Ulises Victoria

Hello all.

I have this crazy idea.

The idea is build the CAF 1/48 HMS Enterprise and then complete it by building the masting and rigging using the HMS Surprise in 1/48 parts and plans (which I abandoned)

A monster project!!!

Do you think is possible to do, and what difficulties I may encounter? Would you encourage or discourage this project?

Thank you all.

5 hours ago, mtaylor said:

I believe Tom sells his kits two ways... one is the complete kit.  The other is what he calls "sessions" were the kit is broken down into sub-kits.   You might contact him (he is a member here):  cafmodel.

Hello. Excuse my ignorance. I am not able to find member cafmodel in the community area. 

Thank you guys. I wll contact him.

So I decided to take the plunge and buy The Enterprise directly from CAF instead of the a bit cheaper kit ($1,218 as a complete kit) from banned ZHL.

Please help me here. The kit is priced at $1,288 USD. But when I try to add it to the cart, it asks me to select an option: If I select "B all" the price goes up to $1,688; that's $422 USD up. If I select any of the other options, C1, C2, C3, B1, B2, it then shows a price between 298 and 500 USD. What gives??? I had the $1,288 price as my budget to buy this kit. 

I'll appreciate any comments.

Thank you in advance.

PS: It looks like ZHL is acquiring this kit directly from CAF, (true or false?) which to me it means it is not counterfeited. Thank you. Please bear in mind that I don't want to infringe the Anti-piracy policies of this group.

Thank you, ASAT!!

4 minutes ago, ASAT said:

That’s great U, are you planning on doing a build log? If you do, I will definitely follow it and maybe even start one with you, that way we could collaborate on the frustrating parts! 🤔😀

Yes ASAT, I will definitely start a build log. It'd be awesome to build along, however I have to finish my AL Soleil Royal (link in my sig). Not sure how long it will take. I'm in the first stages.

20 hours ago, ASAT said:

So did you get the kit? I bought it a year or so ago, have been intimidated to start due to the level of difficulty and the mods/ excellent skills required to overcome the kit’s weaknesses. I started on the keel and jig assy. but had bad parts on the jig and after receiving them I haven’t started again. The keel and deadwood assembly fit is awesome, getting all the seams lined up and mating symmetrically is a challenge, nice material and great laser cutting so far….

Hello ASAT,

I have not bought the kit yet. I'm planning to do it by the end of this month when I am to receive a generous amount of money. The kit is not cheap!

I spent a couple hours browsing this build log, as I am very interested in attempting this kit. Left me wondering if I am not biting more than I can chew! But if one does not attempt a greater challenge, progress is not achieved!

Greetings

Hello all. Glad to be back after a long hiatus.

I am starting this build log of my A.L. Soleil Royal after a few months of having started the  build. At this moment I have almost finished the decks planking, hull planking, gunports, and a few other minor things.

Don't ask me why, but I don't like painting my ships. And in this case I went one step ahead, and decided to make it looking "used and abused". Some may argue that Soleil Royal never looked like this, and thus this can't be "named" Soleil Royal. Well, sorry... it is my ship and I will do as I please.

So, here are a few photos.

At this point I still had not decided on the weathered finish

The porcupine. I used bamboo toothpicks glued to a previously drilled hole, to simulate the nailing 

Jig to cut the gunports frames.

This is how it finally looks

Making doors using toothpicks

That's it for today. Bye all!

22 hours ago, scrubbyj427 said:

CAF is legit, ZHL is not. Buy directly from CAF.

Exactly what I thought! CAF is just a few dollars more expensive, but If I decide to buy this kit. it'd be from CAF

I have a crazy idea involving this particular Enterprise kit. I will post it for opinions later.

Thank you all!

Hello all.  

I read that ZHL has made some kind of agreement with the United States Patent and Trademark Office to legally sale their kits in the USA. Is this true?

If so: Is this below kit legit, according to the rules of this forum? I don't want to infringe any of the policies' of this forum by buying pirated goods.

