shihawk

My mistake George ,when i reread you did say lanyard seizings . Anyway just in cases i tied a couple to see how they look I think the light lanyards and black seizing is my preference ?

Now you tell us !!!! I spent ages bending brass strip and eventually gave up ,even countersunk it into the mast to try and simulate yours . Just couldn,t figure out how you done it . Relieved now i know .LOL !!!

George, according to Longridge the main stay was only wormed to just after the mouse so i think i will leave it at that ,.the black lanyards was something i didn,t think of and may indeed be a way of breaking up the natural color . It,s a reverse of the normal but may work .watch this space !!!

Hi all ,as i promised in an earlier post i have been trying to keep my everchanging ideas to myself untill i have something definite to report . I have for some reason been keen to get started the rigging ,maybe just a need for a change ?? As i still have this daft idea in my head about only building to the first stage of the masts i want to do as good a job on the limited rigging as i can , (good intentions ) . I,m slowly learning that what i want and what i can actually achieve are not always the same , i tend to start of with great ideas and finish up settling for what my abilities allow . Enough excuses !!!. First thing was to decide on the color of the rigging , should be simple ,dark for anything that would have been tarred and light for everything else ? Normally this is the rule ,but because i,m going for the natural look i have decided to go for all natural color thread with perhaps a few exceptions . I decided to use CC thread ,easily available ,less fluff ,all size options, fairly cheap as i expect a lot of waste !! I have been advised to start rigging from the missen mast and intend doing so but as the Foremast was the only one i had ready i thought i would experiment on it ,plus it,s probably the easiest worked on . My next job was to learn a bit about serving, seizing,worming and all the other new stuff i am going to need . Then i had to decide on what thickness of rigging to use . CC recomended 1.3 for the shrouds , i found this looked oversized and reduced it to 1.0 but this is a personal decision and could yet prove wrong . this meant i also reduced the main stay from 1.6 to 1.3 . All serving was done with 0.10 Asyou will see in the following pics nothing has been permenantly fixed but i wanted to dryfit as much as possible before i make any final decisions ! Its important to keep the loop around the mast as tight as possible to get the shrouds to sit correctly Im not 100% sure about the black worming on the main stay but think it helps to highlight it ?? The spliceing of the eye and mouse need reworking although they may look better when tightened ? Although i,m using LONGRIDGE ANATOMY as a guide and find it very use full i still intend keeping the rigging as simple as possible ,as some will have noticed i decided to leave off the burton pendants . sorry for the long post but i tried to remember anything that might be relevant I couldn,t resist tieing a couple of the lanyards to see how the would look,been wondering if the 3 seizings should be done in black ?? Progress should speed up a bit now that i have the look i,was after !!!

Thanks Seamy , your right i can,t remember exactily where i ordered it from but it was either Ebay or Amazon . try to get the diamond shape rather than the square ,apparently it is more authentic although i found it more difficult to cut a straight edge . You will know what i mean when you try it ?? I have plenty left if you want it .

Fantastic work ,makes me want to do mine over again ,but i won,t . similiar experience from showing friends pics of the model ,they just don,t understand the work involved !!!!!!

Tks for the kind comments ,thats all the motivation i need !!!!!!!!!

I thought it was time for a small update just to prove i haven,t gone away . Decided i would not post pics of my numerous and everchanging ideas as it gets confusing ,and as i,m now at the mast and rigging stage things are confusing enough ??? . After several variations on the mast platforms i have finaly decided on a finnished plan . Everything except the mast rings is scratched as usual with ideas taken from books and other build logs ,so some of it is authentic but most artistic !!!!!!! I am now trying various colors for the rigging and will probably stick to a light color but who knows ??? trying serving with different colors to make it stand out more but will post progress later . Having Fun .

Part of the reason i asked ,was that if you do not intend building straight from the box and not painting ,you will probably find you have to replace a lot of the timber and scratch build many parts to suit the build . I know i have spent more than the difference in price of the Billings compered to the CC , but had i went with the CC I may also have had to replace quite a few parts as well ?? I don;t mean to bring it all down to money but why pay for stuff you may not use !! eg the copper plates i believe come as standard on most kits but are you going to use them ???. i,m only expressing my opinion and have no experience of the CC kit which seems to be the prefered Victory kit and with much better fittings and instructions as others will undoubtly be advising you and had i been more confident was probably the one i would have bought ,although glad now i didn,t . As for your ability to better my ploughmans efforts your past builds easily answer the question . Hopefully others with more experience will be able to give better advice and i suppose it depends how much bashing you want to do .Good luck Boyd.

