donrobinson

The day has finally arrived, my Trabakul is complete!! Thanks to all for following along, for all the likes and the great comments it was all very much appreciated. I would also like to thank Zoran at MarisStella for all his support and help and of course for producing this fantastic kit. Although, not an easy build, I would recommend this kit not only for the challenges you will face but also for the high quality of material and contents. So anyway here she is:
  That's it and I really hope everyone enjoyed and I hope to see you over at my Stefano build
 
Have A Good Weekend and do think of those we have lost at war as tomorrow is "Remembrance Day" in Canada 

The day has finally arrived, my Trabakul is complete!! Thanks to all for following along, for all the likes and the great comments it was all very much appreciated. I would also like to thank Zoran at MarisStella for all his support and help and of course for producing this fantastic kit. Although, not an easy build, I would recommend this kit not only for the challenges you will face but also for the high quality of material and contents. So anyway here she is:
  That's it and I really hope everyone enjoyed and I hope to see you over at my Stefano build
 
Have A Good Weekend and do think of those we have lost at war as tomorrow is "Remembrance Day" in Canada 

The day has finally arrived, my Trabakul is complete!! Thanks to all for following along, for all the likes and the great comments it was all very much appreciated. I would also like to thank Zoran at MarisStella for all his support and help and of course for producing this fantastic kit. Although, not an easy build, I would recommend this kit not only for the challenges you will face but also for the high quality of material and contents. So anyway here she is:
  That's it and I really hope everyone enjoyed and I hope to see you over at my Stefano build
 
Have A Good Weekend and do think of those we have lost at war as tomorrow is "Remembrance Day" in Canada 

The day has finally arrived, my Trabakul is complete!! Thanks to all for following along, for all the likes and the great comments it was all very much appreciated. I would also like to thank Zoran at MarisStella for all his support and help and of course for producing this fantastic kit. Although, not an easy build, I would recommend this kit not only for the challenges you will face but also for the high quality of material and contents. So anyway here she is:
  That's it and I really hope everyone enjoyed and I hope to see you over at my Stefano build
 
Have A Good Weekend and do think of those we have lost at war as tomorrow is "Remembrance Day" in Canada 

The day has finally arrived, my Trabakul is complete!! Thanks to all for following along, for all the likes and the great comments it was all very much appreciated. I would also like to thank Zoran at MarisStella for all his support and help and of course for producing this fantastic kit. Although, not an easy build, I would recommend this kit not only for the challenges you will face but also for the high quality of material and contents. So anyway here she is:
  That's it and I really hope everyone enjoyed and I hope to see you over at my Stefano build
 
Have A Good Weekend and do think of those we have lost at war as tomorrow is "Remembrance Day" in Canada 

The day has finally arrived, my Trabakul is complete!! Thanks to all for following along, for all the likes and the great comments it was all very much appreciated. I would also like to thank Zoran at MarisStella for all his support and help and of course for producing this fantastic kit. Although, not an easy build, I would recommend this kit not only for the challenges you will face but also for the high quality of material and contents. So anyway here she is:
  That's it and I really hope everyone enjoyed and I hope to see you over at my Stefano build
 
Have A Good Weekend and do think of those we have lost at war as tomorrow is "Remembrance Day" in Canada 

Thanks guys, updates coming soon. Deck planking is complete and hatches are next up on the menu. In the meantime help yourself to the refreshment fridge, it is fully stocked

Good Morning All, I trust and hope you all had happy holidays and are now back to the reality of life once again.
 I took the last five days off of my Trabaccolo build to do a little work on my neglected Pegasus, she was very happy to be in the shipyard once again.
First up was fairing the hull, sorry no pictures, then was to install the plywood gun deck. Before doing this supports were required as per so many other logs such as Mike's(Landlubber Mike). So you can see in the pictures how I accomplished this using some 3 x 3mm posts and 1.5 x 5 mm planks.
 

 
Next was the infamous plywood gunport pieces, I had little problems with these which still worries me  . I soaked them for about an hour then bent them using a curling iron. I needed to move them approx 5mm forward as one of the oar holes was being blocked by a bulkhead, but other than that it went smoothly.
 

 
While waiting for glue and paint to dry I thought I would put together the cannon carriages. Many have complained about the Amati carriages , mostly about the quality of the plywood. I am thinking they must have changed their stock as I found these ones to be quite durable and easy to work with, you can be the judge as to how they look. Amati does include 18 carriages and 16 cannons, I'm thinking these extra carriages will work fine as stocking stuffers next Christmas or even mount some chocolate in them and they could be a Easter bunny thing, at any rate they will not go to waste.
A point to note is Do Not paint the bulkheads black above the deck if you wish to paint red later    . Mine took a minimum of ten coats to cover then I just quit.
Here I am using the mill with the sensitive drilling attachment to drill the axles for the pins that hold the trucks on, then it was on to assembling.
 

