Blue Ensign

Beautiful work Rusty, your wood match of the non wood parts looks spot on, a very fine build. 👍 B.E.

Post Fourteen Gunwales The Gunwales are laser cut Pearwood and what a delight they are. Finely detailed and incorporating the thole pin sockets they were a good fit along the sheer line. I had left the thwart brackets long to butt the gunwale against and they perfectly position the strips. I use ca spots to secure them to the boat. Atop the Gunwales are fitted the Splash boards at the bow and stern. Altho’ these are a mere 1.5mm deep Chris has managed to include an engraved pattern on the face to reflect the mouldings that often featured on these parts. The splash boards require a little bending to suit the run of the Gunwale particularly at the bow, and then they were pva’d into place. 00389 00390 Painting these intricate areas is a time-consuming exercise; lay a coat down, photo it, recoil in horror at the macro, sand using thin sanding sticks and fine paper, repeat the exercise. 😉 Great value for money these bijou offerings from Chris, where else can you get endless hours of pleasure and pain for a mere Twenty-five quid. 🙂 Lovin’ this kit. 👍 B.E. 08/02/21

Post Thirteen Inboard works Yawls were fitted for sailing and it has taken my fancy to mast and rig her mainly because I have the reference source (Pandora AotS book) and not many models show the set up on these small boats. None of this aspect of the build is part of the kit. Before I can glue the thwarts in place, I need to fix the position of the tabernacle for the Main mast heel and test the fit of the masts. 00334 00332 00336 The dimensions of the masts and yards are given in the AotS book Pandora. 00339 Only need the heel fitting at this stage, the upper taper to 1.5mm at the peak can be done later. A little speedier progress now, the thwarts are glued into place, the brackets added. 00347 00348 00357 I have decided to fit the wales at this point. 00353 These are pre bent to assist ease of fitting. 00374 I used tiny spots of ca to fix the wales. 00360 00362 I now need to add the Gunwales and think about the rigging fittings. B.E. 07/02/21

Post Twelve Making wood out of brass. I did think about replacing the decking board etch with planks but decided to keep the etched version as it matched the bow and stern sheet gratings. After a thorough cleaning with soapy water, scrubbing, and sanding, followed by an acid dip, I chemically blackened the parts which will give a better surface for painting. Having given the etch a base coat of Humbrol 93 I applied a thin streaky coat of Humbrol 94, followed by a dry bushing of sand yellow weathering powder. 00315 Between the boards I ran diluted black/grey water-based paint, and gave the whole thing a wash of dark brown weathering powder immediately wiped off. 00317 I spent a fair bit of time fiddling with the gratings / boards to get a fit I was happy with. The gratings should fit above the boards, and I added support timbers where the gratings meet the boards. 00322 I also used my Muirneag Skipper to check the relative heights of the stern sheets and grating. 00323 It is reassuring to note that the scale figure confirms the correct height of the internal fittings. Well done Chris 👍 00329 00330 These are just the temporary thwarts used to check the positioning. As can be seen I have decided to part paint the Yawl as I quite liked the combination of colour contrasting with the Pear-wood natural finish. 00291 I used Light Ivory (Admiralty Paints) for the lower hull, and Flat Red (Vallejo) for the Gunwales and internal planking down to the stringer line. The remainder will be the natural Pearwood finish enhanced with wipe-on-poly. The kit suggests a more simplified approach of painting the bottom white up to the wale which is a perfectly acceptable scheme, particularly for later period boats, but I prefer to have the contrast of the natural wood. 00296 The waterline was gauged by eye and by reference to bow and stern points on a yawl plan. Still a way to go with the internal fittings. B.E. 06/02/21

Well done Tim, a fine looking build, you should be well pleased. 👍 B.E.

An almost impossible question to answer Erik, as it’s all about perception. For what it is worth, your Hull is pretty pristine, so weathering the sails may present a discord. The other consideration is that once started there’s no going back, a tricky decision. Good luck B.E.

That knob is known as the button, and the whole fitting on the end of the gun as the cascable. Before the advent of the Breeching ring atop the cascable on Blomefield pattern guns, the rope was simply looped around the button, or spliced around the button. No knots as such are involved. B.E.

Thank you Jason and Richard. @ Richard - the frames are the kit provided stuff 1mm x 0.7mm, it bent quite easily with dipping in water. The stuff is a lot finer than supplied with the now withdrawn original cutter kit. POST 11 Internal fittings With the ribs installed I now need to work out the fit of the boards and gratings. The lower parts of the ribs need paring away by degrees to allow the brass etched gratings and boards to sit properly down. 00253 A square has been cut out of the bow grating to take the heel of the Foremast. 00259 A temporary mast fitted thro’ the bow deck and grating. I am using the AOTS Pandora book as my guide which has a 22’ Yawl as part of the boat allocation. 00225 I re-scaled the drawing to fit the hull at 1:64 and it is a pretty good fit. 00255 I did reduce the length of the Bow deck by removing the plank adjacent to the mast fitting which allowed for better thwart spacing which were otherwise a good match. 00262 Next up for fitting are the stringers which support the thwarts. These are fitted 3mm below the rail which accords with the 1:128 scale drawing in the Pandora book. A simple gauge was fashioned to check the height as I fit the stringers. 00264 The Proxxon vice allows me to level the boat and with one stringer attached the second is applied, and temporary thwarts used to sight the level across the boat. Off-level thwarts can spoil the look of a boat. I next need to work on making the etched gratings and boards resemble wood. B.E. 04/02/21

