Landlubber Mike

As with the planking, I think as you're finding out it's better to start from the bow and work your way aft to the stern. Use the deck patterns to help line things up, and run something perpendicular across the deck to make sure that the gun ports are symmetrical. For the "S" curves in the bulwarks, try pinning the gunport patterns in the middle of the patterns as well as at the top and bottom to make sure that the patterns adhere to the curves in the bulkheads. One thing I did was soak the patterns, and carefully flex them to get the patterns to relax to better contour to the bulkheads. As a fallback, you can always sand back the first planking to help improve the "S" curve shape if necessary. I did some of that on my Pegasus and the curves are now much nicer. I remember having a lot of choice words on installing the patterns, particularly at the stem. The hole for the bowsprit didn't seem to match up with the plans and the overall run of the gunport patterns, and I'm still having some questions on whether I need to sand back the tops near the stem a bit because they seem to be sitting a tad high. Like you, I also think that the patterns are a bit long - as I mentioned on my log, it would have been nice if the instructions and plans had pointed out where the extra material was located. On the picture labeled Exhibit A in your post above, it's a bit hard to tell from the picture, but is the bulkhead extension too high for one of the bulkheads? If so, this might be causing your problems with aligning the gunport patterns. It might also cause you problems down the road once you start planking, because you won't have a smooth line between the bulkheads in front and behind it. Since you're redoing the gunport patterns, you might consider reseating that bulkhead if that is the case - I think you will spare yourself some headaches down the road.

The Byrnes sander is probably my most used tool. I've tried things like the "sand-it," sanding blocks and the like, but nothing can approach the power tool approach of getting precise straight edges and corners. The Byrnes table saw is probably my next most-used tool. So far I've only used it for cutting planks and some of the deck items, but I'm looking forward to using it to build other things like the gun carriages. Like the sander, the table saw is great for cutting precise pieces with straight edges. When you add things like the taper jig, you can cut things like the stern post and rudder and other longer angled pieces with straight edges where it might be hard to use a sanding block to achieve the same results given the length. I love the table saw, but you have to respect it - turning it on always makes my posterior pucker up a tad. I also have the Byrnes thickness sander, but I rarely use it. I used it on my aborted Lyme build to sand down piece of plywood that I used to replace the warped keel, and use it here and there when my stock wood is slightly thicker than what I need. I saw a video of one of the Russian masters who seems to routinely use it to quickly get a nice finish on completed parts. The Sherline tools are really nice. I bought the mill and lathe used a while back on eBay to save money, and have cobbled together various accessories as well when I've seen deals. Maybe a tad overkill for what I would use them for since I'm not scratch building open-frame models, but after reading TFFM and seeing what people are using them for here, I'm excited by their functionality - if my wife ever asks, I'll just blame Ian for making me feel like I needed them after seeing his detail work on his Unicorn. The mill in particular has a lot of cool features one can use it for. I used to have the Proxxon mini-lathe which was a godsend when I was building the masts and spars on my Badger, but I figured I'd upgrade to the Sherline which is a little bigger and can also do metal. The add-on accessories can also be used on the mill which is a nice touch. The last tool I have is the Dewalt scroll saw, which I bought on Craigslist for a really great deal (a hobby furniture maker near me bought it on a whim at a show, got it home, turned it on once to see if it worked, and then realized he had no need for it). I've used this quite a bit. For the Pegasus, I used it to cut out the bulkhead tops out of redheart. I also recently used it for my Morgan to cut out a new stem in pear. It's also my go-to tool to quickly cut out a small piece of wood that I then sand down to straight edges on the sander (it's easier than resetting the table saw, especially when the rip fence is locked in place and I need it in the future to make repeated cuts in that width). Using the tools has been fun if you're into that sort of thing. Certainly they can be expensive, but if you don't mind used machines, you can get great deals on Craigslist, eBay, etc. Of course there are people that strictly use hand tools and come out with models much better than I can ever dream of approaching.

Herb, I would echo what Spyglass said about getting the gunport patterns as close to perfect as possible. They need to be not only symmetrical, but properly placed since things like the wales, rails, etc. use the gun ports as reference points. If you're interested, take a look at my log starting at this page - Spyglass provided some very helpful notes as you can see, which were borne out by my fitting of the patterns: http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/7267-hms-pegasus-by-landlubber-mike-amativictory-models-scale-164/?p=270839 The plans are incorrect in showing the jigsaw joint line between the two pattern pieces as falling on the bulkhead. The jigsaw should sit just behind the bulkhead as you can see on my log. I also soaked and pinned twice before finally gluing it. I found that the patterns didn't really hold their shape too well after soaking/pinning/drying, though the plywood became a little more flexible. Good luck! It's an important step to get right so take your time.

