HMS Snake by Mike_H - FINISHED - Caldercraft - 1:64

[Mike_H]

And as a special extra, some months early, I checked the display stand fits. I what to install it permanently at the point when inverting the gull becomes too risky.  And as it happens I manage to spring one of the cathead by inverting it to install the bow cheeks.  Fixed that with a little thin CA, and can protect them easily enough, so will revert to the cradle until the gunwales are on.  But this looks pretty sweet I think:

 

 

The slots in the columns were just under 5 mm wide, and the copper-coated keel just on 6 mm, so I had to file 1 mm of brass out of the columns.  Filing parallel slots with a small file is beyond my skills, but turned out fine, and with a spirit level the pitch of the deck is exactly horizontal at the main mast, and the mast itself (or the place-holder dowel) dead plumb athwart-ships.  Those following closely will recall I left two captive nuts under the copper and keel.  Two 50 mm bolts come up through the stand and the columns to engage the nuts.  Just as sweet as can be.

[Mike_H]

A little bit of blackening.

I'm moving onto the deck furniture now, and thought I  would start by installing the ringbolts (largely for the guns, but in other places too) while nothing else was in the way.  There are 200 of these provided, in nice shiny copper.  So that's 200 tiny pieces to be painted black.  And there are 4 eyebolts and then 5 little photo-etched (PE) brass pieces for each gun.  So the guns alone have 162 tiny pieces to be painted black.  I also need to decide what to do with the gun barrels.  So I thought I would try some chemical blackening of the kind described here.

 

To stop the small pieces drifting off on their own I tied them onto small loops of fishing line.  The supports for the guns need to fit in slots pre-machined in the gun carriages.  Joy-oh-joy every piece of brass is alittle over-size so needed to be filed down fore and aft

 

 

I set up in the laundry.  Across the back you can see: (a) pH minus ie sodium hydrogen carbonate, (b) sodium bicarbonate, (c) water and (d) John Wardle black antiquing solution.  Across the front: the columns for the display board, the small parts for the guns, the guns themselves, two sheets of PE, a pair of wooden tongs (most metals are a bad idea in one or more of acid/bas/blackening solution), and a measuring spoon (about 3 table spoons  - 45 ml - in 250 ml of water is about right for both acid and base.  Blackening is a 10-fold dilution)

 

And how did it go?  Great at first on the small gun parts:

 

But the guns, no so much:

 

You can just see in the middle one of the guns came out solid black, but most have only a few spots of black acne.  This matches the descriptions on the blackening page ,linked above, of lacquer coating on the brass.  So after soaking in iso-propanol (acetone is not readily available in the UK, it seems) I scrubbed them with steel wool and gave them some extended acid treatment.  After neutralising and washing, I then painted on neat blackener and then dumped them in the dilute solution.  For about 15 of the guns the results were good.  The others needed a repeat.

 

And here is everything that's fit to show:

 

 

The PE worked perfectly.  The brass columns not at all - including on the parts that had been extensively filed, so not a lacquer problem.  This being a selenium solution, that reacts with the  copper in the brass (see @bartley's post here) I wonder if this is a particularly low copper brass.  I did get a little bit of antiquing, which I think I quite like.

 

As also explained in the links I've given, the blackening is microscopic selenium metal particles that are not chemically bonded in place.  I messed around for quite a while exploring rigging options handling one of he guns extensively.  As the following shows, it doesn't look so black anymore:

 

I picked the least impressive of the 18, and perhaps bronze would be ok.  I will give this one another bath in the solutions.  Of the fittings, only the eyebolts in the bulwarks were blackened all the other parts were painted from an earlier mock-up.  They look fine to me.

 

The kit recommends 0.75 mm neutral thread, which looked too skimpy.  Lavery in "The ship of the line vol 2" quotes 7" circumference for breeching on a 32 lb (long) gun, which would be 0.88 mm diameter at 1:64.  I  didn't have any 1 mm neutral so tried black for size - I've ordered some 1 mm neutral.  Because the cascabel does not have a loop for the breeching (as was quite common with carronades) I'm going to imitate a (ahem) cut splice.

