Avos by James H - Master Korabel - 1:72 scale - Russian Tender - 'XS kit'

[James H]

Hi crew,

 

I've had to be a little mercurial when it comes to how I'll spend the next months before I build a test (another!) of Amati's forthcoming 1:64 H.M.S. Victory so I can do the photos for the construction manual, so I was originally going to bash away at my Panart deck section. I was then going to plank the Caldercraft 1:80 Mary Rose I've had for around 15years. 

 

In the end, I decided the best way to spend that time was on Master Korabel's diminutive but gorgeous 1:72 Tender Avos, reviewed HERE and soon to be available from Vanguard Models in the UK. I've been watching this beautiful build of this model by Peta_V, on Model Ship World, and the kit I have is the same XS/Exclusive version. My plan is to do as much work as I can until Amati's parts land, sometime in October. 

Master Korabel's kit really is gorgeous, superbly presented and manufactured, and has some innovative design features that are there to make things as trouble-free as possible. The box is fairly small, but it pretty heavy. Planking is also laser-cut and etched with plank and nail detail. Everything starts with the flat deck-shaped component into which all the other elements plug.

 

Work starts on Saturday, and until then, I'll be studying the plans and watching Peta_V's build even more!

 

[Peta_V]

Good luck with the build. Have a fun👍

[Chuck]

Nice Jim...Start making some sawdust already!!!!

[James H]

47 minutes ago, Peta_V said:

Good luck with the build. Have a fun👍

I will do. It's great to be back at a bench again and doing something I enjoy!

 

 

16 minutes ago, Chuck said:

Nice Jim...Start making some sawdust already!!!!

My room is already a dust bucket, and I've only been back at it for a few hours! 

 

Ok, before I make a start with removing any parts from the first two sheets of laser cut elements, I decided to use the instructions as reference and number them all. The kit itself is pretty intuitive when it comes to part placement, but never underestimate the power of stupid. This was a little insurance policy for me.

Now, I've not used my Dremel for years. I had to go to the attic and actually find it. After removing the parts for the bow cheeks, the first job was to profile/bevel them against the laser etched lines. I know those lines are hardly a new innovation, but this is the first kit I've actually used them in anger. Bevelling the ply is a pretty easy job, and I just went at my own pace at 8000RPM. I also bevelled the large main part into which everything plugs. Rear former parts are aligned with a series of laser-cut pins. Note the different orientation of them, so you can't get the parts mixed up.

The rear formers are now glued to the false keel using Titebond Ultra, and the false keel glued to the main plan part. I now glue the bow cheek sections in. These all fit precisely with absolutely no gaps and no need to fudge anything. Very impressive.

The rest of the formers are now bevelled. There's no work to do on #15 and #16, so those are glued in place first. Again, all parts have tabs which means they will only fit one way around, keeping the clumsy at bay. You'll see that some of these also have plugs that will lock into the garboard plank.

The last thing to do before planking is to glue the bulkheads into place, making sure that any excess glue is removed from the other sockets on the main plan part. With these fitted, the infill parts are also added between the bow cheeks.

 

Next stop.....planking!

 

 

[Peta_V]

Rocket start! You will catch me very soon with this pace👍 Very happy to see another AVOS build!

Edited July 6, 2019 by Peta_V

[James H]

As well as laser-engraved bevelling lines, something else I've never used before are pre-shaped and cut planks. The first planking on this model fits like an absolute dream! Everything about this project is so far enjoyable. MK provided some beautiful little brass nails for this planks, and the holes for them are also laser cut. You couldn't ask for more. 😀

Remember also that I still need to give the hull a final shaping and sanding later in the build and everything here is just bevelled with a Dremel before any gluing. 

Next up is the stern quarters. This builds up a little like one of those Puzz-3D models, with lots of interlocking parts that fit perfectly together. a little bevelling is needed here and there, but very minimal. With the stern fitted, the rearmost bulkheads were fitted, carefully bending them to the bevelled curve of the MDF main section.

 

The transom area is one that takes a little more effort with, and definitely some care. After bevelling, the ply transom core needs to be soaked in water before you can do this. Thankfully, the ply is quite pliable and 5 minutes in very warm water was all that was needed. The counter transom also needs bevelling and bending.  Here you can see the two put together and with the pear and black veneers added to the inside area. The pear is beautiful but VERY thin. I managed to break it, but you can't tell, thankfully 🤣

 

Tonight, I made up one of the bow sections. These are built from 5 pinned parts that have some bevelling marks. Because the laser engraving machine can't engrave the underside the  sheet of parts, you will need to add some bevelling marks yourself by first dry-fitting the parts and marking with a pencil. Remember, the bevel is on the inside and outside of this section, hence the extra marks you need to make. When done, the parts are pretty level and will only need a few swipes with sandpaper.

More soon!!

 

 

[James H]

Only a little update today as I've been playing around with the upper bow timbers and fairing them into the adjacent ones.

