Newsworthy updates from Chris Watton

[chris watton]

Hi,

 

It has been a long time, but thought I would update you all.

 

I no longer work for Amati, I finished in May this year (No animosity involved).  I currently work part time for a prototype model company and also do some work for Sergio Marletti, the man I connected with so well when he was design manager at Amati.

 

After some thought and a five month break, I am thinking about designing my own model range of period ships under a new kit range name. I will only design what I think people will like (and me, of course), and will make them as detailed as possible. I have received plans from the NMM for several subjects that piqued my interest, so very early days.

[Bettina]

4 minutes ago, chris watton said:

Hi,

 

It has been a long time, but thought I would update you all.

 

I no longer work for Amati, I finished in May this year (No animosity involved).  I currently work part time for a prototype model company and also do some work for Sergio Marletti, the man I connected with so well when he was design manager at Amati.

 

After some thought and a five month break, I am thinking about designing my own model range of period ships under a new kit range name. I will only design what I think people will like (and me, of course), and will make them as detailed as possible. I have received plans from the NMM for several subjects that piqued my interest, so very early days.

Fantastic news. Alas I can only press the like button once! Looking forward with great anticipation and GOOD LUCK!

[Ulises Victoria]

Good news, Chris. Rest assured I and many of us will keep an eye on your project. Best of lucks, since that will benefit us all!!!

 

[chris watton]

16 minutes ago, Bettina said:

Fantastic news. Alas I can only press the like button once! Looking forward with great anticipation and GOOD LUCK!

Thank you! It is both exciting and scary at the same time...

 

 

[Mirabell61]

Good luck Chris,

 

I wish you all the best with your planing and good sucess ahead...

 

Nils

[Thunder]

Chris,

 

Based on that information I will not be adding to my stock of kits waiting to be built. Instead I will hold fast until you release your first project.

 

Good luck,

 

Adrian

[hollowneck]

Good news for all those who appreciate your excellent work with both Amati and Caldercraft projects.

Although small, there remains an international market for high-end kits of unusual period ship subjects.

Please stay in-touch with this forum; let us all know how you are progressing on your prototypes. Once or twice a month would suffice. You needn't spend hours -unless you'll be doing some research among members, which I would suggest could be quite valuable.

Best of luck!

Ron

[Kevin]

Wonderful news, can i carry your bags for you when you are even more Famous Chris, good luck with your new ventures, and will you be keeping us updated on this site

 

[chris watton]

Thanks guys, really appreciate the positive comments - at one point I did wonder if I wanted to design anything again! I now know it is period ships I enjoy designing and building the most, so I guess I'll stick with that.

 

I have my copies of several ship lines plans being digitised right now, should be ready in a couple of days for me to pick up. I will probably start with something more simple, and then something larger and more involved.

 

I will keep you updated - I have been away for a while because I was simply burnt out with designing, more significantly, designing stuff I have zero interest in. Needed a little time to re-evaluate what I was going to do. The conclusion is that, I know how to design these things with my eyes closed, so why not design subjects I enjoy the most, and then hopefully sell them to like-minded modellers.

 

Cheers,

 

Chris

[chris watton]

5 hours ago, SpyGlass said:

Hooray the master returns!!

 

The hundreds (thousands?) of hours of enjoyment from your work is so appreciated

 

Could I put in a personal request - cutter or schooner 1/64 - for aged builders with not much space !

 

 

Thank you,

 

I would think that doing a cutter or similar would be a good idea as one of the initial kits. I have a lot of info for the cutter Alert, but that is clinker planked, but I guess if it were aimed more at a beginner, carvel planked would be OK (and the people that are more experienced could do the clinker planking). Just a though..

[catopower]

Chris,

 

I suspect that anything you decide to do as a first subject will be a hot seller, so have at it! We're all waiting excitedly for it.

 

Clare

[Beef Wellington]

Really happy to hear this news Chris.  I know that EVERYONE has their own thoughts and opinions on subject matters...there seem to be some subjects that already have a large number of kits, cutters and schooners being some of them.  I wonder if a custom pole of your top 3 ideas may help you prioritize, similar to what Chuck did.

