ccoyle

When this kit first arrived, I noticed that it is designed to use butt joints. I really dislike butt joints. Because it uses butt joints, no joiner strips are provided -- not even the sort that are typically used to close rings. Hmph.
 
Work proceeded on the first fuselage section. Regardless of what the kit designer intended, I simply made myself a joiner strip to close up the ring, which, as you can see in this first photo, is not entirely ring-shaped. It's a ring where it joins the cowl, but then flares to a flat bottom along the rest of the fuselage. The forward-most bulkhead is a simple circle, but the aft bulkhead has a cutout where cockpit elements will be located. I stiffened the entire flimsy-looking bulkhead with thin CA. I also painted the interior a sort-of canvas-colored tan, because I don't know how much of it will be visible once the fuselage and cockpit are assembled. (BTW, that's just an old, dried glue blob in the lower left corner.)

 
Both bulkheads required some sanding to get them to slip easily into the ring. Here's the completed fuselage section, now mated to the cowl assembly. The cowl has numerous blisters, which I will add later to avoid smooshing them while working on the fuselage.
 

 
That first butt joint turned out well. I'll be very happy if the rest turn out as nice. Moving to the next fuselage section, construction of the forward cockpit begins, so there will be a lot more elements.
 
Cheers!

When this kit first arrived, I noticed that it is designed to use butt joints. I really dislike butt joints. Because it uses butt joints, no joiner strips are provided -- not even the sort that are typically used to close rings. Hmph.
 
Work proceeded on the first fuselage section. Regardless of what the kit designer intended, I simply made myself a joiner strip to close up the ring, which, as you can see in this first photo, is not entirely ring-shaped. It's a ring where it joins the cowl, but then flares to a flat bottom along the rest of the fuselage. The forward-most bulkhead is a simple circle, but the aft bulkhead has a cutout where cockpit elements will be located. I stiffened the entire flimsy-looking bulkhead with thin CA. I also painted the interior a sort-of canvas-colored tan, because I don't know how much of it will be visible once the fuselage and cockpit are assembled. (BTW, that's just an old, dried glue blob in the lower left corner.)

 
Both bulkheads required some sanding to get them to slip easily into the ring. Here's the completed fuselage section, now mated to the cowl assembly. The cowl has numerous blisters, which I will add later to avoid smooshing them while working on the fuselage.
 

 
That first butt joint turned out well. I'll be very happy if the rest turn out as nice. Moving to the next fuselage section, construction of the forward cockpit begins, so there will be a lot more elements.
 
Cheers!

When this kit first arrived, I noticed that it is designed to use butt joints. I really dislike butt joints. Because it uses butt joints, no joiner strips are provided -- not even the sort that are typically used to close rings. Hmph.
 
Work proceeded on the first fuselage section. Regardless of what the kit designer intended, I simply made myself a joiner strip to close up the ring, which, as you can see in this first photo, is not entirely ring-shaped. It's a ring where it joins the cowl, but then flares to a flat bottom along the rest of the fuselage. The forward-most bulkhead is a simple circle, but the aft bulkhead has a cutout where cockpit elements will be located. I stiffened the entire flimsy-looking bulkhead with thin CA. I also painted the interior a sort-of canvas-colored tan, because I don't know how much of it will be visible once the fuselage and cockpit are assembled. (BTW, that's just an old, dried glue blob in the lower left corner.)

 
Both bulkheads required some sanding to get them to slip easily into the ring. Here's the completed fuselage section, now mated to the cowl assembly. The cowl has numerous blisters, which I will add later to avoid smooshing them while working on the fuselage.
 

 
That first butt joint turned out well. I'll be very happy if the rest turn out as nice. Moving to the next fuselage section, construction of the forward cockpit begins, so there will be a lot more elements.
 
Cheers!

When this kit first arrived, I noticed that it is designed to use butt joints. I really dislike butt joints. Because it uses butt joints, no joiner strips are provided -- not even the sort that are typically used to close rings. Hmph.
 
Work proceeded on the first fuselage section. Regardless of what the kit designer intended, I simply made myself a joiner strip to close up the ring, which, as you can see in this first photo, is not entirely ring-shaped. It's a ring where it joins the cowl, but then flares to a flat bottom along the rest of the fuselage. The forward-most bulkhead is a simple circle, but the aft bulkhead has a cutout where cockpit elements will be located. I stiffened the entire flimsy-looking bulkhead with thin CA. I also painted the interior a sort-of canvas-colored tan, because I don't know how much of it will be visible once the fuselage and cockpit are assembled. (BTW, that's just an old, dried glue blob in the lower left corner.)

