Home made Ratlanes.

[Bruno.hofke]

Here I show an attempt to make a ratline. This is my first experience, the next I'll try to find a thinner line.
The ratline is made by winding a line in small plastic jig I made







After a few drops of super glue to keep everything in place.



Once dry I cut the excesses and have two identical ratlines.

[Nightmoss]

Very clever idea! Thanks for sharing and posting the photos. About how long would you estimate it takes you to do one set of ratlines?

[Naharaht]

Well done, Bruno! That was an inventive piece of modelling.

[Coog]

Great work. Looks like you will not have to worry about the problem of them breaking.

[Comte de Brueys]

That's hard work, but an impessive result!

[Bruno.hofke]

Very clever idea! Thanks for sharing and posting the photos. About how long would you estimate it takes you to do one set of ratlines?

It does not take much guess easily 10 minutes per pair.

[7eat51]

Nicely done, Bruno.

10 minutes per pair? It looks like a much longer process. Very inventive, very cool.

[wan314]

Here I show an attempt to make a ratline. This is my first experience, the next I'll try to find a thinner line.
The ratline is made by winding a line in small plastic jig I made

Well I'm submitting to the sin of pride here. After seeing this post I had to finally join the forum and show my work. Talk about parallel development. I did something similar two weeks ago and have been refining it.
After a few iterations my jig is pins stuck into styrofoam (dense type). I originally printed a 1mm grid and drew a template based on the brass ratlines. I then placed it on the foam and pinned away. I added two risers made of cardboard to the top and bottom. This is instead of cutting a hollow away in the middle.

The picture below shows the jig with the threading. I made sure I always came on the same side of the pins (right on the up-down lines, top on the left-right lines). I used a wrap around like a figure 8 when going in the opposite direction. The top-down lines can be a continuous line and the left-right lines can be continuous as well.
The thread I used is cotton with white glue imbedded to keep it straight (technique from warartisan.com for rigging ships). I used that for the up-down lines. For the left-right lines, I unraveled the cotton thread and glued then semi-straight. There are three yarns to the thread. I had to create a small jig out of cardboard to keep the three yarns separated while I untwirled the thread.

I originally used white glue at the crossing of the lines, then switched to crazy glue on the outside and now I'm using all crazy glue that is very thin. I'm in the process of making the second ratline of the day. Trying to keep the glue from showing up on the thread (think of snow drifts/ frost in the corner of a window pane).

I have also bought iris scissors from ebay (real cheap) to enable me to cut close for the finished product.

So far I have done up-down lines first and the the left-rights. Since this is meant for starboard side main mast lower I could creat it in the opposite direction for the port side. Nobody would notice which lines would overlap which lines so not really necessary.

The left-right are at 1mm spacing. I measured the thread it's ~0.2mm and ~0.11mm

[Tommy Z]

Genius! Nicely Done, both of you!

[Nightmoss]

It does not take much guess easily 10 minutes per pair.

Thanks, Bruno. Very cool!

[Nightmoss]

Darren, that's also impressive. Creative on both your parts.

[wan314]

Thanks all.
NB: The last left-right line is the regular thread. Sort of like the bottom brace.

Now to the top ratline.
Also will have to show my painting of hms defense and the French boat.

[Bruno.hofke]

I do not know if I'll take the job as completed but here's a preview.

[Nightmoss]

I do not know if I'll take the job as completed but here's a preview.

Most excellent, Bruno!

[wan314]

Here are two ratlines I made using the very runny crazy glue. I revived my iris scissors today so I trimmed the lines.
For reference the left-right lines are about 1mm in spacing.
Hope you all enjoy. I know I always enjoyed new photos on this site.

[Bruno.hofke]

Excellent work. It was with very good workmanship.

[7eat51]

Well done, both of you.

it is always enjoyable to see the skill of fellow members, and to learn new ideas. Thanks.

[Cpt Kangaroo]

Bruno, I love the design of your jig. Once made, I am sure it will provide an unlimited service, with the flexibility to work with different ship types as well.

Darren, you taught me that I can split the threads, which I had never considered. I have always thought the one Achilles heel to making your own rat lines was thread thickness.

