Edit: Looks like Flickr is finally back up, so I can finally post a photo; bad timing to start a post:
Hello everyone,
I recently finished my first ship, the USS Constitution 1/196 (a common one, I know). The ship has always fascinated me, and the model is one I've wanted to finish for a few years now. After a few failed attempts, I'm happy to say I finally worked my way through it, and wanted to share it with you all as a means to introduce myself and get some feedback. Here's a link to some pictures, although the site seems to be down at the moment; I was having trouble getting pictures to post right on here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/158098306@N08/albums/72157708576117585/with/46996163835/
As you can see, I didn't stray too terribly far from the instructions, although I did take inspiration from a few build logs I found to add some additional rigging, and I bought some different gauged thread from Model Shipways to vary the rigging a bit. Even those few customizations added to the finished product I think; overall I'm pretty happy with it as my freshman attempt. My only real regret is that while rigging I unfortunately rubbed the paint at a few points turning the ship so much; in particular the stern, which I took hours to do, was a bit messed up. Lesson learned.
Mostly I just wanted to say hello; the level of skill and knowledge on this forum is far beyond what I could hope to achieve, but it seems like a very nice community. I have the HMS Bounty 1:110 arriving tomorrow, so maybe I'll try a real build log. I'm hoping to take it a bit further on this one and try some weathering on the sails and a wash for the deck, as well as make my own shrouds and ratlines.
Aaron