HMS Diana by DavidEN - Caldercraft - 1:64

[DavidEN]

Constructing the masts is quite a tedious exercise. One has to constantly check and cross reference to make sure that all of the details are added to the mast structures at this stage as I imagine it will be very challenging to try and add anything once they are glued in place. I added several sheaves to the top masts and bolsters on the cross trees as well as the faux metal plates for the fids to rest on. I still have to add a few blocks but the mizzen seems more or less done. I changed my mind a few times about what should be painted black and what should be left natural. I painted the tapering octagon at the hounds black and then unpainted it back to a natural state and then painted it black again.

 

I then started on the lower main mast. This is causing me no end of problems. I did not think ahead and had assumed the Caldercraft drawings were fine and sized the holes for a 10mm diameter mast. Checking Steel, Lees and AOTSD, it seems that it should be more like 11.1mm in diameter. Widening the hole in the upper deck could be challenging. This size of this mast is also problematic as it will not fit in my lathe in terms of diameter and length. I had to resort to the much more agricultural method of using a drill, sandpaper and an oven mitt. After a couple of attempts, I thought that I had it sorted, but when I dry fitted it to the ship, I saw that it had an unacceptable bend to it. I could potentially try and straighten it out using the lower shrouds but I fear that this solution may come back to bite me in the long term.

I decided to walk away from the masts while I think of a way to get a decent result. I might have to try using square stock but I needed to do something different for a change. I had moved the model to another room with a plain background so that I could photograph the masts and it got me to thinking of what sort of stand I wanted should I ever get round to finishing the model. At the moment I have it resting on the stand that came with the kit which is quite simple. I thought that I should start considering this early on as my last model is still balancing on some spacer blocks as I have yet to get around to the task of building that one. A contemporary model of the Diana in the NMM sits in a launch slipway which I quite like the look of. I realise that a fully rigged ship would not be sitting in a launch slipway but I thought that there could be an opportunity to abstract this somewhat and use the elements to form a cradle while omitting the walls and slope of the slipway. I had a look at some examples and then knocked out a CAD model. I then cobbled together a quarter length of the base part using bits and pieces that were lying about the workshop.

 

I think that this is probably not far off in terms of actual scale but I thought that it looked a bit tentative so I went back to the CAD and beefed up some of the elements and then had a second go at the mockup.

 

 

I made this one out of the timber that I am thinking of using. This is all stuff that I had to hand so it is mainly walnut with maple planking and some yellow heart that I used for the sleepers. These are a bit yellow but I think that I will persevere with them and hope that they will grow on me. The second version is a lot better than the first but the section that I built is only 1/10th of the length of the final so I am having second thoughts. I roughed out a notional launch cradles in CAD which would stop the model toppling over. These will hopefully have a higher degree of sophistication in the real model.

It still seemed quite insubstantial so I started adding a drydock/slipway in the CAD drawing to give it some gravity. This made the while structure quite solid and I would only have to add some legs and it would be a piece of furniture bigger than the model itself. I should get back to masting while I ponder if this will be worth pursuing.

 

 

[dunnock]

I like the idea of displaying Diana on keel blocks and was planning a similar presentation so it will be interesting to see how you progress with it. BE used a similar approach to display his model of Pegasus ...

https://modelshipworld.com/topic/15526-hms-pegasus-by-blue-ensign-finished-victory-models-164-scale/page/9/#comment-489642

 

Regarding the main and fore masts, I also had the the problem of the diameter being too large for my Proxxon lathe. I made the section below deck to the diameter in the plan. A cheat but as this area can't be seen, I thought it acceptable. The mast above the partner is sized according to the AotS. If I remember rightly, I planed the main mast from 13mm dowel and sanded it in the drill until the top section would fit in the lathe.

 

David

[Beef Wellington]

Dave, first off - wonderful work, continue to be amazed at the detail you're pursuing which are projects in of themselves.  Not sure if you have seen it, but the well known Bellona model made for George III shows the same launching system in a very nice display along the same lines.  There are some other contemporary examples illustrated in Brian Lavery's "The ship of the line" book to peruse for ideas.  Looking forward to see where you land.

