HMS Pegasus by Blue Ensign - FINISHED - Amati/Victory Models - 1:64 scale

[Blue Ensign]

Fore and Main Topmasts
I had a play with the Topmasts making the spares for the Gallows but these are the ‘working’ versions.
Firstly the stats.
Main Topmast
Length o/a 37’ 6” (178.6mm) Diameter 11¼” (4.5mm)
Head of Topmast 4” for every yard of height = 50.00” (19.84mm)
Hounds ⅗ of Topmast head (11.90mm)
Round Block 1/7th length of lower masthead = (6mm)
Heeling 2x length of block = (12mm)
Fore topmast
Length o/a 33’ 4” (160mm) Diameter 11¼” (4.5mm)
Head of Topmast 4” for every yard of height = 44.44” (17.63mm)
Hounds ⅗ of Topmast head (10.57mm)
Round Block 1/7th length of lower masthead = (5.27mm)
Heeling 2x length of block = (11mm)

I have used these proportions with 6mm square stock.
The Main and Fore Topmasts work out at considerably less than the kit plan lengths.
Fore: 178mm, (Steel 160mm) Main: 192mm,(Steel 178mm)
On the kit plans the Topmasts are simplified and lack such features as the Block and the Toprope sheaves.
The sheaves are cut on the miller using a 0.8mm milling bit, although they can be done by hand using a scalpel.

Here the lower Port side Toprope sheave set into the block.

The upper Toprope sheave set in the starboard eight square section. Again this is an area where the kit arrangement is simplified to accommodate the use of dowel throughout the masting of the model.
 

Forming the hounds on the Topmasts.

The final operation is the drilling of the Fid hole in the Heeling.
The Wooden fid has a length of 9mm, a depth of 2mm, and width of 1.5mm.
In practice I used some 1.5mm square boxwood strip.

The masthead of the topmast is not reduced to its final height until I do the T’gallant masts.

Trial check of the topmasts in place. I hope to use the kit crosstrees/ trestletrees but the caps will have to be re-made.

The Topmasts will be sealed with thinned varnish then a little more fine sanding before varnishing and painting.
Making Topmasts is a tricky operation not least because at any time the mast can be ruined by a slip, voiding all previously completed sections.

B.E.

 

[dafi]

*jumping of joy*

 

Thank you MAurice, it was a great trip to revisit this wonderful build!

 

XXXDAn

[Blue Ensign]

Detailing the Lower Mast heads
Although the kit plans include representations of the iron bands that support the masthead, they do not include the masthead battens which are a simple addition to make, if a little fiddly to fit over the bands.
As with everything Naval there is a set proportion for these items.

The iron bands are 3” wide scaling to 1mm wide. As I am painting the mastheads these are made of card as I did with the woolding hoops.
There are eight battens on the masthead and according to Steel the battens run from the stop of the hounds extending ⅗ up the head. The breadth is ⅛ of the mast ø and the thickness ½ of the breadth.
I do note however that in the Swan book and on Remco’s MSW exemplary masts the battens look to extend higher than ⅗ up the head. When I trialled Steel’s proportion on the Foremast head they didn’t look as good so I fitted slightly longer ones which suited my eye better.

I have used some 0.8mm x 0.5mm boxwood strip for the purpose.

These are very fine at 1:64 scale and I broke a few cutting the slots on the underside to fit over the ‘iron’ bands, but got there in the end. Styrene strip would be a good alternative for this job if the Masthead is to be painted.

There are two cleats that fix to the sides of the masthead thro’ which the jeer tye lashing are secured, these are yet to be made.
 

Mast Caps
In the end I decided I couldn’t live with the kit provided versions and made a couple of replacements. Over the years I have collected bits of old boxwood, this particular doner must be forty years old.

Firstly I needed to cut it into useable strips on the table saw, for marking and finishing on the little miller.

Cutting the square mortise in the mast cap to take the masthead tenon.

The completed cap for the Foremast.

 

 

At this point the topmasts have been also varnished and painted.

Next job up is to fettle the Trestle/crosstrees which I have decided to keep, and make the mast tops.

B.E.
 

 

[Blue Ensign]

Mast Tops
The kit provided tops are a reasonable scale match to the dimensions given in Steel, although they will stand a little tweaking and refinement.
There is a small issue; at the fore of the mast top is a small rectangular cut out which David Antscherl comments is appropriate after about 1775 for the lower yard slings to pass through.
Lees however dates this to 1802: two holes were cut on either side of the centre, fore side of the topmast to take the slings of the lower yards. Both crosstrees were visible in the square hole during this period.
Steel makes no mention of this aperture writing in 1798.

I have planked over the Walnut top from the kit with 3.4mm wide Boxwood planks with a thickness of 0.6mm.

To maintain a reasonable overall scale thickness the underside is left plain but is sanded down and scribed with the planking.
The pre formed Walnut kit rim is somewhat over scale in terms of thickness 1.45mm against 0.5mm true scale (Steel gives the thickness at 1”.) The planking is cut away to receive the rim which then reduces it to better proportions.

The Tops planked and with the station timbers (battens) that radiate across the top fixed in place I have followed Steel but made slight adjustments to allow for the top sizes.
On the Fore and Main tops I have used 1.5mm wide strips and on the Mizen 1mm strips. These battens should taper down a little from the rim to the square hole. I have allowed myself a small simplification by not extending the battens across and rebated into the rim.
On the subject of the rim the kit plans indicate sixteen 1mm ø holes be drilled around the rim to take the crowsfeet. Steel shows 23 such holes in the plan for a 36 gun Frigate. I did check the drawings in the 20 gun ship Blandford where Peter Goodwin shows 24 holes in the Main top.
I have gone with 21 on the Fore and Main Tops and 15 on the Mizen.

Here the Fore top is secured on the Dividing head to drill the holes around the rim. The 0.5mm dia drill is held in a pin vise in the collet of the miller.
The crowsfeet were very fine lines ¾” circumference at full scale equating to 0.09mm ø at 1:64. The kit indicates using 0.1mm ø line which is fair enough but the 1mm ø holes are oversize.
If using 0.1mm line go for the smallest hole that the line fits thro’ 0.4mm ø will do it but 0.5mm ø allows for slightly easier threading.
One feature that Steel mentions are chocks for fixing swivel guns fitted each side of the tops with holes for the gun supports between the slots for the futtock plates.

Made from a bit of boxwood square section the swivel chocks are grooved on the underside to fit over the battens. A metal plate will fit over the top to take the swivel supports.
I have included them on the Fore and Main tops but they look a little too much on the much smaller Mizen top so I am undecided at the moment whether to fit them.
The next stage will involve cleaning up the tops and working out where the slots for the blocks beneath the tops are to be positioned. This has to be done in conjunction with the crosstrees.

 

Fitting the Trestletrees/ Crosstrees.
Starting with the Fore Mast
Something to consider...
Because I completed the mastheads with the bands and battens before adding the Trestletrees they would not fit over the mast head which means that they can’t be assembled together with the mast top before fixing to the masthead and cheeks/Bibs.
Soooo... the forward cross trees are glued to the trestletrees together with the chock and the assembly is then slid into position along the cheeks/bibs.
The aft crosstree is then glued into place. – well it is after a slight hiccup of one of the arms breaking off at the mortise.
Took a little fettlin’ to get the assembly to sit square on the cheeks/bibs, but got there in the end.

