Attached are several photos of an Amati Xebec which I recently completed. I made several changes in the model which may be of interest to others.
The cannons are fully rigged including the train tackles. The cannon barrels were painted with satin black laquer; the falconers were treated with ‘Brass Black’ which I prefer. The outboard deck gratings are set flush with the deck planking ( I have commented on this in earlier submissions). The launch has been fully fitted out with a sailing rig as well as oars.
Port and starboard upper backstays have been added to both yards. These are listed in the rigging discussion of le Requin but are oddly absent in the Amati rigging diagram which show only a port pendant block with falls leading in an awkward manner to both sides. The single parrel bands are fixed to the toggle pendants holding the yards, pass around the mast to a single block and then down to cleats on the bottoms of the masts.
The halyards (jeers) on both masts have been fitted with a 5 part block and tackle systems similar to that shown on le Requin rather than the simple single halyard in the Amati plans. Since the actual yards weigh several thousand pounds this I thought this change necessary.
On a whim, I added 2 reefing bands to all the sails. In retrospect this was probably overkill and the mizzen is sufficiently small the it would probably never have ro be reefed at all. The sails were attached to the yards with a single line and series of half hitches, mostly for convenience. Normally the attachment points would consist of individual knotted hanks. One reference specifies these as being 3-4” in diameter to provide footholds for sailors to climb the yards to furl the sails. Knotting these must required considerable muscle!
It is worth mentioning that I purchased large diameter rope for the anchor lines from the Siren Ship Model Company. It is without doubt the best rigging line I have ever used and I recommend it highly.
The cannons are fully rigged including the train tackles. The cannon barrels were painted with satin black laquer; the falconers were treated with ‘Brass Black’ which I prefer. The outboard deck gratings are set flush with the deck planking ( I have commented on this in earlier submissions). The launch has been fully fitted out with a sailing rig as well as oars.
Port and starboard upper backstays have been added to both yards. These are listed in the rigging discussion of le Requin but are oddly absent in the Amati rigging diagram which show only a port pendant block with falls leading in an awkward manner to both sides. The single parrel bands are fixed to the toggle pendants holding the yards, pass around the mast to a single block and then down to cleats on the bottoms of the masts.
The halyards (jeers) on both masts have been fitted with a 5 part block and tackle systems similar to that shown on le Requin rather than the simple single halyard in the Amati plans. Since the actual yards weigh several thousand pounds this I thought this change necessary.
On a whim, I added 2 reefing bands to all the sails. In retrospect this was probably overkill and the mizzen is sufficiently small the it would probably never have ro be reefed at all. The sails were attached to the yards with a single line and series of half hitches, mostly for convenience. Normally the attachment points would consist of individual knotted hanks. One reference specifies these as being 3-4” in diameter to provide footholds for sailors to climb the yards to furl the sails. Knotting these must required considerable muscle!
It is worth mentioning that I purchased large diameter rope for the anchor lines from the Siren Ship Model Company. It is without doubt the best rigging line I have ever used and I recommend it highly.
