Blue Ensign

Thanks John for dropping by The stern transom I had been viewing this with a little concern as it presents an excellent opportunity to cock things up big time. There are subtle curves to attend to and the trimming back of the bulwarks to meet the stern piece is critical as far as fit is concerned. In the standard Jotika build the stern facia is un-planked on its outer face, simply being painted black.Their idea is that the stern piece should be sanded back to meet the bulwarks, and the paint scheme carried over the stern piece edges. I was a little unsure about this as most of the small vessels of this type I have seen have the stern piece extending outside of the bulwarks by a small amount. I was also not over impressed with the way the bulwark rails met the stern piece with the basic kit arrangement. The sort of arrangement I feel more appropriate is along the lines of the Royal Naval Museum model of Pickle, as above. So a few modifications were in order...... The outer face has been planked with ‘ebony’ 3.4mm strip and a moulding added around the edge to match and reflect the bulwark capping rails. The inside of the stern piece was planked with boxwood to match the bulwarks. I had been pondering, even before I got the kit, about the absence of port lids on the stern ports. Jotika have not included them, but it just doesn’t seem logical to have two large opening in the stern to allow in sea water from a following sea right where the helmsman is standing. The model in the Royal Naval Museum does not have them either, but Geoff Hunt has shown them in his painting of Pickle. I am not sure, but in case I decide later to fit the lids I have made a pair whilst I had the stern counter off the model, to do the fitting. Capping Rails These are pre-shaped in Walnut but even so need some fettlin’ and trimmin’ to get ‘em to sit right. The critical point is faying the rail at the stern to meet the transom. Pinning first to get the fit and then finally gluing with pva and pinning; rapid work is needed to apply the pva adjust the seating of the rail, and apply pressure to secure. A weighty problem this: Once secured the pins can be removed and final tweaking and sanding of the rail can be done. I had considered dyeing the rail, but decided in the end to paint it with Admiralty ‘dull black’ followed by sanding sealer to give the same finish as the hull. To this point the build has taken about three months of fairly regular working. B.E.

Planking the deck The instructions call for the deck to be fully planked before moving to fitting the hatchway coamings and head ledges which then sit on the deck. I was in two minds whether to fit these first and then run the planking up to them but decided in the end to do the planking first. Again I departed from the Jotika scheme, replacing the supplied 4mm x 1mm Tanganyika strip with boxwood 3.4mm x 0.6mm. Apart from any other consideration I thought the slightly narrower planking was more in scale. I Used a three butt shift pattern ie three plank widths between butts on any joist. The planks are the scale equivalent of 29’ x 8.5” PVA was used to fix the planks which were line edged with a Pilot broad chisel marker pen(instant dry and water resistant) to replicate the caulking. There was no evidence of bleed into the wood. The plank ends were joggled into the Margin plank at the bows. Planking in progress, planking usually starts with the planks either side of the centre line and progresses from the stern forward and outwards. Joggling completed. A little time now will be spent scraping the deck (not sanding) to remove any unevenness, and tidying up the mast and rudder head holes. Next stage will be fitting the stern transom, and assembling one of the carronades to check gun port levels. B.E.

Planking the Bulwarks Jotika supplied 1mm thick walnut planking for both inside and outside the hull, plus the 0.8mm gun port pattern. I have used 0.6mm thick boxwood strip, so to add depth to the bulwarks I have double planked the inside of the bulwark with 6mm wide boxwood strip over-planked with 4.2mm strip. Having un-lined gun-ports results in rather untidy looking planks ends from the four layers that make up the bulwark. These required filling to smooth them out. They were then painted Red ochre, one of the few areas where paint will be used. With the internal planking completed Pickle looks far more solid. I can now progress to the deck planking. B.E.

