Chapter 5

Rigging And Sails

Much of the beauty of a model sailing ship lies in its sails and rigging. To give a model the desired effect of grace and motion, the spars, lines, and sails must be carefully and delicately applied with an eye for exactness and trim seamanship. Many a perfect hull has been spoiled by careless work above the deck.

Besides adding to a model the final tang of sea, both sails and rigging serve as a means of identification, classing the ship as a specific type. As shown in the sketches of Fig. 1, a model to be correct according to its type can be rigged in one, and only one, way. One of the prime requisites of a ship model maker or collector is to know and be able to recognize these fundamental riggings.

Although not every model is constructed with sails, the ship modeler, nevertheless, will be able to make a better job of the rigging if he has some knowledge of sails, their construction and function.

Actually, there are thousands of different kinds of sails, but only those of the square-riggers (see Fig. 1) are complicated. They likewise have been varied from time to time, so, for purposes of explanation, only those of the popular model period between 1850 to 1890 will be described. In fact, as far as the model maker is concerned, there has been little change between 1830 and the present day. The differences in earlier ships were chiefly in having less ironwork and baggier sails.

It was not until about 1870 that ships, especially British, began to use iron wire for standing rigging. At about 1890, flexible wire came into use for roping the heavier sails and some of the running rigging, such as braces and halyards.  

Each sail that goes into the rigging of a full-rigged ship has a particular name that serves to indicate its position. Starting at the deck and proceeding aloft on the foremast, the sails are known as the foresail or fore course, the fore-topsail, the fore-topgallant sail, and the fore-royal sail. Sometimes still another sail is rigged above the fore-royal. This is known as the skysail. Many ships also have two topsails and two top gallant sails. In such cases they are known as upper and lower.

In naming the sails on the mainmast, the prefix main instead of fore is used. On the mizzenmast, the sail names are prefixed with the word mizzen. The yards gain their names from the sails they support. For example, the yard to which the foresail is fixed is called the foresail yard, the yard supporting the mainsail is known as the mainsail yard, and so on. Such parts as shrouds, braces, stays, lifts, and sheets also are named to refer to the part to which they are attached.

Once the model maker has these sail names fixed in his mind, it becomes a simple matter to locate the various spars and rigging. If there is any question of a doubt regarding any particular part, refer to the lettered drawing given in Fig. 17b of Chapter III.
 
Sails may be applied in varying degrees of completeness and exactness, depending on the type of model and its size. Decorative models such as galleons do not require a great deal of detail to give the desired effect. The methods to be given can be used in measuring the sails. They then can be hemmed, roped if desired, and finally given a few buntlines (used in furling the sails) and clew lines for effect. Then they should be hitched to the yards. The clews can be lashed to the yardarms.

With regard to the material to be used in making cloth sails, a plain white cotton will serve nicely, but many experts prefer a thin opaque linen because it can be obtained with a canvaslike texture that is a miniature version of the real thing. Although more expensive than cotton, the final effect is worth the slight additional cost.

As to the correct color, European ships use flax, which is an unbleached color when new but soon becomes snowy white under the action of the sun and salt. American ships use cotton canvas, which is white. The width of the sailcloth strips is 24 in. (full size) for flax and from 16 to 24 in. for cotton duck. For the purposes of explanation, the 24-in. width is shown in the drawings of Fig. 2.

Square sails, as the name implies, are all four sided. On the other hand, they are by no means square, resembling more than anything else the bottom half of a triangle whose base is curved rather than straight. The top edge of the sail is known as the head, while the sides are the leeches and the bottom edge the foot. The strips of sailcloth are arranged perpendicular to the head, generally increasing in number toward the foot to take care of the added width toward the bottom.

To take the measurements prior to making up a sail for a model, hoist the yard to the position it is to assume, measure along it from brace band to brace band for the head, then deduct about 12 in. (reducing the measurement to the scale of the ship, of course). Measure from the top of the yard to the top of the yard below for the drop. Measure the yard below from sheet sheave to sheet sheave for the foot, and deduct 2 ft. (to scale) from each measurement to allow for the clews. Lay this out on paper, then from the foot mark the roach or curve. This must be high enough to clear the stays passing beneath the sail when it is flat on the mast. When the sail has been drawn, cut along the lines to obtain the pattern.

