jfhealey

Come on JJ. Stop teasing us and post a few pictures of progress! Fred

I can see a lot of careful and wonderfully executed attention to small details that make a big difference - the wheels of the gun carriages for example (how did you make them?) and the scraped mouldings (which look superb) to identify only two among many. You must be delighted with the outcome so far. All the best Fred

Wonderful work. A dazzling model. Beautifully done. Fred

I shall look forward to that. May I wish you a happy, peaceful and productive New Year. Best wishes Fred

Very nicely done indeed. The rigging is very impressive. How did you anchor the rigging wires? Fred

Looking wonderful, Frank. Happy Christmas Fred

I'll second Glenn. Looking good! Fred

Thanks Glenn and JJ and for the likes. I've glued in the bollard timbers JJ. I know they are not bevelled quite enough but they look OK on the model. Here is a bit of an update in pictures. I completed the firrst two belts below the wales. The flow of the planking seems fine to me and there are no dips ( the one just below the wales midships easily sanded out) or high spots but some of the seams could have been tighter. I don't have a table saw so cuting the keel components was done with the scorll saw and then the Proxxon mill. A little slow but does the job. Here is the boxing joint. It came out pretty well to my ever optimistic eyes. So on to the lowest belt. I intend to "treenail" the hull. I used a 0.6mm drill and then pushed a sharp pencil into the hole before using a woodfiller. I'm sure there are better ways not least because wood filler, no matter how carefully applied, tends to fill and emphasise any gaps in the between planks seems - see the picture below. If I had a Byrnes draw plate perhaps I'd have a go at the real deal. I've no idea how many vertical "lines" of treenails there should be. I think I will add one more line between those presently existing - but I will make my mind up when the planking is finished and I have a better overall view. Thank you for looking by. All the best and very best wishes to you all for Christmas and the New Year. Fred

Chris - I shall follow this with interest. My grandfather flew a Sopwith Pup in the first war. His role was to act as a spotter to guide in artillery fire more accurately. German aircraft, I guess, fufilled the same role in reverse so both sides soldiers in the trenches hated the sight of an aeroplane. Pop's war came to an end when he was shot down by British anti-aircraft fire. Not so freindly friendly fire. I made a Wingnut Wings model of the Pup a few years ago but the standard to which some modellers were building Wingnut Wings models so far exceeded anything I could hope to do that I gave up - there are one or two (three come readily to mind) whose wooden ships on this site evoke the same feeling but I shall soldier on! Good luck with the build. it looks fantastic. All the best Fred

I have only now caught up with this build log. What a supery little model you have made. I love it. All the best Fred

That is looking wonderful Glenn. You must be delighted. I can see you take real care in everything you do. It shows. Best wishes Fred

He's a lucky fellow, that chap who made you the offer you couldn't refuse. I hope he treasures your Winnie. What a dilemma you must have confronted when the offer came in. Still, as you say, you now have the opportunity to start all over again - and I hope you do. It does get easier second time around. I know this - I'm on my third go not having been happy with numbers one and two. Best wishes Fred

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!