Beef Wellington

So many hours later, railings done. I much prefer this method as it feels so much more realistic 

The main goal of this solution is to reduce the overall weight of the hawser reel and the amount of rope  .

Thanks so much, druxey and Gary. I am very slow but steady!
 
Waiting for glue to dry on the starboard spirketting at the bow, I finished up the drawings for the pre-Brodie stove. Given the material I found,  this is my best guess. It may be a few years before I actually get to construct it, so I may find out more before I begin.
 
It is intriguing, in the Dorsetshire drawings, the nozzles out of the kettles seem to have a ball connection between the fitting and the side of the stove. They are clearly a ball in the drawing, with shading to indicate it as such. I wonder if this was a rotating fitting, allowing the nozzles to change their direction left and right and up and down. Don't know why this would be of value.
 
And my "squiggly thingies" are drawn to the scale of the Dorsetshire drawing, but they do look flimsy for carrying a large joint roasting out at the outer edge. Maybe these need to be thickened up a bit.
 
Mark
 

HI Gary, doesn't it feel good to be ahead of Wikipedia!🙂 And by the way, I was pointed by Alan (AON) to your posting on your stove, which I haven't looked at for some time. You did an an outstanding job on that, an inspiration!
 
A small update, but important to me. I finally installed both the spirketting and the quickwork on the port side of the bow. The quickwork was challenging, in having to fit between two existing pieces, with no room to maneuver, while at the same time dealing with constantly clamping to the curve as I tried to fit it. But it came out OK, including scribed planking you can just see. I have also temporarily put in the hawse hook, just to see the area where the hawse holes will finally come through. A couple of routed rabbets provide slots for the spirketting and quickwork to slide behind the hook while still leaving a surface for the hook to butt directly against the frames for a positive gluing connection.
 
Mark
 

 

A small update. I finished the first two strakes of the channel wales, and I am moving on to the 3rd and last. However, the first plank at the bow is cut thin because the small deck at the beakhead bulkhead sits horizontally, not according to the sheer of the profile and the rest of the planking. But this little deck also has the same roundup as the upper deck over which it hovers.
So, what is the actual line of the upper edge of this last plank? To figure this out, I temporarily installed the beam at the aft edge of the small deck, and also the first beam in the head timber structure. The deck needs to align with both of these. I then measured down from the temporary deck plank shown here, to the top of the previous plank, to determine the width of the third plank at the bow. The deck is actually rabbeted down from the top of these beams, so I will have to cut down the thickness of the deck planking as well.
 
I should have widened the second plank to reach up to this edge, but I didn't really think this through at the time. No problem, because a  thick batten used to mount the grating over the head will eventually cover this joint.
 
A fun diversion from planking!
 
Mark
 

First plank done. I decided to deviate abit from the instructions and didnt start from the top. Instead i laid it exactly inline with the deck and hopefully this will make the gunports more easy to set out. I will probably also focus on the upper hull before planking the lower parts simply to benefit from my rig. Now everything is really steady compare to using the building cradle.

 
In the background you can slightly see my other builds. Diana is very large compare to the Speedy. They are all in 1/64 scale.
 

Innerwalls done! 

 

 

 
Now prepering for 1st planking. Old kit so not a perfect fit, added some mtrl at a couple of places.

The deck is finally scrapted and finished. Most of it wont be that visable so i am kind of satisfied with the result.

Problem/question: shouldnt mast be in the center of yard/spar. CC drawings has it offset by about 5mm. 
 
Also started attatching blocks and finding correct way to tie them.

Small progress.
 
Bulwark too/railing
As i really wanted to have that clean straight black line i prepainted the part and fixed with glue. Also i fix it with nails, sand even, filler if needed and then paint.
That eay i can have clean straight line of paint. 
From other builds also i allready knew that back part will be totally off so i cut that off. Used my new proxxon ks230 to cut a 6mm wide walnut ply, worked like a charm. Made back 5% of spent money  

Bow
You can see my so called own design cause i have HMS Snake bulwark. Didnt have any better idea  
 
Im started wondering about maybe painting keel totally black and also keel in from of bow. And so valled figurehead yellow. But then again maybe it will cause too much contrast? Any thoughts? Maybe figurehead black to make it more visible?
 
