Peterhudson

Hi Jason 

I have yet to decide what to do with the boats - much will depend on the quality of the final assembly but I will put at least one in the waist. 

The line is soaked in dilute PVA and then I use a drop (tiny applied by a needle) of CA to affix the rope hank. Fiddly and has resulted in the need to rerun a couple of downhaul lines.

P 

a few more....I'll finish the detail work and then send a few of the whole ship.

Peter 

Some more of the running rigging

6 months since my last update; I saw Jason's this morning and thought I ought to update as well.  Progress continued to be patchy; the combination of working from home all day in my office/workshop, then returning tot he same space after supper to potter on the model really didnt appeal. The work/home balance has been skewed.  nevertheless I did the odd hour here and there and I have to say she is nearly finished.  Unlike Rob and Jason's my blog is not very comprehensive as I always reverted to their much more skilled reports for guidance and tips - repeating the lines seemed a little superfluous. 

Anyway - running and standing rigging complete; anchors shipped (I still have to do the buoys); rope hanks largely fitted and everything being tightened to remove the inevitable slack.  I'll finish this tiddily stuff in the next few weeks then try to work out how to do the ships boats (Ray and Barbarossa) will be studied carefully. I'm lost - and I have the caldercraft kits! 

Some snaps to keep you upto date.  I'm pretty pleased on how my first serious model has turned out. 

A few more snaps.  

Latest state of play - all the standing rigging is now complete.  Aim to finish the bow area next and then start on the spars. 

Some further photo's showing the securing arrangements around the bow and the base of the mainmast. 

I have continued fixing the stays and finishing the upper shrouds and ratlines.  Nearly there!

Progress continues and I have now secured the 5 major stays.  I spent some time 'worming' by hand which was strangely relaxing and achieved whilst watching/listening to online conference: there are advantages working at home!  I put the stays on early as I thought it would be awkward getting in and around the tops with the rest of the standing rigging in place and posed a risk of damage - I am not the most deft handed modeler on the market. The topmasts  and top gallant masts are not secured in the picture which is why they look wonky!  The upper standing rigging comes next. 

Here she is this evening.  

The yards/spars are all done so I think I will attach the stays next - easier to work around the lower tops without the next layer of shrouds to get in the way.  The work upwards. 

I have also cracked all the spars.  Fiddly, fairly straight forward but long winded.  The only area of note was the fitting of the stunsail booms. I struggled to get them level and to fit neatly with the mainspars largely because the end of the boom rested on lines securing the blocks to the spars - I couldn't get a neat fit to apply the glue.  so i made a little notch at the end of the boom to rest on top of the line which allowed the boom to be fixed - they wont be movable!

I found the metal fittings for the boom rings and brackets too clunky, so I replaced some with fittings made out of 0.25m styrene which looked more in proportion. 

I obtained some jewelry 0.5mm brass eyes which were good quality wire - not very bendy unlike the very soft wire provided in the kit.   The eyes were too large so I cut them down to size, made a new eye and blacked them before fitting. 

Here are a few snaps. 

Whow it has been two months since i last posted.  In this particular lockdown, I work all day in my home office which is also doubles up as my modelling room so, come the evening, after a day on Zoom etc, I tend to want to vacate the office not return to do modelling - progress has slowed!!  Still lockdown is nearly over so perhaps I can spend less time working in here during the day and more time modelling in the evening.  We will see. 

That said work on DIANA hasn't stopped.  When last I posted I had completed the lower shrouds and ratlines; I have now secured all the futtock shrouds and catharpins on all the masts.   Fiddly and required care tensioning the catharpins to ensure the shrouds were not distorted and pulled into towards the mast.  

I also used a little diluted black paint to cover any residual superglue which might have marked on the various pieces of rigging.  Looks okay! 

On 12/31/2020 at 7:45 PM, robdurant said:

Hi Peter

 

You spotted them They were a gift from santa... I really struggle making the wooden little boats so I now have the resin hull set sold separately. I spent a happy few hours yesterday evening putting paper onto them as per Jason's (beef wellington) build to make them look clinkered.  Having put them in place I now realise it will leave almost nothing showing on the gundeck so I'll probably display them along the front of the model with perhaps one in place. We'll see. 

 

Here's the progress so far.

 

 

Thanks

 

Rob

Rob: looks very good - I will be following in your wake. P

At last...I have finished the ratlines on the lower shrouds.  Far from perfect but, for my first attempt at doing ratlines on this scale, it is not too bad.  I will now replace several of the ratlines that are too slack which will also improve the appearance.  I have cut the futtock staves and attached them to the shrouds using a couple of clove hitches and a small slip knot which tucks out of the way at the back of the shrouds quite neatly.  Onwards and upwards to the futtock shroud deadeyes....slow progress here!   

On 12/29/2020 at 10:39 AM, robdurant said:

Oh yes, and a picture of progress so far.... (with the yards temporarily fixed to see how it looked )

 

 

And one with just the rigging...

