More fabulous work from you John, yards are looking fab.....

Regards

Alan

Hi John

what a fantastic Job you have done of this frigate...
I have just joined and have done AL's Scottish maid about 20 years ago or so, I have bought the Sovereign of the seas and that will keep me going for a while!

Kindest regards

David.

What lovely work you have done John! really nice! so much so i'll be buying one too!.. I was swithering for a while on whether to buy it or not... but you have convinced me! Cheers John!

Kindest Regards

David

OK, I realized why I've been stalling on the build so long. I have been taking the production method of building the Yards. That is to say putting all of the blocks on all of them before moving on.

That's not working. No matter how much I do, it doesn't look like I'm making any progress. So I am going to switch up my approach here.

I am going to build each Yard completely and rig it to the ship before starting the next yard. It may take me a few more actual hours doing it this way, but at least I will see parts going on the ship. Quite frankly it can be a little bit dejecting doing all that work yet the ship never looks any different. Also, at least I'll have something to show you guys as well (hopefully now in the very near future).

By keeping the progress more obvious, I feel I will stay more engaged with the build. I'll keep you all posted and see if my new approach gets me more motivated.

Although I have to say the colder outside weather and all of your kind comments should be a big boost to my motivation. Thanks guys!

After I had begun the yards, I realized that each front shroud needs to be fully served. This is to prevent the running rigging from causing chaffing. In the interest of accuracy (and much pain to me) I have decided that this needs to be done. So far I just did the lower front Starboard Mizzen Shroud. Here's how it looks. I've got quite a ways to go to do every single front shroud.



I would highly suggest doing this step before all of the ratlines are installed. Sure wish I would have had this tidbit of information soon er myself.

regards

Here is the difference between the front shrouds served or unserved. Serving makes for better accuracy and realism although it is a subtle difference. Since I only found out I needed to do this after I had finished the ratlines, it will be about 40 hours worth of work. The problem is, if I wouldn't do this I would feel like I missed the boat (so to speak)!

I am almost a third of the way through it, so it will be a while before I can get back on the yards, but at least I will know the accuracy is there. This kind of sticks with what I have said right from the start whish is, If it's not right make it right before proceeding.

I personally am finding it hard to stay disciplined to get through this but it is absolutely necessary from a philosophical standpoint if one is to be successful and consistent throughout the entire build from start to finish.

Hi John
i have just come across your build for the first time on this forum and i have gone through every picture and read most of what you have written about it, it is a truly stunning build, everything is very crisp and precise, the rigging is a joy to watch, and making your own ropes is dedication at the highest, looking forward to the rest of it.
Regards
Paul

Well finally after months and months I have completed Serving all of the Front Shrouds. This has easily been the hardest and most frustrating part of the entire build so far. Just threading and wrapping thousands and thousands of times by hand and having to get everything perfect was really trying. All for something that only people in the know will appreciate. But, at least it's done and it is a subtle but noticeable difference. The best part now is that after the long delay I can finally get back to the yards. And I will feel a lot better knowing that I have made the build much more accurate. The problem is once you know what it right, it's not easy to do it wrong. I am now about 1 month short of 3 years on this project with 1069 total hours on the build and $1747 USD invested in it so far. But it's turning out great. I just wanted to see if I could do something in wood and how far I could push myself. So far it's been a very enriching experience.

I loved Master and Commander and HMS Surprise is a fine looking ship.

As your first wooden ship you have done an amazing job, she looks beautiful. I am hoping that when I start my first wooden job that it turns out as nice as this

Hey guys. It's kind of an exciting update! Tonight I just finished installing the Crossjack. I'm taking a very specific approach.... from the back to the front and from the bottom to the top. This way I believe is the best way to rig the ship as you get a much cleaner approach to the rigging. It keeps my giant hands out of the way as much as possible. The other nice thing is that this yard is relatively simple compared to the other lower ones to start with, especially since this one has no sail. It's not a "practice" one, but rather a good way to determine the technique moving forward on the others.

I am going to post pics of each yard as I compete them. There is so little information out there on the proper way to rig this so I just basically came up with "a way" to do it. This is based on all kinds of Period Ship Rigging I researched and then I basically adapted it and used what would work on my configuration best. It was a lot of research. I figure as long as it's historically accurate, and it really works, I'm good. I figure by posting some decent pics, others will at least see "one way of doing it". At least I hope it can provide some ideas to others.

Anyways, before everything was glued down it worked flawlessly, so I know it's good to go. I'm really impressed with how strong everything actually is. When you make the real scale ropes, it is much stronger than just using plain thread or what came with the kit. Also, the outdoor polyester thread used to make the ropes is incredibly strong to begin with. Anyways it's a testimony to the engineering prowess of those engineering guys over 200 years ago! I really enjoy how much I am learning about what actually went into making one of these things work.

Just the rigging was 18 hours and probably another 20 on the yard itself. I'm guessing about another 400-500 hours to finish the yards and sails, but I could be a little light on that estimate. It might be a while between updates, but if I come across anything I think is helpful I'll post it up.