Blue Ensign

😄

Wouldn’t like To start now would you Glenn so I can follow your planking example ? 😀 B.E.

Cheers, Mugje and Rusty, on an unmasted and unrigged model the deck takes on a greater prominence. Post Thirteen Preparing the deck I had a look at modifying the etched decking to suit my purpose but decided to pass in favour of individual planking, deep down I probably always knew I would. 0263(2) Firstly, I need to mark the presumed deck beam positions before I glue the deck patterns into place. Once in place, areas of the centre line will need shoring up by the addition of carlings beneath the hatch openings. 0267(2) The assembled hatchway coamings are designed to fit atop the planking, but I intend to fit prior to planking. This will entail fixing strips of deck planking to the underside of the fittings to maintain the height of the coamings. Some other modification will be required; 0272 Extra strip wood will be applied to the head ledges to form a round up, and I am looking at using Chuck’s Curved Boxwood grating sets. The Shot garlands will be removed as they are an unnecessary incumbrance to the deck planking. So that’s the plan, but a few steps along the way. Firstly the false deck can at last be glued into place. B.E. 15/09/21

Post Twelve Upper gun deck considerations I spent some time getting the gundeck patterns to slip smoothly into place. I found a light sanding of the bulkhead slots was necessary, followed by many dry fits, until I was happy I could fit them quickly. When the time comes I need to get them in place before the glue starts to dry on the bulkhead tops. 0251 I use dummy masts to help ensure a correct fit. At this point I need consider whether I will use the provided etched deck or plank it myself. This deck will be fully planked but I need to check how the thickness of the deck pattern plus the etched deck compare with the deck pattern plus any intended planking strips. 0255(2) The comparison passes muster. 0257 The strips will be 0.6mm thick Boxwood of 3.4 and 4.5mm widths which are a perfect match to the etched design planks. The kit is designed for the hatchway coamings etc; to be fitted atop of the deck. No doubt a boon to those who don’t fancy deck planking, and a great kit selling point, but I’ve not been persuaded to use the provided etched decks on three previous builds. 0260(2) I can’t quite put my finger on it, is it that they are almost too perfect, does my eye catch the subtle grain shading angled across the deck? Whatever, a decision has to be made, I can’t mix and match etched and individual planking on the model. Before I make that final decision I am going to experiment with unused etched decking from earlier builds to see if it can be successfully chopped about to create larger unplanked areas. B.E. 14/09/21

The unplanked areas on the Quarter and Fore decks designed by Chris, are reflected in many contemporary models. I will have even larger unplanked areas to afford a greater view of the decks below. To this end I welcome the provision of the cabin bulkheads, but the arrangement of the ordnance is something I have yet to decide. B.E.

Hi Jacek, I think your stern area up to the counter around the top end need more fairing. There should be a smooth transition without any hint of an angle, those split planks are a sign of trouble ahead. B.E.

If you're going to plank over the Quarter deck very little will be seen of the cabin area, so probably not worth the effort and risk of modification. B.E.

Cheers Guys, @ Glenn, Bob, Tom, and Jacek Blame Chris, for how he designed the kit, providing the scale Quarter deck beams which gave me the idea for a Navy Board style model.😄 It was the possibilities of enhancing the kit that persuaded me to buy it, hours of extra fun for the money. I’m surprised Chris hasn’t charged me extra for the kit.😉 @Richard, A case of stuff happens Richard, James and the team do a great job of providing the means for us all to record our work, and MSW were let down by the previous host. I write all my logs on word and copy and paste to MSW The words docs and photo files are all backed up from my system. The problem with the lost Pegasus log was reconstructing the photo inserts which took all the time. You will note that I now add the reference below each photo, so I can quickly identify them. B.E.

Post Eleven Stern mods continued. Having studied Chuck’s Winchelsea build which is acting as a sort of proxy plan, I can see where I am going. 01429 All the stern frames have now been adjusted including the two outer frames. 01428 My Proxxon scroll saw is my most used machine, would hate to be without it. 01431(2) 04141(2) Fully modified stern frames in place. 04131 This results in a gap where the kit rear inner bulwark pattern (214/215) is designed to fit over the original layout. No matter this is easily rectified. 01432 I have also removed the door as I hope to open up the Quarter gallery. A little more cleaning up and the frames can be glued into place. B.E. 12/09/21

