Aussie048

Here's my first ratline. At the rate it took me to tie this first one...it will take me 67 man hours to tie the over 200 ratlines. Thank goodness I'm retired!!!

Here's my foremast forestays.

I posted these somewhere else, but I do not know where.  I thought these would illustrate the construction of the bentnik shrouds pretty well.

I have continued to rig the fore mast. During this I learned I misinterpreted the Mamoli plans on the placements of the blocks. I had placed the upper end blocks forward of the stunsail booms. This is incorrect. So I am removing these blocks and reinstalling them correctly as I get to them. This cleans up the rigging well. It just looked wrong before. 
 
I have rigged and tensioned the lower two spars. I have started the rigging for the next spar up. I have found I can tension them once both sides are fully installed. 
 
I have attached a few photos of the ship from the bow aft and closeups of the lower spar rigging. I have to say, I am SO glad I did not rig any of the lower ratlines. They would have been in the way to the point I am sure I would have ended up messing them up. I may rig the ratlines as I complete the rigging for each of the masts. That would break up the ratline knotting sessions a bit. I have a couple of days to decide that.
 
 
 
 

...trying to avoid those "dirty" white remnants of pva glue at the rope-deadeye junction.
I've stropped a third deadeye using hypo gs cement with better results but I'm not sure about its mid- to long-term results 

Hi Jim and thanks
I've attached this photo, showing the starting and ending points for the serving of each loop for the lowermast.
I hope to be this way on the safe side...
Thanks

Whilst I have been doing a little work on Mordaunt,I am holding back on pics for now.However I received another delivery of Pear(some is for Royal William).I had asked Dennis at Twigfolly.com,if he had a small chunk of Pear to carve the figurehead from and he said he would have a root about.The result is the massive Pear chunk for free with the rest of the order!!!!!
 
Kind Regards
 
Nigel

There are not coconuts on Cutty Sark.
 
Thanks anyway
 
But idea stays !
 
I must rethink this idea considerinog hair of my daughters Persian cat
 
Making ropes? That could be something !
 
 

Incidentally, whilst he didst haveth out his modelling clay, CaptainSteve happened to baketh up some spear-heads.
 
"Here be a couple o' native spears, just as Ol' Bligh hisself doth detail in his log."

 

Jus' briefly - still winged - Our Hero didst spendeth some time this past week pondering one of the Great Mysteries of the Universe:
Specifically, the problem of smooth and shiny nuts !!
 
Indeedeth, the problem didst resolveth itself whence CaptainSteve came upon a Barber shop which, verily, happened to have an over-supply of follicles.
 
"Forsooth, but mayest I partake of ye wares, fine Merchant ??" didst CaptainSteve enquireth, whilst pointing gleefully at the clippings upon the floor.
"Huh ?? WTF doest thou be about ??" asked the Barber, somewhat perplexed.
 
And so, CaptainSteve didst finely choppeth up a handful of hair clippings, coat his nuts with PVA glue, and thence proceed to roll them all about the place.

 
Once the glue had dried, CaptainSteve didst polish his nuts vigourously.
"To removeth stray hairs!!", he didst try to explain.

 
"Ah !! Now they doth happen to be a lovely bunch o' Coconuts !!"

So the rigging slowed down a bit today. The first thing I did was clean up the bow a bit by adding secondary seizings and trimming. I completed rebuilding the top spar. I adjusted the lower spar hanger and mounted it as well as the jeers. I ran the lines from the jeers down to the deck and through the balusters but did not tension them since this would result in the spar rising until the jeer blocks touched. Once I add the counter lines to this, I will start tensioning them.
The next spar up was added and the jeer lines were run down to the side belaying plates. I added the remaining fore mast spars to the mast, but will continue rigging them tomorrow. I am running the lines actually down through the hole in the rack and gluing the pin on top of it. Then I do the lashings around the pin and trim the ends at the rail. Once the coils are placed over the pin, it will look like it was done that way. At least that is my hope. Gosh these pins are small!

I have added the other spars to the mast and will continue rigging them tomorrow.

I did have a mishap when I was moving around from one side to the other. I had my magnifying headset on and was focused in the rigging. I caught and snapped the tip of the Jib boom. Luckily, the break was not smooth but splintered. As a result I was able to effectively glue the tip back on with thick CA and thin CA. I used needle nose pliers to push the sides in together.

Then a quick light sanding and restaining the break area and it was all good again. I did adjust the bow lines a bit to ensure the tip was being held correctly and straight. I read of others breaking their booms and now I have done it. I do not feel the over powering need to ever do this again!

First fake chainplate installed.

Well I finished the stern planking and began the deck mast bracing and coaming frame work. I think my measurements on the main mast frame are a tad off but everything should work out.

Thanks for all the likes and comments. She is coming together now. I passed two milestones today. I started the running rigging and I installed my first two belayed lines. Many more to come. It did enforce that my idea of not installing the lower ratlines was a good thing since many of the belaying racks are below them.
 
The first thing I did this morning was to fix the mizzen’s crows feet. I noticed last night that I had them attached to the lowest stay. They needed to be on the next one up. I completed the futtock shrouds on all masts as well as dressed the lower shrouds. The masts are now all in alignment. After dressing the lower shrouds I added the staves. I will not put on any of the lower ratlines until the running rigging is installed.
 
