The Christmas Project Part 2 - The HMS Frolic by Laser Dream Works

Continued from The Christmas Project Part 1 which ended with the shroud plank assembly.
Part 1

Following this is the cap plank which finishes off the planking assembly. This is where you really figure out if you have messed up or not. At this point the ribs should be flush with the top of the shroud plank. If they extend above it you are okay, just cut or sand them down till they are smooth (the sanding block is very handy for this and you want to use a fine sandpaper). By this point I had discovered that the ribs on the starboard side had only come up about 1/2 way through the shroud plank and that the starboard side was higher than the port side. I'm still not exactly sure what I did wrong. My next mistake was placing the cap rail on. For some reason I aligned it with the inside edge flush with the inside of the hull. This is WRONG! the outside edge should be flush with the outside edge of the hull so that there is an overhang that covers the top of the ribs. Part of the problem is that I'm not all that familiar with ships but there isn't a good picture of this assembly in the instructions either and there should be one. This caused all kinds of problems with getting pieces 64 and 65 to align properly in the stern and then I did a lot of work "fixing" things until I discovered what I had really messed up. I was able to get the cap rails off without to much damage and align them properly which fixed one of the alignment problems in the stern. However, I found another alignment problem that was not so easy to fix. There are a pair of notches near the bow of the cap rail. This notch should be on the left side of the second rib from the bow, this is where the Cat Heads (part 61) go and they should be next to this rib. Since the glue had set up completely and the ribs were thoroughly glued to the other planks I had to carve my ribs away to get piece So be sure to get this step right!

Cap rail glued flush to the inside hull. Wrong!

Pretty obvious in this shot that the overhand is on the wrong side. The ribs aren't covered and the holes for the shroud lines are partially covered.

Both Cap Planks removed and re-gluing the starboard side.

Next mistake, the notch for the Cat Head overlaps a rib. I had to carve the rib out to make room for the Cat Head.

Same issue on the port side, but not as extreme.

From here we start work on the stern. The biggest issue I had here is that parts 64 and 65 are to big and had to be trimmed down significantly in order to fit I'm basing this on the fact that the bottom tab of 64 and 65 comes below the slot provided for it. This slot is created by the first plank that is glued down to the deck. This looks like a laser cut issue to me. The angle that they sit at is determined by the cap plank. I did have the cap plank on wrong at this stage but that didn't affect the size of 64 and 65 just the angle that they sit at. Also because the starboard side is taller than the port side its not quite level from one side of the deck to the other. Again, I don't think that my players will really notice. I did use wood filler to even everything out and fill in any gaps. Be sure you get wood filler, which will harden and can then be cut and sanded, and not wood putty, which does not harden. I used Elmers wood filler in a tube with a nozzle, very handy.

Here you can see that the foam hull doesn't seem to be quite long enough. I'll fix this later.

This should have been the clue that the cap plank was on wrong. Instead I thought the cap plank was cut wrong and sanded it down to match B64/65. After I fixed the cap plank I had to re-create the part I had sanded away with wood filler.

With the stern finished I moved on to the bow. I was pretty worried at this point that I wouldn't be able to get the bow to look right with the starboard side visibly higher than the port side. This actually worked out in the end without any problem. The issue you I had in the bow was the getting the Cat Heads in place. After I carved the ribs, the Cat Head (B61) wasn't really wide enough to fit properly and I had to cut down the outside overhang to fit to the notch in the cap plank which meant I lost most of the very graceful curve when I cut it to fit. The Cat Head holds the ship's anchors and I think I'm going to see if I can find some anchors to add to the model. The instructions really need some better pictures of how the bow should be assembled but I managed to get it together with a little thought but those pictures would have helped a lot. I also don't know if I have the angle for the bowsprit correct which is determined by the angle you set the prow (B60x2) at when you glue it into the slot in the bow.

So a quick finished shot of the uncluttered deck.

I'm approaching the finish line now! Overall I'm pretty pleased with the ship, I mean it looks like a ship! I have started to sand the sides a bit to get a nice smooth surface for painting. You can see that in some of the shots of the outside of the hull. From here its time to start building up the deck. Oh and be careful with the wheel. All four parts are number B71 and you need all four of them.

Then its time to work on the bowsprit, sprint for the finish! The only issue I have with the bowsprit is that the two mast collars (B86) seem to be to large for the bowsprit itself. They seem to be cut for the thickness of the masts. The jib boom which goes through the smaller holes in the mast collar fits nice and snug. Oh and piece B91 which holds the bowsprit down to the deck is completely omitted from the instructions. Fortunately it does appear in a picture in the instructions so I know there had to be a part that went there.

At this point the basic build is complete. The next piece to be done is getting the masts together and then getting the ship rigged. The one thing I'm questioning at this point is that on the deck there is a place for the capstan but there doesn't seem to be a capstan actually included in the parts. Its going to be hard to raise the anchors without it! I'm not sure when I will get to the rigging of the HMS Frolic as I have to order the "rope" and I think I'm going to take the rigging a little farther than is shown in the instructions but I haven't decided for sure yet.

I'll get her painted up while I wait for my rigging supplies too. I think its going to be way to hard to paint after the rigging is finished.

