robdurant

Counter added. As noted in the manual, this didn't require any soaking - it just fitted nicely. You'll notice below that I managed to break the top of the inner transom part... the grain runs vertically here, so it's almost impossible to avoid... I've tucked away these parts, and I'll refit them when I add the outer part on. In the meantime, it allowed me better access to clamp the counter.


Today, the final sides have been added to the keel. This is a clever way of effectively creating a rabbet ready for the second planking...
 


Thanks for looking in
 
Rob
 
 

A little progress to report. I've finished the first planking. It all worked out quite nicely, with only one stealer required on each side of the hull. If the second planking goes as nicely, I shall be very pleased. I've done some sanding, today I added the inner transom piece (watch out for the pieces at the top, I had to brush on some diluted PVA as the process of removing the cutouts caused the wood to split. Not a fault of the kit, just my clumsiness, and being lazy and not switching to a new scalpel blade soon enough.
 
Here's the last strake going in:

And the hull fully planked...

And here's the inner transom going on... It was a lovely fit. Very encouraging!
 


And a shot of progress so far.

Thanks for looking in. Progress will be slow with this build, but it's just good to be building again at all!
 
Rob

Not much to update, except to say that I'm pleased with how the first planking is going, and show a little evidence to that effect. (It also shows that my boat building space desperately needs a tidy!)

Thanks for looking in
 
Rob

Just a brief update... progress is gradually being made.  Thank you to all those who are looking in   It's a true encouragement.
 
The first shaped planks are on. I put four strakes on each side without shaping - one more than Vanguard suggest - but it seems to be turning out okay at the moment. Ultimately it's only the first planking, so if it isn't entirely neat, it'll all get covered up anyway. I figure it's good to try and do a nice job, because then I'm getting the practice. I'm sure i could do without stealers at the stern, but this feels like it will make the runs more simple. Time will tell.

Time for an update. The sub-deck has been put in place. It clips in nicely, and once glued provides a good solid structure,
 

Once in place, the doublers at the stern can be glued in, and I added some slightly watered down carpenter's glue to give these areas some strength before continuing with some fairing to get ready for the bulwarks. This area is quite vulnerable, but with a little care and attention it hasn't caused me any problems.

After getting the fairing near to where I felt it should be, the keel parts are glued into place (thus saving them being sanded away unintentionally... 


 
I like this way of doing things. It gives you the double benefits of good access to sand, and a neat finish. Kudos, Chris!
 
Now the bulwarks can be fitted... They aren't glued above the sub-deck, but can be clamped... Again, it all seemed to go very smoothly.


Having waited again for things to dry overnight, the sub-counter was soaked, clamped in place, and allowed to dry overnight - again - and then glued in place... 
 


Then - having allowed it all to dry again - it was time to start the planking... 

And that's where I've got to so far...  Thanks for looking in. I'm really pleased with how things are going
 
Rob

A promising start this morning. As with the Lady Isabella, this kit is exquisite. The parts fit is immaculate, the parts clearly labelled, and easy to find, and the instructions very clear and simple.
 
For anyone setting out into building model boats for the first time, I'd recommend going gently with the sanding of the MDF bulkhead parts... you'll probably end up needing to take them back further than you think, but slowly and carefully is the way forward. Vanguard provide lines to show where they need to be sanded back to, and plenty of great full colour pictures at ever stage to guide you through the process. (And no, I'm not being paid by Chris at Vanguard to write these things - I'm just enjoying this kit)...
 
Anyway - here's progress so far.
 
Bulkheads cut out and the initial bevelling done (with a combination of scalpel and sandpaper stuck to a board...

And assembly - all dry-fit at this point. The reinforcing parts on each side at the bow will be stuck in and then tabs placed through, ensuring that they're in precisely the right position.

 

Assembly was achieved with a good tight fit of all parts straight out of the box. Gently supporting the parts and tapping them into place worked wonderfully.
 
Right... that'll do for today  Thanks for looking in, and for all the likes and encouragement.
 
