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That said, let's get this thread back on topic, shall we?  If anyone wishes to further pursue the discussion of 3D printing in the hobby, please start up a new thread.  Now, back to Chris and his updates!

That said, let's get this thread back on topic, shall we?  If anyone wishes to further pursue the discussion of 3D printing in the hobby, please start up a new thread.  Now, back to Chris and his updates!

That said, let's get this thread back on topic, shall we?  If anyone wishes to further pursue the discussion of 3D printing in the hobby, please start up a new thread.  Now, back to Chris and his updates!

That said, let's get this thread back on topic, shall we?  If anyone wishes to further pursue the discussion of 3D printing in the hobby, please start up a new thread.  Now, back to Chris and his updates!

My vote is for HMS Shannon.  She's a Leda-class frigate with historical significance on both sides of the pond (albeit for opposite reasons).

How about HMS Shannon? It has a US as well as a British connection.

Adam, I think you got the essence of it correct when you spoke of the question of how much as opposed to what is required for a model.  Planking techniques for a cutter are the same as for a ship-of-the-line, but the SOL has much more to do.  Same thing for masting, rigging, guns, etc.  Some of the skill levels mentioned on kit boxes are questionable, to say the least.  Model Shipways' Kate Cory, for example, is described on the box as an ideal first model.  Excuse me?  Kate Cory is square-rigged, coppered, has a ton of deck furniture, and includes four fiddly little whaleboats.  In my book, that's a challenge for any modeler, much less a beginner.  To me, the main point is, does a kit include enough elements to make success likely, i.e. detailed instructions, low parts count, pre-cut or pre-formed components, minimal tricky elements and such.  Based on those criteria, I have always held Midwest Products kits to be as near fool-proof as beginner's kits can be.  Fortunately, we live in an age where even more complex models can be tackled by beginners thanks to some manufacturers paying more attention to comprehensive instructions, newer design techniques, and of course, access to info at sites such as MSW.  But for anyone considering one of those newer designs, I would still advise along the lines of "less is more", as in "more likely to be completed".
 
Cheers,
Chris

Adam, I think you got the essence of it correct when you spoke of the question of how much as opposed to what is required for a model.  Planking techniques for a cutter are the same as for a ship-of-the-line, but the SOL has much more to do.  Same thing for masting, rigging, guns, etc.  Some of the skill levels mentioned on kit boxes are questionable, to say the least.  Model Shipways' Kate Cory, for example, is described on the box as an ideal first model.  Excuse me?  Kate Cory is square-rigged, coppered, has a ton of deck furniture, and includes four fiddly little whaleboats.  In my book, that's a challenge for any modeler, much less a beginner.  To me, the main point is, does a kit include enough elements to make success likely, i.e. detailed instructions, low parts count, pre-cut or pre-formed components, minimal tricky elements and such.  Based on those criteria, I have always held Midwest Products kits to be as near fool-proof as beginner's kits can be.  Fortunately, we live in an age where even more complex models can be tackled by beginners thanks to some manufacturers paying more attention to comprehensive instructions, newer design techniques, and of course, access to info at sites such as MSW.  But for anyone considering one of those newer designs, I would still advise along the lines of "less is more", as in "more likely to be completed".
 
Cheers,
Chris

Adam, I think you got the essence of it correct when you spoke of the question of how much as opposed to what is required for a model.  Planking techniques for a cutter are the same as for a ship-of-the-line, but the SOL has much more to do.  Same thing for masting, rigging, guns, etc.  Some of the skill levels mentioned on kit boxes are questionable, to say the least.  Model Shipways' Kate Cory, for example, is described on the box as an ideal first model.  Excuse me?  Kate Cory is square-rigged, coppered, has a ton of deck furniture, and includes four fiddly little whaleboats.  In my book, that's a challenge for any modeler, much less a beginner.  To me, the main point is, does a kit include enough elements to make success likely, i.e. detailed instructions, low parts count, pre-cut or pre-formed components, minimal tricky elements and such.  Based on those criteria, I have always held Midwest Products kits to be as near fool-proof as beginner's kits can be.  Fortunately, we live in an age where even more complex models can be tackled by beginners thanks to some manufacturers paying more attention to comprehensive instructions, newer design techniques, and of course, access to info at sites such as MSW.  But for anyone considering one of those newer designs, I would still advise along the lines of "less is more", as in "more likely to be completed".
 
