Ray

Ships boats
I decided the next job was to build the four ships' boats,I started with the smallest one, the 18ft cutter, this was to be my first real build of a ships boat, as the ships boats on Pegasus were hulls I fitted out. Again the kit drawings are a bit basic, so using the boat kit as a starting point, I built the boats adding detail from The Anatomy of ship Diana s  drawings, off the ships boats and will hopefully, using the experience gained on the first one built, be able to build, the others even more closely to the books boats. ( below is a photo of the the kit plan for the 24ft cutter and the plan from the book)
The cutter hull build went OK double planked with some 4mm x .5mm timber I already had, I made sure to overlap the joints of the first planking with the second planking to add strength (after a little bit of filler to the the first planking), the frame tabs were then broken off and the hull sanded inside and out with only a tiny amount of filling required, I then planked the bottom inside, the A O S Diana shows fore and aft gratings, so some wooded packs, and a plastic moulded one were ordered, they were both way too thick, so I cut the shape for the aft one from the plastic grating, and then reduced its thickness, and it looks fairly good,next the internal frames were added using plastic strip and painted yellow ochre, and the the seats added, the wash strake next, again from plastic, and the row-locks were then filed out. The tiller was again made from plastic sheet with the hinges added and lastly the tiller arm, the outer hull was then painted, on the 18ft cutter a green band waqs painted, and the rest of the hull satin white. Lastly the anchor, boat hooks, ropes and oars were added for effect, overall I am pleased with this cutter and hope to improve my small boat building on the other three, and I have made a start on the next boat whilst waiting for coats of paint to dry on this one.
Kit plan and the plan in A N O S Diana ( these are the 22ft cutter)


first planking

2nd planking

keel added

grating

wash strake thwarts & grating


Painting


tiller

Completed no fittings


Completed cutter fitted out




 
 
 
 
 

Gaff & Booms
Time to add the Spanker boom and the Gaff boom,again the supplied rigging drawings are sketchy and difficult to follow,so I decided to rig the booms as per L Petersons R P S M which is my rigging bible I highly recommend this book which can be  purchased for around £25.The booms are now both rigged and the last of the braces which rig into the booms have also been added. One thing that will to be attended to is re-tensioning some of the rigging, but I will do this when the rigging is completed,the only rigging remaining are the tac sheets,and then just the dummy rope coils and a few odds and ends.
Next job ships boats or the stand.





Diana as she is now starting to look the real deal



 

Braces
The braces were rigged next the fore main braces were rigged as per Pegasus and R P S M which runs through blocks fixed the the rear of the top not blocks around the lower mast. The rest of the braces other than those from the mizzen rigged to the gaff have also been added.







 

Spritsail Yard
I decided the next job would be to fit and rig the spritsail yard,this has now been completed with photos below. My next job will be to add the fore ,main and mizzen braces, again leaving the gaffs and the the tac sheets for access, also at some point soon I will make up the ships boats,most likely after the braces.










 

Part 2
The topsail yards were next to be added to the masts these are connected to the mast with the Parral, I assembled them adding the ribs and trucks until the Paarral went around the mast ,I remember they were a real pain to fit and rig on Pegasus when I left them lose on the strings so this time I added a spot of glue at each end, I then tac glued them to the mast, after trying a fair few times to rig the without doing this, then with them held in place like this, the yard was glue in place, setting it horizontal to the yard below and checking it was also square viewed from above. The Parral`s rigging was then fixed around the yard. The tyes and halliard rigging was added with the trucks tied to the after most topsail mast standing back stay.
The first photo shows why I have not yet added the gaffs and will leave off for as long as possible,limited room.

