Lovely work Robin, watching this one to the end
Steve

Many thanks to all the above, very appreciated as always!

Hi to All again!

This is a little (hopefully) helpful tutorial, which I have decided to include after I passed on its details to another member recently. Although a simple process, it’s not very easy to describe in just words so here it is in my normal pictorial version.
I will not be getting to this stage myself for a very long time yet, but many others are already up there so this is for all of you.
Firstly, I take no credit whatsoever for this handy little technique, I discovered it and used it to good effect on my very first wooden ship kit, Constructo’s “Grimsby” after reading it in the excellent modellers book “The Period Ship Handbook” by Keith Julier (see post #6 in the Reference Books for Ship Modellers sticky thread)
This is a very easy way to simulate the clutter of rigging coils hanging off the Belaying Pin Racks without having to go to all the trouble of really wrapping your actual rigging thread around the Pins (which is really difficult anyway!).
Again, its simple jig time! And this one couldn’t get much more simple as you can see in Photo 1. It is just a plain block of wood with two holes drilled at right angles, one in the top and one in the side. For this exercise, I’ve just done it all without any measuring, but when doing it for real you need to do it more accurately than this! First off, measure the width of your Belaying Pin Rack, the Pins themselves will be fitted into a line of holes in the middle of the rack so half the width and that distance will be how far in from the edge the top hole goes. Next, measure how high up the rack is from the deck. The second hole in the side of the block should be either equal to or slightly shorter than that measurement. If it’s equal your coils will ‘droop’ to the deck, if shorter, they will have the appearance of the finished article in this tutorial (Photo 9). In Keith's book he also describes making this jig up as a series of holes and pegs along the block so you can make the coils in multiples which makes more sense of course!
Also seen in Photo 1, and in position in Photo 2 are the two short dowels. In my earlier reply on Stevie-O’s diary, I mistakenly said I’d used cocktail sticks. When I come to do this on my Victory, I probably will be using them, if not a brass rod even thinner than the cocktail stick! But I realise now that what I actually used was a bamboo skewer so that’s what I’ve used here again. What you need to use will depend on the scale of your ship of course.
To make the actual coil of rope, start with a length of the rigging thread you have coming down to the rack and holding one end tight at Position A in Photo 3, take the thread down the side, around the bottom peg and back up around the top peg, repeating this as many times as you want. However! Before doing that (I just remembered!) make a little slit with a sharp blade in the bottom edge of the block just to the left of the line of the pegs. As you wind the thread around, try to keep the threads one on top of the other as they go around the pegs themselves. It doesn’t matter how the threads are arranged in the vertical part but if you can keep them one against the other at top and bottom, it improves the finished look of the coil for later. Once you have enough rope on the coil, simply pull the excess into that slit at the bottom, this will keep it all tight and you can cut off the rest of the thread without it all unwinding. The next stage is up to you, in Keith’s book he says to give the coil a light brush with thinned down PVA, which, is what I’ve done here. This means a few hours wait before proceeding though. On the Grimsby I applied a few drops of watery super glue with a blunt needle on the ‘shoulders’ and one each where the coil goes around the pegs. Be very sparing with it though! I just found it gave almost instant results (although a few coils had to be sacrificed however, permanently glued to the pegs!) The finished coil is seen in Photo 4.
The following photos are all pretty self explanatory, I’ve just made up a quickie Pin Rack from a bit of Grimsby plank and one of the first Skid Beams that I removed from the Victory during her ‘Oops I didn’t notice that’ refit! (Photo 5) The rigging thread is brought down to the rack and passed through the proper hole where it’s Belaying Pin sits (Photo 6) and the Pin is inserted to fix the thread in position (Photo 7). Leave enough excess thread so that you can move it back and forth until the correct tension etc. is achieved. The next step is very important! When, and ONLY when you are completely satisfied that the rigging ropes are correct, snip off the excess thread close to the bottom of the rack and pin (Photo 8).
Finally, simply slip the finished coil over the Belaying Pin and secure with a drop of PVA. If necessary, a drop of glue around the front will allow the coil to be pulled tighter around the Pin. Photo 9 illustrates the finished article, note that with a whole row of them in place the coils will have a tighter appearance anyway. (This one isn’t glued at all, just placed on top).
So that’s it, much easier to follow in this manner and I hope that some of you will be able to make use of this easy little technique. I’ll join you here in a year or two!
Many thanks Keith Julier!

Bye for now!

Robin

Nice demonstration Robin, I will certainly be using this idea soon
Steve

Hi Robin.
Looking superp. Look forward to seeing more ian

Hi All!

Many thanks for the kind comments to the above. I used this technique on both the Grimsby and the DelPrado Bounty and it certainly makes the 'tie-up' part of the rigging both easier and a lot quicker!

As you can imagine, the poor old Victory is having a bit of a back seat at the moment. I do need to finish the port aft of the hull sides as far as the application of the enamel wash to deepen the shadow effect is concerned, I might try and put a 'before and after' series of photos together to illustrate how it works soon, (that should only take an evening to do and will be a break from barbed wire at least! )

See you soon.

