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KIT: HMS PEGASUS (1776) Manufacturer: Amati (Italy) Scale: 1:64 (800 мм/31,5") ⚓️Official store: https://store.amatimodel.com/en/box-mounting-victory-by-amati/product-hms-pegasus-b130005.html

Well, I'm back again. This is my third planked hull and hopefully I can do this one as it should be done." I say third hull because my second has not been finished. I paused it after planking the Occre Polaris so that I can transfer it to the Southern Yard (see below for view from the window...). For those unfamiliar with the package, here's the obligatory box photo. I successfully inventoried the contents to ascertain all parts are as specified...took me three passes to get a complete, correct count (might have been the rum!) After rigorously studying the two pages of instructions and poring over the first two drawings I liberated the false keel, the bulkheads, the "plank termination patterns," and the temporary construction stand. Next up was some gentle sanding to remove all of the sprues. First success was a few nights back...I assembled the construction stand.... I'm now in the process of preparing the false keel to accept the bulkheads. I'm preparing a rabbet to accept the planks forward and the garboard planks along the keel. It will simply be a shallow bevel (not all the way to a point) deep enough to accept both planking layers. Now the tricky part for me...because I've never done this part before...and I'd like some guidance on this...the plans do not include a bearding line. What I've done so far is to clamp the bulkheads in place and mark the bottom of the last 3 bulkheads on the false keel. I then used a set of French curves to draw what I think is a fairly smooth curve on one side of the keel. I then transferred the curve to tracing paper. Placing the tracing paper on cardstock I used my knife to cut the curve templet in the cardstock. After matching up the templet on the original curve I then used it to trace the curve on the opposite side. If this sounds like a good approach, my next step will be to sand the beard to a point at the stern and then move forward with installing the bulkheads and then the stem and keel. Stem and keel will be glued into position, and then drilled and pegged with 24 gauge wire. That's it for tonight...my updates are random but usually after a notable milestone or encountering a potential trouble spot. I look forward to your thoughts and inspiration....

Greetings to all the shipbuilders in this forum. I'm sixty-five years old and the last sixty I dealt with model railways. Few months ago I decided to do another attempt in shipbuilding (the first was the Golden Star when I was fifteen) and I chose the AMATI's Coca, because she's very nice and seems easy (but I realized it wasn't so for me, may be for other people more skillful). After examining the plans and looking for images of contemporary boats, I decided to make some changes: 1) the hawse hole have to be moved forward. 2) the yellow marked area will be "clinker working". 3) the upper beams will have a smaller section, differently positioned and will be more numerous. 4) the lower beams will be more numerous and differently positioned. 5) some top-timbers will be differently positioned and the number 5 will be added. 6) the frames and the bulwark stanchions will be more numerous. 7) the rigging will be totally changed: I've never seen such a disposition. Attached are some examples that inspired me. Have a nice evening, Rodolfo

