HMS Pegasus by The_bitter_end - Amati/Victory Models - 1:64 scale

[vulcanbomber]

Spyglass has given some very good help there.

 

I, too, use a standard kettle to steam the planks - just watch the steam on your fingers! 

 

It is also very important, like Spyglass mentions, to make sure the planks are completely dry before fixing to the ship. I used to steam and place in the evening so that they would be well and truly dry by the next evening. Take your time and you should do fine.

[The_bitter_end]

18 hours ago, vulcanbomber said:

Spyglass has given some very good help there.

 

I, too, use a standard kettle to steam the planks - just watch the steam on your fingers! 

 

It is also very important, like Spyglass mentions, to make sure the planks are completely dry before fixing to the ship. I used to steam and place in the evening so that they would be well and truly dry by the next evening. Take your time and you should do fine.

Hi Vulcan

 

This is great input. I might just make a custom steaming tube. Just because I enjoy crafting this kind of thing. The keel clamp in my photos is one of those things. I like these minor challenges. Regardless I will be sure to work with completely dry planks and exercise all the patience I have.

 

Cheers Haiko

[The_bitter_end]

On 10/6/2019 at 2:29 PM, SpyGlass said:

AND now the gunport strips

 

This is where shaping  and reashaping really pays off

Refer to this

Pegasus/fly gunport strip which is a subset of much more in my log which was lost in  " The Great Crash"

1. the strip sets are overlong  - but by how much actually depends upon how "tight" your fairing is at the bow
2. Obviously a bit of build variation in BH  placing can make a difference but
3. Dont touch the jigsaw joint itself  - when the halves line up it keeps everything on both sections in line
4. The concensus is -  and what I have always done - is move the joint back till about 1.2 mm - the tongue then just touches BH 9 and the stern bit lines up fine.
5. this pic shows the position( though i undid the joint to sort the top out )and ther is one on the log reference
6. My crucial line up is that the main mast seen through the adjacent gunport is as the plans  -sheet 6 if you extend the line of the mast
7. You will find that the foremost port probably will have a BH overlap - depending upon your feirceness of fairing
8. But the fore part of the strip wil be over long and the bowsprit hole will need recutting
9. The strips need to be bent in two directions to show the lovely curves of teh vessel - steam the only way to go
10. And the bottom of teh strips are a **** to get to lie in a nice curve

So down to actual work

 

first steam and fit steam and fit   - and then do it again .

This is a Fly being PRE BENT this is NOT fixing just shaping The red arrows point to where the vertical curve is being pushed in

And after a few cycles -  you can end up with the strips looking like this ( the fore strip is the really difficult one. But when bent like this they will just sit in place without any force

NOTE THE  S " shaped aft edge and though the strip has been shortened - the bow sprit hole has not been reshaped yet .

The S shapes are put in by clamping  scrap to push in the curves - see log refernce pics  and above

 

I think I will pause here  - it ook me a few months to get this far so  it may take you a day or two!   I will see if i can find any more old pics

 

Hi Spy!

 

I started replying to you and then got an urge to check out your link again which navigated me away from this page and my reply so Im starting again..

 

Thank you so much for your attention to detail and help. your work is great to see and you are potentially saving this kit from my ignorance. You preempted almost all of my questions.

 

I do have 2 rookie questions for now, Im sure I had more but for now they are gone.

 

1. What kind of glue do you use for the hull planking and gun ports.

2. Is there enough excess wood in the kit to plank portions of the lower deck? i would love to as you suggested but I am worried about having insufficient timber and getting caught. This is South Africa so getting new planking will be a nightmare.

 

I am about to start leveling bulkhead No. 9 as per your warning. That will be my sole task for the night, its been a long day.

 

Adios! Haiko

 

 

[The_bitter_end]

Day 6

 

Finally completed, the balsa fillers. This did present some challenges, firstly I only had one 8mm sheet of balsa so I had to stack, glue and cut up to 5 layers at a time. The glue I used made this stack of wood very hard to cut and shape but I am happy with the result. I also had a fraction too little wood to complete the filling I wanted to do. you will see that the area above the lower deck between BHS 10/11 and 3/4 are not completely filled. I had to make do with what I had and my remote location make getting more very very difficult.