Have either of you tried a product called 'invisible thread?' It is supposed to be super fine and doesn't give the 'fuzzies' when glued or painted. I was wondering how well that would work for this.

Thanks for sharing.

[wan314]

I haven't found a local source of invisible thread with stated thickness. Online it is even difficult. Something like 008 thread comes in black but I have to buy $10 worth site unseen.
I guess I could give Joan's fabric a try. Wonder if they will let me bring my micrometer to measure the thread.

White glue on the original thread stops most of the fuzzies, but when splitting it definatley creates some problems. The twisting of the yarns does add some randomness to the left-right lines.

[Nightmoss]

I haven't found a local source of invisible thread with stated thickness. Online it is even difficult. Something like 008 thread comes in black but I have to buy $10 worth site unseen.
I guess I could give Joan's fabric a try. Wonder if they will let me bring my micrometer to measure the thread.

White glue on the original thread stops most of the fuzzies, but when splitting it definatley creates some problems. The twisting of the yarns does add some randomness to the left-right lines.

Failing JoAnn's or going online you could try Walmart? They carry monofilament or "invisible thread"? Smoke color is not entirely black so you'd have to paint it.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/32750437?w...187101&veh=sem

Our local JoAnn's has really friendly and helpful staff so bringing in anything to make for a better purchase is never a problem.

[wan314]

Any idea how thick the thread would be.

Yeah I noticed more smoke than black. Never thought f painting it. Do plan to paint my white cotton thread tan for the rigging.

[Nightmoss]

Any idea how thick the thread would be.

Yeah I noticed more smoke than black. Never thought f painting it. Do plan to paint my white cotton thread tan for the rigging.

I don't know the size of the Walmart thread but the invisible thread I purchased via Amazon is .004. I've not used it at this point so I couldn't tell you how it works painted or with the application of superglue?

http://www.amazon.com/YLI-Corporatio...ilament+thread

[wan314]

Thanks. About the same size as my yarns.

Biggest challenge right now is the ratline mid mast on the main mast. Would have been nice to measure twice

[Cpt Kangaroo]

Jim, I looked at that web site, thanks for sharing.

I saw a thread that caught my eye... Water soluble thread. Now there is a novel idea, just perfect for a ship!

[Nightmoss]

Jim, I looked at that web site, thanks for sharing.

I saw a thread that caught my eye... Water soluble thread. Now there is a novel idea, just perfect for a ship!

I hadn't seen that until you mentioned it. Pretty hilarious on a ship, I agree.

[csadn]

I saw a thread that caught my eye... Water soluble thread. Now there is a novel idea, just perfect for a ship!

Very effective for bathing-suit-themed practical jokes. >:)

[wan314]

Thought I would some more pictures. The one below shows the same jig with extra pins. This allowed me to make the top ratlines as well as the ratlines for the mizzen.

The photo below shows the ratlines for HMS Defense. Left to right is mizzen to foremast. Top and bottom well is top and bottom I've used some artistic license for finessing the ratlines to fit. I.e. Cut more from the top, etc. Hope you all enjoy.

[Nightmoss]

Another fine effort! I'm sure the Defense will look even better once these are attached. Well done!

[wan314]

Thanks
Nice to get feedback from the community.

[Coog]

Those did come out good. They look like they would be sturdy, flexible and easy to work with while placing them.

[wan314]

They are a little fussy when trimming them and take them off the jig. The crazy glue can be a hassle. The last two lines I was doing post jig work.
Definitely have some stiffness due to the white glue in the thread and the additional crazy glue. It almost feels like plastic when trimming the excess lines.
Be interesting to know if the same ratlines would fit the French sol (with a little bit of finessing )

[7eat51]

Darren, I applaud your work. It must be quite satisfying to see the finished product.

I look forward to seeing these attached.

[Volunteer]

Brunno and Darren---------BRILLIANT! They look much better than mine. I have often thought about using a jig of some kind but just never got around to trying. The 10-minutes per pair is a bit daunting though. That is 60 minutes per ship with probably more time for prep in between compared with around 10-minutes for all 6 ratlines the way I'm doing it now............but yours look so much better!

[wan314]

How are you doing your ratlines Vol?