 

In these pictures, most of the subsequent upper timbers are only plugged into position to gauge a few things as I progress, plus I was interested in seeing how things would look! I was a little worried that the bow timbers wouldn't sand evenly into each other, but I needn't have as all is perfectly ok. My thanks to Peta_V for his encouraging words too. 

 

A Dremel was used to profile/finish the interior bow area, and a medium grit sanding stick was employed on the exterior. next up is adding the notches to some of the frames and dry fitting them against the pear inner bulwark lining.

 

[JeffT]

Looks great so far!

[Peta_V]

Hi Jim. 

Seeing your progress I have one idea how to make an improvement. Unfortunately for me it was too late when I have noticed it

 

It is regarding inner structure of the gun and oar ports. In the kit this is done from plywood which for an eye is distracting as it has different lighter colour

This should be fairly easy to improve and make it from pear as well so all is in same kind of wood. 

Instead of those parts I would use some spare pear wood from the kit.

There is enough for that. And you would also need to adjust the respective frames. I would cut of the thin top layer of plywood and replace it with pear veneer (again enough screp wood in the box). I think this is fairly easy to do and it will look great on the model! Perhaps you could consider it since you are still OK to do this. I have noticed too late when I have the bulwark planking glued in place

 

PetaV 

 

[James H]

6 minutes ago, Peta_V said:

Hi Jim. 

Seeing your progress I have one idea how to make an improvement. Unfortunately for me it was too late when I have noticed it

 

It is regarding inner structure of the gun and oar ports. In the kit this is done from plywood which for an eye is distracting as it has different lighter colour

This should be fairly easy to improve and make it from pear as well so all is in same kind of wood. 

Instead of those parts I would use some spare pear wood from the kit.

There is enough for that. And you would also need to adjust the respective frames. I would cut of the thin top layer of plywood and replace it with pear veneer (again enough screp wood in the box). I think this is fairly easy to do and it will look great on the model! Perhaps you could consider it since you are still OK to do this. I have noticed too late when I have the bulwark planking glued in place

 

PetaV 

 

What a great idea!

 

Yes, I'll do that. There's plenty of pear veneer to it. I'm starting to prepare the frames now, so this is a good time. ☺️

[Peta_V]

Looking forward to see the result. I'm going to be jelaous 😭

[Beef Wellington]

This kit looks fascinating, so much complexity in a good way.  Nice start!

[James H]

I've had a couple of days away from the bench for various reasons, so it was good to get back and work on this lovely little kit again.

 

As per instruction, the laser-printed deck was test fitted to the hull to check the fit in the inner bow area. I was pretty pleased with this. On frame on the port side helped create a small gap but that will be hidden when the inner bulwarks are fitted, and of course, there are the waterways to install also.

Some port and starboard frames need to have a slot added to them to accommodate a 0.6mm brass pin. These are created with a fine razor saw and a scalpel knife. Once made, a small piece of pear is added to them and when dry, a 0.6mm drill bit is passed through to ensure clean passage for the pin. These pins will help to locate the inner bulwarks and it's important that the frames are matched up against the bulwarks as they are being added. I opted NOT to add the pear gun port linings as I would lose the laser-engraved marks on those faces. I could've done it, but it didn't seem to be really worth that extra effort.

At this point, I do a little work on the deck. First, some pear-faced ply parts are used to line the deck apertures. These sit roughly 0.4mm lower than thee decl surface. Some sanding was needed to make sure the ply parts fit into the holes. CA was used to glue these and then dry, the underside of the parts were sanded flush with the deck underside before some reinforcement parts were added. Lastly, two beams were added which gives the deck the required camber.

 

More soon...

 

[Chuck]

Looking good.!!!  Wonderful photos.

[Peta_V]

I like your photo story. Very nice! Great work 

[Peta_V]

Looks like I can stop my photo thread. And you will do that job much better! I will not confuse with bad photos anymore. Perfect pictures making the work better👍

[James H]

4 minutes ago, Peta_V said:

Looks like I can stop my photo thread. And you will do that job much better! I will not confuse with bad photos anymore. Perfect pictures making the work better👍

I'm afraid my magazine photo style dies hard with me. 📖 My apologies.

 

Your build is what is inspiring my work! 

[Peta_V]

I would love to know how you are doing this.

[James H]

10 hours ago, Peta_V said:

I would love to know how you are doing this.

I'll take a photo of what I use to create the pictures when I do my next update.

[James H]

Only a small update this time before I sand the hull and prepare it for the pear planking.

 

First of all, I glue the deck in place, but only down the centreline of the hull. The edges are left loose for the moment. I'll explain that in a moment. With the deck installed, the inner pear veneer bulwarks are installed. To align the bulwarks, some brass pins are inserted through the bulkheads that  we saw modified in the last post. 

I gradually worked my way around the frames, gluing the bulwark as I went. Small pieces of scrap pear veneer are used to protect the bulwark from the jaws of the clamps.

