18th Century Longboat by Cathead - FINISHED - Model Shipways - 1:48

[Cathead]

It has been a disappointing week. I'm not happy with my work on the mast-thwart, or the windlass, and am trying to figure out what to do differently.

 

 

The thwart started well. I carefully shaped the plank to match the images I've seen, including filing a matching slot for the mast dowel. As I'm not great with metal, I built a jig to help shape the mast strap, by filing an equivalent slot into a block of wood and gluing in a scrap of dowel. This let me shape the strap over a solid surface without risking breakage of the thwart. I made two, just in case. I did the same with the support straps (not shown), forming them over scrap wood, and making twice as many as I needed (four). I then blackened the strips and started assembling the thwart.

 

It looked good when I got ready to drill holes for the belaying pins, but that's when I realized: it's somehow not wide enough. The instructions explicitly say to form this thwart from a 3/16" strip, wider than the 1/8" used for the other thwarts, but it's not nearly wide enough to allow for the drilling of two belaying pin holes far enough apart to be useful. See second image above; I went ahead and did it anyway, but my pins are nearly touching, and there's no room to put the holes farther apart. I reread multiple build logs but could find no reference to this problem. Everyone else's looks like they started with a wider strip that the kit doesn't supply. Am I supposed to glue a second wood strip onto the edge of a 3/16" thwart and shape THAT to hold the mast? Regardless, I'll have to start over. But how?

 

 

Now for the second frustration. I've made three attempts at a windlass, none of which seem quite right. I can't seem to find the trick for shaping the perfect square holes I see in other logs, but I haven't been able to find anyone describing exactly how they did it (not even BobF's meticulous documentation, unless I missed it somehow). The instructions talk about using a square punch; I've tried using a square file of the right size, but the soft wood doesn't take the hole cleanly, it's still rounded and ragged. I've tried cutting the corners with a fine-tipped blade but the soft wood just splits or bends. Of the three attempts shown above, the nearest is the best, but it still doesn't look right.

 

I also learned a few things about shaping the windlass properly. On the middle one, I used sandpaper too much (even very fine) and ended up with a rounded shape. The nearest one, I relied on a metal file and very careful use of a sanding stick to keep the edges sharp. I think I'd be okay with it, if the holes weren't still sloppy looking. If this is the best I can do, it'll likely still blend into the model's overall amateur appearance as slightly rough if you look too close but fine from a few more inches away, but I'd certainly be interested in any other tips I could try while there's still a few windlass-lengths left on the blank.

 

Kinda fitting for a week in which a strong late freeze killed most of the fruit blossoms in our orchard, I came down with a stomach bug, and other work issues cropped up. Hopefully I can get back on track. In the meantime, thanks to anyone who's reading this; I doubt it's all that instructive given the excellent work done elsewhere, but having an audience at all helps keep the motivation going.

[Cathead]

I woke up this morning feeling refreshed and inspired, and decided to take a new stab at the mast thwart. This was helped by finding dcicero's build log, which I had overlooked before, which seemed to wrestle with several of my questions posed above. So below is a new thwart carved from a 1/4" wide strip (with the old one for comparison). I laid it all out in advance, drilling the holes before doing any carving, and it seems like it'll work.

 

 

I also decided to try making my own belaying pins. I don't have a lathe or other machinery, so gave it a shot by hand using small files. I used the flat file shown to thin a dowel down for the pin's bottom, then both round and gently rounded files to carve a depression in the head. I held the dowel against a solid surface and rolled it back and forth while filing slowly, to get a reasonable consistent texture all the way around.

 

What do you all think? Will this work? I made this first one in about 15 minutes, so it won't be horrific to make three more. One thing I'm not certain of is whether this filed-down dowel will hold up. I'd hate to have it crack off as I try to tie rigging to it later on. But it was a fun thing to try no matter what.

Edited April 17, 2016 by Cathead

[Cathead]

After a really useful discussion of squaring off windlass holes over on Ryland Craze's build log, I hunted around in my wood shop and found a perfect nail to use as a hole punch. I didn't even have to file it down, it already had a nice squared-off point. This was almost embarrassing in its simplicity, but it hadn't occurred to me until both Ryland and DocBlake suggested it. Thanks!

