wyz

Well, I'm coming into the build a little late but looking forward to some fun. Don't have a lot of experience - several large scale plastic WWII battleships and carriers over the years and two wood ships, the Sharke from an old Sergal kit and the Bluenose from Model Shipways. looking to take things up a notch with this build. My intention is to cut all parts myself (we'll see how that goes). I am in the midst of cutting bulkheads using a 9" bandsaw and scroll saw where necessary. Started out using Elmers gluesticks but have found Loctite spray adhesive to be much better for the paper patterns. using lite ply for bulkheads and birch ply for bulkhead former. I have really enjoyed reading the discussions and try to read some more each evening to catch up and pick up some tips.
 

My back is healing, albeit slowly.  I've started my second solid hull Winchelsea, but only the prep work for actual construction.  The lift templates are finished, and I'm making steady progress on the hull shaping templates.  Still, it should be a couple of weeks until I can start making sawdust again.  If I hadn't been so crest-fallen when I hurt my back I might not have been so hasty to trash my first attempt.   The lesson:  If you make a serious mistake or some other tragedy befalls you put the project down and walk away from it for a while, at least until you are clear-headed again.  Oh, how I rue the decision to not do that.
Tom

Thanks YankeeD and Tom!

Okay, what glue do you prefer then?
I’m just trying to follow Chuck’s instructions to the letter so when I read to use Titebond in the laser char, I don’t take risks, though I have other glues on my shelf, including a bottle from Kolderstok... 
 
Thanks Tom, no I won’t rush, the rabbet strip is on the keel now and drying for two days already, here some pictures of my slow progress, but that’s a good thing I understand ☺️.
 
Frank.

It's nice to see you start your Winchelsea model.  I wish you only the best in this project.  Should you run into a problem or just have a modeling technique question Chuck and a number of other experienced model builders are a post away.  Take your time, measure carefully and DON'T RUSH!  We look forward to following your build.
Tom

I’ve just decided that sanding the outer hull is much more enjoyable than the inner. 
With that being said I’ve completed 80% of the port side with a rough sanding. The planks went down as Chuck prescribed, the only deviation I made aside from the month long lighting project was to glue the plank under the gunports down first to establish the correct run for the other three rows, the lowest 7/32 plank went in last which was a little bit harder to accomplish, the second layer will go down much easier. I Also got to poke around with the laser panels to see how much work I have ahead of me and it wasn’t too bad. Onto the stbd side this week hopefully.
JJ

What you see, comes mostly from the laser. It doesn't cut perpendicular to the wood. After a little bit of sanding the outside is looking fine.
This is the stem of my model build with the parts, Chuck provides.

My back is healing, albeit slowly.  I've started my second solid hull Winchelsea, but only the prep work for actual construction.  The lift templates are finished, and I'm making steady progress on the hull shaping templates.  Still, it should be a couple of weeks until I can start making sawdust again.  If I hadn't been so crest-fallen when I hurt my back I might not have been so hasty to trash my first attempt.   The lesson:  If you make a serious mistake or some other tragedy befalls you put the project down and walk away from it for a while, at least until you are clear-headed again.  Oh, how I rue the decision to not do that.
Tom

My back is healing, albeit slowly.  I've started my second solid hull Winchelsea, but only the prep work for actual construction.  The lift templates are finished, and I'm making steady progress on the hull shaping templates.  Still, it should be a couple of weeks until I can start making sawdust again.  If I hadn't been so crest-fallen when I hurt my back I might not have been so hasty to trash my first attempt.   The lesson:  If you make a serious mistake or some other tragedy befalls you put the project down and walk away from it for a while, at least until you are clear-headed again.  Oh, how I rue the decision to not do that.
Tom

My back is healing, albeit slowly.  I've started my second solid hull Winchelsea, but only the prep work for actual construction.  The lift templates are finished, and I'm making steady progress on the hull shaping templates.  Still, it should be a couple of weeks until I can start making sawdust again.  If I hadn't been so crest-fallen when I hurt my back I might not have been so hasty to trash my first attempt.   The lesson:  If you make a serious mistake or some other tragedy befalls you put the project down and walk away from it for a while, at least until you are clear-headed again.  Oh, how I rue the decision to not do that.
Tom

My back is healing, albeit slowly.  I've started my second solid hull Winchelsea, but only the prep work for actual construction.  The lift templates are finished, and I'm making steady progress on the hull shaping templates.  Still, it should be a couple of weeks until I can start making sawdust again.  If I hadn't been so crest-fallen when I hurt my back I might not have been so hasty to trash my first attempt.   The lesson:  If you make a serious mistake or some other tragedy befalls you put the project down and walk away from it for a while, at least until you are clear-headed again.  Oh, how I rue the decision to not do that.
Tom

I love the progress you're making Matt.  Your Winnie is looking pretty good.
Tom

I love the progress you're making Matt.  Your Winnie is looking pretty good.
Tom

Put a good deal of thought into which approach I preferred for this build and have decided on the following:
 
1. Going with Yellow Cedar - it just looks really sexy in the pictures. Honestly...clean and smooth lines that appear to hold details very well, especially at small scale. Overall, the color and look of the wood make we want to reach out and touch it. Gotta...touch...it...
 
