Rattlesnake by Martin W - FINISHED - Mamoli - 1:64 - Kit-Bashed

[Martin W]

Ahoy everyone – After benefitting so much from reading other people’s build logs, I finally came to the realization that I should participate by doing more.  And so, after talking with a few of my fellow Rattlesnakes in Pms, I’ve decided to take the plunge and post a log of my own build. I’m about 2/3 through the standing rigging, so this is where I’m starting.

First of all I have to give credit where it’s due, and say that I’m bashing the Mamoli kit with the guidance of Bob Hunt’s practicum.  I came across Bob’s practicum when I started rigging my previous (and first) square-rigged model, The Prince de Neufchatel – the kit’s instructions left me utterly baffled, and so I bought 2 of Bob’s practicums, the one on rigging, and the 2nd half of the Rattlesnake practicum, which deals wholly with the rigging of that model.  Because those helped me out beyond what I’d even hoped for, I decided to do the Rattlesnake as my next build, following his kit-bashing instructions.  This was a big step, and pretty much over my head, since I’d only built one other model.  But I decided to go SLOWLY and to treat the build as another learning experience (and lots of little learning experiences). 

The first photo shows the masts sitting in the hull with the standing rigging attached (don’t mind the clutter in the background, please).

 

The second photo shows the masts lying on the mat.  The mizzen mast is raked slightly, and I tried to accommodate for that by angling the top and the cap – and I was sure I’d gotten them parallel before the glue dried, but found after the glue dried that I was off pretty noticeably.  That’s one of numerous errors.

 

The third photo shows the spars.  The 2 on the left are another couple of errors – when I was laying them out for the photo, I realized I’d put the cleats on the wrong side in relation to the chocks.  But I think these will be a lot easier to fix than the top & cap.

 

The masts are spruce.  The spars are boxwood.  For the caps I used walnut, since I had that on hand in the right dimension.  The tops are holly planking over a sheet of thin plywood; they’re too thick, especially with the edge I put on, but the other alternatives of just using plywood or cutting big lap joints in the planking didn’t seem satisfactory for different reasons.  

I might mention that I started off shaping the masts & spars with the method described by Frank Mastini using a drill as a lathe.  That method has the advantage of enabling you to get the taper down pretty fine at the ends of the spars, and of keeping the tapers symmetrical.  The drawback is that you have to add about 1/4 inch to each end of the stock to fit into the drill chuck, and even then when the taper gets thin the spar breaks easily, and you can’t get a good fit in the chuck with a tapered piece of wood (and the chuck will leave grooves in the wood).  After the first couple of spars, I switched over to the method described by David Antscherl in the Rigging volume of the Swan Class series.  I like that method because it uses hand tools – a chisel & a jig.  I used an exacto knife and set the stock in the groove in the jaws of my vise.  Since 99% of my aim is to learn and improve my skills, forcing myself to take the time and care to cut and shape the spars by hand will payoff some time.  I could not get them tapered as finely as I wanted, and keeping them symmetrical also proved more of a challenge than with the drill method.  But – this is the mystical part – I felt closer to the wood, and got more satisfaction from working that way.

Next up: although Bob Hunt doesn’t include crow’s feet, I’ve decided that I’m going to give them a shot – again, I want to learn how it’s done, and they are shown in Harold Hahn’s plans.  I’m also really intrigued by Antscherl’s use of served line, and I think I’m going to do that for the collars on the Bowsprit.

 

Cheers,

 

Martin

[Dominik]

Many thanks for sharing this with us Martin. May I ask what wood you used to plank the deck? It looks a lot brighter than the wood Mamoli provides for this purpose...

[fish]

Martin,

 

Did you purchase the bashing wood set from Hobby Mill USA?  I have considered buy this kit, the practicum, and the wood set as a future build.

 

-Aaron 

[RiverRat]

Huzzah! Another Rattlesnake! I was hoping you'd post pictures of your build someday. Thanks..........

 

Brian

[Martin W]

Hi everyone, thanks for your comments.  Dominik, the deck planking is holly.  Aaron, actually the wood came from Lloyd Warner, of Warner Woods West, which no longer supplies the wood for this kit-bashing practicum.  So, yes, nowadays it would come from Hobby Mill -- and I have gotten plenty of stock from HM, and can say that Jeff Hayes is wonderful to deal with.  I bought the kit and wood from someone who decided to go to 1:48 scale and gave me a good deal.  As I said above, I have learned a heckuva lot from this practicum.

