James H

As well as removing char, you also need to smooth out the rough surface that the laser creates. I can't see anything other than sanding or scraping which will magically reduce any workload on char removal. Even if you could dissolve the char, the rough surface would still remain. 

As well as removing char, you also need to smooth out the rough surface that the laser creates. I can't see anything other than sanding or scraping which will magically reduce any workload on char removal. Even if you could dissolve the char, the rough surface would still remain. 

Nice, tidy job. 
 
I hate filler, so I know what you mean. 

These things are ordered as single pieces after the 3D guy sculpts it, then moulds have to be prepared. 
 
To create a set with separate parts would probably cost you more than a Sphinx kit due to the work involved, all the separate moulds and also the casting. 

All you need is a 000 or 0000 size brush to fix those. That's exactly how I fixed my gold run-off.
Don't make things too complicated for yourself with trying to recreate from separate components. 

These things are ordered as single pieces after the 3D guy sculpts it, then moulds have to be prepared. 
 
To create a set with separate parts would probably cost you more than a Sphinx kit due to the work involved, all the separate moulds and also the casting. 

All you need is a 000 or 0000 size brush to fix those. That's exactly how I fixed my gold run-off.
Don't make things too complicated for yourself with trying to recreate from separate components. 

Building is slowly progressing.   The hull is essentially finished with just some touchups to do.   Especially on the stern decorations.  (just ordered some very fine brushes to accomplish this).       The ship's boats are the last stage for me as I am not going to mast/rig this model.     Those boats being a single plank affair are a real challenge for me as you can see by the pictures.   I have always used the second planking to cover up my many defects.   Not so with these.    I have the pinnace planking done now have to work on the interior.    Also will need to do lots of cosmetic touching up to the hull.    I had never really done any fine single planking before so I learned a lot which will be applied to the yawl and launch which you can see are under construction.
 
With these boats I have only been able to do a few planks at a time.    The structures are pretty fragile at the stern so I have not been to find a way to use clamps.   That necessitated my holding the planks in position until the glue set up.    Thin CA is hard to use as it soaks into the MDF pretty quickly,    A medium CA is a bit better but does take a while to hold.    What I found that works best for me is kind of a combination of the yellow glue I use plus some thin CA.     I apply the yellow glue to the plank and then the CA to the rib and quickly place the plank.   I have found this method give a pretty good hold of the plank in about a minute. 

Only just stumbled on this build, so now following along. 
 
Outstanding craftsmanship and subject. A large model too. 😵

Straight after Erycina, I made a start on Nisha. Both models are being built in tandem for a release at the same time. 
 
Both kits come with an MDF build cradle and an acrylic display stand that has an engraved plate.
 


 
Fewer bulkheads in Nisha than Erycina. Again, engraved bevel lines are supplied on those that need them. These are now bevelled with a Dremel at 10,000RPM



 
The dainty little keel has bulkhead numbers engraved adjacent to each slot, making it a little harder to get these wrong. At this stage, everything is fitted dry, with no glue.


 
The lower deck is now slotted into position. Engravings help show you the orientation of this.

Bearding fillers are also included which can be pre-bevelled and then pinned into place with MDF tabs.







 
This is a little different to Erycina in that the two bulkhead infill pieces are bolstered on both sides with an MDF plate that is pinned into position either side of those bulkheads. This creates a nice, solid construction.





 
Both longitudinal deck beams are now slotted into position, followed by the stern timbers that are marked to show their relative positions.



 
Diluted Titebond is now brushed into all the joints and the frame set aside to dry for a couple of hours.


 
Lastly (for this update), the ply deck is fitted and glued. This fits into the slots in each bulkhead ear, and lies perfectly flat with no other fettling required.

 
More next time  
 

'Nisha' was a Brixham 'Mumble-bee' from 1907. 
 
I will be building this one concurrently with 'Erycina' for release around the same time. All I currently require for this one is the photo-etch and sails, which should be with me quite shortly. While there is no picture of Nisha, here's a photo of another 'Mumble Bee' class fisher. 
 

