Pitan

Thanks guys Work has started with the second planking layer. The planks in front are supposed to be colour graded, a change of light and viewing angle suggests some revision is in order ... except, these are all due to be painted white.

Thanks Thukydides. The first layer of planks is on, still needs sanding and filling. Three stealers per side, one each at the bow, the stern, and amid-ships (is this last a stealer?) FWIW, I re-used two (of six) planks from my first, failed, attempt. The reset were fresh items in the kit. Sanding next, then filling

Thanks @mugje, the kit is beautiful, I hope I can do it justice. New planks have been added. Just three per side as before, but a revised approach. I'm using Chris's technique to define the bow taper, but an electric plank bender to shape the timber before, and after, glueing and pinning. (Tried soaking, but haven't got the technique right yet.)

Thanks guys I spent a little time stripping the planks off Still need to clean up the glue, before taking another go.

Work has progressed on the Sherbourne, with the bulwarks on and a start to the first layer of planking. This is my first PoB build, and I'm not sure if what I'm seeing is usual. From the sides this looks OK, as far as I can tell, pretty much like most PoB builds. Bow on, there may be an issue with the first starboard plank... It is only after seeing that photo that I even noticed this, but that plank nay be very thin after sanding. Looking from below, this really does worry me. Am I building trouble for myself here? Or is this normal?

Thanks @Thukydides, I'm impressed by how it goes together (see below). The kit arrived last week, and I started building over the weekend. I couldn't glue the hull then, but that didn't stop me doing some work. A few smaller components were glued together: From the left, this included the core of the stem, all the hatches, the companionway and the rudder and stern post. I also started bevelling the bulkheads, keel cheeks* and deck support patterns. These I glued up last night. The hatch beams were added today. I succeeded in snapping two of them, the foremost and one of the middle ones. Recovery and repair wasn't too difficult. These were followed by the stern frames (broke one of those too), the ply false deck and made a start on the transom. The piece of string here is pulling the counter into the transom - none of my clamps would stay in place long enough to hold the parts together. Impressions so far? Apart from bevelling and char removal on exposed edges of the pear parts, none of the components needed fettling. The parts just fitted. The only part that could be difficult is the stern counter. This has a double curve. This was managed with an electric plank bending tool. *Keel cheeks, my term. Pieces that sit either side of the keel, slotted down locking the bulkheads in place. Parts 19 in this kit. These have been designed to form the bearding line (this is my first build that could've had a beard & rabbet).

Moving forward 1 1/2 centuries from my (nearly finished) previous build, this is the new Vanguard Models Sherbourne. Included in the box were a few extras; being new to ship modelling, I'd ordered a pin pusher and some crew who will, I hope, lend scale to the build. Seen here with cordage, detail parts and the instructions. Below the instructions and bubble wrap was the wood (and acrylic base). In addition to the instruction booklet, there are 19 A3 sheets of plans and rigging guides.

p.s. The body plan from Greenwich shows no doors over the gun ports (https://prints.rmg.co.uk/products/body-plan-for-sherborne-1763-j7809?_pos=2&_sid=bedc6a7ff&_ss=r).

My next build will be HMS Sherbourne. For the build I have two questions (so far) arising from the plan available from the Greenwich site (https://prints.rmg.co.uk/products/plan-of-the-sherborne-1763-j8467) 1) The windlass on the plan occupies the full width of the bow. (Think it's a windlass, the roller used to raise the anchors?) How practical was that? If the crew wished to work forward of the windlass, either for sail handling, or to work the bow guns, they'd have to vault over the machinery. (Thinking as I'm typing ... given the vessel never had her full complement of guns, were these the spaces left vacant?) 2) The plan shows two doors (name?) covering only the second (of five) gun port from the bow. Is this a draughts-mans convention, leaving off the remaining four ports as unnecessary visual clutter, or would the only be one set of doors? If only the one, why the second port? (Could this be the unoccupied gun position?) FWIW, I'll be building the new Vanguard kit, which does have the full width windlass.

A bit of catch-up. I've done some more work on the figures - they now have clothes and hats made from Milliput. They have been painted, and can take their place on the boat:

Thanks, and I've just placed a pre-order for Sherbourne.

A couple of updates for the shallop. The rigging lines have been tidied up; the different number of loops reflect how much of the line is in use. Off-topic, I gather that belaying pins are unlikely at this stage (early 1600's); it is far too late to do anything about that now. And I've made progress with posing the crew; the guy at the back (stern) controls the tiller: He has developed a paunch, and wants for some period clothing.

