HM Brig-Sloop Flirt 1782 by glbarlow - Vanguard Models

[glbarlow]

11 minutes ago, niwotwill said:

You can never have too many clamps,

A motto to live by😂half the fun was sorting out how to hold it tight with all that stuff. 

[glbarlow]

Next up were the wales, pretty straightforward, so much so I forgot to take a photo. I lined up a 3mm plank with the top of the king plank  followed by a 4mm plank below it as per the instructions. As I did with the planking, and maybe a little more important here, I beveled the inside top edge of the lower 4mm plank, testing and sanding as needed to get a tight fit with the 3 mm plank above.

 

 

Except I didn’t entirely follow the instructions. The fashion piece per the instructions is added later in the build by removing enough of the wale for it to fit. I chose instead to use some blue putty to temporarily hold the fashion piece in place long enough to draw a line along the bow facing curve after lining up the stern facing to match the counter.

 

 

I then cut the wale planks to that line and installed the three pieces as a unit, to me this is easier than cutting away the wales later.  I filled any gaps, easy to do since it will be painted black, and sanded it all down. There are boom crutches added later to meet the top of the fashion pieces completing the stern, those I’ll fit and add later.

 

 

There is nothing better than Tamiya tape for masking. Done right there is little concern about paint running where you don’t want it to go. I chose Admiralty Paints Dull Black for the wales. I did invest in an air compressor and air brush which I’ll use for some things, but I still really prefer brush painting for most of the work, I like the look. Plus I know how to handle a brush, the air brush might end up painting a lot more than the ship in my untrained hands, plus so much masking...

 

 

In between paint coats on the wales I finished up the rudder and tiller. The provided two piece tiller seemed a bit thick and straight to me so I rounded and thinned it on the lathe then gave it a light curve using my bending station. In this case I didn’t touch it with the iron, just held it close and let the steam do the heating - it is pretty fragile and I didn’t want to over-do it. Admiral Cochrane, visiting Flirt from his sister ship Speedy seemed to approve of the test-fitted modification.

 

 

Following another coat of WOP the wales are complete.  I like adding WOP as I go, the boxwood drinks it in almost as fast as I put it on. One of the many benefits is it makes painting easier. After the WOP dries (overnight generally) I buff it out with a soft cotton cloth and lightly sand any surface being painted with 400 grit paper. The WOP gives the paint a nicely primed surface, much like a painter uses Gesso on canvas before the first stroke. The paint isn’t absorbed by the wood and the paint has a nice finish once dry.

 

Another benefit is it makes removing any mis-applied paint easier. I use my smallest mini-chisel or dental scrapers to gently scrape it off. It’s important not to attempt this until the paint has dried an hour or more, don’t wipe or scrape it while it’s wet. I’m scraping it off the coats of WOP, not the wood itself so I don’t damage the wood in the process - a little touch up with the WOP and I’m back to even.

 

While I’m really tempted to not paint the lower hull white I’m kinda compelled to because of the damage I did and the resulting repairs to the stem, so it’s likely good bye to the pretty boxwood and the decent job I did planking.

 

As always, thanks for the likes and comments - they are always appreciated.

 

[BobG]

6 hours ago, glbarlow said:

I like adding WOP as I go, the boxwood drinks it in almost as fast as I put it on. One of the many benefits is it makes painting easier. After the WOP dries (overnight generally) I buff it out with a soft cotton cloth and lightly sand any surface being painted with 400 grit paper. The WOP gives the paint a nicely primed surface, much like a painter uses Gesso on canvas before the first stroke. The paint isn’t absorbed by the wood and the paint has a nice finish once dry.

 

Beautifully done, Glenn, and thanks for the painting tips! That boxwood is gorgeous. I'll be starting mine soon. I'm currently busy getting my winter, container garden in.

[DelF]

I agree with Spyglass and Bob - your boxwood planking is beautiful, especially with the WOP.

 

16 hours ago, glbarlow said:

Except I didn’t entirely follow the instructions. The fashion piece per the instructions is added later in the build by removing enough of the wale for it to fit. I chose instead to use some blue putty to temporarily hold the fashion piece in place long enough to draw a line along the bow facing curve after lining up the stern facing to match the counter.

I followed the instructions on Speedy and struggled, although it came right in the end. Your method looks more logical and gave you a very neat result. I hope you hurry up and move on to HMS Sphinx so I can copy some more good ideas 😁

 

Derek

[glbarlow]

17 hours ago, SpyGlass said:

Do you really need to paint

 

4 hours ago, DelF said:

gave you a very neat result.

 

14 hours ago, BobG said:

That boxwood is gorgeous.

I really appreciate the comments. My standards for myself are too high I guess, the damage and repairs to the stem plus using lower grade planks on the bottom necessitated painting it white, it already has the first coat.  I’ll probably regret it later. 

