Dollburger

Thank you! I'm opting not to find any pore filling lacquer, but I did use matte varnish on the seats. Next step is to start sanding; hopefully I'll get some time today.

I'm not that far yet, but I'm also building this kit. Part 57 comes as a raw piece of wood so it'll need shaping/carving.

I've had this kit sitting in my shop for almost a year with minimal work done. I'm finally motivated to jump into it and I'll try to post updates to this log as I go. All of my modeling experience is with plastic or resin - mostly Warhammer 40k stuff; I'm excited to work with wood but I'm out of my element a bit. I've already encountered a few instructions I'm unsure about, and I'm hoping to receive some guidance. Test fitting the first pieces. Glued and stained. Decking is cut, stained and glued in place. The parts list is tough to follow because the parts listed aren't actually what's included in the box. I had just enough wood for the decking when I was originally thinking I was short. Makes it harder for a newbie to inventory parts and figure out what's what. Seats are test fitted but not attached yet; thwarts are added for mainmast and foremast. My first questions are already happening in steps 1 and 2 unfortunately. I'm in the US (Menards and Home Depot nearby) and I'm not sure what products to get for "pore-filling lacquer" and varnish. Does anyone have product recommendations? In the first step - do I really coat the frames, false keel, and decking with pore filling lacquer? What's the purpose of this? Second - for varnish I'm just varnishing the seats but it doesn't appear that I'm supposed to stain them a more realistic color. Does that sound right? I'm wondering if maybe I should stain them the same "maple" color as the false keel and frames instead, and then apply varnish. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated! That's all I have so far. I'm at a bit of a pause until I figure out the lacquer/varnish questions and then I'll keep going. These steps have been quite simple and I'm glad now I took people's recommendations and started on an easier kit. I know the real problems will start once I get started on planking. I'm not sure why most of my pics are showing up in portrait orientation. They're all landscape on my PC.

Thank you! I have a screenshot of that page in the instructions; I wondered what it was.

I was actually just measuring, and I think I can get 3 of the 4 shortest planks from one piece, which will give me just enough to make it work. I just have to not screw up lol. Worst case I guess I just end up having wider gaps between each board. Nothing like starting to improvise while still on step 1!

I'm finally jumping into my first model - the Bounty launch by Occre. Unfortunately I'm stuck on step 2 already with missing parts. I'm supposed to have 11 2x3x200mm walnut planks for the deck, but I only have 8. Is this something I can usually fix with an email to the company? Are there other suggestions? Now I'm also wondering what else might be missing too.

Hey Roger, yep I know that sorry if I was unclear. I've done some testing with my pre-stain and stain I picked up yesterday and it seems to be working well. I was curious if I should use a sealer or not at the end of the process like other wood projects. Hello from Minneapolis

Sounds good, thank you! In all my reading up so far I hadn't really given much thought to the stain side of things, and of course it's in step 1 of my instructions. I have plenty of pre-stain from other wood projects so there's no troubles there; I'll check what I bought with regard to sealers/varnish/etc.

awesome thanks! I'm running to the store now seems like there are plenty of 1/2 pint options. Do you generally use a sealer as well? Or just leave it with the stain.

Thanks Jaager. The kit is from OcCre - it's just the beginner Bounty Launch kit, but the MDF wood calls for stain prior to construction.

My first kit has finally arrived, and now I'm wondering where to buy small bottles of wood stain. Would anyone have recommendations on brand or vendor (US preferably)? I won't need a lot of stain, so I'm hoping to find small bottles somewhere, maybe even locally, but I'm not having any luck. So far I've found these: https://modelexpo-online.com/wood-modeling-stains-and-finishes Is this what I should go with?

I'll do my best! I'm terrible with progress pics on any project in general.

Thanks all! I did end up staring with the Bounty Launch by OcCre. I went that route with the thought process that my 2nd ship would also be OcCre, so maybe staying within one model line might help me learn at the beginning. I won't get it for a few weeks, but I'm excited to give it a try!

Thanks! You're right, I probably should start with something like the launch boat, and it certainly has plenty of history behind it. Do you happen to know the differences between OcCre's Bounty Launch and MSW's? OcCre's is on sale for only $52.

I know these types of questions probably get asked too often, but I'm wondering if anyone decided on this Beagle kit as a first model, or has insights on the difficulty level for a first timer? I'm still searching around for that first kit - I had originally decided on a MSW Baltimore Clipper (Dapper Tom) and have since been persuaded away. My career is in the natural resources field, so naturally the Beagle is an historic ship that I've always been interested in, but I'm wondering if it's too much? My current modeling experience is more on the painting side, building and painting Games Workshop models. I've looked at OcCre's Polaris as well, but it just isn't as appealing to me, even though it's probably a wiser choice. Ideally I'd like to build a ship from the Napoleonic era, a couple of cannon (sloop, brig, clipper, etc.). The beagle is currently listed for $136 USD from Premier Ship Models which certainly seems reasonable as a first ship gamble. Any thoughts or advice? I've been looking at various kits over a year now, so I'm really not trying to just dive into the deep end on a whim. From what I've read, it seems like the OcCre kits provide a decent quality for the price. Edit - I think I could also consider the Albatross, also by OcCre if that's maybe a good in-between starting point? That kit is only $89 at the moment from the same website.