And set aside to dry overnight.

With the ‘trees’ all set the bolsters can be fixed and then attention can turn to the mast top.
At this point I need to digress to consider the rigging of the Main T’Gallant Stay.
The kit plan has this seized to the strop of the lead block for the Main Topmast stay which is secured around the Fore Topmast head. This is the method indicated by James Lees, and one that sorely tempted me.
From Steel:- THE MAIN-TOPGALLANT-STAY reeves through a block fastened to the fore-topmast-head, has a thimble turned in the end of the stay, and sets up to a thimble in a span, made fast to the trestle-trees of the fore-mast.
This is the method suggested and favoured by David Antscherl (Vol IV) and is also the method used by Longridge on his Victory.It is unfortunately the most complex method involving both serving and splicing the legs of the span around the Trestletrees with a thimble seized in the bight of the span. 0.4mm ø scale line is appropriate.
Ideally the span needs to be attached before the top is fixed to the trees, but at 1:64 scale the length of each arm of the span including the thimble is around 15mm, not much to do a lot of detailing.
A trial (and a small cheat) is called for to ensure no nasty surprises later.
I doubled some 0.15mm ø line before serving down to the point where it disappears between the bolsters and the top. With the thimble seized in the bight, the separate strands of each leg below the serving can be taken either side of the trestletree to be tied beneath.

 

Having done the span I’m not sure that the legs are long enough to clear the large 5mm block to be strapped around the masthead to take the lead for the Main Topmast stay, so it will have to be re-done.
Crucially using this method I will be able to get to attach it even with the mast Top fitted.

Still it gave me an opportunity to use my little serving machine courtesy of Shipahoy Models.
Sequence is everything in rigging, I can’t really fix the 5mm block until the shrouds are fitted as it will impede the passage of the shroud pairs over the masthead. I find that shrouds are more easily made up off the model and slipped over the head.
So both the Span for the Main T’Gallant, and the lead block for the Main topmast stay will be fitted later.
Back to the top.
Fixed temporarily in place the line of the cross trees can be marked to assist the drilling of the slots for the blocks. In positioning the slots the station timbers have to be borne in mind.

This exercise proved more than a little tiresome, quite difficult to get three holes per side let alone slots given the smallness of the tops; hanging them from eyebolts under the cross trees is a much less frustrating option. (but where would be the fun in that)

I console myself with the thought that once the strops are passed through the tops and the retaining pegs are in place any deficiency in the cleanness of the slots will be hidden. (well that’s my excuse)

Work will now continue to complete the Main and Mizen tops.

B.E.
 

[Blue Ensign]

The Mizen Top
The prime consideration with the Mizen top for the kit builder should only really be getting the angle right on the trestletrees so that the mast top sits parallel to the waterline rather than the rake of the mast.
If only... my progress has come to a grinding halt because of what looks like a scale error in the kit plans.
The provided trestle and crosstrees are the same section dimensions as the Main and fore, which effectively reduces the Lubber hole on the significantly smaller Mizen top to an almost non existent gap. The relationship between the size of the Mizen top to the other two looks very suspect.
The Steel dimensions for these are relative to the diameter of the Topmasts. The given Topmast diameter is 7¼” The depth of the trestletrees is ½ of the topmast diameter, and the thickness ⅔ of the depth.
From this we derive a scale thickness of 0.95mm. as opposed to 3mm as provided in the kit, but to simply reduce the width of the trestletrees would create problems with the pre cut notches.
Using the kit dimensions of 4mm dowel for the topmast would produce a 1.3mm thick trestletree.
I then looked at the size of the mast top. The dimensions simply don't relate to Steel. For instance the breadth of the top is given as ⅓ the length of the topmast. The topmast is 26' 9" ergo the breadth of the top should be 42.5mm @ 1:64 scale.
Applying this ratio to the kit plans we have a topmast length of 123mm (excl the pole head) ⅓ of which = 41mm., the kit provided top has a width of 33mm.
The next step was to re-draw the three tops by reference to Steel and this is the result.

The Mizen now looks in better proportion to the other two.
Fortunately in practice the provided Fore and Main tops are not that far out.

The undersize of the Mizen is plain to see and explains why there is effectively no lubbers hole with the kit arrangement, or for that matter space to fit the chocks for swivels on the Mizen.
I have checked several of the plans in my AotS collection and they all seem to conform to Steel.

The trestletrees and crosstrees obviously have to be adjusted but the top dimensions look a whole lot better to my eye.

 

I am now faced with the choice of either sticking with the kit part and perhaps tweaking it by reducing the thickness of the trestletrees where they show within the square hole, or scratching a replacement.
This is something I didn’t expect to be doing in a kit of this quality, but no matter how long I prevaricate I know that ultimately I won’t be able to live with the kit part. B.E.

[betamale]

Words do not cover my appreciation and the pleasure it is to see your log back is genuine. I will devour the new log as I did the old one. Well done pulling up your boot-straps and starting again. What must have gone through your mind in the last week can only be imagined.

[Blue Ensign]

Scratching a new Mizen Top.
Decision made, a new Mizen top it has to be.
I will keep the Fore and Main tops as they are not too far out on dimensions.
The trick is to make the Mizen match the other two as far as possible; it would be an opportunity to redress some of the detail on the new top, but not at the expense of making it stand out as too different from the other two.
So my approach is to make a copy of the original only of the correct proportions.
It is fairly easy to draft a new top, Steel is quite expansive on the subject of the dimensions.

I am using some 3mm boxwood sheet with the cut out plan glued to one side.

The square hole is cut out on the little miller.

 

The top side is planked with 0.6mm x 3.4mm boxwood strip.

This shot clearly shows the size difference between original and new.

The rims are added and the Futtock slots drilled out on the miller using a 1mm bit.

The Trestle/Crosstrees took longer to make than the top with the need for accurate cutting of slots, but the miller again made things a lot easier.

The basics completed, the next post will show the finished article.

B.E.

[amateur]

Thanks for the work!

Jan

[Blue Ensign]

Completing the Mizen Top - The final work on the mill.
The Crowsfeet holes around the rim are drilled, with the increased size of the top I have gone for 25 holes.

Because the top didn’t fit in the dividing head it was necessary to secure it thro’ the square hole and lightly hold it whilst drilling. Marker holes were also drilled for the aft rail stanchions.
 

The top prior to painting.

And painted.

Plenty of room thro’ the lubber hole for access.

A few shots of the masts in place.

 

Something that has been of slight concern to me has been the relationship between the respective heights of the Fore, Main and Mizen Tops.
Even tho’ I have followed the Steel dimensions, the Main top looked a little high in comparision to the Fore and Mizen.

I used the rigging plan in Vol IV (tffm) to strike a parallel between the respective heights of the top and masts caps of the three masts, and there was a scale difference between the plan and the model. I have reduced the length of the Main mast by 20mm, and it now looks better to my eye.

I think I made the Fore and Main caps a little too narrow, these will be remade.

 

The Mizen top now looks far better in relation to the other two.

B.E.

