Chuck Seiler

God provides. Yesterday a neighbor put a 10" band saw out for the garbage. She said it did not work.  If I wanted to take it and get it to work, it is mine.  It did not take much to make it run again.  It will be helpful for building ship models.  

So I'm still contemplating the color of the gun carriages and hatch coamings. Also considering how I want to do the sails. The kit sails are nice, all pre-cut, and laser-etched with the panel markings and reef bands. But, I don't know how I want to present the ship just yet. I have time to think about this, but I'll need to decide on the hatch coamings and gun carriages soon. 
 

 
In the meantime, the addition of the hull's third layer begins. The third layer of the hull is pretty much actual, individual hull planks, with the exception of the bulwarks. There are two sheets of thin, laser-cut card stock for this layer, one for each side of the hull. It's nice how the planking is all pre-spiled,

In the image below, some of the individual planks have been glued into place. To make it clearer, I marked the last plank to go on with an arrow. The planks are added from the bulwarks down toward the keel, as per the instructions. Note how the second layer's markings serve as a guide for the placing of this final layer's individual planks. But, you can see that it's a bit hard to line the pieces up exactly, as I had some trouble getting the second layer to lay down nicely at the bow. This didn't turn out to be that big an issue.
 

 
It was just a matter of time before I had all the planks added. I ended up with some gaps close to the end, but the whole model gets painted later anyway so it wasn't a problem.

 
 
There is some excess length to the planks, so that has to be trimmed trimmed off. Below, you can see I’ve now added the keel and stem.
 
 

 

I had some high spots with the edges of some of the planks still, so I did a little light sanding. I also applied some gesso to the bottom of the hull to fill in some of those gaps in the planking prior to painting the hull, which will come up next.
 

There's a little bit of unevenness at the base of the bulwarks piece, but this should be pretty well covered by the addition of the wales.

Great to see an unboxing of one of these kits.

Shipyard is a line of paper/card models from Poland, where paper models seem to be so prevalent.  Shipyard includes kits of sailing ships, world lighthouses, dockyard structures, and more. But, this review is a look at one of their higher end products – one of their kits which, rather than featuring printed paper parts that must be cut out from their sheet, instead provides laser-cut parts that must be cut loose from their sheets and painted. 
 
The range includes the small schooner Berbice, the Santa Maria, the cutter HMS Alert, all the way up in size to the 28-gun frigate HMS Mercury. The HMS Wolf kit, released around 2015, is about as close as one can get in size and complexity to the HMS Mercury kit, though their kit of the Dutch pinnace Papegojan is probably just about as detailed and complex.
 

All of Shipyard's laser-cut card kits are made in 1/72 scale. They all come in large, flat boxes that contain all the laser-cut components, plus color printed instructions, some plan sheets that are mostly for the rigging, laser-cut and etched sails, color printed flag sheets, wooden dowels for masts and yards, laser-cut blocks and deadeyes kits, white linen rigging cord, turned brass cannon and swivel gun barrels, cast resin decorative pieces, several jars of acrylic paint, a couple nice paint brushes, and more.
 
Everything comes pretty neatly packed with various components stored in separate cardboard boxes, which helps protect all the parts during shipping.

 

 

 

 

The instruction book is 32-pages in full color, including the cover, and is mostly photos at each stage, with the significant parts labeled by their part numbers. There is some text, but not much. What there is is in Polish, with German and English translations also given.
 
The Instruction Booklet


The one thing that is not included that I think would be really helpful, is a parts list that shows the numbers, where in the instructions the part is called for, and on what sheet to find the part. I'll come back to this later.
 
 
The Plan Sheets
Masting and rigging is detailed in the separate plans sheets. There is no one overall profile plan sheet, these are all just detail sheets. But, if you look closely, you'll notice that some assemblies, like the gun carriage are more fully detailed in the plans sheets. Also, the metal parts that you need to make, like hooks and eyebolts and such, are identified on one of these sheets, not in the instruction booklet. So, it's a very good idea to study these sheets to see what's described on them.

