KingDavid

Greetings, dear colleagues!
This is my first log on this forum and I'm happy to start publishing in such a great community.
Now a few words on history of the build:
I've bought this kit about 15 years ago and until 2017 it was laying on a shelf waiting for it's turn to be built. I've searched through all the logs based on this kit both here and in Russia to see what other people do with it. Sad to see that most builds are unfinished - I cannot say why, since  in my opinion it's a very attractive prototype - a small ship-rigged vessel that looks like a frigate (from afar), scale provides an ability to detail the model a bit and it does not take too much space to keep and display.
Well I opened the box (I like the box of my kit - the white one - with great polygraphy - better than those that they pack their models into these days) and first two moments caused a bit of puzzlement - instruction says to glue the halves of kiel frame and false kiel details and to cut the rabbet afterwards. Strange, but that works - I've done that exactly the way it's described in instruction and all went well!
Next puzzle were the frames - I use the rule of measure seven times and glue/cut one time  - and it saves me always - I've dry-fitted the frames according to plans and nothing fitted at all. I've said a lot of good Russian words towards "manufacturers who  cannot cut a few well-shaped details with a laser" but then I've figured out to attach the frames to the drawings - and everything was clear: the letters engraved on the frames are wrong! So I've restored the right consequence of frames and there were only some cases of asymmetry of frames to deal with and the basic structure was complete.
Now I'm in a process of planking and it goes very slow - about a strake per weekend 🙂   The thing that terrifies me the most - is planking of decks. I have an intention to make it right - with cuts into waterways in the nose part and with correct flow of planks  but I still do not fully understand the theory of this process.
So here are the pics of process form the beginning until present moment:

Greetings, everyone!  How's the weather at your places?  We are enjoying a very pleasant indian summer in Moscow these days - I cannot remember when the weather was this good at the beginning of october.  Now I'm going to share a few pics - my main camera is malfunctioning so these were taken with a phone (sorry for quality). The progress is  quite modest however - tree nailing below the wale - it took almost half a year to do, molding under rails (figured profile made with special scriber). Now marking places for smaller tree nails upwards from wale.

And of course would like to know the shipping price, 
 
Thanks
 
David

hello there and thank you for your kind offer, i am possibly interested in the New Bedford Whale Boat
 
Thanks
 
David

And of course would like to know the shipping price, 
 
Thanks
 
David

hello there and thank you for your kind offer, i am possibly interested in the New Bedford Whale Boat
 
Thanks
 
David

Time for small uodate.
 
Varnished the hull and deck. Really happy with result, specially deck as it gives that slight wet look i was after. Used Admiralty matt varnish.
 
Clued cleats. Have interesting problem-kit has more cleats i can find on drawings....
Anyone with some problem?
 
Not happy with CC rooes so i have to order new ones or lend it from other kits...not sure yet. I have feeling that i must see and feel new rope and not buy it just online. Will try to find Güntteann thread here.

Also as slow pace i do the cannons-damn they are time consuming.

Woodworking i close to an end with yards and cannons left. Then its off to rigging... 
 

PE is absolutely fine by me.
I think that the more detailed and accurate the design the more people will search for faults. Human nature I guess!
No one and no kit can be absolutely 100%, but I also think that Chris is having a good go.
Once you've rigged a canon you can hardly noice whether the ring bolt is round or flat, after all we are talking 1/64 scale (5ft4ins to the inch), if it were 1/24 (2ft to the inch) it might be a different matter. 
Design has to stop somewhere when producing a commercial kit. I an sure Chris could produce a true to scale kit using iron in stead of brass, copper plates of scale thickness with scale nails, decking plank with scale treenails etc; if he had a mind, but then how much would it cost and how long would it take to develop.
So let's not be super critical and be thankful we have a innovative designer producing sate of the art models.  

Bending first sail.

First sail.  Used a combo of techniques.  Panel seams are created by slowly removing a single threse from the fabric for each seam.  Edge seems are folded like true seams and fabric glue to hold.  Cut and glued strips for reef bands.  Sowed bolt rope on edge with fabric glue to hold.  Wrapped traditional cringles.  The used micro drills and toothpicks to ream the eyelets for brails.  Only 4 more sails to go!