 

For some reason the photos make this work look slightly asymmetrical but i cannot for the life of me see this in reality.

 

Again, this is my first build and I would appreciate any criticism. specially the kind that I would want to hear before planking over this.

 

A big thank you to you guys who have helped me so much up to this point.

 

[vulcanbomber]

Models always seem to look different in photo's, don't worry about it too much. If it looks fine to the naked eye, it generally is!

 

I use wood glue to stick the planks; as it is slow to dry, little dabs of cyano along the length helps to hold the planks in place while the wood glue dries.

 

There is usually some left over deck planking, but not enough to completely planks the lower deck. I only plank immediately below the hatches on the lower deck as this area is all that you will see. 

[The_bitter_end]

12 hours ago, vulcanbomber said:

Models always seem to look different in photo's, don't worry about it too much. If it looks fine to the naked eye, it generally is!

 

I use wood glue to stick the planks; as it is slow to dry, little dabs of cyano along the length helps to hold the planks in place while the wood glue dries.

 

There is usually some left over deck planking, but not enough to completely planks the lower deck. I only plank immediately below the hatches on the lower deck as this area is all that you will see. 

Great tips! I am itching to do it but I dont think I will be planking the centre of the lower deck. I am anticipating making alot of mistakes and I dont want to run out of planking for the upper decks. It does bother me that it wont be happening but I have told myself that the tiny amount you can see through the hatch grating wont be worth risking running out of planking material for.

 

I have read so many build logs and different opinions on this subject so Im a little confused but what is your opinion on the best way to show caulking on deck planks? I was leaning toward just marking the edges with soft pencil.

[The_bitter_end]

12 hours ago, SpyGlass said:

Yea Vulcan is right  - enough wood to plank the bits under the hatches but not the whole lower deck.

White wood glue is my choice  - all I stick with CA is metal - and myself !

Dont get too carried away with my warning about that high spot at rear - most important is that ALL the hull "flows " smoothly when tested by laying strips along it at various angles.

Just as a check have a look at my log and the picture of the run of the stern strips - you  need the deck supports to be fitted at the angle of the planks - not square.

 

Oh i presume you have the two piece  main deck with the rubbish "matchstick" ply be sooooo careful with it. Most builders have added some support underneath at the weaker spots -  again have  alook at my log to see the mess you can get if you are careless like me !

Good morning again Spy

 

I agree with you. I did some test with CA and I think there are a few very limited places where it is a great help(almost like a pin) but generally it does more harm than good in the hands of someone like myself.

 

Im off to check your log on the matter of the angle of the stern strips right now.

 

You presume correctly, although I would return my matchsticks to the manufacturer if they were that thin. It took a large amount of buggering around to get the deck to dry fit without breaking something in the process.

 

I was thinking about what you said about the order of the work and it is quite logical to do it in the following order as you said.(this is just me thinking out loud here)

 

1. install and fair bulkheads(essential so that you have the basic shape that the deck will lie over.

2. install gun deck(i dont think you could even get it in with the gun ports in place)

3. install gun ports, attempting to do this after planking would result in some major adjustment of planks or a messy junction between the gun port panel and the planking.

4. at this point you could either install the hull planking or the deck planking. My inclination is to do the first hull planking(it doesnt matter if that gets a bit grubby, then the deck planking and then the second planking. I feel this order would keep the visible parts of the build as clean as possible.

 

I asked Vulcan this question too but what is your opinion on the best way to do plank caulking for the decks.

 

[The_bitter_end]

Day 7

 

First a question... should I be "quoting" messages when I reply to them in this thread?

 

This was not a hugely productive day, I am busy building a second floor in my workshop and the undertaking is wearing me out a bit and not leaving me a huge amount of time in the evenings to get work done but this is where I am.

 

I dry fitted the false gun deck. This required quite a bit of cursing to fit correctly. The cutouts for the gun deck need to be slightly modified to allow the deck halves to fit flush(I drew pencil arrows to in to indicate what im talking about). A note on this would be to do one cutout at a time with a small file and then re test the fit. i did this probably 20 times and suddenly it popped right in with no effort at all.