Edited March 20, 2023 by Beef Wellington

[DavidEN]

19 hours ago, dunnock said:

I like the idea of displaying Diana on keel blocks and was planning a similar presentation so it will be interesting to see how you progress with it. BE used a similar approach to display his model of Pegasus ...

https://modelshipworld.com/topic/15526-hms-pegasus-by-blue-ensign-finished-victory-models-164-scale/page/9/#comment-489642

 

Regarding the main and fore masts, I also had the the problem of the diameter being too large for my Proxxon lathe. I made the section below deck to the diameter in the plan. A cheat but as this area can't be seen, I thought it acceptable. The mast above the partner is sized according to the AotS. If I remember rightly, I planed the main mast from 13mm dowel and sanded it in the drill until the top section would fit in the lathe.

 

David

Thanks David. I had never considered using a plane to reduce the diameter of the dowel. I might give that a try.

 

Regards,

David

[DavidEN]

19 hours ago, Beef Wellington said:

Dave, first off - wonderful work, continue to be amazed at the detail you're pursuing which are projects in of themselves.  Not sure if you have seen it, but the well known Bellona model made for George III shows the same launching system in a very nice display along the same lines.  There are some other contemporary examples illustrated in Brian Lavery's "The ship of the line" book to presuse for ideas.  Looking forward to see where you land.

Thanks Jason. I have the Lavery book but it completely slipped my mind that he had a section on dockyard models plus a great photo of the Bellona on the cover. I had a look at the book today and reworked the CAD model to be more in keeping with the Bellona example as shown below in the before and after pictures. Needs a bit of refinement still and I should probably reduce the slope of the slipway a tad so that the model sits a little more horizontal.

 

Regards,

David

 

 

 

 

 

[DaveBaxt]

David I also came to the same size main mast of 11.1mm and I also get the same for the Bowsprit. It might be worth us checking these sizes against some other reference such as james Lees. The sizes supplied by caldercraft are the same dowels supplied for the Endeavour which is only half the size of the Diana model. I am hoping I can source some square boxwood at 11mm . Timberline only do 10 mm and 13 mm but I have heard that if you give them a call they will ablige. I think Syren  models also supply 11 mm but the imperial equivelent. As ever you have created some amazing details. I also like the look of the slipways for supporting the models. Great ideas.

Edited March 4, 2023 by DaveBaxt

[DavidEN]

I continued to potter about with the display stand. I decided that I was not find of the slipway with sloped sides in no small part to the fact that it would be hard to construct. I thought that a hybrid drydock/slipway would be more my liking. As this is not meant to be historically accurate it gave me free reign to incorporate anything I felt like. The first effort was a tad deep so I reworked it to make the sides lower and I think that I should probably stop with the virtual world at this point and think about how to build it in the real world. First off, I have to source some sizeable timber planks as the biggest I have at the moment is only 5mm thick. This is proving to be more difficult than I first anticipated as I only need a small order and what is on offer would require a small truck to transport. I think that I have spotted somewhere that deals in more modest quantities but I will have to pay a visit to see what they have in hand. While I ponder my next move on this, I thought that I should go back to working on the much neglected ship.

 

I carried on where I had left off which was the lower main mast. I used Dunnock's advice and used the plane on a beech dowel to get it down to a more manageable size while ensuring that it remained straight. I then I finished it off in the mill and lathe. Third try was a charm. I fashioned the front and side fish from some maple and milled out the filling pieces from beech dowel. Metal bands were the supplied black cartridge paper cut into 2mm thick strips. Wooldings were added using 0.5mm Ropes of Scale dark brown rope. The protective timber hoops were 0.5mm thick cherry soaked and bent around a curling iron. Cleats were added at the base as per the AOTSD drawings. I had to modify the mast hole in the quarterdeck as the front fish extends all the way to the orlop in the Steel and AOTSD drawings although I cheated a bit and stopped this at the upper deck. This is not a disaster as it is not visible and I had no good access to make the hole in the upper deck any bigger.

 

My head section looked a bit odd. When I was double checking the dimensions and proportions against the Steel drawings, I realised that I have bungled the head section on all of the lower masts. I had made them square in plan and introduced a taper to all four sides but on closer examination the taper is only pronounced on the port and starboard sides and the geometry of the head section goes from rectangular at the hounds to square at the head. This meant that I had to run the lower main mast through the table saw and dowel in a new head section using some 2mm diameter brass rod. Luckily this is going to be painted black so I could use another timber as I only had walnut that was a suitable size. On the plus side it was easier to incorporate all the fiddly details when it was not attached to the rest of the mast. I think that building this separately would be the way to go, even if I had not botched the initial try, as you have a lot more control rather than trying to lathe and mill the entire assembly out of a single dowel.

