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Thank you Mick, it’s a great help. I managed to get some really nice straight grained ebony from my guitar builder friend who uses it for fingerboards. Maybe I just need to learn how to work with the stuff before I completely give up on it but it’s too late for Halifax as I already have one glued in place using pear. It’s very easy to shape and bend and looks good. I’ll keep working with the ebony though.

It was a bit of a learning curve for drawing the treenails through the draw plate but wasn’t long before it was prett quick and easy. I’m not looking forward to drilling hundreds of holes but it won’t be bad on this little ship.

Thank you for taking the time to help me with some of this simple stuff.

Mick, I hope you don't mind a couple of beginner questions that you may have covered somewhere in your build log. First, how far into the frame do you drill for the

treenails and do you use a simple pin vise or a power tool to drill the holes? In you last photos it looks like your using real ebony. I tried using ebony for my wales with no success. It was too difficult to bend and I ended up using Swiss pear. Are your wales ebony? 

Thanks again for the outstanding build log. It's been a great learning tool for me.

This is wonderful news. Your company is filling a much needed void.

Congratulations on a beautiful model.

Lou, do you have any decent hobby shops on your side of the water? The only one we have is dedicated to RC and plastic models. They have some basswood,  balsa and plywood and of course some tools and paint but not much else. I usually get everything in the mail.

Family issues have kept me out of the shop but I may be able to sneak in a couple of hours tomorrow morning. Since I already have the strake laid out I'm going to un-clamp them half at a time and glue and clamp one end then the other. That way I never loose it's position. At least that's my plan. We'll see how it works in practice. 

Hey, she's taking shape Lou. Pioneering can be slow but modeling something like Providence will be worth while.

I went ahead and bent the wales. I had some Swiss Pear that was the perfect size so I went with that. I just soaked them and clamped them in place to dry so far. No glue yet so if you guys see something thats off please let me know.

Your Sultana is beautiful. I'm looking forward to see what you do with Rattlesnake. 

Thanks guys. I was hoping to have a couple of planks on it by now but it's been slower than I expected. I'll be a monkeys uncle if I don't have the wales on next week.

Lou, planking is one of those things we all scratch our heads over. There are so many tutorials explaining it in different terms that it gets confusing. That’s were a kit or plans with pre spiled planks comes in handy. Once you see how the planks are formed and lay on the hull it all clicks. The little paper back booklet put out by Model Shipways is a great reference. Have you used tic strips yet? Once I learned that little trick things kinda made more sense to me.

It’s been a while since I posted but work has been progressing. The stern is basically done thanks to the photos Mark posted. They cleared things right up. I have also pretty much finished fairing the hull. Next is improving the rabbit a bit before the planking starts. I tried bending some ebony for the wales but it cracked. I may just use boxwood and paint it black.

Don’t be to critical of yourself Lou. It’s looking pretty good. These aren’t skills that come naturally and take practice. Once the hull is fully planked and you can see the real shape of the hull it will all be worth it.

Wow Adam, your Washington looks fantastic. 

Nice work Peter. The deck furniture is very nicely done.

One of these days I would like to sail aboard her on one of the longer trips when they move her from one port to another. Maybe Portland to Bremerton or something like that. I understand they do even longer trips from California.

Great photos. She is a pretty little brig.

Thanks for posting this Jim. I have a couple of these little kits in the desk drawer waiting to be built. I tried to build a MS boat kit too and only got so far before I tossed it in the trash. I hope the manufacturer continues to add different scales and sizes.

Mark, ANCRE has a book called “French Frigates” The frigates in the French Navy 1650-1850 (available in English).

l have not seen the book so don’t know if it would be of any help to you. Maybe ANCRE could help point you in the right direction for you carving details anyway.

Seeing the frames in relation to the exacto knife really brings home the size of the boat. I can’t wait to give it a go with a group build. It will make for a great learning experience with several different levels of modeler skill. 

I am not an engineer but do come from an engineering field. I was a draftsman and mechanical engineering technician for the US Navy for many years. I do tend to get caught up on details but my modeling skills have not reached the point where I can put most of it into a model. I confess to sometimes just buying ship drawings because I enjoy looking at them with no intention of building the ship. My point is that I don't mean to nit pick the finer details. However you do it is fine with me. I just appreciate the fact that you are doing it.

Wouldn't it be better to correct errors on the contemporary models instead of carrying them on into the future? 

16 hours ago, mtaylor said:

There's a set of CD's of the Hahn builds.  Four of them.  I think it came from The Lumberyard but there's no markings on the CD's other than the ships on each CD.   

Mark, the CD set is on its way. Thanks for pointing it out.

Mark, you are da man. Where the heck did you find these pictures? This verifies everything for me and will work out with what I have done so far. Is there an NRG article?

Thanks for doing this Chuck. It's much appreciated.