Chook

Looking good Mike. You certainly are a hookerinerer. It would have taken me more than a year to get to the same stage.

Hi Mike, I know that the instructions say to put the bowsprit on now but I made and fitted it at that stage but did not fix it into the model until I came to rigging. It is just to susceptible to damage sticking out like that. Not sure if you have made provision for the two small blocks which are attached to the bowsprit to stop the main stay from sliding along the bowsprit, it would be easiest to make them early on with a positioning pin and locating hole on the bowsprit for later fitting. Not sure if the instructions tell you that. Looking good.

No, sorry I don’t have a build log.

Hi Mike, you are certainly making progress on this model. I am making the same one right now and have been for a couple of years but at your rate of progress you will be finished well before me. Looking good.

Hi Troy, sorry that you are having issues with planking. It is a painstakingly slow and meticulous process. I use a combination of soaking in water, planking tool and a template to bend the planks to fit. I only do one plank each day. You can use the plywood deck to get the shape of the first plank. Soak it in water for an hour or so, then starting in the middle bend it to the shape of the curve of the deck and pin or clamp it in place for 24 hours. Take it off and give it a final adjustment using the planking tool, then glue and pin or clamp it in place for 24 hours. You now have the first plank on and it is the perfect template for the next plank. I shape, soak and clamp the next plank to the first and leave for a day, and the process rolls on. Just be particularly careful not to leave any glue on the surface of the first plank when you use this method as it would be easy to end up with the two planks glued together. Additionally the timber strips supplied are not all the same so make sure to select a timber strip with a nice straight grain if you are wanting to bend it around a curve by whatever method. From your photos some of the supplied strips are cut partly across the grain. That is OK just keep those particular strips for planks that don’t require as much curve. Planking takes me a long time but there are plenty of other parts to be working on while the planks are setting to shape. Just be patient, take your time and most importantly have fun.

Hi Troy, I’m building this model at the moment. It is my second build, my first was the Mermaid. I also encountered the oversize bulkhead. The bulkhead beside the oversize one turned out to be undersized when it came to fairing, I had to add some strip to the undersize one and sand back the oversize one. I did not discover this until it was all glued up and I was fairing the bulkheads. I am wondering if those two bulkheads aren’t’ mislabeled, I know mine were in the correct position according to their labeled number. Have fun.

Hi James, I am just finishing the rigging on this model which is also my first. I chose this model because it looked fairly easy for a beginner and was supposed to have good instructions and because I actually knew about this ships wreck before I even thought about building a model. The ship was wrecked off Cairns, Australia where I live. Anyway the transom was not easy. I spent about three hours putting the transom on and it still ended up being slightly out of whack. I had to sand it back into square. All I can advise is be really meticulous and patient with everything to do with this hobby. Some of the instructions for this model are not really very good for beginners and take an awful look of thought to figure out but maybe that is a good thing. I will follow your progress and will be happy to answer any questions you may have regarding this model. My model has turned out way better than I had imagined at the beginning. When I first started I did not think I would have much trouble with the woodwork but was pretty apprehensive about rigging the model. The wood work turned out really well and I have discovered that I actually enjoy rigging the model. It is good that you are taking the time to do a build log, I don’t think I could keep up the motivation to keep a log up to date. Cheers.