RossR

The ultimation tools are on my wish list. I wish it had positive stops for common angles though.

Very impressed with your jig for drilling the hole for the bow sprit. I find that step very nerve racking.

I have completed the ratlines on the lower shrouds. I used .008 inch diameter rope from Syren. The ratlines are place 4mm apart from each other. At this scale that works out the a little over 13" spacing. There are a total of 30 ratlines per side. With 7 shrouds per side, that works out to 420 clove hitches. I now need to add the futtock stave and the futtock shrouds. This will be my first model with a futtock stave. I am looking forward to adding this feature. My HMS Beagle had the futtock shrouds pass through the lower shrouds and attached directly to the lower mast. I am hoping to have this work done by the end of the weekend.

I am very impressed with your planking. I hope I can do as well someday. Can't wait to see the rest of you build.

I find myself more and more often considering stopping posting on Model Ship World. A few weeks ago I encourage a member to continue despite some pretty negative comments by another user. The offending post has been removed, but not after I think it was actually "liked" by one of the moderators. Yesterday I think less that constructive language was used to describe the Occre HMS Victory model kit. This kit isn't for everyone, it is fair to point out historically inaccuracies, or to challenge whether it is truly a plank on frame model or some thing else. As we have recently heard from Chuck, a true plank on frame kit can be very expensive. If this is a something that gives someone a "taste" of plank on frame at a lower cost than full on plank on frame, maybe that is ok and maybe someone will be inspired to do a full plank on frame model after building this kit. And if some of us are not able or interested in investing the time and sometimes money to do extensive research on a particular ship, that should be OK. Please keep helping those that what more information about the ships they are building, but no need to mock those that are simply building a kit to impress their friends and neighbors. 45,000 members, but how many have a build log in the last year or two. I am not sure I would give the same advice I gave a few weeks ago about continuing to post on the site if I was giving the advice today.

I have competed building and installing the foremast and started the standing rigging. The Occre rigging plan included two diameters of line for the standing rigging. I upgraded the ropes to some that I purchased from Syren and will modify the rigging plan to include about 5 different diameters. The fore shrouds are 0.030 inch diameter and I served the entire length of the first shroud and served the portion of the other shrouds that wrap around the mast. My ship has an odd number of shrouds. There was some recent discussion on another build log about whether the shroud that isn't part of a pair should be installed first or last. I have chosen to install mine first. I don't know what the historically correct way would be on a Spanish frigate, but this is the way I chose to go. The fore top mast shrouds and the fore top gallant shrouds will be 0.018 inch ropes along with the backstays. The ratlines will be 0.008 rope. Next up will be adding the ratlines. Then the futtock stave and shrouds.

This looks great. I am amazed at how fast you got this far. I would be lucky to get a few planks a week done.

I have made some progress on the chain plate recently. I used the directions for the US Brig Syren as a basis for making the chain plate for this model. I experimented a little with the lengths for the various segments. I used black annealed wire to make the chain plate. I built the jig below to create the various segments. I dry fit the foremast assembly so I could match the angle for each of the shrouds and backstays for each of the chain plate assemblies. I have waited to add the gun port frames and hatches because I don't trust myself not to break the open hatches off. I will add those at the very end. Last but not least. Happy Veterans Day (or Remembrance Day to members in the UK) to all those who serve. Thank you.

I like what you left in the topic. Thanks.

Thanks for sharing you thought process on this step. I am at a similar point in my Frigate Diana build and you validated some of my decisions. I am fabricating my chain plate out of black annealed wire as my kit suggested using a single strand of brass wire. I didn’t like that approach. spent quite a bit of time making different sized pieces trying to find the right combination of components to fit right. Your work is fantastic. I hope one day my work will look this good.

I like your NRG Half Hull hanging in the background of your photos. Did you do a build log of that project?

I will miss the “What did you receive today” topic, but not the rest of it. That topic was mostly model related.

I hope you continue to post. I have had similar thoughts of discontinuing posting after the kit I am building was criticized in a non-constructive manor when I posted about successfully bending African walnut on a topic about bending African walnut. The vast majority of the users on the forum are 100% positive. There are a small minority that will occasionally make a comment that I feel is outside the guidelines of the forum. I know many would love to see build logs of your Cutty Sark project and I hope we have that opportunity.