Rob

Okay - so having had my immune system attack my brain (explained here... An enforced and hopefully not permanent hiatus), I'm currently unable to think at the kind of level required to make any progress on the projects I had going before (Barque Stefano, HMS Bristol (1775), and Nordkap). To be honest, I can't quite believe I ever even attempted them at all! I'm now having to learn a whole bunch of stuff all over again (new neural pathways, apparently!), and this build is part of my exploring what I'm able to do now  Progress is encouraging! Over the past month, I've gone from managing one step of a lego model per day, to being able to use a scalpel again without terrifying everyone within arm's length, to building and painting the brand new 1:48 Airfix tiger moth kit (picture below). I can recommend that kit, btw... it's a fun build! (And no, I didn't attempt the wires between the wings... )

Now, I'm excited to be taking on this beautiful kit as the next step. Having built a model of Lady Isabella before (below), I knew the instructions, kit design and support from this forum, and the simplicity of the build as a whole would be the best shot I have at getting back into this wonderful hobby! So thank you, Chris of Vanguard Models for such an excellent kit!

It will be interesting to see how close I can get to this in this new build... I'm hoping to invest in the more detailed sails for Erycina (a rough set are included with the kit, but I can confirm that they aren't a patch on the sails that I purchased alongside Lady Isabella, which I presume are of the same quality as Erycina's separately sold sail set). That Vanguard sells them separately also means I can get them as a separate purchase and spread the cost . Hooray!
 
There are already lots of excellent build logs of this kit, so I'm not expecting to exhaustively cover every step, but I will share my thoughts on it, and if I digress from the kit (not the plan!), I'll note what I've done and why, and you are very welcome to follow along and comment if you'd like to.  
 
Anyway - Erycina arrived today, and I shall get stuck in tomorrow. Thanks for reading this far. I'm sure progress will be slow! But slow and steady is just fine More sleep, first! Updates to follow.
 
Rob

So, I had a small pocket of time to snug and snip the fore, port channel. I was able to finesse that first knot up a little higher. Really - and considering that they do tighten up just enough more under slight tension - I am very pleased with this experiment. Black touch-up paint to follow:


I am at least confident that these long links would not look better as wire. I may have over-calculated the angle of the two furthest aft preventer plates, but I was just following what the test line told me to do. Also, technically, the preventer plate links should span to the lower wale, but the first batch I made just looked over-long. I can live with this compromise. It is still a vast improvement over the stock kit. The important thing is that the chains no longer interfere with the port lids.

There are three backstay deadeyes that I have yet to prepare, but I will get to them in the next few rounds of deadeye prep.

This business of learning to make the chains continued to confound me as I discovered yet another mistake in my process.
 
For anyone who may also be new to this aspect of the hobby - BEWARE: jewelry wire (brass/copper) is coated with an anti-oxidation layer.  Brass black will not take without first stripping the coating (acetone bath, 99% purity - available at the pharmacy), and then roughing the wire surface with ScotchBrite.  I failed to do either of these things.  For your own sake, just buy untreated, soft copper wire.
 
My first dipping in JAX brass black almost didn’t take at all.  Whatever oxidation there was, was very spotty and wiped away easily.  After thoroughly rinsing the parts in acetone, my second JAX bath did much more to blacken the parts, but the depth of oxidation was highly irregular, there were still lots of completely bright brass patches, throughout, and the oxidation that was present still rubbed off too easily.
 
What to do, now?  I quickly decided that I absolutely was not going to re-make all of these fittings, as I had at least bent them into nicely uniform parts.  The only reasonable solution, IMO, was to spray-prime the lot black:
 

After inserting the deadeyes, and any necessary touch-up, the deadeye strops looked like this:

Quite satisfactory, I think.  On the inside, bottom edge of each deadeye, I placed a drop of CA, in order to fix the orientation of the deadeye.
 
I needed to make a run of split-rings, both for the gun out-haul tackles, and for between where the chains attach to the middle wales.
 
For these, I really like how tight a twist I get with galvanized steel wire.  Given that I was going to paint these, as well, it didn’t seem quite so important what the material was, but how it behaved.


I found it quite easy to close the eyes with my parallel pliers, a decent set of which are essential for this work (Thanks Druxey!), and I sealed the rings with a spot of common, brush-able CRAZY GLUE.
 
The eyes on deck:


In preparation for the deadeyes, I made ready the channels.  Because I found it necessary to shift a handful of deadeyes, so that the chains do not interfere with the gunport lids, I found it necessary to widen a number of the channel slots.  I then drilled for short sections of .030 styrene rod, so that I could favor one side of the slot:


Next I made capping strips for the outside edges of the channels, and simulated the nailing with shallow slices of triangular styrene rod.  I used the same “heat flashing” technique to dome over the heads:

With my masts in-place and a guide-string, I penciled-in the preventer plate locations.
 
