Thursday, 30 October 2014

Model Frigate completed ish.

Here are some photos of the model frigate, with the rigging complete. Unfortunately I lost the in-progress photos for the rigging.

Some points- four thicknesses of thread/chord/string were used, the thickest (string) for the diagonal bracers between the main and fore mast, and the fore and mizzen. The next thickest was for the uprights of the 'shrouds', running from the deadeyes (the round blocks with three holes in) towards the platforms on the masts. The second thinnest cord is used nearly everything else (including the looping laniards between the rows of deadeyes, except the horizontals on the shrouds and the connecting pieces on the foot walks, which are done in fine thread.

There are useful tutorials on youtube for rigging deadeyes. For example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrImPdbLRAw

I ended up rejecting the shelf pieces with the pins on, (on the deck at the base of the masts) because they are out of scale, and replacing these with small shelves with supporting posts made of matchsticks, and dots drawn on instead of fine drilled holes for the pins.

The deadeyes I originally got were really too big and out of scale, but it would have been too tricky to replace them. Got some smaller (70mm) ones for the upper platforms, though. Some pulley blocks also came with the original deadeyes, but these were also over-sized, so I ended up making smaller ones out of DAS clay, each about the size of a rice crispy. These are slightly flattened, with a groove carved in across the wide end for the chord to tie around that attaches them to the yard arms. They have a hole pierced therough the flatter section, offset to one end, with grooves running up from it to accommodate the chord that passes through.

I bought 3mm thick dowel to use for the yardarms. Really these should have a taper on them, being thickest in the centre, but never mind. The bits extending back from the mizzen mast, the spanker gaff and spanker boom as they are called, are attached to the mast by strips of card, one on either side, forming a shape at the end like a tuning fork, and tied on with chord.

The chords used as rigging are all waxed by running them along a candle. Since I decided upon all black rigging, I had to dye the chords that were originally white.







Only the anchors, flags, sails and lifeboats remain to be added, though I might not bother with the sails.