DelF

Making your own is the only sensible way to go on this side of the pond. There doesn't seem to be a local source of ready made wop, and imported brands like Minwax are ridiculously expensive - over £30 per pint. I still tend to prefer shellac.

Superb work Glenn - very precise carpentry.

I just found out yesterday that I've got a thyroid cyst, although not large enough (yet?) to require removal, so I shall keep my fingers crossed for you and hope you have a swift recovery.

Hi Sjors This reminds me of the discussion you and I had in my Speedy log about the origin of the word euphroe, and how to spell it. All I know is, your English is a lot better than my Dutch! Derek

Glad to hear you've "only" got the flu! Get well soon. Derek

Thanks as always for the kind comments and likes - much appreciated 🙂. Starting the shrouds Moving on from the bowsprit I decided to make a start on the fore shrouds. As I've said before, I'm regretting my earlier decision to glue the complete masts together, which prevents me making up the shrouds off the model and just slipping them over the masthead. I'm following @VTHokiEE(Tim)'s advice and rigging the shrouds on the masts before fitting the masts to the ship. I've decided to serve the shrouds where appropriate and so dug out my trusty Serve-o-matic from Syren. The centre of each shroud pair would have been served for about eight feet either side of the centre point, ensuring that the bight round the masthead was well protected. In addition, the foremost shroud on each side of each mast would have been served along its whole length, to protect it from wear by the courses. At scale, I worked out that I would need 400mm of line for each shroud pair, with the centre 76mm served. For the first pair on each side, the serving would cover the whole of one half of the pair, as well as the centre section. Chris suggests using 1mm line for the lower mast shrouds. I felt that was too heavy, especially when served, and that 0.75mm would be more in scale. I started by using a chinagraph pencil to mark where the serving would end: In this case 238mm from the end - 200mm for the fully served first shroud of the pair and 38mm for the served top part of the second shroud. On to the serving machine, clamped firmly to the workbench and a couple of points to note. First, the end of the line has to feed through the left hand side and wind round the pins. I don't like wasting rope (OK, I'm tight 🤑!) so I tie a length of spare line to the stuff I'm serving to avoid losing the first six inches or so. Also, I'm using the finest Gutermann cotton thread which works well for serving. It comes on big bobbins with 800m of thread, which lasts forever. To start the thread off I sew it through the rope once, then back again at right angles. Before serving I rub PVA along the first few millimetres of rope. Probably overkill as I'm sure the sewing will prevent any chance of the thread unravelling, but it doesn't do any harm and it makes me feel better: The actual serving is a doddle once you get used to it, and with practice it doesn't take more than a few minutes to get from one end of the machine to the other. Keeping the hand guiding the thread angled slightly to the left ensures that the serving will be nice and tight. If you angle too much the thread will start winding back over the served portion, but it's easy to rectify by rewinding a few turns and starting again. On this shroud the serving can't be done all in one go, so it's necessary to shift the rope to the left until the chinagraph mark is visible. To stop the serving unravelling while I do this, I clamp a large clip on the thread and the weight keeps it in place. When not in use the clip clamps on the top brass bar to keep it handy. Once I've served close to the chinagraph mark it's a repeat of the starting procedure - glue the final few mils and sew through the rope: Next it's on to the mast, held in the trusty quadhands. Before threading the shroud around the masthead I tied a piece of white cotton round the midpoint so I knew exactly where to form the bight: To seize the bight I used the same method for creating round turns that I described in a previous post. Here, I've used light coloured thread so I could see what I was doing and then stained it when it was done: I've left off the handrail and stanchions on the foretop to avoid breakage. One slight hiccup - I was so engrossed in the seizing work that I neglected to check the order I was doing the shrouds in. The foremost starboard pair is supposed to go on first, but I fitted the port. Fortunately I realised before I did the starboard side, so I was able to lift the port pair out of the way and seize the first starboard shrouds underneath in their proper position. Not the first time I've not thought through the proper order of work on this build! I won't rig the deadeyes until all the lower shrouds are fitted. The serving and fitting will take some time so I'll avoid pointless repetition until I've finished all the lower shrouds. In the meantime I might do some more work on the ship's boat, which the eagle eyed might have spotted on the quadhands base. Derek

