AJohnson

Quite the armament production line you have going there Dave! I like the quoin details you have added.

Hi Nipper, there are currently two very similar kits on the market you could try to "kit-bash" into Irene. Caldercraft's HMS Cruizer & HMS Snake. Irene (ex. HMS Grasshopper) was in fact a Cruiser class brig, so the ideal starting point. However a word of warning (my personal opinion only), Caldercraft kits are much more basic than Vanguard ones. I have HMS Snake and will be bashing it into HMS Scylla, but it will be a labour of love; still in the research phase atm. The difference in quality between Caldercraft and the more modern Vanguard kits is noticeable. Chris Watton design them all, but the CC Cruizer/Snake are over 20 year old designs now. One glimmer of hope, if you are prepared for an undefined/possibly long wait, there was a hint from @chris watton he might one day revisit the subject of RN Brigs, but not sure that would be the ubiquitous Cruizer class, the Cherokee class, or something else... There are many Cruzier/Snake builds on MSW, some including a kit bash into other Cruizer Brigs, some links for you:- Hope this helps.

Hi Lyle, Yeah, stuff does happen, too often to my models, but I must be clumsy. 😬 But more importantly I hope your wife and you are doing okay and you can return to finishing your wonderful Bounty when time allows, I'm looking forward to seeing that and hoping it will inspire me to get mine finished after coming up 14 years! 🤭

I always paint them Dave and Chris states they should be painted. I use Matt black enamel or Caldercraft “Dull metal” acrylic. Often them apply dry coats and washes to make then “look” a bit more metallic, but that is personal taste. (see my current Trial log if your interested in what I do. ) Sure others have their own ideas on painting realistic looking armament.

Hi Graham, glad to see you back in your shipyard. Though I have been following your 1=1 scale project!

Shame this isn’t a beat up aircraft, many modellers would kill to get an “oil can” effect like that on some panels! The finish you have on the rest of the body is outstanding Craig, so appreciate why you looking at replacing the hood.

Additions for the last couple of days are the Main winch, Bowsprit bitts and Main Mast bitts. I have been slowly assembling these over a few weeks now as other stages of the build needed to dry and so on. These were all very straight forward to assemble and they fit together very well with only the char removal needed for sanding. The minor changes I have made were to add a little details to simulate bolts, iron bands and referring to Petrejus, leaded bit cap and ends; though I think copper would have been more accurate? Anyway my commander is poor, so he can't afford copper to cap his bitts! The bolts were drilled with reference to the diagrams in Goodwin's AotS book "Alert" and filled simply with blacked stiff brush bristles. Lead bitt ends were covered using the adhesive lead sheet I used for the hawse hole and scupper linings. Iron bands were from the supplied black card. The main winch drum is a resin part, so this took a little bit effort to make it look more like wood. Various layer of browns and then some dry brush highlights and washes to pick out details. These items aren't permanently fixed and have been put aside, as I think they will get in the way when adding the cannons. Thanks you all for the continued support, likes and comments.

Really nice looking finish.

Really impressive work, congratulations!

Great work B.E. I like the Belfry, how did you patinate the lead?

Your Flirt is looking really good TJM, very clean looking painting.

That is looking so good Alan!

Evening all, A quick update for the addition of scuppers. @dunnock added scuppers to his Trial using metal tube, so I have tried out adhesive lead foil for mine. These scuppers are on the contemporary model at the RMG, so I copied the number and location of that model. Once the scupper holes had gently and slowly been drilled out the adhesive foil was cut into lengths and wrapped around a small drill bit to form a tube; this also usually made the backing tape come free which was an added bonus, these little tubes were then pushed into the openings and worked into the sides and pushing them firmly against the surface of the drilled hole. The most useful tool I found for this was the end of a small paint brush. Excess foil could be trimmed using a scalpel. The adhesive was tacky and did not grab too strongly, so it allowed for adjustment to get the lead where you want it. To seal the edges I will matt varnish these holes, but as you can see from the pictures the hull painting still needs finishing, so I'll do that when the hull is about complete. Thanks for the likes and comments. 😁