Thank you.

https://www.zhlmodel.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=75&product_id=58

Update: I just found out that it can be purchased directly form CAF, which is listed under MSW sponsors, for a little more money.

I have purchased several times here. Excelent service and fast deliveries!

thewoodmansshed@gmail.com

Hmmm... suddenly it opens good now.

Thanks all!

The web page doesn't open and shows an error message.

7 hours ago, allanyed said:

Roger,  Do you use this on synthetics, cotton, linen, or all three?  Thanks

 

Ulises,  Same question to you regarding the Master Flat Clear Varnish

 

Thank you

 

Allan

I'm sorry I can't answer that as I don't pay too much attention to the materials of the threads I am using, but I've never had any problems with any of the materials I've used.

I use Model Master Flat Clear Varnish with great results. 

Hello all.

Just found this tool in Ebay:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/313673287457

It comes from China and takes about 3 weeks to arrive, but still, I think it is a great tool for those of us who struggle with hull planking.

Never seen it before. Tried Amazon but with no success.

Best regards.

Hello Glenn. Thanks for your comment. I am sorry I can't help you with purchasing more cannons. I hope somebody else can. I understand some company bought Mamoli's rights of their ships.

In a worst case scenario, and what I would do in your case, is leave some random gunports closed. That may give a more "realistic" look at your ship. If you look closely at my version, I left the gunports at a various degrees of open/semi-open position, as well as some completely closed. I think this can be a realistic situation, as I don't think the sailors would care much how far closed or open was each one of the gunports, when at harbor. 

Just a thought. Hope this helps.

Long overdue update.

I am not working as fast as I would like. I'm investing much time trying to recover my lost fingerpicking guitar skills, after some fingers surgeries; bought me a new motorcycle; and other assorted stuff.

Anyway, here it is. I finished planking the upper part of the hull with 2mm x 5mm planks. After a lot of sanding I did not like the end result very much. So I decided to buy some .5 mm planks from Modeller's Sawmill (excellent product and service by Joe Volpe, btw) and do a second planking. I cut the planks in half to have a more accurate planks length, and proceeded to paint al four sides with spray black paint. I will start the second planking job tomorrow, and will post the resultas asap. Thank you all.

It is nice to see the companies that manufacture our kits, to come and post comments and paying attention to what we, their customers, have to say regarding their products.

Enhorabuena, Artesania Latina!

4 hours ago, Bill Morrison said:

Anyway, given that I rarely have a spare $1,000.00 to spend on a model kit, I will probably choose a different ship, perhaps Sovereign of the Seas.

 

Bill

I just bagged my attempt at building Panart's SotS. Worst kit I have ever attempted, in my very personal opinion. Cheers.

I like it.... I like it a lot. Having built this ship myself, can appreciate more deeply your work. 

My congratulations!!!

Update Feb 19 2022

As I mentioned previously, I messed up the kit's lower deck planks when weathering and adding caulk simulation to the edges. So I ordered some new planks from Modelers Sawmill. They got delayed in the mail, I think due to some heavy weather conditions.

Anyway, when they finally arrived I proceeded to weathering again by submerging random batches of already cut planks in water with diluted shoe polish liquid in several ratios to achieve staining the planks so they look sort of individual planks.

So the end result was this. Before you say anything, this is NOT the final look of the planking job.

I cannot say I liked this very much... too much contrast. So I sanded the whole surface, and applied tint again.

It ended up being too dark. (Sorry no photo of this)

I did a rub with thinner and a rag, and finally I got this look... I am not 100% satisfied, but considering only a small portion of this deck will be seen after placing the upper main deck, I decided to leave it as is, and use the learning experience when doing the main upper deck.

Thanks for watching, folks!

Thank you very much for your comments!

Hello guys.

Is anyone familiar with the new Artesania Latina Soleil Royal kit? Is it worth it? Anyone has bought this kit alrteady? Reviews, impressions, comments, etc?

Soleil Royal is one of my all time favorite subjects and I am tempted to get it.

Thank you in advance!