Robin

Hi Gibbo!

Many thanks for your kind words and a warm welcome to the forum. I'm glad there's another DelPrado on the way and the very best of luck with yours!
As I've commented in this diary, despite it's obvious flaws and shortcomings, this kit can be made a whole lot better with some hard work and creative thinking! Please feel free to use any of my ideas and techniques (and improve on them if you can!) I'll look forward to seeing your own diary up there soon. That coppering with the cheap tape from ebay is certainly one of the better ways to improve her. I would advise doing the coppering as soon as you have finished, sanded and painted the hull with the bottom black stripe, (the rest can follow on later), the sooner the copper tape is on, the more time it will have to tarnish down naturally as you complete the rest of the ship. Don't forget to give the bare wood below the waterline a couple coats of satin clear varnish first, the better the finish of the hull, the better the tape will stick down.
My Vic is having an enforced stay in dry dock whilst I concentrate of the WW1 diorama, I'm at the point of making the various channels and they are a full time job!

Best of luck again!

Robin

Many thanks Garth, glad you found it useful!

Well, its been a long time since that last post, but here finally is an update of the Victory! Unfortunately, this instalment is more of a step backwards!
As you probably know, the last few months have been taken up with the Great War Centenary project, The Assault on Messines Ridge. During this time, Victory has been safely (or so I thought!) stored at the back of the attic workroom. A couple of months ago I heard a thud come from the attic from down below. Occasionally something shifts slightly up there and I thought no more about it until a few weeks later when I glanced at the ‘Ol Vic’ whilst retrieving something or other. Ah! Actually, I was searching through some old bi-plane kits from my youth looking for some Lewis guns to nick (I mean re-use!) for the diorama. Something didn’t look right, I was looking directly at the stern but somehow it looked lop sided. Also, what was that table top oscillating fan doing laying on the floor below the ship?
As you can see in Photo 1, the fan on the floor was the reason for the thud and unfortunately, it had not gone quietly, sliding off the pile of boxes to the side of the Vic and simulating a direct hit from a 64pdr carronade on her poop deck!
The damage is considerable, but at the same time, luckily repairable too as I’ll explain below.
Firstly, the quarter deck hammock frame and net had been knocked clean off, scattering hammocks everywhere! Apart from a slight bending up one end however, the frame and netting is not damaged and simply ‘popped’ off from the bulwarks, this should be fairly easy to put back on. The inner balustrade on the port steps can be seen laying on the quarterdeck in front of the binnacle, again though, no actual damage and it actually clips back on with no glue so fixing back is again a simple task.
Even the port side extra bulwark, seen here broken in two, has a clean break and with a smear of PVA and another touch up with Admiralty Black and Yellow Ochre will be as good as new. The only missing piece as far as I can see is the forward end hammock frame belonging to the broken panel which is easy enough to re-make. The other three frames are present and correct and will just need to be re-attached once the side board is back on. There is a little damage to the actual side timbers just aft of the steps but that may be just where the glue pulled away from the sides during the impact. The main damage in Photo 1 was caused to the poop deck barricade. Three of the square wooden pillars have broken away, (I thought one was gone forever but I later found it hiding beside the starboard cannon under the steps!) Talking of the starboard guns, some of the tackle has come loose and just needs re-fixing with a drop of PVA. About four of the bucket brackets have been broken in half and will need replacing and one of the hammock frames on the netting assembly was bent beyond repair, but again all fixable thank goodness.
As that fan bounced over her port side, (probably French or Spanish made I don’t doubt!) it also dislodged one of the upper gun port lids (easiest part to glue back) and pulled out one of the aluminium ‘lead’ pipes, still attached to the lid tackle rope! (Arrowed in Photo 2)
Fortunately, the projectile completely missed that scratch built skylight – if that had gone I really would have been more than a little ‘miffed’!! (Photo 3) The two pieces of plasticard marked with a question mark really had me confused for days. They were painted in Admiralty black and had obviously come from somewhere on the Vic but where? I went back through the last six or more pages on my diary checking on all the work on the poop deck area but couldn’t find any reference to those two bits at all. Finally today, I discovered what they were – in its final corkscrew trajectory, the fan had actually managed to smack into the lower hull – those two flat panels are two of the lowest side entry steps! The quadrant shaped supports are still attached to the hull however so gluing them back is another simple job.
So that’s the state of affairs at the moment, a week or so of rebuilding and I should be back where she was during her ‘lay off’. Let that be a warning to all ‘storage freaks’ its not just your pride and joy that needs careful placement, its all the rest of the bits and pieces (and potential projectiles) stored higher up too!

See you after she comes out of the dry dock and Happy Modelling to you all!


Robin.

Nice to see the old girl again Robin, sorry to hear about the broadside but just a minor inconvenience for someone of your talent. Good luck with it anyway

Steve

Robin

I am sure you will put this one back to fighting order. Very frustrating when a build gets damaged but sure your skills will sort this one.

Sorry to hear about the prang looking forward to seeing her back to her old self

Rgd Martyn