Glenn-UK

Portside Shrouds, deadeyes and lanyards I have taken the bull by the horns and decided to start again. As pointed out by @Blue Ensign the lanyards were rigged with the wrong sized thread in my previous attempt. I have now slightly refined my method when adding the deadeye to the shroud (and seizing's) which I hope will means all the deadeyes will be bit more even this time around. The first deadeye looks good to my eye. There is a nice amount of tension of the shroud line. Fingers crossed I can get the others to match this one.

I did remove the seizing on a couple of shroud lines and readjusted before I trimmed the 1mm thread end as I went along, it is not possible now the ends have been trimmed. I have already remade the shroud lines which didn't take long. You are right I should have used 0.25mm natural thread for the lanyards, 0.1mm is for the 3mm mizzen mast lanyards. I'm still unsure about the position of the first seizing above the shroud deadeye. I think it needs to be nearer the deadeye.

Hello Maurice I am using 1mm black thread as per the plan sheets for the foremast shrouds. I am using 0.1mm natural thread for the seizing's. Do you think I should remove the shrouds and start again to see if I can make it better? Also do you think the first shroud seizing needs to be positioned closer to the deadeye? Thanks Glenn

Foremast Portside Lanyards I will start this post with saying this is the best I have ever done a set of shrouds with deadeyes and lanyards. The method I used certainly helped me improve my technique. When looking at the attached the two photos the first 3 shroud lines (nearest the bow) are not too bad and look reasonably even. The next 4 shroud lines however not so good, especially the last one. I am now in a quandary as they have not turned out quite as I hoped. Can I accept this standard of workmanship and move on as there is a marked improvement compared with my previous builds. This is what I would have done in the past without a moments thought. The new me is now thinking I can do so much better and I am now very tempted cut my losses and start over, refining the method slightly to get even better results. The shroud deadeyes tend not to be at an even level on a real ship which is another consideration. I would welcome some comments before I finally take the plunge and start over. With regards to the seizing above the shroud deadeye, does the first one need to be nearer to the deadeye? I used a some 2mm tape to to set the same distance for each line. I think it would have been better if I had used 1mm tape.

Foremast Shrouds - Port Side Start After the false start yesterday with adding the deadeyes to the foremast shroud lines I have been able to refine my method which seems to be working well so far. I must admit I do not enjoy the task of adding deadeyes to the shrouds, but it does become slightly less onerous now I have my refined method to a set of repeatable steps. I am still using my jig to form the loop for the deadeye, but I have discovered the position of loop can be adjusted. Once I am happy a touch of ca gel is applied to the loop seizing and the excess thread trimmed. The shroud line is then held in one of the quad hands,. A clamp is used to hold the thread in place, as shown in the photo below. It is an easy job to then add the seizing's. Each seizing consists of 5 bottom and 5 top half hitch knots. I then add some test lanyards to the first pair of shroud lines. With the partially rigged lanyards held under a bit of tension the deadeyes are reasonably level. I am not going to worry too much if there they are slightly uneven once then proper lanyards are rigged, as that is normally the case for the actual ships. The picture below is shows the first three deadeyes in position with a bit of tension applied to the test lanyards. The second shroud line is now complete, and looks good when a test lanyard is added and held under tension. I have one more pair shroud line and one single shroud line to add to the port side foremast before I will repeat the process for the starboard foremast shrouds. It should be noted that the starboard shrouds lines are being added to the foremast in turn, as per the instructions in the rigging plan sheets. I will continue to take my time with this aspect until all the lower shroud lines have been added for the three masts. I will post some more pictures as I progress with this task.

Great work as always.

I have tried the deadeye claw before before moving on to the jig I made with two pins and dowel which has served me well for my last three boat builds. I could never fully get to grips with the deadeye claw method. I modified it by replacing the top pins with a dowel. I am going to experiment with a few different ideas.

