TJM

Log entry 1 Building the initial frame went smoothly, no issues whatsoever! I am vey happy with the ease of the fit of all the parts and the very clear instructions. Sanding went much quicker than anticipated (only around half an hour) having pre-beveled the edges of some of the bulkheads with a Dremel,as per the instructions. Soaking the side bulwark patterns, it was easy enough to form them on the model, though I found I had to pin the lower edge as I could not clamp it well. At this point, I have used around 6 hours over 3 evenings (after the kids sleep). I am happy with the progress so far. Now for the first challenge: planking. I will take my time with this (I can become impatient, but will try to go slow!). I have a naive hope that the second planking will be good enough to leave unpainted, but that is probably to much to hope for. If not, I may copper it instead of painting it. We'll see! TJM

Hi all, This will be my first build log on MSW! I have been lurking and reading through quite a number of build logs here and it is truly inspiring and humbling to see the amazing work by all the members. This is to a very large degree responsible for my own desire to try out this hobby! I have no knowledge about sailing ships (or any kind of ships really), but I have a keen interest in anything 'history', and this fits that bill! I have plenty of experience with other creative hobbies, so I hope I am not biting off too much with a kit like Flirt for my first real build (I have tried out the hobby small scale on a small 1:25 Whaler - very fun to build, but the boat itself hold little interest for me). What inspired me to do the plunge was the amazing quality of the Vanguard kits which is clearly apparent from the many build logs on this site, and then the very high quality of the manual. I read it through a few times before ordering and it seems manageable with my (self-perceived) skill level. Let see... I am mostly worried about the rigging, but I guess I don't have to worry about that for a while yet! One small setback was that I ordered the kit from Krick in Germany (being based in Denmark, it has become prohibitively expensive to buy from the UK), but I have not realised that on of the services that Krick provides is a full translation of the manual and the drawings into German! Which is a bit problematic as I don't speak German! The manual I will just print myself from the pdf provided on Chris' site and I guess I will have to make do with the German drawings for the rigging. I will just translate what is needed back to English! 🤭 Anyways, if this small project goes as I hope, I will have find another EU based vendor for sny future kits (drooling over Sphinx already - all in due time...) Well, enough intro, on with the actual log!

Hi everyone, I am a new member but I have been lurking for a while, getting inspired by all the amazing builds on this site! While I have very limited experience with model ship building, having only completed Artesania Latinas New England Whaling Boat kit as a kind of trial (it went ok), I have been assembling and painting miniatures for over 20 years and have other craft hobbies like bookbinding, so I am not totally new to alot of the techniques I see used in all the fine build logs on this forum! And this is exactly what got ne interested; I love the finished look af a sailing ship - they are just very aesthetic to me - and I am really intrigued by the construction process. I know next to nothing about actual sailing ships, but I guess that will come in time! Having seen the amazing kis from Vanguard Models, I decided to start with HMS Flirt. I will be opening a build log for this soon! As I have a full time job, two small kids and other hobbies, progress is likely to be slow at times and come in 'sprints', but that is how it has to be for now 😉 . Cheers from Denmark, and I'll see you around the forum! TJM