MarkSH01

Afternoon all, I have been able to complete the first layer of planking and have learnt a lot in the process. Overall not too unhappy, some high spots that required filing, and low spots that had to be filled. I was very happy with the stern but not so with the bow I think that I didn't taper the planks early enough and not wanting to go anywhere near the 50% mark made things difficult for myself with the lower planks..hey ho! we live and learn as they say. All that being said however it all looks reasonably symmetrical and I have enjoyed working with wood as a medium, so much so that I have already taken delivery of my second project in the shape of another AL kit; Swift 1805. Comments and criticism very much appreciated, Cheers, Mark.

Endeavour's Longboat - Artesania Latina Hello all, Since introducing myself a few weeks ago I have been reading through a great many references on this site and elsewhere on t’interweb, trying to glean and understand as much knowledge as possible on the process of wooden ship kit building. Replies to my initial post offered a warm welcome, encouragement, and links to various ‘where and where not to start’ posts and I am grateful to all for those. Taking the lead from a link to a list of kits suitable for a first venture into sticking bits of wood together rather than bits of plastic, I chose the Artesania Latina Endeavour’s Longboat kit. I’m guessing that this is a popular embarkation point if the number of returns a search for the subject on MSW is anything to go by, so apologies if it’s all too familiar to you, it certainly isn’t for me. I acquired the kit via a well known online auction site and as I had some Nectar loyalty points stashed away got it for a modest £38.00. In addition I had to buy a couple of tools and some wood glue, but I pretty much have everything I need from fettling plastic, so the overall outlay for the introduction to wooden ship/boat kit modelling was very palatable. The kit duly arrived and inspected……a kit of parts. The instructions, as expected, having read other’s build logs leave a lot to be desired, colourful and well printed, but not very descriptive or even accurate. And so to the build; The basic frame was constructed without the aid of a jig, keel clamp or safety net but care was taken to ensure that the frames were square to the keel, the vertical and the horizontal, I have to say however that the frame to keel location slots were a little slack on my kit, especially at the very stern (Transom) which required that I shim out the keel evenly on both sides to ensure that I had mating surfaces to actually glue. Once the basic frame was glued and set, I roughly filed and sanded the bow and stern strengthening blocks and then in-filled with some balsa and filler and more accurately sanded to the correct profile, at the same time I started the process of fairing the frames. With the fairing complete I had to bite the bullet and decide on which method I was going to employ to make the planking wood more malleable, even though it is only the first layer I wanted to make sure I was being as accurate as possible not least because this is a model of an open boat so the first layer is partially visible from the inside. I settled on soaking the planks in pairs in freshly boiled water rather than just heat. Annoyingly, despite drilling pilot holes for map pins both initial planks split so clamping had to be used at the bow. The planks were left clamped over night to dry. Once dry and the clamps removed, I used CA to affix the plank at the bow then pinned and clamped before gently easing the plank onto the next frame, gluing, clamping, and moving onto the next. Both top planks were completed in the same manner, other than one side was glued entirely with CA whilst the other was a combination of CA (at the bow) and Titebond II on the frames just to see if there was any noticeable difference in general flexibility of the bond….none discernible. First two planks glued and set. Onward and upward, sorry downward. Any comments, observations and suggestions are most welcome. Cheers, Mark.

Hello Chaps, Many thanks for the warm welcome to MSW. The advice and links with regards to where to start are gratefully received. Just to illustrate that I am a genuine modeller, I have put in a couple of images of past projects, including my one completed maritime effort thus far: Its also a way of testing out the image posting process, hopefully I can show some progress on the Airfix HMS Victory that I have ongoing. Cheers, Mark.

Hello all, I have been a modeller since I can remember, with most of my energies directed towards things with wings. I regularly find myself looking at ship models and forums, marveling at the patience and skill taken over details and in particular the rigging of sailing ships. I found myself looking but not doing much mostly out of the fear of starting but not finishing. I do have a number of ship models in my stash and am in fact working (slowly) on the Airfix 1/180 HMS Victory, I have a Flower Class Corvette (The Cruel Sea is my favourite novel), Titanic and Bismarck all to do. Very recently however, I was telling a friend and fellow modeller about the good fortune I had as a student Technical Illustrator at Portsmouth College of Art, way back in 1983-4. My lecturer asked if I was interested in doing some work experience for a three month period, I jumped at the chance and only then asked for whom would I be working..."The Mary Rose Trust, they need an Illustrator to help reference the artefacts". In actual fact the work was quite dirty and very smelly with a constant odour like vinegar presumably from the preservatives that were being used. The time went very quickly and I produced many illustrations of everything from leather jerkins, shot, kidney dagger handles and even a VD syringe from the Barber-Surgeons kit! I was also asked to do some illustrations for the first iteration of the museum displays, now long replaced. My friend suggested that I build a model of the Mary Rose herself, I agreed that it would be nice to have something related, but the choice is somewhat limited either a rather unimpressive plastic kit or a £300+ wooden kit that currently is beyond my capabilities and the Wife's perceived hobby spend threshold!....Which is what brings me here. I'm hoping to break into the wooden kit world and am looking to glean as much know how as possible, and as I am sure as has been asked before where should a beginner start with regards to a wooden ship kit that will include the necessary skills and techniques and hopefully lead to an advanced kit such as the Caldercraft Mary Rose. Many thanks for reading. Mark.