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

[mobbsie]

Hi Mike,

 

She's coming along nicely mate and as stated the 1st planking going to get covered. Have you tried using Push Pins to hold the planks instead of pinning direct into the actual plank. These pins have a collar which when pushed home actually holds the plank with the collar, they reduce the possibility of the planks splitting and also leave the planks with no holes in.

 

Just a thought mate, hope you don't mind me mentioning it.

 

Be Good

 

mobbsie

[riverboat]

HI Mike..... nice progress on your build....if you're going to try the spiling method for your second layer , definitely read Chuck's tutorial

here on MSW... It's very easy to comprehend, just take your time lining out the hull .

 

Frank

[Landlubber Mike]

Martin, good question about the bleeding and using polyurethane.  That might actually work quite nicely.  I'll have to check ChrisLBren's Confederacy log, as I think he did something to mitigate the effects.  I think taping helps, but isn't perfect.  I was originally thinking of pre-staining planks, and then touching them up very carefully if necessary, but that might be not be foolproof.  For seams between planks that will be covered by the rails, I was thinking of leaving a very small gap between the planks using very thin brass sheet.  The gap might help the bleeding, particularly if I leave the brass sheet in while applying the stain.  Then, I can just cover the seam with the rails and call it a day.

 

Thanks for looking in Mobbsie.  I plan on using the push pin method for the second planking for sure.  I thought it was going to be a little tough on the first planking as the bulkheads are in MDF and pretty strong, so my push pins won't work unless I drill holes (which I didn't want it to do).  To get it to work with the kit pins, you need to push the pins all the way down so the head sits on the plank - I wasn't sure how easy it would be to pull the pins once the glued dried.

 

Thanks for the tip on Chuck's tutorial.  I'll have to take a look, thanks!

[fnick]

Hi Mike

 

great job! I second the recommendation to read Chuck's tutorial. I am using that method for the second planking on my Le Mirage and it makes the second planking look so much nicer than the first. It does take much longer to plank this way but the results are well worth it.

 

good luck!

 

Nick

[Landlubber Mike]

Thanks Nick!  I'll definitely check it out.  I love your Le Mirage by the way  

[shihawk]

Lookin good , I found it,s well worth the effort and time working out the planking system ,and once learned ,never forgotten !

[Landlubber Mike]

Well, the first planking is complete!  Here are the pictures before sanding:

 

 

 

 

 

Looks pretty rough, but things got much better after some sanding.  I spent about an hour sanding the port side this afternoon sitting on my porch steps, but at 40 degrees (F) outside, it started getting hard to feel my fingers at the end (the Admiral just shook her head at me, but I reminded her that it was better than having the dust inside the house).  Hopefully the weather will be nice enough tomorrow so I can get some work in on the starboard side.

 

 

 

 

Spending the time I did in fairing the bulkheads seemed to pay off, as I don't think I'll need much filler.  I mostly need some to close the gaps between the gunport patterns and the first plank, and a bit at the bow and stern.  I cheated a bit on the garboard plank by simplifying it, so I'll also need some filler in the area that feeds into the gripe.  

 

Overall, I'm very pleased with how it's coming out.  The Swan class hulls are very shapely, which are borne out in the Amati models.

Edited January 28, 2015 by Landlubber Mike

[mtaylor]

Looking good, Mike. Tomorrow probably won't be a good day to sit outside if what I'm seeing on the weather for the east coast is correct....  It's hard to sand while wearing mittens.  Don't ask how I know.

[ianmajor]

Mike,

 

You will have to glue some sandpaper to the palms of your old mittens. Then you will get a nice smooth curve on your hull - though your nose and ears will still freeze and drop off whilst you are doing it.    

[Landlubber Mike]

Mark, sanding while wearing mittens must have been an adventure  The temps are supposed to hit mid-40s this afternoon and the sun is out, so it should be a little warmer.  Otherwise, I'll have to wait until next weekend as I prefer to do it in the daylight and it's dark by the time I get home from work.  I just want to get the majority of the sanding out of the way so that I can do the spot areas at home - when the Admiral is asleep

 

Ian, gluing sandpaper to my hands is almost as crazy an idea as wearing mittens, but I'll keep that in the back pocket as a last resort measure

 

SpyGlass, I think you're right that I don't need to fill every gap.  There is one slightly low plank at the bow that I have to fill, and I'll have to fill that area near the gripe and likely up near the stern counter and stern post.  Otherwise, the planking is very smooth without bumps and dips.  At 1.5mm planks, there is plenty to work with to sand back to which is very nice.  On my Badger, the lime was 1mm, and in some areas I came very close to sanding through the first planking because I didn't do as good a job laying the planks naturally.

