Blue Ensign

A few odds and ends
 
Rudder coat and pendants.
 
I usually make rudder coats out of micro-porus tape as it has a sort of canvas finish to it and has the added advantage of a sticky back.
Rudder coats are a sort of bell shape in plan but cutting a pattern for a particular ship is a matter of trial and error.
 
There should be an element of ‘bag’ in the coat to allow free movement of the rudder
 
This is difficult to achieve without padding out the interior, I use a little cotton wool off a cotton bud for this purpose.
After this it is just a matter of teasing it into shape around the transom and rudder.

The canvas was tarred to waterproof it as much as possible and I have represented this with a black grey finish.

 
The Rudder pendants
 
Evidence is that even smallish vessels like Pickle would have had some system for retaining the rudder after all loss of rudder was no small matter.
I could not find any detailed information exactly how the pendants and chains would have been fitted on Pickle; similar smallish vessels are shown with the pendants taken up over the transom and secured to cleats on the inside. This method would foul the stern gunports in the case of Pickle.

I fitted chains to eyebolts secured in the rudder and to eyebolts in the lower transom, and contented myself with this arrangement for the present.
 
Anchor buoys
 
These too are an essential part of a ships equipment, they need to be clearly seen on the water, and the standard size is 54”x 30” with something in excess of 100’ of line.(475mm)
 
Smaller vessels such as Pickle would have had a smaller version and I scaled mine down to 36” x 20”
I made an egg shaped core from the cone shaped tips of two cheap bic prop pencils and planked these with styrene strip.
 
With the addition of eyebolts either end and 0.25mm line to form the slings and hoops and the job’s done.

I don’t normally adhere to scale lengths of line but in this case I have measured out 18 fathoms of line (scale of course) to coil on the shrouds.

 

 

Nearly there
 
 

A small diversion – prepping the rigging line

It won’t be too long before I need the first items of standing rigging, pendants, shrouds and stays.
I have written about my method of preparing rigging line in relation to my other builds, but for completeness of this build log I summarise it again here.

The suggested line sizes were checked against other sources, and generally Jotika seem to have it right.

I don’t intend to use the Jotika provided thread, the running rigging line is too pale for my taste, and I don’t like commercial black line for the standing rigging.
 
My favourite commercial line by Amati will be used.
 

I prefer to dye my own standing rigging using Dark oak wood stain, following which the line is bees-waxed and then stretched on a rack for several days or in the case of the stays hung by weights.
 
This has the advantage of making the setting up of the rigging easier, there is less tendency to pull the rigging too tight, and gentle curves fall naturally when required to give an impression of weight.
 
In my builds I prefer a combination of taut and slack lines which I think add realism to the rigging.
 
Whilst I am waiting for the lines to ‘mature’ there are the masts to step and the yards to rig.
 
I must now also decide the sequence of rigging.
 
Reading the Jotika blurb, fixing the Gaffs and boom comes some way after rigging the shrouds /stays etc.
 

To me this would serve to make attaching these spars to the mast more difficult in the sense of fixing the parrel beads around the masts, so I decided to fix them as the first items of main rigging, but leaving sufficient line for any later adjustment. It is far easier to attach the parrels to the gaff jaws first and then feed them over the mastheads into position.
 
I discarded the black and shiny kit supplied beads in favour of other seed beads I have, they will be coated in flat varnish to take the shine off them.
 

Jotika also suggest that the booms and yards be pinned into position, I prefer to have them free running and use the rigging lines to hold them in position, although with pinned spars setting up the lines is easier in the sense of having something fixed to pull against.
 
Well the masts are stepped;

Hopefully in line.
 

The bowsprit fixed, the gammoning applied.
 

and the booms in place.
 
Back to the yards, but these will be fitted once the standing rigging is in place.

Masting and Rigging – the final stage
 
Various sizes of Birch dowel are supplied to make the masts, the mast fittings are cnc walnut shaped parts which need some fettlin’ to get them to scale.
 
First up are the Bowsprit and Jib, for which my somewhat temperamental Mantua spar lathe with its very erratic toggle switch, is brought into use.
 

To taper the spars I just used sanding sticks with a range of grit papers glued to them rather than cut the taper in with a blade. With this size of stuff it is less risky than the blade.
 
In fixing the bowsprit and jib there are several things that have to be considered at the same time, the bowsprit has to sit squarely between the standards of the Pawl bitts, and has to run parallel with the stem and with the right degree of stive.
 
