Katsumoto

Thanks Bob, It took me a lot of time to get it like this. Now I have the same amount of work ahead of me for the main sail. It just keeps me from starting with it. I have to find some inspiration and motivation, that’s all. 😮‍💨

I’ve ordered my ropes from ropesofscale.com. @BenD is a member and a sponsor of MSW. I personally think he offers one of the best aftermarket scale ropes you can buy and offers a great service as well. I’m impressed how good his ropes are and how it lifts my model into a next level build. Thanks for your support @CiscoH appreciated very much!

Foresail rigging finished Hi guys! Quite an update today with lots of pictures, 24 to be exact. It was not easy to get everything right in front of my camera. I have all running rigging of the Foremast ready. I really had some trouble rigging this sail. Some things I had to redo over 3 times or didn't turned out the way I wanted it and was pretty exhausting from time to time. Also figuring out the details cost me a lot of evening hours of work. Unfortunately in all the documentation I have the details are vague or not known. I followed the rigging of Le Requin in combination with another Xebec (museum model). In the end you make choices that seem logical and I tried to keep as close to reality as I could or know. The parrel It starts with the Parrel. The parrel is like a "guide system" that actually rolls the rod / yard up and down the mast. The parrel is made up of so-called "trucks", these are the beads and "ribs" the vertical pieces of wood. As always, I start with a drawing to the actual scale. Then I make it as on the drawing in various steps. Oh yes, the ribs that come with the kit are made of metal and also the wrong size. So I haven't used it. Each rib is individually handcrafted. Builders with milling machines can do this faster and easier than I can, but the admiral won't allow these machines on her dining table and that's the end of the discussion.... The parrel is finally assembled with the made ribs and the trucks of (3mm) and attached to the yard. The parrel of this mast is a simple version. Just 3 horizontal rows that are spliced together and extended into one single rope. On one side of the yard, a strop is used to attach it to the yard. The parrel is wrapped around the mast and then attached with a truss by using a bead the other side of the yard. (see second photo). For the main mast I'm going to replace this bead with a block. Finally the rope runs down at the mast to the foot of the mast where it's tied down using a tackle with a few blocks. This can be seen in the following pictures. A lot of lose ends here.... The parrel tackle is seen on the picture and is the one with the dark ropes next to the mast. The other two tackels are used to turn the ends of the yard. The ropes are running throught the top sheeves on the mast. These tackles are attached with a hook to the rings besides the mast. In between I made the flagpole. The flagpole is attached with two metal braces. then a picture of how it looks in full view of the sail. And a lot of detail pictures of how I tied down all the ropes.... All rope ends are nicely bound together and tucked away...I tried to mimic reality as much as possible and hopefully the rigging is truthfull to the real thing.... And that's it for this update. I know, sometimes I can't see the forest because of all those ropes. The mainsail will carry the same amount of rigging. Only the rigging of the Foremast took me approximately more than 40 hours of work / time. I can only say that it is a big job and the same is waiting for me for the rigging of the mainsail. I have to finish the construction of this sail first, put the boltrope on and so on. I hope you enjoyed this update. Until the next update, and I wish you guys a nice weekend! Peter

Hi Ben, thanks! Almost looking at the real thing right? if you discard the background that is..... It's a real treat to work with your ropes and all.....makes all the difference!

Thanks! I will look into GAC400, Thanks for the suggestion. I like the boiled postauto starch too. Easy to prepare and to apply.

Thanks! Happy to have you on board and welcome! 😀

Hi guys, In this update I would like to show you the first impression on how the Focksail looks on the ship. The height and position of the yard is been controlled by to the two ramshead blocks being made earlier. Here you see it in action and placed on the ship. I placed the yard termporarily to experiment with the positions etc. The yard can be detached from the ship. I still need to place some blocks on the yard and make the Parrel. After that I can place all the other rigging that operates this sail and yard. to be continued....

HI Eric, Perhaps your concern is valid, I really don't know and I have to find out if this is a problem for the near future. For the short term it works perfectly. 😉 Thanks for your concerns.

To be honest guys, I don’t really know however the product is being used in cosmetics and house cleaning products so I assume that it will last without issues. It’s something to find out.

Vielen dank Nils! Nice of you to visit my log! 🙂

A small update in between. I've used boiled potato starch (thanks to Ohla Batchvarov @shipphotographer.com) on the foresail and let it dry overnight. She has an excellent video on how to do this placed on Youtube. Just check it out! Thanks Ohla for sharing! Now the sail has it's final shape like the wind blows into it. I like this method better than diluted white glue. White glue makes the cloth very hard and with boiled potato starch it becomes a feels bit like leather but holds its shape. And because it was my birthday yesterday, the admiral surprised me with a complete paint rack of Vallejo which I will need for a future project. It's a skill a still need to master....I asked for a milling machine, however the admiral has her limits of what's allowed on the dining table.... 🙄

