I am about to rig my sailing ship model of the British East Indianman FALMOUTH. From past experience, I have had difficulty aligning the deadeyes so that they are arranged in a even row parellel to the channels. I do not want the the deadeyes to resemble the above picture, where the deadeyes become arranged in different heights above the channel. Such an uneven arrangement spoils the overall appearance of the model.
Can any member on the Forum suggest to me a jig or temporary device that can be applied to hold the deadeyes in place while thay are being laced and attached to the shrouds ? I would like my deadeyes to have a neat outcome as the above picture. Perhaps Santa, who enjoys sailing ship models, can offer some advice, or for that matter, anyone else who has solved this problem with their modeling experience. My model is not plastic, but from a wood based kit.
I would appreciate your help with thanks.
Montani semper liberi ! Happy modeling to all and every one of you.
Crackers [8-|]
Greetings:
I made an alignment gage to aid in the setting up of the shrouds. It’s basically a piece of .030 styrene stock with holes drilled into it and steel pins glued into the holes. What I do is 1st wrap/seize thread around the lower deadeye. I then run the free length of the thread through the channel and to the attachment point on the hull. On my Soleil Royale these points were ringbolts so I pulled the thread taut and knotted/glued it through the eye of the bolt. Next I would place the 2 holes of the deadeye on the bottom of the gauge. Then I’d place another deadeye on the upper pins on the gage and wrap/seize thread around it. The free end of the thread was then run up over the top, pulled taut and super glued in place. Note: this thread must be long enough to form the other end of the shroud as it will be wrapped around the next upper deadeye in the row. The gage is removed at this point. This has set the distance for the first set of lower/upper eyes. Now thread the sets of eyes together being careful not to make them too taut or too loose as this would change the set distance. After doing a couple you should get the feel as to what is the proper amount of tension. Repeat this process for the next set of upper/lower eyes until the entire set of shrouds is complete. This sounds harder than it actually is but with a little practice you will be able to set the distance of the eyes correctly. If you’ll send me your email address I’ll send you a quick drawing to illustrate this better. I hope this helps.
Michael Lacey
Is that from the Euromodels plans? I hear their kits are challenging, but the plans look very good for a scratchbuild. An East Indiaman is a rarely modelled vessel, so well done there! I’m sure we would all love to see photographs of your model
You’re quite right to say you need a jig to set up deadeyes. A simple brass and wood ‘thing’ that clips between the lower and upper deadeyes to hold them equidistant whilst you rig the shrouds. When the jig is removed and the lanyards rigged, the spacing should sort itself out.
Here’s a superb build I use as my reference for a lot of things.
http://modelshipworld.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3936&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=brigantine&&start=350
I note thate the builder mentions that the specific design of such a jig is likely to vary according to the space available under the caprails, oscuring decoration and so on. It wouldn’t be too difficult to jury rig something!
cheers,
Will
Crackers:
Here’s a link to a quick drawing of my deadeye spacing gage that I mentioned in my previous post. This should help along with my description.
http://i461.photobucket.com/albums/qq333/caramonraistlin/DEADEYESPACERGAGE.jpg
Sincerely
Michael Lacey
My many thanks to Carmonraistlein, Billyboy and Cheezhead for their input and suggestions on how to lace deadeyes. I appreciate your efforts.
While examining Michael Lacy’s drawing of his jig for threading lanyard through the deadeye holes, the synapses in the grey matter of my aging brain began to fire away in thought. I decided to use his picture to construct a jig to hold my deadeyes together . In the above picture, the upper hole will secure the deadeye that is attached to a shroud. The lower hole is to secure the deadeye that will be above the channel and attached to the ship’s hull. After the two deadeyes are placed in the jig, the elastic bands are used to hold the two pieces of the jig together. The thread on the right is the lanyard that is to roved in the deadeyes.
In the above photo, the jig is held together with rubber bands while the lanyard is pulled through the holes then tied to the shroud with a half hitch. I tried to use black thread for the lanyard, but when I released the jig the roved deadeyes would fold back on itself into a jumbled mess. Instead I decided to use copper wire from electrical wiring to give the deadeyes some rigidity. The insulation was pealed off .One of the thin strands was painted black to replicate the lanyard and used to rove through the deadeyes.
The finished results of the deadeye jig after the jig is opened up. This in turn will be rigged on my model.
Thanks again for your suggestions.
Montani semper liberi ! Happy modeling to all and every one of you.
Crackers [8-|]
Crackers:
Glad I could help. I also got my idea from a gage made by Frank Mastini from his book Ship Modeling Simplified on pg. 102 (great little book, lot of tips in it). He took a piece of wire and bent each end 90 degrees and then inserted it into the one hole in each deadeye. I tried to make one like he showed but never had much success. Finally I decided it would be much better to have something that sets the distance but held it securely through 2 holes so it wouldn’t move. After a little trial and error I came up with the one I made. As they say necessity is the mother of invention. It’s amazing all the little tools we modeler’s come up with to help us in our hobby.
Michael Lacey
With the deadeye alignment jig that I have devised, the deadeyes for the fore, main and mizzen tops have been installed for my model of the British East Indiaman, FALMOUTH. One of the cardboard templates used to rig the shrouds is seen between the fore and main masts. The lower shrouds and deadeyes will not be secured until the masts are stepped into the model hull. Since this picture was taken, all the yards have been made and are ready to be fitted with silkspan sails. I will keep the Forum posted as progress continues.
Montani semper liberi ! Happy modeling to all and every one of you.
Crackers [8-|]