Ship Modelling

"Gladan" / "Falken", Swedish Training Schooners (active sailing ships)

This is the information for the trainees, taken from a manual in the 1960s

Another issue of this cadet manuel 10 years later showed a different plan:

So You can see, on schooners even more than on square sailing ships, the belaying is some kind of arbitrary and subject to changes.

I apologize for not having translated these into English, they are Swedish. But You can use my Online Maritime Dictionary in the menu above :)

The "Gorch Fock Class": Sagres, USCG Eagle, Gorch Fock, Mircea

Here is my compilations in original languages (click to zoom in):

Belayings on Sagres II in Portuguese (after original plans)

Belayings on USCG Eagle in English (according to the manual)

Belayings on Gorch Fock II in German (after original plans)

"Götheborg III", replica of a Swedish East-India-Man (active sailing ship)

The belayings here in Swedish and English This original belaying scheme is printed in the book "Skeppsboken" by Björn Ahlander / Jens Langert (available at SOIC), a lecture book for all trainees and visitors of the ship. The plan in the book is also geometrically correct - I just made a schematic view of it ...

"Jarramas / Najaden", Swedish Training sister ships 1897 / 1900 (preserved in Karlskrona / Halmstad)

Marinmuseum´s version [Swedish]

my version [still Swedish]

"Nippon Maru & Kaiwo Maru", Japanese 4-masted barques (built in the 1930s)

Compiled by me, using Japanese documents and my own pictures from Japan, in 2016 (click to zoom in):

The Japanese sailors actually use English terms for the entire rigging - so You will be able to read it!

"Pamir / Passat", German 4-masted barques (Passat preserved in Lübeck)

Here is my German-English compilation of it (click to zoom in):

It can be assumed that many other schemes of the Flying P-Liners had been very similar.

"Preussen", German 5-masted Fullrigger 1902

Here is my German-English compilation of it (click to zoom in):

She was the only 5-masted fullrigger ever built in the world. But the scheme is still "classic" for all full-rigged Flying P-Liners.

"HMS Prince" 1670

STS "Sedov", from Russia (active sailing ship)

And finally, I now made my own bilingual belaying plan of the Sedov, in Russian and English.

Yet another mission "Belaying Pins" accomplished, the third in one single day =)

"Shtandart", Replica of a Russian Frigate 1703/1988 (active sailing ship)

Anton Sudakow, the rigging master of the ship, was so kind to give me copies from their belaying plans of 2012, in Russian.

Here is my Russian-English compilation of it (click to zoom in):

Anton makes some changes to it sometimes ... some lines are simple that "arbitrary".
The arrangement is meant to be as logic as possible, but You always need to make compromises.

More pictures of this ship are here.

"Soleil Royal" 1670

I stopped working on the Soleil Royal model in autumn 2007. Not because I was preparing my final move to Sweden, but because I found the plan provided somewhat unlikely ... and yet I had not sailed by myself with the Swedish replica "Götheborg", on two occasions in 2009 and 2010, that helped me to solve the riddle eventually.

In short: I think the belaying plan that Heller provides it almost totally wrong. Well I would not have known better before my real sailing experiences, and other visits to museums.

The original plan is a "number plan", to be read by a table - that does not give the lines names that seamen use, like "topgallant brace". It takes a lot of time to read such a plan, and it is unfortunately prone to make mistakes. So I translated it into a named plan, using the English terms, for this web page:

December 2010: using all my experience from real sailings, my books, plans, pictures and studies of the last 10 years, I finally put the puzzle together, without altering any pins or fiferails and knights layouts, but with a completely different result:

This is how I will rigg my model - yes, it is only my personal reconstruction. If it comes close to the historic original, I simply don´t know. You may have Your own ideas about it. Now I can continue building ...

