HMS Pegasus by herbgold - Victory Models - Scale 1:64

[herbgold]

That would have been a good idea, SpyGlass, I wish I'd thought of that. But no, I had to do it the hard way - threw away the rubbish ply deck (after I'd planked it - badly! - made another deck from proper 1mm ply, planked it (somewhat better) with separate 3" strips of limewood, cut apertures for the gratings (badly)... that's where I am now. So in answer to your question - I will now have to fit the gratings on top of the planking with the apertures open.

 

P.S. Sheet 6 - got it!

Edited May 16, 2016 by herbgold

[herbgold]

Well, I'm modestly pleased with progress in the last couple of days. I've attached the gratings and made up and attached the capstan and the other deck furniture and fitted the beams for the upper decks. I'm now trying to find a way of pinning the upper decks in some non-permanent way without the @~*"! pins popping out.

 

P.S. I've just noticed from the photo that the aft-most grating is rather badly skewed. It doesn't look so bad in real life. Honest.

Edited May 20, 2016 by herbgold

[Martin W]

That's good progress, Herb.  Your planking this time through looks nice and regular.  Chances are with that skewed grating that the perspective of your camera is responsible.  If it looks good to your eye (and your Beloved's), then it is truly Good.

 

Cheers,

 

Martin

[herbgold]

Thank you, Martin, that's kind of you, but I think I will remove and re-fix that offending grating.

 

I spent today fixing the gunport strips, which like many others here I found a hateful job. I think I have it more or less right - at least port and starboard are tolerably even. I did rather comprehensively mess up the bow, and will have to use filler, I think. Oh, and the 60 half-inch screws were the only means I could find of getting the strips to stay where I wanted them - everything else just pulled straight out of the bulkheads.

 

P.S. Oh dear. It's amazing how much more one sees from a photo than from the real thing. The gunport strips, however admirably symmetrical port and starboard that they may be, are both about 1/4 inch too far forward, as can be seen from the unwelcome appearance of the edge of a bulkhead through the foremost gunport. Which explains a lot about the messed up bow. Sigh.

Edited May 24, 2016 by herbgold

[herbgold]

Thank you VERY much, SpyGlass - a complete practicum in how to attach those wretched gunports. I need to reread (and re-re-reread, probably) what you say, but I will do as you say and (1) take the strips off (2)soak and bend, soak and bend, soak and bend (3) line up as you suggest. I will need to come up with some repairs to the bow-most 1/2 inch or so of one of the strips, as it broke off as I was trying to force it. But I will worry about that later.

 

Thank you again.

Edited May 25, 2016 by herbgold

[Landlubber Mike]

Herb, I would echo what Spyglass said about getting the gunport patterns as close to perfect as possible.  They need to be not only symmetrical, but properly placed since things like the wales, rails, etc. use the gun ports as reference points.

 

If you're interested, take a look at my log starting at this page - Spyglass provided some very helpful notes as you can see, which were borne out by my fitting of the patterns:

 

http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/7267-hms-pegasus-by-landlubber-mike-amativictory-models-scale-164/?p=270839

 

 

The plans are incorrect in showing the jigsaw joint line between the two pattern pieces as falling on the bulkhead.  The jigsaw should sit just behind the bulkhead as you can see on my log.  I also soaked and pinned twice before finally gluing it.  I found that the patterns didn't really hold their shape too well after soaking/pinning/drying, though the plywood became a little more flexible.

 

Good luck!  It's an important step to get right so take your time.

[Martin W]

And I'll re-echo at least part of what's been said.  I had to pull my strips off more times that I care to remember because when they looked right from one angle, I'd find from another perspective that something was off.  The patience you bring to bear at this step will make your life easier when you plank.

 

cheers,

 

Martin

[herbgold]

Thank you both too, Mike and Martin. As I see it, there are two problems with what I have done:

 

1. Because I used the stern part of the jigsaw joint as a datum line as per the instructions, everything is too too far forward (and I think the strips are too long). Exhibit A shows that very clearly

2. What I hadn't noticed was that the strips should have a vertical curve (or S-curve, or "recurve") as well, My strips are completely missing that. Exhibit B.

 

Perhaps these photos will be useful in a "how not to do it" practicum!

 

Off shortly to buy some solvent, and will remove the strips and follow your advice.

[Landlubber Mike]

As with the planking, I think as you're finding out it's better to start from the bow and work your way aft to the stern.  Use the deck patterns to help line things up, and run something perpendicular across the deck to make sure that the gun ports are symmetrical.  For the "S" curves in the bulwarks, try pinning the gunport patterns in the middle of the patterns as well as at the top and bottom to make sure that the patterns adhere to the curves in the bulkheads.  One thing I did was soak the patterns, and carefully flex them to get the patterns to relax to better contour to the bulkheads.  As a fallback, you can always sand back the first planking to help improve the "S" curve shape if necessary.  I did some of that on my Pegasus and the curves are now much nicer.

 

I remember having a lot of choice words on installing the patterns, particularly at the stem.  The hole for the bowsprit didn't seem to match up with the plans and the overall run of the gunport patterns, and I'm still having some questions on whether I need to sand back the tops near the stem a bit because they seem to be sitting a tad high.  Like you, I also think that the patterns are a bit long - as I mentioned on my log, it would have been nice if the instructions and plans had pointed out where the extra material was located.

