Question reg. Masts, Booms ,Halyards for Benjamin Latham

[Hog2sail]

I was wondering if someone could give me the general procedure for installing the masts, spars and halyards?

 

This is my first ship build, which is a MS Benjamin W Latham and I was wondering what the best procedure is for installing the masts, spars and halyards with the various bands and ironwork?

 

Even though this is my first ship build, I have built and scratch built many sailplanes. So I have the building skills, but like my first sailplane build I was kind of lost as to what was the best procedure for the various construction applications. Now I can pretty much scratch build a sailplane blind folded so to speak. As I'm sure many of you can do with the ships.

 

Basically what I'm wondering is should I build and add all the various bands and ironwork to the masts, spars and halyards prior to installing them on the boat? Or should I install the masts and continue the building process with the masts installed? It just seems to me it would be easier to add as much ironwork as possible before raising, or installing the masts with less of a chance of breaking something?

 

I have pretty much completed the hull, deck and all of it's components, so I'm about to start on the masts and spar construction.

 

Any tips, suggestions, pictures, etc. would greatly be appreciated.

 

I've been taking pictures of the build as I go and I'm thinking of doing kind of a photo journal of the build if I can figure out how to post pictures.

 

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

Eddie 

[GLakie]

Modeling books would be a good start. How to Build First-Rate Ship Models From Kits by Ben Lankford------Ship Modeling Simplified by Frank Mastini are a couple of good ones to start with. And of course browsing the different builds right here on this site is also a real good way to pick up different modeling techniques. 

 

Cheers 

[russ]

Eddie:

A good general rule is to add as much detail as possible before mounting the masts and spars to the model. Pre rig the halyards, sheets etc as well. Once you mount the masts and spars it is very difficult to make a good job of adding any other details.

 

Russ