bowwild

Build something you like. This is the recommendation from kit builders advising relative newbies that I struggle with. I've built, in my youth several plastic modes, mostly airplanes but a Constitution also. Twenty-five years ago I build a small "sloop" without any difficulty. Then I built the Harvey, again without too much difficulty, but I made a lot of rigging mistakes as I discovered a month ago when repairing the bow of the boat after a fall. I kept a Mantua HMS Victory kit and a Sovereign of the Seas kit in the que for nearly 25 years. I got the Victory kit out after having stopped building just before the planking step. I spent a few days on first layer of planking and discovered that I had not done a good job of bulkhead preparation. I then sold the just opened SOF kit for a $500 loss a few weeks ago, I didn't like the instructions. Now I'm heck-bent on giving it another serious go. I am an experienced wood worker built on a much larger scale than model ships (furniture). I have way too much equipment for the hobby nature of my activities in that area. Building something I like is very important to me and I'm not drawn to the simple or small builds such as row boats and single mast ships. These days with build logs, videos, and great instructions I think I can take on a variety of complicated model kits from say Vanguard, Syren, Caldercraft, or Occre. I'm leaning very heavily towards Vanguard's Indefatigable because of its large scale, great instruction. and builder friendly design features (locking wedges and the like). However, I am more interested in even more imposing ships like Victory, Sovereign of the Seas, San Felipe, Wasa, HMS Trafalgar, and Le Soleil Royal, but I don't know which of any of these will come close to Vanguard's thoroughness in terms of materials, instructions, and build design?

One of my least enjoyable classes at Purdue as I achieved my Bachelor's Degree in Forestry, was wood identification. One considers a variety of characteristics to determine wood from a small 2"x2" block: Color of face grain End grain (pores and rays) (usually have to wet the surface a bit, dare I say "spit" on it?) Face grain Hardness Weight (weight was difficult with small pieces) For a few species, aroma will work (sassafras comes to mind) My guesses are, top to bottom: Cherry, (but there may be a slight green tinge which would be characteristic of yellow poplar (tulip tree -fastest growing deciduous tree in the Easter US) Walnut (the grain on this sample seems a bit too straight though) Mahogany Of course when dealing with hobby wood, all types of exotics (to the U.S.) are commonly used which complicate matters a bunch. How much would I wager than I'm correct .... ZERO. 😇

Your creativity and "problem" solving is beyond genius! Your photography is also terrific as we can clearly see what you've accomplished...every detail!

Very interesting build. Your attention and eye for detail shines. Thanks for sharing your experience.