I added the battens and iron hoops using maple and cartridge paper. I had to scratch build the cap as the supplied one was not quite dimensionally correct and had two circular holes rather than the square and circle. I used this opportunity to add some bolts in the pattern suggested by Steel. These were 0.8mm brass rod filed down almost flush. The eyebolts were located according to the Steel and AOTSD drawings.

I now need to move back to the fore mast and modify the head section to match the geometry of the main mast. Nothing worse than having to redo that which you thought was completed.

 

 

 

[Beef Wellington]

Some great detail there David, lovely work and the proportions look spot on.  The iron bands and woolding are almost a model in of themselves which you've executed so well.  Great stuff.

[DavidEN]

On 3/20/2023 at 10:01 PM, Beef Wellington said:

Some great detail there David, lovely work and the proportions look spot on.  The iron bands and woolding are almost a model in of themselves which you've executed so well.  Great stuff.

Thanks for the kind words Jason. I was drooling over your recent post showing your headworks progress. It made me want to rip mine out and start again but I have given myself the somewhat arbitrary deadline of the end of the year to finish my model so I cannot afford to be taking too many steps backwards.

 

Regards,

David

[DavidEN]

I continued wading through the myriad of pieces that make up the masts. I ran the lower foremast through the table saw and replaced the top with something that was more in keeping with the proportions. I had to remake the cap for a second time as the new top did not fit and I had placed the eyebolts slightly off in the previous one. I then had to give the lower mizzen mast the same treatment. I was somewhat disappointed to find out that, according to Lees, the top of the lower mizzen also has battens. These are quite fiddly to make as you have to notch the rear so that they sit flush over the metal bands.

 

I then turned my attention to completing the elements that comprise the main mast. I had already finished the lower main but needed to make a new collar for the junction at the base to account for the increased diameter. This also had to be larger so that I could cut out a notch to accept the front fish. I had to start with a 20mm diameter beech dowel which was too large for the lathe so I had to resort to the milling machine and some freehand dremeling. As the hole in the middle had to be large enough to pass over the lower metal bands there was an unsightly gap between the collar and the mast once I got it into its final position. I fudged this by introducing another band at the deck level that should fill the gap and not be too noticeable when painted black.

 

I completed the tops to match the other two and made up the lower crosstrees. for these I used the kit supplied cross trees but remade the trestle tees. The bibs and cheeks at the hounds were remade as 2 separate pieces as per the Steel drawings with the bibs splayed. I also added the faux bolts to attach the cheeks to the mast.

 

I then moved onto the main topmast. The tables in Steel note that this is the same diameter as the fore topmast but the AOTSD indicate that it is slightly larger in diameter. I went with the AOTSD dimensions as they are the ones that I had decided to follow but at this point I can no longer remember if I had not got confused and mixed and matched at some point. At 1:64 scale though the tolerances inherent in my shoddy workmanship should render that concern moot.

 

The below photos show the parts of the three masts broken down. Sadly, these are not complete yet as I still must add rigging blocks and other sundry items., It does however indicate that I am coming to the end of the fabrication stage of the model. I only have the yards and the bowsprit left and then it is all rigging. I just realised that I also have the hammock cranes, netting, anchors, and the ships boats to complete. Seems like I am nowhere near the end of the fabrication stage. Of course, I am forgetting the giant base but it is still 50/50 as to that happening.

I mocked-up the masts in-situ with all the elements balanced somewhat precariously to give myself an idea of the final size of the model and I was quite surprised at how tall it is. I hope that I have not bungled the mast dimensions. I suspect the lack of rigging and yards is exaggerating the slenderness ratio making them appear taller. I also opted to use the long pole head which adds to the height. There is always the option of switching these out at a later date if I feel like it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[dunnock]

Lovely work David.

She really is that tall! Did you go with the long. common or stump pole head?

 

David

[Beef Wellington]

Love the overall shots, really beautiful!

[scrubbyj427]

Beautiful model! Very well executed!

[DaveBaxt]

The usual excellent workmanship producing a first class display.

[DavidEN]

23 hours ago, dunnock said:

Lovely work David.

She really is that tall! Did you go with the long. common or stump pole head?

