And now, as promised: the topmast shrouds and ratlines.
These make for a nice step-by-step.
In a smaller scale (or smaller vessels), I would certainly have opted for PE. But in 1/300, shrouds do get quite thick (especially the lower shrouds), so I wanted a bit more 3D-effect. I wanted to show the twisted �rope�-effect on them, as well as the contrast in thickness with the thin ratlines.
So, scratchbuilding from wire seemed the best option. I used a personal adaption of a technique described by Philip Reed in his book �Period Ship Modelmaking�.
For the deadeyes, I punched discs from plastic sheet with a punch-and-die set. They are 1mm across and 0,5mm thick.
I then drilled a little hole in their side, in which I glued a piece of wire. The lower deadeyes received a single piece of 0,15mm copper wire, for attaching them to the lower top. The upper deadeyes received a �shroud� of 0,18mm twisted wire.
Next to the latter, I glued a small piece of the same twisted wire to simulate the turned-in end of the shroud:
A series of these are then attached with tape to a sturdy piece of plastic sheet. The tape is attached to the plastic sheet with double-sided tape underneath, so the sticky side is facing upwards:
Close-up.
The deadeyes are placed the required distance apart, while being gently held in place by the low-tack tape:
Now, I glued three pieces of 0,8mm twisted copper wire to the deadeyes to simulate the lanyards:
Next, the assemblies are carefully turned around:
And another three pieces of �lanyard� are glued to the other side:
The result: shrouds with very small deadeyes and lanyards!
Now, the position of the shrouds on the masts is determined. I cut a paper triangle to fit between the lower top and topmast head. On this, I drew the position of the shrouds, according to the holes I had drilled in the edge of the lower top:
This template was then glued to a simple home-made jig.
The jig is made by roughly gluing some pieces of plastic sheet together.
At the top and bottom, and at both sides, I stuck strips of double-sided tape. These will assist in keeping the shrouds and ratlines in place.
On the computer, I drew a page with only black lines, spaced 1,5mm apart (the distance between ratlines in 1/300). I cut strips from this, which I glued on both sides of the template.
Now, the ratlines were attached to the jig, following the lines on the paper template.
The double-sided tape helps to position them, but they do need to be fixed firmly with superglue at both ends.
Now, the end of some 0,05mm copper wire was superglued to the back of the jig. Then, I wound it around the jig, using the printed lines to keep an even spacing.
Every crossing point of each ratline with each shroud is then glued. I like to use a 0,1mm copper wire as a superglue applicator, frequently cutting the tip when glue starts to build up.
Now, a needle is used to introduce a little bit of subtle �sag� into the ratlines.
This step will show you which contact points didn�t get glued properly too!
But no problem; just get out the glue again�
Now, the whole assembly can be cut loose from the jig, starting with the ratlines:
The result: one complete shroud-and-ratline assembly!
The jig can be cleaned up by removing the glue remains and the paper template, and re-used for the other side. And then again for the next mast.
Now, the assembly is test-fitted on the mast.
Note how I cut the wires under the lower deadeyes at different lengths. This helps a lot for getting all of them into the little holes in the lower top!
The upper end had been kept overly long:
This is now cut short to fit the wire that was already in place to mimic the parts of the shrouds that wrap around the masthead.
It was also cut with a forward slant, to simulate each of the individual shrouds wrapping around the masthead at different heights:
Now, the shrouds were painted.
(Note: this was the first assembly, when I hadn�t figures out yet the trick with the lower wires. This one was a lot harder to fit to the lower top!)
And finally, I could glue them in place on both the fore and main masts of Victory!
(after which, I added some tie and buntlines blocks at the topmast top too)
Obviously, they still need battle damage, but this will follow at a later stage.
). Looking forward to seeing you there again! 