The angle of the mast cap has to be determined, so that it is vertical to the waterline, and the jibboom which passes thro’ it, sits parallel to the bowsprit.
 

The Bowsprit cap was a tricky little beggar to make, I scrapped three before success.
 
Jotika provided two cnc walnut caps(one spare) into which angled holes for the bowsprit tenon and the jibboom had to be drilled.
Problem is that no matter how carefully I drilled the holes the wood split away from the walnut faces. It was not until I drilled the holes in a piece of scrap and then cut the profile that I got the result.
 
Initially I thought that the cap looked a liitle bulky but when I checked the scale dimensions against the jibboom diameter it was spot on.
 
I modified the cap by cutting a groove on the aft side to take the jack staff, and drilled holes in the jibboom for the heel lashing and a sheave for the outhauler. I also formed a necking at the jibboom end, something omitted by Jotika.
 
I also needed to decide at this stage how to colour the masts, Jotika suggest staining them walnut, rather unappealing in my view, I will not be staining them walnut.
 

A little bit of trialling with various mediums, and I finally settled on a light oak satin varnish, enhanced with a touch of natural wood finish.

Now onto the mast assemblies.
 
Fore (or schooner Mast) and Main Masts
 
Jotika have these at 6mm diameter for their full length to the head which is formed by a separate square section of 4x4mm. The head section and mast have to be drilled and joined by a piece of brass wire and Jotika provide a centre finding template for the round section dowel, to assist the process.
 
This simplification (also used by Longridge in his Victory build) saves the modeller the task of squaring the mast head, but does not allow for those who may wish to do so, as the provided dowel lengths are too short.
 
The straight 6mm dowel just doesn’t look right to my eye, using Steel’s Fraction tables for masts I calculate that there should be a taper from 6mm at the partners to 5mm to the start of the head.
 
With the Jotika method the top of the round section outside of the masthead has to be angled so that the cross trees when fitted run parallel to the waterline, not to the rake of the masts.

The Trestletree/crosstree parts are cnc cut walnut, ok, but some adjustment was required to fit around the mast head. Double sided tape and a piece of the masthead timber were needed to set the piece out before gluing.
 
At this point I departed from the Jotika build instructions, as I fitted cheeks to the masts, the top angle of which created the parallel line for the Trestletrees.
 
A simple enough modification, and a feature that my research tells me was appropriate to schooner masts as well as larger vessels.
 
Main Topmast
 
This again is constructed from two sections, the lower section being fashioned from 4mm walnut square section, shaped to an octagon above the topmast sheaves.
 
As with the lower mast, it is connected by brass rod to tapered dowel for the upper part of the mast.
Jotika didn’t suggest it but at 1:64 scale I think a topmast sheave would be appropriate, so one will be cut into the heel of the topmasts above the fid.
 
Fore topmast
 
This differed from the Main Topmast in that it is supposed to be constructed from three sections, the first square stock shaped to an octagon, the second up to and incorporating the hounds (not present on the MainTopmast) and thirdly the pole head of the mast.
 

I decided to turn the mast above the square section as one, incorporating the hounds; this also gave me a little more lathe practice. Finally a truck was formed at the mast head.
 

I am a little puzzled why Jotika didn’t fit hounds to the Main Mast, perhaps because no stays were secured at that point.
 

Dry fitting the topmasts before any finishing work can be done, the cheeks which show up white here support the trestletrees and give the correct angle.
 

As can be seen she has quite a lofty rig, note the downward slope of the trestletrees which are parallel to the waterline, whereas the mast caps follow the mast rake.
 

 
Once I am completely satisfied with the fit I can fine tune the trestletrees and fix them in place. The topmasts will not be glued, both they and the mast caps are a snug fit.
 
I think I will however add a truck to the Main Topmast head.
 
B.E.
 
 
 

Whinging about the Windlass

The octagonal barrel of the windlass is provided by a number of octagonal discs which when fed onto a central spindle with provided wooden pawl rings make up the barrel. There are 11 of these segments plus spares.

Problem is the ones I got were the very devil to get the octagons to line up cleanly and I wasn’t over impressed with the result, partly due to the differing shades of the walnut segments. Jotika intended for the thing to be painted red ochre.
 

The sectional make up of the Jotika barrel just doesn’t look right to my eye and the single diameter along its length gives the impression of a pencil chopped up and glued together again, rather unrealistic, and coupled with the deficiencies in my skill at assembling the thing, I resolved to do better.
 
