Landlubber Mike

Very nice work Andy! I have the Pegasus on my shelf, and your build is an inspiration. So is it weird of me to look at the third picture in Andy's post referenced above and say that the Pegasus has a lovely backside?

So the bench is now $159. I got the 20% off coupon so the net price is $127. Shipping is still only $6.99. I think I'll pull the trigger as that is a real hard price to beat.

Hi Ian, thanks for this info. I ended up having to use the zoom function on the NMM site as well as the zoom function on my browser, and can more clearly see what you were saying. Having started looking into this, I think I now more fully understand what you are thinking of doing. You're a brave soul, not sure that I would undertake that major surgery - but, ultimately you need to end up with a build that you are fully satisfied with so I think modifying the build is the way to go. I'm going to order the Pandora book and see if there are any good ideas or suggestions in it. I'll be sure to pass along any tidbits I come across. This has been a very interesting and fun discussion with you and the other Unicorn builders, thanks to everyone for participating!

So I took another look at the Lyme plans in the Chapelle book. I'm not very good at reading plans, and it's hard for me to tell how wide the waist should be. Interestingly, if I'm reading it right, the main deck on the Lyme is really long, like almost up to half the ship in length. The quarterdeck and forecastle deck are fairly short. Looking at the plans, there is a line that says "break" near stair cases on either end, which is why I think the main deck on the Lyme is very long.

Well done! Now have a tall frosty adult beverage of your choice

Well I learned a bit of French today - didn't realize Licorne was french for Unicorn I haven't done as much research as Ian on the Corel kit, but I think he is right that the kit is based on the British 1748 vessel. For me, like Ian, I initially came into the hobby to just build nice kits, and not really get into all the research and accuracy stuff. After doing a little research on the Badger for sail plans and the like, I'm actually excited to research the Unicorn and modify the kit. I plan to order the AOTS Pandora book and will see if I can get any ideas from it. Right now, besides scratching the stern galleries and transom area, I'm thinking about making some modification to the number/type of guns, as well the waist area like Ian is planning to do. I'd also like to explore whether it's feasible to add a small boat or two. I'm not looking for perfect historical accuracy (which would probably be guesswork anyway), but get to what I would think would be a somewhat reasonable design of such a vessel. Ian, thanks for your thoughts on the portholes and line of the quarter deck. Very interesting stuff. I am including the Lyme plans from RMG below. Ian, I have the Chapelle book which has plans for the Lyme class. The plans are not very clear (or large), but it looked like the ladder placement to get to the waist area was fairly close to the center line of the ship. I don't know if that is evidence that the waist was indeed narrow as per the Corel plans, but just wanted to throw that out there. I didn't have much of a chance last night to study the plans, but will try to do so tonight and report back. I went back and added pictures to the various posts of this thread since this has turned into a compilation of resources for the Unicorn. Let's hope that MSW 2.0 doesn't crash

Really nice work! Soon you'll be able to start on a Unicorn

Here's another interesting resource - a fellow Corel Unicorn builder who not only created a build log/progression, but also researched the history of the ship. http://deeandpete.co.uk/MENU%20UNICORN.htm

To follow up on this, I recently received the Chapman book (which was on a super sale by Model Expo for something like $3 so I figured why not). The book has a draught of the Unicorn, and describes it as an English frigate, with 24 nine-pounders on deck and 10 four-pounders on the quarterdeck and forecastle for a total of 34 guns. Hmm... Looking at the draught itself, it shows 5 portholes per side, versus the 4 as per the Corel instructions. I actually found a reproduction of the draught online here (the lower of the two models presented) (hopefully ok to post). One thing I find interesting is that in the pictures of the various kit builds, the portholes are all following the same line and are full portholes in the side of the ship. In the Chapman draught, it's almost like the portholes are following a slightly different line, such that the fore most porthole is only the bottom half. http://www.sjohistoriska.se/en/Collections/Archives/ChapmanNet/ChapmanNet/Drawings/?pressimagepage=5 High resolution: http://www.sjohistoriska.se/ImageVaultFiles/id_3085/cf_1803/55.JPG

Very nice work Sherry. I'm planning on doing a lot of semi-scratch building with my next build(s), so your build log is very inspiring

So this thread has turned into a compilation of resources for the Corel Unicorn Here is another Unicorn I found, which looks very much like the Corel kit. The builder added sails too: http://www.historic-marine.com/english/our_modeles3.php

Great work Mark. The Licorne is a gorgeous ship - can't wait to see her develop under your care

Ian - not sure if you have a used book online vendor, but I've managed to track down a number of used books for reference for relatively low cost. In the US, for example, we have Abebooks.com, which functions similarly to a consortium of used book dealers that post their books for sale in a common forum.

