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- Apr 20, 2020
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- 278
Thanks Mike... Glad to hear your surgery went fine...sending prayers for your quick recovery.
ZHL Black Pearl 2019 Golden Edition-Newbie build [COMPLETED BUILD]
Thanks Mike... Glad to hear your surgery went fine...sending prayers for your quick recovery.
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2019
- Messages
- 551
- Points
- 308
WarrLight, now the fun part to test your patience - the rigging.
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Ha ha ha... @Jay I am petrified with the idea of undertaking something I know absolutely nothing about. I know I'll have to do a lot of reading and prep work, but fortunately we have a lot of resources to draw upon in our forum. Besides, patience is something I have plenty of since I retired a few years back. Also, something I learned about our little hobby here... one has to derive as much joy from the journey, as from the destination. Thanks again Jay.
Reggie
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- Apr 20, 2020
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- 278
Onwards with the Pearl. I have a couple more things to work on before I tackle the masts and rigging. First are some deck furniture.
I previously glued together the parts for the wheel and now just to put on some rope around it.
I installed the wheel on the deck but I was unsure if the rope was supposed to face forward or toward the stern (I have seen pictures of it going both ways). In the end, I had the ropes forward and the wheel behind it, as shown below.
I also glued on the bell, the rack for the belay pins and a curious little cabinet with tiny tiny feet.
I decided to chop off the little feet because I was certain these will just break off anyhow. With the small scale, it was hardly noticeable.
Next I finally got around to gluing the captain's gallery. I tried to print out color photographs of typical captain's quarters to attach to the inside, but because of the small scale, I couldn't get the effect that I was looking for. So instead, I used a picture of a pretty lass whose identity will be my own little secret. I thought this was a much nicer alternative. I reckon it will put a smile on my face every time I turn on the lights in the gallery.
Next up was the deadeyes and channels.
Assembling the deadeyes was fairly straightforward, requiring just a few twists of the pins that are provided in the kit.
I painted the deadeyes black. I wish I had blackener for the pins, but I had to settle for painting the pins as well.
Rookie mistake..... notice the orientation of the holes in the deadeyes. I realized much much later on that the two holes should be on top and the single hole facing downwards. More on that later. Painful mistake.
The channels were attached using CA glue and pinned to the hull using small copper wire inserted thru a drilled hole. This gives the channels a bit more strength.
I read somewhere that the chain plates under the channels should be oriented so as to run at the same angle as the shrouds.
In order to achieve this, I temporarily inserted the three masts and simulated where the shrouds are positioned and ran a line towards the deadeyes to obtain the correct angle.
The deadeyes are then positioned on the channel in the pre-cut grooves and the channel is sealed using a strip that is glued to the outside edge of the channel.
Note that the instructions for one of the channels requires that you put 2 smaller 3mm deadeyes and 6 larger 5mm. Am not sure at this point the reason for this.
The chain plates are nailed to the hull. By the way, the kit provides 2 types of nails... One kind are really long and didn't seem suitable for this job. The other shorter kind had blunt ends which I had to file to a sharp point, and these are the ones I used for the chain plates.
Now, to my rookie mistake. Notice how the deadeye triangle is positioned so the pointy side is facing up. After looking at pictures of how most people did this, they usually have the two holes facing up.
I decided to dismantle them and reorient the holes. This was not an easy task at all.
After fixing my mess-up, the deadeyes are in place.
Next up is work on the rudder.
The strips that are to be used to attach the rudder have to be shaped to form a hinge. I used a small brass nail for the rod.
Using a pair of pliers, I squeeze the metal plate around the rod to form a nice circle.
The metal plate had to be bent in shape to follow the contour of the rudder. I must say that my work here was a bit sloppy since I didn't have the proper tool to bend the plate properly... I needed pliers with really thin pointed tips to be able to make the tight bends, especially when I had to butterfly the plates.
The plates are nailed to the rudder and the keel. I trimmed the point off of the nails that I used as a rod, and dabbed a small amount of CA glue at the bottom to prevent the nail from slipping out.
I wish I had blackener for the plates but decided to leave them unpainted.
Thanks for dropping in. As always, I would appreciate comments and suggestions if I am doing certain things incorrectly. These are invaluable as I build up my knowledge and skill sets.
Till next time.
I previously glued together the parts for the wheel and now just to put on some rope around it.