Finally moving forward again after a little pause.  Decided to get a better setup to shape the masts.  Built a new drill press that was setup well to horizontally taper the masts like a lathe.  Now that I'm back, the masts are ready. Placing temporarily to get placement for the shrouds and channels.  Got one side set for channels.  I'm following the process of making the channels.  Then slice the end off through the holes for the chain plates.  Drilling two holes through the channel into the rubbing stakes and pinning the channels while gluing (I take more picks on the other side).  I didn't like the challenge of soldering the lower dead eye chainplates.  After lots of research, I decided to go with larger brass wire and twisting.  I also decided to use actual chain.  May or may not be historically accurate (couldnt figure out for sure from my research) but looks good and is stronger than the wire that some complain about stretching.
 

Port side planking and treenailing has been completed, those with good eyes will be able to spot all the mistakes but overall I’m happy with how it turned out close to my planking plan.
Now on with the Main topsail sheet bitts and then the Main jeer bitts.
 
ben

I like this little model, so I’ll pull up a chair and follow along. Looks like you are off to a good start.

I am starting to build this kit as my first foray into a POF model so bear with this beginner. I am included a picture of the box but not the contents as I neglected to take a photo. I probably won't do a step by step log as it will bore the more experienced members and much of it is self explanatory, instead I will concentrate upon my challenges and mistakes and will probably asking the experienced members frequently for Help! There is a rather impressive amount of wood which I did inventory and label by size and checked off all the other items.
 
I started by building the keel section per the plans and instructions and it was quite straight forward. I then hopefully correctly marked the frame locations on that assembly. I next turned to the building board, marked a center line and also the frame locations. Next I built the lofting jig for the frame installation and took pains to be sure it it was square and plumb to the board. I thought the frame was critical to the proper frame placement so went beyond the instructions by gluing and pinning the runners and added reinforcement to the rear of the frame. I also copied a metric ruler being sure it reproduced at 100% and glued it to the top of the jig, marked the centerline so I could transfer the measurements from the plans to the ruler on the frame, I think I wore out two pair of eyeglasses to be sure it was right😯. So it begins, I will endeavour to to present my problems and mistakes and hopefully a few successes. I suspect it will be slow going, like me at my age! Hope someone may find it useful or at least good for a laugh at my beginner mistakes. As always, any comments, suggestions or criticism would be very welcomed and appreciated!    
 
 




 
 

 

1:72 Ragusian Galley 18thCentury
MarisStella
Available from MarisStella for €147 plus shipping

 
The Republic of Ragusa was a maritime republic centred on the city of Dubrovnik (Ragusa in Italian, German and Latin; Raguse in French) in Dalmatia (today in southernmost Croatia) that carried that name from 1358 until 1808. It reached its commercial peak in the 15th and the 16th centuries, before being conquered by Napoleon's French Empire and formally annexed by the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy in 1808. It had a population of about 30,000 people, out of whom 5,000 lived within the city walls. Its Latin motto was "Non bene pro toto libertas venditur auro", which means "Liberty is not well sold for all the gold".
 
The Dubrovnik galley was an integral part of Dubrovnik's war fleet, which in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, had only a few small warships (at most ten), operated solely because of frequent harassment and looting by pirates and cargo ships at that time. The Galleys were stationed in Dubrovnik and Mali Ston. Other Croatian coastal centres had this type of ship, along the eastern Adriatic coast: Kotor, Omis, Senj, and others. The Dubrovnik galley was driven by both wind and rowers (Galiot), who were both sailors and soldiers, as was appropriate, but there were also condemned criminals that rowed the State ships. Their main feature was their speed, and they were used for military, police and customs purposes, courier services, and for the transport of diplomats and senior civil servants. They were also used for the transportation of goods at the expense of the State.
 
