HMS Pegasus by Landlubber Mike - Amati/Victory Models - Scale 1:64

[Landlubber Mike]

Thanks Jason - glad I'm not the only one suffering from this malady.  I'll have a few drinks and slap myself around some to get out of it!  

[Landlubber Mike]

Upper hull is finally completed!      Big milestone passed in completing the upper hull planking.  Took me a while as I was planking according to TFFM, which had a bunch of oddly shaped planks, and even a scarph joint thrown in for good measure.  Because I was using a mixture of woods and dyes, I was also trying to ensure that the planking ended up in such a way that the intersections of the areas would be overlapped by the various rails for a clean look, especially if the stains bled from one area to another or there were other blemishes.

 

For the frieze areas, I used boxwood as I thought it looked best when stained using General Finishes Blue Dye Stain.  I loved working with pear, but wow, boxwood is a really nice wood to work with.  Here are some pictures after finishing the boxwood planking and installing the fixed blocks:

 

 

 

 

 

 

The boxwood looked so nice in its natural state that it was a tough call to proceed with staining the area blue.  But, I went ahead with my original plan and added the blue stain, and then added a row of redheart planks to the very top of the upper hull near the forecastle and quarterdeck:

 

 

 

 

For the forecastle area, I had soaked the redheart for a while as one long piece that went around the full forecastle.  It surprisingly bent very nicely and didn't give any problems.  I thought about keeping that area as one piece, but since I had two planks on the quarterdeck I went with two on the forecastle.

 

I still need to do some touchups, including sanding and otherwise finishing the redheart, as well as ultimately sanding back the planking to the gunport patterns (left a little extra on purpose just in case...), but I couldn't be happier with how this came out.  The colors in my opinion complement each other nicely (they should deepen a bit after I apply a finish to it), and I really like that they show the grain and planking lines.  There are a few areas between the blue and dark brown that aren't perfect, but like I said, these will be covered with the rails.  And while I was very careful to follow the TFFM planking pattern, on both sides of the model, I had a weird extra gap just forward the third gunport.  Since that gap will itself by covered by the rails, I didn't worry about it.

 

So, I'm super happy where things are right now, and am pretty burned out by all the custom planking.  I might remove the bulkhead extensions at the waist and finish my deck planking, but I don't know that I have the desire to start on the bulwark planking.  TFFM has a sample planking pattern that probably won't be too hard to execute, but the thought of fitting more planks right now is not all that appealing.  I might switch back to my Morgan build and think about something other than fitting crazy shaped planks for the next few weeks.

 

Looks like I'm approaching the 2-year anniversary of the start of this build.  At the rate I'm going, especially since I'm looking to add full sails to the model, I probably have at least a good 3 years left on the build, but likely longer.

Edited June 19, 2016 by Landlubber Mike

[mtaylor]

Looking great, Mike.   Burnout does happen so maybe you should jump over to something else.  

[riverboat]

She's looking good Mike........ I can see where you might get a little burned out , that's a pretty big big project , get away from it for a little while , like you said do your Morgan it'll be  a  nice change of pace for you......... remember , this is not a job  .... HAVE FUN!!!!

Frank

[Blue Ensign]

That really does look great Mike, very well done

 

B.E.

[donrobinson]

I'm really liking the looks of her Mike. You have some pretty fancy joinery going on there, I wonder what the purpose of some this actually was other than to drive future modellers nuts.

 Take a break have a nice cool drink and I'll be looking forward to more of your great work. 

[Landlubber Mike]

Thanks very much guys, really appreciate the kind words.  I'm glad I ripped out the first planking strake and a half a few months ago - it was a tough decision given how much time I had put into it, but the planks were the wrong size and me trying to taper them was the wrong approach.

 

Don, I think the purpose was to drive me nuts  Lots of time was spent trying to ensure that the planking runs would end up precisely where the various colored areas would intersect so that the rails, which are only on the order of 1-2mm.  Not much wiggle room!  Plus, some of those planks took me a good hour plus to craft, especially the tricky ones around the gunports.  Lots of measuring, cutting and sanding by hand in order to get the planks to fit tightly.  

 

That being said, I'm really happy with how the deck and hull planking has gone.  I still can improve, but I feel like I've gotten a lot better with the planking from my Badger days.  Using better wood and having the Byrnes saw to cut custom planks with clean lines has really helped.  Some tips I learned along the way that I can share:

 

1.  Soak and pin.  I soak and pin the planks around the bow.  Let them dry overnight so you don't end up with shrinkage issues down the road.  Once they are dry, they keep a pretty good shape that makes it infinitely easier to glue them to the hull.  On my Badger I tried doing everything in one go, and things got messy, especially when I tried using CA for quick adhesion.  Soaking and pinning is a much better approach.

