Major

Keep working on it mate, I love to see your progress. Did I tell you before you do amazing job?

Thank you . Apologies for slow updates, but since we had weekend, i wanted to spend some time with my family as well . Today my son had his first ride on my bike and he loved it to bits! Later I took daughter out, just to watch sunset somewhere in countryside, we found some horses as well, took us a while . Anyway, progress untill yesterday's morning After that I glued upper deck with its brass plating, bent stairs down, fixed bulwarks completely, painted some cannons, glued hatches, bent bowsprit countless times (it is much easier than it seems!), glued two cannons to the deck... Hamilton, thanks for advice re guns. It worked for some of them, but since my ship is not pefrect, I might be guilty of poor fit now... One thing that made build much less enjoyable are all metal parts. All, with no exception. They bend easily, also break easily, are not easy to clean up and a total nightmate to paint! Any coat will come off as soon as I look at it, in addition paints don't really stick well to it.... I'd much rather have plastic cannons and hatches and ply bulwarks. Instructions state that masts should be painted too. I am not too keen on that, but will try. If I don't like finish, I will just polish them and leave without paint at all. I finished just now cause there is work tomorrow morning... Photo is of very low quality, but at least shows what I had done so far Only two guns, deckhouse, anchors and some paint touch-ups and I can get to work on what I like the most - masts, lines, sails! . I think she might be finished by the end of the week, but that's not for sure... More to follow soon...

After few long days of being stuck at work, I finally managed to get back to my Hannah. I bought today satin cote from Humbrol, got black thread, but also one which is light brown-ish. I got it to simulate the lines for cannons and anchors, but am not sure if I will use it. Finally little hull received long awaited coat of satin and then, after few minutes, disaster happened. I knocked it off the table top with my hand and it fell on the middle shelf... well, not on the shelf, I managed to dip it in my nearly full of water glass. Sorry, but didn't take photo . Luckily clear coat was dry enough and nothing happened. And it actualy floats, but upside down :D I have also polished keel and bulwarks, which were later bent to shape again and dry fitted to the deck. I've bent slightly those parts of the deck with holes and now guns seem to match just fine . Bulwarks themselves are still not broken but I snapped off one part with another hole it in, at the bow. Oh well, nothing that drop of glue won't fix Some photos will be uploaded tomorrow, along with next part of the log. Cheers Tom

Thank you for kind words mate . That is one downside of using washes - they are suppossed to bring out shades etc, so some lifts will be showing up. Finally I didn't even touch the model before work, but next step will include one more coat of wash for my hull. Would like to get it done quickly now, so I can proceed to decks and rigging (can't wait for my sails to go up!), but on the other side - can't glue keel in place without coating hull with satin (I think it deffo will need it to bring out some shine on the wood ) and I don't want to risk getting it dirty after polishing. Ehh, did I mention I hate when work gets in a way of hobby? Another thing that sprung to my mind - how you (I mean builders of Hannah) managed to get guns in correct places? Were there any problems? I have seen that bulwarks need to be raised a little, but how can it be done if they are glued to decks? Just now had my dinner and having a rest after work, might get something done today. Regards Tom

Nice to see a bigger version of "my" ship . Will follow with interest

Morning Hamilton . Yeah, quarterdeck will need a lot of sanding yet. I considered building it without parts that were marked as optional, but later I thouht it'll be easier to sand down excess rather than build up lack of wood . But I must say that sanding plywood isn't the task I like the most - hard or medium balsa is my choice . That is a good Idea with satin finish. I must admit, I didn't really think about it, but what you say about glass + gloss coat makes a lot of sense. My paints are just surprising me... I started to play with models many years ago and I remember from modelling group we had in school that Humbrols were much, much better than now, same as beer and some other alcohols (but I remember that NOT from school ). In some cases black undercot solves the problem, but can't really use it everywhere, especially that I don't have an airbrush. Here is the picture in a daylight I think I will apply final coat of wash and that would be it. Since I have some time before work yet, I will try and paint some metal castings and will leave fitting them for after work relax . All the best Tom

Hamilton - your posts here are very helpful and informative, and once again I thank you for your input - it's appreciated a lot! I have been working on Hannah everyday since I got the glue, but as I expected, progress slowed down to almost standstill. As much as I enjoy it, I don't like painting after work - can't really see details and usually I find some bits that need touch up. Here is the picture Before anyone will be getting ready to keel haul me - let me just say that everything is dry fitted! I swear !! As you can see, hull has been shaped somehow and for my first model I am happy with that. I also painted it with Ogryn Flesh wash - it's one of paints I used to paint my miniatures. I applied two coats, but think one more will do no harm - and after that will also apply a layer of gloss varnish. I did some research but couldn't find any info on full size Hannah, except for what is on Wiki. And since everybody has white Hannah, I wanted to do something different . I also think that decks will remain as they are now - for some reason mt paints don't cover it at all when I try to put thin layer on, so to avoid loosing details, I decided to leave them alone . I also painted some hatches and one anchor, but I did it now, so most probably will have to do it again in daylight. Keel and masts will also remain unpained I think - will polish them, a bit, but again - don't want to make my ship look like one blob of paint. Quarter deck is still unshaped and not washed, but it will be prepared. I think that's all for now, next update in a day or two . Regards Tom