 
Both bulkheads required some sanding to get them to slip easily into the ring. Here's the completed fuselage section, now mated to the cowl assembly. The cowl has numerous blisters, which I will add later to avoid smooshing them while working on the fuselage.
 

 
That first butt joint turned out well. I'll be very happy if the rest turn out as nice. Moving to the next fuselage section, construction of the forward cockpit begins, so there will be a lot more elements.
 
Cheers!

When this kit first arrived, I noticed that it is designed to use butt joints. I really dislike butt joints. Because it uses butt joints, no joiner strips are provided -- not even the sort that are typically used to close rings. Hmph.
 
Work proceeded on the first fuselage section. Regardless of what the kit designer intended, I simply made myself a joiner strip to close up the ring, which, as you can see in this first photo, is not entirely ring-shaped. It's a ring where it joins the cowl, but then flares to a flat bottom along the rest of the fuselage. The forward-most bulkhead is a simple circle, but the aft bulkhead has a cutout where cockpit elements will be located. I stiffened the entire flimsy-looking bulkhead with thin CA. I also painted the interior a sort-of canvas-colored tan, because I don't know how much of it will be visible once the fuselage and cockpit are assembled. (BTW, that's just an old, dried glue blob in the lower left corner.)

 
Both bulkheads required some sanding to get them to slip easily into the ring. Here's the completed fuselage section, now mated to the cowl assembly. The cowl has numerous blisters, which I will add later to avoid smooshing them while working on the fuselage.
 

 
That first butt joint turned out well. I'll be very happy if the rest turn out as nice. Moving to the next fuselage section, construction of the forward cockpit begins, so there will be a lot more elements.
 
Cheers!

When this kit first arrived, I noticed that it is designed to use butt joints. I really dislike butt joints. Because it uses butt joints, no joiner strips are provided -- not even the sort that are typically used to close rings. Hmph.
 
Work proceeded on the first fuselage section. Regardless of what the kit designer intended, I simply made myself a joiner strip to close up the ring, which, as you can see in this first photo, is not entirely ring-shaped. It's a ring where it joins the cowl, but then flares to a flat bottom along the rest of the fuselage. The forward-most bulkhead is a simple circle, but the aft bulkhead has a cutout where cockpit elements will be located. I stiffened the entire flimsy-looking bulkhead with thin CA. I also painted the interior a sort-of canvas-colored tan, because I don't know how much of it will be visible once the fuselage and cockpit are assembled. (BTW, that's just an old, dried glue blob in the lower left corner.)

 
Both bulkheads required some sanding to get them to slip easily into the ring. Here's the completed fuselage section, now mated to the cowl assembly. The cowl has numerous blisters, which I will add later to avoid smooshing them while working on the fuselage.
 

 
That first butt joint turned out well. I'll be very happy if the rest turn out as nice. Moving to the next fuselage section, construction of the forward cockpit begins, so there will be a lot more elements.
 
Cheers!

When this kit first arrived, I noticed that it is designed to use butt joints. I really dislike butt joints. Because it uses butt joints, no joiner strips are provided -- not even the sort that are typically used to close rings. Hmph.
 
Work proceeded on the first fuselage section. Regardless of what the kit designer intended, I simply made myself a joiner strip to close up the ring, which, as you can see in this first photo, is not entirely ring-shaped. It's a ring where it joins the cowl, but then flares to a flat bottom along the rest of the fuselage. The forward-most bulkhead is a simple circle, but the aft bulkhead has a cutout where cockpit elements will be located. I stiffened the entire flimsy-looking bulkhead with thin CA. I also painted the interior a sort-of canvas-colored tan, because I don't know how much of it will be visible once the fuselage and cockpit are assembled. (BTW, that's just an old, dried glue blob in the lower left corner.)

 
Both bulkheads required some sanding to get them to slip easily into the ring. Here's the completed fuselage section, now mated to the cowl assembly. The cowl has numerous blisters, which I will add later to avoid smooshing them while working on the fuselage.
 

 
That first butt joint turned out well. I'll be very happy if the rest turn out as nice. Moving to the next fuselage section, construction of the forward cockpit begins, so there will be a lot more elements.
 
Cheers!

When this kit first arrived, I noticed that it is designed to use butt joints. I really dislike butt joints. Because it uses butt joints, no joiner strips are provided -- not even the sort that are typically used to close rings. Hmph.
 
Work proceeded on the first fuselage section. Regardless of what the kit designer intended, I simply made myself a joiner strip to close up the ring, which, as you can see in this first photo, is not entirely ring-shaped. It's a ring where it joins the cowl, but then flares to a flat bottom along the rest of the fuselage. The forward-most bulkhead is a simple circle, but the aft bulkhead has a cutout where cockpit elements will be located. I stiffened the entire flimsy-looking bulkhead with thin CA. I also painted the interior a sort-of canvas-colored tan, because I don't know how much of it will be visible once the fuselage and cockpit are assembled. (BTW, that's just an old, dried glue blob in the lower left corner.)