 

 

I pre-drilled holes for the windlass, as shown,

 

 

and used very short lengths of wire to hold it in place. The instructions aren't kidding, it has to be really short or you can't get the windlass in there. I still ended up making a slight gouge across the riser, but as the end of the windlass pretty much blocks it, I didn't worry about it.

 

 

Above is my windlass in place, showing another problem that I think other folks have referenced. If you don't sand down your frames enough, they take on an angle too quickly, so that the thwart riser ends up angled toward the interior rather than mostly vertical. This creates a slightly odd platform for the thwarts, and also makes the windlass installation more challenging, as it doesn't sit (or rotate) cleanly against the angled riser. I was terrified of overdoing my frames, so let them stay a little thick, but this is what it does down the road.

 

If I were to build this again, I'd measure down the frame to where the bottom of the riser should lie, and be sure to sand the frames nearly vertical that far down before allowing the turn of the bilge to begin. As it was, I just sanded a small angle into the windlass and accepted that it wouldn't rotate 360 degrees. It turns about 180 degrees, which is enough for me.

 

 

In the absence of contrary advice, I proceeded with hand-sanding my own belaying pins and completing the mast thwart from a 1/4" plank. While the resulting pins are certainly larger than scale, I also think it's cool that I made them myself, and they have a slightly rough quality that seems to fit visually with the rest of the boat. The wood does look better than painted metal. And it seems like I should be able to belay rigging to them. So I'm happy with how that came out, even if it's not "right".

 

I also ended up doing the iron straps a little differently. The one that wraps around the mast was easy, I just used the second one I'd made as a backup on my jig (discussed earlier). However, the two support straps that wrap around the thwart got a different treatment. The first time, I'd bent them around a jig ahead of time, but found it hard to get the ends exactly the same length. This time, I glued strips of brass onto one side of the thwart, arranging the ends nice and evenly, then wrapped the strips tightly around the thwart, cut off the other ends just right with some nippers, then glued those in place. This produced a better result than the jig method, as the straps fit exactly in their intended spot and I didn't have to fuss about making adjustments while glue set.

 

 

So here's how the longboat currently looks, with windlass, thwarts, lift rings, and locker hinges installed. Oh, a note about those locker hinges: I had the devil's own time trying to manipulate tiny strips of brass and wire to get something that looked remotely good. Finally I sanded down a narrow strip of wood really thin, painted it black, and glued wire on top. With two coats of shiny black paint it's nearly indistinguishable from metal.

 

Moving on...

 

 

[Canute]

Cathead, well done on the straps and hinges.

[Ryland Craze]

Your windlass turned out really nice.  The iron straps and hinges are really small and difficult to make.  You did an excellent job on making them.  I enjoy following your build log.

[Cathead]

Thanks for the kind words, folks. I'd intended to do more this weekend. Instead, two glorious days meant I spent a lot of time outdoors. Time well spent. The longboat waits patiently for its rudder.

[Roger Pellett]

To me, the question is what you are trying to achieve, appearance of an actual boat, a modeling convention, or artistic license.

 

I am building a 1:32 scale longboat of the same era. My idea is to show the boat moored with sales furled as shown in a 1717 view of the city of Nre York. This calls for realism. For a number of reasons I think that the bottoms of these were often treated with tar resulting in a very dark brown bottom not white. Top sides would be treated with resin resulting in a tan finish. Planking seams would be quite prominent beacaus they were payed with tar. The insides were often painted "sad" color, a mud color. Color would be used sparingly- an earth pigment color for the sheer strake. The transom could be painted with an earth pigment color or the sad color.

 

Roger

[Nirvana]

Cathead,

You have done a fantastic job!

Even though we have all access to others build logs and the great instructions from Mr. Passaro himself, many times we have to go by trial and error.

And that makes every one of us a better model builder.

 

My longboat is at a standstill, even though a workshop is not required for the remaining building.

It is very much down to the rigging.

[dgbot]

That is the reason for the standstill,  Rigging is not something I like to do very much.  Very tedious and so easy for oversized paws to undo everything i did.

David B

[Cathead]

Roger, thanks for your input. At this point my longboat's paint scheme is pretty well set.

 

David & Per, I'm actually looking forward to the rigging, though we'll see if I change my tune once I get there.

