Glenn-UK

The ones I have just bought are ideal for belaying in my opinion.

New Tool Alert When rigging on all my previous build and on my current Sphinx I have always had found it troublesome to secure the free ends to the belaying pins and / or cleats. I have a great pair of small straight reverse action tweezers which has been my main tool, but they are not ideal. I also have a nice pair of right-angle tweezers (normal action). However, I find it difficult to retain hold of the thread as these tweezers are not reverse action. In the past I have looked and ordered a pair of reverse action right-angled tweezers, but they were much too big for belaying free ends. Yesterday afternoon I took delivery of some small craft tweezers, reverse grip tweezers. Today, when I started to belay the mizzen sheets and tacks free ends to the shroud cleats, I used the new tweezers. I am happy to report that the belaying task suddenly became so much easier and I wish I had discovered these tools many years ago. I have added a hyperlink to these tweezers below. Craft Tweezers Crossing Lock Soft Gripping Tweezers Reverse Grip

Yard Lifts - Completed Over the last couple of days all the missing shroud cleats were secured in place. With these in place I was then finally able to belay the free ends of the yard lift rigging. It was not the easiest task to complete, some free ends took no time at all to belay whilst some other free ends put up a bit of a battle. I have shown the rigging of one the lifts in the following three photos. This now means that I have completed all the work shown on rigging plan sheets 1, 2 and 3 and will now move on rigging plan sheets 4, which is the last rigging sheet. Sheets and Tacks - Work In Progress Starting with the mizzen mast the rigging for the sheets and tacks has been run in and is now ready to be belayed. The belaying points for the various free ends will be on the mizzen mast shroud cleats. The photo below shows the rigging fed through the larger of the double block arrangement fitted to the end of the yard. Another part of this rigging can be seen where a length of thread has been seized around the yard In the photo below a length of thread has been fed through one of the yard blocks and is ready to be belayed. I need to rerun this rigging before it is belayed so it sits behind the footrope rather than either side of it. The sheets and tacks for the main (and fore) mast is a bit more complicated in terms of the blocking and belaying requirements. I have noted the requirement for tack toggles which, on the real ship rigging, is a quick release mechanism. As can be seen in the picture below the rigging between the double block can be quickly released when the bar is removed. @chris watton did provide an excellent detailed method on how to replicate the tack toggles in his rigging plans and is a credit to his attention to detail. For example, with reference to the previous picture in this post I should have added a tack toggle between the double blocks. I opted to add the thread with a simple seized loop as can be seen in the shown in the photo below which shows the additional blocks required for the main mast. I think it will take a keen eye (once rigged) to know the toggle tacks have not been fitted on my model. Having said that I think I need a bit more space between the double blocks so after my morning tea-break I will try adding the tack toggle arrangement for the double blocks.

Shroud Cleats In my last post I detailed that I had failed to add the shroud cleats. I thought would share the process I am now using to add them. With the cleat held in the quad hands I use a simple half hitch to add a 15cm length of black thread. I am using left over ratline thread. I only add the thread to one side of the cleat at this stage. It seemed to make task of securing the cleat to the shroud much harder when I had added the seizing thread to both sides of the cleat at this stage. As can be seen below, showing the work in progress, I am making this a production line task. When adding the cleat to the shroud I apply a bit of ca gel to the cleat and press it in place, ensuring the thread that had been attached is at the bottom. The two thread ends are brough to the front I use a standard reef knot to secure the bottom thread ends and, after adding a touch of ca gel to the knot, the excess thread is cut away. I then take a 10cm length of black thread and position it around the cleat and shroud which is then secured with another standard reef knot. In the picture below I have started to add the reef knot to the top section of the cleat.

Yard Lifts - A Slight Setback As I set to work adding the various yard lift rigging, I did not foresee too many problems. I started out making the loops the lifts which needed to be secured to the end of the yards. Some yard lift rigging started by being seized around their respective masts, just above the mast cap. These were added without incident. As each lift thread was added and fed through the appropriate blocks the free ends were then carefully brought down to the deck level ready for belaying. After a few hours work all the yard lifts had been rigged and were ready to be belayed. I was really pleased with the how the Sphinx was looking. I expected it would take me another days effort to belay all the free ends. When looking at the rigging plans I noted that all the yard lifts are belayed to cleats located on the back of the shroud lines. They only problem is that I had forgotten to add these cleats when installing the shrouds. The various stay rigging which has been belayed to the various channels has meant access to the back of the shrouds is now much more difficult. I now in the process of adding all the shroud cleats which is a very fiddly and very time-consuming task, but I am making slow and steady progress. I expect it will take me a few days effort before all the shroud cleats have been added which is a minor setback.