I wanted a clean bare wood barrel with distinct clearly defined octagonal sections, and with a degree of tapering from the centre section down to the warping heads at either end.
 
Salvation came in the form of some old stock 5mm boxwood square section that just needed converting into an octagon.
 

My little Rosewood mini plane was just right for the job.
For style I took the drawings of the windlass given in the AOTS book Alert.
 

Overall it has a more authentic look and will better match the other deck fittings on Pickle. It took me three attempts to get something I could live with but here at last the assembled but unpolished windlass.

I see a bit of roughness on the starboard standard that will need attention, and I think I may add metal bands each side of the iron pawl rings.
 
Fixing bits and pieces
 
Three major deck items, the Fore Bitts, Windlass, and Pawl bitts require fixing to the deck by means of pins inserted in the bottom of the standards, and thro’ a corresponding hole in the deck.
 
Tricky business this to get the corresponding holes in the right place so that the items are fixed in the correct positions and square to the central line of the ship.
 
The bitts in particular require firm fixing against the pull of the rigging to come later, and the pawl bitts against which the bowsprit is secured.
 

two minds about those belay pins, they look a little over-scale to my eye.
I modified the coamings around the Galley flue, didn’t like the Jotika 1.5mm walnut strip arrangement.
 

In any build there are
several critical points that could affect the end result, with Pickle one of them is drilling the hole thro’ the bulwark to take the bowsprit.
 

A bit scary this cutting thro’ the neat planking one has taken so much trouble over – have I got the position dead right, will it line up with the pawl bitts, must avoid splintering the internal planking when drilling.
 
Who said model making was a relaxing activity.
 

This is not the real bowsprit but close enough for fitting purposes, and things seem to have turned out ok.
 
In the Same vein the hawse holes have to cut thro’ the bulwarks, 2mm according to Jotika to take a 1.3mm diameter cable.
 
I was curious to see how this related to given formulas for calculating the cables and hawse sizes.
For cable sizes this is ½” of circumference for each foot of breadth of the ship.
Given a width of 20’ 7½” this equates to a 10.3” circumference cable, which at scale works out at 1.3mm diameter.
 
Spot on Jotika.
 
The hawse hole formula is diameter of cable x 9/4 = 2.92mm. Nearly a third larger than that suggested by Jotika.
I enlarged the hole size to 2.5mm which looked better in relation to the 1.3mm diameter anchor cable.
 
Two more holes to drill in the deck, Jotika calls them Navel pipes, down which the anchor cables pass to the cable tier.
 
Now I’ve not heard this term before in period ship modelling and it doesn’t seem to be mentioned in any of my reference books save the Oxford dictionary of ships and the sea.There is no reference to Navel Pipes in the Global Schooner by Marquardt or the Cutter Alert by Peter Goodwin, two specific references I am using for this build.
 

Still I have gone with the Navel pipes enlarged to just over 3mm to take short lengths of aluminium tubing, chemically blackened, and inserted flush with the deck.
 

 

Along with various eye bolts and cleats that now finishes the internal fittings on Pickle.
 
Next up the external fittings and making the rudder.
 
B.E.
 

Skylights and companions
 
All the deck fittings etc; provided are in walnut. Jotika intended them to be painted red ochre, or left natural.
 
This presented me with a problem as I wanted the deck fittings to be yellow ochre, represented by boxwood.
Some of the fittings have been completely replaced but others such as the carronade beds and bitt standards I did not want to go to the trouble of replicating.
 
I spent some little time concocting a mix of Ronseal light oak varnish with the merest touch of Admiralty yellow ochre water based paint to create a matching boxwood finish.
 
I am quite pleased with the result.

 

 

 
The Skylights and Companionway are supposed to be assembled from the ubiquitous walnut sheet and then be painted red ochre, but I replaced mine using boxwood strip to create a boarded effect.
 

The brass etched window frames I left unpainted as I rather liked them, and I expect them to tarnish over time. The iron protective grills were chemically blackened.
Rather than use the provided acetate for glazing the windows, I opted for Humbrol clear fix as the panes are very small.
 

The companionway was also boarded, with the interior boarding whitewashed to provide a contrast. The kit over-scale walnut doors were replaced with boxwood versions.
 
The completed items were then varnished with my ochre/varnish mix.
 
Elmtree pumps
 
So often these items provided in kits are somewhat clumsy and overscale but Jotika have provided quite fine pump handles in etched brass to complete the ensemble.
 
