Duchess of Kingston by DB789 - Vanguard Models - 1:64

[DB789]

Started DoK last week. She’s another superb kit from Vanguard. The usual incredibly high standard of materials, plans and instructions as I’ve come to expect from Vanguard. This is my 10th boat and 10th kit from Vanguard. DoK is my first ship-rigged vessel and three-master. 
 

I haven’t shown the kit opening and contents as lots of others have already done so. There’s lots of excellent build logs for DoK from much more experienced builders so not sure this one will add much.
 

The skeleton structure for the hull is extremely well reinforced with longitudinal pieces and there’s barely any chance of the keel bending or bulkheads not being square. 

The stern frames on this kit are plywood which makes them much stronger than MDF and less prone to breakage. 

The stern frames on this kit are plywood which makes them much stronger than MDF and less prone to breakage. 
The lower aft deck is engraved ply and fits perfectly. 
The foredeck bends into place, on the notches the deck fits perfectly too. 

The aft / poop deck fits well too and I held in place with pins whilst the glue dried. 
The bulkhead ears are weak so Chris has an ingenious way of strengthening them with cross beams that like the ears are sacrificial.

The only departure from the instructions so far has been that I haven’t pre-bevelled the bulkheads before fitting them to the keel. On most of Chris’s later models he has added an engraved line to bevel to, but not this one so I decided not to risk overdoing the bevelling and to do all the bevelling on the hulk. 

[Ronald-V]

You are a real Vanguard Veteran by now....wish you lot of fun with this new addition to your fleet  

[DB789]

Thanks Ronald. I do like the Vanguard kits, they’re absolutely excellent! 
 

Fairings of the hull is now complete. I’ve run strips along the hull to confirm that they lie flat across all bulkheads. The bow pattern was added after fairing. 

 

Next the ply bulwarks were soaked for 30 mins in hot water and then bent around a saucepan to achieve the curve at the bow. Left to dry for 24 hours. 
Then fitted to the hull as per the instructions with holes drilled through the ply for pins to hold in place. 

Starting to look like a ship now! 

 

The outer edge of the bulkhead ears have a very slightly concave shape so I’ve used a plank bender (soldering iron type with a big round head) to try and get the dampened ply to adopt this shape. It’s only very gentle but I think will add to the lovely lines of this ship. 

Apologies for the orientation of these photos - I can’t change them on my iPhone. 

Onto first planking next. Need to build a new plank bending former as my last disintegrated… 

 

In the meantime I’m scanning the large number of excellent build logs for the best way to glaze her cabin windows. Ideas so far range from black paper behind, Krystal Klear, Fantasy Film, Glue n Glaze to leaving them unglazed. Any advice much appreciated! Many thanks 

 

 

[DB789]

First planking. Complete on the port side. I know best practice is to do each side evenly for most hulls, but Chris’s bracing of the bulkheads makes the structure so robust that I don’t think that any planking could possibly warp the keel. 

I follow the planking methodology that Chris and James put in their instructions of tapering from the point the plank starts to not run easily along the hull - in this case usually around the second bulkhead.

 

i know that the “Chuck” method of planking, measuring at each bulkhead, is far superior, but I have neither the patience to do it, nor the confidence that I can cut an exact taper into each plank. What I do use that Chuck’s superb tutorials taught me is the plank bending method using a jig and iron. 

Starboard side underway. I found easiest on this ship to fit the garboard plank but otherwise plank from the top downwards. 

Hull fully planked before any tidying up. 
Whilst it’s warm enough and a rare dry day in Gloucestershire, I gave her an initial sanding down in the garden.
Despite appearing quite curvy in the pictures, she hasn’t been a particularly difficult hull to plank which bodes well for the second planking. 
 

I need to work out how far to trim the planks at the stern back. 

 

Edited October 5 by DB789

[AJohnson]

Just catching up Dan with your latest VM instalment, great progress. 👏

[DB789]

Thanks Andrew! 
 

Next the stern post was assembled and the lower counter soaked and bent around a varnish bottle to achieve the correct shape. 

The counter and stern post were glued in place. 

 

The outer side patterns were soaked for 90 mins in hot water and then clamped in place. I also put pins through the holes in both side patterns to ensure that they were properly aligned. After being soaked the alignment wasn’t perfect as the peat wood swells in water. I had to leave them clamped and pinned for almost two days to dry out and shrink back to shape. Once done, they were glued too.

Lastly the outer patterns for the keel and stem were glued in place. First breakage for this kit happened here (must be a record for me, usually I’ve broken loads by now). One of the clamps pinged off and took off a small section of the port outer bow pattern off. I’ve grafted a new piece in place and glued it. Still needs to be sanded to blend in. 
Onto the second planking. 

[DB789]

Second planking is complete. DoK’s hull is quite forgiving, but not enough that my planking didn’t get a bit messy at the bottom. 

 

I’ve added the waterline in the photo below. Everything below that will be painted white and I don’t mind what it looks like so long as I can fill and sand it smooth. 

The stern area was the hardest part, in particular how to terminate the planks against the counter. 

Looks neat in the photo but I’ve sanded it too much on the starboard side. 
 

I’ve put Danish oil on the planks as I usually do and also on the bulwarks. It seems to have stained the wood much darker than usual (Adder’s bulwarks behind in the photo are much lighter after Danish oil). Will need to think if I should have Danish oil on the inner bulwarks. The outer bulwarks are mostly painted so the dark colour doesn’t matter. 

[DB789]

Inner bulwarks are soaked and clamped to dry. 

I had a bit of a mishap with the engraved deck, entirely my fault. There’s significant tumblehome towards the top of the bulkheads so the deck needs bending to fit. It also needs a little sanding to fit properly, after multiple trial fits the deck split. I tried to fit it with glue and tape over the gap, but the gap reopened and in trying to remove the deck it splintered and broke.

I emailed Chris to order a replacement - which arrived in the post the following morning - now that’s amazing customer service…. Thanks Chris, hugely appreciated. 
 

New deck went on carefully and cleanly. 
The next small challenge was fitting the inner bulwarks. I soaked these as per the instructions and allowed to dry for three days. I wish that I hadn’t soaked them as they now don’t fit the inside of the bulwarks precisely. There’s extra length on the bow end of these that can be removed, but they’re also too tall at bow and their aft end. I couldn’t use pins to align them either as only some holes lined up. Careful sanding of the bottom of the bulwarks and they fit much better. 
I’ve started filling below the waterline, but still need paint, filling and sanding alternately to get the hull smooth.