Looking forward to seeing all this come together Andy, the vehicles look great. 👍

Enjoy the sun and cycling Mike, your Alert looks great! 👍

Hello all, hope your weekends are going well so far. Thank you for your kind comments @dunnock @Thukydides @Dave_E @iMustBeCrazy @DaveBaxt @Blue Ensign @GrandpaPhil and the likes everyone! No further forward with my restoration of the stern following my botched repair attempts after dropping it, so focusing my attention to other details whilst I formulate a plan. As I am following NMM drawing ZAZ6418 I am moving the companionway forward and adding a skylight for the Commanding Officer's cabin in the original kit position for the companionway. I've scratch built a new companionway access using the 0.8mm sheet from the kit as my wood and the kit parts 103-107 as my templates, but increasing the lengths of the sides to match the larger hatch. I copied the kits plank markings and cut these into the 0.8mm sheet to add some interest. Also added framing to the companionway doors and top hatch so they also had some extra interest and didn't look like what they are - offcuts! 😁 Hinges are small lengths of wire and used blacked eyelets for ladder access ropes; I'm saving parts PE02 for the bulwark ladderway ropes I will add later. The handles didn't have to be too complex as I used them as attachment points and glued them to the side so the doors had another point of contact and being very "Elf & Safety" conscious for my crew I added hand ropes. 😉 Next up I will try and scratch build a little skylight, thanks for looking in everyone and the continued interest/support.

Your Indie is looking very impressive Glenn, it will be a very imposing model once finished.

Spent an enjoyable break looking through your log. A really great looking boat, well done!

Welcome back JB!

Welcome to MSW Walter!

Welcome to MSW James!

At first glance they all look like stones to me Alan, even the dark one. 👍 In isolation yes you can zoom in on “imperfections”, but once embedded in a diorama, then 99% of people will let their eyes move around the scene (the 1% is of course you, I think we all do that to our own work). I think this is going to look spectacular as it comes together. 😃

Hello, an update for progress over the last week or so. The following pictures are all of small assemblies and little projects I have been doing whilst wrangling the stern into something I'm happy with; this is still not right, but that will form an update for another day. So on with the bits and bobs I have done. After spending some time looking at the NMM plans (specifically ZAZ6418 & ZAZ6422) I have decided to go ahead and add the additional fore hatch shown in those plans. ZAZ6418 is of the series ZAZ6418-ZAZ6424 plans, but has a date that puts it contemporary with Trial actually having been built; if I'm reading the text properly it says Draft of Cutter "built" 9th September 1790, the other plans are variously described of plans of "proposed vessel with sliding keels" or plans "draught for building by contract" if anything. So on that flimsy basis only, I'm going by this plan... just flagging that up so I can be shot down for my variations! Got the sliding keels ready and also added little deck reinforcement pieces to match those shown on the plans and sections; fashioned from the leftover 0.8mm wood. Gratings, as I was making an additional one I had to go with some from Caldercraft so they all look alike, Chris's look crisper, but to compensate I did try to construct the Head ledges and side combings as best I could to match the details supplied in various posts here on MSW. The other minor detail I have gone for is to have the anchor cables enter via the main hatch. The centreline fore hatch is in front of the galley and the additional one I have added goes to the compartment that leads to the Boatswain's, Gunner's & Carpenter's store rooms. On ZAZ6422 the plan shows what look like at least five transverse bulkheads that have no doors or openings in them to allow crew/stores movement from stem to stern; perhaps a strengthening addition for the sliding keels, or additional compartments as the sliding keels were a bit "leaky" 😱 - don't know pure speculation on my part. The Mainmast and Bowsprit bitts are not fixed permanently yet. Thanks for all the likes and comments, next time I might be brave enough to share what I've done to the stern...🤫 - not all of it planned...

Very nicely painted figure. I have bought the same and some sailors, marines and gun crew for my Trial, so thanks for sharing your techniques.

I think the Japanese have a word for this “Bakkushan” , I’ll get my coat whilst looking for more shelf space 😆