[Mike_H]

Working on the deck fittings.

 

The gratings were fiddly, but fun.   Sadly the supplied walnut strip for the framing was split, and the replacement I ordered was very pale, essentially the same colour as the deck.  So I stained it a kind of teak colour, that makes sanding to fit and end-grains difficult, so I mitred the corners.  I have also added a galley flue and rearranged the path of the cable.  The flue is solid, though, as has been remarked elsewhere, it usually sported a cap when not in use; I imagined my cap being of sheet copper

 

Next, the companionway, wheel, a possible binnacle (from Vanguard Models, badly stained, but a decent colour match) and the capstan.  Petrejus tells me that capstan heads were often covered in brass sheet - so mine is painted to look that way. I was not convinced by the PE wheels, or that Snake would have had a double wheel.  So I glued the two together, back to back, making something more substantial and also allowing me to paint it and keep a brass hub and rim showing

 

Here they are roughly in place

 

 

Finally, pinrails and belaying pins installed.  Again Petrejus reports that the rails were often edged in brass to protect from wear and add some decoration - so mine are.  I read in Steel that belaying pins were 16" long, or 1/4" at 1:64 ie 6mm, so the kit-supplied materials are not ridiculously small, though they are somewhat over diameter. I have seen pictures of pinrails bolted to the bulwarks, so I have borrowed from that by using round-headed black pins instead of hidden wire to give strength.

 

 

Edited May 19, 2021 by Mike_H

[BenD]

It's looking ship shape.  I think you've past my build stage and I've had a 4 year head start 😆

[Mike_H]

I've been busy!

 

Rigged the tackle for the tiller ropes

 

Then fitted the platforms and all the deck fitting except the guns.  Eagle-eyed will spot that I'm missing the pins from the bitts - there aren't enough in the kit to fill all the rails!  You can also see that I've followed my guru again and put copper 'sheet' on the bitts, and continued with the brass edging on  the rails.  I tried to take a panorama shot, but it was not good.  Instead, here is a set of pics scanning from forward, aft.

      

 

    

 

And one in all its glory

 

 

Of course, I know where the mistakes are, but I am delighted with how she looks.  Now to make 12 more sets of breeching ropes, assemble 14 more guns and then mount them all.  Might have to install the gunwale rails after that.

 

[Mike_H]

Just spent a very happy day at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard - torrential rain, but that just meant staying below deck, and in clear spells going “upstairs” or into the museum.  Spent my time looking at details with a view to informing modelling.  Some of relevance to Snake, others for the future.  These are from Warrior and Victory, with one from the museum.

 

 

When I rigged the breechings, I followed the books on how to secure them to ring bolts.  Didn’t really believe that a single knot with a little seizing would be strong enough, but seems that is what is used:

 

 

Here’s some more carronade rigging - though the breechings seem a little loose

 

Petrejus says that the bits had copper caps and ends…

 

 

I rigged a galley flue just like this:

 

I want a binnacle, just like this, but can’t fit it in

But I can have an elm tree pump like this

 

The new ( to me, anyway) access to the dry dock means you can see things up close.  I had wondered what the horseshoe is for, now I know:

 

But gudgeons and pintles - entirely familiar

 

Have occasionala thought of rigging some boats for Snake.  Beautiful set of models in the museum.  Here’s one

 

 

 

[Mike_H]

Well, the hull is pretty-well done.  The chains and dead-eyes will wait until I have the masts marked up, so I get the lines for the shrouds right, and the boomkins look a bit delicate, so they will wait as well.  All was fairly straightforward, just required time and patience.  The supplied gunwale rail for the stern had a noticeable curve, which I did not manage to crate wen planking so I machined my own using my new Proxxon toy.  To celebrate this milestone I got the proper camera out and rigged some lights.  Here are a few pics for posterity (with a dummy bowsprit).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Beef Wellington]

Congrats on reaching this milestone, looking very nice Mike, especially mounted on her stand.

