HMS Wolf, 10-gun brig - 1/72 - Shipyard Laser Cut Kit

[catopower]

Yes, i do work on more than one project at a time, especially when the projects are based on kits that are just too cool. In this case, it's Shipyard's laser-cut card kit of the English 10-gun brig HMS Wolf, 1754. The kit, like all of Shipyard's laser-cut kit series is in 1/72 scale.

This will be the second of these laser-cut ship model kits I will have built. The first was Shipyard's Kogge von Bremen kit. That turned out so well that I'm fairly confident about this model kit, though it appears to be a lot more details and a lot more parts in this kit.

I bought my kit at Ages of Sail here: HMS Wolf Laser-cut kit

This is a pretty massive kit in terms of parts, a 32-page instruction booklet, paints, brushes, and a lot more.

[catopower]

Building the hull of this Shipyard kit is really a lot like building the hull of any of their kits in that the skeletal structure of the model is very well engineered.

As with just about all Shipyard ship model kits, there is a main keel piece and a series of bulkheads, much like with any wooden ship model kit. But, Shipyard kits often then have a longitudinal piece that crossed the frames, horizontally, and often another piece that crosses most of the frames vertically as well. This kit is no different.

Parts fit together very nicely.

[Michael Mash]

She looks beautiful on the cover in that first image.
Looking forward to your work.

[catopower]

Thanks Michael.

I've always been drawn to this kit, ever since its release back in 2015 or so. But, I've put off getting the kit, because it's expensive for a paper model, and a certain wooden ship modeler bias kept me thinking that for price, I should build in wood.

But, I finally broke down and bought the kit, and I'm so glad I did. The amount of detail in the kit, the inclusion of all the needed materials, sails, paints, dowels, brushes, cast resin figurehead and decorative "carvings", gives the kit a lot of value.

It goes together like any other paper model, except theres no lamination of paper to get to the right thickness (though somes, one has to gllue together 2 or more parts to make one thick part), very little cutting or scoring...

Plus, like with other paper models, there advantages over traditional wooden kits, like no need to spile the hull planks, the decks show proper lay of planking, butt joints, scarf joints, and trunnels. But, very little dust, and no need for power tools. So, I can leave my table saw, drill press, thickness sander, electric plank bender, vertical mill, etc., in the garage, and work comfortably inside the house.

I'm just having a great time with the new kit!

[Ben Duncan]

HMS Wolf!

Mine is still on my shelf. I hope to start it next month.

The only part that is making me nervous is getting the planking faired. I'll be watching to see how you get on with it.

[catopower]

Hi Ben, I'm looking forward to seeing your build get started. I hope there's something useful for you here.

I was hoping to hold off until you got your's started, so we could compare notes. But, the desire to build this model kind of hit me hard and fast.

As for the planking, I don't think you'll have any trouble. The planks are already defined, and the second layer of the hull covering, coming up here shortly, has the plank outlines etched onto it, so you have a guide to follow.

[catopower]

Next comes the process of adding the first layer of the hull covering, or "skin" as some people like to call it. With this kit, the process is made simpler by the fact that all the paper parts are pre-cut to proper shape. This speeds up the build, though I found I still took a lot of time making sure that the pieces went on correctly and were well shaped.

At this stage, I tend to use contact cement to put these strips into place, but I apply it more like rubber cement, just to one surface, and put them together while it's mostly wet. This is why you'll notice some staining of the paper, left over from the wiping off of excess cement.

I know that some modelers like to add some kind of filler between the bulkheads, or cut strips of paper to sort of widen the frames before they start putting on this layer. But, since this kit has three layers applied, I didn't bother. Other models I've built with three layers, tend to turn out with relatively smooth hulls.

I took a couple breaks during the process of adding this first layer. For one thing, experience with past paper and wooden models taught me to consider well in advance how I intend to mount the completed model. I'm still not sure how I'm going to mount the model, so just in case, I decided to cut a few blocks of wood and glue them into the hull, to provide a little more solid support for possible screws or posts. I realize that the weak point here is the cardboard between the wooden blocks, but at least these should help with whatever method I end up going with.

[catopower]

The final part of this first layer was the bulwarks piece, which is the part that worried me most. I pre-bent the pieces as indicated in the instructions and glue them into place, and just kind of hoped that in the end, everything would like up okay, inside and out.


Actually, before I did this, I put the deck in place. These decks are laser cut and etched with the planking and treenail details done really nicely, but are left to be painted, as will the everything on the model. The instructions provided information on the color mix to use and how to pre-paint with a provided light color which serves like a primer.

Having experience painting card stock, I knew that technique is everything here, as it’s easy to end up with a blotchy looking deck. So, I was as careful as I could be. And yet, I ended up with a blotchy looking deck!

I’ve since done some work to clean it up and even it out somewhat, but it’s still blotchy. I’m just hoping that over time, as I add deck details, the blotchiness will end up less noticeable and, in the long run, just look a bit weathered. I didn’t do too much more as it’s a short journey from blotchy to ruined.

You’ll notice that the model also has it’s first big splash of color at the break of the forecastle. The initial red color provided seemed way too bright to me. It’s straight out of the jar of red paint that the paint manufacturer calls cynober or cinnabar. I wanted my ship to look a little less than brand new, and I figured the red color should appear a little duller, due to oxidation. So, I mixed up a jar of the color toned down just slightly.

[catopower]

The second layer of this kit is made up of strips that resemble whole bands of hull planks, and is basically the same as the final layer of most of the 1/96-scale Shipyard paper model kits. But, with the laser-cut card kits, this layer is substantially thick. It’s application*stiffens the hull further, and should give the third and final layer of planking a good surface to build up from.

An important thing I learned recently about paper models is that it's best to apply glue only at the frames in order to avoid the “starving cow” appearance, where the hull frames show through the hull planking.

Note that the kit has you apply these layers starting at the bottom of the bulwarks piece and working towards the keel. This worked okay, but I can’t help wondering if it would have been better to start at the keel and work upwards. Any gaps or overlap could then be covered up by the wide strake at the base of the bulwarks which represents the thick planking of the wales.

When I got all done with this layer, the hull was definitely a lot sturdier. In the photos below, you can still see a lilttle amount of waviness, where the frames poke through a little, but it’s not very pronounced. In my experience, this should be taken care of by the time I get the third and final layer on.

The main issue I had was that the bottom edge of the bulwarks piece protruded just a little bit. But, at this stage, you can actually do a little trimming and sanding. And, by the time the last layer goes on, things like this should be pretty well evened out.

[georgerutherford1861]

That hull is coming together very nicely!

Doug