Victory Models HMS Fly 1/64 Diorama by TechTrek

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Hillsburgh, ON, CAN
Oh Happy Day!!! I am finally starting to put in place the pieces to begin this adventure in ship building and honouring my family history. I have mentioned in other logs that I was planning on doing a build based on a family historical event. As most historical events passed on through the family, this one is a bit murky but there is enough information available that I can put together the pieces.
The family story is that following the 1st Scottish rebellion many Scotts were upset and looking to leave Scotland for greener pastures. Most booked passage and landed in many places around the world. One group of my clansmen happened upon a British 6th Rate ship that happened to be at anchor off the coast with a minimal crew aboard as the bulk of the troops were raiding the local population. The typical raping, pillaging and other soldiery shenanigans. This particular group of Scotts decided to kill the watch, take the ship and steal it. Oh, what a great idea! :p The stories that would be told of this great escapade. So they did take the ship and cast off before the rest of the crew made it back. Ha Ha Ha, what a caper!!! ROTF The ship was found 2 weeks later adrift in the mid Atlantic as none of these brilliant ancestors of mine had any idea of how to sail. :eek: The ship was retaken, most of my clansmen were sent back to the UK as prisoners and later hung. Pirate Flag The leaders of the clan were minor Scottish Nobels and so were sent to Jamaica to be dealt with. Luckily enough for my ancestors the Governor of Jamaica was a distant relative and so they were released. This was the beginning of the Edgar clan plantation in Trelawny, Jamaica established by Alexander Edgar in 1720.
So based on this family story I wanted to build a typical British 6th rate coastal ship that would have been used during that time. Even though the HMS Fly was not built until the late 18th century the style of ship is similar as to what was captured by my infamous ancestor.

Here is a reference from the Admiralty logs.

Joseph Griffin, Clerk of the Cheque, Kinsale. The Enterprise, Captain Mungo Herdman, has arrived from Cork with transports carrying soldiers and the Lively, Captain John Carleton, has brought some Scottish prisoners captured by the privateer the John of Jamaica, Thomas Blake, Master.

1719 Aug 23

So I am planning on recreating the moment of celebration as the great caper was completed and the ship then sailed off into the sunset...
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I have purchased the upgrade to the Fly, a carving from Russia for the Fly as well as several boxes of sailors, Scotts and British miniatures to bash my diorama. I am also planning on doing a bit of a bash on the kit as I want to create the Captain's cabin with actual windows that can be seen through into the cabin. I will also be creating lighting inside the build using flickering yellow LED lights to simulate candles and lanterns. I will also be adding some additional components, like the galley stove under the forward deck and some other internal features on the lower decks. I'm also going to try and figure out a way to make the transom windows removable for a full interior view of the Captain's cabin. Maybe a hinge or something along those lines.
Here are the figures I purchased to populate the ship. I just need to add a set of British naval troops to the set. They'll all be dead of course but I think a few dangling from the rigging or laying on the deck would be appropriate.
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I have purchased the David Antscherl book on the Pegasus build (same as Fly) as well as the supplement for rigging and sails for Swan Class ships.
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The actual kit opening I will skip, as that is in many build logs but here are the pics of the kit and pieces.
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I will be beginning the keel soon and going back and forth between completing my Bluenose and this build.

I apologize in advance for all the mistakes I'm going to make, the too many questions I will be asking and the artistic license in my bashing and creating of this pseudo historical diorama of crazy Scotts. I'm sure much drinking was involved in the decision making process. BeerBeerBeerPirate FlagPirate FlagPirate Flag:eek:o_OAlien
 
From all I have heard this is a very good kit - plus the added incentive of an actual historical occurrence, makes the whole build very relevant. I will be looking in from time to time Chris.
 
Day 1 - The kit seems to be complete other then 2 castings listed in the parts as #271 & 272. They do not appear on sheet 3 and I can’t see them on sheet 4 either? They are 2 flying ducks, which are part of the etched brass upgrade sheet and listed as not required. So my parts list for the kit has them included but I can’t yet figure out where they go. I did receive my wood carving replacement for the transom decor and side windows into Captain’s cabin. Looks really nice. They also have the flying ducks.
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I’ve numbered all the parts on the laser cut sheets and discovered part 115 does not appear on sheet 2 but is part of the laser cut parts on the 2nd half of 1.5mm walnut ply 2403. It’s the backing for the stern tafferal. I’m glad I purchased the upgrade kit as the cast cannon carriages don’t look right. I think the walnut laser cut carriages will look much better.
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As others have done in this build I may replace the cannons and swivel guns. Will decide later. Now back to the Bluenose sails...
 