The important thing, I think, was that the join of the preventer plates and the small loop-links be in a consistent plane, along the upper middle wale - just slightly higher than mid-wale.
 
Following a tip from fellow SR enthusiast Eric Wiberg, I purchased the following dome-headed rivets:
 
https://www.eugenetoyandhobby.com/products/plastic-rivets-round-head?_pos=3&_sid=320937e14&_ss=r
 
My idea was to use these with plastic cement to secure the preventer and loop links.
 
After drilling the top preventer plate/loop-link hole, I secure the position of the preventer plate with a common sewing pin in the top hole, and then swing a short mechanical pencil arc for the bottom hole location.
 
There are very slight differences between preventer plate links, so you do have to drill specific links for a given location.  It is very fiddly to fix the plates with these tiny styrene pins, but it can be managed from the bottom up with plenty of patience and a sewing pin to guide mating eyes into alignment.
 
Now, my hope for some time and results redemption depended upon whether or not I could make appropriate diameter thread look like the long connecting links.
 
Among my stash, was some really nice line that Dan Pariser very generously donated to my cause.  Although light in color, I found I could “paint” lengths of line with two passes of a black sharpie, which also gave the line some stiffness when dry.  I found that a single bow-knot gave me the ability to introduce tension to these links:
 
Obviously, it is important to ensure that the loop links and deadeye strops are in the correct orientation to each other.
 
The proof of concept on this first link gave me sufficient confidence that this idea will produce a nice result.  It is only important that one wait to stiffen the knot with CA until after you have pulled the knot up close behind the deadeye strop loop.  On this first one, I glued before doing so, and the knot is less perfectly concealed than the others will be:

This picture above was before pulling the knot up.  Eventually, when the lower deadeyes are lashed to their corresponding upper deadeyes, these chain links will pull fully taught with just the slightest tension.
 
Here is where things stand as of now:

I quickly learned it is wise to cover the gun ports, so that you are not continually losing links into the hull.  After pinning the links in place, I brushed over the link assembly with thin CA, to give it a little extra holding power.  I then left it to dry overnight.
 
Next, I will draw all remaining loops taught, and then the whole of it will receive a thinned acrylic black wash to homogenize the assembly and touch-up any bright spots.
 
There are, of course, many better ways to go about all of this.  For me, for now - I’ll take this all as a learning experience and move-on with it.
 
Thank you all for looking-in!
 
Best,
 
Marc
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

As mentioned in my previous post, the deck beams are not thought out well.  They are very flimsy pieces of plastic less than 1/8” thick after sanding down for the wood veneer.  There are tiny tabs on both sides of the beams which insert into notches in the hull.  The idea is to flex the beams to insert them into the notches.  When I attempted this, something very disconcerting occurred; the two hull halves separated.  I sanded the joint line and glued the halves together again.  The next day, the joint was still not solid.  I took some scrap pieces of sprue, sanded them flat and tried to cement them together.  I could break the joint.  I then looked at the hatches and pillars.  A tiny bit of pressure and the glue lines separated.  I don’t know if it was the cement or the composition of the plastic that was causing the problem but from this point onwards, everything was glued with medium viscosity CA.

The deck was installed next.  It slides into the hull from the open aft end.  There is no glue involved.  The deck is theoretically held in place by the inner bulwarks.  I was not comfortable with this concept and glued the deck to the aft deck beam after it had been slid into the hull.  After the finish was applied, the diagonal striations in the deck became even more apparent.  For someone building this model, I would suggest a hand-laid deck from thin veneer.  Apply the planking to the deck before inserting the deck into the hull.

 
The inner bulwarks were installed next.  They were painted before installation and include a waterway molded into them.  This is what holds the deck onto the beams. 

 
It is now time to start the outer hull painting.  I apologize for the poor paint job.  I had difficulty with the brush applications.  Later on, I used an airbrush for the body of the hull and it became apparent that the paint was designed for airbrush application, not brush.  Lesson to be learned is if one is dealing with an unfamiliar product, experiment using it in a place where it will not be seen (inside the hull before it is glued together, for example) before applying it to the outer hull.  After the painting was completed the bulwarks were installed.  The kit came with a laser engraved basswood base, as seen in the next picture.  The slot for the keel is too wide and the outline of the base does not conform to the shape of the hull.  I would suggest using the outer pieces but make new cross-pieces that fit the shape of the model.

