BikerMart
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I appreciate that this question refers to something that you did some months ago... Did you follow the kit instructions and place the middle gunport strip before the placing the lower gunport strip? This sequence seems odd to me. Given that there are steps in the bulkhead for locating the lower gunport strip, why wouldn't that one be added first, as the steps would provide more positive location for the strip? I am about to be at that stage and am considering starting with the lower strip. Do you see any glaring problems with that approach? Thanks, Martin
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I have made them aware. The new site does seem to work fine on a Windows PC, but not a mobile device such as an iPad.
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Absent the Amati HMS Victory, I would suggest that the Caldercraft HMS Victory is currently the highest quality kit available. As to a suitable 'prep' ship, I would suggest the Caldercraft HMS Snake. I am in the process of building one and have been very pleased so far with how it has come together. Being Caldercraft (and Chris Watton design, of course) it shares many of the same constructional details as their HMS Victory.
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Continuing to take advantage of the weak pound, I added HMS Snake to my retirement stash. The instructions are indeed quite slim. Reminds me of a British Baking Show Technical Challenge; Step 1: Make a ship.
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Seems to me that it was a bad move to line all the gunports before the second planking, so I removed all the linings. Now that the second planking is complete, of course, I have to re-line the gunports. This is an activity that I am avoiding! Hence I decided to copper the port side of the hull. That didn't come out too badly. A bit of staining; I need to be more careful when I come to the starboard side. I tried cleaning it with nail varnish remover - which is acetone I believe - and that made it a little better. Then a couple of coats of wop.
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- Amati
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I've got me some wales, Josey! The wales are on, I have given the planking a couple of coats of wop and have added some half-round to mark the water line and act as a boundary for the coppering. A lot of displacement activity going on because I am not looking forward to lining gunports.
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Absolutely. Someone is selling a partially completed Charles P. Notman on eBay - now who could that be?
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Of course, this has its downsides. My UK Pension, paid to me over here in dollars, has fallen to an all-time low 😞
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Hear, hear! HMS Diana arrived from CMB today!
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While no-one likes to receive sub-par items, this might not be a lack of quality control on the part of Caldercraft. More likely perhaps a result of the box being shaken on its long journey from England to New Zealand?
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Planking completed, but not quite as the master intended. I did fit the garboard and calculated the tapering of the remaining planks, but obviously dropped the ball somewhere. I needed a little droop plank at the bow and some squealers at the stern. Oh! And a 'correction' plank for good measure. But I am happy - this has been my best planking so far and will, of course, now be covered in copper anyway.
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Thanks, Allan. I will take your advice about completing the planking.
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Still planning to complete the second planking by the end of August....About 10 planks per side to go on the hull bottom.
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Last Sunday I added a couple of dozen copper plates to HMS Pickle, with superglue. And for the next five days (and counting), my nose was streaming and I was constantly sneezing. So I tried Woodland Scenics 'Scenic Glue'. Looks like a white PVA glue. It appeared to work tolerably well. After a couple of days, no plates have fallen off! I don't know about its long-term efficacy, though. Anyone tried it? Thanks, Martin
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Progressing slowly on the second planking. One plank per side per day. This job will take me through to the end of August.
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Dave; Right. And no import duty if what you buy is less than $800. So it can make sense to purchase from, say, Vanguard Models or Cornwall Model Boats, rather than from a distributor in the US.
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Interesting. Given that the ship was, apparently, named after the English city of Lichfield, I wonder just when that ‘t’ got introduced.
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Allan. HMS Litchfield. Are you sure about the 't'? The city of Lichfield in England has no 't'. The town - and county - of Litchfield in Connecticut does have a 't'. That's where I got my last divorce.
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I am curious. When a customer in the USA purchases from, say, Vanguard, does the price of the item include or exclude VAT?
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The kit instructions for Vanguard indicated to terminate the first planking at the bearding line, and that is what I did. It reduced the amount of tapering required before applying the second planking. I just followed suit when it came to Victory.
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Both layers of planking are/will be spiled and tapered. By spiling, I guess that you mean edge-bent, as per Chuck Passaro? The instructions for this kit - and others - suggest tapering, but I have not seen spiling/edge-bending mentioned in any kit instructions. Research into build logs and planking tutorials on MSW showed the benefits of edge-bending, and so I have been using these methods for the latest builds - Pickle, Vanguard and Victory. Certainly a lot less filler is required with this method!
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Small update. Second planking continues and some progress has been made on the stern galleries. Gunports need to be cleared - a tedious business that I would be happy to sub-contract!
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Dave. I have found that the combination of a Billings kit and my experience level has produced a reasonable representation of the vessel. As I have said before though, I am not seeking to produce a historically accurate ship. For me, it is the build process itself that generates the pleasure, not necessarily the end result. Martin
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In my experience the wood supplied for planking in Billings kits has been sub-par. More often than not I used 1/16 * 1/4 basswood strips instead, as you suggested.
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Interesting. And like a palindrome. The name with the backwards 'N' appears the same whether read left to right or right to left.
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