 
Both bulkheads required some sanding to get them to slip easily into the ring. Here's the completed fuselage section, now mated to the cowl assembly. The cowl has numerous blisters, which I will add later to avoid smooshing them while working on the fuselage.
 

 
That first butt joint turned out well. I'll be very happy if the rest turn out as nice. Moving to the next fuselage section, construction of the forward cockpit begins, so there will be a lot more elements.
 
Cheers!

Next the forward superstructure. Assembly is quite similar to the rear control deck:
 

 

 
Lastly is the hangar deck:
 
Straight forward assembly:
 

 
Then add it to the hull:
 

 
Ready to go on its stand:
 

 
Still a swarm of small parts and detail painting to go before its finished, but its a bit closer.

Had to work today so didn't get round to big T but this is where I got to last night

All the masts, yards and associated items completed.
 
On to the stove, capstan, rudder etc.
 
New Sphinx kit procurement approved by "higher authority" so I better not screw this one up "or else"!

The instructions did not say how one was supposed to use the circular pieces that look like internal supports.  They weren’t even to be printed on card stock.   Eventually I decided to glue them to 1/32 thick bass wood and cut them out.  I inserted the first few after having assembled 4 of the sections.  Now I do them as I proceed. Also if one cuts the windows out as printed there is no gluing surface.  ( discovered the hard way). Reprinted the windows and cut them leaving extra  card around the windows so there was something to glue to.  Hopefully the attached pictures will may some of this clear.  Also to get a better fit, rather than gluing the cylinders and then attaching, I wrapped them around the glue edge to get a perfect fit. 

When this kit first arrived, I noticed that it is designed to use butt joints. I really dislike butt joints. Because it uses butt joints, no joiner strips are provided -- not even the sort that are typically used to close rings. Hmph.
 
Work proceeded on the first fuselage section. Regardless of what the kit designer intended, I simply made myself a joiner strip to close up the ring, which, as you can see in this first photo, is not entirely ring-shaped. It's a ring where it joins the cowl, but then flares to a flat bottom along the rest of the fuselage. The forward-most bulkhead is a simple circle, but the aft bulkhead has a cutout where cockpit elements will be located. I stiffened the entire flimsy-looking bulkhead with thin CA. I also painted the interior a sort-of canvas-colored tan, because I don't know how much of it will be visible once the fuselage and cockpit are assembled. (BTW, that's just an old, dried glue blob in the lower left corner.)

 
Both bulkheads required some sanding to get them to slip easily into the ring. Here's the completed fuselage section, now mated to the cowl assembly. The cowl has numerous blisters, which I will add later to avoid smooshing them while working on the fuselage.
 

 
That first butt joint turned out well. I'll be very happy if the rest turn out as nice. Moving to the next fuselage section, construction of the forward cockpit begins, so there will be a lot more elements.
 
Cheers!

This was a fun week.  I finished the stern details.  These included building the second seat, which I'm happy to say is close to identical to the first.  I made the horse for the boom sheet out of 22 gauge annealed wire, with washers made from .062" diameter styrene rod with the center .028" drilled out for the wire.  I cut and formed the transom knees, and glued those on.  I then shaped and added the cleats.  These I had bought from Chuck a long time ago.  I see he currently offers cleats in 5mm, 7mm, and 9mm.  I have 9mm and 6mm on hand.  So for the cleats on the transom knees, I shortened the 6mm to 5mm, and used the 9mm and 6mm cleats in the other areas of the stern.  I see in these enlarged photos a couple of spots that need touching up, but I'm otherwise happy with the way these details turned out.
 
Erik

I've continued to work on the keel. I pulled the parts from the billets and prepped them. Chuck has mentioned that the wood is so thick it's pushing the laser cutting to the extreme. You can see the wedges and how the laser cut tapers. It doesn't cause any issues though. The wedges were assembled, cut to match the plans and added to the lower apron. Next I will be adding the rising wood and working on the deadwood and wedges that go on the deadwood.
 
 

Got the two long pieces of veneer on the upper hull attached.
 

 

 
Because these pieces are so wide, they are terribly unforgiving of any error in hull fairing, and that point is made apparent toward the bow. Here you can see that the natural curve of the veneer creates some small pockets where too much material was removed during the hull fairing process.
 

 
You can't simply smash these down, because that will cause the veneers to buckle. Nor can you simply ignore them, because doing so will cause the wales (the next belt of planking) to sit too low relative to the upper veneers. Nope, I'm gonna have to add some material in those areas to raise the surface slightly and allow the wales to sit level with the upper hull veneers. An unwelcome task, but necessary.
 
