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Thanks guys, for the supportive comments and likes - much appreciated. Spars I promised to post some more on constructing the various spars. I won't go into exhaustive detail as much of it will be familiar territory for many people, and I've already logged quite a lot of information on how I shape masts and yards - for example here and here. However I'd be very happy to answer any specific questions about points I've missed or not covered in enough detail. For now, I'll just fill in a couple of gaps as I see them. First a couple of mistakes, which I hope will serve as a warning to others not to rush ahead without studying the plans properly . I was so keen to get all the spars shaped I did just that regarding the main boom and the driver boom. In both cases I tapered each end of the boom identically, failing to notice that one end had to fit into the jaws that hold the boom against the mast. I'd tapered that end too much, and although I could have squeezed the jaws to hold the boom it just wouldn't have looked right (even if the glue had held). Also, I failed to note that the main boom is not symmetrical - in fact the widest part is not in the centre of the boom, but considerably offset towards one end. Again, it just didn't look right. I was particularly annoyed because I knew booms are often shaped like this, and I'd got it right on my previous 3-master. So, no alternative but to redo. Fortunately I was able to use dowel from the kit as the booms will be painted and there are no octagonal sections. Once I'd redone the booms and fitted the jaws, I filed the end of the booms so they merged into the jaws more smoothly and also rounded off the edges of the jaws: The next picture shows a couple of points worth mentioning: First, you'll notice I've taken the advice in the kit instructions and fitted a pin to the main yard (in fact to all the yards). Pinning the yards to the masts makes rigging much easier, and it is much better to fit the pins and make the required holes in the masts and bowsprit at this stage when everything is fully accessible. Also, I want to point out another use of my favourite substitute for iron straps - shrink-wrap tube, which you can see on the boom jaws and the yard arm. I'm still using the huge stock I got from Amazon years ago for about £5 and it'll last another couple of lifetimes. I've made up a little jig to cut bands on equal width: By inserting shims I can cut the different sizes of band I need. The last point I'll cover in this post is about drilling holes...and there's a lot of holes needed in these spars! For example I count 17 in this one little spritsail yard: Although that's partly because I've got the original photo-etched cleats - I understand Chris now produces laser cut wood cleats. Still a lot of holes though. Two tips I've got that I've found helpful. First, if you need to ensure that two components are exactly opposite each other - for example the yardarm cleats - it's easier to drill one hole straight through than trying to get two holes to line up from opposite sides of the spar. Similarly, with very thin spars such as the one above (3mm tapering to 2mm, I think) its a good idea to drill right through for components such as the footrope stirrups and the ringbolts. This ensures sufficient contact for the glue to hold, and as the spar will be painted the extra holes can easily be sorted. I'll save the second point on drilling for another post as this one is already getting a bit long (and my lunch is ready!). Derek

Thanks Glenn. I'm using an iphone so I'll try that. I'll struggle to get them done AND your cannon rigged

Stuns'l Booms and Boomkins I added the stuns'l booms this afternoon. I'd already made some boxwood dowels using a homemade drawplate I described earlier, so all I had to do was sand them to shape in the lathe: Here's all eight fitted: While I had some spare dowel I decided to make the boomkins, simple spars with just a shallow groove in the outboard end. This was easy to make with a round-edged file: Note to self: try to figure out why some shots are perfectly sharp and others are rubbish Derek

Hi Tim. The dust cabinet is nothing special - just a few lengths of spare wood and some plastic sheeting stapled to the outside. The sheet folds up out of the way at the front. Derek

SPARS Work on the masts and yards is progressing well. I've dry-fitted the masts and bowsprit just to make sure everything looks right before I apply glue. Here she is in my homemade dust cabinet: Here's the various yards and booms: Everything is just awaiting painting and rigging with blocks etc before fitting to the ship. I'll post a few more pictures on some of the detailed points of interest once I get them sorted (other domestic duties are intruding on dockyard time just now!). Derek

Good spot Bruce - I thought AL were out of business. I've just ordered both sets. Derek

At last - an argument in favour of untidyness! Can I use this one with my wife?

