Hi all,

This is a very abridged version of my build log for HMS Surprise. I've selected a series of images from the whole build so far, and I'll present them here with minimal text.

Some history:

In the golden age of sail, when the oceans were vast highways for empires and adventurers alike, there sailed a frigate with a name that struck both curiosity and caution into the hearts of men—HMS Surprise. But the Surprise was not born of British oak and Royal Navy hands. No, her tale begins in a different cradle—France—where she was launched in 1794 under the name Unité, a 28-gun frigate of the French Navy. Sleek, swift, and designed for speed and manoeuvrability, she was a proud representative of revolutionary France's naval ambition.

 Yet fate, and the Royal Navy, had other plans. In April 1796, Unité was captured by the British frigate HMS Inconstant in the Mediterranean. She was taken into British service, renamed HMS Surprise, and thus began her second, more storied life under a new flag.

A Frigate of Purpose

As HMS Surprise, she was classified as a 28-gun sixth-rate frigate, though she often carried more. Her reputation grew not through brute strength, but through daring, speed, and the calibre of men she carried. She was never the largest ship, nor the most heavily armed—but she was fast, agile, and clever, much like the captains who commanded her. In 1799, she achieved her most famous real-world mission: the capture of René-Nicolas Dufriche Desgenettes, the French general en-route from Egypt aboard the corvette Hermione. Surprise and her crew intercepted and captured the vessel, disrupting French plans in the Mediterranean. Though her active service was relatively short—she was decommissioned in 1802 and sold in 1802 or 1803—her legend would outlast her hull.

A Literary Resurrection

More than a century later, HMS Surprise was reborn—not in dockyards, but on the printed page. Enter Patrick O'Brian, a masterful storyteller of the 20th century, who brought her back to life as the beloved command of Captain Jack Aubrey in his epic series of historical novels. In O'Brian’s tales, Surprise became more than a ship—she was a home, a companion, and a character in her own right. Alongside the brilliant and eccentric ship's surgeon and intelligence agent Stephen Maturin, Aubrey took the Surprise across the world—from the battle-torn Mediterranean to the exotic shores of the Pacific, braving tempests, mutinies, and battles with Napoleonic foes. The ship’s real-life service was modest, but in fiction, HMS Surprise became immortal. O’Brian's meticulous research and vivid prose gave her a soul—and to countless readers, she was as real as any ship that ever sailed.

On Screen and in Memory

In 2003, HMS Surprise graced the big screen in Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, directed by Peter Weir and starring Russell Crowe as Jack Aubrey. The filmmakers used a replica ship—originally built as Rose, a modern reproduction of a British frigate—and refitted her as the Surprise for the film. Today, that replica HMS Surprise is preserved at the Maritime Museum of San Diego, a living monument to both historical fact and literary legend.

Building the kit

TEMPORARY BOX ART

These photos are self-explanatory, and show the MDF core of Surprise as she is built up, including gun ports which are incorporated into the framing, and for the first time, a framed bow section.

Framing continuation and guns.

At this stage, glue can finally be painted into the hull. At this point, you should find everything aligns perfectly. If not, just do a little joggling of parts and make sure things are properly seated before glue.

The jigs are kept in place here to protect the bulkhead ears while fairing.

With the inner bulwarks and spirketting in place, the deck can now be fitted out with furniture.

The pear wood deck beams are now painted and glued into position. The position of these is scale to the actual vessel.

With all deck beams in, the jogs are again added to the hull. These will keep the width of the hull constant as the outer bulwarks are added.

Here you see the outer core bulwark. That means that this will be overlaid with the final part at a later stage. The lime planking also protrudes past this as Surprise didn't have wales along her length, but the timber in this location protruded beyond the upper bulwark.

The deck is now added, with clamps holding this down along the edges, while weights are added along the deck centreline until the glue sets.

Here are a couple of photos of the quarter galleries being built up, including the 3d-printed gallery drops.

PAINT!

A waterline is now added to the hull, in readiness for coppering.

Bringing the log more or less up to date are the photos of the completed hull and the coppering process.

For the moment, I can turn attention away from the hull, proper. First job are the mast tops. These are build from three laminates. These can be quite fragile so some care is needed when removing. Connection tags are designed to make this trouble-free.

