HMS Blandford 1:48 POF Modelship Dockyard [COMPLETED BUILD]

Ken said:
Hello and welcome to everyone who has been following my build of HMS Blandford by Modelship Dockyard and thank you for your encouragement along the way. This will be my final post on this enjoyable and successful build. It was completed fairly quickly, not because it was easy with little to do but because it became like a drug, I had to have my daily fix and always felt that I wanted to move noticeably forward each day, resulting in long hours at the bench, fortunately being winter there wasn’t the motivation to do much else.

This was my first POF build, I haven’t anything to compare it with so take this into consideration.

This kit was well thought out, the pear wood was all excellent quality, the parts were mostly cleanly cut and very accurate and it all went together well. I don’t think that it was the most accurate version of an actual ship and some purists wouldn’t be satisfied but it did make up mostly out of the box a very nice display model and one that most would be proud of. I would recommend it to most modellers with experience, but not for beginners.

As with many kits this was not perfect so for a balanced verdict I’ll give my dislikes.

First, this I believe is an issue with all POF builds, DUST, and more dust. The amount of sanding and cleaning up of char I found was unpleasant, like many I build in my house not having a dedicated workshop, this caused friction with my wife, but once the bulk of this sanding was done relations improved and the build became fun.

Secondly and most important was the lack of clear instructions and very little in the way of plans/illustrations, relying mostly on computer created images with no measurements or detail, often you had to guess exactly where parts went, if even a couple of cm. out it could have a knock on effect. There was quite an issue with the quarter deck, with no plans or drawing you couldn’t see the problem and plan ahead to avoid, it was only after completing that section that it could be seen to be wrong and then had to be corrected.

I also disliked the sheets with laser engraved decking, it's quick to fit but looks tacky, unrealistic and completely at odds with the rest of the planking, give me plain planks and let me do them myself, it wouldn’t cost any more.

The photo etch was pretty much useless, I think it was supplied as this is now expected, I would have preferred just lettering for the transom, that would have been nice.

These are just my personal thoughts and shouldn’t detract from what is a good kit. I would add that any issue that I had regarding the build was answered usually within hours by Modelship Dockyard, they do care about there product, they are fairly new to the market and are looking to improve on what are good kits to start with, I would definitely buy another of their kits without reservation.

You may like to follow my next build, a Sopwith Camel, an interlude from ship modelling.

Now just the final photos, a lot I’m afraid but I couldn’t decide which to show so I just put them all in, enjoy.



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Good evening Ken. It has been a pleasure to follow your HMS Blandford build. A little sad to see it end. The result is however a wonderful rendition. Congratulations. Cheers Grant
 
Hi Ken,

Fantastic model! Really interesting to see all the internal construction work. I'll look forward to the Constitution build!

Now that the weather is improving I hope we will be able to have a trip out your way soon and drop by.

All the best

Dom
 
Hello Ken,
I've decided to review both your Blandford build as well as Keef's. Since the instructions that come with the kit (as least the one's I received) as sketchy I will follow your respective builds to guide me. Ken, I followed your example of setting the platforms by first glueing the support beams to the underside of the platforms and then put them in place. Nice idea! I'm now moving the supports for the lower deck. I think that the visuals of both builds will help me immensely. I personally need more detailed guidance. Perhaps if I had more builds under my belt I could figure things out on my own.

Respectfully,

Craig
 
Craig C said:
Hello Ken,
I've decided to review both your Blandford build as well as Keef's. Since the instructions that come with the kit (as least the one's I received) as sketchy I will follow your respective builds to guide me. Ken, I followed your example of setting the platforms by first glueing the support beams to the underside of the platforms and then put them in place. Nice idea! I'm now moving the supports for the lower deck. I think that the visuals of both builds will help me immensely. I personally need more detailed guidance. Perhaps if I had more builds under my belt I could figure things out on my own.