 

 

[Blue Ensign]

Re-visiting the Caps.
I was a little too enthusiastic in milling the width dimensions for the Fore and Main caps, so the overhang is insufficient to accommodate eyebolts fixed to the underside, and also looks feeble in relation to the topmast which it has to support.
This is what Steel has to say about cap dimensions
Main cap, in length, to be four times the diameter of the topmast, adding three inches. The breadth to be twice the diameter and two inches added, and the depth four-ninths the breadth.
Fore cap, in length, to be four times the diameter of its topmast, adding two inches. The breadth to be twice the diameter, adding one inch, and the depth four-ninths the breadth.
Mizen cap, in length, to be four times the diameter of its topmast, adding one inch. The breadth to be twice the diameter, and the depth four-ninths the breadth.

Relating this to Pegasus we have:-
Main mast Cap
Length; 4 x 6mm (dia of topmast) + 1mm = 25mm
Breadth: 2 x 6mm + 0.8mm = 12.8mm
Depth: 4/9th of 12.8mm = 5.68mm
I tweaked the Steel dimensions a fraction to suit my eye, so the final dimensions of the Main cap work out at.
Length: 22mm. Breadth; 12.5mm. Depth; 4.9mm
Fore Cap.
Length; 4 x 6mm + 0.8mm = 24.8mm
Breadth; 2 x 6mm + 0.4mm = 12.4mm
Depth; 4/9th of 12.4mm = 5.51mm.
On a practical level, on the model the caps are pretty much the same, the Fore cap is slightly smaller.
The main difficulty in making these caps lies in the forward hole for the mast. The square mortise for the masthead tenon is a doddle on the mill.
The mast hole takes a 6mm drill, too big to fit in my smaller drills so I have to rely on my cranky old bench drill with a much larger chuck.

After the pure joy of using the Proxxon Mill, this is going from the sublime to the Gorblimey. Even so having not been switched on for several years it grumbled into life and managed to stay centred for the short journey thro’ the cap.
 

Here’s the differences between the kit supplied cap, my first attempt, and the new enlarged cap.

In Place, here the Fore cap.

Now looks like it could hold the topmast against the rigours under sail.
Apart from a little light finishing the caps are now done.

Onto the spare topmasts.....

B.E.

[Blue Ensign]

Still fiddling with topmasts
There has always been a slight niggle in my mind about the varnish on the topmasts. I used a coloured water based varnish which took several coats to obtain the density of colour required, but gave an almost plasticky appearance to the mast, not perhaps so apparent in photos.

During handling and fitting of the cap some of the varnish was scuffed and peeled off.
So as I was about to colour the spare topmasts just completed I thought I would start again and the varnished sections of the completed topmasts have been stripped back to the bare wood.
I tried various methods of producing a finish that would satisfy my eye but couldn’t get there without excessive grain and flecking showing through.
So defeated I have reverted to paint, mixing up a shade using Humbrol enamels. 50% No 94 with 30% No 26, and 20% No 24. added.

So the spare topmasts are completed and fit neatly on the gallows, and the revised main topmast length, as per Steel, now allows the Fish Davit to cross the Foc’sle.

I decided to fit short pins on the underside of the masts to fit into the gallows top and recess of the Foc’sle rail. This arrangement allows for easy removal for the time when I need to work on the rigging, but otherwise keeps them secure.

 

Many of the Foc’sle modifications I have made can be seen here.

The spare masts have been fully detailed with the square and octagonal sections and the top rope sheaves are cut through.
Onto the T’Gallant masts.

B.E.
 

 

[Blue Ensign]

Topmast Caps and Trestletrees
I had the same issues with the topmast caps as I did with the lower caps; too narrow, too short, and too deep, so replacements were made from boxwood.

 

Brass etched eyelets have been used for the eyebolts beneath the cap.
Fortunately the kit Trestletrees/Crosstrees looked ok and it was a relief not to have to make replacements for these delicate items.

Need a little gentle cleaning up at this point before painting.
The only change I made was to drill sheaves in the aft end of the Fore topmast trestletrees to take the Main T’Gallant bowlines.

Bolsters were added which give a little greater stability to the fragile cross trees.

T’Gallant Masts.
It can be a little tricky working out the relative sizes of the T’gallant masts from Steel, not least because the mast finishes not in a head but a Pole mast. The Pole masts come in three sizes , stump, Common , and Long, and each as you may expect has a specific ratio to the mast.
The T’gallant excluding the polehead should be ½ the length of the respective Topmast, but measured from where to where? From the block to the masthead, or to the stop of the hounds.
Looking at the mast plan drawings provided by Steel for a 36 gun Frigate, it is possible to work it out by a process of elimination.
The topmast is measured from the base of the heeling (excluding the block) to the stop of the hounds. Half of this length is the length of the T’Gallant mast from the heeling to the stop of the hounds.
I have decided upon a Common Polehead which is7/18ths of the T’gallant mast measured from the heeling to the stop of the hounds.
There are three sets of sheaves to be cut thro’ the T’Gallant hounds and Pole head.

This is best done with the mast in full square section. A 0.6mm bit is used.

For additional strength with such fine masts I have used Beech 4mm square section. The mast was then turned in its entirety including the Square heeling,octagonal hounds, and common pole head.

The trucks are made separately and will be fitted later.
A little more cleaning up and painting and the masts at long last will be completed.

 

B.E.

 

 

[Blue Ensign]

Having no truck with the trucks
One teeny item that has bugged me a little are the trucks at the mast head. The kit provided items are walnut discs with a hole in the centre, something like the trucks off a gun carriage.

I modified these by sticking them to some 1.5mm boxwood which was shaped around the disc.

The sheaves for the Flag halyards were drilled using a 0.4mm drill.

Under high magnification they look like bread baps that weevils have gotton to but they look ok at their true size of less than 5mm.
The result is a truck with a little more shape and an arrangement that allows threading of the halyard.
Masts – all but done at last

 

 

The mast caps will be painted once the masts are in place, but won’t be fixed until the shrouds are over the heads.

Similarly the cleats for the jeers will be fixed to the masthead once the shrouds are in place.

Topmast heads.

All assembled.

 

The masts won’t be put into place until I have made all the yards and done a final check of anything I need to attend to on the decks.

 

B.E.

 

 

 

 

[Blue Ensign]

Moving onto the Lower Yards.
As with the masts my first task is to check the kit given dimensions against Steel, and make my own drawing for the yards. When I say drawings I don’t mean those wonderful computer based drawings, for me a pencil, ruler, and graph paper has to suffice.
As a general observation I find many kit spars over heavy and those of Pegasus also need a little slimming down.
I will start with the Main yard as all others relate to it. The Main yard itself is a given proportion of the Mainmast in length (8/9ths)
The main yard is given by Steel as 55’ with a 12¼” ø.This equates to 262mm at scale with 4.86mm ø. The kit dimensions are 270mm with a 6mm ø, not too far out as it happens.
I shall be using 5mm square stock and because the yards are to be blackened my choice of timber is a little greater.
For these spars I am going with Walnut and hopefully will get a clean octagonal central section.
I thought about using the mill to form the eight square section but in the end decided to go with the ‘V’ jig and mini plane using the 7.10.7 system of marking. This gives 1.45mm divisions in from each face edge. 1.5mm is close enough.

