6 hours ago, Glenn-UK said:

POST 1 - ARRIVAL

The HMS Surprise kit has finally arrived, and it looks amazing. It is a beast of package, as can be seen.

 

A big thank you to Chantelle Watton who has worked tirelessly over the last few days to ensure the kits have been been packed and shipped. She is a superstar and deserves a pay rise.

 

Congratulations to @Chris Watton for designing another showstopper, and without doubt his Surprise kit will become a worldwide best seller. It is a testimony to his talent and work ethic in designing models to the highest standard possible.

 

The build manual is very detailed and contains a multitude of high-definition colour photographs, taken by @Jim H as he constructed the prototype model. Jim has set a very high bar for the rest of us to follow.

 

The kit also includes 19 detailed plan sheets to further assist the modeller with both construction and rigging. The laser-etched part numbers on the wooden sheets are another welcome feature, as are the laser-etched guidelines on the bulkheads, which will help during the pre-fairing stage. The use of 3D resin printed items, such as some of the item listed below, has been well thought out and enhances the quality of the kit material provided:

 

·       Figurehead

·       Lantern Set

·       Brodie Stove

·       Anchor

·       Cannon / Carronade Barrels

·       Captain Aubrey Figure

·       Captain Aubrey/Maturin Set

·       Hand Pumps

·       Quarter Gallery Drops

·       Small Boat Hulls

 

I intend to take as much care as possible throughout this build, so my progress will be, at times, very slow. No doubt I will still make a few mistakes as the build progresses.

 

The shipyard has had a good clean and tidy up and is ready for me to start work on building HMS Suprise. The shipyard has been restocked with supplies, with all the key essentials tools and materials required for this build.

 

Getting a new stock of craft knife blades from Amazon proved to be challenge due to their new age verification rules, whereby they no longer accept debit cards for payment, it must be a charge card.

 

The white panels shown in the photo below will only be used when taking photos. When I am busy with the modelling activities they will be removed. A quick check shows the working surface is level in both planes.

 

Well thats one happy ship modeler 😃😃😃

Vahur

Looks great Glenn! Looking forward to following your progress. I always enjoy seeing how others do things and your organisation skills are excellent. I just stare at the box and wonder where should I start.

Cheers,

Todd

1 hour ago, Espen T said:

I am glad the experts gets a head start so I have someone to follow for inspiration.

carful with words like experts, some people may belive you lol

18 minutes ago, Jase - Modelkit Stuff said:

careful with words like experts, some people may believe you lol

That is true. I am certainly no expert.😀

8 hours ago, Chris Watton said:

I told you you'd get yours before the Americans! :)

Well that’s not very nice. Sorry though this American received mine today.

2 minutes ago, glbarlow said:

Well that’s not very nice. Sorry though this American received mine today.

I can't believe you and Ron got yours so quick. Now, if I had promised you would get them in a couple of days, I would have jinxed it and would have taken around 2 weeks!

It’s ok, Glenn UK is likely already assembling his. I’m not going to start just yet, working on Harpy for my grandson. He kept asking where’s my ship after one I built with my granddaughter, so he gets this one hopefully in time for his upcoming birthday.

35 minutes ago, glbarlow said:

I’m not going to start just yet, working on Harpy for my grandson.

Good to look at the Big Picture, Glenn - and keep a healthy perspective. I'm helping my 13 yo grandson with his first ship model: Model Shipways' Norwegian Pram.

How is that rigging going Glenn? 😆

7 minutes ago, Jim H said:

How is that rigging going Glenn? 😆

Done and dusted.🤣

My shipyard is in my conservatory and so its a tad too warm to spend to much time in there with current heat wave. I did manage to release all the bulkheads last night and test fitted them to the main keel. Fingers crossed I can spend a bit more time in the shipyard today before it becomes a sauna😂

Bulkhead 1 With Bow Patterns (Test Fit)

Bulkhead 15 with Transom Patterns (Test Fit). Tape to be added also

Keel with Bulkeads (Test FiT)

Really superb photos. The clamp one is excellent.

I agree with Jim! Looking professional Glenn!

Yes very nice photographs and start.

That didn’t take long😊

You’ve up your photo game!

BULKHEAD 8

The central gap of this bulkhead is where the main mast is seated. The measured gap is only 10mm wide. The main mast is diameter however is 12mm.

I noted this during my test fitting of the lower fore plywood deck section (part 32) where the edges of the bulkhead edges were clearly visible with the lower fore deck pinned in place. A quick test fit of the mast dowel confirmed my suspicions as it could not be seated. I did check the main mast assembly plan sheet to make sure the main mast lower section is a 12mm dowel.

I simply unpinned the lower fore deck and, using a craft knife, carefully trimmed the central bulkhead edges until the 12mm dowel would fit in the gap. The lower fore deck was then pinned back in place and the main mast dowel could now be fully seated on the the top of bulkhead 8.

The space where the foremast is seated below the lower fore deck does measure 10mm which is the required diameter of the foremast, it is a slightly tight fit however. The mizzen mast seats in position without any issues.

@glbarlow @Kevin @KillicksToastedCheez @Jase - Modelkit Stuff

What is the secret to create so nice photos?

1 minute ago, Espen T said:

What is the secret to create so nice photos?

I have started processing my photos using lightroom for this project. It does not take to much effort to adjust some settings using the edit sliders.

1 hour ago, Glenn-UK said:

BULKHEAD 8

The central gap of this bulkhead is where the main mast is seated. The measured gap is only 10mm wide. The main mast is diameter however is 12mm.

I noted this during my test fitting of the lower fore plywood deck section (part 32) where the edges of the bulkhead edges were clearly visible with the lower fore deck pinned in place. A quick test fit of the mast dowel confirmed my suspicions as it could not be seated. I did check the main mast assembly plan sheet to make sure the main mast lower section is a 12mm dowel.

I simply unpinned the lower fore deck and, using a craft knife, carefully trimmed the central bulkhead edges until the 12mm dowel would fit in the gap. The lower fore deck was then pinned back in place and the main mast dowel could now be fully seated on the the top of bulkhead 8.

The space where the foremast is seated below the lower fore deck does measure 10mm which is the required diameter of the foremast, it is a slightly tight fit however. The mizzen mast seats in position without any issues.

@glbarlow @Kevin @KillicksToastedCheez @Jase - Modelkit Stuff

You could file two sides of the lower part of the main mast dowel flat, to key into that lowest spot. This would also stop it twisting. This was my original intention, but then scrapped it for some reason, but forgot to correct that length. This will be sorted for the second batch of production sheets:

ETA - Meant to add - I alway taper the lower ends of the fore, main and mizzen mast dowels a little, to help when slotting the masts all the way home.

1 minute ago, Chris Watton said:

You could file two sides of the lower part of the main mast dowel flat, to key into that lowest spot. This would also stop it twisting. This was my original intention, but then scrapped it for some reason, but forgot to correct that length. This will be sorted for the second batch of production sheets:

I never thought about adding flats, sounds a great idea, wish I thought about doing it. I do tend to taper the mast ends.

Flattening sides has the side benefit of ensuring yard and mast caps are aligned and centered with a little preplanning and marking. I may try to fake the fore and mizzen to do the same with an insert at the base.

Thanks Glenn for the heads up, see I knew we all will be better off with your going first.