[Gregory]

I'm confident your paint work will not detract form the quality of your ship..

 

Besides, unless you were going to avoid paint altogether, leaving the hull unpainted while using paint for other major aspects of the model, such as the counter and bulwarks, the unpainted hull would look a bit incongruous IMO..

[glbarlow]

Lower Hull Complete

 

Next up was the rudder.

 

 

I did some subtle shaping - rounding off the leading edge then feathering front to back and top to bottom. Basically I followed the same approach I did with Cheerful - I think it gives the rudder a nice, and realistic, look.

 

 

I’m impressed with Chris’ use of PE to simulate the pintles and gudgeons. Normally I toss kit brass in favor of thinner black card or black masking tape (used on the top of the rudder), in this case the brass was so thin and the design so clever I used it, installed it looks quite nice. It got a couple more coats of white after this photo.

 

Then it's time to paint.

 

 

 

Here’s the semi-finished hull. I didn’t take any photos of the process of painting it (by brush). It basically involved lots of Tamiya tape, multiple coats of Admiralty Paints Matt White, and lots of re-taping, a little scraping and touch up to ensure a clean line.  I also very lightly sanded the top edge of the white to blend it in to the hull. I’m pleased with the look, the white accents the boxwood and black wales nicely I think.

 

Once dried overnight I added a coat of WOP to seal it all up. I’ve probably mentioned this before, when I say add a coat of WOP it means applying it with a clean cloth (not brushes) and wiping it off about as fast as I wipe it on. What’s left is whatever is absorbed into the wood and lightly covering paint, leaving a near matte finish, no glossy looks for me.

 

I painted the stem black to cover up the repairs, it is the same color as the wales, my work light is glaring off the still wet WOP in the top photo. 

 

Now to add the rest of the upper hull trim.

 

Edited September 28, 2021 by glbarlow

[PRS]

That looks really nice Glen and your painting turned out great!

[DelF]

I'm sending Duchess to you for planking and painting...

[glbarlow]

7 hours ago, DelF said:

planking and painting...

Flirt is in the mail to you for masking and rigging

[whitejamest]

That is some extremely neat, crisp water lining. I would be terrified to bring an airbrush near the model, but your results look impeccable. 

[Gregory]

Amazing how the planking lines disappeared, at least in your photos..

 

If I didn't know better I would think it was fiberglass or plastic..  ( Please forgive the use of the P word.. )

[glbarlow]

2 hours ago, Gregory said:

how the planking lines disappeared,

IRL the planking lines are distinct for the boxwood. As for the white I’d prefer to call it clean and clear, not sure what else i can say to your comment.  
 

Note The top half of the section above the wales has been sanded in prep for next step of hull decoration. 

Edited September 29, 2021 by glbarlow

[glbarlow]

2 hours ago, whitejamest said:

bring an airbrush near the model,

Thank you. The white was brush painted, not airbrushed. It takes a lot of taping, scraping, retaping, touching up, and sanding to get here. This represents about 12-14 hours just for the white and waterline. 

Edited September 29, 2021 by glbarlow

[whitejamest]

Wow, I guess I just assumed it was airbrushed because the finish was so nice. Even better. 

[glbarlow]

4 minutes ago, whitejamest said:

the finish was so nice.

It’s not obvious in the photo but for the hull I like seeing the subtlety of the brush strokes. 

[niwotwill]

love to watch your work and how I may use some of your techniques.

 

 

[Gregory]

4 hours ago, glbarlow said:

As for the white I’d prefer to call it clean and clear, not sure what else i can say to your comment.  

I was saying the paint made the planks disappear, and looked as smooth as plastic or fiberglass.

 

It was supposed to be a compliment regarding the quality of the paint job..  I apologize if it sounded otherwise..

[glbarlow]

7 minutes ago, Gregory said:

supposed to be a compliment

No worries.  There is more texture than shows in the photo. It’s why I use a brush for hull painting. 

[glbarlow]

Upper Hull and Stern

 

I’ve made some progress on the upper hull, largely completing it and the stern.

 

 

Sometimes creation begins with destruction - I’m not sure it its essential but I usually “etch” a surface before gluing something to it as I’ve done here on the hawser holes (is that the marine name, sounds wrong 😄 and the first phase of the stem decoration. I also etch the mounting side of what’s being attached, in the recesses of my mind I see the glue adhering better. Maybe not… At any rate I’m careful to contain my knife attack to what will be covered.

