Havelock

Impressive work, Wahka! Shame about the gunports for sure. I think a mini-lathe might be in my future....

Thank you, Wahka. It's coming along alright.

After bending the bulwarks: Gluing them to the deck was quite an adventure. Did a lot of dry fitting and trying to figure out if there was a way to clamp them but because of the slight angle with the deck I didn't have any clamps that would do the job. In the end I glued them on in sections (from the stern to the bow) and held them in place by hand till the wood glue set. A long process and quite stressful. In the end I did manage to get them on well enough I think: Have to say that I'm very impressed with the PVA's gluing power; feels really sturdy. Next up is planking which I'm hoping is fairly straightforward.

Yes, really impressed with what you've done! I struggled with the planking and have it on hold for now. Plan to spend time on and off, while doing other projects, to get better at shaping the strips. I might even start again. This is one model where there is really no room for error. Definitely following your build!

Hi Turangi, Just found your log. What an excellent build! You've done an outstanding job. I'm particularly impressed with the hull planking. This is one kit I really wanted to get so I'm glad to now have your build as a reference. Thank you so much! Unfortunately the kit seems to be out of stock at present but once it becomes available I'm definitely acquiring it pronto. All the best, Tom.

Got the fairing done. For the stern I had to use sandpaper wrapped around a dowel: It worked really well. Happy enough with the results: Tried to get the transom to look fairly symmetrical but with it not being square with the deck in the first place, and not wanted to sand away too much, I felt I had to stop. Made sure to sand the edges of the deck to have a good contact surface area for the bulwark to glue to: Also decided to give the decking one more coat of wipe-on poly. It now has a very slight sheen: Next up will be attaching the bulwark and then attempting the first planking. However, I'm already anxious about damaging the bulwark while doing the first planking as it's only going to be glued on along a thin 1/8" of its surface.

For sure!

Great job with this build. It looks amazing. You're dad would be chuffed for sure!

LH, good thinking but I'm going to fudge along this time. I have to say though that my philosophy on this build is to not fret much on mistakes; at least I'm going to be telling myself that regularly. Learning a lot and that's what matters most for this build. Also curious to see how noticeable the errors will be at the end of the build. Also have to say how much I love working with wood. Built a few stick and tissue airplanes and there is something so satisfying about it, particularly after sanding. I can't say I like wood dust though...

Wow! Super clean build, Tom! That's really impressive work!

Bah humbug! I didn't pay attention to centering the bow point with the false keel: Going to require some creative sanding to center the bulwark later.... I think.

Got the deck planking finished and marked up. Decided to use a wipe-on poly to seal them: The WOP is really easy to use. Had to do a few thin coats; the wood really soaked it up. First time using this kind of product. I think I put enough down to protect the wood but not enough to make it look like a finish. I can always put more down later, right? Gluing the deck to the false keel/ribs was quite the effort. Did a dry fit (a few times) to see how well they mated. The slight bend in the false keel meant I had to twist things a bit to get all the rib keys to sit properly in deck rabbets. Used generous amounts of Titebond and tried using CA to tack down the deck while the wood glue dried. Should have used a medium CA but only had thick CA on hand and it wasn't very effective. In the end I was able to squeeze things together long enough for the glue to take. Titebond is relatively fast I'm finding: Happy enough with the results. However, the transom is not square with the deck: Thinking it's not the end of the world. Also somehow managed to lose one of the bow filler pieces (C1) and had to make a replacement out of 1/8" basswood. Still can't figure out where that piece got to.... All in all a very productive day and am pretty happy with the deck, even with the horrible grain: Now on to doing all the fairing, ugh.....

Yes it does, Bolin. I wasn't too worried. Though, as you'll see in my next update, the deck doesn't install totally flush with the ribs, and the transom is not square either.

Reflections on the kit and build: I thought it might be more useful for others, who might be thinking about building this kit, to write a short summary about my experience, and put it in this first post so it is easier to find. First off this kit is meant for first time builders, which I am, and I think they got it right. Its detailed picture-based instructions and the accompanying videos make it very clear how to build everything. There is no guesswork involved. I had only a few moments with the final sail rigging where the instructions were a little too brief but even then the videos helped fill in the slight gaps. The quality of the kit was also very good except for the deck planking strips but for my level of building that is a nitpick. However, the thing that I most liked about the kit is its level of difficulty; it was definitely challenging but not overwhelming. I felt that the time put into the build (which was 77 hours for me) was truly well spent. It really has a bit of everything so that when I now look at other more advanced builds I have a good appreciation of what level of attention and effort is required to achieve good results (which is actually very humbling). The other thing about the kit is that it's fairly forgiving with mistakes. I made a bunch of them and didn't executed things as well as I might have hoped but the design and relative simplicity of the boat is forgiving enough that you still end up with a good looking vessel. All in all I'm very please with the experience. It has whetted my appetite for more and that is a good result for a beginner's kit. Now back to the actual build log. Enjoy.... Another first time builder here, attempting to build OcCre's beginner kit: Polaris. I know nothing about ships or their historical accuracy and such, just want to get my feet wet and the Polaris seems like a decent enough kit to start out with. [There is a MSW review of the kit: here] I've managed to assemble the bulkheads/ribs to the false keel. This was relatively simple using small metal angle plates with clamps to get each rib square using Titebond II: I have to say there was quite a bit of play in the joints and while I did get the ribs square to the sides of the false keel, I wasn't paying attention to making it square along the top: And you can see that false keel has a slight bend too. However, I'm thinking it's not a problem as tolerances for mounting the deck shouldn't be that demanding. Well, I hope so. Currently working on the decking: Again using Titebond for glueing the deck planks rather than using contact glue per the instructions. I'm able to get a thin bead of PVA onto both the plank and deck, using the dispensing bottle shown in the picture above, and smooth it over with a small brush to avoid beads of excess glue forming. Working out really well. I get down 2 or 3 planks at a time and then use heavy books to press the planks while they set. Not so happy about the planks themselves. They have a lot of large grain criss-crossing them and I think ruin whatever scale effect the planks might have had to begin with. Not really a problem as I'm not looking to create a realistic model this time out. I'll be glad to just have something that doesn't look like a dog's dinner at the end of all this!

I'm literally in the same boat as you, Dan. Thanks for asking this question (and the glue one too). Decisions, decisions, decisions! Your shellac (and the decking) looks really good. I'm going to try the various "varishes" recommended here on some scrap wood to get a feel for them myself. Also it's a real eye opener to see the range of responses from experienced builders. Overwhelming for sure but great to receive all this input!

Watching. I'm a first time "ship" builder and ordered this kit too. Arrives tomorrow. I am also undecided about using contact glue for the decking. Will most likely use wood glue but need to figure out how to get it on thin enough as not to make a mess.