Well, this one has been a LONG time coming. I mean, this lockdown seems to have lasted a lifetime, so the original notice of Amati's now almost mythical 1:64 HMS Victory seems to have been such a long time ago! A lot of water has passed under the bridge since 2013 when Chris drove to Italy with the original design model in late 2013. Amati had enough general interest about their Victory from modellers to warrant then asking me to build a production prototype for the new format instruction manuals they now use. There were a few changes from Chris' original kit too, and Amati wanted those incorporated in the new manuals. Those manuals (yes, plural!) will contain (tentatively) around 1500 build photos, and be perfect-bound, glossy productions. I've already broken down Chris' construction into a multitude of chapters, with each depicting a specific sequence/task. For example, there will be a chapter for building each size of gun, each of the launches, the stove, first planking, but also for fitting out whole decks. For this build, I will use the existing manuals that Chris made when he finished his kit. Since Chris designed the model, Amati's laser manufacturer had changed the specs on sheet size that they could cut, so the sheet layouts needed to be rehashed for the new sizes. That was done earlier this year, but just when everything looked like it was going to plan (again), Italy, then the rest of the world, went into lockdown. So here we now are on the other side....just about. DHL delivered the HUGE box not long ago, and it is fantastically heavy! What is omitted at the moment are some first layer planks that they will ship when back in stock, and the cannon and figurehead. They won't be needed for a long time. They are also waiting on the copper PE, but I do have all the sheets of brass PE here. So, we have bags of laser-cut material (MDF, ply, timber), sleeves of strip (lots of them!), bags of PE and a whole bag of various fittings. I already have the thirty-one sheets of plans. Remember, this isn't a review, but just a build log. I cant review something like this which isn't quite complete. That's not the purpose. Inside the box, all the laser cut parts were bagged into two thick poly sleeves. These packs were of course the real weight behind this delivery. I'll open them later to look through them but I've included a few images they sent me of the parts before they shipped out. The sheer quantity of strip and dowel in this model is bewildering. The only time I've seen as much as this is when I've been in a hobby shop! Fittings. Usually Amati pack these into trays, but for this purpose, all the stuff is in little bags and sleeves and bundled into this substantial bag. You name it, and it's in here... Photo etch: Here's all the brass sheet stuff. I am waiting on the copper parts yet, but thought you'd like to see these. As I've been promising this kit arriving for a long time, I felt the need to stick my flag in the ground and start a build log showing the stuff that I now have. I won't be actually starting this until after 3rd August as I'll be away, plus I also have a project I need to take care of before that (written article, not a build). So....there we have it!!! **Apologies for phone camera pics too. The build will be done like my typical studio photos**

Hello everyone! It's time to open a new log after finishing the HM Pickle. That was a wonderful project and i'm happy with the result. It can be found here: So I chose the HMS Pegasus as a second build because it is somewhat larger then the Pickle and a bit more challenging I asume. But the appearance of the ship is what's the most important factor for me and the Pegasus is a beautiful ship! The lines of the Swan Class are just wonderful, and a nice bonus is that the kit designer is here on the forum. Plus it's a different manufacturer so the construction and building manuals etc. are somewhat different, so that's interesting to. I also purchased the 3D digital model that is just released by Greg Herbert to assist me in the build and give me ideas to finetune the kit. The goal is to take the kit a step further then the previous one and to modify as much as I feel comfortable with and expand my skillset a bit There are great logs on the forum to assist me with this build like the great build logs of Blue Ensign and Vulcanbomber and many others, so I will look into them! So let this new journey begin!

I have been researching this build for some time while working on other projects and I have been checking on this forum to obtain valuable information. I just finished my Emma C Berry and have started the Fifie. I have opened the box, check the materials, and studied the plans and instruction so I will not bother with pictures of these items. My first task was to mark the MDF forms with their respective numbers before I removed them. This is done. Then I assembled and cold fitted the cradle to hold the model after which, I glued it, primed and painted a dark brown. These will be my first pictures

Greetings. This is my first attempt at a build log, though it is far from being my first ship. Having recently finished HMS Kingfisher by LSS (see gallery), the Revenge caught my eye and I decided to have a go of it. For those of you who decide to follow along, please note that my work on models can be sporadic at times. I will try to post updates as I complete each page or 2 of the manual. Kit was ordered from Ages of Sail and here is what comes in the box.

I have been watching you guys build for awhile now and thanks to Santa I have my first kit to give this a try. I asked for the Lady Nelson after watching a stop motion film by Tom Grigat building the same kit. I figured if he could stop motion film the build, surely I can fumble through it myself.

So, after 1 mostly successful and 2 unsuccessful builds in the past, i decided to get my hands on something smaller and easier. Now that i have the space and prospect of not moving anywhere for the next few years at lest, i decided to try this little cutter. Some bits in the Box were damaged during transport (the laser-cuts of the Stern counter and the thingies which are used to attach the booms to the mast, i will post pics later when i come to it but i think i can fix them with veneer). So, started on the HZ Slip i have and found out it's too big for the Cutter No big Deal tho, managed to fit all frames and the False deck: Frames Squared: And started sanding them down: I think i did damage the front Bulkhead a bit with the file so now i am waiting for my Wife to get home so i can make a quick trip to the Model Shop to pick up better files (i dont really want to take my Kid to the Model Shop - i would be able to leave without more toys for him :P) Let's hope this build will not suffer the fate of the last

The Pinta keel at my shipyard was laid down on July 1, 2019.