Before cutting the material, test a piece of it for stretch, deducting accordingly from the pattern. Then, in turn, allow about one in ten parts extra on the leeches (sides) and foot (bottom); this will be taken in again when sewing on the bolt ropes in order to give the sail the slight belly that will make it look realistic.

This process will apply to all square sails, excepting the courses (lower sails) on any vessel. The depth of the foresail is to a line level with the cathead, less about 5 ft. (full size) in height. The length of the foot will be from the same point when the yard is braced "sharp up,” less about 2 ft. (full size). This makes the foresail narrower at the foot than the head. The mainsail clew should come to about 3 ft. (full size) from the rail at the after end of the fore rigging when the yard is braced sharp up. As indicated, all these measurements should be to the scale of the model.

Mark the fabric from the paper pattern you have made, allowing about 5/16 in. for the hem. If possible, use the selvage of the material for the head to save hemming. Then run very thin pencil lines up and down the sail at 2-ft. intervals, and on them run rows of fine stitching to represent the seams between the strips of sail cloth. The pencil marks should serve only as a guide for the sewing and can be erased when the work is completed. The sails also can be given a wide (half cloth) hem to represent the lining, which is a piece sewn on for additional strength, the real hem being called the tabling. The leeches and feet of the courses and topsails can be roped with brown cord equal to No. 20 gage wire. On the smaller sails, thinner cord should be used. This is stitched to the edge of the sail, on the after side. Cringles (side loops) can be worked with thread as shown in one of the details of Fig. 2, but are more easily and better represented by making a small bight loop in the bolt rope (also shown in Fig. 2).

On the larger sails, spectacle clews can be made of wire with the bolt ropes spliced into them. For the topgallant sails and those above, the clews can be bights stitched into the bolt ropes.

Reef bands can be two rows of stitching spaced half of a sailcloth strip apart. The reef points can be imitated by passing a length of No. 24 white thread through the sail from the front to the back and then back just below through the sail and the first part, and then back through the first hole, forming an end on each side of the sail. Snip off the excess thread and repeat. The large clipper ships usually had one reef band on the topgallant sails; single topsails have from two to four; double topsails have one on the upper topsail, none on the lower; courses have one or two.

Before the sails can be fixed, the necessary blocks and other gear should be fitted. The yards must have jackstays (see detail Fig. 2); in fact, they should have these even if there are no sails. On an actual ship, they generally are 1 in. diameter iron rods fastened on top of the yards with a series of small eyebolts. They can be simulated on a model with No. 24 hard brass wire held in position with eyes made by bending 1/2-in. bank pins. To prevent the wire from sliding out bend the inner end sharply and drive it into the yard. In assembling jackstays, remember that they should not quite reach the middle or the ends. They are painted, black.

To the jackstays of the courses and single topsails, three small blocks should be seized on either side for the buntlines (B) and the leech lines (L). For double topsails and topgallant sails there should be two on a side; for royals and skysails, one on a side.

To the under-fore-edge of the tops, bolt or seize three single or one double and one single block on each side, and do the same under the crosstrees for the buntlines and the leech lines. For a lower topsail and the upper sails, seize them under the shrouds.

On the yards, you may legitimately use bull's-eyes instead of blocks. These can be small beads. Since the actual running gear on a ship varies from about ¼ to 1 in. in diameter, you are not likely to make the rigging too light or the blocks too small. The sail is stretched to the yard with the head earrings of thread carried to the brace-band eyes, with a couple of turns around the yard. The rovings between the sail and the jackstay can be imitated with loops sewed around the jackstay to the head of the sail.

