Vane

The size…. well judge for yourself. It will be a huge commitment :-)

There is plenty of Wood in this kit. As you can see, Walnut, Lime and the dovels are in excellent condition. Its only the Tanganyika for the deck that are a bit of a disappointment. But I will probably replace that with maple anyway.

HMS Diana – 4th build In spite of reason, I decided to order my dream kit mainly because I know that Brexit is around the corner and perhaps after it will be more difficult/expensive to deal with my supplier in UK. Hopefully I wont start building it for a while, since I really need to finish my other kits. But at least, I have it and decided to make the start of a buildlog. I have always thought this is one of the most beautiful ships from the Nelson era and I really like my other Caldercraft kits, especially in 1:64. Its really huge so it will take years to complete. History According to Wikipedia, HMS Diana was a 38-gun Artois-class fifth rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1794 and had 8 sister ships (Artois, Jason, etc). Diana participated in an attack on a French frigate squadron anchored at Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue at the Action of 15 November 1810, which ultimately led to the destruction of the Elisa. Boats from Diana went in and set fire to the beached Eliza despite heavy fire from shore batteries and three nearby armed brigs; the British suffered no casualties. On 7 March 1815 Diana was sold to the Dutch navy for £36,796. On 27 August 1816 she was one of six Dutch frigates that participated in the bombardment of Algiers. Diana was destroyed in a fire on 16 January 1839 while in dry-dock at Willemsoord, Den Helder. The kit The first impression of the box is just that it is huge. The box is just way bigger than all of the other kits i have bought. As I understand, this was the first kit Caldercraft made in the Nelson Navy series so some of its design my be outdated and plans are not at all as good as their newer kits. It takes alot of time just to go through the parts and they seemed to be very high quality of basically everything. There has been some critic of the walnut provided in these kits but maybe Caldercraft have listen because its perfect in this box. A huge box! Everything in it.... The frames This small boat kits will probably take some time to do... Walnut details… here I discovered that even though it is stated that it is a 38-gun frigate… it also got an additional 8 carronades! All these parts came in the white small box. The manuals are not that detailed… And I think I have more plans for my Granado… even though its less than half the size. Wish me luck, I am going to need it!

64 guns vs 100... I dont think the keel will be the key point deciding the price. The price of the competition is definitely highly relevant. Currently there are 3 large shipkits from the Nelson era. Victory in 1:72, Vanguard in 1:72 and Agamemnon in 1:64. I would guess that it end up around 1200-1500Euros.

Many of these photos is likely taken by a wide angle lens so they dont give a fair view.

U can get the 3rd rate HMS Agamemnon in 1/64 for about 900 Euros in UK.... Victory is probably 50% bigger. It should not be rocket science. 😛

Just hang in there... at this stage everything u do result in huge progress. Its slower later when you are into details.

Nice, i didnt twist them around for the stairs as well. Should have thought about that now i see.

Tonights project... I didnt really like the flat steering wheels provided in the kit so I ordered some more advanced from Cornwall. Perhaps these are not completely accurate but i think they will look better. A question, I have seen some people placing the wheels inside the holders but the plans says they should be on the outside. What is the correct way?

Thanks, I just had to do it... but how in the hell am I am going to keep my fingers from it is the next question….? Rigging Victory is fun, rigging Victory is fun, rigging Victory is fun, rigging Victory is fun, rigging Victory is fun, rigging Victory is fun, rigging Victory is fun, rigging Victory is fun, … if I just say it enough times I might convince myself?! :-P

And my dreamkit is... 🥁

Various of supplies and a 4th model and its massive... definitely not what i need at the moment. And i will try my best not to start working on her until I have at least finished my Victory!

And its here...Cornwall model boats delivers quickly... only 7 Days from order to my door in Sweden. What's in the box? What's in the box? What's in the box?

Over 25 years ago I bought my first kit from Corel and now when i look at their line-up basically nothing has changed. Its all the same kits. Caldercraft produced a huge number of New kits in a short period of time... and then just simply stopped. And the situation is quite similar when I look into various of manufacturers, and it really makes me wonder. How can companies survive without any product development?

First sanding done... now it start to look like a ship! Thanks Duncbe, well work is not so busy at the moment so I am making a run for it. Probably slower soon...just difficult to decide what kit to focus on.

I hope it look better after sanding...

I am really impressed by these kits and you seem to be quite inventive with new solutions making things much easier for the model builder. I definitely want to support you and a kit from Vanguard is moving up on my priority list. Unfortunately i got already my hands full but hope to order from you in the future. Alert, Speedy and Bristol seem to be great additions for us who like the "Nelsons era" in 1:64.

Hmmmm... reminds me of once home from IKEA and the furnature looks so good in the store and now I need Sherlock Holmes .

Time to for paint.

Slowly getting there...

This is probably the most difficult part to make in the Corel kit. Completely from scratch and with tiny timber. Very fragile. My other kits from Caldercraft has a much easier solution with precut parts. (top part).

Trying out my new heatgun from Proxxon and the "Chuck method" for planking instead of soaking and pinning. Yes it really works!!!

Soon ready for rigging....

Just some minor details left...