HMS Beagle Kit by Occre - first ship build

[Odd Job]

Hi. I've just bought this kit as my 2nd build. It arrived today. So maybe we can share our experience as we go along.

I watched this video last night and it's a really concise report of the build and what's involved, whilst giving a historical account of the ships history. I found it fascinating and also an insight into what's involved in its construction.

Beagle video

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did

 

[OldeManToad]

Good choice for your first building! It was mine too and I had a lot of fun with it. In my opinion it's the just compromise between simplicity and complexity and the kit and instruction are very good.

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Beautiful Beagle. I'm very impressed that this was your first ship build. I hope mine turns out half as nice.

 

[OldeManToad]

Hi. I've just bought this kit as my 2nd build. It arrived today. So maybe we can share our experience as we go along.

I watched this video last night and it's a really concise report of the build and what's involved, whilst giving a historical account of the ships history. I found it fascinating and also an insight into what's involved in its construction.

Beagle video

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did

Odd Job, Looking forward to watching your progress on the Beagle as well.

Now I have to go watch Goldfinger again.

 

[OldeManToad]

That planking took far longer than I expected... I'll take it as preview of coming attractions!

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I did end up cutting 80mm long planks, but came to realize during the process that the graphite I used to darken the edges was too soft and now pencil smudges were being transferred everywhere, darkening he face of the planks. Erasing the sides did little to remediate the issue, and consequently the sides were much lighter, so I used a chisel tipped expo marker to darker a single side of each plank and tried my best to keep things as clean as possible.

I understand the the look of the following reference image is probably beyond my skill, but I love that look and I'm worried that unless I tried to clean up the deck now it will look very muddy. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to clean up the planking? Or does it look manageable as it is? I will probably sand the planks smooth and add a very, very light treenail pattern to the planks.

Reference image:View attachment 567913

Great job on that deck planking. Glad to see you used an 8-6-2-4 pattern instead of the simple staggered pattern shown in the instructions.

 

[Simonomous]

Update: Finished the main deck planking and made some progress on the bulwarks.

For the decking, I did some subtle small treenail marks with a similar toned colored pencil, but once I put the varnish on they disappeared completely. Came back with a thin pencil to bring them back, trying to be subtle and small. The hope is to make the planks feel less 'floating' and add variation, aka. distract from my mistakes and messy planks.

I mistakenly used a semi-gloss polyurethane that I had on hand for the finish, but it came out far too shiny. Needed to sand it down and use the satin varnish that I bought with the kit, and it looks much better now.

I'm trying to spend an hour on average a day, yet it still surprises me how long each step takes. I'm curious to see how different the bulwark planking will look with just doing the varnish.


With treenail before varnish. Too subtle.


After varnish and redoing treenail:


Current close up:


Current progress:

 

[Simonomous]

Hi. I've just bought this kit as my 2nd build. It arrived today. So maybe we can share our experience as we go along.

I watched this video last night and it's a really concise report of the build and what's involved, whilst giving a historical account of the ships history. I found it fascinating and also an insight into what's involved in its construction.

Beagle video

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did

Nice video recommendation. I'll follow your build as well. Welcome to the Beagle club!

 

[Simonomous]

Getting ready to finish the bulwarks and realized the brass doors are in pretty poor shape. I know some people redo them or make new ones, but wasn't planning on it myself. There is already some tarnish spots and the brown paint (?) is missing:



I don't have the paint to redo them so I'm going to have to make my own doors I did one to see how it went, and I think it went well! Three more left.