Construction is quite straightforward here and follows the usual path for VM kits. No tapering on lower sections, but on the fore and aft, mast cheeks will need to be fitted.

Here are the bowsprit, spritsail yard, driver gaff, and driver boom.

Followed by yard sets for all three masts.

And finally the masts themselves.

With the masts glued into place, the lower shroud lines are added. 1.3mm for the fore and main masts, and 1mm for he mizzen. These are fit to alternating sides and the pairs labelled for easy recognition when lashing them down. All shrouds and rats will be done first, plus fitting yards, before the bowsprit is fitted. It just makes more sense as no bowsprit is easier for rotating the model.

I do have two more photos for you. This was taken using my iPhone and you can see it here in its unedited form, as well as the same image processed first in Adobe Lightroom, and then Photoshop. This is fairly typical of how I do photos for the manuals, except for those I use a Nikon DSLR and and more recently, a mirrorless Nikon Z5.

This will be my penultimate update for Surprise, as she'll be complete in a few days.

Please remember that I don't have the luxury of spending lots of time in rigging. I usually have 3 to 4 weeks on something like this, and remember that I have a day job too. Much of the stuff you take lots of time to do, such as seizing etc, I have to rattle through as quick as possible. Here you see the lower shroud lines, before and after lashing them down. Note the pairs are numbered with bits of tape.

Futtock shrouds are now added, as are the upper and topgallant shrouds.

Now it's the ratlines. EVERYBODY, no exceptions, love this job.

I can tell you there are 1854 clove hitches on this prototype.

Once the knots are done, an AK black paint pen is used to stain the white lines. I did try black thread, but it has a tendency to slacken, whereas the white pulls tight on the knots.

The bowsprit is now fitted, as is the figurehead. I left off the bowsprit until now as it made it easier to spin the hull around when working on the shrouds. The manual will also figure that, for those modellers with less room to work with.

I always like adding the stays. A ship starts to look purposeful with them in place.

And the crowfeet too. Always annoying when you pull a knot when you're halfway through adding them. Grrrrr.....

You do it all so neatly!

Edited June 10Jun 10 by glbarlow

2 minutes ago, glbarlow said:

You do it all so neatly!

In other words, I'm loving the new Apple silicon with the latest Photoshop 😆

The ride is over. Surprise is complete and everything Chris needs to get this to release, is now with him.

As I was very close to completion on my last update, it's pointless showing pics with yards fitted etc. so here are some final shots of the build. Hope you like her.

Now....over to @Chris Watton

You have done a brilliant job on this build Jim👋.

She looks amazing and I am now waiting with baited breath for the official release of the kit.

Glenn (UK)

Well done Jim, an impressive result particularly given your time constraints, she is a fine looking model. 👏

I think she will be a great success for Chris and Vanguard.

Maurice.

Fantastic job by both you and Chris. I'm still amazed at how quickly you are able to complete it.

Beautiful Jim...that one is a keeper!!!

Now rest up for the next one. LOL

Chuck

This one has been quite the journey!

I did a design for a 72nd version for Amati almost 20 years ago, but it never went anywhere, as they wanted to concentrate more on the Hachette parts works stuff. So I just had this sorry looking hull, double planked and sanded, of Surprise, just sitting around, looking very sorry for itself for years. It was thrown away a few years ago. The good part is that I could do a completely new design, but boy did this take me longer than I first anticipated. I think this is mainly due to the designs getting more complex (for me, not the modeller), and with that, they take longer than I always think they will.

It is nice to finally have this complete, though! Manual and box label finished today, and sent to printers for a quote. Here is the box art:

I can now move the Surprise folder from the 'Kits in Development' folder, and into the 'Completed Kits' folder, as kit number 18!

One or two small kits next, before continuing with Agamemnon..

Really can’t wait for this one to arrive! 😁

Really is a beautiful model.

If I could do even half as well as this, I’d consider myself a great builder. Another masterpiece has been born!"

2 hours ago, min said:

If I could do even half as well as this, I’d consider myself a great builder. Another masterpiece has been born!"

I'm sure you'll do it twice as good as mine!