 

 

The instructions show these stem decorations as natural, I elected to paint them yellow ochre since I’ve painted the stem black. The engraving is very nice, but that means the paint has to be thin to not fill and cover the engraving….ask me how I know that…. I did encounter a small problem here. The decoration covered the slot for wrapping of the bowsprit, I had to enlarge/lower the slot with a file. It’s a good thing I caught it or it would have been 90% covered and very difficult to correct. I always assume these things are my fault and not a design issue - I had so many issues with the stem why not one more. This is also a good time to check the three small slots along the top of the stem. There are three brass pieces that slide through these slots, not just fit into but slide through to the middle of each. It’s a great design idea, but here again I had to enlarge the slots, mostly to remove excess paint.

 

 

The temptation is to drill the hawser holes (there’s that name again, it can’t be right) straight through as they lie. However they need to instead be straight with the run of the deck since the hawsers feed along the deck to the hold. I go slow with these, a great opportunity to split some wood. First a pilot hole with a small bit, then a larger one and gently finishing with a round file. The tape on the inside helps prevent splintering.

 

 

Sometimes the best jigs are the simplest one. To mark the paint line for the upper hull I just edge glued a 5mm scrap to another one in an L shape. It needs to be short since the deck curves. I just ran it along the cap rail marking with pencil (lightly so not to dent the wood) below then came back and ran Tamiya tape along that dashed pencil line. Before doing that I lightly sanded above the wales with 400 grit.

 

 

This Cerulean Blue is the color I hope to use on Winchelsea and at any rate is a pretty color. I mix the tube with distilled water until I get the consistency I’m looking for and paint away with my brush.

 

 

And end up with this.

 

 

Ok, before I go any further, it’s time to confess. I have purchased an airbrush and compressor. My thanks to @James H who provided gracious and expert advice on what to get. I ended up with an Iwata Eclipse along with this basic compressor (which came with some cheap airbrushes, but I’m an all in kind of guy). I still prefer a brush for most things but there is stuff I think the airbrush will prove helpful, like gun carriages and priming PE for example (when I don’t instead blacken it). First up were the long trim pieces and the cap rails for the hull (I’m not brave enough to paint anything on the ship, it has to be done off to the side). No judgements please, I’m on a beginner’s learning curve.

 

 

Here I went off book. I decided I wanted a simpler look that highlighted the pretty blue/black/boxwood/white combination. Plus I really don’t like swivel guns, I think they detract from the elegance of the hull and make it instead look busy. Of course I now lose the historical accuracy merit badge. So if I wasn’t going to mount swivel guns why include the swivel gun mounts. Instead I scraped a simple molding into a slightly larger boxwood strip and ran it along the bottom edge of the blue paint. I always run these things as one piece then come back and trim out the gun ports. I’m sure there are other ways to do this, but I prefer to use a really sharp #11 Excel blade. The #11 scalpel may be sharper, but it is way to flimsy for this onion peeling approach to trimming. I score it top and bottom at the edges of the port and peel it back from both bottom and top to prevent splitting - going slow is essential and not something to do after too much coffee, too much scotch, or while watching the Cowboys beat Philadelphia.

 

 

In the 'always plan ahead' mode it was time to take a look at the stern. I wanted the blue trim to match up with the trim on the transom, separated by a black trim piece. It was also easier to mark and cut the side trim piece to match up to the boom crutches rather than trying to cut it away later (this applies if using the kit supplied hull trim as well).

 

 

I spent a lot of time fitting the boom crutches, I wanted to turn them in a little bit (not thick enough to turn in enough) and match them up to the counter fashion piece for a contiguous flow. That meant both thinning them and matching up angles. Having done one the often more challenging task is to make the second one a mirror identical.

 

 

Care is required to ensure they both wind up the same height above the cap rail. (the tiller is temporarily mounted, I see in the photo it isn’t straight, and I leaned up that paint in the corner later).

 

 

A quick trip to the plank bending station to iron a curve into the transom top rail. It took a bit of fettling (my favorite English word) to get a good fit between it and the crutches, including a little beveling.

 

 

 

With that the stern is complete. I added a couple of bolts to the crutches for no particular reason by drilling holes, inserting 24 gauge black wire, then cutting it off to stand a little proud before I installed the crutches and before I painted them. (rudder is temporary and not pushed in tight). There are a series of 1mm holes drilled in the hull for future rigging as per the plans. I always check the plans for anything I can do earlier because its generally easier to do earlier.

 

 

I added the mounting ladder, stopping short of the layout shown on the plans. I didn’t necessarily want a rainbow of painted rungs with a blue one at top - and Admiral Cochrane on his visit to Flirt didn’t seem to need it to climb aboard. Lot of dust on that bottom rung, sorry Admiral we’ll get right on that.

 

 

With that the exterior of the hull (minus the bow, that’s next) is largely complete. I’m happy with the paint lines (all by brush except trim). With the blue trim, black molding, and red lined gun ports I spent a lot, a lot of time going back and forth with a 10/0 Shader touching up and touching up again. I try to tell myself to move away from the paint jars, then immediately find something else to touch up. When I get to the 20/0 shader its really time to stop, and then….

