ZHL Royal Caroline Kit, scale 1/30

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I bought this kit off ebay just after last Christmas, after buying it I found out it was a ZHL kit and I now feel impelled to do a build log just to show model builders what you get in these kits, and it is not about saving money, because some of these kits are not cheap and most certainly the wood and fittigs are not crap, so here goes, I'm not going to say anything else or get down in the gutter with them, I just want to build and enjoy sharing the build with the crew.
 
Hi John

That looks like a great quality kit and I will be following along.

I have seen one other ZHL kit and the quality is superb and so is the build.

I know you will do the Royal Caroline build proud as all your works are of a very high standard.

Cheers
Geoff
 
I must add that this is not all that you get in the kit,
it arrived in two box's and weighed approx 12 - 13 kilo.
in the top box were the plywood frames and all the necessary ply and wood to build the hull, also included was a piece of board the size of the bow in length and width with a qaulity timber surround and also the blue velvet with which to to cover the board.1.jpg
 
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.2.jpg
This is the keel set up for joining the stem and keel piece, very nice plywood and a very secure way of locking the parts to-gether



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stern pieces


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Then there is another two pieces, one each side, which lock the joint really tight


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the locking plate for the after end of the keel
 
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the bulkhead sections are laser cut and along the edge on the bulkhead is a laser line to show how much the bulkhead
has to be beveled,


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Using a very sharp knife and watching my fingers I pared back the front edge making sure not to cut into the back edge



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I then rolled up some sandpaper and used that to finish off the shaping.




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From memory I think it was the four or five middle bulkheads had a dead flat and did'nt need any sanding, this view is from aft, all the cut slots were ok with only a light sanding necessary, at this point all the bulkheads were dry fitted.




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view from forward



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view from head on. Once I had all the bulkheads lined up I clamped a piece of timber along each side of the keel to keep it straight while I glued the bulkheads in place.


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The joints on my RC fit so well together that when I first joined one and went to push it down into place it would;nt go the whole way because the glue coudn't escape, so I marked the bottom of the slot on the keel piece and the top of the slot on the bulkhead and lightly tapped them till they were fully in place. See next pic



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Fully seated in place.


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Next up is the bow blocks, these are the only pieces not supplied in the kit, which I do not mind as I prefer to use Jelutong for them, this pic shows a block of Jelutong clamped to the first bulkhead for marking to size, I have also clamped a plank along the side so as to get the correct line for cutting to.



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I removed the clamp when marking the back of the block, I also used a template taken off the plywood piece that was attached to either side of the stem.



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The block marked top and bottom.


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both sides after cutting.



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starboard block being carved to shape



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checking for fit




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view of both blocks after carving



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Port side glued in place.




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overall view of the build so far.



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Hi Geoff, nearly all the wood used for the carvings, windows etc is solid pear wood, this kit comes in three levels of wood, the one I have is pear wood but there is a slight difference in the colour of some pieces, but I have found that when I waxed it with the rose wax the difference is hardly noticed, the next level is all the pear is matched for colour and the top level is boxwood, and by boxwood I don't mean that south american castello wood that some in the USA advertise as boxwood, which is misrepresentation, but this is genuine boxwood.
 
I was saying earlier on in the build that you do not get plans, but it comes with three dvd's that have 32 video's on them covering the build and the rigging, also lots of photo's and pdf's, sure you have to stop and think things out but that is one of the joys of model building.
 
top level is boxwood, and by boxwood I don't mean that south american castello wood that some in the USA advertise as boxwood, which is misrepresentation, but this is genuine boxwood.

being in the lumber business I agree calling something "boxwood" is misrepresentation. However, it is not the fault of the retail end it is the importers who tack on any name to sell it. The wood you refer to Castello or Castillo is as far away from boxwood as you can get. Actually the wood in question is Capparidaceae or caper tree you may know it from those salty little flower buds sold as capers. The wood is a good modeling wood don't get me wrong but selling it as boxwood is not right. There is a wood West indian boxwood which is from south America and is a close as you can get to the real thing in color, texture and workability, west indian boxwood is recognized by Yale university dept of forestry as being in the boxwood family. This same wood Castillo is also sold as Pau Blanko, Brizilian Maple, Lemonwood, pau marfim and a long list of other "trade" names so Castello is still a mystery wood but for sure NOT boxwood or in the family of boxwoods.

sorry to interrupt your build but the comment caught my attention so carry on
 
Hi Neptune,
thank you for posting your build log of your ZHL Royal Caroline. Looks like a very high quality box.

Donnie
 
G'day didit and thank you for the info, I have some of the Castello wood myself, and it is great for modelling, it is also available in longer lengths than true Boxwood, and really works well, but I still find it hard to comprehend that some of the Companies that sell it as Boxwood do not know that it really is not and are playing on the name Boxwood,

Anyway thanks for dropping in and viewing my build,

best regards John.
 
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