Some Rigging Questions

Modeling Subjects Ships
1

Well I finally received my model ship rigging books in the mail yesterday and I am particularly happy with my book by Lennarth Petersson called “Rigging Period Ship Models”. The illustrations are easy to follow and I feel confident that I will be able to rig a believable model now. Last night, I was working on the yards of my Lindberg Captain Kidd and had great fun tying the footropes and stirrups. I actually tried using thread and even fishing line but I couldn’t get either of these to look right, since they didn’t hang nicely. I finally found some beader’s wire in 32 gauge which worked like a charm. The wire allowed me to shape the drape of the footropes and was still thin enough to tie to the masts to fashion the stirrups. I first colored this silver wire with a permanent marker and touched it up with black acrylic paint after handling and tying. When I was done, the wire was indistinguishable from thread. I’m sure this is cheating but I thought I would share this idea in case anyone else could benefit.

Here are my questions: What is a good order of operations when proceeding with my rigging? I decided to rig the masts and sails first, since they are removable on my Lindberg kit. I want to finish the sails and yards before I begin on the stays because it seems like the standing rigging line will be in the way if I do them first. It seems like order will be important but it wasn’t clearly addressed in my books. I think the Petersson book may have implied a sequence by its order of illustrations but I can’t be sure. I think adding buntlines to my billowing sails will add some interest. Are the buntlines more or less “slack” on the sails when a ship is on the move? I understand these are used to reef up the sails. They probably don’t press on the sails when they are full of wind, right?

Also, I have decided to include some lines and leave some out, since this is my first model. I plan to represent the standing rigging and as much of the running rigging as I can manage. I will probably get more choosy about the little details as my psychosis, I mean skill, progresses and I tackle more and more ship models.

Devin

2

I don’t have the Petersson book, but on the basis of having looked through it in a bookstore it looks to me like a good one - and appropriate to the period of this particular model.

There’s nothing wrong whatever with making footropes out of wire. Lots of modelers do it. Wire is a good material for representing lines that have to hang slack.

Different modelers like to do things in different sequences. I think there’s a fairly general consensus, though, that a good way to start is in the same order as the real thing was rigged. Start with the standing rigging of the lower masts, then the standing rigging of the topmasts, then the standing rigging of the topgallant masts, then the running rigging of the lower yards, etc. The jibs and staysails present special problems; you may be tempted to leave them till last, but if you do a lot of other rigging will get in the way. But then, lots of rigging is going to get in the way no matter what.

A buntline is a line running from the bottom (the bunt) of a square sail to the yard. It’s used to furl the sail. When the sail is set the buntlines are slacked off. When the sail is full of wind, the buntlines lie on the front surface of it.

The question of tautness in rigging lines is a vexing one. The truth of the matter is that when a ship is under way, a lot of the rigging is slack to one degree or another. Even the standing rigging varies in slackness. (In a fairly heavy breeze the shrouds and backstays on the lee side of the ship are slack, whereas those on the weather side are extremely taut.) If you look at a photo of a latter-day sailing ship, or a painting of an earlier one by one of the old master marine painters, you’ll see that almost all the lines of the running rigging have some slack in them. (The obvious exceptions are lines like halyards, which have heavy weights suspended from them.) Some lines, in fact, get sort of wrapped around each other as the ship goes through various evolutions. (Each jib, for instance, has two sheets - one on each side. At any given moment when the sail is set, one of those sheets is draped over the stay that’s next inboard along the bowsprit.) The problem confronting the modeler is that (as you found out rigging the footropes) gravity doesn’t operate to scale. Thread just doesn’t droop like miniature rope.

Some outstanding modelers solve the problem by making all their rigging out of wire. (If I had to give the title “world’s greatest ship modeler” to anybody, it would be Donald McNarry. His models are rigged with copper wire, in an incredible variety of diameters, each line having just the right amount of slackness. I can stare at a McNarry model for an hour and still not appreciate it completely.) There seems, however, to be a sort of unwritten convention among most modelers that it’s ok to set up the rigging with little or no slack in it. Go to a maritime museum, or look through a book of pictures showing models made by experts, and you won’t find much slack in the rigging.

There’s also a compromise approach - which you’re already taking, and which I happen to like. I derive too much pleasure from working with thread to give it up in favor of wire. (I also know I’ll never be able to match Mr. McNarry’s work.) In cases like footropes and ratlines, where the lines just have to be slack in order to look right, I use wire. Otherwise I use thread, and set it up taut. Here’s an example:

http://gallery.drydockmodels.com/hancock

The truth is that most of the lines on that model are too taut to be realistic. But nobody but me has ever commented on that fact - at least within my hearing.

Hope that helps a little. Good luck.

3

That helps a lot! You really got me thinking when you mentioned the slack in the running rigging. It certainly makes sense that lines would have varying degrees of tension as the ship sails. I am learning much about ships and about the characteristics of the different model materials I have to work with. I am noticing that as I build this model, my skills and techniques are evolving. As I learn a new “trick” I am sometimes tempted to redo a finished portion of my model! I am resisting that temptation so that I can finish. I think I will never be truly satisfied with my models but that pursuit of perfection (or improvement, at least) is what makes modeling so rewarding. Thank you for your excellent advice on the order of rigging. I am enjoying the rigging phase of construction more than I thought I would. I will try the order of rigging you mentioned and I think I will get in less trouble that way.

Devin

4

Glad to help out. That feeling of “gee, now that I know this I think I’ll start over” is a common problem in sailing ship modeling. This phase of the hobby is full of learning curves that are short but steep. That’s one reason why I always suggest that folks start out with a model that doesn’t have a lot of rigging.

The most important thing, though, is to keep from being intimidated by the whole thing. Jump in with both feet, learn, and have fun. If model number one gives you lots of ideas for making model number two better - great. What matters is that you’re enjoying yourself, and building something that looks good to you.