Dont look at mast leghts, scrap needs to be cut off.
 
 
 

Realised i didnt put any pictures about finished 2nd planking so here they are.
 
i had some gaps in stern and fixed those but result isnt the best. Maybe more sanding will do the work.
 
2nd planking has some gaps in it, no idea how to fix that-any ideas?
 
Also i still dont understand how to get gunport opening sanded sharp-help there?

Thanks for all the 'likes', and Greg, Pat, Mike, Christian, Bob, Tom, Hamilton, Michael, Mobbsie - I really appreciate your thoughts and interest, the good news is that I don't need to decide right now.  I got a little over-obsessive on Snake using the kit supplied materials which bogged things down a bit, I'm sure I'd enjoy rigging more with better quality line and be happier with the result.  What I'm hoping is that I can leave my options open even after things get closed up when the quarterdeck and f'csle go on (e.g. mast stumps that could easily be replaced with full masts and yards at some point)
 
BE - your Victory, despite just looking fantastic, presents yet another interesting alternative.  I too like that look a lot.
 
Coamings
Moving on a little, have started on the coamings and gratings.  I had ordered some of Chuck's gratings some time ago and these were relatively painless to make up.  The coaming dimensions were taken from AOTS with a few small adjustments to ensure the edge of the coaming met the wider binding strakes as illustrated.  I did go the whole hog and build these as per TFFM which was good practice, if not slow.  Not really much else to say.
 

 
Where the companionways are, I did do bit more fiddly work to try and simulate the beams and carlings that would be visible.  I'm sure there must be a better way, but the approach I took was as follows:
Build up the bottom of the companionway coaming by 1mm to account for the thickness of the deck (as coamings would sit on the beams/carlings, not the deck) 0.5mm sheet was applied to the side faces to simulate the recess on the interior face Boxwood sheets and strips attached to simulate the beams/carlings.  This was not hard once the approach had been figured out as this all still needs to slide in through the holes in the deck (which had to be enlarged a bit).  I did decide to paint these black, as is shown to good effect on the contemporary Winchelsea model.  I was tempted to leave these natural, but as I had made these out of pear, I felt that another wood tone would be distracting.  In any event, black appears to have been quite commonly used toward the end of the century to aid safety by making the companionways more visible against the deck. Bit of a Frankenstein's monster from underneath, but to my eye looks convincing enough when in place. 

 
All the coamings and gratings have been made up and just need some finishing.  I was pleased that the coamings lined up with the butt pattern of the planks, because as irregular as they looks, they do correspond with the theoretical placement of the beams below.
 
The third photo shows the difference in appearance with the added depth in the companionway, vs the coaming simply sitting on the deck for comparison.  The last photo shows everything in place.  One slight fudge I'm making here is to put a grating into the foremost of the two rearmost openings.  This should really be a companionway down to the wardroom, but the keel former realistically presents this being represented, and given that this will barely be glimpsed, a grating went on top instead.  The kit plans omit this feature entirely.
 

So here's where I landed with the lettering.  First the letters were painted in a darker brown and then overpainted with yellow ochre and few highlights.  The goal here was not perfection as I new that was not going to remotely close, hopefully "impressionistic" describes it.  Was very happy with the outcome, may touchup a little more but I'm forcing myself to stay away for now.  The placement may look a little odd, but I had to estimate where the decorative rails will be so it should be correctly aligned when those are in place...something to potentially still go awry.  I'm following the guidance that the letters should fill the upper counter leaving a little space between the rails.  The photos are a little unkind and to my eye looks better in person.
 
First picture is the obvious comparison to the kit supplied PE letters, and you can see the perspective narrowing of the font.  I placed the lights in the stern while fine tuning the angle as it seemed that these need be complimentary somehow, although the angle varies from every viewing angle.
 

Hi Chaps, we'll I am back after a little hiatus.   Ron, Mark, Pat, Bob and the likes - thanks for the kind words as always. 
 