Installing the deck Before this can take place the bulkhead extensions have to be removed from the inside of the bulwarks. This entails cutting thro’ using a fine bladed saw. A miniature flexible saw blade that fits in an x acto type handle, for those awkward little corners. A recently acquired flexible bladed job, known as a Flush cutting saw, great for getting down to a surface. Without these I think I would have struggled to do the job, a fine bladed razor saw would not have got to all the required angles with its rigid back. This is quite a scary part of the job as without the support of the bulkhead extensions it is easy to imagine the gunport pattern breaking off as it is now only in contact with a fairly small area of bulkhead. Fortunately it seems fairly stable. Once achieved it is necessary to blacken the insides of the hull where it may be seen thro’the various hatches and companionways. The first opportunity to dry fit the deck, and a relief to find that it slips in fairly comfortably. The three shift butt planking pattern has been pencilled in as with the bulkhead deck supports. Here I have cut out paper templates for the deck margin strip, something Jotika have not allowed for, or mentioned in their kit details. The base deck goes in. Before I fitted the deck I noticed that the slot for the Foremast was a little loose and may cause problems later in aligning the mast. A suitable bit of brass tubing was inserted in the slot to firm things up a little. I also inserted some boxwood carlings and false beams around the underside of the Main Hatch and companionway to give additional depth to the deck. No real problem in fitting the deck apart from getting the pva down quick enough across all the bulkheads, even so pinning was required to secure the edges where the camber meets the bulwark. When dry the pins were nipped off flush with the deck. The masts were used to ensure the deck was properly located. Margin for Error? Pondering about the margin strip and poking around in the kit box it suddenly struck me that I could perhaps use the remaining birch sheet that had held the deck former. The inside was already shaped to the deck pattern and it was a simple matter to pva the template to it and cut around. I used PVA to fix the margin plank, but with ca along the edge to grip the bulwark. The question of colour difference between the boxwood planking and the Birch margin plank remains, but I have trialled a little thinned down water based brown paint mixed with Ronseal light oak satin varnish, and I think I can achieve a near enough colour match. Before I start the deck planking I think I will plank the inner bulwarks, not in accordance with Jotika's order of play, but logical now that a Margin Plank has been installed. B.E.

Looks like an interesting build you have coming along here, and I like your willingness to back track and address issues, coupled with a little kit 'bashing' something I'm not averse to myself. Do you intend to keep the pre made cast gunport surrounds and lids as shown on the kit blurb? Regards, B.E.

Coppering the hull. I gave some little thought as to how I was going to do this coppering lark, where to start, how authentic to be, the practicalities of how to apply the bally things, without the plates sticking to me rather than the hull, how to avoid the glue getting all over those nice shiny plates, and lastly how to make those nice shiny plates look less shiny. Authenticity - The first thing to go. Strictly speaking on naval ships the copper plates should overlap the plate above it by some 1½”, and overlap the preceding plate by the same. Merchant ships apparently followed the more easily applied method of overlapping the plate below. This is all of no matter because at smallish scale overlapping plates can look untidy, so on Mr Pickle they will simply be butt jointed, working from the stern forward and the keel up. How to apply I will be using thick ca, less run, so hopefully less overspill onto the surface of the plates. My beautiful assistant Debbie will now demonstrate the procedure. The thin dowel stick with a piece of double sided tape applied is used to pick up the plate. The ca is applied with a cocktail stick and the plate directed into position. An old BiC pencil with a rubber in the end provides a burnishing tool to press the plate against the hull to secure. No fingers, no tweezers, no mess on the plates, and no plates on me. (especially when Mrs W is doing it) The job progresses apace, a bit like brick laying without the pointing up, The tricky bit will come later when small irregular pieces are needed and when I reach the waterline. The tricky part was getting a clean line around the waterline. Not too displeased with my first attempt at sheathing, but despite my best efforts some little amount of ca found its way onto the plate surface. Cotton buds dipped in acetone were used to try and get rid of this excess. The Coppering completed Top marks to Jotika who have not stinted on the supply of plates I have about 110 left over, although I still have the rudder to do. I have some reservations about the domed nail heads apparent on the Jotika plates; I’m thinking that they are too pronounced. On most real plating I have seen the nails are hardly visible and are certainly not domed.* * since this build Amati have come out with a far superior plate at 1:64 and I would certainly have gone with those if I were building Pickle now. During trimming I note that strips of these plates would make very fine pintles and gudgeons for smaller scale models, and particularly the rudder apparatus for ships boats. The coppering has been extended up the stem and just onto the False keel, the keel itself is not coppered. A thin batten has been attached along the top strake of the coppering. Another build milestone is reached. B.E.

