airdataman

I received my Duchess of Kingston kit a couple of weeks ago and since then I have been building it with help from Glenn Shelton's excellent and very detailed build log in conjunction with the fantastic manual that came with the kit. I am currently at the stage of just completing the second planking. I am afraid that I have spent most of the time actually building the model and didn't think to take many photographs during the build. However, here are a few taken after completion of the first planking. The only issues that I had with this section of the build were due to my own clumsiness where I managed to break off the delicate figure head mount on the bow and break a couple of the temporary cross beams. Otherwise all looked good. The technique that I used to smooth the planks was possibly unusual and may be of interest: I used a Stanley Knife blade as a scraper to remove the bulk of the material, which left the planks very smooth whilst not generating the large amount of fine dust normally associated with sanding. I only needed to use a fine grade sandpaper to give the final finish. I will post some relating to the next stages later together with some comments on a issue that I encountered with the second planking (my fault) soon. Dave Current Builds: HMS Victory - Caldercraft HMY Chatham - Caldercraft Royal Yacht Duchess of Kingston 1778 - Vanguard Models Build in Waiting: Mary Rose - Caldercraft

Since receiving my DOK kit last Monday I have been following your log with great interest. I am sure that it has prevented me from falling into some of the issues that you have encountered - particularly as I have an additional 16 years worth of excuses for having my own "senior moment "or two! My build has been going quite well and I am now at the point were I am about to start the second planking - though I have had a coupe of issues: 1) Inevitably I managed to break a couple of the temporary cross beams whilst handing the model during the first planking - I notice that you also seem to have had an issue with this! 2) Also being quite clumsy I managed to break off the figurehead mount on the bow - I knew that I was likely to do that and I did! But never mind I think that I have managed to repair it when putting on the Bow Outer Facings. You may be interested that I didn't need to insert the stealers that you have used at the stern. I think the reason for that is that I tapered some of the early planks around the initial bend. Looking at the pictures in instructions it looks like this is what was done on the original prototype. It would probably be helpful if this was pointed out in the text associated with these steps. However, it must be said that the overall standard of the instructions is excellent! Best of luck with your build. Dave