 

Onward!

 

Martin

[Martin W]

So, despite the fact that I haven’t posted anything, I have not been entirely idle.  In fact I’ve mostly been trying to line up everything to get something posted – no fault with the site, just my own deep and wide ignorance about using MS Photo editor.

The progress I have made is with the heart and collar that will attach the forestay to the bowsprit.  Following Bob Hunt’s instruction, I carved the heart out of boxwood.

 

 

Then, after reading David Antscherl’s account of the collars being seized, I thought I would give that a shot, even though I don’t have an actual seizing machine (yet).  What I came up with looks ok, though once the seized line went around the heart, I could see that the seizing could have been tighter, something I hope will be corrected with the machine.
 

 

Now, here is where I ran into an interesting dilemma.  There seem to be two separate theories about where this collar & heart should go.  The plans from the kit show it just fore of the saddle, on the jibboom, like this:
 

 

And Harold Hahn’s rigging plan show it just aft of the saddle, on the bowsprit, like this:
 

 

 

After looking at some of the usual other authorities, Antscherl, Lees, & Petersen, I’ve decided that the more likely position would be that shown by Hahn.  And so that’s where I’ve put it.  And I lashed the jibboom to the bowsprit, even though Hahn does not show that – I did it because it seems to make sense, and it is shown in Petersen (if I recall).  Here’s mine:
 

 

 

And this discrepancy raised another question.  Once I started comparing the 2 sets of rigging plans with each other, and with the sort of generic plans of the Big Three books, I saw that the Rattlesnake kit plans (and this is from Mamoli – I haven’t seen the Model Expo plans) has no crows feet but instead a row of blocks seized for the stays, like this:

 

This arrangement doesn’t show up anywhere else.  Here’s the foretop from Hahn for comparison.
 

 

So, I guess what this means is that I’ll be looking over all the plans as I proceed, and figuring out (or trying to figure out, trying to unravel) which arrangement is the best.  Instead of happily following someone else’s instructions, I’m (gulp) going to have to work things out myself.  I predict that I’ll be spending plenty of time staring blankly, holding plans in one hand and rigging line in the other.

 

Comments and suggestions are more than welcome.

 

Cheers,

 

Martin

Edited March 15, 2013 by Martin W

[JSGerson]

I too am building the Mamoli Rattlesnake as bashed by Mr. Hunt. You however are much further along than I am, so I will following in your footsteps as you solve the problem we all encounter. This is my 1st plank on Bulkhead ship not counting the one I tried 20 years ago. I've made a lot errors, and learned a lot by my experience as well as following Mr. Hunt's guidance I look forward to your future posts. 

[Martin W]

Greetings all – Much of these past weeks have been spent hunched over Hahn’s plans and comparing them with Petersen and whatever other account I could find that might help me decide just exactly where to set the Forestay collar in relation to the collars for the shrouds.  

I came up with something of a plan that made a kind of sense, though I’m not really confident that everything will end up where it should.  

Anyway: my new serving machine works wonderfully.  Once I served up the length of line that I thought would be right (I’d taken a measurement by wrapping a piece of line around the bowsprit, allowing for the heart, and then using that for my length – not the most scientific procedure, but the only one I could think of) I put the carved heart in place and I thought, well, hey, that's not too bad:

 

 

then after seizing the stirrups used to lash the collar onto the bowsprit, I put it into place.  I did this as well for the Fore Preventer Stay.  And then . . . Whoa!  How wrong it all looked

 

I’d carved the heart to match the size of the metal one included in the kit.  I’d used .4 mm line and seized it with thinner cotton line that looks like it’s about .25, though the size isn’t marked so that’s a guess.  Needless to say, it’s all TOO big.  The forward collar is even more too big, and the stirrups look huge – never mind the general sloppiness, since I’d intended this to be an experiment anyway, but I hadn’t imagined it would go this badly.

Live and learn – or maybe, model and learn.

