Thanks boys, glad you like that wash effect, it was a trial just to see what it would do, if it was a disaster I'd just have painted it over again with the Admiralty but I quite like the extra depth it gives to the wales so I'll be gradually introducing it around the rest of the hull sides in the near future, it doesn't spread along as slickly as it did on the video but that was on to an enamel finish but it's do-able!

Right, here's the second part of the Hearts and Minds!

The first job is to tie up the first of the two ‘noose’ ends on the Knightshead rigging rope. The easiest method for this is to loop the rope around either a drill bit or cocktail stick, (depending on the size required) held in a vice. The lashing or ‘seizing’ is then tied up tight to the shaft, secured with as small a drop of super as possible and once dried, the rope can be gripped taut and the seizing thread wound around the rope enclosing both the long length and the short ‘trapped’ length, again securing with super when in place. Once the seizing is done the excess 'trapped' thread is snipped off. This will produce the first loop as seen in photo 1.
The end of the long length of rope is dipped in a drop of super to form the stiff needle as described earlier. (A word of advice: don’t just measure or estimate the length of thread required, I measured the first attempt fairly accurately but forgot to allow for enough excess to be able to grip and tie off the knots! Measure it roughly then double it! It seems wasteful which is why I messed up the first one, but whatever’s left over will always come in useful for something else later on, even if it’s just coils of rope around the deck!)
The stiffened end of the rope was then threaded down through the right hand rear gap in the Marine’s Walk, through that drilled hole in the Knightshead and then down through the bow grating, through the slot in the beak head where the gammoning passes through and then back up following the same route in reverse via the portside Knightshead and back up through the Marine’s Walk.
We now have a loop of thread with a noose on one end and the ‘needle’tip on the other. Checking against the reference book plans, the open heart needs to be just aft of the bow fence work so the noosed end was gently pulled back until it could be looped around giving enough room for the heart to go slightly aft of it. (Photo 1 again.)
Once in position, the free end is passed through the noose and clipped in position with sprung tweezers before seizing the loop closed as before as in Photo 2.
The Open Heart is now placed into the loop of thread and a length of thread tied on at its centre. This thread, (not visible in the photos) is run all the way back to the main mast position where I’d stuck a piece of dowel down the mast hole to form a temporary hitching post (or Granny post if you could see my knots!) This holds the open heart and associated ropes taut enough to be able to lash up the rope to the legs of the heart as seen in Photos 3 and 4. For the absolute purists, I’ve put too much seizing on the legs it should only be around three or four turns not the seven or eight I put on, fortunately the whole thing is painted in Admiralty Dull Black to simulate the tar preservative so it doesn’t show up so much once painted and drybrushed.
The long thread securing the heart to the mast/dowel is then untied from the open heart and tied instead around the side grooves on the Closed Heart, sliding it back around an inch and a half before knotting the long thread behind the closed heart. This proved very infuriating with the knots coming loose repeatedly, in the end I was forced to superglue them tight.
Finally, the two hearts were lashed together with the thinner natural coloured thread, first tied off on the centre of the closed heart and then passed back and forth between the two. It is very important at this stage to ensure that the lashing thread is passed through the gap in the open heart and the slot in the closed one in a regular and orderly fashion (God I’m sounding like a Headmaster now!), in other words, from the closed heart centre down underneath the open, up through the gap and back up to the closed heart’s slot passing down through it. If the closed heart is accidentally twisted during this process the lashing won’t stay neat and tidy – it took me at least three attempts, probably due to those knots coming loose and the heart spinning around as a consequence. The final effect is seen in Photo 5. The thread going back to the dowel is only temporary, hence the ‘sticking out’ end by the heart.
Finally, in Photo 6 you can see the next two hearts which I made up for the construction tutorial above, they will eventually be used on the Main Stay Preventer rigging which sits just above this one and ropes around the bowsprit. Above the scratch built hearts are the plastic ‘things’ supplied by DelPrado. I’ve nothing against them supplying plastic blocks but surely they could have been moulded to look like the real thing?
That’s all for now, Happy Building to you all, it’s either the Preventer Stay or the Poop Deck Barricade for next time.

Robin

Robin, been a little while since i last looked in on this I can only say wow. she is looking stunning and your effort and skill is a credit to you (doffs hat)

J

Lovely work robin i tried making those two pieces, it was tough!

Very nice work Robyn, sure is looking good

Robin, I stand and salute you for some wonderful and inspiring work.... Brilliant....

