Barbossa

Ah...talking about doubts and mistakes.
Initially, I was looking to replace the Norman Knights ornaments in favour of something more appropriate.
During 17th and 18th century apparently ships ornaments were often related to Greek/Roman myths or symbols.
So I went for a mermaid, trying the same approach according the "layer-system" provided in this kit.
 
Well...for obvious reasons, I thought I'd do better to stick with the Norman Knights...ahem...ahem.😉
 

Ah...talking about doubts and mistakes.
Initially, I was looking to replace the Norman Knights ornaments in favour of something more appropriate.
During 17th and 18th century apparently ships ornaments were often related to Greek/Roman myths or symbols.
So I went for a mermaid, trying the same approach according the "layer-system" provided in this kit.
 
Well...for obvious reasons, I thought I'd do better to stick with the Norman Knights...ahem...ahem.😉
 

And here we are : final result and my approach for the extra rope for the tacke rigging. ( dry fit )
There's  24 of them required, but I'll make some extra items and make a selection
Gentle push the rope upon the adhesive paper and try to make a loop using the tweezers. Then a very small drop of cyano en also gentle remove with a sharp blade.

Ah...talking about doubts and mistakes.
Initially, I was looking to replace the Norman Knights ornaments in favour of something more appropriate.
During 17th and 18th century apparently ships ornaments were often related to Greek/Roman myths or symbols.
So I went for a mermaid, trying the same approach according the "layer-system" provided in this kit.
 
Well...for obvious reasons, I thought I'd do better to stick with the Norman Knights...ahem...ahem.😉
 

I'm waiting for the more expensive wreaths from Ages of Sail to fill in the missing wreath. For some unknown reason, I am resistant to opening the package of 14 wreaths that Amati sent me!
 
In the meantime, I've attached 6 wreaths to the port side and started to work on the deck furniture. I've removed a good deal of laser residue and fabricated the cross-beams to this substantial structure that surrounds the main mast:

It looks like I need to do a little more shaping before gluing these pieces together. There are also 4 cleats that attached to the sides before it is done. I wish I knew if the structure actually has a name or if it is simply a significant structure for belaying lines to. Either way, it will be an impressive addition to the deck.

The upper mizzen shrouds are a repeat of the lower shrouds with smaller line. They're 2.5" circular, translating to .32mm in diameter with .15mm lanyards.  The foremost shroud served its full length, the other shrouds served just below the hounds and the aftmost line is the backstay.  Each shroud is paired with the rear pair splitting off as the third shroud and the backstay. 
 

 
 The process is the same as the lower shrouds for me, I have my smaller version of the "deadeye measurer" illustrated in post #283. I measure out the shroud, mark the necessary length that needs to be served with a tiny spot of white paint, serve the line, then rig it to the mast. Once again, I go back and forth from port to starboard to make sure the mast ends up straight.  All that said - the backstay did present me with a choice to make.  The kit instructions show the backstay attached to deadeyes hooked into eyebolts just forward of the quarter badge. Lees has the backstay attached to a deadeye plate bolted into the ship just above the badge, and the FFM shows a small stool fitted above and aft of the quarter badge (also shown in Vadas' vulture. Although I've been leaning toward the FFM with most things, I simply do not have the room around my quarter badge to accommodate a ledge. So I opted for my own version - an eyebolt and deadeye plate just above the badge, but I also attached the deadeye to a plate/chain then the eyebolt. I realize this departs from accuracy slightly, but it keeps lines from being fouled and is also pretty pleasing to the eye to me.  It was definitely a bugger getting the deadeye evenly rigged amongst all the things happening back there however. 
 

 
 
 
I kept most of the deadeyes loose until they were all rigged, then tightened and seized all the lines and lanyards. 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 

Before the upper shrouds can be rigged, the upper burton pedants have to be laid over the mast heads. The upper burton pendants are done basically the same as the lower ones with a couple of exceptions - they're only on the main and fore masts and they're a bit smaller. So instead of using the little nuts I shaved down for the lowers, I used a brass tube notched, cut, and sanded. The line is listed as 3", so I'm using .35mm served it's length and then tied with eyes around the thimbles. 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The Jibboom is pretty straight forward, though a little delicate at 2mm toward the tip.  I started with a 4mm diameter dowel and shaved an octagon into the base as I'd done with the other masts.  This time however, I documented a little closer how I do it.  I mark the dowel and put it in the vise, then I cut the mark with a razor to prevent myself from shaving off too much wood. Then I use the mini chisel to shave a sliver at a time until I get the flat portion I need.  I rotate the dowel to do four opposite sides, then shave off the remaining corners to create the octagon.  Finally, I touch it up with the hand held miniature sander.
 
