Sultana by SardonicMeow - Model Shipways - Scale 1:64

[SardonicMeow]

There are poles or rungs (not sure what the right term is) where every fifth ratline should be.  These were added by laying the ship on its side and gluing black plastic strips in place.

With that, the ratlines are truly complete.

[Matt D]

It’s looking great, Peter!  I’m glad to see you’re still at it.

[SardonicMeow]

Thanks, Matt.  I'm definitely going to push through to the end.  Glad you're following along again.

 

So, I said that the shrouds were done, but I forgot about the cleats.  As before, I laid the model on its side, and was able to glue the cleats simply by applying glue and laying the cleats on the shrouds.  Afterwards, I used some thread to reinforce each cleat.

One heart for the forestay was already attached to the bowsprit several build log updates and four years ago.  The forestay was seized to the foremast and the hearts were threaded.  It took multiple attempts until I was able to get the pair of hearts oriented the way I wanted.

 

The heart for the inner jibstay was also attached to the bowsprit.  For now, it's just dangling loose on the bowsprit.

[SardonicMeow]

Wire is wrapped around a pin, around a tiny 2mm block, and then around another pin to give me two loops at either end of the block.  Glue was applied and excess wire was cut off.

The outer jibstay was threaded through the jibboom with the block at one end and a seized loop at the other end.

Before the jibboom was put into place, the block at the end of the jibstay and the block already placed at the end of the bowsprit were threaded.

Finally, the jibboom was glued into place and the line between the blocks was tightened.

The fore topmast was glued on and the fore topmast stay was run from the top of the topmast and through the loop at the end of the jibboom.

There are a few more details to do around the bowsprit and jibboom but the majority is complete.  Unfortunately, the tightening of subsequent stays has caused the forestay to become slack.  I'm hoping that the mainstay will pull the foremast back a little bit and correct that.

 

[SardonicMeow]

Here are the jibboom guys hanging free with deadeyes at the end.

The deadeyes were linked with deadeyes previously attached to eyebolts at the bow.  Here's a neat view of everything from above.

The main stay and main topmast stay were added each with a pair of hearts.

Next time: adding lots of blocks, probably.

 

 

Edited December 17, 2024 by SardonicMeow

[yvesvidal]

Very nice standing rigging. Masts are perfectly straight. Great job.

 

Yves

[SardonicMeow]

Here's a picture from a while ago when I made the boom, gaffs, and jibboom.

The boom and gaffs have had blocks and some rigging elements added.

Now to make the topsail yards.

These require a lot of tiny 2mm blocks.  I have been using blackened 30 gauge wire to attach them to the yards.

And then footropes and other elements are added.

[SaltyScot]

OK, you have another follower sir. This is a very precise build, she looks great.

[SardonicMeow]

Preparing blocks...

Blocks here...

Blocks up here...  (And this reminds be that I still need to fashion masthead trucks.)

Blocks all over...

There will be 102 blocks in total.

 

Everything is ready for the running rigging at this point, but there's a final major task to work through.  That'll be next time.

 

 

 

[SaltyScot]

Question for you.... in the first pic of this post I see you stropped the blocks. Did those wire eyelets come with the kit or did you fabricate them yourself and wrap them round the blocks? The reason I ask is because that was what I was thinking of doing with mine.

Edited January 22 by SaltyScot

[SardonicMeow]

On 1/22/2025 at 8:21 AM, SaltyScot said:

Did those wire eyelets come with the kit or did you fabricate them yourself and wrap them round the blocks?

Mark, the kit comes with some wire, but it's not formed into eyelets.  I have been making eyelets by wrapping wire around a pin, then around the block.  (I really should learn how to do this properly with thread rather than wire.  But wire is convenient, especially on the smallest blocks.)

Edited January 25 by SardonicMeow

[SaltyScot]

3 minutes ago, SardonicMeow said:

Mark, the kit comes with some wire, but it's not formed into eyelets.  I have been making eyelets by wrapping wire around a pin, then around the block.  (I really should learn how to do this properly with thread rather than wire.  But wire is convenient, especially on the smallest blocks.)

 

Peter,

 

That picture literally spoke a thousand words. I had several ideas as to how I was going to do this, now I have one. Thank you!

[SardonicMeow]

Making sails...  I had the crazy idea of putting wire inside teabag paper in order to make sails that can be shaped.  It was mostly successful, but didn't fully achieve what I wanted.  For all the details, have a look here: https://modelshipworld.com/topic/37106-some-silkspan-tips/page/2/#comment-1083821

 

Once I had wired teabag paper, the sail pattern was marked.

Additional strips of teabag paper were glued on for reef bands, edges, and reinforcements

And then the sail was cut out.