 

2.  Bevel.  I sand in a slight bevel onto the planks which helps give a tighter fit.  Even when using 1mm planks, beveling helps.

 

3.  Pin planks along length.  I found it's important to pin the planks along their length to ensure that the plank fits tightly against the hull/first planking.  I've really liked using these grip pins from Midwest, which have a very narrow pin so they can pierce the first planking very easily, yet have a soft plastic head which doesn't mar the planks (can probably find it cheaper from other sources):

 

https://www.amazon.com/Midwest-Products-Hobby-Craft-50-Pack/dp/B000O8IPXW

 

4.  Use good quality, sharp blades.  Working with dull blades is a no-no.  Too much risk for slippage and injury (trust me on this one - the red areas on my Badger are probably not exclusively from paint  ).  I used to use X-acto craft blades but recently tried out Swann Morton blades - the latter are much much better.  They hold an edge better, and are much stronger so you don't get the degree of lateral movement you get with X-acto blades.  Ian posted a picture of a S-M handle that actually grips the blade to provide even greater stability on my post at the link below, but I haven't been able to find it here in the US.  Anyway,  I would highly recommend the S-M blades.

 

http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/7267-hms-pegasus-by-landlubber-mike-amativictory-models-scale-164/?p=267612

 

5.  Don't settle.  If you aren't completely happy with the plank for any reason, re-do it.  Especially if you start getting clinking effects, which will just continue to cause difficulties down the road.  It can be a tough decision to make, but in the end, it's usually worth it.

 

 

I tend to complain about how slow a builder I am, but I'm really enjoying the journey.  Waking up this morning and peeking at my build, all that time and work was well worth it.  This is a really great hobby    It's especially satisfying sharing my and other builds with other Swan-class and other ship builders from all over world.  I've learned a ton from many people here on MSW who have been gracious sharing their wisdom and experience.  I don't think I would be anywhere near my current level (which is still pretty low on the scale here at MSW) without the internet and MSW.   In particular, reading Swan class logs from BE, Alistair, Martin, Nils, RWS, Aldo, and others (as well as logs of other models) pushes me to build the best Pegasus I can.

Edited June 19, 2016 by Landlubber Mike

[donrobinson]

Very well said Mike.......Happy Father's Day

[Landlubber Mike]

You too Don, Happy Father's Day to you and all my other friends here on MSW.

[Martin W]

Congratulations on reaching this milestone Mike!!  The planking looks great, those fixed blocks are very neatly done, and that redheart does indeed make for a nice contrast.  I'm impressed that you were able to get it to work, and intrigued by what you say about soaking it.  And I appreciate your reflections on the care involved in working with tools, and in building a model. 

 

Here's hoping that your twins pitch in to give you something good for Father's Day (maybe you could pick it out for them?) 

 

Cheers,

 

Martin

[mtaylor]

Very well said and done, Mike.  And it's excellent advice.  

 

If you don't want to wait overnight on the "soak and pin" method,  Add heat to the mix. After soaking, I use an old curling iron to heat the wood up and then transfer it to the ship.  It helps to have the pins as ready as possible, but the wood stays pliable for a bit and bends nicely.  Once cool and dry, ready to glue.

[Landlubber Mike]

Thanks Martin, lots of fingers crossed when I started what was somewhat of an ambitious plan, but it's all worked out pretty nicely.  For a what can be a crumbly wood at times, redheart has some very good properties for this hobby.  I was fully expecting it to snap or otherwise crack, but after soaking it in hot water for 20 or so minutes, I flexed it one way then the other to help loosen the fibers, then clamped it to the hull.  I couldn't use those pins because I was at the top of the planking pattern obviously, so used an assortment of clamps with scrap wood between the plank and the clamps to avoid indenting the redheart.  My limited experience with putting big bends in wood suggests that it's better to go with longer strips than you need - when I've gone with the actual size I need in the past, I've had issues with splitting on even stuff like pear.  My sense is that the longer strips help with the leverage factor while apportioning the same stress over a larger area, but I could be wrong.

 

Oh, girls got me a Darth Vader t-shirt and some Star Wars pajama pants, and my 6-year old has been helping me throw a couple of racks of ribs on the smoker, so all is good

 

Thanks Mark.  I haven't tried the heat method yet, but it sounds like a good one.  I think I bought one of those heating irons from Model Expo when I was first starting, but never used it.  I assume the heat steams the water out of the wood and so you don't have to wait as long for it to dry?  

