Flying Fish by gak1965 - FINISHED - Model Shipways - 1:96

[gak1965]

On 12/23/2022 at 3:25 PM, Snug Harbor Johnny said:

  Ahoy, George ... a VERY nice build you have there.  I'm noting all kinds of details to learn about before starting a clipper build,  and the mizzen forward advice seems practical.

Thank you. I saw that you had finished the Egyptian boat. Are you thinking a clipper next?

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

13 hours ago, gak1965 said:

Thank you. I saw that you had finished the Egyptian boat. Are you thinking a clipper next?

   I've been thinking about a clipper for a long time, but first wanted to try and educate myself about nautical terms and all the building practices that can be found on MSW if one looks around a bit and watches the builds in progress.  Now complex rigging seem a bit daunting - not just learning about the ropes, what they do and the blocks involved, but the care and skill needed to accomplish (and difficulty is influenced by the scale chosen) with eyes and eye-hand coordination that is not as good as it used to be.  And it seems that rigging a model is easily half the work of the entire project.

 

  From a learning standpoint, I love the Forum for the wealth of information available (if one looks) and indeed have made some progress useful in multiple time periods.  Given that ships had to address practical aspects of sea navigation and ever changing weather conditions, there is a logic and purpose to everything as the art evolved.  Halyards, lifts, braces, bunt and leech lines, reef tackle out-haul, in-haul, etc. all start to make sense when one imagines actually working the ropes on a real ship.  I have also acquired some useful books mentioned here and there on the Forum.

 

  My decision on the Vasa (Wasa on the suspended log) is to get it to a point representing construction where the first mast sections are in place with shrouds/ratlines, and try to get the decorations acceptable (even with short cuts & simplifications) however I'm able to do it.  The original ship in Stockholm has only the first mast sections.  The first edition (ca. 1970) Billings kit got a lot wrong, and many corrections have been cobbled to date on my project.  All the decoration at 1:100 must be scratch - another challenge.  Its been an on&off thing for a long time.

 

  The clipper I've thought about is the Thermopylae, and I was able to come by a complete Revell kit for $60 (an early version from the crispness of the parts and the age of the crumbling box) ... yet we all know the shortcomings due to cloning the CS kit by the manufacturer - as well as fragility/springyness of the masts, spars, whiskers and martingale.  Soooo, there would have to be some bashing to get close enough to what is seen on the Hume model of the big T.  That will negate some of the advantage in not having to build a hull from scratch via commonly used means - yet I won't have to worry about manually applying metal plates or copper tape.  Studying the CS build by Bruma, ands also several builds by Rob R. (not just the Glory of the Seas) show a lot of useful improvements that can be done, including using wood for sturdier masting/sparring.

 

  Popeye the Saillor's build of the Sergal Thermie showed the challenges of working in too small a scale - as well as challenges with that particular kit.  One must also deal with sheer model size if a large ship is done at 1:72.   At present I have a final big winter task of installing hardwood flooring in our family room (the LR & DR already done before Christmas).  After that what I'll probably do is work on BOTH the Wasa and the Thermopylae concurrently - each on a different build table in what the Admiral considers my 'man cave', that is partitioned off on one side of the basement (since a pal will occasionally visit, its more like a bud hole).  Whatever I want to work on (time permitting as there are always seasonal chores and per-diem work at a hospital as a Pharmacy Tech), whether in wood or plastic with wood enhancements, I'll just hack-away with.

 

  I have the H.I.S. Model Thermie laser-imprinted decking (to cover the annoying deck joins of the plastic parts that will become a false-deck - as well as not having to imitate wood with paint ... a PITA), a set of wooden blocks/deadeyes plus resources from parts-kits that will never be built - so maybe I can do a fair job of it as a first go.  Rob's technique of having furled sails atop the yards will eliminate the need to bother with jackstays - although doing a few for yards w/o a furled sail may be a sleight-of-hand that suggests the same details are on the covered yards.  Whatever works.

