Tigersteve

There will be a limited run of 10 or 15 POF kits.  I am cutting the first two chapters now which will comprise all of the framing for the first five.  
 
The cost for the first 2 Chapters is $800.  It is comprised of a whole lot of wood sheets.  The estimated total cost for the project fully rigged will be about $2300.
 
To reserve one of these very special limited edition POF version send me a PM to reserve it. Although when time and my wood supply permits, I will keep one or two sets of these first chapters on the shelf.  
 
 
Chuck
 
 

Yes indeed it does Greg
 
And just to clarify...when I say POB it isnt the traditional POB.  I have known for some time that few would ever pay this much money for a quality POF kit.   I have planned for the last year to make sure that I could recoup my initial investment.   I have had a design in POB made and ready to go for a while now.  Just in case.
 
Forget everything you know about previous POB designs.   This version will look identical to the fully framed version.  But it will let you fully detail all of the interior.   It is basically the same kit with less than half the frames.
 
 

Thanks for the feedback.  It was very helpful.  I will be making just 5 of the POF kits.  That is it.  It is sure to become a collectors item.  After talking to many kit mfg’s about the economy and current sales trends this is the best option.  Maybe in the future there will be another run of 5 kits.
Please send me a PM to
reserve one as a pre-Order reservation.
 
The cost for the first 2 chapters is $800.
Beyond that, each chapter will be considerably less with the completed kit costing around $2300.
 
 
This will be a fully rigged model.
 
Chuck
 
 

Hi Chuck,
in my opinion, the costs of a single chapter are more important than the total cost of the whole model. I never counted together, what I payed for all the chapters of the Winchelsea, because it does not matter. But I always had a look on the price of the next chapter + tax + delivery. So for most of the people it is probably best to not make a chapter more expensive than 250 to 300 $. You probably need 750 to 850 $ for the framing, so you better make 3 chapters for the framing and there will be many folk able to afford it. I am shure, everybody wants to build this model.
Matthias

It almost feels like someone who is confident enough to tackle a POF would also be the type of person who would loft and cut their own frames.  I'm thinking you might have a larger pool of potential customers if you don't supply the wood, but do offer all of the templates needed for someone to cut their own frames, with very detailed instruction on how to cut/shape the difficult areas  (full-color photos/instructions, sexy book cover, etc).  I'll bet you could net out higher if you sold books at 300 bucks a pop (and low time investment in printing) instead of full kits at 2 grand (and a lot of time burned in creating material).. I could also see a lot of modeler's requesting a book (or set) as a Christmas gift from their spouse at 300 bucks a pop, but would not have success in asking said spouse to drop a couple grand for a kit.  If you found the right publisher and right mailing list, you might hit the jackpot. I've got a number of expensive books in my collection, but have no intention on creating the models; I just love having the books, looking at the photos, and knowing I could build the model some day if I ended up with an unexpected bonanza of free time.
 
If I were to tackle a POF, I could see myself paying for instructions/templates, but not the actual wood that I could cut/sand/shape myself.  The wood type is a limiter as well.  There would probably be people who might be interested in the kit, but only if it's in swiss-pear, etc. At this point in the game, if it were me, I'd create one or two kits and market them here and on your website, knowing that they would probably eventually sell, and then just replace them in stock one at a time as they do sell, so you could eventually recoup your investment, and also have a nice, random income source for as long as you want.  I think that in theory, with the right marketing, you could go either way; it would just be far less time consuming to create books than kits. 
 
EDIT: I would also absolutely offer this as a POB kit. 
 
2nd EDIT: Also as a miniature navy board project. lol 
 
Alan

You could easily charge at least $850 for this. I’m not sure what the wood cost is, but I’m sure it’s extensive. Shipping alone will be expensive. Those two chapters really give builders a solid foundation for a great model. People are paying for the quality of your design and kit. (Maybe Mike has a better opinion since he’s built many of your newer kits.)
Steve

You could easily charge at least $850 for this. I’m not sure what the wood cost is, but I’m sure it’s extensive. Shipping alone will be expensive. Those two chapters really give builders a solid foundation for a great model. People are paying for the quality of your design and kit. (Maybe Mike has a better opinion since he’s built many of your newer kits.)
Steve

You could easily charge at least $850 for this. I’m not sure what the wood cost is, but I’m sure it’s extensive. Shipping alone will be expensive. Those two chapters really give builders a solid foundation for a great model. People are paying for the quality of your design and kit. (Maybe Mike has a better opinion since he’s built many of your newer kits.)
Steve

