Richard44

Thanks for the likes. The quarter deck cap rail is supported at its aft end by a simple post, and at the fore end by a pre-cut slot in the rail which goes over a post. In between these two are the five swivel gun mounts into which the rail slots. All seven points of fixing had to be aligned so that the rail formed a straight line in profile. To do this, I glued the rail to the aft post and the first and last gun mounts were similarly glued in place and adjusted so that the rail was reasonably straight - it did sag in the middle. The rail was just slipped onto the fore post, but not glued at this time. The remaining three gun mounts were then offered up to the rail and adjusted till the rail was straight. The join between the rail and the fore post was painted with glue, and after drying, the post was trimmed as it was overlong. The wheel had already been made, with a few changes from the kit. The end stanchions were simplified, the barrel was replaced as I did not like the appearance of the plywood one in the kit, and the wheel was rigged to the tiller following the diagram in TFFM, rather than the one in the plans. The binnacle was fastened in place. The Swan-class ships had two brake pumps (elm tree pumps) as well as the two chain pumps. The kit did not supply nor mention these. So, a Caldercraft kit for two pumps was bought. The instructions weren’t quite followed. The 4mm dowel supplied to form the body of the pump should have been cut into 13mm lengths and drilled length-wise through the centre (a 0.75mm diameter hole). A length of 0.7mm brass rod (the connecting rod) was to be fed through this hole, protruding through the bottom to make a locating peg, and formed into a small loop at the top to take the brake handle. I decided to cut a 4mm dowel into a length sufficient to reach the lower deck of Pegasus and to give the 13mm length suggested for the body of the pump above the upper deck level. A short hole was drilled in the top for the connecting rod for which I used a pre-formed eyelet. Caldercraft supplied 2mm dowel from which to make the outlet - I had some thin walled brass tubing which I used instead. The hole I made through the upper deck was angled as the pumps were not perpendicular to the deck. The instructions call for the pump, when in place, to be oriented so that the handle pointed aft and the outlet forwards. The TFFM says the opposite and this is the way I will install them. When looking at the space available, this is more logical as there is room for a sailor to operate the pump. Also the outlet now points directly at the scupper that the chain pump drains to. The parts to the pumps with the extra long dowel. The completed pumps, and I was careful to make port and starboard ones. One of the pumps in place. They’ll be permanently installed later. The next installment will be all about swivel guns. Cheers

Just as an aside B.E., I hope you're backing up your build log - I'd hate for you to have to try and recreate it (as you did with Pegasus) if there is another system crash. Cheers

Thanks for the likes and comments. The two ladders in the waist, the swivel gun mounts at the bow, the tiller, the cover over the head of the rudder, the pin rails and the channels were all added. The wheel and binnacle will both be added later as I think they would be a little vulnerable to being knocked at the moment. It was immediately apparent that the channels lacked something - the supporting knees. The kit makes no mention of these, but TFFM says that the fore channel has three, the main four and the mizzen two. So knees were made from suitable strip and glued in place. A Dremel with a sanding drum was used to put the curve into the knee and it was then simply cut from the strip. There is a however, however. The knees butt against the hull between the two rails that have already been installed with PE decoration between them. Removing the PE, trimming it to allow for the knees and reinstalling was never an option. Neither was trimming the PE whilst in place. So the knees are simply glued against the PE decorations. Although close inspection would show this, the knees will be hard to see behind the rigging. The Dremel and two knees that have been parted from the strip. The tops of the swivel gun mounts were sanded to an octagonal form, but this is not readily apparent. The black “iron” bands around the tops of the mounts are heat-shrink tubing. The fore channel and two of the mounts. That's all for now. Cheers

Thanks Jason, that's what I thought, but I wanted to be sure. Cheers

Chris, I've just got to ask...."starving cow" problem with card models? I'm really curious because my first card model (a Murray River paddle boat) is on its way from Europe, but more of that when it arrives. And I'm following your build log with much interest. Cheers

