VTHokiEE

I saw that you went this route and I can't see why it wouldn't work out fine in the end. After cutting the frames out I had no intention of cutting into that thick plywood more than I had to . I wasn't too hard to notch the slots further. After opening up the slots I began installing the frames, even with the square I still managed to place one frame slightly off vertical and another I accidentally didn't press all the way flat onto the building board (doh!), guess I'll get to have extra fun fairing that frame. I'm currently adding the spacers which has corrected the frame that was slightly misaligned.

Wow you really went all out! Experimenting with this stuff is equal parts exciting and extreme frustration 🙂 When you tried to fold over and iron the seams at scale did you use any pins? That may (or may not) have helped.

Awesome job! Building from scratch is a long way off for me, but this project looks like a really nice introduction to it!

I have no experience with this specific one but agesofsail.com has at least this one: https://www.agesofsail.com/ecommerce/hobby-tools/amati-tools/am7399-amati-new-nail-nailer.html You may have to try different search terms to find the right tool. Model expo may have something as well. Ordering from Cornwall models in the UK can be a good idea if you have time; I have found their shipping costs to be very reasonable.

Got some books this afternoon, thanks!

I removed the basswood pieces from the sheet, sanded off the laser char and did a dry fit. The area between frame 4 and 4a didn't match up great for me and I never was able to get a completely tight fit there after sanding. I need more practice fixing the fit of parts when needed. Before tackling the rabbet I decided to fix frame 4a (my kit is an early kit that required adding wood to the frame). Then back to drawing the rabbet and sanding it in. The rabbet was easy on the straight pieces and where it transferred all the way over to the stem, but I felt like transitioning it between the two was a little less specific in instruction and I hope I got close enough after following Toni's log. Finally I glued everything onto each other and the building board. Next I need to deepen the slots on the keelson 1/16"

Will do once I start using it. I wanted to let you know that I am really grateful for your directions posted here. I’ve barely begun and I’m 75% certain I would’ve messed up the first step without your warning regarding the hex holes. Thank you!

I basically followed the directions in the kit and I don’t think they came out that bad from a normal viewing distance. I traced the pattern on the material in pencil, painted it with polyurethane and cut it out. One thing IMO that would make this simple method better would have been to trace the pattern on both sides of the sheet (which I sadly did not). You can get cheap white cotton fabric from Walmart for a few dollars and have plenty to experiment with.

I've had my eye on this building slip since I saw this review (really, it is over kill for me but I was concerned that I would "quickly" outgrow the smaller version ), but I live in the US and almost all the locations that I saw for the slip were in Europe and due to the size of the slip shipping costs became something of a non-starter. Recently I emailed hobbyzone to inquire about their shipping costs and they directed me to http://www.hobbyworld-usa.com/. The banner of the website triggered my spidey-sense, so I asked my wife to order it for me instead for a birthday gift (😉). It arrived a few weeks ago and today I finally celebrated my birthday and opened the slip. I still have to put it all together, but I wanted to let anyone in the USA who is interested know where you might find it.

I quickly made some out of 1/16” basswood on a very overpowered 80w laser. I would bet with a weaker laser and some practice/tuning I would’ve probably had better results:

You’re having way too much fun right now 😁. I’m so glad the cutter is working out for you! It seems like it is really helping to open your business opportunities up!

As soon as I saw your post I ordered one with the idea of making cradles (and for whatever other uses like you’ve found).

I’ve used FreeCAD a bit myself as well and have liked it for the simplistic things that I’ve needed (mainly for 3D printing). I’d be very interested in learning how to use FreeCAD for ship design if you start a topic.

When there are enough comments a second page will appear. You probably want to post these type of site questions here though: https://modelshipworld.com/forum/47-questionsinstructions-on-how-to-use-and-post-to-this-forumsite-problems-or-suggestions/ so they aren’t buried in a build log.

Congratulations! This is a beautiful build! I’ll have to remember the GAC 400 next time I try my hand at sails.

Thanks Ken! This is a wealth of information, there are a handful of these kits on eBay and similar but I'm not in any rush at the moment so I'll keep an eye out for any deals. I asked my dad about the wheels and he mentioned that he had some to use. I can see how it would be dangerous, especially if the kit turns out okay and I start supplementing my dad's hobby (as long as they leave my house my wife has no issues with it 🙂)

I ordered this kit as soon as it was released but I wanted to finish my Sharpie before diving in. Of course my father found a small boxcar kit that I was hoping to put together first, but since that kit was incomplete I plan on starting this half-hull in the meantime and learning how to plank (hopefully that will set me up well for my next full ship the Alert). So far all I have done is setup my build board: The instructions suggest using 1/4" foam board, I had a sheet of 1/8" so I cut it in half and glued it together (hopefully all my issues are this easily solved 🙂). I trimmed the board down to the plan sheet and applied tape around the edge to stop bits of foam from following me everywhere and to make certain that the plan was firmly secured to the board (I did first glue it with Elmer's craft bond spray adhesive). Currently I'm sanding the edges of the keel, keelson, stem, deadwood and stern pieces to remove the laser char.

Popeye - thanks for the links those should be really helpful. Yves - That’s good to know that I’m at the very least not missing them 🙂 Andy - Wow, that’s great stuff. If I can find some extra parts at a reasonable price I’m going to try to pick up some rattle cans and pastels and see how it goes.

Darn, I just started comparing the contents to another kit (on eBay) and it would seem that this kit is far from complete... if I can't find an inexpensive second kit for the missing pieces this build may not get off the ground.

At a recent model train auction my dad picked up this older Quality Craft Railbox kit (as part of a larger lot) which he gave to me. I'm hoping to put it together and give it back to him, but I have a few questions before I start to hopefully make this a best effort. First the directions reference applying "scalecoat sanding sealer" on all wooden parts for a metal like finish. Is this still a good idea, or is there a better method? Is anyone familiar with this type of car? I'm curious about the roof color, from what I gather this probably was a rusted red color, does that seem correct? The directions state that the entire car is yellow aside from the door (black), which can be seen in the photograph below from https://www.pwrs.ca/announcements/view.php?ID=13225 but sadly the roof isn't very visible. Speaking of painting, is there a novice guide to simple weather? I have no idea what I'm doing aside from spray this yellow and spray that black 🙂 Is anyone familiar with this type of model? From the looks of it I assume it sits on an actual wheelbase? Hopefully my dad has one of those. The directions are also really sparse, especially when it comes to the metal fittings, any suggestions for how I figure those out? I'll cross decals when I get there, but that's on the horizon as well. Here is a shot of the kit contents; I apologize for all the novice questions and thank you for any help that you can give!

Thank you! I received Vanguard's Alert for Christmas, but I think I may do the planking project first. Thanks! I like the outdoor shots as well, something a little different (but now I may not be able to continue putting off re-staining the fence).

I appreciate it! Now to “step up” to a warship 🙂

Thanks!

Be still my heart; I’ll be watching out for that one!

Thank you!