The kit

MarisStella’s kit range is currently undergoing an upgrade, and most certainly in terms of their boxing. This one comes to me in its original incarnation, with a deep midnight blue thin card lid with all printing and imagery in gold ink. This does look quite stark but very attractive. I’m told that the new appearance will have finished model imagery on the box. MarisStella have said they will send over examples of the upgraded kits for us to look at on MSW, so we’ll get to see those changes first-hand in the next months. This release comes in a fairly weighty box, and lifting the lid off, we are first presented with a product leaflet, sheet of printed flags and a thick 122-page manual which is spiral-bound. All of these items sit on a cardboard tray which when lifted out, reveals the kit materials below. A large cardboard cover first needs to be lifted out to access the kit itself.



Inside, several bundles of timber and dowel sit on top of two laser-cut sheets of plywood for the main bulkhead and keel construction, two sheets of laser-cut walnut, several fittings packets, another very thin sheet of laser-cut ply, one fret of photo-etch brass parts, pre-sewn sails, and a packet of rigging cord. Apart from the main sheets of ply and the timber bundles, all other elements within this kit are packed into clear sleeves that are either stapled closed or heat-sealed. My sample arrived with everything in good order.

This POB model is designed very traditionally and is constructed around a 3-part false keel and a set of 15 bulkheads. The ply used for this is 4mm thick, and like all other parts on the main two constructional ply sheets, everything is very cleanly laser-cut, with an absolute minimum of scorching.




 
One thing I noticed on all of the ply sheets is the laser-engraving and marking of where other components will fit to. I quite like this approach as it helps to ensure correct and precise construction throughout. That engraving has also been put to good use on the display stand elements that can be seen on these two sheets. These are also supplied in English, Italian and Croatian text, and contain a little engraved scroll work. You may opt for something a little glitzier with your build, but then again you may be perfectly happy with the parts that MarisStella provide here.

In between the various bulkheads, some 8mm² lengths of lime have been included that can be cut to length and wedged in to keep everything straight. I believe some of the other kits have lengths of dowel which slot continuously through the bulkheads. I would’ve liked to have seen similar here, but at least the timber is included. It is also suggested that this material be cut up and used to create the bow and stern filler blocks, although you might like to use balsa for this purpose.


Two sheets of walnut are supplied, one of which (the narrower and thicker sheet) contains the keel components. Although you will need to cut the rabbet into these, the positions for this are engraved onto the parts and the manual clearly shows how this is done. 



The other walnut sheet is lighter in colour and thinner than the previous, containing parts for the gun carriages, rail cap strips, cabin bulkhead, and transom, channels etc. Again, and where appropriate, more engraving is present for constructional accuracy. All walnut sheet timber is of high quality with good grain that shouldn’t split etc.

A very thin sheet of birch ply is included for the head rails, transom and cabin door detail etc. 




All strip stock in this kit is also of the same standard, with numerous bundles of timbers of different sizes and types, including European Walnut for the hull planking. There is some natural variation in the colour of the walnut planks, so I would look at possibly grouping them, so wood of the same tone is used the same for both sides. This model also has a single-planked hull, unlike the double-planked that we so commonly see these days. However, the deck is double-planked, and the planks sit directly atop of the bulkheads, with no thin ply deck to lay first. The second layer of deck planking is supplied as beech strips.

Various lengths and diameters of dowel are included, and all supplied in walnut. These are tightly grained and have excellent natural colour. 

This is one model that really would benefit from having sails fitted, just to highlight the elegance of the shape. A feature of MarisStella kits is that the sail material is pre-sewn. By this, I mean that the shapes are lightly printed to a piece of pre-aged sheet and the inner stitched lines are present. All you need to do is to cut out the sails and sew the outer edges. Sail colour is akin to natural linen and looks good to use without any further ageing trickery.

Two anchor packs are included. These contain a metal anchor that is painted black, a separate walnut stock, and some brass bandings that would look nice if they were also blackened. 

Another pack contains 3-eye rigging blocks, single blocks, eyelets, belaying pins, and parrel beads. There is some colour variation in the block colour and all look to be made from walnut.

