Chris Watton and Vanguard Models news and updates Volume 2

[Chuck Seiler]

On 8/9/2023 at 6:10 PM, druxey said:

The deck 'droop' at the bow was called - wait for it - camber. (Deck beams and decks 'round up';  decks do not camber across.)

Is this correct?  I've long understood camber to be the transversal curve of the deck, while the longitudinal curve is sheer.

[Rustyj]

Glad I just got my order in! Have a wonderful time on your vacation.

[Oboship]

8 hours ago, chris watton said:

Just thought I would mention on here - Vanguard Models will be shut From Saturday 23rd September until 7th October.

I am being made to take a two week vacation, first in 8 years!

Any maritime museums on your travel schedule to pinch ideas from? 😉

Enjoy your days off!

Uwe

[druxey]

Chuck: This was the correct terminology in the 18th century. The meaning of words changed over time. Camber only applied to a deliberate droop of a deck at the bow, otherwise the longitudinal curve, concave up, is sheer, as you wrote.

 

Hope this clarifies things!

[Chuck Seiler]

Many thanks.  Camber is currently the correct term for the transverse curve (down on the sides) of the deck, correct?  I seem to remember that from my navy days as well.

[mtaylor]

Have a great and well-deserved vacation, Chris.  It's good to get away from "work" no matter how much you enjoy it.

[Guyuti]

Chris,

I hope you and your wife have a wonderful holiday. go and relax and enjoy yourselves you have both earnt it.

 

Kind regards

Guy

[chris watton]

Thank you for your kind comments, buys, much appreciated. It will be very strange not working for a whole two weeks!

[gjdale]

You’ll be on holiday Chris, but I’ll wager your mind won’t be! By the time you get back there will be ideas/plans for a whole raft of new Vanguard projects and/or tweaks to existing designs and methods.

[chris watton]

I am back from holiday, it was very nice. However, the last few days I started to feel ill, and when we got home, it turned into full blown flu. So I have been out of action this past week, not being able to do anything but moan, sneeze, ache like hell and moan! So no work until next week now, dammit...

[Blue Ensign]

Sorry you've had a poor end to your hols Chris, especially as it was your  first break in eight years.

It's obviously dangerous to be out of your workshop, 

 

Have you checked whether it's Covid or flu, but either way I hope you are back firing on all four pdq

 

 

Cheers,

 

B.E.

[chris watton]

Not Covid, too much sneezing for that...

[scrubbyj427]

Take care, Get well soon Chris. Looks like you had a good trip though.

[James H]

9 hours ago, scrubbyj427 said:

Take care, Get well soon Chris. Looks like you had a good trip though.

Too late.

 

It was Kraken Wild Cherry rum.

[scrubbyj427]

51 minutes ago, James H said:

Too late.

 

It was Kraken Wild Cherry rum.

They make a cherry flavored one??!!

[jpalmer1970]

Was it a secret research trip? Will we see a Vanguard Models cruise liner next year? 😁

[chris watton]

4 hours ago, jpalmer1970 said:

Was it a secret research trip? Will we see a Vanguard Models cruise liner next year? 😁

They are ugly looking things, like a block of flats on the water, so no! lol

[Guyuti]

Take care Chris and get well soon. So pleased you and your wife had a great holiday in the Med.

 

Kind Regards

 

Guy

[DocRob]

Get well soon Chris. You had a nice trip, it seems. Looks like Lisboa and Obidos on the pictures, both places I really like and might have lived there, haven't I found my remote island. 

You are absolutely right about the looks of cruising ships, they are a disgrace for maritime vessels. I've seen a lot, cause they are cruising in our waters here around the Canary Islands as well. The nicer are the smaller, classic build ones.
Would there be a GB for cruising ships here, I would pass .

 

Cheers Rob

[chris watton]

Just thought I would give a little update on what is going on with Vanguard Models.

Since coming back from vacation a few weeks ago, I had the Flu, recovered, and then managed to put my right hand out of service for almost a week by pouring (accidentally...) boiling water on it – this happened because in essence, I am an idiot…

Also, since coming back, orders have gone mad, both from direct customers and my German and Japanese distributors, not that I am complaining. What this means, though, is that I am spending 90% of my time producing kit parts (laser cut parts and fittings I produce myself), rather than spending the time developing new stuff. I am desperately trying to find time to finish the Adder plan sheets, so that I can then build up the prototype model for the building stages. I already have the sample PE here. I would have liked to have this out before Christmas, but existing kit production and making sure all stock levels are healthy must come first, so this may not be possible.

I have done a little re design of all existing cannon carriages that I sell separately, with the square cap now integrated in with the carriage side, as they are for the kit versions. These will start to filter through once existing stock is gone. I have also produced 3-d print files for all sizes on cannon barrel, from 3-32 pounder. These will take some time to produce, as there are a lot of sizes. For example, from 9-24 pounder sizes, there will be both Armstrong and Blomefield, with each having two sizes. This means that for the 4 sizes, 16 different barrels need to be produced, not counting the 3, 4, 6 and 32 pounders. That is 24 different barrels in total. This will be something for next year, I think.

Looking a little more into the future, I think we will have to move to a place that has a larger outbuilding for Vanguard Models, as we are now reaching, and probably exceeding the limits of what we can do in our current property. By very early next year, we will have 16 full kits to offer, and they all need space. We have outgrown our current house.