The lower transom is installed next.  It was not a good fit and required a significant amount of sanding and filling.

 

One last one for now.

A few more.

Dropping off some comparative images of Glory and my model.  

Just a *what about that* moment.
 
I had never seen the famous Carl G. Evers painting of Glory of the Seas in a dramatic ocean painting, prior to completing my Glory build.  But shortly after, I discovered this amazing painting.
 
It almost mimics by build completely....along with the red painted iron banding(which was a specific identified of her during her heyday).
 
This painting was done in the thirties(I understand).   Notice how accurate his painting and my model compare.
 
I just was stunned.....anyway.  Enjoy!
 
Rob

Thank you for your kind words. It's been a tough year so far, and there's a long way to go yet, but I'm grateful for the friendship, prayers, kind thoughts and encouragement of yourself and others on MSW.

A little progress to report. I've finished the first planking. It all worked out quite nicely, with only one stealer required on each side of the hull. If the second planking goes as nicely, I shall be very pleased. I've done some sanding, today I added the inner transom piece (watch out for the pieces at the top, I had to brush on some diluted PVA as the process of removing the cutouts caused the wood to split. Not a fault of the kit, just my clumsiness, and being lazy and not switching to a new scalpel blade soon enough.
 
Here's the last strake going in:

And the hull fully planked...

And here's the inner transom going on... It was a lovely fit. Very encouraging!
 


And a shot of progress so far.

Thanks for looking in. Progress will be slow with this build, but it's just good to be building again at all!
 
Rob

A little progress to report. I've finished the first planking. It all worked out quite nicely, with only one stealer required on each side of the hull. If the second planking goes as nicely, I shall be very pleased. I've done some sanding, today I added the inner transom piece (watch out for the pieces at the top, I had to brush on some diluted PVA as the process of removing the cutouts caused the wood to split. Not a fault of the kit, just my clumsiness, and being lazy and not switching to a new scalpel blade soon enough.
 
Here's the last strake going in:

And the hull fully planked...

And here's the inner transom going on... It was a lovely fit. Very encouraging!
 


And a shot of progress so far.

Thanks for looking in. Progress will be slow with this build, but it's just good to be building again at all!
 
Rob

A little progress to report. I've finished the first planking. It all worked out quite nicely, with only one stealer required on each side of the hull. If the second planking goes as nicely, I shall be very pleased. I've done some sanding, today I added the inner transom piece (watch out for the pieces at the top, I had to brush on some diluted PVA as the process of removing the cutouts caused the wood to split. Not a fault of the kit, just my clumsiness, and being lazy and not switching to a new scalpel blade soon enough.
 
Here's the last strake going in:

And the hull fully planked...

And here's the inner transom going on... It was a lovely fit. Very encouraging!
 


And a shot of progress so far.

Thanks for looking in. Progress will be slow with this build, but it's just good to be building again at all!
 
Rob

A little progress to report. I've finished the first planking. It all worked out quite nicely, with only one stealer required on each side of the hull. If the second planking goes as nicely, I shall be very pleased. I've done some sanding, today I added the inner transom piece (watch out for the pieces at the top, I had to brush on some diluted PVA as the process of removing the cutouts caused the wood to split. Not a fault of the kit, just my clumsiness, and being lazy and not switching to a new scalpel blade soon enough.
 
Here's the last strake going in:

And the hull fully planked...

And here's the inner transom going on... It was a lovely fit. Very encouraging!
 


And a shot of progress so far.

Thanks for looking in. Progress will be slow with this build, but it's just good to be building again at all!
 
Rob

A little progress to report. I've finished the first planking. It all worked out quite nicely, with only one stealer required on each side of the hull. If the second planking goes as nicely, I shall be very pleased. I've done some sanding, today I added the inner transom piece (watch out for the pieces at the top, I had to brush on some diluted PVA as the process of removing the cutouts caused the wood to split. Not a fault of the kit, just my clumsiness, and being lazy and not switching to a new scalpel blade soon enough.
 
Here's the last strake going in:

And the hull fully planked...

And here's the inner transom going on... It was a lovely fit. Very encouraging!
 


And a shot of progress so far.

