palmerit

The plans and instructions have a triple 5mm block that goes on the bowsprit. I can’t seem to find it. I think there’s only one needed.

Another thing I’m unsure about is what to do with the PE-2 eyebolts (they’re larger than the PE-1 eyebolts that I used in lots of places in the kit). I’ve yet to use a PE-2. I must have missed where. I don’t think I have enough of the PE-1 to add eyebolts to the main mast. I lost a couple PE-1 eyebolts (they’re small and can fling off a set of tweezers). I don’t know if I missed where I was supposed to use the larger PE-2. There are a bunch of them. I’ll probably need to use the larger PE-2 on the mast. I ended up using the PE-2 eyebolts.

Finally starting to do the rigging. I need to add eyelets to the main mast. Should I assume that the eyelets marked A that are attached to the sides of the upper rectangular mast cap would go in the middle of the mast cap? The plans show where they are located on the front and rear view but don’t show their position on the side view.

Finished the sails. Just need to add the reef points to the other side of the main sail.

I had to buy more basswood because I ran out because of the number I cut, sanded and shaped, and then didn't like, and started over.

Working on the main sail.

I used steelers and drop planks, not just because I needed them (I did) but also to use this half hull to get practice doing that. (When I screwed up and sanded too much, I also used it as an opportunity to try to remove planks and redo them.)

Preparing the sail. Painted it after taping it with a slurry of glue and water to stiffen the fibers. Because with my Pram my smaller cutting mat left green stains on the sail (Model Expo is sending a new one), before I taped this one down, I put down some plastic (Saran) wrap taped around the mat. I hope that works better. The reef points are short lengths of line that will be glued to the sails. To stiffen them, I cut some lengths of line, painted them with the slurry, and hung them from my table, using some clips to weight them. We’ll see how they are tomorrow evening.

Finished stropping the blocks.

The instructions for the blocks were a little confusing. Early in the instructions, it says “only two of these have a loop at one end and a hook at the other”. On first reading, I thought only two have hooks since the previous strops I had made (for the Pram and Smack) had loops. But then later in the next column it said “for the five blocks with only a hook …” so clearly, there are two blocks with a loop and a hook and five blocks with only a hook.

Making the small chainplates for the backstays was a new challenge. The kit supplies a somewhat thick “strip” of brass that I first drilled two holes in (on the strip). I regularly heated (with a long lighter) the end I was working on, but it still took a while to drill through with my pin vise. I then drilled the top hole again with a wider drill bit. Then attached the strip in my vise to shape them half round at the top, and then cut to length in my mini miter box. I filed the cut. Then sanded with fine grit sandpaper to remove the oxidation from heating the metal. The kits came with pins (for the bottom smaller hole) but I’m using the pins that came with my Sherbourne (they’re thinner and the same color of brass).

Art supply stores will often have a variety of basswood sheets and dowels too (I go to the locally-owned one frequented by art students in the local colleges, but I imagine that a place like Michael's or maybe Hobby Lobby (in the US) might have them too). I've seen a bunch of basswood (and balsa wood) on Amazon too. If you ever need a wood (in strips and sheets in various model-sized dimensions) other than basswood for a future model, there are a few places you can order them from. I had to replace a walnut dowel for a Vanguard model and I ordered it from agesofsail.com (they have wood from the same supplier - I think Occre - that Vanguard sources from). I ordered some wood from Model Expo (as part of another order) but it wasn't as nice as the wood from https://www.modelerssawmill.com (which is what Syren Ship Model Company recommends). I'm sure others have other recommendations.

I guess it depends on how people get drawn into this hobby. I didn't grow up by the sea or have any particular interest in naval history or have some family connection. I suppose if someone did, that would draw them to a particular subject. I did discover that a distant uncle died in the sinking of a ship of the line that was a sister ship of the Victory - and in fact entertained the idea years ago of trying to model that ship - but that was just passing interest before I ever bought my first model kit. I had no interest in any particular ship, or time period, so that wouldn't answer the question for me. So starting with that would have not led me to a model ship. For me it was just wanting a hobby after my younger son went away to college. I hadn't realized how much time I had spent with him, going to his soccer and hockey games, taking him places for sports and other activities on weekends. My wife is also a university professor and she has been able to quilt as a hobby for nearly as long as we've been together. I just never really had a hobby outside of cooking (which is dual use) and a bit of genealogy over the years (the next steps of which require full-time research since I've exhausted what's available on ancestry and other online sources). I ended up deciding to buy a model ship after stopping at Bluejacket on a vacation to Maine. I thought, why not. I also got a plastic model tank (which is almost done) and a plastic model ship (which I haven't started). I didn't necessarily think the wooden ship would really capture my interest. I was always drawn to model ships (and dioramas and things of that sort more generally) when I saw them in museum, but I didn't necessarily think I'd end up building one. Given the stash I've accumulated, I sure hope the interest keeps going.

Thanks for the suggestions. I ended up finding a variety pack of black “seed beads” (learned that that’s a thing in bead world related to the size and shape, not the origin) on Amazon, ranging from 1-4mm in size.

