ErnieL

We used to race these things in out Dory races in Gloucester, Ma. A couple guys pulling for all they had and these would almost skip over the water. 
 

It’s amazing how seaworthy these flat bottom boats actually are. You’d never believe it without actually being these. 
 

A great build on a nice little kit, and it brings back a lot of memories for me. Thanks! 

On 5/29/2022 at 8:46 AM, thibaultron said:

1350mm, I'm sorry dear, I thought the catalog said 135mm! Must need new glasses! Why do you have that gleam in your eye, and why are you holding a knife?

Better to beg forgiveness than ask permission. 

On 2/9/2022 at 2:57 AM, glennard2523 said:

Thanks. I do use my fingers quite a bit when sanding. I have discovered that cleaning the dust off with a damp brush also helps to highlight the flaws.

You too?  I do that so much I’m starting to feel like Helen Keller. Fat bit of good it does though, I’m just as blind with my fingers as I am with my Mk.1 eyeballs. 

On 2/9/2022 at 2:54 AM, glennard2523 said:

I have been using my fingers to check the hull. I also use one of my camera's portable LED lights, which I find works really well in the evening. I'm not over the finishing line just yet as I know there is plenty more work required.

 

That said this is the best I've planked a hull. I'm still not very good at it, but I am getting better at planking with each build.

You and I both are planking challenged.
On my Speedy build, it’s now Take Three for my second planking.  What I have finally convinced myself to do is to SLOW DOWN and not get ahead of myself on my build. It’s one of the hardest things I’ve had to do.  I, like everyone else, want to get to the fun parts: the cool topside stuff, and as a result I tend to rush the basic hull work. This last go round frustrated me to the point of where I relegated Speedy to the Shelf of Doom for over a year.

So, I admire your tenacity and hopefully I learn much from this interesting build log. 

I received my copy of HMS Sphinx today from Chris, and shipping was almost, but not quite, overnight.  Consider me floored!

Yes, Sphinx will go into the stash until I have Speedy and a couple fishing boats under my belt, but at least she’s here, safe and sound in my stash.

I’m currently looking in the Sphinx box for the extra pear planks I ordered, and will jump back on Speedy this weekend. 

Well, it’s now time to resurrect this build and get back on it.  Been busy over on LSM, building plastic, and shepherding my business through the China Virus as best we could. We made it!
I’ve been picking away at it, but now with DocRob building the Royal Barge over on LSM, my fires are now relit.  I’ve stripped the second planking back to the main wale and am going to start afresh, this time paying more attention to tapering the second planking as I go.  
I’m going to approach Chris and attempt to source 20 or so pear planks to make up for those I goobered up.  
I’m drooling over Vanguard’s newest offerings, with new fishing boats and a real, honest to goodness sixty rate post ship!  

Sphinx will be impressive. I was gonna say a 28 but I’ll take any frigate

On 8/24/2020 at 6:53 PM, glbarlow said:

May I suggest you should've started that sooner so all the planks at the bow were more or less the same width, just as they are the same width at midships, it creates a more natural look. I'd think you'll also need to do some plank bending to fit the curve. I've recommended Chuck's method in the past and I recall others have offered other methods, whichever you choose the sooner you start that the better.

 

Don't over-bevel the top edges, it doesn't take much, just softening the corner is enough.If you do it all right you won't need the filler 😄

 

Well, if worst comes to worst, she’ll be yellow ochre, black and white above the copper.  Live and learn, I suppose 

2 hours ago, Landlubber Mike said:

Looks fantastic Ernie!  Add a little sawdust filler and you’ll be good to go.

 

I’m sure Speedy appreciates the company on the work bench 😉

Thanks, and yes, I'll certainly begin generating some sawdust filler.  And beveling the top edges as well.

10 hours ago, glbarlow said:

Pretty sure you need taper in those planks at the bow , full size planks won’t fit all the way down the bow. Have you checked out Delk’s Speedy build for comparison?

Yep, surer have and I agree. I'll start tapering the bow planks on the next line.

Good Lord!

Check out the visible projects!  

1/32 Sea Fury racer airframe

1/32 AEG bomber fuselage

1/32 FW.190 A-3 engine

1/32 Ki-45 engine

1/48 B-36 Peacemaker interior 

yikes!  

On 8/13/2020 at 2:11 PM, Sjors said:

Hi Ernie,

 

I was reading your log an i thought that you will be my example....

Speedy is almost the same as the Flirt 🙂

First planking looks great.

 

Sjors

 

Thanks Sjors, but you do know this my first ever ship of this type, right?  

Hey folks. It’s been awhile, we had a death in our family and the estate took awhile. 

Ive been piddling away at the second planking, but haven’t had time to really sit down for a genuine bench session.  

Had a couple hours this evening and here’s where we stand today.

Obviously not my best work, but for a first attempt, I’m not totally uptight. I might have waited a prank or two too late to start fairing them together, but I think it’ll work out. 

Im seriously concerned about the gaps, but we’ll fill as needed with sawdust. 

Chris, you’re trying to drain us dry, aren’t you?  

I’ll certainly be there, even though I’m still knocking about at Speedy’s hull. 

And thoroughly enjoying it as well.

My father in law passed last month, and some woodworking on the bench is just what the Doctor ordered to relieve the stress from in laws and gold diggers.  Without the ship kit, I’d be swearing at a plastic model of some type.

7 minutes ago, BobG said:

Photos please!

