jfhealey

And you do that in 1/48 scale!!! You must have extraordinary eyesight / patience and,of course, boundless ability. What a model you are creating. Fred

Thanks chaps for the replies and likes. Here is an update on my Winchelsea build. I started planking the hull. I left off the capping rail at the quaterdeck figuring I could file the sheer to fit the planking rather than the other way around. I also didn't like having to look for so long at the plywood bulkhead ends in the waist so I filed that down by a couple of mill. and capped it. The first pictures show the planking coming up to the waist and the waist filed down ready to cap and recieve the next plank. I have not worried about where the butt ends fall. This is only the first layer of wales of course. Here is the stem. I cut it using my Proxxon MS70 mill - absolutely invaluable - and a very cheap oscillating sander: noisy as hell but does a job. I bought (and will continue to buy) the Syren parts and found it a great help to have the Syren part in my hand as I made the equivalent in boxwood. Much easier the pasting paper. I found I would have a small but noticeable gap around where the stem meets the bollard timbers so I put a little filler piece in as shown below. Here are some test bollard timbers made on the mill and waiting for the addition of a small piece to make wider the timbers below the bowsprit hole. And here they are fitted and the bowsprot hole filed out. I bevelled them as much as I dared/could but even so I have a small ledge at the foot. I can live with it. The planking up to the sheer mid ships and the Syren hance pieces fitted. The plan is to make as many parts as I possibly can and use the Syren parts only where painted or covered over - as with the hance pieces. The gunport cut outs on my earlier attempt at Winnie were not great for two resons. First I struggled to maintain a consistent 1/32 spacing around the inner stops (I'm not sure what they are properly called). Secondly, in my efforts to ensure the planking was properly stuck down, I squidged glue out marring the crispness of the finish. Here I have cut the gunports to the outside dimension and will add crimson painted liners later. Here I'm placing a batton two planks below the lowest wale. I have a fear of not getting a smooth run from the drop plank to its immediate neighbour going aft and this batton, I hope, will give me the best chance of a good result. This picture rather distorts the run of the plankin at the foc'sle. It looks much better in the flesh. I offered up the Syren drop plank. Its not a great fit. I think that's because I cut my own bulkheads and then obscured the Syren planking marks with bevelling the bulkheads and putting in all that balsa wood. I did my best with careful tick strips to re-instate them but some discrepancy was bound to creep in. So I cut a card template. And this is where I am now. All the best everyone Fred

This looks wonderful! I assume when you are ready you will release the model in chapters as Chuck did with Winchelsea? Any idea when chapter1 will be available? Will the production version have mdf frames and what will you select for the "show" wood - or are those decisions yet to be made? All the best Fred

A loo with a view! Great work Frank. Best wishes Fred

Absolutely wonderful work. One for generations yet to come to admire. Ageless craftsmanship. Fred

I wish I could strive for that standard. Realistically, no matter how much I wish it were otherwise, this is way beyond my compass. Simply bewilderingly brilliant.

This is magnificent. You are making a model that generations to come will look upon with wonder. Best wishes Fred ,

This is looking really nice. Of all the jobs you have covered in this post the one I found far and away the trickiest was the gun port lids. I could not get them to open in anything other than a ugly jangle of angles if you see what I mean - but yours look very neat and uniform. Very nice indeed - but dare I say I'm not sure about the floor. Still it's your ship/command and yours is the only point of view that matters! All the best Fred

Morning Archie Your choice of wood may come down to the quality of the timber you can obtain as much as the choice of wood. I built my Winnie in cherry and purchased the wood pre-cut (I don't have access to a table saw) from Germany and grew rather dis-satisfied with it as the build progressed. I recently completed Syren's cutter Cheerful in boxwood from Hobbymill EU ( they have a website). The boxwood is gorgeous and flawlessly cut. I highly recommend both it and Hobbymill. I have recently started another Winnie because I am not happy with the cherry version. I am buying the kit parts in AYC from Chuck - but I intend to use only those that will be painted using the remainder as a pattern to scratch build in boxwood. I have ordered the boxwood Winchelsea package from Hobbymill which the proprietor, a very nice fellow called Vahur Vannick (based in Estonia), cuts with permission from Chuck. It is quite expensive - 380 euros plus postage of 40 euros and whatever taxes get imposed at customs but for a project that will take so much time and commitment it is in my view well worth it. Buying in the AYC parts and using them as a pattern seems a reasonable half way house or introduction to scratch building. I do not neccessarily have the all the skills to translate a drawing in to a 3D part so having a pattern is invaluable. The AYC is very nice and has a close grain but it is a bit white for my eyes. Good luck whatever choice you make. Fred

I will! Chuck's Speedwell and your Portland are surely the most exiting projects around (with an honourable mention to Chris Watton who produces fantastic kits but resolutely only in 1/64th).

Thanks JJ. I assume the picture above is from your Portland. I, and I suspect many others, are looking forward to your next update.

