Littlebob

Well done your plank work looks very good, I really like the area around the stern that is always a pain.

As you said I have never seen a build of this interesting kit until now, I will be following along with great interest.

Well done Pete, that boat looks fast standing still.

Welcome to the forum, glad to see another Virginia build.

Do a search on the forum there are several of these builds going on rite now and a few finished ones also, may give you some ideas.

First let me say welcome to the forum, second your work pretty fast and very clean, I really like that yellow colored wood you used for the inside of the bulwarks.

Thanks Russ, I thought installing those parts would give a cleaner job also, I have decided to paint most of the hull so not sure if it really mattered, lol.

Thanks Schnu, yes larger scale should help with any modification, which there are shore to be many.

Time for an update.

1. I did a little more work on the stern filler blocks.

2. I installed the keel, stem and stern post, all are made from walnut and pinned for strength.

3. The false deck was also added. All comments welcome.

Yes you are correct 1:35 scale that works out to just over 29 inches.

Oh I agree Michael it does take a while, better off spending time now than later fixing bumps and dips in the planking.

Welcome to the forum, your work looks really good so far, nice details.

Thanks Jay.

Thanks Russ, I just rechecked what you said and I agree the rear filler blocks need a bit more work, this is why I post picks we all miss stuff, lol.

Way past time for an update.

In this update I faired all the bulkheads and filler blocks, I still have about 15 or 20 minutes of hand sanding just to clean things up a little. I know my bulkhead filler blocks look sloppy that's because I used what ever scrap I had on hand.

I will try to keep the updates coming a little faster. Next up I will add the false deck and a few planks and that's when the interesting stuff starts. All comments welcome.

I was wondering what this kit was like, I will be following your build. Nice neat and clean work so far.

Great work as always, every time you post a new pic it just gets better and better. My work space used to look the same than I gave it a good cleaning, now I can't find any thing!

Thanks Jay, for those who are building or about to build this kit fair warning the ply wood is very soft you will need to add filler between most of the bulkheads to stiffen the structure.

Great work on the rigging, I am always amazed at how much rigging is on a boat with 1 mast.

Time for an update.

I was able to salvage the false keel, I had to use a lot of 3/4 by 3/4 stock and dowels to get it straight and remove the warp, I also added the kit filler blocks at the bow and stern.

I think I may add another set of filler blocks between the first and last bulkheads to ease the planking process. All comments welcome.

Thanks Geoff, will have an update in a day or 2, still working on the bulkheads.

Thanks Steve, I already started my next build log, The Halifax.

Thanks guys, I still may consider making it myself David, first I will see how the repair goes, I am not in a hurry.

Glad to have you along Michael.

I think my Halifax build will be pretty simple next to yours and a few others Michael, I am not even close to that skill level.

Well done your work looks very good so far, yep that sky light does look very good.

Hi guys here is my next build the Halifax.

I saw this kit on ebay for a very good price, it was new and still sealed so I could not resist. I have a few other reasons for choosing this kit, below.

1. I wanted a ship from the mid to late 1700 period.

2. I wanted a ship with a few more cannons than the Virginia.

3. I wanted a kit that would be a little more detailed.

4. More important than the first 3 reasons, I wanted more rigging.

I have checked the kit everything looks good all accounted for and no damage except a warped false keel. I already like this kit better than the Latina kit, the wood looks pretty good, the instruction appear to be a little better and more important most but not all of the fittings are wood.

I could only post a pick of the box as in the process of correcting the warped keel I snapped it in half oops! to bad I almost had it straight, it has been glued and clamped but I want it to dry over night.

When it dries I will add some ply wood along the break for strength. All comments welcome.

The correct way I think would be to first dry fit your bulwarks, than you can get an idea of how much you need to bend the transom to conform to both them and the false deck.

The pics of my build really don't show to much of a curve to my transom, the fit between my transom and bulwarks was pretty good, I never got a perfect fit between the transom and the false deck, if you check my build again I added a small filler piece to cover the very small gap between the transom and the false deck ( I cheated a little ).

I think your work is great, and your attention to detail is amazing. Ah 6 sided bolts at that scale, lol, but if you really want to add them plastruct makes hex rod in many small sizes, good luck.

To answer your question ,you need to file or sand the transom to conform to the false deck or you will have a hard time getting the bulwarks to form a gentle curve, you can check this by dry fitting your bulwarks.