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There are 10 sheets with Speedy and I have most of them pinned up round the walls of the workshop as I'm constantly referring to them. Great quality, as with the rest of the kit. If Duchess has 13 sheets I'll definitely have to wait until I've finished Speedy before I pin them up - either that or persuade my wife that her half of the workshop needs new wallpaper! Derek

Hi Charles Big thankyou for this - I've struggled to find blades for my Preac and Byrnes saws in the UK. I googled MSC, more in hope than expectation, and was delighted to find they have a UK branch. As you say, a huge selection and, although the individual blades are a tad expensive its a lot cheaper than shipping and import duties from the States. Derek

Hi Glenn Glad you found the log useful. I'll certainly log my approach to shrouds when I get to them, but my workshop time is severely limited/almost non-existent at the moment. On threading blocks, I use the CA/diagonal cut method same as you, and I also find I often have to drill out the hole with a slightly wider bit. I don't think there's anything wrong with that provided the blocks are made from good quality wood. The holes in commercial blocks often seem too small, and even when I've made my own blocks I've found I needed to drill holes that were significantly larger than the nominal thread diameter. At the risk of stating the obvious, you need to be careful when soaking the end in thin CA to avoid too much CA building up and making the threading even more difficult. I drag the thread over a hard surface, twirling it as I go in order to wipe off any excess before it sets. I don't use beeswax - if the rigging line is fluffy I use 50:50 PVA and water, dabbing some on my finger and thumb and running the line through it. I've also gone for the Duchess - looks great from James's build log. Derek

Smart guns there Glenn. I can see I'm going to have to get some weathering powder - not something I've used before but it gives a subtle but impressive effect. Derek

Sorry Tim, I misunderstood. I thought you were looking for a way to fix the ends of the serving line so it didn't unravel on the rope being served. My method works for unserved rope, but to create a served strop, which I think is what you're looking for, a better method might be to leave the serving line long at both ends, bring the two ends of the rope together to form the strop, and use the spare line to seize over the gap. There's a very good description of this technique in Volume lV of The Fully Framed Model, which covers rigging. I found this volume invaluable when I rigged Royal Caroline and I would strongly recommend it if it's not already in your library. The first 3 volumes of the series are also excellent, but only really relevant if you intend to build a fully framed model. Derek

Shaping up nicely Tim. I use a fine needle to take the end of the serving line through the rope being served a couple of times then apply a blob of fly tying glue or ca. Once you've finished serving the length you need, repeat the process with the other end of the serving line. Once the glue is dry at both ends you can then trim the serving line. Others have suggested a half hitch to secure the serving line but that can look a bit bulky. I second B.E.'s comments. I had a debate with myself before gluing Speedy's masts together but decided I could rig the shrouds on the model. I'm beginning to wish I'd followed B.E.'s recommendation, which was also my previous practice. Derek

No problem. It gives me a few more days to work out how I'm going to tell my wife she's bought this for my Christmas present!

That looks great!

That's a fine smooth finish Glenn. Personally I prefer a slightly duller, greyer (gunmetal?) shade for cannon. Having said that, it's not always possible to judge shades from a photo so your primer might be spot on. Why not use the admiralty finish on another barrel for comparison? Derek

Thanks Tim - that explains my confusion! I use DMC which doesn't require baking. Derek

Fascinating build B.E., which I'm enjoying following as always. Can I just ask - you mention wipe on poly, which I've struggled to find in the UK. Do you mix your own? Derek

That looks like very good rope, especially for a first attempt. I'm not sure what you mean by baking. The technique I use, as taught by Chuck, is to stretch the rope after you've spun it, wet it down and then let it dry before you cut it free from the ropewalk. If you do that you might find the last few millimetres are slightly loose, but if you cut the rope back to where it looks tight it should stay that way. Derek

Hi Mike, welcome to MSW. Your flight to the UK probably passed my sister-in-law's going in the opposite direction. She left 30 years ago to set up home with her Australian husband in Sydney. We love visiting them and touring your home country - or at least we did before covid! Btw, we've got a Sheffield postcode although we live in Nottinghamshire. Small world. Derek

