andy

Hi Ferit,

Thanks for the good wishes. So far, things are going well. When you get around to building the ship be sure to visit Xander's website whose link is above, or send me your email address and I will send you the PDF file I am creating.

I have also read on the internet that the Wappen von Hamburg was part of the Brandenburg Navy, but I think that is wrong. At the time Hamburg was an independent city-state and part of the Hanseatic League. Her merchant fleet was being attacked by pirates so the city commissioned two warships to protect shipping. The other ship was Leopoldus Primus, and they were both build by a Dutch master shipbuilder.

Anyway, thanks again.

Andy

Hi Nils - she is a talented builder, and wq3296 - I'm on it!!

Hi Chris,

I read your post a couple of hours after I cut the gun ports in question. I couldn't even find a a scale diagram in the kit's drawings, so I just followed Xander's photographs. I think I will be OK.

Andy

Hi Everyone,

After a very long time we are actually getting a little rain here in Northern California, and I have found a little time to work on the ship. After a trial fitting I have glued the bulkheads to the keel after making sure they were aligned correctly in all directions. I had previously made the cuts required on the stern bulkhead and lined the cuts with thin strips as suggested in Xander' build log. I have printed out the PDF file and reference it constantly while building.

Hi J. Pett,

Given the fact that my best friend,aka my wife, is a women, I am well aware of the benefits of female friendship. I would very much like to contact Xander and thank her for her website, but I haven't quite figured out how to effectively communicate through the language barrier yet. I'm working on it.

If you would like a copy of the PDF file, send me your email address.

Andy

If I were 40 years younger and unmarried, and she was unmarried, I would fall in love with this woman. What a shipbuilding talent!!  Her name is Xander, and I only post her picture on the internet because she has already done so. She is from Russia, and I have just spent about 20 hours with her build of the Wappen von Hamburg, creating a PDF file of her build log.

I decided to cover only the first half of Xander's build log in this PDF because it was already 25 pages long and I was worried about it getting too big to conveniently email. Not only that but it must already cover 6 months to a year of build time, so I can wait for a bad build day(s).

Even though Chrome's translation from Russian is at times incomprehensible, the pictures are priceless, and her workmanship is awesome. It is a pleasure to study.

If anyone is interested send me a private message with your home email, and I will send it out.

Hi Everyone,

Chris, the website is a lifesaver and wonderfully informative. It has everything, and more, that I hoped would be in the instructions. I think the builder, who has done a beautiful job, is a woman with a small child and a cat! Without a doubt, you and she, have made a terrific contribution to my build. I thought I did a thorough search of the web, but failed to find this website. I am so glad you did.

I am going to halt construction of the WvH while I digest this whole website. I plan to create my own instruction manual from the words and pictures on the website, and put it in the form of a PDF file. I am a retired graphics designer, so I have lots of page design and other Adobe software. I have used Google Chrome to translate the web pages. It is not perfect, but much of it is understandable.

Since it will be a PDF file I can email it to anyone who is interested, once I complete it. I'll let everyone know when its finished.

Hi Joe,

Glad to have you along for this adventure in ship building. Since I also consider myself a relative newbie, I'm not sure I always tackle things the right way, but it is always a learning experience.

Andy

Hi Chris,

I found your build log when I was researching the WvH, and like everyone else, was impressed with your planking. Its a beautiful job. I need you to continue your build log and lead the way for me.

Andy

Hi Brian,

A second planking is, indeed, my fallback position.

Andy

Hi J. Pett,

Thanks for the link. I found those pictures some time ago and downloaded them all to my computer and IPad. In fact, if you look closely at some of the pictures I have posted you will see 3 of them framed and hung on the wall of my work area. I don't know who the builder is, but it might be the most perfect ship build I have ever seen. It says on the website that it took 13 years and 8,000 hours.

Andy

Hi all,

Lighten up guys! I was laughing when I wrote the quiz. I have every intention of building a beautiful ship for the city of Hamburg, and then going off to fight Barbary Coast pirates.

Hi everyone,

Right from the start, I have become confused about construction of the WvH. Thinking I might find some help by studying other build logs of the ship, I began an internet search. Much to my surprise, I couldn't find a single one of any use. "How can this be?", I asked. Corel is one of the largest kit manufacturers, and this is their most comprehensive kit!

To answer this question I have devised a multiple choice quiz, which you are urged to take.

     Why are there no build logs of Corel's Wappen von Hamburg?

                a.) The kit is way too expensive for what you get, and nobody buys it.

                b.) Builders take one look at the directions, put them back in the box and put the box back     

                     under the bed

                c) Builders start construction, run afoul of the misleading and/or nonexistent instructions and

                   completely give up.

                d) Nobody really wants to deal with a single planked hull.

                e) All of the above.

A very wise man, Alexander Pope, wrote in a poem,"Fools rush in where angels fear to tread. As chief fool I have plunged headlong into the project. Since I only have the barest idea of where i am going, I have decided to trial fit as much as I can before actually doing anything permanent. More to follow.

