David Lester

I went back over this log to refresh my memory lol,  I rember now why I stop the build..

Rember,  those  little creatures,  weekly  up dates on the food I feed them continues to this day lol. So far no rats have been seen in the shipyard,  thank God.

I restaind the deck yesterday,  then gave it two brush coats of  shelac.

The next thing is I got to un pack all the trinkets, I am looking  at the box for inspiration  on how I want mine  to look. I had this picture  that Rodney  had of the Pegasus,  but moved it and put the box on the table. I will try to make it look like this picture,   and @archjofo , guess what I noticed  first  the studding sail boom irons  lol , I will add them to this build for sure thanks again for the tip.

I don't remember  making  this ships boat lol , I have to go back in my log to see when I did it.

Many things to decide  now, colors,  rigging,  the masts. I will be up until the wee hours of the morning  , just trying to organize things  lol.
  Things  will be put on hold for four days, I have to help the First Mate look after the two grandchildren  parent's are vacationing.  
 Then I will start putting the chainplate assembly together.  
I think I have done ok so far, some  mistakes,  but it is ok. Now if I can remember  everything I have learned here on MSW I should pull off a keeper.
  Thanks for the help everyone. 
 
Bob  M. 
 

Well  now it has been awhile. I am putting  this  Pegasus  back on the bench as of today.

I have to get everything  back in order for building  the masts , the point that  I stop.
  It will take me some time to get the ship yard running smoothly again but I just want to finish the Pegasus.  It was a gift from Emilio Marletti  of Amati Models,  I want to finish  it for him. 
 May the fun never stop. Thanks my friends, you have given  more than I can pay back. 
 So with that news, going to set up shop see you in a while.
Knocklouder 😁 
Kurt ⚒️ 

Bowsprit with Blocks Re-positioned

That looks a lot better. And 348 clove hitches later,

I can tell that it is going to be difficult to keep these skinny masts vertical while I attach the remaining standing rigging!

Stepping the Masts
The false keel in this kit is narrow and the slots for the masts and the holes in the deck were too big, so the masts would not stand upright on their own. I came up with a complicated way to set the masts vertical and hold them in place while I glued them.
I hung a line from the ceiling with a screw eye weight to set the vertical. I put a heavy level across the deck, and braced it to hold the deck level. I attached a stick to the cross tree to visually set the rotation. I attached a line side-to-side across the cross tree and practiced tying it quickly. When everything was ready I removed the mast, applied PVA glue, and put it all back together. It took a whole evening to step each mast. But they are vertical.

Attaching Deadeyes and Ratlines
I made a deadeye spacer from two butterfly pins and a scrap of wood as thick as the spacing between two holes on a deadeye. The photo shows how it works.

The mast stays are now attached and I am done with half of the ratlines. I worked for a fireworks company all through grad school, and everything was tied together with clove hitches - shell casings, fuses, lances on ground displays, etc. So I am very good at tying clove hitches, and the ratlines are coming along quickly.

The Amati kit comes with two spools of line, thick and thin, and both tan. I will use the thin for running rigging but am using other black line that I have for the standing rigging.
 
 
 
 

Poor Instructions and Plans
I made the bowsprit with two blocks attached to the end according to the instruction manual. I attached it and then noticed two lower stays on the plans. There was barely room to tie them on. Looking at other builds on MSW it is apparent that there should be several more stays below the bowsprit, but none are shown in the plans.

Bowsprit from the instruction manual.

My current bowsprit with lower stays.
Now I realize that two stays for the jib and flying jib have to fit in there somewhere, and I won't have room. The plans show a little space between the blocks. The photo on the box shows even more space.

Bowsprit from the plans.

Bowsprit from the box cover.
It looks like I will have to do some deconstruction to move those blocks apart. I think I will also use some thinner line for the lower stays.
 
 
 

Anchors
The Amati kit came with two cast anchors but no stocks or chain. I made stocks from some scrap walnut, and I had a long piece of brass chain that I blackened. The instructions show the anchor tied to the cathead by the shank, and a rope from the ring to the hawsepipe, where it disappears. I searched several Bluenose builds on MSW and saw chains leading to the winch, around the engine box, and into a chain box (or possibly into a locker below the deck?) I made something like what  GGibson shows in this post.