I next tried serving a thinner line, and leaving the sections that would be seized un-served to avoid bulking everything up too much.  In theory that seemed like a pretty good idea – in theory.  Here are the 2 thicknesses served to show the comparative thicknesses:

 

 

And here's how the forestay heart with the 2 smaller hearts that go to the shrouds looked (again by way of experiment)

 

 

In harsh reality, I couldn’t the seizing tight enough and consistent enough around the servings to make for a symmetrical collar holding one big heart and 2 smaller hearts (since the big & small is what looks right on the plans).  After 2 tries that were equally ugly – and I mean ugly . . . so ugly I couldn’t take a picture – I decided that I’d just the .4mm line unserved and seize the 3 hearts.  And this is how it ended up.

 

I like the servings well, and I think that I’ll keep trying to use served line where appropriate, but getting those stirrups to fit just right, and getting everything seized tight seems to lie just beyond my capacity.

Advice, comments, all welcome!

[russ]

Martin:

Your model is looking very good. On the rigging questions, I would place any of the sources above the Mamoli plans. Lees, Steel, Antscherl should serve you well. It might pay to get a copy of the Model Shipways plans also. They are dated, but I am sure well researched.

 

Russ

[fish]

Martin,

 

Would you post some better pictures of your build thus far? I am really interested in this build and the bashing of the kit.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Aaron

[Martin W]

Thanks, Russ.  The only one of the sources you mention that I don't have is the Steele -- I've seen that it's available online, but haven't tried downloading it; at Amazon it's available, but not in this month's budget (I just got back from a bruising trip).  And the Model Shipways does go along with Hahn, Antscherl, and Petersen and Lees, so you're right there too.

 

And fair enough Aaron, I'm on it:  I only started this log recently, with the rigging, so I don't have any photos of what I did up to this point.  But I just now went into the shipyard -- which happens to be slightly tidy at the moment (because I actually cleaned the place up before I went on my trip -- me wife said she wanted to be able to walk through there while I was gone -- can you imagine?) and took a few snaps of the hull in its current shape.  Here you go (comments always welcome!)

 

First, here's a view of the stern with my attempt at carving:

 

 

And next is a view from midships

 

 

And from above, of the boat, with the stairs that I got some special assistance with from Alan Yedlinsky:

 

 

And then here's the head rails with the figure head:

 

 

And that's it for now.  Looking at these pictures, I see lots and lots of details that stand out mostly for what I HOPE to do differently, if not better next time.

 

Cheers,

 

Martin

 

 

[russ]

The figurehead and trailboards look very good. Nice carving there.

 

Russ

[Martin W]

Thanks a lot, Russ, coming from an accomplished modeller, a compliment like that makes a guy's day.

 

Cheers,

 

Martin

[Blue Ensign]

She's shaping up into a very nice model Martin, with some great extra touches. I like your headworks, so often a weakness in kit offerings.

 

Whether to serve or not ; if it creates an overscale look, a bit bulky , then  it is perhaps better not to do it. I have yet to reach that point,  I will attempt it, but let my eye be the final arbiter.

 

Here's the link for Steel.

 

http://hnsa.org/doc/steel/index.htm

 

I do have the book, but use the online version all the while, I find it an excellent reference source, and in truth it is the basis for all the  more modern writings on the subject.

 

Regards,

 

B.E.

 

 

 

 

 

[fish]

Martin,

 

Are the figurehead and trail boards part of the mamoli kit or the bash? I don't see them in my model ship ways kit.

 

Aaron

[Martin W]

Blue E -- Thanks for the nice words.  The whole head construction was an area that intimidated me, but there ended up being parts of it that I enjoyed enormously.

 

And I do hope you will serve your lines, since you've got a keener eye & hand that I do.  I still intend to seize other appropriate parts of the rigging, it's just that trying to accommodate 3 hearts, the circumference of the bowsprit, and then to get the stirrups to line up exactly where I wanted so they could be lashed as handsomely as Antscherl shows, all proved to be a tooth-gnashing experience.

 

Aaron -- the figurehead is part of the bashing.  I got Bill Short's practicum and followed it for both the figurehead and the stern carving.  I don't know the Model Shipways kit has, but the Mamoli just has some ugly, barely formed metal pieces. And the carving is just the part that I found I enjoyed a lot, though that I also found lots of room for improvement.

 

Cheers,

 

Martin

[fish]

Martin,

 

I have never heard of Bill Short's practicum, is it specific for the mamoli kit?  I have only heard of Bob Hunt's practicum.