Start of Shrouds - Fail The good thing about this log is that I will detail my progress and methods which other builders may find helpful. I also receive some great advice from other builders, Jim and Chris. I also like include some of my failures in this build log. This post details one such failure when adding deadeyes to the foremast port side shroud lines. All the foremast shroud lines were all prepared, using the same method as detailed in my last post for the burton pendants, no problems so far. I have a jig, which I have used on my previous builds, to help me position the deadeyes in the shrouds so they are all at the same level. The photo below shows the jig in place. Two prongs on the jig are pushed in to the channel deadeye. The shroud line is then wrapped around the dowel on the jig and the loop is secured with three half hitch knots. Once the jig is removed a 5mm deadeye can be inserted in the resultant loop. It is then a simple process to add the two further seizing's. The shroud deadeye is free to be rotated to the correct orientation before the lanyards are added. So far so good as can be seen in the photo below. Full of confidence that the method was working fine I added the deadeye to the second shroud line. I took care to ensure all the seizing's on the second shroud line matched the seizing's on the first line. I was reasonably happy with how the second line looked. However when I compared the first two lines there was a major problem, as is clearly seen in the photo below. I can only assume that the shroud line moved as I was securing the loop, resulting in the two shroud deadeyes not being positioned evenly. I seem to recall that @DelF used a drill bit to form the deadeye loop at the end of the shroud line and then, using a needle, secured the loop by passing the seizing thread through the shroud lines, which locks it in place and prevents slippage. I need to rethink my method and experiment to find a method which will produce repeatable results, without unwanted slippage.

Many thanks for your kind comments. I agree Vanguard Model kits are all of the highest quality.

Chainplates Port Side. Spritsail Braces and Burton Pendant I have now completed adding the chainplates to the port side. As shown in my previous post, following the sound advice from Glenn (USA) and Chris Watton, I used some threads secured to the masts so the chainplates would follow the line of the shrouds. Foremast Mainmast Mizzenmast Before moving on to the shrouds and burton pendants I decided to run the threads required for the two spritsail yard braces as these run through the double blocks located beneath the foremast platform and will be hidden by the shroud lines so to some extent makes access a bit more difficult. These brace threads will be secured to the spritsail yards and belaying points later on in the rigging process. I can always remove these threads if they become a hindrance when rigging the shrouds. The first items to be added to the masts are the burton pendants. A length of 0.75mm black thread was seized with 0.25mm black thread. I used a piece of 8mm dowel (Fore and Main masts) and applied 6 half hitches top and bottom. The end result is shown in the photo below. The pendant thread was then placed over the foremast so I can check the position where I need to add the thimbles. I would welcome some feedback if the seizing looks Ok as I am not sure if I need to make it tighter or looser around the foremast. It looks OK to me but it is an area I have no real idea what is right or wrong. I plan to use the same method for the shroud lines so I would like to get it right from the get go.

For a kit that may take 2+ years to build a £1000+ price tag is very good value for the Indy. I will be tempted to build one of the smaller fishing boats in tandem and maybe one such as Saucy Jack after my Sphinx is complete and before Indy is released.😃

I go for quality over cost every time. I am lucky that I am now in a position to buy these fantastic kits regardless of the price.

Mizzen Mast Chainplates As indicated by @chris watton and @glbarlow the chainplates should run along the same path as the shrouds. Therefore I have taken their very helpful advice onboard as I start work on adding the chainplates to the port side. A temporary shroud line is attached to the mizzen mast and the first chainplate is aligned to follow the shroud line path, as can be seen in the picture below. I then continued with the same process and completed the installation of the mizzen mast chainplates. It would appear that the left hand chainplate is misaligned in the first photo below. This is not the case when you seen the second photo which is taken at a slightly different angle, and the other chainplate now looks misaligned.

Thanks Chris. I was aware the correct angle required for the chain plates should be same as the shrouds but it is a bit difficult to work out without the shrouds. I generally tried to position the chain plates as shown on the plan sheets. I am not overly worried if they do not match the shroud angles when complete as I don't think my family members will pick up on the error as they will be the only ones looking at the completed model.

Chain plates and links - Starboard Side I indicated in my last post that I found it difficult to fit the 5mm deadeyes to their respective strops. This morning, when browsing the build manual, I found the following photo. I noted the bottom section, which fits through the channel is also opened up which is something I was not doing. As I was not doing this I thought I should give it a try as I still had 22 x 5mm deadeyes to fit to strops. Using my round nose pliers I opened up the strop as shown in the photo below. The fitting of the deadeye in the strop was much easier and neater. Lesson learnt! With all the deadeyes fitted to the strops it was then a case of adding the links and chain plates. The design of the links and chain plates made this a relatively straightforward task. I used a pencil to mark through the upper chain link and drilled a hole. A blackened pin was then inserted to secure the upper and lower chain plate links. A second pin was added to the lower chain plate link. It was a bit repetitive but after a couple of hours the starboard side was completed. Foremast channels Mainmast channels Mizzen mast channel

Whatever the cost it will be money well spent. I will certainly add it to my Vanguard Models fleet.

