Chris Watton and Vanguard Models news and updates

[Oboship]

Although my Jalouse is still months away from completion I just ordered Speedy after I have been reading this entire thread! I am very excited to receiving this kit...

Best,
Uwe

[chris watton]

18 minutes ago, Oboship said:

Although my Jalouse is still months away from completion I just ordered Speedy after I have been reading this entire thread! I am very excited to receiving this kit...

Best,
Uwe

Thank you, I hope you like it. It is a world away from my Jalouse designs - but that was over two decades ago..

 

Tomorrow I will be receiving a huge order of pearwood blocks and deadeyes, to finally replenish stock, and once again have pearwood block and deadeye options for Alert, Speedy and standard Flirt.

[Vane]

I work on serveral kits in parallel and I must say its really difficult to go back to the older Caldercraft kits when working some time with the Speedy which goes together so much more easy and the plans and instructions are on the spot.

 

Actually, last couple of days I been working on my Diana.  Well, not ON her but rather putting number on parts and removed them from sheets and placed into boxes instead. And I have also done an enourmous amount of sanding until my fingers couldnt take it anymore. There is nothing wrong with my Diana kit, but compared to the Speedy you will have to spend alot of time preparing all parts. Vanguards lazercutted parts fits often directly  with no or very little adjustments. And then the material is also much nicer than the traditional walnut and ply combo.

[Oboship]

Yes, I know what you are talking about. Sanding these thick plywood parts is a tedious job, even with an electrical oscillating sander, and I'm not looking forward to this with my Diana... (One of the reasons why I have been concentrating on smaller kits).

Actually, I am very curious to see that pearwood material!

Uwe

[Wahka_est]

Thats exactly the reason i cant order Speedy or Flirt as i would probably put my CC Cruiser on hold. I allready have basicly done that with Occre Terror - first build quality isnt something im proud of.

 

[glbarlow]

Well this is pretty cool. I’m honored to have kit number 1 of Vanguard Model’s HMS Flirt Master Shipwrights Edition  

Thanks Chris for including the nice lasered board!

 

Everything inside the box is such high quality. I’ve never seen so much boxwood. Very nice!

Admiral Cochrane also approves 

[VTHokiEE]

Oh boy, now you have a collectible on your hands; guess the only solution is to buy another 😉.

 

Seriously, that looks awesome! Can’t wait to see what you do with it.

[Bobbuild]

Just received my Flirt. 2.5 days from England to Minnesota. That is service. So don't hesitate to order if you are reluctant to order from Vanguard overseas if you are in USA. Need to finish his other models Alert and Speedy before this one!

 

[glbarlow]

I’ll of course start a build log when the time comes but a few first look observations:

-It arrived just a few after being shipped, no delays with UPS

-the shipping sleeve is thick and sturdy, no dents from crossing the Atlantic. 
- more bubble wrap inside the kit box preventing anything from sliding around 

-everything inside in multiple sealed plastic bags grouped by instructions and plan, strip wood, boxes for the pear wood blocks, which look extremely sharp, detailed, and well made.
-The lasered parts  look soo much better than any kit I’ve ever seen. And of course everything is boxwood. 
 

I don’t know how many of the 18 Master shipwright Editions are left, I highly recommend getting one. 

[Jonny 007]

My little cutter arrived today to rural NZ. It’s a model boat all on its own! If you think the ship your building needs one, well the answer is yes. Yes it does!

Thanks Chris.

 

Just need to finish my current build so I can order an Alert!

[Edwardkenway]

20 hours ago, glbarlow said:

Well this is pretty cool. I’m honored to have kit number 1 of Vanguard Model’s HMS Flirt Master Shipwrights Edition  

Can't wait to see your log for Flirt, if you do as nice as Cheerful it will look magnificent ( no disrespect to @James Hor @chris watton).

20 hours ago, VTHokiEE said:

Oh boy, now you have a collectible on your hands; guess the only solution is to buy another 😉.

Totally agree cos you cant even take it out the box

[James H]

32 minutes ago, Edwardkenway said:

Can't wait to see your log for Flirt, if you do as nice as Cheerful it will look magnificent ( no disrespect to @James Hor @chris watton).

Totally agree cos you cant even take it out the box

I cant wait to see another Flirt here!

[Oboship]

On 7/29/2020 at 10:52 PM, Oboship said:

Although my Jalouse is still months away from completion I just ordered Speedy after I have been reading this entire thread! I am very excited to receiving this kit...

Best,
Uwe

After a speedily order processing HMS Speedy arrived already today!

 

What an outstanding kit! And yes, I definitely do like it ! 😄

[glbarlow]

1 hour ago, James H said:

you cant even take it out the box

😄

 

[glbarlow]

1 hour ago, Edwardkenway said:

Can't wait to see your log for Flirt,

I told James I'm just going to use his photos, I can't top his work. Plus I'm outsourcing the cannon to Derek 😄

 

[DelF]

12 hours ago, glbarlow said:

Plus I'm outsourcing the cannon to Derek 😄

I'd be very happy to rig your cannon Glenn, but after having let you persuade me to fully rig all fourteen guns on Speedy I think it's only right you should have the pleasure of rigging your own 🤪

 

Seriously though, congratulations on getting another great looking kit from Vanguard. It's good to see Chris doing well on both sides of the pond, and beyond. I was seriously tempted to go for Flirt as well, especially now that Chris is doing his own laser cutting, but I just felt she was a bit too similar to Speedy. I've got another of Chuck Passaro's small boats on the stocks to keep me going for a while after Speedy, so I've got time to wait and see what Chris comes up with next.