Post Ten Released from the board To fill any minor gaps I use diluted pva and Pearwood dust, it’s then just a case of sanding until a finish is obtained. Snipped across the central bar the bulkheads came away without trouble with a simple twist with pliers. 00216 With the bulkheads released, the internal planking can be fully assessed. 00219 Only a little ca staining at the bow end which will hopefully be covered by the fore deck. 00231 Use of pva for the majority of the glue work bore fruit in that cleaning up of the internal boarding only required a wetted paintbrush and a micro chisel, the excess glue just came away. 00230 The hull is very delicate, and a light touch is still very much required, take care not to apply lateral pressure to the hull sides. 00247 The next stage is to add the internal frames; the blurb simply says glue short lengths, inside the hull around 5mm to 6mm spacing – as shown in photo 23. 00248 Once the ribs are in place the hull becomes much stronger. As with the planking I seem to have come up short with the ribs(Y28) but I used one of the seat support strips (Y27) for the shorter ribs, which were sufficient at a pinch. The kit has four internal seat support strips but only two are required, I think the kit would benefit from a couple of extra rib strips. B.E. 03/02/21

Post Nine Completion of planking 00190 The final spiled planks butt against the Garboard. 00207 One more plank to go. 00205(2) This is a tricky plank to shape and I tweaked the Garboard to get a reasonable fit. 00208 00209 00210 A relief to complete the planking but a fair degree of fettlin’ is required before she’s released from the building board. 0211(2) This is all that is left of the planking material, a close-run thing! blurb 34 indicates - fitting the wales (from the planking sheet). On the planking sheet the wales are not separately identified, so they must be represented by planking strips, and I have insufficient to make the wales. Not a disaster for me as I am using Ebony strip for the wales, but I think additional strips in the kit are needed, to give us fumble fingers a little more leeway.🤞 B.E. 01/02/21

Thanks Chris, I haven’t looked at the Pandora book for a long time, but there it is large as life in full colour. I’m glad I didn’t have to tackle that on my Pegasus.🙄 In the TFFM in relation to Sixth rates David Antscherl comments: There is only space for three strakes in the width of the wale on a sixth rate. The uppermost strake is worked parallel, and the lower two are worked top and butt. In larger ships these strakes were hooked, but in a sixth rate this does not appear to be the case. His reference is the planking elevation, topsides of Hornet, dated 1776. Still it is all academic and you have done a very fine job with Sphinx. Ps Leading me back to Pandora reveals a 22’ Yawl, spritsail rigged, looks like the yawl build will take a bit longer.🙂 Regards, B.E.

Thank you Jan, that is something I've not seen before. I wonder if they used a half scarph that wasn't carried through to the external face. I note that the expansion plans were dated 1808 which post dates the other plans by some years. Personally I think the arrangement on the model looks a little too fussy, and although I fitted top and butt wales on my Pegasus build I don't think I could have managed those additional features even if authentic. B.E.

Out of curiosity Chris, what did you base the Top and Butt wale planking on; I don't think I have seen that additional scarph joint arrangement on the legs. B.E.

Well done Jason, she looks great, and you should be well pleased. 👍 Thank you for your kind references to my Pegasus build. Regards, B.E.

One thing to think about Erik is that with the reef points threaded through the sail they will invariably stick out needing pva to persuade them to hang down naturally. To do this there is a greater risk of marking the sail with glue, which will be difficult to remove. I opted for the less authentic, but hard to spot the difference, method of gluing pre knotted reef points to the sail each side which obviates the issue. I wish you luck with this tiresome business, whichever method you choose. B.E.

Blind leading the blind eh Richard.😉 I didn’t paint my cutter, but I guess that Chris/James thought the hull small enough to do it simply by eye. I suppose the waterline could have been included on the line drawing of the boat on it’s chocks, but the example on James’s model is probably close enough. Ps; I have my covid vacc tomorrow afternoon 🙂 B.E.

They certainly are a challenge and the fragility is a result of the use of near scale timbers, which do produce the most authentic looking boats I've seen at this scale. B.E.

Thanks Bruce, the planks are nominally described as 0.6mm in thickness but mine actually measure 0.7mm + Cheers, B.E.

