Making and Installing the Ratlines

Making these ratlines takes a little patience but it's not a very difficult process overall. I use the loom provided and follow the instructions up till the time to cement the ratlines onto the shrouds. Here I use white glue mixed with water (about 50%) and paint the mixture onto the shrouds/ratlines with an old paint brush. after it dries completely (a few hours) I paint them with Testors Flat Black paint.

I installed the uppers first before installing the mast in the model, tying them to the mast and inserting the free ends through the holes in the top. Next I installed the mast into the model and rigged three fake fore and back stays to align the mast. Super glue was used to cement the top of the shrouds/ratlines to the mast, just under the top. the shrouds were then super glued to the channel one at a time. The instruction sheet shows a different way to attach the lower ends of the shrouds, but frankly this was impossible. I trimmed the excess shrouds below the channel after the cement dried. The lower ends of the upper shrouds were pulled taught (not tight) and super glued to the shrouds below them. After the super glue dried I trimmed the excess thread away and touched up the paint with Testors Flat Black. This process is repeated for the other masts.

Installing the Yardarms

Since I'll be installing the sails and, I want them to be turned as if to catch the wind, I tied the yard arms to the masts instead of cementing them in place. the lifts were installed also to hold them at the correct height. I decided to leave the upper lateen yard off the mizzen mast. After looking through my reference library, I could not find any pictures of a ship with an upper and a lower lateen yard on the mizzen mast.

Assembling Masts

The masts are all straight forward one piece affairs. After removing the molding seam, I painted them Tamyia Nato Brown. Black thread was wrapped around the masts for woldings. The tops were glued in place and painted the same as the masts. As a backup, I made a copy of the flag sheet (just in case of one of my usual goofs). I very carefully cut the shields from the flag sheet and glued them onto the tops with Elmer's glue.

Hull Details

After installing the parts for the chain plates, there was no way I could get the thread for the chain plates through the holes. To solve this problem I cut small lengths of thin wire, super glued them through the holes and trimmed away the excess. I'll have to figure out a different way to attach the shrouds when I get that far. I assembled the remaining cannons and installed them with super glue. After touching up the paint where needed, I used Flat Clear acrylic to go over the glossy places created by the super glue. I decided to leave off the small parts like the stern lantern and swivel guns for now to prevent them from being broken during the remaining assembly steps.