Masts, Gaffs, and Booms
I tapered the masts, etc. chucked on a lathe using sand paper. At first I struggled with how to seize a line to a block and attach it to a mast, until I remembered that I had posted a very simple way to do that under my Endeavour build. It's cheating but it looks fine, goes fast, and hardly wastes any line. All those pieces are done and ready to install.
 

Good Morning All, 
Well, I have officially finished my Charles W. Morgan. (I would like to say that it's "done and dusted", but I know from experience that the dusting part has only just started.) 
Since my last post, the remaining undone bits were the rope coils for the belaying pins, the anchors, the cutting stage and the boats. I didn't post any updates as I was working through these, as they were very simple and straightforward. They didn't pose any problems, and there were no great insights that would benefit anyone from my sharing.
Here are a couple of pictures showing the finished model -
 





 
I think I've mentioned it before but it bears repeating how much I enjoyed this model. I think this has to be one of Model Shipways best kits. The plans are excellent with every detail very clearly covered, and the kit is well designed. While it's challenging, at no point do you find yourself fighting with the kit to get a decent result, which is not always the case. If you're looking for a break from naval vessels, this is a great option. 
I'm looking for a smaller project next time around and have purchased the Pride of Baltimore II which I'll be starting soon. Those clippers were very beautiful ships and I won't have to build an additional to the house to accommodate the model. 
Many thanks for your comments and "likes." 
David

Oops, Missing Rail
I've been working on hatches, cabins, etc. and realized that I had neglected to add a second layer of railing around much of the hull. It wasn't hard to add, except where it interfered with 8 deadeyes amid ship. I had to wiggle them all loose, add the railing, paint it, and replace the deadeyes.
Hatches, Cabins, etc.

The tiny cabin is about the size of a Monopoly house and difficult to hold while working.

The rings on the hatches are actually eye bolts folded 90 degrees and glued in holes. I did find some belaying pins. They are a bit long where the railing is a bit low, so I will have to improvise when tying lines to them.

Main hatch and dory racks. The dories are built and currently being painted.

The winch was made from several random pieces - aluminum tube, tiny round disks, 2 cast metal pieces, 2 turned brass pieces, and a piece of photo etched brass. 

I'm back with a build log after a bit of an absence. I've had multiple health problems over the past year, which is in part why I didn't do a build log for my HMS Pegasus and why it took me so long to build it, being away from my shop for long periods of time. However, I seem to be in decent shape for the time being (touch wood) and am back at my workbench.
 
In my hiatus I had been pondering what my next project would be when I stumbled across this model on the Billing website, and after a little bit more research I knew I had found it.
 
This one appealed to me for several reasons:
-I wanted something simpler than my last few builds had been
-this one has almost no rigging!
-it's a Canadian boat. I haven't seen any other one available as a model, apart from the Bluenose
-it has a remarkable history - it's only the second boat to ever travel through the Northwest Passage and the first to make the trip twice - it's the first do make the voyage in under one year and it's the first to circumnavigate North America - it resides today at the Vancouver Maritime Museum, has been declared a National Historic Site and the great Stan Rogers recorded a song about it.
-there are plenty of pictures and videos online to use as a reference
-did I mention that it has almost no rigging?
 

When I was in my 20's I built (very badly) a Billing model, but I don't recall if the quality of the kit was good or bad and I had no frame of reference in any case. So this is for all intents and purposes my first Billing kit and I have a mixed reaction to it.
 
So far the good things are:
-the laser cutting is very good and the bulkheads and centre keel fit together extremely well. They're as good as I have ever encountered.
-there are quite few specialized brass fittings which are really nice and of good quality.
-while the model is simplified, there are no glaring errors in its representation of the real boat.
 