 

Fair sailing !       Johny

 

  

[gak1965]

@Snug Harbor Johnny good luck on the Thermopylae. Hopefully the Revell  directions (particularly the rigging instructions) will be as good as those they ship with Connie even if getting into the spaces was challenging. 

 

George K

[gak1965]

Well, it's the end of the year, so here is the Fish as of the end of 2022. The mizzen is mounted, and the lower mast rigging (shrouds and forestay) are in place. I need to make two more gin blocks before fitting the topmast and topgallant shrouds and stays, but shouldn't take more than a week to get to the point where the standing rigging is done except for ratlines, at which point I'll start making the yards while getting them done.

 

 

 

Have a safe and happy New Year.

 

George K

Edited January 1, 2023 by gak1965

[gak1965]

Well, "one week" of effort appears to have been more like 17 days, but the mizzen is mounted and rigged. This is the end of the standing rigging (except the ratlines), and actually, there are 12 clew tackles installed, so I guess the running rigging has been started. The mizzen is relatively clear since there are no fife rails, and rather than have the lines in place cluttering things, I haven't installed them there yet.

 

 

Now for the ratlines. I intend to make the yards and supporting hardware (e.g. trucks, gin blocks) while tying the ratlines. That way if I do 5-10 lines (20 - 50 knots) per day, I should be done with them in a month or so. At 1:96, 15" is 5/32 inch, so I made a sheet of lines with that spacing in PowerPoint and printed it out to use as a guide:

 

 

I attach that at the top (I'm working on the lower port mizzen shrouds, now) using clamps and two pieces of scrap wood. The similar feature toward the deadeyes is to try to keep the shrouds from compressing in - I'll move up as I move up the shroud.

 

 

The above photo makes it look like they aren't very straight, but as can be seen below they aren't bad at all, if I do say so myself.

 

 

The knots are simple overhand, stabilized with a bit of glue. I find that anything larger (a) starts to get very big and out of scale, (b) puts more strain on the outer shrouds, contributing to the squeezing in, and (c) is radically more difficult to set up with the proper distance between the knots. 

 

Anyway, I hope everyone is having a good year, and thanks for looking in.

 

George K

 

Edited January 18, 2023 by gak1965

[Rick310]

Really looks good George! I like your idea of using the overhand knot and it looks really good on your model. Can’t wait to get to the stage you’re at. Keep up the great work 

Rick

[Vladimir_Wairoa]

Very Nice straight ratlines. I Can imagine how tiring that must be in your scale. 

Patience my friend and All will be over soon V. 

[gak1965]

7 hours ago, Vladimir_Wairoa said:

Very Nice straight ratlines. I Can imagine how tiring that must be in your scale. 

Patience my friend and All will be over soon V. 

I believe @MrBlueJacket called it "hours of fun"

[rwiederrich]

2 hours ago, gak1965 said:

I believe @MrBlueJacket called it "hours of fun"

Hours of something.......

 

I build in 1/96 so I don't tie....I glue....then paint.  I can lay ratlines on the entire mast in a about .. two to three hours.  Futtocks included.

 

2 time killers.........laying copper plates and ratlines...  2 reasons why I developed my embossed copper tape system and my ratline technique.

 

Rob

Edited January 18, 2023 by rwiederrich

[gak1965]

Well, just shy of two weeks since the last update, and progress has been made, even if it is slow. As I mentioned I am in the delightful stage known as tying ratlines, and these are simple overhand knots using pretty vanilla black cotton sewing thread. So, I've completed the port side mizzen mast (lower, topmast, and topgallant shrouds), and the lower shrouds on the port side main mast. First, the mizzen:

 

 

And the lower main:

 

 

For the main, I tied as per the plans, across 5 of the 6th shrouds, except every sixth line at which point I went across all 6 shrouds. A few photos of multiple masts with with (where relevant) the templates for the next batch of shrouds. You will note that I clamped the lower shrouds to keep them from spreading, but didn't do this anywhere else, principally because the topmast shrouds aren't in a line; if I had clamped them it would have stretched the shrouds in a way I didn't want to happen.