 
A little out of order but here you can see the result of moving the gun port sides ahead by 5 mm. The stem post and bowsprit are not glued in place, looks so good I feel like making the real bowsprit now.
 

 
And here she is ready for a battle, well kind of, and loaded up for next stage of deck planking
 

 
Here the planking has started using the kit supplied planks. I decided on a four plank shift using 120 mm planks. I built the aft bits as they are noted for not fitting properly mine required minor adjustments and fit perfectly. So with the gunport sides causing no problems and now the bits fitting good I am really getting concerned about my usual not so good luck.  
 In my excitement to start planking I forgot I should have built the hatches first, I don't think this will pose too much of a problem, I will carry on as is and see what happens later with the hatches.
 

 
Have a Good Day

Thanks Paul, I agree with you about the planking I prefer the dark colours versus the light also. From what I have read here at MSW the light coloured decks are more historically correct and that is what everyone is trying to portray. If you want, though, I'll follow along with you and do dark coloured decks even though it may jeopardise our membership here     .
 As for the bulkheads again it was probably a waste of time as I am sure not many of them will be seen through the hatches but I started painting a few and just kept going. I even went so far as to give them a coat of poly. I think what it all amounts to is me stalling before all the hard stuff starts to come.   

Hello All, hope things are all good. Since last post not too much has happened. I corrected the stern extensions, thanks Mike and Spyglass, and then went on to planking the lower deck. For the most part a waste of time as it won't be seen but it was a lot of fun and a planking exercise is always a good thing . This was leftover planking from my Mayflower so a bit of a salvage operation as well.
 Next up is the false deck and planking it.
 

 
Take Care

Hi Spyglass, thanks for the advice. Thanks to you and Mike I have the stern extensions repaired, and I beg of you to keep watching and correct me when needed. It is always a good feeling to know someone is watching your back. The rabbets are done already, although, I did not take a very good picture of them and they hard to see with the mdf. I don't plan on using pedestals for mounting, I'm not so sure how I am mounting her yet but I will keep you informed when I make a decision.
 I have read about the gun strips and the fun involved with the installation of them, I really can't say that I'm looking forward to them.
 I'll be following your log and probably stealing some ideas so I'll apologise for that now. 

Hi Bob, Thanks for your encouragement it's the masters like yourself that help push me on wanting to do things better.

Thanks so much Nils, I have some of your techniques in my mind that I hope to use on this build. Your Pegasus is completely amazing and I will be referring to it lots during this build.

This is the start of my Pegasus log which I have been putting off for far too long and decided I would get it going. When I started this hobby a little over a year ago I seen a picture of the Amati Pegasus and instantly wanted her, however, for once in my life I held off starting her as I knew my skill level was not there yet. I feel now if I take my time and with the help available here at MSW I should be able to stumble through and do a fairly good job.
 I know this is a bold step starting this kit as there is some excellent ones on the go now, Blue Ensign and Landlubber Mike  are just two examples of some of the skilled craftsmen here at MSW. Although I do not plan on following in their footsteps, I mean who could, I do plan on making some changes mostly to the kit wood and possibly a few other features(cannons, rigging line etc.).
 I did not include pictures of the contents but if anyone is interested in seeing the contents of this great kit just say so and I will be more than happy to add them.
 Enough of an introduction, it is my hope that I do this girl justice and maybe someday be allowed into that elite Pegasus/fly fraternity. 
 
 To date I have fitted the bulkheads and transom supports. All went together good and there was very little adjustment required. I am impressed with the mdf so far and do not see any problems arising in the future from it, it is defiantly quite a bit denser  than the stuff found in the local lumberyard and should out shine the normal plywood that is typically used.
 The one picture shows the plywood forecastle deck in place, it is not glued down that was just me playing around. In the past year I have had this kit the box has been opened and closed no less than 30-40 times and this piece keeps falling out. So I just put in in place for safe keeping .
 

