Glenn-UK

Great to see the progress, you are doing a great job. This looks to be a brilliant kit.

Following on from yesterdays post I have now completed adding the main mast crows feet rigging. I started by taking a 3m length of 0.1mm natural thread. There are 18 holes in the main mast platform. To ensure I finished with the thread running through the last platform hole nearest to me I started the rigging up through the 10th hole, then I passed the thread through the euproe back towards me then I fed it down platform hole 9 then back up platform hole 8 back and then back through the next hole in the euproe etc. Picture of the start of the rigging As the rigging progressed the more observant will see I made a error with the threading pattern which meant I had to unthread it all and start again. I did not waste much time thankfully. 2nd time around and everything is looking better, no mistakes so far! After a few more minutes the rigging was finally completed. I will start to add the shrouds to the mizzen top mast next.

Today I thought I would detail my work on the main mast Euproe assembly. I will follow this up with the rigging of the main mast crows feet in a separate post. The assembly consists of 2 x 2mm blocks and 1 x euproe photo etched part which I blacken using a burnishing product. I ran a 0.5mm micro drill through both the 2mm blocks to help with the threading the rigging thread. Using 0.1mm natural thread this was seized this to the 2 2mm blocks using black fly tying thread. Stage 1 - Setting up the 1st 2mm block in the quad hands. Stage 2 - Starting the seizing. I used an alternate top and bottom half hitch method to add the seizing. I found it better to work toward the block when adding the seizing. Stage 3 Adding the euproe I ran the 0.1mm natural thread thread through the euproe hole and then seized it with black fly tying thread using an alternate top and bottom half hitch method. It produces quite a nice end result as can been seen below. Stage 4 - Rigging the blocks Once the 2 x 2mm blocks and 1 x euproe part were seized it was a simple case of running the 0.1mm rigging thread through both blocks. The assembly is now ready to be added to the Main Stay. After viewing the attached photo I did tidy up the seizing and badly cut ends on the right hand block.

The 1mm black thread I ordered has still not arrived from CMB so I am unable to progress with adding the fore mast shrouds. I therefore decided to add the main stay and the main preventer stay. I had just enough 1mm black thread left for the main stay and I used the kit supplied 1.3mm black thread for the main preventer stay. I added a little bit of serving to each stay line hold the mouse in place. Once the stays were fitted I coated the lines with a diluted solution of pva which has stiffen them up nicely. I plan to add the main mast crows feet next. Main Stay and Preventer Stay Deadeyes. I am really pleased with how they have turned out. Much improved compared with the main mast shrouds. I am starting to get the hang of this rigging malarkey.

I am currently waiting for a delivery of some additional thread from CMB (it has now been dispatched) before I can continue with the Fore Mast shrouds. I had managed to use all the kit supplied thread because I had to redo the main mast shrouds. Over the last couple of days I have added the mizzen stay and mizzen crows feet. I decided to manually serve a bit of the mizzen stay to hold the mouse in place. I have quite pleased with the end result. Mizzen Mast Crows Feet with a nice reflected shadow. Very fluffy lines (no beeswax!!!!!) They do not look fluffy to the naked eye however, Mizzen Mast Stay (again with a shadow).

A great weekend of work, very impressive looking even at this very early stage. What is the sanding tool you are using?

Work progressing slowly at the moment. Adding shrouds, futtock staves, catharpins and futtock shrouds to the main mast has proven to be a very time consuming task. It has also a really test of patience at times but as I progressed with this aspect I found my skill levels were improving. When adding the futtock stave I found the use of the quads hands to be of great benefit. I used the quad hands to hold the futtock stave in positions as whilst I seized the copper bar to the shroud lines. The attached picture shows a long length of copper held which enabled me to cut the copper bar to the required length. The following picture show the futtock stave after it has been seized and painted black. As can be seen there was still a little bit more trimming of excess thread required. The main mast is now ready and waiting for the ratlines to be added.

I also use quad hands. Has made many rigging tasks much easier

It looks very good, and thanks for the shout out.

Great to see you have started on this build, it is going to be once of my next projects after the DOK

I am happy to report that take two of the main mast shroud and lanyards work is much better. The jig used is simply a thin strip of wood fitted with two copper wire lengths set for the channel deadeye and a dowel (approx 4.8mm diameter) to represent the shroud deadeye. With the jig in place the shroud line can be wrapped around the dowel. Using some black fly tying thread I seized the shroud to make a loop for the deadeye. Picture of jig in place and shroud being siezed Completed shroud with deadeye fitted With deadeyes fitted to the first starboard shroud pair I added the lanyards, using 0.25mm natural thread. I will continue to add the deadeyes and lanyards to the other shroud lines.

