chris watton

Err, welcome to MSW, first post!

The real Indy would have been double the size!

Indy had a very active 20 year career as a razee, I just wanted to cover all the bases. As it is a wooden model kit, those can build it and add or leave off what they wish, depending on the time frame they want to model the kit in. I have that picture above, the only accurate detail of Indy is the position of the quarter galleries.

I am happy with my two choices, individual planking strips as standard, or a possible option of a laser engraved set.

I have considered individual planks, yes. The problem is how much the laser burns odd from the edges. Get the offset calculations wrong slightly (speed and power settings also play a big part in this), and you are left with gaps at the sides (or the middle, depending where you start your planking). If it's only a few planks from one side of the deck to another, it's not so bad, but for much wider decks, 50+planks wide, any slight over cut for each plank would be disaster. Plus each plank would need retaining tabs to hold them in their host sheet, and these hundreds of tabs would need to be filed flush perfectly. Etched decks negate all of this.

It seems I may be able to get hold of maple sheet, 0.8mm thick, 200x800mm in size. I have ordered a few sheets to see if it is viable for laser etching the Indy decks. If it is, then I will offer the laser cut and etched decks as an optional extra. I will offer as an extra because I know some like to plank the decks, and the laser etched decks take a long time to produce (an hour per kit), so would add more cost to the kit, and for something some may not even use. Anyway, will see how these turn out once I have the material delivered. I personally prefer the etched decks, but also know there are many who do not.

I have only dealt with full kits, and Indefatigable has been developed as a full kit. As I mentioned, spars and rigging is but a fraction of the overall kit contents and weight, so that's not worth splitting, as it would make little to no difference in the box size or weight. Same applies to the 5 included boats. My philosophy - All or nothing!

No, as the weight would still be the same, perhaps a little more due to two boxes. It is also pointless splitting the model into hull and masts, yards and rig, as the latter three weighs nothing in comparison to the hull.

The weight worries me, to be honest. It will be very expensive to ship, being over twice the weight of even a Sphinx kit, and I worry some people may hurt themselves when moving the box - perhaps adding a set of wheels at one end and a handle at the other end of the box would be a good idea!

Looking very nice! For the aluminium tubing, you really do not need a metal saw. I have always used my trusty old Stanley Knife to cut the tube by simply rolling the tube with the blade until cut, it really only takes seconds, as the metal is so soft. (This is the reason I chose it).

Due to the cost of most of the materials, as little waste as possible. There will be no more or less waste than any other kit, with all materials utilised to their full potential. ETA - Is it even considered 'waste' if it's keeping the parts in place, nice and safe until needed, or would it be better if I laser cut every part without retention tabs and then swept the contents of the laser bed into plastic bags and put in the kit box, all jumbled up? ETA 2 - The box containing the laser cut parts and planking is 12kg. The 16kg is a guess at the final weight, so it may be more, as manual and plans may be between 3-4kg, with PE and the rest of the contents (dowel, more laser cut parts etc.) adding at least another 1kg

I have just (well, my wife..) packed up the laser cut parts for Indy and the planking for Jim, which he will receive on Wednesday to start the model of Indefatigable. All that is in the box is 95% of the laser cut parts (no mast parts done yet), first, second and deck planking strips and 3-d printed parts. No photo etched parts, plans, manual or dowel in the box. Weight - 12kg! The majority of this weight is just the laser cut sheets. Also, I underestimated the box size (900x320x140mm), needs to be slightly wider and much deeper! I think the final weight of the kit will be around 16kg, Sphinx is 7kg.

There will be well over twice the amount of pre cut parts and laser sheets compared to something like the Aggy, perhaps three times the way I'm going.... For the 1mm laser cut pear sheets alone (500 and 600mm long), there are already 15 full sheets per kit, and I haven't started on mast fittings or bow assembly yet. There are two full size 2mm pear sheets for the cannon and carronade carriages.

