KTL Faux Wood Oval Rigging Blocks

[Kevin the Lubber]

Hello all. For a while now I’ve been experimenting with resin printing to make printed objects look less like plastic. One of the directions has been to make rigging blocks that look a little more like wood and these are now available for those that are interested. (For those who haven't used them, the major advantage of resin rigging fittings is consistency: every block and deadeye is identical, there is no variation in the hole sizes, rope grooves or hole pattern. If the design is good, they simply work).



The variation in colour within the block is created through a dye process and is intrinsic to the block. There are very slight variations between blocks, sizes and batches, which I think adds to the wood illusion. In fact I should say that, to my eye, they bring to mind horse chestnuts and coffee beans, but “faux coffee bean rigging blocks” doesn’t quite cut it! My production process includes ‘de-burring’ i.e. removing the print support pips from the block, and giving them a coat of Vallejo matte acrylic varnish to protect them from UV and fading.

These blocks are intended to be used ‘as is’, with no need for painting or any other finishing or prep by the user. Just rig them straight from the packet. I’ve made the rope holes a little larger than true scale, to make threading easier, and I’m sure there will occasionally be a need to clear the rope hole of varnish residue, though I haven’t found any clogs so far.You can still over-paint or coat them if you wish and the wood effect can be enhanced by polishing with products coatings such as Osmo wax-oil or whatever else you feel like trying out.

I’ve made these available on my Ebay shop in single, double and triple sheave variants; and for now, I’m stocking the four most popular sizes: 3mm, 4mm, 5mm, 6mm.

Here are some additional photos… do bear in mind that close-up photography is a cruel master and the blocks look very smooth to the naked eye.

 

[shipahoy]

great looking blocks! how did you get the wood color so realistic? most 3d blocks i have seen are in a grey color and need painting.

 

[AllanKP69]

Five years ago I would have said they should made out of wood. Not today, though. 3D cannon are OK in my book and these blocks look very realistic and as you point out, consistent. Will you be adding more sizes in the future? There are dozens of sizes/types on any given ship, not to mention different scales, thus my question.
Thank you very much for sharing.
Allan

 

[Corsair]

Those look very nice !
Do you ship to the US?

 

[Kevin the Lubber]

Do you ship to the US?

Yes Jeff, I’m happy to ship anywhere and regularly get orders for blocks, cannon sets and Cutty sark bits from the states.

 

[Kevin the Lubber]

Will you be adding more sizes in the future?

Hi Allan, I’m undecided on this. I’ve based the range on what has been selling from the “common blocks” range I’ve marketed since last year and there’s very little demand for anything outside these sizes. Occasionally I sell a few half sizes I.e. 3.5, 4.5. The process to produce these is very labour intensive and a little costly so it only makes sense, in my view, to do large quantities and ‘industrial’ production runs.

Another work strand has been cannon barrels and I might finish this off now that I understand the chemistry and production flow. Dyeing yields a much sharper definition than painting and deals with the plasticky look of unpainted resin.

 

[Kevin the Lubber]

how did you get the wood color so realistic? most 3d blocks i have seen are in a grey color and need painting.

State secret I’m afraid, as I’ve spent a stupid amount of time and money working this out. It’s definitely a lot better than painting, especially with respect to small blocks like 3’s and 4’s, and presently I’ll replace my ‘common block’ range (the square-ish variants) with dyed versions.

 

[Rob444]

Hello all. For a while now I’ve been experimenting with resin printing to make printed objects look less like plastic. One of the directions has been to make rigging blocks that look a little more like wood and these are now available for those that are interested. (For those who haven't used them, the major advantage of resin rigging fittings is consistency: every block and deadeye is identical, there is no variation in the hole sizes, rope grooves or hole pattern. If the design is good, they simply work).

View attachment 536052View attachment 536053View attachment 536054

The variation in colour within the block is created through a dye process and is intrinsic to the block. There are very slight variations between blocks, sizes and batches, which I think adds to the wood illusion. In fact I should say that, to my eye, they bring to mind horse chestnuts and coffee beans, but “faux coffee bean rigging blocks” doesn’t quite cut it! My production process includes ‘de-burring’ i.e. removing the print support pips from the block, and giving them a coat of Vallejo matte acrylic varnish to protect them from UV and fading.

These blocks are intended to be used ‘as is’, with no need for painting or any other finishing or prep by the user. Just rig them straight from the packet. I’ve made the rope holes a little larger than true scale, to make threading easier, and I’m sure there will occasionally be a need to clear the rope hole of varnish residue, though I haven’t found any clogs so far.You can still over-paint or coat them if you wish and the wood effect can be enhanced by polishing with products coatings such as Osmo wax-oil or whatever else you feel like trying out.

I’ve made these available on my Ebay shop in single, double and triple sheave variants; and for now, I’m stocking the four most popular sizes: 3mm, 4mm, 5mm, 6mm.

Here are some additional photos… do bear in mind that close-up photography is a cruel master and the blocks look very smooth to the naked eye.

View attachment 536055 View attachment 536056 View attachment 536057 View attachment 536058 View attachment 536059 View attachment 536060

These look wonderful! You may want to consider also producing deadeyes, bullseyes etc!

Rob

 

[Kevin the Lubber]

These look wonderful! You may want to consider also producing deadeyes, bullseyes etc!

Thanks Rob, that's very kind of you, and deadeyes will follow shortly. I'm just taking a little breather, in part to spend some time on the ships I have on the go, which keep getting parked!

I'm not so sure about bullseyes and other specials. I'd like to offer them, but the work time, postage and ebay fees can make the unit costs of very small quantities disproportionately expensive. We'll see, where there's a will there's usually a way.

 

[Kevin the Lubber]

Well, after sleeping on it, as deadeyes are basically good to go I'm just going to crack on with these over the next few days and you'll probably see them listed in another week or sooner. I'm a little excited about these as I have something unusual, in my view, to show you.

I ought to mention pricing, although I'm sure anyone looking at buying is well able to do the math. Once you've added in the ebay buyer fee, the basic cost is £8.20 for a bag of 30 blocks. Postage is free for the UK, with a small £0.80p ($1) postal surcharge for US/international purchases. It gets cheaper if you buy multiple bags. Taking into account local taxes (as best as I can fathom in this very confusing time) the cost per block for a 30 piece bag should be 27p reducing to 21p at 4 bags for the UK and about 36 cents reducing to 28 cents each for the US. I think this is pretty reasonable and comparable to many alternatives.