 

I have the Bob Hunt practicum, and he covers the entire first planking with filler, whether needed or not.  To me that really seems like overkill, with the potential that the approach possibly could disrupt the some of the curves that the bulkheads give you.  Based on the practicum, it looked like he didn't spend much time fairing the bulkheads, as he used a drum sander for most of them so maybe his approach is necessary.  I spent probably close to 6-8 hours fairing the bulkheads, constantly laying test strips to make sure a smooth run - based on my results at least on the port side, I don't think I need to cover the entire hull with filler.  

[Martin W]

Congratulations, Mike.  It's really when you get the planking on that you can see that you're working on a ship.  Swans do indeed have a nice shape. 

 

It was between the ply gunport strip and the first plank that I also had to slather on a good bit of wood filler, as well as on the stern counter.  You might want to go ahead and put that on so you can see how it fits with the planking.

 

Bravo,

 

Martin

[jwvolz]

Nice solid base for the next layer there Mike. Nice job.As Spyglass said, you can sand the heck out of that first layer. 

[fnick]

Hi Mike

 

Great first planking. What a great base to spil the second layer of planking on!

 

Nick

[Landlubber Mike]

Thanks very much guys.  Well, I was able to get outside to do most of the sanding on the starboard side.  Thankfully temps hit 50 this afternoon, so I didn't need to wear mittens or glue sandpaper to my hands  The starboard side came out pretty well, almost identically to the port side.

 

 

Still need some filler in a couple of areas and need to fix the gunport patterns at the jigsaw connection and bow, but I'm really happy with how the first planking went.  I have to figure out the stern area with the stern counter, as well as the rabbets.  But like Martin said, it's nice to see the actual shape of the hull take form.  

 

 

[Beef Wellington]

Looks great Mike, onwards!

[aliluke]

Nice work on the planking Mike. Sanding with mittens...gulp.

 

A couple of thoughts:

- At the bow/stem I found it quite easy to get every plank through to the stem without stealers or joggle planks. You just have to start your taper further back on the hull I reckon. No need for spiling either. - just a simple tapered planks and none need (or should) come to a pointed end.

- At the stern I completely sanded away the first layer from the bearding line all the way to the stern post. Otherwise the centre keel plus the first and second layer is too thick for the post. Spyglass had the same issue but smarter than me (and you perhaps ) he didn't even plank that area on the first run of planks. Sanding it right back isn't a biggy as long as you have thick mittens (or you could pop down here to do your sanding under cloudless skies, no wind and 28 degrees C).

[Blue Ensign]

Looks good Mike, a sound base for the all important second layer. I added a strengthening strip behind the jigsaw join to give some stability, didn't want to risk it springing at some later stage, and it doesn't show below the qd.

 

B.E.

[JohnB40]

Hi Mike,

 

Very nice work on the first planking. It will be a fine foundation for the 2nd plank layer.  I find it very satisfying stage of construction when you can finally see the hull shape in 3D.

 

 John

[Glenn-UK]

Hello

I have enjoyed reading through your build log and I think you are doing a really great job.

I have received my Pegasus kit this week which I plan to build alongside my current HMS Victory build.

I plan to work on the Victory in the evening during the week and the Pegasus at the weekend, staring this coming weekend

A tall order maybe but given the way the Victory build is going I think a second build will help break up some of the very repeative tasks required for the Victory build (104 gun port for example!!!).

 

I have decided that I will start by making up some smaller deck items first, such as the grating assemblies and will leave the keel / bulkheads, assembly for the time being as I want to experiment with construction methods adding a Rabbet in the MDF

 

I understand the correct build method for gratings is butt the deck planking up to grating coamings

With my last grating I did use the standard mitre joint for the coaming but I wish to use the proper joint for this build.

I have a question related to the correct method with regard to the way the four coaming sides are assembled.

I have shown the two methods in the attached pdf file, and I tend to think the 2nd (offset) method is correct.

Do you have any thoughts on this matter?

Revised Grating.pdf

Grating.pdf

Edited February 5, 2015 by Glennard

[Glenn-UK]

I agree the coaming will actually be fitted at 90Deg to that shown in the pdf file.

The drawing was to show if I should offset or not offset that parts and thought it was better illustrated as shown.

Edited February 5, 2015 by Glennard

[Landlubber Mike]

Hi Glenn, thanks for looking in on my build.  Sorry to respond so late - I was out of town on a family vacation, and the family brought home a nasty cold so I've had my hands full with a sick household.

