Vane
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Everything posted by Vane
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Just got back from the harbour for some inspiration for future builds.... USS Kearsage 1993... Waspclass... what a beast!
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Thanks alot James. I will do that. Soon the rigging will begin and she will start looking like a beauty!
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The next step will be the small boat project... not sure if I should use 2mm or 3mm planks yet.
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Besides from some minor touch-ups I have now completed the deck details. I wanted to fully rig the canons but the 2mm blocks were just too damn small for my fingers when trying to make hooks so I gave up.
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Some more photos... Besides from things being quite small (Speedy is a neet little ship) I would say that compared to the other kits I have, it was very easy to put all the masts together. Everything goes faster with clear instructions and alot of prefabricated parts that dont need much finetuning.
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Finally some progress.... did a couple of mistakes on the bowsprit but this will have to do.
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I know that some people prefer the supersteady plywood construction but once I started to figure out the MDF construction on my Speedy I was hooked on this. Everything gets directly in the right position, no measuring and fitting etc. Its like building Lego. And the best thing of it all, sanding is like melting butter. Later I started working on my Diana plywood hull (also Chris construction, but over 20 years ago) and it was a b*tch in comparison. Tweeking, measuring, bending and I dont think its completly straight. And because the bulkheads were so far apart sanding is really heavy and it even creates that kind of scratchnoise like Quints nails on the blackboard.... And from an enginering point of view, I just luv seeing all of the hundreds of MDF pieces going together and suddenly forms the Indy hull! 🙂 Keep it up, james!
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And I thought my Speedy had an inventive design... its great to see the progress of Vanguard models. I am building the first version of the Speedy from 2019 and I see that things has improved even further since then. More and more new solutions and the material seem to have improved as well. It looks like the lazercutted material is much finer now. If I remember correctly, my Speedy version was delivered before Chris invested in his own equipment.
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Look at this for example (Granado). I wish there was some kind of aftermarket products I could buy to improve it. Its going to be painted anyway so why didnt they do it in resin instead? I even need to bend it straight....
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I was just thinking about all the new techniques and materials you have introduced in the Vanguard models. Most manufacturers seem to stick with ply, walnut and white metal etc. Has there been some kind of resistance to use new materials in woodship building? Using resin for canons instead of moulded white metal or lathed metalbarrels significantly improves the details and quality. But do people argue its not "true" if not everything is done in the traditional materials? A couple of years ago I started building plastics again and discovered that there is alot of useful stuff that would could be used to improve the quality of woodenships if not everything is done in "wood". The world of plastics has evolved significantly over the years with different paints, resin, 3d printing, wheathering techniques etc.
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Great build!
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It looks like the Hornblower TV series used a completely different ship!
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This will be an interesting project to follow. Good luck!
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I found a small error in the manual when working on the deck pumps. There is a second hole in the bottom deck to stear the dovel right. However, the instructions say the dovel should be 40mm. So I added some length so the dovel goes to the bottom.
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Have the people claiming your kits are more expensive actually looked in the boxes? If you simply compare the size of the ships they have a very small point, but thats a ridicurlous comparision. A Ferrari is smaller than a Volvo so of course it should be cheaper then, right... ? The problem with most kit manufacturers is that their product development has completely stopped decades ago. Its all in walnut and you need to carve out all details yourself.... This photo kind of summarizes what you actually have to compare when it comes to price....
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Personally I really like that Vanguard is aiming for high quality kits with perfect fit, new inventive solutions, Royal Navy, only 1/64 scale, better materials and better wood than the walnut approach. Ever since I started to work with boxwood I will likely always buy that seperately if the wood is visable and not painted black. From a price point of view, all customers will be able to buy kits in the 100-200Euro range, no issue at all. 300-500 Euro is also kind of standard when it comes to ship kits. People that are into the hobby will definitely be able to pay a few 100 extra for the extra quality. I justify the cost for myself simply by thinking of build hours and not by the ship itself. Its just ricurlous to buy "a ship" as some decoration for several hundreds euros. But considering the hundreds of hours you spend on a kit, its kind of a cheap hobby per hour. A few extra bucks per hour is not that big of deal if it makes your hobby better. However, once you reach the 1000euro mark and above there is kind of a psycologal barrier. You really need to be into the hobby then. So I would guess that the market for those kits are probably much smaller.
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The Indy looks amazing and its way larger than the rest of the kits you have. I just love those photos with several ships next to eachother. I think you should do a "family photo" with the whole ship range! To be honest, I do think the price can become an issue for the larger kits if you are aiming for the highest quality standards as the smaller ones. Of course, we all want to see an 120 gun ship in 1/64 with millions of parts but in practice it is perhaps not what the market really wants. Its so easy to think with the heart when discussing possible ships, but from a pure business point of view I would say that you need to have a range of kits where they are spread out evenly. And where the price goes up a step as the ships get larger and there is little bit for everyone and you can gradually go for more and more difficult and more costly builds. Size is not everything! As you know, I have several builds going on, but the smallest one Speedy is still my favourite. Hope to post some new photos of the latest progress soon...
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I have many parallell build so I am not working on Diana for the moment and it will take a while before I start working with the stern properly. I looked into the question earlier and what I could see from studying several builds is that the hight seem to end up in various places. Keep in mind that Diana is a rather old kit so its much up to the modeller to line up things. Nowadays Chris is much more precise in his designs with a huge number of lazercutted pieces that fit exactly where they should. But in the 90s it was different. So the questions is how to line up it in the best way? Here I wouldnt focus too much on one single issue, instead focus on the overall lines of the ship. If you want the windows exactly in line with the decks you will likely get other dimensions that may be completely wrong so I think I will try to go for some kind of compromise where the most lines feels fine. Does that make sense?
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So indeed a very interesting project! So the question is how accurate O'Brain was when he wrote in the books and also how much artistic freedom Geoff Hunt added to his paintings? I read the books long time ago and remember they included alot of descriptions but it could just had been alot of imagination also. Hunts painting are amazing and perhaps one way of investigating the issue is just to look at other of his paintings and see how accurate they are. Here is one on HMS Victory.
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Not sure if I get this project right. You are converting the Speedy to Sophie, but you dont have any drawing? Just a bookcover with a part of her painted and then you are just getting the rest of the info needed by analysing what O'brian wrote in the books? That a challenge indeed! I will be following this build... good luck with everything!
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Some progress on the Granado... lower deck is planked but I am not fully happy. My pencil seem to have "bleeded" some black colour in the ends. Though I could scrap it afterwards but its everywhere. Next problem... the stickers for decoration.. not really sure why they decided to construct it this way. You are suppose to paint the "sticking area" with blue and THEN put some PVA on it and stick it to the surface. Havent fullyt decided yet but I will probably just build a small door from scrap and noty have any decoration at all. What do you think?
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Sorry Sticker, I just noticed your message. Thanks for the kind words. Yes I have noticed that there are two 1/64 kits on Granado. When I bought mine I didnt know about the Amati version which seams to be slightly cheaper. Chris has designed much of the Nelson Navy kits for Caldercraft but I think he moved on to Amati before they finished the Granado (which is one of the last new kits Caldercraft has released). I dont know much about the differences between the two kits but the mortars look somewhat different. If you are looking for accuracy you can always buy the book on Granado which gives alot of details on its construction. Otherwise just follow the instructions and I am sure it will look great.
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HMS Victory by Vane - Corel - Scale 1:98
Vane replied to Vane's topic in - Kit build logs for subjects built from 1751 - 1800
Thanks, I havent worked on this one for a long time but hope to pick it up soon.
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