However, there are some negatives too:
-there are too many poor quality plastic fittings which come on a sprue just like it was a plastic model car kit.
-the hull and deck planking material is pretty rough and not very consistent in width.
-while I did want a simpler model, there is too much simplification with this one. Built straight out of the box it would look like one of those gift shop ship models. At 1:72 it's large enough for the designer to have incorporated much more detail.
-the plans are poorly drawn. The instruction book is all but useless, which is fine - I didn't expect it to be otherwise, but the plans are disappointing. They appear to be a 1:1 representation of the model, but they are very inaccurate. For example for some of the deck components there are discrepancies in size of up to 1/2" between the elevation and plan views. It's impossible to take measurements from the plan.
 

Nevertheless, it's going to be lots of fun adding detail and upgrading many of the fittings. I currently have big orders in at BlueJacket and Cornwall.
 
So far, I have the hull planked, in my usual "suitable for filler and paint" style. I'm a terrible planker, but I never worry about it because filler and paint are my best friends. I've used some planking from my stash, rather than the kit provided planking.
 

 
I've made two improvements to the stern area. The kit instructions would have you just cut all of the planking off even at the last bulkhead before the stern. Then you add the two stern blocks and sand them even with the finished planking, leaving them unplanked, just to be painted. I chose to install the stern blocks first and plank over them in the usual way, however I found it to be quite a difficult stern to plank.
 
Secondly, the kit provides for no opening to accept the rudder; it's meant to just butt up against the bottom of the hull. The real boat has a framed rectangular opening, so I added that detail.
 

 
 
That's where I'm at!
 
David
 
 
 

Hull Painted, Railing Installed - 23 days, 55 hours
The hull was painted with three coats each of Rustoleum Colonial Red, Krylon gloss white, and Krylon gloss black from rattle cans. The rails and interior were brush painted with gloss white acrylic. I am leaving for Europe in a few days and rushed to get this all done, but probably should have taken my time. I can see a few seams between boards and a few fingerprints on the black areas. Not bad but I could do better.

 

Work continues on the deck furniture , I will change the color  of the dories though the plan say green on the out side and tan on the inside. Plus you have to use scrap balsa to make the stand and the boat rails, scratch building lol.

repair to the windlass are need, as well as to the  masts. The balsa wood is very brittle,  I had to cut new mast tops out of pear wood, the balsa just crumble in my had as I work on them. 
I looked at Rodney's masts, I think I have to take them apart  to get  the rings on. That's a problem  for another day.

I like my little  ships wheel, it is not historical correct but it will do. I see Bluenose ships wheels that have a life perseveres on them, but that's a little  to detailed for me.


more fun tomorrow, dare I say I be doing ratlines  befor long 
Knocklouder 
PS is it every hard not to thouch the hulls lol 😆 🤣 

Welcome to my Bluenose log(s). Same model, two  manufacturers . One is a solid hull the other is another ship that Rodney gave me before he passed away.  I want them to look the same , so I will be painting  both hulls together. Thats why two for one.


Part One :
  The Scientific Bluenose.  It is a solid hull kit with old lead deadeyes and dories. Both have the same history..

First up is to open the box and see what I got.


The kit cost $16.95 in 1968, I paid $10.00.
I put everything in separate containers,  and looked at the plans .

The plans say to use a utility  knife and cut out the pieces.  I did one and then used the scroll saw for the rest.


Then I glued on the keel pieces 


Fitted the two decks, and glued them on. Applied some weight and let it dry. Tomorrow will be a lot of filling and sanding.  After I install the forward and aft Bulwarks, the hull will be ready for painting. Then I will do a part two and get the Billings Boat ready to paint as well.
Both will be copper hull red, as like  @John Ruy did with his Bluenose.  
I don't  know were PFCGP  is now, apparently he got arrested for being under the influence of alcohol in Texas 🤔.  He's not Canadian, come to think of it, I don't know what he is. But he is on a plane to somewhere and said find another Inspector  He will be hard to replace 

 It is glued down for the night, and meet Freddie Fisherman, my new ships inspector,  my good freind @Gabek printed out this for me, he had a pipe but ,,Gabe had a bit of a problem with it and pipe never printed right,  internet files not his lol. Anyway I personally like the non smoking Freddie,  more on him later.

wow what a frist post lol.  Thanks .
Knocklouder 
 

Hello All,
 
I believe I have finished! One of the attractions for me with this model was the limited amount of rigging, but it still caught me by surprise how quickly it wrapped up.
 
