A 17th century Dutch man-of-war (around 1660)

[abhovi]

Rigging a three masted ship is not something you do overnight. It takes time and planning. I used to follow the same procedure Firdajan does, but it is a proces that is too hard on my arms. So what I do is, I make the masts and supply them with shrouds on the topmasts and topgallant masts, add ratlines while holding the mast in a vice and attach lifts and halyards, as far as possible.



Then I make the sails. I take a piece of cloth. The choice is critical. I started as an experiment with lovely silk from an old shirt, but it turned out to be very difficult to handle, so I tried again with very fine old linen from an antique pillow case.



I glued the bolt-ropes on to it with white glue and carefully cut around them to remove what was not needed.



The upper part of the bolt rope is separated from the sides and bottom and the ends are glued to the side to form the 'ears', which will be tied to the yard-ends.



Then the lines are struck with a soft pencil.



After that I do all the blocks for lifts, clews, sheets and braces.



Then the sails are attached to the masts.



Finally I spray them with starch and blow them dry with a hair dryer. The result is a mast with billowing sails.



The rest of the rigging is done after the masts are stepped.

Hope this is clear.

[Michael Mash]

The technique is very clear Ab.
The images show the thought and craftsmanship you put into this.
They are very authentic looking sails.
Mike

[eatcrow2]

Great set of photos showing the process!!

[SCEtoAUX]

Those sails are very skillfully done. They are very realistic looking. Thank you for showing and explaining the process.

[Seahorse]

It's a pleasure to watch your craftsmanship.

Tomek

[Seascape]

Always appreciate the "how to do" photos you provide. The sails look great!

Fred

[abhovi]

After the masts were prepared with the sails attached to them, they were stepped. First job is to make the tackles, two pairs on both sides, and the knight-head (below deck in case of a man-of-war) with the jeer-block and the jeer.



Next the shrouds are placed, attached to the dead-eyes on the channels.



After that the futtock staves make sure that the shrouds are wide enough from each other to allow the crew to climb to the tops.



Finally the ratlines were added. I use a cardboard mould to keep the spaces even.



Work on the rigging took me two months. Far too much for an old man like me. Finally I had to add the flags and anchors and I am still working on a boat to be stowed on deck, but for the general impression of this model it is hardly of any importance. Anyway, the job is done, just waiting for my son to make decent pictures and probably some photo-painting as well... You will see.

Here is the end result.




Fortunately my wife found a place to store this far too big model: in the guest room. We have a fairly big house, but I use two rooms for myself, one study and one studio, so demanding even more is a little bit impertinent, especially as these object gather a lot of dust, which hardly adds to their popularity with house-keepers.

[shipbuild]

Simply Amazing. A masterpiece !

[frigate 264]

Excellent work. Speechless.

[eatcrow2]

Museum quality masterpiece!!