Bob the boatbuilder

I fully agree with David, and also that you should practice on something other than the actual model first. Having said that, I still managed to slightly split the first one I did (not too badly glad to say), so from then on I plan ahead - not normally my speciality - and glue reinforcing pieces inside the hull, either side of the keel, where the supports will finally go. This is easy when done early on, before any planking is done. By doing this, and making the pilot hole very slightly on the large side, I have not had any disasters since. Not until the next one, anyway! Hope this helps, Bob.

Hi Mike, and welcome from Shropshire (UK). Most of my recent building has been fairly small scale 17th and 18th century sailing ships, from kits. Having just finished the HMS Bounty (at 1:50 scale) I also felt like doing a larger scale, smaller boat, and went for the Panart Lancia Armata 1803, which is 1:16 scale, and will be about 620mm long. The kit contents look good, and wood quality seems OK, but the instructions are interesting - there are some fairly general instructions in English (but I suspect translated from Italian) plus several full size plans which are well detailed but all the descriptions and labels are in Italian. My skills in Italian stop at being able to order a beer or glass of wine, so we will see. Panart also do a couple of similar sized kits (HMS Victory launch for instance), so there are several choices. I got mine from Cornwall Model Boats, but I'm sure other UK suppliers do them. I would be interested if anyone on the MSW site has built this model, and if so what they thought. I will start a build log once I begin, but am currently building 'something completely different', a 1:16 model of the Wright Brothers 1903 plane, The Flyer (from Expo Model Airways). This is taking quite some time, and looking at the plans I am glad I have some rigging experience from old sailing ship models, I am certain I will need it. Will be interested to see what model you finally choose. Regards, Bob.