Hello. I have a question about the running rigging on a ship. Specifically the Endeavour and the Beagle. Both kits supply tan and black. Both these ships were at sea for extended periods of time. I'm sure some of the running rigging would have been replaced due to weathering and wear and tear. My question is, is it acceptable to rig a ship with slightly different colours of running rigging?
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I am sure on real ship the lines would be of different hews of sisal rope color and pitched lines from tan to black depending on their age. You are free to imagine and implement many hues of line colors on the ship.
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why not? the different weight lines may have variations in color as well as freshly replaced vs older rigging.
afterall, real rigging is exposed to harsh conditions plus the actual manufacturing of rope would vary by batch n size.
does it really matter?... keep it symmetrical, its less of an attension getter.
afterall, real rigging is exposed to harsh conditions plus the actual manufacturing of rope would vary by batch n size.
does it really matter?... keep it symmetrical, its less of an attension getter.
1. Absolutely yes!
2. It would be technically inappropriate to not do so.e colored the deck permanently black akso.
3. Rigging colors ranged from light gray (sun bleach) to very dark brown (processed sap/
Stockholm tar/etc). Rigging was very rarely black because that would require using lamp-
black/charcoal/soot/etc. as a "colorant" and these black coloring agents/crystals/pigments
would have dripped onto the decks in hot climates coloring them permanently black also.
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Not to mention the constant need to keep them waterproofed as much as possible. So tar. Animal fat. From what I've read it all went into the mix. So a myriad of different colors.
I can't say for sure and didn't take the time to look it up, but I'd say offhand that the safer assumption would be that all of the cordage for these British government vessels came from the Admiralty ropewalks at the dockyards at Chatham, Portsmouth and Plymouth which produced standardized cordage for British naval vessels. Very little commercially produced cordage was used by the British navy. Rope was essential to maintaining a navy. Hemp was an extremely important naval store and the navy couldn't be dependent upon commercial sources. Britain's source of hemp for rope was Russia. It was for this reason that Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812. If Napoleon could cut off Britain's raw material for rope, he could cripple Britain's navy, which he certainly could not do with ships and cannon. As we know, Russia's "General Winter" defeated Napoleon and the rest was history.
Here is another question for you guys. The rigging lines supplied by kit makers appears to be way out of scale. When I consider the size of a 1/64 crewman hands and what is supplied just for running rigging it would probably be 6" around, way too large. I'm thinking something much thinner as well for rat lines, stirrups etc. What would be your recommendations for diameters?
and thats a problem. scale your ropes seems to be my concern as well at 1:96... (thats been a good size for my home displays)
i started shopping for threads n the local stores are very limiting. i hate mail order because i have no idea what ill get. i like seeing it and being able to mic it in the store before buying. then because ive never made scale rope, i have no idea what the finished size will be.
i dont look forward to experimenting but it seems ill be forced to buy a ton of various threads which will result in alot of waste. im sure the efforts are worth the time and expense. rope making will become another hobby in itself... do i need another hobby with special tools n materials? mmmmmmmmmm
i started shopping for threads n the local stores are very limiting. i hate mail order because i have no idea what ill get. i like seeing it and being able to mic it in the store before buying. then because ive never made scale rope, i have no idea what the finished size will be.
i dont look forward to experimenting but it seems ill be forced to buy a ton of various threads which will result in alot of waste. im sure the efforts are worth the time and expense. rope making will become another hobby in itself... do i need another hobby with special tools n materials? mmmmmmmmmm
Same here. I have checked out fabric stores and sewing centres that stock thread. If it's thin say .018 your okay. anything larger it may be a struggle. I really don't want to get into making my own at this point in life. This is not a hill I'm willing to die on. That's why I have purchased from Syren Ship Models and am purchasing here in Canada from Ropes of Scale.
You'd think they'd at least provide correctly scaled rope, wouldn't you? You experience isn't uncommon. I expect that the correct sizes of the various types of cordage on your vessels can be based on the Admiralty standards of the time or close to it. This information can be found 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. (See: https://seawatchbooks.com/products/...el-s-elements-and-practice-by-allan-yedlinsky) This reference book provides all the measurements any modeler should ever need for Admiralty vessels during the Age of Sail. They are all provided in spread sheet format. This book puts together all the contemporary reference data in one volume and in an easily usable format.
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Myself, I compare scale to actual reality. Sort of like deck planking. A real deck plank would be so thin at 1/96 or 1/75 scale you would not see the detail as an observer of the model. The illusion we put out in modeling is the gift of detail. As an observer of the model, you want to see detail.
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50 years ago master modeler Eric Ronnberg wrote an article in the Nautical Research Journal on this subject. His argument was that it’s better to use rigging line that is somewhat under scale.
Roger
Roger