Thank you again Patrick . Today I managed to sand my little hull a bit more, but it's still long way to go... Will have some fun with it after work, and hopefully will finish sanding in few days. What I noticed, the slot for keel I cut is a little too deep, I have about 1mm left when parts are put together, but that will be easy fix too. Might actualy leave it a bit deeper, so I have more room when it comes to final stage. More to follow soon. Cheers

Thank you again for good info mate. I finally managed to get my lower deck to stay in place, but before that I painted brass decks and some hatches. Think I will give it a wash later on, cause that shine looks terrible. Decks don't really look like decks, so might paint it with mix of white and brown and later give it a brown-black wash. Also don't like the idea of leaving hatches unpainted, so might spill some gunmetal or even dark silver on them, to resemble bars. After that I started to shape my little hull.... Well, few hours have passed and I can see no end of it... I didn't think it will be so time consuming. I also got a little carried away with stern and sanded one side just a tiny bit too much. Upper deck still fits though, and I still have some room for final shaping, but it will be more precise job that I wanted it to be... Ehhh, being careless paid off very quickly... I have also cut the slot for keel and here are few things too. Hull seems to be on the short side, but still meets both ends. I also got something in the middle of the hull and for some reason using junior hacksaw doesn't seem to work, but will figure it out later. Another thing, parts 13,14 and 15 started to come off again, so will have to put them back and of course finish sanding. Questions :D Just one - how deep keel is supposed to sit in the hull? Progress so far Not bad for two days, but I'm affraid I will have to slow down a lot during the week. Hate when work gets in the way of anything... All the best Tom

Thank you for the picture. But what do you mean by saying you've not given up yet?? You can't give up at the finish line mate . If you're too mad now to work on it, put it aside for some time, but do make it to the end . Fingers crossed

Thank you Patrick!

I found the part no 5 the most off out of them all. It was much shorter than no 6, but wider at same time. I figured out I will just glue that bit somehow in the middle to avoid too big gaps at the bow and stern, but will see after shaping how clever was that idea... Progress from yesterday Today I finally finished hull and stern quarterdeck I also glued underdeck, but spotted quite big gap between that and hull, luckily glue still didn't set, so I took it off. Will resand it later and hopefully shape hull today. In the meantime, I am thinking of colour for it - somehow would prefer to see the wood itself instead of all white ship, but have no idea yet what to do with keel... Maybe a visit in local hobby craft will brighten my mind a bit Regards

Joys of modelling eh? Author of Tigersbay was using CA and he was happy with the result, so maybe it will be way to go? I wouldn't like to get any misting on the bottle as it isn't clear already, but from other side - it will be much easier to wipe inside with CA debonder than get rid of set epoxy from pins inside. Glad to see you were able to get her inside - some logs I have seen mention that it's almost impossbile, the required pressure is high etc. So we have another ship that was modelled correctly . I see you have used sails provided with the kit. If you don't mind, could you post a picture of the ship with masts up? It is for purely selfish purpose of making my mind up, as I don't know if I should storm the bedroom with scissors and attack the bedsheets (exposing myself to the anger of admiral at the same time ) Another question, have you already finished bottle stopper? Did you stain it or just left as it were? And what colour scheme have you chosen for crest? I couldn't make my mind up yesterday, there is fair amount of pics on google, all look simillar but every one is different. And I didn't like too much how it was painted @ Tigersbay, it seems unfinished to me. You're nearly there mate. Press on regardless! Good luck!

So far the only thing I don't like is quality of wooden parts - out of all, only one part of the hull was in fact matching the plan size wise. Rest of them is smaller, not really straight/round as they should be, it looked like some drunk operator was cutting them out . Luckily Amati provided 1:1 drawings, so if anything goes wrong during shaping of the hull, I will cut my own parts from my scrap wood . I knew it might come in handy one day . Also, a note for anyone wishing to start this kit. Copy the page with mentioned drawings, then cut them out and use as templates to mark "+" on your bread and butter. This would save a lot of time during construction. There are also parts with etched slot in the middle - do not separate them now, cut keel slot later, after hull is glued together. One of mine somehow snapped in the middle and this will take some time to put on nicely. Pic of today's progress will come tomorrow, it's dark now and my phone simply can't cope with light. That thing is really small. The more I do, the smaller it seems . Can't wait to crack on with guns and rest of the stuff . Thanks for kind words . Regards Tom

Looking good so far mate. Just remember to avoid overdoing it when sanding edges. Few careless moves and you might change the shape of parts, which might cause some problems later. I've learnt to be careful with that few years ago when I was building my first RC plane from kit. Good luck with your model. Keep us updated .

