"Oh how I hate rigging." Topic

I am trying to assemble my Atlantic blockading squadron and blockade runners in 1/600 scale. The Thorougbred ships are a piece of cake to assemble, Bay Area Yards not so much but both companies make lovely products. Not being much of model builder (in fact I'm lousy at building) I am struggling with the rigging for my sail/steam ships. I am using fine gauge wire but it is driving me nuts as each lift is taking me multiple attempts. I haven't even started on the back stays or rat lines. Is there some easy way to rig these things? I'm not going for a full rigging but rather the impression of rigging. Any legitimate suggestions are appreciated.

I've seen people cut window screen for ratlines.

Don't rig at all, do it my way!

link

Mr. Duncan, you didn't show him the best part. Take that photo again with the masts out. :-)

- Ix

Is there some easy way to rig these things?

I really really really like building and painting and modifying my ship models, but like you I hate rigging them. I started wondering if there's anyone I could ship them to and have them rigged.

There have been some nice tutorials posted about rigging sailing ship models. I'll dig up some links and post them here later when I have time.

- Ix

This one?

War Artisan has a tutorial on rigging ships. It makes it easier.

Oh, the first mate told the second mate,
The first mate told the second mate,
The first mate told the second mate,
"There's nothing else to do!"

Ditto to Ditto Tango. I use paint brush bristles. Originally I used all black, now I use brown/tan for running rigging and stick to black for standing. Easy peasy – snip to length, dip both ends in a bit of super glue, and put in place.

I do the same thing for rigging 1/72 biplanes. How anyone can get rigging taut on either using thread or wire is an art lost on me.

Oh, for ratlines, I use brass photoetch. To me the extra cost is worth it and looks better than screen. Your mileage may vary.

I use fine brass wire for rigging, and keep it pretty basic. For ratlines I use 1/700 photoetch from Battlefleet Models.

Langton's "Guide to Painting & Rigging 1-1200 scale ships" for around the cost of a ship, masts, base and rat-lines about £10.00 GBP is a good start to help. Could use the guide for bigger scales too.
Be safe
Rory

Zippyfusenet: I seem to remember more to that little ditty but it may be frowned upon singing in polite company.

The War Artisan tutorial is a PDF. He uses a lot of wire, which is probably part of what makes his paper ships so sturdy.

Rory McCreadie (devsdoc) made a multi-part tutorial which Vol Williams (Volunteer) posted on his own blog:
Running rigging (part A): link
Running rigging (part B): link
Even more rigging: link
(The other two parts of this tutorial (Part I and Part II) are about painting, which you didn't ask about.)
Vol, if you're reading this – can you assign a Theme or Label to all 5 of these posts so readers of your blog can find them with one click? It's some work to find them all 5 of them by groping around your blog history…

Julián (ModelJShip) put a rigging tutorial on DropBox (in two languages!).

- Ix

I hate it too.

Have you tried one-handed wire nippers, and measuring with a millimeter ruler?

That should help.

Cut a little long, just in case, and then shorten as needed, a bit at a time.

I too hate rigging. And I'm in the middle of a run of masted ships. I use steel wire – the thinnest I can get – for the standing rigging. I don't even try the running gear.

As Mako says, cut it long and trim back. I just switched to j b weld as the adhesive. CA was not working out.

I use the same technique as MacSparty for my 1/1200s (black and brown nylon brush bristles w/gel super glue. The gel type sets slower, and gives you a bit of time to work). Do the same for my 1/2400s (yes, you CAN rig those as well) with the only difference using wire for the backstays (strengthens the masts considerably). I leave the ratlines off the 1/2400s (no one makes a photoetch that small. And ya gotta draw the line somewhere!).

I don't hate rigging ships. I put in a few hours at a time when doing multiple ships, with the assistance of some gentle music (usually, but not always, classical) and an alcoholic beverage to steady my hands. I find the simple, repetitive task of cutting and gluing rigging to be a very calming, almost zen-like experience.

Even just a few bits of standing rigging makes a huge difference in the appearance of a sailing ship model, but I like to include a simplified version of the running rigging as well. A yard just hanging there without lifts or braces looks strange to me. I leave off the ratlines at all scales, because they were very fine ropes that were all but invisible from any distance, and the purpose of a wargame model is to give a convincing visual representation of the ship as seen from a distance, as opposed to a fine scale model on which as much detail as possible is reproduced. If you examine the work of maritime artists of that period, you will note that most of them also skipped the representation of ratlines, or merely hinted at them. For the same reason, I use black for everything, even the running rigging, because it all appeared black against the sails and sky from a distance.

Yellow Admiral's very reasonable speculation to the contrary, I use very little wire in rigging my ships, and the vast majority of them have no wire at all. I reserve that for the larger models (1:300) and then only for a few of the stays, just to keep the masts square. All the rest are rigged entirely with stiffened cotton thread (as demonstrated in my rigging tutorial). The cumulative strength of many pieces of rigging means that they are strong enough to withstand rough handling, and can even be dropped on the floor from table height without any damage . . . a fact which I have demonstrated on many occasions.

Some people have expressed doubts about the durability of thread rigging (without any actual experience to back up those doubts) but I carry my ships all over the country to conventions, just set loose in plastic totes without any dividers or padding, where they get handled quite a bit, and the only one I've ever had to re-rig was one on which I carelessly closed a box lid. I recently saw one of my early ship models, rigged over thirty years ago (long since part of someone else's collection) and the rigging was still as tight and straight as the day I did it.

All the materials mentioned here will work, and each has its own advantages, but one advantage that thread has over the others is that it is possible (and, actually, preferable) to use water-based glue, which is very forgiving when it comes to placement and working time.

I'm currently preparing my fleets, consisting of French, Spanish and British squadrons, for the 33rd annual convention of the Seven Years War Association; almost fifty ships in all. These are being re-labelled and re-flagged for the new scenarios:

I found myself a little short of ships of the line, so I have a batch in progress. I'm doing all eight simultaneously, because it saves time when I do them in batches:

I'm actually looking forward to the time I'll spend rigging them, because, as the penultimate step in the process (the final one being adding flags and pennants) it means that I'll soon have the satisfaction of seeing them added to my growing fleets.

If I find that I despise doing something, I generally don't do it any more.

I find that in larger scales (15mm and 25mm) rigging is easier to do but gets in the way of playability (try moving figures around a rigged ship).

They sound so grand,though:

YouTube link

I like rigging, sorry but I do! I cannot think of anything else as I rig so find it restful to do. I now am doing 1-2400 scale ships. I did one the same as I did my 1-1200 ships with standing and running rigging. It looked too busy so now only do some of the standing rigging. Using "Tumbling Dice" ships which has the rat-lines modeled onto the ships makes it's easier to rig, but harder to paint. I do miss rigging 1-1200 ships. lucky for me a friend has lots of 1-1200 ships and lets me rig some of them for him. That makes us both happy.
Be safe
Rory

Yellow Admiral, and everyone else!

I have added a new Label to my blog:

Rory's Guides.

All of his guides can be found with this label.

It was done for myself. I also had a new camera. The photo's are poor, but the info is good. It is based on Langton's guide, with my add-ons and ideas. Less knots and longer runs. Hope it helps folks with a love for our hobby. So all can have a go at making model wargaming ships. Vol put it all together for me and made it readable. Thank you Vol for your help, your interest and your friendship.
Be safe
Rory