 

-Aaron

[Martin W]

Hey Aaron -- Bill Short's practicum is just for carving for ship models, and using a rotary tool, like the Dremel, with micro burrs.  It's called The New Carving Ornamentation for Ship Models, and is available from Bill himself.  Here's his email:  modelshipwright@symaptica.ca and his mailing address is:

 

Bill Short

3 Karsam Court, SS!

Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario

LOS 1J0

Canada

 

I just emailed him about info, and he responded almost immediately with pricing, and he gave me the option of having him send me a CD or a PDF by email.

 

It's a detailed practicum covering the techniques of rotary carving for ships.  And it's got some pictures that will make you drool.

 

Cheers,

 

Martin

[JPett]

Ahoy Martin

 

Just found your log.

 

I look forward to following the rigging portion of your build.

 

She looks great too, the carvings you have done really make a difference

[Martin W]

Thanks a lot, JPett.  As for the rigging, I'm spending just about all my time right now figuring out a systematic way to proceed.  This mostly means that I read a section from Antscherl's book on rigging, look at Petersen's layout, re-check Hahn's rigging plan, scratch my head, then repeat the whole process.  The benefit is that I feel I'm actually getting a handle on Rigging As A Concept rather than just blindly following someone's instructions.  So I'll expect to be making plenty of errors and redoes.

[JPett]

Ahoy Martin

 

As I said " I will be following the rigging portion of your build" and will I am sure, benefit from your experiance

 

I have a pretty extensive rigging background but just not on ships.  I am hoping to take some of this knowledge and apply it to my build.

 

I am on the fence as to how much rigging I want to include on my build however.  I want to display it in an open setting and know the dust bunnies love rigging.

[Martin W]

JPett -- I toyed with the notion of leaving this build un-rigged, but decided I really needed the experience.  One big advantage to an un-rigged model, though, is that it's easier to find a place to display it, since it'll fit on top of bookshelves.  And, believe me, I know what you mean about those bunnies -- everytime my wife tries to dust my other build, I hear a loud "oops."

 

The Rattlesnake is a nice enough looking ship that doing without the rigging would make it easier to see the attractive profile.

 

What other kind of rigging is there besides ships -- or rigging boxing matches, elections, etc?

 

Cheers,

 

Martin

[Martin W]

Yikes!  I know I've been horribly remiss in keeping up this supposed "build log," but I guess I've been spending too much time reading through all the others I like keeping up with, and that's taken away from what I can do with my own.

 

I don't have a post (sorry), but I do have a question that I hope people can help me with.  Hahn's plans show no buntline blocks on either the fore or main yard.  The Mamoli plans as well as the Model Shipway plans do.  Antscherl also includes these.  Ok, so here's my question (a couple, actually):  would the buntline blocks have been there as a matter of course, even when the sails are not included?  Why would Hahn, who is generally very detailed, leave them off? 

 

And that leads me to another question, which RiverRat & I have sort of broached:  how much of a difference would there be in a American (Colonial) ship rigging and the British?  There do seem to be some small differences in detail that I've noticed between the Rattlesnake & the Swan Class (even allowing for size & class) -- would these suggest actually different systems of rigging?  And where did Hahn research his plans?

 

Any ideas?

 

Cheers,

 

Martin

[russ]

Martin:

The bunt lines would be there, no doubt, with or without sails. They would have knots in the end to keep them from running out of their blocks while the sails are sent down.

 

Hahn did not include them probably because he did not feel it necessary. Remember, his work is as much art as anything else. He created a rigging plan that would look good and include all the necessary lines to give the appearance of a full rigged ship. Antscherl is going for more historical accuracy in his work, and the Model Shipways plans included a lot of details as well. They are fairly well researched plans.

 

American colonial ships would follow British rigging practices, generally speaking. If you use British proportions for spars and rigging you will be okay. Sometimes, the American ships might be over-sparred compared to British ships.

 

I would go with the Model Shipways plan if I were building the model. Hahn used British sources in his research, but the Model Shipways plan also used British sources and probably have a bit more detail in certain areas.

 

Russ

[Martin W]

Thanks Russ for that clarification, it explains a lot.  I thought I had the Model Shipway plans, which is mostly a booklet explaining what goes where.  I didn't realize they also had an actual riggin plan -- I'll look for that.