 

I did however notice that this deck is somewhat flimsy. I recalled that some people were installing additional supports below the gun deck to add stability. I stole shamelessly and have done the same thing, putting balsa supports in at bulkheads 5 and 6 as well as MDF offcuts between bulkheads 7,8 and 9. I will also be reinforcing the edges of the hatches as seen on the build done by BlueEnsign.

 

3

 

 

Edited October 8, 2019 by The_bitter_end

[Jolley Roger]

17 hours ago, The_bitter_end said:

Finally completed, the balsa fillers. This did present some challenges, firstly I only had one 8mm sheet of balsa so I had to stack, glue and cut up to 5 layers at a time. The glue I used made this stack of wood very hard to cut and shape but I am happy with the result. I also had a fraction too little wood to complete the filling I wanted to do. you will see that the area above the lower deck between BHS 10/11 and 3/4 are not completely filled. I had to make do with what I had and my remote location make getting more very very difficult.

Looking good so far Haiko.

You don't need to use balsa, in your case you can use pear for filler blocks!

Also, cameras/phones will quickly distort an image if the pic isn't taken perpendicular to the subject, so that's why it might look a bit asymmetrical.

[vulcanbomber]

9 hours ago, The_bitter_end said:

Day 7

 

First a question... should I be "quoting" messages when I reply to them in this thread?

 

 

No, you don't need to. but is handy if you just want to highlight a comment from a previous post.

 

9 hours ago, The_bitter_end said:

what is your opinion on the best way to show caulking on deck planks? I was leaning toward just marking the edges with soft pencil.

 

It's down to a matter of persona choice really. I have planked decks both using the pencil method (on my San Francisco) and with a dark cotton (on my Pegasus) Pencil can be fainter in appearance, and the cotton, depending on how dark it is can be a bit more noticeable.

 

I found if using the cotton method, it made it easier to glue the cotton to the edge of the plank first and then when dry, plank as normal. I quite like the effect I achieved with the cotton on my Pegasus.

 

Have a look in my build logs.

[The_bitter_end]

7 hours ago, Jolley Roger said:

Looking good so far Haiko.

You don't need to use balsa, in your case you can use pear for filler blocks!

Also, cameras/phones will quickly distort an image if the pic isn't taken perpendicular to the subject, so that's why it might look a bit asymmetrical.

Thanks Jolley!

 

Unless you can shape with a chainsaw Im going to try and rummage around for more balsa for now. even that gave me grey hairs.

 

Ive been meaning to drop you a message but keep getting distracted. I will push that to the top of the list.

[The_bitter_end]

3 hours ago, SpyGlass said:

sorry my last post got cut short the line failed.

 

The hatch edges that BE and other use are not really i think intended for reinforcement  - just to look nice - but every little helps

 Oh and a wee point about the main ply deck - the centre join can be a bit wavy and is affected by the deck curvature being applied.

So I do a trial fix and fiddle and faff around til its good - and then temporarily nail it using light pins inserted through little pieces of scrap to make them easier to remove. But DRILL the holes before insertionof the pins

 

Dont have a main deck pic but heres one of the pinning on the upper ones as i was checking all was square for masts etc

and the pin holes to match

The pin holes help in subsequent repositionings. If you have "good" ply then its quite a good idea to  soak it for a couple of hours and then pin it so it shapes to the curve of the beams  - dont try it if its the rubbish stuff though.

Magical advice as always. I will do just as you suggested.

 

I know what you are saying about the center line, I was JUST about to start taking down the center line and I realised that it would indeed cause major issues, changing the hatches, mast holes and centerline itself. I dont think planking would save this.

 

Im sort of jumping the gun here(I assume my next step after installing the false deck will be to install gun ports) but I saw some stuff about a curves margin plank(basically a plank that runs in a curve around the perimeter of the deck), would this be more historically accurate than just running straight planks?

 

I will be sure to only start using glue once my deck has been soaked and pinned and all that...then I think it will be time for those gun ports.

