Desertanimal

She is a lovely boat Jacques! Very well done. I enjoyed following along, your work is always a joy to watch. Chris

Welcome back Mary! You take your time, nothing is more important than recovery for the long term. The phone messages will be there when you get to them! Chris

Amazing work. I never tire of your photos. Chris

Hey Nick, after you have your picture loaded at the bottom of your reply page you place your cursor where you want the photo and click “insert” on the photo and that’s where it will appear, usually. lol Keep it up, looking good. We’re all learning as we go. Chris

Beautiful work Keith. Looking great.

I age with above. I also spoke with him recently. Send another email.

Nice work!

For bending the planks you don’t need much. A board that is clamped down. A little piece of wood for the middle as your “bend spot”. Borrow an iron, doesn’t have to be fancy, any clothes iron will work just a little harder because it’s big. A little water, a little heat and bend. Good luck with the build! Chris

OK that’s all she wrote. She is complete. The rope hanks gave me a little trouble but just like everything else, they started to look a little better as I went. It’s been quite the journey. I started the build on November 28, 2024. So almost 7 months on her. I’m very happy how she turned out and now I need to build a case. The next build will by Cheerful from Syren. I purchased the last one. It arrived a couple of days ago. It’s been sitting in the shipyard, unopened acclimating to 8% humidity. HAHA Thanks for the likes and following along. I appreciate all the encouragement as it really helps to stay on task. Now on to the photos! Here is how it all began… Now, this is what we have. I’ve really enjoyed the kit. It’s no wonder so many people point to Vanguard as a top notch kit. I also could not have done it without following along what other builders have done. So thank you to all that post their build logs. They are troublesome at times but they sure do help us new guys. Thanks for following along and let me know what you think. Chris

Personally I wouldn’t get involved with mixing pigments. That can be a rabbit hole of epic proportions. “ Let’s add a little of this, oh too much. Let’s add this to tone down that color….” Then you make mud. Been there. Unless you are trying to match a specific historical color for accuracy and such, I would think you can find a consumer product that will meet your expectations. Danish oils have a myriad of colors. You could get adhesion problems later if you need to glue something that’s been oiled. Shellac is tried and true. There are shades and it’s compatible with anything and everything. You can top coat it, leave it. Buff it to a shine, steel wool it to a satin finish on and on and on. How dark are you trying to go? I need to go read the original question. Hahaha ok did that… You can shellac, light sand to remove fuzz then paint. Sanding sealer is a weird product. It’s sort of s made up name. As you’ve found it’s hard to pin down. Usually it is just a lacquer spray that can then be sanded and topcoat applied. (Just like if you buy simply lacquer spray!) You can paint over either one. Sanding sealer is usually a spray. Shellac is a better choice in my opinion. Chris

The only real way to find what looks good is to do some tests. In full size woodworking we’ll always have tests with and without sealer, toner, stain etc. all with various topcoats. If that’s what we’re trying. Though topcoats don’t change much. A golden shellac might look nice. Could give a warm color like wipe on poly can do. Chris

Daniel, the amount of research you do never ceases to amaze. The ship is looking great. Chris

I’ve been using the Syren machine for a few months now and it works great. You can check my latest build log of my alert. I’ve been using it pretty extensively. With that said I’m thinking of scratch building one because I would much rather have a motor on it. Chris

I’m really coming up to the end of the build. Time to work on the anchors. As many do, I also decided to make the tops from scrap pear cutoffs. Used the kit supplied black paper as the bands and fishing line for the nails. Then some WOP. The printed parts needed a little cleanup. Then paint and a little dry brushing. Now let’s scratch build some anchor buoys! One of the hard parts was getting the second one to match. Haha. Then some shrink tubing for bands. I didn’t shrink it. I glued it in place. Then the basket sort of thing around it. I served a bunch of .35mm line. Then glued and served 16 tiny eyes. Assembling these little things was a chore. I could have used another hand that had 6 fingers. I was a little disappointed when I coated them in very watered down matt medium and it darkened the ropes so it decreased the contrast and made that part a little harder to see. Still pretty happy as a first try. Put it all together with the rope loops and mounted it to the ratlines. Lashed the anchors and that part is done! So the only things left now are rope hanks and some touch up work. I’ve made a few hanks and we’ll just say I’m looking forward to more practice. Thanks for checking in! Chris

Still working on rigging. Just following along other builds at this point as I’m completely out of my element. Working on the backstays… I needed to remake the band for the bowsprit. This one is much stronger. Bowsprit stays(?) and catfalls… It seems that I have just been working along and have neglected to take many photos. I’ll need to slow down and remember to take more as we’re coming to the end. Still need to make anchors, maybe anchor buoys, rope hanks and touchups. Thanks for following along! Chris