Glenn-UK

They look very nice

I have now added the back stays. This should have been an easier task than I decided to make it. In the first instance I think it would have made life easier if I had not pre fitted the backstay iron plates. After much huffing and puffing I ended up removing both the middle backstay iron plates. Secondly, despite my best efforts, I developed an inane ability to wrap the back stay lines around the other back stay lines without noticing so I lost count of the number of times I had to redo bits to untangle the lines. As shown on my previous post the two back stay lines were already secured to the main mast using 0.75mm black thread with a single 5mm block seized to the end. Each 5mm block needs to be rigged to the back two backstay iron plates using 2 x 5mm block and 1 x 3mm block per stay, as shown in the first photo. Following the plan sheet I seized the various blocks to the required threads. As always I used my tried and trusted top and bottom half hitch method. The threaded eyelets were formed around a 0.8mm metal rod using a standard reef knot. The eyelet was coated with a diluted pva solution to help ensure it retains its shape. I found it much better to secure the 5mm block to the middle backstay iron plate prior to fitting to it to the hull, A single 5mm and single 3mm block were seized together to form a block pair. To do this I started with seizing the 5mm block, leaving the thread so the 3mm block could be seized. I finished the assembly off by whipping some thread between the two blocks. I started the rigging process by threading the 0.25mm natural thread through the block arrangements. I then attached the backstay iron plate back to the hull. Next the 0.5mm black thread was fed through the top 5mm block and secured to the rear backstay iron plate. This is shown in the next photo where I am about to add the seizing to secure the thread to the rear backstay iron plate. Once the rear backstay iron plate was complete I adjusted the 0.25mm natural thread rigging and once I was happy I held it in place with a pair of reverse action tweezers for a quick photo. The final loose thread was then tied off around the middle backstay iron plate and the Cutter Alert was sent back for another photo. What cant be seen in this photo is the upper stay line is wrapped around the other back stay line. The easiest solution was to remove the deadeye lanyards to untangle. I then repeated the process for the other stay and the completed back stay rigging is shown below I plan to add the two forestays next before moving on to the bowsprit.

I think I just about reached the start of the home straight as the other 7 runners crossed the finish line

No time spent yesterday in the shipyard due to my track and field racing. I have included a picture taken yesterday of one of my races (400M). What is most noticeable is all the other runners appear to be around 17 to 18 years old and they were all very fast and very lean. I weighed in at a stately 63 years and was quite slow and not very lean🤣. I have been busy today and I completed the port side ratlines. It took me aorund 4 minutes to add each ratline, a couple of hours of effort in total. In this picture the template has been positioned and the first three ratlines added. This is a close up of the first 3 ratlines. These ratlines are correctly positioned, they look wrong due to the parallax error. The ratlines are completed, some ends still require to be trimmed. This is the indian ink I use to dye the ratlines The ratlines have been trimmed and dyed black. As can be noted in the picture I have also started to add the missing back stays. Each of the two 5mm single blocks that are dangling from these stays will be rigged through some more blocks before being secured to their respective backstay iron plates

Hello Mike I am not a great picture taker, but I am glad you are finding my log helpful.

I have finally completed the ratlines on the starboard side. I had to do it in fits and starts as my mother was being moved into nursing care so I had quite a bit to sort out in that regard. I have a track and field event tomorrow where I will be racing 400M, 800M 1500m and 5000M so will have little or no time to start on the port side ratlines. I am currently ranked no 1 in Yorkshire in my age group (60-65) and 14th in the UK. These rankings will drop dramatical as the lockdown eases and the proper track and field runners start competing again. Pictures of the completed ratlines The display case I ordered for my Duchess Of Kingston build arrived yesterday. The Duchess does look nice in the case, however the case does not look right on the planned location which is a shame so putting the Duchess in a glass case has been side-lined for the time being and she is now uncased and back on top of the book case in our dining room.