The kit contains no eyebolts, split rings, hooks or things of that nature. Instead, a couple sizes of copper wire are provided, and the plan sheet below identifies the small metal parts you must make in various sizes. These are all identified in the plans with the letter 'Z' as a prefix. The instruction manual will call for these parts, and you will find no part with this number. Again, that's because you have to make all the Z parts yourself from wire.
If you prefer to make your own sails out of, say, paper, some nicely detailed patterns are provided, showing locations of reinforcements, cringles, reef bands, etc.
 
The Parts
As you can see here, there are a lot of parts sheets, and on each of those there are a lot of parts. There's a LOT of detail here, and just seeing how much detail there is in the kit makes the kit really exciting to work on.
 
By the way, my apologies – these photos are on the blue background of my cutting mat and the photos were taken with an iPhone, which does it's own automatic color balance, so all the sheets look kind of yellowish here, which they are not.
 
The only color printed parts in this kit include the flags sheet, which is printed double-sided, and the decorative friezes. I don't know if this was intentional, but my kit included two copies of this sheet.

Apologies too for the bad focus on this photo – I don't know what happened here. In a sharper world, you'd see all the bulkhead parts and hull stiffeners. Those who've built Shipyard's paper models probably know already about how well these laser-cut parts fit together, and form a very stable hull structure. 
 
This odd, brownish looking sheet is actually dead black. But, at least here you can see that the part numbers are there. When I looked at this sheet, I had to hold it at an angle, under a bright light in order to see the number or to even identify the part.
There is one small sheet of clear acetate for the windows and the stern lantern. 

Note that the deck planking is engraved onto the card pieces, with nicely located butt joints, nibbed plank ends, proper scarf joints, and treenails.
Lots of parts make for lots of details and lots of work. But there's no shaping, drilling, milling, filing, sanding, carving, required. it's all mostly cutting, gluing, and painting.
 
Sorry, I didn't take pics of the cannon barrels, resin "carvings", brushes, rigging line, or the paint jars. But, I will mention that earlier kits of this line had jars of paint that could easily dry up. I'd mentioned this problem to Shipyard years ago. They have since gotten jars with rubber grommets in the lids to create a better seal, and this seems to have alleviated the problem.
 
Speaking of paints, those included in the kit are apparently some decent quality artist's acrylics. They go on dead flat and have some transparency to them, so you should be able to see some of the laser-etched details through the paint. The paint is a Polish brand called Renesans. I like them, but they hard to find, except on some European online art supply stores.
 
Summing it Up
This is a pretty well detailed looking kit. It, and the entire line of Shipyard laser-cut kits, are very different from most paper model kits, given that nearly every paper model kit is mostly paper that has to be cut, rolled, folded, or curved, and may have a laser-cut skeleton for strength. This kit is entirely laser-cut, but includes parts using other materials for best appearance or easiest construction.
 
The heavy use of laser cutting comes at a cost, and these laser cut kits are a lot more expensive than traditional paper models, and this kit is no exception. This kit has a cost that's somewhere in the neighborhood of $200, give or take, depending on where you purchase it. That's a lot more than a traditional paper kit, but not really much different from a comparable wooden kit, and there's a lot more to it than a box of wood with some laser-cut pieces.
 
The kit is available from a number of online shops, including Ages of Sail, where I got mine, Cornwall, Shipyard's online shop, and maybe someone will chime in about a Canadian shop.
 
Did I miss anything?
 
 
 

The inboard profiles, deck plans and cross-section are shared between the Erebus and the Terror (post-refit for scientific exploration) according to the Royal Museum at Greenwich plans (low res) on Wikimedia Commons.

This means that the two ships were identical (at least in the hull) after the refit for scientific exploration.
 
Based on this, if you wanted both ships, I would buy two Terrors and make minor modifications to one to build up as the Erebus.
 
I am doing a similar thing with my Solferino and Magenta builds.  
 
My Magenta build is being built from French Ministry of Defense Solferino plans, because they are mostly identical.

Source:

Vol 6, Number 1, 1918

Hello,
 
I am from Czech republic. I am no specialist, I do whatever I like (cars, airplanes, ships....). As a kid I learned how to do various models (paper, plastic, wooden) and I was activelly modelling from my cca 6 to 15 years of age. Recently after cca 26 years of pause I received some model as a gift, so I bought equipment and was really surprised how everything evolved. Tools are now heaven and earth in compare what we had 30 years ago (or I had access to during communistic era in my country 🤮), there are aftermarket accessories, etc.  And once you have again all tools needed at home, you cant stop, cant you 😀
Especially access to information is total game changer, it is no problem to google tips and tricks and find various wonderful forums like this one full of great advices and inspiration. Thanks to it my skills started to improve in way which was impossible during my childhood. But compare to what I see here, I would still consider myself beginner though. Currently I am working on Airfix HMS Victory and since I decided to go beyond the kit, I am doing now necessary research 

I erroneously mentioned painting the keelson.  I was thinking false keel.  Keelson would not be painted.
 
