Blue Ensign

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.

Given the scale of those ciphers the clarity is amazing, great stuff on the great guns Daniel, I love the nautical macrame of the gun rigging. M.

Hi Steve, Mercury looks a nice model, but I don't know much about it. One consideration, apart from the fact that Pegasus is a very pretty ship is that if you are into enhancing a kit there is a wealth of information on Pegasus, from build logs, the David Antscherl books, and NMM plans. Most kits have simplifications which could benefit from some modification and Pegasus is no exception, but at least the information is at hand to address those issues. If you are looking to do a straight out of box build then perhaps it is not so important and you should follow your heart. With Mercury you may be the first to record a build on MSW I don't recall a log from the old forum. B.E.

Nice to see your build back Frank, I believe it provides a unique reference work on the application of scale barnacles to a hull, I well remember our discussions on the old forum. Regards, B.E.

Another fine little device from your fertile mind Daniel, and one I know you will make excellent use of. ps Mine's still in the box but it will have its day.

Hi Mike, I also built the Pickle and can attest to torture that assembling those bijou carronades presented. Took some while to devise a jig to allow my failing eyesight and not so bijou fingers to cope with the operation. The model scale is 1:64 by the way. I wouldn't feel too bad about not displaying the carronades, Lapenotiere had four of them lobbed overboard on his journey back to England when Pickle was in danger of foundering in a gale. I agree it is a nice little model, and has all the elements of a larger build, ideal for someone starting out on a pob kit. B.E.

Hi Evan, Those who may not be familiar with your new build are in for a treat; it takes modelling the Constitution to another level and your work addresses those less than good detail areas to make this venerable old kit into something special. Cheers, B.E.

Hi Tim, I use a wood dye; Dark Jacobean Oak is my colour of choice for standing rigging, as it produces a more scale black to my eye than purchased line. For the running rigging I tend to buy a natural coloured line. I hardly leave the line in the dye for any time at all; feed it in to a container then pull it through a paper towel and it's done. Using Coffee or tea has never appealed to me as a medium for colouring rigging line. Cheers, B.E.

An excellent tutorial Daniel, I well remember the exquisite torture of making these little sods at 1:100 scale, nowhere near I might add to the wonderful standard you have demonstrated here. The world of mini chain plate making laid bare. B.E.

It certainly is Daniel, I also picked up on Gil's system and it is my preferred method of simulating small splices also. As you say it eliminates the fluffy shower plughole effect B.E.

Pleased you liked it 1492, that of course was a painted finish, the procedure for giving a patination to actual copper plates is different, and not that easy to achieve to get that even soft green verdigris finish you see on Copper domes. etc, C.N. Longridge tried on his model of Victory without much success. That effect would only really materialise with the hull out of water and on my particular model I was using a little artistic licence, but I do like the effect. What model are you building, let me know and I can a let you know my approach to different mediums. B.E.

Beautiful Job Chuck, and what an elegant subject, I think the Pinnace is my favourite Eighteenth Century boat. Great stuff B.E.

Hi Murphys, I recall seeing your excellent build of Mordaunt was it on the old forum, so I understand your interest in the period content of the book. The book is of a slightly smaller size than many others on the subject measuring 253 x 185mm (Portrait) It contains 128 pages of which 57 relate to the specific period you are interested in. It is fairly rich in clear colour photos of models but I recognise quite a few from those available on the NMM site. Each photo is annotated with the NMM SLR number which is the Museum’s unique object reference number. As for named vessels there are very few, but the narrative uses mostly unnamed vessels to point out the differences between the Establishment classes. The cost at Amazon is £25 but it can be bought from their affiliates for around £15, which I think is more the value. When I compare it with say The Restoration warship by Richard Endsor, a large format book, which can be bought for under £30 I think the top price is a little steep for what you get. Still I can’t resist books on our favourite subject so I of course have it, but if cost was an issue I think I would hold out for a good second hand copy in a few months time. Hope this helps. Regards, B.E.

Really can't be bothered with that, I buy in boxes 100 at a time, besides scalpel blades are quite fragile and I don't like to over use them. They do weaken with use and tend to fracture where they fit over the handle. Other types of blades I do resharpen. Cheers, B.E.

I have lots of favourite hand tools, they are all favourites when it comes down to need for a particular job. However, I would not like to be without my Swann- Morton scalpels and No. 11 blades. I get through copious amounts of No 11 blades. B.E

You're welcome Aldo, borrow away B.E.

Nice job on the planking Aldo, looking good B.E.