Glenn, you have created a thing of true beauty. Those shots of the completed hull are simply stunning. The best compliment I can make is that your planking is indistinguishable from that of the master, Chuck Passaro. I agree with Lou on treenails. They're clearly a matter of personal preference but all too often they can make the ship look like it has a bad case of the measles. For me, leaving them off and not over-doing the caulking allows the eye to focus on the beautiful lines of the ship and the superb planking. Perfect. Thanks again for the detailed explanations which I shall bookmark under 'planking tutorials', as before. This is yet another model I'm going to have to add to my ever-growing wish-list! Derek

Looking really good. Novel use of sugar/flour shakers and oven mitts!

Excellent description of how you use the Byres saw Glenn. I've had mine about a year now but I'm still learning how best to use it and I'm definitely going to adopt one or two of your tips - especially the wood block you use to keep the work snug against the fence. One point I wasn't sure about. I knew from Jim's instruction sheet that you are supposed to tighten the front fence knob first, then the back. However I thought the 0.005" relief was built into the fence - I didn't realise you had to push the back end of the fence to achieve that offset. Or have I misunderstood something? Thanks again for a useful tutorial. Derek

Not if you’ve got a decent table saw. My Preac leaves a virtual mirror finish; the Byrnes saw has a micrometer stop accurate to 0.01mm and the finish is nearly as good. The downside is cost. I was lucky, buying the Preac years ago before prices (and import duties) got silly and the Byrnes more recently off eBay for a bargain. If you can stretch to a Byrnes saw (or strike lucky like me in the second hand market) I’d highly recommend getting one. Derek

Well handled Gerry. It's always great to see other people's mistakes - and fixes. It serves as a caution to others to avoid the same errors and brings comfort to modellers like me who are always making our own mistakes. Good job wood is such a forgiving material! Derek

Hi Gerry Yes, I fitted the laser etched deck onto the false ply deck before I decided to lay the boxwood planks. By then it was too late to remove the laser deck so I just had to make my planks thin! Derek

From memory (I’m not in my workshop so can’t check) the false deck is 0.8mm. I used 0.5mm planks on top of that so you should be fine with 1mm planks if you’re leaving the false deck off. I cut mine 3.5mm wide which is 9” at full scale. I think that matched Chris's deck midships, although he showed the planks tapering towards the bows and stern. I suspect that may have been poetic licence on his part - I’m sure a naval dockyard would have preferred to deal with nice straight boards, leaving sophisticated planking layouts to super-yachts! Having said that, Chris puts a lot of research into his designs so he may have found information to prove me wrong. Be good if you could try reproducing the margin plank and joggling though - a nice visual touch which isn’t as hard as it may look. And of course I don’t mind you asking - that’s the great thing about this forum - I’ve learned so much from other members, I welcome the opportunity to put something back. Derek

Odd thing is Tim, castello boxwood comes from Paraguay, so I don’t know why it’s easier for us to get hold of? Derek

Hi Drumgerry Great to see another Vanguard model log. I was seriously tempted to get Flirt - I suspect it’ll be even better than Speedy now that Chris does his own laser cutting. However it’s very similar to Speedy so I’m waiting for one of Chris’s future models. That’s an impressive chunk of castello! I also get mine from Timberline and I’ve always been happy with their service. I normally buy thinner boards - either 4mm, 6mm or 12mm and usually 1m X 100mm. If I want planks I just slice them off the edge of the appropriate board. Similarly, for spars I just cut square lengths then plane/sand them to round. You’ve probably got several models-worth in your board! I’ll follow your log with interest (and I’m glad you found mine useful). Best wishes Derek

I've always left flags off models as I could never get them to look realistic enough. You've managed it beautifully, and I'll certainly have a go with your method in future. And I'm strongly tempted to get the barge having seen your superb work (once I've finished several other items already in the dockyard!). Derek

You've done a fine job on those gunport patterns James. As you say, any slight irregularities will be hidden by the planking. I found this part of the build a challenge, but you've nailed it (unintentional pun ). Well done! Derek

I agree - the etched numbers and words on components make the kit even more foolproof. I think I'll have to add the Duchess to my Christmas wish list.