If you are going to stain or natural finish, I would keep the keel wood the same as stem.  I still recommend cherry for frames.  Alaskan Yellow Cedar for hull planking would work out very well.  I have used it for planking and it looks really nice with either a Wipe on Poly or Tung Oil finish.  (be careful of the splinters) 😜

Brian,
 
    I am very jealous of your weather.  100 degrees for over a week here in Santee.  It is a little cooler where you used to live.
 
    Part of the answer to your question depends on whether you will paint the keel/keelson or not.  If the area in question will be painted, I don't see where it makes a difference if it is the same wood as the exposed part.  If unpainted, it should be the same wood (IMO).
 
    However, I do think you ar making a mistake by using AYC for the keel and frames.  In my opinion, too soft.  I would recommend cherry for the frames and (if painted) the keel.  Modeler's Sawmill has good cherry.

Hello my friends, I have a question for you as I attempt to slowly continue. I know that this is my model, but I just want to see what you all suggest.
 
In the enclosed picture, you see a close-up of Eagle's keel and the start of her keelson. My question involves the first piece of the keelson. Currently this piece is cut from Boxwood, I will have to re-cut it either way to get the correct shape as well as sand down the outer pieces. I am debating making the keelson out of Yellow Alaskan Cedar like the ribs will be.

One thing I found very helpful was to carve up a little guy of the appropriate size.   I used the art from a ANCRE plan and as I recall, he took me less than hour to make. His "staff" is 6 scale feet tall.  Not a great photo but it's the best I could find at this moment.
 
 

Thank you everyone.  I will locate the guns at chest height.  The top of the mounts is at 3 feet above deck.  Unfortunately, that will entail some serious surgery to the already-built mounts.

Found it. 

Toni,
    Somewhere I have a rood picture of one of the swivels on SD Maritime Museum's SURPRISE.  I cannot find it right now but will search for it tonight.  As I recall, the gun was/is at chest level.

Floorboards in place.  Interior starts getting colour.  Arm rests and bench supports in place.
 
I, once again, used a spacer to facilitate installation of a part.  In this case, the center bench support (see arrow).
 

Found it. 

Found it. 

Found it. 

Thanks, gentlemen.  Unfortunately, without knowing the height of the rails and swivel post, it is difficult to determine their elevation from photos.

What would be the height for a swivel gun above the deck?  Waist?  Chest?  Eye level?

Hello to all. My name is Steve Anderson. I am an artist and modelmaker. I have always loved and been inspired by ship models. My first exposure was the collection at the San Francisco Maritime Museum when I was in High School. Since then I've had the good fortune to visit National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, Preble Hall at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, the Smithsonian, and many others. C.S Forester's Hornblower series, Patrick O'Brian's Jack Aubrey, and Alexander Kent's Bolitho books are "very well thumbed", as Sherlock Homes would say, for continued inspiration.

In 1991 I laid the keel for HMS Victory in 1:64 scale. I chose this scale, rather than 1:48, because it seemed to more fitting in scale to a home and was big enough to get your hands inside for great details. The project has been in progress on and off for 31 years. All is plank on frame. The patterns and molds for the guns were made by me. The cast parts are urethane. The decorative painting is all freehand brush work.
 
I started a back-in-time build log and will post some of the work in progress and will continue to do so as I go forward toward completion.
 
Very excited about being in such illustrious company of Model Ship World.
 
Cheers,
 
Steve

Ulises Victoria's paper on deck planking was a link in one of the posts. 👍

That's good.  I was looking for a discussion and couldn't find the one I wanted that showed the various deck planking methods..  

Mark,
 
    Many thanks.  Per Ulises' paper, sequential (1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4) and staggered (1-3-5-2-4-1-3-5-2-4) appear equally acceptable.