Regards

Alan

Love your fire bucket arms. some real painstaking work but the results are great,

Good job

Jase

Amazing stuff Robin
Regards
Alan

Thanks again for those lovely comments boys, warm glow mode activated!

OK here's part two:
Once the lower part of the barricade was complete the next section was the hammock frame and netting. This was constructed in exactly the same manner as the waist barricade netting shown earlier in the build (more on that section below).
The basic frame of the hammock net was made from my new roll of 0.5mm brass wire. The wire was pulled out approx. six inches at a time and straightened out as best I could, (for these short lengths of about an inch or so, ‘fairly straight’ is fine). The wire was then bent into the ‘U’ shape, once the first one is done that is used as the pattern for the rest, many of them taking a couple of bendings and straightenings to get the size right. (I must think about making some kind of bending jig to make this job a little easier – there’s dozens more of these things to make around the decks!!). The ‘U’s were made a little longer than required so that the ‘helping hands’ tool would have something to hold on to when it was holding each frame in place for the soldering.
The first two frames were soldered onto the brass strip base, one at each end of the marked out length for the completed frame. Next came the most difficult part; soldering the straight horizontal rods onto the end frames at the correct height. For this length, I used a strip of same diameter brass rod as this was completely straight. This has to be securely soldered into place but without the soldering iron melting the blob of solder holding the end frame to the base! One side did OK, the other …..!!!
I got the rods in place eventually (I got these brass rods from a new supplier I found on the web by the name of “Eileen’s Emporium”. I only found this site when I was searching for Blacken-It and found a reference to brass for model railways at Eileen’s Emporium. They had a wider range of sizes of brass than many other suppliers I’ve used in the past, the prices aren’t bad at all and the delivery time was very good as well. I’d highly recommend this supplier for all kinds of metal bits and bobs. OK, adverts over and back to the program!
Where was I? Oh yeah, once the horizontal bars were in place on the inside of the frames, the other frames were then held inside the rods by the helping hands with their bases resting on the brass strip base before being soldered into their previously marked spacings. Note: their bases were not soldered down like the end frames, just where they touched the rod. Once all the frames were in, the excess lengths were snipped off with a pair of small snips leaving the framework as seen in the left hand photo below.
The snipped ends and any ‘blobs’ of solder were ground away with the rotary and a diamond cut off disc before the ‘U’ frames were painted with Admiralty Metal Black and the rods painted with Citadel grey. (Forgot to say the two end frames were gently de-soldered and the frame removed from the base before the painting stage! )
The next task was to paint a section of my flimsier black nylon mesh with the same grey acrylic and, once dry, cut to size to fit into the frame. To do this I used a piece of thin card, wrapped the mesh around the edge of the card and then slid it down into the frame. By lining one edge of the mesh up with the rod I could then gently slice a slit into the mesh on the other side of the card, again in line with the other rod, remove the mesh and with a metal ruler as a straight edge, cut the mesh to size with a safety razor blade. That was the ‘easy’ bit done!
The final task was to cut a length of white cotton thread to form the lashing to secure the mesh to the rods. The reason I mentioned the earlier waist barricade netting was that I had already done this procedure on that frame. Unfortunately, instead of the cotton thread I did it with my thinnest rigging thread and after I’d finished and put more super glue on it than I should have, I decided that the lashing was too thick, not only that but the end ‘U’ frame broke away and refused to be glued back no matter what I tried to use on it. So… I’ve decided to start that one again from scratch – Oh Joy!
The cotton thread was treated to the super glue stiffened end routine and starting at one end passed the ‘awl’ through a mesh hole then back around the rod and through the mesh again, basically, sewing the mesh to the rod. Very fiddly and very time consuming but the final effect I think is well worth the effort. The finished frame was then super glued into position on top of the barricade shelf with it’s bucket supports. The final act in this performance is yet to come, I’m going to make up some white Milliput epoxy putty and roll it out into a very thin sausage before slicing that sausage into short lengths, the same scale length as the hammocks. Once hardened off, these will be inserted into the netting to fill up the frames as they were in action.
More on that later.

See you soon and Happy Building to All

Robin

Ah! I just remembered something. That problem I mentioned with the dowel in the main mast hole leaning over was a false alarm! Because that dowel was slimmer than the main mast it wasn't actually sitting on the mast footing, it had gone right down to the bottom of the keel off to one side! Phew!

Hmmm, yeah! That makes two of us!!

Robin

Love it Robin, simply love it..... .. Think when I start my Vic your diary will be in full view so I don't miss any of the tips and techniques you describe..... .. You have come a long way since you first started this upgrade and now look at her....

Regards

Alan