 
 
 
 
As I mentioned, the walnut is pretty soft, so this still comes out as "octagon-esque" and not as clean as it would with boxwood or something similar - but not terrible in my estimation.  After the chiseling it goes into the lathe for shaping and sizing. The shoulder is cut and shaped on the outboard end. Once removed from the lathe the two sheaves are simulated (one at the base the other near the shoulder) with two holes drilled and a notch cut between the holes. Finally, it's given a couple coats of paint and wipe on poly.
 
 
 
I've dry fit the jibboom to make sure it fits, looks good etc.  I won't mount and rig it permanently until I absolutely need to of course, as the jibboom remains the number one snagging hazard on the ship during rigging. 
 
 
 

 
 
 

Just a couple of shots of the upper masts repainted (the mizzen top at least) and fitted in place with the fids. 
 

 
 
 
 

Although the t'gallant masts are a bit less complicated to craft in terms of shape, they are QUITE small in terms of diameter at this scale and very, very delicate. Once again, this is where I wish I had more boxwood with which to work.  I did however start out with square strips with these, as that technique is ultimately easier. 
 

 
  All of the fids are made from a brass strip shaped on my belt sander. I only drilled holes in the two larger fids, as the smaller ones are just too small to accommodate holes that no one is ever likely to see.
 

 
With all the masts (except the Jib boom) constructed, they are painted.  I am most likely going to change the paint scheme to match TFFM and have the most upper parts of the masts (including the caps) all black from the hounds on up.
 
 
 
 

The cheek blocks on the upper masts are so small that they definitely need to be made from boxwood, as nothing else I have will lend itself to this level of sanding and shaping. First, I took a 1 mm by 2mm strip of boxwood and put it on my Byrnes saw with a slightly thicker black adjusted all the way to do some milling. I cut a couple of notches in the strip, then sliced off 1.5 mm strips to create the cheek blocks. The sheaves are made from thicker pins / nails cut off at 2.5mm lengths. Holes are drilled in the sides of the cheeks and the sheaves are slid into the holes.  I did mount these sheaves a little lower in the cheek block slots instead of the center to make sure I have enough room to feed a line when it becomes necessary.
 
 
 

 
 
 

It has been a few days since I've posted, but that doesn't mean I haven't been hard at work int he shipyard.  I started the topmast journey so I could get the upper standing rigging underway. Not long before I went on my hiatus, I'd done the extra top masts that are mounted on the deck as practice - back in post #255.  The problem was, that had been such a time ago that I'd forgotten much. The good news - I kept decent notes.  I have also since then printed my Swan reference for the masts, yards, and spars.  The one on top is resized from 1:48 to 1:64.   One point of learning for me - as we all know, I've been following Dan Vadas' vulture - which has three t'gallant masts. However, other Pegasus builds and swan builds only have two t'gallant masts with the mizzen only having top mast.  My reference schematic from TFFM have three laid out.  It took me a while to find the addendum note in TFFM that explains the third t'gallant mast on Swan class ships didn't occur until the 1790's.  So my 1776 version will only have two.
 

 
Some minor adjustments were made to my "practice" masts and a fair amount of math was done then I hit the lathe.  For the Fore and Main top masts I decided to go with a larger diameter round mast and square off the bottom and shape rather than start with a square.  This is done for a couple of reasons - but mostly because I have a limited supply of lumber, and a VERY limited supply of the harder woods such as boxwood, etc.  So I am using the dowels that come with the kit - good quality, but definitely softer.
 
 
 
 As you can see above (and remembering my practice run), the top masts are broken down into several sections starting with an octagonal section, squaring off where the fids are located, moving into octagonal again, then rounding and tapering toward the top. Another octagonal section will house the upper crosstrees and trestles, then taper round again.  Making these sections is quite difficult in my opinion.  After trying various cutting and sanding techniques, I ended up using my new mini veritas chisels to create the octagonal sections.  Even so - because of the softness of the wood - I'm going to call these "octagonal-esque."  The silver lining as this will all be painted black and so my lack of precision will be obscured a bit.
 
 
 
All all of the top masts and t'gallant masts contain a number of sheaves.  As we know, sheeves and this scale are really, really difficult to pull off.  I can still manage to construct the lower sheaves for the top masts in the way that I did those on the hull and bulwarks, but all the smaller sheaves are simulated by drilling a couple holes and carving out a 'sheave like' notch.  For the 'real' sheaves, I drill out the holes and patiently adjust with my smallest pin file. The sheave itself is a cut off piece of round brass notched, sanded down, and slid into the slot.
 
 
 
The crosstrees and trestles are from the kit.  A smidge oversized, but definitely doable. Especially since, once again, this will all be painted black.  The mast caps all did need to be redone because the kit versions do not accommodate room for the eye bolts, etc.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

With the port side also ready, the standards are made to height. A simple way to measure, is to use a wooden plank as a template.