Hi Dan I was dreading cutting out the Alert gun ports but they are actually quite easy to do. Check out post 80 on my Alert build log where I added the gun port cut outs. I used tape as a guide and a razor saw to make the vertical cuts. Glenn

I have found (several times when I've made an error) that Chris is pretty efficient at sending replacements so I would assume they will arrive early next week. I plan to build Saucy Jack in parallel with Erycina. My Sphinx build is nearing completion so I hope to start these new builds next month. The Alert is a nice looking boat and one I really enjoyed building. I think you will not encounter too many problems with that kit.

Nice work you have a great looking model. I also live in the UK and make my own WOP solution with a 50:50 polyurethane varnish and white spirits. I use Ronseal Ultra tough internal mattcoat varnish and that seems to produce a really nice finish. I use measuring pipettes droppers to get an accurate 50:50 mixture

Very impressive work

Yard Tyes, Jeers and Halliards I have now completed stage 4 of the rigging of the Sphinx now that the foremast topsail and topgallant yards have secured to the masts and the tyes and halliards have been rigged. The next stage of the rigging will be to add all the yard lifts, noting I have already added the mizzen yard lifts but they free ends have not been belayed as yet. After the yard lifts have been added the final phase of the rigging will be to add the sheets, tacks and braces. I am still hoping to complete the rigging phase by the end of this month as I am very keen to start work on the Erycina and Saucy Jack. The first three photos below show the current build state of the Sphinx, which I think is looking quite nice. The next few photos are some close ups of the fore topsail and topgallant yard tyes and halliards.

Fore topsail and topgallant yard preparation When securing the topsail and topgallant yards to their respective masts there is a bit of preparation work required. The yards are secured to the masts via parral beads (topgallant) and parrel beads and ribs (topsail). I determined that the topgallant yard would require 7 parral beads and the topsail yard would require 7 ribs interspersed with 6 parrel beads (top and bottom). The topsail halliard, after passing through a hole in the topgallant yard, is belayed to an eyebolt located on the rear of the foremast platform via a double block arrangement. The upper block is a 4mm double and the lower block is a 3mm single complete with a hook to secure it to the platform eyebolt. The topsail tyes and halliards are belayed to cleats located on the aft foremast aft shrouds via double 5mm single blocks. The lower 5mm blocks are secured to the aft of the fore channel via an eyebolt. The upper 5mm blocks are seized to the tye thread after it has passed through the 3mm blocks located on the topsail platform crosstrees. It has taken me a good couple of hours of effort to prepare the various blocks and parral beads/ ribs required for the fore topsail and topgallant yards. The two pictures below show the completed parts which are now ready to be installed. I have just noticed I have only threaded 6 parral beads for the topgallant yard. Note to self I must learn to count better! You will also note that I have added a half hitch knot to either end of the topsail parral beads / ribs arragment as I have found this makes the fitting around the mast and yard so much easier. The long tail on the 4mm double block will be removed once the halliard thread has been passed through the thimble. I have found it is useful to keep it there as it acts as a nice guide when the halliard thread is being seized.

A great looking set of yards, well done.

Looks a very nice model, one to bear in mind along with the Indy once I have completed Sphinx, Erycina and Saucy Jack. I hoping to complete the Sphinx by the end of this month then I will be starting on the two fishing boats