 
Parral




Halliards


Yard hight

 







 

Thanks for the ticks and comments guys.
Jason
          Firstly I still have a long way to go most likely many weeks or months on the rigging which will include all the rope coils, which took a time to do on Pegasus, there are also the ships boats to build, which I may build and use as a break from the rigging at some point.
        Secondly my next build will be something completely different,it will be a WW2 Hunt Class Destroyer a Deans Marine kit built as a static model. My reason for building the Destroyer are two fold one she was the favourite ship my father served on, he served on her a the time of the D Day landings at Omaha Beach, she was one of the destroyers that closed the beach to 800 yards to silence the shore guns that were decimating the US troops landing that day. Secondly it will be nice to build something different.
 
HMS Tanatside

Running rigging
Part 1
   The last job before the running rigging was to add the shroud cleats.
The yards, I added the two main yards  first and then the cross-jack, I first made and fixed the Truss Pendants to the yards,I then fixed the yard to the mast held in by the pin, then tied the jeers, then after making sure the yard was horizontal and square cynoed the yard into the mast,and after giving it time to set,set up the blocks and tackle to complete the rigging of the Truss Pendants and the the main slings.
 

 
fitting the yard to the mast

 
truss pendants and jeers

 
Main yards rigged



 
Deck view

Ships boats
I decided the next job was to build the four ships' boats,I started with the smallest one, the 18ft cutter, this was to be my first real build of a ships boat, as the ships boats on Pegasus were hulls I fitted out. Again the kit drawings are a bit basic, so using the boat kit as a starting point, I built the boats adding detail from The Anatomy of ship Diana s  drawings, off the ships boats and will hopefully, using the experience gained on the first one built, be able to build, the others even more closely to the books boats. ( below is a photo of the the kit plan for the 24ft cutter and the plan from the book)
The cutter hull build went OK double planked with some 4mm x .5mm timber I already had, I made sure to overlap the joints of the first planking with the second planking to add strength (after a little bit of filler to the the first planking), the frame tabs were then broken off and the hull sanded inside and out with only a tiny amount of filling required, I then planked the bottom inside, the A O S Diana shows fore and aft gratings, so some wooded packs, and a plastic moulded one were ordered, they were both way too thick, so I cut the shape for the aft one from the plastic grating, and then reduced its thickness, and it looks fairly good,next the internal frames were added using plastic strip and painted yellow ochre, and the the seats added, the wash strake next, again from plastic, and the row-locks were then filed out. The tiller was again made from plastic sheet with the hinges added and lastly the tiller arm, the outer hull was then painted, on the 18ft cutter a green band waqs painted, and the rest of the hull satin white. Lastly the anchor, boat hooks, ropes and oars were added for effect, overall I am pleased with this cutter and hope to improve my small boat building on the other three, and I have made a start on the next boat whilst waiting for coats of paint to dry on this one.
Kit plan and the plan in A N O S Diana ( these are the 22ft cutter)


first planking

2nd planking

keel added

grating

wash strake thwarts & grating


Painting


tiller

Completed no fittings


Completed cutter fitted out




 
 
 
 
 

Your ships boat is a model in itself.
David B

Ships boats
I decided the next job was to build the four ships' boats,I started with the smallest one, the 18ft cutter, this was to be my first real build of a ships boat, as the ships boats on Pegasus were hulls I fitted out. Again the kit drawings are a bit basic, so using the boat kit as a starting point, I built the boats adding detail from The Anatomy of ship Diana s  drawings, off the ships boats and will hopefully, using the experience gained on the first one built, be able to build, the others even more closely to the books boats. ( below is a photo of the the kit plan for the 24ft cutter and the plan from the book)
The cutter hull build went OK double planked with some 4mm x .5mm timber I already had, I made sure to overlap the joints of the first planking with the second planking to add strength (after a little bit of filler to the the first planking), the frame tabs were then broken off and the hull sanded inside and out with only a tiny amount of filling required, I then planked the bottom inside, the A O S Diana shows fore and aft gratings, so some wooded packs, and a plastic moulded one were ordered, they were both way too thick, so I cut the shape for the aft one from the plastic grating, and then reduced its thickness, and it looks fairly good,next the internal frames were added using plastic strip and painted yellow ochre, and the the seats added, the wash strake next, again from plastic, and the row-locks were then filed out. The tiller was again made from plastic sheet with the hinges added and lastly the tiller arm, the outer hull was then painted, on the 18ft cutter a green band waqs painted, and the rest of the hull satin white. Lastly the anchor, boat hooks, ropes and oars were added for effect, overall I am pleased with this cutter and hope to improve my small boat building on the other three, and I have made a start on the next boat whilst waiting for coats of paint to dry on this one.
Kit plan and the plan in A N O S Diana ( these are the 22ft cutter)


