Chuck

Lots of cat memes and funny sign photos to prune for copyright infringements and yada yada... Over 150,000 posts of "what folks had for dinner" and "Old guy parking quirks" This may take a while. In the meanwhile....direct your attention to the other forum areas dedicated to the wonderful world of ship modeling!!! AND please.....do not post one Minion meme in any of the other areas.....wink wink....you know who you are...resist the urge. And yes we still do have a Nautical General discussion forum that should fit your needs for most other stuff other than topics about "those old jokes" and the likes.

That looks very good so far.

Beautiful progress…and its good to see you back at it. if the museum would be up to it…ask them if you could post progress on the restoration. Sounds like an interesting project.

Lovely design...I am eagerly awaiting your progress. Chuck

Unfortunately when you are using the woods we use it becomes impossible to outsource. That creates another huge problem. Getting enough wood milled in Boxwood or Yellow Cedar is tough enough. Having it shipped to supply another laser cutter is impossible. The costs would increase by another 30 to 35%. I Have gotten quotes for laser cutting and its ridiculous. In fact I do outsource some laser cutting where I use plywood, the Winnie bulkheads for example. But the limited woods they carry are problematic unless I start using Basswood like every other manufacturer. I may laser cut one Speedwell in Basswood just to see how it looks. But I have to find someone willing to build it. If it works I could have a dozen ready to go in no time at all!!! But if someone is spending this money they dont want to use basswood. If I were to use Basswood or any other wood not suitable for better ship models it would be an easy solution. I would be cutting more Speedwell parts right now if I had the milled wood on the shelf. Logistics are awful. But like I said…I wont limit the number of Speedwell kits but they will be slow in the making. Getting regular shipments of 100's of milled yellow cedar sheets or Boxwood sheets is not an easy task. And its super expensive. I will always keep one or two of each chapter on the shelf. Remember at the same time I am still laser cutting Winnie parts and Cheerful parts and a whole host of others. Laser time is the easy part...getting material is another.

Beautifully done...

Looking great…and that is some fine looking rope.

Absolutely beautiful!!!

Thanks...I am really happy with the frieze thus far in the project. Just a quick update that I have finished the port side molding and friezes which is nice. That completes chapter 3. Next up I will start work on the outboard stern details and carvings. That will fill up chapter 4 so I can start work on the interior in chapter 5. Have a great week guys!!!

Excellent progress. And your carvings look fantastic. I too got stuck with those poor chisels from micromark.

That looks very good. You have been busy. Chuck

Looks good to my eye.

January….but maybe earlier if I can get enough milled wood.

I am not sure yet. I may actually just skip the POB all together and if I only sell a handful of Speedwell POF kits then so be it. And then move onto the smaller subjects I started. It is what it is. I am still mulling it over. Its a big decision. But so far there are about 9 pof kits reserved. I will just keep a couple on the shelf after making those first 9 and see where it goes. I decided not to put a number on how many POF kits I will eventually make. I will just keep one or two on the shelf and if they ever sell thats fine. If they do sell I will just make one or two more. Some other smaller prototypes in progress below. Hudson River Sloop and Block Island Fishing Boat. chuck

Just beautiful. Well done.

Thank you all who have contacted me. I have a grand total of 8 people who have reserved the first two chapters of the fully framed kit. I will laser cut those 8 and another 2 additional to keep on the shelf. Just in case. I am buying all of the supplies needed to complete them now and also getting the plans printed and starting to write the monograph chapters. Should be a fun project for those who are taking the plunge.

Its sadly not…that would be an entirely different model needed to be started from scratch. Just to let folks know because that request comes up a lot. Not just of me but I see folks ask other mfg’s as well. You just cant increase or decrease the size. Any change in scale requires quite a bit of redesign…as if you were starting from the beginning. Wood thicknesses and sizes will get too screwy and you couldnt use nominal common sizes. It would be such a headache.