It has been a few days since my last post. I had completed adding all the shrouds and lanyards to the main mast. However I was not totally happy with how the deadeyes were sitting in the shrouds. The jig I had made, similar to the one I used on the mizzen mast, allowed the deadeye to fit, but they very loose. I carried on thinking it would be OK but common sense prevailed so I took the decision to remove the lanyards and shrouds and to start again. I started by modifying the jig, so the shrouds when wrapped around the jig and seized would form a smaller hole for the deadeye. I did a test after I had modified the jig and it produced a much better result with a nice tight fitting deadeye. I then cut 4 x 50cm lengths of 1mm black thread for each shroud pair (2 pairs per side) and 2 x 30cm lengths for the single shrouds (1 per side). The first shroud line was then positioned around the mast. I used the the quad hands to hold the shroud line in place, as shown below. I also used a croc clip to bring the lines together near the point of seizing I used 0.25mm black thread to seize the shroud line around the mast. I will now continue to add all the shroud lines this morning which should not take too long to complete. My next post will (hopefully) so the progress of adding the deadeyes and lanyards to the shrouds which will take me a few days to complete.

As I progressed with the mizzen mast ratlines I noticed the central shroud line was not properly centred. As I had only done half the ratlines and it was taking me around 10 minutes to add each ratline I decided to remove them and start again. I modified by ratline template and added the vertical lines, thanks to DelF for this excellent tip. Picture of the template This time I decided to add the bottom rat line, then the middle ratline and then the top ratline to ensure the shrouds were true and straight. This worked much better. I started each ratline with a half hitch which I positioned at the back of the shroud and added a touch of diluted pva, (50/50 mix, another DelF tip) when I was happy with its position. I then used clove hitch knots for the next two shroud lines and added a touch of diluted pva when I was happy with each position. Finally I stained the ratlines black. This is by far the best set of ratlines I have added to a model. Still room for some improvement

Thanks for the update Chris, I'm one very excited model builder waiting to be able to build this great looking model.

Hi Matt Thanks for the complement. I am mainly using tweezers which I have became quite adept at using but I do use my fingers as well, usually in combination with the tweezers.

I am finding adding the ratlines to the mizzen mast to be very therapeutic and it is a task I am very much enjoying at the moment. I started using the black ratline thread supplied with the kit but I found it difficult to see and adjust the clove hitch knots to get the desired tension in the ratlines. Therefore I have opted to use 0.1mm natural thread which has made the task much easier. I have the option to dye the ratlines black when the task is completed, e.g. by using Indian ink. As can been seen in the photo below I printed out a paper template for the ratline spacing. I also have a small wooden strip of the same width as a double check. I will adjust the position of the ratlines as necessary and then tighten up all the knots once I have added all the ratline lines. I will then apply a diluted pva solution to shrouds and ratlines before trimming away the excess thread and applying the dye.

Thank you. The Duchess is a very nice model to build

Another tricky rigging task completed with the addition of the catharpins and futtock staves and shrouds to the mizzen mast. As can be seen in the photo it is not the work of a master but, once again, compared with my last build it is a marked improvement. I found it better to add the catharpins either side of the mizzen mast. I found fitting the futtock stave the most complicated aspect of this task but it was not as bad as I first feared. When adding the catharpins I did experiment with using 0.5mm copper wire (as per DelF on Speedy) but I ended up using 0.5mm black thread. The futtock shrouds look OK but there is definitely room for improvement.

Thanks Derek. I'm slowly getting better trying to use the methods shown on MSW by better builders such as you. That is great tip on trimming, thanks for sharing. Wrapping the excess lanyard around the shroud was a challenge at times. I used a needle to help thread the lanyard end back over the top of the deadeye.

