Chuck

Happy 4th to all my fellow countryman.....☺️ I think I will spend this holiday working on the Winnie. With the drop planks completed, I could add the second layer of wales and the black strake. I used 3/64" thick planks for the wales and just 1/64" thick planks for the black strake. One thing I see a lot on kit models are the wales made really thick. They stand proud of the planking by 1/16". This was not the case usually and so the on this model the wales followed this actual practice. Here is a great example on this contemporary model from the same period. This is the Amazon....note the wales and how thick they are in relation to the planking. By the way..this is how I plan to show the quarter deck modeled with exposed beams...at least as of today. So here is the Winnie with wales and black strake completed on the port side. It makes the world of difference in its appearance. And one other thing I would like to mention. The wales and black strake would fit into the rabbet at the stem. It wouldnt stand proud as is shown on most kits and models these days. Its another typical oversight. To fix this, I simply reduced their thickness gradually up to the rabbet so it looks like it fits into the rabbet. I used a sharp chisel and some fine sandpaper. Comments and questions are always welcomed!!!

Hows progress coming along? You are nearly all done with the model. I am looking forward to seeing the finished model. Its coming along fantastic!!!😃

No it is semi scratch....you can buy as much of the laser parts as you want. You must also buy the wood needed separately.... Either from me or from elsewhere. Its an a la carte build which in concept was presented this way so folks might be tempted to scratch some parts rather than buy the mini kits which are sold separately. Chuck

I finished planking the other side up to the sheer. With that completed, I would really like to add the second layer of the wales and the black strake. BUT...it just makes sense to add a few strakes below the first layer of wales first. To do this, we will need to make a drop plank at the bow. The drop plank essentially takes two strakes at mid ship and reduces them down to one strake as it enters the rabbet at the bow. I really good example of this is shown below on this contemporary model. A very similar drop plank was used on the Cheerful model as well. They are not that difficult to lay out and make. But having said this, I noticed that a few people building the Cheerful had some trouble making theirs. So to make that easier this time around, I laser cut the drop planks. Of course this may need tweaking to fit on other models of the Winnie. It will be almost certain that the planks above it will be added slightly different on everyone's model. But it should be very close. At the very least, it could be used as a template and new one cut to fit your model. You will notice another small tool in that photo above. Its two 1/4" wide planks glued together. This will be used as a gauge to mark the two strakes aft of the drop plank. Basically you should mark every bulkhead starting with bulkhead "Q" and work your way aft. Those bulkheads ahead of "Q" will have planks slightly narrower and tapered. Then I took the "tail" of the drop plank which will end on bulkhead "Q" and did a dry fit. I wanted to make sure a 1/4" plank would fit between the drop plank and wales....the "tail" of the drop plank is on the top in the photo below......then I checked to see if the plank fit and matched my tick marks. The drop plank was glued into position. I made sure that the "tail" ended where my tick marks indicated. Then I continued planking the two strakes and worked my way aft. Now I can finally add the second layer of wales and the black strake. That will be done next and after painting the wales this model should actually start looking like something recognizable as a frigate. Heres an overall view of the hull.....it will look much different once those wales are completed and painted. Once again heres that contemporary model.....note how the wales are black and the black strake is left natural. This is what I will be shooting for.

I chose to model the Cheerful with her anchors stowed. You could however choose to show the model with anchor cable as others have done. Just check out some of the other build logs. Its a personal choice. I rather prefer not showing the anchor cables. Chuck

Remember guys....the best source for inspiration when building any model is to look at the contemporary sources available. If you want to see how it was done in reality.....really study the this model and others. Look at how the rigging is done...or how narrow the cap rail should be....or how thin the molding on the hull should be. This is in stark contrast to the kit. Look at the thole pins. Check out contemporary plans that show how a swivel gun stock was built. It was not just placed on top of the cap rail after widening it. Note on the plan I posted how narrow the cap rail is along with the swivel gun stocks that are attached to the inside of the bulwarks. Note where they are located on the hull. They are never on the transom. The aft pair are almost always shown where they are seen on the draft.

Its all lovely wood actually....but as you mentioned, there will always be variables. So after you rip your strips, they should be sorted for color. Those being darker for your tastes can be set aside for areas that you know will be painted. For example, the inboard bulwarks. Dont throw it away or discard it Mike....use it for the bulwarks. Chuck

So happy to you start this kit...I will be following along. Have fun with it and dont hesitate t0o ask me any questions. Chuck

which blade did you end up getting for general ripping of boxwood? Did you get .030 kerf blade? That is the one I use mostly and you can hardly tell it apart from the Thurston equivellant.

Thank You!!! That is very kind of you to say.

Nice planking Ryland....only 4 more to go!!! Very precise joints. Its so nice to see so many clean well crafted longboats. Yours is an excellent example. Chuck

For an example.....check out this Victory model which is in a beautiful case with table. If we as ship model builders tried to just buy this case and table for something we built it would cost more than what the model was sold for at auction. This model of Victory with additional cross section...... all cased up sold for just $400. It is a typical kit model nicely made with sails. Probably a Mamoli kit maybe. https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/24092/lot/392/ I do not mean to discourage you, developing a reputation and a following takes time. For example, I was offered $12,000 for my Cheerful not long ago. I didnt sell it however because its something that needs to be used as part of my business. I also sold one of my 1/4" pinnace models and 1/4" longboat models to a collector not long ago. They sold for about $3900 as a pair...all cased up. Not a huge sum but I made several others that I have decided to keep and how many of these can you have laying around. For the past 15 years I have just been giving my models away as I complete them....but my wife and kids want to keep a few of them now. The few models that I have sold were to people who came to me and specifically wanted to buy my model or have me build one for them. This is a very different situation and one I am grateful for. My guess is because I dont have much of a name as a frequent seller of models outside of the few who already know me, if I tried to sell one at a gallery or auction, I would get about $500 as well. Not enough to cover the cost of the case and materials. Unless you get someone who seeks you out personally and realizes the value of of your time and expertise and level of craftsmanship, selling them is hard. It takes work and a lot of time and help to get recognized as a ship model artist that commands decent money for their models. Chuck