Hello all. I am still relatively new to buillding models and have just completed my first model which was fairly straight forward. However I think I have really upped my game with this one hopefully I haven,t bit off more than I can chew. The reason I picked this one is that Amati have 17 videos on how to assemble on Youtube. I have checked that everything is in the box, although it only gives a list but not how many of each,however it all appears to be there. I have already come across a few issues which were explained in the first video mainly with assembly of the keel , frames, false deck support pieces and false deck. The only problem so far which has caused some thought which although pointed out in the video which was the hole in the false deck for the mizzen mast lines up with one of the bulkheads. Unfortunately the guy on the video does not mention a solution to this problem. Fortunately I believe i have found a way . I will try and post a couple of photos which show how I have done this. I am of coarse assuming that the hole in the deck is accurate.

This is my second build and learned a lot from here and building my Bluenose II. Decided to tackle this as it comes highly recommended for beginners and will try to do the best I can and take it slow. The kit is very nice and the supplied wood and fittings look good and also the plans are excellent. The instructions are pretty sparse but there are a lot of build logs here to answer any questions. So let's get to it.

Pinta by igorsr Amati Scale 1:65

1:32 Fifie – The Scottish Motor Fishing Vessel Amati Catalogue # 1300/09 Available from Amati for €220.00 The Fifie is a design of sailing boat developed on the east coast of Scotland. It was a traditional fishing boat used by Scottish fishermen from the 1850s until well into the 20th century. These boats were mainly used to fish for herring using drift nets, and along with other designs of boat were known as herring drifters. While the boats varied in design, they can be categorised by their vertical stem and stern, their long straight keel and wide beam. These attributes made the Fifies very stable in the water and allowed them to carry a very large set of sails. The long keel, however, made them difficult to manoeuvre in small harbours. Sailing Fifies had two masts with the standard rig consisting of a main dipping lug sail and a mizzen standing lug sail. The masts were positioned far forward and aft on the boat to give the maximum clear working space amidships. A large Fifie could reach just over 20 metres in length. Because of their large sail area, they were very fast sailing boats. Fifies built after 1860 were all decked and from the 1870s onwards the bigger boats were built with carvel planking, i.e. the planks were laid edge to edge instead of the overlapping clinker style of previous boats. The introduction of steam powered capstans in the 1890s, to help raising the lugs sails, allowed the size of these vessels to increase from 30 foot to over 70 foot in length. From about 1905 onwards sailing Fifies were gradually fitted with engines and converted to motorised vessels. There are few surviving examples of this type of fishing boat still in existence. The Scottish Fisheries Museum based in Anstruther, Fife, has restored and still sails a classic example of this type of vessel named the Reaper. The Swan Trust in Lerwick, Shetland have restored and maintain another Fifie, The Swan, as a sail training vessel. She now takes over 1000 trainees each year and has taken trainees to participate in the Cutty Sark Tall Ships Races to ports in France, Denmark, the Netherlands, Ireland as well as around the UK. Extract from Wikipedia The kit Fifie is packed into a large, heavy box that certainly hints that there’s a good quantity of material included to build this historic fishing vessel in all its glorious 1:32 scale. I do admit to particularly liking this scale, having built plastic models for many years and indeed for magazine publication. It’s definitely something I can relate to when eyeing up the various dimensions and features. Amati’s presentation is flawless and certainly stands out, with its large, glossy lid that captures an attractive view of the Fifie. It has to be noted here that the hull is usually fully painted, with green being common above the waterline, but this model was finished to show off the beauty of the walnut timber supplied in the kit. And why not! For those that don’t know, this kit, under the Victory Models label, was designed by Chris Watton. Many of you should be familiar with that name and his design pedigree. At 1:32, this kit is no shrinking violet in terms of size. Fifie is 700mm long, 470mm wide and with a height of 230mm (sans masts). Lifting the lid does indeed show a box crammed with materials. Inside, we have several bundles of timber, plus a packet of timber dowel/strip/metal rod/tube, a thick packet containing numerous laser-cut sheets, another packet with plans and photo etch, and underneath the main timber, we have sail cloth and fittings packs. Thick foam is included to stop the main materials from banging around in the box. Strip wood Fifie has a double-planked hull, with the first layer being constructed from 1.5mm x 7mm lime strips. These, like many of the other bundles, are 600mm long, and very cleanly cut with no fuzzy edges Sixty-five of these are supplied. The same quality goes for the second planking layer, which is supplied as 90 strips of 1mm x 6mm walnut which is some of the best I’ve seen in a kit. There is little colour variation in these, and they look pleasantly uniform. I’ve always found Amati’s timber quality to be exceptional and this is no different. As well as elastic to hold the bundles some labels are also included to help identity the material. Other strip wood is included (beech and walnut) for such things as deck planking, caulking (yes, caulk plank!), lining the various deck hatches, sheathing the deckhouse structures, rubbing strakes etc. These bundles are both taped and bound with elastic, with the deck planking having an identifying label also. Cutting is clean and precise. Dowel and tube/rod Various lengths of dowel is included