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DB789

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Everything posted by DB789

  1. DB789
    Alert is now almost complete. Just some rope coils to add to where lines are belayed (cover up some of the CA holding the lines in place!). Here are some photos, as it may be a few weeks before I complete the rope coils - one of my least favourite tasks. The ensign is from BECC, dipped into a fabric stiffening solution and then hung with crocodile clips to try to get it to droop. Only partially successful as it’s not very high quality and the fabric is quite thick, especially where it folds over. Didn’t quite achieve the look James H did on Grecian’s flag. The American Vanguard ensign that came with Grecian looks much better quality, but the Vanguard British ensigns are too big for a little cutter like Alert. The rigging became more complicated and challenging on the doing yards for the first time. I think that I have interpreted the rigging instructions correctly, but I may have too many lines going forward on the bowsprit. I have bought both the Petersson books on rigging which are very useful, but the section on the English cutter has simpler rigging on its two yards vs. Alert’s four. Overall, Alert has been a lovely ship to build - quite challenging at times after the fishing boats - but very rewarding. I’m very happy with the end result. Chris - thanks again for another excellent kit.
  2. DB789
    Thank you
  3. DB789
    Bowsprit rigging complete except for the bowlines to the yards. Main and driver booms rigged plus the spreadsail yard. That just leaves the following: three more yards, the anchors and refitting the swivel guns. Plus some touching up of paint. Inspired by the American flag added to Grecian by James H, I’ve bought a period white ensign from BECC for Alert and will attempt to get it to hang as elegantly. It’s not as crisply printed or as good quality as the Grecian’s American flag, but at 12 x 7 cm I think the Vanguard ensigns would be too big for a little ship like Alert.
  4. DB789
    Craigie - thanks for the great recommendation, I’ve ordered the Rigging Period Model Ships book. I’m a few builds yet away from Speedy / Flirt. Gregory - thanks I’ll likely order the Fore-and-Aft book too. I see that it has a section on an American schooner which could be useful for Grecian. From my time sailing modern fire and aft rigged yachts I broadly understand the fore and aft part of the rig on Alert, but much less the squaresails on her mast. Nils - thank you for the encouragement!
  5. DB789
    Thank you! Yes it’s a very satisfying stage on Alert as the rigging isn’t too complex. One of my next builds will hopefully be Vanguard’s Flirt or Speedy - but I look at the forest of rigging on for example Dfell’s superb recently completed Flirt build and it’s pretty intimidating on a ship that isn’t that much bigger than Alert. I wonder - is the larger Sphinx actually easier to rig than Speedy / Flirt? Sphinx is the ship I’d like to build but not sure I’ve got sufficient skills yet to do it justice.
  6. DB789
    Ratlines and backstays now complete. The two forestays that run to the stem post also in place. Rigging fairly straightforward so far, although there’s plenty I need to improve in terms of technique. One thing I learnt on this build, which gave me better ratlines than on my fishing boats was to tie all the ratlines in place with no glue, just lots of clove hitches and then adjust them all and tighten them when complete and before any glue. I’m sure that’s obvious to any experienced builder on MSW, but it wasn’t for me. I also made the mistake of adding the shroud cleats before the ratlines - thought it would be easier - then struggled to get the lower two ratlines on each side straight. Time to rig the bowsprit next. Hope to finish her by the end of next week.
  7. DB789
    Thanks Craigie, I’ve temporarily stripped off anything loose that I might get in the way of the rigging such as cannons, swivel guns, pumps, etc. Mast is added and all the spars and booms made, although still some blocks to add to these. Bowsprit ready too although I forgot to include it in these photos. I didn’t like the idea of shaping and tapering all of these using a drill as my experience of tapering with a drill is that I quite often break something. So I’ve added a Proxxon mini lathe to the toolkit. Made the spars and mast so much easier. I added the forward four shrouds on each side as these are those that need ratlines. Below I have added the starboard ratlines and afterwards the fifth shroud. Port just the front four shrouds. No ratlines yet. In the meantime, Vanguard’s Grecian has turned up and is waiting to be built. She looks to be a fine model as I’ve come to expect from Chris. I had planned to build Ranger next to complete the set of six Vanguard fishing boats, but I suspect I’ll dive straight into Grecian.
  8. DB789
    Thanks Jim!
  9. DB789
    She looks fantastic. Does anyone know a good beginners resource or a log on here on how to copper a ship’s hull? In particular, how do you get the waterline cut straight? I’m very keen to build Grecian, but I need to master coppering. Many thanks Dan
  10. DB789
    Thanks, I won’t add the fiddly parts yet. I think the pumps are still removable as the dowel is in tight but with no glue. I’ll follow your Pen Duick build with interest. Many thanks Dan
  11. DB789
    I have been very remiss on keeping up my Alert log. Her hull is largely complete now, except for stanchions, swivel guns and anchors. None of which I’m adding until I have a good idea of whether they’ll get in the way of the rigging. No major issues in building her, but a few idiosyncrasies and lessons learned that I might point out. Firstly, that the pear wood strips came in a pale and dark colour, I thought the pale colour would look better on the exposed upperworks so I planked the stern in this and then later realised that there weren’t enough pale strips for all the upper works so the stern is now a different colour. Furthermore I didn’t select my strips well and the top starboard plank below the wales is very discoloured dark. Good lessons for the future. I decided not to fit the lower counter PE decoration. My lower counter is quite curved so I found it difficult to get the PE to lay flat and decided it looked better without. The PE would have worked fine if I’d followed the kit instructions and kept the lower counter flat. The stove flue, part 108 in the instructions, did not seem to be anywhere in the parts and is