Respectfully,

Craig
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Hi Craig. Thanks for telling me, I’m pleased that my log is proving helpful. I agree with you that at times the instructions are rather difficult to understand and you’ll have to interpret them as best as you can, but help is always at hand here, Keith, Jack and myself have navigated our way through this kit, our builds ended up different, yours probably will as well so good luck with it. Ken
 
What a wonderful reward at the end of a very enjoyable journey. Spectacular! A delight to behold and to have had the privilege of seeing her evolve. Thanks for taking us along. I look forward to the Sopwith camel.

Pete
 
Ken said:
Hello, Here's just a little bit of detailing that I've just made. As many of you know I only make models from what is supplied in a kit, I don't do fine detailing, however I was inspired by Jacks presentation of his galley so I thought I'd make a small effort with the stove base. I didn't want to go to the lengths that Jack did so I just photographed a brick wall, I re sized it then printed it on some highly textured paper, stuck it onto some plasticard, put a wooden edge to it and hey presto! a realistic looking base.

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Hello Ken,
I admire your creativity re the stove base. I was inspired to do a similar detail even though as you point out it won't be seen. I purchased some miniature brick and will make a frame to enclose them.
 
Hello again Ken,
I am picking up so much information from looking at your build. The instructions are not clear about the knees that extend below the deck support and until I looked closely to your photos I was unaware that the pieces needed to be notched first in order to fit into the deck support on the inside of the hull. Hope all is well with you.
Respectfully,
Craig
 
Craig C said:
Hello again Ken,
I am picking up so much information from looking at your build. The instructions are not clear about the knees that extend below the deck support and until I looked closely to your photos I was unaware that the pieces needed to be notched first in order to fit into the deck support on the inside of the hull. Hope all is well with you.
Respectfully,
Craig
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Hi Craig, I’m glad that you’re finding my build useful. I agree that for much of the build the instructions are unclear, I think that a lot in my build is not quite right as a lot of the time I was just winging it. With regard to not seeing much of the detail in the hold if I were to build it again I wouldn’t put the batons in on the lower deck, because with them fitted you can’t see anything that you’ve done beneath them which is a pity. The one thing that I strongly recommend is to read up on how I eventually made up the side walls on the quarter deck after a couple of attempts, the plan is very wrong and it affects the finished look of the model. I’m sure that you’ll get there in the end and don’t be afraid to do it your way
 
Ken said:
Hello and welcome. I hope you all got what you wanted for Christmas, I did, but more of that later.

I’m now going to have a rant about the build. You will recall that I had issues with the height of the quarter deck walls and thought that I’d made the deck too short, I couldn’t understand why as I’d followed the manual to the letter, now I know. The instructions are very wrong regards this part of the build. The good news is that I’ve built the deck the correct size so no issues there.

The computer generated images in the manual show the quarter deck walls finishing just beyond the second port from the stern and using the stated number of planks it shows the wall as high as the stern. As part of the manual it shows photos of the built model as a visual guide to assist, this visual guide differs from the computer version in that the wall extends to just beyond the third port and not the second, it also shows that its height is now how mine ended up, nowhere near the top of the stern and therefore much too low.

I think that this is quite an error, and the model wasn’t built from the plans or there was a lack of feedback. If you follow the manual you can’t help but make this error, it’s then too late, remember there are no drawings or measurement to give you clues and to correct it you’ll need a redo. I think under the circumstances my addition to the quarter deck is acceptable.

Look at the images.