for masting, false keel strengthening pins etc. and thicker strip wood for the timberheads. All is supplied in a nice uniform walnut colour….no nasty walnut dyes/stains in this kit! These latter lengths are also packaged into a thick clear sleeve, unlike the others. Note also various lengths of brass and copper wire, as timberheads well as some copper tube. Some mounting parts are included for RC conversion, but you will need to purchase other items to complete the model for radio. MDF sheet items Again, Amati has made extensive use of 4mm MDF for the hull false keel and bulkheads, and all are laser-cut, as are all individual wooden items in this kit. Cutting looks very precise with very little in the way of scorching, apart from very localised discolouration. I know many don’t like MDF as a material for our models, but MDF sands easily and is also warp-free, lending itself to a nice, true hull. You won’t see any of this when you start to lay planks. There are FOUR sheets of this material, and you’ll notice that there aren’t any parts numbers engraved on here. You will need to refer to the first two sheets of plans which contain the parts references. A single sheet of 2mm MDF contains parts such as the four-piece deck, cleats, and the bulkheads and keel for Fifie’s single launch vessel. There is also a single 6mm sheet of MDF (sheet 2698-B) which contains the four parts needed for the cradle. I’ve seen numerous sites which now sell this model claim that no stand is included with this model. Well, this sort of proves that statement incorrect. This is the same cradle shown on the box lid images. Of course, you’ll need a suitable MDF primer for this, and some nice coats of gloss lacquer to get the best from this. Ply sheet parts SIX sheets of thin ply are included for just about every other timber construction elements of Fifie, including the deckhouse, deck superstructures, keel sheathing, and bulwark capping strip. Again, all parts are laser-cut and will require minimal effort to remove any edge char. Fittings Two boxes of fittings are included in the very bottom of the Fifie kit box. Some of the weight bearing down has caused a small crack in the two vac-form fittings boxes, as you can see, but all parts within are absolutely fine. The first box contains the cast metal propeller, deck buckets, ship’s wheel, rigging blocks, life preserver rings and a whole load of beautifully smooth wooden balls for making the many buoys which sit on Fifie’s deck. These are perfectly circular, yet the ones on the box image are slightly shaped. Instructions show these as the balls, and you could perhaps opt to use a little putty to add some shape to these. The second fitting box contains seven spools of rigging cord in both black and natural colours, nails, various cast fittings such as bollards, plus rudder pintles, anchors etc. Copper eyelets, chain and ferrules etc. make up the set. Sail cloth Should you wish to add sails, then enough material is supplied for you, in bleached white cloth. Photo-etch Very few kits come without photo-etch parts these days, and this is no exception, with TWO sheets of 0.7mm brass with a very high number of included parts. A quick scan around the sheets will easily identify parts for the mast bases, steam winch, engine skylight, capstan, deck hand pump, wheel assembly, herring shovel, tabernacle, mast rings, etc. Acetate and card I have to say I’m not entirely sure what the card/cartridge paper is for except for maybe general use, but the thin acetate is obviously for the cabin windows. Instructions and plans Without a doubt, Amati produce some of the very best instruction manuals to come with any model kit. For reference, check out my Orient Express Sleeping Car review and that of Revenge. Fifie is no different with a luxurious and fully-pictorial, 64-page publication. Whilst this isn’t perfect-bound as with the previous reviews, it is in full colour and produced to a standard that’s still far higher than many contemporary manufacturers, with each stage being shown under construction so you get a perfect idea about what is required at that point in construction. Text is also in English, or at least in the sample I have been sent. The rear of the manual contains a complete components list. Backing up this publication is a set of seven plan sheets. The first two of these are for identifying the various timber and PE parts. The others show general profile and detail imagery, as well as masting and rig drawings. Remember that the hull itself is built entirely from the photographic sequences so everything you see on these drawings is for external details. Conclusion I have to say that you get a lot of kit for your money with Fifie, and when I first asked Amati what they envisaged the RRP to be, I was quite surprised at this. Everything about Fifie is quality, from the packaging and presentation, to the beautiful, photographic manual, fittings, sheet and strip timber, all the way to the superbly drawn plans. I’m very surprised that the gestation period has taken so long for them to bring this excellent kit to market. It’s also a Chris Watton thoroughbred. If you’ve seen his previous designs, then you’ll be familiar with the format of Fifie, which was quite the different vessel for Chris to tackle, when everyone seemed to think he would only design fighting vessels, armed to the teeth with cannon. I must admit that Fifie did take me quite by surprise too. The very shape of this iconic and historic vessel is so homely and welcoming and for me, invokes images of those times when fishing communities were happy and thriving. Whether you’re a fan of Chris’s work or not, Fifie is most certainly a kit that you should consider dropping into your virtual shopping cart next time you visit your favourite online model ship/boat retailer, and of course, if RC is your thing, then this kit will also suit your genre! VERY highly recommended! My sincere thanks to Amati for sending out the sample kit you see reviewed here. To purchase directly click the link at the top of the article to take you to Amati’s online shop or check out your country’s local distributor. Plans are also available from Amati, for €21.00

