HMS Pegasus by tom kinglake - Victory Models - scale 1:64

[tom kinglake]

I started work on Pegasus in July 2018, but unfortunately didn't take any pictures of the early stages.  I had just completed the Caldercraft 'Granado' kit, and enjoyed building it so much that I decided to go for this one straight away (I wish I had taken some shots of Granado during the build now, but didn't - anyway I shall put something in the Gallery for the finished model soon).

Granado only took me six months from start to finish, but I haven't been able to spend the same amount of time on Pegasus.  Still quite a way to go, but I hope that alternating work on my other current build, the Russian brig Mercury, with finishing off Pegasus will keep my enthusiasm up!

The first two shots are the only images I have of the earlier stages.  The others were taken outdoors on a wet Welsh Christmas afternoon.

[Vane]

Excellent build. Looking forward to see the shots of Granado as i am building her myself 

[Ronald-V]

Nice build so far! What kind of wood did you use? And no coppering?

[tom kinglake]

Thanks Vane and Mugje!

I'll try to get a few shots of Granado into the gallery today.

The wood used for Pegasus is just what comes with the kit, walnut for hull planking & masts & spars, Tanganyika for decks, etc.  I did use some dark stain (rather than black paint) to colour the yards though, and the studdingsail booms are birch dowel stained with a cherry red dye (for no particular reason other than that I like the colour contrast!)

As for the coppering - I don't know what I shall do about it yet!!  At first, I decided that I didn't like the copper plates supplied, and anyway I was worried that I wouldn't be able to get a good enough finish if I used them - so I decided that instead I would go for a plain white below the waterline (as in the Amati HMS Fly, for example).  Then I decided that no, I would leave the lower hull in the natural wood.  Then I decided that I hadn't achieved a good enough finish to allow this. Then I decided to put on a coat of walnut brown paint instead. Whatever happens, the walnut brown will have to go! I'll probably end up using the copper plates after all.

[Ronald-V]

What a nice light color has this walnut. I will check mine if it's also that light. First I thought I would replace it with pear. But now i'm doubting if i look at your great result 😁

[tom kinglake]

Thanks - when I started the build, I too planned to replace the walnut with a lighter coloured wood, as I had done previously with Granado (see the pictures I put in the Gallery) - for this, I used lime, coloured with a light oak wood stain, and a clear varnish on top. This worked quite well, as long as you like the rather 'weathered' look to the finish.

But after some experiments with the walnut that came with the Pegasus kit, I decided to use it after all, though I did go through the entire batch to pick out the lightest shades first. It seems that walnut varies quite a lot from batch to batch. 

 

[tom kinglake]

That's what I do too! 😊

[Vane]

Ur Granado looks great!

[tom kinglake]

Thanks! I'm sure yours will too!

By the way, have you seen Kevin Kenny's videos on building the Granado? I watched all of them while doing mine and found them a huge help.

[tom kinglake]

Weeks have gone by since I posted anything about HMS Pegasus, so here are a few images to show progress to date.

Still no mizzen topmast! This will be my next task now that most of the rigging of the main and foremast is done.  I deliberately left this for as long as possible, because of a near-disaster while building Granado eighteen months back: while doing something to the mainmast rigging, I managed to hook my sleeve on the mizzen topsail yard, and broke the topmast in half. I was very lucky to have a long clean split, about an inch long, running along the length of the mast, rather than a short snap across the diameter, so it glued back almost perfectly - and more importantly, all the shrouds and other rigging survived intact as well - but I vowed to do all I could to avoid a repeat of this in future!

Plan B is to put Pegasus away for a while at this stage, in order to go back to my other build, the Russian brig Mercury.  

 

[tom kinglake]

On 2/22/2020 at 2:30 PM, tom kinglake said:

Weeks have gone by since I posted anything about HMS Pegasus, so here are a few images to show progress to date.

Still no mizzen topmast! This will be my next task now that most of the rigging of the main and foremast is done.  I deliberately left this for as long as possible, because of a near-disaster while building Granado eighteen months back: while doing something to the mainmast rigging, I managed to hook my sleeve on the mizzen topsail yard, and broke the topmast in half. I was very lucky to have a long clean split, about an inch long, running along the length of the mast, rather than a short snap across the diameter, so it glued back almost perfectly - and more importantly, all the shrouds and other rigging survived intact as well - but I vowed to do all I could to avoid a repeat of this in future!

