Barbossa

Thank you so much,  
With all the masts  painted it was time to put some blocks on.

Just on the Bowsprit mast there is single blocks,  double blocks,  heart blocks , fiddle blocks  and deadeyes. I hope I got them all.


Five more blocks for the foremast,  then I must go do some serving . Lots of serving lol. Looking forward  to adding  the shrouds. 
This is a great ship to put together,  I am just so excited  about building  it, for what ever the reason. Talk soon my friend's. 
Bob  M
 

Port side completed: 


 

 
Yves

Another mistake , but a good one lol. I am mistaken  about the number of  spare masts and ships boat  there were. Only  one boat and two spare masts. 

A lot of sanding and shapping  but soon they were ready  for the paint shop so I can add the black. 
 

After they are painted  it's time to add the blocks and woolding,  lots  of work ahead. 


Kurt says , yes one boat is enough , we can add a fire boom and spare upper mast if we want later.

Coming together nicely, I will be serving lines and tieing ratlines  in no time. .
Swivel guns,  four in the tin, 12 left on the ship lol.  😆 🤣. 
 Off to the paint shop, 🎨.. 

 
Knocklouder 😁 
Kurt ⚒️ 
 

After the summer holidays, slowly "back to work".
The area under the forecastle is a bit more detailed (guesswork style), but not much of this will be visible later.
With the catena (dry fit) and knees.

With the bowsprit. dry fit

there are also hawse holes now.

 

Thankyou so much for your generous comments, and also to those who have shown interest and ‘liked’ my  stuff.
 It is very satisfying to know that my ramblings and musings have been of some help to my fellow modellers.
 
Only one question remains….

8199
Where am I going to put this fine addition to my Vanguard collection.

5504a
For the present she will remain in my office beneath her protective cover.
 
Thank you Chris for providing the makings.
 
B.E.
22/08/2025

The upper windows are finished, the lower ones are at first step (ending will be done tomorrow) :

Post 105
Rattlin’ down.
There are different approaches to this repetitive task;

5276A
I only use a card template to work out the number of lines.
For me a card behind the shrouds is more of a hindrance than help.
I prefer to fit them by eye using a 5mm planking strip to gauge the spacing.
 
For the Ratlines I am using Syren 0.20mm line which is pretty spot on for scale size. It is dyed before use, an approach I recommend; the suggestion that it be dyed after fitting is a high- risk undertaking.
 
The kit arrangement shows ratlines across all shrouds for the full length.
Steel however indicates that for the first six lines top and bottom, ratlines are omitted to the first and last shrouds.
Whether this was applicable to all vessel sizes is not clear, but on Harpy I don’t think that would be a good look, particularly on the Fore shrouds.
I will extend the Ratlines across all shrouds.
The Top ratline is 5mm below the futtocks and the bottom starts just above the shroud cappings.
 
I have also belatedly noticed that Steel indicates that on brigs the aftermost Main shroud was served to give protection from the main boom.
 
It has been over five years since I last did this task and it feels more tiresome than I remember, an indication no doubt of increasing decrepitude, and decreasing vision sharpness.

5367A
I begin the procedure by attaching lines with a (5) line spacing. This helps keep the shrouds in shape.

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My Topman Bob has served on many ships, and is a valued crew member for gauging the rattlin’

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One of Chris’s figures is a reasonable fit for a Helmsman.
Pinned to the deck, he provides a human scale reference for the model.
I have positioned the Binnacle just forward and to Port of the wheel, the suggested kit position makes no sense.

5405A

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There is a lot of deck interest provided for this model thanks to the excellent fittings provided in the kit.

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The build is nearing completion, only a little tidying up, and tweaking here and there remains to be done.
 
B.E.
18/08/2025
 

Small update:
 
Not a big update, but it does feel like a big step/relief to have this finished.😆
 
I've had some stressful weeks, and fiddling with small brass pins and such felt almost impossible, haha. I took many breaks from working on the model, but now I've finally finished the rudder with all the straps, horseshoe plates, and fish plates. The pics below are self-explanatory. I also extended the straps on the hull to the back of the sternpost with a piece of black paper. So that it looks like the straps go around the sternpost again.
 
I chose to keep the horseshoe and fish plates black instead of the recommended copper color in the manual. I think the copper looks great on a white hull, but I thought black would look better on a natural hull.
 

 

 

 

 

 

Had to cut back some of the side gallery planking profiles in order to accommodate the side gallery ornamentation and then I focused on some of the stern decorations... she is surely starting to look pretty!
 
Lots of reading ahead, looking at other peoples build logs on MSW and some dutch forums.
 
A person always has to pay attention to the fittings, the corners of the fittings, as future fittings of these ornaments are sometimes laid on top of each other. Luckily these pot metal ornaments are easy to bend and mold with reason into the spaces they are required to go into.
 
The color scheme I used is of course personal but I am always looking at historical accuracy.

I went back over this log to refresh my memory lol,  I rember now why I stop the build..

Rember,  those  little creatures,  weekly  up dates on the food I feed them continues to this day lol. So far no rats have been seen in the shipyard,  thank God.