Before coppering can begin the waterline has to be marked. A base board is needed to sit the thing upright and held steady. I construct a sort of Heath Robinson affair to support the model. A little jig is provided in the kit to elevate the bows to assist the marking of the line which in the case of Pickle does not run parallel to the keel. An inordinate amount of time is spent trying to ensure that Pickle sit perfectly square. Not prepared to stick my hand in my pocket for a vernier height gauge (why are they so expensive) I consult Mr Robinson and come up with a carpenters pencil pva’d to a block of balsa with the chisel point the critical 50mm above board level. Additional bandings are applied to hold the hull down firmly. Around the hull we go and I am pleased to see that the lines meet at the bow; a little more tricky at the stern as the pencil doesn’t seem to want to go under the transom. The pencil line was very faint so I go over it with a silver gellyroll pen to make it stand out against the black hull. Seems I’m just about mm perfect for where the coppering will reach at the bows, and as for the stern I will continue the lines with a suitable curve. Marking the waterline is one of those critical little jobs that can affect the look of the whole model and fine lined vessels such as schooners with drag at the keel present greater difficulties than larger vessels where the waterline runs more or less parallel with the keel. B.E.

Completion of the second planking Planking of the Port side is now completed and ready for final finishing. Here just a small insert, or Spiling plank to go. Now you see it. Now you don’t. To form these Spiling planks I cover the gap with Tamiya tape, cut around it with a scalpel and stick it on the plank as a template for shaping. Any tiny gaps in the ebony planking will be filled with a mixture of the filler and Admiralty hull black water based paint. The Upper hull in the line of the Ochre stripe has been planked in box. The planking has had an initial sand which tends to lighten it, but will I think take on a more ochrery hue when finished and varnished which tends to darken the effect. I intend to use minimal paint in this build. The particular ebony planking arrangement is to ensure that above the waterline only ebony planking can be seen. I have now applied a coat of sanding sealer and the colour contrast is coming out. Ready now for coppering. B.E.

A slight setback Planking has continued, I used 6mm box strip below the waterline to cover the hull more quickly, but five strakes into the planking from the keel I experienced that problem feared by pob builders - a sprung plank. The problem originates with the first layer of planking and is made obvious when the second layer refuses to lie flat against the hull. What to do? First of all I ran some ca down the inside of the hull to strengthen and stabilise the first run of planking; then the second planking strake was cut vertically with a scalpel and opened up to clean out what was beneath. An application of ca and the jobs done. Better not to have it occur in the first place by close attention to the gluing of the first layer, particularly if it is above the waterline but if it does happen all is not lost. The gaps requiring stealers can be seen at the stern on this shot and the stern post is now in place. This is the result of sloppy work, the first planking is secured to the bulkheads and plank edges with PVA, temporarily held in position with pins and clamps. The inside of the hull is then brushed with diluted PVA to assist the bond. You can't easily use nails because of the subsequent sanding of the hull requirement, and the thinness of the planking material. The planks tend to spring between the bulkheads when the edge to edge bond is not good; I was obviously too sparing of the glue where it happened. A case of less haste I think. B.E.

The second planking run First up are the Black strake and Wale. Jotika specify the line of these two planks, and in order to get an accurate line, pieces of styrene strip of the correct width were temporarily attached to the hull below the gunports as a guide. Medium viscosity super glue was used to attach the strakes. Once the first ebony plank is attached, another is glued directly on top of it to form the strake. It is then a simple matter to glue a further plank directly below it, and laminate it up to three thicknesses to form the Wale. Below this, to below the waterline, ebony planks will be used, and above the wale, boxwood to form the ochre stripe. A couple of the ochre (boxwood) planks have been put into place so I can gauge the effect. At this point I am using scale 20’ planks, mainly because it is more economical with the ebony strip and I am in danger of running short. Once below the waterline in the area to be covered by the copper plating I will start using boxwood again in the broadest strips I can get away with, hopefully 6mm. This should also help to reduce the tapering effect at the bows. The planking will now continue to completion. B.E.

