Masts and shrouds

[Hemadri]

Bob your advise is a God send. I'm a novice at this art, struggling through a Chinese Halycon kit before I take on a Matua HMS Bounty. The two books though ancient are a treasure trove of knowledge.

 

[icebiker3]

It's really not rocket science. There's an established sequence for rigging full-sized vessels with crossed yards and that schedule works as well on a model as on a full-scale ship. The one exception is that modeler will propbably want to attach to the top hamper blocks with appropriate lengths of running rigging rove through them, and similar small details, "off the ship" and prior to "sending them up" because doing so, (particularly the reeving of blocks,) will be more easily accomplished on the bench.

The sequence of rigging a sailing vessel is set forth in detail for the various rigs in two primary treatises, the first being The Art of Rigging by David Steele published in 1794, often referred to simply as "Steele's" and the second being a new and revised edition of The Art of Rigging published by George Biddlecombe in 1848 and often referred to simply as "Biddlecombe." Each address what the authors describe as "The Method of Progressive Rigging." These works indicate work which can be performed "ashore" prior to installation on the vessel. This "ashore" work should be done by the modeler "on the bench, together with such other work as may be more convenient to do off the model itself. In any case, the order of installation of elements on the model should parallel the installation of the same on the full-scale ship.

Below are links to each of these seminal works. The two Art of Rigging PDF's are listed in the "Masts and Rigging" section of the Model Ship World forum's "Articles Database" at the top of their homepage. If you cannot access them from the below links then try https://thenrg.org/resource/articles, or you may have to sign in to that forum in order to gain access to them.

https://cdn.wildapricot.com/278718/resources/Documents/articles/TheArtOfRigging-Steel.pdf?version=1579727200000&Policy=eyJTdGF0ZW1lbnQiOiBbeyJSZXNvdXJjZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vY2RuLndpbGRhcHJpY290LmNvbS8yNzg3MTgvcmVzb3VyY2VzL0RvY3VtZW50cy9hcnRpY2xlcy9UaGVBcnRPZlJpZ2dpbmctU3RlZWwucGRmP3ZlcnNpb249MTU3OTcyNzIwMDAwMCIsIkNvbmRpdGlvbiI6eyJEYXRlTGVzc1RoYW4iOnsiQVdTOkVwb2NoVGltZSI6MTc2NTIyMzE1M30sIklwQWRkcmVzcyI6eyJBV1M6U291cmNlSXAiOiIwLjAuMC4wLzAifX19XX0_&Signature=asgNOQccAhGr-JCkEd0tTtK2Dh8buUZw0XjEuyIQiyyW03K1oZQtESMdltwNLaTqGWAqRQQVQWOyjtPi9LvB~TNR0mAbeA5A8UzZ944JacFtcR6HLWFKPHuh2DIfBfSnTeY~DCsnBSj-dzh1sfWD~x7p0UFaiRcYnYN0iRY3g1lRBCHA564OyzCHvkYlv3E-vy6R76~oD7i0~Bm9nSopbQX0B4bMlp-4BuSntyCwvv~gtI0SmoAlCCb45AWSGnD6iRJac8VGZe3qS5rOHpvMy8Pg0UMr8nDP9nVHbigJ8z21OtLuOoedhdus2Vj3KErV6l3TCtfi6BzDu2npbr3QAg__&Key-Pair-Id=K27MGQSHTHAGGF

View attachment 562431

https://cdn.wildapricot.com/278718/resources/Documents/articles/TheArtOfRigging-Biddlecomb.pdf?version=1579727205000&Policy=eyJTdGF0ZW1lbnQiOiBbeyJSZXNvdXJjZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vY2RuLndpbGRhcHJpY290LmNvbS8yNzg3MTgvcmVzb3VyY2VzL0RvY3VtZW50cy9hcnRpY2xlcy9UaGVBcnRPZlJpZ2dpbmctQmlkZGxlY29tYi5wZGY~dmVyc2lvbj0xNTc5NzI3MjA1MDAwIiwiQ29uZGl0aW9uIjp7IkRhdGVMZXNzVGhhbiI6eyJBV1M6RXBvY2hUaW1lIjoxNzY1MjIzMTA2fSwiSXBBZGRyZXNzIjp7IkFXUzpTb3VyY2VJcCI6IjAuMC4wLjAvMCJ9fX1dfQ__&Signature=LrKNbLCcLUfZOlTrlcgv3Yi8vLSGn8GPUGjUNY~uCinMRvKnX6UDIdLUS0bIinjgYiF~wM5c4H~hdKZvLs4WhVmKh7RIwuLTb3l9~hcj~f6W2U3oAe6W6YjIH4gL5TCwSHby--UFqCVZvaCzrVeHkBBTHACAWRgJcKoyeo098gRKtTYFLTNQczBwc8U2shMFf2G3kaxQyBdtJ-q8lHF1IcolA23A8Bb4cfIToGjARu51nU6GJlR8DF2xrh8vqYohEvvQPA07GPX6mckDI9FWecg5TUS8PlFz6AY~g-4BMdOt~836VSovXRh-ExbV5UMuAkyYpv17uz2DR0wWvyfFSA__&Key-Pair-Id=K27MGQSHTHAGGF

View attachment 562430

The specifications for rigging Merchant Ships and Brigs are folded pages. The specs for schooners is laid out. Am I reading this wrong? Where is the additional information? Example: see pg 164.

 

[Bob Cleek]

The specifications for rigging Merchant Ships and Brigs are folded pages. The specs for schooners is laid out. Am I reading this wrong? Where is the additional information? Example: see pg 164.

I'm not exactly sure to what you are referring. Be that as it may, the online archived copies of Steele's and Biddlecombe may well contain omissions, as such scanned old books do. Particularly, folded pages are frequently not scanned by the automated scanning machines. Frustratingly, one rarely notices this until it's discovered that just the information you require is on a missing page!

Scanned digital copies of Steele's original book are known for problems arising from the use of archaic fonts in the original. There is a complete copy in the Naval Academy library. A good scanned copy of the Navy's original is available of this example of this very rare book at the San Francisco Maritime Museum Research Library website. See: https://maritime.org/doc/steel/index.php

Be that as it may, an excellent reprint edition of Steele's is contained in Scantlings of the Royal Navy 1719-1805 Comparisons of 1719, 1745 Establishments, Ship Builders Repository and Steel’s Elements and Practice by Allan Yedlinsky (a member of this forum.) This great reference work was recently published by Seawatch Books and is available for $45.00 USD. The beauty of Allan's book is that it is spiral bound so that it can be opened and lay flat for reading the columned data providing the specifications for the subject Royal Navy vessels and the text of Steele's contained in the book is printed in fully readable form. It's not only essential for any serious period Admiralty model builder, but also valuable for others interested in similar vessels who can make good use of the extensive scantlings. Check it out at: https://seawatchbooks.com/products/...el-s-elements-and-practice-by-allan-yedlinsky

 

[icebiker3]

Omg. That is so cool. Thank You for the references. A candy bar for you in the next world!