 

On the picture labeled Exhibit A in your post above, it's a bit hard to tell from the picture, but is the bulkhead extension too high for one of the bulkheads?  If so, this might be causing your problems with aligning the gunport patterns.  It might also cause you problems down the road once you start planking, because you won't have a smooth line between the bulkheads in front and behind it.  Since you're redoing the gunport patterns, you might consider reseating that bulkhead if that is the case - I think you will spare yourself some headaches down the road.

Edited May 26, 2016 by Landlubber Mike

[herbgold]

Thank you again, Mike. Off to buy some solvent (I guess if the fix fails I can always drink it...)

 

Will report back after this holiday weekend (in England).

[herbgold]

Well, very frustratingly, the solvent I've been waiting a week for doesn't do anything to loosen the glue. I'd been using Evo-Stik - "stronger than the wood itself" - which was probably a mistake. The only way I feel I can progress now is to sand back the sides of the strips as much as possible to attempt an "S" curve, and do some repairs at the bow and stern. At least port and starboard strips are level!

Edited June 7, 2016 by herbgold

[herbgold]

Evo-Stik 191 Adhesive Cleaner - here

P.S. Meant to thank you!

Edited June 7, 2016 by herbgold

[herbgold]

Yes, the green container labelled "Evo-Stik Wood Adhesive Interior". According to the safety sheet, the Evo-Stik Adhesive Cleaner contains:

• ACETONE10-30%
• CYCLOHEXANE<1%
• ETHYL ACETATE 10-30%
• HYDROCARBONS C6-C7 ISOALKANES, CYCLICS <5% N-HEXANE 30-60%
• NAPHTHA HYDRODESULFURIZED LIGHT, DEAROMATIZED; <0.1% BENZENE 10-30%
• NAPHTHA HYDROTREATED LIGHT, <0.1% BENZENE 10-30%
• N-HEXANE <1%

I presume none of this is iso-propyl alcohol?

Once again, thank you very much for your help - I can't get over how kind and helpful people on this site are!

[Landlubber Mike]

Are you able to slide a knife between the pattern and bulkheads to pry it off?  I guess that's the catch-22 with using an adhesive like that - goes on and stays on, but problems if you need to take it off

[herbgold]

Are you able to slide a knife between the pattern and bulkheads to pry it off?  

To which I would add another or two because no, not really. I think I would risk destroying the tops of the bulkheads.

[herbgold]

Many thanks, SpyGlass... I'll give the kettle a go today - although my wife isn't keen on the idea!

[herbgold]

 My wife is out having her hair done this morning, so I thought I'd risk the family kettle. I'm pleased to report that the steam method works! (See attached - also admire the subtle engineering of the Steam Cutoff Lever Defeat Mechanism (world wide patents pending).

 

Thank you, SpyGlass - I will continue the disassembly early next week.

[S.Coleman]

Be very careful if the strips are touching the water. I had done this and all my coffees afterwards tasted like wood had to completely clean the inside of the kettle!!!

[herbgold]

Yes, you're right!

[cobra1951]

Hi when i built this kit the quality of the cannon barrels were not too good,

I have a full set of turned brass cannons if you want to replace yours.

 

this is a photo of the barrels the small ones are for the swivel guns but you will need to make your own fittings for those, but there is a good build on here that will give you an idea how to do it

 

 

 

[donrobinson]

Wow, nice looking cannons

[herbgold]

That's very kind of you, Cobr@, but I'd just bought a set of guns from the Cornwall Model Shop a couple of weeks ago, not so much for the quality of the guns themselves but because the supplied gun carriages were so fragile. This is what the replacement looks like.

[herbgold]

SpyGlass, I used the kettle a bit more subtly and got the strips off without too much trouble. Have soaked the strips again and pinned them back but not glued them. Plan to unpin them tomorrow and repeat. Using just about every clamp I have, as you can see!

[cobra1951]

That's very kind of you, Cobr@, but I'd just bought a set of guns from the Cornwall Model Shop a couple of weeks ago, not so much for the quality of the guns themselves but because the supplied gun carriages were so fragile. This is what the replacement looks like.

 

Hi Herbgold

                    No problem i'm sure i'll find someone to give them too

 

The supplied carriages are pretty feeble but what i did was to get some 0.5mm x 3mm strips and plank the sides of the carriages. This had the effect of making them thicker but also making them look like the were made of individual planks and not a piece of ply

 

Good piece of advice from Spyglass above

Edited June 21, 2016 by Cobr@

[Landlubber Mike]

Nice work Herb.  A pain I'm sure to do this, but taking one step backwards here will really make life easier for you down the road. 

 

Which manufacturer's gun carriages are those?  They look really nice.

[herbgold]

They're Mantua fittings, Mike. I got this: 30543 Cannon with carriage kit 40mm at Cornwall Model Boats, here: http://www.cornwallmodelboats.co.uk/index.html

[herbgold]

Today's attempt - a little better, I think. One problem now is that, because I stupidly used screws for the first attempt, the tops of the bulkheads have splintered... and the mended starboard gunport  is bending where I attached a new bit of ply....but we'll get there, or somewhere near there!

[cobra1951]

The good thing is you're working with wood and you can clean up the bulkhead risers and add more wood to them. Just go slow and it will come good

[herbgold]

Finally took the plunge today (we've had a few other things on our minds here in the UK) and soaked the strips again, and glued and pinned them. Definitely better than the first time, much tighter against the bulkheads and I've managed to get the reverse curve, more or less.

Edited June 27, 2016 by herbgold

[Landlubber Mike]

There you go, looks much better.  Nice job, good to get the step behind you.  It's all downhill from here

 

I always get a kick out of pictures showing all the clamps used to set the gunport patterns.  I had to empty the clamp box myself.