chris watton

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.

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.

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

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

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.

Of course!

Thanks Mike. This is the one I am developing: https://prints.rmg.co.uk/products/lines-and-profile-plan-of-the-sphinx-1775-j4272?variant=9699771220012 Like the Fly, but bigger. I did initially intend to do Atalanta, another Swan Class, but figured that too many others are doing this class now, and wanted to bring new classes to the market, rather than re-treads. At this early stage, at least. So r Atalanta was replaced for Sphynx.

The kit can now be pre-ordered here: https://vanguardmodels.co.uk/product/duchess-of-kingston/ And very well done, James!

OK, thanks to Jim Hatch (who has really helped me this year), the Duchess of Kingston is now available for pre order. All work for manual, plans and box art complete and just sent off to the printers. https://vanguardmodels.co.uk/product/duchess-of-kingston/ My wife told me she wants to keep the prototype model in the living room, as she seems to love it, too! Now I work on Sphynx. This will take time to develop, as I want to continue the same design philosophy I used for Duchess, only on a much bigger scale (and of course, I am back at work full time) - but this does take a lot more time than simply drawing out a bunch of bulkheads and supplying wood strip for the hard work. But, I hope, more modellers will be able to do a great job without having to need master modeller skills. And those that do, the sky's the limit! I have been working closely with Master Korabel to produce the short 9 pounders for this model. I received the samples today and they are quite stunning. Exact scale even down to the diameter of the trunnions, and finished in a nigh on perfect looking dull black. I will have more sizes made by them in the future. In the meantime, I am planning to have the 32, 24 and 18 pounder carronade barrels cast (and the early 12 pounder carronade with trunnions - plus a short 18 pounder for 18 pounder frigates). Would there be anyone interested in these, so I know how many to have cast? Cheers Chris

A lot of times, I usually add a little more than needed, especially if the parts are easily lost. Nothing worse than having to stop your build because a small part flew out of the tweezers and, no matter how hard you look, you can never find the damn part. Until a few weeks later, and it was under your nose the whole time...

The elevating thread bars were originally part of the casting, but they proved too fragile so I got rid of them and added the hole to which a length of brass rod will fit into, to simulate the threaded bar. If I had kept the threaded bars, I would have had around 75% scrap rate.

12 pounders are 46mm long in total, so are the 8'6" type (for the 50 gun Bristol) I do have some 37mm 12's, but not cast yet. These are for 12 pounder frigates, rather than the larger vessels. Also have a short 18 pounder for 18 pounder frigates (42,8mm), but this too needs to be cast for production parts. All barrels are for larger vessels at the moment (being around 48mm long in total)

OK, Duchess of Kingston will be available for pre order very soon, as it is almost ready. In the meantime, I had a set of cast black resin cannon barrels arrive, including a PE sheet for each. I am selling the 9, 12, 18, 24 and 32 pounder cannon barrel and carriage sets in pairs, which include the laser cut pear, photo etched parts (including flintlocks) and 2 cast black resin barrels. https://vanguardmodels.co.uk/product/cannon-carriages/ I also had sample castings for the carronade barrels, which look fine, so will order production sets to be made. Again, I have the PE sheets done for these, just need the barrels cast now. I have been working on my 7th kit, Sphynx, but because I am no back in full time employment, things are going slower than I would like. Still, get something done every day when I have the spare time. The short 9 pounder barrels (7 foot, as opposed to 8 or 9 foot versions) have been cast by MK, and the figurehead and stern decoration is being carved (digitally) right now, so everything's still moving forward...

I always buy copies of every original plan there is of each subject. These are the basis for the hull, decks and fittings (where and when shown). For detail that isn't shown on the plans, I have plenty of books for reference - the Anatomy of the Ship Pandora is of great use for this particular development, as this is not much bigger than Sphynx and would share a lot of the details for fittings. The ships stove would be slightly smaller, though, according to the tables in The Arming and Fitting of English Men of War. There are belaying pins, but there seems to be no Mizzen bitts and rail at all for this particular class. Am assuming a pin ring or cleats near the foot of the Mizzen...

Here is the final version of the main gun deck, complete with engraved chequer plating at the stern. This will be fitted to my prototype model and is cut from a scrap piece of veneer, hence the darker than usual colour variations...

I just hate 'Dummy Barrels', and the gun port patterns is now old hat, as every other company seems to have adopted this method (although still required for smaller subjects with thinner bulwarks). I figured that if I were to do a 3-decker, the model needs to have at least three complete decks, otherwise it is no more detailed, internally, as a sloop or frigate, the only difference being the hull is deeper. With this Victory, you do not start the outer planking until half way though the hull build!

Alex is a master model maker, making unique models, but only one model, with no consideration required for manufacturing hundreds of the same. What I will do is laser etch the detail (as per Duchess of Kingston yacht), as I cannot get any strip with such mouldings at this small size. Plus they end up in scrolls - better to have the whole rail as one so they 'flow' as they should, as far as I am concerned. Most kits supply 1x2 or 1x1mm wood strip for these parts. I am already worried that I am adding too much to this kit, which increases costs....

I will paint the inner bulwarks red for the prototype. The modeller can paint or varnish as they wish. (Spirketting planks added once deck laid)

I so wanted to paint the topsides of my prototype model black, as it should be...

Still in pre-prototype stage, but am now ready to start laser cutting for the actual prototype model, now that I have worked out all essential patterns required. These pics will not reflect the actual model, as the inner bulwarks will be wood, plus there gave been quite a few minor changes to everything...

I think that Sphynx is a nice size, not too big, not too small, and noticeably larger than the 16 gun Swan Class. Designs are well beyond those of Fly/Pegasus, though, even Victory. The drawback is the sheer amount of laser cut parts and materials for it, making it more expensive, but as easy to build as it can be. For the much larger kits, I may have to hold back on the designs (making them more traditional and stay at Amati Victory levels), though, as prices would start to get too high, as I do need them to sell...

Hope you enjoy the build, Erik!

Caledonia immediately springs to mind, followed by Commerce de Marseilles...

Cheers ASAT. I don't know know, though, I love Chuck and CAF's models, they are great, and lot more technical than mine. But I try to design with the novice in mind, and hope they can build something that looks great out of the box without too much 'kit bashing', like we're used to with the older mainstream kits. ETA - Forgot to mention, bulkheads and bow/stern patterns are thicker MDF and keel is 3mm, to be clad either side, like Duchess of Kingston for etched details and rabbets.

Gun port spacing