Green Rope?

[Kevin-the-lubber]

I recently bought an old Revell 1:96 Cutty Sark kit, circa 1975, on eBay, which when it arrived obviously had bits and bobs of leftovers from one or two other kits I.e. I had double quantities of certain things and some non CS parts. It also contained two reels of green coloured rope. This has me foxed? Was this standard back in the day, and are you supposed to bleach or dye it? Or is it more likely just some random aftermarket purchase related to a different line of modelling?

[Jaager]

Is it weed green or synthetic dye green?

 

The linen yarn that I bought from one of the Baltic countries is what I guess the dried flax plant stem would be.  Or at least a variety grown in the Baltic region.  When I owned 5 acres and gardened, during the Winter one year, I thought about planting some flax.  Then I read about the process required to convert the plant stems into yarn and thought better of it.

 

The other suppliers have white, half bleached, and natural - which is not as green. 

Hemp is a tan/yellow  so white (bleached) and half bleached would not match.  I have no problem using the Baltic green for running rigging.   I plan for a dark Walnut (Van Dyke) dye for standing rigging.  But my interest stops at 1860.

 

Cutty is a different generation and technology.  There may well have been steel cable -  depending on when in her working life is chosen.  There was actual petrol based tar during Cutty's time, so actual black would probably match.

 

If your purchase actually includes real linen - that would be something special.

[Kevin-the-lubber]

Photo attached. One reel is about .5mm, the other .6mm. It’s not especially rope-like, feels a little waxy/slippy and has a bit of give. I don’t know what linen rope feels like but my guess is this is polypropylene, because of the give and lack of furring. Mind you, the amount of stretch feels like just what you’d want for rigging, so I’ll definitely hand on to it and maybe use a bit of dye.

 

You’re dead right, the CS does have steel cables; I haven’t even begun to think about whether to try replicating at scale or just use rope.

[Jaager]

I would place a sizable bet, that you have some homemade ropewalk product there.

 

The corrugated cardboard is what I use to hold my ropewalk product.  I used the wrong spacing and got a layup that looked like that --- like string. 

It is probably waxed, so what you feel is probably not indicative of its substance.

If it is waxed cotton or linen, treatment with a solvent to remove the wax may be necessary for a dye to penetrate. 

If it is a synthetic polymer, a dye will probably not take. 

If it is a synthetic, the solvent meant to remove wax may turn it into a gummy mess, so test a small piece first.

It looks like it could pass for steel standing rigging - if the size matches your scale - and even thin black paint - maybe organic solvent based - may make it stiff like wire.

I sure would not have been much interested in pulling steel running rigging bare handed. I would not have wanted to even be on deck if a steel rigging rigging line broke loose and whipped around.  My point being that while steel standing rigging makes sense - using it as running rigging seems like it could have been dangerous.  

[Gregory]

2 hours ago, Kevin-the-lubber said:

I don’t know what linen rope feels like but my guess is this is polypropylene,

Put a match to it.  Poly will melt.  Cotton, linen, etc., will burn.

[Kevin-the-lubber]

48 minutes ago, Gregory said:

Put a match to it.  Poly will melt.  Cotton, linen, etc., will burn

It's not poly then.

 

2 hours ago, Jaager said:

I would place a sizable bet, that you have some homemade ropewalk product there.

I hadn't thought of that. Could be - it's 4 strands which do become quite furry when unpicked and it looks to me as though the strands themselves were not wound tight enough. It seems lighter/whiter towards the centre of the unpicked strands, maybe it's just changed colour over time. Anyway, it does look like it could be good for faux cable; all the stays appear to have been wire, of various sizes.

[Ian_Grant]

Kevin, looks much like the thread and bobbins that came with my Cutty Sark and Constitution kits, in the 70's. Could it have acquired the green tinge over time for some reason?

[Clark Griswold]

Fantasy build as if she hadn't been turned into a floating museum?  I'd replace the line for its intended purpose and use it for something else (dyed darker/black or in its current state).

[BenD]

Green rope 🤣

 

My bet is that the line was dyed a tan color but then changed over time too green. Some of the ropes I dyed tan years ago turned almost pink, I would show pictures but I chucked them in the bin...

[Kevin-the-lubber]

Thanks all. At least it confirms that no-one seems to have ever gone down the green rigging route! I’ll play around with paint and/or dyes at some point, failing all else I’ll have plenty of string for this years tomato’s.

[popeye2sea]

12 hours ago, Ian_Grant said:

Kevin, looks much like the thread and bobbins that came with my Cutty Sark and Constitution kits, in the 70's. Could it have acquired the green tinge over time for some reason?

I still have some of that thread from my Cutty Sark kit from back in the day.  It is definitely what came with the kit. And those are the original spools. As far as I recall, it was always that color. 

 

Regards,

 

[Dr PR]

That thread looks like carpet thread to me. I have a spool that is the same pale green color and waxy. I got it decades ago for model rigging because it is not fuzzy like the stuff that used to come with ship model kits and makes nice rigging. I painted it black for the standing rigging.

[Kevin-the-lubber]

3 hours ago, popeye2sea said:

As far as I recall, it was always that color

Were you supposed to paint it, stain it or something? 

[popeye2sea]

The instructions did not call for that. I used it the way it was.  That model foundered in a storm (the infamous cleaning whirlwind of '79) and was lost with all hands, and I have no pictorial evidence to show you how the rigging looked.

 

Regards,