first planking

2nd planking

keel added

grating

wash strake thwarts & grating


Painting


tiller

Completed no fittings


Completed cutter fitted out




 
 
 
 
 

Hello Ray,
 
Your treatment of the ships boats is inspirational, I am keeping copies of each step of your log for when I start on Diana.
Thank you for providing such detailed information on a very competent build.
 
Regards
Gary 

Some photos below showing the yards, with stun-sail booms, on the masts, not fixed just in the pin holes. Next job make the remainder of the yards and gaff booms.
 

Next two coats of dull black paint was applied  to the yard before all the blocks and rigging tackle was added. The lower main yard also had the yard slings added, also the slings with a block to support it made and added to the tops , all the lifting tackle blocks were also fixed to the yard finishing with the pendant lines and blocks, lastly the stirrups and foot-ropes completed the yards, the stirrups were made by using stanchions left over from the quarter deck conversion they looked better than my bent wire test stirrups. Lastly the stun-sail booms were made and fitted and lashed down,I must say there is a considerable amount of work, and time and effort, that goes into each yard and I am very pleased with the results.
The main yard and cross-jack are done, now its back to the others.
Cross-jack


pinned to mast

Main yard with some blocks

Main yard fully rigged without stun-sail booms



Main yard sling

Finished main yard


 
 

She's a real feast for the eye's Ray, wonderful.
 
Be Good
 
mobbsie

Gaff & Booms
Time to add the Spanker boom and the Gaff boom,again the supplied rigging drawings are sketchy and difficult to follow,so I decided to rig the booms as per L Petersons R P S M which is my rigging bible I highly recommend this book which can be  purchased for around £25.The booms are now both rigged and the last of the braces which rig into the booms have also been added. One thing that will to be attended to is re-tensioning some of the rigging, but I will do this when the rigging is completed,the only rigging remaining are the tac sheets,and then just the dummy rope coils and a few odds and ends.
Next job ships boats or the stand.





Diana as she is now starting to look the real deal



 

Gaff & Booms
Time to add the Spanker boom and the Gaff boom,again the supplied rigging drawings are sketchy and difficult to follow,so I decided to rig the booms as per L Petersons R P S M which is my rigging bible I highly recommend this book which can be  purchased for around £25.The booms are now both rigged and the last of the braces which rig into the booms have also been added. One thing that will to be attended to is re-tensioning some of the rigging, but I will do this when the rigging is completed,the only rigging remaining are the tac sheets,and then just the dummy rope coils and a few odds and ends.
Next job ships boats or the stand.





Diana as she is now starting to look the real deal



 

Thanks for the many ticks and comments guys, I have been working on the ships boats they are turning out to be little mini builds on there own, so I will update the log soon and go through the builds rather than just one update on them all.

Just stunning Ray. Your ratlines are some of the best I have seen. Everything looks so clean and crisp.
Tim

Flight Deck Nets
 
The kit provides some nice PE safety nets for the sides of the flight deck (they were not added to the aft part of the flight deck until several years after the time I am depicting). The instructions call for installing them in the raised (vertical) position but since I will show the DASH on the deck I chose to mount them in the lowered (horizontal) position, which would require some modifications. Since PE is inherently thin if viewed side-on the PE would appear under-scale for thickness. I decided to line the PE nets with brass wire to give them more depth:

But after making the wire frame I thought I might try adding my own netting using some fine plastic netting from the craft store (I think it is intended for floral arrangements). As you can see from the attached photo the netting should be very fine, almost invisible.