 

Cheers,

 

Martin

[russ]

Martin:

Model Expo sells the Rattlesnake plans that come with the Model Shipways kit.

 

Russ

[Martin W]

Yup, I found em Russ.  Thanks for the tip.  I can't help but think that setting them alongside Hahn & Antscherl & Peterson & Lees will add to my "understanding" (such as it is) of the complexity of rigging, AND as a consequence will probably slow me down even more.  Oh, and I might add that it will also lead to more clutter on the dining table (I'll be saying, "Sorry Darling, we'll have to cancel the dinner party so I can study these rigging plans, hope you understand").

 

Since I do only get about an hour each evening with the Ratt, I think I'll keep tying knots even while waiting for these new plans.

 

Cheers,

 

Martin

[Martin W]

It’s been a long time since I’ve added anything to my rigging log, and since I’m now away from home for a few weeks and unable to work in the shipyard, I thought I’d try to catch up.  I brought the rigging plans with me, along with Antscherl’s book, Petersen’s, and Lees’.  I also brought the notebook I keep primarily as a way to avoid repeating the mistakes in the future that I’m making now.  So, I’m hoping to reconstruct what I managed to get done, which is still a long way from actually setting the masts in and tying everything down.

One consequence of not keeping this log up to date regularly is that I’ve almost lost track of what I’ve done, since I’ve often had to go out of the sequence I’d imagined I would be following.  One example is that I slowly realized (don’t know exactly when) that the fore & main masts each needed 2 jeer blocks.  I used the largest blocks in my collection, 7mm, which you can see here:

 

 

Because I think crows’ feet just look good, I would really like to rig them on my Rattlesnake, even though neither Mamoli nor Model Shipways shows them.  I also see this as a chance to learn & practice something that maybe, just maybe I’ll do better next time.  The difficulty lies with the euphroes, that tiny piece of wood that all the crows’ feet have to pass through.  I don’t have a mill or drill press, and getting the holes lined up posed some issues.  Here you can see my first attempt at trying to drill the holes free hand.

 

 

There's just one word for that:  Yecch!  I assure you, gentle reader, that I really did try to get those holes all lined up and evenly spaced – what’s more, I thought I had succeeded until I was done and saw the damage.  Anyone who does that kind of work probably shouldn’t be allowed around wood.

 

But after some thought, I decided I just might be able to fashion a kind of jig to hold the little piece of wood so that the holes could be kept in line and at least somewhat evenly spaced.  So I marked the spacings on a strip, then ran that strip over the ever-wonderful Byrnes saw with a blade about as wide as the euphroe.

 

 

 That groove (a kind of dado, I guess) I hoped would hold the drill bit steady.  Results?

 

 

 

Ok, not as perfect as I might accomplish with a drill press, but ok.  The real test will come when I actually rig the crows’ feet – I should probably do a trial run first off ship before I commit myself irreversibly by putting holes in the tops.

 

Cheers for now,

 

Martin
 

 

[Martin W]

Onward -- I've been working on this update over the past few evenings, and am now adding it in between sessions of trying to sort out the photos.

 

Under the heading of “Things I should have done before now” comes the holes for the futtock shrouds.  These would have been much easier to cut before I attached the tops to the masts, but now I simply have to deal with it.  I drilled locating holes with a small bit in a pin vise, then used a round micro burr on my Dremel to widen the hole, and switched to a square ended burr to smooth the sides of the hole and make it as straight as I could, and finished with an exacto to square the corners and clean the inside enough to allow the chain plate I’m using (from the kit) to pass through.

 

 

In the process of maneuvering the Dremel around the trestle trees shrouds, I knocked off several cleats, two of which have entered the realm of the Unknown. Here’s a shot of the restored cleat:

 

 

So, I decided to use the kit’s chain plates, because I just couldn’t think of how to fashion something otherwise.  Right now, they’re still just hanging loose in the tops, so if anyone has a suggestion for a more eye-appealing, or more historically accurate solution, I’d love to hear it.



Next it was on to the spritsail yard, attaching 4 ringbolt thimbles along the top, lifts & braces, horses and stirrups.

