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chris watton
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Everything posted by chris watton
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I too have a lot of the Ancre books/monographs, even the French language only ones! -
I have a kind of addiction, and it is buying these plans, at times for no other reason than to stare and admire the lines of them for hours on end. I find them fascinating. This is one of my latest, it is a particularly beautiful 48th scale plan of the San Josef of 112 guns (reputed to once belong to Emma Hamilton) – and damn do those headrails look nice and simple to transfer into a kit version! In the same tube, I also had an even bigger plan of Caledonia (120 – but rounded upper bow, so probably never do that one), and 2 for the old Roebuck Class 44 gun 2-deckers. Not sure if I shall ever use them, but I would like display all of them one day, if I can ever sell my house and move to somewhere that has the room in my workshop…
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And as of right now, this is the state of it, where I am up to - stern parts will be completed by the end of tomorrow (designs/laser cut finals) and then I move onto the head rails... The bow area where the cathead will go will look a lot neater on Jims....
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Spent today working on the fictional stern parts - bits added, ripped off and added again, so this is not a reflection on the completed model....
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You do realise the pictures taken were with a macro lens, and these names are just a few mm long? We do have a US distributor, AgesofSail.
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I had the Spit Fire pic as one of my references! I did originally have the text exactly like in the picture, but was told to change the font as the printing they use would not be able to print something so thin onto the decal sheet. Originally, every name had a slightly different look and line thickness, to simulate the styles written by different hands - but in the end had to change them. Took an age, too.
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My usual rule of thumb is this – Any warship pre 1800, I will always insist of red inner bulwarks and carriages unless I have strong evidence to the contrary. After this date, I feel I can be a little ‘looser’ with the options, using off-white, ochre or green, depending on date and type of vessel. As you mention, Surprise is being depicted (for the prototype at least) to those later dates, so colour scheme is a little more flexible. But again, it will always be up to the modeller what they want to do – they are furnished with options. Oh, meant to ask - what colours were the cutters, was it a red one and green one, or red and blue, I cannot remember!
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There is quite a lot of Information out there that suggests ochre for inner bulwarks and carriages for the early 1800's. My main source for this particular kit is the book The Frigate Surprise, by Brian Lavery and Geoff Hunt. Victory inner bulwarks and carriages are also yellow ochre, and she is depicted as per the exact same time frame as Surprise. But, as always, the colour scheme is never gospel, no one will insist the modeller uses the colours we suggest you can paint them red, yellow, even green or pink if you wish! Conversely, how do we know definitely they were painted red, or at all? ETA - The reason I did the carriage names in both white and black is to give the modeller the choice of how they wish to paint them, red for the white decals, lighter colours like ochre use the black.
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Considering this is your first build, your model looks amazing!
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- Sherbourne
- vanguard models
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Bow area is always an issue, more so with built up forecastle bulwarks. My mandate to myself with this was to try and make this area as strong as possible to help minimise possible distortion that often sets in with such curves around the bow, with some areas looking more angled than curved. But damn that area was a nightmare.... (As in trying to do this so that it is easy for the modeller to understand and build up). I am so overdue designing a kit with a nice simple beakhead bulkhead!
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Previous Vanguard Speedy builders
chris watton replied to bigcreekdad's topic in Wood ship model kits
I PM'd Bigcreekdad as soon as I saw this post last night and gave him the plans he needed in PDF -
That's what my build is all about (It is, after all, still in the design and development stage)
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Finalising the upper deck pattern now that bulkhead tabs have been removed, bowsprit fits like a glove..
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It did take a full working day....
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Yes, Tanganyika, I use this because it is much cheaper than pear (as my model will be thrown away), and it is easier to plank with, being much softer. This means I could plank the whole lower hull in one session. Only have it in 1x4mm though, and the kit second planking is 1x5 pear, so I had to use more planks.... You can see the upper deck beams below the jigs, not sure why you would think those jigs would be beams!
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The keel, prow, stern post and rudder are made from three separate parts each, a 3mm pear inner, and then clad in 1mm pear each side, which also has laser engraved detail. For the keel, stern and prow, these outer patterns have the rabbet for the second planking.
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I just removed the masking tape after adding the second planking to my 'pre-prototype mule' (planking took a day and sanding half an hour, but I used tang). Again, I must stress that this is very rushed, so apologies...
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That is gobsmackingly good!
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If decals are used in a kit, I will always put the depth markings on that. You will also have double the amount required, so if you make a mistake, you can try again - and you have 4 stern names, with one required, so you can use a couple to practise on. No 0.8mm ply for the decks in this kit design for the first time ever!
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I decided on including two stern options because the original is bereft of any decoration, not even pillars in between the windows - and I knew some would question this, after watching the film. (I agonised over this for weeks...) So, as standard, the stern is slightly reworked to include pillars in between the windows, and also the shape of the windows have been given a little more 'flare' towards the ends. The reworked stern also has windows that can be posed open, as per the Indy. I have also worked both sterns so you can have the stern chaser ports open and a 6-Pounder in place if you so wish. ETA: Here are the profiles for Sphinx and Surprise. The Sphinx would look more like the film Surprise (which is based on HMS Rose, a 20 gun mid-18th Century ship, and exactly the same size as Sphinx). You can see the real Surprise was quite a bit longer, being 126 feet along the main deck.
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