Landlubber Mike

Looks like in addition to reading issues, someone there can't do basic math.

That framing is incredible. Really nice job with this. I'd venture to say that this must be the most researched model on this site (or in the top five at least). You should release your own kit!

Awesome work Popeye! I think my dad built this many years ago (or a similar subject). Brings back memories of when I was little and watching him put it together.

I’d echo what Jhearl said and say if you are going to go with Sherline, think about the higher column and wider table for more flexibility. When I was looking a while back, it was recommended that I didn’t need the top of the line 3-axis model for ship model purposes. Also check prices on Sherline’s monthly sales and discount campus. Sherline is great with all the accessories that are available, many of which can be used with their lathe. Honestly I haven’t used the mill yet much for model work, but in part it’s because I was less clear about it’s functionality aside from drill press operations. I’ve used the lathe a ton for pen turning this past year and am a lot more proficient with it, which I think can carry forward to the mill. For those looking at the lathe, I would think about moving up to the 17” bed if you have space. The 8” bed quickly gets used up if you are going to start adding drill chucks, etc. For model work 8” is probably sufficient, but if you are planning on other turning projects, for $100 more I would jump to the larger size. I had a very hard time turning pen blanks on my 8”, so ended up selling it and buying a 17”. Now that I’m somewhat proficient with the lathe, I am planning to do masts and spars on it. Sherline recently introduced a live center for ship model work that has a cup at the end, rather than the typical 60 degree point. I haven’t tried it yet but it looks promising.

I purchased the optivisor and got the LED light set for it. Makes working with tiny parts much easier. I ended up actually getting two sets with different magnification levels rather than have to switch out lenses.

Nice work Elijah! Beautiful work indeed. If you don’t mind me asking, what line are you using? It looks very nice even in the macro photos.

Looks fantastic Kevin, nice job!

Those Black Cat add ons are fantastic, wow!

I'm in for this one - looks like really nice upgrades from Very Fire!

Loving Rita - very nice touch!

Just echoing what David said, I would sand it flat and then add the plankshear extension to the hull as a separate piece. Otherwise I think it will be next to impossible to maintain a consistent extension along the hull.

This was the first model I built (you can see my log linked below). I highly recommend it - very well done, great instruction manual, great Caldercraft quality, etc. The only quibble I had is that some of the thin walnut sheets were kinda crumbly in places, maybe that's been fixed, but nothing that filler and paint can't fix. When I was looking at possible first models, I wanted to build something interesting that was more complicated than a weekend-type model, yet not too complicated. The Badger and the Armed Virginia Sloop were great candidates at the time. There are a lot of new kits on the market with improved instructions, building methods, etc., so hopefully folks with knowledge of them can send you additional recommendations. Other than that, if you buy the kit, I would consider building in a different order. For me, I think adding the cannons so early on ended up causing me a lot of grief because I kept busting them off when trying to add the rails and other external hull details. That could just be my building style as I typically build in my lap more than I should.

You'll certainly need a little "elbow grease" on this one, but for that price, well worth it. Looks like it builds into a gorgeous model (big!), so once you take the two steps backward, you'll be having a lot of fun. I'm going to follow along on this one if you don't mind - love the subject!

Those guns look amazing - very nice job!

Very cool subject. Looking forward to following along on this one Clare!