Hand Tied Ratlines

If you haven't then try using real beewax on the lines as it gets rid of the fuzzies on most cotton type of line. However, it seems most kits now are now shipped with some type of nylon that does not fuzzy. I know about this ship as I built it too. It only comes with plastic shrouds and lines. Yours should look much better doing your own. Nice work !!!

Donnie
 
Good job on those ratlines!!! The internet didn't even exist when I tied my first ones.. I am sure they did not turn out as well as yours.
No, you are right. I started late 60, but with the rigning, I had the luck, that of eldest uncles- long gone- had a few years on clipper ships- Australia or Chile. so from them, I learned a lot. There was nothing at that time. Long before the Computer age, laser cut etc. It WAS PURE HAND JOB.. it was finished 1980.

victoria.jpg
 
It was a tough build, as only the FALSE KEEL, KEEL, BOW part and Sternpost were precut. the rest you had to use your handsaw.. the one with the arch. No instruction manual, but it came with drawings 1:1, where the instruction was written. I think there were 17 or 18 sheets, but they are gone now. It was a model from Amati. there were mistakes, but for first build big warship, it was not that bad. before that, I made quite a lot of billing Boat fishing Cur¡tters- which are no longer in there range, but similar to the crabben cutter
 
It was a tough build, as only the FALSE KEEL, KEEL, BOW part and Sternpost were precut. the rest you had to use your handsaw.. the one with the arch. No instruction manual, but it came with drawings 1:1, where the instruction was written. I think there were 17 or 18 sheets, but they are gone now. It was a model from Amati. there were mistakes, but for first build big warship, it was not that bad. before that, I made quite a lot of billing Boat fishing Cur¡tters- which are no longer in there range, but similar to the crabben cutter
...actually, this is how a scratch build is usually started. You did a great job on your build, even though it was tough.
 
Nice rat lines. Brings up a question for me where using white lines for the horizontals is concerned. So, the shroud lines are tar-coated and I’ve read where rat lines were not. So often though, in movies and art you see them as all black. -I kind of like that look too.

Question is....Should I be tying my rat lines with white line?
 
Nice rat lines. Brings up a question for me where using white lines for the horizontals is concerned. So, the shroud lines are tar-coated and I’ve read where rat lines were not. So often though, in movies and art you see them as all black. -I kind of like that look too.

Question is....Should I be tying my rat lines with white line?
It is as many times up to the Builder Himself to take that decision. I personally do it light black cord-, much thinner than the throughs. General you will see many Models with White Cord - it looks better- where it should be light brown, according to the raw material.
 
Nice rat lines. Brings up a question for me where using white lines for the horizontals is concerned. So, the shroud lines are tar-coated and I’ve read where rat lines were not. So often though, in movies and art you see them as all black. -I kind of like that look too.

Question is....Should I be tying my rat lines with white line?

The truth may be, as so often, somewhere in the middle.
I gather ratlines typically would have been made from material heavily soaked with tar during the making. So they would be of some greyish-brownish colour, given also the weathering and salt deposits. I would try to avoid too stark contrast to the rest of the standing rigging. The same applies to the running rigging, I think the contrast to the standing rigging should not be too strong. The smaller the scale, the less contrast I would go for.
They used often Stockholm Tar, which is obtained from resinous trees and has various shades of brown. Since the middle of the 19th century more and more tar as residue from coking hard coal - to obtain gas for illumination and to make coke for steel-making, became available in large quantities. This tar is black in concentrated form and dark brown in thinnish layers. So one needs to make distinctions for different historic periods.
In general, I think the ratlines might be lighter in colour than the shrouds, as their material may have been treated only during the manufacture, but not after installation.

BTW:
You have to be careful looking at photos of sailing replicas or museum ships, which have often modern lines, which has to be not treated like in the good old time
so you can find in the web every kind of colour:
aa (2).jpg ac.jpeg ab.jpg

and the Hermione, which represents maybe the most accurate replica using natural ropes by 95%:
IMG_04861.JPG IMG_05611.JPG IMG_05031.JPG IMG_05681.JPG

 
The truth may be, as so often, somewhere in the middle.
I gather ratlines typically would have been made from material heavily soaked with tar during the making. So they would be of some greyish-brownish colour, given also the weathering and salt deposits. I would try to avoid too stark contrast to the rest of the standing rigging. The same applies to the running rigging, I think the contrast to the standing rigging should not be too strong. The smaller the scale, the less contrast I would go for.
They used often Stockholm Tar, which is obtained from resinous trees and has various shades of brown. Since the middle of the 19th century more and more tar as residue from coking hard coal - to obtain gas for illumination and to make coke for steel-making, became available in large quantities. This tar is black in concentrated form and dark brown in thinnish layers. So one needs to make distinctions for different historic periods.
In general, I think the ratlines might be lighter in colour than the shrouds, as their material may have been treated only during the manufacture, but not after installation.

BTW:
You have to be careful looking at photos of sailing replicas or museum ships, which have often modern lines, which has to be not treated like in the good old time
so you can find in the web every kind of colour:
View attachment 102514 View attachment 102516 View attachment 102515

and the Hermione, which represents maybe the most accurate replica using natural ropes by 95%:
View attachment 102517 View attachment 102519 View attachment 102518 View attachment 102520

more black or dark brown as i mentioned. it is, in fact, part of the standing riggen and there treated.
 
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