HMS Victory by Yabuhebi (Chris) - Caldercraft - 1:72

[SaltyScot]

I applaud you, this is an onerous task indeed and you are making a very good job of it.

[Yabuhebi]

Continued to work on the back stays now. They are very labor intensive with the breast backstays requiring a tackle system and more complicate rigging that a standard deadeye to deadeye setup.

 

I have to finish the fore port side backstays and then I will move back to the futtocks and catharpins. 

 

I wasn't happy with the way the mouse looked, so I coated most of them with white glue. this at least smoothed them out. Snaking them was harder than it read in the manuals and books. In the end, my ties were terrible and they are too far apart.

 

It's hard to get good pictures of the rigging, I'll need to put up something white as a background to get a better feel for what's been done.

 

I spent about 3-4 hours just working on the fore back stays today. Rigging the main shrouds for both sides and then taking the time on the starboard side to install the deadeyes, blocks etc takes a lot of time. 

 

The pics really bring out the dust!!!! So dirty, I think I'll have to look for a very soft, light brush to get into the nooks and crannies!

 

 

Edited February 15 by Yabuhebi

[SaltyScot]

Man that is some intense and fiddly work, Chris. Don't take this the wrong way but rather you than me mate  

[Fritzlindsay]

I may be wrong, but are these blocks upside down?

Thanks

Fritz

[Yabuhebi]

On 2/16/2025 at 10:26 AM, Fritzlindsay said:

I may be wrong, but are these blocks upside down?

Thanks

Fritz

 

Lol, you are NOT wrong Fritz. I was overthinking things when I added them. I just don't have it in me to remove them and re-orient them!

 

I may try to drill the top holes but I don't have a lot of hope with such small bits!

 

Just don't tell anyone else!!!!!

[Fritzlindsay]

On 2/18/2025 at 11:10 AM, Yabuhebi said:

I may try to drill the top holes but I don't have a lot of hope with such small bits!

Small hand drill should work without problems.

Fritz

 

Edited Thursday at 01:15 AM by Fritzlindsay

[Yabuhebi]

After finishing all of the various back and breast stays, I moved on to the futtock and then upper shrouds.

I did notice that I made 2 of the back stays on the foremast too tight and there is a noticeable forward rake to the t'gallant section of the foremast. This has also caused a lot of the other lines to droop. It may be the stay that is lashed to an eyebolt, which would be great because I can just cut those lashings and redo. It it's one of the others, the deadeye lashing is all glued, so I may have to look at cutting the tops and retying them. I'll keep you posted.

 

I did the catharpins for the foremast. I think I need to make the others a bit shorter so that the lashings pick up any slack. You can see that mine are sagging a bit. I think that white glue will help to smooth that out. These were the first I did, so I know to do a better job to make them #1 look consistent and about #2, 2-3mm shorter than the futtocks.  Also, the directions call for catharpins on shrouds #4-9, so 6 of them. But the books all say they go on shrouds #4, 5, 7 & 9. That is what I did.

 

The futtock shrouds are attached to a chainplate under the platform with a PE hook and then lashed to lower shrouds. I had to drill out the hooks so that I could get the .75mm line through the hook. I tried to just create a loop on the shroud and then tie the hook to the loop but didn't like that. The hooks are also a bit larger than the chainplate hole so it takes some time to get them in place.

 

According to my books, the shroud is laid in front of the futtock, then wrapped under and around the futtock and then laid on the side of the lower shroud. You can't pre-form the seizing for these, you have to tie the lashing and then add a few hitches. It's fiddly, but doable. The back stays are there and they do get in the way, not unmanageable, but they are there. My feeling is the stays get in the way but I think had I done ALL of the shrouds first, they would have been in the way of doing the stays.....50 50 and pick 'em.

 

 

After the futtock shrouds, I moved on to the upper shrouds. Here I made an installation mistake. The lay of the shrouds and backstays for the upper mast should have the upper shrouds laid first and then the back stays...alternating starboard then port.

 

Since I did the stays first, I have to lay the upper shrouds on top of them. My model will never make it into a maritime museum now!!!!!

 

Adding the deadeyes, I should have waited till morning. I did all 6 on the starboard side and started lashing them when i realized that I was using 5mm deadeyes and they should be 3.5mm. The next morning, I was able to pull the deadeyes off without damaging the shrouds. I added the correct sized deadeyes and was able to add some seizing to secure them. A bit sloppy but done.

[Yabuhebi]

One of the things that has bothered me was my rigging of 2 blocks together. 

It started as I was doing all of the cannons, which require a double/single combination.

I get that the rigging line would start from the single block, go up to the double block, back down and through the single block, back up and through the double block.

 

In real life, this bitter end could be coiled around the rigging and secured. However at this small scale it looks terrible...well at least the way I did it. I seems to create an hour glass shape and my way never seemed to give that coiled look. I think that is why you see so many models use a flemish flake, which wouldn't be done in reality...it's a very dirty set up if you've ever seen what the deck looks like after a few days of rain and dust.

 

Not much to do about the cannons now! I had installed the foremast stay and preventer stay that run through the bowsprit bees. They are then secured to 2 blocks on each side.

 

Again, I just hated the look and the blocks on the port side was WAY too close to each other. I cut the lashing and redid them. This time, I just tied the bitter end under the block so that you get the sense of the block rigging. For the short port side, I just tied 2 knots in the stay that are hidden under some of the other yet to be used blocks. I am much happier now.

 

I used this technique for some the last back/breast stays I did and they look a lot better. I may go back and redo all of them now.

[SaltyScot]

No matter how many times I look at images like these, it never fails to amaze me just how much rigging there is on vessels like this. Honestly, I have no idea how you all keep track of it all. Chris, this looks amazing and you are doing a fine job sir.