fnkershner

So let me stray just a bit from the discussion above. As mentioned we now live in a new house. My old shop was in the SE corner of our lot and up against the forest. It was mostly shaded by big trees. In our new house my shop is in the garage or the upstairs office. You may have heard that in Seattle we are coming up on 1 month without measurable rain! In short it has been quite hot. Which makes modeling difficult.
 
Let me show you the solution I have crafted. and the front porch for the Sun Goddess (alias Admiral). I now have a great planking station in the shade with a mild breeze.

So let me stray just a bit from the discussion above. As mentioned we now live in a new house. My old shop was in the SE corner of our lot and up against the forest. It was mostly shaded by big trees. In our new house my shop is in the garage or the upstairs office. You may have heard that in Seattle we are coming up on 1 month without measurable rain! In short it has been quite hot. Which makes modeling difficult.
 
Let me show you the solution I have crafted. and the front porch for the Sun Goddess (alias Admiral). I now have a great planking station in the shade with a mild breeze.

Bob - Yes the glue is strong. and yes I had soaked everything. but I believe it is the cap rail. It just didn't like being bent that far. The photo doesn't show it well but the cap rail broke too. And right at the max bend point. I am Still not sure how best to fix this. Frankly I am very concerned that anything I do will result in further problems. Harvey has offered two suggestions which I am going to try. The first is he has given me an sheet of walnut so that I can cut a new cap rail that will not have any bending stress. I look forward to trying that. Its the careful sanding I am uncomfortable about. But I must remove the old rail back to the beginning of the bend. Then maybe a scarf joint or similar.
 
The second idea he has offered has me both excited and perplexed. If you look that the picture below you will see what I mean. Straight for the King's own forest He has given 2 real knees! As you noted the piece split along the grain. I am not sure what would happen if the replacement was fashioned with the grain across the bow. But these Knees are just the thing. The grain bends around the corner. One is too big but the other looks like I can fashion it to fit. This is going to take some work to figure how to get it to fit and remain strong. I also need room for the bowsprit.
 
I am very open to ideas & suggestions.

Well Gents I guess it is no surprise that the last time anything was posted to this log was 2 months ago. Let me quickly summarize what has occurred in those 2 months.
 
First we sold our house and moved. I had to give up my beautiful shop and pack all my tools! I want to give a deep felt Thanks to Mike Graff who came over and spent the morning helping me. I believe I have also mentioned that the first attempt at the 2nd layer of planking was a failure. So I had to sand all of it off!  The Dremel sure got a work out there. And of course there were a few spots were the Dremel got a bit carried away. I am sure it wasn't me. So there was a session with the putty and more sanding.
 
I also had to order new planking. This is when I found that the thinnest planking I could buy was 3/64". So I HAD to order a thickness sander from Jim. I will say I had great fun running all those strips thru the Sander. They are all now a uniform thickness of 3/128". Then I started over on the planking. Here is the result.
 
You will see that I have now finished the first of 3 bands from the keel up. So far it has turned out much better. And I am pleased with the result. Of course I have now reached the point of needing my first stealer so we will see how a feel then.

Bob - Yes the glue is strong. and yes I had soaked everything. but I believe it is the cap rail. It just didn't like being bent that far. The photo doesn't show it well but the cap rail broke too. And right at the max bend point. I am Still not sure how best to fix this. Frankly I am very concerned that anything I do will result in further problems. Harvey has offered two suggestions which I am going to try. The first is he has given me an sheet of walnut so that I can cut a new cap rail that will not have any bending stress. I look forward to trying that. Its the careful sanding I am uncomfortable about. But I must remove the old rail back to the beginning of the bend. Then maybe a scarf joint or similar.
 
The second idea he has offered has me both excited and perplexed. If you look that the picture below you will see what I mean. Straight for the King's own forest He has given 2 real knees! As you noted the piece split along the grain. I am not sure what would happen if the replacement was fashioned with the grain across the bow. But these Knees are just the thing. The grain bends around the corner. One is too big but the other looks like I can fashion it to fit. This is going to take some work to figure how to get it to fit and remain strong. I also need room for the bowsprit.
 
I am very open to ideas & suggestions.

As if you needed an incentive to yack away. Congrats anyway!   

My Best to Frank! He has earned his retirement. I have talked to him many times. Good luck Tom! Nice of your boy to give you a job.