Hi everyone,

Thanks so much for the words of praise. I really appreciate it.

Andy

Hi Everyone,

I thought one final picture of The Sovereign of the Seas in her final display spot would be appropriate.

Hi all,

A few thoughts on the above posts;

Max: When I was building the SoS I was trying to make it as close as possible to the famous painting of the Sovereign and its builder Peter Pett  done shortly after its completion by Peter Lely. This painting clearly shows the hull painted white below the waterline. I have also thought about purchasing additional wood for a second planking as a fall-back position. We'll see how it goes.

Testazyk: Thanks for the comments and I look forward to hearing from you as I go along. 

Chris: Thanks for the advice. I will keep it in mind.

JPett: I had already taken some of the contents from the box, but below are all of the contents as they were this morning.

Hi everyone,

Thanks so much for the encouragement and comments. I went out to the boatyard this morning eager to get started. I was immediately disappointed with the quality of the instructions. I was hoping for something better than the Sovereign of the Seas, but on first blush, these seem worse.

I then thought a good place to start would be some inventory taking, but quickly ran into pieces that were  unnumbered and difficult to identify from the parts list. Oh well, if this was easy, everyone would do it.

I do like the quality of what I've seen so far but OMG, I think this hull is single planked. I've never done that before, and I think I will have to upgrade my planking skills.

Note to JPett: I will take some pictures of the contents and post them tomorrow.

The Sovereign of the Seas has been completed, The Wappen von Hamburg's box has been moved to the shed (AKA the Boatyard) and all tools have been cleaned. I guess it is time to get started.

For the past several weeks I have been admiring fifteen large format images of Corel's Wappen von Hamburg that I found on the internet. As inspiration I printed out 3 of the pictures, framed them, and hung them on the wall in the boatyard. (They can be seen in the picture above) The build is perfect and exhibits the kind of workmanship I have always hoped to achieve.

Today, I went back to the site and actually read the text. Imagine my surprise when I read that it took the builder thirteen years and eight thousand hours to complete the build. Right from the start I know I won't spend that amount of time, but I will do the best job I can. The link to the site is;

http://www.modelships.de/Wappen_von_Hamburg_I_1/Wappen_von_Hamburg_I_1eng.htm

Time to take inventory and look over the instructions

Hi Everyone,

Thanks so much for all of your comments. I really appreciate them, and look forward to your support as I start on the Wappen von Hamburg.

Andy

Hi Everyone,

It has been over a month since my last post because I have been pushing to get the Sovereign completed, and I'm happy to say if is finished. All in all it has been an enjoyable but difficult build. The kit has almost everything needed to build a beautiful model, but the instructions are practically worthless, and I thought the quality of a few of the materials was lacking.

Building the Sovereign is a bit of a humbling experience and has shown me how far I have come in this hobby, but also how far I have yet to go. When I see the level of workmanship of some of my fellow modelers, I shake my head in wonder. There were many times during construction when I knew I should be doing a better job, but just didn't know how. As they say about getting to Carnegie Hall: Practice, Practice, Practice.

Several months ago I received an email from one of our suppliers announcing a major sale on Corel's Wappen von Hamburg. It was less than half price so I bought it and stuck the huge box under my bed. After a brief break from shipbuilding, I will be digging it out and starting another major project.

When I first started building the Sovereign I came across the famous painting of the ship, and it's builder Peter Pett, by Peter Lely. I thought it might be fun to try and duplicate the painting with my own ship and me. Below is the result and some final photos of the model.

Hi Gary and Denis,

Coming from you guys, that's high praise.

Thanks

Hi Edwin,

Thanks Edwin, those are very kind words. I often think I have bitten off more than I can chew with this kit, but given my relative lack of building experience, I'm pretty pleased with the way it is coming along.

Andy

Hi Everyone,

Shipbuilding moves more slowly in the summertime because the high temperatures here in Northern California limit shipbuilding time in the shed to early morning, when it is cool.  In spite of that, I have completed, installed and rigged the main mast. Today, I started working on the mizzen mast. Everything has gone pretty well, although it is hard to keep all the lines taut. If you tighten one line, something else gets loose. I'm sure, though, that I am not the only one who has experienced this problem.

Hi Everyone,

I have moved on from the almost-disaster and have completed the anchors, all the ratlines and the remaining rigging of the foremast. I have primarily been working on the main-mast off the ship, doing all but the lower shrouds and ratlines and adding all the required blocks. Today I started tapering the spars.

Hi Gary,

Its a great idea, but the cases are so darn expensive! Given the klutz I am, I probably would do more damage moving a ship the size of SOS into and out of the case every time I wanted to work on it. If the sky falls down on my ship again, I'm going to take it as a serious sign.

By the way, I found confirmation of your statement that there weren't any foot ropes until 1640 in the book VASA by Fred Hocker. In spite of that, I'm going to keep them on because I like the look of them and assume my model is the ship after a later retrofit.