Ronald-V

Love the deck Ross! Nice warm color and great joggling of the planks 👌

Thanks Andrew! 🙏

I would always buy everything in once...just to have it in house, you never know what is going to happen...so you can build it and don't get stuck halfway. If I could afford it...which I can not🤣🥲 But I really like these kits just for the reason Some Idea said...a nice fully framed model can be made by someone who doesn't have the necessary space/workshop for scratch building That being said...this is really a massive kit! Looking forward someone builds this one!

Very inspiring to literally make everything yourself👏

I found planking the hull quite relaxing...a bit like putting together a puzzle Looking good so far!

Very well done! Congratulations

There was a review here on MSW and I really liked this boat when I saw it for the first time. Will be nice to see you build it! Have fun 🙂

Thank you Russ and Ross! 😁🙏 Thank you very much Rick! And also everyone for stopping by and liking...I really appreciate it! 🙂

Thanks for the tip! I'm aware that there are these kind of glues, but after having a expensive last month 😉, I just used a glue that I had lying around 🙂

I agree with Knocklouder! Good start! 👏

Thank you so much! Yes the design of Chris is very acurate, it's a joy to watch it fit together. It baffles me how people can design this stuff...you do not only need a very analytical mind, but also be very creative to come with all those design solutions...very impressing, but I guess the decades of experience Chris has helps with this Thanks for the tip and compliment Rob! Yes i'm aware that CA can fog the glass, that's why I was very, very careful! I just trusted the strength and convenience of CA in this a little bit more than varnish, but that's just based on a feeling. Varnish works probably just as well if you look at the prototype.

Update: I'm going to split the decoration of the stern into multiple updates, otherwise it will be too much to fit into one post...or I'll just have to take fewer pictures haha 😄 First, I ran into a problem in one of the side galleries. I noticed a crack had developed. It's winter here in the Netherlands, and I think the temperature fluctuations from the cold at night and the heater on during the day are responsible. There's not much you can do about it other than try to repair it. I poured as much PVA as possible into it and then painted over it with the off-white paint. I'm happy with the result, considering the limited space. Then I started fitting the acetate laser-cut windows. These needed some sanding to get a good fit. I did this by sanding the windows over a piece of 180-grit sandpaper, trying to get them as straight as possible, while still respecting the corners. There's some leeway, of course, since the PE windows cover any seams. Note...the windows have specific shapes, including those for the side galleries. I got a bit excited and cut them all out, so I had to check later exactly which window opening they should go in. Chris did laser-cut them in that order, but I initially overlooked that. The manual uses clear varnish to secure the windows. For some reason, I felt it would be better and more secure to use CA. For the decoration on the side of the hull, I definitely want to experiment with the "varnish method" because it's so delicate. But here, I prefer using CA. Using gloves, CA gel, a toothpick, and a magnifying glass, I very carefully applied tiny drops to the windows and glued them in place, both for the acetate and PE windows. A random photo of a brush...I received this one this week and I'm very happy with it! These are such lovely brushes for creating beautiful, smooth strokes. The next step was painting the PE windows and some decorative pieces. In the order of the photos: 1 first masking 2 then applying a laquer-based primer 3 then color (Vallejo gold brown 158) 4 shadows, and highlights using a rust wash for the darker areas and ochre yellow for the highlights. Applied the primer with a (very large😄 spraycan) and the base color with an airbrush. Wash and highlights with a brush. Last photo a bit weird out of focus...sorry about that. And already cut some pieces loose there Before I could install the PE windows, I noticed that bare wood would be visible at the bottom of the windows when I installed the decorative columns on the sides. These are slightly higher than the windows, so the wooden QG rails would go slightly above and below the windows. Before it would become a real pain to paint neatly along the windows, I quickly painted that area also blue. After I'd installed all the windows in the QG and stern, it was time for the columns between the stern windows. These are connected by a long PE rail (veeeery thin). Very beautiful, of course, but also quite a challenge to glue (at least I thought so). I first tried applying a drop of CA gel to each column with a toothpick and then starting at one end to glue everything in one go. This went horribly wrong, but luckily I could scrape it off without any problems (only one column was stuck; the rest were already dry, haha). I cleaned off all the CA gel with acetone and tried again. This time I only glued the two middle columns first, as it's easier to align them. Then I carefully glued the other columns by applying two drops of CA gel under each column with a needle. Maybe I'm being captain obvious to some here, but who knows, maybe someone will find this useful. It was a lot easier this way. Using a toothpick and a clamp, I was able to very carefully lift the remaining columns (without bending the thin strip, but using its resilience) so that there was enough space underneath to deposit a needle with a drop of glue. Okay, that's it for now. You can see the progress in the photos below. I think I'll continue with the wooden "upper counter rail" under the columns first, because I think I'll need it again to align the columns on the QG. It's probably a bit vague now, but it will become clearer with photos later.

Welcome here!

Welcome to MSW Giovi!

Such a lovely ship! Good luck with your build!