It is just like trying to sell your paintings if you are an fine artist. Unless you have a track record of sales no matter what the quality of the art which shows some provenance, and you have a name and some following and notoriety in the industry, your art wont sell for that much. This takes years to develop and usually that means selling through galleries and auction houses. You will sell them at very low prices at first and then if your lucky.....you will gain a reputation and name for yourself and command higher prices. Its hard work to do this of course. I have seen good, master quality ship models sell for $30,000 and up...... and I have seen equally good work sell for $100's of dollars. Mostly because the builder doesnt have the name or reputation that commands higher prices. Its just the way things work. A gallery or good nautical reseller will do whatever they can to inflate your name and reputation so it does get more well known......in order to hopefully raise the asking price to match the quality of craftsmanship. If your work is less than master quality which should be left to others to judge in the industry, then most likely the model will be considered "furniture grade display" like the hundreds of models sold on Ebay and elsewhere. If you google any nautical auctions from various houses that sold models you will see some outstanding work with final sales prices in the hundreds. Some maybe around $1500 - $2000. Most if not all of them are not kits or kit-like. So without a photo it would be very hard to say. But I wish you the very best of luck. These can command a few hundred dollars and maybe a bit more as a decorative item at best. Its a tough racket to break into.

Really nicely done.....very clean work and your care in craftsmanship really shows. The joints are nice and tight .......excellent work.

That looks great. Keep up the fine work and I look forward to seeing more.

Yes that is common practice. You are absolutely correct. Just to let you know, we (myself included) have opened up dialogue with many of the Chinese manufacturers. Rather than just beat the drum and continue to lock horns with these folks, we are reaching out and trying to encourage the development of new and original works. I would even go as far as to say, that I personally am trying to bridge the gaps between us and work together with some of these guys to encourage new and original designs like this kit. AND to start fresh with new brands in order to highlight the new original stuff is a great start. I know some of these designers first hand and I will tell you that they would rather design stuff that is exciting and fresh and "original" . When I speak with them it is like talking to any kit designer in the west and we have much in common. I am very excited about this kit in particular and even more so with the other new designs in the pipeline from the handful of designers and brands I am trying to work with. Please welcome Trident as one of the more ambitious and hopefully gracious MFGs from China who is actually working hard ...but change is hard.....and I am going to encourage them as much as I can to continue along this path. I will end with one final thought...I abhor the theft of intellectual property and designs and always will. I will do everything I can to bring that practice to an end. Encouraging and developing relationships with designers all over the world will be a positive step in that direction. Promoting these original projects is an important part of that.

I dont know.......I havent used it for very long. Time will tell!!! But I am being very careful to pick wood for planking that is very close in color.

Thanks guys... Interesting about the Alaskan cedar is that like other woods, there are plenty of color variations within a batch of lumber. It was fairly easy for me to select the darker/more tan cedar I used for the wales which incidentally is a near perfect match for boxwood. You would of course need a huge amount in your wood pile to select the tone you wanted. I could have very easily selected that same color I used for the wales for the entire model. But I wanted to use the more traditional and more plentiful lighter and warmer tone which is what most will see when they get this. Chuck

I have finished planking the starboard side up to the sheer. I will start on the port side this weekend. As you can see now, the wales and black strake are much darker than the wood above it. That was done on purpose so I could easily identify the wales when I add the second layer. Having said that, the Alaskan Yellow cedar is really nice stuff for working this large. I like the color and its easy to work with. This is the largest model ship I have seen made from Yellow cedar. This will be a great test of how versatile and useful it is for ship modeling. Chuck

No I dont sell the wood or have any of that material. Its pretty impossible to import other than by commisioning the cnc carvings. Damn near impossible to import raw wood from China.

As good as your first version looked, this one is even better. It really looks clean and well crafted.

Neither...They are some weird Asian Boxwood. Its what they use to make all of the little carved sculptures you can buy on the web. It has no grain pattern at all and carves like butter. But it is more yellow than Castello or even European box.

Yes they are the milling marks from the monster bandsaw I use to mill sheets from those larger bricks of wood. But you dont see any on the wide sheet I milled. What you do see on the smaller 2" wide sheet is the grain pattern.......so when you rip the strips from this smaller sheet the "important" side of each strip wont have them.

Leopard did a great job showing what I was describing......and no.....edge bending is fine either way. But the face of your strip is smooth and grain-free on your model.

thanks guys....Rusty, I am just waiting til I finish planking a bit more. Its been a long time since I had to cut around so many gun ports. The Starboard side is a third of the way complete. You can see the five strakes of the wales and black strake which are darker. This first layer was done this way on purpose so I could make sure that I put the second and final layers on the right strakes. Also....the black strake can be left bright and unfinished or painted black along with the wales. In this case the wales on the Winnie are so wide I think it would look a bit much. So I will NOT be painting the black strake. I am using other contemporary models like the Amazon as inspiration for this. See below. Imagine if you can if the black strake was also painted black on the model below. It would be too wide and look over-bearing. Dont forget to click on those pics of Amazon.....they are quite large and quite a treat to see this magnificent model up close. I have these handy as inspiration while working on my model. Oh I also made this mock up of the other carvings to display at joint clubs. I know its not the best picture....but I thought I would post what all of the other carvings will look like. These dont have any finish on them.