I have had my eye on this kit since it was made availabe early in 2014. It appealed to me on its historical importance, price, and above all its colour decoration.

I ordered my kit from CMB (Cornwall Model Boats) just before Chrsitmas as they had one of those "extra 5% discount" weekends running. When I receive it initial inspection did give some slight disappointmnet in that all of that colour is to be applied from a colour laser printed sheet. Not overly happy with this but if the box image can be achieved then maybe its acceptable.

Of interest is that Mamoli Produced a model of the Golden Hind and in its original guise it had silk screen printed wooden overlays for the decoration although I belive as time passed they changed to self adhevive printed plastic so I guess its all down to costs.

Two other areas of concern are that the rudder and sternpost, keel and a couple of other parts are laser cut into "cheap" ply which the manufacturer has tried to disguise by coating in walnut stain (and not very well). Looks like this will need to be replaced but will concern myself with that nearer to the time. Sapelly is the choice for the second planking layer which from a personal perspective I do not like so again that maybe an area I look to change. There are one or two other very minor issues that I personally do not like but those I will discuss as the build progresses.

Don't get me wrong this is a very well put together kit but with anything we all have our own views of what we like and what we don't and I am sure others will have different views to me.

As the build progresses I now doubt will be ably "hindered" by my shipmate Tinker:

It is very important to keep the false keel straight and true to prevent later problems such as the famous "Bannana Boat Twist" happening (sounds like a dance )

As this is a relatively small size build and the ply is quite thick I have opted to use the Amati Keel Clamp for this one. Anything larger would have seen the sort of baseboard we are familiar with from such builds as the Victory and Soverieign of the Seas.

1. Having clamped up the False Keel I did a test fit of the frames to ensure that first and foremost they fit without being either too tight or too lose for the slots in the Keel (Pictures 1 and 2 below).

2. Having satisfied myself that the frames fitted well and are nice and level along the top of the keel (ie not dropping too far into the keel slots) its time to start gluing up.

3. My prefered method of getting the frames square to the keel involves using a square (possible 2) and in this case some rather nice 1.5" Irwin quick clamps.

My glue of choice for this one is "Titebond" original Wood Glue.

Pictures 3-5 show the process of gluing and clamping up the frames.

Well thats as far as I have progresed at the moment so will continue to glue in the frames and aim to post further updates next weekend.

Looks like a great start Tony

Hi Tony,
What a great start to your build, and a very well thought out build diary, Tony this is a build that I would love to do, so I will be looking in as you post and see how you are getting on thank you for posting.

Regards
Trev.

ps: Was this ship renamed Golden Hind ?

Hi Tony, nice to see this kicking off hoping i can bag some does and do nots for my build.

wishing you and the ships cats a good voyage and i will be watching how it goes

Jase

Hi Tony
Sweet cat and a nice looking modelship and it look you alredy well under way with the start
Happy building

Cheers

Jens

Nice start Tony, I will certainly be along all the way on this one

Steve

Hi Tony,

Great choice of kit and a good steady start.

Which part number is the ship`s cat.



Regards
delboy271155
(Derek)

Hello Tony
Good job, well done it looks like a great start and nice kit. Good choice for assistant but keep a wary eye out. Will be following with interest.

Would be nice to think someone might as that would surely have some great sales potential.

Now that is not a teaser is it Mr T of a possible new Deagostini offering