I do have in stock that first book, I have read it twice over, very good book! Thank you! I was hoping to keep the kit well under £1000 - but as I progress, I know I cannot, as the material count keeps rising (I think this will have more laser cut materials and parts than anything else for a full commercial kit), so it will be around the £1000+ area , but NOT £1500-2000 - that would be Master Shipwright Indy territory (if I ever do any). I know I see a lot of comments saying how my kits are expensive compared to other brands, but they are honestly not, not when the materials and amount of time put into each kit are taken into account. I try to keep the end price as low as I can by still not really factoring my time in producing the kits - I am sure if I sub contracted the laser work out the Indy kit would be nearer £5k, and Sphinx around £2.2k. I do this mainly to make a living, but also for the love of it, wanting to produce better kits most can build and be proud of when finished, not frustrated and give up half way through - if it was 100% the former, then it would be easy to pump out 6-8 lesser kits per year, but as I have said many times before, that would be no fun and ultimately boring/unsatisfying. If Sphinx did not sell well, I would have had to rethink the way I design and simplify things, but as it did sell, and it is clearly what my customers want and like, I shall carry on doing what I am doing - low volume, high quality. Almost all materials and services used to produce these kits now come exclusively from the UK and EU, I do not have the luxury of China prices. For Indy, all photo etched work will be done here in the UK. This is more expensive for me (as prices accross the board have risen sharply over the past year), oddly enough, but I will get my orders on time, and the quality is slightly higher. I am sure the plans and manual for this will be almost half the overall kit weight, too. I do not mind so much, as the plans and manual (that are easily understandable) are just as crucially important as the rest of the kit contents.

Well, as almost half of my total customer base is from the US, I must do something in the future to show my appreciation!

When first thinking of developing Sphinx, I agonised for weeks about the best way to approach this. Do I keep costs down and spend just a couple of weeks on designs and make a simple block type model like most others on the market, with a fraction of the laser cutting and a lot less PE, or go all out and have a product that stands out, and risk it not selling due to the cost. I did take a chance and went with the latter option (in truth, my heart wouldn't have it any other way), and so far, despite the cost (although not so bad when all time and materials included are taken into account), Sphinx has outsold everything else by quite a margin. I was so relieved, as I had just given up my day job in order to spend all of my time producing the kits. This is when I knew there is a market for such kits, and this gave me the confidence to go all in with Indefatigable - although all such developments are risky. I sometimes think it's all worth it just to see these lovely hull likes in the flesh, even at development stage. I have given thought to this, and there are just too many variables for such 3-d printed parts, as no two models are going to be the exact same - but I am yet to work on this area (next week I start) Great looking model! I remember doing the designs for that on graph paper in my own home, and in my own time back in 1999!

There are only a very few I would revisit, as I do like to do new subjects. I don't like Sovereign enough to dedicate 2-3 years of development, and the many thousands it would cost. I would however like to do a Restoration 50-70 gun ship at some point, I think that would look very nice.

I remember spending £547 on Sovereign of the Seas 30 years ago now. This was two years worth of hobby time (worked in a castings foundry at the time), but I did spend almost the same again on better materials, and a lot of the time was spent correcting (as best as I could) the shortcomings in the historical detail, even to the point of altering completely the deck and side sheers. But, as a hobby and the enjoyment from all the extra research, it was still a bargain.

All my kits are 64th. Cannot tell you final length and height, as I am yet to draw the masts and bowsprit. It will be around Agamemnon size, taking around 30mm off the height, but add about 120mm to overall length, as I shall do Indy with a Flying Jibboom

The problem is, Vane, that if I made the larger models less detailed to try and maintain the same amount of materials (and used lesser materials, too) and cutting times I use for the smaller ones, then the kits would be absolutely no different from other kits of similar size from other larger manufacturers. Anyway, adding less to larger kits isn't what I am about, the price will be whatever the price will be. I develop how I would want my own kit to be, and then work out the price. I have now developed 11 kits, the largest being Sphinx up to now. Indefatigable is my 12th development , so it's not like I have jumped off the deep end immediately. This is my third year. The 'HMS Fly size' kits will come after Indy - a little smaller than Sphinx, but noticeably larger than Speedy.

Thank you! Mid to late 18th Century is my favourite period for ships, with the 1770's being the sweet spot for form and function. Amazon Class 32's and Swan Class sloops being perfect examples.

I have made them in a slightly different way, but not too different to how I normally do them - but yes, the door can be left open to allow light to filter through.

It is all dependant on sales. If Indy is successful, then of course, I have quite a list of what I want to do. After Indy, there will be a couple of medium size kits developed (in size, between Speedy and Sphinx), plus Bristol. Eventually the 'Flagship' is to be a First Rate, Royal George of 1756 - but again, all dependent on how things go, as this will be a two year development at least. I do have a 38 earmarked, two, in fact (one is of Spanish origin) , but I will do a 36 (Phoebe Class) before then, as a 36 hasn't been done in kit form yet, as far as I know. I very nearly decided to go for the 36 before Indy, but the latter just pipped it at the post. But right now, and for most of the rest of the year, I shall be concentrating on Indy.

Looking good Glenn - but you may want to relocate some of those chainplates. As a rule, the should follow the same angle as the shrouds they secure.

I have said before, I am always tempted to do Caledonia, a 120 gun First Rate, just to see the expression on my wife's face as the hull is built!