KingDavid

So would you recommend  to stick to PVA or Aliphatic Resin when second planking is concerned
or would you use CA instead? i am currently thorn between the two options... I know many recommend the PVA since it's better with wood to wood surfaces, and it is also reversible ..but the CA gives a very strong and clean result
It's downsides to me is that it terrible when it touch's your skin and also some stress when applying since when it cures/hardens there is no way back so every plank etc needs to be 100% in its position...hard to decide...   

It's been almost a year since my last update. The reason is that Speedwell has been landlocked in Canada since last November. My very talented collaborator David Antscherl had made and applied all the carvings and I was going to pick her up to rig her just when Covid struck and the border was closed. I have all the blocks, ropes, masts and spars ready but no model. I'm hoping to get her this summer but who knows at this point. At any rate here are some photos of her sporting her wonderful carvings. 

Glad I am not the only one obsessed with this ship  I am contemplating a 1/8" scale scratch built project but i can't find a decent set of plans.  I have just bits and pieces.  If you have decent plans I would gladly pay any copying and mailing expense.   thanks  Lou Halikman

Being a genuine card-carrying carmudgeon at age mumblety-mumble, I will here vent my spleen about some continuing myths and misinformation concerning Brunel's - and my - 'great babe', the S. S. Great Eastern, the first being the continuing belief in the 'skeletons in the cell' incident.  It is pure maritime urban myth.  During the ship's construction, a couple of workers went missing.  Instead of the reasonable explanation that they simply wandered off one day, as laborers tended to do in those days, the Victorians, with their penchant for ghosts and the supernatural, the story went around that they had somehow been sealed up in one of the spaces between the inner and outer hulls.  These were pretty tight quarters since the space was only 3 feet, and the din from other riveters must have been appalling.  It was claimed that their calls for help were thus unheard.  The first objection I have is, what about at the end of the work day when things quieted down?  Another major objection to the story is that the hull spaces, or 'cells', were perfectly accessible from the inside for required maintainance by means of manholes.  Emmerson even states that the covers for these weren't installed until, fortunately, just before the 'Great Eastern rock' voyage.  The ship did seem to be dogged by ill luck, but attributing this to ghostly vengeance smacks more of the 12th rather than the 19th or 20th centuries.  I believe that many of her difficulties stemmed from her sheer novelty, plus the fact that her various owners and directors were dumb as dirt.  I believe the first recent report of the story was in James Dugan's mostly admirable account in 'The Great Iron Ship'.  He claimed to have gotten it from a tug captain or some such who was alive at the time.  I think this person was havi ng a bit of fun with 'bloody yank' Dugan.  Several parties, including the author of 'The Big Ship', Patrick Beaver, have made a thorough survey of the Liverpool newspapers during the years of the ship's dismantling nearby, and have found no mention whatsoever any such occurence; as now, any such sensational story would not have escaped the attention of the press.  I suppose the yarn is now a permanent part of the ship's legacy, and appeals to those of a certain mind set, but it should be taken with more than a pinch of salt.  Another much more minor bit if misinformation concerns a picture in wide circulation on the internet which supposedly depicts a 'lounge' on the G.E..  In a marvelous book by Stephen Fox entitled 'Transatlantic', which I highly recommend to liner buffs, in the second pictorial section after page 366, second page in on top, is a reproduction of the same picture identified as the lady's drawing room on one of the two Inman liners City of Paris or City of New York.  If you are at all familiar with the G.E.'s interiors you will see that there is no resemblance; the ceiling is way too low and the overstuffed seating is very much late 19th century.  This kind of sloppy research seems to be on the rise these days.  Anyhow, having gotten that off what I laughingly call my chest, boys and girls, keep your deadeyes in a row - I almost said 'ducks - and happy modelling to all

Funny story, I thought that I’d be able to bang out the rigging in a week or two, but the universe has a way of slapping you down. While trying to put our cat in a crate for a vet visit, I was on the receiving end of her displeasure. Though I cleaned everything well, the bites on my right index finger became infected. After a few days of worsening infection, I sought medical help. Long story short, after two rounds of antibiotics, a trip to the ER, and a surgery, the wound has been drained, and I’m on my way to recovery.  Unfortunately, it is likely to be a while before I’ll have the dexterity required for rigging.  I do have two kits on the shelf, Gokstad and Hemingway’s Pilar, so I may get a start on one of them while I work the finger back into shape.
 
Warning, the following image is not for the feint of heart.