Sjors - Its nice to have the option to use the kit part rather than nothing, its insurance 
 
I've landed a new job, which is some relief - even though I had time on my hands I couldn't enjoy building but did what I could when the mood took me.  I'm not sure how the scratch builders feel, but these cheeks and rails had me thinking I'd never get them done and asking myself if I'd bitten off more than I could chew.
 
First off, I had to decide how I wanted to terminate the rails.  This period seems to be a bit of a mix in styles, mixing more elaborate decoration with a hint of future frugality.  I decided to err on the side of ornamentation after studying some NMM models, which basically just meant a larger scroll on the hair bracket and lower cheek I tried to follow guidance in TFFM as much as I could, and I've shown the progress pics below.  This wasn't as hard as I thought and for a first effort I was pretty happy, but I'll leave final judgement to others.  I knew I'd be painting these, so I found myself occasionally putting a think coat of paint on to get a better sense for the contours which is difficult with the pale castello.  
 

Once the scrolls were done, I made a scraper for the contour and tried to add the profile.  I found this very tricky and found myself battling the curve, the changes in width and the slight grain, especially in the thinner sections.  First approach was to shape the cheek piece and the rail and then glue together (I did these off the model painting would be next to impossible once mounted).  This didn't work as well as hoped, the profiles didn't match and the edges had rounded, but some filler and rework did the job.  For the others, I glued the cheek piece and the bracket before profiling which seemed to work fine.  I used a touch of sepia wash to highlight the profile.  Near the scroll, there is barely a profile so paint is needed to give the effect.
 
Overall, I give myself a "C" on the profiling:  hopefully could do better next time but needed to move on or forever be stuck in hairbracket purgatory.  Next time () I think I'd try using pear rather than castello but didn't have any of the right dimension to hand to try.

Lastly, couldn't resist adding a little more detail than the kit offers and wanted to add both a Filling piece and Trailboard.  Looking at contemporary Artois models, the filling piece is quite substantial and adds a distinctive look.  First off, I tried making a 1mm thick version bent to the hull shape - too thin.  I next tried a 2mm think version, but again felt it was too thin.  Tried 3mm, but it was impossible to bend, so went with a 5mm castello sheet and shaped as needed.  This was quite a bit of work as none of the sides are at 90deg, and the hull curvature needs to be accounted for, luckily this doesn't need to be perfect as the interior faces will be hidden by the  cheeks.  The trailboard was relatively simple but again took a while to get the appropriate shape.  Once complete these should go together like a jigsaw puzzle.....

And the finished result.  These will not be glued until I have the port side pieces finalized, but they fit together just fine.  Overall, I found this tricky and time consuming, but educational.  Without detailed plans there was a lot to consider to get the alignment looking right to my eye, for example, the lower cheek scroll terminating at the foot of the figurehead, the hair bracket scroll aligning with the rounded top of the lacing piece.

Finally, recognition for all those failures forever consigned to the wastebasket of progress....

BE, Pat, Joe, Michael, Nils, Wayne, JPAM  and the likes - thanks so much.
 
Ron - I'm hoping to make it, would love to see your fantastic Diana in person, my challenge is always football/soccer as I coach my sons team and that takes a big bite out of weekends at this time of year.  If I could just arrange a game in New London then I'd be set!
 
Small update, I've been missing making posts but I have a little to share and hope pictures make up for it.  Continuing to work on the more foundational aspects as I can.  Paint has been applied to the upper hull - I used Tamiya matt XF-18 medium blue.  I applied many layers of watered down paint and corrected larger imperfections, but left the slight imperfections from planking visible.  I'm no painter and have limited experience with modern acrylics!  Watering down the paint gives a nice smooth finish, but at the expense of surface uniformity - this should disappear completely once a clear sealer is applied so not concerned.  I found that using a brush the undiluted paint dries so quickly that brush mark are inevitable.  Lots of touchup to do which should be pretty easy, but I want to get a protective coat of poly onto the boxwood to reduce the risk of mishaps.
 
The waist rail has been applied on one side and the side steps added.  I left gaps for the fenders, after having already cut these roughly to shape - using boxwood of course adds the number of pieces that need to be fabricated to keep consistent.  I wont attach these until later.  Steps were made using 2x2mm boxwood strip and a different profile scraper to the side molding and then cut length and shaping the ends.  These hopefully give more of an impression of the fine molding as keeping that to scale was just too much for me.  The upper and lower 2 steps are not glued yet.  I think they pass the scale test with the assistance of Able Seaman Lewis.