I restaind the deck yesterday,  then gave it two brush coats of  shelac.

The next thing is I got to un pack all the trinkets, I am looking  at the box for inspiration  on how I want mine  to look. I had this picture  that Rodney  had of the Pegasus,  but moved it and put the box on the table. I will try to make it look like this picture,   and @archjofo , guess what I noticed  first  the studding sail boom irons  lol , I will add them to this build for sure thanks again for the tip.

I don't remember  making  this ships boat lol , I have to go back in my log to see when I did it.

Many things to decide  now, colors,  rigging,  the masts. I will be up until the wee hours of the morning  , just trying to organize things  lol.
  Things  will be put on hold for four days, I have to help the First Mate look after the two grandchildren  parent's are vacationing.  
 Then I will start putting the chainplate assembly together.  
I think I have done ok so far, some  mistakes,  but it is ok. Now if I can remember  everything I have learned here on MSW I should pull off a keeper.
  Thanks for the help everyone. 
 
Bob  M. 
 

Well  now it has been awhile. I am putting  this  Pegasus  back on the bench as of today.

I have to get everything  back in order for building  the masts , the point that  I stop.
  It will take me some time to get the ship yard running smoothly again but I just want to finish the Pegasus.  It was a gift from Emilio Marletti  of Amati Models,  I want to finish  it for him. 
 May the fun never stop. Thanks my friends, you have given  more than I can pay back. 
 So with that news, going to set up shop see you in a while.
Knocklouder 😁 
Kurt ⚒️ 

It has clearly been a very long time since last I was here and I hope that people remember me!  Suffice to say it has been hard to make any progress beyond a snails pace.  I last left off after focusing on the complex bow structures.  To keep moving I needed to install the rough tree rail and the various supports as well as the Fretwork to the upper finishing.  Dimensions were estimated from plans and contemporary model, and these all seem to vary to some degree.  
I had held off making the fretworks as I wasn't sure of the approach, and I wanted to get a curved profile.  In the end, shaped billets were made to size and shaped, thin 1mm square boxwood strip (which I had hand sanded down to ~0.5mm) was then glued to the upper and lower edges.  Once dry, the back was cut away and finished by hand.  This is where the piper must be paid for any prior size and alignment estimates- as things stood I'm estimating that this is maybe 1mm shorter than it should be per the various plans and diagrams (4mm vs 5mm), but this was necessary to sit appropriately.
Unfortunately, my progress was so slow making the rough tree rails that I neglected to take photos.  These were cut from 2mm boxwood following the profile of the hull and were 3mm wide.  The curved for'ad sections were made separately using a similar technique as taken for the decorative rails and then joining to the main rough tree rail.  This follows the sheer of the deck, rather than the wale, so a template was made to ensure that these were positioned correctly.  The timberheads were then added using 2x5mm pear strip., because these are continuations of the frames, they need to be perpendicular to the keel.  There seems to be a huge amount of small variation on how these were constructed and captured on plans and models, and a variation even between the plans I have for HMS Jason showing these and the various Artois class models.  The template was once again used to ensure the consistent height above the deck.  Much of this process required fine adjustments using the Mk. 1 eyeball which seemed to take a considerable amount of time.  In the end, I drew inspiration from model 1794-3 illustrated on page 19 of the AOTS Diana book.  This has 2 curious semi-bulkheads installed in the timberheads, as well as being solidly built up at the stern.  I have no idea what these are as I haven't seen them anywhere else.  The mizen and main backstay stools have also been glued into position.  Finishing up with some overall shots of where things stand (The quarter gallery lights are not attached, but were placed to get a sense for proportion when finalizing the fretwork)

 
 

Today, I was preparing planking of quarter-galleries and rail, with the numerous and necessary support points :

Post 104
At this point I am attending to small additions and tweaks as the model nears completion.

5238a

5235a
The stanchions and guard rails are added to the Mast tops, a perfect fit with nicely shaped rails in Pearwood.

5271b
The Iron horse has been added to the transom.
I am still pondering whether to add limited rigging to the booms and fit the sheets.

5266a
I added Entry steps stanchions, not sure if they were indicated on the plans, but I have a lot of these items in my spares box.

5277a
The Rudder chains are added but I have omitted the pendents.
The chains of 1mm size were in my chain stock.

5253a

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I had to re-visit the stern davit rigging which had become twisted. Attaching the boat is like working one of those Fairground crane grab machines, multiple goes, but at least success is obtained eventually.

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The one major job remaining is attaching the Ratlines, what deep joy.
 
 B.E.
04/08/2025

The arch under the fore castle
Contrary to previous assumptions, this did serve as access from the upper deck to the fore castle.

The construction was done step by step.