And thank you all, for your continued support, it is always very much appreciated. I have learned a lot in the past 4 years, since deciding to produce my own kits, and still have a lot more to learn..
 

[Vane]

Sounds like you need to employ some help. Why wasting your talent at the production line when you can be designing new kits instead? 
All success are definitly well deserved. In a hobby where most companies rely on kits from the 90s you are reaching new levels every month!

 

[Blue Ensign]

Good to hear that sales are going well Chris, and why wouldn't they, you have great products.👍

Interesting times ahead, eh.

 

B.E.

[glbarlow]

Well deserved success, glad things are going well!  I hope Surprise stays on your radar. 

[ccoyle]

46 minutes ago, chris watton said:

and then managed to put my right hand out of service for almost a week by pouring (accidentally...) boiling water on it – this happened because in essence, I am an idiot…

 

Still, I think, doesn't quite match the level of idiotic self-immolation seen years ago in my infamous "absentmindedly transferring the hot plank bending iron from one hand to the other" incident.

[AJohnson]

14 minutes ago, glbarlow said:

Well deserved success, glad things are going well!  I hope Surprise stays on your radar. 

I think Chris will definitely need bigger premises for the orders of that one! 🤣. But happy to wait a little longer (and means I should finish up one or two projects before Surprise make her debut). Really pleased to hear how things are going Chris, well deserved, really enjoying building your Trial at the moment. 

[chris watton]

10 minutes ago, Vane said:

Sounds like you need to employ some help. Why wasting your talent at the production line when you can be designing new kits instead? 
All success are definitly well deserved. In a hobby where most companies rely on kits from the 90s you are reaching new levels every month!

 

But if I did that, overheads would increase greatly, and prices would have to rise accordingly, and some moan now that prices are already high (but they really are not, not for what you get, I have said before, my profit margins are not nearly as wide as other manufacturers, but I can live with that due to low overheads plus laser cutting the parts myself)

 

Trying to keep on top of everything can be quite the balancing act at times, though, from making sure I have enough cannon balls (crazy expensive, but so perfect for the job) and special masking tape for keeping thin sheets flat when laser cutting, to keeping an eye on photo etch sheet stock, dowel, blocks/deadeyes, thread, materials etc. If I run short of just one little thing, then I have to put the kit out of stock.. All good fun, though!

 

 

[Guyuti]

Chris,

 

I am so happy for you, you are having problems that only come from success. I am looking forward to hear how everything works out. I am sure you will breeze through them like everything else you have had to get through since opening your wonderful company. A company that I will support by buying every kit you ever make.

 

Kind regards and best wishes for now and the future

 

Guy

Edited November 3, 2023 by Guyuti

[gjdale]

Illness and injury aside Chris, it sounds like a good problem to have! May you continue to have such problems for many years to come. 😊

[chris watton]

Cheers guys, your comments are really appreciated!

 

I remember my wife saying, when Alert was almost ready for release (our first kit), 'Just buy enough stuff for 20 kits, that should be more than enough for now'. Since then, she has been packing kits almost daily, whilst still holding down a full time job!

 

Oh, forgot to mention, I had a fresh delivery of AK paints this week. I ordered much more of the ochre, red, black, blue and off-white, so I will soon be able to offer these as separates, rather than having to have them in a set.

 

Regarding blocks, I would very much like to continue offering the fantastic machined pear blocks. However, right now, the UK has sanctions with the country I buy them from, so if caught, I could lose my entire business. So the stock I have will be the last for a good while, I think. I have tried other avenues, but nothing concrete. It was even suggested that I laser cut my own. 

However, I can think of few things more tedious than making your own blocks and deadeyes, trying to glue the three layers together, and then sand to round off - and to have to do this many hundreds of times. I figured that if I baulk at the thought of having to do that, then the majority of my customers would feel the same. I like to try and make the building of these models as painless as I can – asking the customer to make their own blocks from tiny laser cut parts (Which would take an age to laser cut anyway) would be akin to a swift kick in the shin with a size 12 steel toecap boot!

So for the time being, I will only be able to offer the standard blocks, which, in all honesty, the majority of customers have anyway.
 

Edited November 4, 2023 by chris watton

[Nipper]

Congratulations Chris for the great progress your business has made and it is so well deserved for the quality of your products and your customer service.  I remember your post on here saying that you had decided to set up your own business, and that is clearly paying off now.

 

The question now of course is how to manage the business as it has grown so much since the release of Alert.  I agree with your reply above about employing staff to do the kit production.  Although this would free you up to concentrate on kit design, once you are employing others you are bringing in a whole lot of potential problems as well as additional costs.  To my mind, the issue is how to make sure that you and your wife (whose assistance on top of her own full time job must be a huge bonus) are enjoying running the business.  Sometimes, success means a business can grow to the point where it becomes just a chore, or even too stressful.

 

An alternative to employing your own staff is to contract out to other businesses to do the basic work for you.  This brings other problems of course as well as the cost, but maybe this could be something for the future.

 

It seems to me that you are saying  that you are having fun with VM - and so you are right to keep it like that.  As long as Mrs W is happy too!

 

Thank you for the happiness your work has brought to me.

 

Nipper