thibaultron

I agree with Bob... get some bits of brass or even copper wire and practice. There is a learning curve but it's not a steep one.

Okay. If you can't kill the anxiety with your intellect, down some "liquid courage" and just go for it! 
 
(Just kidding about the "liquid courage" part.)
 
"Experience begins when you start.," as the saying goes. Just start and things will fall in place. Nobody will see you if you do a messy job at first. It's not an inherently hazardous task, so it's not likely you'll be courting some disaster. Just start fiddling with it and, soon enough, you'll be doing fine. The first ring you make probably isn't going to satisfy you. Neither will the second. Along around the third or fifth, depending on how quick you pick it up, you should be doing fine. If you run into a problem you can't figure out, you know where to come to ask Kurt. His posts on soldering are gems.

You actually could. A lot of people who build electronics do. Most surface mount devices are now soldered using a paste that contains both solder and flux. This is applies to each pad on the printed wire board and the component set onto it. Then it goes in the reflow oven and it is preheated and then the solder is melted. Since there is only a small amount it stays where it is put down. You can use a toaster over for the preheat and then a hot air rework gun to reflow the solder. It takes a little fiddling to sort out the parameters, but it should work for any small metal bits as well. This would be using SAC solder which is lead free. The reflow guns can be had fairly cheaply on the web.

I have watched bunches of videos, acquired all of the stuff, torch, flux, Stay Brite solder, but I just am reluctant to start. I get very anxious when learning new skills....

I meant to say that the idea of baking to solder isn't so far off base.  Airbrushes are assembled using an industrial process of baking the parts withe the solder and flux in place - but it's not something you can do at home.

You da man when it comes to solder, Kurt!

Do a search for previous discussions on soldering.  Lots of great tips to be found.
I have found that actual silver soldering is not really needed in our hobby for any issue of strength.  I have used stay-brite a high silver content solder that melts at lower temps than silver solder and it can be blackened unlike regular soft solders.
To get small flakes one can hammer solder flat and snip it off in small flakes.  Much easier to do this with stay-brite than silver solders but that's the way to do it for them too.
I have demonstrated and talked on silver soldering at several NRG Conferences or seminars and used to do it all the time but I have since switched to using stay-brite except when doing joints in close proximity to each other.

I seem to remember that I took it to work to use a pillar drill for the main axle of the catapult part. 
The netted bags with stones are a little tricky and I used quite a bit of PVA on them and repainted the stones in grey. 

Any advice on this kit?

I not sure I could build it without glue.

This is a great kit! Built one myself, many years ago.

Well my experience, (50+ years) in the real world of model building has been that the dedicated wood ship builders tend to look at plastic builders as something less than real modelers, but this forum is changing my opinion on that rapidly, and very happily if I might add......
 
To me it's all modeling, the medium and techniques/tools may change a bit, but it's all the same in the long run...... Recreating real life for others to enjoy, same as painters and sculptors in fact model making is kinda a combination of both those other art forms when you come right down to it...

And why shouldn't we tolerate "plastic people", many of us have the plastic background..... and maybe even building a plastic kit in another hideout in their house; far far away in a corner.....  lol

Yes, Welcome to MSW! AS a short-timer here I have found the place to be very very welcoming... Downright homey in a good way.... They even tolerate us plastic people....  {chuckle}

I have decided that for my first build log (ever) I am going to build the Mantua Model 1:12 Norman Catapult. I decided on this so that I can get some experience working with wood before trying to build a ship. I have a lot of experience working with plastic and some with metal so it will be interesting to see how those skills transfer to working with wood. 
 
Here is the kit:
And the first pieces put together:

CHEAPLY !?!?!?!?!?!?
 
That looks real nice

So this arrived today
 
apart from a small spelling mistake, it’s almost like a Flyhawk set, very good quality. Wafer thin deck, masking sheet for painting the fore deck. , barrels and 6 sheets of PE. then instructions in a booklet

Not entirely.   They are provided as laser cut pieces which one must bend and shape into hinges.   They certainly werent my best work, but they'll do.

It just keeps getting better and better, Justin. Did you make those hinges from scratch?

Truer words have never been spoken...
Fantastic work on a real interesting vessel. Beautiful fit and finish.
What's your plan for a stand or display?

It was another productive weekend, although with the shelter-in-place order in effect, there really isn't a whole lot more I could really do anyway!   Or so I told myself   
 
It was time to start in on the "iron" banding, which is made from a black 10 pt card.   As someone whose professional life revolves around the intricacies of paper, I appreciate that Master Korabel got this bit right.   I was at first resistant to using paper, and I may yet regret going with it.  In new condition however, the look and workability of the chosen material was spot on.   I especially appreciate that they got the grain direction of the chosen paper sheet correct for wrapping around the hull.  

I also started in on more of the metal work.  I have to say this was not my favorite part of the project.   I know next to nothing about making hinges, which becomes exponentially more problematic when making them at a minuscule size.  

Fitting them to the fire-pipes, getting them blackened and having to make probably 4x the needed parts took about the whole day.   For whatever reason, if I dropped one piece it completely and utterly disappeared.   I mean gone.  No matter how neat and tidy I kept my bench, if it slipped from my tweezers/hands/pliers it was gone.   Hence, making each piece so many times...   
 

The above shots show the installed hinges with the pin left long as I fitted and adjusted the piece.  Ive also had to brush on a bit of blackener to occasionally refinish the brass as my fumbling scratched it.   You can see the glean of the liquid blackener on the surface of the hinge here. 
 
I also had to add a few brass loops and eyes here and there which Ive left unblackened for the same reasons as previously stated, I just like the contrast.  You can see the post and eyes in the below photo unblackened, and also left long until completely finished.  

Finally, here she is as she currently sits.   Still a few details away from finished, but getting there.   

 
 
 

Beautifully crafted model, Justin!

I think I got enough off the windows to be satisfied.   I thought about the vacuum too,  I have a micro-vacuum at work with variable speed.  Or maybe a can compressed air with a tube.   In the end, what was laying around proved just as useful.  

Looking great.   If you decide the dust has to really go...  do you have a small tube you could attach to a small vacuum like small computer vac or car vac?  I wouldn't use a full size vacuum as the suction would probably pull the model apart.

Not much today as I spent most of the day tending to kids and trying to put together a form of homeschooling that isn't concerned with ships and small bits of wood.   Apparently reading and math are important pre-requisites.  
 
I did manage to tackle my annoying dust problem.   After poking around in my assorted bits-and-bobs container, and after trying a few prototypes that were WAY over designed I ended up just bending a micro-brush into a 45° and found that to be a perfect solution.  Luckily this model is designed to be able to lift the hatch off to see the interior details, so...
 
Before
 
After
 
It took four in total...   of course the little brush tips won't load up on very much sawdust, so two a piece per window isn't bad.  Especially when 400 brushes cost something like $10.  Glad to have finally found a use for them