Matt H

I did end up placing an order to get some admiralty paints and a couple other items. The paints are out of stock at Ages of Sail. I haven't heard from anyone regarding my order that was placed on the 11th, or regarding the missing items from the kit. The status shows payment as pending and order status as not shipped. Payment hasn't been deducted from my account, although I did get a small .22 cent charge from Visa I think and it looks like it's some kind of international fee, not sure. I haven't ordered anything else from overseas so I assume it has something to do with this. I guess all I can do is wait. Will update further if/when something happens.

Here is the link to Home Depot for the WEN, you can also get it on Amazon but it is slightly more expensive there. There are other models that have a horizontal 4-5" belt sander that is positioned as an edge sander. Other models have a 4 - 5" belt sander oriented horizontally but flat that also has a pivot point to raise it 90 degrees for a vertical belt sander. I felt the linked model was more beneficial for me. https://www.homedepot.com/p/WEN-1-in-x-30-in-Belt-Sander-with-5-in-Sanding-Disc-6515T/307873039

Besides a variety of handheld tiny sanding blocks I'd say the most popular power sanders I have seen mentioned are miniature versions of a disc sander and thickness sanders. I myself have just purchased a couple new power tools, a Proxxon FET table saw, and a WEN combo 1 x 30 belt and 5" disc sander. I really like the Byrnes disc sander, but the WEN was only $80 bucks. I do plan to get the Byrnes thickness sander down the road when I get more into scratch building. For now I can use full size tools at work to get small sheets of wood at the proper thickness and then cut them at home. I think the combo WEN sander will be very useful, both the disc and 1" belt.

Just a quick update to this. I will be setting this aside for some time. I do feel the instructions are adequate for someone new to the hobby, but I also recognize that despite good instructions things come up and we need to be able to adapt. I feel I would rather put this large beautiful ship aside and one day many years from now after some other ships have been completed and I can do this in a much better way when those scenarios come up that I need to adapt and having more experience will let me do that better and make this look much nicer as it deserves. As far as the kit itself, I haven't opened up the individual bags that the small steps come in, but looking at them through the bag they appear to be good quality. As I learn more and get practice with some of my new tools arriving soon, I may start to replace kit materials with nicer looking lumber, so another reason to delay this particular ship. The only problem I have with this model company is that I don't always receive the printed color instructions. I have to email them which takes days sometimes a week and a half before a response. I have emailed twice, the first back in April about month 3 instructions, and I still have yet to receive them, apparently they are out of stock and have been for the past 2 - 3 months. So the biggest issue is a long time between communication and missing instructions. When I return to this kit I will return to this build log and if there are any questions I may be able to answer you are welcome to post them here.

I found the answer to my question above and thought I'd come back and post it for others. Those ropes are called reef points and they go through the sail and are knotted on both sides leaving a length on both sides. The purpose is to roll the sail up from the bottom and use those reef points to tie it up, thus reducing the size of the sail. This is done for strong winds. There were multiple rows of reef points to reduce the sail to a variety of smaller sizes. This whole process is called reefing.

Wow, this is incredible work. I am very impressed and rather speechless watching part 9 on the first page making the weathered bulwark. I have seen mention of weathering effects, but never actually seen it done and certainly not in a video. I'll go back and watch more from the beginning. I am following and bookmarked this build for future reference. Keep up the excellent work.

Thank you for this idea, design, and photos. I just built one for myself. I enlarged it by 6 inches both vertically and horizontally for both the top and bottom sections. I have prints currently that are about 47 - 48 inches long. This design worked great, put it behind my work table. The top of the lower section sits about 8 inches or so above the table top so I can easily grab one from down below and move it up above. Although my table is deep so I have to kneel on top of it a little bit to reach the top. Might have to get myself one of those extendable grabbers to set it up on the top. Anyhow, thanks again, this design worked great and came out considerably cheaper I think than other options, although my prices were a good bit higher than yours. All total I paid $48 for everything. The corner moldings were $4 a piece and came in 8 foot sections. Unfortunately because I enlarged it a bit, I couldn't cut those in half, I needed about 55 inches so I had about 3.5 feet leftover from each 8' stick. Tee's and elbows were more expensive than I thought, fortunately I found a bundle of 20 and 10 of each cheaper than if I had to buy them individually. Regardless, still worth the extra cost, great idea, minimal space, easy to sort and display what you need.

