Landlubber Mike

Hi Ben,
very nice carving,wonderful.
 
Pictures : Pegasus model von Ivan Trtanj.
 
Regards Karl   

So managed to get a couple of hours in the workshop on the holiday weekend, working on the framing at the stern, I have tried to keep the sizing and spacing of the timbers as close to the layout shown on the Cygnet DOF plan but with the positioning of the port from the Pegasus plan.
 
ben

Hi Mike -- These chisels are absolutely only to be used with hand pressure.  They really should be considered high quality precision knives for doing the small, detailed work we do.  I just bought a sharpening system from Lee Valley; I haven't used it on these small chisels yet, but I did try it out on my full sized bench chisels, and had amazing results.  These cheapo tools now have edges sharper than a razor!  I fooled around a few minutes on Sunday with a piece of scrap, acting as though I were cutting a tenon in a 2X4 and got very precise cuts.  It was one of those moments when the scales you hadn't even known were there suddenly fell off my eyes.
 
I have that exacto chisel, and use it quite a bit, though mostly for the chopping action.
 
Spy -- Thanks for checking in, and for the nice words.  They do matter.  I'd love to see more progress on your Peg, but your careful and attentive work on the Pickle continues to provide real guidance.
 
Cheers,
 
Martin

Thanks for that, Mike.  I did indeed use GF black stain.  It goes on well, as you should know, being a GF fan yourself.  I've noticed that plenty of other folks speak highly of the Fiebings, but haven't ever tried it.  As for the treenailing, well, I'm of two minds, or maybe one and a half:  I think they're good looking, and even add one of those miniscule touches of authenticity & completeness.  For my Rattlesnake, I went for the Cadillac look and use contrasting walnut for the treenails on a holly hull; and I did the same for the holly planking here.  I had planned on using bamboo on the hull, and with the aim of getting the treenails down smaller than I ever managed with the splintery walnut.  But my planking on the lower hull has enough issues that I fear any treenailing would just call attention to this Fly's questionable sea-worthiness.  I might still put them on the bulwarks.  But I would also really like a break from planking.
 
You might try cutting the top & butt planks with a sharp chisel.  Then you can use one plank to trace the pattern for its mate.  Once I realized a chisel can cut like a plane -- it's not just a chopping tool after all -- I fell in love with it.  It's more manageable than an excacto, and far more accurate than sanding or filing.  I mostly use a 1/8 inch dovetail chisel from Lee Valley Veritas.
 
Have a look:  http://www.leevalley.com/US/Wood/page.aspx?p=46035&cat=1,41504
 
Cheers, and I hope you enjoy your T&B planking -- it can be satisfying.
 
Martin

Looks really great Martin.  I love the specialty planks around the gun ports - great look!
 
Can I ask, for the wales did you use GF's black stain or ebony dye?  I liked the color of the black stain a little more, but I'm thinking of trying out the Fieblings Leather Dye to see how well it covers.  Also, are you thinking of tree nailing the wales and/or hull planking?
 
I have 10 planks to go for the wales.  I've been doing the top and butt planks per TFFM.  I decided to cut and sand them by hand, given that they are not all uniform.  Takes quite a bit of time!  I'll be glad when it's all said and done.

Hi All
 
Just a little update re stairs.
 
Decided not to stain the wood so I just gave it one coat of satin varnish.
 
Denis.

Gorgeous work John.  The modifications are coming along really nicely.  Opening up the waist was a good call - thanks Ian for showing us the way!

The future commander of Pickle was checking the polished copper.
After a lengthy discussion he decided that that the 19' launch in the kit was too large to stow on board. I mentioned something Jack Aubrey once planned:
 To increase the capacity of his boat he wanted to saw it in two (at its widest beam) and to lengthen it by inserting several frames. I suggested to do same but the other way around.
 
The decision was taken to try to alter the 19' launch into a 16' longboat by cutting out the mid section, gluing both ends together and adapting the remaining form to represent a longboat as depicted e.g. in Granados description.
 

The commander thinks that we will have to put a guard on this. The shine could attract some copper thieves.
 
 
 

jolly boat and 19' launch
 
 

after the cut...
 
 

much more work will be required, but the size looks promising

Gosh John, that looks rather lovely. It really looks the part.
 
I think using styrene for the stove (or to make other sheet metal items) is a good move. It can be easily embossed to simulate rivet detail or easily built up to represent other surface detail using solvent as a glue. The main downside is that it has to be painted - if you happen to hate painting as I do! 

