Blue Ensign

Those bijou carronades are an exercise in pure frustration, but that's the worst over now, you can relax and enjoy the rest of the build. You're right about the plating, Amati have the edge over Caldercraft by a long way on appearance, and if I were doing Pickle again, or any other Caldercraft kit for that matter, I would ditch their plates in favour of Amati.

B.E.

Sorry to see the Mizen has failed Peter, good luck with the replacement.

Cheers,

B.E.

Good progress Hamilton, she's really starting to look the part now

B.E.

Nice work Tony, and a great  instruction on how to achieve it; I would be really pleased to have produced that little gem.

B.E.

They look fine to me Jason, I also had to jigger with the chain lengths on Pegasus to get them to look right.

Cheers,

B.E.

So just a couple more pics this morning.

 

Another look at the mizzen stay collar lashing and the lanyard. I came about as close as I dared get to an actual rose lashing (I did have to look that up online, found this link: http://www.frayedknotarts.com/tutorials/roselash/roselash.html), ok maybe not quite, but it works.

 

 The kit says to use 3mm deadeyes, but I used a couple of hearts I had. They may be a bit oversized, but they are more correct (I think).

 

I've also snugged up the shrouds and tied off the deadeye lanyards. When that was all done, I gave the lines a coat of matte medium so things don't get too fuzzy while I'm gone.

 

Andy

Neat work on the Mizen stay Andy.

Lees (Masting & Rigging) indicates the use of deadeyes up to 1805, but  Marquardt ( 18th century rigs and Rigging) qualifies this as relating to large ships. Antscherl has gone with 5" hearts (2mm at scale).

I suspect Lees who was Senior Curator at the NMM based much of his work on the close inspection of contemporary models, but hearts or deadeyes are a minor point in the ovearall scheme of things.

B.E.

Beautifully crafted tops Ferit, very well done.

B.E.

Nice work on the capstan Mark, bang on for scale with the figure.

Cheers,

B.E.

Nice 'how to' on framing the Launch Grant, excellent work.

B.E.

Only been away a few days but you have made  great progress Timmo, love the last batch of shots, show off the cleaness of your work a treat.

Cheers,

B.E.

Looking good Richard,

B.E.

A very nice job on those carronades Len, they are excellent

B.E.

That is more difficult because wire rigging sizes tended to be somewhat smaller than the equivalent rope sizes. Can the operators of the Danmark provide any information? or failing that The Cutty Sark also had wire rigging and that rigging information is available, and may not be too far out.

B.E.

The stay collar around the Mainmast looks good to me, at the scale involved making two eyes and a lashing around the back of the mast  is a result in itself. Imagine the purists trying to do a Rose Lashing.

One minor nod to accuracy which won't involve you in any trouble, the stay passes around the Masthead from Port to Starboard so you may wish to  turn the stay  so the eye is on the Starboard side.

B.E.

If you go down the toggle route Andy I would suggest you drill the slots for the strops before you fit the battens that radiate across the top. I had to remove and re-jig some of the battens because they cut across where the slots should be. The slots incidently fall behind the forward crosstrees and aft of the aft crosstrees.

I found this quite a tricky exercise at 1:64 and I'm not sure how much will be apparent once all the top hamper is fitted. Still it satisfies the inner masochist I suppose.

B.E.

Looking very good Grant, I shall be following your progress with great interest; I may soon be having to try to replicate your excellent work.

Regards,

B.E.

Hi Timmo , yes that is the sort of arrangement I had in mind. I see on the AoTS cover drawing that the rail is painted black in the centre of the moulding which picks up with the wale and the capping rails. I see what you mean about the blue section along the Foc'sle topsides, but you have an artists eye as evidenced by your work on the bulkhead and I'm sure whatever you eventually decide upon will look good.

Regards,

B.E.

Tricky one that Timmo, I'm not quite sure, either way quite a tricky paint job but one I've no doubt you are up to.

Had you considered a plain varnished affect for the rail with the centre picked out in the  same blue as the bulkhead?

B.E.

It would help to know what model you are building; Anderson is good for 17th early 18th century period but Steel is better for mid 18th to early 19th century period.

B.E.

I wish you joy Bob in your new acquisition to come, I hope it does the business. 

Thanks for your comment about Pegasus, I am getting an enormous pleasure from bashing her about, glad she's been of help to you.

Cheers,

B.E.

Hi Garward,

Haven't looked in on your build since the big crash, a pleasure to re-visit, she has lost non of the wow factor, just love what you have done with this kit, your colour toning is wonderful.

Regards,

B.E.

Hi Bob,

The lathe comes with a set of collets to hold the work in the headstock, and a faceplate for larger items.

I did in fact buy both the 3 and 4 jaw chucks, and the drill chuck which fits in the tail stock. The  4 jaw chuck is made of plastic, a little kinder to wood perhaps and slightly more versatile than the self centreing  3 jaw chuck. I have used both, and I thought while I'm at it.......

I've not used the drill chuck as yet but I suppose it will be useful if I need to drill holes in the end of the piece, but again I thought while I'm at it...

I didn't buy the chisels so I can't comment on the quality etc, but chisels would be necessary if you intend to do some turning as opposed to just tapering.

I used various grades of  sandpaper to taper masts and it works quite well. I make a card template of the taper at the quarters and use this with my calipers to check progress. There are details on my Pegasus log of the method I use.

Cheers,

B.E.

Wonderful stuff Daniel,  how I envy your eyes, dexterity, and talent .

M.

It's all looking very good Jason, you really do neat work.

Re the  capsquares on the long guns:-  I used a small eyebolt with a small portion clipped off the eye to  represent the hinge that fitted on the rear of the capsquare. The shortened stem of the eyebolt fitted in a hole drilled immediately behind the capsquare and the now open eye  fitted into the hole in the capsquare. At the scale involved I think it does a fair representation of the hinge.

I searched for a while to find chain that was sufficiently small for the capsquare securing bolt. I eventually found some at Jotika at 42 links per inch which is what I used.

Here's the link to their online shop.

http://www.shipwrightshop.com/shop/contents/en-uk/d59_Thread-Chain-Wire_02.html

For the bolt I just used a squeezed together 0.3mm brass etched eyelet, also from Jotika.

http://www.shipwrightshop.com/shop/contents/en-uk/d58_Mast-Detail-and-Rigging-Fittings_01.html

Incidently those etched eyelets sold in packs of 250 are always worth having, they come in handy for lots of modelling jobs where tiny eyebolts are required.

Regards,

M.

Hi Pete,

As someone with ships boats on their mind at present I will be very interested to see how your little gem turns out, it looks an interesting little project. 

Regards,

B.E.