18th Century Armed Longboat by TheFace - Model Shipways - 1/24 Scale - First Build

[TheFace]

Hello all!  
As my first build, I am tackling Model Shipways "18th Century Armed Longboat".  I picked up a few kits a long time ago in college, one of which I don't ever want to build, and the other I am in the (re)design phase on.  I recently started purging my many collections and have moved on from spending too much time outside of work on a computer playing games and flight simulators (I'll still do that one some).  Pulled out my model kits, mostly WW2 airplanes, and found the ship kits.  Both are in great shape, so I thought about selling them both.  Then I decided it was a good way to spend my time, and I have always had a love for ships. I grew up waterskiing / wakeboarding, and have almost always had access to a boat, or family members have owned them.   I have also done woodworking and metalworking of various types, having worked on some sword fittings back in college.  Leather-wrapped scabbards on western style swords and full fittings for Japanese swords.

I started with an airplane model first, which is in the final stages of construction.  Eduard 1/48 F6F-5N Hellcat:

 

I then quickly realized that the majority of airplane modeling was spent during the finishing process. Fun, but I also really like the planning, design, and building portions of the process.  The ship models on the shelf moved from the sell pile to the keep....

I received the kit last weekend, and when I returned from the lake, I opened the kit to get started right away.    

Monday night, I started by removing the false keel and keel parts, then cleaning those up.

 

The last several days have been spent chiseling the rabbit, gluing the keel parts to the false keel, and using some water and heat to get the bend the pieces had out of the box in the bow area.

 

Next up:

[TheFace]

I am now thinking about doing a keel jig with vertical stabilizers at the bow and stern.  The bow piece is very soft and cross-grain.

[JacquesCousteau]

Nice start!

[Nirvana]

Welcome and what a great start!

[ccoyle]

Welcome aboard!

 

3 hours ago, TheFace said:

I then quickly realized that the majority of airplane modeling was spent during the finishing process.

 

This is one reason why I build card models.

 

Cheers!

[TheFace]

Created a simple jig from scrap wood and leftover from the keel laser cut sheet.  Alignment to the frames lines to assist with getting the first few straight.

[TheFace]

Cleaned and dry fit frames 0 through 7.  A through H next.  There is a gap on each and they wiggle a bit, but should tighten and fill with glue.