Blue Ensign

Hi Mark, I was alerted to your build by your question on rigging, your craftsmanship and artistry are of the highest order. Bellona is a beautiful ship and you are building a wonderful model of her, a pleasure to see. Regards, B.E.

Hello Mark, Lees refers to the Breast B/S set up in the usual fashion ie with deadeyes, but considers that very few English ships carried them, basing his view on having found only two contemporary models of ships of 1719 and 1733 fitted with them, and then presumably a model circa 1839 also with them. Lees differentiates between a Breast b/s and a running breast b/s which is set up with the tackle on the channels.It may be that by the time Steel was writing, breast backstay (with tackles) was the norm as the other form had not been in use for many years and there was no need to specify between the two. In the AotS book Bellona by Brian lavery he shows 3pr of standing b/s on the Fore topmast and what he also calls a Fore Breast b/s having the tackle and falls set up. He shows on the main topmast in addition to the three pr of standing b/s a shifting b/s, something Lees says were not generally seen. A breast b/s is not shown on the main Topmast. Longridge writing about rigging his model of Victory decribes three forms of topmast b/s, standing, breast and shifting and he includes all three on his model on the fore and Main topmasts. Personally if I were rigging Bellona I would include the 3 standing pair, and the breast b/s (with tackles) on both Fore and Main Topmasts. B.E.

That's a nice model Bob, of an unusual subject, well executed, I like the look of her. B.E.

Hi Tony, Lees gives a good explanation of rigging crowsfeet in his book. It was a continuous line. The rope was spliced around the strop of the Euphroe block, its other end reeving thro' the centre hole in the rim of the top from above, up thro' the next hole to port, thro' the upper hole of the Euphroe block, up thro' the inner starboard hole in the top, and so on until the line finally came out of the outer hole on the starboard side of the top. There it was hitched to the underpart of the previous lead thro' the top. B.E.

That particular gun is pictured just as blackened, the photo above gives a better idea of the finish. Gun 2 is the result having been just hand buffed with a soft cloth. B.E.

Thank you Floyd Hi Augie, I hand paint the varnish on the guns using a very light touch. If you've got the equipment an air brush would probably be better. I did quite a few trials before I came up with the finish I was happy with. These are the various trial stages I went thro’. 1) Basic blackened gun (paler than in reality) 2) Gun buffed up – not a displeasing result, metallic in appearance but lacks a depth of colour. 3) The gun coated with Carr’s Electroflux, a clear lacquer which is supposed to prevent metal black patinas from being rubbed away. The result too shiny for my taste. 4) Gun coated with Humbrol mattcote; again no disturbance to the surface in application and a deep black matt finish resulting. I had originally tried Admiralty matt varnish but being of a milky tone on application it was difficult to gauge the evenness of the coat, so the mattcote was the option I decided upon. I should add perhaps that when I added the GR ciphers to the guns there was an inevitable overspill of ca which needed an acetone scrub. The contamination can be seen here after the first solution dip Cleaning and re-dipping resolved the problem. Once blackened I use surgical gloves to handle, and handle as little as possible. B.E.

Crews generally did a little better than that, but the quality of what was dished up was a different matter. B.E.

Hi Daniel, I've looked thro' my reference sources but can't find any specific information on the tray sizes as yet. There is a lot of stuff on the organisation of messes, collection of food, and even that a lot of sailors had their own plates, bowls and cutlery. Here's a shot of a table in the Gunroom of Victory which may help you to gauge the tray size. Note the pewter plates and drinking vessels. Not sure how authentic the table is, but pehaps the Petty Officers of the gunroom had a better arrangement. Boudriot isn't of much help in relation to British ships, as the French rank and file ate sitting on the deck out of communal mess bowls, they didn't have individual plates and bowls. The Petty Officers fared somwhat better having tables to sit at. If I come across anything more I will post it. M.

