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

[aliluke]

Hi Mike

That is exactly what I did with the hatch coamings. A very gentle rounding of the top edges of the coaming at the box joints so the hatch sits square into the deck. A very gentle rounding...as you'll see in my log I otherwise left them alone - no stains etc. Good luck with that but in any case what you are doing looks fantastic. Keep going!

[Blue Ensign]

Nice work Mike, the current crop of Swan builds make me wish I could take a step or two backwards and re-visit some of the areas on my build.

 

B.E.

[Landlubber Mike]

Thanks guys.  Alistair, thanks for pointing out the technique of butting the planking against the hatches.  I think it makes for a very clean look, and you don't run into the issues of having the hatches sit halfway on a plank.

 

BE, your build is the gold standard of the Swan class builds.  I think I speak for most of us builders that if our builds came out half as nice as yours, we would be very happy.

[Martin W]

Things look good, Mike.  Are your bitts cut from red heart?  I think I missed whether said.

 

Cheers,

 

Martin

[Landlubber Mike]

Thanks Martin.  Yep, the bitts, along with the quarterdeck and forecastle beams, are of redheart.  I'll do the bulwark planking and cannon carriages in it too.

 

I'm wondering about the cross pieces though.  I'm wondering whether I should go with redheart, or maybe switch it up a bit and use pear for the cross pieces.

[aliluke]

Hi Mike

I have to laugh at B.E's suggestion! As you say he sets the gold standard and the bible for this ship - and perhaps many others besides. We will try and if we get there to his standard we will be happy. Nothing is as good as this site to keep us pushing and I, like you, are pleased with the outcomes that come from that. I look forward to all of your updates.You are taking it to another level.

[Landlubber Mike]

I agree 100% Alistair.  It's funny, a couple of years ago when I bought the Pegasus kit, I was originally planning on building it straight from the box with some modifications around the margins.  The more I looked at BE's log (and yours and the other Swan class builds here as well) though, I realized I wouldn't be happy with that, and decided to push myself to building the best model I can.  

 

That's what's really great about MSW and the community here - you learn a lot from folks who are generous with their time in sharing their builds in a very friendly and supportive fashion.  I tried to share as much as I could on my Badger build to give back - it would really make me feel good to see others read about my bumbling efforts and build much better Badgers in the future.  Even with limited progress on my Lyme build, I've had a lot of fun spending the dozens of hours researching and trading thoughts with Ian and others.  

[Martin W]

Add my voice to the chorus of praise -- for BE, Alistair, you, and MSW!!! 

 

As for the bitts, that contrast between the redheart & pear could be interesting and attractive.  A good bit of the cross piece could end up being covered with belayed rigging, though, so it would be a good idea to check the rigging charts and see how much will go there.

 

Cheers,

 

Martin

[Landlubber Mike]

Thanks Martin.  With you slightly ahead of me on your Fly build, I've learned a lot from your log.  The discussion on hatches and gratings was very informative!

 

Along with generally having a different color for the bitt cross pieces, I've been thinking of a modification for the riding bitts cross piece in particular.  That cross piece had an elm "backing piece" - essentially a replaceable piece of wood given all the wear and tear on the aft side of the cross piece from the anchor cables.  I've been toying with the idea of highlighting this by either using redheart for the cross piece and pear for the backing piece, or pear for the cross piece and boxwood for the backing piece.  

[Martin W]

Interesting, indeed.  I can't wait to see it.

 

Cheers,

 

Martin

[Landlubber Mike]

I've made some more progress on the deck planking.  I'm planking the upper deck according to the TFFM plans, with the exception that I'm not curving the plank runs fore and aft.  I figured that might be too much for my skill level at this time, plus, really the only planks that will be seen are the ones at the waist which are generally straight.  Another big factor is that I'm down to two sheets of maple from Jeff and still need some for the quarterdeck and forecastle planking, as well as the gangways.  Hopefully I should have enough.  Also, since the planks under the the quarterdeck and forecastle won't be seen, I haven't been as concerned about getting pristine planking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next up is to add four rows of anchor stock planking and the margin planks.  I'll probably also add the gunport patterns soon so that I can more easily finish the upper deck planking.  I made a mistake when first gluing the stern extensions as you can see in the pictures below in that I glued them perpendicular to the last bulkhead.  When I dry fitted the quarterdeck template, I realized the outer extensions needed to curve inwards, so that change was made - thankfully without much issue.

