Ingermanland 1715 (2014) * Shi Cheng * 1:50 Scale

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Apr 6, 2018
Messages
114
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Location
Louisiana, United States
Hello, everyone! I am actually NEW to the wooden ship world. I've always loved the way they look, but steered away from them, as I was always a little intimidated by the amount of work that was required. I was mainly worried that I wouldn't be able to set aside the time for such a massive undertaking, thus never completing the vessel and losing it in the dark corners of an unused closet, only to have it look at me once or twice a year as I stumble across its dusty remnants while I search for something lost. But one day...it just hit me.
One evening I was searching the web for completed wooden ships and I came across a ship that was built, not only in the city that my wife is from, but the shipyard that she once worked many years ago. It was a Vietnamese built model ship. There was no price listed on the site so I began to search some more; looking at other sites for the same ship, then other Russian tall ships, and then I found the Ingermanland, and I knew that I was done. And even thought it wasn't built in my wife city, I knew the search was over. And here I am, doing something that I never thought I would be doing...
...truly loving building a wooden ship.
I started a Facebook page for my build, just to document my progress, and then I had followers, and my posts were being shared, and then I was asked to bring my work here, to SOS, and share my experience with all of you, and to gain knowledge and experience from you as well, in order to help me along was of these wonderfully uncharted waters...for me at least anyway.

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I have come quite a ways since my purchase, so I will post a good bit of my progress to get you up to speed. As I had mentioned, I also have a Fasebook page for my build rightfully named "Ingermanland 1715" which you can follow along with me as well if you'd like.

https://www.facebook.com/Ingermanland-1715-385975165204163/

Opening the shipping box was a real treat! There are three rather large boxes for this kit, and, in total, they weigh about 35 pounds. It's a very professional looking packaged kit as well. Very impressive!
Opening each box was an even bigger treat as each one was filled to the top with well stacked goodies! It comes with an instruction book, detailed drawings, and everything needed to build this beautiful ship (minus tools, glue and paints of course).

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The false keel halves went together quite nicely, with little prep work. I purchased the little red clamps on Amazon for around $9.00 for sixty pieces. They really came in handy! The only drawback is that some are weaker than others. But no matter, they did the job.
And with the false keel all together, I'm getting a feel for the overall size of the project.

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I'm not sure if other kits are like this, but these pieces have Lazer etched lines showing you which pieces need beveling and how much to bevel them. I was a little nervous about it at first, but after assembly of the beveled bulkheads, the shape of the hull was very nice.

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Hallo Viktor (Hope this is your real Name)
I am happy, that you found our forum, or somebody gave you the hint to join.
A warm welcome here on board.
I big ship and kit you have chosen for your first built in wood, but it is real beautiful vessel and I am glad you started this building log here in sos......I was by myself very interested in this kit, so more happy to see this ship growing in a log.
I will follow your topic with big interest.
 
What I forgot to ask.....
Would it be possible that you shortly tell us something about the original ship......and what is the scale?
When I remember it is 1:48 or 1:50, isnˋt it?
 
Here are some good specs on the Ingermanland as well; giving information about years in service, the captain, etc.
https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=10765

The kit that I have is a 1:50 scale, so it will be rather large. At this point I don't know if that's good or bad, in terms of my building skills...and house size. ;)

John (Viktor)
 
Here is where I made my very first mistake during my build. If you look closely, you will see, just aft of the clamp, the third outer bulkhead should have been installed at the same time as the second outer bulkhead (clamped) and support deck. But no problem; with a little bending and finesse, the third bulkhead went in, and fit well.

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I wanted to point out that the illustrated manual points out the installation of each of the inner and outer bulkhead pieces, but numbers them incorrectly. In the manual (when assembling the outer bulkheads) it starts out with 1a thru 7a and then 8b thru 15b; all of which are on the same side. The correct installation is 1a thru 15a, but when installing 8a thru 15a, the bulkheads must be installed so that the laser etched numbers are now on the back side of each piece, and not on the forward side. This is due to the way the laser cutting machine cut and etched the pieces.
Of course all of the pieces were cut and etched from one side only; and as I mentioned before, all of the pieces were marked (if requiring beveling) with a "tag line" from one side only.
In the photo below, you can make out the numbering to 7a & 7b of the outer bulkheads. This is because all of the outer bulkheads after 7a & b required beveling on the backside to shape the hull to the stern. Of course that goes without saying that 1a & 1b thru 7a & 7b require beveling toward the stem. This works the same for the inner bulkheads as well. Note that after 10, all of the inner bulkheads are turned around (laser etched numbers are now on the backside).

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Hello John, welcome aboard,I really like this ship and will follow with big intererest.

Zoltan
 
Hi John,

I like this model very much and wil definately follow your blog. Is it the old or the new version of the kit?

Regs Maarten

Hi, Regs, and thanks for following my build!
This is the new 2014 version of the kit. So far, its been very straight forward although the instruction book has left me with a few questions, but I hope that I can recover the answers here, from the plethora of experienced builders.
 
