Bounty by Matrim - FINISHED - Caldercraft - 1:64

[ChadB]

That looks awesome! Great work Joss!!

[Matrim]

Only  a tiny update as I steadily prep the masts. Mass gluing with little clamps

 

 

and then using a mill to drill the holes for the rigging in the tops. To get the hole location I traced the outer angle of the top on a piece of paper then marked the holes. I then cut the outer shape with scissors laid the template on the top and pushed through with a sharp point.

 

[Matrim]

Time for a text based update. I will try and take some photos soon as a wall of words is very 'meh'

 

Currently on rigging and it has been a while since I have rigged. Obviously the intervening years have not improved my capability at cutting any rope attached in two or accidentally punching a rope I have not seen as I desperately attempt to attach a block to an area 20mm by 20mm.

 

Sometimes the simplifications ship model kits have are also tripping me up. As an example I replaced most of the kits blocks with Chucks (which are lovely) but now rigging is occurring I keep finding 1mm rope stays being pushed through 3mm blocks and it is either a simplification of the original plan or requires a different block structure. In some cases I ended up replacing with the kits 5mm single because these had a single big hole in the middle which I could widen with a pin drill to take the stay.

 

The belaying plan with the kit is also not always clear and sometimes seems directly at odds with the belaying plan of Lennarth and the Bounty book (unsurprisingly as none of those were collaborations).

 

Things I have improved at include tying off the loose ends of rope (and I can improve this further) and using less glue

 

Things i want to improve at include making the shrouds more competently - this time I used black thread for the shrouds (though I could have gone for black shrouds and natural ratlines) as in the past I used Caldercrafts 'use this thread then stain with Indian ink' approach. Which is all very well when you first build the model but as time passes the ink either fades or any motion in the rigging by generating movement helps remove the stain and older models are looking distinctly bare in the ink department.  I have never been entirely impressed with the weird and wonderful auto-shrouding tools but have been considering some batten like wood strips which could be inserted at two or three points around the shrouds to hold them in place allowing the ratlines to be tightened... Something to consider moving on.

 

Anyway ramble over as I get back to stays.

[BANYAN]

The skills will come back to you as you progress Joss; bit like riding a bike after putting it in the garage for many years   The tops look great, must have been a tedious process doing all that drilling?

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Matrim]

It wasn't so bad as the sherline is so good to use. You just get into an automatic mindset... Plus it really helped with the outside holes when attaching the crows feet thingys though as ever I should have gone for a larger hole as I had to widen before the thread would pass..

[Matrim]

Complete at last. Now follows an unsuccessful attempt to find the best place to take a photo which sets her off nicely. But fails. 

 

 

 

I was pleased with the way that the hull and wood fittings sections went and thought most of my scratch and replacement choices both looked and worked well. This was not a surprise as after my last kit (Caldercraft Diana) I had specifically been unhappy with both of these and had then completed the Triton cross section and Chucks longboat in an attempt to improve basic wood working skill. Curiously though I had been happy with my rigging on Diana and it is something I enjoy doing a lot yet I was much less pleased with my rigging now. Probably due to the length of time since I last attempted to rig an entire ship. The worse bit if rigging for me was the shrouds. Looking back at my Diana the Shrouds are straight (still) and their primary weakness is that the ink has worked off (basically if there is any movement in the shrouds over time due to dusting etc then even sight motion will gradually de-ink). For this kit I used black thread and whether this made it worse or whether it was the relative size and distance they did not come out well. Something for me to consider in far  more detail when moving forward. 

 

The Rigging.

