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Best way to attach block to an eyebolt?


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What is the best way to attach a block to an eyebolt in an 'authentic' way when a hook is not used.  Seems like a basic question but can't find any good information anywhere. Any help would be appreciated.
 

Cheers,
 
Jason


"Which it will be ready when it is ready!"
 
In the shipyard:

HMS Jason (c.1794: Artois Class 38 gun frigate)

Queen Anne Royal Barge (c.1700)

Finished:

HMS Snake (c.1797: Cruizer Class, ship rigged sloop)

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Hi Jason, that's an interesting question.

 

The authentic way varied depending on the purpose of the block, but for attaching to an eyebolt the strop of the block would be seized to the eyebolt, but at model scale this can produce a too heavy look in my opinion.
 
At the scales I usually work at my approach has been to produce  a knot as small and neat as possible, and without much regard to authenticity. I have taken the view that an unobtrusive knot is better than an over scale authentic one.
 
On Pegasus I resolved to do better but I have only really rigged the tiller lines so far and I used a false splice method originally explained by Gil Middleton in his Victory build, and also used by Dafi, he did a post on it in the masting and rigging section.
 
Apart from the jeer blocks most of the rigging blocks on Pegasus are of 2mm or 3mm size quite small to replicate the strop and seizing in a truly authentic way without the line overpowering the block.

 

As we have lost all the previous discussion items on the subject, I too would be interested to see how others have tackled the isue, particularly at 1:64 scale.

 

Cheers,

 

B.E.

 

 

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Hi,

 

I thought blocks were always attached to a bolt using a hook....

I sometimes use the following way when the block is part of a tackle.

Attach the thread to the bolt (using a half hitch).

Then attach the block to the thread by making a kind of strop of the two loose ends of the thread.

using again a half hitch. Finish with two seizings (or at least one, above the block).

This only works if the block to be attached is the one on which the rope for the tackle starts...

Otherwise, its the other way round: start with the block, and finish off at the eyebolt.

Take one end thru the eyebolt, and finish of with a seizing.

 

(I also used some black paint to suggest a metal hook, but that proved to be a bit messy)

 

Jan

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I simply use a couple of granny knots sealed with the smallest drops of CA for blocks upto 4mm, the line forming a simple strop on the block tied off to the eyelet.

Norman

 

 

Current build Trumpeter Arizona 1:200 with White Ensign PE and a Nautilus Wooden Deck.

Built Caldercraft Convulsion, HM Brig Badger and HMS Snake.

Awaiting - Zvelda HMS Dreadnought planning to get the Pontos Deck and PE Upgrades, Panart 1:23 Gun deck model and couple of the cannon kits Manatu - French siege mortar, and American coastal cannon.

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Lucky those, who build ships up to say the mid-19th century - before outside metal straps on blocks, double hooks (devil's claws), shackles and the like became dominant. The various rope strops are really easy to reproduce down to 1:100 scale in comparison. I made shackles down to 1.5 mm in length, but this is tedious and probably not viable for larger ships with elaborate rigging.

 

For blocks seized to eye-bolts I used strops with two false splices in the past. The false splice can be reinforced by a seizing with a few rounds of fly-tying thread.

 

In another method simulating served strops I use silk-covered copper wire. Once this wire was very rare and I recovered some from my father's (who was a radio amateur and early electronics buff) scrap box and from flea-markets. With a market now catering for radio-nostalgia, this copper wire seems to be available again from commercial suppliers. For the strop I form a loop around the block and another one through the ring of the eye-bolt; the ends overlap and are secured by seizings of fly-tying thread. NB. before using fly-tying threads I used a very fine two-ply yarn that once was sold for repairing ladies' stockings - as today they are considered consumables, these threads seem to have disappeared from the market.

 

wefalck

Edited by wefalck

wefalck

 

panta rhei - Everything is in flux

 

 

M-et-M-72.jpg  Banner-AKHS-72.jpg  Banner-AAMM-72.jpg  ImagoOrbis-72.jpg
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BE, Jan, Norman, Wefalck - thanks for all the responses, some great ideas to think about!

Cheers,
 
Jason


"Which it will be ready when it is ready!"
 
In the shipyard:

HMS Jason (c.1794: Artois Class 38 gun frigate)

Queen Anne Royal Barge (c.1700)

Finished:

HMS Snake (c.1797: Cruizer Class, ship rigged sloop)

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  • 3 weeks later...

I am presently rigging cannons on a 1/8":1' Liverpool. I am using the smallest blocks that Warner Woods West has. I stripped the insulation off of lamp wire and separate the strands. I blacken them. I bend the wire around the block and then twist the wires together using a small geostationary. I then simply push the twisted wires into a hole drilled slightly larger than the diameter of one wire (a 73 drill). I use coca to affix the wire in the hole.

Tom Ruggiero

 

Director Nautical Research Guild

Member Ship Model Society of New Jersey (Past President)

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Excuse my ignorance: what is a 'geostationary' ? I know about geostationary satellites ... Did you mean a haemostat forceps by chance ?

 

As I am not a great fan of coca (cola), using it as glue, might be a more useful application (apart from using it as a rust converter) ... or did I get something wrong there as well ?

 

wefalck

wefalck

 

panta rhei - Everything is in flux

 

 

M-et-M-72.jpg  Banner-AKHS-72.jpg  Banner-AAMM-72.jpg  ImagoOrbis-72.jpg
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Good morning weflack,

Thank you for finding these mistakes. It appears that my typing was auto correcting and I wasn't paying attention. Yes, you are correct, it is a hemostat and the glue is CCA (cyanoacrylate). Authentic it's note but, at such a scale, authentic would be tough to do and not look too bulky. Isn't autocorrect word processing interesting?

Tom

Tom Ruggiero

 

Director Nautical Research Guild

Member Ship Model Society of New Jersey (Past President)

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