 

 

This is also where I had to make a decision: I looked at Antscherl’s account of yard slings, and I thought of serving them, but after my earlier experience of having the served line look vastly out of scale, I decided to go with the method of seizing a loop on one side, then passing the two ends over the other side and wrapping one end forward and the other aft onto the spar, and then seizing the resulting loop, like this:

 

 

– I should also point out here that the Model Shipways rigging plans show a very clear illustration of the spritsail parral that would go here.  But I did not have these plans when I was working out that problem.  The MS plans look as though the line is served, and maybe, in the months to come I’ll practice, practice, practice on serving line fine enough to look good at this scale.

With the spritsail topsail yard, I followed pretty much the same procedure, but without the thimbles, and without stirrups for the horses.  And I again followed the above procedure for hanging the yard with slings rather than with parrals.

In looking at the MS plans here, I see close by another detail (Oh, had I had these plans back then), and that’s the boomkins.  The boomkins seem to be where some of the running rigging from the foremast in addition to the spritsails passes.  I have not installed boomkins, so it looks like I’ll be working on yet another problem of how to fit them in at a late stage (luckily, the bowsprit isn’t glued in yet).

Getting back to what I did manage happily to do, I also installed a knotted footrope (ie, horse) along the length of the spritsail & jibboom, passing it through a small stirrup at the spritsail topsail.  The MS plans show this footrope simply passing over the spritsail topsail yard (I think), and Hahn’s plans are confusing here, so the short stirrup is my solution to the problem of how to hang the footrope in two curves.

Deciding to put off figuring out (much less actually doing & making) the traveller and its attendant rigging, I’m going back (maybe fleeing would be the more appropriate verb) to the fore and main yards, which seem a touch simpler.

 

Here are the sizes/dimensions for the blocks & line that I’ve hit on for the Fore & Main Yards (nb: the line is Egyptian cotton and comes from Keith Jewell; I mention that because there seems to be differences among different sources):

    Braces: 4mm blocks, .3mm line
    Jeers: 7mm block, .6mm line (Jeer tyes will be .5mm)
    Clue Garnet: blocks 5 mm, .5mm line
    Topsail: blocks 5 mm, .5mm line
    Lifts & Sheets: 3 & 4 mm blocks, respectively, .5mm line

For the horses and stirrups, I first cut 4 pieces of tarred .5 mm line about 3 or 4 inches long (these were actually scraps that looked to be about the right length to allow for a loop and then a comfortable clove hitch around the spar), and seized loops at one end with .25mm line. These will become the stirrups. Turning to the horses:  I seized one end of a .5mm tarred line to the end of the yard, then put the stirrups on this line about where they belong, and tightened their loops onto the horse, then fastened the other end with a clove hitch to the spar.  I let the stirrup hang down about 3/8 of an inch from the middle of the clove hitch to the bottom of the loop.  I put some diluted white glue (Weldbond: it dries clear) on the knots & seizings, and let them dry.  Once I had the stirrups set, I then finished off the horse by knotting its inner end with a clove hitch on the far side of the sling cleat.  When all the knots had dried, I then used a small paint brush to daub diluted glue on the stirrups & horses to stiffen them in a shape that makes them look heavy.  Here’s a shot of them drenched in diluted glue (I had to put my hand up, because my cheapo camera insisted on using the background as the focal point):

 

 

After the horses, I attached the other blocks & lines, marking the appropriate places from the plans.  Here’s the final spar:

 

 

I have to thank Russ again for steering me to the MS plans, which really are helpful: not only do they show the details, but they also contain comments (and unlike the Mamoli plans, they’re in English.  Once I’d figured out the configuration of the Main spar, I simply followed it for the Fore spar.

Cheers for now, I need to go through my photo file.

 

Martin
 

Edited June 26, 2013 by Martin W

[Martin W]

-- I'm hoping that this entry will effectively bring me up to date.

 

Comparing the MS Plans to the ones from Mamoli & Hahn, I’ve noted a few differences, to be expected, I suppose, but that might be of interest to other Ratt Riggers, since they could shape individual decisions on the rigging.

    – MS & Mamoli show no crows feet; Hahn does.
    – MS & Mamoli show buntlines & leechlines connected to six 7" blocks hanging under the
        fore edge of the fore & main tops.  Hahn does not show these.
    – Hahn shows preventer stays and fore & main stays; MS & Mamoli show only fore &
        mainstays.
    – None of the plans shows stunsils (I’m relieved).
    – On the Hahn plans, stanchions along the aft sides of the tops are just visible.  On the
        MW plans these become clear as what holds up the netting on each top.  Since
        my tops have long resided on the masts, I’m not sure it would be worth the risk
        of breaking something to try installing these, though I wish I had,  since they not only make sense but look good.