I think you can replace the collet on a dremel with a chuck that will hold smaller bits.

Nice work. Looks great. I struggled with the pin rail in front of the windlass on my Beagle. Yours looks really good.

Your boat is fantastic. Great work.

I haven’t made much progress on the ship. Fall projects and my daughter’s soccer season have kept me busy. When I have had time to get in the shipyard, I have been practicing some of the new skills I want to use in rigging the ship. Spent time practicing serving with my Serv-O-Magic and working on seizing the shrouds around the masts, putting together the slings for the yards and figuring out how I wanted to fabricate a mouse. The following pictures are of some of my practice attempts. I used the rope that came with the kit for practice. The fixed rigging on my model will use rope purchased from Syren. This is my attempt at serving the top portion of the shrouds. I will serve the entire length of the first should on each mast, the other shrouds will be served to just above the futtock stave. I need to work on cleaner knots where my serving ends, but am pretty happy with the results. next is a couple of attempts at a mouse. The loop that would wrap around the mast is too small on these attempts, but pretty happy with my progress on creating the small loop with a false splice. the mouse is build from a bit of basswood. The one on top turned out better. Again the knots need to be a little neater. Next is my attempt at a sling. The splice on the part that wraps around the yard is not very good, but I can hide it between the yard and the mast. The thimbles will be blackened on the model. overall pretty happy with my progress developing some better rigging skills.

Any chance you would offer it as POB and POF. At my current skill level I would be interested in POB, but I wouldn’t be up for the cost of POF. I hope you do get enough interest in the POF to move forward with the project. I think the hobby is better off with high end offerings like you are putting together. Good luck and I hope we see this model in some form soon. and following the build logs will be enjoyable and educational.

If POB is $275 I would guess at least $700. That is a lot of wood. I am not your target market for a kit like this since I am still relatively new to modeling, but I like that people like you are making higher end options. Maybe someday.

The instruction manuals for the models mentioned in the previous post can be viewed on the Model Expo web site. Great opportunity to see if you think they are as detailed as you are looking for.

There is a free online book available on the Modelexpo web site, How to Build First-Rate Model Ships. It has a drawing of how to cut down a regular sized sail if you are going to furl it.

No model kits of French ship at Trafalgar are available? Seems like an opportunity for Syren or Vanguard.

Sometimes mistakes create opportunities. I have been posting details of my build as items have been attached to the model. Sometimes I have build certain items weeks or months before I post about them. Even though I haven’t posted about it I have been busy fabricating the components of the fore mast assembly. This morning I put the final coat of paint on the cross tree for the transition from the fore top mast to the fore top gallant mast. At some point in the day I accidentally knocked the cross tree on the floor without realizing it. Later I must have rolled over it with my chair. Occre would gladly send me replacement parts, but I didn’t want to wait. So I decided this was an opportunity to fabricate a new cross tree from scratch. I used the plywood sheet that the laser cut pieces were cut from as the pattern and traced the pieces onto some 2mm x 5mm lime wood left over from the first layer of planking. I need to do a little more sanding and then paint and glue the pieces together, but I am pretty happy with the results.

David Thank you. Your HMS Diana build has been a great resource for me. Fantastic job. A different Diana than I am building but similar era. I have a note to myself to look at your anchors when I get to that step on my build.

I have my bowsprit mostly assembled and have started attaching the various rigging components. I am pretty happy with how it is coming together for the most part. One area where I am not satisfied is on the jib boom. I tried to create a closed loop of served rope that would be seized to a block and the jib boom to attach the block. I struggled creating the splice. As an alternative I used a section of served rope and created an S shape with one loop of the S around the block and the other loop around the boom. I then seized the ends of each loop along with the middle section of the S between the block and the boom. I am not happy with the result. The section where the rope is seized looks clunky and not very clean. I will likely look to replace these blocks before the rigging begins. Hopefully I can get better at the splice needed to create the closed loop, or I may try using the technique illustrated on post #2111 and #2113 of Archjofo's build log for his La Creole French Corvette. His rigging is stunning. I doubt I will ever produce results as good, but his work provides something to strive for.