Superb model James & Chris. Me too. I haven't told my wife yet, but she's buying me this for Christmas! Now you're just making the rest of us feel inadequate! Derek

Magnificent Glenn. That hull is a thing of true beauty - almost a shame to clutter her up with all that messy rigging and guns and stuff! Well done! Derek

Glenn - re-reading my post I can see that part isn't clear from my description, so I've had a quick go at photographing the process in more detail. To make things clearer and simpler I've used a single line of rope with no additional blocks, and I've used paler rope to make the seizings stand out more. Also, I've "borrowed" the end of Speedy's fore mast for the exercise, the wider diameter making it easier to see what's going on than on the bowsprit. Apologies as usual for the poor focus on some shots - hopefully the technique is still clear. I start by winding the rope once round the mast, holding the ends in the quadhands. Small weights such as clips would work equally well - the idea is just to hold the ring reasonably tight while you work on it. Next, I take about 6"/150mm of seizing line (for this I used the finest Gutermann sewing thread) and using a suitable needle work it through both strands of the ring rope at the point where the final deadeye will go. Through, not under. I'm not completely sure this is necessary, but on the bowsprit I just tied the strands together and I found it a bit awkward to keep the ring tight around the spar. In the next two shots I'm tying an overhand knot in the seizing thread then tightening it. In the interest of speed I left it at just that one knot for this exercise. For a proper job you should wrap the thread round several more times to make a decent seizing. You'll probably need to use the needle as the rope will be tight, although of course this time you can you under the rope not through it. Next, I take one end of the rope off the quadhands and bring it near to the seizing to form a loop: Then, I use the seizing thread to catch the loop in an overhand knot. Depending on how springy your rope is you may need to use a small clip or piece of tape to hold the loop in place while you do this. In the second photo I've tightened the first knot and moved to the other side of the loop to do a second knot. The second knot just helps to keep the loop reasonably secure for the next part... ...where I'm gently pulling on the loose rope end to tighten the loop until it's just larger than the 3mm deadeye. In the second shot I've jammed the deadeye on my needle to position it whilst I finish tightening the loop, which is shown in the third shot. Next, it's back to the seizing line to do a further series of overhand knots, alternating between the front and back of the deadeye. I worked from the mast end towards the deadeye as this helps tighten the rope around it. I finished with a reef knot tight against the deadeye: A blob of thin CA and a careful trim and this is the result: Not too shabby for a deadeye you'll hardly see on the finished model. I suspect there are better methods around, and if so I'd love to hear them! I know it would be easier if you could fashion the ring off the model and slip it over the end of the spar you're working on, but this wasn't possible on the bowsprit as the ring of deadeyes is positioned behind other fittings. Anyway, this method works for me and I hope others find it useful now I've explained it more fully. Derek

Superb! You must be very proud.

