Chris Watton

Hi Dale, Thank you, we are almost finished with setting everything up. It has taken a lot longer than I initially thought, so I haven't done any development work for two months. I shall restart within the next week or so, though, finishing the Ballahoo designs. I should have a new laser machine with me in the next week, too, so will post a load of pics of our new unit when that's installed. All my time, as mentioned before, has been taken up by assembling new racks and constant laser cutting for orders.

Looking very cool!

Very nice job, your work stands to to close up shots really well!

Your finished Sherbourne looks fantastic, very well done!

Well, the ones I developed and built for other companies, it is they who own the prototypes, so were never mine to keep. Up until this year, I never had the space to keep most of the Vanguard Models finished models, except the smaller ones. As Jim built a lot of the models, he keeps them to do with as he wishes. However, I do have a complete Alert, Speedy, Trial Cutter, Sherbourne and Adder (and a Ranger that Jim very kindly gave me). I have the hull only models of Duchess, Erycina, Nisha, Fifie and Zulu, and the pre prototopye hull for Surprise, Ranger and Saucy Jack. The pre prototype for Indy and Speedy I gave away to a very good home. As I now have the space, I do plan to complete a full hull model of Agamemnon with stump masts, and am thinking about building her 'as built', with white bottom and a single Admiral's Barge, and leave the later full-fat Nelson version to Jim.

Cheers! :) I realised I don't have a lot of the finished models myself, for display, so figured the next best thing would be a set of 840x600mm pictures, showing the models. Oh, I must share this with you, this is the last line from a (lady) customer I had today, it has made me smile all afternoon. (If I had a boss, I would love to sign off with this):

Today I was finally able to populate a large bare wall in the main hallway (well, the last half at least) of our new unit, using 'Foamex' posters, done by my print company (who also do our plans and manuals. Still a couple of weeks away from having everything how we want, but we are getting there!

OK, we now have the HiSModel yacht kit in stock: HiSModel Statenjacht Utrecht 1:72 (Plastic Injection Moulded Parts) – – Vanguard Models Historic version of the Statenjacht Utrecht ship model kit based on the original 17th-century appearance. Statenjacht Utrecht 1:72 – Original 17th Century Version is the most detailed version of this ship model kit by HiSModel. Compared with the Replica Edition, this version is focused on the richer and more representative appearance of Dutch yachts of the 17th century. This is the top of the range version, with the addition of new 3D-printed resin parts, especially the detailed stern decoration, bow figure, side galleries and other decorative elements. These parts give the model a stronger historical character and bring it closer to the appearance of luxurious representative vessels from the Dutch Golden Age. Technical specifications of the kit: Scale:1:72 Model size:35 × 35 × 15 cm (L-H-W) Plastic parts:132 3D-printed resin parts:52 Photo-etched parts:154 CNC wooden blocks:66 Professional quality ropes:7 The Original 17th Century Version includes premium equipment: Laser-cut wooden deck Sails sewn on a CNC machine 6 metal cannons Double-sided printed flags with an extended flag selection A3 size poster

I did find time amongst the chaos to hang one of my favourite pictures! ETA - I did find a couple of pics of the laser room, just after I moved the two laser machines in so I could continue production whilst still moving the rest of the stuff in (I was hell bent on completing the new batch of Indy parts..):

I do plan to take pics once everything is sorted :) I did lay a load of ethernet cable trunking with the cables, so all machines and printers can be operated by any PC in the unit - but that was a lot of cables! Still a two person op, as the 'manufacturing' side is quite a slow process. For example, over the past couple of days, I have had one laser machine engraving/cutting Grecian 1.5mm pear sheets, and to complete the full run of 10 x 100x500mm sheets, it takes around 4 and a half hours, as each sheet is so heavily populated (This is the case for most 1.5mm sheets for kits). So each run depends on what is being cut, time wise. It can be no more than 15 minutes for some, but over 5 hours for others. Same with 3-d printing. It's not like we need someone standing at the machines, changing the job every couple of minutes - each kit requires a lot of time to produce. This is why I decided to double the amount of laser machines, as the kit count will only ever increase. And once everything is set up, I can go to my little office and continue developing new stuff!

Well, we are now 98% ready, with all of the benches and racking moved in and a lot more ordered and built up, with just two more workbenches to make up. Our made up racking that we already had, needed to be partially dismantled, moved and re assembled when in position, as they were too big to fit through the doors. I have so many cuts and bruises... I really do not want to move again anytime soon! We have about to week left to finalise the completed set up - but it now more or less looks like this (Laser 3 will be delivered in September, and laser 4 in December). I do have the HiSModel yacht kits in stock, and am just waiting for them to be added to the website - and continuing development for new kits will recommence in September.

I do have a file for a 32nd version, which just about fits my huge Formlabs 4 3-d printer, but 24th, no....

Superb work!

Just realised I haven't posted for a while. The reason being that we went on a nice break, and when we came back, we have orders coming out of our ears (not that I mind that!). Couple that with trying to move a ton of stuff to our new unit, it really has been manic. My wife is still working through the day, coming home for tea and then off to work again, trying to catch up with all the orders after our week off. I have moved the laser machines into the new unit, and am doing production from there, but we still have a lot to move. In between changing materials for the laser, all I have been doing is assembling loads of racking, desks, workbenches etc. I do have a new laser machine arriving in September, and another in December, bringing the count up from 2 to 4 - but the last one (arriving in December) is a smaller machine, intended for development work so I do not interrupt production, plus we now have more than enough space for them. Trying to keep up with orders has been a challenge this year, so the new machines will certainly help. Once we have finally moved everything in and settled into the new unit, I shall post a few pics. Oh, I did order some of those nice yacht kits from HiSModel (Statenjacht Utrecht 1:72 – Original 17th Century Version), which should be online in a week or two.

I have ordered 10 of these lovely kits - the top premium version, should have them within the next couple of weeks (along with a top up of machined walnut blocks...)