archjofo

There's not much model building going on at the moment. Summer, house building for juniors, gardening, and so on... So here's a quick summer lull filler😁 Note on the routing of the lower yard lifts The following topic will be familiar to many experienced model builders who have already rigged a historic sailing ship, and it’s been discussed in this forum before. On my corvette, the same phenomenon appeared when belaying the lifts of the unbraced foreyard, as shown in the photo below: The lifts lightly touch the forward topmast shrouds. Since this might unsettle some beginners, I’ll briefly summarize why this happens. Lifts are usually led from the center of the mast cap -i.e. behind the topmast- out to the yard arms. The foreyard hangs in front of the lower mast, and so lies beneath the topmast. In side view, the forward topmast shrouds run verticaly up from the lower mast to the topmast head. Because of this geometry, the lower yard lifts inevitably come into contact with the forward topmast shrouds even when the yard is unbraced, and certainly when it’s braced in. Accordingly, the forward topmast shrouds are always served against chafe. This is not an error; it’s simply a result of the rigging’s geometry and layout.

@Richard Braithwaite @shipman @dvm27 Hello Greg, Hello colleagues, I deliberately chose silk yarn as the raw material for the La Creole ropes, knowing that it wouldn't be very durable in the long run. However, the decisive factor for me was the look of the ropes, and that convinced me. What counts is the here and now. What happens to the model after me is beyond my control anyway.

@Richard Braithwaite Hello Richard, Thank you for your interest and the nice comment. I made the ropes myself from silk yarn on my rope walk.

Continuation: Fore yard – Leech lines and bunt lines / Cargo-fonds et cargo-boulines I'm still wondering how the leech and bunt lines were secured without sails to prevent them from slipping off the blocks. After further research, I've now come across a stopper knot called the figure-eight knot (French: Noeud de huit). This seems to be the ultimate stopper knot, especially well-suited for temporarily tying lines, such as leech and bunt lines without sails. When attaching the sails, it can be easily untied, even when attached to a block. It's stronger than a bowline and easier to control. This is also how it is described in principle in "The Ashley Book of Knots" with reference to the Lever's Sheet Anchor, as the following excerpts show. Source: The Ashley Book of Knots Source: The young sea officer's sheet anchor; Darcey Lever, 1813 The French call this knot a "noeud de huit." Once again, as so often with specific, detailed questions, G. Delacroix provided me with expert support. When I asked about the figure-eight knot in connection with leech and bunt lines, he told me that these knots are generally referred to as "stopper knots" in historical descriptions, and he could imagine that the figure-eight knot would have been quite suitable for this purpose and that its use is not uncommon. As for L'Egyptienne 1799, the loop-shaped knots should be viewed with skepticism, as the rigging is likely questionable in terms of restoration. In summary, I have come to the conclusion that I consider the figure-eight knot to be a completely historically credible variant for my model and will implement it accordingly. To be continued...

Continuation: Fore yard – Leech lines and bunt lines / Cargue-fonds et cargue-boulines Among other things, I am currently preparing to attach the leech lines and bunt lines to the fore yard. The corresponding blocks are already in place both on the yard and in the form of guide blocks under the fore top. Since I am rigging my model without sails, these ropes must be secured against slipping from the corresponding blocks. Knots have been tied to the lines for this purpose, as seen on many models, including contemporary ones. However, what I have also occasionally seen in illustrations of these on models from the Musée de la Marine in Paris are loop-shaped knots, presumably buntline hitches, but could also be bowline knots or similar. The leech lines and bunt lines are then securely attached to the corresponding cringles of the sail using buntline hitches. Source: Manual of Seamanship, Vol. 1, 1951 In any case, a knot that can be easily untied when the sails are hoisted back up. Here, using the example of L'Egyptienne from 1799, the "loops" are clearly visible upon closer inspection. Source: Image detail from the original model of L'Egyptienne 1799 in the Musée de la Marine in Paris A third way to secure the bunt lines against slipping out of the blocks would be to simply tie the ropes, as can be seen on the original Paris model of La Créole. Source: Image detail from the original model of La Créole in the Musée de la Marine in Paris Three possibilities, which naturally raise the question of which one is closest to historical reality. Therefore, I would be very grateful if you could share your expertise with me. I look forward to your contributions.

