Glenn-UK

Main and Fore Topmast Ratlines Due to the current heatwave in the UK I have spent much more time in the garden over the last three days (dozing on the sunbed with a little bit of weeding). I did spent a little bit of time in the shipyard and I managed to complete adding the ratlines to the starboard side main and fore topmast shrouds. I should be able to complete the port side over the next couple of days. I found it was difficult to take a decent photo showing the ratlines. The fore topmast ratlines are shown in the next two photos. The topmast stays and backstays have been kept out of the way as the ratlines were added and these will fully rigged once the ratlines have be completed. The next photo shows the main topmast ratlines with the mizzen topmast in the background.

I still have this task to look forward to. As always you make it look easy.

Hello Dave I like to run everyday, usually in the afternoon, and doing puzzle & wordle (not when I am running). Saturday I attend a local parkrun. I am a qualified UK Athletic run leader. I stopped taking out running groups a couple of years ago.

Mizzen Topmast Ratlines I managed a hour in the shipyard today when our youngest grandson had a morning nap. I was able to add the ratlines to the mizzen topmast. I created a template for the template and added a 0 for the first ratlines to be added (every 5th one), a 1 for the next set of ratlines and finally a 2 for the final set of ratlines. The photo below shows the template in place with the 0 ratlines in place. It did not take too long to complete both sides. My son and daughter in-law return back from their holidays tomorrow so I should be able to return to my normal shipyard working hours on Friday. A typical shipyard day is 9am to 10am, 10:30am to 12noon, 1pm to 2:30pm and finally 6pm to 7pm

After completing the Erycina I am sure you will be able to tackle a bigger build, such as Alert, Flirt or Duchess Of Kingston. I have already built Speedy, Alert and DOK. I have a few more weeks work left to complete the Sphinx, as can be seen in the attached two photos. I will enjoy building both the Erycina and Saucy Jack which will be a nice project before my next major build which will be the Indy. Chris is hoping the Indy kit will be ready for release by the end of the year.

A great build log and I will continue to follow your progress with great interest. I hope to start build both the Saucy Jack and Erycina in early October and will set up a build log when I am in a position to start work. I just have the small matter of completing my current build (Sphinx). You are doing a good job so far and I am sure you will build a great looking model. Glenn

I am enjoying your build, you seem to be doing a great job so far. My next project, once I have finished building the Sphinx, will be two small fishing boats, the Erycina and Saucy Jack. The kits have arrived today and I will use you build log as a reference guide along with Jim prototype build log(s) when I get started, hopefully early October.

No time in the shipyard this week as all my free time is taken up with looking after our youngest grandson (14 months old). He is having a nap at the moment so I have time for a quick post Sphinx plan update. As Chris's Vanguard Model sale ends on 6th Sept I thought it would be prudent to purchase a couple of kits. The Erycina lines really attracted me it was top of the list. I just like the name of Saucy Jack so I decided to buy that one as well. The UPS delivery arrived this morning but I do not expect to start work until late September earliest, probably October.

Topgallant Shrouds - Completed This will be my last post for a few days as our youngest grandson (14 month old) is coming to stay for a few days. I have pushed on yesterday and this morning and I was able to complete the work on installing the mizzen, main and fore topgallant masts and their associated shroud lines. For me this represents reaching a major milestone in the build process. There is still quite of lot of work left, but once the topmast ratlines have been added to the shrouds there is, to my mind, light at the end of the tunnel. To celebrate reaching this milestone I treated myself to the Erycina and Saucy Jack Vanguard Model kits (I decided to buy them before the sale end next month) as they will be my next project. The current state of play with my build is that the mizzen topmast backstay and stays have been rigged. All the backstays lines for the main and fore topmasts have been added but they have not been rigged to their respective deadeyes / blocks. The main and fore topmast stays have also been added to their respective topmasts and are ready to be belayed. Before I complete the rigging work on the topmast backstays and stays I need to add the ratlines to the topmast shrouds. This should take me 3 or 4 days to complete, once I can resume work in the shipyard, probably on Friday unless I can sneak the odd hour or two in when the little chap is napping. In the picture below the tweezers are adding a bit of tension to the fore topmast stay and preventor free ends.