Thanks Phil. Cheers

Thanks for the likes. The quarterdeck breastwork was the next thing to be done. This proved to be an exercise in frustration. There are three rails, the lower glued to the deck, the middle separated from the lower by square posts and the upper separated from the middle by turned pillars. The first part was easy as the lower and middle rails had square holes cut into them and the posts simply slotted home. The two outside posts were glued in place in the lower rail first, then the middle rail was glued to these, using blocks to keep the distance apart correct. The remaining posts were then glued in place, again using blocks to ensure correct distancing of the two rails. Gluing the pillars to the middle and upper rails was the frustrating part. As the pillars had to be vertical, and the rails were curved to match the deck, their tops and bottoms had to be carefully sanded to allow this. There were no holes to locate the pillars, they sat flush on the middle rail and the upper rail sat flush on them. To make things a little easier, the upper rail was prebent using a plank bender. Still, clamping this lot together while glue dried was not possible. So five minute epoxy was used with gentle finger pressure holding everything in place. Success occurred after several attempts. The middle rail curves around to lie above the gangways, with support being a newel post at the end. As I had modified the gangways, the supplied post was far too big. Fortunately, there were several spare turned pillars and as luck would have it, they were exactly the right height to be used here. The completed breastwork. I then tackled the belfry and modified the kit version to better resemble that shown in TFFM. The continuous rails each side of the actual belfry were trimmed and new cradles made. These will support one end of the spare spars, their other ends lying on the gallows. The photo shows the modified belfry (the small white patch is an iron reinforcing band, it will of course be painted) and the diagram of the kit version. The completed belfry. Although not obvious, the roof over the belfry is covered with lead (as per TFFM) - actual lead too, a piece of very flattened solder. Cleats were added to the belfry. A dowel in place showing how the spare spars will be carried. Cheers

Thanks for the likes. The kit supplies gangways which extend from the quarterdeck forward for a short distance. I decided to follow TFFM and add gangboards which will run from the end of the gangways to the foredeck. There are several consequences to this decision - the gangways have to be raised a few mm so that they are very slightly above the level of the cap rail in the waist, the two ladders leading from the upper deck to the foredeck are no longer required, there is no mention in TFFM of hammock cranes along the cap rail in the waist so these will be omitted, and there are stanchions along the waist cap rail now with a rough tree rail on top. The photo shows the supplied ply gangway held in place as per the instructions. The gangway needed to be raised, which required trimming of the aft end so that it would fit flush against the quarterdeck breast beam rather than being below it. The ply also needs to be faced with planks. If I’d used the ply, I would have had to hide it’s exposed edge, so rather than do this, I made new gangways of edge joined planks. I didn’t think that simple edge gluing of the gangway against the bulwark was going to work very well, especially as the gangway is supposed to be slightly higher than the cap rail, so I added two blocks on the underside of the gangway to give a much larger gluing area. The photo shows the new gangways, trimmed to fit, with the knee and blocks. Only one knee is shown in TFFM, not the two supplied in the kit. The new gangways in place. The gangboards were made by edge gluing two, pre-bent, planks together. Four knees are supposed to support the gangboards, but in spite of several attempts,I couldn’t get these in place, so resorted to Plan B - gluing small blocks along the edge of the boards and then gluing the boards to the bulwarks. Fixing the knees in place would have been very easy if I had planned on adding the gangboards early in the build. The blocks are not visible, and I don’t think the knees would have been either. So, the gangways/gangboards are in place. Cheers

Thanks for the likes. A short update. The gap under the outboard end of the tafferal will be filled with a quarter piece, which will extend down to the wale. It’s a complex shape as it has to blend with the counter, be shaped to suit the PE decoration which will adorn it and taper to nothing at the wale. The photo shows the two quarter pieces after shaping. Each is about 25mm long and is laminated simply because I didn’t have a suitably sized piece of wood - they are to be painted. Two photos showing the piece in place. I didn’t like the rather ugly box (on the left in the photo) that was provided as the cover over the rudder head, so I made a new, smaller, octagonal one. In doing so, I freed up enough room between the rudder head and the transom to install an ensign staff, following the description in TFFM. The staff apparently has two small sheaves in the cap, so I’ve assumed two halliards would be present and I’ve added two cleats on the transom for them. I also made a new tiller and attached two small rings at its end with a simulated iron band. Cheers

Yes, I agree. I actually made the two quarter pieces this afternoon, and have glued them in place. I'll look at them tomorrow and if they look OK, that'll be great, otherwise off they'll come and I'll have another go. All good fun 🙂. Cheers

