Nice work on the ratlines Garth.

Rgd Martyn

Those rat lines look like lots of work.

Your skill and perseverance have paid well. WTG

Regards
delboy271155
(Derek)

Good job Garth, take your time with finishing touches, she is worth it.

Hi All,

Ratlines FINALLY done!!!! That it for Issue 101 – 18 hours in total.

Some thoughts for those not yet at this stage:

- Use a Good quality, brand new needle and choose the thinnest needle possible.

- I was able to thread all 6 of the upper shrouds in one go, but had to thread the lower shrouds in batches of 3 or 4.

- On the lower shrouds, I threaded 2 or 3 rows, re positioned the template and straightened the shrouds. If this is left until the end – it is really difficult to get the shrouds straight again.

- Once a set of shrouds is complete, take time to make sure that all the shrouds follow the template. I found it really difficult to keep the ratlines tight. I eventually decided that a little sag is actually correct – but I must admit that uniformity is out of the window here. The good news is that you do get better at it as you progress.

- Leave enough thread on either side to aid this adjusting.

- I left fairly long lengths of off-cuts, but I was able to re-use them on the upper shrouds (No waste here)

- Any remaining off-cut longer than about 50mm is saved and will be used on the blocks in the up-coming issues.
Kind regards

Garth

Coming along very nicely Garth looking forward to seeing the next update

Rgd Martyn

Hi Ian, Martyn and Alan,
Thanks for looking in and once again for the kind words.
Regards
Garth

Garth

Very nice indeed.

Its been a while since i last looked in so really glad to see how far you have come with this one and just how well you are putting it all together.

Hi Garth
You have a cracking build there mate, i am looking to do mine in a mostly natural wood finish, what stain/colour product did you use on your hull ?
Cheers
Paul

Hi All,

Thanks to everybody for looking in and for all the inspiring comments.

Thanks Alan for your tip on the thread. I’ve had a look on the net and found some YouTube vids on the subject. They recommend running the thread threw a block of bees wax, as you suggested. It really looks like a good idea and I am sorry that I didn’t do that from the start. Too late now, but I will definitely do it on my next build – the rigging looks so much better this way.
My only concern is, is that once waxed, will the diluted White glue still hold the thread?

Hi Paul. I used a product called Nova 18, Novadye. Its available in South Africa, not sure about the UK.
My colour scheme, as compared to the painted model:
• Ochre – Natural wood, only varnished (Matt)
• Black – Imbuia
• Decks – Natural wood, only varnished (Matt)
• All the deck fittings, masts and spars – a combination of Light Oak, Wallnut and Teak
• The copper part of the hull – I think was Yellow Wood. I’ll check this weekend and re-post if I’m wrong.

My thoughts on these stains:

They are alcohol based stains, the type not recommended in the instructions, but I have been using them for years and are comfortable with them. Another reason that I like them so much is that they are dry enough, at least to handle, in about 5 minutes.

Be careful when applying them as they capillary like crazy – there’s no masking here. Its best to keep the parts in separate sub-assemblies, when changing colours. (Although it is possibly by carefully applying with a small brush, just touch the timber and let the dye flow into the grain)

The dyes are translucent and the colour can be darkened by applying more coats.

I brush them on, but there are other methods as well.

I suggest that you stain a couple of test pieces before you apply to your model. If you don’t like it – it’s really hard to go back & rectify.

Hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Garth

Very nicely done Garth. Looking forward to the next update

Rgd Martyn