HMS Victory

Hi Colin, welcome aboard here. 

Well, start with a BANG eh? That must be the Billings wood model. I would really like to see what that is like.

I don't know the level of understanding you have of full rigged ships. I confess my knowledge drops off pretty quickly as they get bigger.

Absolutely essential is a good rigging plan, to start. I don't know what level your kit came with.

A good source is the Victory volume in Anatomy of the Ship, by John McKay. For general guidance, there are a lot of books but a good start is the Neophyte Shipmodeller's Jackstay, which is easy to find. Model Shipways sells it.

Assuming you've completed the rope installations on the hull, like the anchor cables and the gun tackle, the next logical step is the standing rigging. That needs three sizes of black line, as it was tarred. Stays and shrouds. This work doesn't involve blocks, but there's a lot of seizing and wrapping. Part of that, and it's a big job here, is tying the "ratlines" which are the footropes across the shrouds.

The following stage is the running rigging. For this you'll need three sizes of tan or natural line, and a LOT of blocks in various sizes and design. Hopefully your kit came with decent ones.

Line and blocks can be had online from Model Expo and Syrene, among others.

But, before any of that, take a look at this website and consider joining it.

http://www.pete-coleman.com/forum/

I'm in there somewhere. You'll find a lot of good stuff.

GM gave excellent advise.

Most tend to start and the bow and work aft.

I do that, but, only one "spar" at a time.  So, get the bowsprit sorted, then set to the shrouds of the foremast.  Then the forestay.  Then the mainmast shrouds, and the mainstay.  Lastly, the mizzen.

Then, I look at the fixed parts of the running rigging--jeers, clewline blocsk, buntline blocks, etc.

This actually emulates the ways the ships were rigged, too.  Shrouds first, then stays.

Then, outward--jib boom; then top masts.  Ans outward and upward.  For me, this leaves things as compact as possible, reaching past topgallant masts is less than ideal most days.

Unlike GM, I always do the ratlines last.  Mostly that's so the ratlines to not foul the running rigging.  That, and I really loathe ratlines

I follow capnmac82 's way of doing it , except I do the rat line's when the shroud's go up .

their must be something wrong with me I like doing them , actually all rigging I enjoy .

steve5

I follow capnmac82 's way of doing it , except I do the rat line's when the shroud's go up .

their must be something wrong with me I like doing them , actually all rigging I enjoy .

 

 

Come on over.

GMorrison

 

 

steve5

I follow capnmac82 's way of doing it , except I do the rat line's when the shroud's go up .

their must be something wrong with me I like doing them , actually all rigging I enjoy .

 

 

 

 

 

i’ve got a spare room and a fridge.

 

Come on over.

 

steve5

I follow capnmac82 's way of doing it , except I do the rat line's when the shroud's go up .

their must be something wrong with me I like doing them , actually all rigging I enjoy .

 

 

I do it different than either of those two.  I do all the lower masts and bow standing rigging, including ratlines.  Then I install topmasts, spritmast, and standing rigging for those.  Then upper masts if there are more.  Then I put on the  yards, running rigging on those, working from bow to stern, and bottom to top.

All three approaches are good. But, develop a plan based on research, research, and more research.  The books cited by GM are excellent places to start.

Bill Morrison

Hi GM

You are correct it is the Billing Boat, unfortunately there is no rigging plan with the model just the drawing that shows all rigging which in its self is good, just do not want to get into the position further down the line when I may struggle to get at some the rigging if completed in the wrong sequence.  Thanks for the advice, I think I will follow this, I have purchased a book, 'Rigging Period Ship Models' Lennarth Petersson, to help but is does not advise the correct sequence to complete the model. 

I am having difficulty loading photos, I am sure it must be straight forward but not found this yet.

Thanks CapnMac82

This all makes perfect sense when I think through your approach to the rigging.  I am really looking forward to this part of the build and just want to start of on the right foot, I am sure even with all this great advice I will fall follow of rigging something to the wrong sequence.

Thanks Colkar

Thanks Don.

All this advice is great, I am certainly feeling a lot less stressed about starting this part of the model build which I am now really looking forward too.  

Thanks Colkar