I installed the wheel on the deck but I was unsure if the rope was supposed to face forward or toward the stern (I have seen pictures of it going both ways). In the end, I had the ropes forward and the wheel behind it, as shown below.
I also glued on the bell, the rack for the belay pins and a curious little cabinet with tiny tiny feet.
I decided to chop off the little feet because I was certain these will just break off anyhow. With the small scale, it was hardly noticeable.
Next I finally got around to gluing the captain's gallery. I tried to print out color photographs of typical captain's quarters to attach to the inside, but because of the small scale, I couldn't get the effect that I was looking for. So instead, I used a picture of a pretty lass whose identity will be my own little secret. I thought this was a much nicer alternative. I reckon it will put a smile on my face every time I turn on the lights in the gallery.
Next up was the deadeyes and channels.
Assembling the deadeyes was fairly straightforward, requiring just a few twists of the pins that are provided in the kit.
I painted the deadeyes black. I wish I had blackener for the pins, but I had to settle for painting the pins as well.
Rookie mistake..... notice the orientation of the holes in the deadeyes. I realized much much later on that the two holes should be on top and the single hole facing downwards. More on that later. Painful mistake.
The channels were attached using CA glue and pinned to the hull using small copper wire inserted thru a drilled hole. This gives the channels a bit more strength.
I read somewhere that the chain plates under the channels should be oriented so as to run at the same angle as the shrouds.
In order to achieve this, I temporarily inserted the three masts and simulated where the shrouds are positioned and ran a line towards the deadeyes to obtain the correct angle.
The deadeyes are then positioned on the channel in the pre-cut grooves and the channel is sealed using a strip that is glued to the outside edge of the channel.
Note that the instructions for one of the channels requires that you put 2 smaller 3mm deadeyes and 6 larger 5mm. Am not sure at this point the reason for this.
The chain plates are nailed to the hull. By the way, the kit provides 2 types of nails... One kind are really long and didn't seem suitable for this job. The other shorter kind had blunt ends which I had to file to a sharp point, and these are the ones I used for the chain plates.
Now, to my rookie mistake. Notice how the deadeye triangle is positioned so the pointy side is facing up. After looking at pictures of how most people did this, they usually have the two holes facing up.
I decided to dismantle them and reorient the holes. This was not an easy task at all.
After fixing my mess-up, the deadeyes are in place.
Next up is work on the rudder.
The strips that are to be used to attach the rudder have to be shaped to form a hinge. I used a small brass nail for the rod.
Using a pair of pliers, I squeeze the metal plate around the rod to form a nice circle.
The metal plate had to be bent in shape to follow the contour of the rudder. I must say that my work here was a bit sloppy since I didn't have the proper tool to bend the plate properly... I needed pliers with really thin pointed tips to be able to make the tight bends, especially when I had to butterfly the plates.
The plates are nailed to the rudder and the keel. I trimmed the point off of the nails that I used as a rod, and dabbed a small amount of CA glue at the bottom to prevent the nail from slipping out.
I wish I had blackener for the plates but decided to leave them unpainted.
Thanks for dropping in. As always, I would appreciate comments and suggestions if I am doing certain things incorrectly. These are invaluable as I build up my knowledge and skill sets.
Till next time.
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2019
- Messages
- 551
- Points
- 308
WarrLight, pretty neat. Very creative lighting in the captain’s quarters. I had read somewhere that the chain plates were at the same angle as the shrouds also. I am not versed in nautical terms but I think the rigging with the rat lines is called standing rigging and that is what attaches to the larger deadeyes for the fore and main masts. The running rigging attaches to the smaller deadeyes. I am enjoying your build.
Boy she's coming along so nicely, great work 
- Joined
- Apr 20, 2020
- Messages
- 305
- Points
- 278
Hello again, friends. I started working on the gun ports. This was a really fun task. Some detail work and a couple of missteps, but all good.
I prepared the gun covers by gluing the etched copper hinges. I just wanted to make sure I did this before I applied the tung oil on the covers, for obvious reasons. Even then, I had a few hinges come unglued while working on them. I thought about drilling and putting pins, but the hinges were just too narrow to be able to do this. So I had to be content with re-gluing the misbehaving hinges.
I decided to paint the inside of the cover with red acrilyc, while the outside was finished with tung oil.
I kinda jumped the gun in bending the hinges this way, which proved to be the wrong way.
Since the ports will be open, the hinges should be bent this way.