Cheers,
Chris

Adam, I think you got the essence of it correct when you spoke of the question of how much as opposed to what is required for a model.  Planking techniques for a cutter are the same as for a ship-of-the-line, but the SOL has much more to do.  Same thing for masting, rigging, guns, etc.  Some of the skill levels mentioned on kit boxes are questionable, to say the least.  Model Shipways' Kate Cory, for example, is described on the box as an ideal first model.  Excuse me?  Kate Cory is square-rigged, coppered, has a ton of deck furniture, and includes four fiddly little whaleboats.  In my book, that's a challenge for any modeler, much less a beginner.  To me, the main point is, does a kit include enough elements to make success likely, i.e. detailed instructions, low parts count, pre-cut or pre-formed components, minimal tricky elements and such.  Based on those criteria, I have always held Midwest Products kits to be as near fool-proof as beginner's kits can be.  Fortunately, we live in an age where even more complex models can be tackled by beginners thanks to some manufacturers paying more attention to comprehensive instructions, newer design techniques, and of course, access to info at sites such as MSW.  But for anyone considering one of those newer designs, I would still advise along the lines of "less is more", as in "more likely to be completed".
 
Cheers,
Chris

Adam, I think you got the essence of it correct when you spoke of the question of how much as opposed to what is required for a model.  Planking techniques for a cutter are the same as for a ship-of-the-line, but the SOL has much more to do.  Same thing for masting, rigging, guns, etc.  Some of the skill levels mentioned on kit boxes are questionable, to say the least.  Model Shipways' Kate Cory, for example, is described on the box as an ideal first model.  Excuse me?  Kate Cory is square-rigged, coppered, has a ton of deck furniture, and includes four fiddly little whaleboats.  In my book, that's a challenge for any modeler, much less a beginner.  To me, the main point is, does a kit include enough elements to make success likely, i.e. detailed instructions, low parts count, pre-cut or pre-formed components, minimal tricky elements and such.  Based on those criteria, I have always held Midwest Products kits to be as near fool-proof as beginner's kits can be.  Fortunately, we live in an age where even more complex models can be tackled by beginners thanks to some manufacturers paying more attention to comprehensive instructions, newer design techniques, and of course, access to info at sites such as MSW.  But for anyone considering one of those newer designs, I would still advise along the lines of "less is more", as in "more likely to be completed".
 
Cheers,
Chris

Adam, I think you got the essence of it correct when you spoke of the question of how much as opposed to what is required for a model.  Planking techniques for a cutter are the same as for a ship-of-the-line, but the SOL has much more to do.  Same thing for masting, rigging, guns, etc.  Some of the skill levels mentioned on kit boxes are questionable, to say the least.  Model Shipways' Kate Cory, for example, is described on the box as an ideal first model.  Excuse me?  Kate Cory is square-rigged, coppered, has a ton of deck furniture, and includes four fiddly little whaleboats.  In my book, that's a challenge for any modeler, much less a beginner.  To me, the main point is, does a kit include enough elements to make success likely, i.e. detailed instructions, low parts count, pre-cut or pre-formed components, minimal tricky elements and such.  Based on those criteria, I have always held Midwest Products kits to be as near fool-proof as beginner's kits can be.  Fortunately, we live in an age where even more complex models can be tackled by beginners thanks to some manufacturers paying more attention to comprehensive instructions, newer design techniques, and of course, access to info at sites such as MSW.  But for anyone considering one of those newer designs, I would still advise along the lines of "less is more", as in "more likely to be completed".
 
