TheWanderingGatherer

Yes, I could not figure if i was meant to do more for the slope or not. Will fit with the deck again and sand down where there is bad overlap only on the bulkheads.

Hello all! After some research and anxiety, I have started work on the hull of my Fram (from Occre). It is my first real model (finished one cheap fishing vessel) so I might even butcher nomenclature.. I ordered Ship Modeling Simplified, but it was three weeks away, and after watching some tutorials (for Fram and for other ships) I figured I could at least do the bulkheads (mistake!). I learned from my mistakes in my trial model and was sure that if everything is perpendicular I cannot go wrong (mistake, again). The second part of the false deck fits perfectly. The main part has two or three big misfits, and I cannot figure out what the issue was. It seems to be at a completely wrong angle and is not flush. It seems to be the same on both sides! The deck is flush on the keel, so the bulkheads seem too low? When I glued them, they looked to be at a right angle. I checked a few times, but I might not have been exact enough. Of course, now I have the book and I see I should have checked the symmetry and other things. My question is: how bad is this? Can I still fix it? Worth it to (try) unglue? Or just sand it down? Any feedback appreciated.

Thank you! Will look at Mastini. After I get a few more tools (especially sandpaper, I used all of mine up) will start the large model and hope for the best.

Yes, lesson learned. The amazon one is 100% a Chinese fake, nonsense photos, extra elements that are never mentioned and some elements that I think are missing. The real model seems quite nice, but harder to find. This lovely fishing ship is very, very copied. Ship Modeling Simplified sounds perfect, thank you very much for the recommendation. I had it saved from a few weeks ago but did not know if it was worth it. I was also looking at Planking Techniques for Model Ship Builders and The Art of Rigging.

Thank you! An electric plank bender is on my list. Sparse offerings here, might have to order from Amazon again and pay any import tax. Do you have a recommended model?

Thank you for the welcome! Looking forward to get more glue on my fingers. I never considered to open my Fram and use the kit. Did not see if it comes with pins or not! Now that you mention it, it might even have a better instruction book for the other elements... Yes "Terror" is on my to watch list. I think it is only on Prime, so I have to hunt around a bit. Saw quite a few documentaries and it's a fitting story for a horror series.

Hi, my name is Alexa and I am new. I am in my mid 30s, currently live in Norway, and I am very interested in the Heroic Age of Antarctic (and Arctic) exploration. I know nothing about sailing, boats, or woodworking. In fact, this is why I am interested in models, when I read about Nansen, Amundsen, Scott, and Shackleton, I want to understand more. I started thinking about models a year ago when I saw that I could buy a kit of my favorite ship, Fram. I came to the forums a bit, saw how long it takes, how many people give up, and felt discouraged. Then Fram was heavily discounted and I got it for myself for Christmas. How could I say no? It's the OcCre one, including paint and lights. I saw that everyone recommended starting with a quicker, easier model, and since I did not want to ruin Fram (my beloved), I ordered the cheapest (and cutest) model I could find on Amazon. I now think it's a knockoff, but it did the job. You can see it bellow. Here is what I learned. Hope you will find this amusing. Terrible instructions. They actually made me feel better, because it felt acceptable to make mistakes, since it was impossible to get it right with no experience. I did research on the internet a bit, but after a few weeks I got into a bad loop of not being able to start because I did not know enough, I had no tools, no space. Hence why I pushed through and decided to just go for it and accept the mistakes. Done is better than perfect (for the Amazon model. Fram will, of course, be the very definition of perfection, right?). I was too eager to paint. I wanted to paint everything, all the time, even before gluing. Sometimes I did. Watercolor was not ideal. Why did I watercolor the planks too? Maybe I should mention my main hobby is painting. I did not measure the angles for the hull, had no tools, and hoped my eye is good enough. Let’s say the final shape is very unique and twisted. This created a lot of problems that I had to fix, and I am glad I noticed and understood them (after the fact). For some reason, I started with superglue. I did not have clamps yet and was trying to work fast. I learned to slow down. I ruined a lot of small details too and had to remake them from scratch. Planking was an experience. I could not, for the love of any god, make it nice, clean, and without holes. Maybe not enough water? Planks not flexible enough? I filled everything with crack filler, sanded it a million times, and added paint (acrylic this time). At least it has no holes now. I am sure worse ships can still float. Planking again. How do people hold the planks? I did not have little nails, and the small pins I used splintered the planks badly. Maybe it was too small. I need far more research here. I tried rubber bands; they also got glued to the model and were hard to remove. Later, I used superglue in places to keep it down when I could find no other solution. The model is probably 10% superglue, if I am honest. My fingers are 40% superglue. I added many details myself. Rope holding the elements, metal paint. I painted the interior of the cabin even though I know nobody will see it. It was my favorite part. I could do this forever. No sails. The instructions were so bad that I could not even understand how to start. I might still try, after more research. I did not record how long it took, but probably a good few days (weeks?) of continuous work. It was a fun experiment in problem solving and learning new skills. I now understand the tutorials better, and I hope I am slightly better equipped for the real deal. I also have more tools, and best of all, I am still interested in starting Fram. I don't know if I will ever finish, but listening to an audiobook and working on the model was quite fun. Even if I lose interest by summer, I think half a model is better than just browsing the net. So hello everyone! I would love to hear silly (or not so silly) mistakes you did and how you fixed them! I struggle with instructions a bit, since I would love a bit more detail about the "why," so all my research is taking a long time and keeping me from starting.