Thanks BE. That picture really helps. I must have mis-measured my rail lines, or perhaps my gunport patterns are slightly off from where they should have been installed.I had to open up the bowsprit hole so I think I must have been a bit off. By the way, really clean lines, wow. You really set the bar high for the rest of us

Really gorgeous work Mark. Those windows are amazing. Are they one piece? Really precise work with the laser cutter. I've been thinking ahead towards how I will do the windows on my Pegasus, and I think I found the answer - I'll just send the plans to you to do them for me By the way, I think you're ready for carving With all the detail on the model, I think carving would really be the icing on the cake.

Thanks Mark. Really great idea. I was using a regular drill bit, and not a milling bit. I thought about doing that, but I will have to sand the block back to get it to fit into the surrounding planking, so I don't know how deep to go with the connection just yet. I was thinking about using a small file once the blocks are installed and sanded back to do so (maybe starting them ahead of installing them).

Thanks very much BE. You're right that I should hold off as I can always sand things down later. I couldn't tell from your pictures, but does the area above the drift rail (what you painted red) get progressively taller as you hit approach the stem? From the plans and the NMM plans, it looks like the area stays the same height, but the gunport patterns, at least the way I've installed them, suggest that it's not a consistent width. It could also be that I mismarked my drift rail and other rail lines.

As I have been marking the hull for the lines of the various rails, it looks like I might need to sand back the top of the plywood gunport patterns in the first few centimeters near the bow. It seems like the patterns sweep up a little high at the bow, and so the area above the drift rail under the forecastle ends up getting higher as you approach the stem. I took some pictures which hopefully show what I'm trying to describe: Looking at the plans, I think that area should be the same height throughout. I think it's just a matter of sanding back the plywood pattern a bit near the bow, but before I did, I was wondering if anyone else building the Swan class had this issue? Also, would it be incorrect to have the uppermost plank in that area cross over the line of the stem? I'm thinking of doing to so to get the cleanest line just over the stem, rather than try to match up two plank ends on a very rounded part. Thanks in advance!

Wow, time flies. It's been a while since my last update, but I've made some slow, steady progress. I'm using the hull planking pattern in TFFM. I've also mentioned that I'm planning to use stains in lieu of paints on the upper hull planking. The hull between the wales and the friezes will be a darker brown, the friezes blue, and the top of the upper hull/bulwarks will be red using redheart. Cutting custom planks and ensuring that the planking runs are correct, along with ending the border planks properly so that I can cover any bleeding of the stains from one section to another with the rails is time consuming, to say the least. It didn't help that my first run above the wales was slightly off, which I didn't see until I had finished most of the second line of planks - it was one of those moments where I considered just dealing with it and moving on, but I'm very glad I removed all the planks and started over. Here are a couple of pictures where I am now. I've finished the first section of the upper hull planking, and stained that section, which was planked using pear, with General Finishes Antique Oak. I'm really happy with the richness of the stain. I was able to get a "walnut" feel without the walnut issues of uneven color, splintering, etc. I did some tests using a pre-stain conditioner, but I didn't like how it ended up muting the richness of the stain. Sorry that the pictures are not the greatest, my lighting isn't very good, especially with it being overcast for the last few weeks. The friezes will be stained using General Finishes Blue Stain. On earlier posts on my log, I had tested it on maple and pear. The maple was too bright, and the pear was a tad too dark. I tried it on boxwood and like Goldilocks and the three bears, the color was just right. So, I'm working on that section now. It's tricky because I decided to add the fixed blocks in the waist. There is a single block just aft of the third gunport, and a double block just forward of the fifth gunport. These intersect the planking lines, so more custom planks will need to be cut to fit around the blocks. Also complicating matters is that I will be planking the inner bulwarks using redheart, so the outside of the block will be in boxwood and the inside in redheart. To account for the depth of the block, I glued a strip of 1mm boxwood onto a relatively thick piece of redheart. From there, I used my Byrnes disc sander to get the blocks down to about 7.2mm in length, 2.6mm and 3.5mm in height for the single and double blocks, respectively, and about 3.5mm in depth so that I had something to work with and sand back to. Then I placed the blocks in my Sherline mill to drill the sheave holes. Was my first time using a mill, and it took a little trial and error to figure out how to work it, but I was really happy with the results. No way I could drill holes that lined up as perfectly as with the mill. I can see using the mill a lot for future work to get this type of precision. I need to clean them up a bit and gouge out a little area between the holes, but they came out pretty well I think. Hooray for power tools!