2. Going with the Laser Cut starter pack - yup...cost a pretty penny, but worth it. Few reasons for this. One, I am not yet comfortable enough with my knowledge of ship building to tackle scroll cutting the pieces myself. Two, having done other wood scrolling projects, I just don't find much entertainment in scrolling...just not my thing. Third, laser cut is so clean and accurate and provides consistent results.
 
3. Sticking to the plan - as this is a big leap for me in learning I have read ahead on the chapters to ensure I have an overall understanding of what is needed. Also, will continue to read ahead bit-by-bit to ensure that as I approach a section I don't just understand what needs to be done, I also understand the implications further down the road. The goal is to reduce the number of times I need to redo something because I didn't quite know what I was doing or just flat out did it wrong.
 
4. Sharing everything, the good and the bad. I don't have much experience to offer others and fear this may become a lopsided experience in that I hit everyone up for assistance and can't offer much knowledge in return...at least in the beginning. To help balance this out I think bearing all in the forum will provide good information. Likely provide this forum with a lot of material for "this is not what you want to do"
 
5. Have a blast. At that point in life where I missed too many years caught up in the race. New meanings have come to surface for me and those I love. As a result, I am doing this for enjoyment, relaxation, and as a challenge. I think I have a great sense of humor and take no issue with laughing at myself, my mistakes, and others joining me in that.
 
Getting my workshop set up over today and tomorrow. I have seen other forums where workshops are shared and they are really impressive. One day I aspire to several that I have seen. Alas, I currently live is a really small home so I need to take more of an Ikea style approach to my workspace. Pictures will be included starting tomorrow.
 
Cheers!

Welcome aboard tenderfoot.  Chuck gave you great advice about taking your time and asking lots of question.  This group project has quite a number of friendly and competent model builders who will gladly give you help should you stumble.
Tom

I’ve spent the past few weeks working slowly on the stern.  I have several errors, but on the whole, I’m pretty happy with it.  I don’t know how you guys make these columns look so perfect.  Maybe I need to build a few more of these before I can get it.  I know one issue is that  my spacing is a little off, making the columns shorter than planned.  I think that is also why the bottom molding on the counter is a little high, creating a gap that I had to cover with a second molding.  I also broke Poseidon’s trident.  I have an idea from Chuck on how to fix it using coarse wire, but I’m not ready to work on that yet.

Well, it's only taken me about 8 months...but I am finally ready...I think. I admit to putting this off as I was intimidated by the challenge and how I thought my skills aligned. Spent the past several months on other projects getting better at working with small scale wood and other bits. This is a beautiful ship design and I want to do it justice. I know there will be a lot of mistakes along the way, but here goes...I am off to Staples to print out the plans and get started this week.

Yes! I am excited about this. I am fairly new to the ship model scene and have only completed one ship to date, the HMS Victory - my first model. Although I paid a premium for the model, it did come with exceptional instructions, which were a life saver. Thankfully, I found the hobby to be 100% relaxing and enjoyable. When laying the billion copper tiles one by one on the Victory I would find myself entranced and awake hours later having cut, shaped, attached a hundred or so in one sitting. Did not expect it to have this effect on me. Although it took me the better part of two years, I did complete the HMS Victory and have had it on display...it may not be professional grade, but it sure is a show piece and I get excited whenever a visitor walks up to it and I see how hard it is for them to resist touching the thing.
 
Well, I have since been working on the USS Constitution and this time around I find myself modifying, upgrading, adapting the model as often as my knowledge and skills allow. Now that I am nearing the rigging stage on the Constitution I figured it was time to look for a new challenge when...what do you know...I found the HMS Winchelsea. I started buying rigging and blocks from Syrene for the Constitution so it was inevitable that I come across this. Although I can not start into it for another few weeks, I am eager to get going and am going to try to scratch build as much as possible. I will be lurking around everyone's builds and asking lots and lots of questions. Of course, always here to offer what little that I have experienced and know as well as keeping this build log up to date as best as possible.

No, there will be no quitting with this project.  Thank you, Frank and Ron for your concern and best wishes.  I feel confident all of us will be moving our Winchelsea builds forward soon.
Tom

No, there will be no quitting with this project.  Thank you, Frank and Ron for your concern and best wishes.  I feel confident all of us will be moving our Winchelsea builds forward soon.
Tom