I don't think ship modeling is a dying hobby at all. It may have been bigger with kids in earlier days before Lego co-opted modeling for kids, which I don't consider necessarily a bad thing. (It gets their creative juices flowing in much the same way.) Plastic model cars and the like were very popular when I was a kid, but I can see how my ten year old grandson can't muster the patience and attention span to build a plastic car kit when he's been raised on the instant gratification of video games. Nevertheless, now that I've opened my mind to take an interest in his world, he's teaching me to play Minecraft and I realize he's been building his own virtual world online with as much creativity as I ever exercised building plastic model kits at his age. Serious model railroading and model ship building were always primarily adult pursuits. They require specialized knowledge and dedication and lots of free time. It's an Old Guy's thing and always has been, and never a whole lot of Old Guys at that. Who else has the time and the money? That's not a bad thing, either. It's difficulty and demands keep the riff-raff out.  
 
In all my 71 years, I've only been in one store dedicated to ship model building. It was short lived and closed back in the mid-seventies. (I understand there is now one about an hour away, "Ages of Sail," which I may check out if I'm ever in the neighborhood. My impression is that it's a brick and mortar store with a large mail order business, sort of like the small Chinese restaurants who do more take out business than dine in business.  ) If anybody's looking for a walk-in place open seven days a week with lots of very expensive ship models on the shelves and tons of racks full of parts and pre-milled strip wood and every color of model paint made, good luck with that unless you live near one of the big mail order outfits.  It's just not a business model that ever penciled out. 
 
That said, the creative modeler should be able to find just about anything they need in local crafts stores, art supply stores, hardware stores, and the like. Those wishing cast scale parts and such will have to suffer the inconvenience of mail order, but how often does one need to do that anyway? (And never, if you learn to make them yourself.) Aside from an occasional specialized tool, I practically never buy modeling supplies on line and I expect a lot of serious modelers are the same. The only modeling things I bought in the last couple of years were a jeweler's hand vise, from a jeweler's supply house, and a few spools of Guttermann thread for rope making. I shop around and always compare quality and prices because I find higher quality tools in places like medical and dental instrument supply houses and commercial jewelry supply houses than I do in the "usual suspects" mega-hobby catalogs.
 
And I don't think there will be any argument that once you go "scratch," you'll never go back. It does take a bit of up front capital to obtain the tools, but there's always a work-around for just about anything except a Byrnes saw, with will pay for itself when compared to buying a couple of boxed model kits  The correct tools save time and huge amounts of money. Instead of scanning the catalogs to see what kits are available for hundreds of bucks a pop, the door to thousands of modeling subjects is opened. Often models nobody else has ever built! The plans are sitting there in books and museums and archives all over the world, many available at no cost whatsoever. (For instance, MIT just finished scanning the entire collection of N.G. Herreshoff's plans and offsets which can now be accessed for free online. The great British museum drawing collections are in the process of digitization now and can be accessed on line, with full-size hard copies available by mail for a fee.) The modeler who makes the leap to "scratch," no longer has to worry about buying much of anything from a hobby shop. It's a natural evolution after building a few kits. 
 
 
 
 

I must say that Cornwall Model Boats is amazing. I have not found another place with such wide and complete offerings. They must have every model boat and part made. The prices are comparable to other hobby shop suppliers. Searching their site takes a little work. Like most of these stores, the search engine is not very good. I'm spoiled by Google. The big downside is they ship from Cornwall, England. The site sells in British Pounds. That means extra shipping cost and a currency conversion fee. It will probably take a couple weeks to get the parts too. On the other hand if there is something you need that's really hard to find, they have it.
https://www.cornwallmodelboats.co.uk/
John

LOWERED PRICE! $350 - Master Shipwright Kit (Limited Edition #1 of 20). Boxwood. Building sister ship HMS Flirt and don't need two. Shelf new.
Shipping from the East Coast. (plus shipping).
 
Link for model details:https://vanguardmodels.co.uk/product/hms-speedy-master-shipwright-version/
 
If interested, private message me here.

I am currently adding the deadeyes to the channels, the starboard side is complete. With previous builds I secured the strops in the channels using a 2 part epoxy resin glue. For this build I have opted for a different method which I have detailed below. There may be better ways to tackle this task,  but I found this method worked really well.
 
I added the 6 off (per side) 3mm deadeyes to the channels first and then added the 9 off (per side) 5mm deadeyes.
 
Step 1 - The strop was bent into shape prior to being placed in the channel. I used my round nose pliers for this task.

 
Step 2 - With the strop in position I used a 0.5mm drill to make the hole in the hull for the pin. I found this to be the most fiddly part of the process. Where possible I used a full length pin but in some cases this was not possible so I used a shortened pin.

 
Step 3 - I did apply a touch of pva behind the strop and on the pin shaft as the pin was inserted. Once the pin was fully inserted the excess pva was wiped away.

 
Step 4 - pva was added to the channels slots around the strop. I found it best to use a fine paint brush for this step. Once I was happy I had the slots had plenty of glue the excess pva was wiped away.

