chris watton

43 minutes ago, chris watton said:

I think this has taken three weeks in total to get this far, perhaps two weeks for masts and rig.

 

3 minutes ago, usedtosail said:

That is a very interesting looking ship. Different and nasty looking. Will the kit come with masting and rigging? Thanks for the great new designs and kits.

 

2 minutes ago, scrubbyj427 said:

That looks nice Chris. Perhaps I’m seeing things or it’s part of the stand, but are those daggerboard keels on the bottom?

Yes, in fact, I do mention the drop keels in my post.

And here are some pics of the 'pre-prototype', the hull I used to getconfirmation (or not) of the main parts fit. The channels were changed, as the original plans had them located in different positions, and the main channels needed changing due to the forward most 'stool' being just a little too forward of the main mast..

 

This hull served its purpose and is now in the bin.

OK, just a little update.

 

I have been very busy, if not producing stuff, then trying to carry on with my next two smaller developments.

 

Today I finally completed the hull detail for kit number 15, the gun brig Adder of 14 guns (1797 - Acute Class). 12 x 18 Pounder carronades and 2x24 Pounder carriage guns. I think this has taken three weeks in total to get this far, perhaps two weeks for masts and rig.

 

Size wise this fits neatly in between Alert and Speedy. The designs were a lot more involved than I initially anticipated, with the bluff bow and foredeck drooping down as it goes forward, presumably to help negate the recoil of the large 24 Pounders.

 

As with Trial Cutter, it has drop keels, and all hull detail above main wale is pre cut and engraved, meaning very little planking required, which is also painted (or coppered) anyway.

 

This was meant to be a nice cheap and simple kit, but as usual, I went too far, and ended up with a very detailed little kit with many laser cut and engraved sheets.

 

Scale - 1:64th (of course..)

Hull Length - 406mm

Overall Length (Rigged) - 606mm

Height Overall - 464mm

 

This class was a Henslow design, and if you don't like the name, there is quite a choice:

Acute

Adder

Asp

Assault

Biter

Blazer

Bouncer

Boxer

Bruiser

Clinker

Contest

Cracker

Crash (!!)

Sparkler

Spiteful

 

All ordered and built in 1797

 

Adder was actually lengthened in 1798 to 97' along the main deck, so I doubt she was ever coppered in the as built guise. Most seem to have been coppered at a much later date after their launch, hence the white bottom.

 

No idea how well this will sell....

1 hour ago, Ferrus Manus said:

This is a screenie from ZHL's actual site showing the frames of the ship.

@chris watton This looks like something you would design. Have you ever designed a Surprise, regardless of scale? They may have scaled it up. 

Nothing to do with me. I do have Surprise designs, but they have never left my PC. I think this is more a case of copying other manufacturers techniques rather than thinking and innovating for themselves. I see this a lot. It does grate when I see this crap, but I avoid as much as possible and just do my own thing.

1 hour ago, mugje said:

Good luck with your Sphinx journey! It's such a lovely kit...I also toyed with the idea of building it without rigging etc. due to space saving. But I also lack the experience to rig a three masted frigate...so i'm going to rig it just for the experience I think...but I have some time to decide it so nothing is set in stone at this point.

You do not have to fully rig it, you can leave off all sail related rig and just add yard rig, the ties, lifts and braces, and leave it at that. That also means a lot less blocks to tie to the lower yards.

24 minutes ago, ccoyle said:

 

I've noticed the rounded coaming corners in Chris' kits before and wondered whether they mirror actual practice? Knowing Chris, I'd be slightly surprised if it didn't.

Yes, the coamings are directly copied from original plans, it seems most had the rounded corners.

3 hours ago, Malazan said:

Why are there no kits of the Royal Sovereign,  it was a main player at Trafalgar?

