RossR

This looks really good. I have this model on my shortlist for future builds and look forward to following your build. Good luck.

I thought I was the only person who builds their cannons halfway through finishing the hull. A little like have desert halfway through dinner.

I asked the same questions awhile ago and there are a ton of great responses on the forum linked below. Polyurethane vs Lacquer vs Shellac - Painting, finishing and weathering products and techniques - Model Ship World™ Shellac and polyurethane both have their supporters, not very many use lacquer. I have used polyurethane with mixed results but most people who use it have no issues. I have been mixing my own shellac using flakes and am very happy with the results. Good luck.

I am starting my second try at lining the off the hull. I wasn't satisfied with my first attempt. I have been watching Chuck Passaro's YouTube videos and and reading about his edge bending technique for spiling the planks at the bow, and this seems like the way to go since the kit I am building does not provide extra wide planks that can be used for spiling the planks by cutting them out. Chuck is able to get the planks to fit well enough that he can glue them with CA and not have to clamp or nail them into place. I really hope I can learn this technique well enough to not have to nail my planks. While he uses a travel iron for his edge bending, chapter two of his HMS Winchelsea tutorials says he uses a hair dryer for twisting and other bending. I haven't found a more detailed description of this process on MSW or on YouTube. Is anyone aware of any instruction on using this technique for the twists and curves that are required on the stern of many models? I would love to read or see how this is done. Currently I am soaking and then clamping into place while the plank dries, then fine tune the fit and glue and nail the planks. Slow and the end product doesn't look great.

Very impressive. Looking forward to seeing the results.

I have the bulkheads shaped for the installation of the planks. This is a step that I didn't do a great job of on my first model. I was too aggressive and removed too much of some of the bulkheads. As I result, after planking I needed to build up some areas with wood filler and did a lot of sanding work to get the shape of the bow right. This time I was careful to only remove enough material to get the angles set right for the planks to lay properly. I find this part of the building process to be a little stressful. Next step was to add the first three planks below the bulwarks. I used the same technique to curve the bow portion as I used for the bulwarks with good results. I did have some issues with the second plank on one side. That plank needs to twist about 20 degrees near the stern. On the port side I was able to get this amount of twist without any soaking. However, on the starboard side the plank cracked from the twisting. Since this is a first layer of planking and there will be some sanding and filling before the final planking goes on, I decided to leave the cracked plank in place. After the glue dried it was very secure. I had one other mishap with the first three planks. I didn't catch that one of the bulkheads should have been shimmed a little bit below the bulwark. When I add the planking over the bulwark there will be a large step that will be too big to sand out and I will need to use some wood filler. One of my goals on this build was to do a better job on the first layer of planking to hopefully prepare myself for a kit that only has a single layer of planking. Not sure I am getting the result I hoped for, but at least I am learning some things. Occre kits aren't designed to cut a rabbet in the false keel so I can't completely follow some of the tutorials from MSW. I will be planning the planking using some of the techniques from the tutorials, and add the stealers and drop planks as needed and not follow the Occre instructions of using planks that come to a point. I suspect this process will go pretty slow for me. I will post on my progress from time to time, but the posts could be a little sparse for the next couple of months.

I personally think the natural lines created by your individual planks look great. I wouldn't add with pencil. I personally do not like penciled on treenails, but that is a personal preference. I think if you sand and finish your deck without any pencil marks it will look great. When your model is complete there will be very little empty deck space. I don't think not having the treenails will be an issue then.

Not sure what kind of glue you used on the deck, but Occre recommends using contact cement on deck, and the second layer of the hull. I don't think contact cement has a lot of fans on this forum, but I had really good luck with it. I had never used it before and the videos do a good job of demonstrating how to use it. I definately think you should consider it for the second layer of the hull. I have some photos of me using it on the deck of my Frigate Diana build log if you want to check it out.

Looks good. Glad to see you went with the individual planks instead of the pencil lines. Have you been watching the YouTube videos from Occre? I found them quite helpful on my build, and probably relied on them more than the instructions.

Well said.

I may be in the minority on this forum, but my primary objective in building models is the enjoyment I get from the process and the satisfaction that I get having built the completed model. HMS Beagle was my first attempt at building a model ship. I accept that the sails are not to scale, but I like the look of the sails on the ship with the extra detail of the rigging that goes with them, and I enjoyed the process of adding them. My second model will hopefully be better than my first, but it will still have out of scale sails provided by the manufacturer. I am not delusional, my motivation in building the model is just different than some. I think a beginner should feel perfectly fine using the sails that come with their kit if they are happy with the outcome. Someday I may tackle scratch building SilkSpan sails, but for now I will learn and improve other skills needed to build a model that I enjoy. I hope everyone gets the same satisfaction from the hobby that I do.

I think Occre used to sell two versions. The less expensive version didn't include some feature including sails. Mine included the sails and I think that is the only version listed on the Occre site for sale now. They are really good about answering questions if you use the chat feature on their web site if you want to comfirm. Regarding sails in general, some companies include them and some do not.