Thanks for the likes. A simpler binnacle than the one provided in the kit was made following advice from Blue Ensign and Greg Herbert - thanks guys.The photo shows it roughly in place on the deck.It will be finally fixed quite a bit later. The capping rail is made up of four laser-cut pieces that go on the fore and quarter decks, and in the waist, the instructions say to use 1.5mm thick strip here. When I offered up a section, it seemed to me to be too thick, so 1mm strip was used instead. Slots in the bulwarks for the catheads were cut before the capping rail was glued in place. The inboard end of the kit supplied catheads are at the wrong angle to allow them to fit under the capping rail and sit flush on the deck. While sanding a more correct angle, I broke one of the catheads and so had to make two new ones. Holes were drilled in the outboard ends to simulate the sheaves that would be there - the instructions do not mention these, nor do they mention cutting the slot first. It would certainly be tricky to cut the slots after the capping rail was in place, which is what the instructions say. The photo shows the kit supplied cathead on the left and the new one on the right. The catheads loosely in position, they will be removed for now and fastened sometime later. I have made a start on the fascia and tafferal at the stern. I prebent the tafferal then glued the fascia to it. I then added the windows to the tafferal. To ensure the PE window frames finished up flush with the outside of the tafferal, a piece of strip wood was held in position as shown in the photo. The frames were then inserted from the rear and gently pushed home against the strip. A thin bead of epoxy was run along the edges of the frames to hold them in place. As I did with the quarter lights, gloss pale blue paper was used to represent glazing of the windows. These were individually cut and a small amount of PVA used to glue them in place. The next job will be to do something about the very obvious gap under the lower, outboard ends of the tafferal. Cheers

For exercise, the 10km limit doesn't apply - you can go anywhere within your local LGA (I checked with Services NSW). The 10km limit applies to shopping. Hobby Tools Australia has a good selection and I've had good service from them. Cheers Edit. I wasn't quite right above - shopping is allowed anywhere in your LGA. "...can only shop, exercise or engage in outdoor recreation within their local government area (LGA) or, if outside your LGA, within 5 kilometres of your home."

We've got some weird creatures here in Oz, but barking fish?? 😆 (Yes, I know Barking is a town in England, but temptation got the better of me.)

And another welcome, not from Sydney, but from Gosford. We're in lockdown, not full lockdown, so I can actually get out for exercise in my local area - so far. But Covid cases are increasing.....

Chris, Your output is absolutely amazing!!! Just when do you sleep???? Cheers

When I was a kid, we used to make cannons out of empty .303 cartridges, drill a hole in the end, put in gunpowder from a firecracker plus a wick add a ball bearing, light the wick and let it rip!!! Could we do this with the Sphinx cannons? 😆

Hi B.E., Like you, age (I'm 77) and space have had me thinking about what to build, if anything, after I finish Pegasus. Chris's Sphinx has slowly but surely risen to the top of the list. And like you, I would build it without masting. It's too soon now to order one, not that there are any left, but sometime. Thanks Chris and James. Cheers

That's looking good Tim. And congratulations on your engagement.

Glue up two pieces of scrap with your PVA, let dry, and try the mineral spirits on it. I don't think there will be any effect, after all, the stain you have applied is oil/mineral spirit based.

I'm following your build with interest Ron, as it's a kit I may buy myself at some time.

Thanks for the likes. A very brief update of work done on the foredeck. A breasthook and a partner for the bowsprit were added. The topsail sheet pins were inserted through the deck and the bitt attached. I had shortened the pins of the jeer standard because of the stove beneath and glued a block beneath the deck, prior to fitting it, to take the pins. The jeer standard with the short pins was then glued in place and its bitt attached. Small cheek pieces had been fastened to the outside of all four pins and holes drilled to simulate sheaves. Coamings for the chimney and the two steam gratings that sit above the stove were made. Instead of the gratings supplied in the kit, I bought a grating that was of a much finer mesh and used this. Cheers

Absolutely marvellous BE. Congratulations, and like others, I'm looking forward to your next build 👍. Cheers

Thanks for the likes. The planking of the quarterdeck was completed. I made one mistake - one of the hooded ends abuts the hooked scarph in the margin plank, and it shouldn’t 😖. I did think about tearing up the planking and starting again, but decided against it. Not a big deal as it’s not going to affect the build, and I can always dump a coil of rope over it later 😁. The foredeck was then planked. Again, tapered planks, hooded ends and no joggling. The TFFM plan shows the margin plank as one continuous piece. I made this in two pieces simply to keep the grain running roughly along the length of each piece to avoid splitting. The two pieces were just butt joined and the join was located where the cathead will be and thus hide it. I did think about using the technique for tapering planks that Jason (Beef Wellington) described in his build log of HMS Jason, (link here) but I used a sharp knife and a straight edge instead. That’s it for the moment. Cheers

Thanks for the comment Jason, much appreciated.

Ah...., I actually don't know what book 😚. I have the original 12 part Practicum and I have no idea how this relates to the books, but one of the authors, Greg Herbert, is a member here (dvm27) and you could ask him via a pm.