[mtaylor]

I think you're right on the longer strips.  Plus it gives your fingers something to hold onto.  Trying to hold to 1/2" plank at the end and bend it is a bear and half. 

 

On the heat..  When I hit my iron, it sizzles.  The water from the soaking inside the wood turns to steam and heat and water/steam allows the lignian <sp?) inside the wood to loosen it's grip.  I've noticed that if It soaks for a period time (depending thickness) and then hit it with the heat and keep heating and moving the iron, I can turn a strip of pear planking into spaghetti practically.  I've tried the soak, wrap in wet paper towel and nuke in the microwave but that doesn't seem to work as well.

 

I've also done the steaming (but the steam setup is long gone unfortuneatly) and that seemed to work the best as the whole plank gets heat and steam.  I've not tried boiling yet as some have said they've done.

[fnick]

Hi Mike

 

Looking good! Completely agree with you about not settling for something you're not happy about. If it's niggling now it will niggle later when you can't change it  .

 

Nick

[jwvolz]

Looking very nice Mike. Excellent work on the planking and staining. 

[Landlubber Mike]

I've been a little busy with work the last couple of weeks, but managed to sneak in some time on my Pegasus.  I had left about six planks on each side to keep the bulkhead extensions at the waist.  

 

 

 

Now that the outer hull planking is complete, I was able to fill in those planks.  A bit tricky to fill in the top and butt planking, but it wasn't too bad.  I first created card templates, then cut the planks slightly oversized which I then sanded back to get a snug fit.  Still need to do a little finishing, but in generally I think they came out pretty well.  

 

 

 

 

 

If I had to be critical of myself, the last top and butt planks are slightly oversized by about 1mm in width or so.  I was planking according to the TFFM deck plan, and this is a good example how being off by little increments of even 0.1mm in the prior planks will catch up to you.  Luckily, the cannons and other deck details can be used to hide this issue.

 

BE, thanks for the tip on the veneer saw.  It made removing the bulkhead extensions a breeze.

 

The deck is in maple, which is a really nice wood to work with.  Even at 0.5mm, the planks cut very smoothly with no issues at all with splitting, etc.  In terms of workability, I would easily put it on par with boxwood and pear.  The only drawback is that the wood is not uniform in color like boxwood and pear, but has waves or a slightly darker brown throughout.  Personally I like it as it goes with my preference to show the grain in my build and not cover it in paint.

 

For next steps, I think I'm going to work on the inner bulwark planking and the exterior hull.  For better or worse (probably worse), I'm very much a "lap" modeler.  Once much of the heavier exterior work is done, I'll turn to the deck details.  I learned my lesson on my Badger, where per the directions, I installed the cannons and then worked on the rails, etc.  I can't tell you how many times I busted off the cannons and their rigging

Edited July 3, 2016 by Landlubber Mike

[Landlubber Mike]

One thing that was a bit frustrating was that I had replaced all the upper bulkhead extensions with red heart, even the ones at the waist that were to be removed anyway.  That ended up being a real pain for me as I did the upper hull planking, because a couple of the redheart extensions snapped at the waist.  as a result, the gunport patterns ended up slowly pushing outwards to a more vertical position, rather than curving inwards like they should (Ian, similar issue you were having on your Unicorn).  

 

So, I ended up having to clamp the tops of the patterns to pinch them inwards as I planked.  If I didn't, the bevel on the planks would be wrong which would make it harder to get the tops of the patterns back to the proper position.  That sucked in a lot of ways because the Irwin micro clamps I was using were a touch too small and would pop off at the slightest movement.  Eventually I found these Zona Berna clamps, which really worked well.  They are a bit pricey, but well worth it.  Amati has similar clamps on the market, but they aren't very good.

 

 

 

As I added the upper hull planking, the gunport patterns began behaving better and staying more or less in the proper position.  Once I add in the inner bulwark planking and glue in the quarterdeck and forecastle support beams, things should be fine.  A real pain though!  I wish I had left the MDF extensions at the waist as I would have avoided these problems.  I can't tell you how much I kicked myself for that oversight.

Edited July 3, 2016 by Landlubber Mike

[rafine]

Really nice work on the deck planking Mike.

 

Bob

[Landlubber Mike]

Thanks Bob, really appreciate it.  Means a lot coming from someone of your skill!