After many trials and tribulations over the last 7 days I have now finally completed the mizzen mast shrouds. As the two photos below will show I am no master craftsman with regards to this aspect of model ship building. This did really test my patience at times and I lost count of the number of times I had to redo various bits, adding new shroud lines, redo the lanyards, etc. I did find it very fiddling working with 3mm deadeyes but the jig I made proved to be a very useful tool in forming a nice loop, seizing and then placing the deadeye in the shroud line. The tying off of the lanyards is not still not great but, unlike previous builds, I did manage to get the final knot behind the deadeye. In summary my shroud technique is slowly improving with each new build but there is still plenty of room for improvement. Next I will look at adding the futtock stave and catharpins. I am also debating weather to add the mizzen mast ratlines before moving on to main mast shrouds and lanyards. I will redo the middle lower shroud seizing as it looks pretty awful in the picture below

Ditto with mast assembly.

Having spent most of this week working on the mizzen mast shrouds and lanyards I was feeling pretty pleased with myself this morning with the end result. I started to look at the ratline spacing so I could position the futtock staves. I was a bit concerned with the spacing between the shroud lines at the top. I had a look at the plan sheets to see to see if my concern was just a flight of fantasy. Looking at the plans I noted my shroud lines did not match up, it was then that I realised I had made a major mistake. I had seized the shroud lines around the bottom of the mizzen topmast instead of around the squared top of the mizzen mast. I have no idea why I had done that or why I had not noticed it sooner. With a tear in my eye and my scissors in hand I removed all the mizzen shrouds and lanyards. The mizzen mast is now devoid of all shrouds and lanyards and is ready and waiting for me to get my act together and do to the job correctly. The only positive I can take from this is that I was able to refine by technique with the first attempt.

Looks good.

Thanks Derek. You can always reduce the diameter of the dowel to get a tighter fit for the deadeye in its groove. I would never have thought of it if I had not seen your use of the drill bit.

The title of this post is called the good, the bad and the ugly. The Good - Part 1 - Mizzen Shrouds Using 0.75mm black thread I added the two shroud pairs and the two single shroud lines in turn. I used black flying tying thread to seize the shroud lines around the mizzen mast, using alternate top and bottom half hitch knots The Bad - Spacers for the Deadeyes After looking at the plans and build pictures I decided where the deadeyes needed to be positioned at the end of the shroud lines. I bent two lengths of wire to the required distance. They look pretty bad and were a complete nightmare to use. The top deadeye is shown upside in the photo, the single hole should be a top The Ugly - Deadeyes I used some flying tying thread to seize the deadeyes to the shroud lines. I made a right mess of it and was very embarrassed with the end result. In setting the distance between the deadeyes with the copper wire jigs I made a basic schoolboy error. I forgot to account for the tensioning of the lanyards. When I added the lanyards and started to adjust then I noted that the shroud deadeyes were too close to the channel deadeyes. The seizing is also uneven and very messy. I was left with no choice but to remove the shroud deadeyes and start again. It was a easy task to replace the shroud pair line and keeping it in the right position (at the bottom) around the mizzen mast. The Good Part 2 - A new start I then spent a couple of days trying to figure the best way to tackle adding the 3mm deadeyes to the shroud. I consulted with DelF (Derek) and I looked very closely at his method which he described in his Speedy build log (post #492) . I did try his method on a deadeye and length of thread and I was very pleased with the end result. I ran into problems when I tried to replicate this on an actual shroud line. After I had seized the block in what I thought was the right position it had somehow magically moved. I also looked Donnie Driskell's YouTube video. His method relies on using plenty of beeswax to stiffen the shroud line so it retains it shape. I have tried this before and I did not like the look (or feel) of a heavily beeswaxed line so I discounted this as a viable solution to my problem. After much experimentation I came up with a modified version of the method used by Derek. I liked the jig he used but I had issues keeping the shroud deadeye in place when I tried to position the shroud line around the deadeye. I then had a brainwave and devised a slightly modified jig. It has two pins at the bottom which are used to locate in the channel deadeyes and a 3mm dowel at the top to represent the position of the shroud deadeye. I found I could wrap the shroud line around the dowel and I could use a croc clip to keep some tension in the free end of the line. I was then able to add the sizing in situ, as can be seen in the next photo. As can be seen the seizing is done to one side, but I did account for this when setting the distance between the two pins and dowel on the jig. The 3mm deadeye was a nice snug fit in the seized loop. I then added the lanyards to check the approx. distance between the two deadeyes. I was very happy with the distance. All that is now left to do is add the two shroud seizing above the deadeyes which should be straightforward. I will remove the lanyards before I do this. Now that I found a method that seems to work for me I can now spend the next few days finishing the mizzen mast shrouds and lanyards.