 

David

Thanks David. I guess you have had your masts up for a while so you are used to them by now but their height is still quite surprising to me. I am going to have to rethink the final display location as it will not fit on top of the bookcase as I had envisaged. I am currently using the long pole heads but they are built as separate pieces with brass rod dowels so I can swap them out for the shorter ones at a later date.

 

Regards,
David

[DavidEN]

I carried on doing not very much. I think it is an avoidance strategy as the rigging stage is looming large. I went ahead and rigged and installed the carronades. I was quite disappointed with the end result . With the cannons, I had the entire lower deck to practice on before I got to the upper decks but no such luxury with the carronades. On the positive side it does mean that all of the guns are now in position unless I decide to add swivel guns to the tops.

With the guns in place and rigged it did allow me to glue down the remaining deck furniture. For the most part I drilled holes into the legs so that I could insert 0.5mm diameter brass rods to act as dowels in the hope that they give some protection against an errant elbow later on in the build. I also took this opportunity to fix the lower masts in place. For these I used the merest dab of glue to position them. I am relying on gravity and rigging to hold these elements. To be fair, once rammed in, they sit quite snugly in their holes.

 

 

 

 

[jfhealey]

David - I have no idea why you are disappointed with the rigging of the guns. They look superb to my eye as does the whole build.

Fred

[Beef Wellington]

Deck shots in natural light look fantastic Dave, the level of detail you've achieved is very impressive.  Well done indeed.

[DaveBaxt]

Great looking Gun tackle David  and should put you in good stead for when you move on to the main rigging. Have you decided on sails or no sails and if that is a yes will they be furled or not? I am really looking forward to watching your approach to the rigging and no doubt will be up tp your usual high standard like the rest of your Diana's build.

[DavidEN]

17 hours ago, Beef Wellington said:

Deck shots in natural light look fantastic Dave, the level of detail you've achieved is very impressive.  Well done indeed.

Thanks Jason. I do like the natural sunlight but unfortunately the sun only comes into the workshop early in the morning when I am usually fast asleep.

[DavidEN]

17 hours ago, DaveBaxt said:

Great looking Gun tackle David  and should put you in good stead for when you move on to the main rigging. Have you decided on sails or no sails and if that is a yes will they be furled or not? I am really looking forward to watching your approach to the rigging and no doubt will be up tp your usual high standard like the rest of your Diana's build.

Thanks Dave. I am going no sails. I had attempted furled sails on my previous build but I was not quite convinced by the end result. I am dreading the rigging stage though as knots are not my friend.

[DaveBaxt]

1 minute ago, DavidEN said:

Thanks Dave. I am going no sails. I had attempted furled sails on my previous build but I was not quite convinced by the end result. I am dreading the rigging stage though as knots are not my friend. 

I know where you are coming from but I am sure youwillbe fine but good luck anyway.

[DavidEN]

In preparation for the commencement of the rigging phase, I had to complete the tops and secure them in place. Despite spending what seems like an awfully long time working on the tops they are not quite finished yet. I still had to fix them to the cross trees. I then had to add some detail to each of the cross trees consisting of the bolsters and the metal plates for the fids to rest on. The bolsters were formed out of some nominally square section walnut to which I introduced a radiused corner using the dremel. These bolsters seem to be there to prevent the shrouds from rubbing against the cross trees. They cantilever out from the edge of the trestle trees slightly. Just enough to make it look like shoddy workmanship but that is how they are meant to be. The metal plates for the fids to rest on are just some styrene. Probably a tad thick but they will be more or less invisible once all the rigging is in place.

I added the rail. I touched on the construction of this earlier but it was now time to glue them in place. A bit of an exercise to get the holes for the rail to align with the verticals when there are four verticals that need to slide into the four holes at the same time.

 

That was pretty much it for the mizzen top but the fore and main tops have some rigging blocks that had to be installed. The kit suggests that these should be attached to eyebolts located on the underside of the cross trees however I followed Longridge/Lees for these and used toggles to suspend them. The toggles were made from fancy individually wrapped toothpicks reduced in diameter by spinning them in the lathe against some sandpaper. I took these down from 2mm diameter to a diameter of around 0.85mm. I would have liked to go slightly smaller but at this size they tended to twist like barley sugar if you applied too much pressure with the sandpaper.