Once the sail is fixed, tighten the halyards, bring the clews down with the sheets, and belay them. With a needle, hitch the leech lines and buntlines to the edges of the sail as shown; reeve them through the yard leads; through the blocks above, and down abaft to the pinrail at the bulwarks. Start the clew lines at the heel of the quarter blocks and carry them through the hook blocks hooked to the clews, through the quarter blocks, and, in the case of the courses, down through the lubber holes to the fife rail. In the case of the clew lines above, carry them to the pinrail.

The yard lifts hang down abaft when the yards are hoisted, but the topping lifts of the lower yards are tight, keeping the whole series horizontal.

The clews of the courses are tacks when to wind ward and forward. They have a permanent single rope (lazy tack), which, in the case of the foresail, is finally fixed with a chain and tackle to the cathead, and, in the case of the mainsail, to a bolt extending up from the deck and having an eye above the pinrail. On the lee side, the clews are sheets, which are heavy ropes hooked to a bolt in the ship's side at the deck level, outside. They pass through a heavy block at the clew and through a sheave in the bulwarks abaft the rigging, and are belayed to a pin.

If desired, the fixing of the sails and the jackstays can be simplified. The jackstay can be a straight wire with bent ends set in small holes having the sail attached to it by seizings of thread.

The wire jackstay having no eyes to hold it in place can be easily removed with the sail. When in place, two swivel hooks indicated as A hold the bent ends of the jackstay in the holes. These swivel hooks can be formed from small brass nails. As before, the blocks for the buntlines are seized to the jackstay.

 
Besides square sails, a full-rigged ship also must be fitted with fore-and-aft sails. In Fig. 3, is shown a sketch of approximately all the fore-and-aft sails a full-rigged ship ever carried. There are seventeen of them in all. Under all plain sail they did not, however, often set more than the following: fore topmast-stay sail; inner, outer, and flying jibs; main lower, topmast, and topgallant staysails; mizzen lower, topmast, and topgallant staysails; spanker; and possibly a ringtail. Studding sails are extraneous to the regular rig and quite unnecessary on a model.

The material and general method of making fore and-aft sails are the same as for the square sails. To measure a headsail, the height on the stay will be about from the middle of the topmast to about 2 ft. from the jib boom. The angle of the foot is governed by the rise of the bowsprit (steeve) and also depends to some extent upon where the sheets are to be belayed. The flatter the stay, the longer the foot, so that the sheet will bring a fair strain from clew to stay.

As with the square sails, imitation stitching should be run in the sails to imitate the seams. However, on fore-and-aft sails these should be parallel to the after leeches. The fore leech is best if made with a selvage edge, but if necessary it can be hemmed like the others. The clews may have round thimbles stuck in them, but they are absolutely necessary only on the sheet clews. The others can be bights in the bolt ropes, which are sewn to the port side.
 
Eyelets, if you can find some small enough, serve well for thimbles. They also can be made by filing a deep groove in a piece of brass tubing and then cutting off the thin section.

No reefs are necessary in the fore-and-aft sails, though some of the old timers had one or two in the spanker.
The staysails between the masts are made in the same way as the headsails.

There are a number of different types of spankers. The one shown in the drawings is for a fairly modern bark. The fore leech is seized to a jackstay on the mizzenmast. The head has hoops to the gaff and is hauled out with an outhauler over a sheave at the end of the gaff. The sheet is a single rope or chain and sets up with a gun-tackle purchase to the mast or a cleat in the boom. This particular sail has three brails clinched to the after leech by which it is furled to the mast (see detail).

The gaff-topsail is a sail for barks, barkentines, hermaphrodite brigs, schooners, or other rigs where the mast is fore-and-aft only. It hoists with hoops on the topmast by a halyard to the masthead, either over a sheave in the mast or with one or two blocks rigged to the mast. The sheet hauls out to a sheave in the gaff, outside the eyeband. The tack is loose and has to be dipped over the span or peak halyards when the ship goes about, so that it will be to leeward of them but to windward of the gaff. The downhaul is variously rove, usually going straight up to the peak, through a block or thimble, to the clew, and clinching at the tack clew.

