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Hello all, I think it's finally time to give this project its own build log in the proper section of this forum. For those who may be seeing this for the first time, here's a little info. The Lightning is a 19 foot centerboard sloop designed by Sparkman & Stevens, and first sailed from the Skaneateles Country Club in central New York in 1938. It quickly became an international racing class and there are now over 15,000 Lightnings sailing in hundreds of fleets all over the world. My initial interest came from working at the Skaneateles Country Club for a few years. Even though I have never actually sailed in one, or gone sailing at all, for the that matter, I found the Lightning to be such a beautiful boat, I wanted to build a model of it. A little over 5 years ago, I started building a Dumas kit of the Lightning, which you can find the log for here: There's a lot of good information and reference material there, particularly many pictures of Lightning #1 that I took for reference. That project eventually fell by the wayside when I decided it wasn't accurate enough for my liking (and later realized I hadn't done nearly as good a job with the shaping and fairing as I originally thought). So I decided to buy the plans for the real boat from the ILCA (International Lightning Class Association), scale them down, and scratch build a Lightning in the same way the real thing would be done. Once I had just about finished the hull, I got hung up in overthinking how the next steps should be done and the project ending up sitting idle for about 4 years. Fast forward to a couple weeks ago, I caught a sudden burst of fresh inspiration when a good friend of mine asked me what ever happened to that boat that I was building and I told them I still had it sitting safe and sound up in my closet. So I got it out and showed it to them and realized (not to toot my own horn too much) what a good job I had done so far and that I owed it to myself to continue working on it and prove to myself that I could finish what I had started. So for the past couple of weeks I've been sharing my progress in the Dumas build log. But since I'm not actually working on the Dumas kit anymore, this project needs its own log in the proper area of the forum. -
The Catalan boat is a small lateen-rigged vessel used throughout the Mediterranean in various forms. This model is suppose to represent a typical 9-meter boat from the late 1800s. Photos, plans, and drawings of surviving and modern-day boats are being studied. Also, I was inspired by MSW member Javier Baron's construction methods for his fabulous models, and thought they would work well for this attempt. The false keel, which doubles as a construction frame and handle. Bulkheads will be attached at one small point at each station. Plywood bulkheads attached and braced with balsa blocks. Planking has begun with basswood. Since this is an open boat, the bulkheads are temporary. They are only needed for the planking process. The edges of the bulkheads were rubbed with beeswax to prevent glue (super glue) from adhering to the planks during planking. The planks are just glued to each other (and often my fingers). I used a bandsaw to cut away unwanted parts of the false keel. The bottom has been cut and sanded flush with the planking. The stern and stem posts will be cut away later, and all replaced with new parts. Feeling confident the super-glued planking will hold, I gently started removing the bulkheads after violently breaking the balsa spacers... The "cleaning"continues. Note the balsa "deadwood" at the ends of the boat. Unlike the bulkheads, the planks were glued to the deadwood. I noticed that balsa wood smokes when super glue hits it. That can't be good! All clean. Reminds me of a corn taco.... Seems very fragile! Sanded the interior a little and stained it. Now adding ribs made from heavy card stock (doubled, stained, and cut into strips). Keelson added... "Real" bulkheads and a floor added... The step plate for the mast is added... Benches added (stained basswood). Beginning the decking. Deck planks are being edged with black construction paper. Also a cardboard template was made with the proper sheer to use as a base for the deck construction. The decks on these boats have a lot of camber, hence the three formers. Deck planking started in the middle. The middle two planks will guide alignment, but will be cut later to make the opening in the deck. Viola! Shaped to fit... The underside... Pretty good fit... You will notice new stern and stem posts were added, as was the keel. These boats had extra keel-like structures called "escues" on either side of the keel, and parallel to it. The escues helped to balance and support the boats when the crew ran them up on the beach, to sell their catch. Installed a pulley for the mast... Since the hull of the boat will be painted, I thought I better prime it to ensure I sanded out all the blemishes. Adding the upper planking and wales. Next, on to the rail trim and false frame ribs...
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Just got the starter boat in, inventoried and starting this log.
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Well I have finished building the 1:1 boat so now I'm doing the model. The plans are drawn at 1:8 scale so I'm going 1 to 1 off them which is very convenient. I aim to make it as much as the original is made as is practical, including using the same timbers from left overs. The exception to this is the transom because the original is rosewood but the grain is so open it was barely usable at 1:1 so I'm going to use mahogany instead. When I met Mark Pearse a while back I mentioned that I might do this and he was very keen that I should so here you are Mark. The plans have all the lines I need so it was pretty easy to draw it up plus the understanding of having already built it goes a long way.