 

Thanks as for your time spent to visit my log, the likes and the comments are always appreciated.

Edited October 6, 2021 by glbarlow

[PRS]

Looking good Glen. The airbrush is a great one you chose.

[Ronald-V]

That is a really neat finish, so clean! Nice job! 

[DelF]

That last shot shows off the contrast between the boxwood and the paintwork beautifully. By the way, I'm not sure you need mechanical painting aids - your brush work is at least as good as my spraying.

 

13 hours ago, glbarlow said:

the hawser holes (is that the marine name, sounds wrong 😄

Nearly. They're hawse-holes. The hawser is the cable that passes through them, and the hawse is the part of the ship's bows through which the hawse-holes pass (haven't you got that maritime dictionary yet? )

 

While we're on vocabulary...

 

14 hours ago, glbarlow said:

fiddling (my favorite English word)

...do you mean fiddling? That's a pretty ordinary word. A more interesting word you might have seen used by many of us on this side of the pond is fettling, originally meaning to scour rough castings after they come from the furnace, but now more generally meaning to put something in order. Used a lot by engineers and mechanics (and model ship builders), particularly in Northern parts.

[glbarlow]

5 hours ago, DelF said:

...do you mean fiddling? That's a pretty ordinary word.

I knew I could count on you to correct my spelling and maritime terminology, I  don’t need that dictionary 🤪🤣Hawser holes is so much more fun.

Edited October 6, 2021 by glbarlow

[glbarlow]

6 hours ago, SpyGlass said:

Really nice paint job

Thank you. Best of luck with your planking, my painting was more of a choice than a fall back, I like to paint.

 

5 hours ago, mugje said:

really neat finish,

Thank you, I appreciate your saying so.  

[glbarlow]

16 hours ago, PRS said:

The airbrush is a great one

Thank you.  James was a big help narrowing down the countless options. I won’t use it much, it takes as long to clean as it does to paint it seems. 

[glbarlow]

Catheads & Bow Decoration

 

Installation of the catheads called for a little extra work beyond just gluing in the solid parts provided. I did some filing and sanding on both to match the angle of the deck and adjustments to get them flush with the bulkhead, including notching out for the spirketting I’d added earlier. They were pretty a pretty close fit, every ship is going to be a little different and require basic fitting adjustments.

 

 

In addition I finally had the chance to use my mill, in this case to add simulated sheaves. I plan to rig the anchors later using these as I’ve done for other models.

 

 

I also added a cleat to the back of both catheads for the same reason. I got started using Admiralty Paints Dull Black on this model, but really prefer Admiralty Paints Iron Works Black (which looks great on wood and what I used on Cheerful). I'm not going to change course now but It's probably the last hurrah for Dull Black.

 

 

Really just to use the mill for repetitive work I drilled holes through the eight wood cleats required for the hull and glued in the nails as called for by the instructions. Conveniently Chris has provided the holes for both these cleats and the smaller PE cleats in the bulwarks, they were among those I’d drilled through from outside the gunport pattern way back at the beginning. That was a nice touch and saved a lot of measuring and drilling, this design feature pays off again for the gunport tackle eyebolts and rings.

 

 

 

Then it was time for the bow vertical and main rails  - I’ve built a lot of models with this feature but this design is quite clever. The vertical rails are three pieces of PE that pass through the stem with flex points allowing them to bend up to meet the main rail. I had do a little bit of filing but it worked out quite easily all in all. Though I chose a different paint scheme this is another nice design touch by Chris and Vanguard Models.

 

 

My last modification was to add an eyebolt to the bottom of the knee, again part of the anchor rigging I’ll do later. While the instructions seem to show directly installing the knees right from the parts board I instead added a 15 degree angle to the back side using, very carefully, the Byrnes Sander. I thought this provided for a better fit that is more in line with the main rail. These close ups always disclose a lot of dust and needed paint touch up, which I do after seeing the photos.

 

My next step is to build all the gun carriages, deck furniture and belay racks anything I want painted red. My intent is a single spray painting session for the bunch. I’ve never done this as I’ve mentioned but thought it’d be worth a try with my new spray painting gear. Simply setting it all up to paint will be a task in and of itself I’m guessing, and to be clear I’m doing none of that anywhere near the hull. It will take a while.

 

Thanks as always for your time spent visiting my log, the likes comments are appreciated. I’ll be back soon.

 

Edited October 10, 2021 by glbarlow

[DelF]

Looking good. Smart move making the false sheaves in your catheads before fitting them - unlike me with Speedy! 

[Blue Ensign]

She's pretty as a picture Glenn, all down to your excellent fettlin'👍

 

B.E.

[glbarlow]

2 hours ago, DelF said:

making the false sheaves

Thanks Derek, I had to find some excuse for using the mill.