Main Topsail Yard Tye and Hilliard The photo below shows the rigging plan for this task. Two lengths of 0.5mm natural thread are secured to the leading topmast crosstrees. These threads are then passed through the central double block located on the topsail yard. The two threads return to the topmast platform and are fed through single blocks. The two free ends are then secured to single 5mm blocks. A second set of 5mm single blocks are then secured to the main mast channel using eyebolts. 0.25mm natural thread is used to join the two blocks together. I took two lengths of 0.5mm natural thread and ran them through the central double block on the yard and to the two 3mm single blocks on the upper crosstrees. This is shown on in the photo below, noting the free ends are still to be belayed so the rigging is not very taut Close up of the central double block The free ends of these threads are then belayed to 5mm single blocks. I thought I would detail the method I used to seize one of the blocks. It might not be the correct method, but it is a method which I have found to be relatively easy do and does produce a passable end result (in my opinion). The picture below shows the block arrangement required and as can be seen there are two thimbles required (top and bottom). Starting with a length of 0.25mm black thread I create the upper thimble. A large loop is formed and is then held in place using my quad hands. The seizing is the applied using fly tying thread. As detailed in some of my previous posts all seizing is done using a series of half hitch knots (top and bottom). As the created loop is over sized it is then placed over a metal pin and closed up by pulling the two free thread ends. This is shown in the photo below. With the top thimble created the thread is then wrapped around the 5mm single block, taking care to ensure the upper thimble is correctly positioned with the block. With the two free ends of the seizing thread held firm in the quad hands a long length of 0.25mm natural thread is added. This arrangement is shown in the next photo. Using flying thread, the bottom thimble is formed, as can be seen in the following photo. The two free ends of the seizing thread are then pulled so the seizing can be pull up tight against the 5mm block which is shown in the next photo. One of the seizing thread ends is trimmed away so that the 0.25mm natural thread can be placed alongside the remaining seizing thread. This arrangement is then held in place with the quad hands, as shown in the next photo. To complete the process the natural thread is seized to the remaining black thread end, as shown in the photo below. I opted to use the black ratline thread for this. I hope you found this post of some interest. The competed block is now ready to be added to the Sphinx.

Mizzen Yard Braces This morning I added the braces to the mizzen crossjack, top and topgallant yards. I have not belayed the free ends of these braces which I will do once I have secured the main and fore top and topgallant yards to their respective masts. As I have moved the build to a different location in the shipyard for better all-round access it is much harder to get good quality photos. The first photo shows the crossjack yard braces. You may note some reverse action tweezers in the photo. I am using these to keep some tension in the various braces before I belay the free ends to the pin rack on the mizzen mast. The next photo shows the topyard braces. The free ends will be belayed to cleats located on the leading mizzen mast shroud line. The next photo shows the topgallant yard braces. The free ends will be belayed to cleats located on the topmast shroud. The next photo shows the mizzen mast in full. My IJN Yamato (Model Space) can be seen in the background. I am now working on securing the remaining yards to the masts. The final picture shows the main topyard which has been secured to the topmast using parrel ribs and beads.

Following on from my earlier post I added the cleat to the mizzen shroud. I then belayed the free thread end of the mizzen topyard hilliard rigging to the newly added cleat, as can be seen in the photo below. Mizzen Topgallant Yard The mizzen topgallant yard is to be secured to the topgallant mast using parral beads. I used a spare piece of dowel to work out how many parral beads were required. It was a fairly straightforward task to add the threaded parral beads to secure the topgallant yard to its mast. The following picture shows the required rigging for the topgallant yard hilliard. The hilliard thread was secured to the yard as can be seen in the next two photos. The hilliard thread was then fed through the hole in the topgallant mast as can be seen in the next two photos. The next task was to add a double 4mm block to the end of the hilliard thread, as shown below. As was shown on the plan sheet a single 3mm block, complete with a hook, is to be added to an eyebolt on the mizzen mast platform. The next photo shows the block arrangement, before it was fitted in place. A long length of 0.1mm thread was also seized to a thimble on the other end of this block. I was then able to add the hook to platform eyebolt without any problems as can be seen in the next two photos The final two photos in this post shows the completed rigging between the two blocks. The free end is ready to be terminated to a belaying pin on the rack fitted near the base of the mizzen mast

