HMS Pegasus by Barbossa - Amati/Victory Models - 1/64

[Barbossa]

Hi Folks,

I've set  my semi scratch project ( La Vénus ) on hold. Maybe some members wil recognise the feeling : filling a tank with gas-petrol-whatever...just to progress a few meters/yards.

So I've started this nice kit that  was almost for a decade collecting dust on the shelf.

Here's the present status. ( part 1 )

I'll deliver some extra explanations next post(s), the next few days :  especially regarding the quarter badge

Special thanks to all members who "paved the way" regarding this subject. 

[Barbossa]

Part 2

[Barbossa]

and finally, part 3

[Blue Ensign]

She looks good Christian, and deserves to be finished.

 

Regards,

 

B.E.

[Barbossa]

If not, it would be shameful.

The moreover : I invested in boxwood for the gun area above the wales, as you will have noticed.

[Barbossa]

As promised yesterday, here's some extra info :

At first a general remark : I'll mention some brands of whom I have no commercial benefit whatsoever but they just worked out fine for me.

 

1. The hull : ( see pic )

As you may have noticed : I'm done with coppering. It took me a while finding the just shade of white color beneath the waterline until a wellknown modelbuilding specialist in Antwerp advised me AV white grey 71.119. It's just perfect.😀 I took care of fixing a primer : Tamiya surface primer does the job. The white paint was applied with my Badger Patriot airbrush. The black paper strip is not by the book but looks pleasant to the eye.

 

2. Inner bulwarks and other areas painted in red.

AV vermillion 70.909 : don't be afraid to dilute if necessary

 

3. The black paint = DIY-store

 

4. All brass ornaments : I'm no longer into the "bling-bling" so I went for the AV New wood 311

 

Next post : the quarter badges

 

[Blue Ensign]

I like the muted tones, and a good decision to dispense with any bling.

I also very much liked your Diana which I can see in the background.

 

Cheers,

 

B.E.

[Barbossa]

The quarter badges, just my approach : (part 1 )

Much has been said in previous builds about the matter : nonetheless : striving for a more 3 D-effect is (imho ) definitely a plus.

At first I made a bottom and top piece which a glued upon piece nr.307 ( starboard  side ) : once fixed, this allows a better finetuning of the necessary filingwork.

 

A third element from scratch is to fit between bottom and top piece. Made it big enough, to create a little tension on part 307 making so it would decribe a small curve : it's destination on the hull surface isn't flat either.

Again : part 307 is fragile so caution is required

 

 

 

 

Accordingly to the shape of the the 3rd piece , I made a grey paper and plastic strip.

The thing is that I was anxious to avoid awkward bending pieces 308 and 314 .

The the delicate windows on the backside of piece 308. Most challenging was fixing the plastic upon the grey paper with cyanoglue. Needless to say : be ultraconservative with the glue.

 

 

 

[Barbossa]

Related to the quarterbadges : here's the second and last part :

 

On both sides : a small strip of wood to secure the plastic 

And glue part 308 with the inserted PE-windows 

Again : be conservative with the glue.

Here's the final result : the dolphin ornaments (315 and 316 ) allow bending upon the more or less spherical surface. Though the bird ( bottom piece ) is a different story. By consequence piece 333 is a small sacrifice, and 334 was the only doable ornament in this area

Finally, instead of fixing parts 338 next to the quarterbadge, I glued them on both sides which was pretty convenient.

So that's it. 

Next post will be related to the trasom/tafferal.

[Barbossa]

And finally a word about the transom/tafferal

 

I proceede more or less the same way as I did by realising the quarterbadges. 

For aesthetic reason I added an extra strip to piece n° 115  .As I had to deal with different layers one above the other such as :  the grey paper, the plastic, and n°115 , I duplicated n° 114 out of a piece of birchwood but with a 0,5 mm thickness instead of its original 1,5 thickness. This as a measure of compensation.

 

Accordingly to the quarterbadges, I fixed the ornaments following the instructions. Which brings me to the Norman knights. I tried altarnatives such as mermaids but these trials were very inconclusive, the least to say. Another concern -again aesthetically speaking- was the necessity to provide those knights with a kind of support instead of leave them "hanging in the void". See next pic.

The only issue left was to file this until they fitted properly with the hull, then I took care adding pieces 336-335.

Finally a word about the decoration strips all along thee port and  starboard side. I Used 2x2mm boxwood strips which I could eventually bend ( after several attempts ) to follow the curve of the bow section. But boxwood is great stuff. These strips required some carving : I used a micro shaper for that purpose. The 2*2 strip is pointing towards the profile I employed.

So there you have it.

Feel free to react, give feedback,...

 

[brunnels]

Loving the color scheme, and you are confirming my choice with going with Boxwood when I eventually do the Pegasus.  I am going to have to pickup some of that Vallejo New wood paint, It looks like a useful color to have in the inventory. 

[Barbossa]

You're welcome, Sir.

Compared to walnut, Boxwood may me expensive but I can assure you that it is money well spent.

Plenty of availability in the US, I.guess

By the way, regarding the 2*2 decoration strips : mark the position on the first planking and anticipate the necessary space while proceeding the second planking. Thus you can insert the 2*2 strips, which avoid difficult painting afterwards.

[Beef Wellington]

Love the picture of the stern Christian, the more muted monochromatic approach is definitely to my tastes as well...the Norman knights don't look quite so...Norman!  Good luck moving forward, but you already seem to have the major challenging elements completed successfully.

[Moonbug]

Nice work Christian - good to see another Peggy getting top notch treatment.  I dig the approach to the transom and quarter badges!