Uuuuh, ok, but just a couple or three.

mostly Wingnut Wings and resin kits.

On 8/4/2020 at 10:14 AM, ccoyle said:

Which is partly why, as nice as Chris' kits are, I'll not be buying one in the near future. After all, I've still got HMS Fly on a shelf, started in 2006 and still waiting ...

You should see my 1/32 aircraft kit stash.  It truly defies description. 

I got mine today!

Plus, from Dave, I received this:

So, I now own all five of Chris’s releases, plus the 1/72 Bellerophon.

Without purchasing another kit, at my building pace I now have enough Vanguard Models kits to give me 574 years of quality bench time, give or take a decade or two.

2 hours ago, BenD said:

The cost of making Royal George kits would be immense.  100 turned brass or resin Guns.  boxwood planking for master version.  Half a pallet of mdf only makes like 8 kits.  Madness...

 

I guess we should start saving   

And supporting him by buying everything he produces. 

Haha. I can hear my wife now......DEFCON 1

Mushroom Cloud 

On 7/23/2020 at 4:35 PM, chris watton said:

It is hard to work out the times involved, because I do this from home, so am always thinking about the designs and tweaking. Sometimes at 2 or 3 in the morning when I think of a solution to a problem that's been bugging me all day! I think perhaps one full week for the very small kits, with a lot more hours tweaking  aspects of the initial designs. The more complex the design the longer it takes, but to the modeller,  they wouldn't know as most of the hard parts are 'ironed out' before ever being kitted - although there's always something that slips through, no matter how much time I spend checking stuff...

 

I would very much like to do an ancient vessel one day, I think perhaps one of Hatshepsut's vessels, complete with a scale figure of her would be pretty cool...

Perhaps a 1/64 Sperm Whale? Jonah’s ride of choice. 

On 7/22/2020 at 4:03 AM, chris watton said:

Cheers again, very helpful posts. I shall probably go with a 20 gun and work up, as this make most sense.

 

I have to be honest and say I have never bothered to see what other companies are doing, I have never cared one jot, as I have always preferred to do what I think is right/what I like, rather than reacting to what others are doing.

 

Having said that, Initially, Atalanta was on the cards, as I bought the plans for that - but I now realise the everyone and their mother are now doing a Swan class, so I feel a 20 gun small frigate from the same period is a very good substitute.

 

Out of all the kits I have designed in the past, there are only two I would very much like to revisit and give them the treatment/designs they so deserve, a brig and a small ship of the line, which I did two decades ago.

 

Lou, I keep looking at my Bristol designs, and may carry on with them, but knowing what I know now, I need more slightly smaller kits before purchasing the large amount of materials needed for such a large kit. When I started Bristol, the plan was to use standard materials (basswood), and use my Italian sub contractor to laser cut the parts - but this has changed as I realised quickly that the standards/quality of cutting were not what I had envisaged.

 

The upside to this is that it forced me to purchase my own laser machine, and a lot more freedom to design how I like without worrying about the costs of paying someone for the time, and wondering if all the parts I paid for will fit as I want them to.

 

One more thing I would like to add, not a single part of my new kits are an 'afterthought', I try to give each and every part the attention they need, so that they fit with the 'whole'

I most certainly agree there. If only for totally selfish reasons.  

Chris, my skillset improves slowly and can and does improve as our product line grows. You know Jim beat me over the head for the best part of a year, and now that I’m in, I’m hooked for life.

I love the idea of a 26, a 36, and 44, in succession.  Possibly after that, maybe a 50 gun 4th Rate? Before tackling the 64s...

That being said, I’d love a 1/64 scale revisit of the classic Royal Navy 74.  Bellerophon beckons in the scale you’ve chosen that everyone loves.

And maybe even a heavy American frigate?

Although I’ll buy your 1/64 Victory design, I doubt I’ll ever build her, and even if I do, it’s years down the road. 

The one thing I absolutely love about the Vanguard kits is how, for a newbie like me, are almost idiot proof.  Not that craftsmanship is left at the door of course, but because you make it mighty hard to misread an ambiguous booklet or line drawing.

I’m in for every one of your future releases!

Keep ‘em coming, please!

Bob, personally, I like the continual pressure to be slightly less than what you’re aiming for. It’s easy to boost it slightly, but awful tough to be as precise when reducing it. 

On 7/7/2020 at 2:45 AM, DelF said:

I agree  - you've made an excellent job of the first planking. Whilst I also agree with Glenn that the sternpost might be a little thin, I think you might also want to take a little more 'meat' out of the deadwood area in order to ensure you have a smooth taper into the sternpost. It's always difficult to judge from photos though, so you'll be best placed to decide once you've taken Glenn's advice with the strips of second planking.

Yep the pics ARE misleading, but I did fair it in a touch more. 

Ive been away from the bench of late due to a death in the family, and have only had a couple hours to work on sanding the first planking to shape.

I think she’s starting to really look the part. I’m going to smooth this as far as I dare, then give her a skim coat of filler, although I’m not sure she’ll really need much, if any.  I see a couple slight wows in the form, but I think most, if not all should sand out. 

My glacial build progress is legendary in plastic circles, but this is insane. Jim built the entire Flirt and I’ve gotten as far as thinking about stern planking. 🤩

Comments? 

 Brilliant build so far!

i just received this kit as well, and Bellerophon is my eventual unlucky victim as well, so I’ll follow closely.