 
A mold for the semi-circular gun ports. This is slightly conical, so up to the arrow and no further, otherwise the hole is too big.

Ready.

This is how far we have come, next is the last piece of planking on the bow.

Thanks for following

Nailed it!

Thanks Bob and Christian.   And you're absolutely correct of course Christian about walnut and most 'kit wood' - I keep a little container with all my bits of boxwood no matter how small. You never know when you're going to need a scrap for something. But I've found that the drill bits one uses are just as crucial. I've found my micro "MA Ford twisted" bits to be invaluable. A bit more expensive than most, but second to none in ability to make very very small and still very clean holes. 

Wonderful work indeed, in my previuos build ( HMS Diana), regarding the euphroes, styrene came to the rescue.
As I have -at present- a limited stock of boxwood at my disposal, I'll give it a shot but styrene is Plan B.
Drilling those holes in wood especially walnut is just whishful thinking.

Perhaps, we're digressing a bit, but this specific topic is worth expanding and maybe other Pegasus fans might benefit from this.
Comparison between a 18 lbs gun  ( my La Vénus -project )and the  gun + carriage provided with the  HMS Pegasus Amati kit.
Although it is also worth mentioning that regarding this French ship, the eyebolt was fixed more in the rear of the carriage ( according to the Boudriot plan ), which creates even more space for the rigging.
 
SO : I've made my mind up. 
 
PS : I do not entend to use the Amati kit's falconets 
 
 

Wonderful work indeed, in my previuos build ( HMS Diana), regarding the euphroes, styrene came to the rescue.
As I have -at present- a limited stock of boxwood at my disposal, I'll give it a shot but styrene is Plan B.
Drilling those holes in wood especially walnut is just whishful thinking.

It's always a pretty big step when you knock off the lower ratlines. Just a couple of additional notes - the first six lines on the top and bottom of both the main and fore shrouds skip the foremost and aftmost shrouds. Otherwise the process is the same as the mizzen - skipping every few lines to prevent the shrouds from squeezing together or skewing.  I used a long ruler to make sure  my graph paper was positioned properly to the match the lines of the ship and the other ratlines. 
 
 
 
  I also wanted to note here that it is quite important (especially at this scale) to let the diluted PVA dry completely before you try and trim the edges otherwise the knots will unravel and you'll have to redo some lines. After the end knots dry, I use a brand new blade on my scalpel, hold the end of the rope as tightly as I can with my smallest tweezers, then gently cut the rope as close to the knot as possible with a slow back and forth sawing motion using only the weight of the scalpel. Trying to "slice" the rope does not work here and results in pulling and fraying.
 

 
This is also one of those places where it really does make a difference when you use higher quality lines - another benefit of making my own.  The polyester fibers do have a tendency to slip a tiny bit, so going through and adjusting the clove hitches across each ratline is paramount to maintaining some semblance of evenness throughout the rigging. I have some a bit more slack than others, but overall I'm pleased with the end result. As we all know - this is one of those times when patience really does pay off.
 
  
 
 
 
For those who are curious - a total of 784 clove hitches including the ratlines across the futtock shrouds. 
 

The starboard side is coming along nicely. The new file arrived and let me open the gunports to nearly their final diameter. At this point I attached the gunport wreaths, which are pressed from brass, after they had been chemically blackened. Once that was done, the second half-round molding / wale was added using the wreaths to space the work. Finally, the lower molding was glued leaving a 5mm gap to the one in the middle. 

Just a note - the kit came with 6 pieces of half-round material for the moldings; two pieces were shorter than the others. The short ones are just long enough to be used for the lower molding / wale. I didn't see anything in the instructions pointing this out. I am glad I pulled all 6 pieces from the wood bundle and made the observation before accidentally using a long piece for the lower molding on this side. 
 
Now to the port side where I have a bit of a problem - it seems that I was provided with 13 gunport wreaths; i.e. 1 short of the needed 14. I've sent an inquiry to Amati asking if they can send me a replacement. I'm not sure how long to wait for a response before having to solve the problem on my own. I'd certainly like all 14 to match exactly but I can see that there is a good possibility that I will need to fashion the missing one myself. 

Log #84: The Topgallant Yard
I continue to slowly pick away at the mainmast. Things are getting really delicate now as there is so much to catch an errant hand on.
 
I have pretty much run out of 0.25mm rope and so had to order some more. As I need this for the topsail bowlines I have two wait before I can finish up the topsail yard. In the meantime I continued to work my way up and next up were the pendant for the topgallant sheets.
 
I had originally planned to use one of the kit provided thimbles, but when I put it on the model it looked completely out of scale so I decided to improvise. First I took a plastic tube I had on hand (I believe it came from a water balloon) and cut off a small piece.

