Just like London busses, a flurry of posts arrive about the Destroyer!
As promised, the masts are about ready for painting and fitting in the near future. I forgot to buy 2mm aluminium tube for the steam pipes to outfit the funnels, so that puts me back a week or two
I added buttons and eyes to the top so I can rig the yards and add aerial cables etc. Observing Warspite's point about rigging, Ready will only get basic stays. I like the look of yards outboard of the mast, and I am always worried about weakening the mast against the day when Mr Clumsy arms rubs across a mast. I think I could straighten a mast in situ, whereas a break might mean the mast has to be removed
Anyhow, picture time!
Eyes were bent from brass wire in an '8' shape, placed on followed by the Buttons (Correct term? Or do I mean caps??) These were made from slices of 1.5mm I.D brass tube soldered on. I find a little fluxite helps stick the bloomin things in place until the solder has joined,
otherwise they can slide about annoyingly.
This was done on both Fore and Main masts.
Then this morning, I glued the stanchions in place on the bandstand and then rolled some .4mm brass rod around a former smaller in diameter than the ring of stanchions to try and counteract some of the spring. The former I used was actually too small and so some twist crept in which required some manual bending with fingers. It worked well enough.
The rings were then threaded through the eyes as you would on any ship making sure the ring was outboard of the stanchions as I did to prevent the rod from tugging at the stanchions as it went past. Filing the ends before threading would reduce this risk, but being careful as you go reduces risk further.