A nice looking "mess" Rusty, well done.

Hello Mark I have painted holes before fitting items on previous builds and suffered the same problem. I have been much more careful with this build in that respect Fingers crossed I have had my last slice of humble pie on this build. Glenn

Topgallant Mizzen and Main Masts Moving forward, after my mistake with adding the backstays to soon, I added the topgallant masts (Mizzen and Main). The fore topgallant mast will be fitted later. With the mizzen topgallant mast in place the two shroud lines were added. I decided to hold the shroud line under a bit of tension to help drop out the kinks before adding the seizing. The main topgallant mast has also been fitted. The next photo shows the Sphinx on the work bench. Holding the mizzen lines under some tension did help remove the kinks in the shrouds. It was a relatively simply task to add the seizing. Moving on to the main topgallant mast shrouds. The previously added backstay shrouds were moved out of the way and the shrouds were seized to the topmast shrouds. Once the shroud is run in I use a croc clip to hold the shroud in place to enable to seizing to be added, as can be seen in the photo below. The end result I will need to repeat the above for the starboard side mizzen and main topgallant shrouds. Not sure when I will get time to do this as our youngest grandson (aged 14 months) is coming to stay for a few nights.

Award for Numpty (Idiot) of the Week Goes To Glenn (A Multiple Numpty Award Winner) One thing I have tried to do with the rigging is to plan ahead so that the process can be as easy as possible and to avoid trying to add rigging in congested areas. With that in mind I decided it would be beneficial to add the main backstays as the access is much better without the topgallant mast in place. With the backstay shrouds in place it seemed to make sense to rig them. As detailed in my last post I forged ahead and completed the main breast backstay. I had also started work on adding the main shifting backstay. I was very happy with the progress I was making. Yesterday evening, when looking at my model, after adding the first part of the shifting backstay rigging I suddenly realised the error of my ways. I had not considered two outstanding rigging tasks, namely: a) Adding the ratlines to the topmast shrouds b) Belaying the topgallant mast shrouds to the topmast shrouds just below the topmast futtock stave. As can been seen in the picture below the main breast backstay sits just in front of the futtock stave and this would make belaying the topgallant mast shroud lines very awkward. Furthermore, as can be seen in the next photo, with the backstays in place it would also greatly hinder the access when adding the ratlines. I knew the backstay rigging had to be removed. So this morning with a little bit of gentle pressure I was able to: a) remove the two eyebolts from the channel b) remove the lanyards from the rigged 3mm deadeye lanyards c) remove the rigging belayed around the bottom of the 5mm channel deadeye The picture below shows the backstay rigging has been released. Thankfully I think I can keep the 5mm block and the 3mm deadeye on the end of the backstay shrouds. All the other breast backstay rigging will be removed and redone at a later stage. The unrigged backstay shrouds can be kept and placed and out of the way whilst I add the topgallant mast and topgallant shrouds, as shown in the photo below. With all the shrouds in place the ratlines can be added. Once all that is done the backstays can be rigged. There is a reason the excellent rigging plans and build manual define the required rigging sequence. However numptys like me think they know much better than the experts (sorry @chris watton and @James H). Lesson learnt and I am now going to eat a large slice of humble pie as contemplate the error of my ways.

