Thank you very much for the nice words guys!
And sorry for the long silence.
I have been modelling though!
Next to twisting a lot of copper wire into scale ‘rope’ of different diameters, I painted the masts and yards of both ships (but only got round to take photos of Victory, and without yards):


But I didn’t glue them in place yet, to make rigging a bit easier.
Work started on the bowsprit of Victory:

While the bowsprit was still detached from the model, I installed all the rigging possible. This includes collars and blocks for lines to be attached much later (like the collars and open hearts for the fore stay and preventer stay).

Then, the bowsprit was glued in place:

Now, all the details and rigging was added that I could attach before adding the spritsail yard. This included the woolding, marines walk, main stay and preventer stay collars, the boomkins, and the netting lining the beakhead.


Meanwhile, the spritsail yard also received all lines and blocks possible while still detached from the model.

After which it was attached to the bowsprit with its sling (and plenty of superglue). I failed to drill holes and install a pin in these before painting, but the sling and glue seems plenty firm.

And the remaining lines were added!

More lines will be added later, when the other masts are in place. Note for example the block ‘flying’ from the starboard end of the yard. This is part of the yards braces and will attach to one of the stays. The port brace will be damaged and its block therefore hangs down. Some foresight is necessary for this kind of work!



With a white background, it is difficult to see that different ropes have different colours. But in these close-ups (very close ones!, because the previous shots were already magnified by x2 or x3 !), it is more visible:



Next would be the fore and main masts. But I think I will first do another batch of figures.