@shipman @SaltyScot Hello, Thank you very much for the nice comments. I'm very happy. Thanks also to everyone else for the many likes. Continuation: Fore yard – Bowlines / Boulines I've also since read up on the arrangement of the bowline bridles in the contemporary specialist literature "Manuel de Greement" by F. A. Coste from 1829, starting on page 167, and it fits. The only thing is that it refers to thimbles through which the individual rope limbs are threaded. I also looked again in Marquardt, which also covers the rigging of French ships, although again only up to the end of the 18th century. If I now incorporate the aforementioned contemporary illustrations from the early 19th century and models from the Paris Museum into my considerations, I come to the conclusion that the bowline bridles on my corvette could well have looked the way I have since attached them to the fore yard. I can't clearly verify the attachment of the bowlines without sails for the French, as shown in the K. Schrage's book – Rundhölzer, Tauwerk und Segel – . But I think it's quite realistic that the French did it the same way as the British. I'm currently building a jig to make rope coils for the belaying pins. I imagine it might look like this: More on that soon...

@jdbondy Yes, the Paasch is really very helpful for translating old nautical terms. I can therefore recommend it. Continued: Fore yard – Bowlines / Boulines Since I don't equip my corvette with sails, the question inevitably arose as to how the bowlines are attached. Originally, I intended to simply tie the bowlines around the yard, like on the original Paris model, without bridles. Since I was naturally interested in how bridles work, the next question arose: What happens to the bowline bridles when the sails are taken down? I found the answer to this question in K. Schrage's book – Rundhölzer, Tauwerk und Segel – on page 144. There, you can see an illustration of how the bridle legs are attached to the yard with timber hitches when the sails are taken down. Source: K. Schrage – Rundhölzer, Tauwerk und Segel – p. 144 Since I find this arrangement very logical, I decided to show it this way for my model. Regarding the number of bridle shanks, I'm guided by the monograph, as diverse variations can be found in relevant contemporary illustrations. I intend to implement the bowline bridles as in the original, using real eye splices. The bowline bridles in the foreyard had a diameter of 19 mm (1:48: ø 0.35 mm – 2 x 3 Kimono Japanese silk yarn). Splicing the thin ropes is now very easy. In order to finally attach the bowline, I still had to tie the guide blocks to the bowsprit, as shown in the next picture. I'm also currently working on the correct mooring of the running rigging. But more on that soon. To be continued...

@SaltyScot @ccoyle @wefalck Hello, Since I can't be held responsible for my dear colleagues getting headaches ...😁... , I've tried to translate the terms. I hope it's more understandable now.👍

@wefalck @JerryTodd @giampieroricci Hello, I would like to thank you very much for your interest and contributions. And of course, many thanks to everyone else for the likes. Hello colleagues, I've tried to summarize the information I gathered some time ago about the brace routing for my French corvette in a diagram for further rigging work. If you're interested, please zoom in! I hope you'll forgive me for only labeling it in German. But the pictures will explain it to some extent.

Hello, I will not follow the monograph regarding the braces, but will instead follow the original Paris model.

@albert @SaltyScot @Keith Black Hello, It's nice to see that there's still interest in my model after so long. Thank you and everyone for the likes. Continuation: Fore braces / Bras de misaine Before installing the fore braces, I revisited my question regarding the attachment of the standing parts to the stays and tried to gather further information on this topic. Ultimately, based on advice from colleagues in relevant forums, I came to the conclusion that a rolling hitch seems quite appropriate here. In French, this is called an amarrage à fouet. Before attempting the model, I tried tying a knot on a piece of rope. The loose line was secured to the stay using seizing. I find this solution plausible and will therefore implement it accordingly on the model. In this context, there was still a need for clarification regarding the routing of the fore topsail braces, since, according to the monograph, their standing parts should also be attached to the mainstay, where the fore braces are also attached. However, the original Paris model shows the routing of the fore topsail braces differently than in the monograph. The standing parts run upwards to the main topmast stay where they are tied, as shown in the following illustration. The aforementioned routing of the topsail braces was obviously quite common at that time. It should also be noted that the ship models from around 1800 in the Musée de la Marine have split foremast braces, i.e., the running parts run downwards via blocks on the mainstay for mooring, and the standing parts are attached to the main topmast stay. This is also how it is shown and described in the Harland. Therefore, I am once again following the Paris model and not the monograph. To be continued...