I've also made up the anchor lining bolsters, not identified in the kit plans but approximated from AOTS and TFFM.


And the usual 'all over' shot of where things stand..

 
 
 

A quandry with the Quarter Galleries
 
Thanks all for the continued interest.  Slow progress continues, the usually slow pace has also been impacted by me losing my job late last year which theoretically meant I have a lot more time on my hands, but has unfortunately in practice sapped my enjoyment to some degree.  This was coupled with some continuing challenges with the copper finish.  I've forced myself to stand back and leave alone to later date so have moved on...
 
The quarter galleries seem to once again present quite the challenge I think to look right.  The kit instructions are very simple, attach the quarter gallery panel to an upper and lower former, then attach the lights - but do not identify which is which.  Analysis of the provided PE lights show similar problems to the stern lights; they are slightly too short, and their geometry is not quite right but think these can be accommodated.  Each light is a slight different height, but think CC went the wrong way the one that is tallest should be shortest and vice versa.
 

 
Sure this could have worked, but wanted a little more control over the outcome to fine tune as I go.  I decided to frame up the actually gallery to be more robust so built up the front and back with some spare ply.  Shaping was done before attaching my own cut fascia piece cut from some extra 1.5mm ply - I did this so I could represent the fore and aft lights as false lights (as per AOTS) similar to the stern fascia as I've decided to stray away from the modelling ideal and represent as close as possible to actual practice. 
 
The geometry of this arrangement seemed to boil down to two key elements.  The fore and aft planes of the gallery should be parallel when viewed side on, and the lie of the gallery should be parallel to the wale.  Allowing for the slight tumblehome and compromising the above objectives together with the actual shape of the lights brought everything together by trial and error.  The build up on the fascia was done in exactly the same way as on the stern fascia.  I pre-bent the horizontal strips vertically first to ease attachment.  These still require a little fine tuning.
 
One note, I decided to used 4mm strip for the columns rather than 3mm which is probably closer to the plans and AOTS.  The reason for this is that the PE decorations are approx. 3mm wide and I think would look awkward - don't think this minor change affects the overall look too much.
 

 
As a diversion, I started to experiment with making a scraper to develop what will hopefully one day be moldings.  The razor blade was simply cut with a dremel and the narrowest cutting blade I could find (AND PROTECTIVE EYEWEAR AND LOTS OF CARE).  The result is far from perfect (lots of tries to find one that works) but its amazing how imperfections can be dealt with by simply taking your time and focusing on the end result - I was pleasantly surprised at my first attempt.  I much prefer the look to the supplied white metal supplied for the stern, and the provided cut walnut for the sides.
 

 
Putting everything in place allowed me to check alignment, and I was happy with the way things turned out.  Aligning with the still dry fitted stern fascia and placing the side molding approximately where it should be showed that this appears to cut the quarter gallery mid way through the top pane - pretty much where it appears in the AOTS diagrams.  To my eye, the compromises seem to disappear except upon close inspection and are less noticeable in person.  Now the prototype is done, need to do the port side...
 

A little update to what must be the worlds slowest moving build log.  Coppering on the hull is pretty much done, the only piece still to do is the aft side of the sternpost which will need some work done on pintles/gudgeons finished before I can do...more to come on that in a follow up post.  Just for a cathartic moment for me, pictures of where I'm at.  Like others, I wanted to give the copper more of an aged patina, all personal taste. Rather than following the bodily fluid method used by others (I must confess to being worried my model would smell like a car park for evermore!) I experimented with a chemical from JAX called - BROWN Brass, Bronze, Copper darkener (they also make a 'BLACK' version which seems to work well).  I diluted this to around 25%-33% by experimentation which seemed to give the best results.  It takes a number of applications, and I simply 'painted' it on with a modeling nylon brush.  Found that rubbing and agitating the surface while doing this gives best results.  Initially, the surface is very hydrophobic, but once the oxidation starts, its becomes much easier to keep a consistent surface covering and beading is not desired as it leads to dark spots.  The more dilute solution tends to green more upon drying, but this can be easily wiped off with water and/or rubbing alchohol.  Personally, I didn't want a green monster, and was happy to have a little patina in the crevices/nail holes which is almost  a negative effect for how the plates are supplied.  I'm not planning to seal the copper (yet if at all) as this should then continue to age naturally, I very consciously forced myself to stop despite there being some patchy spots but these all blend in and to my eye have a natural look anyway.
 