I'm not sure how much appetite there is for another Drakkar, but here goes. I chose this model because I thought it would be a manageable first ship build, and I've long been interested in Viking history and lore. I do plan some modifications. Looking at the Oseberg Ship and other surviving examples, the rib spacing appears to be too wide, so II'll be adding ribs above deck to make the spacing look more historically correct. I also plan to make some changes to the rigging. The cleats riveted to the hull planking, to my eye at least, aren't mechanically sound, and don't appear historic. I'll most likely go with attachment similar to that used on Draken Harald Harfagre reconstruction with shroud pins for the standing rigging. I'm sure there will be other small mods, but perhaps a bit controversial will be replacing the dragon figurehead. The included figurehead looks a bit cartoon-like for my tastes, so I'm thinking of carving something up based upon a Viking era dragon head pin.

20200911 Yesterday went to visit the local hobby shop without any clear intention to purchase a new kit but if I saw one I just couldn’t pass up… Came away with the Amati Chinese Pirate Junk. POB so my first planking kit. Opened the box when I got home, perused the drawings and instructions, boxed everything back up for the evening and started doing some research. 1st impression was that Amati’s instructions, while clearly written, are a bit sparser than the ones that came with my first build (Corel Line’s Mayflower) and the drawings are also a bit sparser. Second impression was that this should be an interesting build. And then the old saw – take your time. 20200912 Too nice a day to spend inside today so not much accomplished. Have the keel piece and bulkheads cutout and the first 2 bulkheads mounted to the keel. Enough for today.