The pumps do not stand vertically on the deck but are canted slightly and would in reality converge towards the centre line of the bottom of the ship.
 
To this end I inserted lengths of brass tubing thro’ the deck into which micro brass tubing forming the plungers fit.
 
I fashioned the pump bodies from a bit of round stuff, but tarted them up with iron bands formed from the brass fret surrounding the 0.3mm eyelets, and a bit of brass tubing.
 
The galley chimney.
 
I replaced the suggested 4x4mm walnut strip with a piece of square section brass tubing, chemically blackened.

I had toyed with the idea of providing a more fancy flue, but decided on a small vessel such as Pickle, plain and simple would be appropriate.
 
I still have to make coamings to go around the flue but I can’t make my mind up at present as to the section I prefer.
 
Here’s where I am now up to, the hatches/grating, and main deck furniture have been fixed, I will not permanently fix the pumps until later in the build, they are quite delicate and experience tells me they are perfect snag magnets.
 

 

 

To be cont'd
 
B.E.

Naming Pickle
 
The kit provides for brass etched lettering to be painted white.
 

I disliked the look of this arrangement, the brass etch letters stand out too much, the font style looks too modern, and I have doubts that the lettering on British naval ships of the period was painted white.
 
I tried different options from vinyl lettering to water slide decals but eventually settled on letraset transfers, Times New Roman, at 5mm in gold.
 
I had initially feared that applying dry rub letters to the stern in situ would present problems of alignment and good adhesion but as it happens they went on a treat and here’s the result.  

A coat of satin varnish, and the job’s done.
 

The official inspection has reported favourably, so work can now proceed to fitting out the deck.
 

 
B.E.
 
 
 
 

Planking the deck
 
The instructions call for the deck to be fully planked before moving to fitting the hatchway coamings and head ledges which then sit on the deck.
 
I was in two minds whether to fit these first and then run the planking up to them but decided in the end to do the planking first.
 
Again I departed from the Jotika scheme, replacing the supplied 4mm x 1mm Tanganyika strip with boxwood 3.4mm x 0.6mm. Apart from any other consideration I thought the slightly narrower planking was more in scale.
 
I Used a three butt shift pattern ie three plank widths between butts on any joist. The planks are the scale equivalent of 29’ x 8.5”
PVA was used to fix the planks which were line edged with a Pilot broad chisel marker pen(instant dry and water resistant) to replicate the caulking. There was no evidence of bleed into the wood.
 
The plank ends were joggled into the Margin plank at the bows.

 

Planking in progress, planking usually starts with the planks either side of the centre line and progresses from the stern forward and outwards.
 

Joggling completed.
 

 

A little time now will be spent scraping the deck (not sanding) to remove any unevenness, and tidying up the mast and rudder head holes.
 
Next stage will be fitting the stern transom, and assembling one of the carronades to check gun port levels.
 
B.E.
 
 

Planking the Bulwarks
 
Jotika supplied 1mm thick walnut planking for both inside and outside the hull, plus the 0.8mm gun port pattern.
 
I have used 0.6mm thick boxwood strip, so to add depth to the bulwarks I have double planked the inside of the bulwark with 6mm wide boxwood strip over-planked with 4.2mm strip.
 
Having un-lined gun-ports results in rather untidy looking planks ends from the four layers that make up the bulwark.

These required filling to smooth them out.
 

They were then painted Red ochre, one of the few areas where paint will be used.
 

With the internal planking completed Pickle looks far more solid.
 

 

 
I can now progress to the deck planking.
 
B.E.

Coppering the hull.
 
I gave some little thought as to how I was going to do this coppering lark, where to start, how authentic to be, the practicalities of how to apply the bally things, without the plates sticking to me rather than the hull, how to avoid the glue getting all over those nice shiny plates, and lastly how to make those nice shiny plates look less shiny.
 
Authenticity - The first thing to go.
 
Strictly speaking on naval ships the copper plates should overlap the plate above it by some 1½”, and overlap the preceding plate by the same. Merchant ships apparently followed the more easily applied method of overlapping the plate below.
 
This is all of no matter because at smallish scale overlapping plates can look untidy, so on Mr Pickle they will simply be butt jointed, working from the stern forward and the keel up.
 
How to apply
 
I will be using thick ca, less run, so hopefully less overspill onto the surface of the plates.
 
