Thank you Miguel!
meanwhile--keeping the impetus in project moving now that she is nearing completion... I hope! )
on my Winston Churchill sailing schooner project
viewtopic.php?f=60&t=165003
I rather fell in love with the skinny line thickness of the 1/700 Alliance Modelworks ratlines,
however unable to find any for sale in UK or Europe
I bought from e-bay Australia (!) 10 x 1/350 ratline frets
( they might last me out for my planned 1/350 sailing ship projects ( ?
)
The PE fret in the kit also contained some ratlines;
however the PE line thickness was greater than I liked.
especially when compared to the line thickness of the Alliance modelworks items
with careful painting the kit items might be OK--but alas they had a bigger flaw in my view;
when offering up a 1/350 crew member... who would be ordered to climb to the look-out 'crows-nest'
==> he would find it an arduous and overly athletic task due to the spacing of the footropes (!!)
( please note here I photographed the discarded lower parts- hence they are damaged and bent
I gave the rails an initial coat of black using a Permanent marker pen so as to keep it thin and unclogged,;
so as to prevent clogging of the very small holes I used the Permanent marker pen on soft kitchen towel-which immediately soaks up any
excess ink , helping to keep them light and airy!
Once installed I shall very lightly drybrush them very lightly downwards only -with watercolour mid grey
--this reduces the visual weight and apparent line thickness making them look thinner still
As the railings on the model are really quite delicate-- I used a piece of thin styrene strip as my measuring stick , as this would ,
when inevitably it would fall down -- not do any damage
I have started to attach them-..
- photos next time..!
meanwhile-- as a distraction...
The ships carried these long poles stowed on the shroud with - I guess -floats- in the middle
I have not yet ascertained the purpose of these--anyone know?
these 'float-poles-maybe' were carried on the foremast shrouds also
meanwhile how to make them was a dilemma...
I raided my daughters bead-box , alas with no joy -
-( beads would be ideal as they conveniently have a hole through the middle )
I visited the local handicrafts superstore with no result either...
( might be OK for 1: 100 scale....)
I ended up using small strips of wire, onto the centre of which I glued some 003.mm Albion alloys tube pieces
and then in-filled the steps with white glue and paint.
with practice I became better at it
once the timber (?) poles have been lightened --and the 'floats(?) have been painted they should look OK