Bunch of photos which hopefully show the copper plate pattern in various areas, hope its not overkill, these are the kinds of pictures that I find useful from others.
 
More to come soon on the rudder..
 

Think I've got a bit of catching up to do.  Firstly, heres the Captain Cook Monument in Waimea, no undercooked beef wellington shots in this one   .  Found the beach he landed at, nothing special but couldn't locate the plaque that allegedly marks the spot according to guide books.
 

 
I have managed at least an interim milestone, the completion of the starboard copper...this task just goes on and on
 
Couple of items I've found to be helpful:
Super Solvent - I've found this product to be highly effective at getting rid of any CA glue residue (at least the Admiralty Pro thick stuff).  Wiping over the surface of any potential smearing is usually enough Some plates plates require very acute angles to be cut and when using scissors (which I find by far the easiest), the ends tend to curl and distort horribly.  I found that cutting these as part of a larger section this problem is eliminated, although care is needed still to separate them.
 
And the results.  Some of the photos are before I cleaned to plates with copper cleaner, which I did to ensure that there was no CA residue anywhere.  These will need to be done again once all the plates are on as I can guarantee more finger prints.  Managed to do the copper plate pattern at the bow that seems to be prevalent on so many models and AOTS drafts, slight discrepancies in the plates will only become less noticeable as the copper ages and darkens.  Overall I'm very happy with the Amati plates, and slight plate misalignments that just seem to be inevitable when using CA glue are tolerable.  Not sure I could do it any better if I were to do it again, so I think that's the yardstick to meaure to.
 
At the bow, I plated the cutwater first and tried to shape the plates on the planking to match the required curve.  Its far from perfect but will do.  I think these areas are inherently limited given the thickness of the plates, I suspect using copper tape would allow a more scale appearance.
 
I drilled some small holes in the waterline batten to simulate nails and highlighted with pencil, these are not to scale but felt it gives it a little bit more functional relevance.
 

 
Et voila!  The pinkish hue of freshly cleaned copper reminded me on the AOTS Diana picture, I was very pleased with the lines that appear once the waterline is apparent. Obviously next step is to continue with the other side.... 
 

Thanks everyone for the kind posts, it seems its been forever since my last update!
 
Have been working on getting the second planking complete, which is now is below the wale.  Frankenstein's monster may be the best analogy right now.  Didn't really want to obsess over the area beneath the waterline, planked with walnut as this will be covered.  This is most definitely not exhibit A in a 'how to plank' lesson.  I found planking the round stern challenging, especially as I'm not going to use paint so wanted to get all the planks as tight as possible, and fit into the sternpost rabbet. 
 
I knew I still had work to do finalizing the hull shape to elimate some small 'waviness' and ensure smooth curvature.  In some cases I had already sanded the first planking almost to zero, so I had to get the second layer on to continue to refine.  In one spot I did actually make a very small hole....This of course suggest I needed to have done a better job shaping/tapering/shimming the bulkheads in the first place, but I really don't think I cut a corner there and certainly did my best to get it right.  Think this boils down to the challenges of a larger hull.
 
Honestly, I did not enjoy planking with the walnut.  Despite buying a replacement wood which was better than that provided in the kit, it was still of poor quality; splintery edges, inconsistent dimensions and colour.  Don't really care too much about the latter, but only because it will not be visible.  Thankfully, its done.
 
I've drawn level lines to help confirm symmetry and flow of lines compared to AOTS plans.  Pretty happy, but some final fettling needed in some places...pretty easy.

 
As mentioned before, the keel is nowhere near thick enough and needs to be built up.  This is especially true at the bow and I added yet more maple strip to build this up.  This will ultimastely also receive a false keel, hence the step.

