brunnels

Apologies for my break from updating my build log. October was a very long month for us, our 15 year old Australian Shepard has been slowly losing more and more mobility over the last year with the last couple months being near 100% immobile. At the start of October she took a turn for the worse and we decided it was time. She was my constant companion, nearly always at my side for the last 15 years when I got her straight out of College. Her loss has been a huge adjustment for me to get used to, so apologies for the lack of pictures of my progress for the past couple months. For October, I spent nearly the entire month working on the ships boats. I really don't look forward to building these little boats, ships boats are always a fiddley task that always takes me way longer than I expect. I was planning on buying the 3d printed Vanguard boats so I didn't have to build them, but I needed to take my mind off of some stuff and figured I would give them a try and at least practice some of my skills. They aren't the best, but I am satisfied with the result. Planking Pinnace Completed Pinnace, work started on the other two boats Finished boats. I will complete the anchors and oars once they are permanently fixed in the ship after rigging. I also completed the rope railings and hammock cranes around the forcastle and gangways. After rigging I plan to add netting to the hammock cranes on the gangways. Figurehead. I painted with Vallejo Ochre brown, and then used a Vallejo brown wash on top. Next is something I saw on @hollowneck buildlog. He added a couple small doors to the Quarterdeck stairway which I thought looked really nice, so I decided to add something similar. I made the door out of some spare 2mm pear planking that was intended for the ships boats. 3 pieces for each door ended up being the perfect width. I then added some reinforcement on the back side I then used some spare PE rail stanchions that I cut down and bent for the hinges, and a couple eyebolts for handles. How the ship currently sits. Ready to start on the masts and spars.

As someone completely ignorant on lighting in models, I am assuming you have to install these as you build the model and it isn't something you can add afterwards? Since my Quarter deck and forcastle are already closed on my Sphinx it's probably too late to add. Love the product though, will go great with my future surprise kit.

Congrats, beautiful model. One of these days I will get around to my Syren kit. Are you by any chance from Kiowa, OK?

Those beveled boxwood waterways look really nice. Fantastic work as always.

My sentiment as well, the cutaway feature is really cool but I would have preferred any ship that there aren't a bunch of kits for already.

Looking great ECK, you must have an amazing fleet with all the fantastic models you have done.

I will definitively be one of the first on the buy list, frigates are my favorite vessels and like many the Surprise has a special place, the Master and Commander movie is what really kicked off my love for the age of sail, and one of my favorite memories of my youth is seeing the movie in theaters with my dad and brother when I was in high school. I've been reading the books and I get a smile every time the Surprise appears.

I agree, the figures look great. I will be happy if I could do half as good on the few figures I have.

FC/QD Rail Stanchions and Timberheads: Removed the char off of the timberheads and rail stanchions and glued them in place. The slots in the gunwale cap pieces make this a very simple task. Next came a few coats of black paint and then varnished. QD Breast Rail: Next up is the QD Breast rail, the hardest part about this process was rounding the stanchions. I was also pleasantly surprised how little adjustment I needed to do to the stanchions to get all the horizontal railing pieces to line up and slide in their places. Overview shot of how the ship sits. Getting close to masts and rigging, just a few more tasks on the main ship, and then the three small boats.

DoK is a beautiful ship, you made a good choice.

I'm amazed at the amount of information you are obtaining. That bowl is super cool.

Looks fantastic so far, one day I will get some boxwood to work with.

An office with 11 amazing models is a life goal I didn't know I needed until now 😃.

Personally I think anything other than Vanguard would be a step down as far as entry/mid level kits go. Also I think a lot of the time harder rated kits aren't necessarily harder skill wise than what you will have experienced with the Sherbourne, they just require more time to complete. I think a good step up would be some of the two masted vessels from Vanguard like the Adder, Speedy/Flirt, or even the Dutchess of Kingston.

Bow/Head Main Rail: Finished up the head railing with the large main rail patterns. These are 3 pieces glued together, then painted blue infill and WOP as a finish. Next I added all the eyelets and deck cleats to the Quarter deck and forecastle. I have also started on the Quarterdeck rail by gluing the bottom piece in place.