Winchelsea Difficulty?

[Venti]

Good morning, all!

 

I have just recently started making lots of sawdust and I have started planning a long list of ships to do haha. I love the look of the Winchelsea and would love to build it, but I just wanted to ask about where she sits from a difficulty standpoint. I have only really read through one build log (Trussben's) and he made it look easy, but I suspect that speaks more to his skill than the build being easy 🤣

 

I am almost done building the Pram, then I plan to build the Lobster Smack and then plan to get the Vanguard Sherbourne. Not sure if that's enough experience to dive into building a Winnie or if I should do something a little bigger (been looking at either Vanguard HM Brig Harpy, HM Brig Sloop Flirt, or HMS Speedy). 

 

Thanks!

[Chuck]

5 minutes ago, Venti said:

building a Winnie or if I should do something a little bigger (been looking at either Vanguard HM Brig Harpy, HM Brig Sloop Flirt, or HMS Speedy). 

It is not a beginner model but it is certainly a challenging Intermediate project.  But being the designer it may be hard for me to tell and you are best to seek a builders opinion.   On the size...the Winnie is much larger than the three other kits you mentioned.  Both in scale and actual size.

 

Chuck

[Ronald-V]

There is also the mental aspect in such a large project. It will take a lot of time, patience and challenges. Just work trough your list and view it by ship. I think you feel automatically when you are ready for a challenge/project like the Winchelsea

Edited yesterday at 01:04 PM by Ronald-V

[glbarlow]

Winchelsea is a tremendous model that took me 3 years of working almost daily the entire time.  It took skills I learned over the 12 models I built before it and new skills I learned along the way. Personally I’d recommend doing any of the Vanguard naval ships first and if you’re ready to test yourself further I’d start with Chuck’s Cheerful, a model I fully enjoyed building and led me directly to Winchelsea. I doubt Trussben or others that have built it would say it was easy, the fun is in the challenge.  

 

That’s not to say anyone couldn’t start with Winchelsea, in my case it was more fun because I’d built the others first. Chuck’s designs are well thought out, the parts are detailed, and his instructions clear. His support along the way is unparalleled. Undoubtedly it’s my best model. All that said, I’d read through multiple logs, get some experience under your belt, and decide then.

Edited yesterday at 05:44 PM by glbarlow

[shauer]

I'll give you a Winchelsea newbie perspective on this.

 

I'm only about 2 months into my Winchelsea build and just started the second chapter.  I agree with it being a challenging intermediate project (so far).  The most complex wooden ship model I did prior was the Pride of Baltimore II from Model Shipways.

 

I rely a lot on the build logs and have read pretty much all of them at least once prior to starting the project.  Before you decide to take the plunge I recommend you read ALL of the build logs, pay close attention to those projects that did not go well along with the successful ones.  Try to find a build log from someone with similar experience and skills and see how they did. 

 

I think if you have learned and are successful at the techniques required for building an intermediate model then the rest is up to how you personally handle large, multi-year projects, and how comfortable you are with translating descriptions of new skills into practice.  Working on Winnie requires a larger workspace that can be dedicated to the project for the duration.   I am enjoying the larger scale/size of the model.  You will make mistakes and that's where the build logs where problems were encountered have saved me somewhat.

 

I agree with the summary above to get a few more models behind you and then decide.

 

Steve

[palmerit]

Winchelsea and other Syren ships are on my future list. And really they are. But I have a growing collection of models I bought that are sitting on my shelves. I've found doing smaller models with fewer repetitive steps has given me some good experience with different kinds of modeling steps. And since each model is not as expensive or as involved as something like the Winchelsea, if I made a mistake I can just trash the model or use the fix as a learning experience and then move to the next model. For example, I did the NRG Half Hull, which was a great experience, and it has a secondary home now on the top shelf of a book shelf in my office as opposed to the "place of honor" my other models are living in because it didn't turn out as nice as I had hoped. My learning experiences are clearly visible. Only the final models I really like are going to be centerpieces in our home. I find that the smaller models give me a chance to try different things since there is still so much I'm learning. I did my first deck planking on the Scow Schooner I'm working on. Some aspects of it I liked, others I didn't. But I learned something. I might have been more upset with the outcome if it was the deck of a ship that cost me lots of money and 1/2 year or more to get to the deck planking step and I screwed something up. But I have seen some people have successfully tackled a larger model and loved it soon into building these kits.