RossR

I think the only issue you will have is for really small parts the gap between the edge of the table and the disk might be bigger than you would want. Only an issue on really small parts and can be overcome be using a larger sacrificial piece of wood under the smaller part.

I love my Ultimation tools. Items like these may not be needed, but they make the process more enjoyable to me. If you ask me if I like the slicer or sander better, it would depend which one I used most recently. Love the both. If you are considering the Proxxon disk sander check out Menards. I think they have the same thing in a different color at a lower price.

Looks great. Your work always does.

Thanks Gregory. I updated my comment accordingly.

If we want choices, the model companies need to be financially successful. I would never fault a company for looking to make a profit. As far as another Victory model, as long as they do something unique I love seeing some of the Classics re-imagined. I would love to see something like the USS Constitution built with the unique construction that Vanguard uses. I hope we see some build logs on this version of HMS Victory.

If you go on Occre’s web site and fill out a warranty form they will send you additional deck materials even though it was a mistake on your part. Mail is a little slow, but in 3-4 weeks you will have any extra deck planks that you need.

Looking forward to following along. Good luck.

Are you confusing shellac and lacquer? Lacquer creates a thick coat that can look out of scale on a model.

I understand not want to mix shellac, a few of the benefits from my perspective are you can mix small quantities. I usually mix 1/4 cup. Shellac cleans up with alcohol instead on mineral spirits for polyurethane. My personal preference is alcohol is easier to work with than mineral spirits. The odor is easier to tolerate. Sorry if I am getting off topic.

I use a coat of shellac. Approximately a 1lb cut. Then sand with 400 grit sand paper. I get a nice smooth surface to paint. I have read that shellac is only good for a few months after mixing. I use 2lb cut for finishing stained wood, when it is a few months old I dilute with more alcohol to something close to a 1lb cut and use it as “primer” as described above and to set knots so the don’t come undone.

I have the AL scrappers. They are sized for metric dimension wood, so may not work great on non metric wood from modelshipways. I would love to know if anyone has a source for a non metric version of the AL scrappers.

When I first discovered Model Ship World I was finishing my first build. At that time there was a build log for a model of the Cutty Sark by Bruma. He made fantastic sails that made his ship appear to be in motion compared to my version of the HMS Beagle with sails that hung rather lifelessly. I was definitely inspired to create something on my next ship that created a feeling of movement with my sails. I was very intimidated with the idea of using silkspan, but followed build logs and youtube videos of builders that did interesting things with cloth sails. Yes I understand the scale issues with cloth sails, but I am trying to create an impression of a real sail under the power of the wind vs an exact scale representation of a sail. Someday I suspect I will tackle silkspan, but not on this model. I borrowed from LyleK1 who used tea to color his sails on the HMS Bounty and from Olha Batchvarov who used potato starch to shape her sails. Unfortunately, Olha didn't give the exact recipe for the boiled potato starch she used, so I am still refining the best mix, but I will share more details when I determine the best mix. I sacrificed a plastic tote to stretch the sails across before brushing with boiled potato starch. I wet the sails then brushed the boiled potato starch onto the sails. I used ziplock bags filled with some flour to create the shape I desired. After a day of drying under the weight of the flour, the sails maintain the curved shape I was looking for. After the first two sails, I will attach any rings or blocks that are need before shaping. It was a little difficult doing this after they were shaped since they are a little fragile. Next I installed the outer jib. The challenge now was how to get the sail to move to the port side of the stay it was attached to as if the wind was coming from the starboard aft side of the ship. I toyed with mounting the ship at a slight angle as if it was leaning with the wind, but quickly abandoned that when I realized I would need to tilt the ship an unrealistic amount to get the sails very far from the center line of the ship. I ultimately used a piece of 26 Guage wire for the Starboard sheet to hold the sale in place. After painting to look like the line I am using for the running rigging, it is a little over scale, but I am worried anything thinner won't be stiff enough. It is just one sail so far, but I am pretty happy with how this is turning out.

US Brig Syren will require a lot more work framing the gun ports and stern vs laser cut bulwarks if that interests you I would go that way. if you ultimately what to scratch build, it will do more to prepare you than an Occre or AL kit will. However, I would love to see a cutaway on an Occre Terror.

Your work continues to impress. Your details at small scales are truly impressive.

Looks like a great start to the planking.

I have a quick update on my build. The yards for the main mast are complete. These are configured the same as the yards for the foremast only a little longer. now on to the sails. I have some ideas for making the sails appear to be full from the wind, but I need to do some experimenting to see if I can create the look I am hoping for. I will keep you posted.

Nice job on the tree nails. I think you did a great job on the scale and making them subtle. I think sometimes people make them too big and too much of a contrast to the planking.

I have the second deck finished. The instructions don't have you adding the cannons until all of the decks are complete and the exterior hull planked. I am a little worried about gluing the cannons in place after the deck above it is installed. I would prefer to pin the cannons when I attached them to the deck, but that would be even harder with the deck above installed. I am considering adding the cannons now and then adding the next deck. This would allow me to pin the cannons in place and not working about making a mess with the glue when securing them to the deck. The down side with the cannon installed this early in the process is the exterior planking and sanding will be difficult with the Barrel protruding. I may see if I can install the gun carriage now and then install the gun barrel through the gun port after the exterior is complete. I do not plan to rig the cannons since the scale is so small except for the breech rope on the cannons on the top deck. Before I do all of that I plan to get back to my Frigate Diana for a while.

I have the US Brig Syren that he designed, and I couldn’t agree more about the instructions. They are great to read as just a general how to manual beyond just the ship they are written for.

Probably Caldercraft’s, but hadn’t decided for sure.

