Thanks to all for stopping in and for your likes and comments. I have a little progress to report, I was hoping to have more completed by now but I thought it was time for an update so here we go;
First up was drilling out the holes on the pin rails. They were already pre-drilled but were just a little too snug for my liking, so I thought drilling off the model would be easier and safer. I am using the Sherline mill will the sensitive drilling attachment for this task.
The pin rails installed, I took the easy way out and used ca glue. Very hard to do any clamping here.
Beginning to strop the deadeyes, the lines will be trimmed later. When doing rigging like this I always put a towel on the bench so things don't bounce when dropped. The floor never got any deadeyes this time!!!
Measuring and drilling hole for the deadeyes. All measurements are taken directly from the plans
Cutting the chain plates from the photo etch sheet
I was going to blacken them but in the end I painted as I did not trust my blackening skills and did not want to ruin them. I did wash them in Lacquer thinner followed by a wash in muriatic acid then rinsed in water and repeated this process once more. After drying they were primed with metal primer then painted with matte acrylic paint. The primer was from a spray can which I sprayed a little into a container then brushed on, the acrylic paint was also brushed on.
The finish is quite durable and as there are no sharp bends in the chain plates I don't see any problems with the paint cracking or falling off.
Using the method described above using muriatic acid and lacquer thinner, I tried blackening some eyebolts and they seemed to work out well. At least it is the best results I have ever had with blackening, next is to get the courage to try it on photo etch!!!

I need to make a hole at the stern for the rudder so thought it would be a good time to make the rudder
And the finished rudder, still needs to have some char removed in the grooves
Pin rails and deadeyes installed, at the stern is the rudder opening
I should have turned the model around for this picture to give a better aspect of the deadeyes arrangements. In the picture I am showing the fore mast and main mast while the plans are showing the mizzen and main mast.
Thanks again for dropping in and I hope you enjoyed