 

 

 

Finally,  here is a shot of (most) of the ship as it stands today. 

 

 

I'm hoping about 3 weeks to get the port side finished, and another 5 (ish) to do the starboard side. My recollection is that I got a lot faster toward the end of Niagara so, we'll see. It would be nice to finish this chore before the end of March, but that seems to be the schedule. My intention was to work on the yards once I made progress on the ratlines, and I think that this constitutes 'progress', so, hopefully some pics of yards when the next update comes along.

 

Thanks for looking in!

 

George K.

[gak1965]

On 1/18/2023 at 1:54 PM, rwiederrich said:

Hours of something.......

 

I build in 1/96 so I don't tie....I glue....then paint.  I can lay ratlines on the entire mast in a about .. two to three hours.  Futtocks included.

 

2 time killers.........laying copper plates and ratlines...  2 reasons why I developed my embossed copper tape system and my ratline technique.

 

I like the look of the knots as long as they are reasonably tight so I don't mind the time (absurdly) much, although I am with you on the copper tape.

 

I am curious about adhesives and thread that you use for your ratlines. This ship is also 1:96 and when I get near the tops and the shrouds start to get really close together, I will tie knots on the outer shrouds only, and use glue on the intervening ones, and then at the very top I find that the only practical thing is to glue the line on. But particularly the final (only glued) line is always a royal pain in the posterior. Getting the glue to stick and the line to stay can take longer than tying the darn knots. I'm using CA on cotton thread, should I be using something different that won't slide around so much?

 

Regards,

George K.

 

[Vladimir_Wairoa]

Very pretty on these rattlines George. fine progress. looking fwd to next. take time. will be worth.

[rwiederrich]

7 hours ago, gak1965 said:

 

I like the look of the knots as long as they are reasonably tight so I don't mind the time (absurdly) much, although I am with you on the copper tape.

 

I am curious about adhesives and thread that you use for your ratlines. This ship is also 1:96 and when I get near the tops and the shrouds start to get really close together, I will tie knots on the outer shrouds only, and use glue on the intervening ones, and then at the very top I find that the only practical thing is to glue the line on. But particularly the final (only glued) line is always a royal pain in the posterior. Getting the glue to stick and the line to stay can take longer than tying the darn knots. I'm using CA on cotton thread, should I be using something different that won't slide around so much?

 

Regards,

George K.

 

I use simple wood glue.   I first cut the ratline about an inch longer on both ends.....then dab some glue to each shroud at the ratline's proposed location...then I hold the ratline thread from both ends and gently press it into the glue and roll the ratline thread into the glue, incorporating it completely in both the ratline and the shroud.  Then pull away, leaving the ratline glued to the shrouds.  The glue dries clear, with a mat finish, but I always finish it off with some black paint.  All my ratline/shroud joints get painted.

 

Thing is you see....on the prototype the knot and ratline is left on the outside of the shroud....so is it on models....cept...in 1/96...no overly sized knot is present.  Just clean ratlines....without the awkward, un-natural look of over sized knots and ratlines that don't flow harmoniously. 

 

PLUS....you don't have to spend tedious hours with tweezers tying knots on 5 to 6 shrouds...trying with all your might to NOT pull in the outer shrouds and warping the fantastic work you spend other hours rigging.

 

That's just me.  Remembering that all we are actually doing is *Simulating*.  You've done a fantastic job.

 

Rob

Edited January 30, 2023 by rwiederrich

[gak1965]

Well, it turns out that once you get started, the ratlines go faster than you originally thought. I was hoping for 3 weeks on the rest of the port side, and finished in 2, so, not too bad. Some photos of the ship overall and separate masts, although, I find it doesn't look all that different with and without the ratlines, at least at a macro level.

