Gregory

I like the natural look and the subdued colors.  The darker colors provide too much contrast with the lighter wood of the hull, and draw attention away from the model as a whole.

On the contemporary models with darker wood tones, it is not as much of a distraction..

Any insight as to what materials and methods have enabled this art to last for almost 300 years.

Winchelsea model. Circa 1764..

Has it been restored at some point ?

Syren ( semi kits..)

Model Shipways

Caldercraft

Amati/victory

Vanguard

Master Korebel

Dusek

BlueJacket

Not necessarily in that order..

P.S.

Since many kits are of fictitious ships, who is to say if they are accurate or not?  

1 hour ago, Beckmann said:

....how they did this in earlier times with primitive tools and no technical help. 

Because it was a full time job, and we don't see all the throw aways before they got it right......

Strange ..  Your link wants me to log in to see the item..  If I click on my eBay bookmark, I am logged in.

I searched for " Byrnes Model Machines 4" Table Saw " and found it...

How did the parts compare to the plans?

I have the AVS plans and am considering a scratch build someday..  I don't think I'll bother if parts made from the plans don't go together well...

Any chance you will be making those cannon available apart from the kit?

Dave,

Speaking of your FA build.  When will you be moving forward?  I have that kit on the shelf and feel I have a lot to learn from your experience.

Gregory

I see that you are building a scratch Victory..

You might check out this Anchor kit from Syren..   

Boxwood Anchors for Cheerful

While it is 1:48 based on the cutter Cheerful, and a bit small for Victory, you could use this kit as a basis to fabricate your own.

1 hour ago, Chuck said:

Now the inside edges do have laser char on them as you might expect.  DO NOT try and sand this stuff off. 

Just curious.. 

They appear dark all around, not just the inside edges,  and unlike some of your other thin boxwood pieces. like the lantern.   Is that just the lighting?

The dark color provides contrast that I find attractive..

1 hour ago, Julie Mo said:

Yes, please do.  I'd love to see it.

After I offered to show you an example, I went through a lot of my files, and really couldn't find a good example, so I put together a quick demo.

Basically,  I start with some tracing paper..

Which I overlay on the part of the plans I wish to veneer.

Then I take the veneer strips and glue them to the tracing paper with white or yellow glue.  I use colored pencil to highlight the edges when desired..

Once the pattern is complete, I can sand and add finish ( poly or whatever ), before cutting out the finished piece and adding it to the model..

I find this convenient, if I decide to do it over without having to strip it off of the model.

The above picture is not a good example of a finish I would find acceptable.   It was done quickly to show my method.

If you look at my Gretel in the Gallery, all of the deck pieces were prepared in this manner.

If I  haven't made my method clear, please ask me any questions..

I don't have an example handy, but for most of my veneer decking, bulkheads & etc. I glue it on to very thin paper. such as tracing paper off of the ship.  I then glue that onto the boat or sub-assembly in one piece.

If this sounds interesting to you, I will dig up an example..

Ooops..  Beckmann beat me to it..

I recently posted a tip about this, but it is only good if you are using polyester thread..

Imagine the number of people who have followed those AVS plans and never questioned them...

...

I personally can't justify the price of boxwood, so I'm out.

 I really like your AYC, and find it very satisfactory for details where I might otherwise use boxwood.

Are you considering offering milled cherry outside of the Winchelsea project?  I have got some very good stuff at a reasonable price from Ocooch, but they have

somewhat limited thicknesses..

27 minutes ago, Blue Ensign said:

There is a fid hole and fid indicated in the Bowsprit but this sits forward of the Bitt pins, which makes little sense.

I can't say if it is documented practice, but a fid forward of the bitts might provide support in helping to keep the bowsprit from being pushed aft by the tension of bobstays or other rigging..

There appears to be a fid forward of the bitts on this contemporary model.

2 hours ago, Chuck said:

Have a look at those lids in that photo of the contemporary model.  I will use brass strip and shape them just like that. 

Not saying this is within my skill set, but your discussion of the port lids, and in the context of your beautiful model, do you think going this far ( the curved port lid )  would be too much?

Would they have been like that on the actual ship?

Because it has such a fine grain and holds an edge so well..  

16th-Century Boxwood Carvings

Try this with basswood:  Stern Lantern Kit

A little bit of progress..

The main false deck is a real tight fit and all I really needed to square up the bulkheads. 

The quarter deck false deck did not match the plans and wasn't fitting well, so I cut a new piece, which resulted in the color difference..

Looking forward to starting the planking. after fairing things up a bit.

Check this out..

I have picked up on some stuff at Micromark over the years that I couldn't seem to find anywhere else.  But Amazon and China have changed all of that..

5 hours ago, cdrusn89 said:

I tried #56 and #57 bits for the hole and the #57 was too small and the #56 a bit too big even though 3/64s would be between a #56 and #55 according to my drill size chart. Oh well.

When the right size hole seems to elude me, I have a set of something like these: Micro-Size Precision Reamers

I don't think I paid that much, but it was over 20 years ago, so inflation probably means I did.

I find them invaluable when it come to blocks and such..

If the Wondercutter is your kind of tool,  you might be in the market for a $200 glue applicator..

It was discussed under a two word name  Wonder Cutter

I think the consensus was that it is a bit overpriced..

I don't recall if anyone has actually tried it.

I see there is a similar device, offered at a similar price on Amazon Prime..   You could try it, and send it back if you don't like it..