Main Breast Backstay There is quite a bit of work adding the main mast backstays so I will spread the work carried out over different posts. This post will cover the work required to add the Main Breast backstay. There is a shroud pair line and before working on the breast backstay which uses the leading shroud line I decided to rig the other shroud which is a simple deadeye / lanyard arrangement. My aim was to set the 3mm shroud deadeye to the same level as the existing 5mm deadeyes. I was happy that I managed to achieve this, as can be seen below. Moving on to the Main Breast Backstay detail, as can be seen in the rigging plan details shown below this arrangement comprises 3 blocks (5mm single, 4mm double and 3mm single) and two eyelets. Starting with the 5mm single block I seized this to the shroud line, using the lower wrapping on the main mast as the reference point for its position. With that block in place I then took a length of 0.5mm natural thread and added an eyebolt to one end. The thread was then fed through the block as shown in the next photo. With the thread in position I placed the eyelet in the channel (but not glued) and I was able to determine the where I should position the 4mm double block. In my case it was approx. 9cm from the eyebolt seizing. The thread was then removed from the channel and using the 9cm measurement as a guide the 4mm double block was then seized to the free end of the 0.5mm natural thread using the quad hands, I have attached a couple of photos showing the set up I used with the quad hands. The thread is wrapped around the 4mm double block, noting the 9cm distance requirement The next photo is a close up of how I like to hold a block, clamping the thread to prevent unwanted movement, prior to adding the seizing. With the seizing complete I decided I should check the end result so the eyebolt is put back in the channel, but not glued. Ensuring the eyebolt stays in place the position of the 4mm double block can be checked. With everything looking good the next task was to add the second eyebolt to the 3mm single block. When adding the seizing to the 3mm block it was also required to add a thimble to the top end. In the picture below you will note I have already seized a length of 0.1mm natural thread to the thimble. This block arrangement is now ready to be added to the channel. Both the eyebolts were then glued in place and the 0.1mm natural thread was rigged, as per the rigging plans. The free end of the thread is then belayed to the bottom of the nearest lower shroud deadeye, as shown on the photo below The 4mm double block rigged is shown below. The 5mm single block is shown below It proved difficult to take a decent picture showing all the completed rigging, the photo below was the best of a bad bunch. The next post will cover the Main Shifting Backstay rigging process.

Main Topmast Backstays - Prep Work With reference to the rigging plans there are 5 shroud lines per side for the back stays. As can be seen in the attached photo some of the shroud lines have a block arrangement and some require deadeyes and lanyards. The different block arrangements for the backstays are shown in the next two photos. To start the process I cut 6 of lengths of 0.75mm black. 4 of these lengths will be configured shroud line pairs and the remaining two shorter lengths will be configured as single shrouds for the lagging backstays. A loop is formed and is then held in the quad hands so I can add the seizing. I have continued to use the alternate half hitch knot method for the seizing, 6 on the bottom and 6 on the top. A completed seizing is shown in the photo below. I always ensure the loop is oversized as it will be adjusted to the required size in situ. It is a fairly quick process to complete adding the loop seizing's for all the shroud lines, as can be seen below. The excess thread will be trimmed once a touch of ca gel has been added to the seizing thread. Each shroud pair placed over the topmast in turn. The loop size is then adjusted be pulling the thread as indicated by the arrows on the next photo. I like to leave the loop a tad on the large size for easy of fitting and for positioning when the blocks and deadeyes are added. The same method for adjusting the loop size can be used for the single shroud line. With all the shroud lines added plus the topmast stay and preventor the topmast is starting to look crowded, as can be seen in the next photo. Please note the bottom stay is not correctly positioned in the photo below as it should be under the leading crosstrees and not the middle one. I will also ensure the shroud are correctly positioned before the blocks and deadeyes are added. The next picture does show the the backstay lines hanging down, ready for the blocks and deadeyes to be added. It also shows the topmast stay and preventor in place. They have been fed through the blocks on the foremast and are ready to be belayed to the bitts.

Mizzen Mast Backstay and Topmast Stay Today I have moved on to adding the backstays and topmast stays. I decided to start with the mizzen mast. A 3mm deadeye needs to be added to the hull for the backstay. This is accomplished using a strop to hold the deadeye and a eyebolt to secure to the hull. A length of 0.75mm black thread is required for the backstay shroud line. The completed arrangement with the lanyards is shown in the photo below. The next photo shows the completed backstay. With the mizzen mast backstays in place I moved on to adding the topmast stay. The stay is wrapped around the topmast and secured in place with a mouse, as can be seen in the photo below. The other end of the mizzen topmast stay requires a 3mm deadeye. With the deadeye in place it was a straightforward task to add the lanyards. The next photo shows the entire mizzen topmast mast stay The next photo shows both the mizzen mast backstay and topmast stay in place. Next I will be adding the backstays and stays to the main topmast. In the picture below I have made the topmast stay and preventor and I am currently deciding where I need to place the mouse. These will be removed as the main mast backstays needs to be installed before the stay and preventor can be secured in place.

