EJ_L

A major milestone has been reached! I finished installing the forecastle deck today and with it that was the last major structural component. I do still have the turrets, quarter galleys and balcony left to build but major work on the main body of the ship is complete. I also still have some deck furniture, bits, kevels, capstan etc. to install and those will be along shortly.

I also got the rest of the canons rigged in place so that monotonous chore is complete as well. Once the paint dries on the canons for the dummy ports I will install those and all 64 guns will be in place.

Next will be a little bit of a lot of things. I am going to start building the turrets and quarter galleys as well as the misc. furniture. Since there will be a lot of down time waiting on glue to dry for those turrets that will give me a great opportunity to build the furniture. Now that I am working on the exterior and am starting to get more delicate decorations and railing on I get more nervous as I know there will be accidents, I just hope that none will be catastrophic.

Enjoy the pics!

I used to go to Boy Scout camp every summer. Always a fun time and when I got old enough I even worked staff there. Have a good time Elijah! Look forward to you updates when you get back.

Great job on the launch!

Great idea Chris. That will indeed be useful to help in finding those completed projects and especially like you said for rigging as many logs do not make it that far. Thanks!

Good job with that jig. That is the one major downside to laser cutting is the char that often has to be removed without sacrificing the precise cut dimensions. Looks like you may have an effective solution to the problem.

Steve, she really does look great and if that is your first ship model then I can only imagine how awesome your work will be when you get a few more under your belt.

As Keith said, you are the one the model has to please. This is true for the vast majority of us as we build for our own enjoyment. I thnk you have a great model and should be proud to display her.

Very nice Mark. That is a really neat idea to put it down inside the hold. It will make a very nice find for somebody years down the road and in the meantime it is something special for you and your wife.

Great work! Those tools look fantastic. Bowls look great too. How hard were they to put together?

Welcome to MSW Steve! As both Mark and Joe have already said and pointed out, this is the right place for help on figuring out those tricky parts. Being able to share your build with others adds a lot of fun to building these models. I am looking forward to seeing your pIctures.

Rob, it looks like you are off to a great start on your first build. I admit I too am curious about your hook and rubber band set up you have. It does look like a good way of holding those battens in place. I'm assuming from looking at the pictures that there is just enough tension to hold the wood in place and not bend it out of shape.

I think I will follow along and watch your build.

After two days of building canons.... they are still not done.... however they are close. I got the carriages built and most of the rigging ready. I ran out of the blocks I needed but fortunately I placed an order with Chuck last week so I should have more in later this week. Drilled the openings for the barrels and installed the decorative wreaths. Should be able to get them rigged up this week and then I can build the forecastle deck and all the major planking will be completed.

Mark, I've taken a look at the Billings Wasa and combining it with a few other interpretations I have seen I think I now have a plan for the capstan. We shall see...

Off to a good start Frank. Looks like you got her straightened back out nicely. 

I have been noticing warped false keels coming out of the box a lot lately. Mine was the same way but unfortunately I didn't get it straightened out quite enough as I found out after planking. Oh well, it still works. I'm wondering if they are not getting packed correctly or maybe if humidity is getting to them though if that were the case I would expect to find more problems with the wood so I'm leaning towards packing.

Not a big deal just another step to be mindful of when starting out.

Happy Birthday Mark! Best wishes for a great day.

Very enjoyable and informative. Great job on your log. I look forward to the next step.

As promised here are some better pictures of the work I have been doing. All the decks have been planked, bulkheads, hatches and ladders installed. All the railings are up and some of the decorations are also installed. Now I am just missing the forecastle and the ships structure will be complete. Before I can install that though I have more canons to build first. 14 more on the spar deck. 5 to either side and 4 bow chasers. This is what I will be spending a good portion of my weekend doing. Then I can build my forecastle deck and on to the bits, kevels and racks for belaying pins and all those other various pieces needed for the rigging.

I also have to build a capstan which I only have one vague drawing of. I've been looking around at different logs trying to determine how it should look for an early 17th century. If anyone has a good suggestion I would love to hear it. 

Thanks for stopping by!  

Very nice work. I love the way you have sections open to view inside and the removable sections to open it up even more. With the detail work you have done it would be a shame to not be able to see it.

I agree with you that the black pins look better. You will have your work cut out for you on all of those! 

You said the dragon head was a resin cast, did it come painted too or was that you? Either way it looks really cool.

Welcome to MSW Hervie! It looks like you are off to a great start. You picked a good ship and kit and as you have said there are plenty build logs to help you along. I will follow along with you and wish you the best of luck! Looking forward to your next update.

Hi Michael, just read through your build and it looks like you are moving along just fine. I too am building a Corel kit at the moment and I agree that their plans do leave a lot to be desired and the instruction book I use primarily to track the number of hours I have been working on it. It can be frustrating but I've learned over the course of a couple builds now that no set is perfect and that is ok as I spend large number of hours researching supplemental information on the ship I'm building anyway and rarely rely on one source.

It looks to me that you will have yoyrself a very nice model when completed.

Antony, I have come late to the party but I must say your work on this ship is simply amazing! The precision of your joints and detail level is unbelievable. Well done sir! I look forward to seeing more of her as you continue.

Hi Frank. I would like to follow along also as I have not yet had the opportunity to see an Asian ship come together. Looks interesting and I look forward to watching your build.

It looks good to me! Mistakes are just opportunities to learn and we never stop learning.

Happy Birthday Sjors!

Looking good! I will echo what Mike said about the garboard turning up at the bow. Even if it is only a slight bend, once you start adding strakes that bend will become more and more noticable. One way to check this is to keep measuring your space inbetween the garboard and those upper planks. Do your planks still fit in that space with the correct number and widths? If they do then you are ok. If not then you need to reset.

What happens is that the spacing at the bow will close out faster that the rest of the hull as it is a smaller space to begin with. If your planks are turning up there thrn that will accelerate that gap closure and you will not have the space to run the same number of strakes at the bow as you have on the rest of the ship.

You may be fine but double check you spacing now. It is easier to replace one plank then have to remove a lot of planks or be unhappy with your results.

MIke I thought the same thing about having to step over that rail and then it being a foot deeper on one side. I could see a lot of awkwardness, tripping and banged shins and knees on either height. Maybe not the best design...

Ciaran,

Your ship looks good and considering it has been sitting idle for that many years, thats even more impressive as often they get damaged while on the shelf. It is good to see you returning to the hobby as well. We have had many discussions lately about people leaving for many of the reasons you did so it is nice to see someone return and try again.

Unfortunately I do not know of any easy way to straighten out the hull at this point as the planking locks it into shape. As Jeff said it probably originated with a warped false keel from the beginning. Hopefully someone else may know of a way.

Don't feel too bad about the proper names. I find myself stopping to look up what something is called all the time. Best advice I can give on that is to try to use the proper terms once you have learned them a lot. The more you use them the easier it will be and as I'm sure you are like most of us and do not sail or build ships on a daily basis, the only time you will really get the chance is when you post on here.

Good luck and I look forward to seeing her come together.