Probably not. Most ship modelers use metric measurements for convenience because it is base 10 and calculation are easier, plus most of the wooden sailing ship model kits come from Europe. Most model rope suppliers also use metric. I converted the spreadsheet provided by Radimir at HiS Model to inches for your convenience. The second page, showing block sizes, is still in mm.
This scale converter tool makes it easy. https://www.scalemodelersworld.com/online-scale-converter-tool.html
Kurt, it appears that these are thicknesses or diameters of ropes for a scale of 1:100. For a 1:77 scale, I would have to increase the size
On the spreadsheet, you may change the text which is in RED. Read the note in the upper left corner regarding this. Type "77" in the red text where "100" currently is. The functions in the spreadsheet will change all the values to correspond with a model made in 1:77 scale. IT'S MAGIC!
Make sure you also enter a new number in the block that contains the "size of the real ship's main mast". You will have to get that from the data on the actual vessel from your research sources. It is necessary for calculating the diameter of the Main Stay, which in turn is used by the spreadsheet to calculate all the sizes of the other lines.
Hi Ben, I would also like to get the samples cards. Pls, what is your contact ? Tks.
Hi, Kurt !
Polyester is totally fuzz free. Cotton is fuzzy, and is typically waxed with beeswax to suppress the fuzz, and it and linen are two of the most traditional lines for rigging wooden model ships. I only wish we could get the old linen fishing line from the 1940's. It made great rigging, but is scarce these days. You'd have to make rope with the linen and stain it, but it is far stronger than cotton. It still suffers from stretching and tightening from weather like cotton though, so decades old models usually have their staylines go slack. Polyester is like a rubber band. It is elastic, and if you impart some stretch to it when rigging, it will not go slack with changed in humidity. It is harder to secure the knots with glue, however. PVA doesn't stick well to poly. Most people use CA, and hope that a white residue doesn't form.
I'm out of the sample card at the moment but I'm currently making a new batch. You can contact me through the messenger function on this site or ropesofscale@fmail.com
I know this question wasn't aimed at me but I have made a list for cotton vs polyester. This is based on the current threads I use for my lineup, some polyesters have fuzz.
Thanks, Kurt !
All the calculations can be reduced to one for any given scale. For example on my Discovery1789 at 1:48 all I have to do is take the actual size(which is circumference) and divide it by 150(a constant for 1:48) and I will get the scale diameter in inches. For your example 13" divided by 150 is .086". That's the size of the hawser in 1:48. To find this number you have to figure it out the hard/long way once. Because you're in 1:96 your inches(circ) to inches(dia) would be 300 but you want mm so you have to divide the 300 by 25.4 = 11.8, call it 12. So for any rope size in inches converted to mm just divide it by 12. Your 13" hawser divided by 12 equals 1.1 mm. A 4'' rope divided by 12 equal .33 mm.
Two caveats. It's early here and I haven't finished my first coffee yet so I may have screwed up the numbers but the basic system works
Kurt, your quick reply is very much appreciated. BenD's and Don's replies fully flesh out the conversion process. I will be presenting all this information to the NC Ship Modeler's Guild at our next meeting. Thanks to everyone who participated in this thread.