The carved arch. 
"stair, ladder" not yet in place

Some "oops" work was required. The fore castle deck was too high relative to the rear castle deck.
Otherwise, the walkway above the anti-boarding net wouldn't have been at the correct height.

dry fit (and a bit uneven at the moment, as I can see in the photo)

 
 

Post 101
Topmast Rigging
I have rigged the Topmasts in a lowered position mainly for space saving purposes, but also  as an alternative to storing them on the Gallows.
This involves rigging the Topropes to support the masts.
Fortunately  this procedure is covered in the books Seamanship in the age of sail by John Harland, and The Masting and rigging of English ships of war by James Lees.
For the Toprope Pendents I’m using Morope 0.8mm polyester line, coupled with Syren 3/16” resin blocks, and 2mm thimbles.
For the Falls  I am using Syren 0.3mm line coupled with ¼” Boxwood Double blocks.
Strictly speaking these should be iron bound blocks so a sliver of heat shrink tubing will be used to represent the ‘iron’
 
The masthead caps are fitted with eyebolts for the Toprope pendent blocks which are attached prior to  fitting of the cap. The caps do not require gluing, as they are a snug fit to the masthead.

5151a

5152a
These photos shows the Standing part of the Port side lower sheave pendent, and standing and running  part of the starboard side pendent.

5157a
Here the Port and Starboard pendents can be seen running respectively thro’ the lower and upper mast sheaves.
The falls of the pendent are hooked to deck eyebolt aft of the mast.
A lashing is applied thro’ the fid holes to secure the Topmast.

5158a
This photo shows the falls and  double block tackles attached by hooks into thimble spliced to the pendent ends.

5166a
Main Topmast tackle.
Consideration has to be given to the length of the tackles to at least give the impression that in the position fixed they would raise the Topmast sufficiently for fidding.

5164a

5165a
The run of the pendents through the mast sheaves.

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The Topropes would not normally be seen on a model as they were generally removed once the Topmasts are in place.
 
B.E.
 
24/07/2025
 

Further finishing of the upper deck.
First, a coat of Danish oil and then "nails."

And construction has begun on the rear castle wall.

Construction of the various hatches on this deck.

Eight small hatches, above each gun on the deck below. None are identical. It looks sloppy, but so be it...
Larger hatches are provided in the middle.
An anchor cable will later "disappear" under one.
A ladder will remain partially visible under another.

The mast is aligned, straight across the width and leaning slightly backwards along the length.

Capstan under construction

Thanks for following and likes

With the deck planking finished, the deck (outside in the garden) is sanded and dusted.

The planking at the back is virtually invisible later, so most attention has been paid to the parts that remain visible.

Ladders glued

The openings around ladders and other openings are finished with planks with grooves milled into them. The cross beams of the hatches fit here.

(Most of the hatches in the middle will be closed)


Thanks for following

Post 98
Bobstay and Bowsprit shroud fittings
I have decided to add these because the  strops are fitted against the stops before those of the Fore Stays. The Bobstays will also be fitted.
The kit indicates the use of 3mm deadeyes to secure the Bobstays and Bowsprit shrouds which is an acceptable  alternative to hearts.
As the smallest hearts I have are 5mm, a tad on the large side, and as I have no appetite to make tiny 3mm hearts, I go with deadeyes of which I have a supply of the Syren 3mm resin versions.
Bobstays

4993a
These are quite tricky to represent authentically, as they involve served line passing through a hole in the Knee of the head before being spliced to itself, with a Deadeye or heart seized in its bight,with the splice sitting in the top groove of the Deadeye/heart. The now double line is seized together below the deadeye/heart and above the knee of the head.

4997a
You sometimes have to get inventive to hold the lines taut for seizing.

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5001a
The 3mm deadeyes are tiny things to secure within the served line and look a little overwhelmed in the bight.
They also don’t take the 0.30mm line which is the correct scale size for the lanyards.
I used 0.1mm line as per the kit plans, but which seems very under size for these important  stays.
I’m not entirely happy with these and may revisit using slightly larger hearts and lanyards.
 
Jib boom
I have decided to include the Jib boom albeit in the inboard position. This allows fitting with a minimal increase in the overall size of the model.

4984a
The boom was  formed from 4mm square stock. The heel is of octagonal shape with sheave holes for the top ropes. There is also a crupper hole for lashing the boom to the Bowsprit.

4988a

5002a

5004a

5006a
 
 
 
B.E.
08/07/2025

Small update 
Planking upper deck "work in progress" .

Indeed, this is something different from nice straight planks.
Special, but time consuming 

Construction of the knight for the main yard.

It appears that i placed the main mast too far back.

Corrected position.

Knigt and the base plates for the upper deck placed. With the layout roughly sketched.

And start planking.
First the piece that is still left, then the remaining part (a puzzle...)

Shrouds and ratlines...at last ( for the time being ).
Still trying to avoid as much as possible bulky knots and joins.
The swivel guns : this is the last option by using the pieces provided with the kit. Although dry fit ...seems not that bad. I kinda like the contrast between the copper natural look and the metallic color supports.
I'm still in the waiting for a better and feasible alternative. Enfin, wait and see...

Shrouds and ratlines...at last ( for the time being ).
Still trying to avoid as much as possible bulky knots and joins.
The swivel guns : this is the last option by using the pieces provided with the kit. Although dry fit ...seems not that bad. I kinda like the contrast between the copper natural look and the metallic color supports.
I'm still in the waiting for a better and feasible alternative. Enfin, wait and see...