You could easily charge at least $850 for this. I’m not sure what the wood cost is, but I’m sure it’s extensive. Shipping alone will be expensive. Those two chapters really give builders a solid foundation for a great model. People are paying for the quality of your design and kit. (Maybe Mike has a better opinion since he’s built many of your newer kits.)
Steve

Planking completed
 
I have all nine planks on now but the wales are still to be installed.  It looks a bit "blotchy" because I gave the first five planks a coat of Wipe On Poly and when I sanded back some of it remained.  It will be more uniform when I apply I final coat
 
I am also a bit shy of the top of the frames amidships (by a little under 1/32).  I could see that this was happening throughout the planking.  I think maybe I did not fare quite enough in this region.  Anyway I was proposing to address it by making a slightly wider second Wale
 

 
 
 
John

Thanks for the likes and nice words guys.  And it's always nice to get an 'Outstanding' from Chuck!  I installed the false deck this weekend.  I used a piece of 24" x 8" x 1/16" basswood.  I cut it in half lengthwise and taped the two halves together.  I cut the false deck template out of the plans.  I then cut all the square deck furniture locators out of the paper plan.  I used clear tape to tape this onto the Cheerful (The plan is wavy in my two photos below.  It was reattached after the fact for these photos).  The clear tape made it easy to locate the center line running through the cutouts.  I then followed Chuck's instructions in the Monograph and used masking tape around the edges to get the actual size of the false deck.  I removed this carefully and taped the false deck plan to the two basswood sheet halves, again using the clear taped sections of the deck furniture cut outs to locate the center line.  Once that was done, I carefully removed the clear tape one section at a time and used the cutout borders to draw their locations on the wood false deck.  Reapplying the tape to that square when finished and moving on to the next opening.  Once the false deck was cut out of the basswood sheets, I faired the edges to get a good fit.  I also wound up adding a thin basswood strip to the stern section of the deck.  There had been a bigger gap than I wanted there.  I installed each half of the false deck using the visible center of the middle of the five plies of the piece of plywood running lengthwise on the center line as the true center line.  Lastly I enlarged the hole in the deck for the mast to it's actual size.  I had left it slightly under size when attaching the decks halves, and trued it up afterwords to make sure it was precisely placed where it should be.
 
Erik

Looks really good. 
Steve

Hey Steve,  Thanks!  I like your Pinnacle and Dory builds.
 
Erik

One last Speedwell photo to finish this log. It is now encased in a display designed and built by my son whose hobby is woodworking. He built it out of Sapele mahogany and I think it compliments the model beautifully.
Question - can anyone suggest a tasteful, non-intrusive method to light up the model? Whatever it is will need to rest on the acrylic top.
 

Welcome back! I doubt anyone has forgotten your build of this. I was wondering when you would return. Lol
Steve

Welcome back! I doubt anyone has forgotten your build of this. I was wondering when you would return. Lol
Steve

Very happy to close up this project! The boat hook was made with a strip of maple lathed with my rotary tool. I used some wire from the kit to make the hook. I was going to add the grapnel hook and had even made a ring for it with some wire, but the line from the kit was unusable so I tossed that idea as I did not want to invest more money into this project. 
 
Some final thoughts and again I will compare this kit with the longboat kit. Both challenging kits for sure. I think the planking on the Pinnace is more difficult due to the length and curves of the hull. Additionally, you must plank inboard. 
 
I enjoyed making the modifications such as the panelled supports under the seats and the longboard that runs down the center of the boat. Looking back, I wish I had added the stretchers for the rowers. I think that would have been another nice touch. I decided to leave out the splash guard panels as well. 
 
Just for kicks I took the longboat out of its case to take a group photo. Thank you everyone for your interest, likes, and support throughout what was probably the slowest build of the English Pinnace. 
Steve

Prior to installing the boat on the display base, strips of brown felt were glued for a custom fit. Three days of rigging the buckets with handles and rope coils using Syren ULTRA scale rope completed the model. I did my best to tie sheet bend knots, although that detail is difficult to notice at this scale. This was an enjoyable project and I learned a lot. Thank you David for designing this kit and keeping an eye on the build. Ryland Craze and Mike Stuntflyer, our exchanges on paint strategies and finishes was invaluable. I hope the rest of you will continue to follow as I get back to the Mayflower- Model Shipways.
Steve

Welcome back! I doubt anyone has forgotten your build of this. I was wondering when you would return. Lol
Steve

After a short, er . . . 6 ½ year break, I’ve resumed work on my Cheerful.  I imagine few of you actually remember my build.  It was sort of unexpected to be bitten by the wooden ship building bug again.  In August I was on a vacation in the Netherlands visiting the Museum Kaap Skil maritime museum in Oudeschild on Texel Island, off the north coast.  They have a huge 60 foot long diorama of the Texel Roads as it appeared around 1660.  It looks to be about 1/100 scale.  There are 160 ships/boats represented in the diorama!  Seen here: https://kaapskil.nl/en/discover/expositions/ship-in-sight-the-roads-of-texel-and-the-world/ That led me back to Modelshipworld.  And here I am.
 