[Cathead]

I've been working on the rudder, which was slightly simplified by my color scheme (no need for color striping or friezes). Sanding it to shape was straightforward, and needs no explanation.

 

I was worried about my ability to align the iron straps of the pintles properly, as they should be at an odd angle to the rest of the piece. So I decided to experiment with filing a gentle notch into the rudder where the straps should fit, to help guide their placement.

 

 

I also pre-made the pintles and gudgeons by wrapping blackened brass strip around the spare rudder and cutting them to length. I then CA-glued a piece of wire inside both, and cut it to length. I think if I were to do this again, I'd do it by gluing the wire into a straight piece of brass, then wrapping that around the rudder so I could get the pin adjusted just where I wanted it.

 

 

I experimented with shaping the tiller using scrap first. I didn't think I'd be able to make the tiny hole & tenon for inserting the tiller into the rudder, but it actually wasn't bad. I used a square file (top of image) to gently file down all four sides of the tiller, to the width of the file, until I judged it narrow enough. The resulting peg was longer than I needed, but it was easier to file a longer stretch and cut it down to length, than to file a tiny stretch. I drilled a tiny hole in the rudder, then widened it with a round file and squared it with a nail as I did for the windlass. The first result showed why I tested all this first on the spare rudder piece, as I drilled too far and came out the backside. This taught me how to do it right on the real, stained tiller.

 

To shape the rest of the tiller, I used a wide flat file to shape a broad notch just before the "ball" of the handle. I then gently rounded off the ball, and used wrapped sandpaper to round off and thin the handle overall. I used several rounded files to create and maintain that notch in front of the ball throughout the thinning process. The photo above shows my test pieces, my final pieces, two of the files I used, and another view of my metal work.

 

 

And here is the completed rudder. Turns out that, even with the filed notches, I didn't get the strap angles quite parallel to each other, but once it's mounted it's not very noticeable. And I did find that the notches made it much easier to slide the pintles on and get them oriented quickly before the CA dried. It's also worth noting that, as the instructions suggest, I did deepen the slots for both pintles to allow more room for them to fit flush with the forward end of the tiller. I stained the tiller with a mix of the darker rudder/stern color and the lighter interior color, to provide visual interest and to help link those two shades together across the stern.

 

 

And here's the rudder mounted. I simply held it up to the stern, marked where the upper eyebolt would go, drilled that, and inserted it. Then I hung the rudder on that bolt, carefully marked where the lower gudgeon should go, and glued that on while holding the rudder in place to ensure I got it aligned. The result is actually pretty accurate; the rudder sits nicely to my eye, swings cleanly through about 45 degrees either direction, and is easy to take on and off for further work on the model.

 

You may note that I've also completed a few other minor details, like the thole pins, knees, and horse. The latter I shaped with a jig, just a length of square wood sanded into a curve at each end and the width of the hull, over which I bent wire to get the right shape. Then I just drilled holes and pushed the horse in.

 

Now it's time to start thinking about masts and rigging.

[ggrieco]

Beautiful!

[Nirvana]

Cathead,

Very nice job on the rudder and the explanation of what you did.

[Cathead]

The past few weeks, I've been slowly working on the mast and bowsprit. These have been challenging, particularly the metalwork. Most build logs I've read seem to just skip past the metal work ("The mast is done") or use an alternate method that I don't have the equipment for (creative soldering).

 

Things started out well. I marked the location of the sheaves on the mast dowel, and pre-drilled the holes before shaping it, figuring this would be easier. It was. Once the holes were in, I hand-sanded the mast down to shape. The plans show a pretty clear "step" in the mast between the lowest sheave and the upper two, but the instructions don't say anything about why this is there. I followed the plans. Why is this there? Anyway, once the mast was shaped I used a small needle file to gouge/file the sheave slot. Result seen below, pre-staining. I think it came out ok.

 

 

I found that I simply couldn't drill the tiny holes in brass strip necessary to form the mast rings. I tried, over and over. Doing it by hand, with a simple twist drill, just didn't work. My holes ended up off-center or otherwise screwy, and even when I did get one through, the strip was so thin that the drilled area became a massive weak point. I definitely tried the suggestion I'd seen elsewhere, to drill one side, form the hoop, then use that first hole as a pilot to drill through to the other side. Sensible, but just didn't work for me, just not skilled enough I guess. I went through so much brass I got nervous I wouldn't have enough to finish the kit.