 

 

 

 

 

I'm about to make the first of the yards, seeing as I should only be few weeks away from finishing the ratlines. Step 1 was just to build out a table with the actual dimensions of the yards, the yardarms, and the diameter at center and iron bands and their corresponding scale size. I pulled the values off the plans, but they are also in the article from the Boston Daily Atlas that Lars Bruzelius transcribed (http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/News/BDA/BDA(1851-11-04).html). For me, given that there are 15, all different yards, this is way easier than doing the calculations one at a time from the plans. I will note that in the section marked 'Scale (in) - frac', I selected the nearest measurement that I could realistically build to.

 

 

A couple of observations/questions. First, the plans suggest that all of the spars used 3/4 inch iron rod as a jackstay. Was it common to use the same size jackstay on all the yards? I mean the mizzen skysail was only 6.5" at the center and 4.25" at that iron band that demarcates the beginning of the yardarm, that seems, I dunno, kind of overbuilt for the size of the spar. Given the physical properties of the materials, an iron jackstay with a spar attached if you will.

 

Second, the kit has a really weird set of Britannia fittings. There are 4 (nominally 3), identically sized "upper yard trusses" and that is it. Given that there are 9 yards secured with trusses, and six yards that use (hopefully correct term here) truss cranes to attach the yard to the halyards, so, I'd need 15 of these, not 4 or 3. Given that they are all different sizes, and the kit has 1/32 thick brass, I guess I'll just scratch build them (although I see that bluejacket has 3 sizes of trusses - so if the scratch ones are a disaster, I can default back to those).

 

Third, was the use of a deadeye on a shroud or backstay as a truck for fairleads a McKay thing? Usually I see this as a board attached across multiple shrouds. Just curious - another one of those repeat tasks, a bit of a nuisance (I think I need 34 of them total). 

 

Finally, the instructions say to leave out the course clew and reefing tackle if you aren't going to install sails. Is that common? When I rigged the Niagara the instructions suggested (and I followed) including the clew and reefing tackle, and attaching the clew garnet to the reefing tackle. Was this just the difference between 1813 and 1851 or just two ways that one can handle the situation? Above the course, I need the clew to have something to attach the sail end of the sheet so they will be there - it just feels a little asymmetrical, but if they were really removed I'll probably leave them off.

 

As always, thanks for looking in!

 

Regards,

George K.

 

Edited February 11, 2023 by gak1965

[gak1965]

Taking a brief break from tying ratlines and starting to make some the yards. Trying an experiment to see if this is easier than the way I made the yards on the Niagara. I start by marking the dowels that will become the yards, indicating the end of the yard, the iron band on the yardarm, and three lines at the center that defines the center itself and the iron bands that the trusses are attached to. I also marked the location of the holes that I need for the jackstay eyebolts.

 

 

I then went in and drilled all the jackstay eyebolt holes using my drill press (Santa was very good to me this year)

 

 

From there it was off to my mini-lathe to turn the yards. Of the first three, I think that the fore and main turned out fine (bottom and middle in the picture, but I'm going to bin the mizzen which is just a mess. It was half the diameter of the main and needed a gentler hand, I suspect.

 

 

A couple of things I learned. One is that I should have drilled the jackstay eyebolt holes larger, they often gotten filled in the process of turning the yard, to the point where I could barely or couldn't find them. I still think that drilling first is the right idea, I just need to actually make the hole a little bigger so it will survive the sanding. The other thing is that I really need to be careful about putting pressure on the yard with the sandpaper. One reason I'm binning the mizzen is that the narrow point between the yardarm and the unmodified wood snapped just as I was finishing up, and it was because I put too much pressure on. I still think that cutting the yardarms first is the correct move (it gives me a nice template to work against, but care is required.