@jdbondy @SaltyScot Thank you so much for your kind comments. I'm very happy about that, and also about the likes from others. JD, yes, that's the silk yarn I use. I also use a silk yarn from KIMONO. Continuation: Fore yard – Sheets and Tacks / Écoutes et amures After some back and forth, I finally decided on the cable version and have now attached the sheets and tacks on the starboard side. For the model cable version, I tried to lay the required ropes as loosely as possible. This resulted in a cable that wasn't too stiff. The first picture shows the arrangement of the sheet, tack, and clew line blocks, which are connected by toggles, as I won't be attaching any sails. The next picture shows the route of the port fore tack on the boomkin with shoulder block. The standing part is protected against chafing in the front area. The standing part of the fore sheet, as can be seen in the last picture, is also protected against chafing in the rear area. The fore sheet runs over a sheave in the ship's side for securing to a cleat. To be continued...

Continuation: Foresail – Sheets and Tacks Before I began attaching the sheets and tacks for the fore sail, I made a few more attempts at making the corresponding ropes, as shown in the following picture. As already described several times, the sheets and tacks for the foresail and mainsail of this corvette were made of so-called grelins (cable less than 12 French inches thick). According to Boudriot's monograph, the diameters of the sheets for the foresail are 30 mm (1:48: ø 0.63 mm) and for the tacks are 23 mm (1:48: ø 0.48 mm). Due to the yarn used, the diameters for the model can only be approximated as closely as possible, for example, 2 x 3 r x 3 l with YLI Japanese silk yarn, which results in a diameter of 0.62 mm. This isn't always as accurate as in the example given here. In this context, I noticed in the monograph that the topsail sheets are thicker than those of the lower sails. The fore topsail sheet therefore has a diameter of 34 mm. After clarifying this matter, which I initially suspected was a mix-up, Gerard Delacroix kindly explained to me that this deviation is quite normal. He referred to "Manuel de gréement par F.-A. Costé, Paris 1829." According to this, these ropes are calculated according to a specific ratio based on the ship's dimensions. The ratio of the sheets for the topsail to the fore topsail is 0.065/0.075. From a purely visual perspective, I believe the left-handed rope would be the better result for the model, as the structure is clearly visible from a normal viewing distance, which isn't as noticeable with the cable-laid rope. But knowing that the cable-laid ropes are closer to the original doesn't make this decision any easier. To be continued...

@matiz The hull of the La Creole has wonderful lines. Your execution is simply fantastic. Model building at the highest level! I'm really excited to see what happens next.

Continuation: Fore yard - Lifts / Balancine I have already reported in detail on the design and attachment of the La Créole's lower yard lifts in a few previous posts. For their final installation, the only remaining question was how long the lift tackles should be to enable the required maneuvers of these yards. Despite intensive research, I was unable to find any decisive information on this. Accordingly, I based my work on the description in Jean Boudriot's monograph on La Créole. For the tackles I had already prepared some time ago, all I had to do was pull the ropes through the swivel hooks and attach the seizings. The tackles were then attached to the channels using eyebolts. I secured the lanyards, which were routed over redirect blocks, to the inside of the bulwark, as shown in the following photo. Next comes the attachment of the sheets and tacks for the fore yard, which I still have to make as so-called Grelins (in English, cablet: left-handed). Whether I make them only as left-handed hawsers or actually as a cablet is still open. With a diameter of approximately 0.6 mm for the model, the rope would probably be too stiff as a cablet, which I discovered in my initial tests. But more on that soon...