One length of 1mm brass wire is included in one fittings pack, as are two 4mm cannon for the bow. These are finished with an antique patina and may benefit from being blackened in some way. I would use Gunze Dark Iron paint which is then burnished to an iron finish. 


A reasonably thick sheet of photo-etch parts is also included, containing head rail decoration, transom decoration, rudder straps etc. Quality is again excellent, with reasonably thin tags to remove the parts from their positions. Tag positions are the only clean-up that will be required with these parts.

A single packet is included that contains four spools of natural finish rigging cord in 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1mm diameters. One length of 1.25mm is included separately, as is a 1mm length of black rope.

Every vessel of course needs a flag and both this and a pennant are supplied here, laser-printed in colour onto paper. You’ll need to furl these realistically and they could’ve done with been thinner, possibly from tissue paper, but will still look very attractive when flown.
 
Instructions
This 121-page spiral-bound A4 manual also has a clear plastic cover to protect it. Each of the constructional stages are illustrated by generally uncluttered CAD line drawings that are annotated in English, Italian and Croatian. Some drawing details are a little small, such as the eyelet positions, footplates etc. so maybe magnify those a little. A very comprehensive section on making the sails is also included. Illustrated construction takes place over 83 pages, and this is then followed by the building instruction text and list of parts.






 
Plan
A large single sheet plan is included that contains pretty much every dimension/measurement you'll need and the line drawing quality is excellent. To prevent any piracy, I have only included a portion of that plan here, with no bulkhead shapes.

 
Conclusion
A very nice kit of a very unusual subject. I’ve seen so many model ships of antiquity, but this is one that seems to bridge the gap by being of a generally ancient style, whilst being an 18thCentury vessel. MarisStella’s design is nice and easy to follow and is coupled with high quality materials and drawings. In all, an excellent package that will provide many hours of pleasure for a very reasonable price. As this is single-planked, I would recommend this to intermediate modellers.
 
My sincere thanks to MarisStella for sending this kit out for review on Model Ship World. To purchase directly, click the link at the top of the page, or head over to your local MarisStella stockist.
 
 

Deck house in place and painted.
now I have to wait for a shipment of scribed wood sheets before constructing the various houses in the stern.  Hmmm a bit out of focus. Will have to pay closer attention

Test fitting the galley. 

Good morning all,

Few advances on the model ... Here are just a few photos to show the current stage.
See you later for the rest of the adventure.

Patrick
 
 

I am unsure of the history, I just knew I wanted to do it when I looked over the plans. Druxey did find something out, and I have a feeling the vessel is the same as what is referred to in this passage from a Wikipedia page:
 
"Duchess of Kingston
 
She lived for a time in Calais, and became mistress to Stefano Zannowich. 1777, after her acceptance by Russian royalty, the two had a boat built then made a spectacular entrance sailing into Kronstadt, the port of Saint Petersburg. In the Governorate of Estonia, she bought 3 properties: Toila, Orro, and Fockenhoff, consolidating them into an estate she named "Chudleigh". She planned to create a 'model Brit estate', imported spaniels and pointers and a collection of plants. She lived there in a clifftop house with a view of the Baltic Sea." 

Here is a pic of one of the earlier stages, after second planking. I decided to add 'sacrificial' cross beams to the upper bulkhead tabs to eliminate the chances of breaking them when in planking stages. I thought of this after I planked, so in the kit, the beams are designed better to fit, rather than the ones in the pic.
 
Also, I added etched line on the pre cut second layer. These lines are the painting positions, so the hull can be masked at these lines and the blue and red backgrounds painted before adding the pre cut rail pattern. This really helped as trying to paint in-between each rail would have took a long time, with probably not as neat an end result.

Thank you! this is still in development stages, I haven't done a single line drawing for it yet for kit plans, but I really wanted to get the designs and all cut files nailed before moving on. Good job too, as it has gone few quite a few design changes.
 
I do all laser cutting in house, and all PE is done in Italy.
 
I should mention that there will only be one version of this kit, as I want to sell it only with materials I have tested when building the prototypes, but it will be very high quality. I think the pear suits this model perfectly, and only painted what I felt I needed to, and left as much as I can unpainted.
 