.Yeah, keep us updated. I just now play with hull construction

I've spent some time with bottle stopper and Washington's family crest, but my painting skills will need to be refreshed... Not happy at all with the result I've put parts away and moved onto the hull - at least for now it does not require painting Firstly, sheet of ply was given slight sanding, just to make it smoother and get rid of some discolouration, after that parts were numbered as shown in instructions Then I removed all components and tried them on the plan. It looks like fair amount of them is not exactly as they were meant to be.... ... but it's nothing that sand paper will not sort out later

Thank you gents. I managed to get my glue and few other bits. but my long awaited trip to seaside had to be postponed. Weather outside looks nice, but it's quite cold and looks like rain is about to hit, so I chose to stay at home and start building Hannah. I thought it might be good idea to get few bits done to check if I am not too rusty, and I can tell you - I am rusty as hell . Hands are shaking little bit more, eyes are not as good as they used to, it'll be fun build . So my first step was to prepare little stand for the ship. Since my smallest drill bit is too big (1.5mm...) for mounting columns, I just inserted one into my hand drill and pushed it onto the base - this made nice holes that will allow me to glue brass part on it and to accomodate all remaining columns without any wobbling etc. Here is the pic so far - with some small accessory I bought to make building even nicer . I know it's not the top stick, but it's name seems to match the climate of my build Brass part will be glued to wood with CA glue. More to follow in a bit, I guess it'll be almost live transmission of what happens Regards Edit So the first step would be done. For now I inserted only two columns as per instructions. The other two have to be shortened to accomodate keel, but I will do it all when the hull is built. They look straight-ish, also the base was slightl sanded, but will receive coat of paint later on.

Hamilton, maybe you could just rename thread and ask nicely moderators to move it to build log section? There still is some bits left to do I guess . I'm sure nobody would mind if you post a picture of your progress so far . All the best. Tom

Good morning everyone. After few years I finally got my first ship kit - received still warm box yesterday morning . For some reason I expected something more... or bigger... or maybe just a box filled with some more stuff... but when I started to look closely at all parts included, the scale of this ship has hit me like a tiny, micro bag of potatoes. My "previous small scale modelling" seems totally irrelevant now, seems like smallest bits I have painted before are of average size of Hannah bits.... First thoughts and impressions are the most positive. Plywood is of good quality, details on metal parts are amazing, there was even a strip of 180 grade sand paper included . However, the bottle included in the kit is not the clearest one I have ever seen (hope a good wash will make it better) and brass parts will require a little attention. Some have marks, some have fingerprints, but I will try and clean it all up - and if that's not possible, I'll just try and repaint them. I aim to use some build logs from here, as well as one @ Tigersbay blog as help. With all that information it seems easy, well - seemed easy till I have seen the parts, but I hope to finish it in maybe few weeks time. Will try and include some pictures of the build, just so I can share my progress and maybe some future builders of same kit will find it helpful . My modelling background stretches in time for more than 20 years now (how quickly that passed....), I started as a kid when my mum bought me first plastic aircraft kit - I remember it was Jak 1M . Since then I made planes, tanks, cars, railway, more planes, some figures like Mantic and Warhammer, RC planes made of balsa (electric and nitro powered), so I hope that it will be enough to start with my little girl. To compare scale of painted bits, here is a photo of Warhammer figures I painted few years ago. The pic was taken just now, so they faded a little bit. Height is about 4cm. And to fulfil MSW's tradition , two unboxing pics Now I will have to ride to my lms to get some glue - I can't find bottle of aliphatic anywhere, also few small drill bits might come handy. Then I plan to ride to seaside for few hours and start to build this little beauty later today. All the best. Tom

Igor, I don't have any idea how you can make such great work on such small areas/detail etc. "You mad bro!!" Great pleasure to watch your progress. Awesome skills you have!

Not sure if I'd use PVA to stick anything to glass...

Since I did not face the problem myself, can't speak from own experience, but I have seen that guy behind Tigersbay blog tested few glues during his SiB builds and was happy with the effect slow setting CA gave him. http://s.kahn.lyshanpress.com/blog/blog1.php I think I have seen it mentioned in Golden Yacht build, but have a look yourself . And since you didn't start your log for Hannah, how about posting some pics here, just so we can see how you get on? I;d love to see your progress . Regards Tom

Don't really know what to say, so I'll just pull a chair and will watch in silence. Looking forward to next update Igor, your work is truly amazing!

Many moons ago people used to rub candles all over the plan, so no glue would stick to your valuable sheet. Never tried this method, cause I was born a little later , but its effectiveness is confirmed by many modellers. For my plans I just used protective film that you can find on most covering materials for model aircraft - ie Solartex, or for small plans even kitchen film will do. Works fine for me. If you want to avoid any folding marks/damage, simple solution is just round the corner - get the postal tube, roll your plans and store them that way. No damage whatsoever. Any lamination is cool for nav charts (no matter if for sailors or pilots) as they are used very often, in difficult conditions, but imho for plans it is a little over the top. I have some plans back from 60's that were stored in the tubes and covered with a layer of kitchen film and they look almost brand new - and were used quite often . Just my 2p worth. Regards Tom