Mizzen Topyard I really enjoyed my cruise up and back down the Seine but now I am home my attention returns back to completing the Sphinx. The next task was to start securing the top and topgallant yards to their respective masts. Over the last couple of days, I have been working on the mizzen topyard which is secured to the top mast using parral beads and ribs. It was a bit fiddly to add the parral beads and rib arrangement but thankfully I was able to complete the task without any mishaps. With the topyard secured to the mizzen topmast I then looked at the tye and hilliard rigging requirement. As can be seen in the plan sheet the rigging (0.5mm natural thread) starts from the topgallant crosstrees. The thread is then passed though the central 3mm single block on the topyard. The thread is then passed through a hole in the topmast before it is belayed via a two 4mm single block configuration. One block is secured to the channel via an eyebolt the other block is seized to the end of the 0.5mm natural thread. The rigging between the two 4mm blocks is then belayed to a cleat fixed to the back of the rear starboard mizzen shroud. With the 0.5mm natural thread tied to the crosstree I was able to feed the thread through the central 3mm block, as can be seen below. Once the thread had been passed through the topmast hole a 4mm single block was seized to the free end. When adding the seizing a thimble was added to the block so a length of 0.25mm natual thread could be added, as can be seen in the photo below. A second 4mm single block was seized to a short length of black thread, complete with an eyebolt. The completed arrangement was then added to the mizzen starboard side channel as shown below. The natural thread was then rigged between the two 4mm single blocks. As can be seen in the final photo below the free end is now ready to be belayed to the shroud cleat. I still need to add the cleat to the shroud line.

A great looking completed model

Nice work

Many thanks for your kind words Tim, they are very much appreciated. I like to detail what I am doing. They might not be the best or correct methods but they seem to work for me.

I can't take credit for the footrope shaping method but it does work really well so I'm pleased it will help others.

Yard Work Completed Another major milestone on this build project has now been completed as I have now finished all the work related to the manufacture of the top and topgallant yards. I am pleased I managed to complete this activity before leaving for an 8 day river cruise on the Seine tomorrow morning. This means on my return back to dear "old blighty" next week I am just left with the rigging all the yards. Assuming I do not encounter any major snags I hope to be able to complete the yard rigging by the end of September. There is then just the small matter of building the 3 small boats. As I bid you au revior here is a nice selection of photo's of the Sphinx as she will be left for the next 8 days.

Fore Topgallant Yard I thought I show how I shape the yard footrope's with today's post. When the footrope is added to the the yard I adjust the position of the footrope seizing as necessary to get the require shape. It take a bit of trial and error to get right but is not a very long process. Once I am happy with the footrope the yard is held in place using the quad hands. I then use a clamp on each of the footropes to create the required shape, as can be seen in the photo below. With the clamps in place a diluted solution of pcv glue is brushed on the footropes which are then left to dry. The next picture shows more of the quads hands holding the yard in place. I have just one more yard to complete (Fore Topyard) which I hope to do later on today.

Main Topyard Fixtures and Fittings I was able to spend a couple of hours in the shipyard today and completed both the main topgallant and main top yards. I thought I would detail the method I used to add the fixtures and fittings to the main topyard. With the yard held in the place using the quads hands, as shown in the photo below, the central double 4mm lift block was added, secured to the yard using a clove hitch knot. I then added some tape to mark the position of the 2 off 5mm single blocks on the yard, as can shown in the photo below Using the tape as a guide the first 5mm block was added to the yard, secured using a clove hitch knot, as shown below With both 5mm blocks added I repeated the taping process and added the 2 off 4mm single blocks. The work on the central part of the yard is now complete as shown in the photo below. Next I added the 2 off double block assemblies to each end of the yard. Before adding the two brace blocks I have found it is better to add the footrope stirrup rigging. To do this I started by wrapping a length of 0.5mm black thread around the yard, next to the one of the central cleats. I used a clamp to hold the thread in place as shown below. With the thread held in place it was an easy task to add the seizing. The loop was then tighten and the excess thread trimmed. I then added the second thread to the other central cleat using the same method. The two threads were then fed through the yard footrope stirrups as shown in the next photo Next I created the loops in the other end of the footrope stirrup threads. To do this one end of the yard was removed from the quad hands which then allowed me to seize the loops, as can be seen in the next photo The loop was then placed over the end of the yard and the position of the seizing adjusted, as required. Once I was happy with how the footrope stirrup rigging was looking I then moved to to adding the two brace block assemblies to each end of the yard. I used a template to set the length of these braces, as can shown in the photo below. The completed main topyard is shown in the photo below

Mizzen Topgallant Yard I managed to sneak 30 mins in the shipyard this morning and completed all work on the mizzen topgallant yard. After fitting the yard fixtures and fittings I held the yard in quadhands and used a couple of clamps to shape the foot stirrup's. Once I was happy with the foot stirrup shaping I applied a coat of a diluted pva solution. Overall I think the end result passes muster.