 

I then drilled holes in the tops and installed them. The Caldercraft drawings show two single blocks and a double. The AOTSD show two doubles and a single but the rigging drawings look like one of the doubles could be a single. I decided to press ahead with two doubles as I vaguely recall Dunnock lamenting the lack of sheave slots when he was rigging his model. I struggled rigging these blocks. It was easier to do with the 0.25mm rope but the 0.5mm looked more the part however this resulted in oversize knots. I tried serving the 0.25mm rope leaving the end free for knot tying, which looked the business, but that was too much of a faff and with 18 of these to put in place it was not worth the stress. I eventually resorted to using the 0.5mm dark brown rope from RoS in conjunction with some sneaky CA. I then tried to disguise the gluey mess with a clumsy seizing. It does not look that pretty but given their location I am more concerned with the look of the toggles that will be the visible part. I am a bit nervous about how they will perform if I apply too much pressure when rigging but I will cross that bridge when I come to it. It was quite a tricky proposition getting those installed but I guess that is just a gentle introduction to the perils of the rigging stage.

 

 

Before gluing the tops in place I had another look at the rigging drawings to see if I needed to install anything else and noticed that there should be openings in the tops to allow for the lower yard sling to pass through. These openings do not appear in the main drawings for the tops in either Steel, Lees, AOTDS or Caldercraft. They do get a mention later on in the rigging diagrams. It would be very easy to not notice this and install the tops and it would be a tricky exercise to cut these out once installed on the model. I initially went for two openings either side of the timbers but then reverted to a single slot which would allow me to fully complete the sling off the model rather than trying to lash it in place with limited access.

I also noticed that I have to fashion a bolster to sit on top of the caps for the sling to sit on. I also have to add some cleats to the sides of the head to hold the lashing of the jeer block strops. There seems to be no end of fiddly details to these elements.  I need to take a break and head out to the craft store to look for some brown thread for serving. The stuff I have on hand has too much girth to it.

 

 

 

[DavidEN]

With great trepidation I started the rigging. I did some preparatory reading but that just led to more confusion due to the many contradictory positions. As this is the first 18th century ship I will be rigging I have decided to treat it as more of a training exercise to develop my technique. Pedants and sensitive viewers should probably look away now as I will be playing fast and loose with historical authenticity to make my life easier.

First pieces to be attempted are the pendant tackles. First rigging, first contradiction. Two sources say two pairs in the fore and main masts with a single pair on the mizzen. Two alternative sources state all masts should only have single pairs. I am going with the former as I am not confident of achieving an acceptable splice for the single pair. I used 0.8mm Ropes of Scale dark brown for these that were served with some Gutterman thread. This was fiscally imprudent of me as they are served along their entire length so I could have just used an old shoe lace and none would have been the wiser. Still, I suppose it helps maintain dimensional consistency. I had some Bluejacket cast metal thimbles that I seized into the end and then fixed the assembly to the mast starboard first then port. I hung the aft tackle about 5mm lower than the fore which scales to about a foot in real life which is apparently the convention. After I had installed them, I realised that I had made my first bungle. According to Steel these should be the same diameter as the shrouds so I have subsequently remade them using 1.2mm diameter served rope although the photos still show the thinner ones attached to the model.

 

I fashioned a top bolster out of walnut and scribed some grooves to take the lift blocks and sling. I then made a couple of cleats to take the lashing for the jeer blocks. These cleats are not the official Diana versions but ones borrowed from HMS Victory as I thought they would make my life easier when trying to keep the lashing in place.

 

I seized a couple of sister blocks to the ends of some served line for the lift blocks. These were then wrapped around the lower mast cap in the manner shown in Lees.

 

The jeer blocks were rigged with 0.8mm diameter served rope. I had initially gone with 0.5mm diameter but it looked to tentative. These were then attached to head using 5 turns of a 0.5mm diameter rope passing through the cleats.

 

 

I used a 5mm single block lashed to the head to take the main topmast stay. Looking at the rigging diagrams this appears to be a 1.25mm diameter rope. I do not think that I can open the sheave enough to take this diameter so I will probably have to substitute this for a bigger block.

 

The sling was made using 0.8mm diameter served rope. I used a slightly larger Bluejacket thimble for this one and formed the lashings as per the diagrams in Longridge and Lees. I have yet to get around to painting all of the thimbles.

 

I guess I should get onto the shrouds now. I should have done those first but I found it easier to get this other rigging on before the tops were fixed to the model.