[James H]

Good to chat with you today Chris.

 

Can't wait to see what you come up with.

[ChrisLBren]

Good to see you back Chris ! 

 

Just curious if the 1/64 Victory will ever be released. I'm a scratch builder but I'm sure there are many modelers on this forum that would love to build your design 

[Kevin]

what about a sectional ship, like a scratch with internal bulkheads 

[Thunder]

Chris,

 

You could always fill a gap min the market with a conversion kit. i.e. parts for 1765 version of Victory.

 

Personally I love the smaller, less glamorous, ships of the Royal Navy. 5th and 6th rates of C1660 -1720 such as the Lizard or the Galley Frigate of 1702 as depicted in the book by Franklin or Fubbs and Nonsuch.

 

Alert would be different to any other Cutter on the market.

 

I would sell most of my kits in store for one of the above

[chris watton]

35 minutes ago, ChrisLBren said:

Good to see you back Chris ! 

 

Just curious if the 1/64 Victory will ever be released. I'm a scratch builder but I'm sure there are many modelers on this forum that would love to build your design 

I have no idea, I have no contact with Amati now, so could not tell what's going on with that kit.

18 minutes ago, Kevin said:

what about a sectional ship, like a scratch with internal bulkheads 

My wife suggested that, I have done that for Black Pearl and a large Elizabethan galleon I did for Hachette - so that's possible.

13 minutes ago, Thunder said:

Chris,

 

You could always fill a gap min the market with a conversion kit. i.e. parts for 1765 version of Victory.

 

Personally I love the smaller, less glamorous, ships of the Royal Navy. 5th and 6th rates of C1660 -1720 such as the Lizard or the Galley Frigate of 1702 as depicted in the book by Franklin or Fubbs and Nonsuch.

 

Alert would be different to any other Cutter on the market.

 

I would sell most of my kits in store for one of the above

I would need to have at least a dozen of my own kits out before even thinking about conversion kits. Are there any decent drawings for Nonsuch? If things work out, I would love to do a Royal George (1740's). A nice period, not too gaudy and not too plain..

[Morgan]

Good to see you back Chris.  A while ago on this forum you toyed with the idea of a 1:64 frigate, possibly a Leda, given there has to be a commercial side to your kits how about Shannon and Chesapeake - this would appeal to both sides of the pond.

 

Gary

 

[J T Lombard]

Chris:

How 'bout a 1/64 scale, high quality/detailed USS Constitution?

[chris watton]

19 minutes ago, Morgan said:

Good to see you back Chris.  A while ago on this forum you toyed with the idea of a 1:64 frigate, possibly a Leda, given there has to be a commercial side to your kits how about Shannon and Chesapeake - this would appeal to both sides of the pond.

 

Gary

 

Cheers

 

I had considered a Leda class frigate, but decided on another class of heavy frigate due to the abundance of research material available (and I like the name). If things go well, I may end up doing quite a few classes of frigate, as they're great for the (competent) novice, intermediate and expert alike.

 

But am getting ahead of myself, the plans I already have haven't been scanned and put onto my thumb drive yet.. 

[chris watton]

5 minutes ago, J T Lombard said:

Chris:

How 'bout a 1/64 scale, high quality/detailed USS Constitution?

I think that would be quite popular, I have the Anatomy of the Ship book for that, may have a set of plans for it too, given to me by a friend in the US.

[hollowneck]

Not sure we need another U.S.S. Constitution. There is already a 1/76 version by Model Shipways (www.modelexpo-online.com) that is regarded as a good kit and sells for $419. It's also 48" long. A 1/64 would be approximately 54" long. Gulp.

Leda, Royal George, Shannon, Chesapeake all sound better to me...

Ron

[chris watton]

22 minutes ago, hollowneck said:

Not sure we need another U.S.S. Constitution. There is already a 1/76 version by Model Shipways (www.modelexpo-online.com) that is regarded as a good kit and sells for $419. It's also 48" long. A 1/64 would be approximately 54" long. Gulp.

Leda, Royal George, Shannon, Chesapeake all sound better to me...

Ron

You may be right, it is about the same length as Victory isn't it, and that model in 64th is an absolute behemoth!