Then I used a sculpting tool to press out the sides to make a thimble.

I then held these on a pin and painted them black. I cut a piece out of each to make them smaller and open on one end so they bended like a teardrop. Then I sized around them.

This was quite a fiddly process and in the end I probably should have just looked harder from some metal I could do this with, but in the end I got them to look ok. Here they are on the model.

Next up was the topgallant yard. This was straight forward with an eye splice that I served over to hold the yard. I used 0.25mm rope based on the steel table.

The line runs through a sheave in the topgallant mast  and down to the base of the mainmast. Here there was a bit of a canundrom. The kit calls for it to be attached to a 4mm double block which then is paired with a 3mm single with a hook attached to the deck (note this double plus single arrangement is also what Peterson describes). However this doesn’t make a lot of sense to me as all the other yards only have two single blocks and they are much bigger and heavier than the topgallant. Furthermore the 0.25mm line looks tiny on the 4mm block. If I had a 3mm double I probably would have used it but in the end I decided to just use two 3mm single blocks. This is also consistent with the Steel table as it only seems to list single blocks for the topgallant halliard.
 
You can see below the upper of these two blocks. As I ran out of 0.25mm rope I can’t finish the tying off of this line until I get the extra I ordered in the mail.

And here is the model in her current state. I am getting close to the end now. Just a few more lines to tie off on the mainmast and then I will be on to the bowsprit.

I took a break from ratlines this morning to work on some shroud cleats that I'll need soon.  My inspiration for how to do these came from a variation of Dan Vadas.  I started with a 4m thick by 10mm wide strip of this random (not sure what it is) hardwood that came from an extra cheeseboard the Admiral got rid of. 
 
 
 
First, I added a slightly thicker (just under 2mm wide) blade on the table saw to notch the sides deeply and the top shallow. The top is shaped with a round sanding tool then a round needle file. 
 
 
 
Varying degrees of VERY light sanding is down to create some shape to the grooves before I switch back to my thinnest table saw blade to cut over 30 cleats at 2mm thick each.  If you're going to follow a similar method - make at least a handful more than you need as quite a few don't survive the process; particularly at this scale.
 
 
 
After the they're cut, the individual cleats are then subject to even more delicate sanding to round out the edges.  More are lost to this process as well regardless of how gently I apply 600 - 1000 grit sand paper. Each survivor is then dipped into water based wipe on poly to provide a modicum of strength for later rigging then left to dry.  
 
 
 
Here's a final product seized to the main foremost shroud to see how it looks.  I mounted it by sticking it in place with the barest touch to CA before seizing it with .10mm line. 
 

 
  I ended up with 28 or so workable cleats, which should be a couple more than I need.  I actually had a pretty difficult time determining exactly how many I'd need. After scouring the FFM images I have, as well as some Swan logs here, I finally came up with a total of 26 - though it appears not all of them are rigged when all is said and done.  Here's my list (applies to both port and starboard sides):
 
Mizzen, Main, and Fore tops  - the first two aft shrouds (12 total). Lower Mizzen - the foremost shroud (2). Lower Fore - the foremost three shrouds (6 total). Lower Main - the first two foremost shrouds and the fourth shroud (6 total).  If someone (maybe one of the Swan experts @dvm27, @Blue Ensign, or @chris watton?) has a solid reference on how many shroud cleats are used and where they're used - I'd appreciate it greatly.
 
 
 
 
 

The ropes on my model are not to scale with respect to the cables. I did it consciously, because I believe that they are a unique decoration of every sailing ship.

Log #83: Tying off the Ropes
Thank you to everyone for looking in and for the encouragement. I always like this stage of the build as the tying off and making rope coils goes very quickly, and so you get lots of visible progress after a long period of preparing the yard off model.
 
I believe I have shown this before but here is my jig for making the rope coils.

The top loop starts out on the pin that in the picture has nothing on it. Then once I have done a few loops I twist it and fold it over. Then I finish the hank by continuing to loop the rope and insert the end into the gap between the two loops for the cleat.
 
Once it is done I use a dab of super glue to fix the loops together and the end of the rope in place and then give it a few blasts with the hair dryer to try and get it to stay in shape.
 
I then slip it onto the cleat and use super glue spots to tack it into place. You can see below I have belayed the topsail lift to the mast cleat on the left and the starboard topsail sheet to the cleat on the right.

Then the larboard topsail sheet was belayed to the left cleat in the below picture. The right cleat is holding the previously belayed squaresail yard.

I am going to hold off on belaying the clewlines until I get the topgallant sheet lines in place so I can make sure they avoid each other. Below you can see the current state of affairs.

Finally done with the stays and backstays. Yards are next. I’m seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.