I suspect because it was virtually the exact same dimensions as Victory Class, and after spending years developing such a kit, half your enquiries about the kit would be 'Yeah, but when is Victory available, I want Victory'

Better to use PVA only along the inside edges of the deck, and around the inside of the deck openings, but not so close to the edge that allows the glue to seep out.

You can score the deck down the centreline, to enable it to fold, rather than bend.

And a very nice job you have done on her, great case, too!

On 3/14/2019 at 10:11 AM, chris watton said:

If only - was designed and developed for another company (72nd scale - I think, may have been 64th, cannot remember)

I made a mistake in my post, this was 64th scale and the main source used for the hull was the original plans for the Concorde, and not Belle Poule, which has a completey different hull form.

I always find it better to do just a little fairing of the most extreme parts before gluing in place, and then doing the main faring once the whole skeletal structure is securely in place - because the material is homogonous, sanding should be quite easy when compared to ply.

Well done, and I can confirm that you chose a very good printer.

Well, all I know is that I cannot order my PE copper plates. If it is the same this time next year, then copper tape will have to be the norm for kits that need it. I much prefer the PE plates, but needs must...

1 minute ago, Keith_W said:

 

Copper is available, but it is expensive at the moment. What you could do is develop and release the kit without the copper bottom. Sell the coppering kit as an optional extra. If people want to swallow the cost, they can. If they want to save some money and go for an alternative (e.g. paint to simulate copper) they can. 

According to my photo etch suppliers, copper is not available right now, and hasn't been for almost a year now.

10 minutes ago, DonSangria said:

So the 17th Kit will be a 'surprise'?

I prefer to wait until copper becomes available again before developing kits that have copper bottoms.

9 hours ago, ASAT said:

Chris, any news on Bristol? 

A little longer on that, as we need to move to a larger premesis in order for me to produce another kit of that size. That or I let Indy stock run down completely, stop selling it and another large kit take its place.

 

It comes down to space to stock the kit parts, laser cut sheets,materials, boxes, plans/manuals etc. Whe have, or the company has outgrown our home.

2 minutes ago, AJohnson said:

Phoebe would be great, goodness knows the hobby needs an alternative kit to the venerable Diana!

Around the same size as the Artois Class too, give or take a foot or two.  And being a 36, she would have been armed with the long 18's, whereas the 38's had the short, in general..

 

I always imagined Hornblower's fictional 36, Lydia to be Phoebe Class....

12 minutes ago, AJohnson said:

I remember you mentioning that in your bucket list a few months back Chris, are you any closer to deciding which one to do first Phoebe / Amphion or another?

Has to be sweet Phoebe, a frigate that seen a lot of action during her career. Almost did this before Indy.

I will do a Restoration Era warship at some point, but because it would be a two year development and also expensive, not for a while, and not while I have a 36 gun 18 pounder Napoleonic frigate itch that needs a desperate scratch at some point before then.

For belaying, if in doubt, just belay to the nearest appropriate point that doesn't foul any other lines. 

After years of trying to figure out the best sequence for the standing rigging, I found that, for me at least, the best thing to do is add all shrouds, lower and topmast, incuding lower futtock shrouds. I then add the ratlines while the area is still uncluttered with rigging. After this, the topgallant shrouds are added, then onto the stays. I sometimes fit the yards before shrouds, pinning them so I can tilt them up or down when doing the ratlines.

 

After shrouds and ratlines, rigging comes together pretty quick, as the shrouds and rats are last longest single job to do on the model.

6 hours ago, Keith_W said:

Chris, you need to press gang your kids to work for you so that you can free up some time to get back to what you are really good at, which is designing models! Are you working on anything new right now? 

I do have the gun brig Adder and another small kit that will soon be released in the new year (All they need is the prototypes building and then manual completed, as everything else is done, designs, cut files, plans etc.) -  and yesterday I did make a small start on my 17th kit.

 

ETA - This year hasn't been so bad, with Indy released in March, followed by Grecian and Trial cutter, plus the Speedy rework, which was no small job.