[Barbossa]

Thanks for the kind words, Bug.

As you may have noticed , I'm following your build with great interest. 

Imho, HMS Pegasus is a recommendable kit with great potential when it comes to improve, add own interpretations, color schemes....etc

 

Also thanks to all the likes.

[Baker]

Looks great 

[Barbossa]

Being doubtful about the matter, here's something I'd like to submit.

Regarding the rigging of the guns, especially the blocks on the gun carriages.

 

The iedea is to omit the fixing of the eyelets thus to avoid the bulky knots in this area and create more space and visibility for the rigging itself.

The thing is that the eyelets are already a bit out of scale ( to big ! ). So both extremities of the black thread went through te hole that was initially entended for the eyelet.

From both sides a knot and some cyano glue secured the whole thing, see the upside down pic.

 

I know, this is not by the book, but it's a ( more or less clean solution )

 

Thoughts, criticism, disagreements, alternatives are welcome

 

[Moonbug]

I like it Christian. The eyebolts on carriages for anything less than 1:48 scale is always a pretty big challenge and always seems to look bulky. I'm interested to see the finished cannon / carriage, but on the surface this seems to be a pretty good solution toward cutting down on knots, etc.  You'll notice in all of my builds - I have not issues sacrificing some accuracy (within reason) for a more aesthetic look.

[Barbossa]

This is sound advice, Bug

Sincere thanks for your input.

The moreover, here's some pics of my San Felipe ( finished in 2006 ) : no rigging of the guns or falconets whatsoever. Which I deeply regret. The fact that this build proceeded my MSW membership may be just a convenient excuse.

The point is : if I had the choice between  :

1) let us call it a minimalistic approach ( less  eyebolts )

2) the whole package, with a high possibility I'll create a jumble of threads & knots

3) no rigging at all

 

I'll settle for the first option.

Another thing : let us not forget that a 18lbs gun carriage ( my previous build HMS Diana ) is way bigger

 

Aside, a word about the colors.

I'm a bit reluctant painting the guns 100% black, so I went for the AV 70862 Black Grey and a highlighted a bit the edges and collars with AV 70864 Natural Steel. Just a try out

[Barbossa]

Perhaps, we're digressing a bit, but this specific topic is worth expanding and maybe other Pegasus fans might benefit from this.

Comparison between a 18 lbs gun  ( my La Vénus -project )and the  gun + carriage provided with the  HMS Pegasus Amati kit.

Although it is also worth mentioning that regarding this French ship, the eyebolt was fixed more in the rear of the carriage ( according to the Boudriot plan ), which creates even more space for the rigging.

 

SO : I've made my mind up. 

 

PS : I do not entend to use the Amati kit's falconets 

 

 

[Barbossa]

The rigging of the guns....almost there.

Went through some pain to realise this stage. And the question still remains : was it worth the effort ?

Especially in a 1/64 (or smaller), I wonder if it were better to omit the tackle and limit myself to the breechings.

Anyway, here we are. As mentioned in previous posts : it is about feasbility versus historical accuracy.

 

At first the breechings : 1 small rope for measurement + adding Güterman for fixing them to the eyebolts just to limit the bulky knots

[Barbossa]

Just take a look : the difference in size compareed to a 9lb gun.

The picture tells something about the sense of urgency to remove the dust from my Diana🥺

 

Well : I was supposed to avoid a jumble of threads...didn't quite succeed...

[Barbossa]

And here we are : final result and my approach for the extra rope for the tacke rigging. ( dry fit )

There's  24 of them required, but I'll make some extra items and make a selection

Gentle push the rope upon the adhesive paper and try to make a loop using the tweezers. Then a very small drop of cyano en also gentle remove with a sharp blade.

[Barbossa]

Ah...talking about doubts and mistakes.

Initially, I was looking to replace the Norman Knights ornaments in favour of something more appropriate.

During 17th and 18th century apparently ships ornaments were often related to Greek/Roman myths or symbols.

So I went for a mermaid, trying the same approach according the "layer-system" provided in this kit.

 

Well...for obvious reasons, I thought I'd do better to stick with the Norman Knights...ahem...ahem.😉

 

[Baker]

Nice work Christian. 

Rigging the cannons is indeed al lot of work

 

was it worth the effort ? Always 😉

[Barbossa]

At last, at last...job done.

The finishing of the tackles with the loops hinder a bit the clarity or surveyability of the deck.

The only way to handle this was to realise the loops as small as possible. The last pic shows a comparison with the first try-outs.

Needless to say : be ultraconservative with the cyano.

 

 

[Moonbug]

A Nice looking, well organized gun deck. 

[Barbossa]

Thanks, Bug. Your interest is much appreciated ( as is your buildlog ).

Well, you have these nice English/American sayings or expressions, such as "Hold your horses" and that is what I'm going to do right now.

Meaning : I'll go back to the instruction manual and oversee the plans....in order to prepare the next stages, outside, while enjoying the weather. Can't do any harm.

[Barbossa]

An in between update. ( part 1 of 2 )

 

The gratings & capstan. About the latter : this item is very present on the quarterdeck so I decreased the diameter a bit and rounded the edges.

Also and as far as I  know, the position of the capstan is perpandicular but as the quarterdeck describes a small slope, I bevelled the bas of the capstan a bit.

However : this item is not glued yet.

 

I also opted for the gangways above the gun area : a nice feature

 

The gallows are also dry fit and with good reason. In this area there's 2x2 blocks related to the rigging process. Just to avoid accessibility concerns.

 

Some general overviews alongside HMS Diana : the difference in size is just striking.

[Barbossa]

Part 2 of 2

 

next step : the rudder