Hi, new here. Trying my hand at the maiden (with my wife). We're on session 2 and trying to do a session each week. The build times, to me are ridiculous. I realize we're new, but 75 minutes to build the decking, was imho impossible (maybe someone that builds these frequently can do it, but I'm assuming if you're using the guide, you're likely new or moderately new and the guide should reflect that). We spent 4+ hours on it, with everything pre-printed.

Regardless the experience was enjoyable and the end result was great. We gave up trying to edge the foamcore, either we purchased crappy foamcore or we don't have the right kind of sharpie, either way it looked terrible. The foamcore buckled under the knife and we ended up with "rolled foam" along the edges, we found this happened mostly in one direction and not the other.

The walls started buckling on us, we figure it's the bowing on the main deck foamcore, so we've put weights on it in hopes of straightening out the foamcore - it seems to be working so far. Guess we'll find out next week.

Anywho, pics!

Week 1




Week 2
Minor complaint, the hull support beams sheet should say it needs to be printed twice on it. I had printed everything once, then had to go back and reprint another, which was easy for us, but might have been a pain for someone that doesn't have 24hr access to a printer. We spent 6hrs + on this section (document says 2-3hrs), BUT I did also do a bunch of extras - the crates, hammocks, tables/chairs, desks and so on.

The maiden always looks great. I haven't tried it yet - too many other WWG things to build - but I love it when people post their pictures. Maybe when I do enough conversion of Harbormaster to TLX, I'll try the maiden...

I've always used black foam core - it's readily available to me, and blends in better with the pieces I've assembled. I can't imagine edging foam core - edging the card stock is hard enough! (though after making a LOT of unedged cardstock pieces, I can't echo the sentiment strongly enough that taking the time to edge the cardstock makes a BIG difference).

As for cutting the foam core, I used to curse at the task of cutting because the foam core center would always get bunched up and pull out. These days I know that when that starts to happen I probably need a fresh blade to cut with. I also started with the 'hah - three cuts?!? I can get through this foam core in one cut!' mentality, and while it's true and often worked out fine, I have relaxed a bit and usually cut in three passes, and get more consistently clean cuts. My first cut is near perpendicular to the foam core surface, and it's just meant to cut through the top layer of paper. The second and third cuts are near parallel to the foam core surface. That's so I get a lot of blade running smoothly through the center, rather than a small bit of blade muscling through.

Oh, and it took me a fair bit of practice. But, if you're enjoying the process, then take your time and enjoy it slowly coming together. It's looking great!

Great start. But a few tricks will make things look even better.

Having things dry under weights is always a good tactic. I had an old assemble yourself dresser that was going to be pitched. I took it apart and now use the boards from the sides and top as a press station. Each board is a good weight. I put the cardstock pieces in the bottom layers to be pressed really flat and the foamcore in the upper layers so it doesn't get compressed. Leave overnight and I've never had any problems with warping.

Its always best to edge things before they're built. The best time to do it is once the flat bits have dried after gluing, before gluing them into any 3D shape.

I've always used white foamcore, they sell it at dollar stores, and I've always edged it. It never looks great, but it blends better than leaving it white. I like those really thick markers for this since they're wide enough to do the whole edge in one pass. Multiple coats after giving it a little time to dry help. Although now walmart has some really flat black foamcore for $3, so I'm going to give it a try.

Looking good! I haven't bought the Maiden, but my buddy has it, and trust me - you're going to be very happy with how it looks built up.





I always use the black foamcore in my Wormhole builds. The only time I've seen a good reason for the white stuff is when my buddy made a 4-player WH set by using highlighters on the white foam bases to make 'yellow' and 'green' fleets.

Black foamcore! Will keep an eye out for that.

Also, 3 passes on the foamcore, will try that next time around. I recall reading that somewhere now that you've posted it, but not sure if it was in the notes or on the site and might have glazed over it.

Looking great so far.

Some things already mentioned but the "3 pass" cutting technique really does translate into clean cuts. Slow and steady wins the race there. Frequent blade changes are also an absolute must if you want to avoid bunching foam. And yeah, black foamcore is a Godsend!

Build times, probably not generous enough for beginners. But hey that set was released in 2004! I was full of optimism 7 years ago

I noticed some warping on your hull which comes down to glue usage (too much, too fast and too wet). Giving things some dry time under a book definitely will help BUT Low water content glues are a must! Scrap booking glues usually work well. There's a good thread for that here (skip to the last few pages): http://www.worldworksgames.com/forum/vi ... php?t=1031

A quick fix for this kind of warped wall situation is to use scrap foamcore as bracing. Basically print off some extra walls, skin the foamcore braces with that texture and use a glue gun to cement the braces in place. That will straighten things out.

Thanks Denny, I'll look in to that and try to figure out whatchu talkin boot.

Quick question, do you guys ever backtrack and do fixes to the pdfs on suggestions made?

2 things I ran in to so far (optimistic time slots aside) were, the forward hull missing a side tab - I sheared mine right off cause I cut it while facing the wrong side. And the "print 2 copies" of the support beams sheet. or... am I basically just talkin to the wind?

Can you give me a page number on the "missing tab"? I don't remember any issues in the past coming up.

On revisions in general, we'll of course make changes if there's an outright error but nonessential edits are far less likely to see revision. We are in a situation where we have to keep our eyes fixed forward. There's just too much new stuff in the works and staff resources are tight.

