US Brig Niagara by 6ohiocav - FINISHED - Model Shipways - Scale 1:64

[mikiek]

Don't know how you do it - pics usually make things look bad, not good.

[scott larkins]

Is this what I have to look forward to? LOL.  Nice work

[mikiek]

Darrell - are you happy with the order that you chose for the spars? Bowsprit, fore, main. Knowing what you do now, would you do it again?

[6ohiocav]

Hi Mike,

 

I definitely would choose the same order of things, with the modifications I noted in the log. I have turned my attention to the main mast, and will be repeating the procedure steps, with refinement.

 

I hear you on the photo.  However, I am finding all kinds of hidden faults when I view my photos.  I already know that I am going to have to do some touch painting, but have resigned myself to patiently wait until the very end.

 

Scott,

 

I have to honestly say that I was intimidated by this part of the build, and have now come full circle. I very much enjoy rigging this great ship. My knowledge of how a 19th Century sailing ship worked has greatly increased. I have also improved my knot tying skills (which is not hard since I had none when I started). The real challenge has been navigating through the plans and instruction book. I hope that my experience and the many mistakes I made will help fellow Niagara builders overcome any misgivings with this part of the build. Once you get started, the beauty of each line that you install will carry you forward.

[mikiek]

Darrell - Thank you for all you have put into this!

[mikiek]

Hey Darrell - I'm wondering - with all the rigging tools available out there - what have you found useful? What did you buy? What did you make?

[PeteB]

Hi Darrell

 

Enjoyed following your build and have to say your rigging looks immaculate. Could I tag on to Mikes question above but maybe a bit more specifically. I've noted your comment in post 384 and 385 about the rope sizes you are using  - "I used a heavy .018 tan lanyard for the sling." and "025 black rope for the shrouds" and "a .012 tan lanyard to the bullseye".  - the line that you are using looks very clean with no fur or lumps could I ask are you making your own rope or buying it in and if so where do you source it. The whole vessel is really starting to take form now - great looking build - congratulations. Cheers Pete

[6ohiocav]

MAIN MAST UPPER DEADEYES

Having now done this on the Foremast, I sort of fell into a technique that may be of some help to the family of Niagara builders out there.

 

The Niagara calls for four, upper shroud 3/32” deadeyes, port and starboard, to be seated in the top with a loop underneath to accept the futtock lines and hooks that are tied off to the main shrouds.

Here is how I did mine.

 

I use a .26 gauge wire for the stropping process.  It is the same wire I use for my eyebolts. I also use the same drill bit I use to do holes for the eyebolt.

 

The pictures tell the story.

[6ohiocav]

Mike and Pete,

 

No special tools. I use a set of bent end tweezers, small bent needle nose pliers, (for when I need to clamp down on something like a loose end that needs tightening), my portable vice  where I mount a small wooden block with two wire ends used to seat blocks for stropping on one end, and on the other end of the vice, a spring clamp ( I will shoot you a photo when I get back from the office. I call it my stropping and lashing station), and the Syren Serving Machine. I frequently use my hackle vice to keep lines tight when necessary, or when I need to lash deadeyes and bullseyes, as indicated in previous posts.

 

As for rope, all of it is from Chuck Passaro's Syren Company.  You can find a link on this website. All of the size references are to his products..  I also purchased all of the blocks, open and closed hearts, brass hooks and wooden cleats from him. I have been able to mill my own bullseyes.

 

I have probably doubled the cost of the kit with all of the aftermarket parts, but the quality is outstanding, makes the end product look much cleaner and sharp, and therefore in my opinion, worth the cost.

 

We are absolutely getting hammered with a winter storm this weekend in NE Ohio.  It is a good time to work in the shipyard.

[mikiek]

Stay warm - it's a miserable 41F here in Texas. The shop was about 50. Not too bad for working but I needed to spray paint and the cans just don't work well at that temp.

[6ohiocav]

A balmy 5 degrees here and going below 0 tonight. But I work inside in my den so warm and toasty.

[Tigersteve]

Do you use any wax on the lines?

Steve

[6ohiocav]

Hi Steve,

 

No wax. I have not seen a need to use it.  Syren's rope is really fine. I read that you should use bees wax on ratlines so that you could impute sags, but i opted not to. The pattern I used for the ratline knots created natural looking sags.

 

Should I use wax?