 

 

 

 

For the planking, just wanted to show a couple of tools that I've found very helpful.  The first picture is of these thin red headed pins I found at Hobbylinc.com - they are very sharp and thin, so I was able to push them through the deck ply template, and use them to keep the planks pressed up against one another, as well as down onto the template when glued.  The second picture is a handy straight edge that keeps your fingers well away from the x-acto blade when manually cutting your planks.  This can be found at Micromark.  After gashing my fingers a couple of times when the x-acto blade skipped over the edge of a thin ruler, this has been a finger saver.

 

 

[Beef Wellington]

Thats just beautiful Mike, deck is looking fantastic (envious!).  Nice to see the contrast with the maple and pear as I'll be taking the same approach.  Very nice work.

[Landlubber Mike]

Thanks very much Jason.  I'm actually thinking that I'll stain the pear a darker color (like a walnut color) as I want the model to take on a darker hue like the Le Cyclope below.  I'm going to match the hatch coamings, ladders, deck items, etc. to the upper hull planking I think.  I'm also considering using black stain for the wales and the part of the hull planking between the wales and the coppered section - I like the look on the Le Cyclope, and Realworkingsailor did it to good effect on his Pegasus as well:

 

 

 

 

[ianmajor]

Mike,

 

Like Jason I am envious of the result of your work - though I didn't realize you were getting a good red finish to the wood by staining it with your own blood.  

 

I thought you might be interested in an alternative for a cutting edge which we got for my wife to use. It is a Maun Safety Rule. It has an "M" cross section. You place your fingers in the trough up the centre which keeps them well clear of the blades. Mine is 12" long which produces a very stable cutting edge which is not prone to rotating as you cut. It is also very comfortable to use. Here is a photo of it:-

 

 

Having said that I still use my 12" and 18" straight edges and have never cut my fingers whilst using them. Now that is tempting fate! I always stand whilst cutting so that I am looking and bearing directly down on the work. This reduces any sideways forces that may pull the blade away from the straightedge (damages work) or over the straightedge (damages fingers). This also allows you to keep the knife/scalpel handle vertical which also helps prevent wandering. 

 

I have included my Swann Morton knife in the photo. It has a handle that extends along the back edge of the blade almost to the point. This reinforces the blade and reduces the flexing which also reduces wandering. It also reduces the blade's tendency to bend as it enters the piece being cut so improving your chance of producing nice right angled cuts on thicker material.

 

As usual I am probably teaching granny to suck eggs!

 

 

[Landlubber Mike]

Hi Ian, thanks very much.  I think my Badger has a few parts Red Ochre to it, along with a few parts Landlubber Mike  I should have mentioned that I made a couple of basic mistakes that probably significantly contributed to the blade skipping over the straight edge and a couple of times almost cutting off the tip of my finger.  First, I used a very thin beam ruler, so the blade didn't have far to jump. I also found that I was using a dull blade - another big no-no.  Live and learn I suppose - just glad I didn't do significant damage.

 

I like the Maun safety rule and Swann Morton - they seem like a very worthwhile investment.  I better find Santa soon and ask for them - unless he was planning on giving me the usual lump of coal.

[Martin W]

Those are nice photos, Mike.  Your decking looks very precise.  And I forgot that I was looking at maple -- in the photo it's light enough to double as holly (which would be easier to cut, but harder to extract body fluids from).

 

And I like those straight edges.  I've avoided using rulers, since I've encountered the same lesson as you, but didn't extract the moral that I should then buy a safer cutting edge.  For long rips, I now use my Byrnes saw.

 

Ian, may I use LL Mike's log to ask you where you got your safety rule & Morton Swann knife?  I especially salivate over that knife.

 

Cheers, and good luck with the Santa thing -- I've already been told that the most I can hope for is low-grade coal.

 

Martin

[riverboat]

Nice work on the decking Mike.... good that you're butting up against the hatches, looks much better.

Frank

[Landlubber Mike]

Thanks very much Martin.  I still need to sand down the deck and add a finish to it (likely tung oil).  I'm very happy with how it's looking.  Maple is a pleasure to work with - there are different types though with different colors and characteristics (hard vs. soft, silver, more mottled grains, etc.).  Relative to holly, it's very light in color but with more darker waves of grain - at least this is comparing Jeff's maple with his holly.  I actually prefer the waves as I'm not looking for that painted look but want wood characteristics to come out.  It was a lot cheaper than holly also.  