My beautiful assistant Debbie will now demonstrate the procedure.
 

The thin dowel stick with a piece of double sided tape applied is used to pick up the plate.
 

The ca is applied with a cocktail stick and the plate directed into position.

 

An old BiC pencil with a rubber in the end provides a burnishing tool to press the plate against the hull to secure.
 
No fingers, no tweezers, no mess on the plates, and no plates on me. (especially when Mrs W is doing it)
 

The job progresses apace, a bit like brick laying without the pointing up, The tricky bit will come later when small irregular pieces are needed and when I reach the waterline.
 

The tricky part was getting a clean line around the waterline.
 
Not too displeased with my first attempt at sheathing, but despite my best efforts some little amount of ca found its way onto the plate surface. Cotton buds dipped in acetone were used to try and get rid of this excess.
 
The Coppering completed
 
Top marks to Jotika who have not stinted on the supply of plates I have about 110 left over, although I still have the rudder to do. I have some reservations about the domed nail heads apparent on the Jotika plates; I’m thinking that they are too pronounced. On most real plating I have seen the nails are hardly visible and are certainly not domed.*
 
* since this build Amati have come out with a far superior plate at 1:64  and I would certainly have gone with those if I were building Pickle now.
 
During trimming I note that strips of these plates would make very fine pintles and gudgeons for smaller scale models, and particularly the rudder apparatus for ships boats.
 

The coppering has been extended up the stem and just onto the False keel, the keel itself is not coppered.
 

A thin batten has been attached along the top strake of the coppering.
 

 

Another build milestone is reached.
 
B.E.

Completion of the second planking
 
Planking of the Port side is now completed and ready for final finishing.
Here just a small insert, or Spiling plank to go.
 
Now you see it.

 
Now you don’t.

To form these Spiling planks I cover the gap with Tamiya tape, cut around it with a scalpel and stick it on the plank as a template for shaping.
 
Any tiny gaps in the ebony planking will be filled with a mixture of the filler and Admiralty hull black water based paint.
The Upper hull in the line of the Ochre stripe has been planked in box.
 

 

The planking has had an initial sand which tends to lighten it, but will I think take on a more ochrery hue when finished and varnished which tends to darken the effect.
 
I intend to use minimal paint in this build.
 

 
The particular ebony planking arrangement is to ensure that above the waterline only ebony planking can be seen.
 
I have now applied a coat of sanding sealer and the colour contrast is coming out.

 

 

 

 

 
Ready now for coppering.
 
B.E.

The second planking run
 
First up are the Black strake and Wale. Jotika specify the line of these two planks, and in order to get an accurate line, pieces of styrene strip of the correct width were temporarily attached to the hull below the gunports as a guide.
 

Medium viscosity super glue was used to attach the strakes.
 

Once the first ebony plank is attached, another is glued directly on top of it to form the strake.
 

It is then a simple matter to glue a further plank directly below it, and laminate it up to three thicknesses to form the Wale.
 

Below this, to below the waterline, ebony planks will be used, and above the wale, boxwood to form the ochre stripe.
 

A couple of the ochre (boxwood) planks have been put into place so I can gauge the effect.
 

At this point I am using scale 20’ planks, mainly because it is more economical with the ebony strip and I am in danger of running short.
 


Once below the waterline in the area to be covered by the copper plating I will start using boxwood again in the broadest strips I can get away with, hopefully 6mm. This should also help to reduce the tapering effect at the bows.
 

The planking will now continue to completion.
 
B.E.

Sand and fill...
 
Sand and fill, fill and sand, sand and fill, well that’s the order of the day..
 
Running my fingers with eyes shut over the sleek lines of Pickle, feeling out any little bumps and depressions, to be marked and attended to, before another round of sand and fill.....
 
Actually very little filler has been used, I got hold of some stuff called Model Lite which sands very easily, dries quickly, allowing several application/sanding sessions within a short time scale.
 

 
For the second planking I have decided to use Boxwood and ebony strip to represent both the Ochre gun port stripe and the hull planking above the waterline. I didn’t have enough suitable old stock boxwood to plank the model but I managed to obtain a supply of 0.6mm strip in various widths that will do the job. The 1x4mm walnut strip will therefore be set aside.
 

This photo gives an impression of the colour differences between the various wood types.
Apart from any other considerations 0.6mm strip will be easier to fit than 1mm. and the quality of the strip is better than the kit provided stuff.
 

