ancre La Créole 1827 by archjofo - Scale 1/48 - French corvette

[Keith Black]

2 hours ago, druxey said:

I've rigged from back to front, bottom to top

 Same here because there's less chance of creating slack in the lines going from stern to bow, IMHO.  

[giampieroricci]

hello Johann!
Your superb work is a masterful benchmark for model rigging! Exemplary work! Simply fantastic!

[Mic_Nao]

A perfect mastery of the greement, bravo!

 

 

[jdbondy]

And don't forget about rigging from inside to out...

[archjofo]

Hello colleagues,

Thank you in advance for your kind feedback.

 

When I started the final rigging, I was a bit too optimistic...😁

 

Making more blocks for tackles for truss pendants, redirecting the braces, bowlines, etc.

Before I take the model out of the dust cover as announced and start the final rigging, I thought that it would be more clever to make the missing blocks so that I can then make the craft room dust-free.

This required a lot of research to get some clarity about various design details.
In particular, it was about making the tackles for the truss pendants of the lower yards. The truss pendants themselves are already attached to the lower yards. Later, when attaching the lower yards, the ends of the truss pendants have to be guided through the sheaves on the trestle trees. Then thimbles have to be tied into the ends, to which the rope tackles can then be hooked. This drawing from the Atlas de Génie Maritime illustrates the principle.

 

Source: Extract from the Atlas du Génie Maritime Pl. 23

 

 

These tackles and other blocks with corresponding strops and thimbles, depending on the use, can be seen in the following picture.

Some time ago I also made a series of guide blocks, as shown below, which are hooked into the area of the belaying pin rails.

 

Accordingly, there shouldn't be too many blocks missing now. So I will now look through the rigging again using the monograph in conjunction with the pictures of the original model that I have available in order to capture as many blocks as possible. The tackles topsail halyards spring to mind and there are certainly still some deflection and guide blocks missing from the upper rigging.

 

With regard to the final rigging, I am wondering how the standing parts of the braces are correctly attached to the stays. There is certainly a specific way of attaching them (knots, banding, etc.). Unfortunately, I have not been able to find anything about this so far, neither in the specialist literature nor on the Internet.

 

I would therefore be very grateful if you could give me some advice.

To be continued...

 

Edited September 12 by archjofo

[druxey]

Sometimes one just has to go with the logical run of lines.

[archjofo]

Continuation: Making more blocks - topsail halyards
As already mentioned, there are still a few blocks to be made, including for the topsail halyards.

Source: Monograph on La Créole by Jean Boudriot

 

I made these single and double blocks again using the method shown so far. This method is not the most effective and has little to do with series production, but I am quite happy with the result.

 

In the next step I will complete the tackles of the topsail halyards (strops, ropes, hooks, eyebolts, spacers, etc.).
See you soon...

[davyboy]

Hi Johann,

 

You asked in a previous post about the correct attachment of braces to the stays. Karl Marquardt's book 18th Century Rigs and Rigging

has on Pages 101 & 102 brace rigging diagrams of English,French and German methods which may be of assistance to you. You may of

course have already found an answer but I thought it was worth mentioning anyway.

 

Gruss. 

 

Dave 

[archjofo]

@davyboy

Hello Dave,
Thank you very much for the hint, but unfortunately I couldn't find anything about it in my German version.

 

I have finally found something on the subject of attaching the standing parts of braces to stays.

First of all, I will show you a historical example of a knot:

Source: Atlas du Génie Maritime

 

It is not clear what type of knot it is.

On the other hand, you can see a possible way of doing this on the mainstay of the replica of the L'Hermione:

Source: Internet (excerpt)

 

If I am not completely mistaken, this is a stopper's hitch or rolling hitch (formerly also called a magnus hitch), in French Noued coulant or Amarrage a' fouet.

I know from the official website for the L'Hermione that the riggers use the following when rigging the L'Hermione: also based my work on the book "The Ashley Book of Knots", which also shows this type of knot. But they are also mentioned in the Biddlecomb, Lever or Steel, as well as in F. A. Coste (French technical literature from 1829). However, I cannot find any clear assignments for a specific purpose here. It is always kept rather general.

But ultimately it does seem plausible to me to attach these standing parts of the braces in this way.

[Dziadeczek]

What kind of wood species do you use for your blocks, if I may ask? Boxwood, pear, or something else, perhaps?

[archjofo]

@Dziadeczek

Hello,
of course you can ask questions and I'll be happy to answer them.
This forum is intended to be a forum for professional exchange.
I use serviceberry for the blocks. This wood is very similar to pear wood in terms of structure, fine grain and hardness.
 

[archjofo]

Continuation: Further accessories for the topsail halyards, including leader (guide bar) - Gouvernail de drisse
The leaders are another accessory required for the topsail halyards. This is a detail that is not always visible on all models, but is an important part of the rigging.
Under the considerable force required to set a topsail, the halyard tends to twist and become unclear. To prevent this, the upper halyard block was guided to the topmast backstay with a guide bar and a swivel hook was used at the channel.
In the following, I have compiled a list of different types of guide bars that were used towards the end of the 18th century and in the 19th century. However, they all served the same purpose.

For my model of La Créole, I naturally used the original Parisian model and the Manuel du Gabier. Compared to the original model, however, I added the swivel hook and made a longer strop, which made it possible to keep the lower block free of the bulwark and the tackles of the backstays.
I then executed this rigging arrangement according to the following drawing.

 
I made all the elements in advance to see how it would look overall. If the “prototype” fits, all the other necessary parts for all the topsail halyards will be made.
Provisionally arranged, it then looks like this:

I had already made the swivel hooks in connection with the stay tackles, so that went quickly. Making the guide bar was also not a big job. For the sake of strength, I hard-soldered all the connections of these components.
It was a little more difficult to attach the guide bar to the topsail halyard. It would be unsightly if over-dimensional knots were to impair the filigree structure. 
I have already considered how I can then attach the halyard to the model. In this respect, I have to finish one side completely as shown and then serve the appropriate places in advance, such as the passage through the tye blocks and the other end of the halyard. Then the rope of the topsail halyard is pulled through the tye blocks, then the eye with thimble is completed, taking the upper block into account. Finally, I have to dress a short remaining section freehand and attach the guide bar.

 

Certainly not an easy task on the model, but people also need certain challenges ...😊 

 

To be continued ...

 

PS: I don't know if the term "guide bar" is correct?
I would be grateful if someone could tell me the correct term.

Edited October 9 by archjofo
Correction

[Thukydides]

As always your research and execution on the rigging is second to none.

[davyboy]

Hi Johann, that is very interesting indeed,one learns something new every day. The English had something similar,the Topsail Tie Block itself was connected by a strop to a Bullseye free to run on the Backstay. I expect it had much the same purpose,however I read it was just to prevent the Tie Block and Halliard falling onto the deck causing damage or injury if the Tie was severed in battle. One shouldn't believe all that one reads I guess.

 

Kind regards,

 

Dave 

[jdbondy]

Wow, what a beautifully executed fine detail of the rigging! Just another piece of the puzzle that is adding up to a fantastic masterpiece.

[Mike Y]

Rigging in general is absolutely not my cup of tea, but your execution captured imagination!

Now it’s not just a hodgepodge of strange words, but a coherent system. Your hand drawings are more illustrative than a lot of books do, and they do have a very charming style 😊

And the execution is impeccable as always!

[archjofo]

@Thukydides

@davyboy

@jdbondy

@Mike Y

Your praise and your kind words encourage me in my work.

Thank you for that and thank you to the others for the LIKES.

 

Continuation: Additional accessories for the topsail halyards - swivel hooks
In the meantime, I have made all 6 swivel hooks for the topsail halyards. The length for the main topsail yards and fore topsail yards is 8.2 mm. The swivel hooks for the mizzen topsail yards were proportionally made a little smaller (L = 6.9 mm).
I tried to make these hooks based on a drawing in the Atlas du Génie Maritime.