 
And the overall shot in all its horror.  The patient's looks can only improve from here :-)

Thanks Jim and Sjors, appreciate the kind words, it was a long time coming and still needs some more sanding to get it where I want it to be.  I'm going to wait for some warm weather as I find it quite relaxing sitting outside with a suitable beverage sanding, and theres no push to rush it.
 
Gunports
 
Cracking on with the gunports.  This seems to be yet another problematic area with this kit, and here was my approach to hopefully assist other builders of this kit (My thanks to Ray who first trod this path and whose shoulders I'm standing on).  The instructions are no help here, and the plans inaccurate.  I used the AOTS extensively to estimate as best I can the dimensions, and this required plenty of tinkering.  The supplied template is a waste of time as it forces the ports to be square, rather than the bottom cill following the sheer of the deck.
 
Bulkheads 10, 11 & 12 are key to laying out the ports as these bulkheads dictate the positions of gunports 7, 8 & 9.  Not mention in the instructions/plans is that gunports 8 & 9 are spaced farther apart than all the others, which are equidistant.
 
The arrows indicate the edge of bulkheads indicating the potential extremities of the ports, 7 & 8 are 30mm apart, 8 & 9 37mm.  The remaining ports were then marked to be 30mm apart (which does actually match the supplied template).  The edge of the plank was used to determine the appropriate height.
 

 
This resulted in two problems, the first was expected, the second not.  I had suspected that the gunport 1 would interfere with bulkead 4, and had build up additional material so this could be cut away without (hopefully) critically weakend the structure.  
 
The unexpected problem came with gunport 2 and bulkhead 5 as these coincide.
 

 
I was determined  to have equally spaced ports, so resorted to some emergency surgery, basically cut some spare 5mm ply cut approximately to shape and inserted between the bulwarks and against bulkhead 5 - the same approach taken before planking for bulkhead 4.  Plenty of glue was used to secure this as strongly as possible.
 

 
Once dry, the ports were cut and fully and trimmed to approximate shape.  First picture is gunport 1 (showing how much of the bulkhead is compromised), followed by ports 1 & 2 showing the same
 

 
Finally the overall shot showing how alignment looks, still work to do here but starting to look like a ship rather than a bathtub!  All ports are 30mm apart, except for the aforementioned 8&9.  I'm a happy camper.
 

 
 

The Mizzen has arisen:
 
I can see why build logs tend to neglect rigging relegating it to a bit of a dark art - its so hard to reach a point where one can step back and say 'done' because nothing quite seems to get finished before its necessary to do something else before its too late.  Anyway, the mizzen rigging is now essentially complete.  This area proved to one of the more challenging so far 'learning the ropes', but also just because of the increased fiddliness factor and decreased access.  The plans also proved more challenging in this area due to their either lack of clarity or incompleteness.
 
Before starting, this was my last chance to address some things that have been annoying me.  The kit supplied ladders going to the stern platform just seemed too bulky, so these were ripped off and replaced with custom made items that just felt a little more to scale, and less visually obtrusive.  These proved challenging to make in walnut due to the splinter factor, but necessary to avoid introducing a new wood.  The ships wheel was also given some coats of a wash to try and make it a bit attractive from the flat brown colour I had used way back when I started (Pre-fix situation below):
 

 

 
Rigging could then proceed, planning ahead proved key due to the many elements that need to be fitted in a very tight space, especially below the tops (tye, parrels throat halliard etc).   Petersson's Rigging Period Ship Models and Lever's Young Officers Sheet Anchor provide invaluable to bridge contradictions and lack of clarity in the plans.  Items of note as follows:
Boom Sheets - went with single vs a double arrangement as illustrated on the plans as I couldn't find another example like this Gaff throat halliard - the positioning of the gaff is slightly different on each plan, I had to lower my original placement to allow for the two double 5mm blocks, luckily the pin hole was obscured Single boom horse - Common practice seems to have a knotted horses on either side of the boom.  I just couldn't get this to look right and the image of a young schoolboy with rather large and unruly ears kept coming to mind....so in the end I just went with a single and it seems to do the trick other than to purists. Blocks for main topsail brace - One of the first blocks I had installed has to be removed, a double block on the mizzen for the main topsail braces as indicated on the plans.  It was clear that this just wouldn't work with the crossjack and gaff in place as it needs to sit above the gaff.  I elected to remove and replace with 2 single 5mm blocks with a longer clearance from the mast to avoid interfering with the various rigging elements in this space as illustrated in Petersson.  These are held temporarily in place with sewing thread. Close up pictures of where things ended up that hopefully can assist others (errors are of course mine):
 

 
Finally, some overall shots...