This shows where the ducks go on the Pegasus
Day 1 - The kit seems to be complete other then 2 castings listed in the parts as #271 & 272. They do not appear on sheet 3 and I can’t see them on sheet 4 either? They are 2 flying ducks, which are part of the etched brass upgrade sheet and listed as not required. So my parts list for the kit has them included but I can’t yet figure out where they go. I did receive my wood carving replacement for the transom decor and side windows into Captain’s cabin. Looks really nice. They also have the flying ducks.
View attachment 205857
I’ve numbered all the parts on the laser cut sheets and discovered part 115 does not appear on sheet 2 but is part of the laser cut parts on the 2nd half of 1.5mm walnut ply 2403. It’s the backing for the stern tafferal. I’m glad I purchased the upgrade kit as the cast cannon carriages don’t look right. I think the walnut laser cut carriages will look much better.
View attachment 205860
As others have done in this build I may replace the cannons and swivel guns. Will decide later. Now back to the Bluenose sails...
This is where they go on the Pegasus if this is of any help.
 
This shows where the ducks go on the Pegasus

This is where they go on the Pegasus if this is of any help.
Lol, you forgot the pic ROTF I do see on another Pegasus build that the ducks are below the bowsprit close to the bow behind the figurehead. I think I’ll put them in the same place once I get to that point.
 
So I started removing and cleaning the tabs off the MDF pieces for the bulkheads, centre board and stabilizing deck. All the pieces dry fit properly so I marked out the parts of bulkhead 12 and the centre board I will be removing in order to make the Captain’s cabin (Great Cabbin), Coach and Stateroom. My primary bash of this kit.
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Removing the centre of the bulkhead opens up the cabin area.
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The section between bulkhead 11 & 12 is going to be removed even with the Upper deck. The pencil line shows where I will cut the piece. My scroll saw will be used to make the primary cut. The bulkhead will be drilled and the scroll saw inserted through the hole then the rough cut will be made. I’ll shoot a few pics of the bashing and post when completed.
 
Here is the result of Bash#1, removing a piece of the centre board and the inside of bulkhead 12.

I used the scroll saw to remove the centre piece then filed even with the other pieces that make up the Upper deck floor at the stern.
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The #12 bulkhead is drilled in each corner and my new jewelry saw is inserted into the hole and rough cut using the saw. I left a bit more then I normally would as I’m getting used to this small hand saw.
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Here is the bulkhead after the centre is removed with the saw.
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This is the final piece after cleaning up with a flat file.
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Now to reassemble the ship frame, support deck and bulkheads.
 
Continuing the bash...bulkhead 13 redone and final piece of centre board removed at the transom.
Here’s the adjusted transom end now.
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The 13th bulkhead was traced out on a blank piece of MDF and rough cut on my scroll saw. The inner pattern was traced out and cut with a jewelry saw. The final filing was done with the original piece clamped to the new piece and then the inside was filed.
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Here’s a shot of the false keel being glued in place.
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Lots of reconstructive surgery taking place. It looks good Chris - this is sure to get very interesting!
 
Bulkheads 3 - 11 have been glued with PVA.
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The rest of the Great Cabin bashing continues. The Port & Starboard windows have been cut out and cleaned up with a file.
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An Xacto was used to cut the rectangular part. The jewelry saw cut the curved bit with both pieces clamped together.
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The transom window supports are cut as well.
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I started to put the transom pieces in place and the outside supports need to be angled with the side pieces that contain the cabin windows and gun ports. So I rethought the process and decided to glue the pieces directly onto the side pieces, when the sides get glued on the angle will be perfect. The small support pieces between the forward bulkheads were glued in place. Part 16 had to be cut down due to the bashed cabin, both pieces. I’ll need to figure out what I’m going to do with the internal structure behind the cabin side windows. I may need to cut some of it away after the sides are installed.
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Received my yellow flickering LED lights and fine wire to create the lantern and candle lighting throughout the model. :D
I will post my lighting plan for this build once I figure out where I plan on putting lighting. Time for some additional studying of the plans. I can’t do too much more in this build as I will need to run all my under deck wiring. As I’m doing this I will be installing balsa support blocks in the 1st 3 bow bulkheads and in the last 2 full stern bulkheads (10-12).
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WARNING - this circuit is fine for non flickering lights but not for flickering. See the updated post with the parallel circuit design below.