Rigging the bowsprit #2 Thanks Don. When I started I found it difficult to find information on how to do some of the basic stuff - I suspect more experienced modellers thought such techniques were too obvious to need description. They weren't obvious to me! So I like to go into detail when I can, partly to help others but also because it's amazing how much one forgets between builds. On to the deadeyes. One of the trickiest elements of the bowsprit rigging is a ring of four deadeyes designed to set up the fore stay and various bowsprit stays. There is a 5mm deadeye on top of the bowsprit in the 12 o'clock position, with 3mm deadeyes at 4, 6 and 8 o'clock. Unlike blocks you can't rig deadeyes with rings that would allow them to be moved round once in place, so at first I found the process of rigging them a bit hit and miss. I started trying to be clever, using the circumference of the bowsprit to figure out how far apart to seize the deadeyes into a length of rope to get the correct spacing. That didn't work too well - you just have to be a millimetre or two out for the resulting ring to look a mess. I considered starting out with a ring of rope around the bowsprit, to which I would then individually seize each deadeye. But that would mean a separate strop on each deadeye which would have to be tied or sewn to the ring of rope, and I didn't see how I could manage that at all neatly. In the end I found the solution by chance. I found that if you seize your deadeye into a rope using fly tying line then seal it with fly tying glue (see here), the resulting seizing is tight but not stuck to the rope. With care, you can move the rope through it, which means you can work a loop into the position you want. Here's how it worked, starting with seizing the 5mm deadeye into the middle of some 0.5mm rope (I didn't use fly tying thread for this as hopefully it won't need to move!): I seized a 3mm deadeye into the same rope in approximately the right position, then held the rope around the bowsprit to eyeball the result: I found it easier to check with the bowsprit upside down and using the weight of a small clip to hold the 5mm deadeye in the 6 o'clock position. I wasn't quite happy with the small deadeye so I noted how far it needed to move and in which direction. It was then a simple job to remove the deadeye and work the loop of rope through the seizing to the new position: I replaced the deadeye and tightened everything up. A quick check back on the bowsprit showed everything in order. With the 4 o'clock deadeye in the right place I knew I just had to seize the eight o'clock fellow the same distance the other side of the big guy for everything to be symmetrical: Setting up the fourth deadeye was slightly tricky, but as it was directly underneath the bowsprit I figured it didn't have to be the neatest. I started by taking the deadeye rope round the bowsprit (still held upside down in the quadhands) and seizing it to itself. I used fine sewing thread for this rather than fly tying thread as I wanted something robust to hold the weight of the deadeyes and rope. In the second shot you'll see I've formed a loop from one end of the rope, again seizing it to itself using the same length of thread. The final step is to insert the remaining 3mm deadeye, pull the rope tight to hold it snug, complete the seizing and trim in the normal way. Job done: A bit clunkier than I'd like but it won't show. By the way, the left hand shot shows another technique I tried - closer to full-size practice, where loops are formed in the ends of ropes which are then seized together to hold the rigging tight around the spar. I might cover this a bit more in the next post. Derek

Rigging the bowsprit Not much time in the dockyard recently. Ten days ago my wife had an operation to repair a leaking heart valve, so for once I've been happy for family and domestic duties to take precedence over modelling. However Mrs D. is making good progress and now that she's home I've been able to slope off to the workshop briefly now and again to start on the bowsprit. The bowsprit, along with the jibboom and flying jibboom presents some interesting challenges with numerous blocks and deadeyes. Some are relatively straightforward, such as the 4mm double block at the tip of the jibboom, which I was able to seize to the ring on the spar with the help of quadhands: Others were trickier, especially where two or more blocks or deadeyes had to be seized in a ring around the bowsprit. For blocks, I found it easiest to strop them with rings. I made the rings with 0.25mm line as previously described, then tied the strop under the block with a simple overhand knot and a dab of CA. Once trimmed, the blocks were threaded onto heavier 0.5mm line: The 0.5mm line was tied round the bowsprit with another overhand knot and a drop of CA where it would not be seen, then trimmed. The rings allow the blocks to be moved round the bowsprit until they are in the correct orientation. Rings don't work with deadeyes so I needed a different approach. I'll describe the method I used for a ring of four deadeyes in my next post. Derek

Fine work Glenn. Sorry to hear about the kitchen problem - thought you'd been a bit quiet recently. Derek

As Slog says, silver solder paste is the way to go. I recently covered this in some detail in my Speedy log, here. Derek

Neat work Tim. If you upload a photo but don't use it in your post, it will appear at the end of your text. When you edit the post you have to delete it from the images area otherwise it will just keep popping up again. Derek

An interesting discussion, and I suspect there is more to agree upon here than to disagree. Bob has helpfully illustrated the difference between miniature versions of full size tools and tools specifically designed for miniature wood working. Others have pointed out that their Veritas miniature tools are very capable of serious miniature woodworking. I have both types of small tools and would argue that each has its place on the workbench. For example, when tapering spars or planks I will often use a Stanley #101-style plane for bulk removal of material but for the last few finer cuts I prefer the better 'feel' I get from a Veritas low angle block plane held in my fingertips. And there are occasions when a Veritas tool is clearly superior - for example getting into tight spaces with a miniature chisel where a full size handle would be impractical. Horses for courses, as they say. These Veritas miniatures are definitely not toys, as evidenced by the quality of materials and manufacture - especially the blades. If properly prepared and set up when new, they will perform extremely well with regular light honing.

👍 Well done!

Hi Sjors. I ordered my quad hands through Amazon UK. Would Amazon be an option for you?