 

Since it’s been so long and it is likely to be a similar huge amount of time before I rig again I want to cover some of the lessons learnt concerning rigging to remind my future self of what to do. Now rigging, like many things, is an art and some people are very good at it. It is less important to an unknowledgeable observer as it is the impression of the multitude of ropes that counts rather than ‘ooo that one is seized beautifully’ but even so I want to try and move towards best practice from ‘just works’ 

 

So random notes (in no particular order) 

 

 

• Add the shroud cleats to the shrouds BEFORE tying the ratlines and carrying out any other rigging. I attempted to add after I had starting rigging and it did not go well 

 

• IF you superglue to secure a rope then ensure you put it under strain before supergluing. If you don’t then you will get a rope with a weird angle (I don’t do this any more but remembered it from last time) 

• You will accidentally punch a rope when tying something, so it is NOT POSSIBLE to keep ropes correctly tensioned. The solution here is to seize the highest (most easily accessible) section of the rope (usually the one on a yard) allowing it to be tightened later on in either direction. That way if something gets loose you can do something about it.  So the area on a live ship where you would tension the rigging (down on deck) is actually a locked area and tensioning is done where you can both easily reach it and where it can occur (allowing you do not glue both ends) 

• Order is important and not always the kit order. I think starting from rigging that bases itself close to the masts then move outwards (after the primary (not back) stays). 

 

• Always drill block holes again and test the intended rope fits through prior to fitting on the mast/yards. You will regret it if you attach a block then find it has too small a hole for the rope. Especially if trying to do so from two inches away

 

• Like with gun carriage rigging I often found that it was easier to rig off model with the rope through all the relevant blocks and then attach to the model and then tighten as opposed to trying to rig onto the model directly.  

 

• When making belaying pins it is better to have long shanks as it is easier to get purchase around them when rigging especially when other ropes are present. The shanks on the Bounty are tiny so I gave up and went for simple hitches in most cases. 

 

• Before securing ropes try and tighten manually to see if another rope is in the way. Sometimes you add a rope think it looks okay and then tighten then when you see its actually competing with an unexpected different rope, so you have to undo and re-do. 
• there was something dodgy about the lifts and the way they were interacting with the shrouds. I suspect I made a big mistake somewhere so be careful of this next time.

 

 

• In the past I have secured the yards with a pin. This is all very well but A) Doing so prior to the shrouds going on can cause shroud issues so don’t pin until you can see the shrouds and secondly it can make securing the yards correctly difficult. I found I preferred not pinning and pulling the yard into place was the easiest approach. 

 

• When cutting loose ends of threads always pull the loose end with tweezers first so you can see what you are cutting. Though I was much better at this this time around I still ended up cutting two-three actual ropes as opposed to the loose end I was aiming for 

 

• When attaching blocks to ropes I found simple seizing was the easiest approach (not historical) and secured the block better. Basically wrap the thread around the block and hold close to the block with locking tweezers then a simple hitch with thin material at the block end then repeat further back. Slight drop of super glue on the securing material (not on the block holding rope!) and job done. 

 

• Don’t forget that if you randomly tighten one rope that looks loose then you may be loosening a different rope elsewhere.  

 

• Scale matters. My Snake and Diana are at the same scale as the Bounty but are larger ships so the rigging is (was) easier.  For this reason it looks like the Bounty rigging is even more simplified but equally there are a lot of ropes fitting in a smaller area. 

 

For me my next task is to build a couple of Goban (not ship modelling related but it will help hone skills with almost all of my machine tools) which should take a month or two to do correctly. After that I may re-furbish my Diana by fixing some broken rigging (and a mast ☹ ), re-inking the shrouds and generally trying to de-dust. That should take only a week to do. After that I am going to re-start my Amphion. Due to the lessons learnt above I will be upping the scale from 1:64 to 1:48. I have zero chance of getting a 1:64 scale frigate into the house so since it will be remaining in my workshop I might as well go for a 1:48. This will make some of the parts much easier to make and machine. It’s either that or drop it to 128 and lose loads of detail and perhaps go solid hull. I have a couple of months to decide. Anyway, thanks for reading and happy modelling. 

 

 

[GrandpaPhil]

Congratulations!  Well done!

[ChadB]

Congrats mate! Your rigging looks great- I'll need to tuck away your tips for that inevitable day when I rig something again!

 

Chad

[BANYAN]

Looks great despite the lighting issues mate; you can be justifiably happy with your results.

 

cheers

 

Pat