Nice to see another Surprise on the go . Looking forward to seeing the build

Rgd Martyn

Well, still don't seem to be able to sort the text and pic's out properly but at least they are visible.

This is the first time I have attempted to build a wooden model ship, had plenty of fun building and flying RC aircraft over the past few years but needed a long term project.

After spending a lot of time looking through the Surprise build logs I eventually bought the 14 part series and can only hope my model turns out close to the amazing results you guys are creating..here's some more pics...last one shows holes in the former's and keel for wiring, hope to put in some LED lighting..

Hi Barry,

Welcome to the forum, it`s nice to see another HMS Surprise build.

Looks like your off to a good start and have awarded you your blue medal for starting a diary.

Regards
delboy271155
(Derek)

Thanks Andy, Let me try this pic thing again, resized to 448x336
Hmmmm still not right..whilst we are on this pic I see those 10 little support thingy's jutting out from the rear just get covered up with planking, could they not be left visible as they look quite cool and are the supports for the rear cabin???

It's looking great. Welcome to the forum.

I saw you saying you were thinking about putting in some led lights. If you read through my build and link to my log, I have some good hints on the wiring and LED's you might want to check out. Check out my " movie version" posts.

Good luck & have fun.

Thank you gents, I've received my next set of parts 3 & 4 the main deck, deck planking, free board planks and a bunch of other bits of wood not sure what they are for yet.

Johncal...read your build log, amazing stuff don't think I will be able to emulate that, this is what prompted me to want to put some LED's into mine.

Chris...reading through your log and others inspired me to start out on this venture, saw your deck planking ideas and it lookes great on the pics..I will have to try something simpler though, don't know how you managed to drill those holes in the ends...

Thank's Martyn, I'll be doing just that, making up a little jig at the moment to mark each plank on the ends in the same place..

Time to start with the deck planking, the strips supplied are a little bit suspect not very consistent at all some even with a cross grain (don't know how they did that??) But not to be disheartened not easy to get model shipbuilding stuff down in Africa South so have to make the best of what I have, it's called "make a plan" here.
First cut the strips into 154mm lengths which is equal to 20% of the deck length(5 per run)Then using the small jig I made marked the Tree holes in the ends...

Push the plank in..

Turn it over..

Mark the holes with a sharp pencil..

Next run the soft oil base pencil around the edges..

Thank's Mr.T, Having a good time so far, got a little further on with the lower deck planking it looked a little anemic in it's raw state so I picked up a couple of wood stains to try out and give them a little character. The choice was between a Kiaat (too Light) an Oak (too dark)and a light Oak.."Pick me, Pick me" here's the result...

Must admit it got a little darker after applying a coat of Polyurethane varnish but it really brought it to life.
Started off by using the center line where the two deck plates joined and lining the edges of the planks to this..

This is a far as I got today...hope there are enough planking strips...

Thank's Derek, the timeline on my post is a bit deceiving I started the Surprise at the end of April only got to posting it later in May after I had made some progress.

Barry