 

For the hatch coamings, I am following TFFM (The Fully Framed Model).  The author says that the coamings frame consisted of the two pieces that ran fore and aft (the "coamings") and the two cross-pieces that ran athwartships (the "head ledges").  Essentially, the head ledges look like a "T" and the coamings look like an upside down "T".  Looking at your Revised Gratings PDF, the side views in the second set of diagrams looks correct to me (assuming those are meant to show the "coamings."  Note, however, that the plan view of the second set of diagrams is not correct - the head ledges, as a "T", should extend across the entire width and cover the coamings (hopefully that makes sense).

 

If you really want to be 100% authentic, TFFM says that the ends of the coamings that join the head ledges have "half-lap joints that are tailed."  TFFM goes on to say that "a tailed joint is angled somewhat like half of a modern dovetail, but is sloped in two planes."  At 1:64 scale, I wasn't about to worry about that kind of detail.

 

You can see my coamings in the second picture in the post of my log linked below (sorry, for some reason I can't seem to upload the picture directly to this post) - this is the head-on view of the head ledges:

 

http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/7267-hms-pegasus-by-landlubber-mike-amativictory-models-scale-164/?p=248121

 

Hope that helps.  Good luck with your Pegasus - it's a fun build, especially with all the fellow Swan class builders on here and the wealth of materials out there to help you improve on an already impressive kit (the TFFM series, the NMM plans, etc.).

Edited February 11, 2015 by Landlubber Mike

[Landlubber Mike]

It's been a couple of months since my last update.  I spent most of February finishing up my Hannah SIB build, and then have been busy with work, kids, etc.  

 

This week I did take some time to continue filling and sanding the hull, and installed the stern counter.  When I looked at the NMM plans for the Pegasus, the counter seems to be a little more curved than the supports with the kit.  So, I sanded back the stern extensions to add more of a curve, thinned down the stern counter a bit, soaked it and let it dry against a thermos, and then installed it yesterday.  It probably could have been curved a bit more, but I think it works.  The curves won't be as apparent once the decorative pieces are installed anyway.  I plan on planking over the walnut ply piece with some thin pear.

 

 

 

 

I'll start the second planking soon.  I want to take the time to line the hull the right way, as I'm planning on using multiple colors for the upper hull planking.  The base color will be pear stained a darker brown color.  Then I will use pear stained blue for the frieze area, followed by redheart planking for the top area of the hull.  The wales will be pear stained black, and I'm thinking of using black for the area between the wales and the coppering, which I think looks great on Realworkingsailor's build.  A lot to plan out when using stains, but hopefully with a little pre-planning all should go well.

[Glenn-UK]

Nice work, nice to see you have made some progress again.

[iMack]

Lovely work, a pleasure to read through your thread. 

[vulcanbomber]

You've got a nice build going there. She is coming on very well.

[Martin W]

Good to hear from you again, Mike.  Planking can go slowly, as I've been learning.  Your color scheme sounds fascinating, and I'll be watching to see how it all works out.

 

Cheers,

 

Martin

[egkb]

Great to see your Peg back in action Mike.. Darn, I missed your Hannah build.

 

All the best

 

Eamonn

[riverboat]

Nice to see you back Mike..... I hear you with the colds scene.... I was laid up for 5 weeks , man thought I'd never get better,....

anyhow.... glad you're back into the swing of things.

 

frank

[Landlubber Mike]

Thanks very much everyone.  It's good to be back and working on the build.  After completing my Hannah, I did take some time reading books on ship models in bottles.  It can be another addictive part of the hobby - I'll probably start a scratch SIB in the next couple of months.  I bought half a dozen books, along with supplies and a few bottles.  The best part of the hobby of course is drinking/emptying the bottle  

 

Eamonn, you didn't miss much.  I pretty much posted the full build log on day after completing the Hannah SIB.  I was worried that I'd mess it up getting the ship into the bottle, so decided I would wait to see if I was successful before posting the build log.  Thankfully it all worked out ok, but I had a few choice words for the project along the way 

 

Frank, sorry to hear you were so sick.  Hope you're feeling better my friend.

[Landlubber Mike]

A little more progress the past few nights.  I planked over the stern counter, which I think makes it look a little better than just going with the walnut ply piece.  The planks are curved to match the top and bottom curves of the stern counter.  So, what I did was cut the planks a little wider, then use the bottom of the counter as a guide to shaping the planks,  Lots of hand sanding to get the planks to sit tightly against one another, but not too bad when all was said and done.

 

 

 

TFFM has a slightly different shape to the stern counter opening.  Rather than a circle like in the kit, it's more of a flatter, wider head to it.  I thought about tweaking the stern counter in that way, but since I'll be adding the rudder coat, I think that will all get hidden eventually so I kept the shape as is.

 

I'll probably plank the section above the stern counter next, and start lining the hull for the second planking.  I'm super excited to get the planking going.

Edited May 3, 2015 by Landlubber Mike