There isn't too much to discuss about it either. It's very straightforward. From the 360 tour on the website, I was able to sort out a couple of details that aren't evident in the plans.
 
So that's it for my St. Roch. This was quite a fun small build, not too challenging. The most fun was sourcing and making improvements on some of the poor quality fittings included in the kit.
 
Thanks again for checking in. Much appreciated.
David

 

 

Good Morning,
 
Bill, those models look great. Just saw your post now; we've been away for a couple of days.
 
A Saturday morning update -
 
Lately I seem to have the attention span of a gerbil and have been working on all kinds of different things.
 
First, the four vent pipes:
 
They're made out of 1.5mm brass rod, bent into shape. I wanted to indicate the joints. First I tried some Evergreen styrene strips, .01" x .02" but it was much too large to be in scale. Then I tried some rigging thread. By trial and error I discovered that both .5 mm and .25 mm lines were too heavy. I settled on ordinary sewing thread and it seems about right.

 


Next, I was concerned that the supplied piece of dowel was not going to be quite right for the funnel. Taking measurements from the on-line 360 tour, I discovered that at 16mm diameter it was spot one. It was just a matter of flattening the sides to about 12mm. Finishing the funnel is probably next in my peripatetic approach to the details.
 


 
The biggest challenge for me has been the four metal ladders. The ones provided are brass and are not bad quality, but don't look anything like the actual ones on the boat. It took me several attempts, but I have come up with something that I think is acceptable and are a pretty close approximation of the real ones.
 
The three that mount on the deck house have curved tops, flat sides and round rungs. So I used some 1/64" x 1/16" brass strips for the sides. I made a small saw kerf at about the place where I wanted it to bend, and then just bent it using two pairs of pliers. It buckled a little, so using my best blacksmithing skills, I just hammered it flat. It's not very elegant, but once painted gray, it's going to work just fine. The rungs are .5mm wire.
 
I'm really bad at soldering, but I discovered that one of the secrets is to hold the parts very firmly. I made two parallel grooves in a piece of wood. Once I had the holes drilled and the wire rungs inserted, I just placed the sides in the two grooves and gave the whole thing a tap with a hammer to seat it. This worked really well, and it wasn't too difficult to solder each rung in place.
 
The ends of the rungs are snipped off and they've had some cleanup ready for paint. I think these will work, and besides, it's the best I can do, and once I know I've reached that point, I can live with it.
 
The fourth ladder that mounts to the wheelhouse doesn't have a curved top and I'll cut it to length when I get to that point.
 

 
The final item for today is the railing that extends out from the wheelhouse on both sides. These pieces were easy to make and I added the detail to the back side to match that of the real boat.
 

So that's it for now.
Again, many thanks for checking in, likes etc.
David

I have always found basswood to be all but impossible to stain successfully. It always wants to go blotchy. So here's what I do to colour it instead and it works quite well for me. I buy cheap Folk Art Paint from Michael's (flat finish) in a medium brown colour. I water it down quite a bit and apply it to the basswood. With a bit of trial and error with the thickness of the paint, it's possible to get an even colour that still allows the wood to show through.
 
Here are two examples:
In this one, I've used satin poly on top of the paint-

Here, I've used amber shellac over the paint-

 
Anyway, for what it's worth, that's one approach to dealing with basswood that I have found to work.
 
David
 
 
 
 
 
 

I have always found basswood to be all but impossible to stain successfully. It always wants to go blotchy. So here's what I do to colour it instead and it works quite well for me. I buy cheap Folk Art Paint from Michael's (flat finish) in a medium brown colour. I water it down quite a bit and apply it to the basswood. With a bit of trial and error with the thickness of the paint, it's possible to get an even colour that still allows the wood to show through.
 