Back in a day or 3 John.  Already screwed up the first set of anchor stocks.  I need a mental reset.  Also, one of my float planes almost sunk taxiing back to the beach yesterday......I might need to double plank her with boxwood and holly     

Nice idea on the striker.  I only nailed mine twice.
 
And yes, I also have the mystery blocks.  Figure I'll save them in case I ever do a 1:1 scale longboat.

Thank you, Rod! When I had finished with the little ring bolts, I was quite happy that I made them. However, when I tried to produce them, it was good that my wife did not hear me because I was constantly cursing these tiny things jumping away at the slightest touch, sticking to the tweezers, and in general defying gravity completely  
 
Thomas

Chris,
 
I would recommend including a set of flags with the kit, but not sails. I have always included flags (and pennants) with my models. I think they are a nice "finishing touch." For those who would want to make sails, a plan set included with the kit would be nice. If the interest is high, Amati can always make a full suit of actual cut sails available as an option.
 
Assuming you drive the completed Vic to Italy this Fall, I understand your job is basically done. I get that you can't accurately guess on how long it will take to put this model into production - however.... can you (please) tell us how long it took Amati to get the Vanguard (or the Pegasus) into kit boxes?
 
Ron

I read somewhere that in addition to the hammocks providing some protection (not Much) There were 3 main reasons for having them in the Cranes -
 
1. To air them out. It must have stunk to high heaven below deck.
2. To deflect splinters and small arms fire in battle. Not much of a bullet proof best but that's what they had.
3. As crude life preservers. As we all know most sailors could not swim. and a well rolled and tied hammock would float for up to 1 hour. so if the ship went down or you went over board a Hammock was better than nothing.

Ahoy Mates
 
I wonder if this recent turn of events has had an affect on their sale items. I follow the site and the European Kits have missed the last few sales.  
 
I will also go with the positive view on Franks retirement.
 
First, THANK YOU Frank, you did a great job. And secondly here's wishing the new guy a long and happy career at model Expo  

All models and paintings I saw have the bend up. Which also makes a lot of sense since rain- and spraywater would not get into the ends. As for catching musket balls, I don't think it makes any difference which way round they are put in, because they could hit up or down ...
 
wefalck

I don't have one of those wife things.....but my partner is addicted to buying stuff - so I can just roll my eyes if he has a go at my tool and toy collection He has no idea of the price of them - so I explain NOTHING :)
 
In actual fact he has been urging me for weeks to buy something for myself - he has an average of 10 parcels or more a week coming - and that's been for months now. So I think he feels guilty about how much stuff he has had lately and I have been super responsible and just reducing debt and paying all the living costs:)... ohh and it helps that he didn't get me anything for my birthday last week.. so he has been urging more and more for me to buy something.

More progress over the weekend.   I applied some colored wood putty to the seams in the planks where light showed through.  The cap rails were marked-out, cut and trimmed and installed.  The sophistocated clamping system was used to keep the rails even and in contact with the tops of the frames.  Both the sides and transom friezes were sprayed with a dull-coat lacquer before cutting.  To install the frieze, I masked off the sides of the cap rails and everything below the first plank, applied some spray-on contact cement (also on the fireze itself) and stuck it on.  Pretty easy since my top strake shape was taken from a frieze.  The lower rub-rail was tough.  I could not get my box wood cut to the 1/32 dimension so I used the kit-provided bass strips.  It gets painted and is softer, so nothing lost here.  Mircowaving and bending got them into shape.  The transom frieze was pretty straight forward.  Plenty of size choices provided.  Floor boards cut and installed.  The same spacers were used between each board, yet the spaces seem to be different in the picture.  Camera angle?  Finally, the platforms were made (cardboard pattern cut first but some tweeking was still necessary.  I'm shaping the risers (Cleats?) but the red paint needs to be applied to the cap and inner planks before the risers are installed.  Waiting on delivery of more paint since my supply of red hardened in the jar.
Maury

Well let me see if I can help you get to 80 pages before you are done!

If the admiral finds something shiny that she can wear on her pillow you will be given permission to buy whatever you want. Of course this will likely double the cost of your tool. But it helps to be able to point a diamond necklace and say that one is my table saw, and those earrings are my Jim Brynes rope walk.
 
But I ask you what is the price of peace?

If the admiral finds something shiny that she can wear on her pillow you will be given permission to buy whatever you want. Of course this will likely double the cost of your tool. But it helps to be able to point a diamond necklace and say that one is my table saw, and those earrings are my Jim Brynes rope walk.
 