My unreliable memory says that problem has been mentioned a couple of times before - just not sure when.

- Zen (who hasn't started his Maiden yet, due to being a bit shy of the effect his inaccurate printer will have on the build.)

Lookin' good so far

Page 1, forward hull. The right side panel has a full color tab at the top, the corresponding left side should probably have a black line to show where to cut along once they are folded and glued together, I sheared the full color side off cause I was looking on the other side. Granted it may not be there due to the gluing process being a nicer point with only 1 side of cardstock, not sure.

Hull Sides, Page 7, "Print two copies" text would be appreciated.

Tyvm Matthew777

Great to see the Maiden well on her way. Great pics!

Are you talking the sides of the ship in the later pictures? I don't think thats warping from the glue. I think thats because of the support beams. The sides of the hull don't look like they were totally vertical. The supports are pulling some spots all the way vertical and thats creating distortions where there aren't any supports.

Dollars to donuts there's a scaling issue too. Grayhaze, what kind of printer was this printed on?

That's why I've been holding off starting my Maiden build - been worried that the stretch in my printer (1/16" over 6") will really show up on this set.

However, now that you've pointed it out, that actually looks manageable - will just have to trim them those side walls to the correct length before assembly.

We're using a brother MFC240C.

I thought the pics were out of order, but that's right. We put the weights in before the hull arches, then put them back in to help the foamcore flatten out using carefully placed cans and a shot glass. The weights seem to have straightened the 1 side, but the other side still has noticable buckle.

Also, worked on it a bit tonight, but nothing glued to the foamcore, we just cut, folded and glued the two castles - will take pics later when the camera charges. 2.5hrs tonight.

To give a time estimate, I consider myself a fairly experienced terrain builder and my Maiden took me about 20 hours to go from a pile of printed paper to a completed Maiden. This was for a black and white Maiden build, so edging was probably easier than a color version (although, maybe not since it seems as though brown would work out fine).

If my count serves me right, you are about 12.5 hours in with a fairly large portion done. I don't count warping against you since I had major warping issues too, but I also might have dealt with them more swiftly...not sure.

In the end, even if she takes you 50 hours, she is worth it! I <3 my Maiden.

It does feel like we're creepin up to the finish line, which is good. And I'm 100% certain I'll be happy with it when we're done.

You know, I think you're absolutely right about the printer scaling issue. The walls in this shot http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j69/t ... week2A.jpg appear to be too long or overscaled and buckling outward. Either that or page scale on everything else is out of whack.

Really does look like a printer scaling issue.

doh!

I wouldn't bother with the black foamcore at walmarts I mentioned, elmer's brand. Using the same glue sticks I've always used and drying it under weights it warped.

I don't have any issues with that same stuff (although I bought mine somewhere else...same brand). Odd.

Well, we're on week 4 and really feeling like we've gotten somewhere. We did the stern and forecastles both, and it's looking almost done!

We made a mistake with the forecastle and got the sides swapped before we realized it the glue had set - and one of the tab sides has a much larger white area than the other and the white floor location is slanted in such a way that it is very unforgiving if you've gotten these backwards. We also had 2 extra beams, oddly. Not sure why the backs of the big ladders are illustrated instead of just white with a "glue" icon. Some guides on the deck of the ship for the bowsprit above the mermaid would've been nice too, I was very worried about gluing it in the wrong spot and having it be crooked. Aaaand, the stairs on the stern castle could've used a few tab braces. Enough chatter - here's some pics - just the masts and sails left, we're already playing with it!

Awesome! Thanks for posting these pics! I have purchased The Maiden, but have about a zillion other things I have to build first. But I loved seeing your pics and reading about your experiences building it. When I'm ready to build my own, I will certainly come back to this thread and revisit it.

Nice job, and enjoy your Maiden. (sounds naughty, I know...)

Thanks! mr... captain... ...sir. We're learning as we go, without doing the transparencies or the edging we're probably saving huge time - we're just having fun with this (although it may not sound like it from my critiques above). We'll probably skip the rigging/ratlines, and I realize the photos make the white edges stand out like a sore thumb, but honestly - I don't really notice it in person. My wife edged the sterncastle floor because that did stick out in person, maybe we'll feel different once we're "finished".

I wanted to kitbash a small boat next, but I'm not sure I'm up to the task of modifying the maiden just yet, so I'm looking forward to thoumont's next. Need me some buildings!

Looking awesome Greyhaze.

You might want to get a brown or orange pen and color those white edges. It's a bit of fiddly work (especially after construction), but the difference it makes to the look of the build is well worth the effort.

We worked on the maiden again last night and finished the masts. We're going to do up the sails tonight and I'll posts pics then.

This has been great fun, we didn't do the transparencies or the edging, and we're pretty happy with the results. We will show our shame later tonight.

Can't wait to see her in full glory!

Count me in as an interested party as well. I'm eagerly awaiting your pics of "shame", lol! I'm sure it looks just great!

Well, we broke this up in to two sessions, but the sails were a breeze... but we were exhausted after doing the masts.

Our product with the masts here, and then the sails.









We had fun, and were very excited about our build and end results. We will probably try to kit bash (I think it's called) a 10 man boat out of the maiden - no idea how that will turn out before moving on to thoumonts.