The Christmas Project Part 1 - The HMS Frolic by Laser Dream Works

I have been waiting to start the build on the HMS Frolic till I had a couple of days off. I built the American Gunboat first as a prep to get ready for this much larger ship. That worked out okay, but I probably should have purchased one of the smaller ships like the HMS Lady Nelson or the USS Lee. Either of those would have been a better stepping stone up to this monster as they are similar in construction. That being said this is a well engineered kit and if you take your time and are methodical about it anyone can get this beast together without to much trouble. Don't let the size scare you! Just concentrate on the sub-assemblies and you will be fine. She measures about 25" from bow to stern and 34" when you include the bowsprit. (Although properly the bowsprit is part of the rigging and masts, I count it as part of the hull as far as length is concerned). My original idea was to use this as a pirate ship. I realize now that this is really much to big for a pirate ship and maybe even to big for a anti-pirate warship. If you are looking for pirate ships I would recommend the HMS Lady Nelson or the USS Lee, for something larger go with the British Brig or the Pirate Brigantine (to be honest I don't like the lines of the Pirate Brigantine but that's personal preference).

Like most every kit I have worked on I did make a few mistakes, most of these I was able to correct on the fly, and one caused me a lot of extra work as I didn't realize that I had made a mistake until something didn't go together correctly. I think a couple of these I could have avoided if the instructions had been more detailed. They are well written and understandable but could use a lot more pictures, particularly of some of the more complex assemblies. I would call these a beta set of instructions since I think there are only three copies of this kit out there right now. I'll outline in the pictures where I had some difficulties because of the instructions as well as those spots where I managed to screw up all on my own. I'll pass corrections along to Matt at Laser Dream Works and I'm sure that corrections will be made pronto! So let's move to the build!

First off we have the parts, and instructions:

The big cutout in the foam is where the masts, spars and other parts are placed for shipping

The two plywood sheets have a sticky plastic sheeting on them to keep all the parts in place during shipping. DO NOT REMOVE THE PLASTIC, that is unless you like having a small mountain of parts rattling around on your table. I found that it was much easier to push down on the piece through the plastic and pop it out the backside. This had the added benefit of leaving any cutouts clinging to the plastic instead of making a mess on the table. Of course you will find that pieces that didn't get completely cut through with the laser will have to be cut out with an x-acto knife. Keep a bunch of #11 blades handy for cutting purposes because the plywood will dull them quickly. Here is an example of some parts that didn't get completely cut through by the laser.

The front side. Looks good from here!

The backside, maybe a little deeper next time! In my case there was a whole strip moving up in an arc of pieces that the laser didn't punch all the way through.

The first assembly is the hull. You do have to shape the foam hull, this is much easier than you might think. You are just giving the look and feel of the lower hull and when its painted black no one is going to notice if it isn't the correct shape. Odds are they don't really know what the correct shape is either! I found that finer sandpaper than what is supplied worked better for me and I'm going to go back and see if I can seal it with something to help smooth it out. At that point I will also go in and shape it to the upper decks better. My stern section doesn't seem to be quite long enough so some filler is definitely needed there. Be sure that the glue has completely dried between the deck and the foam before you start sanding. Some nice heavy weights are needed to hold the deck in place while it dries. Seriously be patient and let it dry all the way before sanding!

Now we start the building up the sides, first up is attaching the ribs. There is a notch engraved on each of the ribs, be sure this is flush with the deck. A misalignment here makes things much more difficult later on. I'm still not quite sure if I made a mistake at this point or not but at the end the starboard side was taller than the port side. My port side is correct, the starboard side is in error and you can tell because the top of the ribs is doesn't come up flush with the top of the last set of planks like the port side does. Although I was more worried at getting the bow finished correctly when I discovered this it is far more noticeable in the stern. In the long run my gaming buddies aren't going to notice though. But pay attention to what you are doing. If I was doing it again I would dry fit a section of planks together on both sides to make sure that the ribs where placed correctly. Its also very important to pay attention the parts are layed out in the proper order. Initially I punched them out of the sheet as I needed them and still managed to reverse two numbers in the build sequence. After that I punched out all the parts for each layer and layed them on the deck in the proper order so I wouldn't make that mistake again. Not only are the parts specifically created for the curve of the hull but they also layout the ore holes and the cannon ports and a mistake here can give you something that isn't right for either. There are a lot of pictures in this section, and a whole lot more that I left out. I just try to show the basic build concept and point out a couple of my mistakes.

Nothing but ribs

First plank, port side.

The right way to lay out the parts. Numbering starts at the stern

The mistake I made here is why I started laying out the parts first. Can you see it?

This is where I discovered the mistake. I manged to reverse parts 15 and 16 which created an odd gap which I noticed when I layed out the parts for the next layer of planks. Fortunately I was able to get a knife under there and fix this mistake before the glue set.

A better shot of the out of sequence parts

Starting to look like something at this point!

The English ships draws American blood. This was one of the pieces that the laser didn't cut all the way and I wounded myself getting it out of the plywood sprue.

Clamps at attention.

Sigh, a mistake I missed. This section of the planks didn't set all the way down. I corrected this later with wood filler

 A critical assembly! This is what I call the shroud plank and its a single piece that runs from bow to stern. This is the point where you will discover just how straight some of your ribs really are!

Since this is build is even more picture intensive than most of my other builds I'll stop here and publish a Part 2. Part 2