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Laggard, You are not alone . Anyone of us who cares about the quality of our own models are our own harshest critics. That is a good thing!! Allan

I was looking forward to everyone's reviews, but could not wait so I just ordered a copy on Amazon and it gives a delivery for Monday. Glad Jeff B. did his thing back in '94. Sure saved me a lot of gasoline not having to make so many trips to stores! I know he has his detractors but I wish I had been smart enough to think up the concept and take the plunge to start a business in my garage like he did. Allan

Trafalgar, 216 years ago. Allan

Have you looked at the modern (1947) model at NMM? Do a search in their collections section for the Earl of Pembroke. Endeavour was originally the merchant collier Earl of Pembroke, built by Thomas Fishburn. There are six views including the one below that may help you. Note that there are no belaying pins on rails. There may have been some pins rails tied to the shrouds. Allan

Jamie, There are no secrets on the web. I was a CIA agent for years and researching is part of the craft........ (That is a big fat lie. it was the FBI,,, not!) I was a salesman for most of my career and spent a LOT of time researching to find and learn about potential clients and their products before ever contacting them. Research paid huge dividends just as research pays dividends (for me at least) in this hobby. Some prefer to just jump in and sink or swim, but whatever works for you, go for it. There are not that many so called "right ways" to do anything in our hobby. The end result is what counts as well as having fun in the process. Allan

IPA should work on removing the stem. It will take a good bit of alcohol with a swab or brush and you need to work briskly as it evaporates quickly. It will not stain the wood but if there is any residual glue on the wood it may show up. This should be sanded off anyway so no harm. Once removed, be sure to sand any residual glue from the stem and the center piece before gluing it back on. I agree with mark, do not remove the fillers, they need to be part of the fairing process. Allan

Jamie?? You are trying to edge set the planks which does not work. You have to either spile them or soak and pre-bend the plank around a form then heat it as shown in the tutorials here at MSW. You can try both methods to see which works best for you, but keep in mind you may have occasions where one works easily and the other does not, depending on the severity of the bend, the type of wood, etc. If you are stuck with strip wood from the kit, you will be relegated to moisture and heat to side bend around a form before putting on the hull as spiling requires wider stock so you can cut the plank to the proper curve. I noticed you have not marked out the bulkheads with the width of the plank at each bulkhead so you can be sure your planks are properly tapered. This will really help you get fair lines of planking. Cheers Allan

I found a bunch of solutions on the 'net from heat to alcohol to vinegar. My preference has usually been alcohol. The problem is getting it to the glue. If you have a large area and there is glue far from the seam, it will be difficult to get the liquid to those areas. Pictures may help get a lot of responses from members that also have to go through this. Cheers Allan

Today in 1805, the battle at Trafalgar. 216 years ago!!! Please sign in to the Adam Preston website below and sign on board if you would like to see a mini series on Nelson produced for TV. Allan

Welcome aboard!!! If you do a little search here at MSW you will see other builds of this ship (it is not a boat) 😄, including comments on the Billings kit materials and instructions in particular. Take at look at the post https://modelshipworld.com/topic/18657-new-to-ship-modelling-but-what-do-you-build-first/?tab=comments#comment-573653 before jumping into your build. Whether you decide to stay with the Mayflower or decide to return it for a more appropriate first build, spend some time reading up on the particular real ship you go with. It usually adds to the enjoyment of the build as well as gaining an understanding and appreciation of the ship you choose. Allan

Bud Can you post a photo? I would think they should be kept in place before the fairing so I cannot visualize your problem. Regarding IPA what kind of glue did you use? Allan

Stevinne, Any chance you can tell us some of the materials?? I would love to see what kinds of alternative materials were used. Hope things are good down the shore. We are loving the SW Florida beaches, but nothing beats the Jersey shore and that is one of the four things I miss up there. Mark, any samples from the Legacy of a Ship Model that you can share? Thanks gentlemen Allan

Use/substitute whatever material works best. Card stock, paper, copper, brass, different wood species and the list goes on. I cannot speak from personal experience about kits as I have never built one but some 25 years ago I was thrilled to be given the Mantua SoS kit and promptly gave it away after opening it and seeing the materials. Had I any inkling about kit bashing/material substitution at that time I would have given it a serious try. Lesson learned. It is not always just the materials in some kits. There are too often out of scale parts such as grainy wood like walnut, gratings, and belaying pins as examples. I really admire the kit bashers who can replace these kinds of materials with better suited materials and wind up with spectacular models. Allan

I hate macro, or rather it hates me as it is so good at pointing out imperfections. 🤔 I doubt anyone but you will notice tiny mistakes when viewing your model, so be happy as your work really is good! One thing I noticed in your close up are square axles for the trucks on the carriages. Hope you don't mind an idea for the future. If you want to round the ends so the trucks could turn rather than leaving them square you can make a little brass rod cutter with a hole drilled the size of the axle and a couple cross cuts on the face with a razor saw or hacksaw to create cutting edges. Chuck this cutter in a drill press or some other and it will round the end portion axle in a second. Allan

Great information Ian! Does Harland give a contemporary source for this information? Thanks for sharing! Allan