Thanks for looking in. Progress will be slow with this build, but it's just good to be building again at all!
 
Rob

A little progress to report. I've finished the first planking. It all worked out quite nicely, with only one stealer required on each side of the hull. If the second planking goes as nicely, I shall be very pleased. I've done some sanding, today I added the inner transom piece (watch out for the pieces at the top, I had to brush on some diluted PVA as the process of removing the cutouts caused the wood to split. Not a fault of the kit, just my clumsiness, and being lazy and not switching to a new scalpel blade soon enough.
 
Here's the last strake going in:

And the hull fully planked...

And here's the inner transom going on... It was a lovely fit. Very encouraging!
 


And a shot of progress so far.

Thanks for looking in. Progress will be slow with this build, but it's just good to be building again at all!
 
Rob

Not much to update, except to say that I'm pleased with how the first planking is going, and show a little evidence to that effect. (It also shows that my boat building space desperately needs a tidy!)

Thanks for looking in
 
Rob

Just a brief update... progress is gradually being made.  Thank you to all those who are looking in   It's a true encouragement.
 
The first shaped planks are on. I put four strakes on each side without shaping - one more than Vanguard suggest - but it seems to be turning out okay at the moment. Ultimately it's only the first planking, so if it isn't entirely neat, it'll all get covered up anyway. I figure it's good to try and do a nice job, because then I'm getting the practice. I'm sure i could do without stealers at the stern, but this feels like it will make the runs more simple. Time will tell.

Time for an update. The sub-deck has been put in place. It clips in nicely, and once glued provides a good solid structure,
 

Once in place, the doublers at the stern can be glued in, and I added some slightly watered down carpenter's glue to give these areas some strength before continuing with some fairing to get ready for the bulwarks. This area is quite vulnerable, but with a little care and attention it hasn't caused me any problems.

After getting the fairing near to where I felt it should be, the keel parts are glued into place (thus saving them being sanded away unintentionally... 


 
I like this way of doing things. It gives you the double benefits of good access to sand, and a neat finish. Kudos, Chris!
 
Now the bulwarks can be fitted... They aren't glued above the sub-deck, but can be clamped... Again, it all seemed to go very smoothly.


Having waited again for things to dry overnight, the sub-counter was soaked, clamped in place, and allowed to dry overnight - again - and then glued in place... 
 


Then - having allowed it all to dry again - it was time to start the planking... 

And that's where I've got to so far...  Thanks for looking in. I'm really pleased with how things are going
 
Rob

Okay - so having had my immune system attack my brain (explained here... An enforced and hopefully not permanent hiatus), I'm currently unable to think at the kind of level required to make any progress on the projects I had going before (Barque Stefano, HMS Bristol (1775), and Nordkap). To be honest, I can't quite believe I ever even attempted them at all! I'm now having to learn a whole bunch of stuff all over again (new neural pathways, apparently!), and this build is part of my exploring what I'm able to do now  Progress is encouraging! Over the past month, I've gone from managing one step of a lego model per day, to being able to use a scalpel again without terrifying everyone within arm's length, to building and painting the brand new 1:48 Airfix tiger moth kit (picture below). I can recommend that kit, btw... it's a fun build! (And no, I didn't attempt the wires between the wings... )

Now, I'm excited to be taking on this beautiful kit as the next step. Having built a model of Lady Isabella before (below), I knew the instructions, kit design and support from this forum, and the simplicity of the build as a whole would be the best shot I have at getting back into this wonderful hobby! So thank you, Chris of Vanguard Models for such an excellent kit!

It will be interesting to see how close I can get to this in this new build... I'm hoping to invest in the more detailed sails for Erycina (a rough set are included with the kit, but I can confirm that they aren't a patch on the sails that I purchased alongside Lady Isabella, which I presume are of the same quality as Erycina's separately sold sail set). That Vanguard sells them separately also means I can get them as a separate purchase and spread the cost . Hooray!
 
There are already lots of excellent build logs of this kit, so I'm not expecting to exhaustively cover every step, but I will share my thoughts on it, and if I digress from the kit (not the plan!), I'll note what I've done and why, and you are very welcome to follow along and comment if you'd like to.  
 
Anyway - Erycina arrived today, and I shall get stuck in tomorrow. Thanks for reading this far. I'm sure progress will be slow! But slow and steady is just fine More sleep, first! Updates to follow.
 
Rob