Here are two examples:
In this one, I've used satin poly on top of the paint-

Here, I've used amber shellac over the paint-

 
Anyway, for what it's worth, that's one approach to dealing with basswood that I have found to work.
 
David
 
 
 
 
 
 

I have always found basswood to be all but impossible to stain successfully. It always wants to go blotchy. So here's what I do to colour it instead and it works quite well for me. I buy cheap Folk Art Paint from Michael's (flat finish) in a medium brown colour. I water it down quite a bit and apply it to the basswood. With a bit of trial and error with the thickness of the paint, it's possible to get an even colour that still allows the wood to show through.
 
Here are two examples:
In this one, I've used satin poly on top of the paint-

Here, I've used amber shellac over the paint-

 
Anyway, for what it's worth, that's one approach to dealing with basswood that I have found to work.
 
David
 
 
 
 
 
 

I have always found basswood to be all but impossible to stain successfully. It always wants to go blotchy. So here's what I do to colour it instead and it works quite well for me. I buy cheap Folk Art Paint from Michael's (flat finish) in a medium brown colour. I water it down quite a bit and apply it to the basswood. With a bit of trial and error with the thickness of the paint, it's possible to get an even colour that still allows the wood to show through.
 
Here are two examples:
In this one, I've used satin poly on top of the paint-

Here, I've used amber shellac over the paint-

 
Anyway, for what it's worth, that's one approach to dealing with basswood that I have found to work.
 
David
 
 
 
 
 
 

I have always found basswood to be all but impossible to stain successfully. It always wants to go blotchy. So here's what I do to colour it instead and it works quite well for me. I buy cheap Folk Art Paint from Michael's (flat finish) in a medium brown colour. I water it down quite a bit and apply it to the basswood. With a bit of trial and error with the thickness of the paint, it's possible to get an even colour that still allows the wood to show through.
 
Here are two examples:
In this one, I've used satin poly on top of the paint-

Here, I've used amber shellac over the paint-

 
Anyway, for what it's worth, that's one approach to dealing with basswood that I have found to work.
 
David
 
 
 
 
 
 

I have always found basswood to be all but impossible to stain successfully. It always wants to go blotchy. So here's what I do to colour it instead and it works quite well for me. I buy cheap Folk Art Paint from Michael's (flat finish) in a medium brown colour. I water it down quite a bit and apply it to the basswood. With a bit of trial and error with the thickness of the paint, it's possible to get an even colour that still allows the wood to show through.
 
Here are two examples:
In this one, I've used satin poly on top of the paint-

Here, I've used amber shellac over the paint-

 
Anyway, for what it's worth, that's one approach to dealing with basswood that I have found to work.
 
David
 
 
 
 
 
 

Nine pieces of the deck furniture are complete (more or less for the deckhouse) and headed for the "To Be Installed Later" storage bin.

There's are excellent article on the NGR website. It's Nautical Research Guild - Resources - Articles and How-Tos - Framing and Planking - Constructing Bow and Stern Filler Blocks.
 
I've use this method with success a few times.
 
 

Does anyone have a really good method of making them for a model? I have pored over fly tying websites looking for something, and tried many different things without success. The real problem is getting a result that is small enough to be in scale.
 
A few of my models have called for them, but I only actually added them in one case and it's only somewhat successful. I used pieces of tapestry wool of approximately the right colour. I was able to fluff them up quite a bit, but as soon as I used a bit of glue to attach them, they tended to flatten. I know they don't look quite right, but this is the closest I've been able to get.
 
It would be great to be able to add really credible looking ones when they're called for.
 
David

Does anyone have a really good method of making them for a model? I have pored over fly tying websites looking for something, and tried many different things without success. The real problem is getting a result that is small enough to be in scale.
 
A few of my models have called for them, but I only actually added them in one case and it's only somewhat successful. I used pieces of tapestry wool of approximately the right colour. I was able to fluff them up quite a bit, but as soon as I used a bit of glue to attach them, they tended to flatten. I know they don't look quite right, but this is the closest I've been able to get.
 
It would be great to be able to add really credible looking ones when they're called for.
 
David