And here they are.  As you can see, I have already been experimenting with shaping the sails.

Now everything can finally come together.  My greatest worry is that, as I work on the rigging, belaying points and other things will become inaccessible, so I've been thinking hard about the best order to assemble everything.

 

 

[Dr PR]

Peter,

 

Access to belaying points is a problem!

 

I started by installing the gaff sails (foresail and main sail) because the rigging for all of the higher sails would be in the way of attaching the luffs of the gaff sails to the mast hoops. The standing rigging lines created enough obstacles as it is.

 

However, now that these large sails are in place they block access to the pin rails on the bulwarks! I have a method of looping the lines under the rails and around the base of the pins working from the outboard side of the bulwarks but it is tedious. It would be a lot easier if I had clear access from the opposite side of the ship from the pin rail.

Edited January 25 by Dr PR

[SardonicMeow]

I'm starting with the mainsail.  First, it's laced to the gaff.

I decided it was best to attach the boom to the sail before placing it on the model.  The tack of the sail is attached to a hook above the boom jaws.  The outhaul passes through a sheave at the end of the boom and ends on a block which, along with another block on the boom, is a tackle for the outhaul.  I pre-ran the line for that tackle.  The parrels were added to the gaff and boom with some tape to keep the beads from coming off.

The sail is attached first by the throat and peak halliards.  Loose at first, then gently tugging little by little into place.

Wire was previously twisted around each mast hoop, and this wire went through holes in the luff of the sail.  Foolishly, I didn't attach the wire before the mast hoops were on the mast and impossible to remove.  Therefore, it was awkward to get the wire twisted and it couldn't be done neatly.  It's not bad from far away but doesn't look so great close up.

 

The topping lift and boom sheet were threaded, and the sail is looking pretty good.  Right now, nothing is glued.  Everything is held in by friction and can be adjusted as needed.

One sail down, five to go.

[SaltyScot]

That turned out very well, Peter. It really does look great, well done.

[SardonicMeow]

Prior to being attached to the mast, the main topsail's lower yard has its blocks pre-threaded.

It is held up by its sling and lifts.

Now the upper yard.  The sail is laced on.  The bunt lines are visible here on the front.

And the clew lines are pre-threaded through the blocks on the back.

Here is the upper yard, held up only by its lifts for now.  The halliard is threaded through the sheave hole in the mast.

But the halliard (black thread) currently goes nowhere.

A block is carefully attached to the free end of the halliard and rigged.  Also, the sheet lines previously threaded through blocks on the lower yard are attached to the sail.

And with that, most of the rigging of the main topsail is complete.

Still to do for the main mast: backstays and braces for the yards.  And right now, nothing is belayed.  It's all loose so that I can fiddle with how I want the sails oriented.

 

I think the braces will wait, as I suspect they'll get in the way of my efforts to attach the foresail.

[SaltyScot]

I like how this is coming along Peter. Very meticulous work and the effort you are putting in certainly shows. A joy to follow.

[SardonicMeow]

Thanks for following along, Mark.  It's hard to believe it's finally all coming together.

 

[SardonicMeow]

Here's the foresail.  The brails that run through blocks on the gaff have been pre-threaded.  The remaining brails run through blocks on the mast hoops and will need to be run after the sail is attached.

And the sail is on.  As with the mainsail, the sail is linked to the mast hoops with wire.

 

There is one error here.  The blocks for the third brail from the top should have been attached to the mast hoop fourth from the top, not fifth.  You can see how the angle of the run of that brail doesn't match the others, but would be parallel to the others if it were in the right place.  Unfortunately, when I realized this mistake, the glue was set and those were literally my last 2mm blocks.  So I'll have to live with it.

Down here at the tack, the sail is hooked onto a tackle that was previously threaded.

The mainsail sheet runs through a pair of double blocks back here.

And here it is, three sails down, three to go.  Ugh, what a messy workspace.

Next I need to get the spaghetti under control before moving on to the remaining sails.

 

[SaltyScot]

I had to smile when I saw this last image, Peter. You always have nice crisp close-ups of your meticulous work. I am glad your workspace looks like mine after a busy session in the shipyard. You seem to have a hand on this rigging, sir and, unless you point it out to any guests you may have, I am sure no ordinary mortal will notice the third brail error. She looks mighty fine let me tell you!

[SardonicMeow]

A small update.  Lots of lines that were loose have been belayed and glued.  It doesn't look like much of a change between this update and the last, but I spent several hours tugging and adjusting until I was happy.

I hung the fore lower yard from its sling and threaded the lifts and braces.  The mainsail still has some lines that need final adjusting before it's permanently set.

 

Another thing I did was redo the forestay, which had accumulated some noticeable slack.  I've been unhappy about that for a while.