Greetings all,
Time to update the log with some painfully slow progress on the Unicorn......
 I was intending to finish the quarterdeck plank-sheer and railings before moving on. I purchased some Fiebing's black leather dye and stained the wood needed in preparation. I really liked the results,the dye doesn't clog the grain like paint and leaves a nice deep even black finish. I cut the pieces needed for the quarterdeck and then realized I was getting ahead of myself. The plank-sheer would have to be constructed for the whole ship,as doing it in sections as I went forward would make the curves and joints difficult.

 
So I had to put the foredeck in place. As I have tossed Corel's supplied one piece deck, I was stuck on how long my foredeck should be. Ian was a great help in supplying me with information and side elevation views of contemporary ships. The foredeck extends rearward to the right point now but is two scale feet shorter because Corel's fore most bulkhead is two feet back from where it should be.
JPG]

 
 
Ian also mentioned the foremast was too far back on the deck by two scale feet. I will move it forward,but this puts it right above one of the deck support beams.I had to alter said beam so the mast can be put in place and and leave support for the deck. The hole should be right in the middle 


 
Now I have to finish the internals of the forecastle before the deck can be fixed in place. The guns are already assembled,just need rigging and fastening in place. I did need to construct a iron hearth stove and riding bits. I constructed the stove using .030" styrene. I would have like to use a more organic material for this but,I needed something I could cut easily and had a smooth surface that would look like Iron.


 
Now the riding bits. I am only going to make and use the rear one. Thanks again to Ian for his plan of the bits in his log

 
Here is the finished assembly and its position.



 
To be continued.......

Gil, I couldn't resist but from the day of the baptizing of your Victory I have some pictures.
Everyone let me introduce the builder of this magnificent ship.
The following four pictures is from his ship and the detailing he put in to this.

Hi all
 
I have just started to put the stairs together for the main deck.
 
I still have to clean it all up.
 
Not sure yet if I will stain it or just varnish it yet.
 
Denis.

Time to make a start, nothing too taxing to begin with, so I’ve decided to plank some of the lower decks.

 

I think it’s a case of what looks right for the model and decided that a length of 100mm is a good size to work with, laid out in a four butt shift pattern (I think that’s what you call it).

 

 

First job is to mark where the planks will butt together, and just for interest I do this by lining up two strips of graph paper along the deck and marking every 20mm across. Keeps everything nicely at 90 degrees to the centre line. 

 



 



 

 

With regard to the caulking, I like to keep decks fairly subtle, so I simply run a medium pencil along the edges.  The full length planks I cut in small batches, and with my Unimat and a jig I made to square the ends, sanding them to length checking with my ‘high tech’ measuring device. The sanding jig also has a 45 degree fence for mitre joints, I’ve included a photo so you can get the idea if interested.

 



 



 



 

I lay the planks starting at the centreline and work outwards, the joints being a mirror pattern. Not sure if that’s how the Elizabethan shipwrights did it but it looks alright (to me anyway) when finished.

 

 

Once the planks are laid I scrape them flat with an old Stanley blade and then seal with several coats of Shellac Sanding Sealer.  I apply this with a cloth, much the way as in French Polishing, the idea being to squeeze the sealer between any small gaps and uneven surfaces. I allow 30 minutes between coats and sand lightly using progressively finer grades of wet and dry, every second coat, until I get an nice smooth, even finish.  I then finish off with 2 to 3 coats of thinned matt varnish.

 



 

 

 

Now we come to the first of my own personal criticisms, and it is my own personal preference and in no way a criticism of the kit.  The etched brass gratings provided….. I really don’t like them. I think I know why they went for brass rather than the traditional wooden ones (scale thickness when displayed open) but the holes aren’t square, and they don’t look right (to me anyway, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and all that). The design certainly simplifies the deck hatches, the frames being one piece laser cut so as to fit above the deck openings leaving a lip for the gratings to sit in, but call me old fashioned, I like to see the hatches properly lined when open.  It’s not a big deal, it just means there will need to be a little doctoring when I come to the upper decks. (Sorry Chris)

 



 



 

So now I’ve broken the ice its time to turn my attention to the keel and frames.

 

 

At last, the long awaited release of the Amati/Victory Models ‘Revenge’ is here, and I’m sure this will be one of many build logs of this vessel coming in the near future.

 

Firstly let me introduce myself, my name is Martin (the emelbe  are merely my initials), and I live in St Helier, Jersey.  This is my first ever build log, in fact it’s my first ever posting on any forum. I’ve been modelling off and on for many years so I’m not new to the hobby and have completed probably 8 or 9 model ships over the years (I’ve probably started a lot more!).  My latest models are HM Brig Supply, Amati Xebec, Amati New Bedford Whaler and the Amati Wells Fargo Stagecoach.

