Bob Cleek

Thanks Dziadeczek,  I thought that might be the case 
 
Laggard,
Keep in mind your scale.   28 gage is too thin for 1:48.   Assume an eye of 3/4" rod forming a 3" ID for example, this is about 26 gauge wire bent to a  1/16" ID eye.   Huge eyes are often seen on kit models similar to the chubby belaying pins and take away from on an otherwise fine model.  If your eyebolts are supposed to be bigger than 3" , the material gauge should be proportionally bigger in diameter.  
 
If you find brass to be too stiff, heat it until it is red and it will be as pliable as copper wire.  To heat it, a propane torch (or a cheap propane cigar lighter) does the job.   Stainless steel or steel wire are not necessary and are more difficult to bend and blacken.   Copper eyes can be blackened in situ with thinned liver of sulfur and brass can be pre- blackened before being installed with a number of agents such as Birchwood Casey liquids.   
 
Allan
 

These are easy to make:
 
Take a piece if small wire and fold it over.

 
Make yourself a small hook our of piano wire and chuck it in a pin vise. Then just twist it.

 
 

Quality linen thread isn't being manufactured as much as it used to be and is indeed difficult to obtain today. However, interestingly, hemp is making a significant comeback in the fiber industries and, for all intents and purposes, is nearly indistinguishable from linen (flax) in it's properties. Hemp thread is now being produced and sold, and although it hasn't become widely available, it's becoming moreso. Look for it online. Amazon.com: Coats & Clark Extra Strong Upholstery Thread, 150-Yard, Hemp
 
Given that linen is unavailable, Chuck reports that at least one major museum has gone over to Gutermann's Mara polyester which they feel has acceptable archival qualities for use in rigging ship models. See: Gutermann Mara 100 Poly Wrapped Poly Core Thread - Tex 30 - WAWAK Sewing Supplies 
 
Anything other than these two aren't isn't being widely considered better for ship model rigging. Check Chuck's rope-making posts in the "More" section in the forum masthead. There are lots of discussions regarding thread to use for ropemaking. In any event, all the custom-made cordage for modeling is better by a long shot than anything any of the kit manufacturers I've seen are putting in their kits.

Using heat from a clothes iron or other suitable device, bend your toe rail to shape first, then glue it in place. 

This was made for long typing period on a keyboard , plus a small table for the mouse. This model is for a table and there is also a model for a chair. The idea is to transfer the arm weight to the forearm on the pad and to reduce the distance  so that the hand can easily move. At the opposite, if you would try by example to carve with the arm fully extended not resting on anything, your arm would get tired much faster and with pain as an extra. This way the hand is "free". 
 
Very good for long  figurehead carving period by example.
 
There are different kind of height adjustable  table: cylinder, hydraulic jack but electric are the most versatile to adjust the height. Working at the good height is so much easier to work... and not only for the rigging!

Hi Bob haven't seen the armrests before, thanks for posting. Cheers Pete

Similarly, I use a old drafting stool like the one below that I scored at a garage sale:
 

 
The adjustable height tables are a valuable thing to have, but my main concern these days is providing for a solid base for my hands and forearms to ensure steady manipulation. There's a world of difference between rigging "in mid-air" and rigging "with your elbows on the table." 
 
I'm currently considering one of the adjustable arm rests like these made for computer users:
 

 

 
I'm thinking that mounting these on a bar adjusted to fit the user's sitting or standing height with a lift table behind it, would work well for "getting in close" to do rigging while providing forearm and wrist stabilization.
 
Has anybody any experience with these?

Similarly, I use a old drafting stool like the one below that I scored at a garage sale:
 

 
The adjustable height tables are a valuable thing to have, but my main concern these days is providing for a solid base for my hands and forearms to ensure steady manipulation. There's a world of difference between rigging "in mid-air" and rigging "with your elbows on the table." 
 
I'm currently considering one of the adjustable arm rests like these made for computer users:
 

 

 
I'm thinking that mounting these on a bar adjusted to fit the user's sitting or standing height with a lift table behind it, would work well for "getting in close" to do rigging while providing forearm and wrist stabilization.
 
Has anybody any experience with these?

Similarly, I use a old drafting stool like the one below that I scored at a garage sale:
 

 
The adjustable height tables are a valuable thing to have, but my main concern these days is providing for a solid base for my hands and forearms to ensure steady manipulation. There's a world of difference between rigging "in mid-air" and rigging "with your elbows on the table." 
 
I'm currently considering one of the adjustable arm rests like these made for computer users:
 

 

 
I'm thinking that mounting these on a bar adjusted to fit the user's sitting or standing height with a lift table behind it, would work well for "getting in close" to do rigging while providing forearm and wrist stabilization.
 