Thanks for the link Robboxx. Looks like another nice Corel kit

Great thank you!

Just out of curiosity, has anyone bought the pre-sewn sails offered by Corel for their specific kits? I was thinking about adding sails to my Unicorn build, and was wondering whether they were a worthy investment, or if I should try to make my own. I know pre-sewn sails generally are out of scale, etc., but was wondering if Corel's were halfway decent. Thanks!

Thanks Zyxuz. Nice models on your blog by the way The quality of the kit components seems very good - almost unfortunate as I may end up replacing the kit wood with stuff from Hobbymill or the Lumberyard. The fittings are very good, except, in my opinion, the stern gallery tops and bottoms. I might end up scratching those components as well as the stern area generally. Not sure if folks know about this, but I saw that Cornwall Model Boats sells individual Corel fittings. For my Unicorn build, I'm thinking of buying an extra pair of port holes (to move from 4 to 5 pairs), as well as some decorative strip molding should I go for scratching the stern galleries and transom. I might also get an extra figurehead, to see whether I want to paint it a "wood" color or a white painted look. http://www.cornwallmodelboats.co.uk/acatalog/corel_fttings.html

Just to ask this again, besides purely being able to work metal in addition to wood, is there any benefit to upgrading from the Proxxon 250DB mini lathe to a Sherline or other lathe? Thanks everyone for all the responses

Thanks Tom, that's a great option also. Thanks for the tip.

Unfortunately I don't have much space for a dedicated workshop. I've been doing my build on the coffee table (sometimes using my lathe in my detached garage), but have been planning on buying more power tools to paint with wood. My garage is not climate controlled, so it's not an option for half the year So, at this point, I'm looking at a bench with some power tools in my furnace room to cut and shape parts, and then do the actual assembly on the coffee table. Will be a bit of a pain but got to make the best of the situation. Otherwise, I'd do something like the watchmaker's bench for assembly and the Harbor Freight bench for the power tools.

I agree with the double POB comment - the first planking for me was a bit rough, but I got the hang of it so the second went much smoother. The Constitution looks like a fantastic kit. I ended up getting the Corel Unicorn and MS Charles Morgan for a great price for when I finish my Badger. Eventually, I'd love to work on the Constitution or one of the newer big kits from either MS or Amati.

Hi Spaceman, thanks for the kind words. It was actually my first ship and first wood working experience, so there was some learning on the job that I had to do I picked this kit because of the good instruction manual, the fact that Caldercraft kits are known for their quality of components (though, the walnut wood could have been a bit better in my opinion), and because it wasn't a weekend kit. I figured I wanted something that would be a challenge to keep my interest, yet not be too challenging to make me frustrated and not complete it. For a first time, I would recommend getting something with very detailed instructions to at least help out with the basics and general tips. Here are the Badger instructions in case you are interested: http://www.jotika-ltd.com/Pages/1024768/Manuals_Badger.htm There are also plenty of ways to modify the kit if you should like. I ended up doing more accurate rigging of the cannons, added treenails to the deck, made the chimney out of brass tubing, and plan to add furled sails. Another great thing about this particular kit is that at least at the time of MSW 1.0, there were lots of build logs out there. I'm always happy to help out with any questions, and I'm sure the rest of my "Badger Brothers" on here are willing to do the same. Other kits I thought about were the MS AVS and the MS or Amati Bluenose. I think there are very detailed practicums available online for both. I didn't go with the AVS because I wanted something a little more challenging with two masts versus one mast. I didn't choose the Bluenose because I wanted to work on a fighting ship, but that seems like a very nice model as well. One thing to consider is that the AVS is 1:48 scale, which means the small parts are less fiddly. It was a bit of a shock when I opened up the Badger kit and saw how small some of the pieces actually were at 1:64 scale. I guess it all depends on what you are looking for. Some people want a very basic model to get their feet wet on and see if they are going to stay interested in the hobby. I figured I would like the hobby as I enjoyed doing small plastic models as a kid, so I wanted something that would both be a learning experience and offer a bit of a challenge. Good luck with whatever you pick - they are all nice kits

Wow, beautiful work Mobbsie! I still can't believe how you can work so quickly yet with such incredible results

Hi Jason, thanks very much. To make those hooks for the cannons, I didn't use the photoetch hooks that Norman is describing because they were too big, but instead used the brass eyelets that came with the kit (cut the eyelet out and then bent it into a hook shape). I think this was the size in the kit: http://www.cornwallmodelboats.co.uk/acatalog/caldercraft83505.html

I'm on the Caldercraft Badger as my first kit. It has great instructions, nice fittings (though the wood is a bit sketchy), and can be modified to add nice details. Oh, and it's a nice looking ship too.