There are so many cross sections out there already…good…bad…and ugly and everything in between. Two chapter one sets almost complete If I only sell 5 of these that will be fine…if I sell more, thats great too. But I am not gonna worry about it too much unless the Admiral finds out how much $$$ I lost on the project, LOL I might just push ahead with the POF only and just cut my losses…and move on to another project once this is done. That would be the smartest thing to do. LOL

Remember that is just for the first two chapters....although I have been discussing with Joe my wood supplier and we have come up with a plan to make things a lot more plausible. Yes its about $500 my cost for those first two chapters after its all said and done....Plans, Licensing fee, packaging, laser time and wood. This doesnt include the design time or time to write the instructions etc. Its really not a smart business decision...its more of a labor of love and I really wanted to build it for myself. So there is that satisfaction. That is pretty much the only way to do it. I couldnt possibly ask Joe to mill the hundreds of sheets of wood needed at one time. So I will be making just one or two chapter sets at a time as my wood supply allows. I will of course make the initial 5 sets of chapters one and two to start. I already have two sets laser cut....three more to go. Chuck

Yes indeed it does Greg And just to clarify...when I say POB it isnt the traditional POB. I have known for some time that few would ever pay this much money for a quality POF kit. I have planned for the last year to make sure that I could recoup my initial investment. I have had a design in POB made and ready to go for a while now. Just in case. Forget everything you know about previous POB designs. This version will look identical to the fully framed version. But it will let you fully detail all of the interior. It is basically the same kit with less than half the frames.

There will be a limited run of 10 or 15 POF kits. I am cutting the first two chapters now which will comprise all of the framing for the first five. The cost for the first 2 Chapters is $800. It is comprised of a whole lot of wood sheets. The estimated total cost for the project fully rigged will be about $2300. To reserve one of these very special limited edition POF version send me a PM to reserve it. Although when time and my wood supply permits, I will keep one or two sets of these first chapters on the shelf. Chuck

Thanks for the feedback. It was very helpful. I will be making just 5 of the POF kits. That is it. It is sure to become a collectors item. After talking to many kit mfg’s about the economy and current sales trends this is the best option. Maybe in the future there will be another run of 5 kits. Please send me a PM to reserve one as a pre-Order reservation. The cost for the first 2 chapters is $800. Beyond that, each chapter will be considerably less with the completed kit costing around $2300. This will be a fully rigged model. Chuck

A quick question for the group and an important one for what will be very apparent if you continue reading. And I thought some of you might be interested in the business side of kit mfg and some of the decisions someone like me must make. As you guys know, I am working on. POF kit of Speedwell…below I designed this kit so that the first two chapters would complete the entire framing and skeleton. As you can imagine the number of parts needed to fully frame the entire skeleton before planking is substantial. They are quite thick as well. Chapter one and two uses 5 sheets of 3/8” thick Cedar 15 sheets of 1/4” and 7 sheets of 5/16” as well as another 14 sheets of various thicknesses. A grand total of 41 sheets of Yellow cedar to complete the first two chapters. That gets you to the point where you can begin planking and adding other details in Chapter 3. The same point as completing a plank on bulkhead skeleton where you are about to start planking. This is what it looks like after the first two chapters… I need to ask those who are very interested in building this kit and would likely purchase the first two chapters a question. And anyone else who cares to share their input. What Price would you expect to pay for these first two chapters? Being fair minded and knowing the amount of wood used in these first two chapters and how long it takes to laser cut all those parts. About one full day to laser cut two chapters for one kit. Maybe a day and half. What do you think is a fair price to pay for a framing set of these two chapters? What is the price you would be willing to pay? the hull is only slightly smaller than the Winnie…about the same exact size as the Vanguard Indi kit. First two chapters and printed plans and instructions… $400 $550 $700 $850 more? I have started laser cutting the parts to make the first two chapters…. I know what my costs are and it may determine how many of these I actually make. Most likely a limited run because it is sick expensive to make these outside of China or Russia. material cost..??? time to laser and mfg??? time to research and design??? Keep in mind that a POB version would cost you about $275 to buy the parts needed to complete the skeleton so you could begin planking.

No just this scale will be tough enough to produce.

I agree Druxey but as you said it does mimic the old contemporary models. I imagine I did speed up the darkening with age for this version of the frieze. But I am shooting for that contemporary look as I always do. I guess the older I get I also like my models to have a bit of patina, LOL But rest assured there will be that shiny new traditional blue folks are fond of.