 

[RossR]

Great start to your rigging.  Really like the sling and the use of the thimbles.  

[DaveBaxt]

Some great looking rope you have there David and your tackle is of a very good standard. You are a natural and I look forward to you moving onto the shrouds.

[Beef Wellington]

some masterful work there David, know how long that must have taken!  You've achieved a very authentic look, nicely done!

[DavidEN]

20 hours ago, DaveBaxt said:

Some great looking rope you have there David and your tackle is of a very good standard. You are a natural and I look forward to you moving onto the shrouds.

Thanks Dave. The rope is from Ropes of Scale. It is a big improvement on that included with the kit.

 

Regards,

David

[DavidEN]

18 hours ago, Beef Wellington said:

some masterful work there David, know how long that must have taken!  You've achieved a very authentic look, nicely done!

Thanks Jason although I think you have made a canny decision going down the Admiralty Board route.

 

Regards,

David

[DavidEN]

I started to install the initial bit of standing rigging and encountered the first series of major mishaps. I began by working on the fore pair of starboard shrouds for the foremast. I had a lot of trouble using the bent wire approach to get the correct deadeye spacing as the wire kept popping out of the deadeye holes. I eventually cut a piece of scrap bass wood with a chamfered edge to match the slope of the shrouds. The deadeyes were then held in place with multiple needles. This was also not that that secure but slightly better than the bent wire option and hopefully have me a better chance of getting the upper deadeyes aligned horizontally.

For the fore mast lower shrouds, I used a length of 1.2mm diameter dark brown RoS rope. This was the closest I had to the 1.13mm diameter as indicated in Steel. I tackled these in pairs starboard to port fore to aft. Once the lengths of the shrouds were determined I served the forward shroud along the entire length as per Lees and continued along the aft leg up to the approximate location of the futtock stave. Serving the larger diameter rope proved quite problematic. The serving thread kept wanting to travel down the spiral of the rope so I attempted to worm the shrouds first to block this passage, which improved matters, but the end result was very lumpy.

 

I persevered with my effort hoping that the ratlines would disguise some of the lumpiness. I tied the shrouds off at the top and seized the deadeyes to the ends. Once I attached the lanyards and tightened them up, I experienced catastrophic failure of the deadeye strops. I had made these out of black annealed wire and despite sanding off the coating at the joint, the solder was not strong enough to hold when tension was applied. I tried two and broke two which is a 100% failure rate. I am going to have to replace all of these and have placed an order with Amati for some photoetch examples. These are etched out of a sheet of brass so there is no joint to fail. It is going to be a problem changing all of these as access is a bit compromised now that the build is further advanced but I suppose the silver lining is that they failed early in the build rather than the end when I was about to place the finished model on its display stand.

 

 

While waiting for the strops, I served the first pair of port shrouds. I took some more time over these, tried to keep an even a tension as possible on the serving thread and dispensed with the worming. This turned out a lot better than the first attempt so I was forced to cut out the starboard pair and remake them as the first attempt looked quite shabby in comparison.

 

As a parallel exercise I had a look at the deadeye strops for the futtock shrouds. I had some 3mm PE strops for these from HiS Models but they are too short and do not extend sufficiently below the tops which results in the hook that attaches the shroud to the strop sitting uncomfortably against the copper rubbing strip on the side of the tops. I made a custom version using 0.41mm diameter black annealed wire using the most basic of jigs that looks like a distressed stick figure. These look the part and are closer to the detail on HMS Trincomalee and HMS Victory but this was all done prior to my discovery of the weakness of the soldered joints of the lower deadeye strops. Now I am not so sure how to proceed. I could probably get adequate joint strength if I use plain brass wire but I then have the problem of painting it black after it has been attached to the deadeye. Glum times in the shipyard. I think that the stresses exerted by the upper shrouds should be a lot less than the lower ones but I shall have to do some destructive testing to see if they hold up. Perhaps I should have a go at scratch building the hammock cranes to really push myself over the edge.

 

Still no strops so I had a go at finishing up the supplementary rigging for the main top. This was done in the same fashion as the fore mast with a couple of failed experiments to try and improve the look of the seizings. Just the mizzen to complete but I noticed the courier company has said that a package is due today so I am hoping it is the new strops so that I can achieve the dream of getting some standing rigging on the model.