 
As the glue cured and dropped a bit in the channel slots I did add more pva as can be seen in the next photo where all the deadeyes have been fitted to the channels and I have topped up some of the slots with pva.

All work on the lower masts and lower platforms is now complete. I did not encounter any problems with completing this aspect.
 
Speedy is hiding in the background

 
With regards to adding the wolding to the fore and main mast it was a straightforward task. I started by marking the various position, using tape.

 
Next I took a length of black thread and clamped the loop.

 
I added 5 full turns and then 6th turn was feed through the loop, as shown in the plan drawing. To finish off I applied a very diluted solution of pva over the wolding. It took me around 10 mins to per mast to complete.

 
Once that was I done I added the cleats, deadeyes and blocks to the fore and main masts.

A number of things have been accomplished. Firstly, I masked and painted the appropriate areas of the upper hull blue and red. Next, I added the cap rails, after painting them black. After that, I added the upper rail patterns, after painting the appropriate areas black. Finally, I painted the wales black and glued them in place. 
 
Before moving on to the transom, I have a question for Chris and Jim. The plans show the transom painted blue, while the prototype and the instructions show it painted red. Which is correct? I have the same question about the quarter galleries, although  the plans make no reference to color.
 
Bob

To everyone that has been so kind in helping me out. Thank you sooooo much to all you of. I'm always a bit taken back by all the help folks are willing to provide. This will be my first build and I'm pumped. At 57 I'm looking forward to taking the time to built it properly. My last 69" fully scaled Spitfire ( and can of course actually fly ) took 5 years.  I'll keep researching my options but I do know I want a challenge as I've built just about everything else ( plastic models, large steam train layouts in HO with scratch built buildings and cars, large RC true to scale ww2 aircraft, minor wood furniture, ) but not a ship. It looks challenging for sure but that's the whole point. I'm not threatened by the amount of work or the patience and skills needed.
 
I respect everyone's advise including the warnings. Thanks you. 
 
I just didn't want to spend 6 months to a year investigating it all. Hence the reason I asked the questions. 
 
Thanks again to everyone. A warm welcome indeed. 
 
Now let's have fun!

Boys and girls! Bought my first ship kit based on my research and all the advice given here. Thanks again to all those that chimed in to help. Much appreciated indeed. Vanguard The Royal Yacht Duchess of Kingston 1778 was the winner. . Looking forward to starting her soon once it arrives.

Just be forewarned that lots of masts and cannon also involves a lot of tedious and repetitive tasks, which is not everyone's cup of tea. Say, for example, you build a frigate with 24 guns on its upper deck. That's 24 barrels and 24 carriages to assemble. If you rig the guns, then that's 6 blocks per gun (144 total) plus 3 ropes per gun to attach and coil down on deck (72 total). A basic carriage usually has 12 wooden parts and roughly 13 metal parts, 25 per gun, meaning 600 total for 24 guns. All together, that's 840 parts just for the deck guns alone.
 
Still undaunted? Then I will second the advice about Vanguard Models.
 
Take care!

Hello Richard and welcome. 
You sound very similar to me. I too have an extensive RC background. Love fine details. I love the look of an old sailing ship with all the cannons and massive rigging. You're obviously not afraid of the work, it's patience that's needed. There are many kits available that a "beginner" could try, but I'm of the stance that you will learn much from taking on something that truly challenges you. This could take years, not months to complete. It's your marathon. Make it what you want it to be. I'm only limited if I refuse to ask questions or take advise from experienced modelers. Having said all that, I'm building my very first wooden ship model from Corel.  It's 1:98 scale. I personally prefer a bigger model. 
This kit is intended for experts. While I will never classify myself as a ship building expert, I do see myself as an expert in effort to learn. There's more to doing one of these than one can wrap their head around. The ONLY thing I have to know how to do is step #1. Then step 2 etc. 
With all that in mind, I would encourage you to go after what truly gets your heart going. Dream a dream. There are many good people here who will generously give of their experiences. My model was about $350. I'm facing challenges every turn, but I'm starting to understand that THAT is exactly what I'm supposed to go through. If it wasn't for the challenges, where would the true rewards of completion come from? I wish you the best in your journey. Feel free to stop by and say hello in my build log. 

Vanguard is top, but you could also consider one of the models Chris Watton designed before he started off as a one-man company. Those are models of larger ship (don't know whether that fits your cupboard): amati's victory models range. Something like pegasus or fly would also be a nice model
 
Jan

I had a very detailed Pegasus log that was lost in the great crash.  Pegasus is my favorite build, in fact that’s it in my little signature bubble. I highly recommend you do two things, review and learn Chucks method of lining the hull and planking from the link Mugje provided and locate Blue Ensigns Pegasus build log since mine was lost).  I converted to Chuck’s  method and in my opinion there is no better way to learn how to plank a ship.  Both my Nelson and Cheerful logs linked i. My signature line describe how I put it to work. 