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Hello Ken,
I,ve been reviewing your log re the quarter deck. You advised me in your reply to one of my messages. Good info and this will help me keep from pulling my hair out when I get to this point in my build.
I find it interesting that the kit maker didn’t respond to your posts (at least that I’ve seen). They did respond to my post about the stern framing.
Respectfully,
Craig
 
Craig C said:
Hello Ken,
I,ve been reviewing your log re the quarter deck. You advised me in your reply to one of my messages. Good info and this will help me keep from pulling my hair out when I get to this point in my build.
I find it interesting that the kit maker didn’t respond to your posts (at least that I’ve seen). They did respond to my post about the stern framing.
Respectfully,
Craig
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Hi Craig, I’m glad that my log will help, they did respond on page 22 after my second modification, saying that it was an older designed kit from 2014, but the error is still there.
With regard to your proposed stove base, Mine with its platform was raised about 2mm and it only just fitted under the deck beams, any more and you’ll have an issue. Also don’t glue it in place until you are adding the deck beams above as the fit between the beams is very tight and you’ll probably need to move it around to get it to fit. The same goes for the pump well, the deck beams pass through it’s corners and it needs to be exact to fit, so again don’t glue until you do the above beams.
Ken
 
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Keef said:
You are exactly like me, now you've tried it you're hooked. This is the way forward for me too from now on. There are a lot of great new Chinese PoF kits on the market and being developed at the moment. l have gone for the full hull PoF HMS Granado by CAF Models for my next project after Alert. A bit expensive but it's an absolutely superb kit full of detail. If you want, you can split the cost as it comes in three sessions, each around £400 delivered to UK. l have all 3 at home and am champing at the bit to get started but will not rush my present project which l expect to finish Feb/March next year.
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I am considering this or the 1/48 Enterprise after my current build
I am worried about VAT though it is an expensive kit but when you add on an extra 20% !!!!
You did well to avoid it
 
Good evening Ken,
I'm working the Blandford upper deck framing and am curious about the planking. When I look at the instructions page 9 it shows 1,2,3, etc. But I'm unclear from which sheets these planks come. I realize that it's been a while since you completed your build but per chance do recall from where the planks come. Perhaps I'm just overlooking something obvious. I'll look again at the sheets to see what I've missed but if you can provide some of your insight I would very much appreciate it.
Respectfully,
Craig
 
Hi Craig, you’re not alone in that, I couldn’t work it out either and had to contact Modelship Dockyard for clarification. I’ve shown the plank sheets where you will find them, they are on page 18 on my log, the plans are wrong and there is no way that you would found them. When you use them you’ll find that they fit quite well.
 
Good evening Ken
Thank you very much for your help. Having just resumed this hobby last year after a fifty year hiatus I assumed my last of experience and or lack of focus contributed to my inability to see something obvious. I’ll check your log.
Thanks again!
Craig
 
Ken said:
Hello fellow modellers, this is going to be my build log of HMS Blandford a 1:48 scale POF model from Modelship Dockyard

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Many of you will know me from some of my other logs but for those that don’t I will introduce myself. I am a 76 year old retired Police Detective and I live in the north west of England with my wife. I started building model ships about twenty years ago when I retired, they have been quite an assortment but all from kits and all plank on bulkhead, this is going to be my first attempt at a POF build, I am both nervous and excited at the same time as this type of model is probably going to stretch my abilities to the limit.

This has come about because I have been seduced by reading the increasing amount of build logs on these types of kits and I am in awe of every one that I’ve seen, without exception. I note that they are being built by the more accomplished modellers on this forum, even so many are encountering some difficulties, it does cause me some concern but this will be my humble attempt.

My actual build log will start in my next post when I have studied the kit more thoroughly and am ready to proceed, initially though the kit does look to be very good quality.

Here is my workbench, it is in the corner of our home study, no dedicated workshop I’m afraid so I’m not allowed to make much dust, I believe that this may be an issue with this type of build but I’ll address that when it arises. Except for the Proxxon sander and drills I have no power tools, I do all my work by hand.

I am showing you some pictures of the models that I have built and are displayed around the house. You can probably imagine the conversation with my wife, “What do you need another kit for, haven’t you got enough! Where on earth are you going to put it?” I didn’t like to say, “There’s always the kitchen dear”

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Hallo @Ken
we wish you all the BEST and a HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Birthday-Cake
Enjoy your special day
 
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