Well, it's been over a month since I ruptured a disc in my back.  Is it still sore?  Oh yes, but it feels a great deal better than it was.  I told myself I would put down model ship building until my back is better.  While I'm still not where I want to be the prednisone, cyclobenzaprine, rest, and now limited exercise have helped a lot.  I'm now starting to think about how I will move forward with this Winchelsea project.  After my accident I was quite sure that building a solid hull frigate model would be way too much for someone with chronic back problems, and that I should seriously consider building a POB model of the ship.  I did just that, but the more I thought about it the less I liked the idea.  On more than one occasion I came close to placing a sizeable order to Chuck at Syren Ship Model Company, but I could never pull the trigger.  Why?  Down deep inside I knew that nothing short of a solid hull model of Winchelsea would make me happy.  The question was whether I could lighten the model enough that a solid hull build would be viable.  I came to the conclusion it was, but any changes wouldn't be on the hull I started months ago.  After my accident I was angry, frustrated and impetuous enough to trash the hull along with the Mylar lift templates and the plywood hull shaping templates.  Ooops!  My haste to throw out what I perceived to be a hull that would never be completed will absolutely prove to be costly.  I certainly made a lot of work for myself, but with my back still sore I can use the recovery time for those less physical MSB activities.... like making new templates.  It's time-consuming but easy to do.  After looking at the pictures of my first effort I think I've figured out a number of ways to reduce the model's weight.  Today I took a trip down to M.L.Condon in White Plains, New York and purchased quite a few 36"x7"x1" pieces of yellow poplar.  It's certainly enough for building Winchelsea's hull.  Who knows when I will be able to start construction of the model again?  That will depend, to a very large degree, on how the back feels.  Soon I hope.   [putting knuckles to head]  Knock on wood!

Hi Tom, my build has just started as well.
I hope you are fully recovered soon and that our builds of POF Winnie models  can go alongside,
as I'm sure I can learn a lot of you and your years of experience!

Happy to hear you're staging a Winnie comeback  I've been plonking along at a snail's pace with this damn C-word recovery and pain seems to be it's middle name. My wife says it makes me a bit cantankerous but I say it builds character! Way to punch through it and keep going Tom!

Well, it's been over a month since I ruptured a disc in my back.  Is it still sore?  Oh yes, but it feels a great deal better than it was.  I told myself I would put down model ship building until my back is better.  While I'm still not where I want to be the prednisone, cyclobenzaprine, rest, and now limited exercise have helped a lot.  I'm now starting to think about how I will move forward with this Winchelsea project.  After my accident I was quite sure that building a solid hull frigate model would be way too much for someone with chronic back problems, and that I should seriously consider building a POB model of the ship.  I did just that, but the more I thought about it the less I liked the idea.  On more than one occasion I came close to placing a sizeable order to Chuck at Syren Ship Model Company, but I could never pull the trigger.  Why?  Down deep inside I knew that nothing short of a solid hull model of Winchelsea would make me happy.  The question was whether I could lighten the model enough that a solid hull build would be viable.  I came to the conclusion it was, but any changes wouldn't be on the hull I started months ago.  After my accident I was angry, frustrated and impetuous enough to trash the hull along with the Mylar lift templates and the plywood hull shaping templates.  Ooops!  My haste to throw out what I perceived to be a hull that would never be completed will absolutely prove to be costly.  I certainly made a lot of work for myself, but with my back still sore I can use the recovery time for those less physical MSB activities.... like making new templates.  It's time-consuming but easy to do.  After looking at the pictures of my first effort I think I've figured out a number of ways to reduce the model's weight.  Today I took a trip down to M.L.Condon in White Plains, New York and purchased quite a few 36"x7"x1" pieces of yellow poplar.  It's certainly enough for building Winchelsea's hull.  Who knows when I will be able to start construction of the model again?  That will depend, to a very large degree, on how the back feels.  Soon I hope.   [putting knuckles to head]  Knock on wood!

Well, it's been over a month since I ruptured a disc in my back.  Is it still sore?  Oh yes, but it feels a great deal better than it was.  I told myself I would put down model ship building until my back is better.  While I'm still not where I want to be the prednisone, cyclobenzaprine, rest, and now limited exercise have helped a lot.  I'm now starting to think about how I will move forward with this Winchelsea project.  After my accident I was quite sure that building a solid hull frigate model would be way too much for someone with chronic back problems, and that I should seriously consider building a POB model of the ship.  I did just that, but the more I thought about it the less I liked the idea.  On more than one occasion I came close to placing a sizeable order to Chuck at Syren Ship Model Company, but I could never pull the trigger.  Why?  Down deep inside I knew that nothing short of a solid hull model of Winchelsea would make me happy.  The question was whether I could lighten the model enough that a solid hull build would be viable.  I came to the conclusion it was, but any changes wouldn't be on the hull I started months ago.  After my accident I was angry, frustrated and impetuous enough to trash the hull along with the Mylar lift templates and the plywood hull shaping templates.  Ooops!  My haste to throw out what I perceived to be a hull that would never be completed will absolutely prove to be costly.  I certainly made a lot of work for myself, but with my back still sore I can use the recovery time for those less physical MSB activities.... like making new templates.  It's time-consuming but easy to do.  After looking at the pictures of my first effort I think I've figured out a number of ways to reduce the model's weight.  Today I took a trip down to M.L.Condon in White Plains, New York and purchased quite a few 36"x7"x1" pieces of yellow poplar.  It's certainly enough for building Winchelsea's hull.  Who knows when I will be able to start construction of the model again?  That will depend, to a very large degree, on how the back feels.  Soon I hope.   [putting knuckles to head]  Knock on wood!

Thanks H's H.  You can bet the ranch I won't go too fast.  When you have the pain I had you damn sure don't want to hurt yourself again.  The templates will occupy my time for several weeks.
Tom