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Belaying pins

Don Case

Don Case

Joined
Jul 10, 2021
Messages
1,718
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Location
Vancouver Island
I'm getting close to rigging the Discovery1789. Time to think about parts. Could anyone give me a rough Idea of how many belaying pins I'll want? 100? 200? 500? I haven't a clue. The Discovery is very roughly the same as the Bounty or the Swan series if that helps.
 
Does any of the rigging diagrams have numbers for the lines, or some companies give you a "pin" diagram showing which line attaches to what pin in what location.

They are often numbered to give a hint of how many are needed.

I would suggest about 200 to start with so you have some extras as you will drop or brake some.
 
Thanks Kurt. I don't have any drawings of the running rigging. After I posted I noticed that Mondfeld says there were 150+ ropes so your 200 estimate sounds good. 50 sounds about right for droppage :)
 
I've been studying drawings of belaying pins and rails all morning and it looks to me like the pins are about a foot apart. I can't find a proper measurement. Is a foot about right? Maybe a little closer?
 
Take a look here

rw0039.jpg

Belaying Pin​

Belaying pin carved from a single piece of wood. It has been stained and varnished.

Screenshot 2023-01-19 084433.png

Belaying Pin | Royal Museums Greenwich

www.rmg.co.uk www.rmg.co.uk


or also shorter - but this is looking for me too short - it was maybe part of a boat and not for running rigging of a ship

rt8437.jpg

Screenshot 2023-01-19 084542.png
 
Thank you very much Phil. It would be nice if a couple more could chime in to see an average. 5mm is .2" which is great because my mill moves .1" per turn of the handle.
 
During searching for the other post

No room for pin rails.

I'm planning the rigging for the Discovery1789. I'm looking at pin rails at the moment. I'm thinking I need at least 100 belaying pins. The problem with the Discovery is that it has hardly any bulwarks to hang pin rails on. When they raised the quarter deck and the forecastle they made the decks...
shipsofscale.com

I found several examples and we can see, that the distance between the pins is variable, means it depends on the size and thickness of the ropes

stronger and longer ropes have a bigger distance, which makes sense to have enough space for the rope

7377201202_d20c1195d6_b.jpg Screenshot 2023-01-20 090229.png

smaller and thinner ropes do not need so much space, so the pins can be closer

Screenshot 2023-01-20 090258.png Screenshot 2023-01-20 090324.png

Screenshot 2023-01-20 114214.png

and somehow in the middle - already a little bit cluttered

1135166.jpg

IMG_5579-k-full.jpg

Also important I think will be, which types or kind (especially the diameter) of pins you will use for your model? The distance between your pins on the model will be also defined by this

wooden like on @Philski ´s example, or maybe some metal like offered from @Dry-Dock Models & Parts which are much smaller / thinner

Screenshot 2023-01-20 092352.png

drydockmodelsandparts.com

0.6mm Tiny Brass Belaying Pins 10/bag

Dry - Dock Models & Parts is providing high quality ship model fittings and parts
drydockmodelsandparts.com drydockmodelsandparts.com
 
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Thank you Uwe, I can always count on you for help :) So this means that before I make/install the pin rails I have to know what is going to be belayed on them. This is getting hard. And I don't know if I'm actually capable of doing all the rigging. Just rigging the guns was difficult and I could hold them in a vice out in the open. From your pictures it does look like I can hang pin rails on the railings so that's a good thing. I'll have to give this some thought.
 
Did they really have varying spacing between pins or just a standard spacing and if a rope was heavier and /or had a larger coil of rope on it you'd just leave the holes either side of that pin empty to give more space. I seems very inflexible to think that the pitch of the belaying pin spacing would be set by the rail at rime of manufacture.
 
I'm new at this but I'm getting the impression that the ship builders back then didn't think like us. They seem to have built things for a particular function and that was it. No (or little) standardization. I got my first glimpse into this when I was framing the Discovery. Whereas we would have standard deck sections and/or beams they built each deck and its parts according to it's use and load. Each piece was cut according to what was needed. No 2x4's 2x6's and 2x10's. This makes me think that when they were hanging a pin rail on a bulwark they knew exactly what ropes were going to be belayed on it so they knew the spacing needed. The captains may have changed minor things on the way a ship was rigged but I'll bet he was limited by the size/spacing of the various pin rails.
 
Do you have the lengths of the pin rails? If so then, after determining the number of pins needed on that rail, space them evenly across the pin rail. Another way of looking at the problem is to determine the number of belays needed in a specific area, make the pin rail long enough to carry the number of pins needed spaced an average of 5mm apart at 1/48 scale. Just ideas not knowing what plan set information you may have…
 
The drawings I have don't show pin rails. The Discovery is one of those ships that "shouldn't be built" due to lack of information.
 
Don Case said:
I'm getting close to rigging the Discovery1789. Time to think about parts. Could anyone give me a rough Idea of how many belaying pins I'll want? 100? 200? 500? I haven't a clue. The Discovery is very roughly the same as the Bounty or the Swan series if that helps.
Click to expand...
About a hundred.
 
One of the fun things about the hobby is accumulating a “stash” of pieces, parts, extra wood, etc., to use later especially for kit bashing. After a dozen plus kits I have a healthy go-to stash of extra stuff that I often dig into when building a kit. Sometimes the stash has rescued me when I either broke a part or lost it into the black hole around my workbench…you know…when you drop something on the floor but can never find it again! Anyway…add the extra pins to your stash to use later!
 
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