James H

The Vaporetto is a strangely beautiful thing and I spent many a trip around Venice on them a few years ago. Gogs' build was perhaps one of my favourite ever build logs, and I was gutted when it, and all MSW1.0 crashed and burned. Panart's kit is actually very nice, so I can't wait to see you start to make some sawdust with this and give us your interpretation.

That looks good to me. The only suggestion I'd make would be to taper that bearding in a little towards the last bulkheads, simply so the planking isn't pinched in towards the stern post. Got to say that you're doing a great looking job of this 👍

Could it be something to do with copyright? It does seem pretty stupid to withhold them.

They are just cut from the sheets and glued in, followed by a lick of Vallejo black acrylic paint. You can blacken them in a solution beforehand though.

I'm pretty sure Chris said this was already sorted on the production parts.

I don't know how I missed this one, but she's sure a lovely little vessel, and I have one here myself.

Time to plank those inner bulwarks now 🤣 Looking good!

I did think about that. I suppose it's down to the individual. Removing char from cross-grain is harder than 'with grain', and bearing in mind that I need to move quickly with this model, I took the decision to leave it, as per Chris's design prototype. There's no reason why a modeller can't remove all char as they've more time to do this than I have.

I did remove the laser char and also used a small tungsten carbide file to add the same profile the other sides of the parts too. No paint for the gun carriages. They'll be in plain wood, the same as the inner bulwarks. We figured the red was more suited to a fighting vessel.

I've already made a Scalemates entry. Does it need amending?

Time for an update. I actually built most of this a. couple of weeks ago, in between tasks on the hull. I'm still doing that with other stuff at the moment whilst I add the rails and wales to the model and ready her for painting white underneath. These are just a small selection the photos I've done for these fittings, but you'll get a general idea. Cannon Gallows/Bitts Steps/Stairs Binnacle Coamings Not too much to say for these purposes, but they will have detailed text on how to make each item in the instructions. I'll do another update next week.

That's correct. Royal/aristocratic yachts tended to be named after the person they were built for, such as the Royal Caroline which became Royal Charlotte for George III's wife. As this was built for the Duchess of Kingston, I suppose it's as good a name as any for the vessel.

Firstly, welcome to MSW! This is a kit that I started building about 14yrs ago but it got destroyed in a house move, so I'll definitely be watching you progress with this one, to completion. I seem to remember it can be a little tricky around the bow and forecastle, but nothing insurmountable.

My area too, born and bred. My info says 'Horwich', but it's actually Anderton, Chorley. It's just that this half of our housing estate straddles the Lancs border.

That's looking real good. What did you use to scrape that frame to remove char?

Great news Tom. So these are now ready?

Welcome to MSW! There's loads of superb kits on the market, and I've built a number of Amati to know how nice they are too. I also did a review for the Fifie you mention: The Grand Banks and Runabout are also superb kits, and of course, three very different subjects in total. Did your SO sign up here at the same time as you? I had two new members at the same time with unusual names! Great to have you with us and I can't wait to see you start out on your journey with a build log.

I know, and I can’t wait! (...despite me trying to convince him to do Foudroyant!)

I reckon this one is a number of years away now, but it will be finished, eventually.

It's 'bevel' for this Brit, but 'chamfer' is also good.

There won’t be a full suite of mast construction images, or yards, rigging etc. Those will be very much like Flirt where it’s simple guide stuff. Traditionally, that stuff is taken from the plans, but there will be some illustration.

Ooops! No bevel marks on this one. My bad.

Ok, I promised an update, and here we are. I've actually done far more than you see here because most of the deck fittings (bitts, cannon, coamings, steps etc.) are now built too. I'll show some of that work in the next update. There are a LOT of photos in this update but they only represent a fraction of what will be included in the manual, as Chris has asked me to detail photo stuff much further than is normally done. The manual should be epic when done! Ok, on with fairing the hull. This one, I found, much more straightforward to sand than Flirt. It certainly didn't take the same amount of time to get the results I wanted. Of course, a lime plank was used to test the flow of the hull with the sanding. With the sanding done, the inner prow is fitted. This is cut from 3mm pearwood. The fit of this is positive and it slots without any ambiguity and is perfectly straight when added, but I still added a few clamps to the mix too. The prow is added at this stage so that the 0.8mm ply bulwarks can plug into it and set the level for the whole length. This one is dead easy as the top of the bulwark should be more or less at the top of the bulkheads. Easy! Oh, if you get worried about the usual inflexible ply and ripple at the bow, then you won't get it with this model. The ply doesn't go to deep, and the shape of the bow is much friendlier than some hulls. First planking is done with 1mm x 4mm lime, pinned as I go along with the very fine Amati pins that Chris supplies. The planks also tuck underneath the lower stern counter, so that's probably the trickiest area, but I didn't find it too bad for the first time I ever attempted doing it. The inner keel is supplied in three further parts. These are self explanatory as you can see with the fore and aft parts. They will only plug into the hull in one position. The stern post is now sheathed in its outer pearwood facings (1mm thick) with laser engraving. This can now be glued to the model. Remember, apart from the sternpost facings, you won't see any of the other work...it'll all be covered over. The stern counter parts are now fitted and sanded. The lower pear is 1.5mm pear and I soaked that for 90 minutes and tightly bound it around a cylindrical 2kg weight and left it overnight to fully dry. The curve was perfect for the model. More engraved pearwood now with the external bulwarks. It's vital that these are glued in exactly the right position, and the various holes adjacent to the windows and cannon ports, align with those in the ply bulwark. The bulwarks are first soaked and bent around the ply, then clamped and allowed to dry overnight. The dry parts are then glued to the model. Pear can swell quite a lot so you really do need to leave anything soaked, for an overnight drying session. With the bulwarks in position the keel outer facings can be added. These create the rabbet for the planking, that Chris introduced with his Zulu and Fifie fishing boats. The parts are located with pear tabs and I also add brass pins thought the horseshoe to doubly align things. Second planking is done with 1mm x 4mm pear. I Managed to get three un-tapered planks in before tapering began. With this model, I only found the need to taper just one plank at the stern! As there is more real estate to cover there, I wasn't going to complain. All pear planking was done with Gorilla Glue CA gel. Once the hull is sanded smooth, I marked a temporary waterline on the hull and many slight gaps below the waterline were filled with diluted acrylic filler, and all sanded smooth. Above the waterline, any gaps were pretty much either invisible or non-existent. With the hull prepared, the temporary beams are removed, along with the bulkhead tabs. The remnants are sanded flush with the false deck. Before the maple deck is laid, the inner pear bulwarks are soaked and clamped around the inner ply bulwark and left overnight to dry. A little edge sanding is needed to make sure these maple decks fit snugly. They are quite flexible, and they need to be to be able to get the parts into position due to the bulwarks that lean inwards. They are still nice and easy to fit though. Dilute white glue is applied to the maple deck sections and then they are stuck down, with clamps around the edges. Upper bulwarks now put in position. Small oval MDF plugs are supplied to help align the main, inner bulwarks. With everything set, a sanding stick is used to level the tops of the bulwarks, even though they were very close anyhow. I used my tiny set of tungsten carbide files to clean up inside the gun ports and the rail decor areas. I'll post another update next week with more hull work and I'll show some deck fittings too. More next time...

The bevel marks on the bow and stern bulkheads are only rough, but 'under-bevelled', only as a starting point and to save a load of on-keel effort. They need to be further bevelled when fitted, including the bevelled parts between bulkheads.

I will have in a day or so. Just finishing up the current stages I'm working on.