drobinson02199

Gunports cut and painted and bulwark tops installed.

Regards,

David

Finished  planking and painting the inside bulwarks.  The manual calls for the 1x4 second planking strips for the inside bulwark planking, which I used, but for the short piece across the rear I used a 1x5 first planking strip, because the strip width fits better.

Regards,

David

Flavia:

I left the deck natural and just used clear satin polyurethane varnish.

It's a great kit.  Enjoy it!

Regards,

David

One option when you buy this model is to get a pre-etched deck (so you don't have to plank it), and I took that.

In the photos, you can see the deck on the laser-cut sheet, and then mounted on the ship.

The manual reads as if you are planking the deck, and it has the side bulwarks planked before deck planking, and then painted red after.  When you use the pre-etched deck you really need to plank the bulwarks after you mount it.  So you can see that at this point they aren't planked yet.

Further, if I paint the side bulwarks after I plank them, I'll need to do a lot of careful masking around a curved bulwark (this is how the manual reads), but what I think I'll do instead is pre-paint the lower planks that run along the deck, which will give a nice finish and obviate the masking.

Second planking done, sanded and first coat of varnish applied.  The pear wood Chris Watton used on this ship reminds me of the Tanganyika wood he used on the Revenge.

Regards,

David

Started on the second planking.  The pear wood for that installs very easily and lies flat.

Regards,

David

I've filled, sanded and varnished the first planking, and done some work on the stern.  The diagonal planks you see at the stern are the pear wood that will be used for the second planking (which is next).  As I mentioned earlier, I will probably not paint the hull white as I really like the look of the finished wood.

Regards,
David

Except for the top rail, first planking is done.

I experience hull planking as an existential art form.  You never quite know what pattern you're going to end up with.  This one reflects my continued use of side-bending (with the help of my steamer) until I finally threw in the towel and let the planks run.

The result is the most interesting planking pattern I've ended up with to date.

Regards,

David

First planking underway.

Regards,

David

The upper deck is now mounted.  One issue I had is that the rear flanges are very fragile, and before I mounted the deck I set the boat down on its stern and they all snapped off.  So I glued them back on, paying attention to the angle, and then glued on the rear deck.

One is missing, because I couldn't find it after it snapped off, but I've looked ahead and it won't matter to the build.  

So that's something to be careful of when building this model.

Regards,

David

Here's more of the hull structure.

Regards,

David

Thanks.  Based on that I think I'll skip planking it.  

Regards,

David

VTHokiEE:

Timely question.  I hadn't planned to.  What is the angle -- through the hatchways?  All of them or just one?

I'm also going to leave the hull natural vs. painting it white.

Regards,

David

Have partially finished the hull structure.  Some more to go.

The ruler is 300mm long and gives you a sense of the size of this ship.

Regards,

David

I have built the Amati Revenge and Fly from the Victory Models series, and both were terrific builds with outstanding kit quality.  These were designed by Chris Watton, so when I saw that he had formed his own modeling company, Vanguard Models, I really wanted to try one to see how the kit quality and ship appearance compared.

Opening the box, the kit quality looks outstanding.  Everything neatly packed and shrink-wrapped, and the wood looks great.  The manual is also something to behold:  large lie-flat with heavy pages and lots of 4-color pictures and drawings.  I'm looking forward to starting this one and will post a log as I go.

Regards,

David

Thanks, Hans.  7 months almost to the day, which for me seems like a longer time.  My longest build to date.

Regards,

David

Batavia is finished!  Completion photos have been posted to the kit-built ship gallery.

Kudos to Kolderstok Models for a really high quality kit, and thanks to Hans (the owner of Kolderstok) for all of his help at times along the way.

Regards,

David

Running rigging is complete now.  All that remains is the rear flagpole, the rear lantern, the flags, and the stand.

Getting close!

Regards,

David

Now all the yard lifts are up.

Regards,

David

And here's the remaining lateen rigging that wasn't in the previous post.

Regards,

David

Lower yard lifts done; lateen yard rigged.  Actually, partially rigged.  There is some more rigging from the lateen to the mizzen that I have to do.

Regards,

David

I used the wood supplied in the kit and finished it with satin polyurethane varnish -- no stain.  I wonder if you got a different wood type?

Regards,

David

All yards now mounted.  Ready for running rigging.

Regards,

David

Lower main yard mounted.  Close up of parrel beads & blocks.

Regards,

David

For fun, I took this picture of the yards with varnish drying.  They look like sausages hanging.   

I may have mentioned this in an earlier post, but before starting the masts and yards, I went through all of my dowels and labeled them in terms of which piece would be shaped from them.  Important so you don't run out of a size you need.  You'll notice one of the yards is darker.  That's natural walnut that I took from my spare wood supply -- the others are stained.  The issue was that the dowel I had allocated for that yard was double the diameter needed (the only option), and when I got to it I didn't feel like shaping all that wood down.  I did have a walnut piece that was the right diameter, so used that.  The mismatch in color isn't as dramatic as it looks in the picture.

Regards,

David