BenD

Hey Steve. It's not a problem when people point out mistakes! I will definitely post unboxing pictures of the Snake as there has been a lack on the other builds. I can't wait to get onto that build that's for sure.

Hey Tony.

Yeah the bottom deadeyes are upside down atm because my jig wont fit otherwise. the channel doesn't protrude far from the hull and the pins were hitting the capping rail. They are not glued in so they can just be spun around when it comes time to tie the lanyards. Thanks guys!

Hey Steve.

I was following the plans I should definitely look into this.  Thanks for looking out!

Rigging the Shrouds

Instead of tying a knot around the deadeye I used a tight lashing that could be shifted to get the right positioning. I used 1mmx5mm lime wood strips with pins in them for holding everything in position. Not quite sure how else to do it really.

Yellow Ochre at last!

My snake arrived and with it the paint set and some extra paints I bought. The Snake kit I received was amazing, so much stuff and the wood strips were smooth and well milled but I'll save the rest for its build log. I plan on giving my mast and bowsprit a splash of yellow Ochre to take down the awful yellow/orange I currently have. It is quite off putting at the moment. Another option is that I could take off the yellow with paint remover and use the walnut stain I got with my delivery. Decisions to be made.  

Right now model shipways is really backlogged so its possible they are using what ever materials they can find to get kits out the door. Then again I had 3 ply for my Sherbourne from Caldercraft and didn't have any issues.

Oh wow that does look like my stuff! how about that eh?

Hey Steve, I'm from Toronto Canada. I bought the stuff from around here. I suppose you get similar stuff in Ireland.

Aye welcome aboard .

Lower yard

I changed what the instructions told me to do and I added 4 small eyelets to the yard for the footrope. I Think they would have been rope but I cheated and used the eyelets, I think I've seen some like that on other builds. Tying all of these little lashings and knots is quite time consuming, fun though. 

Bowsprit positioning

I've held the ship up to the plans to see if the angle is right but it seems too low maybe? I don't think I will be gluing the mast or bowsprit in as all the rigging seems like it will do the job of holding everything down, There is a discussion in another thread on this site about it and it seems quite normal.   

Stern Fascia

I chose to stick with the photo etch letters that came with the kit. Getting them on there with an even curve was hard to say the least, shaky hands sweaty palms. I used fine grit sand paper on them and used satin varnish and liked the results. 

These Pictures are with a proper camera I found in the house. I'm working out how to use the old thing... might be making an investment in a new one on my next build.

Mast & Yards

I chose to paint the mast and bowsprit yellow ochre because I didn't like any of the stain I had. learning to tie blocks was a lot of research. The footrope on the lower yard is going to be reworked (the plans are rough in this regard) I will do them up proper. 

You're making me wish I did treenailing! Nice work.

Oh man this is looking good! I like how you did the deck pumps with a hexagon shape like I did on the Sherbourne.

Anchors

The kits anchors were a fun little side project. I don't know if my pudening is right but I like the way I made them look tared up.

Deck pumps

I removed about 3mm from the end of the handles as they just looked over sized for the kit. They are still a bit monstrous. The kit told me to use 4mm dowel for the pump stand/pipe it seemed realy small so I ran some strips around it and made and octagon shape, its probably not realistic.

Breaching rope

I did my best I swear! I had glued the guns to the deck before I realized I should have made a jig to get all the rope the right length. So there all a little bit different, I'll live with it. Next time I'll do it to code

Up to date progress

That's where she is currently. I'm working on the mast and booms.

Thanks Scott!

I put breaching rope for this build. I'm definitely going to do it on my next build though.

The Cannons

I saw on some of the older builds that the guns were badly cast white metal but at some point Caldercraft upgraded to turned brass. I was impressed with the carriages to but I did add a tray for the quoin. I could have kept the wheels natural but they were so hard to sand down to make them look nicer. 