 

As it turned out, a comment in ggrieco's build log gave me a way forward; Kurt Van Dahm noted that he was very comfortable with the longevity of BSI brand CA, which is what I have, so I decided to try using the gap-filling CA the way others had used solder. The instructions suggest you can use glue to attach the brass rings together, but I went a step further and used the CA to actually create a solid "gap" between the two halves, just enough to drill through:

 

 

Doing this meant that all three rings had holes drilled through top-bottom rather than sideways for the upper two, but I think this will be barely noticeable in the final model, and it meant I didn't have to twist the brass 90 degrees, something I had also failed to accomplish satisfactorily. Above, you see the three rings formed and drilled, with one strung on a piece of wire as proof of concept. I actually strung all three on wire for painting, both for ease of handling and to keep paint out of the hole. I don't know if this is a good approach or not, but it's what I did, so we'll find out over time. I'm happy with the resulting appearance, at least. I found tlevine's and dcicero's logs particularly helpful in finding a way around my metalworking impass; thanks to both.

 

I also solved another problem: how to hold the model going forward.I didn't want to place it in a clamp for risk of damaging the hull, but also didn't want to mount it on a permanent base yet. I had pre-drilled mounting holes in the keel, and had the bright idea of running wire through a "blank" of wood that would fit into my flexible work clamp:

 

 

I'm really happy with this setup. Now I can angle model in any direction I need for working on delicate rigging, the hull is out of any danger, and the wire can bend a bit to absorb some shock from any accidental bump. When I'm finished, I'll just replace the "blank" with nicer pedestals of some kind.

 

With this in place, I worked on finishing and painting the mast and bowsprit. The latter was straightforward, with the sheave formed just as on the mast, and the metal work done with the same method. I used the paint scheme shown on the plans, just replacing the red with cherry stain as I've done elsewhere.  Here's a closeup of the mast and metalwork, with blocks attached:

 

 

And here's what she looks like now, with mast and bowsprit attached. I've been keeping the rudder locked away so I don't damage it accidentally, but placed it on for these photos.

 

 

Next up, I have some research and planning to do. I want to model this with sails attached and raised, which is not part of the plans, so I need to figure out just what those sails would look like, and how to set things up properly. Right now my working idea is to make the boom, gaff, and sail as one assembly off-model, then rig it all together, then attach a jib. Thoughts?

[Cathead]

So I've been laying out possible sail plans for this model, and have found something I can't figure out regarding the stay sail and jib. I created a new topic under Sails & Rigging to ask this question, hoping it would reach a wider audience. Please tell me what you think, I'm stumped and hope I'm just being dumb.

 

http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/13442-sail-design-for-18th-century-longboat/

[ggrieco]

She's beautiful, can't wait to see her rigged!

[Cathead]

So I've had a fun week trying to figure out a sail plan for this longboat. Once I started studying the rigging shown in the plans, and trying to envision how sails would work, it just didn't make sense. I'm not an expert sailor, but I did sail some growing up, and I just couldn't figure out how the rigging plan shown in the model could work in real life. I created a separate discussion (linked above) in the Sails & Rigging section of MSW to explore this question, and got some really useful advice. Here I'll summarize the problem and the solution I've settled on.

 

I did find several other longboat builds that included sails, and I'm going to use them to illustrate both my concern, and my solution.

 

The problem:

 

The diagram below lays out the problem with the foresail halyards that I couldn't understand, and a problem with the gaff that was pointed out to me in the other discussion. I hope it's self-explanatory.

 

 

For example, on this very nice build by greatgalleon, look closely at sails, which are attached directly to the halyards as shown in the instructions. They look great, but how could they have been raised or lowered? There's nothing mobile about this rigging. Also notice how the topping lift crosses the sail; if the sail fills in that direction, it'll interfere with the sail's ability to catch wind. Important: I'm NOT criticizing this build, just using it to illustrate my concern about the functionality of the rigging as shown in the instructions.

 

The solution:

 

The diagram below lays out my solution, after some discussion in the other forum.

