James H

Legacy is referring to general construction of POB model kits. Instead of ply sides with gun ports lasered in, the ports are actually framed into the hull, like was done with Indy and Sphinx. The rudder and stem are typical of the last VM releases. Take a look at those and that's what you'll see here. No ply at all in this kit.

Time for an update. Apart from making the cradle, work starts on both the bow and stern assemblies, as these will need to be installed to the keel very early in construction. The format you see here will surely be quite familiar. All parts are beveled using my Dremel (nice and cordless now, too!). Lines are included for a gauge, with the parts being finally shaped during hull fairing. The stern is built up in the same way and the parts are cleaned up with some regular hand sanding. The tape on the stern is there to protect the infill piece from twisting out whilst being handled and sanded. The bow assembly is now slotted to the keel. There is NO glue at this stage, and for quite a few more. Early construction is all dry fitted. This makes sure that the complex shapes all slot properly and the user doesn't introduce any twist into the hull. If you have a problem, you simply roll back the sequences and re-fit the parts. Bulkhead #2 is also bevelled and slotted to the keel, as are bulkheads #3 thru #8. The hull is now spun around and bulkheads #9 thru #14 are also dry fitted. Lastly, bulkhead #15 is fitted. Make sure you fully push this one home as there's a little more resistance here, but not too much. More later.

As you'll see, the lack of the ply under-deck and the subsequent fitting of the actual deck, will be a breeze.

Decals were used for the depth markers on Indy too. They are nice and easy to apply to the copper when it's been sealed with some gloss varnish. The same applies to the stern for the ship's name. I'll do a few furniture variations in the build log. Maybe for those who know the film well, I'll get a consensus of best iteration 😁

This kit will have a modern design and not legacy. You might notice that there are two sterns included in the kit, depicting the real Surprise and the one from the books/movie. I'm sure @chris watton will be able to explain better. The parts also show BOTH cannon and carronade options, but I believe the cannon is the one to be included in the kit, and the carronade will be an option to purchase separately. Thin copper PE can be contentious at the moment, but the supply of it seems to be getting a little easier. You'll see that I have a PE plating set for the hull, with shaped parts for the rudder. Note the copper rudder hinges and horseshoe and fishplate parts, instead of these being in brass. Decals are included for the name and depth marks, plus names for the gun carts too I have a nice choice of furniture for the cabin. I'll choose what looks best on layout, along with what Chris may supply in wooden form too. I might see if I can sneak a glimpse of that area from the film and base the layout on that. Two sets of polybak parts are supplied to me for the stern and bow rail details. One is in ivory and one in natural. This is so I can work out which is most suitable and looks best for the model. The real difference is a slight thickness in the sheets. the colour is irrelevant as they'll be painted anyway. You'll also see the euphroe parts on there too instead of PE. Other differences in this kit are the gorgeous little 3D printed hand pumps, and 0.2mm windows for the bulkhead screens and stern/quarters, so the windows and PE sandwiches will nicely fit into the timber. They also have a much more realistic clarity than the thicker acrylic sheets. On this kit, the mast tops are made in three layers, adding a little extra realism to the completed assemblies. There will also be toggle detail for the connecting rigging blocks on the underside. As Chris said, this isn't the complete kit yet, and it's quite unusual that I have this at a stage where he hasn't even completed the second planking layer on his own prototype. I have less than 2 weeks before I go on holiday, so I'm seeing if I can get a few bits done before then. The hull is 725mm long. Overall length is 1175mm. Height is 745mm and width is 350mm.

I've not photographed the planks or dowels. You'll all know what those will look like. 😉

Ok, here are the parts sheets. I've not gone to town on these too much as they won't be used in the manual. These are just to satisfy everyone's curiosity.

I'm just this minute sifting through the sheets and splitting off the duplicates. Surprise will be just beautiful. The etched gun deck gives a good idea of relatively narrow she was.

1: 64 HMS Surprise prototype build - Vanguard Models Before we can tuck into a plate of 'eggs 'n bacon' next year, we have the not very small matter of HMS Surprise to attend to. We believe this kit will make many, many folk very happy indeed! There's been so much interest in this that it was about time we saw it released in typical VM style. This is the build which will feature in the instruction manual and here you'll see mostly images that will appear there, plus maybe a few other less polished photos which show the clutter that I really surround myself in! Here's an in-progress profile that Chris is currently working on, of Surprise. This will feature in the plans, along with a whole ton of extra folding paper for you to study. This extremely heavy box arrived about an hour ago. This isn't the complete kit either, but there are two sets of everything to build the hull up to and including planking. Chris has used an Indy box to ship this in, so those of you who've built Indy, will recognise this behemoth of a packing box. So far weighing in at around 12kg. A statement? A fact? Definitely one of those. I'll shortly be digging through all of the contents and doing a few iPhone photos for this build log. ...coming very soon 🤪

Wow, this is a blast from the past! I had a few days before Surprise rocked up here, so thought I'd spend some hours on the pretty little Avos kit from Master Korabel. The first three photos were left over and unpublished from 2019, so I're resurrected them here. The first pic shows the hawse bolster/cheek and metal tube temporarily fitted over the newly installed wales. Everything on this gorgeous little kit, fits like a dream. In this photo, the prow is temporarily fitted too so I could accurately fit the wales and gunwale. You can now see that gap between the deck and the bulwarks. That's all fine...it's meant to be like that. The waterway margin plank is then assembled and profiled before gluing into place and completing the look. Deck fittings are quite traditional in construction. The companionway is built from interlocking sections and then sheathed in pear. The fit is just perfect. Grates are made from combs etc. and the stack is made from brass tube that needed cutting and setting at 90 degrees. The keel is now properly cleaned up and glued to the hull. And here we see the work, again, before Avos goes into hiatus while Surprise takes the bench. All the deck fittings aren't glued on at this stage. You can also see that I fitted the belaying pin racks. The external channels are only test fitted at the moment. Until next time 😁

Don't worry about it. You were perfectly happy until you saw that. I'm definitely not bothered about that change.

Not yet. Work will resume on this after HMS Surprise.

That really looks fantastic! You did a great job of that stowage.

I'm as guilty as many on here of having a signature that's WAY too long. So my solution is to post my signature in here and link the post to my shortened signature. So, if you click on the link in my sig, it will point here to the complete list of my builds. So, here goes. This topic isn't a discussion topic. Feel free to reply by posting your own list of completed builds after this post, and link your specific post to your shortened signature.

Can't beat an Eggs'n'Bacon

Just for you, I changed the text for this area 🫡

I sincerely hope you didn't refund this clown?

She is just beautiful 😍

Definitely watching this one. One of my favourite aircraft.

No concerns at all with the kit. So far, it's built up very nicely. All those plank strakes have fitted as they should, and the materials are very, very good. Vanguard Models has these in stock at the moment: https://vanguardmodels.co.uk/products/the-viking-ship-oseberg-version-3-ships-of-pavel-nikitin

We have both kits reviewed here:

We perhaps should've had this in our tech area of the site. This feature has been in play a long time, but even I'd forgotten about it 😆

I don't understand the issue. The cam rotation and the mechanics involved with it, mean that when moving, only one piston can go full stroke at any one time, then falls in sequence as the next rises etc. Piston stroke is entirely sequential.

That is crazy good! I should try these sometime.

Just bought a set of 4 from Amazon UK for £5.99. They look real useful so thanks for that tip!