UPDATE 2010-12-11:

"Sovereign of the Seas / Royal Sovereign" 1637

Actually, there are many possible arrangements that I did not give an exact position here, but only some areas of "probability". The topsail sheets, course sheets and tacks are the only lines being most "certain". All the rest is speculation. The inclined modeller may find his/her own special solution ...

"USS Constitution", American Frigate 1797 (preserved in Boston)

WHY do I put so much time and energy on finding out these things? In the first place I only wanted to build a model, but in order to do so, I wanted to study the entire rigging before I start building. The Revell kit comes with a simplified plan that does not satisfy me ...

The belaying positions are one of the details that need to be clear before I build and place all the bitts and rails on the model.

All other details, the various blocks, line splices, knots, leadings etc, have been documented in many excellent contemporary and modern books, both in texts and pictures, so You will find all other details there.

The general problem is: no belaying plans of that era exist, and of course none of the Old Ironsides. Even the original layout of the deck fittings are subject to sophisticated speculations. That layout of the bitts and the physical "areas of probability" where to belay what line makes it impossible to make a definitive plan, too many variations are possible.

There is a contemporary model, the Hull model, indicating some layouts.

The actually rebuilt fiferails on fore, main and mizzen show a unique detail, that I observed here only, and that all landlubbers oversee: two shifted rows of belaying pins, an inner and an outer row. Who ever had this idea might have had the number of lines in mind that must be belayed somewhere ... yet, if these fiferails are like the original mast be doupted.

More than 200 lines comes down from the sails when fully rigged. All these "gears" need a belaying position somewhere. You can let lead all lines down to deck, like modern sailing ships, or use the ancient methods, where many lighter lines were not belayed on deck but in the tops (that is: on a shroud clamp or pin somewhere up in the masts)

The most "controversal" question here is the belayings at the full rigged mizzen mast. The Revell kit, Edson and Eriksen only show a spider band, where Magoun and Marquart show a fully equipped 3-sided mizzen firerail, which can also be seen on the ship today.

Meanwhile I have many possible "versions", and my own guesses, too, inspired by these ...

For a long time I "only" had these four: still I found them not satisfying, so I stopped building the model until I found a better source ...

1. The Revell Kit Plan, around 1970 The famous plastic kit by Revell in 1:96 suggests a very simplified rigging, in order not to "overcharge" the poor average modeller; most do not even follow this plan and build it even simpler ...	2. Source: Magoun, 1928 "The Frigate Constitution and other Historic Ships" (Reprint by Dover Publications, 1987) →books
to be polite: it is very unlikely ... ok it is "just" for a plastic model :) I stopped after building the Revell hull, and started research for a better reconstruction ...	The first true reconstruction available All original plans are believed to be lost
3. Source: Edson, 1979 "Modeller´s Shop Notes" →books	4. Source: Marquardt, 2005 "The 44-Gun Frigate USS Constitution" (Conway, The Anatomy of the Ship-Series) →books
Edson copied this one from Karl Vogel, who made notes of Col. W.F.Spicer (the ship is not longer, just this scheme is ...)

And of course, they all omitted the stunsails again :) ... those were belayed obviously anywhere

So here I stand, scratch my head, and ask myself what to do out of all this...

Well, I first look at the sail gears, then at the rails layout, and then comes the scheme ...

Here is my own scheme, just of many possible arrangements, for my Revell kit (the first complete version, but without scratch build addings, compare my second plan below). It has limited space on the rails provided (this version keeps to the parts given in the kit), so let´s see if I can make an arrangement without adding more rails:

... which is indeed possible, to my own surprise, even at the fully rigged mizzen mast!
Of course, You may have other ideas about it ...

UPDATE 2010-11-12: I finally found the source I had been looking for many years

Source: Olof A Eriksen, 2007

My latest source on the Constitution is a book that I ordered in November 2010 via internet, I had a tip from a modellers forum. This book is even more detailed than that of Marquart (The Anantomy of the Ship series). Olof A. Eriksen did not only make a gigantic research, he built also a not less gigantic model of her - in steel, hemp and flax canvas!