Hi ladies and guys, After old contents of MSW were lost, I haven’t much time to restore my building log. Perhaps the reason why I couldn’t have been managed any spare time is my habit of laziness. But some sense of diligence in my heart finally won against laziness and it’s time to restore and restart my log. My restoration of log is based on “cut and paste” workings from old contents salvaged from google cache or from my computer. So some remains of “patch work” would be unavoidable. It would be appreciated that readers allow some inconvenience in my log. The kit English 74 gun ships are one of my favourite types of ships. It is often said that 74 gun ships are good compromise of power and manoeuvrability. I think this can be equally said to their appearance. To my eyes they have both of majesty of ships of the line and swiftness of frigates. Anyhow they are beautiful ships. Before the release of Amati/Victory Models Vanguard kit, the only commercially available kit of English 74 was HMS Bellona from Corel as far as I know. This is popular kit but I often heard modellers had to take many efforts to build more correct model from that kit. Also modellers may feel frustration to build precise replica in relatively small 1/100 scale, although it doesn’t take much space for building and display. So I determined to buy Vanguard kit soon after I found it on the internet. Coincidentally my purchase place is online-hobbies.com. I didn’t know this shop is operated by kit designer Chris Watton and his wife till I received order confirmation mail from them. As can be seen on many modellers’ building log, Vanguard is very popular kit. While this is the kit of 3rd rate ship, its quality is definitively 1st rate. Of course modellers may find something to be improved, but it would be easier than improving Corel Bellona. Amongst three sister ship options provided in the kit, I choose Bellerophon because of her distinguished service career. Maybe she is one of most famous 74 and many forum members would have experience to read “The Billy Ruffian” written by David Cordigly. In the next posting I will start log from construction of dummy frames.

Dear forum members, I‘m a newbie both in this forum and in building models as well. I‘d like to tell you about my first approaches as well as asking for some tipps. When my wife had the idea that two sailboats would be a nice decoration I bought a ready assembled model of a J Class Yacht and was totally disappointed about the poor quality. So I found the kits of Amati‘s Rainbow with a resin hull and Endeavour with a wooden hull. With a first glance at the pieces I began to foresee on which adventure I had embarked. I hope you don‘t say „oh no, not another Amati J Class kit“! Since I wanted t o have a good edging of the deck, I built a bow and stern on my own and painted it in white together with the outer deck planks. After that the further planking with a scalpel and 600 sandpaper. Unfortunately I was not able to fit it together absolutely mirror-inverted.

Here goes my attempt at a build log. I just finished the Artesania Swift, and looking back, I wish I kept a log for that build. Better late than never. As expected, the Lady Nelson kit seems to be very good quality, and the five detailed sheets of visual instructions are fantastic. Following the advice on another build log, I numbered each piece with pencil, and am only removing parts as I need them. The keel looks to be nice and straight, so I glued on the bulkheads using Titebond wood glue, which I put in an empty medicine bottle and applied with a cheap artist's brush. For now I left off the sternmost bulkhead. The instructions recommend fairing the first and last bulkheads and the "plank termination patterns" (they need to come up with a simpler name for those) before glueing them on. I was going to, but had a hard time visualizing where and how much to sand off them ahead of time. I may have made more work for myself, but it will be easier for me to see what to remove if I can see the entire structure. I think. These pics were with my phone, but I'll switch to a real camera for the rest. Hopefully they'll come out better. Now if the glue would just dry faster...