Today I started working on the running rigging. The Mamoli plans started with the bowsprit assembly so that is where I started. I created the rings for the jib stays. And installed the various lines. There will be more tomorrow as the Fore mast spars get installed. 
 
I did an inventory and sort of the spars. These were made months ago. Somehow I lost one of them. Luckily it was the simplest to redo. The upper spar on the fore mast. I turned down a new one and painted it today. I will add the blocks to it tomorrow. It has no other fittings. Yeah!
 
I also served the loop going over the lower fore mast spar as well as the hanger for it that gets served to the mast tomorrow. I did this in beige since that is what the plans called for. 
 
I learned a trick on the rigging today. When one end is a block and the other end attaches to a ring or other device other than a block, it is easiest to install the line and lace the block first. This allows me to match the blocks and put it in the final position needed then adjust the length of the line at the other end. I used this to match the port and starboard lines from the Bowsprit to the cathead.
 
I tried putting a white towel behind the Connie to get a bit better shots of the rigging. I need a bigger towel (or a sheet) she is a big girl.

Now I have to clean up this "rat's nest".

All supports under coamings done.
 


 
Next will be the waterways...
 

 
Markku

So there comes supports under coamings, I started them at the bow.
 

 
But before I continue any further... Cutted off four bulkhead tops. I will add my own supports there. This was also one of the reasons why I added those bigger supports under the spar deck earlier. Here you can also see the gun deck floor before.
 

 
After wood wax the result was pretty impressive. This is the first time for me using wood wax. Before I used varnishing.
 


 
Pretty nice, huh?
 
Markku

Let me introduce one of the importantest parts so far. This little block is a template for gun ports. I'm using it mounting the spar deck gun ports. Now when there is lower parts in place, just add this block and mount the other parts around it. Very handy.
 

 
Gun port progress.
 

 
Then I made some other additions using paper template.
 


 
Now continuing the spar deck gun ports.
 
Markku

Gun deck floor ready. I think that's enough and a bit more than what would be visible when the model is ready.





 
Imagining how it will look like when watching thru the companion ways, and I think it will be very nice.
 
Markku

Some progress at gun deck.
 



 
Markku

I have completed the futtock shrouds on all the masts as well as the Jacob's Ladders. Tomorrow I will do the final tweaking to the mast alignments and lock them down. Once I dress the lower deadeyes, I will attach the staves. This will leave the lower shroud ratlines to be done once the running rigging is complete. Next I will start working on the running rigging! 
 
 

I completed the futtock shrouds on the main today. This completes the main and mizzen with the exception of the lower ratlines. I decided to add the Jacob's ladders to the top of the masts. These were not part of the Mamoli plans. I was not happy with the first try. I used just lines to create it. I know on the ship it has hard rungs, but at this scale that would be problematic. The first set compressed the ladder rungs since it came together at the top. This did not look good. So I took a small piece of guitar wire and added a hard rung to the top with rope rungs on down. This worked. The top hard rung keeps the ladder shape. I took the lower ends of the ladders through the tree by drilling small holes through the rear of the tree and threading them through and using a small amount of CA to lock them to the tree. I did have to remove and redo one of the forestays since they tie directly through the ladder and I built the ladders off ship. I will have to do the same on the foremast with one of the stays. After I took the photos, I did some shaping on the ladder rungs so they hang better and do not arch up. I also learned that I can tie the rungs so the knots cause them to hang the correct way. I learned this after I did the main masts ladder.
 
Next I will work on the foremast futtock shrouds and Jacobs ladder. After that I plan on dressing the main and foremast lower shrouds adding the staves. I am not planning on tying the lower shroud ratlines until at least the inner the running rigging is complete. So once the staves are added I will be ready to start with the running rigging. Whoo hoo!
 
 

I have taken a little time off - it is holiday time in the US - lots of turkey and cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie!  Here are photos of my progress - made some changes and added some.  Not sure about it - please let me know.  Betty  I know the ratlines don't look very good, but I would like to use them anyway.  Maybe I can use some starch on them or something to straighten them out.

Thanks Tim, George, Scott, and Warren, and the likes.
 
Scott - thanks for that reminder to not sand too much. I have had this problem in the past, especially where I had bad clinkering going on. I think filling the low spots with wood filler helps in this regard, as I can see how much is coming off as I sand it out, without trying to remove all the surrounding wood.
 
I spent a couple of hours last night getting the rough sanding done. I had a ridge along both sides where the hull planking met the bottom of the wales, but after some serious attention with the sanding block I was able to get this area to flow together. Here are some shots of the hull at this point, ready for the medium and fine sanding, which will have to wait until Sunday, after the holiday.
 

 

 

 

 

 
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you who celebrate it, and a nice weekend to the rest of you.
 
PS - after looking at the pictures in the preview pane, I think there may be a few spots that still need some filler, which I will address as I do the rest of the sanding.
 

Well...here's my shroud and deadeye factory.
 
I made five  jigs out out of paperclips and bent them to hold the upper and lower deadeyes, then wove the line in the appropriate pattern, then painted them with a thinned 50/50 mixture of PVA glue. Then I cut shrouds to the different lengths needed for th different masts and CA glued them with rough seizings by simply wrapping thin line. Not exactly the super neat seizings you all make, but they're okay. I made the brass clip out of brass straight pins by bending them on a steel rod the size of the inner deadeye circumference. They have a "tail" that I pushed into a pre-drilled hole and I will finish the underside with a fake chainplate made of brass that I bought via the internet from an outfit in Maine.