Hi Lukas, yes I glued the hull halves together before fitting the gun deck. One or two things you might want to consider before glueing. Heller did not see fit to provide guide holes along the hull for the gun-port lid lanyards, but it is quite feasible to fit lanyards at this scale so the holes had to be drilled. To this end a small jig is required, I made mine from styrene strip. Two strips to fit snugly within the gun-port are glued to the uprights which have guide holes positioned at the right level. It is but a simple job to then to move the jig from port to port drilling thro’ the hull. The Quarterdeck level bulwark windows have been fitted with glazing bars of 0.25 x 0.5mm styrene strip, and backed by acetate strip. Gun-port lids were not provided at the Upper deck level although in practice they did have wooden panels (Half ports) that could be fitted from the inside; these had a hole to take the gun muzzle and had a canvas muzzle shaped cover over the outside. The aftermost gun-port at Upper deck level is interesting, split horizontally, and shaped to fit around the gun muzzle; it is glazed to allow light into the Wardroom. This is not a universal fitting on French Seventy-fours but Boudriot shows it so I also included them on my effort, fashioned from brass, clear acetate and strip styrene – tricky little beasts but we got there in the end. Over two of the Upper deck gun-ports they did fit Rigols (1st and 4th from the stern) why these two I don’t know but I replicated them with brass wire shaped over a former, and flattened a little on the anvil. Inside the hull halves the bulwarks were painted, - Red ochre – what else, much easier done before assembly as the tumblehome restricts access. Holes were also drilled to take the eyebolts for the gun tackle of those cannon visible in the waist, and on the Quarterdeck, an awkward job with the hull assembled. Heller, for reasons best known to themselves, decided to provide that section of the bow containing the hawse holes as a separate moulding. In retrospect I think it better to glue this in place at the outset, particularly from the point of view of painting. Cheers, B.E.

I use Carr's Metal Black for Brass Here's my kit. The Blackening solution is diluted by 30% with de-ionised water. My procedure is:- A dip in the acid dip, then scrub. A dip in the neutralising rinse. Insert in the blackening solution until evenly black, (less than a minute.) A dip in the de ionised water. Blow dry with a hairdryer. Leave for a few hours Coat with Humbrol mattcote varnish. This is the result on my Pegasus guns. If the finish isn't quite even enough after the solution dip, I rub off and re dip. Not really had a problem with blackening guns, the secret is I think the thorough clean and scrub before blackening, and the sealing of the surface afterwards. B.E.

Great work Doris, such beauty, such wonderful execution, the headworks are a marvel to behold. A pleasure to see. B.E.

Nice job on the planking Alex, I really like the look of her. Regards, B.E.

Hi Lukas, sorry for the slight delay in replying I've been away for a few days. I think matt is more appropriate. Here's a link to the paint scheme on Victory. http://www.hms-victory.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=83&Itemid=496 In terms of colour shades particularly with smaller scales I prefer to soften the black a liittle bu the adition of grey to the mix, I think it gives a better scale look. Cheers, B.E.

Thanks Dave, glad to have been of help B.E.

An interesting build Revier, another one I missed previously, I look forward to more... Regards, B.E.

I've just had an enjoyable time reading through your log Ron, don't know how I missed it first time around. I like the way you have structured your log with clear photos and a lot of 'how to' content. A fine looking model and I will continue to follow your build with much interest. Regards, B.E.

Hi Mike, have AL supplied Limewood for the deck planking? It is normal for the hull planking particularly the first run on a double skinned hull but I've not heard of it for decking. I get my supplies of boxwood strip from here. http://www.originalmarquetry.co.uk/product_details_335.htm It is good quality, but the postage is a bit pricey so I tend to order as much as I need in one go. At 1:64 scale the 3.4mm x 0.7mm worked out almost spot on for the deck planking of Pegasus; at 1:48 scale 4.5mm x 0.7mm would be about just right. This is the same stuff that I also did the second hull planking in and having a range of widths made life easier for spiling planks, and for those areas where a slightly wider plank was required. B.E.

Doris, the beauty of what you have created is astounding, a pleasure to see. Thank you for your videos on sculpting they have given me the impetus to attempt revised stern figures in fimo for my Pegasus. Kind regards, B.E.