 

Rob:  I note the 4 Caldercraft moulded boats in the photo.  Did you ever make them up?  I am not as confident about making these boats, to a reasonable quality,  from scratch so have hedged my bets and bought two of the plastic hulls and will attempt to make two from the kit. Barbosa has a good thread on making the kit boats. P

Sorry about the gap in reporting.  I have attached all the shrouds and begun the laborious task of tying all the ratlines...there are a lot. I used 0.25mm natural line which I stained in India Ink.  Each individual line was run through a beeswax block to add a little wax and eliminate line kinks, the wax also helped the knots (clove hitches) slide together by reducing friction.  I set each line at 6mm and used two methods to get the spacing correct.  One option was to use a couple of pieces of 6mm plank held onto the shrouds by pegs. This method did allow all the knots even in size and the line straight as I could rest the knots on the wood which gave a little substance to the operation but was slow(ish) - if not correctly tightened the pieces of wood force the knot down the shroud - I did  three lines and then washed them with dilute PVA, allow it to dry before starting the next group.  By alternating between the three sets of shrouds, I was able to keep tying as the glue dried.  I became reasonably efficient.    For the main mast shrouds I used a printed sheet cut to shape with a matrix of lines against which I could place my knots: reasonably efficient although you do have to be careful not to knock/misalign the paper. 

Do avoid my school boy error.  I set up a table in a word document with 6mm squares or so I thought. In fact my printed sheet came out 5mm by 6mm which I didn't notice until I was half way up the shroud...I had placed 30 odd lines at 5mm apart.  I left them as is and copied the spacing on the opposite side.  You cant notice the difference although it did mean a lot more knots.   

Nearly finished.     

Hi Jason - it was an isolated incident and easily rectified.  Epoxy is a great idea which I will use when next I construct a set of deadeyes and chains.  Hope you had a good Christmas. P

Over tensioned - pulled the deadeye from the channel.  Will need to rebuild the chainlink and redo the shroud - hmmm!

Ahhh - tab on the keyboard activates send!  A garbled partially complete message!

The routine:

a.   I attach a deadeye to the line, seize and wash with dilute PVA - cut the line to an approximate length.

b.   I hold the deadeye in position with the 15mm wire; and place a second deadeye on a wire spacer on to the adjacent deadeye.  Loop the black line over the masthead and tension it around the second deadeye.  Don't pull too hard as it easy to unlodge the lower deadeye. 

c.   A dab of CA is applied, just enough to hold the line in place whilst removing the wire spacer.

d.   Seize the second deadeye and trim the shroud neatly. 

e.   Once the glue is dry, re-secure the deadeyes with the wire spacers and tie off the shroud at the masthead.  This creates the tension in the shroud. 

f.    Insert the lanyards and tie off. 

Looks okay.

With the various sections of the mast complete and a number of blocks fitted, I have moved onto the shrouds.  I haven't made a model this large before so it has been a bit of an adventure, however, once I settled my routine, they were comparatively straight forward.  I cross checked the various details with a book called 'Rigging Period Ship Models'  by Lennarth Peterson which I picked up in a second hand book shop; it shows in really straight forward diagrams all the  various configurations of the masts, spars, standing and working rigging and is a good complement to the kit plans. 

Blocks were attached to the 1.25 and 1mm lines in the normal way; treble seizing and then, having correctly aligned the block, washed with dilute PVA.   I attached the Burton pennants  - straightforward. 

I then began assembling.  I started with the mizzen as the kit supplied was missing the 1.25mm line which I had to reorder.  Forward starboard first, then alternate with the port shrouds.  I followed this routine:

a.I used the wire spacers to hold the blocks in place and to get the correct shroud  length, and thus tension, I looped the 
  whilst I tensioned the line and tied it off at the mast head

Thanks Rob.  I too have the Amati deadeye strops and found, as you did, that they aren't quite long enough.  I will use thread as well - I think the instructions advocate that approach.  Trust all is well.

P 

Some more snaps of the various mast sections.  all to be glued and straightened in due course. I think I may have fitted the blocks on the topgallant masts incorrectly - I have glued them laterally - i.e. 90degrees to the keel when I sense they should be fore and aft!  Hmm. Will now finish the driver gaffs on the mizzen mast and a few bits outstanding on the bowsprit.

Having finished the Topmast platforms, I worked on the rest of the mast sections: topmast and top gallant masts including the associated testletrees. 

The latter were a little more complex: the laser cut pieces were cut from the 2mm walnut sheet: the quality is not good and I suspect will be problematic when I come to tension the various strands of rigging.  The  slots were too narrow and needed plenty of filing to get the right shape...hmm not too content.  I used a small lathe to get the correct tapering on the mast sections.  Nothing has been glued - i will  correctly align them as I progress with rigging. 

Having finished the main sections of the lower masts I moved onto the mast tops and the various crosstrees and trestle trees.  I first planked the mast-tops with 0.7mm box wood to match the overlook of the ship and to I'm indebted to Rob D for his computer generated plans of the various batons - really useful. I made the top rail with 1.5mm wood attached to 4 brass stanchions (stand alone pack from Caldercraft) and painted black.  Blocks attached as normal.