st george

OK, this is the 16th kit and will be released in concert with Adder (both developed together), and it is a revisit, as I felt I wanted to do it a little more justice.
 
Here is the new design for HM armed cutter Sherbourne, 1763, designed by Sir Thomas Slade and using all of the reasearch I could lay my hands on to develop an accurate representation of this cute little cutter. This will be the last for my range of naval cutters, being content with a small (Sherbourne), medium (Trial) and large (Alert) cutter.
 
I have added 8x3 pounders, but in reality, she was armed with 6, and she is shown with 12 swivel cannon, but only allocated 8 for the real version - but some moan if they cannot fill gun port slots or populate all of the swivel posts...
 
As with Trial and Adder, all detail at main wale level and above is all pre cut with laser engraved plank lines and treenails. I decided not to paint the inner bulwarks red so the detail could be more easily seen.
 
Hull just needs a final spray varnish, then it's ready for the masts and rig, which I shall do together with Adder.
 
Oh, 64th scale, if anyone asks...and I haven't skimped on the bulkhead spacing....(17 bulkheads)
 
ETA - the skeletal hull was a pre prototype, and the first time I fitted the parts together from my initial designs.

Second pre-prototype. This has a lot of bulkheads!

I really like how your frameworks lock themselves into place, ensuring the hulls do not twist or warp.
 
That is a great idea!

I thought I would start a new thread, as the original was getting a little too big.
 
OK, for at least the next 5 years, I have my developments more or less already mapped out. The subjects cover a wide range of vessels from the 17th to early 19th Century.
 
For 2023, I have three confirmed. The first is Indy (of course). I may add as an optional extra cistern/chain pump housings. This has been my largest development to date, taking well over a year of full time work, and having Jim make the prototype and taking the manual photo pics and text. If I were to do this, then Indy would have been a 2 year development.
 
After Indy, I will have the American schooner Grecian (1812) almost ready, which I anticipate releasing in April/May. I have almost finished the mast and rig drawings, and profiles, so this may come together pretty quickly once Indy is released. 
From Wiki:
 
Thomas Kemp of Baltimore designed Grecian with several innovations. She was pierced for 20 guns, though she never carried that many, and her gunports were unique, designed perhaps to save weight. She had a long, curving stem, and a shallow, less convex bow. Grecian's first captain was James Phillips, and under him she had made one voyage to France. She received letter of marque No. 944 in December 1813, under Captain Knapp.
 
Not sure how much of that can be trusted, though, as she was not pierced for 20 guns, she has 18, with the fore-most being next to useless due to the distance between port and starboard (very sharp bow, so 7 per side being usable, in my opinion). It seems she had a mix of guns, being more standardised when in the British navy. What I have done is give enough guns for carronades, 6 and 4 pounders. I am sure the 4 pounders were used at the front, due to space issues, with the 6 pounders being nearer the middle and rear - so the modeller will have a choice of what to fit where.
 
After this, I will start on HMS Surprise, and this should be released this year, assuming all goes well.
 
And that's it for now....
 
ETA - My real love is frigates, as I have said before. If I had my way completely, the next five or six releases would be frigates from 32 guns upwards! But I cannot....

I think the point of this is that Chris has made it abundantly clear many times what his plans are with regard to his larger naval vessels (period etc), and that countless requests for ironclads and yachts, as well as the multitude of typically unknown vessels, simply won't fly. Discussion should revolve around announcements/releases etc. 

On this note, Chris has asked me to lock this topic so he can start a fresh one. This one is currently 78 pages!

I have always said that when starting my own business, designing and producing new stuff, the subjects would be models that I have always wanted to do. Most are famous, can be found in most books on the subject and have good histories (although Surprise only had a action packed career in fiction). There are only a couple of subjects I would eventually like to revisit, but for the most part, I like to concentrate on stuff that hasn't been kitted before, from the 17th to early 19th Century.
 
When a model is developed, you have put a lot of time into this one subject, at the very least months, if not a year or so of your life, and a lot of money. You have to really like the subject to go through this. Almost a labour of love..

I have pre-ordered Indy, with pear wood blocks, the maple lasered deck and etched copper plates.
I eagerly look forward to the kits release and despatch.
I crewed on the Sydney based James Craig for a number of years - the photo next to my name was taken from aloft on that ship. Model ship building takes me back to those days - wonderful.
thanks Chris.

Thank you for all your comments, they are appreciated.
 
I did state from the start that I finally wanted to develop stuff I always wanted to do, for the main developments at least, and the scale would be constant.
 
When working for others, there were so many developments that were started but never finished, or finished but never released. At least now I can state with 100% certainty that what I now start, it is finished to the bitter end and released.
 
