Papa

rudder

the hull is ready for a clear coat as soon as the weather warms up

The decks are the ones that came in the kit with a couple of coats of varnish.
 

Possibly a bit late to start a log, but what the heck! Being an old steel boat sailor myself I never thought I could fall in love with any other type of craft. I was wrong! When I saw Charles's build log of this vessel I literally fell in love with this type of craft. Since then I have tried to learn as much about them as I possibly can. Kurt and Cathead have provided a wealth of information, and for that I am truly grateful. 
 
Previous to starting this model my main understanding of this type of vessel came from multiple viewings of the Jodie Foster ( best actress ever) film, Maverick. Obviously I had a lot to learn!
 
The thing I learnt very quickly was that this particular model was not a very true, or accurate depiction of the type of craft of the day. Spewing, as Jodie would look fine on mine! Anyway, so given it is a bit of a fantasy boat, I intend to try to glam mine up a bit (as would befit Jodie).
 
There are a few gaps between pic updates, but since Santa deemed I had been extra good this past year I was presented with a cool new digital camera! So once I get to master it a bit better I hope the updates will be more frequent.
 
Anyway here is where I am at the moment.
 
 

Great idea, but way beyond my abilities!

A little progress made. The plans were a little vague concerning the centre hatch, on picture shows it being cut out and the next shows it being planked over. The false deck is not cut out for this but I decided I will cut it out to add a little more detail and more for my little captain to look at. The fore hatch is quite small on the plans only having a ladder going to lower deck, this will also be enlarged in order to view details.
 Hardwood flooring was added after painting the walls brown, then I decided to plank walls and paint white for easier viewing.
 The first picture is showing the racks for the barrels and some shelving I built, although you can't see them when it is all said and done they were fun to build.
 In the captain's quarters the ladder is kit supplied the shelf and bed are extras which are made from walnut and Osage orange.
 In the storage room the barrels were darkened by roughly painting black then rubbing off with fingers, I added a ladder for easier access, this made from walnut.
 The sail room is complete with shelves, blocks, spare anchor rope , sail material and ladder.
 Well that's it for now, the plan calls to install false deck and then plank, I'll see what changes that brings.
 
Later

Hi All
For anyone that wants to join me and more importantly HELP me, welcome aboard.
This is only my second build. My first build was a Billing Norden, so this is a big step up in the challenge stakes.
I did enjoy building my Norden and I was very pleased with the finished model. However I built it to look exactly like the picture on the box , which is why I bought it, without doing much research. This build will be different and I fully intend researching prior to progressing too far and I would also like to do some scratch building here and there. I've read some of the other Fly logs here which have given me some ideas (thanks to them).
The reason I chose the Fly is because I just love the look of it, and I wanted a real challenge.
The HMS Fly kit and the upgrade kit arrived last week and 10 minutes later I was into the box. There is obviously lots of stuff in the box but here is just some of it as I didn’t take many pictures.



I was pleasantly surprised when I rummaged through the instructions and drawing sheets, which give far more information than my Billing kit did, and seem to be made of good quality paper, time will tell.
Hang what’s this on the box? !!! Really…

First thing I wanted to do was check the contents…
Checking done and there are a few items on the parts list that are missing and also not referenced on the drawing sheets or instructions:
Item 3a - Deck support frame - Brian (probablynot) kindly informed me his kit also has this item missing and thinks it's now redundant and might get in the way of other items fitted later. I guessed it went between 2a and 4a here…

Items 271 and 272 Quarter figure castings (left & right) - Not sure yet if these are missing or redundant, can anyone shed any light on these please?
Otherwise everything looks in order.
Next I checked the rigging twine and marked up for later.

 
Let’s get started…
I pencilled the part numbers on the laser cut bulkhead and keel parts and then carefully cut these out of their respective sheets. I then assembled these dry and everything fits really well.
I should point out that these parts are made from 5mm laser cut MDF not ply as the parts list says, but from what I've read on other Fly builds I think this is the norm now.

And this is where I’m at. I feel I need to read some of the logs here some more and do more research before I get the glue out.
I’ve ordered the first two Seawatch FFM books as it appears that a number of the Fly/Pegasus builders here rate them highly. I’m also looking on the National Maritime Museum website and trying to find the original Fly drawings but I’m struggling to find them. If anyone has had more luck than me, a few pointers would be greatly appreciated? Also anyone who has obtained copies, were they any help? What is the quality and size?

Some great ideas here. I plan to follow this log carefully.

After building a couple of ships I decided to actually create a build log. I have built and learned a lot building the Phantom and the Pride of Baltimore both from Model Shipways. The Admiral bought me the Brig Niagara, also from Model Shipways for Christmas. I went down to the workshop this morning and started to open the box and did and inventory of the parts, all there.
 

 
 
I then repackaged all the small parts. From history I ended up either loosing the parts or droping them to never be seen again. I am re-purposing some old medication bottles to store the parts.
 
 

 
 
 
It normally takes a while for me to complete a ship so it may be a while before I have an update. The Pride of Baltimore took me over two years to complete. I enjoy the build so I take my time.
 
 
 

Beautiful model.  Also a great example of why one can never have too many clamps!

Thanks Popeye. 
I see you live in Manchester.  I spent some time near there; went to UNH in Durham class of 1965.

Well, Finished At Last!  Just need to make a base. I apologize for all the clutter in the photos

Thanks for the nice comments. I thought this was one of my nicest models and it only took about one year!  There certainly is something romantic about paddle wheelers.
Ron
 
 

Well, Finished At Last!  Just need to make a base. I apologize for all the clutter in the photos

Seems to be taking me forever to finish the Chaperon.  Got the starboard lifeboat rigged up and am working on the port side.

Almost finished!.  Just have to rig the lifeboat davits and the flagpole.

The instructions for Chaperon recommend that you attach the tie-down cables for the pilot house before adding the roof.  I did not do this. Now i am paying for it.  Threading a "rope" through the bracket under the roof and behind the decorations is not an easy task. Tweezers and lying the boat gently on her side is working, but it would have been so much easier to do it early on!.
 
Ron Gove

The rigging is moving along. Not nearly as tedious as a full rigged ship but tying black thread over a black background (hurricane deck) is a frustrating experience.

I got the stern wheel in place and am working on the rigging.  She is very close to being finished.  As careful as I was on the paddle wheel, it is a bit skewed.  I think I should have added the planks alternating on opposite sides to relieve stress. Anyway, it isn't noticeable. I was very unhappy with the look of the laser cut anchor decoration on the smoke stacks and ended up making one out of styrene and leaving it unpainted.
 
Ron

I received the needed strip wood from Model Expo.  They are really great at supplying missing or broken parts.  Now waiting for the red paint to dry so that I can finish the paddle wheel. In the meantime I've started rigging the front boom.  The lines are very fine and don't show up well in the photo.

I ran out of the strip wood needed for the paddles. While waiting for Model Expo to ship some more I thought I would get as far as I could on the paddle wheel.

Lots of little bits to take care of as one moves toward the finish.  Paddles, masts , the ramp, life boats, stern timbers.

There are 2 sets of rear stairway frames, part 114 P/S. I used the one on the right, never noticing the set on the left until just recently. The pair on the right matches the gap in the battens and the drawing on sheet 2. Has anyone else noticed this? There are no other stairs in the model.  Was this an error or what?
 
Ron Gove

I made up 4 "storypoles" to maintain the proper spacing and alignment of the paddle frames for gluing. I think I will stain the whole assembly and paint the paddles red as suggested in the instructions.