Post Ten Starting the stern modification The first job is to establish where the Rudder head cover will sit. 04410 To this end it is necessary to temporarily fit the stern post and rudder. 04107 A piece of 12mm Walnut square stock is shaped into an octagon. 04111 The piece is then hollowed out to fit over the Rudder head. 04115 By design or accident, the scale cover fits between the central kit stern frames. 04113 This is purely to assess the position. 04118 The cover will not sit this low in the framing. 04116 This will enable me to work out the height and line of the bench which butts to the cover. 04121 Here the shaping of the inner four frames has begun. 04124 Not sure at present whether the two outer frames will require shaping, I am conscious that the aft internal bulwarks are cut to fit above them. 04122 I am taking things slowly as I’m basically making it up as I go along, having no plans to work to. I need to keep looking ahead to see how the mods impact on stages further along the build. That’s enough headache for one day. B.E. 11/09/21

Thanks Bob, I’ve not really considered internal lighting, a lot to do without bringing wiring into the mix. Who knows tho’ it’s early days yet. 😉 Cheers, B.E.

Post Nine Mulling over a Stern modification. With the deck beams now completed I need to consider the first major departure from the kit. 0244(2) Those longitudinal deck beams slotted into place perfectly, beautifully accurate laser cutting. The stern frames have a direct relationship to the internal fittings of the Great Cabin. 0242(2) With the kit arrangement the inboard horizontal extensions form what will be the seat pattern extending from the stern lights. (instr114) I suspect this is a simplification, but one which under normal circumstances would not be of great concern. However, as I intend to have very little of the Quarter deck planking in place, this simplification becomes an issue. The bench seat should be narrower, a little lower, and, in the centre, should be the Rudder head cover. This shot from Chuck’s wonderful Winchelsea build shows a typical arrangement altho’ with Sphinx the head is octagonal and of smaller proportions. 0240(2) This means that a quite drastic re-shaping of the stern frames is required, removing the sections that form the bench top and front. It would then look as it would on a plank on frame set-up. This photo of Chuck’s Winchelsea build demonstrates the change required. There are drawings of the Rudder cover and bench arrangements in the Pandora book, one internal profile at 1:64 scale, and a plan at 1:128 scale. I will use these as a guide for my modification. The octagonal Rudder Head cover, which scales to a diameter of 30” (12mm) and a height of 35.3” (14mm) sits between the central stern frames and butts against the back edge of the kit upper deck. The bench seat scales to a depth of 15” (6mm) and a height of 20” (8mm) Stage one will be to modify the stern frames, stage two, extend the deck, stage three, create the Rudder head cover, and stage four, form the bench. I also intend to open up the doorways to the Quarter galleries. I did something similar with the Quarter Badges on Pegasus. With light being able to penetrate thro’ the gallery and stern lights, the appearance is far more natural in my opinion, and gives a view of the Great Cabin with its chequer sailcloth covering, and Rudder head trunk. In the case of Sphinx the cabin area will also be open thro’ the deck beams of the Quarter deck. It is likely to be some time before I actually get the Upper deck in place, and then it will have to be manually planked to match the part planking of the Foc’sle and Quarterdecks. I will record my progress with this modification in the posts to follow. B.E. 10/09/21

I would be a happy man to achieve that level of completed planking Glenn, very well done. B.E.

Thanks for looking in Radmancoop, and for your very kind comment. The shipyard re-opens on Saturday, and hopefully some progress made. Regards, B.E.

Thank you Steve, I’m away at the coast, almost reluctantly, as I’m keen to resume the build with the first major modification in progress. Regards, B.E.

Positively rattling thro' this build, you'll have it finished before I've got the deck in. Good to have a pathfinder to sort out any wrinkles of which there seem to be very few. B.E.

A fine planking job you've done there Glenn, Boxwood is my preferred wood for ship models, even with a bit of shade variation. B.E.

I think Glenn and me are in accord on this one, Jacek. Cutting the legs would introduce a weak point, and could subtly affect the angles Different approach for show deck stuff, but sufficient for the lower deck. Cheers, B.E.

Post Eight Upper deck supports A couple of the support beam legs needed a little fettlin’ to get them to sit right down on the Bulkhead shoulder. This only entailed sanding the leg bottoms by degrees until the beam was firmly down. Depending on what arrangement I finally decide upon there may be a glimpse of the upper deck support beam legs. In reality these are shaped columns and for those that may be seen thro’ the upper deck openings a little shaping is in order above coaming level. 0235(2) This relates to support legs 4a thro’ to 10a. Dry fit only at this point. 0237(2) There is a risk of breaking the mdf legs so the shaping process was done very carefully using scalpel and light sanding strokes. 0229 Upper deck base temporarily in place. 0227 Whatever remains to be seen will link the two decks in a more realistic manner, all about smoke and mirrors below the Upper deck. 0231(2) The shipyard is now closing for a week or so while I spend some time at the coast. B.E. 01/09/21

I remember those breast rails, tricky little beggars to fit, well done Richard. 👍 B.E.