I have enough subjects in my 'Future Projects' folder to last at least a decade. I have to be mindful of the very large models, as a 1st to 3rd rate is a 1.5-2 year development cycle, a lot of time and money, more so if they are designed with full deck/s detail, and not the standard fare of block models and dummy barrels (If the latter, I have little doubt I could develop 8-10 kits like that per year, and make more money - but no fun and not bringing kit fidelity/design quality forward)
 
After Indy, I have this US privateer schooner, and after that, I may do a small kit before Surprise, which should be complete next year. Anyway, that is my plan for the next 10-12 months....
 
ETA - I haven't forgot Bristol, it is another large kit, so I need to wait just a little longer - I shall probably have a figurehead and stern decoration made for her sister, Leopard, too, so you can have a choice.

Kind of, but that ship is actually a replica of HMS Rose.

Before I glue the roof into place, it needs to be tested against the gallery once the outer skins are added. 
 

 
 
 
 
WIth those glued into place, the roof is finally trimmed to size and also glued to the model.

 
 
 
On top of that is the pear cap which will slightly overlap the shingles that will later be fitted. The pear parts that make the lower galleries are now shaped and fitted.

 
 
 
 
Time to fit the outer stern panel and quarters. I highly recommend you use CA for this so there's no curling of the parts.

 
 
 
 
These are then shaped and the gallery/stern area given a finishing sanding to even up all edges etc.

 
 
 
And lastly, the engraved upper stern is fitted and then also sanded into the rest of the hull. 


 
 
 
 
More next time...

In the next week or so, I will be adding an 18-bottle paint set to my range. These will be AK acrylic paints, which can be thinned using ordinary tap water. The set includes all paints used on Indefatigable, but also used on the rest of the range.
 
The bottles shown in the picture are not the ones that will be in the set, I am awaiting shipment of my specially chosen paints from AK Interactive, which is imminent. The set should be more than enough to paint a model as large as Indefatigable.

And to what I am working on now - Indy.
 
I have just completed all profile drawings, so now I can arrange them on plans and add part numbers. Also I can now start mast and rig plans (always need hull and deck profile drawings complete before this, as they are used in rigging drawings..)
 
This is my interpretation of Indefatigable, Circa 1796/97

I have now almost fully recovered from my Covid experience, I had two weeks wasted, couldn't do anything except moan and sleep!
 
Indy is still progressing (although I am now two weeks behind where I wanted to be with the drawings..).
 
For those who may be interested, I have commissioned a set of 6 cannon crew figures, followed by a ship's cook, as I do get asked about expanding the figure range.
 
I should also have cabin chairs and table available to buy soon.

Greetings to all Doris fans. The good news is that Doris is slowly returning to Czech forums. 💐I believe that you will soon welcome her here as well..♥️
 
https://www.modelforum.cz/viewtopic.php?f=177&t=110763&start=1605

Indeed, we all do, Amalio as her last post was last year.   I understand she had some health problems and her husband's death was hard on her. Hopefully, she's doing well.

Sale started today, for 3 months  

A short update in "size" but a time consumer for me.  Quarterdeck beams are all in place.  I'll give it light sanding just to make sure everything is smooth after doing the forecastle beams.  I did sand the char off the top of the beams (missed 2 but oh-well).
 
 

Brilliant! Made me chuckle!
 
And here is Indy next to the Speedy!

This is why I have a hand truck. If I want such a kit, I'd figure out how to move it. No problem Chris.

The weight worries me, to be honest. It will be very expensive to ship, being over twice the weight of even a Sphinx kit, and I worry some people may hurt themselves when moving the box - perhaps adding a set of wheels at one end and a handle at the other end of the box would be a good idea!

There are only a very few I would revisit, as I do like to do new subjects. I don't like Sovereign enough to dedicate 2-3 years of development, and the many thousands it would cost. I would however like to do a Restoration 50-70 gun ship at some point, I think that would look very nice.

It is all dependant on sales. If Indy is successful, then of course, I have quite a list of what I want to do. After Indy, there will be a couple of medium size kits developed (in size, between Speedy and Sphinx), plus Bristol.
 
Eventually the 'Flagship' is to be a First Rate, Royal George of 1756 - but again, all dependent  on how things go, as this will be a two year development at least.
 
I do have a 38 earmarked, two, in fact (one is of Spanish origin) , but I will do a 36 (Phoebe Class) before then, as a 36 hasn't been done in kit form yet, as far as I know. I very nearly decided to go for the 36 before Indy, but the latter just pipped it at the post.
 
But right now, and for most of the rest of the year, I shall be concentrating on Indy.

Or one of the Lively/Leda Frigates? - "Macedonian", "Shannon", "Trincomalee", just saying (hoping!) one year.... 😁 🤞

Chris, I built your Agamemnon some fifteen years ago a couple of years after I retired from work and enjoyed every minute of it. Indefatigable looks like being an incredible model and I wish you every success with the forthcoming kit.
 

I have never designed a model ship kit without mast and rig. Indy is no exception - I did mention just a couple of posts up that mast stays will have BenD's rope.