When I built the Beagle, I used the stand that came with the kit after the keel and stem pieces were attached. I just covered it completely with painter's tape and after all the painting/staining and varnishing work was done I removed the tape and finished the stand. Worked pretty well. The Beagle was my first model so I didn't stray from the instructions. I like most of the things you are looking at doing to improve the model. Good luck.

Those look great. I wish I had done that on my Beagle.

I agree with Patrick, Legos work great. When I built HMS Beagle, I glued all the frame pieces at once and dry fitted the deck on to keep it square. Not a route I would advise. There on some pics of using the Legos to keep things square in my Frigate Diana build log if you want to take a look. Ross

Thanks for the feedback. I will check out your build log. I am not sure how I will handle the issue with the chainplates and gun ports, but I know I don't like the idea of skipping it like the instructions show.

I have the bulwarks installed. When I built my first model I didn't have great luck using an iron to bend the plywood bulwarks. I decided to use a jig after soaking the pieces to bend the bulwark. I soaked in hot for about an hour then clamped to my jig for a day. I used a 4 inch PVC drain pipe coupler as the jig. The instructions said to use quick drying glue and to start at bow. I had a really difficult time getting and of the nails inserted quick enough with the quick drying glue. I deviated from the instructions and used wood glue and started from the middle and worked my way back to the stern then forward to the bow. Next up I need to shape the frame pieces below the bulwarks and start adding the hull strakes.

I get good results with denatured alcohol.

No need to apologize. In some parts of the US Ethanol can be purchase at 95% purity, for human consumption, usually under the brand name Everclear. This is often used for thinning shellac or dissolving shellac flakes. Denatured alcohol is ethanol that has additives to discourage people from drinking it. Where I live I can only get denatured alcohol and use that for thinning and mixing with shellac flakes.

Thanks. I am a long ways from working on the chainplate, but I really want to improve that area of the kit. Do you have any experience with products such as Solder-It? It is applied from a syringe and only needs the heat from a lighter to melt it. I saw some YouTube videos of it being used.

The holidays didn't allow much time to work on the ship. I have spent some time thinking about additions / improvements to the kit that I may want to make. I have a list of possible items, I probably won't incorporate all of these but right now and considering the following: Scratch build the two small boats that are mounted on the deck - The kit came with cast metal boats, they look pretty good, but I thought scratch built might be fun. I received some great information from some other members of MSW on scratch building some boats. I think I will attempt this, as a separate build but use the kit supplied boats on this ship. Adding blocks and lines to the gun carriages. I like this idea, but I am worried that at the scale of this model the blocks will be too big. Need to do some research on this, but I am leaning towards adding these. Occre supplies what they call "composite" deadeyes. I am considering upgrading to wood so I can stain them black. I have seen that some people paint the composite ones, but I worry it will be difficult to keep the holes open and don't want to re-drill them. The cleats that are provided need to be painted a wood tone. I may attempt to see if I can carve some actual wood cleats. Not sure if I will be successful, but don't need to invest much in the wood, so I may give this a try. I am going to use a brass blackening solution on most of the brass components. I like the black appearance better than the bright brass. I don't like the chainplate provided with the kit. It is just a brass wire that you paint black. I will do something different, but not sure what. Been looking at some other posts and I may try to fabricate something, but I have never soldered before, and would need to figure that out. I may just purchase some black chain and use that. I would love any thoughts or advice anyone has on these items. Hopefully I get the bulwarks added soon and will post about that process when I do.

I ran into my first issue while installing the lower deck pieces. There is a tab on the deck pieces that fits into frame piece number 4. See picture below. With all of the frame pieces glued into place there is no easy way to get this piece installed. I ended up breaking the piece free and re-installing it after the lower deck is in place. If you are building this kit consider waiting to install frame piece number 4 until after the lower deck is in place. After the deck pieces were installed I re-attached frame piece number 4. I also installed the supports for the upper deck. The two closest to the bow should be finished as parts of those will be visible through the opening in the upper deck. Next I installed the bases for the partial cannon barrels to be installed. I added some bracing behind the bases to hopefully keep them from breaking free when the holes are drilled into them for the cannon barrels. The instructions do not call for this, but I decided it might be a good idea. Next I installed the upper deck and painted the bases black. The instructions do not say to paint the bases black at this stage, but it seems easier to do it now rather than wait and try and do it through the gun port. Next up is shaping the frames for the bulwarks.

I ordered on Black Friday and got it in about 2 weeks. I am near the Twin Cities, so not too far from you. I think they are usually faster than that, but the volume of Black Friday had them a little backed up. Good luck with your Beagle. Finished mine a month or so ago.

I used the contact cement only because that is what Occre has in the instructions. I had good results using it on my first model, so I stuck with it. I appreciate the info on the plank layout. I will use that in the future.

As a newcomer to ship modeling the terminology can be a little intimidating. I appreciate you sharing this information. One of my goals on my build of the Frigate Diana is to take the time to learn more about the correct terminology as I go. Especially on the sails and rigging. Would love to have you follow my build log and add some help as I need it. Thanks. https://modelshipworld.com/topic/33530-frigate-diana-by-rossr-occre-185/