[mtaylor]

Good looking planking, Mike.  I guess problems go with the turf but you have overcome them.   Great work.

[Blue Ensign]

Great work on the deck planking Mike, that first pic shows it off a treat

 

B.E.

[Martin W]

Hi Mike -- I must correct you on one point:  you claim the deck planking came out "pretty well" No Sir, it came out bloody fantastic! 

 

Where did you find those Zona Berna clamps?  I've had the same complaint about the Irwin clamps, and would really like something akin to a micro bar clamp.

 

I, too, like the maple. 

 

Cheers,

 

Martin

[Landlubber Mike]

Thanks Martin  

 

I found the Zona Berna clamps on Amazon.  Here is the link:

 

https://www.amazon.com/Zona-38-725-Assortment-8-Inch-Connector/dp/B0006N734W

 

 

It's amazing how one can use every possible clamp type in this hobby.  By the way, I tried buying the Irwin "mini" bar clamps thinking they were a tad longer.  Well, they are longer and much much bigger.  Too big for modeling, but I'm sure I can find some other application for them in the future.

[donrobinson]

Beautiful decking Mike, would it be possible to show how those clamps work? Maybe it's too early and I need more coffee but I just can't picture how they operate.

[Landlubber Mike]

Hey Don, I just re-read your reply and saw you wanted a picture of the clamp in action.  I took the wrong picture, ugh.  Let's see if I can explain.

 

 

 

The Zona clamp works like most C-type clamps, except both ends aren't fixed.  You slide each arm along the rod to get the clamping gap you need.  When you get the pieces clamped as you want them, you slightly pinch the top of the arms together where the bar is.  That essentially locks the arms in place - kinda surprising, but it really works.  The nice thing about these is that unlike C-clamps where the two arms are on the same plane, the arms on the Zona clamp actually swivel, which give you lots of options.  There is also some other gizmos that came in the pack that help you turn this into more of a modular type of tool for even more purposes.

 

Just found this link that describes these clamps much better than I can.  To the right of the page are some illustrations on the multitude of uses you can have with these clamps.  I highly recommend them.

 

http://www.modelwarships.com/reviews/misc/tools/Berna/berna.html

 

 

By the way, in my picture above, the Zona clamp is on top, the Irwin in the middle, and the Amati on the bottom (don't buy the Amati).  You can see how much more clamping area you have with the Zona over the Irwin.

 

 

Happy 4th of July to all my friends!  Here's a slab of ribs I smoked earlier today to help get in the spirit 

 

 

Edited July 5, 2016 by Landlubber Mike

[donrobinson]

Thanks for that Mike, and did you say you were bringing some of those over?

[Martin W]

Good looking ribs, Mike.  A friend of mine here left two weeks ago for a trip to Buffalo -- he told me he plotted his route to try out as many famous rib places along the way as possible.  You might listen for his knock at your door.

 

Cheers,

 

Martin

[Landlubber Mike]

Unfortunately I haven't had much time lately with work being busy to go into the shipyard.  I have been reading and planning for my quarter badges though.  I'm planning to make them more three dimensional than flat badges as in the kit, but I'm a bit stuck on how to do the upper finishing.  Here is a good picture from the NMM plans:

 

 

 

The upper finishing is the part above the windows that consists of the two dolphins or dragons (hard for me to tell what they are).  TFFM notes that the decorations are in relief, and that in some ships, the upper finishing design shows high relief figures with deep undercuts, and suggests that it's easier to carve the figures separately and then attach them to the upper finishing. 

 

What I can't figure out is whether the upper finishing is solely comprised of the two figures (and other decoration between their tails), or whether I should construct the upper finishing as a relatedly solid roof-like structure, with the figures on top.  Alistair took the latter option as shown in the picture borrowed from his log below:

 

 

 

Anyone have any idea what is more accurate?  I'm thinking Alistair's approach makes more sense, even though the plans suggest that the figures themselves are all that make up the upper finishing.  Thanks in advance!

[mtaylor]

Mike,

 

Do the plans show a stern view?   If they're rounded out like what Alistair did, I'd think you'd see a bit of them outside the taffrail.  Maybe....  On your plan, I don't see anything to indicate the shape that Alistair used.   The drops below the windows appears to be a different story. Due to the shape of the transom, those should be visible on the drawing if they're rounded outwards.   

 

At this point, either way could be right.  

[Landlubber Mike]

Hey Mark, thanks for looking in.  The drops below the windows definitely appear to be the typical, full drops with decorations carved in relief.  Unfortunately, the stern view of the plans isn't much help as you can see below: