chris watton

8 hours ago, Diver said:

Good evening James.  What skill level will be given to this kit once it becomes available?  When my Syren Medway long boat is finished in the near future I have decided I will do a Vanguard build next.  I was leaning towards Lady Eleanor or Zulu, how will this kit compare in difficulty?  Thanks.  Bob

I think I will put this one just one above the fishing boat kits. It builds up almost like the Erycina/Ranger, except the bulwarks are triple layered instead of double, it has plenty of guns and, of course, it is a lot larger. But design principles are more or less identical to my beginner kits.

I do believe that as a privateer, she had 9 pounders, and quite a lot of them too, with almost all the gun ports being populated. At least, if memory serves...

I would put shot garlands in between the gun ports, either on the bulwark (in line or just below the lower gun port edge) or on the deck, up against the bulwark.

Indy kits are being completed with plans and manual. The boxes are 175mm deep (7 inches), and near full to the top, with just a tad over 15kg total weight, so care needs to be taken when handling this behemoth...

OK, I have just received my shipment of Indy plans, manual and box label (I took a pic of the manual and a few plans, but not all of them, as we need to lay them all out in order later). The manual is very nice quality, very big (A3) and very heavy!

This means Indy is officially on sale now, and as I mentioned in my previous post, all pre orders will be booked to ship next week.

I have also attached a couple of pics of new flags that came this week - a Blue Ensign, so I now have the complete set of Red, White and Blue sets. Also, I had some US flags made, in keeping with the correct period for Grecian (I hope)!

What I have sent Jim is essentially a complete kit for Grecian, with the USB stick with my assembly pics instead of the manual. He will have all laser cut parts, photo etched sheets (which arrived this morning)! fittings, wood strip and dowel and a set of full size plans - all in a box custom sized for this kit.

Almost forgot, also a Grecian paint set!

The Indy pre orders will all be shipped next week. I am expecting the printed material to be with me today or tomorrow. The pre orders are all already packed and just need the plans and instructions added.

Trust me, if she had gunports for each gun port, I would have added a lid for each.

10 minutes ago, rcmdrvr said:

Will MDF make it more difficult to sand/shape the frames to the proper shape before planking.  Would a good sanding board with 80 to so grit sandpaper (and a lot of arm work and patience) do the job?

It is much easier compared to quality ply as the density is consistent. 

Gobsmackingly gorgeous!

And the only boxwood version in existence! 

Very nicely done, Tom, Joanne and Paul will be delighted with that, I have no doubt!

She looks fantastic, very well done, Andrew!

These may be small models, but what they lack in size is more than made up for in character, and you have really brought your kit to life.

6 minutes ago, SpyGlass said:

Oh that makes sense - so a sort of rabbet creation.

(You dont just  HAPPEN to have a practice pair of facings to hand - it would be really handy since i am just starting the second planking ! ( at last) and the stem plank ends are my unfavourite bit of work !)

 

Which just leaves a rather general question - is laser cuttiing always only on one side - I presume this to be the case since it is hard to see how both side could be aligned - but it would be nice to be able to have a part symmetrically  cut - for instance to create a rabbet each side of the stem - just a thought.

No, it would be no good for your Speedy, as new bulkheads would have 2mm slots, not 3mm,, as the main keel is in 2mm. Plus I am only thinking of doing this, nothing concrete yet. Laser cutting is done on one side only, two sides would be too time consuming from a production point of view

15 minutes ago, mtaylor said:

Congratulations on the new kit, Chris.   I'm just curious, would it be possible to offer the reject wood for sale?  As is...  Even a knot in the middle of the sheet can be worked around by those do scratch builds or just need to some replacement wood.

I may do that at some point, I usually just throw it out, being no good to me...

18 minutes ago, Trussben said:

And the source?

It is mentioned in the book 'Frigates of the Napoleonic Wars, by Robert Gardiner. I assume you do not have this book?

ETA - I am stone cold sure she would have also had a built up forecastle for most of her career, but decided not to go that far for aesthetic reasons.

ETA 2 - Just got that book out to double check, this is what it says:

'The draught may not represent the ship as finally fitted out.........but his (Pellew's) correspondence with the Admiralty twice mentions fourteen quarterdeck ports (as opposed to twelve shown on the draught), and he was eventually allowed two additional 12 pounders for the 'spare' quarterdeck ports. By the time she captured Virginie, she was reported to carry eighteen 42 pounder carronades and two long 12 pounders on the upperworks, so must have had a total of twenty ports, which probably means seven per side on the quarterdeck'

11 minutes ago, Trussben said:

Chris - Id be interested to know what contemporary source you had for adding the “extra” two forward gunports on the Quarterdeck - as I have not come across it.

 

 

I have explained this twice before. Research did tell me that Indy had 18 carronades and 2 x 12 pounder chase guns. The only way these could have been fitted is if the quarter barricade was extended.

36 minutes ago, SpyGlass said:

 Juuuust a query - what changes on Speedy's keel  !!!

Just the same as I do with all the more recent kits, a pear centre keel in 2mm pear with a 1mm outer face on either side, to which the planking butts up to.

I would go with Jim's advice, I have noticed that some guns do look too large the carriage they're seated on, but this seems to have been the way.

Adding more internal detail, as opposed to standard block-type model kits, add a hell of a lot of time and materials and going further, what Chuck is doing now, the fully framed model kit takes that even further in time and material count. I try to make my kits a kind of 'halfway house' between the two. But this does increase the material count a lot when compared to standard kits. However, I think it is worth it, as I love detail and having most parts scale thicknesses. But it does come at a cost in time, money and metal health! lol

OK, all of Indefatigable artwork complete, and plans, manual and box label have been sent to the printers. This means that finally, the Indy development folder can now be put in my 'Completed Developments' folder, never thought I'd see the day! There will be no other versions of Indy, this is it. I have always wanted to develop this kit, ever since I did Agamemnon back in 1999, but I am so pleased I waited until I could develop this without the usual restraints that were always imposed on me. It is a mad kit, though, and very heavy with the large box being very full!

To clarify, the Indy kit contains everything to complete the model with masts and rig. There are a few laser cut sheets dedicated to this; even, for the first time, the Parrel Ribs are laser cut, not photo etched, in 0.6mm pear wood. Even the fids and masthead battens are laser cut. I am disappointed I could not offer more laser engraved decks, but I simply could not keep buying more stock of very expensive custom size wood/veneer, only to find I cannot use most of it and throwing it in the skip.

In other news, I have a set of Blue Ensign flag sets on their way (to complete the set), along with a historically accurate US flag as an option for Grecian.

I have finished all I can for Grecian right now, and am waiting for the sample PE sheets before sending the kit to Jim (Jim will essentially have the complete kit, plans, laser cut parts, fittings, and with the USB stick with my construction pics in lieu of the manual). In the meantime, I am looking at giving Speedy a little love, and thinking about changing the keel parts to the same design as the latest kits. Will see how that pans out...

I would be careful if using HMS Trincomalee as she looks today as a reference for Indy detail, Trincomalee is shown as she was in a much later period than Indy, being a very late build Leda Class.

Just looked at some of my old Amati kit files, no photographs at all in the building manuals, these kits like Fly, Vanguard etc. have line drawings only, and that's including the hull assembly. 

Indy has a very detailed step by step hull assembly manual in A3 size with photos and text, and very detailed line drawings for masts, yards and rigging. All masts and yard parts are also to scale. It is the hull assembly that requires lots of photos, as the vast majority of the main build is the hull and all the detail therein. There really isn't much to the top hamper in comparison. 

4 minutes ago, Oldsalt1950 said:

I must have missed something somwhere, is there another manual or an addendum to cover masting and rigging, or will we just have to work off the plan sheet drawings?

 

Jim

 

There are 9 full size plan sheets dealing with masts and rig. Before I started developing my own kits, the models I developed before also never had photographs of the masting and rigging sequence in the manuals, or if they did , they were very basic, as the plan sheets deal with this. They have all of the separate masts and yard line drawings, along with all dimensions required. Photographs of this stage are always a little surplus to requirements. 

You cannot put the masts together using pictures, you need the line drawings and dimensions on the plan sheets for that.

Manual was completed today (about an hour ago, actually, at the time of writing this), and box art will be complete tomorrow, at which point, all files are sent to printers, so I should have all manual, plans and box labels with me by the end of next week, with orders being shipped week commencing 27th Feb.

All pre ordered kits have a personalised optional name plate included, with the purchasers name.

Well done to Jim, a very long project, and he's done a fine job.

Tomorrow I shall complete the build manual and box label art, and sent to printers as soon as complete. 

This has been a very long haul!

12 minutes ago, glbarlow said:

Interesting how obvious the cut down is, seems almost unfinished 

Certainly a very stable gun platform!