I had decided over six months ago that the Revenge was a ‘must have’ after seeing the photographs of Chris Watton’s prototype, and have been keeping a watchful eye out for its release ever since.  It was just by chance I logged in to the Cornwall Model Boats website to see the announcement on their home page ‘Revenge now in stock’. No brainer for me, out with the debit card, announce to the missus in my best authoritative voice “I’ve bought another model” (take the flack before you start building) and four days later here it is in all its crowning glory.  At this point I would like to take the opportunity to give Cornwall Model Boats full credit, every time I have used them, their service is second to none.

 

Anyway enough about me, what about the model, what exactly do you get for your money?

 

To start with a healthy 8.2 kilo of glossy box, beautifully illustrated, usual Amati, and for once they haven’t gone to the great trouble of neatly packaging ‘fresh air’ as in some of their kits (big box with not a lot inside).  The whole thing smacks of quality.

 



 

 

On opening the box you can see how much pride Amati have taken to ensure everything is well protected from damage, and there’s not a great deal of spare space in there. 

 



 

The firs thing that grabs you is the plastic bag containing all the 20 sheets of plans, the sheet of

flags, the ‘precious paper’ decorations and the instruction manual.  The manual is in itself a masterpiece, beautifully finished, lavishly illustrated step by step instructions, and the added bonus of the primary language is English. The whole thing is like having one of those DeAgostini part works but without having to pay ten times the price for the kit.  I did chuckle at the introduction when it stated they estimated around 200 to 250 hours of building, yeah right….and the rest!.

 

The plans are extremely comprehensive and are as follows:

 

3 Part identification.

2 Ship profiles and decorations

3 Sails

5 Masts and Yards

7 Rigging (scary)

 

I was intrigued as to what ‘precious paper’ decorations were, but I suppose it speaks for itself, very good quality paper, very nicely printed with the hull decorations.

 



 



 



 

The fittings are packaged in three stout boxes which include all the rigging thread, blocks, cannons (wooden carriages thankfully), sail cloth and the etched brass sheets.

 



 

There appears to be plenty of wood for planking etc. these being Tanganikya for the decks Lime for first planking and, I think it’s basswood for secondary. The rest of the wood is made up of Walnut strips of varying sizes.

 

The sheet wood is mainly MDF for hull construction and Dibetou (African Walnut) for the rest of the parts, all nicely laser cut.  The masts and Yards are Walnut.

 

One really nice touch is the inclusion of a base with what appears to be brass pedestals, why don't more manufacturers do that?

 



 



 

 

Overall the kit exudes quality, it seems the manufacturers have gone to great lengths to take the model kit to the next level.  I a immensely looking forward to this build (perhaps not the rigging so much, but I’m sure I’ll get plenty of advice if I need it).  So ‘once more into the breech’ or something like that, study the plans and dry fit so I get a feel for the model.  Here goes.

Then I've started sanding the hull. I've used 60 grid until 120 grid sandpaper for the process. After around one week - I can only work on my model in the evening or at the weekends- I've finished the front half of my control model.
I am very happy with the result
 

 

 

 
To check the curves I use 1mm thick stripes of maple. The found differences are very small. So I think that my reconstruction will work for the checked range.
 

 

 

 

 

Finishing the wale is going to be tricky.  The kit appears to have left off the quarter piece that extends just below the taffrail into the wale.  So, what you end up with if you follow the kit is the taffrail just hanging out to the sides of the ship.  The kit supplies you with a photo etch decorative piece that flows where the quarter piece would normally be, but I'm not sure how one is supposed to add it if it lays on the second planking with the bottom of it on the top of the wale (essentially, bumping up an extra mm to go onto the wale).  Here is a picture, I think from BE's log, that shows what I mean about the taffrail just hanging out there:
 

 
 
Here are some pics from the NMM plans showing what I think are quarter pieces:
 

 

 
 
I think Blue Ensign spotted this on his build, and added quarter pieces to his Pegasus.  I'm going to do the same.  I think it would not only add accuracy to the model, but aesthetically, it would essentially round off the taffrail in a much nicer way than just having square ends like the kit.  So, I'll probably take a piece of pear and try and carve it into the correct shape.  BE has a detailed section on his build log on putting together the quarter piece.
 
I've also been taking a look at the quarter badges.  While they look nice, I'm thinking of making them a little more three dimensional by making a sorta bow window look to them.  Realworkingsailor took that approach on his Pegasus to really nice effect, and it seems like some other modelers have taken a similar route as well. 
 

Well, I started working on the wale, and am laying down the first line of planks.  I plan on planking it according to TFFM, so the upper row will be straight planks, and the next two below will be top and butt planks.  I've laid the first three planks down, and have the remaining plank on either side to go.
 