I feel a bit like Rip Van Winkle waking up from a long sleep.  This website itself has changed.  Yellow Cedar is a new wood of choice. Wood suppliers have changed.  No more Crown Timberyard, but it looks like a good replacement with Modeler’s Sawmill.  Chuck is a few projects further along after the Cheerful (the laser cut fully framed Speedwell is a fascinating project, by the way).  There are still a lot of the same faces here, but the skill level on current projects has kicked up a few notches.  So, my hat is off to you folks.
 
It’s been an interesting few years for me.  We had this global pandemic thing.  After 14 years at the local government, I changed jobs a few times.  I was a bicycle tour guide in Boulder for 7 months (a great way of keeping in shape as a 53 year old).  Was the accountant for Left Hand Brewing here in Colorado.  And finally settled into being an accountant for the National Center for Atmospheric Research.
 
Though not working on Cheerful, I’ve still been active modeling from time to time.  One thing I seem to gravitate towards is building things in smaller scales than the norm, and detailing them to a level of the larger scale (which is why Cheerful is unusual for me, I’d be more comfortable building something 1/96 to 1/144 scale! Haha).  A few of my latest projects - A resin tugboat featured on this website: https://modelshipworld.com/topic/22995-ytl-45-taiwanese-navy-tugboat-by-erik-w-finished-1350-scale/    For my model railroad, an N scale (1/160) 3d printed boxcar that I scratch built full underframe details: https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=55256.msg758608#msg758608   and finished here:  https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=55365.msg760492#msg760492   A 1/72 scale WWII F6F Hellcat on a carrier deck with super detailed engine and cockpit:  https://www.militaryimages.net/threads/f6f-5-hellcat-wwii-usn-fighter-plane-1-72-scale.10858/   And probably my favorite, a 1/72 scale M1A2 Abrams tank with over 400 individual pieces of styrene and wire add by me to customize the tank.  Scroll down to see the scratch built stowage items:  https://www.militaryimages.net/threads/m1a2-sepv2-w-crows-ii-lp-1-72-scale-kitbash.10777/
 
Well, I’ve prattled on enough.  Where I had left off was having finished the hull planking.  The next step is supposed to be tree nailing.  I’ve put a lot of thought into that and I’ve decided to skip it.  It’s not because it’s time consuming and tedious as much as it’s a process that you can’t pull out and redo.  Most things on the build can be pried loose if you’re unhappy with them.  That, and I’d rather jump right back into cutting wood.  That’ll help maintain my motivation to keep making progress.  There are a few really good Cheerful builds out there where the builders have skipped tree nailing, Mike (stuntflyer), Glenn (glbarlow), and Ian (Seventynet).  You all have some outstanding other builds as well by the way.  Something to really aspire to for us newbies.  Ian, I particularly like your Hayling Hoy.  Never thought I’d desire to build a fully framed model before, but now . . .
 
So, where I am now is I’ve done what I’d call an almost-final sanding of the lower hull.  There were a few spots that needed attention.  I’ll do an absolute final sanding and paint touch up later.  That’s why the planking and hull still looks a bit rough.  I’ve also been adding the fancy molding.  It took a little trial and error to get my brass scraper made the way I wanted it.  I’ve added the molding to the stern, and port side.  Feels good to be building again!!
 
If you’re new to viewing this build, it’s good to have you along.  And if you’ve followed along before, welcome back!  Without further ado, here are some proof of progress photos.  It's hard to get the lighting right to show the contour of the fancy molding, but you get an idea from the last photo.
 
Erik
 

Looks great!
Steve

Congrats!
Steve

Good morning,
 
Just a small update to check with you all if my QG template placement and angle is correct. I also sanded down the planking topping a little and added another top layer of 1/64 on top of the transom as suggested by Chuck.
 
Frank.

To botra288: the adjustable tabel is "homemade", but you can buy something similar here: https://www.renishaw.com/shop/Product.aspx?Product=R-PCA-135075-12-6
Finishing work continues on the larger boat.
 

Small boat interior completed.