Mike Dowling

So,here she is in all her glory!! I am glad that I altered the bow to be sharp like the real vessel, for some reason Occre had it quite blunt. In the end my version of the ship is a mixture of her various incarnations over the years like various colours of the masts, placement of portholes, different pinstriping etc. I am quite pleased with the end result. For future builders the rear handrail on top of the stanchions is a real beast to put on. I love the beauty of tall ships and how elegant they are but the rigging is a nightmare, so many ropes and so little room but the perseverance is worth it.

The rest of the sails on now and most of the rigging. Some long bilateral ropes to go on to the yards and down to deck level through strange extensions on the sides of the hull. Lifeboats to go on and the rear railings which I deliberately left until near the end to avoid trashing them with all the rigging. Then tidying up all the ropes and adding a flag of course!!

Foremast and front sails (I don't know the correct term for them) are on and rigged. I am very glad I put on the extra blocks to allow for one bunt line on each side of each sail as it has allowed for a much better 'shape'. The last 'flying blocks' on the end of each yard won't get rigged until all the others are on. Now for the main mast.

Oh how I just love doing ratlines!! It's like toothache - wonderful when it stops. Sails and yards next.

I have made a start on the standing rigging and sewn the appropriate sheets to their yards ready to go on later. Next step shrouds and rat lines!! I have to say that it was not an easy job keeping the masts inline and a reasonable tension on all the lines but I am quite pleased with the result and it was worth the time.

Thank you Gentlemen for your kind comments.

I have been very remiss about adding regular updates to this log and a great deal has happened since my last update. Firstly the second planking is finished. It was a trial because the wood supplied insisted on curling side to side. It meant for very slow progress and a huge amount of adhesive tape to hold the planks down while they dried. Anyway, eventually covered the hull and much to my surprise not a lot of filling was needed. The hull was primed (3 coats) and painted (3 more). Holes were drilled for the portholes. I really didn't like those supplied so I bought larger ones pre painted white. They are far nearer those on the real vessel. The there was all the deck furniture to make and attach, one of the stages I find the most fun. I did the railings at the front but I will leave the rear railings to last because it would be far too easy to break them whilst doing rigging. Likewise for the two life boats, cranes etc. The masts are all made up as are all the yards and the sails (23 of them) sorted for their appropriate places. The Occre rigging is hugely simplified which is fine by. The real vessel is incredibly complex. I have added though blocks on the yards to allow the addition of one bunt line. At least then I can raise each sail a little bit. My next task is to sew the sails to the yards but I am waiting for some thread of the right colour. Meanwhile here are some pictures of where I am at the moment.

I drilled my portholes after priming, sanding, priming, sanding etc. It worked for me.

Very good point about the white paint. When I did my AV and the Titanic I painted everything below deck level white as you have suggested.

If it is of any comfort Daniel, I didn't paint the underside of the decks either and have the same problem. Only slight in my case thank goodness or there would have been some very blue air!!!

If you are going to use led strip. Before putting anything together cut a slot in each bulkhead next to the false keel for the strip. If using individual led's you will nee to drill holes in the bulkheads for the wires to run through.

I used led strip for the porthole lights although it does mean they all work at the same time.

I hope no one minds me interrupting but you have everything you need except for batteries of course! As long as you don't exceed the voltage shown you won't need resistors.

I painted mine. Looks ok but could do with another coat now.

After some trimming, sanding, filling and more sanding she doesn't look so bad now after all. Still some work to do on the bow to get the shape right but the second planking should help with that.

Well, this is quite possibly the worst first planking I have ever done!!! However the hull is now covered. It will need a huge amount of sanding, filling and elbow grease to get it ready for the second planking which I hope I will manage to do a lot better.

I finished the dreaded fairing and am actually quite pleased with it. Maybe practise has helped. Bulwarks are on, a bit of a struggle as they didn't want to bend. I did some handrails before I put them on as they would have been a right fiddle afterwards. I made the handrails a lot thinner and with different eyelets from the kit as the suggested parts were far too big. Also put on what they call the 'master strakes' each side. 5mm x 3mm and again not an easy bend despite a good long soak. I guess they will be a good guide for the rest of the planking.

Definitely not potatoes although it is interesting that you so cleverly observe that my wife does love my home cooked chips!! They are lovely pieces of heavy Scottish quartz!! Just the job for holding things down.

Hi there, I think you are right that the kit is the Gorch Fock 2 but I am thinking of being lazy and doing a build out of the box rather than trying to be too realistic so apart from the bow which is totally wrong I don't plan on too many 'adjustments'. My last build was the Amerigo Vespucci also from Occre and I did loads of alterations to try and make it more like the real ship. Whether it was worth it I am not sure, not many people will ever see it.

Thank you Nils, glad to see you are still there and creating your wonderful models.

All three decks on now and a coat of sealer which shows up the caulking quite well I think. The next stage is to add some parts between the bulkheads for strength and a bit more surface area for planking. The fairing, a job I always dread!!!

You might have a look at Occre kits. I have done a lot of them. They are not too badly priced, their instructions are really good (except perhaps for rigging) and their wood quality generally fine.

Welcome indeed to the growing Scottish contingent!

First deck on and gluing. I am not impressed with the poor quality of my planking but the supplied wood in this instance supposedly is sycamore which I don't think I have used before. The planks unfortunately were of a variety of widths and thicknesses and this along with that deck being in three pieces was not the easiest I have done. Because of the different thickness I just couldn't get a really smooth finish. For the rear and front decks I had some spare wood of a very similar colour and, as you will see has resulted in a much better finish. It is very unusual in my experience for Occre to provide such poor quality wood, they are usually so good. Never mind I will plod on!