 

 

For example, on this very nice build by samueljr, he solved the problem by attaching additional blocks and rigging, using the original "halyards" as extra stays from which to hang the sails. This works, but adds a lot of extra rigging for a boat which had to be routinely rigged and derigged. So I followed a simpler approach, taking out the useless "halyards" shown on the plans and replacing them with a basic rigging that would allow for sail operation with a minimum of spiderweb.

 

I don't know if my approach is "right", but it's both simple and functional as far as I can tell. I intend to move forward with this plan or something very similar, feeling better now that I have a rigging plan I can actually envision using in a real-life situation.

 

Progress:

 

Shortened gaff. I tried to make the two tiny side pieces as shown in the manual, but kept breaking them, so went a different way and formed them as a single piece, fitting the gaff into a narrow slot. Painted and sanded, it looks fine to me and is stronger.

 

 

Other attachments. I test-attached the gaff to the mast using a piece of wire, so I could experiment with sail shapes. I attached the forestay temporarily, allowing for further adjustment as I proceed on sails. I formed the bowsprit traveler and made a hook to attach to the flying jib, temporarily represented with a line to the masthead.

 

 

And here's my sail plan tested in 3D. I temporarily rigged a line from the traveler to the masthead to hang a paper sail, though in reality there will be no line there. All the lines are temporarily tensioned by clothespins hanging from their loose ends. Once I decide I like the sail shapes, I'll use the paper cutouts as templates for making the real thing.

 

[mtaylor]

I too, know next to nothing about sailing these but what you're showing seems reasonable and less complicated than what the plan called for.  

[ggrieco]

Beautiful in its simplicity!

[Cathead]

I've been experimenting with sail-making (special thanks to samueljr, who PMed me to offer advice). I tried three materials: sail cloth, basic index-card cardstock, and nice bond paper (conveniently left over from Mrs. Cathead's graduate thesis many years ago). I made a pattern from tracing paper, and used that to make equivalent sails from all these materials.

 

For all three materials, I followed several similar steps:

1. Cut out core sail shape from intended material.
2. Cut, score, & fold paper strips to serve as edge reinforcements (even for the cloth sail, as I was quickly convinced I couldn't sew hems or seams remotely to scale for this model).
3. Make corner rope loops by clamping a folded-over length of rigging line in a clothespin, twisting the two ends until they tightened up into the right-size loop, securing the twist with another clothespin, then applying CA to the twist. When dry, I cut most of the tail end off and had a nice stable loop with enough tail to hold it within the sail's hem.
4. Glue rope loops into pre-cut paper strips, along the creased center line.
5. Spread wood glue thinly along the interior of each paper strip, then fold over the sail and clamp tight with a series of clothespins.

I also tested coloration, using artist's pastels that have long been a staple of my weathering toolkit for models. Both paper and cloth take pastels nicely without need for adhesives. In the photo below, you see three completed tests; all-cardstock (top), cloth with cardstock hems (lower right), and bond paper with cardstock hems (lower left).

 

 

I overcolored the cloth sail to get a sense of when to stop, and tested two different lighter colorations on the paper sails. I had already been convinced I didn't want to use cloth sails, the materials didn't play well together, the sail was too floppy, and the weave too coarse. I also tested a bond paper sail with bond paper hem, but found that the material was too soft to hold well as a hem; it crumpled with the moisture of the glue and didn't stiffen the sail well. The cardstock hems worked great, really stiffening the sail and allowing me to impart a nice curve to it without needing to treat the whole sail.

 

I liked the bond paper sail best, the finer quality of the paper made a nice sail, while the cardstock hem didn't stand out as different while being much stiffer and easier to work with. I carefully traced stitching onto all of these with a ruler and pencil to check how detail would stand out. I learned that it's best not to do the pencil work until you're otherwise done, as it can smudge as you adjust the pastels or otherwise handle the sail. In every way I liked the sail at lower left best (bond paper with cardstock hem and very light weathering/coloration); here's a closer look:

 

 

Satisfied with this attempt, I decided to see how it looked on the model. Here it is, fully rigged but not permanently. Most lines are still loose, held in tension by a series of clamps hanging from the lines (hidden behind the model).

 

 

What do you all think? Now's the time for me to make changes or try a different approach, before I rig the mailsail permanently and move on to the stay sail and jib (note that there's still a temporary line run to the masthead from the bowsprit traveler, to help me shape the jib properly even though that line won't be there on the final model).