 

Thanks for looking in,

George K

 

[Rick310]

George your FF is coming along.  Well done!!  I’m still trying to finish up the aft cabin which has taken longer than expected.  
I’m learning a lot from your experience.  Keep up the good work. FF looks great!!

Rick

 

[Bruma]

Hey George,

really wonderful progress as usual, she is growing into a masterpiece! 

Looking at your yards, a question comes to my mind: are you following the precise measure of the real ones? They seem to me a little bit too large in diameter, but I'm not an expert by any means, and they might be just right as they are. Mine is just an impression, usually they appear to be slimmer, and they surely are on the Cutty Sark (but they are made out of metal and this might be the reason).

Sorry for bothering you, mine is just curiosity.

Congrats again for your great model! 

[gak1965]

@Bruma

 

I put the main up against the 1:1 drawing and it seemed to be pretty much the correct size (the drawings only include the main). I am pretty certain about the center diameter (the 5/16 dowel is .015 inches too large but I doubt that would be noticable). I will double check the taper though while it's still easy to change.

 

FWIW, The main and fore have length:center diameter ratios of 33.6 and 40 respectively. If I read the plans right Cutty's main course is about the same length (plus or minus 20-30 cm), what is the center diameter on her main course?

 

Regards,

George K

[MrBlueJacket]

Regarding the mizzen - Noted modeler Steve Wheeler ( died last year) always said "your best tool is the wastebin"

[gak1965]

So, a few updates during my break from tying ratline knots. First, I made the remaining 3 gin blocks I need for the trusses on the topsail yards. They still need to be painted, but you can see how I made them from some of my (dwindling) stock of 1/32 x 1/64 brass.

 

 

I've also done almost all of the work on the main course yard. At 1/8" = 1 foot, 1 inch ironwork would be 0.25 mm thick, and most of available sizes of brass were way more than that, so I made the iron bands from copper tape that I cut to the proper width. For the mast bands and the yardarm ironwork I took the approach shown at the top of Fig 73 below - basically use the tape to create the bands/ironwork, then drill holes in the band and put in eyebolts to represent the attachment points that were more like those shown at the top of Fig 72 from the instructions.

 

 

The truss was made from 1/32 by 1/16 brass that I drilled a hole in, and then inserted a brass belaying ping in (having cut off most of the pin's head) to act as the link between the truss and the mast band. It was glued onto the yard, and the copper tape "iron bands" wrapped over the mounting point for extra strength, and to mimic the attachment points between the truss and band. I tried a bunch of ways to make the sheet fairlead. At the end of the day, I drilled a hole in the yard, inserted an eyebolt, and then used the eyebolt to guide the copper tape that represents the mast band that the fairlead is attached to. I think it turned out okay, and will look better once painted. The yard currently looks like the below:

 

 

 

I'm still missing the iron sheet block. Several fabrication methods have thus far failed, so I'm going to get some thin sheet styrene to make the two sides of the block body, and I have some parrel beads that should actually be a pretty good set of "rollers", either glued in place, or using a small nail to allow them to rotate. We'll see what works.

 

So, the plan for the moment is to finish up the main and fore course yards, and then get tying knots again. I've been thinking about the best way to start raising the yards, and I think I'm going to work fore to aft, finishing each mast (including the gaffs, but not the braces) before moving on. The logic here is that the bulk of the rigging is to the rear of the masts, so it will be the most accessible that way. I'll probably break up the tedium with more yards, and hopefully I can start on the running rigging pretty quickly once the ratlines are done. We shall see.

 

As always, thanks for looking in!

 

Regards,

George K

 

 

 

[Vladimir_Wairoa]

2 hours ago, gak1965 said:

So, a few updates during my break from tying ratline knots. First, I made the remaining 3 gin blocks I need for the trusses on the topsail yards. They still need to be painted, but you can see how I made them from some of my (dwindling) stock of 1/32 x 1/64 brass.