I have most of the rigging done. Not sure what it is called, but I have the 4 short sections of rope tied on the sides of the sail to rig up. And of course the oars, but as I mentioned earlier, I'll get those done eventually, they will be in the stored position anyway since the sail is out. Should have photos up late tonight or tomorrow. Thanks Matt

I use Lego's for keeping the bulkhead square, I use the 2x4 Lego pieces. You know they are square and easily accessible so they work great. Sometimes I can't use a Lego on each side directly across from one another because my clamp doesn't open up large enough. So if you look down at the keel and bulkheads from above and it looks like a cross with 4 quadrants. I put one say in the top left and on in the bottom right and a clamp in front and behind the bulkhead. In ship terms I would put one forward of the bulkhead and say on the starboard side, the other would go aft of the bulkhead and on the port side. Rather than both forward or both aft then where my clamp can't open enough. Hopefully that explanation isn't too weird. As to the nails I used Novacan Black Patina for Solder. They sell it on Amazon and they sell a three pack for a variety of metals. I bought that, but so far I have found the regular one I named here has worked best. The image I posted with the nails, I poored just a little of the solution in one of the round compartments above. Then dropped some nails in for a few seconds, stirred them around, then dropped them in the larger spaces where they sit in the image. I have since seen a suggestion from someone to have a water rinse available. I didn't but will in the future. I just let them dry and then dabbed the remaining liquid off with a paper towel once all the nails were done.

That email gets returned as a full inbox. I have successfully emailed Shipwrightshop.com, where I purchased the ship originally, without any returned emails, but I have yet to hear from them. I have not tried calling yet, I'm not exactly sure what the costs for a phone call would be with my service. My cell service charges a variety of rates depending on what type of service the receiving end has, which means essentially I won't know until I get the bill. Figured I'd give a bit more time for an email response before I go that route.

Text update only, I will upload pictures of the completed model after I finish the rigging. I have completed the rigging for the mast stay. This was the first time using cleats and it was neat being able to tie them up just like you would on an actual boat and they stay in place, I didn't have to glue it down, we'll see if it stays that way for the long term, I may have to glue the tail down behind the cleat but the wrapping around it stays just fine. I have created and hung the port side shrouds. I have attached the 4 dead eyes to the hull for both the port and starboard shrouds. I have also pulled the sail up to it's proper position and tied off the halyard to the cleat, then formed a coil with the remaining rope and hung it on the top of the cleat. I did attach the figure head and wrap the bow with rope under the figurehead. All deck furniture is made and ready to be placed down. I have also attached what I like to call "God hands" to the walnut base board I made. I found these really neat aged bronze fists as ship pedestals. I figured the Vikings believed in many Gods so I thought it fitting that I found these "God hands/fists" to hold the Viking ship up. That's where I am at now. Need to make up and hang the starboard shrouds then tighten all shrouds down to their respective dead eyes then on to the running rigging. I still have yet to make the oars, I have cut the dowels down to the correct sizes. I will likely make these up down the road as my next build is at a stage waiting for glue to dry. Should only be another day or two before I'm done with the rigging and will update with many more photos of the above details and the full ship.

Further update. I just realized that the email on both jotika and shipwrightshop have the same beginning part, but different ending. enquiries@jotika-ltd.com vs enquiries@shipwrightshop.com I have sent the email off to the latter and so far it has not been returned. Searching through the forum I found a similar thread from 2014 that sounds very much the same as mine. Emails not being answered and no responses, one suggestion was to go through shipwrightshop.com rather than jotika-ltd.com. That is what spurred me to look at the emails closer. I will update here if/when I hear back from someone.

I'm wondering if anyone has any contact information for the company Jotika, Caldercraft, or Shipwrightshop.com besides what is listed on their website? I purchased the Caldercraft Granado in late 2017 and am finally getting around to starting it. I was going through and doing inventory and am missing a couple of parts and was trying to get in touch with someone via email. I emailed the one listed for Nelson's Navy models, then the general enquiries, and finally every email listed on their website. All of them get sent back as undeliverable. It also appears that all those various emails are getting forwarded to a John Wright at johnwright@jotika-ltd.com. So anyone know how else to contact John Wright or the above mentioned companies? **EDIT** When I send directly to the john email I get an error back that his inbox is full. That is why the messages aren't getting through. Still the question remains other than calling and dealing with out of country charges any other way of reaching this person or company?

So it has been a while since I last updated, and in fact since I have done anything with this ship. I have since set this aside and began and am now nearly finished with the Viking Drakkar, that built is in my signature. I will update with photos soon, but I had a question I wanted to pose first. First I have installed filler blocks and smaller/thinner blocks outwards almost to the inside of the inner bulwarks. This will give me a good base for the deck. My question is how to drill holes for the masts. Unfortunately I did not think of this until it was too late. I would have followed some other build logs I have come across, where they marked and cut out the bulkhead former before the bulkhead were attached. It is must to late for me to do that, so any suggestions on how to get the correct angle and drill out the mast holes once the bulkhead and filler blocks are installed? I'd rather do it now than wait until chapter 12 and do it after the deck is finished.