Frigate Chapter One: Hull Construction
The expense of this kit showed its worth almost immediately with a much superior instruction manual and plans though the size compared to the last was a shock. My small working environment will find it difficult to cope with a ship of this size. Here are a couple of shots showing the difference in size....
More pieces are involved here are some shots of the collected parts required for the initial make up of the hull.
As before the kit is plank on bulkhead though I must say that the designers of these deserve awards for the skill in making these kits. Initially I was planning on generating a rabbet line (the bearding line is less necessary as this particular kit maker uses plank termination platforms to ease the transition of plank to keel). But having searched the plans noticed that there did not seem to be an actual piece of wood for the keel. As this would complicate the rabbet cutting I resolved to leave this and move on.
The dry fitting of the multiple bulkheads went well though again I was surprised at the number of bulkheads provided. Jotika certainly did not stint on separating them. Some reshaping of the middle bulkheads were required to allow the strengthening deck to sit correctly and the stern pieces also needed some work to fit snuggly.
The only query I had with the initial instructions was that there appeared no diagram to show the location of the outer two stern counter frames. I ended by fitting them where they matched the sizes of the surrounding pieces though was a little disappointed by the lack of a clear picture.