 

 

I've also done almost all of the work on the main course yard. At 1/8" = 1 foot, 1 inch ironwork would be 0.25 mm thick, and most of available sizes of brass were way more than that, so I made the iron bands from copper tape that I cut to the proper width. For the mast bands and the yardarm ironwork I took the approach shown at the top of Fig 73 below - basically use the tape to create the bands/ironwork, then drill holes in the band and put in eyebolts to represent the attachment points that were more like those shown at the top of Fig 72 from the instructions.

 

 

The truss was made from 1/32 by 1/16 brass that I drilled a hole in, and then inserted a brass belaying ping in (having cut off most of the pin's head) to act as the link between the truss and the mast band. It was glued onto the yard, and the copper tape "iron bands" wrapped over the mounting point for extra strength, and to mimic the attachment points between the truss and band. I tried a bunch of ways to make the sheet fairlead. At the end of the day, I drilled a hole in the yard, inserted an eyebolt, and then used the eyebolt to guide the copper tape that represents the mast band that the fairlead is attached to. I think it turned out okay, and will look better once painted. The yard currently looks like the below:

 

 

 

I'm still missing the iron sheet block. Several fabrication methods have thus far failed, so I'm going to get some thin sheet styrene to make the two sides of the block body, and I have some parrel beads that should actually be a pretty good set of "rollers", either glued in place, or using a small nail to allow them to rotate. We'll see what works.

 

So, the plan for the moment is to finish up the main and fore course yards, and then get tying knots again. I've been thinking about the best way to start raising the yards, and I think I'm going to work fore to aft, finishing each mast (including the gaffs, but not the braces) before moving on. The logic here is that the bulk of the rigging is to the rear of the masts, so it will be the most accessible that way. I'll probably break up the tedium with more yards, and hopefully I can start on the running rigging pretty quickly once the ratlines are done. We shall see.

 

As always, thanks for looking in!

 

Regards,

George K

 

 

 

very nice work on yard George. I aplaud at making gin blocks, theybare fabulpus. I didnt bother makijg them myself for difficulty. as far as sheet blocks, they are indeed tticy bastarfs I made mines out oc wood in 1:72 scale for biggets yards  but im not that happy with them and still need many for upper yards. they are tricky to makev to look natural in scale when chain going tgru those. I wish you all luck getting them done but i have no doubts seeing how perfectly you made gin blocks. looking fwd. V. 

[gak1965]

Well a brief update. Work continues apace on the yards. I had already made the main course, and I decided I would make all 5 yards for the foremast before I restart knot tying. Probably a mistake b/c no doubt I will lose some of my facility with the knots picked up over the previous several weeks, but well, damn the torpedoes and all that. So, here are the first 4, top to bottom main course yard, fore course yard, fore top yard, fore royal yard. The fore topgallant yard is missing because I wound up binning two of them, one after my drill bit basically chunked out the underside, and a second after it snapped while I was sanding the yardarm.

 

 

The metal piece attached to the truss is going to wrap around the mast and then be trimmed to size to represent the iron work. It's 0.002 in thick brass that I cut from a sheet. One thing I have learned is for the small diameter yards is to only sand the yardarms out on the live end of lathe. Once that end is made, I reverse the yard and once again sand at the live end. Hopefully I won't bin any more due to stress failure of the narrow dowels.

 

The one thing not yet on the yards are the sheet blocks (present on the course and top yards) which were iron and hang from under the yard. I tried a bunch of things that did not work to make the blocks, but I think I have something that works now. Here is a photo of the first one.

 

 

The block is hanging from the wood strip which I am going to trim down to just above the single nail on the top and CA glue to the yard. I made the frames from two square pieces of 0.002 inch brass sheet, which I sat on top of each other, held together with some Tamiya tape. I then drilled the three holes, 2 on the bottom, and one on the top. I ran small brass nails through the holes in one sheet. On the two bottom nails I slid some tiny parrel bead to space the top and bottom frames, and on the top, I put a small wood strip with a hole drilled into it and the used my dremel to create a rounded end so that there would be some space. Next, I put the other piece of brass sheet with holes on, sending the nails through the holes and used CA glue on the outside to hold everything in place. trimmed the nails, used my dremel to shape the brass so that it has the shape above (basically 3 intersecting circles). When I mount them, I'm going to keep chain in place, they were far to much of a pain to try to thread them on the mast, on the ship. That probably means some wasted chain, but I'd rather buy more chain than become completely frustrated by my inability to get it in place.