 

Strange question but did your gun ports fit into the spout of the kettle you described? I am busy making a steaming pipe with an old coffee can, parts from an old kettle and copper piping. the problem is that the steaming tube is only 32mm so it wont be able to accomodate the gun ports. Can I just hold them in the path of the steam for the suggested 20 seconds and take it from there?

[The_bitter_end]

2 hours ago, vulcanbomber said:

No, you don't need to. but is handy if you just want to highlight a comment from a previous post.

 

 

It's down to a matter of persona choice really. I have planked decks both using the pencil method (on my San Francisco) and with a dark cotton (on my Pegasus) Pencil can be fainter in appearance, and the cotton, depending on how dark it is can be a bit more noticeable.

 

I found if using the cotton method, it made it easier to glue the cotton to the edge of the plank first and then when dry, plank as normal. I quite like the effect I achieved with the cotton on my Pegasus.

 

Have a look in my build logs.

Howdy Vulcan

 

I am super torn about this issue. I heard that the thread can "fray" if you sand over this but it can be avoided by using linen thread? I am worried about opening up a can of worms that I will struggle to close. I will head back to your build logs to scrutinize this again and try and make a decision.

 

I will keep you up to date on how this plays out.

[The_bitter_end]

1 hour ago, SpyGlass said:

Wow  Vulcan -i have never suceeded with cotton or indeed  card or anything but pencil.

 

 

I use a slightly involved version of pencil edging- see log Deck Planking

Open the joints with an automobile feeler gauge as I lay strips - both edges pencilled - and then when I varnish it seeps into the joints and just adds to the effect

 

And of course one then comes to the subject of trenailing.

I am totally schizophrenic on the subject -

real trenails just really really dont show in reality or at this scale

but I like the look so I do them !

Your deck planking link has been added to my long list of tabs, I will go through it very carefully before I pick up a plank.

 

Tree nails are a whole other kettle of fish. I can make a decision about this after i finish the planking right?

 

If you dont mind me asking, how come you find yourself doing multiple pegasus/fly models? do you do this professionally?

[The_bitter_end]

Day 8

 

Sadly today was spent on nothing for my build but research, which turned out to be pretty useful. I also started making a steaming tube so we will have to see how that goes. I wanted to do decking but I had to babysit a neighboring farmers child and dog.

 

Hopefully day 9 will be better!

 

 

[The_bitter_end]

On 10/8/2019 at 10:11 PM, SpyGlass said:

Er multiple Flys/Pegasus - I built the first very quickly indeed as a leaving present for a work colleague, then I started building another properly and made a reasonable job of it but didnt have enough space and gave it away and then I started another which was going to be a masterpiece but it was irretreivably damaged in a house move and then I started on Pegasus but was not well enough to complete .....

 

But actually to be truthful I enjoy the building and not the end result.

 

About treenails really i wouldnt bother ( i would always do it at the time of planking though if you want to do it(

I attach two pics one of a vessel roughly teh size of Pegasus that I  have sailed on and one of Victory - spot the trenails if  you can.

 

 

Oh and about shaping the gunports - WARNING - DO NOT STEAM PLY it can delaminate. 

I just soak it in a hot water  bath for an hour  and then place it on the hull to  get the shape.

Take it a step at a time, do not try to clamp hard to shape  at first - nurse the main curve in with elastic bands - it will take at LEAST three cycles

Hi again Spy

 

Thanks for these photos. That really does put it into perspective. I might just do some really light treenails but lets see how it goes.

 

I am a little confused about your build, I have been going over it and am i correct in saying that you first install the false gun deck, then you install the bridges across the bulkheads, then install the gun ports and then you remove the bridges between the bulkheads again?

 

Thanks for the warning about steaming the gun ports, I was about to do this.

 

[The_bitter_end]

Day 9

 

Once my false gun deck had been dry fitted i taped it back together and marked out the lines for the 4 butt system deck planking I plan to put in . I decided(somewhat at random) to go with planks or 118mm long meaning that the spacing between pencil lines for the butts are spaced at 29.5mm.

 

I also marked out the location of the bulkheads below for pinning so that the pins I installed to hold the deck down(after drilling holes for these pins) always went into something solid below the deck.

 

Once the deck had been completely dry fitted and pinned I removed everything, applied PVA glue and pinned and clamped the whole deck down.