Deadeyes and chain plate The three mast platforms have now been fitted with various 3mm deadeyes /strop assemblies. Starting with the mizzen mast the 6 x 3mm deadeyes were added to the strops and placed in position. Each strop was opened open slightly using my round nose pliers so the deadeye can be added. I took great care to ensure the deadeye was correctly aligned in the strop before the closing the strop back up. The process was then repeated for the main and foremasts. I did run a micro drill through the deadeyes to ensure the holes were clear before they were added to the strops. The following picture shows the main mast deadeyes ready to be added to the strops It was then a case of opening up the strops slightly and then adding the deadeyes. As with the mizzen mast great care was taken to ensure the deadeyes were correctly aligned. The following picture shows the completed main mast assemblies prior to fitting to main mast platform. The completed strop/deadeye assemblies were then added to the platform, the picture below is of the mainmast platform. I then took some brass pins and after cleaning them in acetone and hot soapy water they were blackened. Moving on to the channels the first task was to add the stunsail boom bracket and boom iron to both the fore and main mast channels. The boom irons located in the fixing holes on the channels without any problems. I then added two shortened blackened pins to each end of the stunsail boom brackets and then added them to the channels. Once in place a third shortened blackened pins was added the stunsail boom bracket central hole. I also checked the various strops and eyebolts would be fit OK in the channels, as can be seen below. It was relatively easy to add the 3mm deadeyes to their respective strops, as the strops only required to be opened slightly. I am finding it much more difficult to add the 5mm deadeyes to their respective strops. Once the 5mm deadeye has been added to the the strop adding the preventer and chain plate upper and lower links is straightforward. These links were secured in place using the blackened pins. It is important to place the upper chain plate link the right-way round and to apply a slight bend to the end where the pin is to be fitted. The access slot in the preventer link is positioned to face the hull.

Thank you Yves, slow but steady at the moment

Masts I have now completed fabricating all the masts. The two pictures below show the Fore, Main and mizzen masts in position without glue. The top and topgallant masts for the fore, main and mizzen are also complete. I still have to fabricate the various yards. My next task will be to fit the deadeyes and chain plates to the channels. Once that is complete I can work on adding the burton pendants and then then the lower shroud lines. I might run in the spritsail yard brace lines before the shrouds for easy of access.

Foremast Preparation for adding blocks When looking at plan sheets I worked out the following blocks needed to be added to the foremast: 1 x 5mm single block 1 x 4mm single block 2 x 5mm double blocks with loops 4 x 4mm double blocks with eyebolts 2 x 3mm single blocks with eyebolts The purpose of the post is to detail the process I use prior to seizing the blocks to the threads as I have not been able to spend much time in the ship yard this week. 2 x 5mm double blocks I started by making the loop ends. Once the loops had been formed I coated them with diluted pva to ensure they retain their shape. I also referred to the rigging plans to determine which rigging thread will pass through the block holes. The following photo was taken after the loops had been created and coated with pva. I also checked the 0.25mm natural thread would pass through the block holes (both sides). 5mm and 4mm single blocks In the next photo the 5mm and 4mm single blocks have been seized to the thread. I have also checked that the 0.75mm (4mm block) and 1mm black thread (5mm block) will pass through these blocks. 2 x 3mm single blocks I have checked the thread (0.25mm natural) will pass through the 3mm single blocks. The blocks are now ready to be seized along with the eyebolts. 4 x 4mm double blocks Finally I checked the 0.25mm natural thread will pass through the 4 x 4mm double blocks (both sides) which are now ready to be seized along with the eyebolts.