Hello Ross, Looking at the drawings in The Bounty by John Mckay in the AotS series of books, the waterline starts off right under the Main wale amidships. He states that she was coppered when taken into Naval service in 1787, but if you wish to display her uncoppered but painted she would probably have been payed with 'White stuff' over wooden sheathing, to give an off white shade of colour. If when you have marked the waterline as indicated by David, it appears to sag towards the bow and stern when viewed from the side this is an optical illusion brought about by the rounding of the hull. To counter this just bring the line up a fraction from where it starts to round until it satisfies your eye. Once the line is marked I use Tamiya tape to mask the area for painting, and it also gives another opportunity to check all round how the waterline looks on the model. Good luck. B.E.

Not Admiralty Plans then? how mysterious, it would be nice to know the origin. Pickle would make a very nice desk model, I have mine in the Dining Room with full approval of the Admiralty, she really likes these small craft models. They are also fairly easy to keep clean uncased. I rather glossed over the size differential with Pegasus, when I bought it but she likes that too certainly as a hull only model, what she will feel when she sees it masted and sparred I'm not so sure B.E.

Mike, I have used boxwood strip for my deck planking but I had no trouble with bleed when I tested the Tanganyika strips supplied with kit. There is just a colour difference in the finish of the planking, my personal preference is for fairly pale decks. I believe some modellers use Holly which is virtually white, but probably expensive and difficult to get in deck planking sizes unless you are going to mill your own wood. B.E.

Hi George, the simple answer is that sails were not carried on the Crossjack yard, it was used only to spread the foot of the Mizen Topsail. I believe that to carry a sail on the Crossjack would provide no sailing advantage, I did read the specifics about it some time ago but can't quite bring the detail to mind. Cheers, B.E.

Hi Peter, That contemporary painting of Pickle by Robert Dodd does indeed show the Foremast vertical and the Mainmast with rake. When I spoke to Richard Wright at Jotika he said that the painting was the main source of information for the placing of the gaff above the crossjack yard. They obviously didn’t also take the relative mast positions into account. I always thought the Foremast was set a little far back but I spent hours staring at schooners in several books and came to the conclusion that the mast positions varied greatly and there were examples very similar to the Pickle kit set up. Colin White the Curator of the Naval Museum has stated As far as we have been able to tell, no plans of Pickle survive and none of the many paintings she appears in can be considered definitive. The Naval museum model of the Pickle commissioned in 1968 is also at variance with what we know of Pickle in terms of the armament and doubts have been raised that the model truly represented her. There is a suggestion that it was based on the plans of HMS Haddock. http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/85908.html Colin White is also said to believe that the model was not intended to be “Pickle“, rather a close representation of a naval schooner of that period. This is partly because of the inconclusive research available when the model was made and partly because the model is very unlike any smart cutter, as “Sting” was described, of the period. Significantly, by the late 18th century “smart cutters” were built with finer lines than those of the model. For those who may not have seen the Naval Museum model here's a few photos taken for me by my friend Chris (chrism as on the old MSW) as part of my research for the build. The set up with the bitts is different to the kit, and there is no windlass. There is just one small jolly boat set centrally, the set up not particularly well done I thought. She is fitted with eight carronades and two carriage guns, not what is recorded as the Pickle ordnance. As with many things to do with our interest there are more questions than answers, and even the ‘experts’ can’t always agree. All of this is of course academic as what we are dealing with here is a beginner level kit that most builders accept at face value and it does make up into an attractive model with more than a nod to a schooner of the period. Jotika may be at fault by claiming that the kit is an exact scale model designed using original Admiralty plans , which infers that the plans were of Pickle without clarifying that they didn’t specifically mean Pickle, but plans of a schooner of the period. There are a lot worse examples in other kit manufacturers claiming a real history for none existent ships. I have seen working boats of the sort of Pickle dimension with the small jolly boat parked on the side, but I also think centrally placed would be better. Pickle was said to carry a cutter and a jolly boat. On the model there is just enough room to fit a scale 16’ cutter (Jolly boat) between the Mainmast and the Galley chimney, and I could have placed the smaller boat in that position. I still like Pickle as a model and the foregoing would not put me off building it. Regards, B.E.

She looks magnificent Augie, a great advertisement for the kit, you must be feeling well satisfied I know I would be. Cheers, B.E.

Hi Peter thanks for looking in on my build, it alerted me to your own fine Pegasus. It really is a great kit allowing for all degrees of enchancements and I like what you are doing with yours. Regards, B.E.