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Well, I hope I am off to a good start with naming the log appropriately. It's a scratch build even in the sense that this boat doesn't exist at all in 'real life', so it doesn't really have a name. Yet. BACKSTORY Before diving into the details, I'll share the backstory of this project. I am a Naval Architect, and while I was at school, another student was getting rid of an old fiberglass hull shell model that he acquired during one of his internships. He wasn't going to use it, and, at the time, I aspired to be a cruising sailboat designer. So, he let me have it. I immediately had visions of a fully detailed interior arrangement (complete with books on the shelf, that sort of thing), as well as a detailed exterior. Very similar to a doll-house miniature type display. So, I now had this hull, and lot's of visions for the future of it. And, also was a full time student at a rigorous college taking what's effectively a double major's worth of work in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering. And I had a long-distance girlfriend. So anytime not spent studying and doing school work was spent on the phone or traveling back home. Once can see where on the priority list a complete designed-and-built from scratch model of a sailboat fell - completely off the list! Fast forward 5-6 years. Now married (to the same girl), with a nearly two year old little girl, and another baby on the way. Also, just under halfway through the third year of my career (at a builder of high-speed aluminum government and military boats...not exactly the cruising sailing yachts I was hoping for as a college sophomore!), coming off a major push to get a first-of-class patrol boat in the hands of the Navy. This hull was still sitting in our spare room, albeit with some dust on it. [To be fair, in the time between graduation and the beginning of this new saga, I did have time to finish two plastic kit builds (1:350 Tamaiya Bismarck and 1:350 Minicraft Titanic, both of which I had started in high school), and do another complete kit build of a Netherlands Coast Guard rescue vessel that I semi-customized into a research vessel.] After a major house clean-up and organization push, my wife decided we have to do something with the boat. She has been wanting to get some dolls for our daughter, and while thinking about that, she came up with the idea of making the empty hull into a 'doll-boat' - like a doll-house, but, you know, a boat. I immediately latched on to the idea - usually, a little girl gets a doll-house, but her Daddy's a NavArch, so she gets a doll-boat! So, I agreed to the doll-boat. My only condition was that once we are past the age of playing with dolls, I can take it back and finish it to completion beyond what I would be comfortable doing while it was still being played with. And that is the story of how this project was conceived. My next post will start detailing the design progress I've made, some of the major challenges I am facing that I am looking forward to getting input on, and an outline of the general path I am wanting to take to achieve the goal of actually completing it. And, since everyone likes pictures, attached are several of the shell I have to work with. It's a pretty contemporary looking hull form, about 40 inches long, and 10-1/2 inches wide. The daughter loves it already!
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While waiting for the Weelig Straal masts to dry I decided I should start a 12"L x 3"W sailboat I need for another model I'm working on. This time I will try a solid hull since the size has to be specific and hopefully I can control it better. Just grabbed some scrap ply and wood to glue up and start making a dust cloud...
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I have build this sparrow and am almost finished but did not want to post before I am know it works. Wood working is no problem for me but the small scale and never build a boat before. The down load from the net and printing of the booklet no problem. Timber big problem was the timber always on back order never in stock, you get that here down under in NZ. In the end i settled for 0.8 mm in stead of 1.2 mm for the planking a bit more fragile. The manual and layout of the boat called 2 cents, because I put 2 cents under the mast.( picture later) The start was easy. I leave this for now to see how it looks like in the forum.
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Greetings, This is my first build log, and I currently have 3 ships in dry dock. I am working on a Hannah SIB (1/3 completed, and build log pending), MSW Fair American (still on the lofting floor), and this Billings Boats Karoline model. Karoline was a Dutch Potato Boat in the winter and a fishing boat in the summer. The kit consists of an ABS hull with brass and plastic fittings and cloth sails. Length: 1080mm / 42.5in Beam: 330mm / 13in Scale: 1/15 I picked this up this week from a local Hub Hobby in MN. The kit had been on the shelves for a LONG time. I saw it there 5 years ago and almost bought her but decided against it. I have regretted the decision, but was excited to see it still there and at discount. Not sure how long they have had it, but from what I can tell, the model is from the '80s. The factory plastic wrap was still on the box, but had some rips and moving the box produced quite a clatter of pieces inside. The helpful cashier allowed me to open the box and inspect all the pieces prior to purchase to ensure nothing was broken or obviously missing. Fast forward two nights. Last night, in my spare moments I decide to do a detailed inventory of the parts and instructions etc. Pretty basic instructions in the "Ikea fashion" of lots of picture with hardly any text. Shouldn't prove to be too complicated of a build; however, rigging might be a bit of an issue. As I started to work on the hull (which is molded plastic and will receive wood framing for the deck and gunwales), I noticed my first challenge. The sheet of plywood pieces is warped. The missing pieces there are the stem and stern posts which have some torque to them as well. Any thoughts on how to flatten this piece of wood? Thanks for your help. The plan for tonight after work will be to cut the excess plastic off of the hull and wash it to have it ready for painting when the time comes. Yours, Nathan EDIT: Added more photos. Unboxing:
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