 

with the bulwarks in place and securely glued using Titebond, cocktail sticks are slipped under the bulwark, pushing the edges of the deck down so I had a nice and even gap all of the way along the bulwark. This is just under 1mm. I had to add a little shim in a few places under the deck, between the deck and the hull frames, but not too many. A scrap piece of the material from the waterways ply sheet was tested to make sure it would cover the gap.

Hopefully, there'll be minimum fuss when the waterway is fitted. Very happy with this so far.

 

Ok, @Peta_V, here's a photo of how I do my pictures. This is quite a small area which I primarily used for photographing 1:32 model aircraft, and I will need to expand when I start the Amati 1:64 HMS Victory build in a couple of months. I use two Tri-phosphor Spiral CFL Daylight Balanced Pure White Light Bulb with 5500K Color Temperature (85W) for my lighting, diffused with bubble-wrap. The card is A0 in size and described as 'Ice White' which is perfect for sorting my white balance. The camera is a Nikon D5100 DSLR, used with a 18-55mm VR Lens. I sometimes use my 35mm lens, but I've no real need for most work. Camera is set to Manual mode.

Photos are then processed through Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop.

[Chuck]

Nice photo set-up.  I will have to rig something up like that.

[ccoyle]

Hmmm -- pretty low-tech set-up. I might be able to pull off something like that.

[James H]

55 minutes ago, ccoyle said:

Hmmm -- pretty low-tech set-up. I might be able to pull off something like that.

That's exactly what it is. This is exactly how I do all of my magazine and book work for several publishers.

 

I subscribe to Adobe's Creative Cloud. At the moment, I have the full suite on an Educational package, but you can get just Lightroom and Photoshop for about £10/month. They are invaluable tools for anyone wanting to do anything like I do that will go into print. 

[James H]

I know this is my build log, but these are examples of photos taken with this setup:

 

 

[yvesvidal]

Gorgeous pictures.

Yves

[James H]

A full eleven days since my last update! Well, my workshop has been stifling hot, so I've not spent as much time there. 

 

Master Korabel produced a lovely kit with some nice builder details, such as the lines that you can join up with a pencil across the planks....only lightly though as we don't want to mark the surface irreversibly! These pencil lines help us place planks in relation too each other.

With the hull sanded smooth, the pear wood second layer planking could begin. A Dremel was used at the 1st layer garboard plank, thinning it down to bleed between the planks and the false keel. A strip of pear was lined along the keel edge and the hull sanded into this, reducing the width of the keel joint so the second planking would sit up next to it.

First of all.....a quick fit of the pear keep to make sure it fits properly. Ignore the space between the deck and inside bulwark. That's intentional and a waterway will fit there. 

Planking starts with the most important and keep plank which runs as the outside bulwark. This of course needs to be placed at the correct height etc. You can gauge this with the positions of the gun ports etc. but if like me, you were slightly out with some frames, then a small compromise needs to be made. Before the planks are added, I soaked them for 5 mins in hot water and formed them around an aerosol until dry.

With the first planks on, the lower internal wale planks are now added. I found these a little trickier as I needed to make them conform around the shoulder of the hull, in an almost compound curve. I can do some sanding later.

From this point, planking is fairly straightforward, but stops when I reach the bottom of the tafrel area. This is so I can sand, shape and trim to fit tafrel parts to fit.

After some small adjustments on the stern keel area, allowing the next planks to fit continuously, these are all finally added. I used Titebond on these, brushed onto the planks, and I did each plank in three glue sessions. 

Next up is some very gentle sanding and fairing as I don't want to really lose any of the laser details. 

 

More next time!

 

[Peta_V]

Lovely work Jim, looks like you are not loosing treenails due to the lenght at the stern. Is the bow also OK? 

[James H]

3 minutes ago, Peta_V said:

Lovely work Jim, looks like you are not loosing treenails due to the lenght at the stern. Is the bow also OK? 

I have a little 'stepping' of the planks at the bow so I may lose a few when I sand, but I can easily put them back. I didn't lose any at the stern, but that's because I sanded a little further than the laser line, after seeing your build log. I think it worked ok. 

[Peta_V]

Perfect! Good luck. It is very easy to get them back so no worries. Looks like the pencil lines worked very good👍

[James H]

It's been over 6 weeks since I was on this model due to being hawked away for more magazine work. 

 

Got to say that I've really missed working on this little beauty, and it was good to get it back on the bench again.

 

There's not really too much to report on at the moment except to say that I've now added the wales and a few other bits. Thee wales are pre-cut in two parts per side, perfectly interlocking along the length. They really do make a hell of a difference the appearance. I also cut out the timber from the gun ports to open them up and added the cap rail sections. These needed to be carefully aligned to allow further laser cut parts to be fitted. 

 

As a slight change in working order, I have also added the transom. This isn't shown as fitted for a few stages yet, but there's no reason why it can't be added now and the preceding hull stages then completed before the bowsprit is made. 

 

Again, I am loving this build!