Sand and fill... Sand and fill, fill and sand, sand and fill, well that’s the order of the day.. Running my fingers with eyes shut over the sleek lines of Pickle, feeling out any little bumps and depressions, to be marked and attended to, before another round of sand and fill..... Actually very little filler has been used, I got hold of some stuff called Model Lite which sands very easily, dries quickly, allowing several application/sanding sessions within a short time scale. For the second planking I have decided to use Boxwood and ebony strip to represent both the Ochre gun port stripe and the hull planking above the waterline. I didn’t have enough suitable old stock boxwood to plank the model but I managed to obtain a supply of 0.6mm strip in various widths that will do the job. The 1x4mm walnut strip will therefore be set aside. This photo gives an impression of the colour differences between the various wood types. Apart from any other considerations 0.6mm strip will be easier to fit than 1mm. and the quality of the strip is better than the kit provided stuff. At this point I have also fitted the stern counter and re-marked the bearding line for the additional tapering to accommodate the second planking. As I won’t be using the kit provided 1mm stuff the bearding will only eat 0.5mm into the first planking. 0.6 x 4.5mm ebony strip has been used to plank the counter. Deck planking already? The lower (false) deck is required to be partly planked as parts of it will be seen thro’ the various hatches etc; Rather than use the kit provided Tanganyika, I have opted for boxwood. Caulking is represented by running a black permanent marker along one edge of the plank. I drew out a little planking plan to gauge where the butts may meet in a three shift pattern, as the feature may be glimpsed thro’ the hatches of the main deck. I am now ready to start the second run of planking. B.E.

Cheers Evan, I think Pickle should be represented on the forum, and as I have a ready made build log, I am happy to post it here. First Planking First planking gets underway not without a little trepidation, but I comfort myself with the thought that none of it will be seen beneath the second planking and coppering, so I have two more bites at the cherry, or two more chances to foul up whichever way you look at it. In accordance with the Jotika plan I start the planking immediately below the gunport former. I am thankful that I used bow and stern balsa fillers, not just because they provide additional gluing area, but map pins are easily pushed into balsa to hold the lower plank edges down. The birch ply bulkheads on the other hand are hard as a witch’s tit. First three planks go on fine, but even the second and third need a touch of tapering at the sharp end, and I can see already that at the forward bulkheads the planks have a wish to go on clinker fashion and very soon the ends will taper to a point if I carry on in this vein. From the distant past I recall that no plank should be tapered to less than half its width,. Following the Jotika suggestions of letting planks fall where they may and then trimming accordingly seems arrant nonsense to me, on that basis you may as well use layers of gaffer tape for the first planking and have done with it. Come to think of it that ain’t a bad idea. I decided to fit a couple more full tapered planks and then start at the garboard plank and work up the hull to meet it. Planking from both ends seems to be working! The need for stealers becoming apparent With the first planking I have not gone to the trouble of squaring off the narrow end between the upper and lower planks, a needle point will suffice. Nearly there. All done. So the first planking completed, I can understand that anyone tackling one of these POB kits for the first time may despair at the untidy look at this stage, but fear not; a little bit of sanding, a little bit of filling, and she’ll be as right as nine-pence, smooth as the proverbial to take the next layer. B.E.

Yes I recall an article published on MSW1. "OAR-MAKING, FROM STEEL "Below is an account found in The Art Making Masts, Yards, Gaffs, Booms, Blocks and Oars as Practised in the Royal Navy and According to the Most Approved Methods in the Merchant Service, 2nd edition, printed for Steel and Goddard, London, 1816." I don't recall who originally posted it, but I'll send it to you as a pm attachment. B.E.

I think every Fly/Pegasus builder gives a great sigh of relief when that particular job is completed, especially when you lay a level across the top and the little bubble is dead in the centre. B.E.

Hi Jason, It does rather depend the period of the vessel concerned; Lees suggests that crowsfeet were probably introduced in the middle of the 17th century, but ceased to be generally used by the end of the 18th century. Steel writing in 1794 still included them in the rigging list where 1" or 3/4" circ line was used depending on the size of vessel. Snake was in service between 1797 and 1816, with her ship rigged configuration up to 1809, after which she was changed to a brig rig. There is a reasonable presumption that she would not have had crowsfeet in the later stage of her career, but maybe when first rigged. I think you are in the happy position of being able to model her either with or without. My gut feeling is to model her without. B.E.