I started with a test piece before committing to the full length spar.

A mini plane is used to form the eight sided section that extend from the centre of the yard one quarter along each side.

The shape is finished and the octagon has fairly well defined sides, better than I can achieve with softer woods like limewood.
There is also better rigidity, don’t want any flex in the yards.

The mini plane is then used to both taper and form the round on the remaining length of the spar before turning it on the lathe.
 

I find my Proxxon Wood lathe very useful but if it has one drawback it is the restriction on the working length it can accommodate.

Fine for most jobs but by the addition of a spare lathe bed the length can be extended to around 30”

The overall length of the baseboard is 36”.

The yellow tape marks the working length of the basic unit; here the tailstock is moved back onto the extension to take the Pegasus Main yard which is 262mm plus holding pieces either end.
The majority of turning will be done on much shorter lengths so for convenience the lathe will be re-fixed on its original base board for most of the time.
So the task of producing the ten spars begins............

B.E.

 

 

[Blue Ensign]

Not much to say about the Fore yard, same as the Main yard but 7/8th of the length which gives a scale length of 230mm. The kit by comparison is shorter at 217mm = 45.56’ (Steel 48.5’)
The Cro’jack yard according to Steel is 35’ = to a scale 166mm with a diameter of 71/8th” = to 2.82mm. The kit gives a length of 155mm using 6mm diameter dowel.
According to Lees between 1745-1830 the yard was sixteen squared for a quarter of the length.
Steel says
Topgallant-yards, royal-yards, cross-jack-yards, mizen-yards, sprit and sprit-topsail yards, studding-sail and driver yards, are trimmed eight-square, sixteen-square, and then rounded, and planed fair and smooth from end to end throughout the length.
The kit plans show the Cro’jack eight squared for the first quarters.
I am using 4mm square section and will adopt the sixteen square central section. With 4mm square stock marking the sections using the 7.10.7 rule goes out of the window and the eight square followed by sixteen square is done by eye. Even so I found it very difficult to get a clean sixteen side cut on a 4mm square section
So with the basic yards made, before I start to add the detail I need to check that the proportions look right on the model.
A metal pin is temporarily inserted in the aft face of the yard to both hold the yard whilst painting and to check the fit on the masts.

The eight square section on the Main yard.

The Fore yard; I can see the eight square needs a little more faying into the arms.

 

 

The proportions look ok to my eye so I can now move onto the yard fittings.

Completing the lower yards.
In conjunction with making and tapering the lower yards, other attachments need to be borne in mind.
Sling Cleats
This is what Steel has to say.
CLEATING OF YARDS. The sling-cleats, nailed on the foreside of main and fore yards, are once and a quarter the diameter of the yard in length, with a shoulder one-third its length. The breadth one-fourth the length. The thickness two-thirds the breadth, and nailed once the diameter on each side the slings. They are made of elm.
 

I made mine from boxwood strip milled to the correct thickness and then finished by hand using a scalpel.

The gap between the shoulders of the cleats is 3mm scale each side of the yard centre.

Sling cleats are appropriate for the Fore and Main Yards but contrary to what is shown on the kit plans the Cross- jack yard has Stop Cleats.

Cross-jack-yards have stop-cleats nailed on the foreside of the yard half the diameter on each side the slings. Those at the arms one inch and a half within their outer ends to every yard in length, and nailed on the fore and after sides. (Steel)

The Three lower yards in the raw.
The stop cleats at the yard arms are pretty much as shown on the kit plans.

The Stunsail yard brackets, or straps as they are more properly called. Parts 183/184 provided with the kit extend some 4½ scale feet along the yard (22mm) which is way too long. I couldn’t see any mention of shortening them in the blurb but the plans show these as 10mm in length each side, which is more in keeping with the given ratio indicated by Steel. one inch and a quarter in length to every three feet of the yard This equals 9mm on my yards.
The binding straps are strips of self adhesive Vinyl lining tape.
The basic yards finished.

 

There are other attachments yet to do but these will come later.

B.E.

 

[Blue Ensign]

Footrope Stirrups
Brass etch is provided for the stirrups which are intended to fit into holes drilled along the underside of the yard at the appropriate intervals.
These are a convenient and effective way to represent the stirrups and allow for the easy positioning of the footropes ... but they are a simplification. In practice the stirrups made of served rope were wrapped around and nailed to the top of the yard, and allowed to hang below the back of the yard by around three feet.
I have previously used line for the stirrups stiffened with wallpaper paste but the main issue is getting a neat eye splice thro’ which to feed the footrope.
Before I progress further I intend to do a bit of trialling with the etched versions by applying a serving using 0.1mm line, and attaching to the yard by bending the insert pin 90 degrees and fixing in the back of the yard.
Footrope trials 
This is my attempt to improve the look of the brass etch stirrups used to carry the footropes (horses) The stirrups should be of 0.45mm dia line and the horses 0.32mm dia line. 0.5mm is suggested by the kit for the horses.
My first modification is to fix the stirrups to hang behind the yard rather than beneath it. This is a source of some irritation to me, how would the crew man the yards if the foothold was directly beneath the yard and they had to lean over the yard..

This is achieved by the simple expediency of bending the fixing pin 90 degrees, fitting in a hole in the aft side of the yard.
The next stage is to serve the brass stirrup to give the appearance of rope. I used 0.1mm Morope.

A small height gauge is used to mark the length of the next stirrup.
Even allowing for the fact that I have only roughly done the serving it quickly became apparent that the end result would not be satisfactory, far too heavy with a dia of nearly 1mm. A further complication was that the eye of the stirrup would need enlarging to allow for serving otherwise the eye was closed up by the line.
The decision is quickly made not to use the etched stirrups, but they will come in for stanchions perhaps.
The etched stirrups at 13mm should be about the right length for scale (32¾”) yet to my eye they seemed to hang too low both in the actual and on the plans.
I sent my Topman up to check the arrangement and he was rather left hanging.

Tom is a good scale height at about 5’ 7” and I think the stirrup length will stand a slight reduction of a few mm to allow Tom a foothold.

Revealed in all its glory, my very Heath Robinson yard support.

Ugly, quick to make, even quicker to dispose of, yet surprisingly effective.
 

I will now revert to my original method of using stiffened line for the stirrups and work out an approach for the eyes. At scale these will be pretty small which may rule out thimbles but eye splices or false eye splices in my case are an acceptable alternative.
Onto Plan B.
This is what Steel has to say:
HORSES go over the yard-arms with an eye in their outer ends, and stop against the cleats, and hang about three feet below the yard. To keep the horse more parallel to the yard, it is suspended, at proper distances, by ropes, called stirrups, that have thimbles or eyes spliced in their lower ends, through which the horses pass; they are four on each side, and hang three feet below the yard, and the upper ends are opened, plaited, and fastened to the yard with three round turns and nails. The inner ends of the horses have a thimble turned in, with a throat and round seizing; they lash to the yard, on the opposite side of the cleats, with a laniard that passes round the yard and through the thimble.

The revised trial uses line for both the stirrups and horses.
Here I am using 0.5mm Amati line for the stirrups.
A false eyesplice is firstly made in the end.