If I were masting and rigging the model, and not cutting away more than the existing unplanked areas, i would say it is not really worth the effort. B.E.

Post Seven Gunport patterns These fitted perfectly in the slots altho’ there was a little spring in the patterns which gave me cause to think about the diluted glue joint brushing approach. I did it, but light clamping was required for several of the slots. TheY feel very delicate and soft hands are required to fit them, whilst ensuring the rails fully fit into the slots. 03902(2) To my annoyance the port side extension at the top end of Bulkhead 12 came away. (It’s the one with the yellow tape on it) Nowt to do wi’ me Gov, I swear it fell off on its own accord; re-glued, but it remains to be seen what subsequent stresses it will be subject to. With the rails in place the hull is beginning to look the part and with the glue set it is now a rigid structure. Still need to be careful with those bulkhead extensions in the Quarter deck area. 03903 Finally, I removed the infill from Bulkhead 13. I took this very slowly and ensured that I could slip a scalpel blade between infill and bulkhead before I applied any pressure. Fitting out the Lower Deck I will be using the provided coaming/grating sets for the lower deck; they will only ever be viewed from above once the upper deck is fitted. I note that there is no round-up to the head ledges, which appears to follow some of the drawings in the AotS book on Pandora. Some of the general isometric and deck plan drawings in the book also show picture frame corner joints to the coamings, hmmn. 🤔 The cross section drawings do appear to show a round up, so this is an area I will re-visit when I get to the Upper deck fittings. The Pearwood Laser cut coamings are cleanly cut, remember to apply glue to the top half of each set, helps to keep glue off the grating rebate. 0197 The gratings are accurately cut and are a perfect fit to the coamings. At this point I can also add the ladders down to the Platforms. I had run out of generic ladder sets and considered buying and converting the Pearwood set supplied for Speedy. 0190(2) Chris was kind enough to knock me a set out from earlier Sphinx plans he had when he considered fitting out the ladderways. He does not intend to generally include these as separate fittings but will supply them on request. (He tells me) 0194(2) 0201(2) 0205 Fore hatchway 0213(2) I will leave the Fore lower deck hatch open. 0209 There will be a view of the Fore Platform down thro’ the Upper and lower decks and it will enhance the impression of a fully fitted out model. 0206 Aft hatchway. 0210 Here the grating will remain in place as it sits below the Capstan, and there is no open space below it. Less will be seen of this ladderway as the Upper deck ladderway sits above it. B.E. 31/08/21

Hi Bob, The sanders I use are made by Model Craft, are spring loaded and come in various sizes. Being angled at one end and round at the other they are useful for fairing hulls. B.E.

Post Six Stern and bow patterns. I wasn’t too keen on working the bow and stern patterns off-model, particularly the stern. As it happens, for the bow pattern the off-model option was removed; unlike the bow pattern bulkhead which wouldn’t shift after fitting the patterns. It slid on ok and I was careful not to allow glue onto the keel, but move it would not and I had the nightmare vision of snapping the false keel which at only 3mm wide and quite long is very vulnerable at this stage. So, on-model fairing it will be. For preliminary fairing of the stern pattern I am using 10mm and 20mm Finger sanders, initially with coarse grade paper. It is worth slipping a couple of lengths of waste strip from the keel fret between the stern patterns to support them during sanding, particularly parts 24. One of mine fell off during sanding, probably due to insufficient glue used to avoid sticking it to the keel. 3816(2) So, this is as far as I felt comfortable with off-model fairing. 3825(2) 3819(2) 3826(2) All Bulkheads glued into place now. 3812 Only been four days and look at the state of my working area, think I need a general tidy up. B.E. 28/08/21

Post Five Aft platform modification This involves cutting away a section of the false keel between bulkheads 9 and 10. 3805 I have restricted this to the area covered by the ladderway only, the hatchway is grated and covered by the Upper deck capstan. I used a section of unused maple decking from my Zulu build for the platform, sufficient for the purpose. 3802 Checking the level. 3808(2) The aft ladderway down to the platform from the Lower deck is almost directly below the Aft Ladderway on the Upper deck, so that ladder will probably obscure most of the view down to the Aft Platform, but I'll know it's there.😀 Time to get back to the main event. B.E. 27/08/21