[Mike_H]

The sun has been out so I've been indulging one of my other obsessions - riding a bike around the Peak District.  I've also combined my engineering obsession with model ship building and bought a Proxxon MF 70 mill so I don't have to battle with filing flats, among other things.  I decide to really go engineer and draw up what I needed to do:

According to Petrejus, the cheeks are closer together at the top of the mast, so the amount of material to be removed, or rebated, increases the higher you go.  That means that the shape of the "flat" to which the cheeks are attached is not rectangular, and so, of course, nor are the cheeks.  Those provided with he tkit vary from 4.2 to 6.2 mm.  Using the equation at the top of the sheet, to make a flat of width a, machine down a depth h (where R is the radius of the material).  that means that at the top of the cheek, the rebate is 1.5 mm and at the bottom 0.6 mm.

 

But before that the square tenon at the top must be machined, by reabating 1.17 mm

 

Machining the cheek flats was a challenge for the first use of the machine, but here's the rough finish

 

 

 Once sanded it looks just fine.  A bit of cartridge-paper work to do, and then I can show the finished product.

 

 

Edited July 26, 2021 by Mike_H

[Mike_H]

Fore Top

Quite a lot of fun to build, but surprisingly labour intensive.  The Trestle- and Cross-trees should slot together but the slots need to be machined out.  

 

Two pieces of original thought required.  I laid out the battens at 30º intervals radially around the centre of the mast - I'm not sure what the real-life arrangement was.  To erect the rail along the after-edge I cut the supports 3 mm over-length, and then turned the bottom 3 mm to a 1.5 mm diamter, having drilled 1.5 mm holes along the after-edge of the top (you can see the circular supports on the underside).  The supports then slotted-in as round pegs into a round hole.  The rail itself I then marked up and milled 0.3 mm deep slots to take the tops of the supports.  In the photographs you can just see the rebates to take the supports.  Once glued it seemed remarkably strong

 

And here it is painted and with the ringbolts and blocks installed.

 

[Mike_H]

All that remains is to add the iron bands:

 

reasonably straightforward using a method I saw elsewhere on this site - perhaps @James H -  2mm wide lengths of cartridge paper cut out.  Tacked in place at 25 mm intervals on the after centreline of the mast using CA, wrapped around, trimmed to length, coated lightly with PVA, pressed on and held for 2 min.  Scarcely a worry.  Top tacked with PVA, seemed to sit square and parallel to the waterline (much shaping of the bibbs required at an earlier stage)

 

Foremast swayed up!

 

 

You can tell, I insist, that the mast has been tapered to take the cheeks

 

And herre that the top sits on the bibbs

 

 

You can even get vertigo

 

Back when I have done another one or two.

 

Edited July 27, 2021 by Mike_H

[BenD]

You are doing great Mike, You are going to get over the finish line before me that's for sure.

 

 

[Mike_H]

Seems I've not been on here for a while.  That's mainly because I retired from work a month ago, but the Admiral only retired this week.  That gave me a month to get back on my bike and do some ship building, but not much appetite to sit at a computer and update this build log.  

 

So here's the update - all five components of the masts are built, painted and installed, and all the lower deadeyes are in place.  I found the deadeyes quite frustrating as the metal loops they sit in were tricky to handle - opening them out to insert the deadeye always distorted them, so closing them back up again usually messed up the little loop in which the chain sits.  I closed up the channels using some epoxy putty, which not only makes things seems stronger, it hides the mangled metalwork.  Anyway, I got there in the end.  Making the masts was reasonably straightforward with the usual mix of patience and tolerance of imperfections.  

