chris watton
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Everything posted by chris watton
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Forgot to add, I had the production sets of carronade barrels arrive today, so they will be going on the website sometime next week. I have: 32 Pounder carronade barrel, slide carriage and PE (Standard armament of most British brigs/brig-sloops of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic era - an 18 gun brig like Cruiser would have had 16x32 pounder carronades and 2x6 pounder chase guns) 24 Pounder carronade barrel, slide carriage and PE 18 Pounder carronade barrel, slide carriage and PE 12 Pounder carronade barrel (early type with trunnions), with option of slide carriage or side carriage (like standard cannon) and PE Also available now is an 18 pounder short (42.75mm overall length), which were issued to most (but not all) 38 gun frigates -
Just received pictures of the Sphinx 3-d printed master carvings for stern and figurehead which will be cast in resin as per the Duchess..
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It is selling quite well. In fact, I haven't got a lot of stock left, and need to re-order some parts. Sales ensure future kit investment, and good sales please me as I know I can continue what I want to develop and release. Looks like Royal George is likely at some point..
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Just thought I would mention that it looks like I will have an Australian distributor soon, Modelers Central. I think they will be placing an order in the new year.
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The only parts that have tight tolerances are the the bulkheads and keel that slot into each other. These are 3mm exactly. All other slots have slightly looser tolerances at 3.1mm, to take into account any slight (and I mean slight) misalignment when fitting parts like 16 and 17. It is best to bevel some of the extreme frames before fitting, and once fitted, and if the extreme bulkheads and longitudinal patterns have been roughly bevelled, brush on PVA glue when all is in place. Do not rush any of this, as it is essential all parts are fitted as designed and bevelled correctly for the planking.
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The longitudinal patterns (16&17) will fit fine, the slots in those are 3.1mm, plus 3.1mm wide on the bulkheads for the patterns to slot into.
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No, I tried poplar ply though, and was weak as hell. It is quite light, and can have streaks of grey or green, which is no good for kit parts. I also thought this was quite a low density wood, being soft?
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Pear wood was initially meant to be for the 'Master Shipwright' kits, but I realised very quickly that limewood was way too fragile for the type of designs I had in mind, plus I winced when seeing close up shots of the limewood parts, being quite open grained. This is OK if the parts are to be painted and the parts are prepped correctly, otherwise, I just didn't like it and realised that if the kits were to be a little different from the more 'commercial' kits I have designed in the past, I must invest in better quality (closer grained and less fragile) woods. Once I got to know the properties of pear better, this opened a lot more options for me, like pre-cut drift rails, which would have been a disaster in more open grained woods, with parts breaking when just trying to remove the parts from their retention tabs (One of the main reasons I always endeavour to place the tabs along the grain, rather than against it).
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I did mention earlier in this thread that if some asked, I would be open to the odd boxwood version. However, the Duchess kit has been tried and tested with pearwood, and two fully built up hulls have been made up and tested with the pearwood, and I know the designs work well with this material. This means that officially, the pearwood version is the only version, with the only option being the machined pear wood blocks. I do not know how well some of the major boxwood patterns would bend, so I decided that no official 'Master Shipwright' version will never be offered. That plus the cost is very high, as there are a lot more laser cut sheets in this than the previous kits. I have seen Delf's amazing work on his Speedy, and he is clearly comfortable with the boxwood, but it is most certainly something I would not recommend for the less experienced. Anyway, I think the pear suits the model perfectly. There is no way I could have got away with some of the more intricate cuts with the laser with 'kit standard' woods that are more open grained, like lime or walnut.
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This is so important. When James was building the second prototype, he called me to tell me that the inner bulwarks did not fit, being a lot larger than they should be. The next morning, he discovered they fitted exactly as they should, once all moisture had gone. This is a relatively easy kit to build, as long as you take your time on certain parts, and leave all parts to be curved dry fitted (clamped and/or pinned) in place until completely dry before gluing in place.