But I ask you what is the price of peace?

If the admiral finds something shiny that she can wear on her pillow you will be given permission to buy whatever you want. Of course this will likely double the cost of your tool. But it helps to be able to point a diamond necklace and say that one is my table saw, and those earrings are my Jim Brynes rope walk.
 
But I ask you what is the price of peace?

Thanks guys. I guess if Jesse doesn't answer in a couple weeks I will just offer this kit to any member of MSW for the same deal. Basically I want $70.00 plus shipping cost. Beside I have scored great points with the Admiral! We are reducing stock in my work shop!

Keep going Keep going, you are almost there!!! Augie! Augie! Augie!

Jesse - I finally completed my inventory. I have a complete kit ready to ship to you. Here is a list of what is missing:
1. Belaying pins - Somehow this kit has no belaying pins.
2. Ships boat - There are no parts other than strip wood for the ships boat.
3. Wood filler blocks - both bow and stern should have blocks to terminate the hull planking. They are missing.
 
Extras:
 
1. It includes 3 White metal Crew + 1 officer that need to be painted.
2. Swivel guns
3. Extra cannons.
4. Extra lumber
 
So I should back up and explain. I first bought this model more that 20 yrs ago. It has gone thru at least 2 moves. Along the way some pieces got lost or damaged. So when another kit came available on Ebay I bought it. The ebay kit was missing parts too. This contributed to a very low price. Lucky for me the missing parts were different from the parts I was short on. So mostly I had 2 complete kits. As you can see from my log on this kit I am bashing it quite a bit. So that has yielded even more extra parts. The result is I can ship you a kit which is almost complete.
 
PS I will ship in original box complete with box art.
 
I should also mention that my original kit was designed for 2 layers of planking for the hull and the Ebay kit was designed for 1 layer. Your kit does not have the first layer of hull planking in Basswood. But it does have it in Walnut!
 
So far I am out the cost of copying the Plans (which I shall ship in a mailing tube separately - so no creases) which is $30. I need you to PM me with an address so I can find out the shipping cost to you. Besides all the above I am willing to part with everything for $40. in my pocket. Beside everything you send me will end up being spent at Chuck's store.  I hope you see this as reasonable. I also hope the Forum Police will not get mad at me for mentioning money here. I am just trying to clear out my excess stock and help out a fellow modeler. And maybe make enough money for more goodies from Chuck.

Jesse - I finally completed my inventory. I have a complete kit ready to ship to you. Here is a list of what is missing:
1. Belaying pins - Somehow this kit has no belaying pins.
2. Ships boat - There are no parts other than strip wood for the ships boat.
3. Wood filler blocks - both bow and stern should have blocks to terminate the hull planking. They are missing.
 
Extras:
 
1. It includes 3 White metal Crew + 1 officer that need to be painted.
2. Swivel guns
3. Extra cannons.
4. Extra lumber
 
So I should back up and explain. I first bought this model more that 20 yrs ago. It has gone thru at least 2 moves. Along the way some pieces got lost or damaged. So when another kit came available on Ebay I bought it. The ebay kit was missing parts too. This contributed to a very low price. Lucky for me the missing parts were different from the parts I was short on. So mostly I had 2 complete kits. As you can see from my log on this kit I am bashing it quite a bit. So that has yielded even more extra parts. The result is I can ship you a kit which is almost complete.
 
PS I will ship in original box complete with box art.
 
I should also mention that my original kit was designed for 2 layers of planking for the hull and the Ebay kit was designed for 1 layer. Your kit does not have the first layer of hull planking in Basswood. But it does have it in Walnut!
 
So far I am out the cost of copying the Plans (which I shall ship in a mailing tube separately - so no creases) which is $30. I need you to PM me with an address so I can find out the shipping cost to you. Besides all the above I am willing to part with everything for $40. in my pocket. Beside everything you send me will end up being spent at Chuck's store.  I hope you see this as reasonable. I also hope the Forum Police will not get mad at me for mentioning money here. I am just trying to clear out my excess stock and help out a fellow modeler. And maybe make enough money for more goodies from Chuck.

Jesse - I have lots of spare parts from my Harvey. Let me know which version of the kit you have and what wood you will need to replace and maybe I can help you. I have a spare false keel and a full set of bulkheads. Let me know what you decide to do and I will do my best to help you.