In the meantime, I may be hitting the pause button yet again on this build, for reasons I'll discuss in a separate topic. 😮 Don't worry -- nothing bad!

And I’m back, a bloke made up a box for her. Still got some gaps which I used acrylic water, once it sets clear I can start in the waves proper

A hello across the pond.
I would like to present my Lady Nelson to you here.
Unfortunately, I only discovered this forum after completing it.
During my apprenticeship 40 years ago, I built the Gorch Fock from Graupner for my boss, after that only motorcycles from your beautiful country.
To see if I am still able to build a ship as an old man, I bought this nice lady from Victory Models.
You won't find any great special features as the kit was completed within eight weeks, just to see if I could manage all the steps.
The short construction time is due to the excellent quality of the parts and plans. The existing video on YouTube was just as helpful.
All in all, I would say that this is a wonderful kit for beginners with dexterous fingers.
Greetings from the Palatinate
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

It's been about a year and a half since my last post! We had a daughter in December so been very busy with baby duty and had alot less time to work on the boat and post. But while I haven't been actively updating my build log -- i have been making very slow but steady progress toward completing the boat. 
 
Hard to remember all the steps since the last post but will try to summarize the work. In general I started to do a bit of hopping around in terms of steps. I wanted to get all the parts built and ready before glueing. 
 
Adding the Ports
I used a small compass to help with positioning all the ports and anchor slots.

Painting the base
To paint the hull, I first primed and sanded the entire hull. I did about 3-5 coats to get it smooth and polished. 
I found getting a good straight waterline to be a bit tricky. I tried a bunch of different methods such as measuring from the top, using a pencil on a stand but ended up mounting a laser level on a tripod and then tracing it across. Probably a bit excessive but did make for the straightest line.  
 
 
I then used moving paper to block off the under water part fo the boat for first painting the black top. 

After about 8 -10 coats on the top and bottom, the hull came out really nice & smooth

I had a bit of bleed under the painting tape but nothing that won't be covered by the water line tape.
 
Deck Parts
Making the chainplates intimidated me so i skipped them initially and built all the cabins. This took forever but was a good task during the baby's naptimes. I didn't capture many pictures of the sanding and shaping.
 
I wasn't 100% satisfied with the precision of the cutting and shaping but overall they look great from a few feet away. 
 
I wanted a more mahogany color for the deck cabins so I did purchase a different brown than the one supplied in the kit which I really like. 
 

I found the fife-rails to be impossible. It took me several weeks to get them together. I couldn't seem to find a strategy for gluing the parts together that (1) didn't have ton of excess glue and (2) was well shaped. So far i think this is my least elegant piece. After many failed attempts, i was able to get them together after buying a new stand that let me shape grips to hold them in place while the glue dried. They aren't particularly square or flat but at this point i'm happy they are staying together. 
Here's a pick of all the little bits, cleats and other parts getting painted. I did end up doing more than 1 coat just to make sure everything was properly covered. I found an un-thinned first coat followed by a second coat that was thinned worked well without loosing too many details.
Chainplates
 
I now came back to the chainplates. I used scrap wood and brass. I felt they were okay -- not particularly even once i got them glued and assembled but painted black you can't really notice on the hull unless you look very closely. I used an extra piece from the fife rail to make small little notches for the nails into the hull. 


 
Launches 
 
Sanding, priming and painting the launches was pretty straight forward. Did use some wood filler to try and smooth out the hulls before priming. 
 

 
Sail Yards and masts
I used a power drill to help shape the sail yards and masts. Just put one end in the jig and held the other with sandpaper -- this worked well and shaping was relatively fast.  

I then shaped and filed the spreaders, trucks and other parts of the masts. I painted them all separately before putting them back together again. I noticed this created a bit of a problem because the black paint rubbed off whenever there was friction as i slid the spreaders on. Didn't grab a picture -- but will do so next time.
 Placed all the pieces on the boat, but haven't glued most down -- starting to really come together and can now envision the final state which certainly helps motivate me to keep working on it. 
 
I've now got the masts, boom, gaff, bowsprits ready and just need to work on fixing up the bow and getting all the bolts glued. 

People sometimes ask why I don't build any jets in card. Simple answer: I only build in 1/33 scale, and at that scale jets are simply too large to fit on my available shelving!

Hollywood does tend to operate that way.

Guilty! I needed to pump up our stats -- at least, that's the excuse I'm going to use! 😳

First two cowl rings and radiator shutters completed.

 
Now I'm busy trying to make sense of the assembly instructions and diagrams, which leave a substantial portion of the build process to the imagination.