 

Very glad I bought the Proxxon mill and lathe. The mill makes machining the square sections of the masts very easy and I even made the heels of the upper masts octagonal.  That was a little tricky with 4 mm dowel, but once I bodged up a tailstock from the lathe to use on the mill, it worked ok

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bowsprit next then perhaps some shrouds, and then the spars.  Or maybe a mix of the two.

Edited September 6, 2021 by Mike_H
Typos corrected.

[Mike_H]

Bowsprit and Jib Boom

The bowsprit was remarkably fiddly, but gave lots of learning so I'm reasonably pleased.

 

The bowsprit requires 13 cleats and a bee to be placed reasonably carefully.  This I did by machining shallow slots using my Proxxon mill.  I took the photos below after I had fitted the cleats, but the slot for the bee is visible.  The square tenon to take the cap can also be seen.    Machining that was relatively straightforward though the undercut on the top surface was a tittle tricky

 

 

Far more tricky was the cap itself.  As has been remarked before, the kit-provided part with two circular holes bored perpendicular to the surface is virtually useless.  In the picture below, on the LHS you can see what happens when you machine a square slot for the tenon -  it is not possible to fit the square slot around the circular hole (I did the geometry - but I'll spare you that).  On the RHS is the cap I scratch built.  Easy to machine, hard to design, so here's my sketch of the cross-section - crucial to that was determining the angle of the bowsprit (19º above horizontal), and the width of the jib boom seating bracket (2 mm).

 

 

Here it is assembled (with interim gammoning around the boom)

 

Bumkins added

 

Painted and rigged - with Petrejus's  "hour glass" gammoning.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 10, 2021 by Mike_H

[Mike_H]

Shrouds

I rigged the lower shrouds a fortnight ago, and after a weekend in Whitby, and the excellent museum there, have just about rigged the futtock shrouds as well.  

 

As guided by the minimal insturctions I made small wire spacers to set the upper deadeyes a reasonably constant distance from the lower.  As the photos show I also put some pins in to stop the deadeyes from rotating

 

 

Seizing ropes is much easier off the ship than on so I made up pairs of shrouds like this with a single loop to go over the mast and one for each deadeye.  I then fitted the top loop over the mast and pulled the seizing tight.  The two lower loops then went over the deadeyes and I pulled the shrouds and seizing tight - easy to say, harder to do.  Not too tight, though, and reasonably uniform for all the shrouds on a given mast.

 

It was slow going at first but over time repetition made it easier:

 

 

I found that in order to get any tension I had to anchor the knots with CA rather than PVA, though I then top-coated with the latter (diluted) to give a smooth overall appearance. Tying off the shrouds at their lower end with clove hitches was virtually impossible with the very springy 0.25 mm black thread, until I discovered that soaking it and the shrouds in diluted PVA reduced the springiness.  It's all a learning curve.

[AJohnson]

Looking very neat Mike, good tips on the shrouds and pre-seizing them.  👍

[Mike_H]

Futtock Shrouds and Catharpins

Had an exciting week tying tiny knots in impossible places.  

 

First step was to install futtock staves - made from 2 mm brass rod, blackened chemically and then cut to length. I marked the height with tape and then tacked the staves with a single spot of CA, clamping them briefly with alligator clips.

 

 

I pre-seized the catharpins

 

And because the stave was only tacked in one point could slide them into place and then pull them tight

 

More than a little cross-eye inducing.  But after very careful trimming the results seemed satisfactory to my eye

 

Here's the whole set for the lower masts

 

But probably the most exciting part of the whole week was the decision to install futtock plates so that I could use hooks to attach the shrouds (as seen above and below)

.

 

I made the plates from the scrap brass perimeters of the PE sheets, drilled 0.8 mm holes and then glued the plates and the deadeyes at the same time with CA.

 

Futtock shrouds were only difficult because tying them off required negotiating the catharpins and the shrouds.