Another mistake to note; although this time I believe it's the mistake of the instruction book. lol
As per the manual, you build the false keel, then install the center bulkheads, then the outer bulkheads, and then the first deck (four pieces to the deck). So that's how I did it. The problem arose when I went to insert the forward end of the deck into the ribs and forward bulkhead. It just wasn't going to happen with the tangs on the forward end of the deck, so I had to remove them in order for the deck to fit properly into position. After cutting off the tangs, I cut a strip of wood and fabricated a forward support for the fwd end of the decking. I think it turned out rather well.

Looking back on the assembly steps, it I had installed the decking prior to installing the outer bulkheads, then I wouldn't have had to remove the tangs from the decking. But no matter, all turned out very well, and I'm very happy with the results.

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G'day John
This seems a wonderful kit that you have. Is it from ZHL?
For your information, I have only seen the laser cut beveled markings on the Chinese kit, but I do believe the Russians kit has also have them.
I've been around different kits a lots and for a long long time, and the only kit that I have or had these markings has been the one I'm working on now. It's a ZHL kit as well. It's the Royal Caroline 1:30 scale.
If your kit is like mine, you are on for a wonderful time. These kits are so much better than the rest of the world^s well known manufacturers, and the qualities are mind blowing.
I'm looking forward to see your progress on this endeavour with great delight.
Happymodeling
Greg
 
G'day John
This seems a wonderful kit that you have. Is it from ZHL?
For your information, I have only seen the laser cut beveled markings on the Chinese kit, but I do believe the Russians kit has also have them.
I've been around different kits a lots and for a long long time, and the only kit that I have or had these markings has been the one I'm working on now. It's a ZHL kit as well. It's the Royal Caroline 1:30 scale.
If your kit is like mine, you are on for a wonderful time. These kits are so much better than the rest of the world^s well known manufacturers, and the qualities are mind blowing.
I'm looking forward to see your progress on this endeavour with great delight.
Happymodeling
Greg
Hello, Greg, and thank for the warm welcome!
As Zoltan states, this is a Shi Cheng kit. And like you, I am enjoying it very much! As a first time builder I would liked to have seen more written instruction, but I feel that I am doing rather well at the moment.
I see in your signature area that you have a link to "Make your work space more comfortable". If I only had the room. lol I have a small table (probably visible in on of my photos) but I make due.
And please stop by and see what's going on. I can use all the help I can get!

John
 
I guess I haven't mentioned this here, but I did do a little work on a kit that my dad had for quite some time. It was a 1/50th scale Baltimore Clipper "Harvey" from 1984. Now, my dad had given me this kit only about ten years ago, but at that time I wasn't interested in actually building a wooden ship so the kit just sat in my closet, then returned to my parents home, and then back in our home around two years ago because my wife likes the tall ships and I thought its return may spark and interest. But it wasn't until I was looking into purchasing the Ingermanland that I actually started to work on the haphazardly started "Harvey".
Harvey's false keel and bulkheads had already been previously assembled. A very rough job was done, and even two planks had been attached to her hull before the bulkheads were even shaped. Not to mention that they were put on with superglue. So, I removed the two planks, shaped the bulkheads to accept the new planks, threw caution to the wind and started planking. I did miss one bit of the instructions regarding the Master Plank, but I was actually impressed with the overall outcome! Moreover, I was impressed with myself!

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After laying down the first set of plank, the instructions said to lay the deck, and by that time I had already purchased the Ingermanland and it was on its way.
The deck went down nicely. The instructions said to use "Impact Glue" so I had to figure out what that was and ended up using Gel Superglue (every time I searched for impact glue, superglue showed up) because I had used the gel type in the past for other projects and I knew it would give me a little extra working time. And this being my first time to plank a deck, I needed all the time I could get.
Next was the install of the bulwarks, but being a kit from 1984, there were no bulwarks in the kit, along with several other missing pieces, and with the Ingermanland kit on the table, the Harvey returned to the closet once more.
And I can say, after reading the instructions for the Harvey, that I do wish Shi Cheng had written instructions for the hull build. Being new to this, I would like a little written direction from the manufacturer at times. But I'll make it! :D
 
With some good tips and words of wisdom from my good friend Li Cheng, and a closer examination of the illustrated drawings, my next project will be planking the first deck. I'll be using the 0.5 mm X 4.0 mm X 80.0 mm teak strips for this task. I'm a little nervous and excited, all at the same time! lol

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In this photo, you can see how ridiculously small my work space is. lol
 
In this light she is looking like a sculpture - Looks very interesting.
BTW: The hull you showed in post #17 is realy looking good. Very good workmanship!
 
In this light she is looking like a sculpture - Looks very interesting.
BTW: The hull you showed in post #17 is realy looking good. Very good workmanship!
Thank you very much for the complement!
Yes, I was rather happy with the outcome, being my very first planking job.

John
 
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