This one is smaller than Erycina and very petite. Like that one and other kits in VM's range, this starts with an MDF core, plenty of bulkheads with bevel lines on them, and a nice selection of pear in numerous thicknesses. An MDF construction cradle is supplied as well as an acrylic stand for display. Also some nice 3D printed and brass parts too. Again, I've not shown the plank strips here or the dowel for the masts. Note the shrouds and rats in the above pic.
 






 
Ok, I'm still on my personally enforced 7-day workshop hiatus, so I can spend my spare time on my new PlayStation, but I do have the original prototype photos to study too, so both models will be started next Monday. 
 
Until then...
 
 

Work on this is progressing swiftly, especially when you consider that I've not got to the same stage with Nisha over the last couple of days.
 
All photos are from the manual, but here I've done no re-cropping, but simply resized the originals for MSW.
 
Both of these new fishers are designed to be very simple to build and there's actually less planking involved than the Zulu and Fifie. Construction is very much the same, with similar stern timbers as seen on Sphinx. In fact, these also have the little safety gates that strengthen the parts until you can safely remove them. 
 


Just a small selection of the SIXTEEN bulkheads on this little model. You can see that bevelling lines are also included. 

A Dremel is used to make short work of these. In fact, it took only 30 mins to bevel all parts on this model.


The keel. Note that all slots are numbered too, so you really shouldn't get the positions of individual bulkheads wrong! All bulkheads are dry-slotted into the keel.


The bearding parts are now bevelled and fitted into position. These are also pinned into the keel to ensure the correct positions.




The lower deck serves the purpose of simply holding the bulkheads in position and also for masts etc. that will plug down into it. This is now slotted into position, again without glue. Note that engravings show which is the front and TOP.


 
Four bulkheads into which the lower deck were slotted, are now filled in with these pieces that strengthen the overall skeleton. These are glued into place.


The longitudinal deck beams are now dry-slotted into place. Builders of the other VM kits will be familiar with this approach. 

Midship bulkhead doublers are now glued to either side of bulkhead #9.
 

The stern timbers are now slotted into position, 3 on either side of keel, and these are identified with INNER, MIDDLE and OUTER engravings. 


 
The hull is now turned over and a slightly diluted Titebond is brushed into the joints. As this model has so many interlocking joints, this is a good approach to take so you know glue won't be setting are you're working through the hull. It also gives you some time to make sure everything is to your liking before committing to glue. The hull is now left a couple of hours for the glue to penetrate and set.


The ply deck is now fitted, engraved face upwards. This just needs to bend slightly to lock into the bulkhead ears at one side before snapping down into the other side. No amendment is needed at all here and the deck lies perfectly flat over all bulkheads. Not even any sanding of the sheer is needed before fitting! Small clamps are used to hold the rear deck down onto the stern timbers. Next up is fairing and planking.

 
More soon....
 

Erycina was a Plymouth Ketch-Rigged Trawler, launched as a cutter in 1882 and converted to a Ketch in 1894. This is one of three next subjects from Vanguard Models, following on from their previous Fifie and Zulu fishers. I'll be starting build logs for the other fishers when I'm ready. One of those, Nisha, will be built concurrently with this one. Out of Erycina and Nisha, Erycina is the large one, as you'll see from a cut test prototype in a photo below. Again, construction is an MDF core, with lime/pear planking and an engraved maple deck. There will be sail sets available for these.

Here is Erycina!

Here's some photos of the initial test prototype which is refined to make the production parts. Erycina is of course the larger vessel:



 
My HMS Sphinx is now in the last days of work, so I'll be taking a day or so off afterwards to indulge in my PlayStation5 and mindless killing in Assassin's Creed, then work on this will begin. Until then, here are the parts (minus planks).
 




 
More when I have it  

I do have some news for you on this.
 
Amati have now shipped the Victory out via DHL, and it should be with me on Monday. I'll then post some pics etc. 