Has anybody any experience with these?

Similarly, I use a old drafting stool like the one below that I scored at a garage sale:
 

 
The adjustable height tables are a valuable thing to have, but my main concern these days is providing for a solid base for my hands and forearms to ensure steady manipulation. There's a world of difference between rigging "in mid-air" and rigging "with your elbows on the table." 
 
I'm currently considering one of the adjustable arm rests like these made for computer users:
 

 

 
I'm thinking that mounting these on a bar adjusted to fit the user's sitting or standing height with a lift table behind it, would work well for "getting in close" to do rigging while providing forearm and wrist stabilization.
 
Has anybody any experience with these?

Quality linen thread isn't being manufactured as much as it used to be and is indeed difficult to obtain today. However, interestingly, hemp is making a significant comeback in the fiber industries and, for all intents and purposes, is nearly indistinguishable from linen (flax) in it's properties. Hemp thread is now being produced and sold, and although it hasn't become widely available, it's becoming moreso. Look for it online. Amazon.com: Coats & Clark Extra Strong Upholstery Thread, 150-Yard, Hemp
 
Given that linen is unavailable, Chuck reports that at least one major museum has gone over to Gutermann's Mara polyester which they feel has acceptable archival qualities for use in rigging ship models. See: Gutermann Mara 100 Poly Wrapped Poly Core Thread - Tex 30 - WAWAK Sewing Supplies 
 
Anything other than these two aren't isn't being widely considered better for ship model rigging. Check Chuck's rope-making posts in the "More" section in the forum masthead. There are lots of discussions regarding thread to use for ropemaking. In any event, all the custom-made cordage for modeling is better by a long shot than anything any of the kit manufacturers I've seen are putting in their kits.

Similarly, I use a old drafting stool like the one below that I scored at a garage sale:
 

 
The adjustable height tables are a valuable thing to have, but my main concern these days is providing for a solid base for my hands and forearms to ensure steady manipulation. There's a world of difference between rigging "in mid-air" and rigging "with your elbows on the table." 
 
I'm currently considering one of the adjustable arm rests like these made for computer users:
 

 

 
I'm thinking that mounting these on a bar adjusted to fit the user's sitting or standing height with a lift table behind it, would work well for "getting in close" to do rigging while providing forearm and wrist stabilization.
 
Has anybody any experience with these?

Quality linen thread isn't being manufactured as much as it used to be and is indeed difficult to obtain today. However, interestingly, hemp is making a significant comeback in the fiber industries and, for all intents and purposes, is nearly indistinguishable from linen (flax) in it's properties. Hemp thread is now being produced and sold, and although it hasn't become widely available, it's becoming moreso. Look for it online. Amazon.com: Coats & Clark Extra Strong Upholstery Thread, 150-Yard, Hemp
 
Given that linen is unavailable, Chuck reports that at least one major museum has gone over to Gutermann's Mara polyester which they feel has acceptable archival qualities for use in rigging ship models. See: Gutermann Mara 100 Poly Wrapped Poly Core Thread - Tex 30 - WAWAK Sewing Supplies 
 
Anything other than these two aren't isn't being widely considered better for ship model rigging. Check Chuck's rope-making posts in the "More" section in the forum masthead. There are lots of discussions regarding thread to use for ropemaking. In any event, all the custom-made cordage for modeling is better by a long shot than anything any of the kit manufacturers I've seen are putting in their kits.

I have a bit different approach.
I have a very high bench and use essentially a bar stool which I can lower as needed!😉
Your workshop is fantastic!

To take the discussion a bit further, archjofo makes rope from silk.
 
 
 
It looks good, but I wouldn't know about overall performance..
 
There has also been discussion about linen but it seems to be relatively expensive and hard to source..
 
It was Chuck's preferred thread at one time, and I believe the go-to standard for museums..

I don't claim to be an authority on Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century British Admiralty shipbuilding practices, but I do have a small bit of hands-on experience calking seams and driving trunnels. I may later stand corrected, but I don't believe seams on vertical surfaces were ever payed, which is the process of pouring hot molten liquid tar (or pitch compounds) from a hot can with a specialized spout designed for the purpose. Generally, then, it was only decks which were payed. I believe seams on vertical surfaces were "stopped" with similar "stopping" compounds of "plastic," rather than "liquid," pitch or tar applied with a putty knife. 
 