 

Anyway, I intend to focus on British subjects for the first lot..

[JeffT]

Sounds awesome! Glad to see you back.

[vossy]

I would love to see an out of this world high end Bounty or Endeavour, or a ship that doesn't get much airplay, the Pandora.

 

Cheers

 

Chris

 

[Morgan]

If I’m not mistaken Chris has developed an Endeavour for Amati recently, but like the Victory its release date is somewhere in the future.

 

Gary

[chris watton]

27 minutes ago, Morgan said:

If I’m not mistaken Chris has developed an Endeavour for Amati recently, but like the Victory its release date is somewhere in the future.

 

Gary

Yes, that was the last model I developed fully for Amati, I figured it would compliment their Bounty. Please take note, I have no further dealings with Amati, so have as much clue as anyone else regarding release dates of their kits.

 

For the cutter kit, should it be named Alert or Sprightly?

[amateur]

I amgoing to put in the same thoughts I did in some other threads on kits.

I understand thefun of building large models, but for many those kits are too large. (I still have Corels Prins Willem on my bench, and the next one has to be smaller too fit in my house)

 

so: why not larger ships in smaller scales: makes them easier tobuild (less instead of more detail), and perhaps a larger group of interested customers.

(besides: giving the current PE-technology, you can still put in lot of detail if you want)

 

other thought: why not go for a different period: just an other around 1800 HMS might interestsome, but there is so much more.

Why not turn to the sail/staem transition period: still wooden hulles, but definitiely something else. (Ithought of something like the Dutch zMS Bonaire, still in Den Helder)

 

Third: why not turn to smaller ships: Corel had (has?) some mediterranean crafts, but around the German, Dutch, English waters there is quite a lot that is interesting enough to make a kit....

 

Jan

[chris watton]

28 minutes ago, amateur said:

I amgoing to put in the same thoughts I did in some other threads on kits.

I understand thefun of building large models, but for many those kits are too large. (I still have Corels Prins Willem on my bench, and the next one has to be smaller too fit in my house)

 

so: why not larger ships in smaller scales: makes them easier tobuild (less instead of more detail), and perhaps a larger group of interested customers.

(besides: giving the current PE-technology, you can still put in lot of detail if you want)

 

other thought: why not go for a different period: just an other around 1800 HMS might interestsome, but there is so much more.

Why not turn to the sail/staem transition period: still wooden hulles, but definitiely something else. (Ithought of something like the Dutch zMS Bonaire, still in Den Helder)

 

Third: why not turn to smaller ships: Corel had (has?) some mediterranean crafts, but around the German, Dutch, English waters there is quite a lot that is interesting enough to make a kit....

 

Jan

Hi Jan,

 

I did state that I want to develop subjects that I like and have always wanted to design and build, at least for now.  If I started off by doing obscure subjects I have little interest in, then I would be putting myself in the same position as I was before, working for someone else.

 

The problem with later period ships of the Nineteenth Century is the fact that most are just plain dull by comparison to their earlier relatives (more functional). Plus there is still a rich vein of subjects to tap into from the 17th and 18th Centuries. I think there is a lack of steam ship/transition model kits for a reason, they do not sell, not attractive enough to most, I guess.

 

I don't mind smaller scales, as using PE, they can be as detailed as something twice the scale, but there is little difference in production costs in 2 different size kits with the same amount of detail, as cutting times and materials are roughly the same. So, if you see, say, a frigate of the same type in two different sizes and both cost roughly the same, which one will most always go for? I guess you could dumb the kit down to make if cheaper, but then what separates your products from everyone else's?

 

We are a niche within a niche, and have to chose carefully...

 

Cheers,

 

Chris

 

 

[Ulises Victoria]

1 hour ago, chris watton said:

The problem with later period ships of the Nineteenth Century is the fact that most are just plain dull by comparison to their earlier relatives (more functional). Plus there is still a rich vein of subjects to tap into from the 17th and 18th Centuries. I think there is a lack of steam ship/transition model kits for a reason, they do not sell, not attractive enough to most, I guess.

Cheers,

 

Chris

 

 

Couldn't agree more!!!