As the splice is made a section of brass rod is inserted thro’ the hole to keep it open.
The outer first stirrup is fitted with the line wrapped three time around the yard and sealed with pva

The second inner stirrup is fitted with a bar through the two eyes to check the levels and the stirrups are then painted with diluted wallpaper glue to impart the necessary stiffness.

Once dry the footropes can be threaded thro’ and positioned.
The acid test... can Tom maintain a foothold.

 

Yes he can.
I’ve always left the stirrups and footropes ‘untarred’ on my builds but according to David Antscherl (Vol IV) both were of tarred line.

To gauge the look I blackened the line using Dark Jacobean wood dye which is my usual method.
The jury is still out on this for me at present as I’ve been unable to find clear photos on contemporary models or clear source information.
 

I did however find an interesting comment in 18th Century Rigs and Rigging (Marquardt) regarding the Stirrups.
To maintain an equal distance of about 3 feet from the Upper side of the yard (Falconer mentioned 2 feet below) each horse ran through two or three stirrups....
This makes much more sense to me and certainly fits in with my arrangement above which work out at a scale 25” below the yard and 37” from the top line of the yard.

The difference compared to the plan drawings can be seen above.

So method tested and trial over for me.
I will be using line with ‘false’ eye splices for the stirrups.
The drop as above will be less than indicated on the kit plans.
Not yet decided about the colour, but that can wait.
Now I’m happy with how to go about it I will return to making Topsail yards.

B.E.

 

[Blue Ensign]

Driver Boom or no Driver Boom?
Well it all depends....
David Antscherl states that the Driver boom didn’t appear until around 1790, and uses the contemporary model of the Atalanta 1775, which only carries a Gaff, to support this view.
I can’t find any confirmation in Lees about the introduction of the Driver Boom, but a table in his book called 1773 establishment Admiral Penrose’s manuscript. For a 14 gun sloop shows only a Mizen Gaff.
The kit plans include both Gaff and Driver, but of course Fly whose operational career exceeded that of Pegasus by some twenty-six years may well have had a Driver Boom fitted at some time during her life.
So for my Pegasus there will only be a Mizen Gaff.
Now to size:-
The kit Driver Gaff is 115mm including the jaws which equates to 24.1’
The suggested 4mm diameter dowel is way over scale equating to a 10” ø spar.
The 1:48 scale drawing of the Gaff (Vol IV fffm) scaled up = 28.75’
The Penrose Table gives the size as L = 23’ 10” dia 6⅝”
Lees gives the proportional length of the driver boom as same length as the main topsail yard with a diameter of ⅝” per 3’ in length.
The gaff being ⅝ the length of the driver boom.
This equates to 24.7’ with a ø of 5.1”
Steel writing in 1794 lists a Driver Boom with a given length of 39’ 6” with a ø of 7⅛” The gaff is given as 22’ but under the ⅝ rule should be 24.7’
I have decided on a 24’ Gaff scaling to 114mm, with a ø of 2.62mm.
The construction
The tricky part of Gaff making are the jaws; the kit does provide them out of walnut ply (part112) but there were certain simplifications and scale issues that necessitated a scratch replacement.

I made replacement jaws out of a bit of boxwood. The scarphs have yet to be tapered and fined down at this point.

The gaff requires a taper towards the inner end to take the scarph of the jaws, 19mm at scale, and a sheave cut into the outer end. A bevelling is also required on the inner face of the jaws to allow for the topping of the Gaff.

The Gaff was made using 3mm Walnut dowel. Note the greater length of the scarph for the jaws.

Once the jaws have been fixed in place the scarphs can be fine tuned and the iron bands affixed.
These are self adhesive vinyl lining strips.

The Gaff is completed by the addition of an eyebolt and Ferrule in the outer end and an eyebolt atop the jaws for the throat halyard.
A trial fit to the mast.

I like to go over the iron bands with a black/grey mix so they stand out a little from the black painted spar.

Needs a little more shaping out of the Gaff jaws to fit around the mast.
 

Contrary to the kit plans the holes to take the parral line should be set in the outer faces of the jaws not the top as shown. The inner face of the jaws are grooved to take the line.

I’m fairly satisfied with the overall look for length and scale, back to the Topsail Yards.

B.E.

 

 

[Blue Ensign]

Topsail Yards
Here’s what Steel has to say:-
Topsail-yards, being trimmed sixteen-square, are rounded, and planed smooth and fair from the first quarter on each side the middle to their outer ends, and a sheave-hole cut from the upperside, its length within each outer end, for the reef-tackles. In some merchant-ships, holes are cut within the cleats, for the topgallant-sheets, but it is better avoided, as it weakens the yard-arms.
Topsail-yards have stop-cleats nailed on the foreside of the yard, once the diameter on each side the slings. Those within the arms, on the fore and after sides of the main and fore topsail yards, three inches to every yard in the length, and mizen topsail yards two inches and a quarter within their outer ends, or arms.
Lengths

Main-topsail-yard,
5/7 of the main-yard. 39’ 6” = 188mm 8¼” dia = 3.27mm
Fore-topsail-yard,
7/8 of the main-topsail-yard. 35’ = 166.7mm 7⅛”dia = 2.82mm
Mizen-topsail-yard,
2/3 the main-topsail-yard. 26’ 4” = 125.4mm 5½” dia = 2.18mm

Kit dimensions
Main Topsail L = 183mm (-5mm) dia 6mm
Fore Topsail L = 164mm (-2.7mm) dia 6mm
Mizen Topsail L =127mm (+1.5mm) dia 4mm

I will be using 4mm Walnut square stock for the Fore and Main Topsail yards, and 3mm for the Mizen.

Detail variations from the kit Plan.
Stop cleats rather than sling cleats
Sheave holes in yard arms for reef tackles,
The first job after marking out the position is to mill the slots for the *sheaves and drill through the square section. It has to be done at this stage as it would be far more difficult, if not impossible, once the yard is tapered and rounded towards to the arms.

* David Antscherl indicates additional sheaves in the Topsail yards for the T’gallant sheets and clues(Vol IV p122) but Steel whilst indicating outer sheaves for the reef tackles, differs in opinion regarding the inner sheaves.
In some merchant-ships, holes are cut within the cleats, for the topgallant-sheets, but it is better avoided, as it weakens the yard-arms.
Sheaves are not shown in the drawings of the yards in Steel’s work.
Having started to cut the inner sheave I changed my mind and filled it in.
The next stage is the usual cutting of the mid section eight square.
This is done by eye as there is little point trying to mark the sections on 4mm square stuff given the thickness of even a fine pencil lead.

The Mizen Topsail yard is made out of 3mm square stock, getting pretty fine now. A new ‘V’ jig is required for this smaller section stuff. Sorry about the state of it but I use any old bit of stuff lying around for jigs.
The white plasti-card strip with the yellow tape is an earlier jig to get the shape of the gangplanks against the waist rail.

One of the knock on effects of reducing the scale size is that the etched Stuns’lyard straps for the Topsail yards are now too large. The face ring had to be detached from the straps and filed down after sticking to the yard arm, the straps were then added.
Not 100% sure about these at the moment, reducing the scale of the yards maybe makes the straps look over scale. I may have to re-think this.

An idea of the difference between the 'as made', Main Topsail yard and the kit plan can be seen in this shot.