 

It is worth mentioning that If you are going to use balsa filler blocks these can obstruct the path for the masts so make sure that you take this into consideration before gluing anything in. I also had to shape the MDF keel to take the mast and keep it vertical which has proven to be a bit of a nightmare with the balsa in the way.

 

The false deck is now in place. and ready for the next stage.

 

At this point do I glue the MDF bulkhead bridges in, then install the gun ports and then remove the bridges and then plank the deck? I am a bit confused about the order of things and this removal of bridges.

 

The first Image shows where the balsa filler interferes with the access to adjust the MDF pocket for the mast as well as simply being in the way of the mast itself.

 

[egkb]

Hey There TBE .. I'm following this nice build along, and admiring your method (The 'if in doubt ask, taking advice then getting stuck in and building' Method.. It is sooo easy to over think things and be afraid to make a cut) on so complex a vessel (My first build is Ballahoo which is probably 1/4 the size of Peggy, and I still (for one reason or another) haven't finished lol  😁)

Anyhoo I'm just here to suggest be careful making the Masts Steps  'Vertical' .. Usually there is a 'Tilt' towards the Stern (called Rake) but they are indeed Vertical in a Left to Right sense.. Others on here will be able to confirm or deny this as regards Peggy .. I just didn't want to see you going too far along and not being easily able to correct any error (if indeed there is one at all I wish to note .. 😕😎)

 

All The Very Best, and I hope you don't mind me butting in..

 

Eamonn

[The_bitter_end]

5 hours ago, egkb said:

Hey There TBE .. I'm following this nice build along, and admiring your method (The 'if in doubt ask, taking advice then getting stuck in and building' Method.. It is sooo easy to over think things and be afraid to make a cut) on so complex a vessel (My first build is Ballahoo which is probably 1/4 the size of Peggy, and I still (for one reason or another) haven't finished lol  😁)

Anyhoo I'm just here to suggest be careful making the Masts Steps  'Vertical' .. Usually there is a 'Tilt' towards the Stern (called Rake) but they are indeed Vertical in a Left to Right sense.. Others on here will be able to confirm or deny this as regards Peggy .. I just didn't want to see you going too far along and not being easily able to correct any error (if indeed there is one at all I wish to note .. 😕😎)

 

All The Very Best, and I hope you don't mind me butting in..

 

Eamonn

Hi there Eamonn

 

Thanks for your comment, compliment and advice. I am enjoying the challenge and loving the help Im getting here. It is really enhancing this process. I took at look at your buildd, it really is a beautiful piece of work.

 

I just realised that I have actually seen the rake you are referring to in the past. Do you have any idea if there is a specific angle of rake for masts of the era on this kind of vessel?

 

Cheers,

Haiko

[The_bitter_end]

40 minutes ago, SpyGlass said:

The bridges are  actually beams !!  Yours are MDF ??? never seen that before!

 

Eamonns point about rake is valid but the slots in the keel are correct in terms of rake and the sideways vertical is  fine adjustable by the rigging so not a huge issue.

 

The beams go in after the guports strips - so you can do LOTS of clamping of the port strips

 

ONE BIG ISSUE with beams - watch the nice one with the fancy ends - it breaks !! Its very awkward to place so dont fiddel with it until you are ready

Spy, my good friend,

 

I seem to have temporarily taken leave of my senses and done something entirely illogical. When I read your log I somehow managed to convince myself that you installed the bridges across the bulkheads and then cut them off again. It turns out that you were actually talking about cutting off the excess portion of the BH's(I think 5, 6 and 7) that get removed once the gun ports are in place. I did manage, with great difficulty, to remove the bridges that I glued in without causing any damage....so crisis averted.

 

I did notice that the wood for your bulkheads, keel and bridges are laminated, mine are MDF with the exception of one walnut bridge strip.

I will be sure to exercise extreme caution when working with the beam in question.

 

Regarding the matter of rake, do you perhaps know the correct angle for rake on this vessel?

 

 

[The_bitter_end]

Day 10

 

Today started off with a disappointing display of muppetry, I somehow misread 2 separate build logs to the point where i chose to glue the bulkhead beams in prior to installing gun deck planking. After some head scratching and more reading I realised that this was a ridiculous decision. I did however ultimately manage to remove these beams without incident. 