The jibs and staysails on a ship are seized to hanks on the stays at intervals of about 30 in. (full size). A detail of a real hank is shown, but for a model rings will serve. For large scale models, suitable rings can be found at fishing tackle stores. For small work, cut up a piece of chain, rounding the links by forcing them onto a crochet needle or a brad-awl. If you desire, you also can make them from wire.

A short tack or lashing is needed to keep these sails from running up the stay. The halyards usually are a single block at the peak and another at the masthead. The fore-topmast-staysail block is to port and the others alternate.

The headsail sheets are double, with longer or shorter pendants, a heavy block, and a whip. The lee sheet is hauled tight and the weather one hangs slack over the stay, but the end is not entirely let go. One end of the whip hooks to a bolt in the deck; the other comes through a fairlead in the deck and to a belaying pin.

With a long forecastle deck, as with most clippers, these deck bolts were on the forecastle as shown in a detail, and the ends were led either to the main deck pinrail or to cleats on the forecastle. With a short forecastle, both ends come direct to the deck. The main staysail sheets usually are single and belayed under the rigging.

Many model makers prefer the sails hanging limp as in a calm, but they can be bellied out stiff as if filled with the wind. Although there are various ways of obtaining this effect, one of the best is to carve a piece of wood to the general shape of the largest sail, giving it just a trifle more belly than is desired. Put a piece of waxed paper on this and stretch the sail over it, pinning it straight along the head but dragging it a bit to the sheet clews. Then, if you wish it to be white, rub in one heavy coat of white lacquer paint and allow it to dry. If you desire an unbleached tone, use clear lacquer.

Round the block a trifle more for the next size sail, and so on. It will help these sails to keep their belly if you run stiff wire up through the leeches before painting. Let the ends of the wire project a little at the top and bend the points down and stick them through the yards.

A model looks best with some of the sails set and some furled. If you are going to furl the sails, make them of the thinnest possible material, otherwise they will not stow neatly.

A schooner's sails (see Fig. 4), with due allowance for the difference in shape, will be much the same as those described, although always fitted with a hoisting gaff. There are no brails, but possibly lazy jacks instead.

As with the hull construction and the making of small parts there are various hints and kinks in rigging that will help the model maker to save time and obtain a more perfect job.
For example, in rigging the deadeyes and lanyards, the work can be speeded up through the use of the simple jig or rigging block shown in Fig. 5. It consists simply of a piece of fiber or wood supplied with two holes the size of the deadeyes to be used and a connecting slot. The two deadeyes to be rigged are placed in the holes, which are spaced the proper distance apart (generally from three to four times their diameter) and the lanyard is rigged as shown. When completed, the deadeyes can be removed from the jig simply by pushing them out.

A discarded piano stool of the revolving type or a home-made turntable will be a useful aid when rigging a model. Simply place the model, supported in its  temporary or permanent stand, on the turntable or stool. It then can be turned to any position quickly and easily.

As already suggested, a crochet needle and a pair of tweezers will make the handling of the small fittings and rigging simpler. To these rigging tools you should add a sharp pair of medium size scissors, a pair of nail scissors, a bottle of quick drying cement, a sewing machine if one is available, and a good supply of needles and thread, both black and white.

Since the rig of most ships is their characteristic feature, and since clean-cut, seamanlike rigging is always the distinguishing mark of a fine model, it is imperative that the rigging of any model be taut. Some model makers obtain this trim effect by using copper wire wherever possible. However, it should not be done to excess. Linen thread and fishline of the proper size, when tightly rigged, is hard to beat as far as realism is concerned. If it is necessary to stiffen a cord, rub some beeswax over it and pass it momentarily over a flame.

One of the greatest problems that face the amateur who is about to rig his first model is what to use for the various lines, shrouds, and stays. Most ship modelers are guided by the following general classification: Shrouds, stays, and topping lifts, thread fishline; halyards and sheets, linen cord; and downhauls and light lines, sewing thread. On models of later sailing ships, the standing rigging should be black (to represent coal tarred surfaces) and the running rigging should be manila-colored (tan).

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