Hello,
Welcome to my admittedly redundant build of HMS Alert. It's great to have a sophisticated kit to build as we go into the holiday season.
A couple of years ago, all the cool kids were buying HMS Alert 1777 kits from Trident through Ships of Scale. So of course I joined in. Then I received the kit. I took out the instructions couldn't believe what I was seeing. There wasn't nearly enough information in readable English to build the kit from my skill level. So up on the shelf it went. Since then I built another POF kit, Hayling Hoy from Modelship Dockyard. With the confidence provided in that build, I decided to give Alert a whirl. I'm still on the edge in terms of skill level, but I think with all the completed builds here, I should be able to piece it all together.
Another aid in completing this model was the posting of hundreds of pictures from various stages of the build from the manufacturer. Forgive me for not remembering the username of the kind soul that posted them. I went through them very carefully. It's really just an unorganized was of jpgs and pngs. So I tried to organize it into a single file. I printed it out and keep it in a binder along with the instructions in the shop. I tried to post it here, but it's still too big compressed. You can contact me by PM if you want to exchange by email.
It took me 1 1/2 weeks to cut out all of the frame pieces.
The saw dust/shavings were pretty pesky. It's kind of weird with CNC. Some of the sheets are really rough, chipped up, and sawdust is jammed in there so hard you need a pick to pull it out. But some sheets only require a couple of wraps on the benchtop and come out looking like fine furniture. I wish I could have gotten a kit of fine furniture, but I guess that's what you get when you work with wood. I am still trying to get a replacement for a sheet where all the pieces were too chipped up to use.
I've been building frames in the templates and marking them for shaping for about another 1 1/2 week. I think I'll be done with the frames and keel before Christmas. I also worked on the jig.
I was getting some cock-eyed frames using plastic wrap on the templates. The wrap always put a tension on the drying assembly despite clamps. So I took @Maarten 's advice and pulled out some finish for the templates. I used polyurethane and it turned out just fine. I used it on the jig as he recommended and the polyurethane-coated char was just fine on the templates as well. The water base didn't really swell the material.
So, it's back to building frames. I'm not sure I'm going to bolt them, the frame joints are less than perfect but I'd like to soldier on.
Welcome to my admittedly redundant build of HMS Alert. It's great to have a sophisticated kit to build as we go into the holiday season.
A couple of years ago, all the cool kids were buying HMS Alert 1777 kits from Trident through Ships of Scale. So of course I joined in. Then I received the kit. I took out the instructions couldn't believe what I was seeing. There wasn't nearly enough information in readable English to build the kit from my skill level. So up on the shelf it went. Since then I built another POF kit, Hayling Hoy from Modelship Dockyard. With the confidence provided in that build, I decided to give Alert a whirl. I'm still on the edge in terms of skill level, but I think with all the completed builds here, I should be able to piece it all together.
Another aid in completing this model was the posting of hundreds of pictures from various stages of the build from the manufacturer. Forgive me for not remembering the username of the kind soul that posted them. I went through them very carefully. It's really just an unorganized was of jpgs and pngs. So I tried to organize it into a single file. I printed it out and keep it in a binder along with the instructions in the shop. I tried to post it here, but it's still too big compressed. You can contact me by PM if you want to exchange by email.
It took me 1 1/2 weeks to cut out all of the frame pieces.
The saw dust/shavings were pretty pesky. It's kind of weird with CNC. Some of the sheets are really rough, chipped up, and sawdust is jammed in there so hard you need a pick to pull it out. But some sheets only require a couple of wraps on the benchtop and come out looking like fine furniture. I wish I could have gotten a kit of fine furniture, but I guess that's what you get when you work with wood. I am still trying to get a replacement for a sheet where all the pieces were too chipped up to use.
I've been building frames in the templates and marking them for shaping for about another 1 1/2 week. I think I'll be done with the frames and keel before Christmas. I also worked on the jig.
I was getting some cock-eyed frames using plastic wrap on the templates. The wrap always put a tension on the drying assembly despite clamps. So I took @Maarten 's advice and pulled out some finish for the templates. I used polyurethane and it turned out just fine. I used it on the jig as he recommended and the polyurethane-coated char was just fine on the templates as well. The water base didn't really swell the material.
So, it's back to building frames. I'm not sure I'm going to bolt them, the frame joints are less than perfect but I'd like to soldier on.
