Rigging Diameter, Early 1900s Workboat

[JacquesCousteau]

I recently began work on a 1:32 model of a Lancha Chilota, a kind of small coasting sloop used in Chile from roughly 1900-1970. (Link in signature). I'm trying to figure out what diameters of rope I should use for the rigging. After doing some searching and not quite finding what I was looking for--most rigging references and posts on this topic are about warships from 1650-1850--I thought that I would post directly here. Sorry if this question has been answered elsewhere!

 

From what I can tell, much of the standing rigging was wire, while the running rigging was rope. A couple photos that show what I'm talking about:

Source: https://www.memoriasdelsigloxx.cl/601/w3-article-86081.html

 

Source: https://www.bibliotecanacionaldigital.gob.cl/visor/BND:320806

 

I recognize that it's very unlikely that someone will know exactly what diameters of rope and wire were actually used, and my sense is that these vessels would have likely used whatever was at hand and effective for the job rather than following fully standardized rules. For my build, my goal is more to choose material that will look in-scale than to figure out how to exactly replicate the rigging. I've had a hard time figuring out what diameter of material would be appropriate for a vessel of this size (around 25-30 feet long) in this period, though.

 

I found some information in Willits D. Ansel's The Whaleboat showing that around 1910 , whaleboats generally used 9/16-inch line for the shrouds and 5/8-inch line for the halyards (I'm assuming this is diameter, as the rope would be quite thin if it's circumference). In 1:32 scale, this would correspond to roughly .45mm/.017in and .5mm/.019in rope (using sizes available commercially from Ropes of Scale--at this time, I am not able to make my own rope). However, while a whaleboat is of comparable length, a Lancha is a much bulkier vessel seagoing vessel with a lot more sail area, so I assume the equivalent lines would need to be thicker. Moreover, the wire standing rigging would have presumably been thinner than rope rigging of corresponding strength.

 

Changing gears, I saw that the parts list for the Model Shipways Willie Bennett skipjack kit, which is also in 1:32 scale and models a workboat that also used wire standing rigging, includes .012in and .02in wire, as well as .021in and .028in rope, all of which are sizes that I could approximate with available sizes of black and tan rope from Ropes of Scale (respectively, .35mm and .5mm black rope, and .6mm and .7mm tan rope). However, the Willie Bennett is a larger vessel, 42.5ft long vs the 26ft lancha I'm modeling, so presumably the lancha could use rather thinner lines.

 

All that considered, at the moment I'm thinking of representing the wire standing rigging with .25mm/.009in and .45mm/.017in black rope, and the rope running rigging mostly with .5mm/.019in and .6mm/.023in tan rope. Does anyone have a sense of whether that would look out of scale, or have suggestions for more accurate measurements? Thanks in advance!

[Paul Le Wol]

Hi Jacques, I have been using Model Shipways rigging plans for the Glad Tiding to help rig my sharpie because they are rigged similarly although the pinky is a bit larger vessel.  Both are 40 some odd feet long and 1/24 scale. The Pinky also has wire standing rigging which scales to 3/8”. So 1/4” (.009”) wire for your 1/32 scale Lancha seems reasonable. Here’s a few pictures of the plans.

 

 

 

 

 

[JacquesCousteau]

1 hour ago, Paul Le Wol said:

Hi Jacques, I have been using Model Shipways rigging plans for the Glad Tiding to help rig my sharpie because they are rigged similarly although the pinky is a bit larger vessel.  Both are 40 some odd feet long and 1/24 scale. The Pinky also has wire standing rigging which scales to 3/8”. So 1/4” (.009”) wire for your 1/32 scale Lancha seems reasonable. Here’s a few pictures of the plans.

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you, this is extremely helpful! I hadn't realized the Glad Tidings was a good point of comparison, but it definitely is. The parts lists online are useful to a point, but the plans are much more helpful.