not listed in the parts list, so I built my own from excess on the 3mm wood sheet. Looking down the deck. The guns are not glued yet. I wish with hindsight I’d added breach ropes to them, but too fiddly to do now the eyebolts are glued to the gunwales. Also the wood gratings supplied with the kit in (v.3) don’t match up with what’s in the instructions. The numbering of parts is wrong and whilst the gratings are the correct sizes for the front and main hatches, the third grating supplied fits the bread hatch, not the rear hatch / skylight. The bread hatch is supposed to have a solid hatch in the instructions but I’ve chosen to use the grating as it looks better. Whilst for the third hatch I’ve had to use a PE grating and paint it which doesn’t look as good. I see lots of modellers have amended this to be a skylight. These are very much small things and Alert is an excellent kit, as usual from Vanguard. She’s the ideal bridge for me stepping up from the fishing boats to a larger warship from the age of sail.
  12. DB789
    Thank you very much, I was just curious and hadn’t yet got to that point in BE’s log. I won’t be adding these details, I’m just sticking to the kit. Your Alert looks superb, I wish you’d done a log too.
  13. DB789
    Thank you. I felt the painting is a complete mess compared to other boats on here. I realise that iPhone cameras are quite forgiving and don’t show all the botched paint and glue stains!
  14. DB789
    That’s what I meant. The instructions refer to “step blocks for the mizzen mast”. Temporary makes sense, but even so it’s hard to see how a mast could be mounted on those? Thanks
  15. DB789
    More progress, but still scruffy and needs tidying up. Starboard side with photo-etch decorations, wales, steps, etc added. Wipe-on poly as per Glenn-UK’s recipe on the wood. Port side less progressed and no wipe-on poly and some fittings yet. Stern decoration and the rudder added. PE decoration on the lower counter still to come. Some deck fittings and ironwork added. A couple of the cannon rings on the bulwarks have already fallen out. Please could someone explain to me how the mizzen mast works? I haven’t got the Goodwin Anatomy of the Ship book as I want to stay largely true to the kit (it’s challenging enough for me as it is without modifying!) so don’t want the temptation from a book like that - plus it’s expensive. Thanks! Dan
  16. DB789
    Capping rails are now fitted. Together with the cat heads and the forward swivel gun mounts. Also added the stern board and much of its trim. I’ve put a plank in below the stern board as per JPalmer and Thukydides great advice. I’m not adding the sides of the rough tree rail until later as they’re fragile and I’m bound to break them at this stage. Lots of touching up to the paint required. She’s looking a bit scruffy!
  17. DB789
    Thank you both. That’s great advice, I’ll do that.
  18. DB789
    Grecian is looking super, such an unusual but great looking boat. I think very likely my next build after completing Alert. Maybe Ranger beforehand in the highly unlikely event I complete Alert before the Grecian kit is launched. Grecian looks an easier step up than diving straight into Speedy/Flirt. Thanks for another excellent prototype build log James. I’m missing not having one of yours on Alert!
  19. DB789
    The problem at the stern that Thukydides has highlighted is that the bulkheads aft are too low where it joins the stern board and the rough tree rail is then too low. There’s also the problem on my build that the deck area is too high at the stern for the gunports pushing the stern board even higher. I would like the stern ports, are they gunports? To be at least level with the deck, so I’ll need to add a plank lower than the stern board and raise it a bit higher. These are the wedges I’ve added to compensate. Probably could have added more! Also painted the blue area between the gunports. It’s one plank wide except for the new wedges which I’ve needed to estimate.
  20. DB789
    Hull painted white. Not perfect but as good as I’m going to get it! At the stern I’ve added small wedges to the stern bulwarks to make them a bit higher as per Thukydides’s build log. I’ll come back to this in a moment. Then added the rest of the inner bulwarks, painted red. Seems a pity to cut gun ports into the smooth, flowing lines of Alert’s hull. But needs must. I’ve been dreading this job, but following the other build logs on here I’ve used Glenn UK’s method of taping the ports before cutting them which worked well. The job was much easier than expected. MSW is a fantastic resource! Taped and ready to go. Port side complete. Starboard side underway. Once cut out vertically with a razor saw I used a scalpel for the horizontal cut and filed the edges clean. Gunports complete. Starting to look more like a warship.
  21. DB789
    I managed a little time ship building recently. Main deck clamped and glued. Inner bulwarks started. Shaped to fit, then painted red and glued. Also painted the step below the tiller platform. annoyingly some of the paint has bled under the tape and instead of waiting for it to dry and scraping off I’ve made the schoolboy error of trying to remove it whilst still wet and it’s spread across the tiller platform. Fingers crossed it will sand out. Concurrently I’ve marked the waterline and added masking tape. I’ve used the Tamiya tape with polythene attached to protect the rest of the hull. First spray of white paint shows up a lot of imperfections. Several layers of white paint, filler and sanding later, still not done. More painting and sanding to do. I’m not after a perfect finish and it’s getting closer.
  22. DB789
    Gus, I’ve built both Nisha and Saucy Jack, both are lovely kits to build. Nisha is slightly easier due to a less curved hull shape and a little easier to rig as the belaying pins at the foot of Jack’s mast are fiddly - not a great deal in it though. Enjoy!
  23. DB789
    Thank you!
  24. DB789
    Bulkhead ears and stern timbers removed. The etched main deck is fitted and not glued yet. The tiller deck not fitted yet. More sanding of the hull still to do. Second set of six cannons built together with most of the hatches. Inner bulwarks planking next - then time to cut the dreaded gunports! I doubt I’ll have any time in the shipyard over the next fortnight. School holidays so busy with the kids!
  25. DB789
    Thanks for the warning Thukydides. You’re right, I have thinned the stern post slightly. I’ll make sure not to do so any further.

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