The day has finally arrived, my Trabakul is complete!! Thanks to all for following along, for all the likes and the great comments it was all very much appreciated. I would also like to thank Zoran at MarisStella for all his support and help and of course for producing this fantastic kit. Although, not an easy build, I would recommend this kit not only for the challenges you will face but also for the high quality of material and contents. So anyway here she is:
  That's it and I really hope everyone enjoyed and I hope to see you over at my Stefano build
 
Have A Good Weekend and do think of those we have lost at war as tomorrow is "Remembrance Day" in Canada 

The day has finally arrived, my Trabakul is complete!! Thanks to all for following along, for all the likes and the great comments it was all very much appreciated. I would also like to thank Zoran at MarisStella for all his support and help and of course for producing this fantastic kit. Although, not an easy build, I would recommend this kit not only for the challenges you will face but also for the high quality of material and contents. So anyway here she is:
  That's it and I really hope everyone enjoyed and I hope to see you over at my Stefano build
 
Have A Good Weekend and do think of those we have lost at war as tomorrow is "Remembrance Day" in Canada 

Good Morning All, A big Thanks for all the compliments, for stopping in and for all the likes much appreciated.
 After 32 strakes and over 160 planks the starboard side is completed. I completed this with all strakes going from stem to stern with no drop planks or stealers . The use of short planks made the job much easier to complete. Other than the sheer size of this hull it has so far been the easiest one to plank for me to date. This could have been completed much faster by not tapering the planks and just slapping on planks. But then what would you learn from that. My process was to measure each bulkhead calculate how many strakes required and the widths of the planks at each bulkhead, After three or four strakes I would measure again then adjust as required then just repeated this until finished.
Enough of all this here are some pictures and a few explanations:
 
In this picture I'm showing the jig I used to keep the garboard strake straight

 
This picture is showing the taper required on the garboard strake as there is no rabbit line

 
Showing the last few planks, although it does not look like it in the picture the space left is quite even

 
The tools I use for sanding and scraping, nothing fancy but it works for me
 
 
And how she looks now before any filling

 

 
A little more fine tuning and it will be ready for some filler, but now it is on to the port side which has been already started
 
Have a good day, and Thanks for stopping in
 
 

Good Morning All, I was walking down the hall yesterday and seen this guy sitting there looking lonely so I thought it was time to bring him into the workshop and do a little work.

 
So here is how he looked

 
Then four hours later

 
And here is a shot of the instruction booklet and part of the list to follow, the check marks are showing what is completed so far. Quite impressive considering this was started over a year ago. NOT!! Hopefully the pace will pick up now that my Trabakul is nearing completion.

 
Have A Good One
 

Hello All, Thanks for stopping and for your likes and comments.
 Well a week has gone by and I don't have that much to show, For some reason I thought I would have had lots more to show, but I have started on the planking and all is going smooth. At this stage Stefano is 810 mm long so I suppose this is maybe why it is going slower than I thought. No matter there is no rush. The transom has proven to be a little bit of a hair puller outer but fortunately with my already thinning hair there was not much to grab onto and all worked out 
 
The first row of planking installed at top of bulkheads, no tapering done on this strake. The bulkhead extensions are to be removed later on, therefore there is little glue applied to these points of contact with the planks. It is necessary then to pay special attention while installing the first four strakes and be sure there is adequate glue applied to their edges and proper clamping is applied.
 

 
The new shipyard aka dining room
 

 
And here Stefano is beside the Pegasus, the Pegasus is 500 mm in this picture 310 mm shorter than the Stefano. Pegasus is 1:64 and the Stefano is 1:63

 
 This week is the Trabaccolo,
 
See You All Later

Here are some of the plans, first one is an overall, second one showing how to build masts and spars and the last two are all about the rigging these are just for the foremast. The plans are all scale size so any measurement can be accurately taken off of them , I believe they are 35" x 50" and there is 14 of them. The main mast has three dedicated sheets and the mizzen has one. One sheet is all about the sails and the rest are the construction of hull and various items required. The instruction book is 36 pages which may seem small but with all the information you need on the plans the instruction book is more than adequate. It does an excellent job of outlining the various steps and is easy to follow.
 




 

Hello All, Thanks for your comments, likes and for stopping by
 
 This is Barque Stefano week for me so I will show you some progress from this morning
 
Today was bow and stern filler blocks, the kit supplies these in a block that is partially laser cut I finished cutting mine with my scroll saw. The stern filler block requires you to glue three 20 mm thick pieces together, then shape accordingly. The top of the filler block rises to the stern to allow for the planking or madiere, this rise is approx. 7-8 mm. This should be done first, the next profile can then be made by measuring down approx 20 mm from this edge. The last profile is made by tracing the outline of the last bulkhead from the fore side.
Blocks cut from blank

 
Showing the rise of filler block and how planking will fit

 
Showing the formed blocks, the red marker is just added to better see the lines

 
Stern block attached

 
The bow blocks are much easier to make and follow the same principle, marking the profile lines and shaping
 

 
This last picture is just to show the lines of the hull, started to fair the starboard side to show how things should meet up. Still required are two small pieces of filler on either side of bow, then start fairing tomorrow. Ignore gap on starboard side, that was fixed. Tools used were belt/disc sander, dremel and sandpaper.
 