Cheers,
Chris

Adam, I think you got the essence of it correct when you spoke of the question of how much as opposed to what is required for a model.  Planking techniques for a cutter are the same as for a ship-of-the-line, but the SOL has much more to do.  Same thing for masting, rigging, guns, etc.  Some of the skill levels mentioned on kit boxes are questionable, to say the least.  Model Shipways' Kate Cory, for example, is described on the box as an ideal first model.  Excuse me?  Kate Cory is square-rigged, coppered, has a ton of deck furniture, and includes four fiddly little whaleboats.  In my book, that's a challenge for any modeler, much less a beginner.  To me, the main point is, does a kit include enough elements to make success likely, i.e. detailed instructions, low parts count, pre-cut or pre-formed components, minimal tricky elements and such.  Based on those criteria, I have always held Midwest Products kits to be as near fool-proof as beginner's kits can be.  Fortunately, we live in an age where even more complex models can be tackled by beginners thanks to some manufacturers paying more attention to comprehensive instructions, newer design techniques, and of course, access to info at sites such as MSW.  But for anyone considering one of those newer designs, I would still advise along the lines of "less is more", as in "more likely to be completed".
 
Cheers,
Chris

Adam, I think you got the essence of it correct when you spoke of the question of how much as opposed to what is required for a model.  Planking techniques for a cutter are the same as for a ship-of-the-line, but the SOL has much more to do.  Same thing for masting, rigging, guns, etc.  Some of the skill levels mentioned on kit boxes are questionable, to say the least.  Model Shipways' Kate Cory, for example, is described on the box as an ideal first model.  Excuse me?  Kate Cory is square-rigged, coppered, has a ton of deck furniture, and includes four fiddly little whaleboats.  In my book, that's a challenge for any modeler, much less a beginner.  To me, the main point is, does a kit include enough elements to make success likely, i.e. detailed instructions, low parts count, pre-cut or pre-formed components, minimal tricky elements and such.  Based on those criteria, I have always held Midwest Products kits to be as near fool-proof as beginner's kits can be.  Fortunately, we live in an age where even more complex models can be tackled by beginners thanks to some manufacturers paying more attention to comprehensive instructions, newer design techniques, and of course, access to info at sites such as MSW.  But for anyone considering one of those newer designs, I would still advise along the lines of "less is more", as in "more likely to be completed".
 
Cheers,
Chris

Adam, I think you got the essence of it correct when you spoke of the question of how much as opposed to what is required for a model.  Planking techniques for a cutter are the same as for a ship-of-the-line, but the SOL has much more to do.  Same thing for masting, rigging, guns, etc.  Some of the skill levels mentioned on kit boxes are questionable, to say the least.  Model Shipways' Kate Cory, for example, is described on the box as an ideal first model.  Excuse me?  Kate Cory is square-rigged, coppered, has a ton of deck furniture, and includes four fiddly little whaleboats.  In my book, that's a challenge for any modeler, much less a beginner.  To me, the main point is, does a kit include enough elements to make success likely, i.e. detailed instructions, low parts count, pre-cut or pre-formed components, minimal tricky elements and such.  Based on those criteria, I have always held Midwest Products kits to be as near fool-proof as beginner's kits can be.  Fortunately, we live in an age where even more complex models can be tackled by beginners thanks to some manufacturers paying more attention to comprehensive instructions, newer design techniques, and of course, access to info at sites such as MSW.  But for anyone considering one of those newer designs, I would still advise along the lines of "less is more", as in "more likely to be completed".
 
Cheers,
Chris

More recently ('recently' means last summer ), I decided to somewhat imitate the elaborate decorations seen on the stern counter in the Williams & Marshall painting.  First, I located some heraldic dolphins on the Internet, scaled them to the appropriate size, and then printed, painted, cut out, and edge-colored them.  It took me a couple of tries to find the dolphins and color schemes that I thought looked the best.  Here is the final result, with the dolphins swimming in some dappled foam.  Of course, since then I've learned that the artwork on Fly was completely different.  Oh, well.

 
Please note, that is what eighteenth-century maritime artists thought dolphins looked like - not what I think they look like.