 

I also installed the "two sets of stern counter patterns". A small heads up for new builders, be aware that the outer two pieces should be installed at an angle that allows them to run parallel to the edges of the stern upper deck, this requires checking against the deck itself as the default position they "want" to sit in is incorrect. The orientation in the photo below is correct for my model. PLEASE NOTE! In that photo I still have the bulkhead beams in place, this is NOT correct, they have been removed and will be reinstalled once the deck planking is done

 

Finally I soaked the gun port patterns for about an hour in hot water and then clamped it to the bulkheads for my first shaping session. I found that using the paper clamps applied pressure nicely into the dip of the bulkheads, I am hoping that this will aid in getting the correct profile from the beginning. I also used a bit of a silly elastic band system to pull the bow points of the gun strips in as can be seen on the photo.

 

I am still a bit concerned that I may have seated the gun port strips too far forward. If anyone has any comment on  this orientation please let me know. this is only the preliminary bending.

Edited October 10, 2019 by The_bitter_end
I forgot something

[egkb]

Hey Again Haiko .. Re the Rake Angle .. The Deck Templates should give you the correct Rake when you get to the point where you are slotting the Masts in position.. You can test by offering the Mast Dowel through the Hole in the deck and locating the step (Slot) in the False Keel Thingy ! If Ye Follow 😁

 

All The Best Mate

 

Eamonn

[vulcanbomber]

Don't worry about the rake of the masts. Once the decks are all in place, they will determine the position of the masts naturally. The only thing you need to make sure is that the mast holes are not obstructed in the decks or the keel.

 

The gunport strip look pretty good to me. One thing to check is that the bowsprit hole will be in line with the sloped part of the false keel at the bow.

I can't remember for sure, but I think I attached the false keel before attaching the gunport strips, but I know the false keel was definitely attached before I started the first planking.

Edited October 10, 2019 by vulcanbomber
Added Pictures

[The_bitter_end]

8 hours ago, egkb said:

Hey Again Haiko .. Re the Rake Angle .. The Deck Templates should give you the correct Rake when you get to the point where you are slotting the Masts in position.. You can test by offering the Mast Dowel through the Hole in the deck and locating the step (Slot) in the False Keel Thingy ! If Ye Follow 😁

 

All The Best Mate

 

Eamonn

Thanks for the reply! You are probably right, the most logical thing to do would be to look at templates. Sadly as a result of my very elementary skill level and the fact that the kit has some significant alignment issues, just relying on how the mast fits into decks etc is certainly not going to fly.

[The_bitter_end]

6 hours ago, vulcanbomber said:

Don't worry about the rake of the masts. Once the decks are all in place, they will determine the position of the masts naturally. The only thing you need to make sure is that the mast holes are not obstructed in the decks or the keel.

 

The gunport strip look pretty good to me. One thing to check is that the bowsprit hole will be in line with the sloped part of the false keel at the bow.

I can't remember for sure, but I think I attached the false keel before attaching the gunport strips, but I know the false keel was definitely attached before I started the first planking.

Another great bit of advice. At the moment I have the false keel out so that I dont damage the walnut and so that I can used the curve of the vessel to shape planks etc without having the keel in the way. It has a very snug fit so I can take it in and out as needed. I will be sure to check the elevation of the main mast hole against the keel piece.

 

I am not totall sure about the orientation of the gun ports to the tops of the BH's are they meant to be lying flush?

[The_bitter_end]

6 hours ago, SpyGlass said:

Yeah the deck slots are right for rake.

 

 Sorry I may have led you astray accidentally about beams  -about half my log went actually missing in the "BIG CRASH"so its very disjointed but the best I could recreate. 

Its a good idea to practice undoing joints - you may have to do it often !!  You can steam a joint open and that probably would have worked fine for your beam ends and  i was going to advice as to the right solvent but I am having a senior moment but it will come back to me later !!1

But some builds I fitted the beams with glue some just temporary drill and pinc (dodgy !) andsome just didnt fit - doesmt really matter I think.