Bowsprit Rigging I've finished all the initial rigging to the bowsprit, bar tying off and belaying lanyards etc. I haven't kept up the log as well as I would have liked, although I believe I've already described all the techniques used. I'll just show the results, then mention one or two items that might be of interest to other Speedy builders. I didn't fit flemish horses to the spritsail yard. Although Chris shows them on the plans, they weren't fitted on ships of this period (at least according to Lees). Stirrups weren't fitted either but I didn't read that until after I'd fitted them, and I'm not sufficiently wedded to historical accuracy to remove them! One other point where I departed from the plans was at the end of the flying jibboom, where Chris suggests cutting a groove to accommodate the fore royal stay. I can't imagine that would ever have featured in a real ship, so I decided to drill a hole to simulate a sheave. Unfortunately I hadn't spotted this requirement when I was making the spar so it was with a fair degree of trepidation that I approached the 2mm timber with an 0.8mm drill bit. Fortunately I managed not to ruin it: Another point on that photo is the clove hitch to attach the guy pendants. This allowed me to use a single length of line to make both pendants, and to minimise the clutter on the end of the jibboom. I previously described using CA to create rings in the lines used to strop blocks - rings that wouldn't lose their shape under tension. I've been trying to cut down my use of CA - for health reasons - and found that fly tying cement works just as well: Given the small size of the blocks - mostly 3mm - I've used fly tying silk for most of the seizings. One exception was on the bowsprit stays where I used DMC thread. I covered this in post #471, where I also described darkening the seizing slightly. However once the stays were rigged on the model and the seizings had dried, it was clear they were still too bright. I toned them down further with some more dye made from van dyck crystals, applied with a small brush. Hopefully the difference is clear in these two shots: A final point to mention is the group of five ringbolts visible in the hull on the left hand edge of the second photo. These are unblackened, and are there purely as place markers so I don't forget how the holes are arranged. I find it much easier to seize lines to ringbolts off the model, then glue them in place. Derek

Good work on the ratlines Tim. You mention the tendency for tension in the ratlines to pull the shrouds in. One tip I read in The Fully Framed Model, and which works for me, is to carefully rig each fifth or sixth ratline first, making sure they don't pull the shrouds inwards. It then becomes much easier and quicker to rattle down the gaps. Derek

Darrel, there's no such thing as too many build logs. Everyone has slightly different approaches and it's great to browse through all the logs on the model you're working on. And logs are as much for the writer's benefit as for the readers - at least as far as I'm concerned. If I didn't record my methods I'd probably forget them between builds! Derek

Superb workmanship Glenn. I think the rounded hatches look particularly good - much better than the flat hatches typically found in kits.

Glad to help James. Amazing what you can find on this forum! Derek

Nice work on the shrouds Tim 🙂 Derek

I agree with Gregory - very subtle, and probably finer and neater than you might achieve with the pencil technique. Derek

Useful information, thanks Glenn. I shall read through this carefully when I get to the same stage (some time next year!). Derek

Glad to hear you guys are getting on well with your quadhands. I wouldn’t have known about them if it wasn’t for this forum. Yet another example of what a great site this is for sharing information and ideas.

Just catching up Tim - excellent work on your spars and serving. Derek

That's a good idea Tim - I think I'll try that. Thanks. I'll still have to seize the deadeyes with the masts fitted on the model to get the heights right, but that should be easier as I'll be able to swing the shroud up out of the way of the ship. I expect the quadhands will be extra useful. Derek

Hi John. Ideally, yes, I’d use the same seizing. On previous builds I made up each pair of shrouds off the model. I fitted the lower masts first, so I could fit the shroud loop over the masthead before caps were fitted. This time I’ve made up the whole masts first, which means I’ll have to seize the loops on the model. I’m not sure how easy it’ll be to do the proper seizing on the model - I’ll try, but I may have to do a simpler version! Hope this helps. What model are you working on? Derek

Thanks Tim & Glenn Starting from Step 4, take the left hand line and start wrapping it round to form the riding turns as shown in Step 5. These turns are literally 'riding' on top of the first layer, with each riding turn lying in the groove between each pair of turns in the first layer. That's why there is one fewer riding turn. Let me know if that's not clear and I'll try to explain more fully. As for locating the deadeyes in shrouds, I'll cover that in due course, but in brief I use a little jig comprising a piece of wood with pins in, such that the pins locate in the holes in a pair of deadeyes and so hold them the right distance apart. I'm sure you'll find good descriptions and photos of this technique in other folks' build logs. Derek

Thanks for the 'Thanks' Glenn - I recalled you saying you'd be interested in my approach to shrouds so I'm glad you found this useful.