 

I spent some time last night with my stains and tung oil to see how the end product after the stained pear was oiled.  I'll try and post pictures tonight.  The brownish stains that I used on the pear look absolutely gorgeous when oiled - much nicer than had I gone with walnut I think.  I'm very excited by the results, and will have a hard time picking which one to ultimately go with.  I also tried the blue stain on scrap maple and pear for interesting results as well.  As can be expected, the maple, being a lighter wood, came out a very nice french blue.  It didn't have that painted look, but did look like wood.  The pear on the other hand came out a sorta darker bluish-greenish-grey, similar to the blue on some of the models here (I think Alistair's Fly is relatively close) and the Pegasus blue on the back of the TFFM jacket (volume 2 I believe, not sure if the others have the color scheme).  Interesting options for sure.

 

I also oiled some scrap redheart.  With the grain, the redheart takes on a very nice color and tone.  The end grain turned very dark, almost black though  I wish I had experimented on the redheart earlier, as I might have to take a look at how the grain is running on the visible portions of the bulkhead extensions and other redheart areas and see if I might need to replace some of the pieces.  I'm going to test to see if wipe-on poly or varnish or shellac minimize this darkening effect.

 

I found some good links on redheart below in case you are interested:

 

Color changes in wood:  http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/_color%20change/index.htm

 

Preventing color changes in exotic woods:  http://www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/preventing-color-changes-in-exotic-woods/

 

Finishing exotic and tropical hardwoods:  http://www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/finishing-exotic-tropical-hardwoods/

Edited December 12, 2014 by Landlubber Mike

[Landlubber Mike]

Thanks Frank - historical accuracy aside, butting the planks is a nice, easy way of ensuring clean lines.  I'm glad I followed Alistair's approach to do the planking that way.  

[ianmajor]

 

Ian, may I use LL Mike's log to ask you where you got your safety rule & Morton Swann knife?  I especially salivate over that knife.

 

 

 

Martin

 

The Maun rule I have seen advertised on Amazon and ebay. Not sure of the availability in the US.

 

The blade handle I have seen on UK sites eg https://www.eileensemporium.com/index.php? page=shop.product_details&flypage=eny_fly_default.tpl&product_id=3643&category_id=172&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=9

 

I could not find any US sources.

 

If you have any queries on it drop me a PM.

 

Hope this helps.

Edited December 12, 2014 by ianmajor

[Martin W]

Those are very informative links, Mike -- I bookmarked them, in part to remind myself that wood does change.  I'm surprised, though, that even with the urethane finish that so much change can still happen.  Your concerns about the redheart might be realistic.  Maybe one answer is to find a display area that's well out of the sun -- though the sense from the website is that it's still going to happen.  Nonetheless, I'm sticking with my idea of planking the inner bulwarks with redheart -- maybe that's foolish, but we can find out together, eh?

 

 

And thanks, Ian for that info.  I don't know if the English merchant would ship stateside.

 

Cheers,

 

Martin

[Landlubber Mike]

Here are some pictures of my stain tests using tung oil.  In the picture below, you can see the hatches are in natural pear, the top piece is natural pear with a tung oil finish, and the three below are different General Finishes stains with a tung oil finish (the "Colonial Pine" is actually called "Country Pine."  Still not sure which I'll go with.  I think i'll be staining black the wales and upper deck hull planking between the wales and the copper line, so it might be better to go with a lighter brown.  But, the Antique Oak still looks pretty good with black.

 

 

 

The next pictures show General Finishes Blue Stain applied to both maple and pear (no tung oil applied).  The stain on the maple comes out a nice french blue, while the stain on the pear comes out as a darker blue/green/gray - a color very similar to the blue on the back jacket cover of TFFM 2.

 

 

 

 

Finally, here is a picture of my experiments with redheart.  The first picture is the wood without the finish, and the next two include tung oil finishes.  The tung oil finish on the second picture really makes the wood come alive, but it's quite dark when applied to end grain sections.  

 

Edited December 13, 2014 by Landlubber Mike

[aliluke]

Hi Mike

You have made impressive efforts to figure this out. I used paint for the stern counters - a colour I'd describe as a deep ultramarine. It is sort of the same colour as that on the back of the FFM series. Mine is so close to being black that it is hard to tell but there is a difference - a hint of blue. I like it.