I visited the Historic dockyard at Portsmouth a couple of weeks ago. The Mary Rose exhibition is breathtaking. Thousands of artifacts beautifully and imaginatively displayed alongside more or less the whole starboard side of the ship. Well worth a visit if you are ever in the area (allow not less than 2 days). In sharp contrast HMS Victory is looking sorry for itself both because of its neglected state and because its dry dock sits, or appears to sit, in the middle of a sea of concrete (in contrast to, say, the SS Great Britain in Bristol, also in a dry dock, but alongside and very much connected visually to the river). Still, it is undergoing a long overdue and much needed refit. It seems a shame we can find £6 billion for these two monsters but can't find the money to do justice to this wonderful ship. I've just had a thought: this log is for Winchelsea postings only so please fell free, moderators, to remove this post. Fred

Thanks chaps! I appreciate your kind words and likes. Here are some pictures of the present state of play - Winnie in her underwear alongside her better dressed sister. I've nearly finished chapter 1 with a bit of chapter 4 thrown in. I'm waiting on Hobbymill Eu for the Winchelsea boxwood package including sheets to attempt - I think it may be on the edge of my skill level - the stem and keel parts. I have the Syren parts to trace from but it looks like a tricky cutting out job to me. Still, nothing ventured.... I guess infilling with balsa has both its advocates and dis-approvers. I want to give myself the very best chance of a successful planking and this seems the best way at least for me. It also makes the rather tiresome task of fairing both inboard and out a lot easier and I hope more accurate given that I'm working from home cut frames. Incidentally the bowsprit is housed in a little box. I think I will fully plank the foc'sle (and quaterdeck) so nothing forward of the manger (as the little box is) can be seen. If I change my mind I can easily remove it. The cooker has been bought on board so the lads can have a cup of tea. In England THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. All the best everyone. Fred PS. Sorry about the quality of the pictures. I blame the camera!

I hope you post pictures of your display cabinet as you make it. I, for one, would be very interested to follow. Fred

Superb. What next?

That is a lovely collection to which your Winnie will be a superb addition. Good luck with move Gary. A bit of a nerve shredder for you I suspect. All the best Fred

Welll done Matt. And i will second yor appreciation of Chuck's wonderful project. With so many Winnies nearing completion (and looking so good) he must be rather chuffed. Fred

Really beautiful. You must be delighted. What's next? Fred

Better than that?!?! It looks pretty perfect to me (though I admit Mike (Stuntflyer) sets pretty high standards to shoot for). You certainly merit a glass or two of Scotland's finest. Fred

I've had two goes at the Winchelsea. I realised not long into the first build that the model was far too complex for someone of my limited experience and skill level so I gave up to start again. W2 was a much better effort but there were things I was unhappy with and I ( I suspect many of us) can get disproportionately bugged by things I look at and think: if I did that again I'd do it better. So I took a break and made Syren's lovely cutter Cheerful in boxwood from Hobbymill EU and I'm very pleased with it too. I thought I might have a go at a scratch build but I think that's beyond me. Apart from any other failings I simply don't have the knowledge. What I want to build though is a fully rigged ship. My own view - lots won't share it - is that rigging really sets off a model beautifully. So I've decided to have a go at a fully rigged Winchelsea. Scratch building the masts seems reasonably achievable and within my compass. And having had two as it turns out dummy runs at Winchelsea I'm reasonably confident I can make a decent effort this time. So here goes. I decided to start with the masts on the footing that if I can't get those right the project will go nowhere. I'm not strung up on historical accuracy (though I would welcome observations). I'm using a combination of Shipyard Model HMS Enterprize and Anatomy of a Ship HMS Diana plans with Herbert/Antscherl books for methodology. I started with the crosstrees for the main mast. Here are parts 1-4, again in boxwood from Hobbymill EU.. And then the tops. I made the mizzen mast first. Here it is (with the bowsprit). This is the mizzen top more or less complete thogh I wonder if I should file down the radating battens towards the centre a bit more yet. The top is not glued to the crosstrees and the cap is not finished. And here the bowsprit. Cutting the bowsprit from square section to this stage took most of of a full day. And here trying the bowsprit for size (although not yet cut to length) on W2. I'm also having a bit of a go - experimenting really - at the ship's boats. That is the pinnace sitting midships. I have cut out and assembled all the frames with sockets to take the masts. This is where I am at the moment. The masts of course are not glued in nor are the tops glued to the crosstrees or topmasts glued. All the best everyone Fred

Superb. You must be delighted. Fred

Excellent result with the hinges. I can see you put a lot of time and effort in. Well worth it. Fred

I agree with JJ. However difficult you found the gratings and headrails you overcame the challenge triumphantly. You must be very pleased. Regards Fred

Wow! You Americans really push the boundaries don't you. And how generous of Chuck to chip in with "Let me know how I can help....". Fred

Yep, I'm interested. PE hooks are better than anything I can make and these look better still. How do you find the time to do all this stuff? best wishes Fred