Bowsprit rigging Work on Speedy progresses very slowly, as domestic duties continue to take precedence during Mrs D's convalescence. I've decided not to fret about it, but rather to just enjoy any time I can spare for the workshop. This morning I spent an hour on the bowsprit stays, reminding myself how to seize deadeyes. Good practice for the shrouds later on! The kit calls for 0.75mm line for the stays, but as they would have been served throughout their length I decided to dig out my Syren serving machine. Using 0.5mm line served with the finest Gutermann sewing thread, the resulting rope was almost exactly 0.75mm. I find it difficult to seize deadeyes with the deadeye itself in situ - the result is usually too loose. Instead, I start the seizing using something of a slightly smaller diameter, then work the deadeye into the loop created. In this case, with a 3mm deadeye, I started the seizing round a 2.5mm drill bit: I used 0.10mm line for the seizing, using a needle to thread the line through the two parts of the served rope where they cross over. It was then a simple matter of taking a few more turns round the join, finishing off with a half knot, ca and trimming in the usual way. This is the throat seizing before trimming: Rubbish photo 😟! But you get the idea. Then, once the deadeye is worked into the loop it's on to the round seizings. I always use the following step-by-step guide to these knots which I found years ago through google. They seemed to be freely available so I hope I'm not infringing anyone's copyright: I didn't attempt to capture each stage of this process - the sketches are much clearer than my photos. I've just included a few pictures to illustrate various stages, and also to show how useful the quadhands is - at one point I'm using three of the 'hands' to keep control of various lines: The last photo shows the first seizing finished, and the second at stage 4 in the illustrated guide - just about to add the riding turns. I'd not done these knots at 1:64 scale before and I was worried they'd look too bulky, so I experimented doing them without the riding turns. They didn't look right so I stuck to the proper version. It's worth pointing out that there should be one fewer riding turns than in the first layer - I did 5 in the first layer and 4 riding turns. An obvious point, but it's important to use the same numbers of turns in each seizing - differences will stand out like sore thumbs. Both seizings finished I applied some ca to the free end of the served line and trimmed it. I painted a blob of raw sienna acrylic paint to the trimmed end to represent a leather cap. I don't know if that's historically accurate for stays, but the ends of shrouds were often wrapped in leather - presumably to prevent water standing in the cut end - so I decided it would do for stays as well. Finally, I applied some very dilute dye made from van dyke crystals to the seizings as I felt they were slightly too bright: Derek

Superb work James. That cedar will look beautiful, and your story of a fellow modeller's generosity in supplying you with it helps restore our faith in human nature. Hats off to Gregory! Derek

Thanks guys, and thanks for all the likes - they're appreciated. Since my earlier post UPS have delivered my next project: Chris kindly made me up a boxwood version, and I opted for the pearwood blocks which have impressed me on Speedy. Can't wait! (Actually I'll have to, as it's a Christmas present😟). Derek

Snap! I'd like to echo Glenn's thanks to Mrs Watton and to Chris. Chris kindly ran up a boxwood version for me, and I also shelled out for the pearwood blocks. I've been really impressed with these in the Speedy kit. Unfortunately, after a quick look inside to admire the contents, Mrs D. whisked the box off until Christmas. I'll just have to get vicarious pleasure from Glenn's log in the meantime. Fortunately I've got Speedy to keep me occupied in the meantime. Derek

Bowsprit I managed to grab a couple of hours in the workshop and decided to fit the bowsprit. The last items of rigging I added before fitting it to the ship were the footropes on the jibboom. I decided to follow full size practice by knotting the ropes every couple of feet, using a simple method to get the spacing right: The flying jibboom should have similar footropes and hand ropes should be fitted above the bowsprit, but I'm concerned they will get in the way of other rigging at this stage so I'll leave them 'til later in the build. The gammoning came next, using 0.5mm black rope. Following full-size practice I started with an eye spliced into one end of the line, the splice being faked using my favourite fly tying thread: The free end of the rope was passed round the bowsprit and through the eye to hang down the port side, the eye being snugged up under the bowsprit. Next, I diverted slightly from Chris's instructions which show the gammoning forming parallel loops as it is wrapped round the bowsprit and through the slot in the stem. My understanding is that gammoning was usually laid so that the first loop started aft on the bowsprit then forward in the slot, with each subsequent loop following the same pattern thereby ending with an overall twisted effect: Completing the loops in this way is fiddly as you have to weave the rope through the head rails and avoid getting loops tangled in boomkins etc. Nevertheless it is relatively straightforward until you get to the stage where you need to frap the free end of the rope round the gammoning. I started by using the free end to tie a half-hitch round the port side loops, about half way down: The next job is to take the free end around the starboard side, forward to aft, then continue wrapping the rope around both sides, working up towards the bowsprit. The idea being to draw both sides together to further tighten the gammoning. To finish off, I passed the free end through the last two loops and tied off with another half-hitch. I did this at the aft end of the frapping where the hitch would be mostly hidden. As the frapping was tight, I found I had to use ca on the end of the rope to make it hard enough to poke through between the second and third loops down. Once poked through, it was a relatively simple job to bring the free end back over the top of the frapping and tie the half-hitch around the top two loops. Hope this makes sense - I didn't have a hand free to photograph each step! Here's the end result after loose ends were trimmed: Technically, there should be eight loops in the frapping to match the eight vertical loops, but with the head rails in the way I found I couldn't get the half-hitch and the first loop low enough down, and I thought it would look wrong to continue the frapping too high on the gammoning. Derek