The final additions to the Topsail yards are the stop cleats at the slings and yardarms. These are quite small at scale measuring only 4mm x 2mm x1mm. I cut them over- scale, glued them to the yard with pva and then pared and shaped them on the yard.
Next up the Spritsail yards and T’gallants.......
Spritsail Yard.
From Steel:-
Length of Spritsail-yard, the same as the fore-topsail-yard. (166mm at scale) Diameter of Spritsail-yard, the same diameter as the fore-topsail-yard. (4mm dowel)
Sprit and sprit-topsail yards have stop-cleats nailed on their undersides; the spritsail-yard once the diameter on each side the slings; the sprit-topsail-yard half the diameter on each side: those at the arms one inch and a half within their outer ends, to every yard in the length; and they nail on the fore and after sides, contrary to those at the slings.

Spritsail and Sprit- topsail yards.
I made the spritsail yard from 4mm Walnut dowel, it is 14mm shorter than the kit plan. The only comment I would make about the kit plan is that it shows the sling cleats horizontal to the Bowsprit, when according to Steel they should be below the spar. I also used stop cleats as per the Topsail yards.
The arrangement for the Spritsail Topsail is similar; it is the same size as the Fore T’gallant yard and at 105mm is 10.5mm shorter than the kit plan.
Steel suggest that eyebolts and ferrules are attached to the yard arms. Lees omits them. I’m undecided at present.
Fore and Main T’ gallant Yards
From Steel:-
Topgallant-yards, royal-yards, cross-jack-yards, mizen-yards, sprit and sprit-topsail yards, studding-sail and driver yards, are trimmed eight-square, sixteen-square, and then rounded, and planed fair and smooth from end to end throughout the length.
Topgallant yards, main and fore, mizen yards, sprit and sprit-topsail yards, have their arms fitted with a ferrule-hoop, and sprig-eye-bolts, as the topsail yards.

Main and Fore T’gallant yards
I used 3mm walnut dowel for these yards. The Fore T’gallant is 11mm shorter than the kit plan but the Main T’gallant is the same length.
It is interesting that David Antscherl indicate that the T’gallant yards were eight square for the centre portion of the yards where as Steel indicates that they were rounded from end to end. Lees also indicates that the yards were eight squared by reference to being the same as the Topsail yards in construction.
On this occasion I have gone with Steel not least because eight squaring 3mm stuff is a tad tricky.

Bar clamps are a useful tool to hold yards for painting.
So the basic yards are complete.
Here’s the full mast and yard set.

 

 

It has taken seven months to do this part of the build and I’m not really finished yet. There are the Studding booms to make and all the fittings to be added to the yards.

 

B.E.

 

[Blue Ensign]

Studding booms.
I thought I had these terms clear in my mind but when I came to check my various references I found the terms used a little confusing.
Steel refers to: lower Studding booms, Main and Fore top booms, and Main and Fore T’gallant booms.
David Antscherl refers to Fore and Main studding sail booms (Vol 11 12.3) and to the Lower yard studding sail booms and Upper studding sail booms (Vol 1V)
The given dimensions are:
Main and Fore Lower Booms (fit on Channels and Hull)
L=30’ 6” with a ø of 6” at scale =145.24mm. ø 2.38mm

The Main topmast booms (fit on the Main lower yard)
L = 27’ ø 5⅞” at scale =128.5mm. ø 2.33mm

Fore topmast boom (fit on the Foreyard)
L= 24’ 2” ø 5” at scale= 115mm. ø 1.98mm

The Main T’gallant boom (fit on the Topsail yard)
L= 19’ 9” ø 4” at scale = 94mm. ø 1.6mm

The Fore T’gallant boom (fit on the Fore topsail yard)
L =17’ 6” ø 3½” at scale= 83.34mm. ø 1.4mm

From Steel:
PROPORTIONAL LENGTHS OF BOOMS.
Lower studding-sail booms, 5/9 of the main-yard.
Top studding-sail booms, 1/2 the length of the yards they go on.

PROPORTIONAL DIAMETERS OF BOOMS.
Studding-sail booms, one inch to every five feet in the length.
Qtrs 1. 2. 3. 4.
40/41 11/12 5/6 2/3
I intend to have the Yard booms a natural finish to contrast with the blackened yards and have used Ramin dowel for the purpose.

I couldn’t quite get my head around the proportions given on kit plans but they seemed a little short in length and over-scale with no differential between the booms on the lower and Topsail yards as far as diameter is concerned.

The kit doesn’t include the Lower Studding booms which fit along the Channel line, but a view could be taken that the studding sails were set flying on a small vessel such as a sloop, and were rigged without booms.

The lower studding booms hook onto the Channels, or in the case of the Fore boom into an eyebolt just forward of the channels.

According to David Antscherl the Fore studding boom was kept inboard when not in use. Quite where these 30’ booms would have been kept is debatable; lashed to the spare masts on the gallows, or secured along the waist rail perhaps.

When it came to making the booms that fitted on the Fore topsail yard the dimension were quite fine with an inner ø of 1.4mm and outer of 0.9mm.

Great care and a soft touch was required to taper to these diameters, and it took four goes to make the two booms. The other sizes presented no problems at all.
I couldn’t quite make my mind up about the colouring of the lower booms, black, or natural to match the yard equivalents. I made a couple of mock ups to check the effect....

 

On balance I decided to go with natural, but it’s not set in stone and the colour can be easily changed.

So here is the completed set.

The lower booms have a ferrule and hook attached to the inner end.
The yard booms.

Note the relative fineness of the booms to their respective yards.

I used Ronseal Medium Oak brushing wax to colour the booms.

One consequence of re-scaling the yards and booms is that the provided brass etched Stunsail boom brackets and rings will be too large and will have to be modified (if possible) or scratched replacements made.

I will look at these next.

Stunsail boom brackets and rings
Things to consider about boom irons.
The inner boom ring was set 1/3rd of the length of the boom in from the end of the yard.
The kit provides a continuous ring to slide over the yard but in practice these were half rings bolted to the yard at an angle of 45⁰ between the yard top and foreside. On my build anyway they will have to be cut to fit the reduced size spars.
The outer boom rings at the yard arms are of a heavier gauge etch and it was obvious that they are way oversize partly due to my meddling with the scale of the yards. They have a diameter in the clear of 3.3mm. Breadth 1.26mm. and Thickness 0.7mm with no adjustment for the differences between lower and topsail yards.
How does this compare with the Steel proportions at 1:64 scale.
Main topmast booms :- Hole diameter 2.5mm Breadth 0.93mm thickness 0.25mm.
Main T’gallant boom :- Hole diameter 1.6mm Breadth 0.60mm thickness 0.25mm.
Fore topmast booms :- Hole diameter 2.0mm Breadth 0.75mm thickness 0.25mm
Fore T’gallant boom :- Hole diameter 1.4mm Breadth 0.50mm thickness 0.25mm.
Boom ring trials
I always look for the simplest way to replicate what I want whilst achieving a result which is satisfactory to my eye.
For the purpose of this exercise I will be using styrene tubing, and the now surplus brass etch footrope stirrups, although flattened brass wire would do as well.
The tube is drilled and a trimmed stirrup is ca’d in the hole.