In his book, which is indeed expensive, but worth the price for advanced modellers, he provides a thorough description of historic details, hundreds of detail plans of his reconstructions, and: a belaying plan.

Although even Mr. Eriksen did not find any historic records about her belaying plan, he made a "sophisticated guess" of his own, based on many other indirect details. He made his model rigg functioning, so his plan might come very close to reality. Still, he suggests to the modeller, that each modeller is like a captain of his (or her) model, and every captain has his own ideas how the ship should be. The ship had many many different captains and almost each of them added or changed something...

And this is his belaying scheme, as I read it: it INCLUDES the stunsails!!

UPDATE 2010-11-25: being inspired by the plans of Eriksen, but being different though ...

Source: my little lot, 2010

My latest try to reconstruct the belaying scheme, but using the actually existing bitts on the deck. They are very special in that sense as they have "double-pin" rows, to give space for all the lines coming down from the rigging, including the stunsails. The circumstances why these fiferails had been rebuilt like this, or when, are not known to me ...

This one is not about historical correctness - some purists may cringe on this! -, this is a "virtual modelling game", about plausibility for an operable running rigging using the combination of the Revell kit (as my base for a model) and the actual shape of the real surviving Old Ironsides in Boston, which we have many pictures from luckily.

I wanted to see if or if not it would work, too - it does. And I made this scheme only for my Revell kit, adding some scratch built bitts and rails.

UPDATE 2011-01-15: And there are even more plans out there ...
one example was made by Ben Lankford, Model Shipwright, in 1998. One of many possible solutions for a model. Lankford also states that Navy plans do not exist, not even for the reconstruction. His plan, using the actual layout of the Old Ironsides of today, even if he includes the studding sail gears, unfortunately makes not much sense, at least not to me. So I will not map it here ... which should be no critics. Some years ago, I may have made a similar plan.

But now I feel my search has come to and end. And so I restarted building ...

UPDATE 2015-11-22: I wonder how I would remake the plans after having sailed with "Stad Amsterdam", where I could finally answer all my questions about stunsails - a big thanks to Kristina Jacobsen, quartermaster and master instructor for the crew!

French 18-Pdr Frigate "La Vénus" of 1782 (42 guns)

One monography was dedicated to the frigate "La Vénus" of 1782. The English translation is more like a summary, but has excellent plans and tables, including a detailed belaying plan. The original version of Boudriot, translated from a "number plan" into my preferred "named scheme plan", is this:

Of course, I found some "errors" in it ... and I had some ideas on my own, so I made another revised version; it is not totally different, though ...

Of course, You may have other ideas about it ...

"HMS Victory", 100-gun ship, around 1800

Longridge´s plan is still of high value, yet, I am about to revise it for my model...

And here is my personal, revised version:

NOTE: the Victory, the most famous sailing ship of the line in the world, was built in 1765, but rebuilt many times. It is very likely that also the belaying scheme had altered many times during her life.

What we have today is a "snapshot of history", with many questions that will remain unanswered for us. Yet, it is possible to reconstruct a model of the Victory, that carries a functional rigging. The real Victory will put to sea never again, and the last time she wore sails is more than 150 years ago. The Victory of today, in her last dock in Portsmouth, has a reduced museum rigg only.

"Wasa", Swedish Royal Ship 1628

This is 100% speculation for the Wasa, even if we actually KNOW about her hull and deck layout! NO original plans survived (it can be assumed that they never existed), and not even a contemporary artists´ picture that could tell anything about her rigging!

OK. Despite all this, here is my guess, based on the sail plan reconstruction by Stolt, some plans for modern models of the ship, and the experience onboard the Götheborg III replica in 2009:

(click to zoom in):

A model builder has of course all the freedom to arrange a rigging, or to omit all of it. I just think that, if You keep to historic evidence and some research, at least to some degree, You can make much finer models =)