The Bitter End

G'day to you Loupy I know Durbanville well, I grew up in the southern suburbs before moving into the karoo to farm. Its good to know there is someone so close to home to help, I think you can expect me to pick your brain on surviving this hobby in RSA where everything is just a little harder to get and takes just a little longer. I believe that I actually took a look at your build while doing my research. If Iremember correctly it is inspiringly beautiful. If you dont mind me asking, of the 47 months of work, were there long breaks inbetween or was it more or less constant chipping away? I hope you are mistaken about the customs bill according to the schedule there is no charge but who knows what is going to happen, the whim on the SA post office and customs has proven to be somewhat fluid.( I hope you can see the extract from the customs website below)

Jim Lad, thank you for the welcome. It seems like sharing a hemisphere makes us neighbors in this hobby. I hope you are enjoying the start of summer as much as I am.

Hi Bruce! Thanks for the support and kind words, I already have hundreds of questions but I decided for everones sanity that I should cross each bridge as I get to it and then patiently wait for replies before progressing to the next step in my build. DO you recommend starting a build log? and if so would that be an appopriate place to ask questions as I go?

Good day Gentlemen/women After much thought, research and deliberation(literally years of umming and aahing) I decided that I would bite the bullet and purchase a fairly challenging vessel to start my career in model ship building. I settled on the HMS Pegasus and I am extremely excited about getting started on it. I realise that any sane person would have started on something far more simple but my thinking is as follows... 1. I have prepared myself for what I expect to be a 2 year project. 2. The wealth of knowledge, willingness to help and attention to detail that can be found on this forum really gave me hope that I could work through this project and succeed. 3. I feel that every single element of doing this project is essentially very simple if it is broken down to its tiniest detail, every step is researched carefully and tackled without haste. 4. I like to think that I am fairly good with my hands. I do blacksmithing and carpentry both as hobbies and essential skills for a farmer in a remote part of South Africa. I hope that this somewhat simplified approach to this problem will turn out to be correct but the proof will be in the proverbial pudding. As of this moment I am still waiting for my model to arrive(I ordered directly from AMATI and paid 319 Euros including shipping). Unfortunately amati used a shipping company called Asendia who then handed the shipping over to the South African post office. This means that I can expect my package to arrive sometime within the next week or possibly during the next ice age. At this stage my primary means of securing my package is being on hold to the post office, checking my tracking number 380 times a day and thumb holding. In the meantime I have built a couple of simple tools to assist me and purchased the rest. The home made tools include. A "U" shaped desk(which through some bizarre negotiation with my girlfriend ended up being painted "teal"(thats blue to you and I)) An adjustable, lockable, rotating, swiveling, pitching, rolling keel clamp An adjustable keel rest (this is probably not the right term) And a guillotine with adjustable angles that takes a carpet knife blade. A plank bender made from a forged and polished chunk of copper and a soldering iron. I am not sure if there is a specific place where I should post photos and text about some of the tools that I made or if anyone would be interested in this but the information if available if anyone is interested. I also managed to get hold of a broken down scroll saw for a bargain and I restored it to a condition that im proud of. I have a dremmel stylus with a decent selection of attachments as well as the following bits and pieces Soldering Iron hand scroll saw razor saw multiple scalpel blade holders a variety of drawing equipment for technical drawig a variety of drill bits, sandpaper, clips, clamps, files, brushes, chisels blades, rulers, squares, clippers, cutters and pliers. If anyone has any questions, advice, suggestions or guidance for me(or perhaps a recommendation for which pegasus/fly builds to reference most) then I would be eternally grateful. Gods speed to you all! Cheers! Haiko(The Bitter End)