And mine are taking more than 10min each ratline. I can tell you that. I'm too much of a perfectionist (and still not perfect). By the time I detwine the tread and wind it, glue it cut it, trim (close cut the edge), and fix any threads coming undone maybe an hour. Hard to tell. Maybe when I do the French ship ill time myself.

[bakblast]

Very effective for bathing-suit-themed practical jokes. >:)

If she is particularily hot!

[Volunteer]

How are you doing your ratlines Vol?

And mine are taking more than 10min each ratline. I can tell you that. I'm too much of a perfectionist (and still not perfect). By the time I detwine the tread and wind it, glue it cut it, trim (close cut the edge), and fix any threads coming undone maybe an hour. Hard to tell. Maybe when I do the French ship ill time myself.

Darren, as you can see in the photo I use a mesh I get from Hancock fabrics that is just the right mesh size for the scale. It has thick strands one way and thin strands the the other way. Thick for the shroud lines and thin for the ratlines. I cut rectangles the length and width I need, then cut the rectangle diagonally to get a pair of shroud/ratlines. I then glue a wire the same thickness as the shroud lines to the open side and stick the long end of the wire into a piece of foam board to dry. When the glue has set I cut the extra bit of wire to match the bottom of the rest of the shroud lines. It goes very fast. I size them to match the width of the chains for each mast and the length from the cains to the mast just below the fighting platform. For the uppers it is the width of the fighting platform and up to the base of the t'gallant mast.

A 74 will generally work out for width as follows:
Formast - 4 to 5 shrouds
Fortop - 2 to 3 shrouds
Mainmast - 5 to 6 shrouds
Maintop - 3 shrouds
Mizzen Mast - 4 shrouds
Mizzentop - 2 shrouds

For a three decker add a shroud to each. For a frigate subtract one.

That's how I do it. But yours still look more like the real thing IMO.

Oh, I forgot to say that I get the wire from a wire brush I picked up at the Dollar Store. I'm sure any sort of bristle brush with bristles the right thickness would work. Doesn't have to be wire. Cheers

[Volunteer]

Darren, rather than spending so much time detwining your thread for the horizontal ratlines, why not buy a spool of .008 fly thread from a fly tying shop? .008 should easily be thin enough for ratlines at 1/1000 scale with the added benefit that it doesn't "fuzz" over time. Fly tying thread is available in a multitude of thicknesses and colors. I use it for all my rigging now.

[wan314]

Darren, rather than spending so much time detwining your thread for the horizontal ratlines, why not buy a spool of .008 fly thread from a fly tying shop? .008 should easily be thin enough for ratlines at 1/1000 scale with the added benefit that it doesn't "fuzz" over time. Fly tying thread is available in a multitude of thicknesses and colors. I use it for all my rigging now.

.008 for the ratline might be too thick. I'm measuring about 0.11mm(.004) for the ratline.
I'll be using the cotton thread with infused white glue. It might have less fuzz and I can glue instead of tie (technique from warartisan.com).

[wan314]

I do not know if I'll take the job as completed but here's a preview.

Must have missed this. Sorry for the late reply. Looks great on the ship.

[Volunteer]

.008 for the ratline might be too thick. I'm measuring about 0.11mm(.004) for the ratline.
I'll be using the cotton thread with infused white glue. It might have less fuzz and I can glue instead of tie (technique from warartisan.com).

Wow! I can barely see my .008 or .006 thread. it's like cat hair. Maybe I'm missing a 0. I'm at work in Alaska and can't look.

[wan314]

You're probably correct. I think I'm not measuring properly, probably to much pressure with the micrometer.
I do use magnifiers but the thread is defiantly not invisible.
Does that thread come in black?

[Volunteer]

Yep, black, dark brown, medium brown, light brown, tan, manilla, yellow, just about everything you could imagine on a fishing fly.

[wan314]

I've just post my reprint and rigging of the HMS DEFENCE (http://sailsofglory.org/showthread.p...ll=1#post39577).
But I thought I would link the picture with my homemade ratlines mounted on the ship.
This picture is with the inner standing rigging and then the ratlines. More pictures of the final rigging can be seen in the link above.