Here’s my first attempt after spray painting (2nd from the top below) - not too good, the paint made a mess of the netting. Next I tried adding the netting after spray painting the frames (the 3rd from the top in the photo below), better but the frames still looked bad so I threw out the spray paint, painted the frames by hand and then added the netting (bottom one in the below photo) - much better. The craft store mesh is to scale and as an added bonus the openings are diamond-shaped, just like the real things!

After making and installing the nets I wanted to add the “guy wires” (for lack of a better term) that support the nets in the lowered position. I decided to drill a hole in some small strip plastic and insert a piece of 3X fly fishing leader material, cut off the small piece of strip stock, paint it and install it. Here it is being assembled and after installation prior to trimming:


Here’s the finished product:


Next step will be the whaleboat and davits.

Gaff & Booms
Time to add the Spanker boom and the Gaff boom,again the supplied rigging drawings are sketchy and difficult to follow,so I decided to rig the booms as per L Petersons R P S M which is my rigging bible I highly recommend this book which can be  purchased for around £25.The booms are now both rigged and the last of the braces which rig into the booms have also been added. One thing that will to be attended to is re-tensioning some of the rigging, but I will do this when the rigging is completed,the only rigging remaining are the tac sheets,and then just the dummy rope coils and a few odds and ends.
Next job ships boats or the stand.





Diana as she is now starting to look the real deal



 

Gaff & Booms
Time to add the Spanker boom and the Gaff boom,again the supplied rigging drawings are sketchy and difficult to follow,so I decided to rig the booms as per L Petersons R P S M which is my rigging bible I highly recommend this book which can be  purchased for around £25.The booms are now both rigged and the last of the braces which rig into the booms have also been added. One thing that will to be attended to is re-tensioning some of the rigging, but I will do this when the rigging is completed,the only rigging remaining are the tac sheets,and then just the dummy rope coils and a few odds and ends.
Next job ships boats or the stand.





Diana as she is now starting to look the real deal



 

Copper plating complete the second side has now been finished, only the rudder to do, to complete all the plating to sum up the plates went on very well were easy to cut dress to fit, there was loads left over, glad its completed and it was a good move to break it up by building the galleries at the same time.
I have also remove the protective tape of the gun deck.
 
2nd side well under way


 
Both sides completed





 
Protective tape removed from gun deck

 

Copper plating the hull.
                                  Firstly I decided to go with the copper plates supplied with the kit although I much preferred the look of the ones used on Pegasus, the cost would have been over £100 to update them too much for me.  I started from the edge of the keel and fixed a row of tiles left over from Pegasus on the edge, I then came down 3 Rows before running a gore line, I did it by eye and feel and looking back at Pegasus to get the same sort of effect, as there does not seem to be a definitive way of doing this. One advantage I have found with these plates are they fix very well, maybe it is the dimples on the fixing side holding the cyno better than a plain flat surface, they also cut well and dress down fairly easily with a file or sanding wheel, when you need to make up the triangular stealers.
 
First few tiles on

 
Gore line marked out

 
Gore line tiled

 
About a quarter done


 
 
First side nearly done



 
 
 
 
 

Hi Nice planking David glad you found my method of use.
Jerry the top and butt deck planking was used on the  lower gun decks to strengthen them where the cannons are, I described in my build, a method I worked out to lay the top and butt pattern the planking looks great when done as you can see from David`s it is a bit fiddly but well worth the effort.

Hi David
              Nice to see your start of the kit. It should have cannon ball in it, and yes the deck planks are rubbish and so is the dowel, I replaced both, the only kit dowel used was on the lower masts the rest was replaced with walnut, some castings needed some work, I did find Jotica replaced some poor items and some castings missing without any trouble. Look forward to Diana`s progress, two and a half two three years is a reasonable build time I will be in that time frame myself most rigging done now.