Just wanted to pass along some significant lessons learned from my perspective as a first time attempter of fully rigging (or getting as close as I can) a model ship. Just happens to be HMS Victory so no pressure there. I must say that I feel like a pilgrim in an unholy land the deeper I get into this.
Anyway, the reason for this post is that I have just completed fore and main mast shrouds with associated deadeyes. Mizzen awaits. I had started on the ratlines on the starboard side of the mainmast and noticed that my shrouds were not as stiff as they probably should be. Difficult to keep straight. I tried putting some sealer on those shrouds to stiffen them, didn't help and not recommended. In a previous post, Paul V provided the right answer which is to make sure you get the shrouds tight enough using the deadeyes. When I shifted to the foremast shrouding, I did a much better job of snugging up those deadeyes to get the shrouds tight. This is where the lesson comes in. When attaching the channels to the sides of the ship weeks ago, the instructions call for glue and pinning. Seemed like overkill at the time but I did follow as written. Boy am I glad I did. When you start tugging on deadeye lines, you realize that you have 11 of them on each side and you are tightening a 1.3mm shroud. Takes a fair amount of tension to get a shroud relatively taut. Multiply that by 11 and I was very concerned that I would hear the crack of death as the channel with all the deadeyes broke free of the side of the ship. The chainplates underneath the channel helped prevent this in real life but not sure how much counter support they provide on a model. Anyway, this is the first time that I have had real structural concerns on a build, wanted to toss it out there. OBTW, ratlines are as tedious as advertised.