Made a simple base board for the early stages of the build, to hold the keel steady whilst I eyeball it during the hull fairing stages. The False deck has now been inserted, and the last bulkhead number 9 bevelled for the transom and glued into place. The fit was a little floppy and I inserted some thin stuff to firm it up. The false deck has to be planked, and this will provide an early refresher for me before I have to do the 'show deck' The pattern former for the gun port strips is temporarily in place, this allows for the degree of bevel required on the forward frames to be gauged. The fun can now begin. I decided the building board needed a few more whistles and bells to hold the model steady both the right way up and when inverted. This is achieved by the addition of uprights spaced to fit snugly between the bulkheads fore and aft. Something along these lines is very necessary to hold the model whilst the lie of the planks is checked from every angle for fairing, and when fixing the planks. My building board is the Beech door off an old bread bin (I wonder when she’ll notice ) and measures a mere 14½” x 6½”, but sufficient for Pickle. A few off-cuts of wood and small angle brackets the only additional requirements. Work progresses, the bulkheads are bevelled and balsa bow blocks glued in to provide greater surface area for planking. The bow blocks are completed and the gunport pattern is trial fitted, having been soaked in water for some thirty minutes. The pattern is secured with PVA and subsequently the pins removed. The business of first planking can now begin, but before I do planks will be test fitted to identify any further need for adjustment to the bulkheads. B.E.

The beginning. The bulkheads fit nicely on the keel and on the shot I have marked the Bearding line, ready for tapering. I note that the last two bulkheads extend over the bearding line and it strikes me that too much tapering will cause the bulkheads to have a loose fit; Hmmn I’ll have to get my head around that one. So first job to clean up the bulkheads and arrange the building board to ensure a square fit. Assembly of the keel and bulkheads. Bearding – what’s all that about: Before the bulkheads are fitted I need to taper the keel at the stern from the marked bearding line. This is to allow the first planking to sit flush with the stern post and false keel when fitted. The keel is made up of 5mm four- ply birch, and according to the plan this needs to be reduced to 3mm at the stern post, effectively one layer of ply each side. I did a little practice run on some scrap birch ply to get the feel of it and found it to be quite soft and easy to pare down using an x-acto chisel blade. To assist the process I made a Bearding jig, using 4mm square section as a guide. I have marked where bulkheads seven and eight cross the bearding line. The jig is double ended and after paring off 1mm each side the 3mm taper should be achieved. Within the Jotika instructions there is an absence of any reference to the bulkheads crossing the bearding line and guidance as to whether the taper should be done regardless of the bulkheads. If you did do that then presumably the bulkheads would need shimming to stop them flopping about. Once the first planking is in place on the basis of Jotika’s arithmetic, the keel is back up to 5mm to correspond with the stern post, which allowing for the 1mm thick second planking would suggest that the first planking in that area is feathered to nothing. Can’t quite see that; in practice I think the difference will be split between the first and second planking. I have taken the approach to leave the area covered by the bulkheads intact, and taper around them, any final adjustment being made when I bevel the bulkheads. (I hope) Here the taper has been done except for a little light sanding. Keels and bulkheads The Walnut false keel fitted well and was attached without any problems. The next stage is to attach the bulkheads, these all fitted with a small amount of play. I decided not to use a jig for bulkhead alignment given there are only nine of them, but starting at the bow fixed each bulkhead progressively, checking the alignment in both vertical and horizontal planes to the keel, using a 3” Engineers precision square. Once set in place the bulkheads maintained their position due to the quick grab of the glue. An additional check using electronic calipers verified the alignment each side. A strip of lime planking was used to check that the bearding taper was sufficient so that the planking lay flush against the keel and the stern post (yet to be fitted) I decided against cutting a rabbet in the keel to take the garboard plank, I thought it better to leave the maximum surface width to attach the false keel. The existence or otherwise of the rabbet will not be apparent once the hull is completed. The framework can now be set aside to dry and once set the false deck can be fixed into place. The thing with these POB kits is they soon start to take shape, especially the smaller ones. The next stage, bevelling and fairing is likely to take somewhat longer. B.E.

