Craigie65

You could do a roaring trade with the base board. The gun port pattern seem to have aligned well - did you have any trouble with them? Looking forward to following your build log.

Just remembered I had problems with the gratings You need to be careful as you are supposed to get three gratings out of the parts provided. I just thought there would be enough for three separate gratings but no you need to share. I ended up buying another pack

Thanks Simon I have completed the President and will try and get a few more pics posted I have been busy with the Granado and have not been on line for ages Good luck with your build You asked for some pointers If you want a pedestal stand pre drill the slots in the keel before you plank. My ship has a list Don't be put off by the quality of some of the timber. Especially the wales. If I was doing this again I think I would use a few layers rather than trying to bend one piece that kept splitting. This was especially true of the capping rail for the forecastle. The rigging is really basic and I decided to try and replicate something more akin to,what it should be. However you will need to think about racks for belying pins. I was lazy and used copper eyelets rather than struggle to retrofit them. Also this meant buying lots more blocks etc I think I am overscale on some of the cordage and will look to use finer rigging thread on the Granado

Ah I see the AOTS picture now! Wire is the way to go

Thanks Wayne, Decided to go with red. The brass caps for the trunnions are giving me a problem. Instructions say use the dome headed nails to fix. But the diameter of the hole in the brass fixture is way smaller than that of the nails. Did you have this problem? If so how did you overcome? I am thinking of making wire pins to fit the hole in the brass and just use PVA to recreate a dome. Will all be hidden under black paint Will start my log shortly as the bulkheads arrived on Saturday.

Timmo, While I wait on the bulkheads for my kit to arrive from JoTiKa I have made a start on the cannon. I see you have opted for natural wood for the gun carriages. Did you give any consideration to red ochre? Thanks

Finally I have plucked up the courage to post my build of Sergal's HMS President. The kit was bought several years ago after thinking that plastic was cheating I only got as far as assembling the keel, bulkheads, false deck and one strip of the first planking before it ended in the cupboard and I turned to the dark side of model aircraft Last year, July I think, I came across the kit in the cupboard and decided to have another crack. Well a year later I am close to finishing. So here are a few pics The plans from the kit seemed nowhere close to how I imagined a ship should be rigged. So I purchased Lennarth Petersson's book on rigging period ships. At the moment I am adding the braces but have run out of blocks to do the topgallant braces. The kit has nowhere near enough! I think I'll skip the cluelines and sheets. While I was doing the Fore and Fore topsail braces I noticed that main stay was above the preventer stay So out with the knife and the preventer stay is now in the right place I can see some more rigging errors (too many fore stays as I don't have a flying jib boom) but I am not about to re-rig this. The model is a good one for a beginner like me but probably not very accurate - I am sure the carronades would destroy the main and fore channels! I think I read that it might not be a real ship! I have purchased HM Bomb Vessel Granado from Caldercraft after coming across Timmo's excellent build while on holiday. I will start a build log once I receive the bulkheads - yes I 2 keels and no bulkheads. Jotika/Caldercraft is on the case. Craig

Hi Mobbsie, What an absolutely stunning build! I would love to build something that big but I'll need to sell the kids first Until then I'll keep dreaming

Very nice build indeed. I have been mulling over whether to buy this kit - your photo diary has given me the inspiration to do so. Perhaps I might even pluck up the courage to post my efforts! Craig