Measurements and tapering planks are an essential part of planking, but every hull even of the same model are different.  Chuck’s  method ensure the measurements you get are for your hull, not what someone else got.  The most important recommendation I have is not to overthink it and not get lost in details and too many sources of advice and tutorials. Pick one that works for you and make sawdust. 
 
Have fun!

Completed all of the stays.  Now on to the yards, anchor, and stern light.
 
Regards,
David
 

Well done and welcome!
 
David

Moving onto the false deck, I just thought i could glue it on. I was mostly wrong. I managed to glue it in place without any flathead pins, but some parts of it were not completely touching the entire surface of the top of the bulkheads. This proved to be a very important mistake, that proved to be extremely annoying and messing up my deck, being now lower on the port side, and not a nice, flat deck. Well, mistakes happen, and i must learn from them.
 
Heres a photo of the false deck already glued to the keel and the top of the bulkheads. If you zoom in you can see how its not laying flat against them. My only solution was to try and "bend" the false deck using water and heat. It proved to kind of work. In my next builds, i will secure them with flathead pins, aside from gluing them on, so i dont ever run into this problem. I also added the side deck bulkheads (thats how the instructions call them).
 

 
I will continue posting this build log tomorrow. Its already late and i have to wake up early to work. Goodnight to my fellow european modelers, goodday to the american ones!
 
Hugo Bosque Arenas
 
Beginner Modeler
08/10/2020
 

First of all, excuse my english. I will probably misname a part, or mix some names. For that i am sorry in advance.
 
The very first thing i did when starting this kit was to read the instructions from top to bottom. I also got my hands in a digital copy of "Ship Modeling Simplified", so i read that as well. If you cant find it online, i can provide it to you no problem. In that book, it (very wisely) says:
 
"On your first run-through everything should be assembled, piece by delicate piece, without going near the glue."
 
So I dry fitted the keel and the bulkheads and made sure they are tight, but no too tight. Honestly, it took a lot more of sanding than i care to admit. Thanks to my trusty Dremel it was not such big of a problem. Heres a photo, with number writen in pencil on the pieces, of the first bulkheads assembled to the keel:
 

 
And another one with all the bulkheads in place:
 

 
Notice the little curve on the top of the bulkheads? For what Ive read, its intentional. This ship has a lot of deck curve, almos being concave on the lower deck and convex on the top deck. That is going to be a problem for past me, since i didnt notice it when i attached the false deck.
 
I also placed some blocks, to force the bulkheads to stay at a nice 90 degree angle, and the stern blocks, and started to sand so that the planking would lay flat against the surface of the bulkhead. This proved crucial, and i am so happy i took my time to read other logs and research how its done. Now that i had the "skeleton" ready, it was time to fit the false deck.
 
Hugo Bosque Arenas
 
Beginner Modeler
08/10/2020

Hello fellow modelers!
 
This log is about my first ever model, the Bon Retour from Artesania Latina (AL). Even though this kit is designed as an entry level/beginner kit, i have found that it is NOT the case. I have read other posts commenting on how poor the instructions are, how blurry the photos in the instructions are and how little to nothing is explained about rigging. I can confirm it is true, so if youre looking for a kit to start, i wouldnt recommend this one. Try an easier kit, like "La Provençale", from Artesania Latina, or "Lancha del Capitán San Juan de Nepomuceno", also from Artesania Latina. Or even the HMS Bounty Jolly Boat! if youre still convinced to try out this kit, you can ask me anything you want, i will gladly help you with whatever i can.
 
Being my first kit ever, i wanted to start with something small, to practice for when i get to something bigger that requires a lot more experience. I am sure a keen eye will spot mostly every mistake i made, butoverall i have learned a lot from this kit, and even more from you, guys, as a community. You have been of invaluable help in times of need, and i can't thank you enough. Thats why i dedicate my first ever build log to you, community of modelshipworld, for your wise words, deep knowledge and kind attention. Thank every single one of you. 
 
Anyway, lets get into the build log!
 
 
Hugo Bosque Arenas
 
Beginner modeler
07/10/2020

Greetings, ladies and gentlemen! Thanks for your likes and kind words - they are very inspirational and motivating to do my best.  A moment of history for me - I've recently finished outer planking. That was quite a step. I'm happy that it's done according to instructions - without stealers. Next steps are thoughtful sanding and then inner planking. Then tree-nailing, primer and painting. And then the most fearsome moment for me on this project - deck planking. I was so keen to share results that couldn't wait until morning to take pics with good light, so pics have a "vampiric" look - sorry for them ;-) Later I'll try to do pics with better light. 

Nearly present moment.

Here's a bit more