Richard44

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.

Thanks for the comment. The plan I'm using as a guide comes from the books The Fully Framed Model by David Antscherl & Greg Herbert, a very complete description of Swan-class sloops. The books are available from Seawatch Books (seawatchbooks.com). Cheers

I’ve started to plank the quarterdeck. All the planks, except the king plank, are tapered. None of the planks is joggled into the margin plank but but some have hooded ends. The plank pattern is based on that given in TFFM. The first few planks in place. I decided to cover the two scuttles at the forward edge of the deck with solid covers rather than gratings as suggested in the instructions. My reasoning was that gratings provide light and ventilation through the deck and as these scuttles are very close to the forward edge of the deck, gratings here will do little, if anything, to provide additional light and air down to the upper deck. The next photos show how I marked and cut the hooded ends of the two planks that needed these. The piece of strip wood in the photos was a demo only, and not the actual plank. The margin plank (cut from some sheet) was held in place and the strip offered up. The width at the end was marked (A), and the point where the width of the strip became less than the gap between the margin plank and the already installed plank was marked (B). The strip was trimmed to these two points. At B, the plank was marked with a point 2mm in from the outer edge, the plank here was 5mm wide. An angled cut was made and the plank was tapered from here forwards, as shown in the photo. The actual plank is shown trial fitted. The margin plank has two hooked scarph joints. The underside of the margin plank with one of the scarph joints marked out with a pen. A sharp knife was used to cut the plank into three sections. The margin plank glued in place. Cheers

The stove needed a chimney. The one supplied with the kit looked a bit ordinary, so a new one was made. A wooden dowel was used, cut at an angle and the two parts rejoined. The baffle plate is a section cut from the handle of a very cheap paintbrush, it just happened to be the right diameter, and the slides for it are brass wire. This photo shows the kit supplied one and the new one. The stove and its chimney. The false fore and quarter decks were next fixed in place. The two breast beams were thinned and their undersides curved to improve their appearance. The ladder, gratings and the capstan were added to the quarterdeck. The capstan was made using the same technique I described in Post 27 for the one on the upper deck. The kit provides a skylight (the companion top) to go just aft of the gratings, but Antscherl in TFFM suggests that this was unlikely and that a clerestory cover over the hatch was more likely. So I built one using the diagram in TFFM as a guide. Good quality 1mm ply was used, the four sides were cut out, and a series of holes drilled. These holes were then opened out using square and triangular section needle files. The ply had been oriented so that the face grain ran parallel to the window frames, and splintering was thus avoided. “Glazing” was added with gloss blue photo paper as I did for the quarterlights. The four sides and base, and glued together. The finished companion top in place. The corner of the roof looks odd, but it’s the camera angle. Cheers

There will be more....🙂

Keep at it Mike. Things do improve once the second layer goes on. From memory, the limewood strips are narrower than those of the first layer, so the second layer strips will overlap the seams of the first layer and impart considerable strength and rigidity to the hull (you've probably realised this already). I found the build quite frustrating at times, but the finished model looks really good. Cheers

You're welcome.