A capstan that turns, hawse holes raised, stove and bitts

The capstan

After all the explanations about the messenger I want to have a go at making the capstan turn. Under the spindle there is now a small metal plate and a ball on which the whole thing rotates. The Diana has a double capstan (gun deck and upper deck), so the upper deck will need to be properly aligned later and the height of the spindle has to be right. The posts on the gun deck are a little too tall; I am still puzzling over that.

The capstan is assembled; the spindle is still loose in it, as it still needs a coat of colour. Now to find left-hand laid rope, because the kit only contains right-hand laid. Mondfeld gives a formula for the diameter of cables, but unfortunately not for the messenger. Stephan knew a shop: modellbau-takelgarn.de, left- and right-hand laid.

Hawse holes a level higher

Because it is a bit pointless to fit the messenger if I cannot use it, I have moved the hawse holes up a level after all. That meant the small black fitting had to be made slightly lower, but that worked out. The anchor cable fits through it.

I did order new rope: 2.6 mm diameter for the anchor cable and 1.6 mm (roughly 60 per cent) for the messenger. Both left-hand laid, because the rope supplied is right-hand laid.

Stove and bitts

After midnight the stove and the bitts were in place as well. The stove was first given two coats of primer and then two coats of metal black. The bitts got three coats of red ochre.

Once the upper deck is on, the galley chimney follows. The kit contains the Victory’s chimney, but from posts by Jan and, I believe, Henk I understood that the Diana’s chimney was still a square wooden type. I will mull that over for a bit.