Upper & Lower Foremast Ramshead block Hi Guys, First of all I would like to take the opportunity to give a big thanks to some of my fellow modelers and followers of my log. Especially @ccoyle @Knocklouder @Baker @CiscoH @BenD @Cathead @BobG @goetzi73 @Barbossa @VTHokiEE @Paul Le Wol If I forget some folks, I'm sorry, I want to thank you too! If you're new here, grab a chair and welcome! Back to the shipyard.... I have started on the blocks that hoist the yards of the Foremast. These blocks are large and the load is distributed over quite a few discs. I believe these blocks are called Ramshead blocks. For this ship there is an upper block and lower block per mast. I can use the standard plywood things from the kit, but I didn't think they really fit with the overall appearance of the ship.....so I'll have to scratch them. To make them on this scale.... that's a challenge...... I tried to make them out of a solid piece of walnut and tried to mill the slots. That didn't worked out at all. I know, it's probably my skill and tools that's the problem.... In the end I came up with a sandwich construction that is also called lamination in wood construction. you glue a number of layers together as is also done with plywood, however, now completely made of walnut. It starts with a drawing to scale.... I have to work with 0.5mm thin veneer and 0.8mm for the discs. The discs are 6mm and 4.5mm in diameter. Upper block the 0.5mm veneer I had in my stash, the 0,8mm I didn't. So I had to use my tablesaw to cut these..... In the end I used a slicer to cut all my lengths needed for the parts.... All the parts waiting on assembling second stage where some of the parts are placed and glued.... Then all the lengths glued together to form a whole.... After this I shaped the block in it's final dimensions and shape..... Lower block The proces to make the lower block is exactly the same as the upper. So I left all the steps in between behind and show you the end result.... Both self made blocks besides the plywood parts provided within the kit.... To compare the size of the blocks with my index finger.... And that's done for the Ramshead blocks of the Foremast. It was nice to work with wood again after all that sewing work.... Thanks for following me and see you soon,

Making the sails - part 2 Hello guys, Thanks for all your support, I much appreciate you guys being here and supporting me during this build. Well, continuing with the sails. I didn't like the beige color of the boltrope, so I stained / tarred these with bitumen. Also I like to show you how I reinforced the loop at the corner of the sails. These are handserved to get the desired result. I also used bitumen to darken the rope to get an even color on the served ropes compared to the bolt rope. So the next thing to do is to add the reef lines. Never did that before... Also I used the the bitumen on the reef lines to create contrast. And after a lot of knots and lines, the first sail is finished...One down, two more to go! Thanks for following and see you soon,

Wow Kostas my friend, your hullplanking looks impressive and really good! One of the best for this ship I’ve seen so far…

Making the sails Hello friends, It's been a while. I had to figure out some things of the running rigging and making the sails. The last one almost got me on my knees. The swear jar has been filled multiple times, but I've come to an acceptable result so far. Working on the boltrope at the moment. But first let me show you the process.... The seam is made separately and has been folded a couple of time so it can be placed around the edge of the cloth. The seam is then visible on both sides of the cloth. It's a bit time consuming, but in the end hopefully worth it. I decided to age the sails with Bitumen. I had to dilute the bitumen with "odorless" Turpentine and it gave a "pleasant" smell.... Mixed it in a glass jar and let the cloth dry in the open air. The bolt rope is attached with needle and threat. It's done entirely by hand and the needle is going through the bolt rope and not around. This gives it a little more authentic look. Well, this is where I'm at the moment. Just somewhere halfway with the main sail. I forgot the serve the rope for extra strength in the corner where a loop is made in the rope. I corrected this afterwards... Well, that's it so far... Until next time with hopefully fully finished sails.

These blocks looks fantastic Chuck. I'm looking forward to the updated stock! Have a nice and safe trip to the NF, enjoy!

You designing skils and eye for details are just out of this world. By far the standard most "kit fabricators" should aim for! Peter

Hi Michael, Thank you so much for your kind words. I hope my log helps you out. Your SOTS build is very impressive and I really love the work you put into it and the changes you made. See you later!

Wow, lovely build of a difficult kit from Corel. It's an expensive kit and not being build often. What a great job you did! Congratulations with this result!

Very clever and impressive result! Great work.

Very well done! Bravo! Love the types of wood used and the contrast between the colours. Great job!

Construction of the yards. Hi guys, This weekend I started to construct the yards. 3 to be exact. Each yard consist out of two parts tapered to the end. When bound together a strong but flexible yard is the result so it won't break in the wind. This is what I want to simulate, so I want to give the wood a light curve. I drew the curve on a piece of plywood and use some brass nails along the lines to hold the two parts of the yard in place. Water and steam is used to set the curve into the memory of the wood. I used the Admirals iron when she doesn't noticed it. I let the wood "set" overnight. The next morning I used Ink to blacken the yards and placed some temporary bindings to hold the two part together. The bindings are placed with equal distance of each other. I cut the temporary bindings when reached. They are no longer needed only to hold the parts together during the placement of the final bindings. When all yards are ready....

Hi Mike, Your ability to make a great kit looks even better is very impressive. Your building skills, eye for details and also your photographic skills are just out of this world. Love the work so far. With pleasure and interest I'll follow your log.

Hi Patrick, Thank you for the nice words and following my log. You build your models from scratch and lumber your own wood, now that's what I call impressive. 😀😉

Rigging of the Mizzen... Hello everybody, It's time to move on to the rigging of the Mizzen mast. First a drawing. Again serving 6 ropes for the pins, done by the Syren Serving machine. Then the upper blocks connected to the mast. In between the ropes with blocks and tied it all together. Well, the standing rigging is done. All three masts are secured. It's a nice journey to experience this type of rigging so far. Ah well, time to move on to the running rigging, yards and sails. It will be a tough journey because I've never made sails from scratch what I am intend to do for this ship. Please leave a comment if you like. Until next time!