I ended up putting the Duchess of Kingston on the shelf for a while. I ended up doing the Shipwright Series models (finished the Dory, waiting for a part from Model Expo to finish the Pram, working on the Smack) and to get some more planking experience I finished the NRG Half Hull. I guess the Dory was my second, but my first to complete. The Half Hull was my third. The Pram and Smack my fourth and fifth. I guess the Lego Endurance is my sixth. I've been waiting to complete my Sherbourne because I wanted to get practice on some rigging with the Shipwright boats before trying it on the Sherbourne. So once that's done, the Sherbourne will probably be both my first and seventh model, unless I sneak another small model in the queue (I did buy the Maine Peapod). The Shipwright Series has been a good experience. They make for a good experience, if in part because they’re a lot different from Vanguard Models. Being small, there’s also less at stake if you make a mistake or are unhappy with a decision. I’m glad my first stab at rigging was on the Pram rather than my Sherbourne. There is an elevated frustration experience with them (inferior materials, confusing instructions in places, few photos, wrong parts, mismatch between parts and instructions/plans, drawings that are supposed to be 1:1 are not). From what I’ve read, all of that is fairly common to varying degrees in all but Vanguard’s kits. A challenge in deciding on a second model is that you don't really have "tastes" until you have a few builds behind you. It is hard for someone else to answer the "best second model build" question, but it's also not possible for someone who hasn't built a second model (or third or fourth) to know their taste or really know what the options are. I now kind of like the smaller models because they more quickly let me exercise different modeling muscles. But I do look forward to also trying a bigger build once I’m no longer second-guessing every step I make, worrying I’m going to ruin the model. That’s not what I thought when I first posted this question. I assumed I’d just keep getting bigger and bigger models. This recent video by YouTuber Tagliamare makes a strong case for smaller ships and now I understand why: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9ZuWYPdmcs He also make an appeal to model manufacturers to put more creative energy into this smaller model space (like Vanguard has). And I could maybe even see manufacturers creating a few more “intermediate” or “advanced” models that are smaller. I have some of Vanguard's fishing boats in the queue. These are small and should be fun builds. I was going to buy one, but ended up buying three during a Black Friday sale: Erycina, Lady Isabella, and Ranger (these are the larger ships, with each having a smaller sister boat in the Vanguard line). I also bought the Occre Endurance, which is in the growing queue, also during the Black Friday sale. And my boys bought me the Model Shipways Syren for Christmas. And there's the Peapod. Oh, and I also bought the Model Shipways Nonsuch (the fourth model in the Model Shipwright series). Oh, shoot, and I forgot that I also bought the Midwest Grand Banks Dory to see what a different Dory build would be like. And I just remembered that I bought the Model Shipways Benjamin Latham too. So I think I have about 20 years of models to work on, unless I decide to retire early. I was too embarrassed to put all of the models in my queue in my signature line. I need to stop! I actually like having a few models in the works. When I have time to model - which isn't often - there's often time waiting for glue or paint to dry. Sometimes I only have 30 minutes, and maybe one model has a next step that will really take some time, and another model has a couple quick things I can work on. Sometimes I'll work on a model in the evening and I don't want to do something that's really tedious, leaving that for a couple hours I might have over the weekend. If I had only one model going, I wouldn't have that choice. I know some people would go nuts trying to keep track of more than one model, but for me it works. It also helps that my youngest is in college and I'm using his bedroom as a workspace for all these different models (at least until he's back from break).

The instructions say to use “small seed beads” for the parrals. Anyone have a suggestion for how to figure out what size of the beads to use for the parral? I’d measure from the plans, but they don’t show the beads, unfortunately. I’m guessing I can just order some black beads (they don’t specifically need to be “seed beads”, whatever that is) but I need to have an idea what size to buy.

I shaped the mast using the drill and sandpaper method. The starting point is two pieces cut from a sheet and glued together. It took a lot of sanding to get it round. There was a tiny bit of residual char, but I was worried I’d repeat what happened with my Pram and oversanding with the predrilled holes might cause the mast to snap. Yet again, there’s a mismatch between reality and the instructions unfortunately. The predrilled holes do not line up to anything shown on the plans. They’re not just slightly off, they’re off by a bunch. Frustrating.

What are the names/brands/types of those metal cubish blocks used as weights. I’ve seen others with similar ones. But I can’t seem to use the right search terms to find them.

Makes sense. “Black Pearl” + “Elizabeth Swann” - “n”.

The Black Swan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tFAMj5xlIg

Did you try to create the build log within the subheading of the period of the ship (e.g., inside “- kit build logs for subjects built from 1801-1850”?

I was able to do the mast and spars with the drill method. One thing I did was wrap the ends in a long loop of paper (about an inch wide) - to protect the end, especially after shaping one end and then working on the other end. I also went slow. if I had to remove a ton of wood (e.g., going from 4mm to 2mm) I'd start with a bit of 100 grit. But I quickly moved up to 160 grit and then finished with 320 grit or finer when it was close to being done. I checked it often with my calipers in several places. I think drill method helps ensure that it's closer to round - it's also easier. With my Pram and Smack models, some of the yards are made with rectangular pieces of wood and because I had broken a yard for my Pram using the drill method (at the point where there were pre-drilled holes in the kit) I ended up doing it by hand. I left the yards a bit more oval because I didn't want to end up having the piece break again.

I asked a similar question. CA dries too fast for me and it was hard for me to use and it made a mess. Someone suggested Super PHATIC ALIPHATIC Glue because it’s kind of in the middle in terms of drying time. I haven’t tried it yet. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0047YMZBC?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title