I continue to make progress on my Santisima Trinidad. I added the first deck. The decking is 1mm x 3mm lime wood glued to a laser cut plywood base. I use contact cement to attach the decking to the plywood. I don't think contact cement has very many fans on the forum, but for applications where tensile strength isn't a concern and you have 100% surface to surface contact I love it. Very narrow application, but in the right circumstance it works very well. If you are interested in how it is used check out the applicable posts in my Frigate Diana log. The lime wood is stained with Minwax Honey Oak stain. The interior planking above the first deck starts with a 2mm x 3mm African Walnut piece for the waterway. Then 2mm x 5mm Sapelli and then 2 pieces of 4mm x 4mm African Walnut. Two of the three pieces of Sapelli had to trimmed narrower than the 5mm to fit. Similar to the interior planking on the hold, before adding any of the deck features I added my two coats of shellac. I then moved on to the second deck. This one has two plywood pieces that make up the deck. Each is planked with the 1mm x 3mm limewood like the first deck. I wasn't paying close enough attention and I forgot to use a pencil to mark the outside edges of the planks before I glued them to the plywood base. After staining I am not too disappointed in the result. The seams between the planks collected more stain than the surface, so there is still pretty good definition of each plank with a dark line to simulate caulking. Below is a picture that compares the two decks. The bottom one has the pencil marks and the top one does not. On the edges of the plywood bases that will be exposed, I used some leftover 0.5mm Sycamore and glued a strip onto the edge of the plywood to cover the laminated edge. I am hoping to avoid any exposed plywood edges that are not painted. After installing the second deck. I had to add the support piece where the beams and interior planking meet. I believe this is called a knee. The laser cut pieces were from the same sheet as the frames, and I don't really like how they stained. I used Minwax Dark Walnut and the thin top layer of wood didn't accept the stain very well. I tried painting them a color that would match Sapelli planking, but was not successful. I decided to attempt to cut these out of a 1/8 inch sheet of African Walnut I purchased at a local hobby shop. I used an old Craftsman scroll saw my father gave me and a small drum sanding attachment on my Dremel. I am really happy with how these turned out and this has given me some confidence in fabricating other parts in the future. The one on the left is the laser cut version after painting and the one on the right is the one I cut of of 1/8 inch walnut. Next up was the interior planking above the second deck and lining the gun ports. Similar to the first deck the planking starts with a 2mm x 3mm waterway and then there is a strip of 2mm x 5mm Sapelli along the entire length of the cross section. Above that strip the gun ports need to be lined. The placement of the gun ports is determined by the laser cut part that is placed on the exterior of the frames. The bottom of the gun port is supposed to be lined with the cut out from the exterior plywood part. I didn't like the look of that, so I used some 1mm thick Sapelli that I had left over from somewhere. The sides of the gun ports are made from 2mm x 7mm Sapelli. Next are two rows of 2mm x 5mm Sapelli that need to be trimmed narrower than 5mm to fit. Then are 3mm x 3mm piece of African Walnut. I enjoyed fitting all of the interior planking to create the gun ports. I am really happy with my improved use of CA in this planking. On previous models I would have had glue stains everywhere. I have had to sand off a couple of spots, but not many. This model is my first extensive use of the Ultimation Slicer and Sander that I reviewed several months ago. Using these tools has made this build very enjoyable. I highly recommend these tools if you think you are interested. As I stated in my review, these are not cheap, but I really like them. Next up is the features on the second deck after I get the planking sanded and shellaced.

I Used to think when I retired I would want to build HMS Victory, but I am starting to think maybe the USF Confederacy might be a better chose. I will be following your build log. Thanks.

You might be able to shim the frame to build it up enough to work?

When I built my first model, my craftsmanship was not great. I did a little better on my second ship, but on this build I really want to focus on the craftsmanship that goes into the build. I really want everything to fit together well and I need to be more careful with the CA glue to minimize the glue stains. One of my concerns was in the instructions, Occre has the varnish being applied to the interior decking of the hold after the beams that support the next deck are installed. I like to use 2 coats of shellac with a sanding using steel wool after each coat. The thought of trying to sand the interior planking with the beams and the four posts in place seemed like it would be a struggle. The challenge that that created was the plank just below the beams is placed based tight against the beams and without being glued in place I had to figure out a way to clamp them securely while placing the plank. I didn't take any pictures of how I clamped the beams, but I will on the next level and post them then. The four posts that support the beams are fashioned from 4 x 4 mm lime wood. I used a round file to create the transition from the square to the round section. After knocking off the corners I use sandpaper and sanding sticks to round off the middle section. I generally don't use PVA if I can't clamp the parts in place, but for the posts that support the beams I used PVA because I didn't think I could get them in place with out getting glue all over, so I used PVA so I could easily clean up the excess glue. I used CA to attache the planks to the frames and as part of improving my workmanship I focused on not getting and excess CA on the visible part of the planking. I am pretty happy with how this turned out on this section. I also needed to cut two planks a little narrower than the 5 mm material supplied to get a nice tight fit. I am really happy with how it all fit together. The finish on the beams and the interior planking is two coats of shellac with a sanding using steel wool after each coat. I really like the finish I get using steel wool, but I hate how messy it is to work with. I have tried various grades of sand paper and Scotch Bright pads, and I just haven't found anything that creates the same finish, somewhere between flat and satin to my eye. I am curious if any other people that use shellac have any methods for getting a satin finish without using steel wool. It would be nice to avoid the mess. I think I am going to try to get the first two decks installed and then get back to my Diana for a while.

Wow. Another fantastic model. I am amazed at the quality of your builds given the speed at which you build them. You accomplish in two months what would take me two years with incredible results.