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Stirrups

  • Thread starter Thread starter 2rods
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2rods

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Feb 28, 2026
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What’s the easiest and quickest way to make the yard stirrups? Building the Victory and there’s a lot of them. Thanks
 
Yes. Making stirrups is a pain. Especially making them to look to hang down straight and forcing the foot rope to look hanging naturally. I was not able to work out a reasonable solution.
 
2rods said:
What’s the easiest and quickest way to make the yard stirrups?
Click to expand...
There is no easy way to make these and have them look right. What is your scale? I have seen copper wire used for the stirrups as it is soft and easy to shape and rope for the foot ropes on the smallest scales.
Allan
 
I am interested to know how the blackened wire works out. I have used uncoated copper wire then brush a little diluted liver of sulfur to turn it black once everything is in place. It has never been a problem, but if the blackened wire comes in all the same sizes and does not lose its finish when bending, it saves a step. Thanks in advance YT
Allan
 
Use wire.
I have put the stirrups on first.
Then hang the foot rope (also wire).
Shape the foot rope to where you want it to hang.
Then bend up the stirrup around behind the foot rope.
Trim to suit.
If the trimmed end of the strip is aft of the foot rope it’s not as noticeable.
 
On some models I have used eyebolts (kit left-overs) as stirrups. They were quite long, used thin wire and had a small eye. I can't remember which kit maker they came from. They seemed about right for scale. I just pushed the ends into the yard. A cosmetic band of wire or thread could be added round the yard if required.
The photo below shows some blackened copper wire I bought some time ago. I have screwed up the end and the coating seemed to survive.
Aside: Ny profile that Amazon has built up has concluded that my hobby is jewellery making because I buy a lot of wire, small vices, bead grippers etc!
black wire.jpg
 
AllanKP69 said:
There is no easy way to make these and have them look right. What is your scale? I have seen copper wire used for the stirrups as it is soft and easy to shape and rope for the foot ropes on the smallest scales.
Allan
Click to expand...
1:98 is the scale
 
Maybe once you see what the sizes of the footropes and stirrups are you can decide what material to use. Keep in mind on the actual ship the stirrups were served and hung three feet below the yard. At your scale it will be difficult to serve the stirrups unless you use copper wire and super small thread for the serving. I would forget the serving, but your choice.

Main mast diameter on Victory is supposedly 41". The main stay circumference is thus about 20.5" (6 1/2") The footropes are thus 1.5" diameter and the stirrups are 1" diameter.
At 1:98 the stirrups would be 0.01" diameter and the footropes 0.015" diameter. If you go with thread, the stirrups would be Tex 45 or 50 medium to heavy commercial sewing thread. If copper wire, 30 gage. For the footropes, the thread to match the rope size would be Tex 100 to 130. Hope this helps
Allan
 
I would not overlook using brass wire. T.his appears to be a case where stiffness helps. If you do use brass, do not anneal it. A tiny eye at the bottom can be easily soldered with soft solder that can be bought in various diameters to avoid just getting a blob. I have a roll of .01” that would work for this.

Roger
 
Short John Bronze said:
On some models I have used eyebolts (kit left-overs) as stirrups. They were quite long, used thin wire and had a small eye. I can't remember which kit maker they came from. They seemed about right for scale. I just pushed the ends into the yard. A cosmetic band of wire or thread could be added round the yard if required.
The photo below shows some blackened copper wire I bought some time ago. I have screwed up the end and the coating seemed to survive.
Aside: Ny profile that Amazon has built up has concluded that my hobby is jewellery making because I buy a lot of wire, small vices, bead grippers etc!
View attachment 644308
Click to expand...
I second this idea. At 1:96 scale small eyebolts can be used. They already have the eye for the foot ropes to go through.


Model expo have a variety of different sizes available.

Rob
 
As always and as it should be, your choice in the end. :) The eyebolts at Model Expo look much larger than 0.01" (0.25mm) diameter that would be to scale. They describe them as 0.75mm so triple what they should be. Also, they are only 6mm long which is far short of the 3 feet they would hang down. 6mm is closer to two feet so will not be close to what they should be at 1:98.
 
AllanKP69 said:
As always and as it should be, your choice in the end. :) The eyebolts at Model Expo look much larger than 0.01" (0.25mm) diameter that would be to scale. They describe them as 0.75mm so triple what they should be. Also, they are only 6mm long which is far short of the 3 feet they would hang down. 6mm is closer to two feet so will not be close to what they should be at 1:98.
Click to expand...
OH well another idea dashed into dust! :rolleyes:
 
AllanKP69 said:
As always and as it should be, your choice in the end. :) The eyebolts at Model Expo look much larger than 0.01" (0.25mm) diameter that would be to scale. They describe them as 0.75mm so triple what they should be. Also, they are only 6mm long which is far short of the 3 feet they would hang down. 6mm is closer to two feet so will not be close to what they should be at 1:98.
Click to expand...
Amati ?
Eyepin Copper 2mm x 0.5 x 11mm
£1.70 per 100.
 
Hi
I use rigging thread of appropriate thickness to first form the eye by wrapping around a pin or needle to suit. The stirrup is then fitted to the yard at required length, weighted at the eye, then brushed with CA glue until it dries stiff. Then thread the footrope through. Seems to work for me.
 
AllanKP69 said:
Maybe once you see what the sizes of the footropes and stirrups are you can decide what material to use. Keep in mind on the actual ship the stirrups were served and hung three feet below the yard. At your scale it will be difficult to serve the stirrups unless you use copper wire and super small thread for the serving. I would forget the serving, but your choice.

Main mast diameter on Victory is supposedly 41". The main stay circumference is thus about 20.5" (6 1/2") The footropes are thus 1.5" diameter and the stirrups are 1" diameter.
At 1:98 the stirrups would be 0.01" diameter and the footropes 0.015" diameter. If you go with thread, the stirrups would be Tex 45 or 50 medium to heavy commercial sewing thread. If copper wire, 30 gage. For the footropes, the thread to match the rope size would be Tex 100 to 130. Hope this helpS
Click to expand...
 
Stirrups were or are more or less straight, not in bights when free of the load of men. Only the 2 ends showed a soft bend. On top yards at the mot 3 ft. deep. But I am not sure how stirrups were made, or looked in the 1800. Searching in de Van Develde drawings ??
 
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