Mizzen Mast I have now completed the fabrication work on the mizzen mast. The section between the mizzen mast end cap and the bottom of the bibs still needs to be painted black before the rigging phase. There two blocks located on the mizzen mast, just below the crossjack yard will be positioned. Before adding these blocks I did a test fit of the thread, using a clove hitch knot. This enabled me to work out the required distance between the two blocks, which was approx. 68mm. It also confirmed I would able able to use a clove hitch knot with a short length of thread. Once the two blocks were seized to either end of the thread I was able to secure to the mizzen mast using a clove hitch knot. The photo below shows the two blocks in position along with the wolding. Although it can not be seen I have also drilled a hole for the crossjack yard locating pin. A block was seized to an eyebolt and then secured to the underside of the platform. I did check to make sure the eyebolt and block were correctly aligned as per the plan sheets. Another block was added to an eyebolt and then added to the end cap. Again the eyebolt and block alignment was in line with the plan sheet. As reported in a previous post I had an issue with the warping on the platform which I have corrected (almost). I decided it was best to add the rear platform rail assembly which may help prevent any further warping. Foremast assembly work I then moved on to start work on the foremast fabrication. I started with adding the two flat edges for the cheeks. With the section to flattened taped the dowel was clamped to my workbench. I then used my craft knife to create the first flat edge in unison with a Florey sanding stick. The cheek is 1mm thick so I know I need to remove 1mm from the 8mm dowel, i.e. 7mm wide with the after the first flat edge has been created and then 6mm wide when both flat edges are done. Using my digital vernier I checked the width along the length of the dowel, as the material was removed. As can be seen in the photo below I have almost completed the first flat edge. I did also use one of the cheeks to check it's fit, remembering to add the curved section at the lower end to match the shape of the cheek. With the two flats created for the cheeks the next area I worked on was to create the 6mm square section, which the platform will slide over. The foremast is checked against the plan sheet to make sure everything as it should be. The 6mm square section looks good. The 6mm section is the correct length, although it does not look like that in the photo below. The final fabrication task is to reduce the top section down from 8mm to 5mm ready for the end cap. The Proxxen mini lathe made short work of this task. Rapidly moving on the foretop mast was fabricated and test fitted with the foremast. The end cap is not full seated in the photo below, but is a very good tight fit. I used a length of copper bar for the FID for the test fit. The next photo shows the foretop and fore topgallant masts in place, test fitted only. Once again I am using a copper bar for the FID for this dry fit test. The topgallant mast end cap is a good fit to the tapered end of the fore topgallant mast. It was a bit fiddly to remove the laser char from the visible edge of the edge cap. . The 5 x woldings, 2 x bibs and the front fish were then added to the foremast. I did create a flat edge for the front fish before it was glued in place. There is still a bit more work to be done before the foremast work is complete, such as adding the iron bands and various blocks. The next photo shows the foremast assembly with the mizzen mast assembly in the background. These assemblies are only dry fitted at this stage. My current thinking is once I have completed all the fabrication work on both the fore and main mast I will add the burton pendants and shrouds to the mizzen, main and foremasts before fitting their respective top masts are added. However planning ahead I have already pre-cut all the dowels for the various yards.

Thanks Rusty. I shall do my best to log my progress and methods. Most of my methods are copied from other builders.

I am very pleased to report I have been able to fix the slack line reported in my previous post. This is the photo showing the problem before the fix was made. The next photo shows the rigging after the fix. I was able to add another loop of the thread around the spritsail topsail end which tensioned the line back to what it should be. I am sorry about all the shadows displayed on the white screen from the evening sun. I can now move on to fabrication of the main and fore masts.

