Brigantine Phoenix, by Master Korabel [COMPLETED BUILD]

[moreplovac]

Rigging has started. Woohoo....

First, will rig the bowsprit with blocks... by tying the blocks through fore bowlines...



My fancy rigging assistants..



All seizing will be done with strangle knot...



For this i am using jewelry nylon line, 0.2mm in size. This line is nice to work with but it will not stay out, once the knot is tighten; it will attempt to loosen its knot so the drop if a glue is required.

Few days ago i received 500 pieces of tiny glue applicator extensions (on Amazon, for $12 CAD). The diameter of the applicator is 0.3 and sometimes it is not small enough for those tiny drops of glue that are needed. Yesterday i accidentally discovered the way to shrink it: small amount of glue was left on the top of the applicator, i wanted to remove it, grab and pull it up. Managed to remove the dried glue but at the same time stretched up the applicator to the diameter that was just perfect, 0.1mm (or even smaller). So, here it is, when you need tinier opening, just stretch the applicator' end..





Block is added next.



Finished with few drops of glue...







Next are the thimbles for the fore topgallant stays and the gunter iron gantline.





They have to be removed from the frame and glued together. Dont quite like them but until i get some mini metal lathe (and make a new one) i have to adjust them to the best possible look.. Some sanding is needed...








And completed..



Mounting on the bowsprit...







And done... just need to paint them in black...



Happy modelling...

 

[moreplovac]

It is time to work on the forestay collar and the fore-strut-stay collar. Forestay collar will be installed on the starboard side and the fore-strut-stay collar on the port side..

First, remove all laser cut burns...



Then, you need to cut scores in stay blocks... and installation can start..

















Happy modelling..

 

[moreplovac]

Installed the blocks for blind-lifts and fore top bowlines.. During installation process, i managed to damage one block (by squeezing it too hard and breaking it into half) and lost another one. Most likely will find the lost one during summer time, when barefoot walking in the room...

Little helper during installation phase..





The deadeyes for the bob-stay and the bowsprit shrouds were installed next. The process is kind of captured here:





















Happy modelling...

 

[moreplovac]

We will make a strop for attaching a staysail tack. So, here is the process..









Few drops of a glue will hold all in place. The tiny, by mistake extended applicator's end will assist a lot...












Happy modelling..

 

[moreplovac]

Now, lets rig a collars for the mainstay and the main-strut stay...

First we need to rig the jackstay (three are two i am working on, large and small) which is fairly easy by now... Once this is done, lets move on.. Below are steps so i can go back and refresh my memory if i have to do the same in the future. The rope in use is 0.4mm and down the line i decided to scale it up a bit and replaced the rope with 0.65mm..























Now, lets do it again with bigger rope.. Practice makes it perfect..















Same process is done for a small sized jackstay... and the both are installed...





Next step is to make the model even more fragile by installing it the whole set (bowsprit, etc) on the ship...

Happy modelling..

 

[moreplovac]

The bowsprit gammoning is next. 8 runs of loops, over the bowsprit, passed down to the knee of the head, through the gammoning hole, and up again to the bowsprit... The last run was passed over the bowsprit to the middle of the gammoning, taken around the gammoning and made fast..











Bowsprit manropes have been installed as well..











Happy modelling..

 

[moreplovac]

From the back: mainstay collars, bowlines blocks, deadeyes for the bob-stay and the bowsprit shrouds, the staysail downhaul block, blocks for blind-lifts and fore-top bowlines, jib parral with the jib downhaul blocks and the block for fore topgallant stays will need to be added later..











Happy modelling...

 

[moreplovac]

And the last block is on...





Happy modelling..

 

[moreplovac]

The work on yards has started by repainting them in flat black. The shines of the varnish i have applied was not quite appealing for me.



I started to work on foot ropes... by marking the location of stirrups...



The stirrups were in place and i will be making a loop for a foot rope to pass thru.