So the journey begins. I'd been planning on getting into building model ships and what better excuse than the quarantine to start? After some online research, I picked the Amati Lady Nelson. Then I needed tools. I basically had nothing since I had downsized into a small cottage from a 4-bedroom house and had to sell/giveaway most every tool I had accumulated over 30 years. Boy, it wasn't cheap to restock and I included a starter airbrushing kit from Master Airbrush and a spray booth. Was not willing to brush paint all what needed to be painted. Also, it was a scramble to get tools; most of the modeling sites had a lot of out-of-stock for items. Guess a lot of folks are doing the same as me. Then it was looking for help. This site was fairly easy to find and has a lot of good stuff, especially the Build Logs. I also looked for build video logs. Those on Modelers Central were way too expensive. But I did find that Amati released free video build logs of the their Lady Nelson by Models Shipyard. There are 20 of them on Facebook, starting here: https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=Amati Modellismo lady nelson&epa=SEARCH_BOX . The builder takes some different paths from the Amati instructions, such as beveling the bulkheads AFTER adding them to the false keel. After comparing his approach to what I found in the build logs and other tutorials here, I decided to follow his process, supplemented with tips from the MSW logs. The most comprehensive MSW log I found for this ship was by vossiewulf. Wow, he is one master builder! Anybody know why he didn't finish it? Too bad; I would have loved to see the final product. Anyway, as to my build. Below is where I am. One issue I ran into was while beveling the bulkheads: the false deck popped up at the edges, not by much, but it did flatten the deck somewhat. When I first glued the deck, it had a bigger curve to it, port to starboard. I didn't see a problem with that. After it popped up, I decided to leave it. It still had the curve, just not as pronounced. I looked at the the MS logs and he had the same gaps at the edges that I had, so I don't seem too worried. Here's the bow: And the stern: The MS builder used a marker to highlight the filler blocks and the deadwood before beveling to show what had to be taken off. I also had to take some of the deck off here since it overhung the last bulkhead. I guessed that was needed based from what I saw from the MS logs. The only issue I had at this point was supporting the gluing of the outside stern counter frames into their slots. With the bulkhead beveling, I had removed most of what those frames would stick to. So I glued 2 x pieces of the 1mm plywood sheet underneath the deck between the last two bulkheads. See below. Those frames are not going to move. So I'm off to attach the 3 x keel pieces and then move onto the first planking. Some observations: The MS builder avoided using balsa bulkhead filler blocks between the bow and stern bulwarks. When I saw that technique in the MSW logs, I did think that was a bit overkill for this small ship. I figured two sets of hull planking would eliminate having to deal with the thick filler blocks. Surprised vossiewulf went there. Also, he and others had the tools to easily make those blocks; I don't. Comments anybody? The MS builder's plan for tapering the planks involves calculating how much to take off on either end based on mathematical formulae which I found easy to comprehend. When I looked at planking guidelines here, it appeared to involve drawing lines on the bulwark edges or lines, bow to stern, on a fully filler-block loaded hulls and then taking measurements. That seemed a little tedious so I'm planning on following the MS builder's plan. Also, he planes off what needs to go . Some of the MSW log techniques appear to draw a line on the planks and then utilize a craft knife to remove the excess. I'm going with planing the edge off a plank held in a vise. Final painting scheme is still fluid. My current thinking is (comments welcome): Hull: White paint from the bottom to the waterline. (Maybe tinged with a little green or maybe grey.) Walnut paint from the waterline to the main whale (maybe walnut stain) Black paint main wale Walnut paint from top of main wale to the top of the hull, including the upper wale (Again, maybe walnut stain) Black paint for capping rail. (Any reason I shouldn't paint the rails before attaching them? Obliviously need to deal with the pin holes, but not a big deal compared to painting the rails in place.) Deck: Carriage red for the bulwark side planks. Same for hatches and the frames walnut (flipped from what I see on the MSW logs, but the Italian version of MSW showed that and I thought it had a better look.) Red for the gun carriage, flat black for the guns. As for the rigging of these, I see vossiewulf tried but then abandoned to rig with them with 2 x side tackles and 2 x train tackles and went with just 1 x centered train tackle because there was no room on the deck for all that rigging. I will follow his lead on that. Natural for the deck, no paint. The MS builder used, as a deck scraper, a piece of thick glass and that gave it a nice look. I'm trying to find a piece of glass; may break a window! Off I go; wish me luck...John

In the belief that it’s better to get back on the horse than walk away, I decided to try again to construct the Amati Drakkar model. Of course, it’s better to not fall off the horse in the first place, but that option doesn’t usually exist for me. My first attempt ended when I decided that the hull was not forming along the ribs properly and was pulling too far away as I approached the gunwale. As it turned out I abandoned ship too soon. I have since learned that, with some effort, I could have disassembled the hull and tried again. Live and learn. Here is the hull as it looks today. Kind of a funky and beat-up appearance, looks like it’s had a few encounters with reefs or other solid objects. The cap rail on the gunwale is not part of the Amati kit, but fashioned from boxwood strips. Also, the planking inside the gunwale is not part of the kit, but an addition that I decided to add for reason I'll explain in a subsequent post. I always liked the red and yellow combination and thought I’d at least do my sail that way. So I needed no convincing, but cathead’s log convinced me that the red and yellow was a nice combination. In Matt H’s log I learned of the minor problem inserting the rope for the rudder after the deck is installed, so I decided to take care of that detail in advance.

