Blue Ensign

It's a pleasure Yves, and probably the best photo the build will show. 😉😃 B.E.

Thanks Bob, William is his name, quite experienced in shipyard matters, has been with me through six builds. 😃 I think Chris has done a great job with these small fishing boat kits, ideal for novice builders, and giving a first build high level of satisfaction, which is a main driver for folks to continue in the hobby. Regards, B.E.

Post 1 I have started the build, but much of the early stages are hardly exciting and my shipyard assistant is not particularly enthused to be brought back off furlough. 0024(2) I have assured him that this is not likely to be a prolonged contract and he can soon get back to more spaniel related interests. Bulkheads and false keel The bulkheads fit to the false keel beautifully, just the right tension necessary. I couldn’t trust myself with a Dremel to do the pre- bevelling on the fore and aft bulkheads but a sanding stick worked just fine. I didn’t want to risk breaking off the fine points on bulkheads 1 and 11. 5119(2) The infill pieces also require bevelling and these are perhaps the most tricky ones to do. I found that a No 11 scalpel worked best for me, cuts thro’ the mdf like a knife thro’ butter. They were then finished off with a sanding stick. 05116 With the lower deck dry fitted the whole structure is rigid, and not a drop of glue applied. Turn it upside down and everything holds tight. Well that starts the ball rolling, time to apply a little glue. B.E. 16/05/2020

Ha. Ha, very funny Spy, but I don't think I would bet against it😉 I have actually started initial assembly today - no mods yet 😃 B.E.

Hi Yves, There will be photo's, but for the early construction you can't do much better than look at the log by James H. I will post up stuff that I think may be of use to others (with photos) but I've yet to get started.🙂 B.E.

Thanks for the heads up re the tabernacle Chris, it was fairly clear with the steam versions but I hadn't resolved the issue with the sail only Fifie's. I have James Pottinger's article in Model Shipwright 118 and his 1:30 plan of the steam version. The thing that puzzled me was the mast housing arrangement and crutch which indicates a lowering facility, the mast was surely to large and heavy to unstep for lowering without assistance. One of my sources, Inshore Craft by Basil Greenhill and Julian Mannering, covers Fifie's, and in relation to the large sail Fifie's from the 1880's mention is made of; the division of the below deck space into the foreroom with mast tabernacle, the fish hold (accessed by a long narrow hatchway) and the cabin. This makes sense, and in relation to the model the tabernacle would not be seen in normal circumstances, and your excellent plans do cover displaying the model with the mast in the lowered position. I think this resolves the issue for me. @ Richard, I simply liked the look of the Fifie, and having recently lapstraked a cutter, I am happy to have a less complex hull form to work on, and they won't come less complicated than the Fifie. Chris has even marked the bevelling lines for the forward and rear bulkheads to assist. Whichever one you decide upon, I don't think you will be disappointed. Regards, B.E.

Hi Bob, Not having used an etched deck before either, it's probably a little too early for me to say how I'll feel when I reach the stage of actually fitting it, I'll make a final judgement then. I can say on first sight It looks good to my eye with the right definition of caulking, plank joints, and treenails. There is not a huge expanse of decking on this model and once all the fittings are in place, the eye will be drawn to it even less. You may be right to a degree about tweaking the kit, I am a serial basher, but with this kit such mods are likely to be minor. Very little scope or need to change things certainly up the fitting out stage and I am more than happy to use the provided pearwood for the hull planking. I also have a large supply of pearwood that I didn’t use on the Alert build. A few things off the top of my head come to mind, blackening the brass fittings, making ring bolts for the hatch boards, and looking at the fitting of a tabernacle for the main mast to allow it to be lowered. As a fishing boat there is also the option of weathering, these were hard worked vessels with a fairly short lifespan, but weathering can be a tricky business to get right. There won’t be a lot to report up to the hull completion, unless things arise that I think may be of interest. Time to fit things together. B.E. 13/05/2020

Building a Fifie Well Chris has done it again, he does have a knack of producing very appealing kits. When I saw Chris’s kit of this iconic Fishing vessel of North East Scotland, it seemed to meet a particular need I have at this moment. In the present covid 19 situation I have been feeling a little restless, a little unsettled, with a reluctance to commit to a more involved project such as my Royal Barge kit, as I had intended, following completion of the Alert Cutter build. The Fifie fits the bill. A model of moderate size that won’t require casing. Straightforward construction unlikely to present me with excess brain ache or worry. A relatively short build-time project. A project allowing me to research a vessel type I’ve little knowledge of and an excuse to buy more books – already arrived. and finally a change from the naval vessels I have been building over the past many years to date. I did wonder about doing a build log on the Fifie, given that James H has mostly detailed the kit both in his kit preview and build log. However, writing about a model as I build it is something I have got used to doing, and it will also fill in time during our current lockdown situation. The kit arrived today, securely packaged. First impressions are very good, a beautifully presented manual, and clear plans together with great materials. Two things that particularly caught my eye. The maple veneer laser cut deck, nice colour and layout; I doubt I will bother individually planking the deck on this one. The sail set; I’ve never been a fan of cloth provided sails on models invariably too thick and coarse. The sails provided with the Fifie (albeit at extra cost) are altogether different. The material is fine and soft, the stitching and bolt ropes beautifully done, and I’m pleased I invested in this ‘extra’ So to work, I don’t anticipate going ‘off piste’ too much with this build, but there may be little tweaks here and there as I proceed, and these I will mention as I go along, but it is likely to be a fairly short log. B.E. 12/05/2020

The binnacle looks very nice, and would be a fine addition to the Pegasus kit, for those who prefer not to scratch one themselves. I'm not sure that style of binnacle would sit right on Alert, there is very little space between the tiller end and the skylight, and it would have to straddle or sit on the Bread Room grating/ cover. I thought about making a single chamber version, but decided against it. B.E.