 

Here are the sizes and dimensions for the blocks & lines I used on the Fore & Main Topsail Yards

    Braces: .20 mm line, 4mm blocks
    clue garnet blocks: .3mm line, 4mm blocks
    buntline blocks: .3mm line, 3.5mm blocks
    lift block: 3mm
    sheet block: 4 mm
    topgallant sheets: 3mm blocks
    horses & stirrups: .3mm line

As I was about to put the sheet & lift blocks on, I noticed the chocks looked off, as though I’d put them in the wrong place.  I checked the plans, pulled my chin, then saw that the cleats were also the wrong way.  Then I finally grasped the fact that I’d seized all the block on the wrong side of the yard.  Another day, another bass ackwards lesson.

As the MS plans state under the illustration for the Fore Topsail Yard Attachments: Main yards & Mizzen are similar.  And that’s how I rigged them.

 

 

The MS plans show a tye halliard for these and for the topgallant yards, which I’ll attach at the mounting (or “lifting” as Antscherl vividly describes it).

 

Here are the sizes & dimensions for the Topgallant yards:
    Clew blocks: .2 mm line, 3.5 mm block
    Braces:.2 mm line, seized on the fore side, and waxed (I’ve waxed all the running rigging)
    Lifts: .2mm line, seized on the top
    Horses & Stirrups: .3mm tarred line

Here they are for the Crossjack yard:
    Braces: .2 mm line, 4mm blocks
    Sheet blocks: .3mm line, 4mm blocks
    Lift & Topgallants: .3mm line, 4mm blocks
    Horses & Stirrups: .5mm line

Hahn shows the brace lashed inward about 1 1/4" from the cleat, which is the same configuration Antscherl shows, but that neither MS nor Mamoli shows.

MS states: “No buntlines or beelines or clew garnets on Cross Jack.”  This coincides with Hahn’s plan, which I worked out after seizing the buntline blocks & sheet block.

– While waiting for the above to dry, I thought I’d try finishing of the spanker boom by putting the 3 metal bands on the jaws.  I cut a narrow strip off a sheet of .005 brass I have on hand, and shaped it around the jaws.  This is basically the method I used on the cross-timbers of the anchors, and it gave me serious fits.  The difficulty is two-fold: first the metal is hard to glue on because it wants to spring out of place before even the speediest of glues can set.  Second the tapered angles that the band has to circumnavigate make the metal want to move out of line.  Here’s a shot of the boom with 2 bands attached (yes, you’re right, I didn’t blacken the left one, but keep reading):

 

 

When I worked on band #3, the gluey mess started annoying me badly, so I tore the bands off, and went with blackened paper cut into strips about 1/32: wide and attached in the simplest and easiest fashion with white glue.  Here’s the Gaff with the bands attached (I’d prefer a color for the bands that wasn’t actually black, one that simulated tarnished metal perhaps, but couldn’t think of how to do that with paper).

 

 

You can also see the Vangs – 4mm blocks, .3mm waxed line (though looking at MS plans now, I see these are supposed to have a becket; so I’ll have to redo them with a line seized below the block to simulate the becket) – and a 5mm block seized in the middle, the parral.  For this latter, I strung some little tiny beads (sorry, don’t know the size – I bought them for my previous build) on some .3.5mm tarred line, then I drilled a hole angled from the outer tip of each jaw and passed the line through that and knotted it on the inside of the jaw.  I’ll finish off the other end when I attach the spanker to the mast.  And there will be an eyebolt attached between the 1st and 2nd bands.

The boom also has a cleat on the underside, which I supplied with one from the kit. It looks a bit large to my eye, but since my efforts at carving cleats for the Bitts did not result in a handsome product, I figured the manufactured ones would cause less heartache. Here’s the bitts with the ugly cleat attached:

 

 

And that's it for now.  I should be back at my workbench soon, and Promise (well, ok, I hope) to keep this log up to date on a more regular basis.

 

Meanwhile, I'll be reading all of yours!

 

Cheers,

 

Martin