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First batch of orders were picked up today, wait, no, yesterday, Monday, so most should receive today (Tuesday), with other countries not too far behind. Am very much hoping that with this kit, no one will have any issue whatsoever with hull assembly and fragility - I designed it so it's as strong as a Tonka Toy. So if you break it, then there's no helping you, really....lol
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I am sure I create a rod for my own back when it comes to the rigging plans, as I prefer to try and do the lines to scale thicknesses, but this means every line is double, so whenever they intersect another line, trimming is required. A long job when drawing the lines. When they are printed, however, you can hardly see the double lines, so always wonder if it's worth just drawing single lines and saving myself countless hours. Always think this with every new kit, but when it comes to it, I always choose the more time consuming method, but I think they do look better, especially when picking out some areas to zoom in. For this reason, it is the rigging plans that take the longest to draw by far.
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UPS are picking up Monday, as it took an age to sort out plans and manuals for each kit, so the real delivery day will be Tuesday. I have no idea why UPS do this when I arranged pick up for Monday!
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Just thought I'd add a pic of the Duchess plan and manual set. 81 page full colour manual and 13 50x70cm plan sheets
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I hate them too, and would one day like to find a way of having the hulls pre made/cast, complete with rib detail, in resin.
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Not yet, although at times I am tempted, like now, just back from work and am dead... Already had the Sphinx figurehead and stern decoration sculpted and paid for, and now with the resin casters. Slow work now, though, being back at work. This week I have been designing the boats (28 foot pinnace, 24 foot launch and 22 foot yawl), which will be included with the kit, but also make them available as mini kits, like the 18' cutter. Have done a 26 foot launch (for larger frigates) at the same time.
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OK, I finally had 17 boxes arrive just now, for the Duchess of Kingston plans, manual (81 pages) and box art. We can now (well, my wife...) sort out the plans and manuals to put into the kits and I shall organise the UPS pick ups. All UK customers should receive by Tuesday, and outside UK a day or so later. I had to re order more Speedy plans and manuals, which will be here next next, as I ran out of those...
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Personally, I make up all masts and then add what blocks I can before stepping in place. I then usually sort out as much bowsprit rigging as I can (shrouds, spritsail yards etc.), and then on to shrouds and ratlines for the masts.
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Very nice model, and I love the looks, it is stunning. But I think a lot of the areas would be better suited to injection moulded parts, due to the shapes (not sure you could get away with included a few lengths of wood dowel to simulate those composite modern material masts and booms). Also, I want to concentrate on the classic age of sail era for my main kits for now, as this is my main area of interest.
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yep, she's the one that puts all the kits together, I wouldn't have a clue! Oh, don't think I have mentioned this as they're not so big a deal - all kits, including Duchess of Kingston have new thread for the small sizes, most small sizes being Gutermann. Also, every Duchess kit has a special coaster in black and white, with the yacht profile etched into the surface.
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Just thought I had better do an update for Duchess.. A 'small oversight' at our printers means that the 1:64 Duchess of Kingston royal yacht will now be released on Thursday 6th November instead of today. I can only apologise for this to our pre-order customers, but it is totally out of my control. This is the first time the printers have let me down, and I feel terrible. My wife has agreed to have Thursday off work, so that when the printed material arrives on Thursday, they will be added to the kit contents and I shall book the UPS pick ups as soon as possible. I promise it is worth waiting for, and almost two thirds of the stock has already been pre-ordered, so I had better order more castings sets and materials... Thank you, Chris
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All laser cutting was completed weeks ago, so am well ahead of the curve for this one. (It was a few weeks cutting, though, lots of parts in this one). As soon as the printed manuals, plans and box label arrive, the kits are ready to go out the door
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It is funny, I always used to want to specify hull length and overall length, but no one ever wanted hull length, so that was dropped (but this was years ago) For all future models, I will include both hull and overall measurements. Hull length for Duchess is around 445mm. I have attached a couple of (bad) pics of the cannon I had arrive yesterday. The cannon and carriage nearest the rule is the Sphynx short 9-pounder (7 foot), with a 32 pounder next to it. The row of 4 cannon from bottom to top are the 9-pounder short, 6 pounder, 4 pounder and half pounder swivel. My picture taking isn't so good, and the details are hard to define, but they are detailed and I am more than happy with them. Also a pic of a new family member, and the reason I am having a couple of days off work to look after her. Trouble is, she's so naughty that I cannot even do any of my development stuff. As soon as my head is turned, she's causing mischief! Finally, I just received confirmation from the printers that the Duchess printed materials will be with me at the end of next week, so all orders will be shipped either next Friday or the following Monday.
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