Mark Pearse

I haven't posted for a while, but I'm back working on the model. The sailing trip in Tassie is posted in another part of this forum, linked below if you're interested. Back to the model, I've been working on the cockpit area, starting with the toe rails, just visible on the upper deck forwards of the cockpit. The toe rails were delicate, about 1.5 x 2.5mm & maybe 300mm long. Then the timber strips that visually complete the hull step-down alongside the cockpit. The timber is Blackbutt, from the same floorboard offcut I used for the gunwales & sponsons. Then the small cupped strip aft of the previous photo, to fit in this curve: I had a piece of round acrylic tube about the right diameter: Then some more sanding: I picked up an error in that strip of side decks, on one side I'd clearly been daydreaming while sanding....so I added on a filler piece of timber, then undercoat, paint etc.: I painted the two-tone deck (or scuppers area) around the cockpit seating. On the yacht it's painted in a more modern style, where there's an edge strip with the deck paint set in, & in different colours. Tamiya have masking tape in 2mm width, which helped get a constant gap, plus some 6mm masking tape to help stop overpainting onto the adjoining finished paint. Then glueing the timber strips on - as per the previous timber, I really prefer shellac for scale varnish, the thin viscosity helps the finish to look right at scale. Not to say you can't get other finishes to look right at scale, but this works for me & it dries quickly...& I like the way you can matt it with steel wool & gradually buff it back to satin with some cotton rag. Then carefully fitting the little curved pieces... And one side done. Then both. Some details fixes will be required to the paint, but I'll do that all in one go later. The deck will get painted soon, so I started shellacking the cockpit stormboards, made earlier. I'll paint the deck next I think, then start on the weathered teak cockpit seats & other details. Thanks everyone

Hi Vaddoc, If it is a print that you are talking about, one possible reason for a small error is that some printers slightly shrink to fit the page, without telling you. If you drafted in CAD to a certain size virtual page (eg A3), then when you print, you print to A3 paper size, but the virtual A3 is slightly reduced by the edge margin of the paper that the printer can't print on. The solution is to find the option in the print dialogue window that allows you to set the printing to 100% scale.

Hi Steven Some responses from the gallery: In modern traditionally built yachts: yes, definitely. The planks ends are then housed which gives you a backed recess into which to bang the caulking, pitch, putty etc. it's a really important joint. And if the stern post is hit heavily by anything (such as a dock), the impact load is somewhat transferred to the planking & on to the hull at large, instead of pushing the stern post only. To my simplistic thinking it's logical they would have rounded it. But it would be easy to have it square & not foul anything - it's just a question of where the pivot point is, closer to hull or further away.

Thanks Steve, the first legs are quite exposed to the south & SE, & of course the weather changes pretty quickly down there. I'll post some photos on return.

Your exploration of the hull via CAD was very interesting, & CAD drawings are useful in understanding the object drawn. Like you, I also used CAD to get an initial idea of the planking angles where they meet the keel, stem etc.

thanks John, my trip - but who knows, I might bump into Trevor

Hi Trevor That sounds like an amazing trip. The weather changes more rapidly in Tassie than in NSW, & I'd rather keep the wind below 20 knots ..... IF HUEY IS LISTENING.....

We're all boat trajics here, so I doubt anyone will mind if I go off-topic, on my own blog: I'll be away for a few weeks, happily going to the Wooden Boat festival at Hobart. But, even more exciting, I'm sailing on a small boat raid for 10 days leading up to the festival. The red dots are the intended stops, starting down the bottom. For context, the detail map is the orange rectangle on the other one. The first few days are obvious exposed to the south & south-east. But assuming the weather is ok, it should be really good, some wonderful country there.

a very nice colour - is that your selection?

Hi Vaddoc, Good progress, & this is something of a departure for you - most of your builds have been for smaller planked sailing vessels. I look forwards to seeing how this unfolds,

Hi Dick Have you been using local hardwoods, & how do you find them to work with? Some of the timber looks to me like Jarrah or Karri, both seriously dense & hard wood.

Best wishes Håkan The mast is lovely timber - what species is that?

Thank you Roel, & I like the colours too. I'm doing a model of a specific boat that has these colours, so the timber choice in the case was to replicate the timber on the original, but it does go very nicely with black. One aspect I'm thinking about is the stand. I've decided to do a flat rectangular base that replicates a boat yard hard-stand area....spilt paint, etc, & the model held up with scaled support frames, some photos below. Maybe a piece of thick compressed fibre cement sheet as a base....

Almost like bought one....it looks like the top edge of the boot top line didn't have quite enough lift towards the bow, just the last part. I usually find that going back & adjusting something is less work than I expected, so I jumped in & started it. I scratched the black paint off, after carefully cutting against the side of the masking tape to give a sharp line to scratch off up to. Will undercoat, sand, topcoat, sand etc etc. A bit like the Spam song....

Bravo Vaddoc, a great result. I'd better start following the Hercules build....