So here is my plan for the LED lights. The battery pack has an on/off switch and will be mounted below the ship. I will run the positive and negative lead up in the ship at bulkhead 10. The LED lights are going to be installed in the stove under the Forecastle, under the main deck at Bulkhead 6 (between the to hatches), under the Quarterdeck at Bulkhead 9 above the ladder to the lower deck, in the Stateroom, 4 in the Great Cabin, a Transom lantern and in the Binnacle. Here is the wiring diagram.
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LED lights must be connected properly, Negative (-) and Positive (+). A resister controls the current so you don't burn out your LED lights. I've create a series circuit so the RED (+) wire connects to the (+) LED in the Stove, the (-) leg then connects to the (+) leg of the BH6 LED, (-) leg of BH6 to (+) leg of BH9...and so on until all my LEDs are connected.

You could also do the same with a parallel circuit. Run the two (+) & (-) leads from the battery box into the boat and then run pairs of wires to each LED. A resistor can go onto either of the main leads going into the model or you can put a resistor on one of the legs of each LED instead of a single resistor on one of the main wires going to the battery box.

So I will drill 2 holes, 1 just forward of BH 10 through the keel on the Starboard side for the (+) lead. The wire will run up through the MDF support deck and then string that along the deck to BH 4, I will leave a few CMs coiled up to bring into the stove light. Another wire will run from forward of BH 4 to BH6 leaving a few CMs of slack on either end for connecting to the LED, a 3rd wire will run from BH6 to BH9. This is all I need to wire below the main deck. The (-) main lead runs from a hole just aft of BH10 on the Port side and up through the deck and several CMs coiled up and left to run up through the Coach room and then through the Quarter deck and into the Binnacle. I will drill a hole down through the extra deck support installed at BH6 for the LED. No lantern will be created for this light as it is completely hidden under the deck. It will just give a nice flickering glow up though the Fore and Main hatches. This LED will be soldered to the wires at BH6, the (+) leg forward and the (-) leg aft leading to BH9.
 
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WARNING - This explanation is for a series circuit and does not work for flickering lights. See updated post below for a parallel circuit.

The below deck wiring is done, I used proper coloured wire for the main wires going into the ship. The interconnecting wires are all the white 26G silicon wire shown in post #17 above.
Wires running into the keel, Port and Starboard.
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The (+) wire (red) is run through bulkheads to the section between bulkhead 3 & 4. The (-) wire is run back to bulkhead 6. The (+) wire continues from BH6 to BH9.
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The under deck LED is installed into the deck support beam I fashioned from MDF scrap. The light is 3mm so I 1st drilled the 3mm hole, which the tip of the LED fits snuggly into. The bottom of the LED has a lip that needs a 5mm hole to fit down. Since I want the LED to extend out the bottom of the support I needed to drill down but not all the way through the 3mm hole. Now I have a very nice snug fit with the light protruding below the beam. This will allow the light to fill both sides of BH6 and be seen down both main deck hatches. I made sure when I inserted the LED that the (+) leg is on the forward side of the beam and the (-) leg is aft.
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So you may be asking yourself, “How can I tell which is the (+) & (-) leg on the LED?” Good question, here’s the answer.

1 - if you look into the LED bulb you will see the legs end in 2 little pieces of metal. 1 is much bigger than the other. The bigger one is the cathode (-) side and looks kind of like a metal pennant on the end of a pole.
2 - you need good eyes but if you look at the rim along the base of the LED carefully you will see that it is shaved flat on the (-) side. If you look above at the wiring diagram I posted (#18) you will notice that the LED symbols on the (-) side are flat or even with the edge of the bulb, the (+) side has a small rim bump.
3 - the legs on the LED are also different lengths. NEVER USE THIS 1ST!!! Different manufacturers will make either the (+) or (-) leg longer. In the example below the long leg is (+). Since all these lights are from the same manufacturer I can now use this to determine the (+) or (-) leg, but I would NEVER assume the long leg is (+). Always use method 1 or 2 to be sure.

The easiest way I find to remember is (-) looks like a flat line and the flat rim edge is on the (-) leg side. In the example below the (+) leg is above, is longer and has the smaller metal at the end and the (-) leg is below, is shorter, has the bigger metal end and has the flat edge. Thumbsup ;):D
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In order for the leds to flicker randomly, they must be wired in parallel, not series. In series, when one lamp flickers, it cuts off the power to the remainder so they all go on and off together. Ask me how I know.
 
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