Moving forward I have now added the shroud lines to the channels. Before moving on to the ratlines I decided to add the Main Boom as well. A couple of pictures of the completed shrouds and main boom This is a close up of the parrel beads securing the main boom to the main mast. With regard to the ratlines I decided I would add the bottom two ratline first as these need to be positioned around the seizing and shroud cleats. I used 0.1mm natural thread. I opted to use the Gutermann colour 722-1 thread rather than the kit supplied thread as this type of thread was supplied with the DOK kit and I really liked it. The natural thread is dyed black. The completed ratlines are not brilliant but I can live with how they look. As I have said before I actually like the task of adding the ratlines. The process I use is to fit every 5th ratline first, then I add the middle ratlines between each 5th before adding the remaining two ratlines. I can only work left to right as I seem to get a brain freeze when trying to tie a clove hitch knot when working right to left. This is the start of the ratlines. This picture shows the template in position. The solid lines represent every 5th ratline line position. The dot-dash lines represent the middle section between every 5th ratline and the dotted lines represent the final ratlines to be added. I have now added every 5th ratline. They are all correctly positioned even though the camera angle makes it look otherwise. These completed ratlines have had a diluted pva solution applied, wihich will help to stiffen the ratlines and will also (hopefully) prevent the knots working loose when the excess thread ends are trimmed. I will dye all the ratline black on completion.

Good start. I really enjoyed building the Duchess.

Hello Jacek Many thanks for your comment, I am not the best rigger but with each build I am improving. Glenn

Hello Tim Many thanks, you comment is much appreciated. Glenn

After much pondering I decided to leave the badly rigged starboard side shroud deadeyes. I have now added the lanyards to the starboard side backstay deadeyes. The final task was to add the shroud cleats to the first four leading shroud lines which was a little bit fiddly. Thankfully it did not take too long to complete the task. I found it best to tie the upper part of the cleat to the shroud first before tying the low part of the cleat to the shroud. I am now currently working on the port side shrouds and expect to complete in the next day or two. My time has been limited recently due to my mother being taken in to hospital. Once the port side shrouds has been completed I can move to to adding the ratlines. I discovered, when working on the Duchess of Kingston, I quite like the routine of adding the ratlines.

I have started to add the deadeyes and lanyards to the main mast shroud lines. I have never been very good at adding deadeyes to shrouds and then applying the correct tension to the lanyards. I am slowly improving but my technique still needs a lot more work to get nice looking results as will be evident when you look at the photos below. I have a lot of things to ponder before moving on, as I will detail later on in this post. When rigging the Duchess of Kingston I made a jig to help set the position of the deadeye. It is simply a piece of 5mm dowel which is used to represent the shroud deadeye position and two pins which locates the jig to channel deadeye. I have attached a photo of my jig. The next photo shows the jig in position with the first channel deadeye The shroud is then wrapped around the dowel, and the seizing is applied using a 20mm length of 0.1mm natural thread. Once the seizing is completed the loose shroud end is pulled which then tightens the loop around the dowel. A touch a ca gel is then applied to the seizing and the seizing thread ends trimmed. Next the deadeye is added to the loop, ensuring the holes are correctly positioned. Next I cut a 25cm length of 0.25mm natural thread for the lanyard which threaded through the deadeyes as shown in the photo below The process was the repeated for the next shroud line Now come the dilemma. As can been in the photo below seen the two right sided deadeyes and possibly the one on the far left are just about acceptable. The other two are not very good with regards to the position and / or seizing. a) Do I accept the bad workmanship knowing it will probably look Ok when fully rigged and when displayed this side will not be on show. b) Do I remove (some or all of) the shrouds and start again. This would be the right thing to do if I was building a model for display / commission. If I do decide to redo, do just replace the two very bad shrouds or do I start again and redo all of them which will given a chance to try to improve my technique. I am currently undecided. I decided to build the Cutter Alert to continue my support of @chris watton with his Vanguard Models venture and to fill a building void after completing the Duchess Of Kingston until the release of The Sphinx which will be my next major build project. I am enjoying the build and ideally I would like to build the kit to help showcase Chris excellent design work and kit quality. On the other hand I want to get the model built before The Sphinx becomes available and to have a couple of weeks break. I think I will need another 6 weeks to complete the rigging which seems ideal with the forecast Sphinx release date. Also I am not sure what I will do with the Cutter Alert, once it is complete. It will probably stay in the conservatory (which is my shipyard) so this side can be hidden from view. I think I should have enough spare 0.75mm black thread left should I decide to rework the shrouds. I have added the backstay deadeye to the small chain plate and is now ready to be rigged.

Make that 38 with 2 required for the two Glenn's. 😀

I will be buying one of these kits when the order goes live.

@James H it looks amazing, excellent building skills and I'm sure the manual will be epic.

