Right Thought, Right Words, Right Action

The rigging of deadeyes is a tedious process. It’s less tedious if you skip it. But using the plastic parts, even on an excellent old Revell kit like this, requires that you know what the original item was, what it looked liked, and how it worked.

Otherwise, how are you going to know how to paint it? You could just follow the instructions but the instructions are 50% quality and 50% sucker bait. They wait until you least suspect foul play and then, BAM! You get told to do something stupid.

That’s where websites like the Finescale Modeler Ship Forum come in handy. You can learn a lot–and I mean a lot from those guys. But, there are pitfalls here as well. The FSM Ship Forum is 50% highly skilled artisans and 50% nuts. You have to be careful.

So after study and reflection, I determined that, if painted properly, the plastic parts from the kit will be just fine with me.  Here’s how mine look.

The idea here is simple. Black iron things hold it to the hull. Wooden shelf thing holds it away from the hull. Little wooden “deadeyes” are blocks, and through them go black lines. Going up and away from the blocks and lines are the shrouds, which are lines that go up the masts.

Once it’s lined up properly and excess “stuff” is trimmed away, it all fits together pretty well. It IS tedious, though, Not as bad (for me) as tying it up with thread and little wooden blocks (…please) but it’s tedious.

Tune in tomorrow or that cannon there will fire. (You’ve been warned).

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