chris watton

Eh! Bristol is still and will always be a definite. Cheers!

To be clear, not this Christmas!

I will definitely do a Phoebe (36 – stretched Perseverance Class of 1795) at some point. Frigates are my favourite, too…

Once I have completed Harpy production (seems to be going on forerver, so many bits...), I can then sink my teeth into Surprise designs.

I do promise that I shall do my best not to disappoint regarding this kit - it won't be cheap, though....

Early days She will have a full suite of 3-d printed ships boats. I will not add the 36 gun frigate main mast (Surprise was a relatively small frigate, really a corvette, being no larger than the 32 gun Amazon Class from the 1770's), so the only real change will be the guns. It will be based off the original lines, and not the Rose from the film, as Rose was a lot smaller than the real Surprise.

A little update. I have been working on my 18th kit for the past 3 months. However, something came up, and I have decided to put that project on hold for a while. So my 18th kit will be a 64th scale model of HMS Surprise - This is definite, and will start work on this immediately. The model will be of the fictional version, so long guns instead of carronades.

OK, I now have a price for the Harpy. I wanted it to be less than £400, but I cannot due to the sheer amount of materials in each kit (24 separate laser cut sheets and 3 PE sheets), plus the time taken to produce each kit. So the price is: VM/17 HM Brig Harpy (November release) £425 VM/17/XL HM Brig Harpy (PE copper and machined blocks) £490 I am expecting a very large shipment of PE copper next week (45kg worth), so PE copper options will be back for Indy and Speedy too, with Speedy having a dedicated sheet for rudder and keel copper plate, as well as the standard sheets, and also Indy and Harpy will have a small sheet for the rudder patterns. This is the first time in over two years I have been able to order the copper PE.

Damn, I always seem to be blown away by these works of art you guys do, simply superb job, Andrew!

There will be a copper PE option for Harpy, as I have just been told my copper PE order is ready. This includes the copper plates plus a special sheet for the rudder, as shown. For the finished kit version, the treenail count on the outer bulwarks will be doubled. Jim is doing a very nice job!

Cheers! I didn't realise my expensive mirror was a consumable too (£400 a pop)! Usually, the only consumables are the first and second stage filters for my extractors (which extract all harmful particles when the laser is running). I will not be printing any blocks, mainly due to time. I do however have another source for machined walnut blocks, with sets for Indy, Flirt, Speedy (and Harpy) already available to buy, and soon Sphinx. ETA - I am almost ready to press the button on part exchanging my first little 40W laser machine for another larger machine, 100W to go with my 80W, as I could do with it!

Just a little update. For the past week, I have been out of commission due to 'Man Flu', which has not been fun. My wife had it too, but of course, not nearly as bad as me, being a man.... Just before this, it was my main laser machine out of commission, the lens cracked for some reason, and of course this was noticed on a Friday afternoon, so ended up having to wait 5 days for a replacement. I attached a pic of the lens. Now, I am continuing laser cutting Harpy stuff, and today, my wife sorted out all remaining machined pear blocks we have, so now the remaining blocks are now back in stock, but once these are gone, they are gone: PEARWOOD BLOCKS AND DEADEYES – VANGUARD MODELS

Hull only around 530mm, and with stern davits around 560mm About Cruiser/Snake size

Today I decided that there will be 2 ships boats included with this kit, the 18' cutter and a 22' foot cutter (both highly detailed and accurate models in their own right). This means that if you want to hang the 18' cutter from the stern davits, you can add the 22' foot cutter to the deck - or 22' cutter on the deck, and 18' cutter on spare spars resting between gallows. Jim is doing a fine job, love the shape of this hull.

I have said this before, you do not have to add any rigging relating to sails. You could rig Speedy exactly as you did for Adder, omitting the clews, jeers and bowlines etc. Duchess is slightly easier as there is no flying jibboom and associated rig for that (And sail related rig omitted altogether) – but more shrouds and ratlines, being ship rigged.

The boats are by and large a by-product of the kits I do, whether existing or future kits. I have no plans for any more wooden ships boat kits and all future kits will have a 3-d printed hull version. I do this because if I were buying the kit, that is what I would prefer - but existing wooden boat kits are always an option for those who want them, and they will always be included in the Indy and Sphinx kits, with the 3-d printed sets being an option. With any future kit, this will be vice versa. I will do/finish a 16 foot cutter when I am less busy (hulls are already printed), but in all honesty, I could offer and spend many thousands on almost every variant of boat, and I would still get asked to produce something other that what I already have - this is why I make a point of sticking to boats I know I will be using in both current and future kits. I did in fact offer smaller boat hulls for two years on my website, and in that time, I never sold a single unit, so were removed when I started to add the newer types of 3-d printed boats. The boats do not come with cradles, this is something the modeller needs to do, as I have no clue how far each boat will have the cradles positioned or how high - are they on the deck and need to be high enough for the keel to miss hatches, or are they located on the hatch coamings, so no need to be so high - or just stowed on the spare spars on gallows - or davits!

I think any wooden model kit that requires planking will always be a challenge to most, and for those who love it, there is and always should be plenty of scope to stamp their own mark on the build, as I see countless times in this forum.

Wooden kits will never be as easy as plastic kits, but there are things I can do to try and make the experience less frustrating - so when compared to other wooden kits, my aim has always been to at least make them easier to build. Inevitably, the by-product is a lot more parts, though... I have a cut file for the outer bulwarks with double the amount of treenails - but need to see how long they take to produce before deciding....

Damn, did I! You can use whatever orientation you like, as these were added by me and as usual for garlands, are not shown on the plans. So whichever way you place them would be fine.

It is a lot less hassle designing a kit from scratch, rather than updating a very old kit, frought with pitfalls, I know...

No plans at present, no small kits planned for the time being, as I will be busy with kit 18 for the next year...

I may be wrong, but I am sure that when researching the Adder, I read somewhere that these gun brigs actually never had a boat. I have done a run of 16 foot cutters, (scaled down from the 18 footer), but have yet to laser cut the parts for them

The 22 foot yawl especially, as this should really be clinker planked. Can't wait to see the 28 and 32 foot pinnace print files! Thay are also my personal choice. In the past, there was little choice but to use the plank on bulkhead boats as there was no real alternative. With the advent of 3-d printing, I figured why not offer an alternative. These boats are quite a large investment for me, but I think will be worth it, as they are both as accurate as they can be in shape and detail, and much easier and quicker to put together. As usual, there will be a lot of laser cut parts for each, including thwarts, knees, floors etc.

OK, I have done trial prints of the new 22 and 24 foot cutters (these are not simply scaled from the same file, but drawn from separate plans, as can be seen in the shapes). Plus the 22 foot yawl. I am now awaiting the other three boats I am having done for me. The main aim of these was to have options for the Sphinx and Indy boat sets, but will of course be sold separate also. I think I will put the oars on the laser cut wood, as the end paddles are quite flimsy...

I had the next boat file sent to me last night, for me to print and check - this time the 22 foot yawl (clinker planking again)