 

Anyways, thanks for looking in!

 

Regards,

George K.

 

 

[Rick310]

George, really like your gin blocks and all your metal work.  The trusses for the courses are especially well done!!  Your yards look great, nice and clean .  Also like your idea of using the copper tape for the yard and mast bands!!

Rick

[gak1965]

Thanks for looking, in and for the encouragement. Another brief update. First, the full set of fore yards are done, save for painting, footropes, and blocks, as well as the main course yard. Looking at the photo, I see that the main course yard is upside down compared to everything else. Oh well. Even if I wanted to make more yards now, I doubt I have enough eyebolts left, so, an order needs to be made.

 

 

Which means, of course, that it's back to tying ratlines. Or as that old corporate adage goes, the ratlines will continue until morale improves.

 

 

The good news is that it feels like I'll soon be exiting this long phase during which lots of stuff is being done, but the ship isn't changing its appearance much. It's been two months since I started tying ratlines (and making yards and gin blocks, and cranes) and probably another 3-5 more weeks on the starboard ratlines (during which I'll paint the fore yards and mount the footropes). But once that is done, the ship should start changing appearance at a reasonable pace which will be a relief.

 

As always, thanks for looking in!

 

Regards,

George K

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  How did you make (or source) the tiny jackstay eyebolts?  They seem a real challenge at 1:96.

[gak1965]

3 hours ago, Snug Harbor Johnny said:

  How did you make (or source) the tiny jackstay eyebolts?  They seem a real challenge at 1:96.

 

Some came with the kit, although in line with all three model shipways kits I've done/doing, nowhere near enough. I buy them from Model Expo. It's about $14 for 500 of them. https://modelexpo-online.com/75-x-6mm-Brass-Jackstay-Eyebolts-500-pcs_p_781.html.

 

On a separate note, one thing I realized is that for the lower shrouds, doing the starboard side means starting on the second shroud (L to R) except for every 6th ratline, not the first. I almost started tying on the leftmost shroud (as I face the ship), which would have been interesting to try to repair.

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  Thanks for the tip, George.   'Just ordered some in that size plus the next up from that ... they'll come in handy whenever the clipper project get underway.  Right now, I'm focusing on finishing the current build - which has waited too long for completion.  Yet the long delay has made current information and scholarship available, much to my advantage.

[gak1965]

Hello all. My last entry was on the order of 3 weeks ago, not because of massive progress, but rather because of a bunch of other things prevented work. They ranged from the Cherry Blossom 10 mile running race here in DC to visiting my (eek) now 25 year old daughter in Boise where we (double eek) met her boyfriend's parents. I don't quite know why this has me so freaked out (this isn't the first set of parents we've met) but it feels radically more likely to be permanent.

 

Anyway, since returning I have managed to get some time in the shipyard and some progress is being made. First the ratlines on the foremast are done, and I'm starting on the main.

 

 

 

I also attached the sheet blocks and painted the masts. Next step is to touch them up and attach the foot ropes. They are all in the photo below but kinda distributed while they dry. Once the ratlines on the main are done, I'm going to start mounting the fore yards. My assessment is that I don't want my elbows to whack one of the yards trying to tie the ratline knots, so, nothing until I'm working on the mizzen. Once I'm on the mizzen it will be time to start making the remaining 4 main yards (the course was finished in the first batch).

