NEW BUILD LOG OF CAF'S 1:48 CROSS SECTION OF HMS GRANADO
The Rosas Houston Shipyard is currently on the last stages of three ships: CAF1:48 HMS Enterprize, La Coureur, and Trident's 1:48 HMS Alert. The shipyard started operations in December 2019, and has been building intermittently (sometimes not all for months), ever since.
The three ships will be completed before this summer in order to make room for a huge project: Dockyards' 1:48 full frame HMS Enterprize. Materials have been ordered from Dockyards and will be coming from the forests of China, hopefully in the near future.
The shipyard workers move from Texas to Utah for several weeks during the winter (ski season) and from June to September ( to avoid Houston heat, bike and hike). In order to work on the backlog of ship contracts (lots of kits around), a smaller shipyard has been inaugurated in Park City, Utah. The shipyard will work in parallel with and also be an aircraft and automobile factory.
This is The Rosas' shipyard in Park City Utah.
Work has begun in mid February on CAF's 1:48 cross section of HMS Granado
The kit's wood is excellent, close-grained, sands easily. Frame futtocks are CNC, the spacers are either thin wood or 3-d printed plastic. Instructions are clear, with a couple of labeling mistakes that are easily identified. So far, the kit is a lot of fun, and superb. I picked it because it is not a huge project (could be done in the afternoons after a ski day) , and the construction of its intricate and complex frames will be a good training for the biggie 1:48 Dockyards' Enterprize to be built in Houston.
The cross section is made up of 9 frames (From frame # 6 to frame #14 of the full framed ship); each frame made up of two half-frames (actually futtocks and floor timbers) - for simplicity, I am calling them half frames, "A" and "B". The frames are complex.
The picture above is half-frame "A" of # 6 frame Shows the CNC-cut floor timbers, chocks and futtocks.
This is completed frame # 6, not sanded. To build each frame, I glued the trimmed and sanded futtocks of half-frame "B" to the frame plan on a poster board with tacky glue, then glued the futtocks to each other with wood glue; then glued half-frame "A" on top of "B" with wood glue. Plastic spacers (3-D printed plastic) are inserted between the half frames to space the top timbers and futtocks 3 and 4. Did I say the frames are complex !
The building jig is a real pleasure., It is made of engraved, high quality clear acrylic panels and was easy to build.
Picture above shows frame # 6 dry-fitted on top of the keel. Notice the spacing between the top timbers.
Later I plan to insert metal (.6mm wire) and wood treenails.
Another picture of frame # 6 dry-fitted on the keel, inside the building jig.
The shipyard (me) has completed (Feb 24th) frame 12, with frames # 13 and # 14 still to be built.
This will be documented in about 3-4 weeks since the Utah shipyard is on work stoppage until sometime in March (I'm back in Texas until then, working on my other projects.
Have fun.
Alex R
The Rosas Houston Shipyard is currently on the last stages of three ships: CAF1:48 HMS Enterprize, La Coureur, and Trident's 1:48 HMS Alert. The shipyard started operations in December 2019, and has been building intermittently (sometimes not all for months), ever since.
The three ships will be completed before this summer in order to make room for a huge project: Dockyards' 1:48 full frame HMS Enterprize. Materials have been ordered from Dockyards and will be coming from the forests of China, hopefully in the near future.
The shipyard workers move from Texas to Utah for several weeks during the winter (ski season) and from June to September ( to avoid Houston heat, bike and hike). In order to work on the backlog of ship contracts (lots of kits around), a smaller shipyard has been inaugurated in Park City, Utah. The shipyard will work in parallel with and also be an aircraft and automobile factory.
This is The Rosas' shipyard in Park City Utah.
Work has begun in mid February on CAF's 1:48 cross section of HMS Granado
The kit's wood is excellent, close-grained, sands easily. Frame futtocks are CNC, the spacers are either thin wood or 3-d printed plastic. Instructions are clear, with a couple of labeling mistakes that are easily identified. So far, the kit is a lot of fun, and superb. I picked it because it is not a huge project (could be done in the afternoons after a ski day) , and the construction of its intricate and complex frames will be a good training for the biggie 1:48 Dockyards' Enterprize to be built in Houston.
The cross section is made up of 9 frames (From frame # 6 to frame #14 of the full framed ship); each frame made up of two half-frames (actually futtocks and floor timbers) - for simplicity, I am calling them half frames, "A" and "B". The frames are complex.
The picture above is half-frame "A" of # 6 frame Shows the CNC-cut floor timbers, chocks and futtocks.
This is completed frame # 6, not sanded. To build each frame, I glued the trimmed and sanded futtocks of half-frame "B" to the frame plan on a poster board with tacky glue, then glued the futtocks to each other with wood glue; then glued half-frame "A" on top of "B" with wood glue. Plastic spacers (3-D printed plastic) are inserted between the half frames to space the top timbers and futtocks 3 and 4. Did I say the frames are complex !
The building jig is a real pleasure., It is made of engraved, high quality clear acrylic panels and was easy to build.
Picture above shows frame # 6 dry-fitted on top of the keel. Notice the spacing between the top timbers.
Later I plan to insert metal (.6mm wire) and wood treenails.
Another picture of frame # 6 dry-fitted on the keel, inside the building jig.
The shipyard (me) has completed (Feb 24th) frame 12, with frames # 13 and # 14 still to be built.
This will be documented in about 3-4 weeks since the Utah shipyard is on work stoppage until sometime in March (I'm back in Texas until then, working on my other projects.
Have fun.
Alex R
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