First off, I am using the Williams & Marshall paintings of HMS Kingfisher to guide my painting of HMS Fly.  The operative word is 'guide' (as opposed to 'template').

 
Early on I decided to add screen bulkheads to the model.  These were scratch built from scrap plywood and card stock.  The door knobs are brass nail heads.  This is the aft bulkhead - it is less detailed than the forward bulkhead, which is far more easily seen on the model than the aft bulkhead.  The forward bulkhead windows are properly glazed.

 
As you can see in this picture, the proper placement of the aft bulkhead is not between the existing kit bulkhead extensions, but slightly aft of them.

The next stage was the coppering of the hull. The plates supplied with the kit are easy to use, although they are not strictly prototypical as they don't overlap each other. I used thick CA in a blob on the back of the plate which, when the plate was applied to the hull, spread out just enough to stick firmly. It also stayed loose long enough to allow the plate to be slid exactly into position. The relatively small size of the plates meant that smooth lines of plates could be made without generating unsightly gaps as I progressed around the hull.
 
Some of the plates weren't embossed properly, judging by the way these mostly came stuck together, I suspect they had gone through the embossing machine in pairs. However there were so many spare that this wasn't a problem. In the following photo the one on the right has not come out properly; the one on the left is fine.
 

 
Where cuts were necessary I was able to score the plate along a straight-edge and then flex it until the two halves came apart.
 
I started along the keel and worked my way up to the waterline.
 

 
Here are some views of the completed job. You can see how the plates mostly adjusted themselves around the three dimensional shape of the hull; only a couple of rows of stealers were needed at the stem and stern.
 



 
I also coppered the rudder and blackened the hinges. I was subsequently told that the straps should be copper, so I will have to paint these using copper paint as part of the final snagging when I am provisionally finished.
 

Started to work on the channels.  The instructions indicate these should only require 'minor shaping', this proved to be the case for the main channels, however, the fore and aft ones needed a little more to ensure that the inner surface was flush with the hull.
 
To get the right curvature I used the following simple technique:
Used a profile gauge on the hull Transferred the curve to some card to double check the fit Transferred the curve to the channel and cut/filed/sanded Final result after pinning, these fit very solidly even without glue Overall, pretty pleased that this proved to be easier than I had expected.
 

For the second planking I used 0.5 mm walnut strips (instead of the original 1 mm in the kit) and found them very easy to shape and bend. Sanding has to be done very carefully tough, as there is not too much material to take off.
 
    
 
 
It went quite well too, considering I completely ignored all the good advice on this forum and in the download section. I will never do that again, but obviously one has to make all the mistakes possible (and pay for them dearly) to fully understand and appreciate the method of tapering planks by prior measurement.
 
    
 
 
One result of “planking by beginner’s eye” is a geometrically complex form to be filled with “special” planks.
On the bright side: I’ve learnt to make drop planks and stealers.
 
    
 
 
To fill the small gaps I used Dan Vadas method: sanded down walnut strip and diluted PVA glue. This will not be enough to repair the bulwark on the bow, though.
 

Build Update:
 
Followed same procedure as the QD for the Poop Deck.
 
Added deck pieces, rails and all associated pieces shown in the poop deck picture.
 
Next up gangway and boat beams.

M - thanks for watching over my shoulder
 
 
Robert, here you go, hope you're not disappointed...she had her first trip outside for some beauty shots.  The Snake doesn't have the most beautiful lines of the other ships on here (Mars and Pegasus esp.), but maybe a certain "utilitarian elegance".
 

I advise NEVER to start a model that doesn't appeal to you -- unless you never intend to finish it.  Passion for your subject goes a long way in giving impetus to overcoming challenges during the build.
 
Cheers!

I advise NEVER to start a model that doesn't appeal to you -- unless you never intend to finish it.  Passion for your subject goes a long way in giving impetus to overcoming challenges during the build.
 
Cheers!

I advise NEVER to start a model that doesn't appeal to you -- unless you never intend to finish it.  Passion for your subject goes a long way in giving impetus to overcoming challenges during the build.
 
Cheers!