ETA - It is ship rigged, so three masts this time, but I feel this would look better with a lateen style mizzen yard.
 
Ah, also, forgot to mention, like the Zulu and Fifie models, this has the same rabbet system, but with a little more detail etched into the parts

OK, it has been a good while since I did a proper update to this thread, but I have been really busy. As said, I had to sort out Flirt, getting this ready for release, which is imminent, just waiting for manuals and plans.
 
However, whilst Jim was helping me by building the Flirt prototype and taking the pictures, I was (and still am) busy working on my sixth development. I thought this would be a release for next year, but thanks to Jim's help, and me being furloughed, I now aim for a Winter 2020 release for my last kit in the small/medium size range.
 
This is part of my original choices when deciding what to develop when first starting out. I only have one plan set showing hull lines and bulkheads, together with decoration detail. Despite there only being this one plan, I felt compelled to turn this into a kit, and the 'balance' seems spot on between hull lines and decoration. I have called the model 'Duchess of Kingston', as it was built for her by JM Hillhouse of Bristol, probably in the late 1770's or very early 1780's.
 
I have tried to emulate as much detail shown on the plans without too much deviation, and also added a little extra, the upper deck rails being one. It has been a very long design process for such a seemingly simple model, and many things have changed on the way, but the basic hull assembly never changed. I have now designed it so than all areas at deck level and above, both inner and outer, are all pre-cut. This have added much to the parts and materials, but feel it cancels out any ambiguity of port or window opening placements. I decided to maser cut the upper rails as one pieces, as there are so many intersecting parts, making misalignment mistakes a real danger. I have cancelled this out, I hope, completely.
 
Material quantities are very high (6 sheets of 1mm pearwood alone), but I do not care, I am now happy with the designs, and I am happy (if a little nervous) to show you the result of these designs. The quarterdeck companion does have a spiral staircase, which you cannot really see from the pics.
 
The model hull is about 90% complete, and still requires more touching up, adding of parts (windlass is dry fitted for pics and deadeyes/strops not yet fitted) and final varnishing. It has a cast resin figurehead and stern decoration, along with new windlass and canopy for the door. It is 64th scale and size wise, it is virtually the same as Speedy, with a hull length of around 450mm.
 
I will add pics of the laser and PE materials, so you can see just how much is pre cut. I hope you like...

Hello all, new member here.  I’m a very new modeler, but I’ve been doing amateur woodworking for awhile.  Working through my first wooden ship model, the Thermopylae from scientific models.
 
I’ve always had an interest in sailing ships, so it’s been a lot of fun getting a better understanding of what all the rigging actually does.
 
I’m planning on doing a POB build next, and putting a lot more detail into the rigging.
 
Anyway, great information here, soaking it up like a sponge.  So many artists here creating beautiful work, it’s definitely something to aspire to.
 
Jamie
 

Hi all,
 
MarisStella, in cooperation with The Art of Age of Sail, have just released their new kit, the 1:48 HMS Ontario. This is a multimedia kit, including many traditional elements, but also some 3D-printed , resin, and photo-etched parts. Finished model will be 81cm long. 
 
We promise to being you an in-box review of this as soon as we can. 
 
http://www.marisstella.hr/gotovi_modeli_galery.php?id=1111&tip=2&hms-ontario-81cm-1-48
 
 

Hello all , sorry for not be able to reply earlier...  Here is a top graded version of this kit. New version of instructions is included : 120 pages with colored 3D cad isometrics illustrations showing composing of this model. Still, some experience is needed because this is not an simplified model... Original 3D printed parts make it be not cheap... In the end everything is covered with wood or painted matt black, so 3D print is not visible when the model is completed... If You are interested, if You would like to know about dispatching or price, or if You have any related question, please place inquiry to  http://www.ageofsail.net/aoskit1.asp  or to http://www.marisstella.hr/model-ship-kits-marisstella  ... You are welcome to discuss...
 
Here is change about cannons: new carriages and cannons are included into kits already and they look like this: