Novel Way of Making a Stay Mouse

[shipaholic]

Hi everyone

I stumbled apon this when trying to think of a way to make the mouse on the mast stays look realistic without having to weave the cover to get that knittled look. Here is a photo of the actual mouse for the Endeavour replica vessel




I am using rope from Syren Model Ship Co for the stay, it is cable laid four strand rope.

First I worm the rope on my Domanoff serving machine. I'm using black cotton so its easy to distinguish during the worming process, (the stays will be painted black later to simulate the tar)




The rope is then served just beyond where the mouse will be



The eye is formed by unpicking the ends of the rope, gluing them down to simulate a splice



Then it is served over the splice



The mouse is made by drilling a hole in a piece of dowel. The dowel is sanded to a cone shape on the end then cut off and sanded to shape and slipped onto the rope.




The create the woven effect over the mouse I am using a flexible cloth wound dressing, its self adhesive so very easy to attach.







The lower part is served. A little bit of PVA glue on the join will stop the self adhesive letting go in the future.



The completed stay

Edited January 2, 2016 by shipaholic

[Mirabell61]

Shipaholic,

 

thanks for sharing your "stay-mouse" making, that woven character Looks great...

 

Nils

[gjdale]

That's a neat innovation! It looks great.

[jbshan]

Looks pretty good.  Thanks for sending that tip along.

[druxey]

It's a very clever idea. (Nice looking model, too!) That looks quite convincing: I assume this is at 1:48 scale?

[shipaholic]

Thanks Druxey, yes it's 1:51 scale

[wlell]

Shipaholic:

Great tip!! Who makes the "flexible cloth wound dressing"? Is that the same as a Band-Aid?

Bill

[shipaholic]

Hi Bill

 

Yes its like a Band-Aid, The brand I used is Elastoplast

[dgbot]

A novel way to do a mouse well done.  Your thinking outside the box is outstanding.  Well done your way is a keeper.

David B

[Papa]

I need to make a mouse for my Granado. This looks like a good technique.

[Papa]

Turned out that the scale was too small to use the bandage stuff. I just wrapped some thread around the stay and made a reasonable approximation. Good enough for my old eyes anyway.

[Lee J H]

Oh, that's a great idea. I've been worried about this a lot. Is this for patient care?