Will Everard – Billings kit

[Steve Hodges 1Participant @stevehodges1]

Can't find a thread about this kit, so thought I would start one as I have just finished mine. It's only taken me twelve years from the start, but for most of those it has been up in the loft half-finished. So, at least Covid lockdown had one good outcome!

I thought it was quite good kit , but with a number of minor niggles that might trip people up. So in case anyone is starting on this kit, here are some –

My kit did not have enough plastic mast hoops for the mizzen and the topsail, which meant I had to buy more and could not get them small enough, hence my topsail hoops are annoyingly overscale. Also, don't forget to fit the hoops before you rig the mast stays.

Billings rigging instructions are virtually non-existent, you just get the scale drawings. To rig anything like correctly, you need a book for reference; for me, F.S.Cooper's " A Handbook of Sailing Barges" is probably best, you should be able to get a second-hand copy from Ebay.

The drawings do not show how the mainsail is attached to the mainmast. There should be a metal jackstay down the back of the mast for the sail to be hanked onto. I didn't realise this until half way through rigging, and then had to make and fit the jackstay – it would have been vastly easier to have done it before fitting the mast in place.

With the benefit of hindsight, it would have been a lot easier to have fitted the sails as soon as the masts were glued in place, and then done the standing rigging afterwards, otherwise it just gets in the way.

Billings don't supply enough plastic blocks for the rigging; a lot more single blocks are needed for the running rigging. Luckily I had a bagful of plastic double blocks from a square-rig model, but each had to be cut down and sanded into singles which was a bit of a pain.

The scale of 1:67 is a bit weird, 1:72 figures are too small and 1:48 way too big, and I think you need at least one scale figure to give an idea of the size of the vessel. I did some surgery on a continental scale model railway figure to get a figure about the right size, then that shows up that some of the Billings fittings are overscale, e.g life rings. It's personal preference whether you correct these or not.

If anyone is starting this or in mid-build I would be happy to share my experience for what it's worth, but I can't now remember much about building the hull!

P.S. The materials to build the display case cost almost as much as the kit……

[Steve Hodges 1Participant @stevehodges1]

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

You have made a nice job of that Steve despite the problems with the kit which are not uncommon.

As you may be aware, very comprehensive plans of Will Everard to 1:48 scale are still available fom the Plans Service (via Sarik Hobbies). They accompanied a set of articles in Model Maket between 1950 and 1951.

Colin

[Charles OatesParticipant @charlesoates31738]

Great job Steve, it's a pretty boat. I don't see why you can't use 1/72 scale figures, the difference between those and your 1/67 scale only represents a fraction of an inch in height on a 6 foot tall person.

Charles

[Tim CooperParticipant @timcooper90034]

6 foot man in 1/72 – 25..4 mm. In 1/67 27 mm.

Tim

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

Hi Steve,

Very nice model, you will only need 2 figures anyway a Skipper & his Mate and of course a dog

Has it inspired you to build a larger sailing version it would be much easier !!

Regards Ray

[Steve Hodges 1Participant @stevehodges1]

Charles & Tim,

Can't argue with the maths, but I tried 1:72 Airfix groundcrew figures on the model and they looked like children! I tried 1;48 Revell figures and they looked way too big. Now I know that O-gauge is supposed to be around 1:48, but I found some O-gauge railway "passengers" who looked much less chunky that the Revell ones, so I took one lanky individual and chopped him off at the ankles, gave him new feet and a flat hat and he is the figure standing by the wheelhouse. By measurement and 1:67scale he is over 6'6", but he just doesn't look it on the model. I suspect that some things like the winches and windlass are a bit over sized in the kit for ease of manufacture – Billings seem a bit cavalier about this, the correction spheres on the compass binnacle are miles too big but I couldn't lay hands on anything more suitable. Now they annoy me every time I look at them .

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