HMS Wolf by Richmond - Shipyard - 1:96 - CARD

[Richmond]

I have recently purchased the HMS Wolf, a Shipyard paper model, from Cornwall Model Boats in the UK, I also purchased the extra sails and masts sets but was reticent to splash out on the laser cut blocks, however after receiving the model and seeing the size of the parts, each just a few mm and all containing multiple parts I have decided to save my eyes and will place an order for these as well. I was considering purchasing laser cut timber blocks however it seems an extravagance for a simple card model. However I may purchase wooden gun carriages and associated brass guns depending on how I go with cutting and assembling the card parts and the model generally. 

 

I have only one complaint in that there was a couple of pages of assembly instructions missing from the kit. I am really hoping that Cornwall are able to convince Shipyard to email me a pdf of the missing pages. Hopefully, as its assembly details and not parts details that are missing there will not be any issues. I will email Cornwall tomorrow.

 

The beauty of this card model is the skeleton is laser cut.  I have recently been struggling with cutting and assembling the skeleton for the RMS Mauretania and I find it very time consuming. I have been on that build for several months and have still not progressed beyond the skeleton!

 

Following Dan's lead I have been busy cataloguing all the parts into a spreadsheet with part numbers, page numbers, thickness of any laminations, names of the parts/ assemblies and any relevant comments and then cross references to assembly pages.

 

Anyway here are few some photographs of the kit -

The cover, and example assembly and parts pages. Note there is only one colour page of assembly details the rest are black and white. Other than  the rigging details all assembly detail is by photograph (no words).

A close up of some of double blocks parts as you may be able to discern in this example each block contains 7 parts all of which need to be laminated to either  0.25mm or 0.50mm card. The length of the block in this example is just a few mm.

An extract of the assembly instructions for the blocks in question.

The assembled skeleton - the majority of the skeleton has been assembled - I think it took less than 15 minutes to dry fit it.

 

I really must say the quality of the laser cut card is absolutely top drawer.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 21, 2018 by Richmond

[Beef Wellington]

Always intrigued by these card models, they look very interesting and a nice subject matter.  Definitely looking forward to following your progress.

[Kevin]

I will be following, but for now its back to rigging

 

[Dan Vadas]

Another follower here . I'd either be buying the laser-cut blocks or go with timber blocks - those ones supplied look like an exercise in frustration, cutting and laminating them would take an age . When assembling them make up a little jig (one for each size) to hold the pieces in position while you glue them up.

 

Danny

[Old Collingwood]

Will be following - have me seat/popcorn and beverage at the ready,     this could  be a good candidate for the HMS Interceptor   from Pirates of the Caribbean.

 

OC.

[mtaylor]

I'll grab a seat near OC since he knows where the popcorn machine is.   This should be intriguing to see it come together.

[Old Collingwood]

13 minutes ago, mtaylor said:

I'll grab a seat near OC since he knows where the popcorn machine is.   This should be intriguing to see it come together.

More than welcome mark,   the popcorn machine is Massive,   enough for Everyone.

 

OC.

[Richmond]

Danny

 

17 hours ago, Dan Vadas said:

Another follower here . I'd either be buying the laser-cut blocks or go with timber blocks - those ones supplied look like an exercise in frustration, cutting and laminating them would take an age . When assembling them make up a little jig (one for each size) to hold the pieces in position while you glue them up.

 

Danny

 

 

There is a YouTube video of them here 

Richmond.

Edited October 22, 2018 by Richmond

[aviaamator]

Thank you for the experience!

[Canute]

Richmond, I'll grab a seat with Mark and OC over by that popcorn machine. Should be interesting.

[Dan Vadas]

7 hours ago, Richmond said:

There is a YouTube video of them here 

Hmmm .... one thing missing in that video - a large pack of Band-aids 😳. Brave (or stupid) guy using a double edged razor blade to cut the blocks off the tree .

 

It looks like an easy way to assemble them though. Glue drying too fast may be a problem, especially in Darwin's heat. I'd be using PVA.

 

Danny

[Richmond]

Danny

 

Funny  enough I was thinking the same thing about the razor blades, he seemed to pick it up with confidence though. Thanks for the hint on the PVA.

 

Richmond

[Heinrich der Seefahrer]

HallovRichmond, I'll also grap a chair and place myself in the geathering surround your paper shipyard.

The HMS WOLF is a fine sloop and I like her very much. Are you going to historisize her? I worked on her plans several years ago and was astonished due to the differences to the other plans of her class. There is the questionable steering wheel I do remember and the oversized binnacle in the paper plan. Moderation is the order of the sloop - as I do read McLaughlan (Sloop Of War 1650-1763).