 

A slice is cut off and filed down to the correct thickness. I use double sided tape to hold the ring in position.

The completed yard set. Two sizes of styrene tubing were used and the holes filed to allow passage of the booms.

The relative sizes of the revised boom rings against the provided brass etch items either end.

The brass etch inner boom rings are a better size needing only minor adjustment of the boom ring to fit. The yard ring will be cut to suit the yard diameter.
This is as far as I can go at present with the outer boom rings until I come to fit them; at which point I can determine where the crank in the stem needs to be made.

B.E.

 

[Mirabell61]

wonderful log recovery work B.E.,

 

it was very wise to save all those picture files.....

 

Nils

[Blue Ensign]

Block stropping - an exercise in frustration
Over the past few days I have started to work out a strategy for stropping the various blocks; how close I can get to actual practice given the scale, how practical is serving on certain strops, and how feasible it is to form eyes and seizings to strops given the scale constraints involved.
In my view there is little point in following actual practice if the end result looks lumpy and out of scale. My prime consideration will be to achieve a neat appearance and as far as possible give a nod to authenticity.
Starting with the Main yard I will be using Syren boxwood blocks, and maybe some of JBs pearwood blocks where the size better suits.
The Jeer Block.
At 20” this is the largest block on the yard and a good place to start. The block scales to 7.93mm but the largest Syren produce are 6mm, so I will be going for JB 7mm Pearwood.

This block is double stropped with served line, a long and short leg, and a seizing between the two eyes.
The trial strop here is made from 0.5mm line spliced into a loop of 45mm calculated length.

The tricky part is getting the right length of legs to fit around the yard centre, and this is the purpose of this particular exercise.

This is my third attempt to work out the optimum length; getting closer but the eyes are still too close together, there needs to be a definable seizing between the two to make the effort worthwhile.
I will now progress to remaking the strop a little shorter and using served line.
I have calculated that 80mm of served line formed into a 40mm loop may do the trick leaving a credible space between the eyes to form the lashing on the front of the yard.
I had originally intended to use 0.5mm dia line for the strop but with the addition of serving thought it may look too bulky especially around the eyes, so I will now use 0.25mm line served with 0.1mm line.
The line is Amati natural thread dyed to my less than black colour.

The line is served, the length required is marked by a piece of cotton.

With the process completed there are two ends of unserved line.

Using a needle these were crossed passing thro’ the served ends and drawn together to form the ‘false’ splice which was then sealed with pva and trimmed off.

The block is then stropped using pva to secure the line and the process begins to fit the lanyard between the eyes using a needle to assist.

Another mm in length of the strop would have allowed a slight increase in the length of the short leg which would have been better but once trimmed it doesn’t look too bad.

Using line greater than 0.25mm +0.1mm serving would I think have made the seizing to the yard too bulky.

Having satisfied myself the method albeit very fiddly, works, I will now try to improve the technique for fitting the Fore Jeer block, which may of course result in my re-visiting this one.
I will have plenty of opportunity to practice Jeer stropping there are six to do in total.
Quarter Blocks
14” Quarter blocks – scale to 5.5mm blocks. I have used 5mm JB Pearwood Blocks for the purpose.

The Quarter Blocks hang within the slings below the Jeer Block.

For the Quarter block strops which are served, there is less than 5mm in which to form two eye splices and a seizing between, much of which is hidden behind the slings. Having faffed around for some time I came to the conclusion that forming eye splices with a seizing between was not going to work (for me) but serving the strops was doable and I used 0.25mm Ø Amati thread served with 0.1mm thread.

The sytem I used was to serve sufficient line to carry the strop around and over the yard, but with sufficient unserved line left each end to secure the strop with a small knot behind the yard pulling the two ends of the served line together.
As with the Jeer Block the trick with this method is to judge how long the served line should be and how long each leg of the strop should be so the knot appears in the most unobtrusive place behind the yard.
For my yard it worked out at 38mm of served line to strop the block and secure around the yard.

Moving outwards the 9” clue blocks are next; these scale to 3.57mm. I have gone here with Syren 5/32” single boxwood. These are a little overscale but I want to maintain a visual difference between these and the slightly smaller bunt and leechline blocks.

These should also have served strops with eyes but given the small scale I have forgone the pleasure of attempting this and simply used 0.25mm line for the strops.
In my mind I’m now starting to establish my parameters for block stropping.
Blocks 5mm size and over - strops will be served, eyes and lashings attempted.
Blocks of 4mm size - strops may be served depending on my mood.
Blocks below 4mm size - I don’t think I’ll bother.
Moving out along the yard the Bunt (8”) and Leechline (7”) blocks are required next.

For these I have gone with 3mm pearwood blocks.

Note: The kit plan include only the buntline blocks.
The smallest blocks along the yard are the 6” Tricing line blocks which scale to 2.38mm.
That completes the first run of block stropping and yard attachment, quite a slow business.
Before any more blocks are attached I need to fit the stirrups and add the horses as these go over the yardarms first before the yard tackle and brace pendants, and sheet Blocks.
The Main yard will serve as an example of yard rigging on my Pegasus but I won’t bore you with endless repetition of blocking all the yards, unlike myself who will have to go thro’ the tedium of each and everyone.

My young apprentice William is completely bored with the whole procedure already and rather wishes we were doing something else.!

B.E.
 

 

[Moonbug]

Thank you, thank you, thank you for doing this.

 

Like most here, I'm heartbroken that it was necessary, but with the Peg on my shelf I couldn't be more grateful. As it has been said many times, your build is the gold standard for this kit and modifying it.

 

 

[DBorgens]

BE

Thank you, thank you, thank you! You log was a joy to read and we will use and enjoy this rebuild. I hope to use many of your tips and improvements. We are happy with the return of the standard for Pegasus and for build logs in general.

 

Keep up the great work, we are cheering from the bleachers.

 

[Charlie1805]

Hello B.E.

Thanks for the great review. Wonderful work. I would be glad if I had already. Thank you

 

 

Greetings Charlie

[Blue Ensign]

Footropes and stirrups
I had trialled my system earlier in the build so I had the basics to go on.
The Stirrups are of 3½” (0.5mm Ø) line and the Horses of 2½” (0.3mm Ø) Line.
After forming the eye with a false splice the process of stirrup fitting is begun by winding three times around the yard.

A short length of wood strip is used as a gauge to determine the drop of the stirrup.

The line is adjusted for length, a piece of brass tubing keeps the eye open. PVA is used to fix the line to the yard.

With one stirrup secured a longer piece of tubing is passed thro’ the eyes of both stirrups and the second one is fitted and adjusted for length to match the first.

Before final gluing to the yard my resident Topman has to check that the drop is fit for purpose.

The tortuous paraphernalia of Footrope rigging is revealed.

With the first two stirrups secured a longer length of tubing is passed thro’ the eyes of the stirrups on the other side to assist gauging the correct drop.
Once all secured the stirrups are painted with diluted wallpaper paste to impart a stiffness, they will now be left overnight.
The next stage will be final trimming and fitting of the Footropes (horses)

B.E.

 

[Blue Ensign]

The Horses (Footropes)
With the stirrups completed the horses can now be attached.

I checked out the procedure on my test yard to get a feel for the job before committing to the actual yard.
Then onto the real thing.