For this i placed yard in a piece of balsa, fixed it with few pins and lay the stirrups... then attached small weight that will keep them straight.. while twisted around the pins...



Pins have a bit of a wax in the area where i will drop CA glue to freeze the loops.
Now let attach the ring to the yard. First the rope was put around a ring (rope is 0.4mm) and ring was seized. Then, two rope lines were looped like this...





... seized and attached on the yard. Lots of rope pooling (through the seizing) was done to keep the ring as close to the yard and at the same time, to seize all tight enough. The rope was arranged nicely (side by side), drop of CA glue was used to freeze the lines and loose rope pieces were cut off. So here is the end result..






Now the stirrups are left overnight to stretch a bit. Will see tomorrow if i need to run few layers of diluted white glue to make stirrups straight..



Happy modelling..

 

[Kurt Konrath]

Well I must say you have truly been a "knaughty" boy on your bow sprint and yards.

I am envious of your rigging and knot work as shown. You give a good bit of visual instruction to us who are still learning the fine art of rigging!

 

[moreplovac]

Well I must say you have truly been a "knaughty" boy on your bow sprint and yards.

I am envious of your rigging and knot work as shown. You give a good bit of visual instruction to us who are still learning the fine art of rigging!

Thanks for your feedback; i am trying to be as visual as possible since these forum posts are my refresher and notepad for future builds.
Without it i would need to keep separate logs of things i was doing just because i will most likely forget how i have done it in a few months from now...

 

[Kurt Konrath]

As they say, Memory is the first to go as you age, and darn I can't remember what came next!

 

[moreplovac]

Next? What next?

 

[moreplovac]

The work continues...









Wanted to do a bit more complex knot but decided it might be a bit too bulky for a small, 3.5mm block...













Happy modelling..

 

[moreplovac]

Little helper's bigger brother... for tiny seizing work..





Manufacturing blocks ... at this stage they look look like, ah, forget it.....





Foot rope installation has started...



And the end result. I have to modify the shape of a foot rope a bit...



Happy modelling..

 

[moreplovac]

No much available time so only few block have been attached to the mast..





Happy modelling..

 

[moreplovac]

Winding pennants, two of each made even dough plan shows only one.. in making process..



Completed and two cloth pins used to stretch them a bit..



Here is set of pictures showing few other blocks...







This time a big helper is holding mast to provide easier way to work on them...















Not sure if i will leave these two "cream-coloured" ropes; the colour dont match a tan colour i am trying to use. Will see what i can do.

Happy modelling..

 

[moreplovac]

I have played with few different methods of colouring the rope. Used some Rit all purpose dye that worked very well but it does require a bit more time to find correct amount of colour, water, proper glass or similar to hold the dye solution, etc...
I might be using it in the future for sure but for this application i decided to use a simple method: first i cut the required length of the rope and did it 8 times; then i dropped single line into minvax golden oak can of stain. For the time i dipped the whole rope i started to pull the rope up from the can. No need to stay longer. Then i just dried it with a piece of bounty paper.



The results are very nice.



Makes me thinking can i actually make a nice, long hair for myself. I might benefit, who knows.



Happy modelling..

 

[moreplovac]

I started replacing those cream coloured running rigging. The process will require replacing the whole rigging setup, which is not that bad since, in my taste, the first one was kind of too bulky, especially where the cream rope meets the dark brown, at the bottom of the single 3.5mm block.

I removed them and started from scratch. For this i used long/short pendant seizing, like on this picture:



Not sure if it is historically accurate but it looks nicer to my taste. Extra seizing was placed between two seizings, to cover the empty space, at the spot where it say "short pedant" on the above picture.











Happy modelling...

 

[moreplovac]

Continue working on blocks... was thinking i can setup a little assembly line....



...but forgot i cannot pull the blocks between topmast and topgallant mast, so back to old fashioned approach. Will leave assembling line to Charlie Chaplin..























Few other blocks added as well..






Happy modelling...