I also installed pins on the ports in order to get a stronger hold.
But, before installing the covers, I had to prepare the rope by drilling a hole on the hull, inserting the rope, and using a bent hemostat/forcep, pulled the rope thru the gun opening.
I fashioned a stopper using copper wire to keep the rope in place.
The ports were then glued and pinned above the port holes using CA gel glue.
When the glue dried, the copper strips were nailed thru the tiny hole onto the hull using the blunt nails provided in the kit(these had to be filed to get a sharp point). Affixing the nails was a bit of a challenge because I had to work with very tight quarters, especially underneath the channels. This is also the part where I lost a couple couple strips coming unglued. Since I didn't have a pin pusher tool, I used a small hammer and a punch tool to affix the nails.
Once all the ports were nailed, it was just a matter of tying the rope to the ring on the cover.
Then it was on to installing the half cannons. These are glued to the cannon holders inside the hull, but as I noticed, the holders must have been too deep inside, because the guns only protruded by a few millimeters, as shown below.
I wanted the guns to come out a bit more, so I fashioned a spacer that goes in the rear of the guns. This gives the guns just a bit longer length.
In order for the guns to be installed at the correct angle, I made a simple jig as seen below.
Oh, perhaps because of all the hammering, one of my cannon holders got loose and I lost it inside the recesses of the ship. I had to think long and hard for a fix, and fortunately one side of the holder still remained and I was able to glue a replacement holder against it.
Guns all glued down... Ropes tied, trimmed and fixed with a small dab of glue.
Having the guns installed sure makes a big difference in how the ship presents itself. I came away from this task with a big smile on my face.
Thanks everyone for stopping by.
I prepared the gun covers by gluing the etched copper hinges. I just wanted to make sure I did this before I applied the tung oil on the covers, for obvious reasons. Even then, I had a few hinges come unglued while working on them. I thought about drilling and putting pins, but the hinges were just too narrow to be able to do this. So I had to be content with re-gluing the misbehaving hinges.
I decided to paint the inside of the cover with red acrilyc, while the outside was finished with tung oil.
I kinda jumped the gun in bending the hinges this way, which proved to be the wrong way.
Since the ports will be open, the hinges should be bent this way.
I also installed pins on the ports in order to get a stronger hold.
But, before installing the covers, I had to prepare the rope by drilling a hole on the hull, inserting the rope, and using a bent hemostat/forcep, pulled the rope thru the gun opening.
I fashioned a stopper using copper wire to keep the rope in place.
The ports were then glued and pinned above the port holes using CA gel glue.
When the glue dried, the copper strips were nailed thru the tiny hole onto the hull using the blunt nails provided in the kit(these had to be filed to get a sharp point). Affixing the nails was a bit of a challenge because I had to work with very tight quarters, especially underneath the channels. This is also the part where I lost a couple couple strips coming unglued. Since I didn't have a pin pusher tool, I used a small hammer and a punch tool to affix the nails.
Once all the ports were nailed, it was just a matter of tying the rope to the ring on the cover.
Then it was on to installing the half cannons. These are glued to the cannon holders inside the hull, but as I noticed, the holders must have been too deep inside, because the guns only protruded by a few millimeters, as shown below.
I wanted the guns to come out a bit more, so I fashioned a spacer that goes in the rear of the guns. This gives the guns just a bit longer length.
In order for the guns to be installed at the correct angle, I made a simple jig as seen below.
Oh, perhaps because of all the hammering, one of my cannon holders got loose and I lost it inside the recesses of the ship. I had to think long and hard for a fix, and fortunately one side of the holder still remained and I was able to glue a replacement holder against it.
Guns all glued down... Ropes tied, trimmed and fixed with a small dab of glue.
Having the guns installed sure makes a big difference in how the ship presents itself. I came away from this task with a big smile on my face.
Thanks everyone for stopping by.
Attachments
Great job.... a smart solution. Almost any problem can be overcome if one thinks about it long enough..
Lookin great so far sir
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2019
- Messages
- 551
- Points
- 308
Seems like we had similar problems with the gun port hinges and I lost a cannon when the holder broke. Had to carve the cannon out of a dowel.
Gee, I missed that.....
He said "lass" Clair... but I think he meant "Glass"... Remember... "language barriers"... this is an international forum... HAHAHAHA..
Yeah true true, I was lookin all over for a cute chick lmao
I think that would be "Wicked Wench", don't you...lolol