Pygothian

Amazing work Ollie.  I've been away for a few months, and remember you starting this build.  The level of detail and your ingenuity was extremely impressive.  I see you have continued on your meticulous build. 

I am still finding the time to start my first build, despite still ordering more kits!  

2 toddlers, a puppy great dane, moving house, working full time, and a wife who just had surgery doesn't leave me much time.

You are doing a fantastic job mate.

Beautiful build Ron, and an amazing log. I'm looking forward to following your progress and learning along the way!

Cheers

All good ideas. Anyone know the best solution for getting plans to stay flat after being rolled or folded.

My Syren plans area really needing some flattening. I don't want to iron them incase I damage them, but if want them nice and flat.

Cheers

Rowan

That is an awesome idea, I love it. Will definitely try this technique out

Cheers

Rowan

I think the ship looks absolutely beautiful how she is. If it was mine I'd leave it as is, and would be extremely proud of it!

Cheers

Rowan

Thanks for clearing this up.

As I've never physically seen ebony, I guess it's something I'll have to keep an eye out for.

From everyone's description however, sounds hard to work with, and maybe not for a beginner.

Cheers

Rowan

As I'm pretty new to this, I'm curious as to the differences this makes to painting the wales black ?

Does it look better ?

Anyone have an example comparing black paint vs this dye ebonizing ?

Sorry for my ignorance, just curious, as it seems quite tricky, and not without risk if mistakes a made.

Wow..that's an impressive looking kit. What are the dimensions of this one?

You are doing a fantastic job...are you sure this is your 1st build ?

It's making me feel very inferior when I finally get around to starting my build - work is chaos at the moment catching up after a few days off sick

I'm looking forward to further posts on your AVS, you are doing an amazing job.

Cheers

Rowan

Are you not going to copper hull it ?

I'm still.yet to decide if I'm going to paint and copper, or leave all natural, change the woods and use some stains.

Your build is looking great

Cheers

Rowan

Still feeling too sick to start building, but got some goodies in the mail today.

Full replacement rigging and blocks in Swiss pear from Chuck!

Also got a few other goodies

And a MS waterway marker as I'm probably to lazy to build my own jig

Hopefully I'll get started this week once the antibiotics kick in

I've got 2B and 4B. Is the general consensus 2B ?

I'm assuming 4B is too soft and gives too much caulking effect.

Very lovely ship you have there Anja, it's quite refreshing to see something new.

I'm finding just about everyone builds the victory, endeavour, constitution and Syren (myself included!)

Take care

Rowan

Holly is great for a deck and boxwood for a hull. I'm using both on Fly and can testify for their qualities. Rafine's stunning builds here also use that combo - have a look at his Fair American and, more recently, his Essex. I have also heard that ebony is very difficult to use and has very nasty dust.CheersAlistair

Cool, I'll check out your Fly to get an idea of the look.

Thanks

Rowam

Get better Rowan, I got my build log started yesterday and Im looking forward to seeing yours.

 

Charley

Thanks, still laid up in bed with the ipad researching. I just checked out your log, looking very good.

I've corded new rope and dead eyes etc from Chuck, and they will be here hopefully Monday.

I'm just looking into substitute wood, as knowing my luck, I'll need extra wood anyway, but using higher quality wood might make life easier too.

I've been advised holly makes a good deck wood, boxwood is good for hulls.

I love the Swiss pear colour, and want to do a lot of the deck details with that, as it apparently is easy to carve.

I've been told Ebony is good for the wales too, if you don't want to paint the wood black.

Looking great Charley.

I'll be watching and learning from you as I begin my build.

I just hope I don't have inventory issues, or out of scale parts.

Cheers

Rowan

I agree with Augie. I considered this first model to be training for the next, so I ended up with planking that I could have left un-coppered. But since I wanted to try the copper also, I went ahead and coppered the hull. I'm glad that I did. I didn't have much success with making tic marks on the bulkhead so I came up with a transparent blanking guide which allowed me to make small adjustments on each plank as I went along. it worked good for me.

Is that just a transparent ruler, nut flexible to bed around the bulkheads?

Where did you find it.

Cheers

Rowan

Sorry for the delay in starting the build, I've been struck down with a virulent case of man-flu and I'm sure a bit of scurvy too.

My other half has said she will call the undertaker if I don't get out of bed soon.

With some luck I'll have the strength to mount my shiny new No 11 scapel blade and start slicing some laser burnt remnants!

Happy building all, and I'll be back on board soon.

Cheers

Rowan

What a great idea.

How hard would this be for someone with soldering experience ?

Cheers

Rowan

Thats why I couldn't resist.  It was always on back order for 15-30 days prior to me eventually buying the Syren on a special code that got it down to $199.

They then did a halloween deal, and there were 8 in stock, so I ordered it for 79.99 and the paint set for $35, only to discover the deal came with paint free too, so they refunded my extra paint charge.

Now it says its over 300 when I check the site with no discount.  Prices seem to move around so quickly.

Cheers

Thank you so much for your advice. I've already ordered a full set of rigging and blocks from Chuck for the Syren. Brian C has put me onto Jeff to mill me some Swiss pear and holly planks.

It makes total sense starting smaller, and since I got the AVS plus paint for $80 is a bargain.

I'm learning towards getting the one under my belt as you say, so I think when the AVS arrives, she will be the one I learn my new skills on.

Thanks for all your help.

Cheers

Rowan

Wow!

I just bought this on the Halloween sale at model expo.

Now I'm considering if I should do this one before the Syren, as it may be more basic. What would you suggest ?

I love the Swiss pear. Why did you source it from?

I want to put it on my Syren, but wouldn't know where to even begin finding this wood, let alone cut to the thickness required as I have no fancy power tools (and all my fingers)

Wife has drawn the line on power tools!