DrDeathproof

This was the first kit I purchased a couple of months ago, on advice from Occre because it's recommended for beginners. Unfortunately I hit a snag because the deck board was cut wrong - the grain went longways instead of side to side. (necessary so it bends into place on the keel properly) So I'm waiting for them to send a replacement piece but it sounds like a lot of their people are on vacation so shipping times are drastically increased. I might drop them an email next week to see if they actually shipped it yet or not. Looking forward to your progress - I hope to continue working on my own soon.

Always great to hear from one of my Australian cousins!

Unfortunately, no - all I have is a ruler. Thanks for the advice - I'll give it a shot. After my experience trying to do the Carmen II I am NOT looking forwarding to the side planks. But if I can get them looking decent, once I'm past that part I think the rest should be relatively easy. I'll report back probably tomorrow with regard to the bulwarks and maybe try to get some of the planking in place. One question: how long do you soak the wood for? I've seen people suggest anywhere from 10 - 20 minutes.

Although I had started a couple of other kits, they had to put aside because reasons. So I'm concentrating on this kit and I'm going to try to see it through to the end. I like Occre products a lot. The full color photos and quality of parts is excellent. I could probably go a little further with this tonight but I'm hoping to get some feedback on my progress so far, in case anything needs to be fixed/adjusted before I do anything else. Instructions can be viewed here: Palamos instructions Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. This was a point where I wasn't sure how to proceed. According to the instructions: 11. The false keel in the bow area will have to be reduced until it is approximately 2 mm wide. 12. You must also obtain a width of 2 mm in the stern area of the false keel. Did I succeed? Do I need to sand this down more? I have no idea. Stumbling block #2 13. Line one side of each of the bulwarks (no. 18) using the lining (no. 19). For this operation use contact adhesive. I have no idea how to identify how to identify the lining for the bulwarks. The size of the wood strips for the bulwarks is the same as the the boards used for the deck. The deck boards are "sapelli" color, which is the darker, so I'm guessing the "sycamore" colored strips are the ones I needed to use. Missing a small chip there. I can probably trim a piece down that will fit. A little frustrating but I'm doing my best to work through it.

Other than that minor mistake I like their company and their products very much. Depending on how this Palamos goes, I just might switch over to the Carmen if I feel overwhelmed, since the most tedious part is done.

Thanks - that's what I'm going to do. Since I've made the most progress on the Palamos I'm going to stick with that one.

Thank you - I will check them out.

Thanks, Michael - I will do that.

I've been building plastic models on and off for many years, but in the last couple of months as I've been following Youtube channels of other model makers, I started watching wooden ship videos. I live in NJ and own a small computer store here. Gamer. Chef. Pro wrestling. Music. Movies. Eclectic tastes. (apologies if this is a little long, but I wanted to explain where I'm at with my present projects) Although I never thought much about them in the past, it seems like something interesting and challenging to try. I especially like Occre's products and customer support. I contacted them and they recommended a starter set (the Polaris) so I pulled the trigger on it a month or so ago. I also purchased a couple of additional kits from Ebay for a good price. Oh, but it doesn't end there. I was making progress on the Polaris, when I learned that the deck piece was cut wrong. The wood grain should have gone side-to-side, instead of longways... meaning I couldn't bend it properly onto the keel. Annoying, but that's how you learn. I contacted Occre and they're sending replacement pieces. (I had applied the deck boards already when I learned the piece was cut the wrong way) The upside is that Occre sends free replacement parts, but the downside is that it takes over three weeks to get them sent from Spain. In the meantime, I decided to take a crack at an Artesania Latina Carmen II I got a good deal on from Ebay. While they make a nice product, their instructions are not very good (and have actual errors and mis-translations) and their photos are small and B & W which look like they were photocopied with a potato. Carmen II Still, I plunged forward and got as far as putting the planks on the sides... and holy crap, were my hands numb after a week of that. Using a little hand drill to make holes for the nails every 1 1/2 - 2 inches on 20+ planks on two sides... so yeah... about 300+ drill holes. But once I get past this tedious part of the build the rest will probably go pretty smooth. The problem is that I had NO IDEA how to wrap the planks around and mold them to the bow and stern. I tried my best but my work was sloppy and incomplete. I conferred with a friend who lives upstairs from my store - he's a master woodworker who builds medieval weapons and musical instruments for fun. He was familiar with Artesania's deficient instructions and was nice enough to offer to clean up my mess. Again, it becomes a waiting game as he has several projects he's working on, plus works from home for his job. I'm hoping he'll have the Carmen cleaned up and back to me this week. Part of the reason I'm building these kits is so I don't spend my free time playing video games or eating. Because the last thing I need is either or both of those past times. Knowing the weekend was coming up, I decided to try a THIRD kit rather than sit around and wasting time doing nothing. So making sure all my parts were carefully organized in their boxes so they didn't get mixed up, I cracked open another Occre kit - a smaller one called the Palamos. Palamos I made much more progress with this one. Mainly because the deck board was cut properly so the grain when in the right direction. I've gotten as far as building the keel, laying down the deck boards, drawing in the lines and nails, and successfully glued the deck board to the keel. I added support pieces to the keel this morning. The next step is to sand the keel, the bow and the stern. I'm not exactly sure what to do, but I will re-read the instructions and give it a try a little later. The glue should be dry by that point. So that's where I'm at with regards to this new hobby. I'm looking forward to having some good discussions, learning new techniques and expanding my knowledge here. Thanks for reading along. Feel free to ask anything.