AJohnson

Hi Simon, you are off to a great start! These little Vanguard fishing boats are a joy to build and I see you have added some fish for your well; I added some “Cocktail stick” fish to my “Nisha” build, but they were not as nicely painted as yours. Good advice on the stern planking up to the stern counter from @Thukydides, first planking is a foundation so no need to worry on looks just the correct shape, so trialling a few of the second planks is a good investment in time later on. Will follow your progress with interest. 👍

Thank you all for the likes and @Blue Ensign @dunnock @DaveBaxt @mugje @DB789 @Dave_E @RossR and others for your encouragement, it means a lot. Something slightly out of sequence today from the instructions, while I have been building the hull I have also been working on the 3-Pounder Guns and 12-Pounder Carronades, as some thing different to do while waiting for various stages of the hull to dry; be it glue, filler or paint! Here is a sequence of pictures of how I built up the ordinance. As I was flitting between these and going back to the hull I did treat them as separate assembly stages, starting with assembling the Carronades, then the more numerous carriage guns. The printed barrels needed little attention, a rub with a stiff old brush to remove some tiny fibres and drilling the opening just a little to provide deeper holes for looks. These were then painted in flat black, washed in grubby "gunmetal" then dry brushed again in flat black to make them look more like metal. Chris is right they do need painting even though the resin is black, the fines detailing is almost transparent. I did go a bit off-piste with the wheel and axles. Not wanting square axle ends I substituted the ends with some dowel, these were then drilled for a wire axle pin. The ends of the axles were then wrapped in black card to simulate iron bands. Other detailing I added was a bed for the quoin and the quoin itself got a handle of sorts added (lead shot), which was then painted brown. More eyebolts were added, but not sure if I am going to fully rig these little guns as the tackle might look too much for this size armament. I added split rings cut from tiny chain for the Cap Square hinge bolt and the Cotter pin chains; the chains themselves were actually just black thread, I don't have any ultra fine chain to hand, but think they look okay. Back to the hull now and for breaks from that I might jump to the hatches and gratings. Thanks for looking in.

Phoebe would be great, goodness knows the hobby needs an alternative kit to the venerable Diana!

I remember you mentioning that in your bucket list a few months back Chris, are you any closer to deciding which one to do first Phoebe / Amphion or another?

Welcome to MSW

Hi David, yes I’m lagging behind now, but not for want of trying, just other thing get in the way at the moment. I think I have decided I will try and follow RMG Drgs. ZAZ6418 & 6422 as best as my skills will allow. The contemporary model is so confusing in some the deck details compared to the plans available. It would be fascinating to work out the chronological sequence of them all!

Really nice detailing David. I had also noticed the contemporary models scuppers and was thinking about how I could add that. I have some thin lead sheet I might try to use. Your solution looks very effective though.

Well done, congratulations! On to the next project. 👏

Hi All, Latest updates, just added the Bulwark patterns. Many thanks for the likes and the encouraging comments, next stage the deck and inner Bulwark sides.

Figures are looking great Alan, have a great vacation, yeah it’s a bit colder here atm, but nothing compared to continental winter weather!

Good to see you back at the workbench Brian. 😀 If that was my build, there would be one or two sad little bits of mdf framing sitting next to the model from my attempts to wrangle a false deck in! 🤣 Looking good!

Welcome to MSW Eric.

Great detailing you are adding, those last few pictures show your painting off really well, the highlights and shading you do is so good.

Excellent work Dave your scratch built head details will be much better, you “Diana” builders certainly seem to be put through it, trying to wrangle this kit into shape. I always had Diana on my wants list, but think I’m going to wait for Vanguard models to do a frigate; either Surprise and/or the others Chris has mentioned like Phoebe or Amphion.

Great build Chris, it looks great and the kit deficiencies you highlighted do not detract from your skills in building it.

Update to show the hull about ready for adding the P.E. rudder hinges, Horseshoe plates etc. Just a bit more fine sanding and sealing to go. The pre-shading was laid out using the Bulwark patterns as a guide to layout out the plank ends then the planks were sketched back in, so I could colour distinct bands in yellows, browns, greys etc. to provide some shading variation under the final layers of white. The initial look is a bit shocking, but soon calmed down under successive layers of white until finally just a hint of the picked out planking shows (a bit difficult to see in the photos!), just to break up the "mono" look of a pure white hull. Looking forward now to peeling away the tape and getting those bulwarks on! 😁

That’s looking really nice David, I’m certainly hanging onto your coat tails for my build, looking for hints and tips as I get to the same stages.

Thank you all very much for the encouragement and likes. Update today just on the seemingly never ending rounds of filling, sanding , primer, paint, repeat! Nearly there I think, just the odd remaining blemish to sort before the final base coat, prior to pre-shading the planking for a more interesting final appearance (I'm not after a uniform monotone white finish.) Thought I would share some pictures of the stages I've been going through. I just used a rattle can DIY grey primer initially, followed by an initial rub down with medium sandpaper to see what a layer of paint showed up - nothing like a layer of paint to point out your lack of woodworking skills! I have then being using water-based plastic putty that can be thinned down to get into all the little imperfections, flat down, rub and repeat! As the surface gets better I then start to use fine wire wool; this doesn't tend to "ball-up" paint layers as easily, then some old blu-roll paper towel to really bring out a shine to go hunting for flaws again holding the hull up to a light source. Work is going to get in the way this week, so might not be much more progress until the weekend. Thanks again for following along.

Very neat work David. I have also been looking at the RMG plans of which there are a surprising number named “Trial”, though I suspect at least one is just a proposal of the sliding keel arrangement by Captain Schank, a couple say they are copies of plans sent to the yard for building dated May 1790 but one (ZAZ6418) states it is the plan of the ship “built” dated 9th September 1790, so perhaps closest to the final layout? Interesting most of the plans show an additional grating/companion way to the starboard of the forward sliding keel, providing access to the Boatswain, Carpenter & Gunner’s store rooms. That plan also shows a raised skylight over the Commander’s cabin and a cover over the companionway. The contemporary model does not show these details and as Chris has mentioned in his prototype log, it deviates from the various plans in a number of ways, I suppose we shall never know the true relationship of the plans and model to the real vessel - all very interesting!

Nicely done, congratulations! 👏

You do that as well! 🤣 I dread to think what treasures are lurking in my “safe place” when I find it!

Welcome to MSW Simon as for Vanguard kits they are worth it and has a good fleet of fishing Vessels if you don't want cannons festooning your models! Hope you do a build log of them.

Well done Alan on reaching this milestone, really impressive looking model! How big will it be in bench area with the cliffs and surrounding land?

Maybe it was along the lines: “if we make it ugly enough the air will just jump out of the way!” 🤣

Great finish, another fine build Craig.