Rod,
The hardest parts (actually several) is not only the rigging whcih I had to match but the repairs had to look like it was never repaired. The rigging was not too bad, the model had been repaired back in 1993 by some called Noel Vickery.
http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2655843790054402330bnjjoB
However, his knowledge of rigging seemed limited. I don't know how bad the damage was back in 1993, but he used the wrong sized blocks and did not stain them to match or try to do anything with the ratlines.
Th rigging replacement that Mr. Vickery did was completely wrong as to the yards braces. You can see in the pictures. The jib boom errors were probally created by the original modeler and Mr. Vickery simply copied the errors.
Another factor was the out of scale pieces, and the mising rigging (halyards and lifts). One of the worse parts was that I could not add them, that drive me nuts. Something I noticed was that I'm so used to rigging with a certain style, I had to keep reminding myself to "REPLACE vs CORRECT".
The parts I had to add that were never put on the model was the foremast brace outriggers. The original modeler never added them and ran everything to the main mast brace outriggers. I've never seem that on a ship before and I did a good bit of research. So I had to copy themexactly so they would match and add them to the model. The main and formast are a yard short possibly? I'm used to working with 6 yards on the FM/MM so the outriggers only have 2 hold backs each. The flag stantion is in the wrong place but the owner said put it back where it was.
The model will be delivered some time this week before Christmas Eve. Hope the check clears ;)
Merry Christmas
Jake