Plan B is to put Pegasus away for a while at this stage, in order to go back to my other build, the Russian brig Mercury.  

 

 

[tom kinglake]

Many thanks to all for the likes!

It looks as though the latest pictures have got slightly out of sync, and that a piece of text I put in hasn't come out - only to the effect that I'd decided after all to put on the copper. 

I don't recommend coppering an almost fully rigged model - keeping the masts &  spars out of harm's way while sticking small plates to the lower hull is a bit of a nightmare, and it's difficult to keep the hull still while doing so. Careening on a cushion seems the best way so far, though ideally maybe one could build a sort of frame on legs to hold the hull upside down securely, with masts pointing vertically downwards.  

Anyway the moral of this tale is don't change your mind at the last  moment!

I'm not too happy with the rather lumpy texture of the plating I've achieved so far, so more pics to follow soon. When I've completed this stage, I will be going back to my other build, the Amati Mercury kit - I'm a bit Pegasused-out at present!

[captain_hook]

Respect! Your're coppering a finished ship! It looks very neat. 

[tom kinglake]

Thanks! I hope I can live up to respect - it's looking a bit shaky at present.  What have i started???! 

Watch this space for further developments...

[captain_hook]

Sorry, I mixed german and english. I mean, that is a very tough action, coppering an almost finished ship. If germans are impressed, they say ‚respect!‘ 🤗

[tom kinglake]

Thanks!😀

[tom kinglake]

So much for my attempts at coppering the hull.

Pegasus is now back in dock, without copper plates but with white hull below waterline instead.

For the record, it only takes about 30 minutes to undo about 2 days' coppering work.  Still, it was worth it for the experience.

With Pegasus about 99% finished, I've gone back to my other build, the brig Mercury.  A change is as good as a rest...

[captain_hook]

🤔 What has happend? The coppering looked fine last time.

[tom kinglake]

The photos made it look rather better than it actually was.

In reality, it seemed uneven, with lots of CA marks. These were proving very difficult to remove without damaging the plates. 

[captain_hook]

I‘m sorry for that. But the white painting is a very good substitute. 

[tom kinglake]

Thanks! I may make a better job of coppering on my next attempt 😅

[6ohiocav]

Tom,

 

Copper or no copper, your Pegasus is simply amazing. Great recovery. You attempted to plate and then painted a finished ship. I fully agree with Capt. Hook and commend you for your courage and skill in English and German.

 

By the way, how did you apply the white paint? 

[tom kinglake]

Thanks Darrell! It's been a long haul with Pegasus, and I'm relieved to have come out at the end of it without too many disasters. 

The paint is a mixture of acrylic matt white and yellow ochre (Admiralty Paints), two coats with a medium brush.

I've just been looking at your Niagara, by the way - fantastic work and an amazing recovery from accidents! I'm looking forward to having a good look at your build log later on.

Incidentally (and slightly uncannily) I also share your experiences not only with the Revell Cutty Sark (which I made about 3 years ago, and which was one of the things which brought me to try my hand with another wooden kit), but also with the Toulonnaise - was yours the Billiing Boats version? I bought mine in 1983 or so, spent a long time on the hull over a period of some years, before I too gave up and abandoned it.  I threw the completed hull away only last summer, and, again, like you, I now totally regret having done so!!  Oh well, we live & learn....

Best wishes,

Tom.

[glbarlow]

On 12/28/2019 at 2:04 AM, Vane said:

see the shots of Granado

I built Granado and Pegasus as well. There are gallery photos of both linked in my signature. Have a look. 

[tom kinglake]

Hi Glenn

I was looking at your Pegasus pictures only this morning - terrific build, many congratulations! Same for Granado.  Granado was my first (recent) attempt, Pegasus came straight afterwards.  My brig Mercury is coming along, but at the moment I don't feel quite as enthused about it as with the others - not yet, at least.  The other day your pictures of Lady Nelson made me start thinking that I might have a try at that kit for my next...

Best wishes,

Tom.