As you've bought the grating set which has the cable cut out slots in the leading edge, you may wish to fill in the Navel holes cut into the deck. Navel holes were a feature of a later period. I think Chris removed them from the later issues of the laser deck. Otherwise you could simply place something over them such as a rope coil. B.E.

I've never tried using poly over paint so I don't know. To bare wood it does bring up the colour very nicely and does impart a very subtle and slight sheen to the Woodwork. I suggest you try it on a bit of painted wood and see if you like the effect. Cheers, B.E.

Personally I wouldn't use wipe on poly where I was going to paint. In my build I taped along the waterline level and applied poly above that up to the wale. I then taped above the waterline and painted below it. B.E.

Cheers Chuck, I will have an order shortly🙂 B.E.

That would be great, thank you! I’ll enjoy it while I’m in our lock down. Stropping Small blocks My approach to block stropping differs depending on the block purpose, and of course the smaller the block the trickier it is. I am going to concentrate on the smallest of blocks used on gun tackles at scales of around 1:64. 4909(2) The now defunct 3mm plastic block set, I’ve only a few left. This is my approach to stropping a Syren Boxwood 3/32” (2.38mm) block using one of Chucks bijou 3mm plastic hooks. I am using Syren 0.20mm ø line. Blocks with hooks attached are the most fiddly, particularly in relation to the gun tackles, where overall length is critical and it is difficult to reproduce effective looking arrangements at scales of 1:64 and smaller. 4907(2) The block is held in a third hand tool, a smear of pva drawn across the strop grooves, and the line passed around the block and held until the pva grabs. 4908(2) I can then tie the ends with a simple square knot (In larger blocks I put a small seizing (0.1mm line) to secure the two ends of the line. 4912(2) One strand of the line which consists of three strands is then unravelled up to the point of the seizing. A spot of ca is then applied to this point and the strand is cut away, to allow fit thro’ the small eye on the hook of the remaining two. The ends are passed thro’ the eye of the hook from opposite sides. (I usually have to enlarge the hole slightly (and very carefully – these things are delicate.) 4918(2) The ends are then again tied above the eye, a spot of ca, and the ends trimmed away. 4921(2) For this exercise I use a new No 11 scalpel blade, nothing gets closer or cuts cleaner. 4922(2) The completed block and hook cover an overall length of only 6mm, which allows a reasonable lanyard length between the two blocks that make up a side tackle. 4925(2) The lanyard also of 0.2mm line is attached thro’ the top of the strop using a needle 4932(2) and secured with a false splice. 4933(2) I apply a smear of pva to the splice and roll between my fingers before trimming the short end. 4039(2) The tackles can then be made up on a little jig. 4177 At normal viewing distance these are very small but can be clearly seen as a tackle with two blocks and hooks, but which don’t overwhelm the scale, and well worth the fitting in my opinion. Prior to the advent of Chuck’s little hooks I also used an alternative method. This involves drilling a micro hole in the block and inserting a hook made from a fine eye bolt. 4939(2) I insert a drill bit into the sheave hole before ca’ing the hook to prevent it being blocked. At this size I dispense with any notion of making an eye on the hook, to save length. In the case of Alert the overall length of the combined block/hook should be no more than 6mm. 4940(2) The line is passed around the block as before. 4941(2) This time the line is passed around the stem of the hook and secured with a square knot. A spot of ca is applied to the knot and the ends cut off. 4943(2) The overall size is the same as with the little plastic hooks. An alternative method would be to insert the hook stem thro’ the line into the block and secure the strop at the other end. This would work where a lanyard was not required to be fitted. One other method which I used on my Pegasus build is good for smaller scales. Here I use thin wire to strop the blocks, forming the ends into hooks. 003 Wire stropped blocks on Pegasus. This method does entail painting the wire strop rope colour and the hook black, but it works just fine. So there it is for what it’s worth. Cheers, B.E.

You could follow the scheme as presently on Victory ,or was the last time I was in Portsmouth The Barge has a green trim , I understand green was an expensive colour, so perhaps fitting for an Admirals Barge The Pinnace The Launch The Cutter I used the scheme on my Victory build, although I did trim the Pinnace Blue rather than black and yellow. B.E.

Thank you Phill, glad you found it of help. @ Chris, - Phew, it's always an added incentive when you have the designer of a kit looking at a build, I hope I've done your creation justice. @ Cap'n Hook - Thank s for looking in, much appreciated. B.E.

