James H

Following along too.

Definitely watching this! I love the Fifie and enjoyed building Chris' recent 1:64 sail version, so this is right up my Straße ⛵

And that's only one deck! Remember, there aren't just three full gun decks, but also the upper decks too. The kit provides 240 strips of 4mm x 1mm x 1000mm tanganyika.

It sure is! Those photos still have to load, providing you haven't already seen them, in that case your computer should pull them from its own cache quickly, and you'll only be waiting for the new images to load.

Very exciting! How long now before they are sent out?

It all sounds real familiar. I wonder if a number of PVA glues have changed formulation. I remember PVA generally having a reasonable amount of time to allow for adjustment. When I was building Flirt, I glued two parts together and noted after a couple of minutes that something was out of alignment. It took serious effort to split the parts. BTW, my next update to this log will be in just over a week. By then, I can show you the completed orlop deck, and the installation of the lower gun deck, plus the longitudinal side frames and cannon port frames for the lower gun deck. Quick note: Planking the lower gun deck took about 50m of 4mm x 1mm tanganyika strip.

That's exactly what the system does. It's 'unread content since last visit', so will put you right at that point. We've no intentions of changing this whatsoever, even if it were possible, and I don't think it is without fiddling with actual code.

Definitely watching 🍿

Moving to correct area (was in Build Logs)

That looks fantastic!! What a lovely, clean build, and for a first ever! I think this proves how ideal this is for a beginner, and you'll have no probs with the masts or rig. Any questions, and you'll get them answered here.

I've never removed char from connecting joints. There's no reason to think that your glue won't penetrate those surfaces like it does with others. It won't fall to pieces.....I promise.

What I did was lay the keel halves out on my bench, which is kitchen worktop stuff and perfectly flat (you could use a glass sheet if you weren't sure about the bench being flat). I then glued the parts together with a straight edge to absolutely make sure they were even, and sat a weight on top of joint for extra insurance. Also remember that the MDF is perfectly straight too. When that glue set, I added the reinforcement plates, locking parts and keys. You're extremely unlikely to get a bent frame or create any error. Those parts slot together very nicely and the whole joint was absolutely rigid when done.

I'm also not a very disciplined builder, so the extra time helps with my approach.

Onto the last steps now. Why are there variations for these panels?

Just that my regular glue sets very quickly...minutes. That stuff is Titebond Original and Evo-Stik PVA. The orlop is good enough to line everything up properly, but with so many bulkheads and large glue faces, I want the glue to be workable when I drop those deck sections into place. I didn't want to lift the whole lot up with 17 loose bulkheads and heavy orlop, to try and paint glue into the joint areas. This is a very large hull.

Not at all. The bottom of the reinforcement plate doesn't protrude past the bottom of the bulkheads.

Ok, time for some studio photos for the eventual instructions. I'd already jumped the gun a little when I posted a dry-fit of everything, but these pictures are far clearer. Work started on the LARGE hull cradle as that's the order I'm doing this for Amati. This is constructed of 6mm MDF, as per the bulkheads and keel of Victory. This thing pushes together and is locked together with small keys. I use Titebond for glue. Before work started, I spent a day numbering the parts on the various sheets in the kit. Many parts look the same, but are definitely not. This isn't a kit where you want to get stuff mixed up. By the way, all photos will be properly annotated with parts numbers in the manuals. The size of the model calls for the keel to be supplied in halves. Instead of just gluing the keel together, everything is also reinforced. A lock and key mechanism is also supplied for this. I glued the keel halves together first and left them to throughly dry. After this, a reinforcement plate was glued to one side and then two lock pieces slotted through this, followed by a reinforcement plate on the other side. Two keys were then slotted through the locks and glued into position. The original instructions say to drop the bulkheads into position, followed by the orlop, and then apply (paint) glue around the joints. Now, that would normally be my own way of working too, but my glues set very quickly. I didn't want to screw this up, so I've ordered some Titebond Extend to help. This aliphatic resin glue takes up to 24hrs to fully cure and lets the modeller work for quite a while before it starts to set. In the absence of that at the moment, I'll show you the basic assembly. With the glue (when it gets here) on the bulkheads, the two-piece orlop is then dropped into place. these sizeable chunks add a lot to the hull rigidity and will allow me to move things later when I start to fair the hull. Next time, I'll partially plank the orlop, add a few barrels and get ready to fit the grating frames. The sheets I got from Italy were cut in the wrong material, so I'm now waiting for the replacements to be sent.

Some people have asked me what the weight of this kit is. Ok, remember that this isn't a final product, and the Lady Nelson was also in the box. But, offset that against the lack of cast cannon and the plans sent separately, plus the shortage of lime plank, then I think we can take a semi-educated guess. The weight of this box was listed with DHL as 20kg. I think that is roughly the weight....maybe minus 2 or 3 kg for proper boxing etc.

Why don't you try the new HMS Flirt from Vanguard Models? Currently on pre-order, but released very soon. https://vanguardmodels.co.uk/product/order-164-hms-flirt/ Check the build link in my signature.

I must get that lathe, but want it with the bed extension. Nice to see Speedy get the treatment

At least I can now stop saying, 'the kit will be with me in a week or so' 😆

Very nice! What sort of paint are you using on that hull?

As my interim article project isn't happening yet, I've spent a day numbering up the parts on all the sheets. It's a BIG job! I've also removed the two-part keel and locking device parts, the bulkheads and the orlop deck sections and dry-fitted them all to get an idea of the size of this thing. I thought you might light to see...

The gilding does look very good. Would this survive a modeller ageing the sail material?

Having seen the insipid excuse for what is being called the 'correct' colour, I think I'll be sticking with the traditional yellow ochre.