Straight after Erycina, I made a start on Nisha. Both models are being built in tandem for a release at the same time. 
 
Both kits come with an MDF build cradle and an acrylic display stand that has an engraved plate.
 


 
Fewer bulkheads in Nisha than Erycina. Again, engraved bevel lines are supplied on those that need them. These are now bevelled with a Dremel at 10,000RPM



 
The dainty little keel has bulkhead numbers engraved adjacent to each slot, making it a little harder to get these wrong. At this stage, everything is fitted dry, with no glue.


 
The lower deck is now slotted into position. Engravings help show you the orientation of this.

Bearding fillers are also included which can be pre-bevelled and then pinned into place with MDF tabs.







 
This is a little different to Erycina in that the two bulkhead infill pieces are bolstered on both sides with an MDF plate that is pinned into position either side of those bulkheads. This creates a nice, solid construction.





 
Both longitudinal deck beams are now slotted into position, followed by the stern timbers that are marked to show their relative positions.



 
Diluted Titebond is now brushed into all the joints and the frame set aside to dry for a couple of hours.


 
Lastly (for this update), the ply deck is fitted and glued. This fits into the slots in each bulkhead ear, and lies perfectly flat with no other fettling required.

 
More next time  
 

Nice, tidy job. 
 
I hate filler, so I know what you mean. 

A little more progress on Speedy -
 
I have finished the first layer of planking. This is not a difficult hull to plank and the whole process went smoothly. I chose not to line off the hull, creating belts. The instructions didn't indicate that this was necessary and I decided since it is a small hull, I shouldn't have any problems if I didn't do it. So I just eyeballed the amount of tapering for each plank at the bow, taking off just about half or slightly less and planning to address any issues once I got to the bottom. I worked straight down, but installed the garboard before added the final two planks above it. There really were no problems to speak of, just a matter of fitting the last plank against the garboard.
 
I used my new little Lee Valley plane to taper the planks and I found it to be very effective and pleasant to use. (which I'm relieved to discover, since it was about the same price as a used Hyundai!)  I can never seem to hold a ruler firmly in place when using a knife. This way, you just hold the plank on its edge and run the plane along it. It works really well and you have quite a bit of control. I didn't ruined a single plank this time, which is not typically the case for me with a knife and ruler.
 

 
 
 
Having really only built Model Shipways kits before, I am used to drawing the bearding line and reducing the centre keel before adding the planking. This kit doesn't include that step, but rather asks you to simply apply the planking first and then sand the stern area to a very thin width afterwards. I wasn't sure how easy a task this would be to do, but it proved to be easier than I anticipated and I think I have an acceptable result. I know it looks rough in the picture, but that's only because of the the contrast in colours. It's actually very smooth where the planks feather out.
 

 
I think this is the first hull I've planked where I don't need a gallon of filler (and I'm talking imperial gallons!) I will use some though, just to even out a couple of spots, but I think it will need only a minimal amount. And that's it for now.
 
Thanks again for comments, likes etc.
David

That's a real nice appraisal/semi-review. Thanks for posting that!

That development has been sat on that site since Methuselah stalked the earth. 
It's a real shame that any new developments/completed projects stalled.
 
I do remember Chris Watton once telling me that he was once considering HMS Surprise himself.

Vanguard.
 
Agamemnon wasn't an Amati kit.

Haha! I'm not building it in a pub! 🤣

That's The Olde Ship, at Seahouses, Northumberland, UK.

Nope, I'm not thriving for a level I can never achieve, and nowhere have I ever stated that.....ever. My aim is to do the very best I can and not to cut corners if it can be helped. That's just making the most of our own skills and learning some new ones to better the outcome. 
 
For char removal, I use a combo of sanding sticks, sanding sponges and a 6inch steel rule with 400 grade paper wrapped around it. 
 
For the record, I don't think anyone needs to calm down. I can't see anyone getting angry at the moment. Just crack on with your builds!

That looks real nice.

That looks real nice.