 
 

The Mizzen has arisen:
 
I can see why build logs tend to neglect rigging relegating it to a bit of a dark art - its so hard to reach a point where one can step back and say 'done' because nothing quite seems to get finished before its necessary to do something else before its too late.  Anyway, the mizzen rigging is now essentially complete.  This area proved to one of the more challenging so far 'learning the ropes', but also just because of the increased fiddliness factor and decreased access.  The plans also proved more challenging in this area due to their either lack of clarity or incompleteness.
 
Before starting, this was my last chance to address some things that have been annoying me.  The kit supplied ladders going to the stern platform just seemed too bulky, so these were ripped off and replaced with custom made items that just felt a little more to scale, and less visually obtrusive.  These proved challenging to make in walnut due to the splinter factor, but necessary to avoid introducing a new wood.  The ships wheel was also given some coats of a wash to try and make it a bit attractive from the flat brown colour I had used way back when I started (Pre-fix situation below):
 

 

 
Rigging could then proceed, planning ahead proved key due to the many elements that need to be fitted in a very tight space, especially below the tops (tye, parrels throat halliard etc).   Petersson's Rigging Period Ship Models and Lever's Young Officers Sheet Anchor provide invaluable to bridge contradictions and lack of clarity in the plans.  Items of note as follows:
Boom Sheets - went with single vs a double arrangement as illustrated on the plans as I couldn't find another example like this Gaff throat halliard - the positioning of the gaff is slightly different on each plan, I had to lower my original placement to allow for the two double 5mm blocks, luckily the pin hole was obscured Single boom horse - Common practice seems to have a knotted horses on either side of the boom.  I just couldn't get this to look right and the image of a young schoolboy with rather large and unruly ears kept coming to mind....so in the end I just went with a single and it seems to do the trick other than to purists. Blocks for main topsail brace - One of the first blocks I had installed has to be removed, a double block on the mizzen for the main topsail braces as indicated on the plans.  It was clear that this just wouldn't work with the crossjack and gaff in place as it needs to sit above the gaff.  I elected to remove and replace with 2 single 5mm blocks with a longer clearance from the mast to avoid interfering with the various rigging elements in this space as illustrated in Petersson.  These are held temporarily in place with sewing thread. Close up pictures of where things ended up that hopefully can assist others (errors are of course mine):
 

 
Finally, some overall shots...

 
 

Thanks gents for the continued support and kind words.
 
@ Eamonn - Honestly feel like I bit off more than I can chew here, but the end does seem within reach now which is a good feeling
@ Carl - its a mind game!  The rope tends to stretch a little after installation, so its a constant matter of installing, but not securing, and tying off in an order that doesn't cause a problem by taking away access....feels like playing Jenga.
 
Before I continue with much more rigging I need to get going on a ships boat that I'd like to install.  None are provided in the Snake kit, so I'm high-jacking one of the ship's boats provided in the Diana kit.  I'm therefore keeping the building of these boats in that log (link below) to avoid confusion as it comes from that kit, even though hopefully a finished product will eventually appear here....
 
 

The Mizzen has arisen:
 
I can see why build logs tend to neglect rigging relegating it to a bit of a dark art - its so hard to reach a point where one can step back and say 'done' because nothing quite seems to get finished before its necessary to do something else before its too late.  Anyway, the mizzen rigging is now essentially complete.  This area proved to one of the more challenging so far 'learning the ropes', but also just because of the increased fiddliness factor and decreased access.  The plans also proved more challenging in this area due to their either lack of clarity or incompleteness.
 
