mgdawson

Hey Coastie

I've done a (very) quick skim through C Nepean Longridge's book, 'The Cutty Sark, The Ship and a model' and came up with a few numbers, which, together with the tools mentioned above should give you a good lead.

The standing rigging, pennants etc of this period were usually wire, so they are not necessarily larger than the running rigging.

Best way to confirm what you're doing is get some stand off photos of ships and look at your model from a similar scale distance and see if the rigging is in proportion. Pretty well any of the training ships have wire standing rigging and would give a good idea if you don't have a photo of the Cutty Sark herself from the right perspective.

Shrouds, cap stays & lower stays 5" circumference wire

Bob stay, iron rod

Bowsprit shrouds, chain

Top mast shrouds 2 3/4" wire

Jib boom guys 2" wire

Topgallant shrouds 2 1/2" wire

Lower Yard lifts 2 1/2" wire

Course Sheets 4" hemp (sounds a little small for the main course to me MD)

Lower topsail yard braces 4" hemp

Topsail halliard purchase 4" hemp

Mark D

I'll have another look at my library this evening to see if I can find it

Hi Patrick

If you manage to find that source, I'd be interested if it comments on the purpose of the King Plank, was it structural, just a construction aid etc etc and if you have centre line openings could you have 2, one running either side of the openings ? ( I probably shouldn't admit it here but while I like modeling my primary interest is in how the ships were constructed and used. :-)

Ta

Mark D

After much searching I have found a source of the correct diamond pattern Hammock Netting for period model ships, I was looking in a store called Spotlight for those in Australia and NZ, not sure if they are in other countries but I'm sure there are similar haberdashery, craft type stores. The material is Mosquito Netting and found in the curtain department, it comes in a range of colors but most importantly cream and black it cost $4.99/Metre, enough for a flotilla. Hope this benefits others.

Hey thanks for that, all I found when I looked there was that hex mesh, now I know what to ask for I'll have another go.

Mark

Agreed! but that shop wouldn't stand a chance in -30C single pane windows , no insulation in single plank walls, judging by the T shirt must be somewhere warm or summer ;>)

 

Michael

Yeah, gotta agree there, definitely not enough insulation and I can't see any air con unit, he would have fried today, 39C.

Hi All,

If you're having trouble tracking these down, hermaphrodite calipers are also known as jenny calipers or odd leg calipers, other than eBay you'll find them at engineering and model engineering supplies.

Mark

Hmm, how about creating and 'repairing' a bit of storm or battle damage ?

Or perhaps add some 'human' interest, a mop and bucket, a spar propped up on a horse with some chippy tools lying around to repair it, a loose coil of rope with the end opened up for splicing. You don't need the people (unless you want them) just the evidence they're around.

Mark

Yes, that last loop tucked under the previous loop was new to me also. That is why I asked Jackie if she was giving the last loop a 'half hitch'. She replied that the boatswain wanted it their way.

Of course, it is important that all crew members do it the same way. In the dark or stormy conditions you don't want surprises.

The tuck under the first loop is new to me but extremely good idea, that's where the strain on the line will come in and lock it but still easy to flip out.

Half hitching has been mentioned as many have no doubt seen it used, while you can usually get away with it today with modern synthetic ropes, natural fibre ropes shrink when wet so if you put a half hitch in a dry line which subsequently gets wet it tightens up and you can't get it off.  And according to sod's law, you put it on dry in fine weather and you're trying to get it off when the wind is up and you've got green water coming over the deck. I got caught once, fortunately nothing critical, I was 3rd Mate on a container ship and one of the crew had secured a mooring winch canvas cover with half hitches,I needed to get the cover off coming into port in wet weather and ended up cutting the securing line (I always carried a knife).

Also 3 vs 4 'turns', while there's a lot of individual preference on the number of turns, generally with synthetics you add an extra turn as they tend to be, comparatively, a little slippery, likewise splicing, add an extra tuck on synthetics.

Mark

I am thinking of using ebonized boxwood for the wales of my next ship model.  I've read of using aniline dyes for this. Can you dye them with aniline and alcohol, then soak them in water to bend to the form needed?

 

Kurt

Hey Kurt

If you're looking at actual ebonizing rather than stain / dye this link might be of interest. Haven't tried it myself so can't really make any further comment.

http://www.routerforums.com/finishing-touch/38180-taking-run-ebonizing.html

Mark