The wales

The wales were a bit tricky to put on. I used a few spots of cyano glue to hold the lateral bend, I didn't know how else to do it. The grainy blurry pictures don't really show it well. I do plan on getting a new camera soon so we can really see how lumpy she is

Caprail + Bulwark paint

the Capping rail went on really easy and with good spacing on each side for a lip. I guess I did something right for it to fit like that! I added spricketing along the bulwarks because I liked what I saw on other builds. The paint is some random acrylic I bought a while back and it probably wasn't the greatest choice. Should have bought the admiralty ones. I gave my best try at Ochre red.

Deck planking

I guess I could have used a marker on the edges of the planks for caulking. I regret not doing it but the admiral said she liked it like this. I will definitely get a little more adventurous with my next build in this regard, maybe even tree nailing.

I just ordered my HMS Snake a few day ago, I will definitely be following you build!

Well it looks like the Rattlesnake is going on my wish-list. Amazing work so far!

1st Planking finishing up

My carelessness left me with a lot of sanding and filling to do. Also I tried carving the rabbeting back into the the keel as the 1st planking ate most of it.

2nd Planking

I ran the stern planking level to the deck like the instructions said. I wish now I did something more like the other Sherbourne builders did.

The Binder clips made for a nice smooth run of the planks.

Pulled the bulkhead tabs off and lined the bulwarks with .5mm Walnut because it was easy to bend to shape. Cutting the gun ports and the oar ports to size took a lot more time than I imagined. The walnut is super easy to chip and flake so a lot of care is needed. 

2nd Planking trouble

I was trying up to this point not to have a huge gap in the middle so I ran a strip down the middle of it and planked outward from that. That is totally not how a ship is planked or a model ship should be planked!

2nd Planking finished

After a few hours of sanding and a few blisters it looked like this. It started looking pretty ok at this point.

Bulwark strips

They looked like they would be easy! The plywood definitely needed a soaking so I soaked the front ends and shaped them around a bowl over night. I made up one of the cannons to check the gun port levels and no matter what I did something was off so I glued them on with the bow section being low. I ended up adding some lime wood strip to the top of the bow and had to adjust 3 gun ports on each side.

1st Planking

I regret gluing the stern post on but didn't really know that it would get in the way at this point, lesson learned. The planking I did was rough and jagged, I figured it didn't mater to much because they would be sanded smooth and be covered with a second planking. 

Keel & Bulkheads

Hey Tony! Yes I hope to steer some people away from my mistakes, also there is there is the fact I have a small work area and lack of tools. I hope that could be some encouragement to some in the same "boat" as me. It's been challenging but it feels good when you make your own tool or jig. Even random household items can be of use.

So My keel was a bit warped and so I soaked it for 3-4 hours and put a huge pile of useless law books on it for a day. That took out some of the bend but what really aligned it was the bulkheads and deck were in place. I did not need to throw it away and start over like one of my books said Ha! I squared the bulkheads to the keel with large binder clips and they came out squared, didn't snap a picture of that step sorry. You can't really tell buy my awful photos but I did cut some rabbeting into the keel before gluing the bulkheads.  In picture 3 & 4 I had everything glued in place and started adding small filler blocks on the bow and stern. I felt it needed some support there but I opted out of using balsa wood to fill most of the hull, didn't feel necessary to me at the time but I would have used less filler on the planking if I had. As long as everything is shaped and smooth for second planking you should be good.

Hey fellow Builders!

I've been lurking on this site for almost a year now and I feel it's time to reveal my work... or pile of poorly painted bent sticks. I would like to give my thanks for all the other Sherbourne builders on this site as it has been immensely helpful to see your builds!

I started building this lovely little kit last August and have been working on it slowly over the last 9 months. It would totally be done if I wasn't working so much, I'm a line cook so I get home and most of the time collapse into bed. Anyway I bought this kit after doing some research, it came highly rated for beginners. I still couldn't have made it without the resources on this site or the books I bought. Most kits are just assuming you know what you are doing it seems. The kit was missing the maple wood for the deck so I contacted JoTika/Caldercraft and they mailed some out to me for free! 

The build is at the rigging stage... I've been a little stuck there and will probably ask for help. I'll just post these two un-boxing pictures for now and add the rest later in chunks.