 

 

 

I am beyond delighted with the appearance of the hooks, and reasonably pleased overall. Lessons for me were:

• shroud tensions need to be uniform to get neat symmetrical, horizontal parallel staves.
• Seizing the futtock shrouds to the main shrouds is a mugs game - I undid the first attempts at seizings and just glued them - I might revisit that when I do the ratlines - seizing over the glued shrouds.
• Because I installed the catharpins before the futtock shrouds I hadn't appreciated that the catharpins need to avoid the side of the shroud to which the futtock is to be attached.  
• Depth perception when confronted with 5 shrouds, three futtock shrouds and three catharpins, all mirrored by another set on the other side of the mast (so thats 22 thin black lines) is a challenge, so go slow, don't force things and be very, very careful with the snips.

 

Next could be ratlines, lower yards or upper mast shrouds.  Would be interested in others' views, but I think it best to go with the masts, as yards and ratlines will restrict access. 

 

 

[Mike_H]

All shrouds and catharpins rigged, and masts stepped. Ratlines next.

 

 

 

[AJohnson]

Lovely progress Mike! 😁

 

Really getting me thinking about my "HMS Snake" in the stash, but I shouldn't start another before I finish my Bounty.... 🤭

[Mike_H]

Thanks for those comments - pics hide the defects (nearly), but I’m pleased with progress. 

[Mike_H]

Shrouds rattled down!

 

Quite a job - but the end result is certainly worthwhile I think - and anyway, what option is there?  The authorities agree that ratlines were space at about 1 ft apart, so at 1:64, about 5 mm.  That's convenient because I could use 5 mm graph paper to show the spacing and keep the lines parallel.  Here she is with the paper held in place and me about to learn how to tie clove-hitches quickly.  In the background you can see Petrejus open with an illustration of deadeyes, shrouds and ratlines showing.  Also shown in that illustration is a "sheer batten" sitting just above the deadeyes.  When I looked at this pic, I came to the view that the whole effect would be better with a batten so I fashioned some from 2 mm-square walnut

 

 

Here you can see the starboard lower ratlines with the sheer battens in place

 

And here, several weeks later, is the finished result, and a close up

 

 

 

I fond this pretty tough-going to start with, getting the tension right and tying the knots off took quite a while to learn.  But that surely, is at the heart of satisfaction in model-ship building: working out what to do is fun, but doing it requires skill, and skill you have to learn.  I flatter myself that I now have the skill of tying clove-hitches in 0.25 mm thread; I certainly should since I tied 908 of them.

 

On the subject of thread, the kit provides natural thread and breezily suggest that it be dyed, with a brush using india ink, after installation.  What could possibly go wrong?  I bought some of Caldercraft's black thread, and while its springiness was annoying, it looks fine.  From memory there were 900 copper plate to attach, and tying these knots was quite reminiscent of the labour of sticking on the plates.  Slow to start, deft to finish.

 

I am delighted with the overall effect.   I think the of the Cruizer class as workmanlike, rugged and un-flashy vessels, but with masts rigged, Snake looks really quite graceful.

[AJohnson]

10 hours ago, Mike_H said:

I am delighted with the overall effect.   I think the of the Cruizer class as workmanlike, rugged and un-flashy vessels, but with masts rigged, Snake looks really quite graceful.

So you should be Mike, she is looking very elegant! 👍

[DaveBaxt]

On 7/25/2021 at 11:39 PM, Mike_H said:

The sun has been out so I've been indulging one of my other obsessions - riding a bike around the Peak District.  I've also combined my engineering obsession with model ship building and bought a Proxxon MF 70 mill so I don't have to battle with filing flats, among other things.  I decide to really go engineer and draw up what I needed to do:

According to Petrejus, the cheeks are closer together at the top of the mast, so the amount of material to be removed, or rebated, increases the higher you go.  That means that the shape of the "flat" to which the cheeks are attached is not rectangular, and so, of course, nor are the cheeks.  Those provided with he tkit vary from 4.2 to 6.2 mm.  Using the equation at the top of the sheet, to make a flat of width a, machine down a depth h (where R is the radius of the material).  that means that at the top of the cheek, the rebate is 1.5 mm and at the bottom 0.6 mm.

