Before I move on to the running rigging, there are a few little details I’d like to add to the Pegasus. These are often overlooked items, but having them creates a nice sense of reality and originality.
Jib Netting
The jib netting spans the bowsprit and jib boom and provides a spot for the staysail when it is not fully rigged – therefore it is also sometimes called the staysail net. Either way, the net is weaved between two spreaders that run along the bowsprit horses. “Horses” on a ship are the ropes that run along a yard that allow seamen to walk along the yards.
Making the net required quite a bit of patience as it is quite small at 1:64 scale. The Net itself is 10mm wide by 20mm long, and the horses run from the bowsprit cap back to the knightheads along the fore rail. I used trimmed down bamboo tooth picks for the spreaders and run .30 mm line through them. Then I connected them to a simple jig that elevates everything and gives me a bit of room with which to tie the netting. Five pairs of my smallest line (150 Gutermann thread) are secured to one of the spreaders.
I used pins to prevent the horses from bending in our out – each set of knots tied to the horses is secured to the pins to keep them in place. I only tied each intersection in a half knot (anything else is too bulky) and then touched the half know with the tiniest bit of CA delivered with the pointy end of a straight pin. I try not to use CA on knots since it discolors everything, but right now you’re looking at the bottom of the netting and the half knots will not be visible from above. This CA also has the added benefit of stiffening the lines for cutting later – which ended up being the most difficult part of the entire endeavor.
I worked my way down the netting toward my 20mm target changing where I start the knots depending on the row. On rows that attach to the horses I started on the ends to secure them to the pins and keep everything even, on the other rows I started in the middle to avoid tugging at the ends. Once I reached my target length, I secured the lines to the other spreader with a modified version of a half hitch. I’m not sure I could explain the knot again adequately, but it worked. Once again, tiny spots of CA secured them on the bottom of the netting. After the netting was tied, I washed all the knots liberally with diluted PVA and let it dry overnight. The ends of the knots were cut with a brand new scalpel blade. This is vital – as the very sharpest instrument on hand was the only thing that would work adequately.
The net is secured to the bow with the fore end seized to the upper eye bolts on the bowsprit cap while the aft end is secured to the knightheads via a .10mm lanyard.
Jib Boom Horses
These lines are very similar to the foot ropes on other yards of the ship in that they provide a place for seaman to walk and access rigging. A relatively straightforward bit of rigging, the jib boom horses wrap over the end of the jib boom with and eye and loop, then have knots every 2′ which translates to about 9.5mm at 1:64 scale. I went with 10mm because it’s easier. The aft end of the horses loops over the jib boom behind the cap and seizes to itself. I then use a liberal amount of diluted PVA to get the to hang and hold their form.
Anchor Rope
This is an interesting feature that is pretty rarely seen on a ships – the anchor rope runs along the main deck and down into the aft hatch. There is an inconsistency here that I will point out: typically the only time you would see these anchor ropes along the deck is when the anchors are out in use and in the water. The rope wraps around the riding bitts and are secured along the deck with stoppers to alleviate the sheer amount of pressured applied to them when the anchors are engaged. So, strictly speaking, one would not see this arrangement while the anchors are also stowed and attached to the catheads. However, I do like the detail so I’m willing to have the minor inaccuracy as a result. Surprisingly, it has been somewhat difficult to find really detailed reference material for this bit, but I’m following information located in Darcy Lever’s The Young Sea Officer’s Sheet Anchor – section 109.
The anchor rope itself, also called the “hawser,” is the largest on the ship at a whopping 13″ in circumference, which translates to 1.65mm at scale. To make this rope, I needed to use 12 strands of size 30 Gutermann thread – four sets of three strands each turned – which is actually quite difficult to spin on a rope walk. Winding this amount of thread creates a huge amount of tension and one has to be very careful not to over twist and break the thread during the process – which of course I did my first attempt.
Essentially the hawser runs from the hawse holes through the deck and along the hatches before descending into the aft hatch near the water pumps. The good news is that my launch and extra topmasts were not permanently secured and could be removed for this process. The cable is secured to ring bolts using a smaller line wrapped / seized to the larger anchor cable. First, I’m using .75mm rope for the smaller line to secure the cable to the ring bolts via eyes all wrapped with .10mm line.
I fed the cable through the hawse holes with a small wire, ran it along the deck and wrapped it on the riding bitts as illustrated in the Sheet Anchor. Another note here – I’ve seen a couple of options for how the cable is run down into the aft hatch. The one that makes the most sense is having the hatch split so that part of it is removed when the anchor cable is in play. However – I am trying to avoid being able to see down into the lower deck where there is essentially nothing happening. So I went with option two – which is having small square areas cut out of the hatch to facilitate the cable.
It took a little bit of shaping and pva to get the rope to “lay” on the deck and run through the hatch in a way that pleased the eye, but overall I’m quite pleased with the turnout and happy to have added this touch.
The Lehman Shipyard 