HMS Victory of Caldercraft by Wil

[Albert Mary]

Scary operation... I don't even want to think what if you messed it up. Happy to know all went right!

 

[Scheepshoorn]

Two weeks after my last post, I've been able to spend several more hours on the Victory. Not so much in terms of visible progress, but more in the form of thinking it through, so I can feel confident I'm not forgetting anything. I've checked and double-checked everything from different angles. McKay's table is my leading reference here, along with the drawings. For details I use Zu Montfeld and Petersson. Only after that do I turn to Longridge if I'm in doubt or stuck.

At the moment, the yards on all three masts have everything I've been able to find in the sources mentioned above.







In the meantime, I've also fitted the masts with the necessary blocks, which I can attach beforehand without the various lines that will later run through them. I don't want to think about having to do this once several lines of the running rigging are already in place. With only the standing rigging on, you essentially have a vertical "flat" plane along the ship's longitudinal axis, which you can still reach reasonably well from all sides. Once the running rigging goes on, the ship gains width and it becomes considerably harder.









So right now I still have a whole checklist of points that need to be done first. For instance, the drawings indicate that in some places I need to make cleats on the stays for belaying lines. No idea whether these were included in the kit, but I can't find them anywhere at the moment. There are also still a few things I haven't quite figured out yet, but that will come.

On top of that, there's the ongoing discussion of whether to fully rig some of the sails. At the moment I'm considering fully rigging the following sails: the spanker, the three topgallant sails, and possibly one sail under the bowsprit. No idea yet whether this will look good.

Since I still needed to order some extra blocks, I started yesterday on the rigging around the bowsprit. A nice change from all the tinkering on the yards.



Now a question comes to mind: in what order should the running rigging be fitted? My first instinct is to start at the top and slowly work down. Is that correct?
My reasoning is as follows:

• As the running rigging is added, the model becomes wider and bulkier, increasing the risk of lines getting tangled.
• Most lines run from the yards and sails inward, along the mast to the mast foot or to the bulwark, where they're belayed.
• If you start at the top, most of the "horizontal" rigging stays on the "level" it belongs to before running downward.
• Lower down, you don't yet have the widening of your working area caused by larger yards and/or sails.
• This way, you can essentially work underneath the lines from the level above without getting tangled.
• If you do it the other way around and start at the bottom, you'd already be filling the working space around the belaying points with a wider band of lines from the lower level.
• After that, it becomes harder to bring the lines from the higher levels down through that.

 

[AllanKP69]

It is not easy no matter how it is done, but the order of dressing in James Lees' book The Masting and Rigging of English Ships of War on page 158 has worked for me in the past. (Might be too much to copy and paste for a copyrighted work.)
Allan

 

[Scheepshoorn]

Hello Allen, thanks for your tip.
Does anyone happen to have this book digitally for me?

 

[Steef66]

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Here's a nice copy at a good price. Usually around 200.
I've never seen it in digital form.