JeffT

the details on the quarter badge are excellent.

Its a cool little cutter.

I finally got around to starting work on the frames. I decided to start building frames starting near the middle, so I started with frame 25. As you can see frame 25 is 3 layers, A, B and C, A is the forward layer. A and C are both stepped. I'm not sure what the little bits are at the bottom steps. The instructions would have you start with layer c using shims to prop it up, as shown here with frame 27. This may be necessary for two layers frames when both layers have steps, or maybe not, we'll see, but not on the 3 layer frames. The above method didn't make sense to me. Since the middle layer b is not stepped, I decided to start there. I'm using double sided tape to hold the frame parts in the correct position aligned on the plan. There is no glue used on this layer to hold the individual frame parts together, just the tape holds the parts in position. There is quite a bit of cleanup to do on the areas where the frames will be joined together. Lots of laser burn and of course the laser cuts at an angle. This is an example of the cleanup that needs to be done, The parts wont mate properly until its done. This is the hard part for me, cleaning these surfaces up without making a mess of them. Luckily, this is on layer B and wont be visible after assembly. I used mini files for this. I'm using this sander to sand the ends of the parts. Its totally manual, so I have strict control of how much is taken off and making sure the end of the part stays true. Then I glued layer A on top of layer B. Once that dried, I flipped it over and glued layer C onto the other side of layer B. Some frames will need bevels but not this one. I probably will only do what beveling is necessary to fit the frame into the jig and finish the fairing on the model. Frame 25 complete. There are 53 frames so a bit of work is left to build all the frames, it took me several hours to do this one. Thanks for looking.

I wonder if it would be possible to use LED light strips?

Looks great. I need to get back on mine.

I've been using Bondo all purpose putty. Works well.

Very nice!

Thanks George

Planking is definitely one of the more challenging aspects of building a ship. Yours looks good so far.

That worked out well.

Thanks Mark. I assume the pencils are used to hold the PE parts? I think I will try the varnish first.

Progress update. It looks like I'm a little behind on my build log. I finished most of the main hull work, just have to put the photo etch details on. Here is a couple of pics of the progress. I wanted to show how I'm assembling the ladders. I was struggling to get them squared up properly. I used an angle block to steady things up (shaky hands). Here I clamped one side of the ladder to a machinist square and lined up the slot just a hair above the top of the square. Then I glued the ladder step on with just a tiny bit of CA glue to be sure it didn't stick to the metal. This worked great to make sure everything was square. The ladder step sits flat on top of the square and I used the back of the square as a reference to line up the step. I did one step on both sides of the ladder on opposite ends and ended up with this. Then I glued both halves together and finished installing the steps. I reinforced the steps with glue on the back sides of the steps. Current progress. I really struggled with getting the quarter galleries built but it turned out okay. I had to scratch build some of the parts as the kit parts just wouldn't work. I really screwed this up somehow. I also had to butcher one of the lower pieces of PE to get tit to fit below the lower rail. Not sure why it turned out that way. I'm not sure how I will approach the PE along the port and starboard. A couple of pieces are pretty long and somewhat easy to distort. I don't know yet how I will put them on the model. I may separate them into smaller pieces. I painted the top of the channel knees black to cover up the char that remained. Stern view. The PE on the right is slightly off target and may have to debond and fix it, or not. The stern and the rudder were both kind of like little models all by themselves. I enjoyed the process of completing them. The bow. Not a great picture but I painted the inside of the bow parts blue to cover up the char. I started assembling some of the deck components while I think about the PE. I chose to have the hinges and the door handles face outwards on the forward bulkhead. I just think its a nice detail to not hide. I had to make some adjustments to the deck beams as they were a little too wide. Probably because I couldn't use the jigs after I broke all the tabs off (accidentally). I test fitted all deck beams and most needed some adjustment. Of course that means the deck itself will need some work to get a good fit 🤔

Looking good!

I order directly from AK.

Looks very nice. The colors add life to the model.

Looks like you got this.

Best hinges I've seen to date.

Good to see. Laser char is a pain on fragile parts.

Can the digital version of the magazine be downloaded?

Glad to see you got it sorted out.

I do have some concerns about this style of building jig. I can add this to the list. I agree you shouldn't have to go through all of this.