Source: Excerpt from Atlas du Génie Maritime annexe N.1, Pl. 2

Here, with this photo montage, I would like to illustrate the individual production steps.

 

To conclude this short update, the finished, blackened hooks.

 

See you soon...

Edited October 13 by archjofo

[druxey]

Remarkable miniature jeweller's work!

[Jim Lad]

Amazing work!

 

John

[Thukydides]

Out of curiosity, I can see from your picture the hooks seem to be cast. Do you cast them yourself?

[jdbondy]

How are you parting the discs off of the brass rod? Is that a wire of some kind I am seeing in that image? Thanks in advance.

[archjofo]

 

@druxey

@Jim Lad

@Thukydides

@jdbondy

Thank you all for your interest.

 

@Thukydides

Yes, that's right, the hooks are made of brass.
I made some hooks myself out of brass as a sample. A jewelry foundry then created wax models from the samples on my behalf and then cast the hooks using the lost wax process.
I hope I was able to explain it clearly.

 

@jdbondy

Yes, it's really hard to see in the picture.
This is a jeweler's saw that I hold onto the rotating workpiece with a very fine-toothed saw blade.

It works very well.

 

[dvm27]

You should put a small ruler in your photos for reference. It's hard to believe the complexity of your work at this scale.

I wish your log had an index because it should become the new bible of ship model rigging. Your split thimbles look perfect. Can you point me to the section where you manufactured these?

[wefalck]

On a German forum the colleagues try to coerce him to approach e.g. ANCRE to write up the building-log as compendium to (French) rigging practices in the early 19th century and their implementation in models 😁

 

Of course, this is entirely up to him and I know a couple of other exemplary modellers, who say that they rather spent their time at the workbench than at the computer-desk (and I can't blame them for that).

[Erik W]

Johann,

 

I agree with Greg above, your rigging really sets the standard for what can be accomplished.  As I enter the rigging stage on my build (currently with the carronades and cannons), I'm inspired by your work.  While being a beginner myself, your close-up high resolution photos are very helpful as I learn what I need to do.  I feel with the rigging, more than any other aspect of the build, photos are most helpful with visualizing how to accomplish the tasks.

 

Erik

[archjofo]

 

@wefalck

Hello Eberhard,

I think it would not be a good idea to introduce the French (French publisher) to the rigging practices of the French Navy at the beginning of the 19th century for model making.

 

@Erik W

Hello Erik,
I'm pleased that my pictures, especially of the rigging work, are helping you with your model building.
As I also benefit a lot from pictures and construction reports from other model builders for my project, I want to give something back. It's a give and take that benefits model building as a whole and allows it to develop further. Ultimately, we all have great joy in the results that we have created with our own hands and can look at.

 

@dvm27

Hello Greg,

I'm happy to comply with your request.

Here is a picture with a ruler:

I used two methods to make the thimbles, although I actually only work with the simpler one.

I also make the thimbles in different diameters, depending on the requirements of the rigging.

Here are two places in my construction report where I report on the production of the thimbles:

LINK

LINK

Edited October 16 by archjofo

[archjofo]

A small update:

Completion: Topsail halyards
The tackles for the topsail halyards are now all rigged.

 

See you soon...

Edited October 24 by archjofo

[albert]

Hi Johann your work is number one

[64Pacific]

Outstanding and inspirational work!

[archjofo]

@albert

@64Pacific

Thank you for your interest and the nice comments, and thank you all for the LIKES.

 

Topsail-halyard traveller – Gouvernail de drisse
There was something else, wasn't there?

I have now made the missing 5 topsail-halyard travelers out of brass to complete the set.

To produce the guide rings required for this with a diameter of 1.5 mm (incorrectly indicated in the drawing as 1.2 mm) and with a bore of 0.8 mm, the modifications made (new electric motor with speed control and collets) to my Unimat SL served me very well.

I am currently sorting out the continuation of the lifts for the lower yards.
See you soon...