John Murray

I used heat to soften the glue on the problem joins on the bulwarks and much better clamping to ensure the joints were solid. I have now progressed to 6 rows of planking along with a stealer at the stern. The 1st plank is an issue at the stern but I shall tackle that with water, heat, and clamping. I am just concentrating on the planking technique so far. I tapered the 6th plank at the bow and will see what effect that has on the 7th row.

Evening all, I suspect I have an issue with the fairing of the 2nd last bulkhead at the stern. Putting on the 3rd plank each side and I am finding a lot of curvature is required. I suspect I did not take enough off when fairing the frames. Although, as can be seen in the two images, the 2nd last bulkhead has been faired to the last bulkhead. So, what options do I have? Remove the planks and re-fair the stern or use my electric plank bender or Amati manual plank bender to put more shape into the planks at this area. Thoughts? Brickbats?

Chris, Thanks for that. In Ohlas videos of this model, I see she has scalloping as well but not to the same degree as me. I guess it's time to face the planking now.

I have been having issues with gluing the fore and aft bulwarks on the Pegasus. I initially used my electric plank bender to shape but that put in too much shape to fit. I then soaked them in boiling water for a half hour to soften and then pinned and clamped them to the bulkheads to set in the shape needed. After a day or so I released the clamps and glued the front port and starboard bulwarks in position. I did not clamp particularly well it turns out as the tops of the bulwarks pulled away from the top of the bulkheads. I used the bulb on my electric plank bender to soften the Titebond II glue. I reapplied some Titebond II and used much stronger clamps. I let them set for 24 hrs then removed the clamps. The issue is that whilst the joints on the bulkheads are now ok, along the bottom of the bulwarks on both sides, there is now scalloping between the bulkheads. The joint between the fore and aft section is also now showing a perhaps 0.5mm step approximately. I am considering breaking that joint with the heat and trying to reset the joint without the step. The top of the joint steps out, the bottom steps in. The middle of the joint is perfect... 🤣The bulwarks are 1mm plywood. What I am considering is lightly sanding the scallops to reduce the wave. Just take the tops of each scallop off essentially. The 1st planking is 1.5mm thick and starts at the bottom of the bulkhead. That would absorb some of the waviness. Sanding of the planking should enable me to fair the 2nd planking into making the bulwarks smooth. Does that sound reasonable or is there something else to consider...? I appreciate any suggestions.

The port bulwark is proving problematic. When I glued in place I was certain it was clamped correctly. Obviously not as the bottom of the bulwark was proud of the bulkhead instead of rolling around the bulkhead glued in position. I used my Amati electric plank bender to apply heat to the bottom of each bulkhead, soften the glue and nail the wood into position. The bottoms are now fixed in place as seen in the 1st image. The nails have been removed now. In the second image it can be seen that the top of the bulwark has separated from four of the bulkheads. Heat again and better clamp one at a time or try each one straight after the other? Do I reapply another spread of fresh glue or reheat then just clamp? Any other ideas I have missed?

Chris, Thanks for that. I have just finished gluing the strakes on yesterday. I will be unclamping them later this evening. I got it as close as I could but did place a bar clamp on the two halves to pull the bow together. I found otherwise that they just would not sit tight. Looking later I will see how close I got. I am concerned with a slight wave along the bulwarks lower half as you look along the hull. I pinned the bottom in on both sides then glued and clamped the top of the bulwarks. Today I noticed a slight wave. I shall try and get a picture of it later. I appreciate your advice.

In the 1st image below, I show the strakes that I had bent using my electric plank bender. First time user of this bender. I over bent the strakes and had issues fixing the starboard strake. 2 attempts resulted in me removing the strake both times. The fit was just not good. Lining up the fore and rear resulted in a mid length buckle that I was just not happy with. I took a couple of days off to reconsider my approach. I watched Ohlas video of this part but it only showed the bending then fitting. I had a re-read of the supplied instructions which suggested submerging both in boiling water for an hour. Then, pin the strakes whilst damp and let them dry in position. I did this yesterday with the assistance of my son who would nail the strake whilst I held them both in place. Thay are now dry and will be removed tomorrow. I will let them settle in this shape for 2 days, Then remove the nails and glue in place.

I have been a bit slow this week. I have had hot weather, work, and most importantly, family have been visiting. Not much has been accomplished. I have glued the main deck in place as well as pinned the bow and stern deck in place. I have mostly finished fairing the hull and now just need to finish fairing the decking to the bulkheads.

Work has continued this last week or so on the shaping of the bow and stern. At this stage the build seems ok. Reading the instructions and watching Ohla Batchvarovs video build of this kit is helping me get things moving along. Shaping has had to be done outside when the sun is either very early morning or late afternoon so that I have cooler temperatures and shade to do the work in.

The last few days have been spent cutting some basswood filler blocks for the bow and stern. Being the first time I have used this method. I learnt a valuable lesson. In future, trim as much as possible before fitting them in place. Save hacking, cutting and grinding them to shape with my Dremel before I can use my Perma-Grit Tungsten Carbide coarse files top start shaping the bow and stern. So far, the starboard bow has been roughly shaped.

Thank you very much.

I agree, It is a lovely little ship.

HI all, I have had this kit for several years now. I needed a challenge right now to help me cope with mental health issues. I have been following Olha Batchvarovs build of her kit of this model. I finally broke it out yesterday and this is the result so far. The basic skeleton glued up. I am leaving it to cure overnight.

Cheers. What I meant though was I am not sure if that is the same as what you would know as English lime. I am not sure of the source of the timber.

Cheers for that. It is English lime. That is what it is called in Australia. What its botanical name is though? Thank you on the workmanship. Re that image, I tried to avoid the cross grain as much as I could. That example has the timber extending out of site, however, I shall keep a closer eye on that. I shall be restraining the top-timbers movement from now on to prevent this issue recurring.