Hi all, Early next year, Amati will release their new 1:200 Bismarck kit. This one will be a beast! Here's some info on this forthcoming kit: Length 127 cm Height 29 cm Width 18 cm Hull: plank on frame (also ready to accommodate RC Control) Laser etched wooden decks Anton Bruno Cesar and Dora turrets made in plywood and covered with photoetched brass. Metal gun barrels. Options for three style of camouflage, dependent on career stage. Wooden base for etched plate Decals for Sound Locator System. The Bismarck will be unveiled at the Nuremberg Toy Fair between 29th January - 2nd February 2020, by Krick, Amati's German distributor. Here's a few photos. I'll add more over the next weeks

First Wooden Ship Model

Hi all, friends. It's been a long time since last time I laid anchor on this dock. I hope not to have lost my modeller's hand neither my english speaking. A few months ago I started a new model, the ancient spanish cargo "Mataro's cog" inspired to the Catalan ex-voto now exposed in the Rotterdam's naval museum. I'm used to scratch-buildings but wanting to spare time, I decided to buy the Amati proposal - that seemed a really well done kit. During my work, my scratch builder spirit popped out and I started to change many things - with the only limit imposed by the basic structure - trying to aim my model to the ancient paintings that show similar ships, as possible .... also adding to the model something that in my opinion couldn't be missing in a cargo vessel (e.g: a windlass or a capstan). As said, my work has already started, but I would like to show some phases of work that have already been completed, before to pass in "on time" mode. As I see, this is not the first log about this model so I'll not bore you, repeating what has been already said about the ship. Anyway, I'm available for any clarification and further information. I have been basing my work mostly on Heinrich Winter's drawings, as shown in his book (Delius Klasing edition) and photos of the museum's model. For shapes and coluours I based my work - as said - on ancient paintings. I think, first planking is not interesting, (if not, I'll post something about it) so I start with the first changing I did: the shape of the stern and the hight of the rear bulwark. The internal deck's course was uncorrected, and that fail has beeen reproduced by the kit designers on the external. Following the kit drawings and intructions I'd have had many problems at the moment to place the second planking on the bulwark. I hope you'll find all this interesting. Cheers Alessandro

I won’t spend much time going over the kit in general because James H did a very thorough job of that in his excellent review here. As James said, the box is packed with high quality material, a clear, full-color instruction booklet and 7 sheets of detailed plans. I’ve read lots of great things about Chris Watton’s kit designs here and from what I've experienced so far, the praise is well-deserved. A word of caution for those of you with limited work space...this is a BIG kit! I knew the specs going in but didn't fully appreciate the sheer size of this thing until I started dry-fitting the frames. I'm drooling over the possibilities in terms of adding detail to this build but you need to have plenty of space if you decide to give this one a go. I have fairly ambitious plans for this kit. I'll be displaying the Fifie as a waterline build in the act of hauling nets. I haven't quite figured out how I'll be pulling this off but I love the look of these boats in the water and really want to display it that way. I'd also like to add some crew if I can get my hands on some halfway decent 1:32 figures to rework into Scottish fishermen. With that said, here we go... A nice big box full of high quality stuff! The die-cuts here are very clean and precise...not at all like my previous build. Kudos to Chris Watton's clever engineering which makes assembling the frames problem-free and extremely sturdy. Even I can't screw this up! Stern assembly. The bulkheads fit perfectly without modification. Making quick work of the frames thanks to excellent fit/finish. Each part adds stability and guarantees correct alignment. This tray is intended to house the rudder servo if you plan to do an RC build but needs to be installed regardless. And just like that, if you're not going to be chopping the hull off at the waterline (probably a wise choice!), the sub-deck can be installed. I, however, will need to do some additional planning to add support and stability for the surgery to come. Stay tuned...