Hi Glenn, I can’t imagine that I can achieve anything as ‘pristine’ as Chuck but I do try to follow his example. 😃 As I'm virtually in lock down I'll knock up a little pictorial to explain my approach, something to keep me busy. Cheers, B.E.

Your Pinnace looks beautiful Derek, and nicely photographed as well. Well done. B.E.

Thank you Joe and Glenn. @ Glenn, It's a pity Chuck stopped supplying those tiny 3mm black plastic hooks they were ideal for the gun tackle rigging on 1:64 scale guns. I also used them on my Cheerful build. Cheerful side tackles. Chuck also used to supply 3mm brass versions, but I didn't quite like those as much, and they had to be blackened. Brass etched rigging hooks were supplied in the Alert kit, nicely formed, but far too large for gun rigging, and in that situation my approach would be to fake it and form hooks out of very fine eyebolts glued into the ends of the blocks. After market brass etched hooks are supplied by the likes of Caldercraft, but again at 5mm they are too large. Perhaps we should petition Chuck to start supplying them again, I've never seen any quite as fine as those little plastic ones. Regards, B.E.

Thank you Voyageur and Moab, glad you found it useful 🙂 Cheers, B.E.

Thank you Mugje B.E.

Thank you Grant, Derek, and Jason. At least with The Queen Anne barge I will have some excellent works to reference. 👍 B.E.

Thank you guys for your great comments, much appreciated, I hope the log is of some use to those that follow. As for the future, uncertain as it seems at present, I do have Chuck's wonderful Queen Anne Barge beneath my bench, it may well be making an appearance. 🙂 Regards, B.E.

Post 84 Completion shots continued. Upper rigging detail 4875 4897 4874(2) 4861(2) 4869(2) 4864(2) 4865(2) 4883(2) 4884(2) 4885(2) 4889(2) Thoughts about the Alert kit. As I am the first builder on MSW of this new kit offering from the talented Mr Watton it has fallen to me to be the first to record my experience of the kit and build. There is a lot to like about this kit, cutters make fine models of relatively modest size, altho’ at 1:64 scale Alert is large enough for extra detailing and has space when it comes to the rigging stage. It is clear that Chris cares about his customer base and has put a lot of thought into the make-up of the kit providing pre-made parts for many of those areas that new builders may find tricky, but which more experienced builders may wish to replace. That I made extensive modifications is no reflection on the validity of the kit. I accept the limitations of kits and personally I am prepared to take the hit on the additional cost of material and fittings upgrades. Although I have had reservations about some of the supplied fittings, builders of the second edition revised kits will benefit from the improvements made by Chris in relation to the guns and other fittings, and latterly a laser printed deck, and Pearwood grating sets. This is a visually attractive kit, which offers the kit basher a lot of scope whilst providing builders new to the hobby a good oob experience. It has been very tricky deciding how to rig this model given the many variations prevalent at the time, and the often-conflicting information given in the reference sources. The two existing Alert models by Roger Cole, and Irving Kingman differ in their appearance and rigging, and Roger Cole made many changes to both the deck layout and rigging of his model from the Peter Goodwin book which as I have discovered has many conflictions and omissions to confuse the model maker. Irving Kingman also made changes to the deck layout and rigging but did acknowledge that some of the reconstruction of Alert is based on conjecture and therefore possibly not accurate. There is one other Alert model kit on offer, a 1/72 scale card version by Shipyard. A nice-looking model but has the Topmast before the masthead and is rigged in the later standardised form. Part of the appeal of the Alert kit is that it represents a cutter with the earlier style of rigging with the aft placed T’gallant mast and a Square sail set up. I have concluded that there is no definitive example of how Alert was rigged, and I have used many sources to arrive where I am. I certainly don’t advocate my Alert build as the way to go, and I still have many conflictions in my own mind, but the information I have gleaned may be of some use to those that follow and may serve to inform their own decisions. Sources. The Naval Cutter Alert -Peter Goodwin The Masting and Rigging of English Ships of War – James Lees. Eighteenth-Century Rigs and Rigging – K.H. Marquardt. The Global Schooner - K.H. Marquardt. Elements of Masting, Sail-making and Rigging, – David Steel. Seamanship in the Age of Sail – John Harland Rigging period Fore-and-Aft Craft – Lennarth Petersson Alert Provenance and Construction – Roger Cole Modeling H.B.M. Cutter Alert-1777 - Irving H. Kingman NMM plan of Alert. Contemporary Hawke model (NMM) Model of a cutter circa 1785. (Science Museum) I have also scoured the internet for examples of cutter rig, and referenced cutter build logs on MSW. I have enjoyed building Alert despite the frustrations at times and I commend the kit to the members. B.E. 25/03/2020

Post 83 All but done Still a base to make but for all practical purposes the model is complete. So here are the final shots of the completed model, I will add my thoughts on the kit and build experience in a separate post. First the close-ups 4870 4878 4879 4891 4898 4880 4893 4873(2) 4876 4886 4888(2) 4868 4895(2) The next post will show the upper rigging shots and full model shots. B.E. 25/03/2020