Before starting, this was my last chance to address some things that have been annoying me.  The kit supplied ladders going to the stern platform just seemed too bulky, so these were ripped off and replaced with custom made items that just felt a little more to scale, and less visually obtrusive.  These proved challenging to make in walnut due to the splinter factor, but necessary to avoid introducing a new wood.  The ships wheel was also given some coats of a wash to try and make it a bit attractive from the flat brown colour I had used way back when I started (Pre-fix situation below):
 

 

 
Rigging could then proceed, planning ahead proved key due to the many elements that need to be fitted in a very tight space, especially below the tops (tye, parrels throat halliard etc).   Petersson's Rigging Period Ship Models and Lever's Young Officers Sheet Anchor provide invaluable to bridge contradictions and lack of clarity in the plans.  Items of note as follows:
Boom Sheets - went with single vs a double arrangement as illustrated on the plans as I couldn't find another example like this Gaff throat halliard - the positioning of the gaff is slightly different on each plan, I had to lower my original placement to allow for the two double 5mm blocks, luckily the pin hole was obscured Single boom horse - Common practice seems to have a knotted horses on either side of the boom.  I just couldn't get this to look right and the image of a young schoolboy with rather large and unruly ears kept coming to mind....so in the end I just went with a single and it seems to do the trick other than to purists. Blocks for main topsail brace - One of the first blocks I had installed has to be removed, a double block on the mizzen for the main topsail braces as indicated on the plans.  It was clear that this just wouldn't work with the crossjack and gaff in place as it needs to sit above the gaff.  I elected to remove and replace with 2 single 5mm blocks with a longer clearance from the mast to avoid interfering with the various rigging elements in this space as illustrated in Petersson.  These are held temporarily in place with sewing thread. Close up pictures of where things ended up that hopefully can assist others (errors are of course mine):
 

 
Finally, some overall shots...

 
 

The Mizzen has arisen:
 
I can see why build logs tend to neglect rigging relegating it to a bit of a dark art - its so hard to reach a point where one can step back and say 'done' because nothing quite seems to get finished before its necessary to do something else before its too late.  Anyway, the mizzen rigging is now essentially complete.  This area proved to one of the more challenging so far 'learning the ropes', but also just because of the increased fiddliness factor and decreased access.  The plans also proved more challenging in this area due to their either lack of clarity or incompleteness.
 
Before starting, this was my last chance to address some things that have been annoying me.  The kit supplied ladders going to the stern platform just seemed too bulky, so these were ripped off and replaced with custom made items that just felt a little more to scale, and less visually obtrusive.  These proved challenging to make in walnut due to the splinter factor, but necessary to avoid introducing a new wood.  The ships wheel was also given some coats of a wash to try and make it a bit attractive from the flat brown colour I had used way back when I started (Pre-fix situation below):
 

 

 
Rigging could then proceed, planning ahead proved key due to the many elements that need to be fitted in a very tight space, especially below the tops (tye, parrels throat halliard etc).   Petersson's Rigging Period Ship Models and Lever's Young Officers Sheet Anchor provide invaluable to bridge contradictions and lack of clarity in the plans.  Items of note as follows:
Boom Sheets - went with single vs a double arrangement as illustrated on the plans as I couldn't find another example like this Gaff throat halliard - the positioning of the gaff is slightly different on each plan, I had to lower my original placement to allow for the two double 5mm blocks, luckily the pin hole was obscured Single boom horse - Common practice seems to have a knotted horses on either side of the boom.  I just couldn't get this to look right and the image of a young schoolboy with rather large and unruly ears kept coming to mind....so in the end I just went with a single and it seems to do the trick other than to purists. Blocks for main topsail brace - One of the first blocks I had installed has to be removed, a double block on the mizzen for the main topsail braces as indicated on the plans.  It was clear that this just wouldn't work with the crossjack and gaff in place as it needs to sit above the gaff.  I elected to remove and replace with 2 single 5mm blocks with a longer clearance from the mast to avoid interfering with the various rigging elements in this space as illustrated in Petersson.  These are held temporarily in place with sewing thread. Close up pictures of where things ended up that hopefully can assist others (errors are of course mine):
 

 
Finally, some overall shots...