[Tigersteve]

I have no clue. I was just curious. Your rigging looks awesome to me. I'm not close to rigging anything yet. :-)

Steve

[6ohiocav]

MAIN STAY AND MAIN PREVENTER STAY

Shifting my attention to the main mast, I began work on the lower shrouds and main and preventer stays. Of course, reviewing the plans reminded me that the main stay is attached to a closed heart that is lashed to the fore mast – and I SHOULD HAVE DONE THAT BEFORE I STEPPED THE FOREMAST. The preventer stay is seized to an eye bolt on the forward bit.

 

With the pin rails surrounding the foremast, and running rigging all over the place, lashing a closed heart to the foremast was a challenge.  Here is how I accomplished this.  AGAIN, this should have been done while working on the foremast.

 

1.      I started with a .045 rope that I served. I stropped it around the closed heart and created two eye splices, per the plans.

 

2.      I then took a long length of .035 unserved rope and seized the end to one of the eye splices with a standard whipping.

 

3.      Here is the tough part. I then positioned the heart around the mast, and ran the .035 rope through the other eyes splice. I choose a long enough strand of rope to allow me to pull the end out away from the ship to reach my spring clamp mounted in my vice.

 

4.      I then tied a standard whipping, keeping the knot loose.

 

5.      I took the rope out of the vice, and carefully, by alternating gentle pulls on both sides of the rope, eventually snugged the lashing up to the mast. Once done, I attached a small drop of CA on the knot, and very carefully cut off the tail.

 

The photos below show this process.

 

The preventer stay was much easier, but again, should have been installed before I stepped the foremast. The plan provides that the preventer stay is wound to a closed heart that is attached to an eyebolt secured in the forward bit. I again started with a served .045 rope. I ran it through a hand twisted eyebolt, then wrapped it around the heart. Because the rope is very thick, I decided that I did not want to lash it to “itself” – making a overlarge and cumbersome knot. I elected to cut the end, and fuse it with a lashing. 

 

I drilled a hole in the bit, applied a drop of CA on the eyebolt and installed the completed assembly.

The photos better describe this process.

[mikiek]

I'm feeling like a broken record Darrell - your work looks great.

 

Wondering - rope not included, what rigging parts did you get from Syren? I had a few things to order and thought I would include whatever else was needed.

[6ohiocav]

1.Rope .008, .012, .018, .025, .035, and .045 in black and brown

 

2.5mm and 7mm closed hearts (I have not used any of the 5mm hearts yet)

 

3.3/32, 1/8 and 5/32 single and double blocks.

 

4. Brass hooks

 

5. 7mm wooden cleats

 

I can tell you that I have used a ton of .012 tan rigging. The plans call for nearly all running rigging and lanyards to be of .010 to .014 tan rope, so I have used .012 to do the trick. I strop all blocks with .012 black rope

 

I have also used a lot of the 1/8 blocks, double and single.

[6ohiocav]

​

LOWER MAIN MAST SHROUDS

 

I worked on preparing the lower shrouds for the main mast.  I have used .035 rope.The ENTIRE forward shroud will be served. For the remaining 4 shroud lines, I only served that portion of the shroud that wrapped around the mast.  As I showed in an earlier post regarding the foremast, that ended up being exactly 2 inches.

 

Here are the shots of those back shroud lines. After serving the 2 inch section, I mount it in the vice and lash 1/2 inch from the ends and cover up the serving ends. The picture explains it better.  This leaves enough space in the loop to go over the end of the mast head.

 

 

 

[ca.shipwright]

Nicely done. Great photos. Thanks

[6ohiocav]

MAIN MAST SHROUDS, MAIN STAY AND MAIN PREVENTER STAY, COURSE HARNESS

 

I spent the evening serving the forward main mast shrouds, main and preventer stays, and assembling the course yard harness.  All of these have to be placed over the main mast top before attaching the cap.

 

I used a served .035 rope for the forward shroud and tied a burton pendant on the end per the plans. I also used a .035 served rope for and preventer stay and a served .045 rope for the main stay. On those, I turned the mouse on my wood lathe using the same process I use for the bullseyes. I then glue them to my rope and use the serving line to cover them.  I have found that it helps if you put a small amount of CA glue around the mouse to hold the serving line from slipping off.

 

With these done, I can place them over the mast head and attach the top and the cap. As I did with the foremast, I will then work my way up.

 

[6ohiocav]

CATHARPIN

 

One other task on the foremast that I should have done earlier was the installation of the catharpin on the lower shroud. That should have been done as soon as I did the lower shrouds and futtock shrouds. By waiting to do this after more of the rigging had been put in place made this harder than it needed to be.

 

I used a .025 rope and tied 2 small measured pieces, routed through a small blackened ring, on each side of the staves. Once set, I tied the two rings together to create the tension that tightened up the shrouds and futtock shrouds. A very nifty method to keep everything taut.