I assume you have already rulled out the Billings version ????????????? Boyd.

Glad to see your post as i have been wondering about the base of the second stage mast ,your pics solve my problem ,thanks . Great work .!!!!

that,s the only good thing about all this rain ,more build time ????

Both pics make me think my part rigging notion may be the way to go ,the thought of all that rigging ,impressive BTW, could take me another 2 years??? The 1-96 mantau don,t look to be much smaller than the Billings ?

Grant , I have been considering the Echo or Triton section ,as you say it would be a good way to learn and find out my limitations. The abundance of tutorials and logs would be a big bonus . But i have plenty of time to decide as i still hope to finish the Vic before starting another project . My intentions are good anyway !!

Honest thoughts are it,s not something i would normally be interested in but will rule nothing of interest out . My big concern about scratch building is lack of experience and my ability to start from nothing ? Plus my preference is earlier ships .

Just wanted to thank you for your superb log ,have found it most helpfull in figuring out masts and rigging .Just a thought , have you considered Beeswax on the thread ? Boyd

The years are passing quick ,will soon have 2 done myself and i have been at it constant , maybe thats part of the problem ? Painting has it,s problems too ,all those coats !! At least with the poly it,s just a case of slap it on . Lookin great . Boyd

Thanks all . Mike i don,t understand the half mast thingy either ,but i,think i will give it a try ,it will mean leaving of any rigging above the first stage of the masts but not sure yet how it will work or look ??? George , that,s my problem i can,t decide !!! Philip , Been considering the Confederacy ,no rigging ? or maybe redo my Cruiser ,or even thought about a scratch build POF ?????????. If you need help go to Kevin,s build log , i spent a couple of hours there to day trying to figure out the masts and rigging ,Billings guide is to basic . His log is better than any instructions .Great work and a very helpfull log .. Keith . , The white wood provided is fine for painting but i thought the walnut looked better with varnish ,although there is a big variation in the colors of the different lengths i ordered so may have to order more . Brass rings also look good over the walnut !! The non painting rule means i will have to scratch the platforms etc which is another reason for the" part rigging thingy " Of course there is always the chance it won,t work ?????

It,s been so long since i posted i almost forgotten how . Not a lot new to report ,any time i had has been spent reworking the hammock netting ,finishing the gun ports and getting ready to start the masts and rigging . I also fitted a stand as once the gun ports are on i no longer can place the model on it,s side , this was made from an old piece of mahogany window sill i found . I am now working on the plan not to post untill i have deffinately finished with a stage as i change my mind constantly and some may find it misleading , apologies !! . As you may notice from the pic of the Bowsprit i am thinking of only building the masts to the first stage , reasons ? Time saved . Much less work . Much smaller case. I don,t know how this will work ,time will tell . I am replacing the provided masts with a light walnut which i find look better than varnished white wood .Again not painting causes it,s own problems . Short masting will undoubtly cause problems with the rigging so i may have to cut a few corners to get the correct look but i,m slowly getting used to that !!! Hope to make more progress soon ,been fighting the urge to start another build ??

Philip ,I think everyone comes to the same conclusion after a big planking job , Perfection in this hobby cannot be achieved . I think it,s lookin great and unlike Keith i would love to be planking mine again ,wait till you start the finer detail ,it makes the planking seem simple .Maybe that,s just me !!!! Boyd

if you maintain that build quality on the main build this really will be special .Brilliant !!!!

I,m coming slowly to the mast stage and your methods are very interesting ,giving me a lot of ideas. Thanks . lookin great .

A Victory without stripes wouldn,t be a Victory, Am i correct in thinking you are keeping the stripes in line with the gun ports ?

Good thinking on the planking !,Be carefull you don,t run out of long enough planks ,although they are available from CMB . Enjoy it ,i find the planking one of they most interesting parts . Lookin great !!! Boyd

Hi Dominic .Great to see you decided on the CC Victory .The Billings is a lot cheaper to buy but i think i have spent the difference in replacement wood ,etc so if you intend to build straight from the box the CC is the way to go . I,m glad i found a seat near the front cause this will be a build worth watching ,best of luck and enjoy the next few years !!! Boyd .