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Post by mar3kl on Jan 6, 2016 6:10:48 GMT
I'm looking at photographs of the 1:10 model and rigging instructions from the Billings kit. Both seem to show backstays for the fore topmast, fore topgallant, main topmast, and main topgallant, all with fairly complex combinations of blocks and crowsfeet. Clayton's model doesn't have these backstays; is there any concrete information on which is correct, or is there no evidence either way?
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Post by fredhocker on Jan 7, 2016 7:53:16 GMT
There is no clear evidence either way, but I think that on balance there were probably topmast backstays on the fore and main. This is different from what I told Clayton when he was rigging his model, but we had not documented the chainwales at that point. The chainplate fixing points on the fore and main suggest one backstay to the topmast head, probably rigged from the next-to-last chainplate position and probably rigged as running backstays. Backstays are attested in English sources from the beginning of the 17th century (they appear in the survey of fleet rigging carried out in 1611, for example) and show up in images of ships at about the same time. Baltic practice may have been a little behind developments in the more demanding North Sea/Atlantic basin, and the detailed inventory of the rigging for Tre Kronor in 1626 is not definitive, but I think that they were in use on large ships by the 1620s.
Clayton, it should be possible for you to rerig your model...
Fred
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Post by Clayton on Jan 7, 2016 19:34:30 GMT
It would probably be possible to do some modifications. The next time I will have it out of the case will be October when we have our annual model club show. I could probably do it then, and by then there could be drawings and more information.
Perhaps I could incorporate some other things too, such as the cleat or kevel instead of the pinrail attached to the inboard faces of the top timbers.
Hope you and your family are well Fred!
Clayton
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