block is seized to) down through the 'spare' hole on the starboard side of the rim, then hitch it to the adjacent loop under the rim. The last pictures show the stage immediately before this - ie before I'd worked out what to do! I'll post an update when I've rigged the crowsfeet on the foremast and tensioned the tackles and stays properly. Derek

Congratulations on the build, she's coming along fine. And well done on keeping such a comprehensive log. I tend to leave lanyards loose until I'm ready to tighten all the related rigging. There are so many forces and counter forces in the rigging that there's a danger that if you seize up lanyards too early in the process they will turn out to be either too tight or too loose later on. Leave the lanyards loose until everything bearing on a particular mast or yard is ready then progressively tighten everything up until all is in balance. If so, I'm a weirdo too. Seriously Glenn, you're spending so much time in the shipyard just now that a few minutes spent redoing a few lanyards will hardly signify, and you'll feel much better for it! Derek

Edward, if you stick at it and practice you'll be surprised what you can achieve. I made most of mine for Royal Caroline from boxwood rules - not all at once - just a few at a time every day or so. That way, it's surprising how many you can make over the course of a build. I've not bothered with Speedy, as the pearwood blocks in the kit option I went for are so good. Derek

Well done Eric - a lovely model. I've enjoyed following your log as you've put your own stamp on the kit. Derek

Thanks for the likes and comments, they're much appreciated as always. I won't go back to using ordinary thread for small scale stuff. Reassuring it's not just me! If anyone knows how to tie perfect ratlines, I wish they would let us into the secret. Btw, I've gone with your suggestion and painted the ship's boat.

Definitely have a go at making your own rope. I haven’t looked back since I got my Syren rope rocket.

Great to see you scratch building as much as you can Edward. If you can do such a good job with cheap pine dowel there'd be no stopping you if you tried some decent finer-grained timber. You wouldn't need that much for a few deadeyes, and you wouldn't need to paint them. . Same goes for blocks. I used to get old boxwood rulers from a second hand tool stall on the local market. He's shut during lockdown, but you can still get ones like this on ebay. Ouch! Been there, done that, so you have my sympathy. Good job wood is such a forgiving material. Derek

Here you go Glenn: Derek P.S. I can see I've got some more ratline staining to do! I started off using light-coloured line to help with visibility whilst I was rigging, then dyeing the ratlines in situ. However after a couple of goes I decided this was more trouble than it was worth and started using dark line to start with.

Many thanks as always for the 'likes' and kind comments. Ship's boat & ratlines The last internal fittings to do on the boat were the little knees on the thwarts. The kit supplies tiny pieces in pearwood, but I wanted to use box to match the thwarts. I started by shaping a piece of 2.5 X 3.5 mm box using the Proxxon mill and a selection of files to get the right profile. Then it was on to the Preac saw with the finest blade (0.010"; ).25mm) to slice off the required number of pieces: The next step was to trim the back edge of each knee to match the slope of the hull. I used a razor blade in a safety holder: The thwarts fitted: Just the rudder to fit, plus equipment such as oars, anchors and boathooks, then a final decision on painting (or not). Shrouds Meanwhile work on the lower mast rigging continues. I'll not say much about ratlines other than to confirm I'm still rubbish at them. It's not a matter of practice; even if Speedy had four masts I'm convinced the fourth's ratlines would still be just as poor as the first's. I did all the recommended stuff - ruled card behind the shrouds; complete every fifth ratline first to avoid the hourglass effect, and so forth. My problem is I just can't get the ratlines to hang naturally. No matter how hard I try I end up with some that sag too much and some that take on an 'S' shape, and others that insist on defying gravity by bending upwards, despite efforts with pva to persuade them otherwise. Here's the lower ratlines finished. I'm trying not to look too closely. Futtock staves The kit supplies 1mm brass rod for the staves but I found this tricky to lash to the shrouds. I substituted some 1mm dowel left from another job and this worked fine. Catharpins Chris suggests using line to represent the catharpins. I found it difficult to tie lines between the futtock staves. Also, there's a lot going on in a very small space and I was concerned the whole area would look very clunky if I wasn't careful. For example, on the fore mast the futtock staves are only about 10mm long. Within that space you have to make room for lashings to seize the stave to the shrouds, the catharpins to the staves, and for the four futtock shrouds to loop round the staves and seize to the shrouds. To minimise the clutter I decided to use thin brass wire for the catharpins, with loops formed in the ends that could be seized to the futtock staves with the thinnest fly tying thread. I should note that the rake of the masts limits the number of catharpins that can be fitted. I just fitted two per mast, but that was sufficient to apply the required tension to the shrouds. Futtock shrouds The kit uses 0.75mm line which I felt somewhat heavy, especially bearing in mind the point about how cluttered this space is. Lees suggests 3.5" line for 6th rate vessels, which equates to just under 0.5mm at this scale. The kit provides very nice PE hooks, to which I seized the line using black fly tying thread: That close-up surprised me, because with the naked eye that hook looks a nice dull grey metal having been treated with Brass Black. The camera seems to bring the brass colour back out, but I think I'll stick with what my eye tells me. I've just started fitting the futtock shrouds. So much work goes into the seizings I decided to make them visible (without being too obtrusive) by using brown fly tying thread: It's worth pointing out that this thread is the same diameter as a human hair. Note also the serving on the first shroud, and the stays in the top right of the photo, curtesy of my Syren serving machine. Building work on the house is about to go quiet as we wait for doors and windows to be delivered, so I'm hoping I might be able to get more time in the shipyard. In other news, I've just had my first covid jab 🙂. I suspect I must be one of the first healthy, under 70s to get the vaccine in the UK (apart from health care and other priority workers) for which I'm very grateful. Derek

Hi Eric Progress is a bit slow at the moment as we’re in the middle of some building work at home. However I’m making some progress on the rigging, and am hoping to finish the ship’s boat soon. I had intended to wait until I’d finished the lower shrouds before posting an update, but I’ll try to do a quick interim report. In the meantime I’m enjoying following your build, which is bringing back fond memories of my own pinnace last year! Derek