Chuck

Not very much… maybe 4 pounds…5 pounds is pushing it. The cherry version may be heavier. But the cedar is very light.

All we have to do is add another category for folks in the Gallery so folks can create albums in it. What to call it? “photos of historical vessels or museum ships” something like that but I am worried folks will start adding copyrighted photos they find on the web etc. Some dont know any better…it could be an issue for us to moderate. For example you just cant go to the Sultana official website and start scrubbing photos to put in an album here of their sailing replica. Ten bucks says that starts to happen immediately. Chuck

If you are looking for cheaper alternatives that look like rope right off the spool…your best bet is to check Ebay regularly for old linen fishing line. Hopefully you will find a bunch by one seller so its all the same color. Remarkable stuff. https://www.ebay.ca/itm/255482484038?hash=item3b7bf15546:g:ze8AAOSwC-RiU42a see this link for example

Unless I drop dead I will be continuing to make parts for a long time. And if I ever decide to stop many years in the future I will find someone to cut parts for all my projects. I plan on handing the keys over to the chocolate factory "Willie Wonka" style at some point. Pass out golden tickets in Syren bars, LOL. No joke...

Looking great. Fantastic progress

Here is the updated drawing for the lantern.. And a look at the Amazon stern. Which is beautiful. Note it has three lanterns but the Winnie only has one. In comparison to my simplified version. How the heck did they make this stuff way back then?

Nicely done.

That looks great. Dont worry about the color of the cedar varying. It will deepen and even out. My winnie hull is a completely different color now vs when I finished planking. It really mellows.

Well uh yupp!!! I decided to make an entirely new lantern. I tweaked it yet again. There were two things bugging me. Not that I wasnt happy with the old one but I know I would see those two issues for eternity. SO first I reduced the overall diameter. The heght was fine. But it was a bit to fat for my tastes. I reduced it to 95% of what it was. Just a wee bit. In addition I reworked the design to move the vent on the roof aft slightly. Previously it was in the center of the hex. That is incorrect and kept bugging me. The vent should be on the same diagonal as the aft edge or main axis of the lantern. That was challenging to design but building it is no different. Here are some photos of the revises lantern which to my eye looks more to scale and better. I hope you agree although it may difficult to see such small changes. I am my own worst enemy with this stuff. Its also higher on the transom as we spoke about. I used the contemporary models of Amazon and the princess Royal to get a good sense of the height. The door can easily swing open to service the lantern and its easily accessible. It takes a good full day to make this lantern and mount it. Although much quicker this last time around. I have made six in all. There are a lot of failures you guys dont see.

Thats cheating.... Like the Capstan and stove there are plenty of little pieces. But having this made of boxwood really does add a lot to the model if done well. That goes without saying...but for these mini kits there are two other secret weapons. They may seem obvious but it is often overlooked. First....Keep it clean....Wash your hands thoroughly first. Like you were going into surgery. Keeping tiny parts clean is so crucial. Use lots of sand paper. Meaning as soon as it gets dirty with char, throw it away. Otherwise it will just dirty up all your parts. I went through so much 400 grit sandpaper making the lantern. Removing the char carefully without getting it on my fingers and spreading it around. Second....magnification....when making these small fittings I use the strongest magnification possible. You can only see when its 5" in front of you and this helps a lot. Great for tight joints on small parts and keeping your parts clean. The lantern probably should have been a bit higher but I couldnt bring myself to drill through the boat carving on the stern. I drilled for the bracket through the water instead. This proved to be a mistake after looking at it for a while. So since these pictures were taken I moved the lantern higher and filled the hole in the carving. Its much better now. And you cant tell I ever hesitated. I have a ton more construction photos and will be processing them soon. But while working on the model I have now fallen so far behind with rope making and other parts I will be very busy for the next week. So no more building for me. But this just leaves the headwork. From the photos of the hull above that is pretty much what the finished hull will look like since you cant see the headrails arent completed. I have to write chapter 11 as well. Chuck

The stern lantern is a reworked example of what I currently sell as a mini kit. This one is tweaked a bit but the same concept. I wanted to try my hand at a fully wooden lantern which means this new mini-kit is all boxwood. It is delicate. The old one will look the same but it is made with laserboard elements. Its your choice really. The older version will have to be painted or use the windsor and Newton Markers. I will detail the process to make the new version.....here is the plan... There is a secret to making these neatly and cleanly!!! Want to know what that secret is?

Im tending to agree with you and it could always be one of those things that anyone could add on their own and make their model more unique. I think the barge on spare topmasts may be enough.

Thanks guys...I am having a struggle with deciding how much else to add in the waist. Should I add boarding stanchions or the skid beam crutches? They might look out of place. I was planning on mounting the barge on two spare topmasts and it may look odd with empty skid beam crutches. It may look even more odd with the skid beams and too busy. I am not sure how to proceed but will skip ahead to the chapter12 and start work on the stern lantern next. I dont like adding stuff just for the sake of adding it. Especially if it makes the model look over crowded and too busy. The contemporary model is so clean without them. In fact it doesnt even show the gangboards. We shall see. If I follow Amazon it will get so busy with hammock cranes and all the stanchions. Might be tricky adding the cranes along the qdeck caprail now that the rail is completed as well. The ships barge may be plenty enough on those spare topmasts.

Thanks!! I am working on the gangways now to finish up chapter 11. Almost there...

Looking really fantastic.

That looks very nice...now the fun part!!! Will you be carving from cherry as well? Chuck

That looks really good. Well done.

Lovely!!!

Yes that was stolen from an older set of plans...published in Europe in the 80's and is no way original at all. In fact the kit you have is a rip off of a rip off. Sad to say. They took the plans which were made for model builders and copied them 100% . All parts are identical. The Chinese routinely seek out plans from books and such and just duplicate the parts. It doesnt have to be kit that was copied. In fact I am well aware right now of several pirated versions from plans developed and published in Seawatch books or Ancre books. The pirates favorite sources. Chuck

Lovely model. That is a wonderful cross section Toni.

Welcome to the forum....There are several excellent beginner kits out there on the market. That is certainly not one of them and you have made your experience more difficult. In fact I sadly must tell you that the model you are building is from a Chinese MFG that pirates kits from other manufacturers and plans. That is why they are so terrible. Sadly we prohibit kits made by these Chinese manufacturers so you will not be able to start a build log here. Unfortunately too many newcomers to the hobby are unaware of such unscrupulous and unethical companies who produce these terrible copies. We do have a list of such companies to avoid, I encourage you to read through this topic. Possibly you should look to find a better kit made by one of our sponsors or other legitimate companies as your hobby experience will be so much better. Please read through this topic which will explain everything.

Thank you very much for the kind words

Nicely done. It looks good. No need to redo it. Keep going.

Nice work...your model is really coming together.

LOL…its another figure that Larry painted for me a while ago. I just happened to place it on the model and it fit perfectly. It is marvelously painted. I will leave it for the show next weekend but ask Larry to maybe paint me a more appropriate one for the model. I have the waist details next which will complete chapter 11. Then its time to add the lantern and headrails to finish up the hull. Thats it!!