 

I am curious about some that that is going to come up soon. If you look at the section of the plans that are shown below, you will see the tackle that attaches the course, top, and topgallant sheet chains to the deck. The other end of the sheets are generally attached to the clew for the yard above (i.e. the other end of the course sheet is connected to the top clew line) when the sails are off the ship. According to the rigging plan, the live ends of the tackle are belayed to pins on the port or starboard pinrails. That (sorta) makes sense for the topgallant (the outer of the three) where the live end is coming down to the deck from a single block where it is attached to the chains. But the other two make no sense to me at all. The live end exits a double block on the deck and then appears to go straight to the pinrail for belaying. 

 

 

Am I missing something here? This seems like it would leave a set of two lines at each mast, port and starboard that runs from the deck to about 4 feet off the ground. What a colossal pain in the posterior that would be. And I keep hearing the bosun's mates telling me to watch lines on the deck. I know that it isn't impossible, the lines that control the tiller on the Niagara are equally in the way, but geez, these ships carried passengers as well, and I dunno there has to be a better way. I looked for signs of deck blocks near the pins that would at least keep the lines near the deck (easier to step over) but the plans show blocks for other lines, but not these.

 

So, am I mad? Missing something? Or is this just the way these ships were rigged? Any help appreciated.

 

As always, thanks for looking in and the likes,

 

George K.

[Vladimir_Wairoa]

1 hour ago, gak1965 said:

Hello all. My last entry was on the order of 3 weeks ago, not because of massive progress, but rather because of a bunch of other things prevented work. They ranged from the Cherry Blossom 10 mile running race here in DC to visiting my (eek) now 25 year old daughter in Boise where we (double eek) met her boyfriend's parents. I don't quite know why this has me so freaked out (this isn't the first set of parents we've met) but it feels radically more likely to be permanent.

 

Anyway, since returning I have managed to get some time in the shipyard and some progress is being made. First the ratlines on the foremast are done, and I'm starting on the main.

 

 

 

I also attached the sheet blocks and painted the masts. Next step is to touch them up and attach the foot ropes. They are all in the photo below but kinda distributed while they dry. Once the ratlines on the main are done, I'm going to start mounting the fore yards. My assessment is that I don't want my elbows to whack one of the yards trying to tie the ratline knots, so, nothing until I'm working on the mizzen. Once I'm on the mizzen it will be time to start making the remaining 4 main yards (the course was finished in the first batch).

 

I am curious about some that that is going to come up soon. If you look at the section of the plans that are shown below, you will see the tackle that attaches the course, top, and topgallant sheet chains to the deck. The other end of the sheets are generally attached to the clew for the yard above (i.e. the other end of the course sheet is connected to the top clew line) when the sails are off the ship. According to the rigging plan, the live ends of the tackle are belayed to pins on the port or starboard pinrails. That (sorta) makes sense for the topgallant (the outer of the three) where the live end is coming down to the deck from a single block where it is attached to the chains. But the other two make no sense to me at all. The live end exits a double block on the deck and then appears to go straight to the pinrail for belaying. 

 

 

Am I missing something here? This seems like it would leave a set of two lines at each mast, port and starboard that runs from the deck to about 4 feet off the ground. What a colossal pain in the posterior that would be. And I keep hearing the bosun's mates telling me to watch lines on the deck. I know that it isn't impossible, the lines that control the tiller on the Niagara are equally in the way, but geez, these ships carried passengers as well, and I dunno there has to be a better way. I looked for signs of deck blocks near the pins that would at least keep the lines near the deck (easier to step over) but the plans show blocks for other lines, but not these.

 

So, am I mad? Missing something? Or is this just the way these ships were rigged? Any help appreciated.

 

As always, thanks for looking in and the likes,

 

George K.

very nice on rattlines George. those little things always test our patience. V.  

[MrBlueJacket]

Just a guess, but I've seen numerous examples of lines going to blocks on the deck, then up to a belaying point. I think it is because you can pull up with more force than you can pull down, being limited by your weight.