 

Derek

[chris watton]

Very pleased to read that UPS make good on their delivery times!

 

Am sure I have mentioned this before, but I do include all blocks needed to rig the cannon for Flirt. The 'Standard' (pearwood) has 2mm single blocks and the Master Shipwright has the pearwood 2.5mm 2 hole blocks.

 

I am aiming for a November release for the royal yacht, all going well, and if my mental acuity holds up. After this, I aim to consolidate my fittings range. For example, offer full cannon kits with barrels and PE as well as the laser cut parts. All sizes of barrel are being cast for me right now. I will also offer more PE fittings like deadeye strops, rigging hooks, and maybe offer the hand pumps as separate fittings. I will need to design a new ships Stove for my next (much larger) kit, so this should be available as a separate fitting too.

 

But right now, I am slowly doing the drawings for plan sheets for the royal yacht - always forget just how long these take, they are a real time sink....

[MEDDO]

1 hour ago, chris watton said:

am aiming for a November release for the royal yacht

Looking forward to it

[glbarlow]

4 hours ago, chris watton said:

pearwood 2.5mm 2 hole blocks.

All the blocks look great, very well made.

 

6 hours ago, DelF said:

you should have the pleasure of rigging your own 🤪

I guess you have a point, so okay....🙂

[James H]

On 7/30/2020 at 9:55 PM, glbarlow said:

Well this is pretty cool. I’m honored to have kit number 1 of Vanguard Model’s HMS Flirt Master Shipwrights Edition  

Thanks Chris for including the nice lasered board!

 

Everything inside the box is such high quality. I’ve never seen so much boxwood. Very nice!

Admiral Cochrane also approves 

 

Any chance of some photos of the box contents?

 

I'd love to see this epic kit on show.

[glbarlow]

4 minutes ago, James H said:

Any chance of some photos of the box contents?

Sure, I’ll take a few and post them

[BobG]

Glenn, if you have any pieces of pear from another kit that you can show side by side in a photo to show the difference in color between the pear and the boxwood for comparison that would be great too. Thanks.

[VTHokiEE]

44 minutes ago, BobG said:

show side by side in a photo to show the difference in color between the pear and the boxwood for comparison

My Alert came with boxwood deck planking that I didn’t use as I bought the etched deck when it came out. This is an iPhone shot and the boxwood is still in plastic but it should give you an idea. Also this pear sheet was not laser cut by Chris but by his contractor prior to him purchasing a laser cutter.

[BobG]

Thanks. That's a dramatic difference in color.

[glbarlow]

Here’s some photos. They may be a little disappointing because the parts are in their sealed plastic bags. I have a long way to go on Cheerful so in their bags they’ll remain. 
 

I included a bag of boxwood next to my bag of pear for Speedy. Again sorry also in their bags. 

You can see how neatly it’s packaged, every bag has a part number including the ropes and blocks  Many of the lasered parts are also numbered. 
 

I can say I’ve never seen a kit so well packed and packaged... well except for Speedy .. but Chris has taken it up a notch with this MS version of Flirt. 
 

I really want to tear into the bags, but will resist. 

 

Pear from Speedy on top, Boxwood for Flirt on bottom

 

Notice the thick, full color, spiral bound instructions. 

So much boxwood

[Nirvana]

Glenn,  that's amazing!

Mr. Watton has done a terrific job of creating another grand model.

[mtaylor]

6 hours ago, VTHokiEE said:

My Alert came with boxwood deck planking that I didn’t use as I bought the etched deck when it came out. This is an iPhone shot and the boxwood is still in plastic but it should give you an idea. Also this pear sheet was not laser cut by Chris but by his contractor prior to him purchasing a laser cutter.

 

Hang on to that boxwood.  The way things are going it will be worth it's weight in gold.

[ErnieL]

I got mine today!

 

 

Plus, from Dave, I received this:

 

 

 

So, I now own all five of Chris’s releases, plus the 1/72 Bellerophon.

Without purchasing another kit, at my building pace I now have enough Vanguard Models kits to give me 574 years of quality bench time, give or take a decade or two.

[DelF]

5 hours ago, ErnieL said:

I now own all five of Chris’s releases

 

C'mon Ernie, play fair - leave some for the rest of us! Between you and Glenn it seems like Texas is cornering the market in Vanguard models.

 

5 hours ago, ErnieL said:

574 years of quality bench time

 

If you rig all the guns, add another 200 years 😁

 

Derek

[glbarlow]

11 hours ago, ErnieL said:

So, I now own all five of Chris’s releases,

I only have the two, guess I better get busy ordering stuff. Texans are very competitive 😁