Post Eight …. and more planking As the planking progresses a jig to secure the plank/stem connection proves useful. 00144 A new version is required for each succeeding strake. 00165 Each plank now takes on an individual shape but as the edge bend comes close to the end, I live in fear of breakage of the bow tip. I soak the planks well to reduce the risk. The seventh strake is the last one before I fit the Garboard plank, and the first that I taper toward the stern. At this point the blurb does suggest that the planking now be worked from the keel upwards fitting infil/stealer planks to suit. I have decided to fashion the Garboard Planks from the 0.6mm planking sheet that secures the standard planks. 00176 Useful strips can be cut from the outer frame which allows the Garboard to be cut slightly broader than the planking stock, which is both authentic and hopefully eliminates any awkward thin slices to complete the planking. 00183(2) Planking these bijou models is time consuming, I have now been seven days on the planking and still not completed. In the same time frame I had completed the first planking on the Fifie build. 00182(2) 00181(2) Moving onto the last phase now with only three planks per side left to complete the hull. Three planks will just about do it providing I don’t break any in the shaping process. B.E. 30/01/21

Post Seven ...and more planking Things start to get a little more interesting from the fourth strake. Bending both with the grain and laterally is indicated at the bow in addition to the taper. So the procedure is. Mark and taper. Mark and edge bend Round bend Bevel Hope it fits 🤔 My newly found hobby of how many clamps can you fit onto a 105mm hull continues. 00119 00120 Even so more options are needed. As the planking continues the clamping space gets smaller and I didn’t find the Amati clamps particularly useful in these circumstances, effectively they are too large and don’t get a good purchase against the plank and frame. 00133(2) Whittling down some cheap wooden clothes pegs to suit make convenient clamps to hold the strakes. 00132 One type has a frame width slot on the back leg to fit over the frame. 00124 The other type is shaped to fit between the frames to hold the strakes together. B.E. 28/01/2021

Post Six Planking continues. The second strake which also slots into the bow rabbet is now fitted. This strake is also untapered. 0073 Even with a rabbet this plank proves difficult to clamp close to the first two bulkheads, and a degree of inventiveness is required. 0075 The stern area is also tricky to hold the plank firmly against both stern board and adjacent plank. 00109 Looks like some bevelling is required between planks. 0107 The question now is how to proceed? I have decided to use ca to glue the bow area strakes. This is a tricky area to clamp and without the benefit of a rabbet may prove a frustrating exercise. The main issue with ca is marking the wood surface particularly on the inside which is difficult to remove, and won’t be obvious until the frames are removed. The get out of jail card is that the forward area of the Yawl is covered by a Fore deck which will cover any minor internal marks. Between this area and the stern I will use pva which can more easily be cleaned as I work along. I wanted to get an idea of how the planking will work out. 22 planks are supplied in the kit, 20 will be required to plank the hull, leaving two spares, one of which has broken during the bending process. I think that probably two extra planks each side would cover the risk of running short of useable planks. The third plank requires heat bending and tapering from the third frame forward. 00111 Using ca across the first two frames takes a lot of frustration out of the process and wetting the plank end aids rapid grab. 00115 For those who don’t know, what you see in these photos are Hairdressers sectioning clips, very useful for clamping lightweight objects where a firm but not fierce grip is required. They can be bent and filed into different shapes to suit and get into places where even other small clamps won’t fit. Having spent most of the day fitting three planks I have a growing appreciation of the fortitude shown by Mr Hatch in completing numerous of these teasing little beasts. HeyHo B.E. 26/1/21

Oh please no! B.E.

Unlike the revised Cutter kit the Yawl kit doesn’t have a lower rabbet. Only the first two planks fit into the stem rabbet on the Yawl kit. The others will have to butt up against the stem. With very little to get a purchase to clamp at the bow I think I will have to revert to ca for the bow area across the first two bulkheads and use pva for the rest of the length. I haven’t quite worked out a strategy for the subsequent planks yet. Cheers, B.E.

Post Five Fairing and Planking – resumed. With the stem hopefully fixed the boat is once again inverted on it build board. 024 I have taken the precaution of fitting a stem guard to the board, those familiar with Chris Watton’s kits will recognise its origin. 035 Sanding the mdf bulkheads is almost too easy, need to guard against removing too much by frequent checking with a test board along the hull. Despite my soft hands and using fine grade sanding paper the Pearwood stern board (Y11) snapped in two where it fits over the stern post. In this case the vertical grain is a weakness when it comes to lateral fairing. 030 I re-glued the part but took the precaution of using it as a template to make a horizontally grained version if needed. 050 The degree of fairing to get a fair run of planks can be seen in this photo. The kit blurb suggests using pva to glue the planking rather than ca. PVA is my preferred method but securing the planks on this tiny hull is a lot trickier using pva than using spots of ca. 046 048 For the initial planking runs I used inverted Amati clamps and any other suitable holding devices that came to hand, sometimes bent into diverse shapes in an attempt to hold the planks in place. 069 Pins fitted thro’ the base board at the stern hold the plank against the stern board. 062 Heat is used to create the bow curve into the rabbet. 066 The first plank has a convenient shoulder to sit against and doesn’t require tapering. With some relief, once the first planks are on the whole structure becomes stronger with both stem and stern board secured. B.E. 24/01/21

Loving that wine stopper boiler. 👍 B.E.