 

I look forward to seeing your approach unfold. It is looking really good!

[Martin W]

Mike -- It's amazing what oil will do to wood.  The pear with the tung oil looks mighty nice, though over the years it could lose some of the depth.  Some of the grain seems to get lost in the stains -- at least in these photos.  And it is striking how dark that redheart gets on the end grain -- I had no idea it would go like that.  But the middle test strip, with the redheart & oil looks spectacular.  It's surprising that the pear would get so dark with the blue stain -- though the maple looks very nice indeed, with the grain still visible.

 

All very informative.

 

Martin

[mtaylor]

Interesting tests, Mike.  I like it.  I think that light blue on the maple would work very well for bulwark area of the friezes.  Hahn used RIT clothing dye for his and that worked well.  I think the newer stains with color are probably easier and better.

[Landlubber Mike]

Thanks guys.  The General Finishes stains are very easy to use, clean up nicely, and have no smell to them.  I haven't decided on the full color scheme yet.  For the friezes, the fallback would be black.  For the friezes, the darker might be more accurate as I think the frieze background was usually a grayish blue.  But the light blue could work too.

 

I stained the gratings with an oil-based Minwax stain a few months ago, and they still stink. I bought replacement gratings so am going to redo them using GF stain.  

Edited December 14, 2014 by Landlubber Mike

[Blue Ensign]

Great work on the deck planking Mike, that is one area where I wish I had gone the extra distance and incorporated Top and Butt on the decking.

 

The colour comparisons you are doing provides very useful information for us modellers. I rather like the darker Blue colour with the CF stain, it has that contemporary 18th century look about it and I think it will tone better with the darker hull colouring  you envisage.

 

Cheers,

 

B.E.

[Landlubber Mike]

Thanks BE.  I have to thank Alistair for the butt planking for the hatches - don't think I would have come up with that on my own  It certainly takes longer than the standard technique, but it seems well worth it.

 

I'm leaning towards the darker blue as well.  I'm also happy to share the results of the stain and wood tests.  The stains seem to be a very nice alternative to paints if you want to avoid the thickness and uniformity of using paint, but don't mind highlighting the wood grain.  I'm encouraged so far, but we'll see how this experiment plays out on the model though when I get to that point 

Edited December 14, 2014 by Landlubber Mike

[Landlubber Mike]

Happy holidays to all my friends here.  Best wishes to you all this holiday season and upcoming 2015

 

It's been a while since I last posted, but I wanted to wait until I had some good progress to report.  Plus, i ran out of stains to test     I mentioned that I was going to attempt to plank the upper deck according to the plan in TFFM.  I decided against adding curved planks given my skill level, the fact that I had limited sheets of maple, and probably most importantly, the fact that really the only visible planking will be at the waist, which is pretty much straight runs, while the ends will be hidden by the forecastle and quarterdeck.  So, I cheated a bit at the ends of the ship as you can see below (particularly at the stern, which will be hidden completely I think), but I did manage to add the four rows of anchor stock planking from TFFM.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm pretty excited as to how the upper deck is coming out.  The anchor stock planking was cut and sanded by hand, with some of the trickier ones taking a good hour or two each to create and fit.  Despite the labor, all in all, they weren't as hard to do as I feared (it certainly helped that I was doing them as straight runs).  I like the look of the anchor stock planks, and will probably use anchor stock planks for the wales if that ends up being historically accurate on this ship.

 

Some of the darker lines I think/hope are from the edges of one plank sitting higher than the adjacent planks from the deck camber.  I think after sanding the deck down, everything should look a lot more uniform.

 

I'm at the point where I'm going to switch gears and work on the gunport patterns.  The extensions for bulkheads 5 through 7 end up getting removed, and so I'll probably mark out on card the patterns for the two remaining anchor stocks remaining margin planks wait to install them until after the bulkhead extensions are removed.

 

Thanks for looking in!

Edited December 21, 2014 by Landlubber Mike

[GuntherMT]

Looks great Mike, those weirdly shaped planks sure look like they'd be a huge pain, but you pulled them off nicely.  Do you (or anyone) know what the reason for doing the edge planking that way as opposed to just having a margin plank that the other planks butted into?