 

There are some faults compared to the other Cruiser class sloops. Some of our spezialists from the Swan-Class-POF-Gang may have some interesting advises and helpful hints to you. 

Looking foreward to your build.

Edited October 24, 2018 by Heinrich der Seefahrer
Resizing my bad English

[catopower]

Good luck with your build, Richmond. I built the HMS Alert paper model and had a great time with it. I really like HMS Wolf and hope to get to that at some point. It should be much simpler than HMS Mercury, since all of Wolf's guns are on the open deck. 

 

Not sure why all those Eastern Europeans like to use double-edged razor blades. Shipyard even includes one in their boxed kits. The only thing about them is they are extremely thin and sharp, so it may be easier to use them, but I'll stick to using a scalpel for thin blade cuts.

 

I've assembled some of the paper blocks from the kit and they really are challenging, but not impossible if you assemble them in groups as printed. But, for my HMS Alert, I just ended up using the wood blocks from Syren, even though I made all the necessary blocks. The Syren blocks just looks so nice on the small scale model.

 

In any case, have fun with the build!

Edited October 25, 2018 by catopower

[Richmond]

CLARE

 

Your Shipyard card builds have been a great inspiration to me. I did consider the Syren blocks, but this is my first quality card model and the numbers didn't stack up. Once I get to the Mercury I may consider some more expensive upgrades, that said I am hoping that Chucks cannon and carriage sizing work out for me.

 

One thing that has dissapointed me, apart from missing assembly pages, are errors in the assembly instructions, absence of lamination detail on parts that according to the pictures require lamination, hopefully I can address this during the build.

 

HEINRICH

 

I think a kit bash is beyond my capabilities at this time, for me this build is all about getting the basics right and the quality reasonable. Refer also my response to Clare re assembly instructions.

 

I am particularly concerned with the planking, I think this could go terribly wrong if it is not thought through. Doris, Paragraf et al seem to scratch this element of their builds. 

 

RICHMOND

Edited October 25, 2018 by Richmond
Error in last paragraph

[dvm27]

I look forward to this build. As Heinrich mentioned, it is in the same class as our Speedwell ketch-rigged sloop of war. I also question the use of a  wheel vs. tiller on a ship of this size but have not seen  contemporary plans for Wolfe (if they exist). I do have the  Wolfe monograph by Shipyard and it is very well done. The card model kit is not inexpensive and I do hope they included it.

[catopower]

Greg,

 

I know that Wikipedia is not the greatest source for this kind of information, but they list HMS Wolf as a 14-brig snow rigged sloop with a launch date of 1742. They also show a plan of the hull, which looks very much like Shipyard's HMS Wolf. The ship is listed as Wolf-class, with only two other ships of the class being HMS Otter and HMS Grampus. There is no mention of the Speedwell or Cruiser classes.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Wolf_(1742)

 

I can tell you that the Shipyard Laser-cut boxed kit of HMS Wolf does NOT include the plans set that they sell for scratch modelers.

 

 

Richmond, 

 

Keep in mind the pictures are actually of Shipyard's 1/72-scale kit. If something looks like it should be thicker in the pictures, it may just be that way on the larger kit. There definitely is a lot of care needed in "reading" the instructions, paper model instructions tend to be very sparse. Certainly, the Shipyard kits are that way. 

 

I'm curious as to what sheets you are missing. I have the kit and it has the number of sheets listed on the back. The "photos" and "drawings" sheets are double-sided, so one piece of paper translates to two sheets. 

 

I spot-checked the Ages of Sail inventory last year and discovered that one of the parts sheets that was supposed to be printed in color was, in fact, printed in black and white. So, I got Shipyard to provide those sheets for the shop's 6 kits. I have to say, it was a lot easier to contact them through their Facebook page than by regular email.

 

 

 

 

 

[Richmond]

CLARE

 

The rear most page calls up as follows (in my words):

1. Colour Photos of Finished Model  (these are pages 1 and 2) - CHECK [double sided]
2. History and Construction (pages 3 & 4) - CHECK [double sided]
3. 8 Pages of Printed Parts (pages 19 to 26) - CHECK - [single sided]
4. 14 Pages with Drawings and Templates (pages 5 to 18) - Pages 15 & 16 are Missing - [double sided]
5. Laser Cut Ship Skeleton - CHECK [single sided]

I contacted Cornwall on Monday and they said they would send an email to SHIPYARD but they haven't got back to me since. I will have to chase them up tomorrow.

 

RICHMOND

 

 

[druxey]

A draught of Wolf of 1742 is described by RMG as follows:

 

ZAZ4336

Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with inboard detail, and longitudinal half-breadth for Wolf (1742), a 14-gun two-masted Sloop building Deptford by Mr West. The ship was snow-rigged with sixteen pairs of row-ports.

Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/84127.html#SvLQ0edL7qEVLBYi.99

 

This Wolf predated the Speedwell class by 10 years and her hull was much wider and shallower. Is perhaps the model kit of a Speedwell class ship but mis-named Wolf?

[Richmond]

DRUXEY

 

Historical highlights from the kit (I can't vouch for the accuracy)

• 10 Gun Two Masted Sloop rigged as a Snow 1752
• Built in Chatham and launched in 1754
• Participated on the attack of Le Havre April 1759 which destroyed the French invasion fleet - captained by Hugh Bromedge
• Minor participation in War of Independence
• Sold in 1781 for 262 GBP
• Length 76' 6in";  Breadth 28' 7 1/2" Armament (1759) 10 x 3 pounders ; 10 x 0.5 pounder swivel guns.d

 

I believe the ship you refer to preceded the above and was wrecked in 1748. Whether the current build is an accurate depiction of the 1752 Wolf is another matter.

 

RICHMOND

Edited October 25, 2018 by Richmond
Additional response to Druxey

[Richmond]

Having read the construction manual they suggest scoring all the printed edges of the planks with a razor blade and then after placement painting the gaps caused by scoring to represent wood (you have to imagine you would want to match the coloured printed part as well)

 

I believe Clare raised the availability of 'Shipyard' paints in one of his build logs.  After some digging I found the website and shop of the manufacturer /distributor of their acrylic paints - they are Polish of course. I was going to check them out in more detail to see if they can ship to Australia, or whether they have overseas distributors (which I doubt). One would imagine postage from Poland would be exorbitant, it usually is! 

 

RICHMOND

 

 

. 

[Dan Vadas]

9 hours ago, Richmond said:

Having read the construction manual they suggest scoring all the printed edges of the planks with a razor blade

Rather than a razor blade I use a blunted #11 Xacto blade in a holder, which doesn't actually cut into the paper. This method rarely requires extra painting.

 

Danny

[Richmond]

Just tried to order 2 detail sets for the Mercury from GPM, cost of sets 60AUD cost of PP 60 AUD, what's happening in Poland with their PP, how can they justify this?

[CDW]

21 minutes ago, Richmond said:

Just tried to order 2 detail sets for the Mercury from GPM, cost of sets 60AUD cost of PP 60 AUD, what's happening in Poland with their PP, how can they justify this?

Similar happened to me last time I wanted to order from GPM. I just emptied my cart and ended up buying the same items from a shop in Ukraine. Postage there was very reasonable as was the cost of the parts.

[Richmond]

CDW

 

Are you able to advise the name of the outlet in the Ukraine?

 

You are not the first to confirm re GPM PP and I wonder what other members do when dealing with them. However I did note that another member dealt with them and stated in their post that their PP was reasonable..

 

Shipyard are even worse, I wrote to them to complain and they never responded, so maybe in their case they are gouging.

 

RICHMOND.

 

 

[CDW]

Richmond

The name of the shop in Ukraine is Freetime Hobbies. This is their url: http://www.freetime.co.ua/en/

They were very prompt with their shipping as well. 

[CDW]

Richmond

I was just on the Freetime Hobbies Ukraine website. I am not sure they are still in business. They once offered payment by Paypal, but the only method they show now is Western Union. That doesn't seem a good omen to me. I tried to contact them by email, so I will let you know if I get a response back from them.

CDW

[ccoyle]

Richmond, try contacting Shipyard through their Facebook page. That sometimes gets speedier replies.

[Richmond]

More angst with the Wolf.  I ordered the laser cut blocks though Cornwall Model Boats which arrived yesterday. Unfortunately there is an issue with the 2.5mm hearts - Shipyard have inadvertently placed parts for blocks within the packet which means it is impossible to construct the 2.5mm hearts. If you look at the 3mm hearts packet on the right  you may be able to discern what I mean.

 

I have sent an email to Cornwall however given that they have not at this time been able to solve the missing assembly pages issue I do not hold out much hope.  I am quickly losing confidence in Polish manufacturers, I have found both Shipyard and GPM's customer service lamentable.

 

It is important to note that based on my dealings and from others comments I don't believe any of this is a reflection on Cornwall themselves.

 

RICHMOND

 

 

Edited November 7, 2018 by Richmond
Grammar

[FingerSticker]

Richmond, I AM looking forward to  looking in on your Wolf build. Glad most of it is now resolved.

 

Adrie.

 

P.S. Wasn't there some popcorn on offer?

Edited December 1, 2018 by FingerSticker
changed circumstances.