I don't dispute the obvious reference in the contemporary specifications to "caulking" trunnels, but, in that instance, I believe the reference is to the practice of sealing the end-grain with tar or pitch inside of the trunnel hole immediately before driving the trunnel or to apply stopping to wedged trunnels which had split or broken edges after driving. There is certainly no reason to drive oakum around a trunnel as has been described above in this thread. That's just plain silly. I've got at least a couple of dozen caulking irons in my caulker's bucket, which I obtained many years ago from the widow of a lifelong master ship caulker. While some are "bent irons," with their shafts bent to permit accessing difficult to reach seams, none are shaped like a gouge on the working edge of the iron for the purpose of caulking curved seams or trunnels. This is simply because such a gouge-shaped iron would prevent the proper driving of the caulking material which requires the iron to be "rocked" as the material is progressively driven down the length of the seam. Furthermore, caulking must be driven into a proper "V"-shaped "caulking seam" and there are irons called "dumb irons" which are made for the purpose of creating such seams. There's no such thing as a "dumb iron" for making caulking seams around the sides of trunnels. Making a caulking seam around the head of a trunnel would serve no purpose whatsoever, and would serve to weaken the holding power of the trunnel itself. 
 
Most of my caulking irons were made by C.Drew and Company, the foremost American manufacturers of wooden shipwrights tools back in the day. Fortunately, some wonk has posted the old Drew catalogs on the Antique Tool Collectors' Research Forum. http://www.numismalink.com/drew.ency.34.59a.html The Drew catalogs do mention "treenail irons," but provide no details or pictures. The author adds a detailed note, however, explaining that another apparently British catalog shows a picture of a "treenail iron" and describes the treenail iron as "like a spike iron but usually with a blunt edge about 1" wide" and the catalog explains that these were "Used for splitting and spreading the head of a trenail (British spelling) before inserting a wedge or caulking material." It remains a mystery why a caulker would ever have occasion to "caulk" a wedge, except that wedges or trunnel edges may chip, split, creating defective voids and these would be filled with stopping compound as the caulkers came across them when stopping the hull seams. http://www.numismalink.com/drew.note19.html
 
Bottom line, it would appear nobody ever drove oakum around trunnels. Just imagine, were the assertion true, how much work that would be to create the caulking seam, drive the caulking material home. and stop the seam in thousands of trunnels ... and for what purpose? 

Yeah, but it's so annoying when you get sticky dried jelly and mustard fingerprints on your shiny copper bottoms!  

This could be somebody's lucky day!  US eBay has a complete set of Copenhagen curves by a company I've never seen before, but a curve is a curve. The listing ends today and there's only a couple of bids. It's at $51.00 with free shipping! If anybody wants a set of Copenhagen curves for a bargain basement price, this may be your chance. The short listing time probably means a lot of people haven't noticed it yet. Martin Copenhagen Drafting Curves | eBay

Yeah, but it's so annoying when you get sticky dried jelly and mustard fingerprints on your shiny copper bottoms!  

Yeah, but it's so annoying when you get sticky dried jelly and mustard fingerprints on your shiny copper bottoms!  

Yeah, but it's so annoying when you get sticky dried jelly and mustard fingerprints on your shiny copper bottoms!  

Yeah, but it's so annoying when you get sticky dried jelly and mustard fingerprints on your shiny copper bottoms!  

Yeah, but it's so annoying when you get sticky dried jelly and mustard fingerprints on your shiny copper bottoms!  

This could be somebody's lucky day!  US eBay has a complete set of Copenhagen curves by a company I've never seen before, but a curve is a curve. The listing ends today and there's only a couple of bids. It's at $51.00 with free shipping! If anybody wants a set of Copenhagen curves for a bargain basement price, this may be your chance. The short listing time probably means a lot of people haven't noticed it yet. Martin Copenhagen Drafting Curves | eBay

Over 50 years ago I bought my fourth wooden boat kit.  Inside the box, together with the plans, an instruction booklet and wooden sheets and strips was a booklet, in 8 languages.  I found it today.  It reads as follows:
 
“You are about to begin the exciting task of building a ********** model, and I hope you will have many pleasant hours doing so.
The most important point is that this kit is intended to be built, and not assembled, in consequence, you must not expect the parts to fit together perfectly, it will be necessary to exercise skill and imagination in the building of this kit.
I have tried to make the parts as accurate as possible, but thought and care should be exercised during construction.  However I believe that this is one of the reasons for the popularity of my kits, after all, any child could put a puzzle together.
I wish you a lot of success in building your model.”
 
I wonder if something similar were to be printed on the outside of kit boxes it would reduce the mismatch between expectation and reality.  It might, of course, reduce sales!

Antony