Hello Tim Many thanks for you very kind comments. I like to show the detail and describe the methods of my work as I hope it can help others. I am always looking at other build logs to see how various tasks can be tackled. I still class myself as a novice modeller but I am constantly striving to improve my skills. All the best Glenn

Nice work, I still have the task of building the small boats to look forward (dread) to. Glenn

Thank you.

Topmast Catharpins Completed Thankfully the topmast catharpins are now in place. This is, in my opinion, one of the more onerous rigging tasks. That said I have found that the method I have now adopted has yielded a much better end result. Each catharpin is simply a length of thread with thimble eyelets at each end. It can take a bit of trial and error to work out the required overall length of each catharpin. The use of the top and bottom half hitch method when creating the thimbles does allow the seizing position and thimble eyelet size to be adjusted as necessary. I use fly tying thread to secure the staves secured to the shrouds and to also secure the catharpins to the staves. It is not the easiest thread to work with due to it's size but I think it does produce a much better end result. The fore topmast catharpins are shown in the photo below. It will require a little bit more touching up. Next time I will blacking the stave before fitting. The main topmast catharpins are shown in the photo below The mizzen topmast catharpins are shown in the photo below The next picture shows the current build state of the Sphinx I am now moving on to adding the topmast stays which I want to complete before installing the topgallant masts and associated shroud lines. In the picture below I am adjusting the position of the stay so I can determine where I should place the mouse for the fore topmast stay. Sorry for the dirty fingernail I should have cleaned and trimmed it before taking the photo.

Mizzen Topmast Catharpins I have completed the work for the mizzen topmast futtock staves and catharpins. I really do not like doing the futtock staves and catharpins, but there are a necessary evil and it is only a few days work. With the futtock staves in place I work out the required length of the catharpins and using the required thread add a thimble to each end. I usually end up making a few threads so I can select the best fit. The next task is to add the catharpin to the futtock stave. I use fly tying thread to secure the catharpin to the futtock stave. This is the part I really detest as the flying tying thread is really thin and it is very difficult to see what I am doing. Testing my patience to the limit the first side of the catharpin is in place. It is now a matter of repeating the process and after a few frustrating hours work the task is complete. One mast complete two more left to do, such fun!!!!!!!

Topmast Futtock Staves Adding the Futtock Staves is one of my least favorite tasks, the only task I think I detest more is adding catharpins which will be my next job. Initially the quad hands did not seem to a possible tool to aid this task. Thankfully the Sphinx's parts box came to the rescue, as can be seen in the next photo which shows the arrangement I used to hold the brass rods in place as I added the seizing. For the seizing I am using fly tying thread. The next photo shows all the futtock staves in place. I will trim the staves to the required length once I have installed the catharpins. The next photo shows a close up of the main topmast futtock stave. The futtock stave and thread will be painted black. The next photo shows a close up of the fore topmast futtock stave. The next photo shows a close up of the mizzen topmast futtock stave.

Topmast Shrouds All the topmast shrouds have been fitted and their associated lanyards rigged. For me this is a major milestone completed in the build process, I really like how the Sphinx now looks as can be seen in the next two photos. I tried really hard to get the deadeyes to look even. I did redo a few deadeyes when I was not happy with how they looked once the lanyards had been added. They are still not perfect but they as good as I can get them at the moment, and are so much better than my previous builds. Next up will be to fit the futtock staves followed by the catharpins and ratlines. There's still quite a few more weeks work left before the build is complete. My next project, after the Sphinx, will probably be the Erycina.

Hello Bjorn I do like to find out the purpose of the different rigging elements. I also find it very beneficial to plan ahead and to check the rigging paths shown on the plans. I have only downloaded the pdf build manual from Vanguard's web site. I do not have a pdf copy of the plan sheets, sorry for the confusion. All the best Glenn

A truly awesome build