Spritsail and Spritsail topsail yard rigging This post covers the topic of rigging the spritsail and spritsail topsail yards, detailing some of the processes I used to complete this task. At the end of this post I have added some food for thought on the finished result. After I had secured the spritsail yard to the bowsprit I added the spritsail yard lift tackle rigging. This is where two single 3mm blocks are connected with a single length of thread, and when the thread is pulled the yard can be lifted in to place by the deckhands. One block is located centrally on the yard and the other block is located on the base of the bowsprit endcap. The rigged thread is seized to a ring on the base of the endcap block and is then fed through the hole on the spritsail yard block. From there the thread is then passed through the hole on the endcap block. Finally the end of the thread is belayed to a timberhead on the hull. A nice easy start to the rigging task. The photo below shows the spritsail yard lift line feeding through the fairlead and then belayed to a timberhead. Next up was to add the spritsail topsail yard to the jibboom. With the spritsail topsail yard lift tackle in place it was gently lifted in to place by the deckhands. I am not sure of the technical term for the rigging detailed in the next part of this post, possibly the braces for the spritsail yard? There is a pair of 3mm blocks that hang either side of the end of the jibboom and are positioned about halfway between the topsail and spritsail yards when fully tensioned. Threads from either side of the end of the spritsail yard are then fed through these blocks before being belayed to eyebolts located on the hull, next to each cathead. To enable to the thread to be secured to the block I added a ring when seizing the block, this is shown in the photo below. The thread is then fed through the ring on the first block and seized. This is shown in the photo below. With the first block fitted the thread was placed on the end of the jibboom the central point was marked, as shown in the photo below. This is to ensure both blocks look symmetrical when the rigging is complete. The second block is then added and the line adjusted, as necessary to ensure the blocks still look symmetrical. With everything looking good the rigging is completed when the line is belayed to eyebolt on the hull. In the photo below the line has been feed through the eyebolt and is ready to be seized. I have used a clamp used to hold in the line in place which I find make the seizing much easier. The next two photos shows the completed rigging of the two yards. On closer inspection of the completed rigging I have found some things which I am not totally happy with. As can be seen in the photo below I have indicated something which looks a bit messy. I need to see if I can straighten this mess up. A more worrying concern is one of the rigged lines has lost it's tension, as indicated in the photo below, I am not not sure how that has happened as I do know it was Ok when first rigged. The question I am now pondering is do I accept the rigging as is and move on or do I try to remove the completed rigging as necessary to resolve the issues. I know I should rip away and start again, but do I really want to throw away two days of hard work when overall it does not look to bad.

Bowsprit Stays, Shrouds, Boomkins and Main Collar Stay My very first model boat build was the AL Scottish Maid, and I have kept the small plastic box that was supplied with the kit, which is now used to store the various blocks I have collected on my various Vanguard model builds. Bob stays and bowsprit shrouds I cut 4 x 200mm lengths of the required black thread and seized a 3mm deadeyes to each thread in turn. The quad hands has become a must have tool as I do not know how I could attempt the rigging process without them. With the deadeye secured in the quad hands I can easily add a series of half hitch knots for the seizing. I added three separate seizing per deadeye, 4 turns per seizing. I also opted to use 0.1mm natural thread rather than the thinner fly tying thread for this task. It did not take long to add the deadeyes to the 4 lengths of thread. The following picture shows the deadeye held in the quad hands, with the seizing complete. The excess black thread is now ready to be trimmed. Once trimmed I do apply a touch of ca gel so the cut thread end and then I press it to the main thread line. In the photo below the first bob stay line has been secured to the stem post. I took my time to adjust the position of the stay seizing so that the deadeye was in the required position. The photo below was taken just after I had started to rig the first lanyard and shows the entire stay and lanyard. The figurehead is keeping her eye on my work to make sure it passes muster. I was very pleased with how the first bob stay turned out. The stay is nicely tensioned. The deadeyes and lanyards are not twisted and I think the figurehead approves of my work. The second stay was then added, once again the deadeyes and lanyards are not twisted. I should have added a bit more tension to the 2nd stay when adjusting the lanyards but overall it is not to bad. The next task was to prepare the hull for the bowsprit shrouds and boomkins. Holes were drilled in readiness for adding the eyebolts. As can be seen in the photo below the bowsprit shroud eyebolt has been fitted and the two shroud lines fed through them. I did end up running a 1mm microdrill through the bowsprit shroud deadeyes before fitting as I found it impossible to pass the 1mm black thread through eyebolt hole. I must be on a roll as the bowsprit shroud deadeyes and lanyards are installed without any twisting and the lines are nicely tensioned. Boomkins The next photo shows the method I used to hold the thread in place to allow me to seize the boomkin thread to the eyebolt in the stem post. You will note I have already seized the other end of the thread to the hull mounted eyebolt. The boomkin line shown below looks a bit slack near the hull mounted eyebolt, but I can live with that for my build. Main Collar Stay The final task completed was to add the main collar stay block. The threads were passed though the holes on the bow grating, next to the seats of comfort. I then pass one line through the hole provided in the stem post and added the seizing beneath the grating and is out of sight. I will be moving on to rigging the spritsail yard and spritsail topsail yard next. Once that is complete it I will fabricate the main and fore masts.