On the outer end the horses are eye-spliced over the yardarm against the stops. For this I use the false splice which is quick and effective.

The line is then passed thro’ the stirrup eyes to be fastened against the slings on the opposite side. The Port and Starboard horses cross each other in the centre.
According to Lees after 1760 a thimble was seized in the inner end of the horse and a lashing was used to attach it to the yard.
The ffm Vol IV indicates an eye splice around the yard just outside the slings and I eagerly adopt this simpler option.

After feeding the line thro’ the stirrups the trick is to get the line length right to allow a little sag in the horses. This is achieved by painting the line with diluted wallpaper paste and using bits of wire to create the sag.
The completed arrangement.

 

 

 

A final check by old Tom, and we’re good to go.

 

 

 

B.E.

[Blue Ensign]

Fiddling with Fiddle blocks
I thought I would have a go at making Long Tackle Blocks for the Yard tackle pendants, a feature not included with the kit.
The block is 15” scaling to 6mm. and I will be using an old boxwood rule for the purpose.
As there are only four units I will be drawing and shaping them by hand. but with a little help from the mill.

The pattern is drawn on the surface and milled to the required width.

The sheave holes are drilled.

The shape is part made whilst on the stick using a scalpel blade and finished off with files and sanding sticks. They will finally be thinned down by rubbing across fine sandpaper.
The pendant is of 4½” served line (0.5mm dia) and the falls of 2½” line scaling to 0.3mm dia.
The length of the pendant including the stropping and eye splicing is 62mm.

I found served true scale line too heavy for the block so I reduced it to 0.25mm line served with 0.1mm line which better suits my eye.

To make the pendant the line was served the required length with a good amount of unserved line either end. The ‘false’ splice method described earlier was used to strop the block, and similarly to make the eye to fit around the yardarm.
I have found by trial and error that as the line serving progresses a wipe of pva along the line helps to keep the serving tight and stops it unravelling or becoming loose.

This is a test piece but having worked out the method I am happy to proceed.

Amati do provide fiddle blocks for other rigging purposes.

On the left fiddle block supplied in the Pegasus kit; they are ok but are far too thick, need sanding down each side to give them a better proportion. On the right, 7mm Pearwood blocks supplied by:-
http://clasicmodel.com/shop/
These are of the right thickness and are properly milled for the sheaves but they sent me the wrong ones, these are the stained version, too dark for my purposes.

B.E.

 

[Blue Ensign]

Rigging Attachments for the Bowsprit.
Having worked out my strategy for the yard attachments, I feel like a change so I am now returning to do a bit of work on the Bowsprit by attaching the rigging fittings. It will be nice to get Pegasus out of its case and get up close to her again.
I am starting with the Forestay and Fore Preventer stay collars which require Open hearts.
Forestay Collar 13” Open heart (5.5mm) 5” line (0.63mm dia)
Fore Prev stay Collar 10” Open heart (3.96mm) 4” line (0.5mm dia)
Unfortunately Amati have not seen fit to provide open hearts which should really be used for the purpose of allowing the Jib boom to slide down the bowsprit.
As far as closed hearts are concerned Amati have seen fit to adopt a one size fits all policy and have supplied 6mm closed hearts only, ok for the Main stays but a tad large particularly for the other Bowsprit fittings.
Hearts for the forestays were made using boxwood cut on the little miller and finished by hand.

The scale pattern is drawn and pva’d to the boxwood.

Outline cut to shape.

A 0.6mm bit was used to make the grooves around the hearts and 1.0mm and 0.8mm bits to cut the slots on the inside of the arms for the seizings.

The centre is removed.

With the heart parted from the strip the top is rounded and continuation of the grooves are cut.

 

The finished Fore stay collar heart.

With the smaller Fore Preventer stay collar heart.

Next up Closed Hearts.

B.E.

[Blue Ensign]

Moving on to the closed hearts, the first consideration are the hearts for the bobstay and Bowsprit shroud collars.
Heart sizes according to Steel.
Inner Bobstay collar 6” closed heart (2.5mm)
5” circ line(0.63mm dia)
Bowsprit Shrouds 6” closed heart (2.5mm) 3½” line (0.44mm dia )
These should be far smaller than the kit provided items, leaving little option but to make them. Fortunately there are only eight hearts to make. These were all done by hand out of boxwood strip, after abortive efforts trying to make them on the Mill.

This is the ensemble of tools used for the purpose.

Small holes drilled in triangular pattern, the outline heart drawn on, the hole cut out with a scalpel and enlarged using a triangular shaped needle file.

One side of the heart cut and filed to shape, the piece then removed and shaped whilst secured on the needle file.

The groove around the edge marked with a micro saw cut and enlarged with the sharp edge of a needle file.

The completed set took three or four hours to make. Also included here are a couple of the 6mm kit provided hearts for a size comparison. The boxwood versions are 3.5mm. These will be fettled a little more before use.

One final tip on Closed hearts, those triangular deadeyes for 17th century ships can be converted easily to hearts.

Removing the centres along the line of the holes and you have a heart. These are Mantua boxwood deadeyes but only supplied in 5mm and 10mm sizes. (These are the 5mm versions) Still a useful option.

I can now begin attachment of the collars.

B.E.

 

[Blue Ensign]

Fitting out the Bowsprit.
This is the first build where I am paying proper attention to the finer points of rigging, as in stropping, seizing, and serving.
Starting with the inner and outer bobstay collars, served scale line of 0.63mm ø is required. I will be using 0.5mm line served with 0.1mm line.
The first task is to work out the o/a length of the strop.
Tricky business this, first attempt too long, despite trialling it with line to gauge the length. Unfortunately the eyes met on the top of the Bowsprit with no space for the seizing.

Finally 38mm of served length worked.

A spot of pva was used to secure the line around the heart before seizing.
The heart lies about half way between the Figure and the Bowsprit cap.
Next up the Bowsprit shroud collars; similar, but with one leg shorter than the other to allow the heart to sit in the right position whilst maintaining the seizing on top of the bowsprit.

For these I allowed 40mm of served line.
At this point I’m starting to lose the will to live, and hanker back to those carefree days when stropping and attaching blocks was a simple matter of any which way.
Onto the Forestay and Fore Preventer stay collars.
The method I’m using for making the strop loops is from the ffm and involves leaving long ends to the serving line and short cut ends to the main line which are brought together and glued to form the ring. The serving lines are then turned around the ‘glued’ section to form the ‘splice’.

 

The strop ring is completed.
Forestay collar
13” Open heart (5.5mm) 5” line (0.63mm dia)
The collar is double and fits around the open heart. A scale 27’ of 5” line is used. (0.63 ø line with 128mm of length.)
For this I’m using 0.5mm line with a 0.25mm serving.

Held in position for seizing the strop to the heart.

The completed Forestay Collar.
 

Fore Preventer Stay collar 10” Open heart (3.96mm) 4” line (0.5mm dia)
The collar is again double and fits around the open heart. A scale 27’ of 4” line is used. (0.50 ø line with 128mm of length.
For this I’m using 0.5mm line with a 0.1mm serving.

The Completed Fore Preventer Stay Collar.
Moving on now to see how they look on Pegasus.

B.E.