 

But before that the square tenon at the top must be machined, by reabating 1.17 mm

 

Machining the cheek flats was a challenge for the first use of the machine, but here's the rough finish

 

 

 Once sanded it looks just fine.  A bit of cartridge-paper work to do, and then I can show the finished product.

 

 

Great work with the use of the Milling m/c on the the lower mast and something I have been considering to do myself. So thank you for taking the time to take these photos and explaining the process and how you work to such fine tolerances.Great build log by the way. Good luck and I look forward to seeing your progress. Best regards Dave

[Mike_H]

To follow up on @DaveBaxt's comment and address the next stage of the build, I've had the milling machine and lathe out again, to make the remaining spars.

 

 

On the larger spars, the octagonal sections were milled using the dividing table and ever-more elaborate ways of supporting the workpiece, and the taper obtained on the lathe first with a gouge and then four grades of sandpaper.  For the smaller spars, octagonal sections weren't called for and the taper was obtained just with sandpaper.  The octagonal section require 0.25 or 0.15 mm or material removed for each face, so to get a regular shape the workpiece needs to be horizontal  with a tolerance of about 0.025 mm in a 50 mm run, ie 0.03º.  I've only just calculated that number and am astonished at the level of precision I was able to achieve on the Proxxon: 0.025 mm is 1 thou!

 

The shipyard closes tomorrow in order to accommodate the Rear Admiral, and with the Full Board in residence, the shipyard matey will be keeping a low profile.  So Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all. 

Edited December 21, 2021 by Mike_H
While I do often get in a "lather", I meant "lathe"

[DaveBaxt]

12 hours ago, Mike_H said:

To follow up on @DaveBaxt's comment and address the next stage of the build, I've had the milling machine and lather out again, to make the remaining spars.

 

 

On the larger spars, the octagonal sections were milled using the dividing table and ever-more elaborate ways of supporting the workpiece, and the taper obtained on the lathe first with a gouge and then four grades of sandpaper.  For the smaller spars, octagonal sections weren't called for and the taper was obtained just with sandpaper.  The octagonal section require 0.25 or 0.15 mm or material removed for each face, so to get a regular shape the workpiece needs to be horizontal  with a tolerance of about 0.025 mm in a 50 mm run, ie 0.03º.  I've only just calculated that number and am astonished at the level of precision I was able to achieve on the Proxxon: 0.025 mm is 1 thou!

 

The shipyard closes tomorrow in order to accommodate the Rear Admiral, and with the Full Board in residence, the shipyard matey will be keeping a low profile.  So Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all. 

 

12 hours ago, Mike_H said:

To follow up on @DaveBaxt's comment and address the next stage of the build, I've had the milling machine and lather out again, to make the remaining spars.

 

 

On the larger spars, the octagonal sections were milled using the dividing table and ever-more elaborate ways of supporting the workpiece, and the taper obtained on the lathe first with a gouge and then four grades of sandpaper.  For the smaller spars, octagonal sections weren't called for and the taper was obtained just with sandpaper.  The octagonal section require 0.25 or 0.15 mm or material removed for each face, so to get a regular shape the workpiece needs to be horizontal  with a tolerance of about 0.025 mm in a 50 mm run, ie 0.03º.  I've only just calculated that number and am astonished at the level of precision I was able to achieve on the Proxxon: 0.025 mm is 1 thou!

 

The shipyard closes tomorrow in order to accommodate the Rear Admiral, and with the Full Board in residence, the shipyard matey will be keeping a low profile.  So Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all. 