At this point I have also fitted the stern counter and re-marked the bearding line for the additional tapering to accommodate the second planking.
 
As I won’t be using the kit provided 1mm stuff the bearding will only eat 0.5mm into the first planking.
 

0.6 x 4.5mm ebony strip has been used to plank the counter.
 
Deck planking already?
 
The lower (false) deck is required to be partly planked as parts of it will be seen thro’ the various hatches etc;
 
Rather than use the kit provided Tanganyika, I have opted for boxwood.
 

Caulking is represented by running a black permanent marker along one edge of the plank.
 
I drew out a little planking plan to gauge where the butts may meet in a three shift pattern, as the feature may be glimpsed thro’ the hatches of the main deck.
 
I am now ready to start the second run of planking.
 
B.E.
 

Made a simple base board for the early stages of the build, to hold the keel steady whilst I eyeball it during the hull fairing stages.
 

The False deck has now been inserted, and the last bulkhead number 9 bevelled for the transom and glued into place. The fit was a little floppy and I inserted some thin stuff to firm it up.
 
The false deck has to be planked, and this will provide an early refresher for me before I have to do the 'show deck'
 

The pattern former for the gun port strips is temporarily in place, this allows for the degree of bevel required on the forward frames to be gauged.
 

The fun can now begin.
 
I decided the building board needed a few more whistles and bells to hold the model steady both the right way up and when inverted.
This is achieved by the addition of uprights spaced to fit snugly between the bulkheads fore and aft.
 
 

 
 

Something along these lines is very necessary to hold the model whilst the lie of the planks is checked from every angle for fairing, and when fixing the planks.
 
My building board is the Beech door off an old bread bin (I wonder when she’ll notice ) and measures a mere 14½” x 6½”, but sufficient for Pickle.
 
A few off-cuts of wood and small angle brackets the only additional requirements.
 
Work progresses, the bulkheads are bevelled and balsa bow blocks glued in to provide greater surface area for planking.
 

 
 

The bow blocks are completed and the gunport pattern is trial fitted, having been soaked in water for some thirty minutes.
 

 
The pattern is secured with PVA and subsequently the pins removed.
 

 
The business of first planking can now begin, but before I do planks will be test fitted to identify any further need for adjustment to the bulkheads.
 
B.E.

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.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

What a wonderful box of delights mobbsie, those Proxxon machines are very addictive and I think you may well have set me off again.
 
Aaprt from the wood lathe I don't have any of the others in your box and it would be interesting to hear over time your impressions as you use them.
 
Think I'll just go and have another look at that planer/thicknesser again.....
 
B.E.

What a wonderful box of delights mobbsie, those Proxxon machines are very addictive and I think you may well have set me off again.
 
Aaprt from the wood lathe I don't have any of the others in your box and it would be interesting to hear over time your impressions as you use them.
 
Think I'll just go and have another look at that planer/thicknesser again.....
 
B.E.

Doing the guns in repeatable mode saves some time, once the method is on track...
My work desk is quite a mess, since I have my own room and do`nt have to clean up during the day, and I still have 4 more to do.
 
Am thinking of adding small wooden splints to the axis close to the wheels, but shall do that as last Action
 
Nils
 
 

Trial #1, small wire Pins secure wheels on axis
 

Trial #2, small wooden splints hold back the wheels (I prefer this Version)
 

Gun builders desk
 

have 10 done so far, 4 more to go..

Hi Guys,
 
Thank you all for your very kind congrats and comments, they really are appreciated. I would like to reiterate that this is really a very small museum, I would say that in most cases it would probably fit into a double garage. I think they would have accepted a picture in a glass case to be honest.
 
Mort, Matti,  The museum doesn't open until the 1st May, I will get some pics then and post up.
 
I'm afraid a Knighthood is a little way off just yet, I'm more like a surf or squire which is a Knights servant, very lowly.
 
I apologise for not posting my latest pics sooner but I have been a little distracted, were still in the process of refurbing the kitchen and I have had a side project going on as well. I am getting a few new toys from Proxxon and was in dire need of some extra space. My admiral (Christine) has allowed me to make space in the loft to house them, so I have been clearing the loft and fitting a work bench, fitting the bench wasn't a problem but boy do we ever hoard a load of rubbish.
 