A little update:

 

I am still very busy, and have just completed another batch of Sphinx laser cut parts. After that was complete, I moved onto the new cannon and carriages (including carronades), which I am almost finished laser cutting and 3-d printing. I will paste the full list of cannon and carronades I will offer below - the carronades are now sold in pairs, instead of singles.

 

Once these are done, I need to produce more Indy stuff, as we are now getting very short of some parts. And after that, I can finally produce my laser cut part for my little kits, so I can get those prototype models finished. I have already completed all of the plans for them, but cannot continue until I have cut the prototype laser cut parts.

 

Here is the full list for cannon and carronades I now offer (I am still waiting for the PE for the early 12 pounder carronade, which will be back in stock as soon as the sheets arrive):

 

New and updates cannon and carriage kits - Cap Square now integrated with carriage sides

All Sets are priced per pair and all 1:64^th Scale. Laser cut pear and 3-D printed barrels

Armstrong 3-Pounder cannon (Barrel overall length - 24mm) - £4.20

Armstrong 4-Pounder cannon (Barrel overall length - 29mm) - £4.40

Blomefield 4-Pounder cannon (Barrel overall length - 29mm) - £4.40

Armstrong 6 pounder, 6 ½ feet length (Barrel overall length – 34.4mm) - £5.00

Armstrong 6 pounder, 7 ½ feet length (Barrel overall length – 39mm) - £5.30

Blomefield 6-Pounder, 6 feet length (Barrel overall length – 31.4mm) - £5.00

Blomefield 6-Pounder, 7 ½ feet length (Barrel overall length – 38.5mm) - £5.30

Armstrong 9 pounder, 7 feet length (Barrel overall length – 37.2mm) - £5.80

Armstrong 9 pounder, 8 ½ feet length (Barrel overall length – 44.4mm) - £6.00

Blomefield 9-Pounder, 7 feet length (Barrel overall length – 36.5mm) - £5.80

Blomefield 9-Pounder, 8 ½ feet length (Barrel overall length – 43.6mm) - £6.00

Armstrong 12 pounder, 7 ½ feet length (Barrel overall length – 40mm) - £8.30

Armstrong 12 pounder, 9 feet length (Barrel overall length – 47.2mm) - £9.00

Blomefield 12 pounder, 7 ½ feet length (Barrel overall length – 39.1mm) - £8.30

Blomefield 12 pounder, 9 feet length (Barrel overall length – 46.25mm) - £9.00

Armstrong 18 pounder, 8 feet length (Barrel overall length – 42mm) - £8.30

Armstrong 18 pounder, 9 feet length (Barrel overall length – 47.8mm) - £9.00

Blomefield 18 pounder, 8 feet length (Barrel overall length – 41.8mm) - £8.30

Blomefield 18 pounder, 9 feet length (Barrel overall length – 46.6mm) - £9.00

Armstrong 24 pounder, 9 ½ feet length (Barrel overall length – 50.6mm) - £11.00

Blomefield 24 pounder, 9 feet length (Barrel overall length – 47mm) - £10.50

Blomefield 24 pounder, 9 ½ feet length (Barrel overall length – 49.3mm) - £11.00

Armstrong 32 pounder, 9 ½ feet length (Barrel overall length – 51.2mm) - £12.50

 

 

New Carronade kits (includes 3-d Printed wheels) Now sold in pairs and all to 1:64^th Scale

Laser cut pear and 3-D printed barrels and wheels

Carronade – 12-Pounder (Barrel overall length – 18mm) - £7.00

Carronade – 18-Pounder (Barrel overall length – 20.5mm) £7.50

Carronade – 24-Pounder (Barrel overall length – 22.5mm) £8.00

Carronade – 32-Pounder (Barrel overall length – 24.8mm) £8.50

Carronade – 42-Pounder (Barrel overall length – 27.3mm) £9.00