There are a number of books showing the rabbet and how to make it. It is basically a groove in which the lower edge of the garboard seats as well as the ends of the balance of planking as it rises up the post and stem. It is dynamic in shape so near impossible to draw for it's entire length, but it really is only a matter of following the shape of the framing. No offense to others, but I always READ everything I can if only to avoid mistakes others have made and then shared their experiences. With the cost and scarcity of wood these days, it is something to consider. If you do a search here on MSW the rabbet is addressed in how others go about cutting it. Some use scrapers, some chisels. It really is not very hard to do. Maybe practice on a piece of scrap and you will gain the confidence you need to move forward on your final piece. Many builders spend hours, days, weeks researching to avoid making the scrap pile too large. There will still often be mistakes made, but if nothing else, reading is educational which means it will help avoid trying something others have tried that did not work. Why waste time making the same mistakes. A twist on Einstein's quote, Insanity is doing the same thing others have tried that did not work and expect different results. Allan The dynamics of the shape of the rabbet in the keel moving aft to the stop point:

Very nice Michael! I agree with you that the pinrail holes appear to be way over scale. Kits are notorious for supplying hugely over scale pins. For SoS, there probably were no pinrails at all? David Lees notes in Masting and Rigging of English Ships of War belaying pins were not used by the Royal Navy until about 1745. This is more than 100 years after SoS was built, and when introduced, they were mainly in racks lashed to the shrouds not on racks secured to bulwarks or on the bitt cross pieces. Donald McKay's book on on the SoS is supposed to be a great source of information for anyone building SoS and might address this as well. Again, your construction is very clean and very nicely finished! Allan

Thanks for the likes everyone! David, I agree the lion's head ports were more stylized on contemporary models, but if the model builder/artist had seen a real lion on the 'net I bet they would have been more realistic 😄 In any case, your point is well taken and I do thank you. As to the blue rails, purely conjecture based on the below contemporary model of a Royal yacht from 1702. This may have been repainted blue in a later repair/renovation of the model, but I would hope something this obvious would have been done as the original. Or.... perhaps the royal yachts received the more expensive coatings, especially blue, when compared to the galley frigates even if they seem to have been named after the various kings. In the photo, even the wales are blue which I did not follow in this build as there was question as to whether or not the wales or chain wales were painted at all. In researching contemporary models and text during this project I think more questions were raised than answered 🤪. To argue against the blue rails Richard Endsor's painting of the Charles Galley shows blue on the side as on the model but gold rails. Your point got me to thinking about this again and to satisfy myself, I did some more searching. Drat!!!! Lo and behold, I found a painting by VdV showing her with gold cap rail. Time to ask the client if he wants to make a change. Not a huge job, but important none-the-less. Thanks again Allan

It has been some months but it has been busy with another 500 or 600 hours of fun (mostly)- Best bower and bower anchors still to go on and ensign at the stern. Stub masts are in temporarily. The base has a faux burl finish. I was not sure about doing this, but I am pleased with the result. I considered a burl wood veneer but after watching a well done video on how to make the faux finish I thought to give it try. In studying contemporary models, the vast majority do not have the open gun port lids rigged. I have the lids in place and with rings for the lines to open and close the lids, but I am not especially keen on adding the lines and cleats for each. Looking at photos of about 30 or 40 contemporary models at Preble Hall, in the Navy Board Ship Models by John Franklin as well as photos in Lees' Masting and Rigging, I only saw one model with these lines attached to the port lids. Any thoughts on this are most welcome. The last two pictures show a close up of the inboard side of the open port lid with the lion's face followed by the original drawing variations and the photo from which the drawings are based. Overall I am not a fan of 1:64 scale for getting better detail in general, but the next project was started early in 2020 at 1:64 so I will go back to it and see if it gets any easier. Allan Lion face on port lid

As above, LoS does not blacken brass easily if at all. Copper, no problem. I have gone to copper whereever possible, but when I do need to use brass, pickle it, rinse it and blacken with Birchwood Casey (or similar products) since my favorite, Blacken It is no longer available that I can find. Allan

Hi Laggard Never say never😄 Deadeye sizes and style vary with scale, ship, which channel, etc. I would be surprised if there are enough aftermarket chain plate sizes and types to cover all situations. I have been buying rope and blocks, but I plan to make rope on my own for upcoming builds as I invested in a rope walk. Blocks??? I am not so sure about that. I have made my own blocks and have purchased them. The same problem arises though when buying them. On a full rigged ship, there are a lot of sizes and types of blocks and after market blocks seem to be limited to about a dozen sizes/types. I will be curious to see others' responses. With the growth of 3D printing, a proper drawing is all that is needed to have custom made pieces so I see that as a big plus to sourcing some things such as gun barrels, and more, without sacrificing accuracy. Allan

I think a lot of us are interested Roger!! Thanks Allan

Chris, Building the models looks to be a fun project but I would be cautious with pre sewn sails or any cloth materials for that matter. It is impossible to make these to scale at 1:50 or smaller using cloth and sewing machines whether done on your own or buying them pre-made. It is a shame to see many well built models ruined with cloth sails that are so out of scale. If you do a little search you will see that there has been a lot of discussion and instruction details on using alternate materials to make realistic sails to scale lately here at MSW. I am not familiar with CMB's sails, so they may be using scaled materials other than cloth and sewing thread. It will be interesting to see what materials they are using. Allan

The combination of CA & Rigging is not quite as bad as mixing vinegar and bleach but definitely two things that should never meet. (except to make a needle tip on a line to be rigged) Allan

Dave, It is not hard when it is fun to do. It can be frustrating at times, but then it is just more of a challenge!!!