Thanks @Richard44

All, bar one, of the rigging lines are now in place, and the foresail has been lowered. I wanted the foresail lowered, so I gave it a brief soaking under the bathroom tap. This made the paper flexible and workable, but loosened the glue (generic white PVA) I'd used for the sail's seams and ropes. The one thread that wasn't affected was the string wound around the forestay. This made life difficult by not wanting to adapt to the folds I was adding to the sail. That was replaced with wire rings (bronze in this case, brass or copper would work as well), followed by another trip to the bathroom. This time I attached the edge ropes after folding the sail into place; a slow process. Most of the rigging lines are in place, the loose ends need tidying:

That's a clever thought, using some scrap wood to hold the bow in place while the glue sets. Might steal that idea.

Sixteen days later ... Before I finalise the poses of the crew, I'll need some idea where the boat's lines and tiller will go. This means rigging the vessel. First I made some sails. Lots of sails. Some that wouldn't be used ... The sails could be wetted and folded, as seen in the bow here. And a couple that are now on the shallop. Seen here with major rigging lines. Each sail is two layers of teabag paper, 'glued' with airbrush acrylic paint (so very fluid paint). The paper has a rough side, and a smooth, almost polished side. In this case, I went rough side out; in smaller scales, I'd consider smooth side out. (I know I said there wouldn't be a foresail, but, maybe.) Standing rigging and sails are attached, together with some running lines.

Sherbourne looks lovely, I'm very tempted to build her as my first double planked kit.

A new sprit has been made, and I've started thinking about a crew. The sprit (yard) has taken a bit of time and a new piece of kit - a mini bench-top disk sander & belt (this one). From a task that was failing after a week of effort, the sprit was made in a couple of days - including setting up and learning the new equipment. If, as I plan, I'll put a sail on this boat, it will need a crew. It took me a while, but I remembered that I have some Historex figures in my spares box. Historex figures are 54mm soldiers, mostly French Napoleonic. These fellows volunteered for the job: I feel that there is a better sense of scale with these two on board. The guy at the back (tiller) started like this: And now looks like this A little more animated, if 'armless. The man standing up will take a bit more thought - maybe something like this would work? For clothing and 'fashion' inspiration, I'll use David Teniers the elder's paintings. Another Dutch artist, Teniers was about 25 at the time of John Smith's expedition.

Is there some camera distortion in that last image? The water line looks bowed to my eye.

Thanks Richard, I'll try the PVA. Yeah, seeing the pinging PE in your build was my prompt to have some ready-made chain on hand.

More progress to report, the anchor and ... lee boards have been added to the shallop. These are supposed to be attached by a short chain, built up from supplied PE. Each link is about 1 1/2 mm long, with no spares for modeller error. Well, inevitably, the first link I cut disappeared into the ether, never to be seen again. I decided to use ready-made chain instead (18 links per inch). This did involve a bit of fettling, but works in 'prototype' fashion: Starboard view, lee board retracted: Port view, lee board deployed: The concern here is the slack rope, where that board is supposed to be heavy. Has anybody any suggestions for showing that with suitable tension? (Or slack under gravity.)

If you follow the plans, yes. I will use the scheme in post #13 (6 Jan). Will I be mounting sails? A mainsail, maybe. I have some teabag paper for the purpose (can't get SilkSpan over here). No foresail though. They rarely appear in the Willem van de Velde paintings, there'd be more space for peering round the boat, and it'd add a talking point. Trouble is, I'd need to 'recruit' a crew in an uncommon scale (1/32).

I've been quiet here, but not unproductive. The main mast has been rounded off. Since that photo was taken, a sheave (? pulley) has been inserted into the slot. The tip of the mast kept breaking. There are some holes up there that weakened the wood, but have no obvious purpose. These have been replaced by a small button. The rigging thread has been replaced. The line supplied in the kit is a polymer that unravels at the slightest provocation - this was from twisting the cord tighter, and releasing: I believe @Richard44 had a similar issue with his build. The supplied thread has been replaced with Mantua thread (the UK importers are my local model shop). The standing rigging, made from hemp thread painted brown with acrylic paint thinned with IPA. The fore stay on the left was spliced, while the two side stays were, more conventionally, seized. The hull has been painted and, thwarts were added, along with sheaves (? pulleys) for the lee boards. Other detail work included the anchor and some of the boat's equipment. The blocks now have straps (?) and are ready for the mast.

There are some vessels that appear to have short spars in this 1661 Dutch painting. Willem van de Velde, A Dutch Yacht saluting https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/willem-van-de-velde-a-dutch-yacht-saluting The short spars may be a feature of perspective, see what you think.

Thanks Jan I've seen metal chains on some late 19c - early 20c Thames barges that might be similar to your slings? The working was very different; the sprit sails on the barges usually have brailing lines to furl the sails.