Jerry,  I hope the following pictures help you to work out the spacing for your snaking, the method I used was to start the first knot with a clove hitch, from then on I took a short piece of thread and tying a simple overhand knot around the Preventer Stay ensuring the snake line was inside the loop pulled tight at the desired spacing, using the gauge which I had made, on completion and being satisfied that the spacing was even and that there was no distortion I just put a minute spot of glue on the knot and when dry trimmed of the loose ends. Hope that helps mate.
 
Some progress pics
 
Main Stay, Gauge is attached to the stays

 

 
Loose ends still need to be trimmed off

 
All trimmed and finished

 
Trying to get the tension right on the Crowsfeet so the stays are not distorted

 

 
Completed Crowsfeet, I found it extremely difficult to eliminate distortion on the stays, this is the best I could manage.

 
So that's it for now I'm afraid, progress has been slow and I'm currently working on the fore topmast and top gallant
 
I thank you again for your very kind words
 
Be Good
 
mobbsie
 
 
 
 
 
 

Cheers Mobbsie!
 
To hide the rather slow progress, I'll post a few 'state of the build' pics.  Ratlines and futtock shrouds all done, although there are one or two ratlines that I may yet redo.  First picture falls into the 'warning by me take' category, I'd completely missed a double block on the mizzen mast which was rather painful to get on with all the shrouds in place.  Definitely try to get this one onto the mast before any shrouds.  I did have a pleasant experience though, after having somehow made the served length approx 10mm too long even after mocking it up, I couldn't face remaking it.  Found that carefully applying some GS Hypo glue around the served line at the appropriate point allowed it to be cut cleanly with no frayed ends!  
 
I've also noticed that the tension in the main and preventer stay has been reduced, despite having stretched the line before installing.  Not sure whether its necessary to redo the heart lashings to tighten, only potential problem I can foresee will be when the braces get put on they may pull the stays unnaturally out of alignment, but this seems somewhat inevitable anyway so still pondering this one.
 

I have now applied most of the decoration.  Applying it accurately on the model would have been quite difficult. I was still .5mm out on one decoration  - those who may be interested may care to find where.
 
 
The first two photos show how the required curvature of the facia was derived. A piece of timber strip was taped to where the facia will be attached, and the curvature drawn on a piece of paper.  I then used this as a template to shape a piece of balsa.

 

 
I then pressed the large decoration and the facia together over the shaped piece of balsa. To get the decoration to the correct height I clamped a piece of strip across the facia so that the decoration only had to be moved laterally to position it correctly (no photo, sorry).
 

 

 
The gold decorations on the facia required quite a bit of filing to obtain a good fit, and the two small decorations above the top windows did no fit and needed to be trimmed.
 

 
A fair bit of fiddling was needed on the stern to make the facia fit properly, but the dry-fit shown suggests it should turn out reasonably well.
 
 
On a different note. I have discovered that Xylene will take off any residual polish on copper better than anything else I have tried. I am now waiting to apply the clear matte sealer.  It must not be too humid (<65%) and it has rained virtually every day for the last fortnight. I didn't rain for two months before that!
 

Well done Mobbsie, and it also solves the problem of where to put completed models. If ever I get to Harwich I'll make a point of  calling in to view.
 
B.E.

At the scale you're working Michael,  I would try micro drilling thro' the axle close by the wheel and perhaps use some blackened wire or the stem off a small eyebolt  flattened slightly at the one end to represent the pins.
 
 
B.E.

The vertical timbers of the head rails were made up from some curved pieces of ply from the kit that were unused from the hair brackets. In a technique copied from Mitsuaki Kubota's fine Bellerophon build they were painted blue and some half mm walnut were laminated to the sides. This was sanded back to give a nice edge.


Careful shaping ensured a close fit.


The centre hair brackets running horizontally between the upper cheek and upper rail have been made up and painted and await cutting and fitting to slot between the verticals.
I'll be glad when this lot is finished.

With all the changes to the head rails the bowsprit was temporarily fitted and gammoning applied to make sure there was nothing that would be in the way later.

 
A small but nerve wracking addition was the hawse holes.
I added a reinforcing plank between the cheeks as per AOTS and as a result thinned down the bolster a bit and rounded the top and semi circle edges.
The bolster was held in place while holes were marked with the flat end of the 3.5mm drill bit dipped in paint. A smaller pilot hole was drilled first before the larger one. This was done with a Dremel. The bit was too long and had a little bit of wobble making the hole slightly bigger than I would have liked but nothing major. Tape on both faces prevented splintering which was my big fear. Not a lot of second chances with this area.


 
Now the final centre head rail can be knocked up.