Thank you for explaining the above to me and such detail has helped me on how to progress with this step. Great  work and she looks fantastic .Best regards Dave

[Mike_H]

The Shipyard opened a couple of weeks ago, and since then has been rigging yards.  Slow going, indeed very slow going, at first, but as is so often the case it gets easier with experience.  The Caldercraft instructions are hysterically bad.  They don't quite say: "now rig the ship", but they might as well.  The drawings are quite good, though not meticulously accurate.  What really annoys me is that quite a bit of work would be much easier to do before the masts were made up - as I will show.

 

I have only completed the formast yards, and started by gluing on cleats and drilling holes for the various fittings.  The following rather poor images show the topsail yard from above with 1 mm holes to mount the stunsail booms, from below with 0.7 mm holes for the stirrups and then with the stunsail fittings attached.  I chose to have the 1 mm rod penetrate both yard and boom via the two mountings.  This way positioning of the booms was much more reliable than just sticking them in the mountings.  It took me quite some time to realise that the booms don't sit directly above the yards, but rather at 45º projecting up and forward.  Accurately machined octagonal section on the yards are a great help in setting all this out, since it is simple to clamp the yard at incrments rotated by 45º.

 

Blocks fitted and yards painted.  The booms were stained brown and varnished as will be seen later. I've shown the lashings (is that the word?) before and after they were trimmed to get across something of the scale of work

 

In order to secure the jeer blocks and the sling some cleats are needed (and excluded from the instructions).

Those on the square section of the lower mast, to support the jeer blocks, are fairly standard, that on the cap "reflects" what can be seen in a number of books - and certainly allowing the slings to rest on the topmast would have made removal of that mast impossible without removing the slings.

 

Here the jeer blocks can be seen in place - and oh how I wish I had known to rig them before the mast was assembled

 

 

The yard is pinned to the lower mast, but is meant to look as though it is held up by slings and jeers and attached to the mast by a rather elegant truss, shown here prior to rigging on the mast:

 

And here we go, foryard crossed:

 

You can see the stunsail booms - which I think look much more pleasing to the eye with some stain, rather than the naked timber often shown.  Also visible are the horses and stirrups, which annoyingly I forgot to add before fixing the yard - my fault this time not that of the instructions  (Details visible here but to be shown in a moment are the slings, truss and its pendants and the jeer lines - how these differ from falls or ties/tyes, I do not know.)

 

Here is a close up of the slings - and is a reproduction of the arrangement shown in Petersson - which came off quite well, I think.

 

 

I thought it best to complete the associated running rigging before the standing rigging gets in the way

 

 

 

 

 

So here is the fully-rigged foreyard

 

The other fore yards soon followed, and differ only in that the two upper yards have parrals not trusses, shown here on the topsail yard

 

And finally, here is the full set of foremast yards

 

Happy days!  Now on with the other two masts armed with some experience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[AJohnson]

Hi Mike, glad the shipyard is back up and running after Christmas, you have made excellent progress and achieved a lot in the last two weeks.  I am impressed with the efforts you are going to with the rigging and the tips you give about the “missing” steps from Caldercraft’s instructions - taking extra notes on that as “Snake” is my next major ship build.  Also taking that away for my Caldercraft Bounty build before I fix the masts, phew glad I’m flowing 👍

[tomganc]

Looking superb. I like you attention to details. Great build 👍

 

Regards

Tom

[Mike_H]

And so, a full set of spars!  Looking now at what this constitutes I can see why it was such a lot of work.  I will admit to getting frustrated at times - mainly because I made the same errors over and over - most often getting the sequencing wrong, and when tying the yard to the mast, managing to trap foot-ropes on running rigging.  Less haste, more speed, as the saying goes.  Though never said by me!

 

Here is a slew of photographs to mark this important event, and the fact that I'm gong to take break for a few months to do some other things.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[AJohnson]

Well done Mike, looking very shipshape, as you say a significant milestone.  👏  Are you doing another model while you pause for breath on your Snake build?