 
 
This doesn't look like much progress, but I've had hours upon hours on getting the line correct.  I'm using 2mm planks for the wale, rather than two rows of 1mm planks as per the kit directions.  I first plotted out the lines in pencil, then ran blue masking tape to outline the lines to give me an idea of how the planking would run.  Easy enough.  Then I started overthinking things.  I worried that in running the planking line using four separate planks, the line wouldn't be a smooth curve but rather would be angular at the joints between two planks.  So, I added a temporary batten on both sides marking the upper boundary of the planking run as in the picture below:
 

 
 
In theory this would have worked great, but after running three planks on either side and confirming the measurements against the plans, I found that I was off a bit in a few places by as much as 1mm!  Argh!  While I was able to pop some of the planks off to refit in earlier rounds, this time was too much and they all started cracking.  So, back to the drawing board.
 
I spent a few hours redrawing the wale and rail lines.  Interestingly, my original lines had been off for some reason even though I checked and rechecked it numerous times.  I think my new lines are much more accurate.  From there, I soaked and pre-fit planks as I went along, and after they dried, I glued them using pins and sometimes just my fingers to keep them on the line.  Much better results this time around.
 
Couple of things that helped when it came to the first plank at the stem.  First, I widened the rabbet for the wale at the stem to 2mm using some micro gouges.  The rabbet really helps to anchor that first plank at the stem.  Next, I used the jig in the picture below that I got from Micro Mark a while back.  First time I used it, but after eyeballing the general curve and setting the pins, it did a nice job pre-bending the wet 2mm pear planks.  After the planks dried, I soaked them in hot water again and pinned them to the model in the right position.  Once dry, I glued with white glue.  The other planks didn't need to spend any time in that jig thankfully.
 

Thanks Martin, I'll give it a go  I saw that TFFM had top and butt patterns below the wales as well - looks awesome, but I think I'll first start with the wales and go from there.

Thanks Martin, I'll give it a go  I saw that TFFM had top and butt patterns below the wales as well - looks awesome, but I think I'll first start with the wales and go from there.

....... continued
 
The completed anchors. The straps are dyed card. I stained the Castello with Oak stain to give them a more weathered look :
 

 
The Ring is Puddened :
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 Danny

Mike -- I followed the butt pattern of TFFM pretty closely for the wales.  The lengths actually made quite a bit of sense as I worked out the angles of the T&B pattern.  It really wasn't as tricky as you'd think, or as I thought before I started doing it.  In fact, I felt so cocky that I had dreams of doing the top rows of planking below the wales in T&B as also shown in TFFM, but once I got underway with the spiling that dream faded prontissimo.
 
Really, once you work out what the widest part of the plank will be, and what the narrowist part will be, you've basically conquered the process.
 
A few weeks ago when we were having our bathroom remodelled, the contractor saw my earlier build and spoke flatteringly of it, so I showed him my FLY. When I tried to point out the T&B planking of the wales, I realized that with the black stain, that pattern was virtually invisible.  Maybe I slathered the General Finish stain on too thickly. (But it's taken some bruising during this planking.)
 
Cheers,
 
Martin

Happy Birthday Mark!

Happy Birthday Mark!

Happy Birthday Mark!

Thanks for the comments, guys.  Nils, I appreciate your kind words, and am humbled by the overwhelming evidence of your own craftsmanship.
 
Mike -- You're no doubt correct about the light:  my workbench is set up in the safe room (next to the beer fridge), and there's only one bare bulb in the ceiling, and then my work light.  I should either put in a new ceiling light or move the model before I photograph it.  My point & shoot is a Coolpix, and I honestly don't know if it has a big light sensor or a small one, but I can say that I wouldn't recommend this particular camera to anyone -- outdoors the viewing frame tends to go black, so pictures are a guess.  And indoors it always wants to flash.
 
In volume 2 of FFM, page 69,  the sills, or linings, or stops (surely there's at least one other term?!) are said to act as a rabbet for the lids.  This makes me think that they sit back from the outer planking.  The same paragraph also says, "the upper edge of the spirketting should be at the same level as the tops of the lower sill stops.  The quickwork will be flush to the inner surfaces of the stops at the sides of the port."    So that would mean that I should install these sills/linings/stop/whatever before even starting on the inner planking.
 
It makes sense, Spy, that there would be linings only on the ports with lids.  But FFM says that all the ports, plus the sweep ports, get them.  Hmm, those sweep ports are pretty tiny, so I'll have to see how things go.
 
The heat has begun here on the prairie, so I'm staying indoors, and will get in some extended planking time.
 
Cheers,
 
Martin