Good advice on the stern counter bits - if you look on my log somewhere is a picture just like yours they run in NOT SQUARE.

 

Excellent start on the gunport strips - just get the main bend into then first as you have done.

 

Now comes the important bit - loposok at my pic in my previous t above of the jigsaw joint thats the important one fix point. -

 

take a pic of your trial fitting?

Dont worry about the fore edge of the front strip its almost certainly will need trimming and the bow sprit cutout redone

I am not saying ignore the rear sections but at tis point its less important and has fairly little curvature u get the front sections sorted first

 

 Now then comes the issue EVEN though you have moved the fore section back several mm the front is STILL TOO LONG USUALLY   - by how much depens very very much upon exactly your build curve at the bow and how hard you have faired it ( i usually am about 3mm too long which means i have to recut most of the bowsprit hole

Here is a pic of a Fly build you can see how i have had to trim the strips

 

  

A tip when you are lining the strips up - put in a short stub of dowel in as a bow sprit then you can sit the  gunstrip bowsprit cutouts against the stub which lines it up nicely forrard and you can concentrate on the other end jigsaw .

 

And another one - if you have not fitted the stem walnut you can of course get a better curve by not bothering too much about position - push the strip a few cm forward and wrap it around the bow to dry.  When you release it the ply will relax to a gentler curve which can fit precisely. when put into proper position .

But just keep damping and clamping

You can trim the length forrad  virtually as the last step

 

Next shaping pass =make sure you start putting in the extra clamps to get that nice vertical S shaped curves in

And watch the bottom edge it can develop waves between the bulkhead - you can see i used a strip to hold it flat .

Or if you like you can shape and pin a first planking strip roughly in position just under the bottom edge and use a bit of scarp and clothe pegs to hold the gun strip botton y to that curve

Sorry I have so few pics of this

 

 

 

Good morning Spy, do you ever sleep? I dont know what time zone you are in but it seems like your replies come in 24 hours a day, this is great for me as I keep somewhat strange hours myself.

 

I did seriously consider steaming the joints but I was worried that the steam would play silly buggers with the MDF and make it expand? I will actually do a little test on a scrap piece and report the results.

 

I am going to do my best to follow these detailed instructions. My gun ports are soaking as we speak for their second fitting

[The_bitter_end]

A quick break from the build to show you folk the steamer I made from a coffee can, the element from a kettle, some copper pipe and other bits and bobs I had in my workshop. I find it works pretty well. For those of you that want to make one please do not attempt to create a temperature regulator using a light dimmer switch. It works extremely well until the switch starts to smoke. If anyone wants instruction of how to make this little guy feel free to give me a shout, its quite easy

[The_bitter_end]

On 10/11/2019 at 8:33 AM, SpyGlass said:

I stand in awe !!!

 

And just remember most people built better versions of Pegasus than mine without any help from me.

 

And  on my availability to post - I do sleep but I am retired and we are sitting in temporary accommodation waiting our new house completion  which is going badly so i tend to be on the PC   from early to late

Your appreciation is appreciated

 

Please just dont abandon me, I still have so many more questions!

[The_bitter_end]

Day 11/12

 

This turned out to be a pretty unproductive weekend due to a charity event that I was part of hosting on the farm. Infact my whole weekend sort of fell to pieces. Never-the-less here is what happened on day 11.

I did the second shaping of the gun ports, this time using an additional strip of wood to hold down the lower edge of the gun ports and eliminate warping. This did work well along the bottom edge but the forward port of the top edge did warp a bit. I eliminated this by slowly working out the warp by hand.

 

I have also included a photo of the alignment that I got with BH No 9. You can just see a tiny amount of the bulkhead sticking out behind the female portion of the puzzle joint. This seems correct to me but please let me know if I am making a mistake here. After this second shaping and slight manipulation I was fairly happy with the results. I also managed to get a nice vertical  "S" shape into the rear of the gun port just using strategically placed paper clamps. Another advantage of using these clamps is that you can push them all the way down so that they rest on the top of the bulkhead and use this for alignment of the gun port flush with the top of the bulkhead.

 

 

[vulcanbomber]

Nice shaping there. Good job.