 
Have a Good Day

Good Morning All, I trust and hope you all had happy holidays and are now back to the reality of life once again.
 I took the last five days off of my Trabaccolo build to do a little work on my neglected Pegasus, she was very happy to be in the shipyard once again.
First up was fairing the hull, sorry no pictures, then was to install the plywood gun deck. Before doing this supports were required as per so many other logs such as Mike's(Landlubber Mike). So you can see in the pictures how I accomplished this using some 3 x 3mm posts and 1.5 x 5 mm planks.
 

 
Next was the infamous plywood gunport pieces, I had little problems with these which still worries me  . I soaked them for about an hour then bent them using a curling iron. I needed to move them approx 5mm forward as one of the oar holes was being blocked by a bulkhead, but other than that it went smoothly.
 

 
While waiting for glue and paint to dry I thought I would put together the cannon carriages. Many have complained about the Amati carriages , mostly about the quality of the plywood. I am thinking they must have changed their stock as I found these ones to be quite durable and easy to work with, you can be the judge as to how they look. Amati does include 18 carriages and 16 cannons, I'm thinking these extra carriages will work fine as stocking stuffers next Christmas or even mount some chocolate in them and they could be a Easter bunny thing, at any rate they will not go to waste.
A point to note is Do Not paint the bulkheads black above the deck if you wish to paint red later    . Mine took a minimum of ten coats to cover then I just quit.
Here I am using the mill with the sensitive drilling attachment to drill the axles for the pins that hold the trucks on, then it was on to assembling.
 

 
A little out of order but here you can see the result of moving the gun port sides ahead by 5 mm. The stem post and bowsprit are not glued in place, looks so good I feel like making the real bowsprit now.
 

 
And here she is ready for a battle, well kind of, and loaded up for next stage of deck planking
 

 
Here the planking has started using the kit supplied planks. I decided on a four plank shift using 120 mm planks. I built the aft bits as they are noted for not fitting properly mine required minor adjustments and fit perfectly. So with the gunport sides causing no problems and now the bits fitting good I am really getting concerned about my usual not so good luck.  
 In my excitement to start planking I forgot I should have built the hatches first, I don't think this will pose too much of a problem, I will carry on as is and see what happens later with the hatches.
 

 
Have a Good Day

As if two builds are not enough here is my third. 
 I just received this last week, it is MarisStella's latest kit, and was going to wait for awhile but could not resist the temptation to start her. I wonder with the name Stefano is it a him? I won't go into the history but it is quite interesting and there is a book written about it.
 At 1121 mm long it is going to be a big build, it has copper plates and photo etched brass fittings which I believe is a first for MarisStella. As always with MarisStella the kit looks incredible, wood seems excellent and all laser cut pieces are on quality plywood (some of it being Finnish Birch) or  solid walnut.
 
Some features are:
 
double planked hull walnut/lime
double planked deck walnut/lime
over 260 m. of rope in five sizes
over 800 wooden fittings(blocks, deadeyes etc.)
38 brass sheaves ( 2 & 4 mm)
four different sizes of chain
34 sails
14 sheets of plans
 
 Clearly it is going to be a great build and I am pumped up to get started. I got a leg of pork in the smoker and all fridges are full of refreshments so come on over, it's going to be a long ride but a goodie!
 
Here is the contents:
 

 
 
 
 

The day has finally arrived, my Trabakul is complete!! Thanks to all for following along, for all the likes and the great comments it was all very much appreciated. I would also like to thank Zoran at MarisStella for all his support and help and of course for producing this fantastic kit. Although, not an easy build, I would recommend this kit not only for the challenges you will face but also for the high quality of material and contents. So anyway here she is:
  That's it and I really hope everyone enjoyed and I hope to see you over at my Stefano build
 
Have A Good Weekend and do think of those we have lost at war as tomorrow is "Remembrance Day" in Canada 

The day has finally arrived, my Trabakul is complete!! Thanks to all for following along, for all the likes and the great comments it was all very much appreciated. I would also like to thank Zoran at MarisStella for all his support and help and of course for producing this fantastic kit. Although, not an easy build, I would recommend this kit not only for the challenges you will face but also for the high quality of material and contents. So anyway here she is:
  That's it and I really hope everyone enjoyed and I hope to see you over at my Stefano build
 
Have A Good Weekend and do think of those we have lost at war as tomorrow is "Remembrance Day" in Canada