[6ohiocav]

Thanks Mike and Mike for stopping in.

 

I am trying to leave a trail for future Niagara builders that will help with the rigging process. No sense having to recreate the wheel each time.

[PeteB]

As for rope, all of it is from Chuck Passaro's Syren Company.  You can find a link on this website. All of the size references are to his products..  I also purchased all of the blocks, open and closed hearts, brass hooks and wooden cleats from him. I have been able to mill my own bullseyes.

I have probably doubled the cost of the kit with all of the aftermarket parts, but the quality is outstanding, makes the end product look much cleaner and sharp, and therefore in my opinion, worth the cost.

We are absolutely getting hammered with a winter storm this weekend in NE Ohio.  It is a good time to work in the shipyard.

 

Hi Darren

Thanks for the info re the rope - should have picked it to come from Chuck - you may have doubled your cost with the aftermarket price but I can assure you that you have lifted the model many times more than that by using them. Given the results you have been getting Ill be going to the same source.

 

Hope you're out of harms way with that storm coming in - be happy to trade places for a month or two as we have been going from 22C to 40C not quite the white Xmas you guys get plus you've got the bonus workshop time  - Best wishes to you and yours and all the guys on the site - Cheers Pete

[markjay]

Darrell, again thanks for the images of the pendants. Thought I'd drop in and take a look at you build. Nice work all around.
Stay safe on the roads and have a great holiday.

[mikiek]

Yup - either you're rigging a ship or about to have a hanging party

 

All your effort - both the work and the documentation - will make it easier for anyone rigging Niagara.

[6ohiocav]

MAIN MAST UPPER SHROUDS, STAYS, COURSE LIFTS AND SPANKER MAST

 

I tied the upper shrouds and stays for the main mast.  I also created the course lift blocks that slip over the mast cap. I did this BEFORE I attached the cap – much easier to create this on the vice and slip over the cap.

 

I also worked on the spanker mast.  This is a dowel supplied by the kit.  I stained it with cherry stain and had to straighten it (best I could). I attached the bracket to the mast, and created the deck cradle.  I also had to insert a square piece of cherry in the top to attach it to.  Make sure that you leave a little of the mast exposed above the tops to accept the Spanker Gaff Cradle assembly, made with two blocks that hang over the end.

 

Here are the photos.

[mikiek]

And don't forget the little tenon at the bottom of the spanker mast. And don't forget the rings on the spanker mast.

[6ohiocav]

TOP MAST, UPPER SHROUDS, STAYS, ROYAL AND T’GALLANT YARDS

 

I have not posted anything lately, but I have been busy on the Main Mast. Working my way up, I attached the top mast, and then followed with the upper shrouds, burton pendants, stays, halliard blocks, lift blocks and staves. I then installed the t’gallant mast and the very upper shrouds, stays, halliard block and staves.

 

As I did on the foremast, I then focused my attention to the ratlines for the upper shrouds. And that is where I hit a dead end.  I ran out of the.008 tan rigging line that I was using for my ratlines.

 

Not wanting to be dormant while I replenished my stores in the shipyard, I turned my attention to the Main Mast yards.  I fully dressed the royal and t’gallant yards, and then ran out of 5/32 blocks that I was using for the braces.  Another road block.

 

Soooo, I then turned to my anchors and will be working on those while I wait for my order from Syren to arrive.

 

Here are some photos of my progress.  The Main mast is simply setting in place and my shrouds and stays are laying loose. And as I look at the photos, I note that some of the stays are misplaced.

Edited January 4, 2017 by 6ohiocav

[mikiek]

Wow man. Hope they don't have to cart your stores in from Pittsburg or New York. Roads are bad this time of year. The swamp is frozen.

 

If you run out of things to do, check the rudder chain at the stern. Just realized I completely overlooked that one. Might want to think about lettering also.

[6ohiocav]

Mike,

 

Good idea on the stern.  I have not done anything to that. I have to make the mooring cleats and all of the other hardware, and yes, the lettering.  I have been giving that some thought.  I would love to find someone or something that could laser engrave the letters on a small plank for attachment to the stern. Something that I could paint yellow like the original. I have not found anyone that can do this at such a small scale. I can't see me carving it, so  perhaps some down loadable letters to act as decals like in my old plastic model days.

 

I see that you have almost finished the gun deck diarama.  It looks fantastic. I hope you get back to your Niagara soon. I think you are really going to appreciate her beauty when you start hanging some rope.

 

Happy New Year my friend.