Really amazing job Igor. Can I ask how you did the grating in the bow of the boat as seen in this picture? Is it some kind of mesh?

Hi Nick, my Pegasus is slowly coming along, thanks for asking. I'm finishing the upper hull second planking which is a little tricky given that I'm testing and using stains and taking extra care to get the lines right. I'll post an update soon.

Beautiful work Nick!

Very nicely done Mark! That stern area is looking fantastic, great job my friend!

Looks great Doug. The deck will be mostly covered by the time your done with adding all the deck items. Tanganyika finishes pretty nicely, even though it can be splintery.

Frankly, it's not a difficult process, just a time consuming one. Once you get the first couple done, it will be very intuitive and fairly easy. It gives much better results in my opinion than tapering planks - tapering planks still can be prone to clink because the curves of the hull are in three dimensions. I didn't appreciate how much the hull curves until I started spiling planks on my Pegasus. The one issue I found with the tapering method is what do you do when you have to start adding drop planks. In some situations, the drop plank is wider than the standard kit plank width. So, you either have to work with two planks glued together, or buy extra material. So what kit will you be working on?

That's what I did - placed the plank on the ship, then traced the line directly to the plank. You can use tape or card stock, but then you have to transfer the template separately to the plank. The method I used avoided that step, and was surprisingly accurate. At first I cut just outside the lines to give myself extra material to work with and sand back, but over time, it was better to just cut on the line. There is always a little sanding you have to do, but I found that if you get the line marked correctly, you should be good to go. Sometimes it was a little tricky holding the plank down to the bend in the hull while tracing the spile line, which is probably why using card or tape can be easier in those situations.

I recently used spiling for the planking on my Pegasus. To answer your questions: 1. I don't see why that ruler can't work. I bought a set of ship curves and used two of them. In most cases, I was able to use a ships curve for the full plank. 2. I didn't use a scroll saw. I used strips 50% or so wider than the standard plank length, and used X-actos, chisels and sandpaper to cut and finish the planks. Those planks are pretty thin, and shouldn't be much of a problem. I'm not an expert on my scroll saw, but I wonder if the saw is too much power on such thin pieces of wood? Walnut is prone to splinter in my limited experience, so I'd worry that the scroll saw might cause more problems than its worth. 3. I can't help you on the tape method. I tried it and it didn't really work for me (probably because of the tape I used). I went with the compass method, where you trace the line against the edge of the plank above. It worked pretty easily for me, and you didn't need to worry about tape and transferring lines. Good luck!

Amazing work Chris. One of the things that I think detracts from models is the contrast between finished wood and painted areas (especially, where photo etched or cast metal parts are used). You did a really great job tying all those areas together. Can I ask what you use for the white areas? I find that most white paints are still too bright, and I would like to find a way to dull it either with a wash or something similar. I've toyed with the idea of using a light diluted stain, and other options would be to try an off-white paint like ivory or cream.

You'll definitely need wider planks from the kit planks if you go with spiled planking. For some of the planks on my Pegasus, I found I needed to work with planks at least 50% thicker than the standard plank width. For example, take a look at the plank at this post on my log http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/7267-hms-pegasus-by-landlubber-mike-amativictory-models-scale-164/?p=365802

Frank, really well done! I can't believe I missed it! You're a master at the weathering techniques - she looks like a worn, beat-up old thing, and I mean that in a good way! Congratulations, look forward to seeing your next masterpiece!

That settles it then

Wow, amazing work Igor! Very impressive, as is your collection of ships in bottles. Congratulations on a fantastic model!

Very nice. Does the paper hold up very well after staining, etc.?

Hi Ian, I agree on the circular port rings. Pretty odd, but unique looking I suppose. On the rail for the quarterdeck, in the first option, does the rail extend to the fore end of the quarterdeck or nearabouts? If it came up short, I wonder if it would have been a safety hazard. Otherwise, aesthetically, I still say option 1 looks better.

Looking really great Ian. You're pretty handy for a Luddite For what it's worth, I like the first rail also. Either is nice, but it might be worth seeing if that rail would give enough protection for folks on the quarterdeck? Those portholes are interesting, particularly where they bulk of them extends above the bulwarks. I'm wondering why they were like that? Functionally they don't seem to have much value, but maybe it was for aesthetics?