On the old site there were a few build logs of Pickle which gave insight into this beginner level kit, but all that has been lost. I have a build log already done for this fine little model and I will re-post it here for the benefit of those, particularly beginners, who may be interested, and as a contribution to replacing our lost content. A little background to Pickle She is best known for carrying to England the bitter sweet news of the crushing defeat of the French / Spanish fleet at Trafalgar coupled with the news that Nelson had died. The Pickle was a purchased schooner originally named Sting but was renamed in 1802. Her origin is a little obscure with opinions differing. She is often referred to as a six gun Bermudian schooner, but there are grounds for thinking that she carried eight or even ten carronades given her size, and the corresponding armament of similar sized schooners and cutters etc. A model in the RNM shows her with 10 carronades, but details in works by Peter Goodwin and Rif Winfield list her with eight carronades. She is pierced for 14 guns excluding the stern ports, but the forward most two are adjacent to the windlass etc which would make operating carronades more difficult. She did have a career after Trafalgar and on 3rd January 1807, she captured a French privateer La Favourite of 14 guns off the Lizard. Eighteen months later, on 28th July 1808, the Pickle was grounded on a shoal as she entered Cadiz harbour, and was wrecked. The kit Pickle represented my return to POB kits after an absence of many years, and one I can recommend particularly for those who want to put a toe into this genre of model ship building. The kit is reasonably priced, the brass etched fittings are of good quality, and there is a good backup from Jotika. The instructions are clear and the kit builds up into an attractive model of a vessel with an interesting link to Nelson and Trafalgar. Although I didn’t use much of the supplied timber in my particular build, there is nothing wrong with it, and an out of box build will produce a very nice model, of convenient proportions.(it can easily be accommodated in a domestic setting) One advantage for newcomers to this type of kit is that it is not too bluff in the bows, which makes for easier planking, the rigging is much less complicated than say a ship rigged vessel, yet it provides an introduction to all aspects encountered in larger vessels including the coppering of the lower hull. The copper adds an attractive dimension to the build, but the supplied plates are a little over-scale in terms of the number and prominence of the nail heads. Amati in their Victory models range now provide a much better style of copper plate. In my build log I have sought to show in some detail the process of putting together this kit, my methods are my way and I don’t put them forward as the definitive approach to pob kit building, but I hope I will at least demonstrate what is involved with Pickle. First peek at the Box All the stuff was there, nothing outstanding about the timber, average quality I would say. The etched stuff These appear to be of excellent quality. The provided boats are resin hulls with added wooden and etched fittings. The brass turned carronades are very nicely turned out but measure only 13.36mm overall length. Assembly of these will provide a stern test of patience. I will cover all the aspects of assembly of this kit but in a rather more concise way than my original log. I started the kit in February 2010 and it was completed in November of that year, so not a project that will tie anyone up for too long. B.E.

Hi Aldo, an interesting question, I just went with the provided octagonal kit representations, it is an extremely crowded area around the Mainmast and very little can be seen once all the clutter is installed. However, I would agree that 'B' is probably the best representation, but if you are going to do it check carefully the fittings around the mast, there is very little room between the gallows bitts and the pump cisterns. As for leaving the internal surround octagonal or rounding it off to meet the mast, not too sure about that, but I will be fitting a mast coat of sorts. If I can find any contemporary evidence for one thing or the other I will update the post. Cheers, M.

A very nice build developing there Jason, excellent work on the coppering. I don't know if Jotika have altered their instructions but when you come to do the pintles gudgeons and straps, they should be a cuprous alloy colour, not black as they indicated on the Pickle instructions. iron and copper don't mix. Cheers, B.E.

Hi Brian, As a rule of thumb, the breeching would be around three times the length of the gun barrel. Recoil distance was limited by the center line obstructions on the deck, so there was not a lot of space bewteen the muzzle and the port with the gun run in. In more restricted places such as cabins a shorter barrel length gun was sometimes used, but partition panelling was usually struck down when working the guns. With breechings on a model there should be obvious slack if the gun is run out, but the exact amount is probably best left to your eye given the particular set up on your model. B.E.

Your colour scheme Chris holds great appeal for me, I like the combination of white, dark walnut, and pale blue topsides you have used. A very attractive build. Cheers, B.E.

Hello Ray, One of the last posts I made before the Doomsday crash was to congratulate you on completing a fine build. I am happy to restate that here. Well Done. B.E.

A labour of love all that trennailing vths, but looking very good B.E.

I always admired your build Roger, she is a beauty. A great pity if you have lost your photos B.E.