A little bit more progress. I started by applying a couple of coats of Tung Oil to the wooden areas. I really like the finish. Next I added the anchor cable. This is a length of 1.6mm diameter natural thread. I applied a touch of CA gel to one end and cut a taper. I was then able to thread the cable through the hawse hole, then around the deck items and finally back out through the other hawse hole. As can be seen in this photo I also replaced the main mast belay pin rack with cleats. Next I moved on to rigging the Cutter Alert. Using my quad hands I started the process by adding the shroud lines to the main mast. I cut 4 x 60cm lengths of black thread for each of the "double" shrouds and 4 x 40cm lengths for each of the "single" shrouds. I used alternate top and bottom half hitch knots with 0.25mm black thread to seize the shrouds. This is a picture of the first double shroud. The two ends of the seizing thread is ready to cut trimmed. I applied a touch of CA gel before I cut the excess thread. For added security I then added a diluted PVA wash over the seizing. This picture was taken after all the shrouds had been added and looks reasonably neat and tidy. Finally a standard picture showing the shrouds before the deadeyes have been added, which will be the next task.

Moving forward I am getting very close to starting the rigging phase. Today I added the chain plates and deadeyes to the channels. Using my round nose pliers I opened the hole in the chain plates for the deadeyes. After the deadeye has been fitted in the chain plate I used my pliers to close up the hole around the deadeye. In the photo below you can see 2 completed assemblies, one with the enlarged hole and 2 waiting. I then added a couple of bends to the assembly before fitting to the channels. The photo below shows 5 bent chain plate assemblies ready to be installed in the channel. The next photo shows the chain plate assembly fitted tot he channel. I have also added the 3 eyebolts to the channel which are just visible at the right hand side. I had completed adding all the blocks to the main mast. I have also added the platform and mast cheeks and painted the area between the cheeks and cap black, as shown in the next photo. Finally the next picture shows the current build status. I have 7 x 3mm blocks/ eyebolt assemblies to add to the outside of the hull, 4 x cleats to the top of the rails and 6 x iron plate for backstay rigging. This will only take a day or two complete as my time is a bit limited at the moment. Once these items have been added I think I can start the rigging.

Thanks, I'm looking forward to starting the rigging later this week so I can be ready for the release of The Sphinx kit.

Moving forward I am getting very close to starting the rigging phase. Today I added the chain plates and deadeyes to the channels. Using my round nose pliers I opened the hole in the chain plates for the deadeyes. After the deadeye has been fitted in the chain plate I used my pliers to close up the hole around the deadeye. In the photo below you can see 2 completed assemblies, one with the enlarged hole and 2 waiting. I then added a couple of bends to the assembly before fitting to the channels. The photo below shows 5 bent chain plate assemblies ready to be installed in the channel. The next photo shows the chain plate assembly fitted to the channel. I have also added the 3 eyebolts to the channel which are just visible at the right hand side. I had completed adding all the blocks to the main mast. I have also added the platform and mast cheeks and painted the area between the cheeks and cap black, as shown in the next photo. Finally the next picture shows the current build status. I have 7 x 3mm blocks/ eyebolt assemblies to add to the outside of the hull, 4 x cleats to the top of the rails and 6 x iron plate for backstay rigging. This will only take a day or two complete as my time is a bit limited at the moment. Once these items have been added I think I can start the rigging.

Exciting times ahead

Happy to pay the price, I will buy one as soon as the pre order sales are available.

My pleasure, I do like to share my methods. My point of reference is DELF build log for Speedy which helped me so much on my Duchess Of Kingston build

Work is still progressing on the Cutter Alert, but my time in the shipyard is reduced at the moment, but hopefully normal service will be resumed in the next week or two. As to progress I have completed making the 4 x yards and 2 x booms and they are ready to be added to the mast when required. I have also completed all the work on the bowsprit as can be seen in the next two photo's. Blocks have been added. 4 x 3mm single block and 1 x triple block. FID has been added. Moving on to the main mast I have added various items as shown in the photos below. Belay pin rack Cleats The eyebolts are only dry fitted at the moment as I may add the shrouds before adding these blocks and the cheeks. I only have 3 x yard lift block left to add to the main mast. After that I will add the deadeyes to the channels and commence the rigging phase.

Good news on your wifes recovery and a brave but well derserved move with regards to your business. I will continue to support Vanguard Models. I also echo your thanks to Jim Hatch.

It is a fantastic build with secret areas.