[mtaylor]

I like it.  When I saw the trials, I liked the worn and aged look of the cloth and cardstock but the boat isn't weathered so it wouldn't work.  The bond works well, IMO.

[Canute]

Cathead, the sails look great.

 

Krylon makes a clear fixative to protect your seam work with pencils. Forget what they call it; the Ace folks took me right to that section pf the rack. Prevent your fine pencil lines from smudging.

[Cathead]

Mark,

 

What color palette do you think aged sails should have? To my eye, the cloth especially was too orange/yellow. I could see darkening what I have, but as you note, since the rest of the model is pretty crisp, I could also stick with what I have. I appreciate your input.

 

Ken,

 

Thanks for the tip. I'll look into it the next time I'm in a settlement.

[Cathead]

Stay sail is rigged:

 

 

For the halyard, I rigged a single block at the mast rather than pass the line through the mast sheave. It made the rigging easier to handle, rather than tangling it with the other lines behind the mast (this also seems more functional for the real-life craft as well). The tack is hooked to a ring bolt at the bow. The sheet is belayed to a pin. The sail ends up looking smaller than I expected, I think because I measured it hanging dead from the stay, rather than billowed out, but I think the jib will balance it nicely.

 

You may have noticed the missing bowsprit. I broke that off with an errant wrist while rigging the stay sail. Turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as the reason I bumped it was that it was really in the way in the first place. I just left it off until I was done with the staysail. Fortunately, it came off cleanly and I think I can just glue it back on when I'm ready to work on the jib. It would have worked great to not even install the bowsprit until I'd finished the rigging to this point; something to keep in mind if I end up in a future situation on another build.

 

Anyway, I like the way it's shaping up. One more sail to go, then the final standing rigging.

[Cathead]

And here she is with the jib. I couldn't find a clear reference for how to shape each sail, so I defaulted to the size & shape they've have if they hung limp within the rigging (as shown on my drawings). I don't know if the jib is actually supposed to be larger than the stay sail, but correct or not, I'm pleased with the outcome from a visual display perspective.

 

 

 

The jib is hooked to the bowsprit traveller, allowing it to be hauled out, with a halyard run through a block on the mast just like the stay sail. Seems like it would work in real life.

 

Now it's on to the standing rigging.

[GuntherMT]

The sails look great, to my eye you pretty much nailed it!

[ggrieco]

Beautiful Cathead,

 

I agree with Brian, the sails look perfect!

[mattsayers148]

Excellent job CH! It's been a busy year here so I just got caught up on your build. I did this model as my first attempt years back, and will not be showing any pictures of it. It sits upon my shelf as a reminder of where I started.

 

This was the first, then the 21ft English Pinnace before I did my Launch. Each of these were very similar in size and construction so I found referring to all three helped quite a bit. I look forward to seeing more.

[Cathead]

The longboat is finished! Work really slowed down as summer kicked in, and I struggled some with getting the standing rigging right, but it's done. I'm not happy with the quality of the deadeyes supplied in the kit; the holes are drilled in really uneven patterns, but I chose the best ones and made do. I had difficulty getting the tiny ironwork right, too, as you can likely see in the photo below, but like the rest of the model, it passes the "more than a foot away" test. Especially since the only folks who will likely ever see it will know less about sailing than I do!

 

 

I made four oars, but left out the anchor and windlass handles, because I decided I wanted the hull to look cleaner and less cluttered. The sails add a lot of life to the model, and I decided that was enough. I built a simple base, mounting the boat on thin wire inserted into holes drilled into the keel and base. This allowed me to bend the wire slightly, heeling the boat over onto her port side a bit, as she would be with the sails set this way. I think it adds some life to the display. Here's a photo gallery of the completed longboat.

 

 

I'm pretty pleased with the overall outcome. It wouldn't win any awards at a show, for sure, but it's pleasing to the eye. The sails and the new color scheme make it feel unique, and gave me a feeling of ownership over a very common kit.

 

Many thanks to all of you who followed along, offered advice and encouragement, and politely overlooked my shortcomings. And thanks to Chuck for such an interesting little kit.

[Seventynet]

Wonderful job cathead. It looks like it is gently heeling to port on a smooth broad reach.

 

Best, Ian