The chauffeur! Why didn't I think of that? "Parker! I say, Parker...!"

"The man who makes no mistakes does not usually make anything" Edward John Phelps 1899

Thanks Glenn. You really can do most of this stuff with a drill or rotary tool securely mounted. The advantage of the lathe is that the hollow headstock enables you to hold long spars in the middle, as I did with Speedy's main yard. The good news is that wood lathes are a lot cheaper than metal working lathes. The Proxxon one I use would probably go for less than $200 in the U.S. Do what I do when I want a new tool - put your valet on short time for a few weeks and save the money that way 🤑🤪 Derek

Spars #2 The thinnest spars are the flying jibboom and the stuns'l booms, all 2mm. The latter are unpainted so need to be made from box like the masts. In both cases I doubted my ability to use the square/octagonal/round method I use for larger spars so I tried an alternative. On my recent English Pinnace build I used a homemade drawplate to make the oars. These were 2.4mm in diameter so I saw no reason why I couldn't use the same method here. I explained the method in detail in my pinnace log, including how I made the drawplate. I really would urge anyone to have a go at this if they need to make small diameter dowels. It's not hard, and just requires a suitable piece of steel (eg an old steel ruler) and some decent drill bits. I've got a set of 1mm to 6mm bits in 0.1mm increments which is ideal. The pinnace log has plenty of pictures, but here's a couple for Speedy. The first one is a bit daft really - the spar is spinning so you can't see it's square going into the drawplate! But at least you can see it will handle a reasonable length. Here's the drawplate right up to the chuck: And the first of four dowels completed. These four will be enough for all 8 stuns'l booms, and the flying jibboom is visible at the top. A lot quicker, easier and more accurate than sanding ( although of course the stuns'l booms will require tapering). I've tried the technique with larger diameters but with less success. For some reason larger holes in the drawplate tend to leave unwanted spiral grooves in the wood. I may do a bit more experimenting in the future, but for now I'm happy using the plane-to-octagon method with anything over 2mm. Derek

Spars Rather than wait until I've completed all the spars I thought I'd do two or three posts to log progress. As I mentioned earlier I decided to make all the masts from boxwood, starting with square stock, planing it to octagonal then sanding to round where necessary (see post #187). I also decided to make all the yards from kit-supplied dowels as these would be painted black. I'll start with a couple of exceptions to these decisions. First, the main and fore yards have octagonal centre sections. Chris suggests starting with 6mm dowel, creating the octagonal section with a file and then sanding the rest. I thought it would be easier to start with square stock, plane it all to octagonal then sand all but the centre section. I started with over-length square stock, planning to leave enough spare wood at each end of the yards to grip in the lathe chuck. However I decided that sanding a ten inch stick with only one inch held in the lathe was making the job harder than it needed to be. Instead, I wrapped a small piece of sandpaper round the centre section of the yard and held that in the chuck. The sandpaper provided enough grip to hold the stock firmly but without damaging it. I was then able to sand each end in turn. I was slightly surprised to see that the plans call for the fore and main yards to be identical, although Chris notes that Cochrane is thought to have lengthened the main yard by a few feet (Chris suggests 15 - 20mm). I don't know how far unrated vessels like Speedy conformed to rules current at the time for larger ships, but lengthening the main yard as suggested brings the ratios of the various spars much closer to the 'norm' - namely that the main yard diameter should be 0.9 X the main mast diameter and the fore yard 0.875 X the main yard. I'll cover the second exception to my decisions about spars in the next post. Derek

Lovely, atmospheric model (I can almost smell the herring!) and another excellent build log. What's next in the dockyard? Derek