Jack12477

George, you are absolutely correct and this is the reason why I started scratch building years ago. Raw materials are much more cost effective and no one else to blame than yourself. I have designed kits for Model Expo and the castings I received were much, much better in quality than these, then of course I supplied the master parts for the molds to be made from and worked directly with the supplier.

Well, Mark, you could always have your cake and eat it for your next model. A number of British ships were built to French lines. Examples are the Echo class of sixth rates, as well as the purpose-built fireships of the Tisiphone and Thais classes. In the case of the Echo class, even the decoration was in the French style!

2 - The pilot house does not have a 'U' shaped bench, but has two separate ones.

 
This is the way the kit has it


 
The following is what is re-created for the model to look like the actual boat.
Vellum template

 
Took out the back partition and glued in the pilot house.

 
The benches laid in.

 
Next the stern combing, finish all the vertical planking and sand the whole thing.
Marc

Great save Marcus!! Like the boat and the fact it will stay in the family!
 
Cheers

After looking at some new pictures from the boat, I noticed there are two major differences.
1 - The front of the cabin is not 'round' but 'squarish'.

 
Re-create like the real boat.

Template of roof and the wood roof.

I took apart our 46" old Samsung TV and salvaged this vellum material out of it. Thick and thin sheets. I used them as tracing material. The thick sheets hold there form with numerous touching.

Finished up the cabin


 
Planked the outside combing with basswood strips.


 
Planked the inside of the pilot house with mahogany strips.


 
Completed

Nicely done...she is a fun hull to plank...much better than those huge frigates dont you think.
 
Chuck

Looks beautiful Rusty...the planking pattern shows up really well. Do you use a pencil on the edges or another trick?
 
Cheers,
 
Nigel.

Hi All,
 
Well I've completed the hull planking and the square tuck. Taking ones time,
using the planking fan, planning out the belts and run of the planks actual
makes for a very enjoyable experience. No more forcing planks and getting
an uneven planking job. Follow Chucks description and methods and you won't
be disappointed.
 

 

 

 
Also you'll notice that a work area cleaning was recently completed!
 
I'll be out of touch for a couple of days so I'll apologize now for any late response.
 
 
 

I focused most of my attention to the Tree Boat hull today.   I'm using narrower planking,  so it's taking a bit longer than planned.  I had done more to her,  from the last pictures I showed.........I got her planked up to this point.
 

 

 
the port side is my trouble side........I think my bow trouble was that side as well.   planking continued first thing this morning. I got to the point of closing her up.
 

 
fitting the last bits of planking.....the job was done.
 

 
we are finally warming up around here.......I was able to take stock in the garage and set up a sanding table.   I did some sanding as I went along.......now the real sanding can take place.   I can let the sawdust fly!
 

 
the first thing I did though,  was clean up the keel.   the height was also knocked down.......something I probably should have done with the other two {a bit too late now}.
 

 
the bow was refined,  giving it a good edge
 

 
there is a low spot just after the bow section........I'm thinking a bad cut for that particular bulkhead.   this frame was the one made with the 1/4 plywood........not only was it hard to fare and sand,  but it was the one that I expected mistakes to occur.   I will have to build both side up with filler........
    I use a drywall sander to do the major sanding.   the one bad aspect to this tool,  is that it has a soft rubber cushion between the sandpaper and the tool.   wood is not uniform.......it has hard spots and soft spots.   sanding in long strokes along the hull {with this sander},  allows the hard spots to rise above the soft spots,  creating valleys in the hull.........it comes out all wavy.
 

 
you might see a little here.........it's really noticeable around the scuppers,  where I repaired them.   the best thing to do at this time,  would be to sand it a bit more.....concentrating on the high spots,  getting a coat of primer on the hull,  and then go over it with a solid sanding block  {I have a couple}.  then I can see where I need to do corrections.   the filler work is coming up anyway,  I can do some then.
 

 

 
I'm already looking at what I did to the bow...and not liking it.  I have something else in mind
 
necromancy 101................>in progress<   

Likewise from me Jesse - speedy recovery from your health issues.

Nigel, thanks for the information about Storm King, I will have to visit it sometime.  But I don't really have to travel far to find some, there are over 35 of them right here in the valley - owned by members of the Hudson River Ice Yacht Club of which I am a member - in addition two are on display at the Hudson River Maritime Museum in Kingston about 10 miles away from me - one is Franklin Roosevelt's Icicle - so I have plenty to pick from. See this post
and this post also

Thank you Michael.  Yes, one of those ice yachts is a definite possibility that I have been considering for some time now. The problem I'm having at the moment is finding a good readable set of plans that I can work from. Of course if we had had a decent winter this year I could have taken the measurements directly off of one of our fleet of boats (while they were assembled) - now they are disassembled and in storage. But yes, an ice yacht model is definitely under consideration.

Nicely done, Chuck

Funny Allan....I am itching to see pictures of the Litchfield!!!!  Lets see what you are working on bud.   Move out of Jersey and I cant get any updates....

Thank you all for your kind words and encouragement! I look upon this rework not so much as a mistake, but a lesson in ship building and an opportunity to hone my wood working skills. It should also be a warning to add the gunports first, take care with the rework of the transom framing (page 12) and only add the transom extensions (page 13) after the gunports and align the bottom edge with the gunports. The extension parts are laser cut too short (1-5/8") by about 1/8" the difference of 1-1/2" on plan rear view; versus the side view of 1-3/4" (angled).
 
Anyway I am back on track and here are pictures of the stained rework and some of the wood definitions can still be seen along with rework joints which will be blinded up with molding and decorations.
 

 

 
Now I will add the new molding I made while waiting for stain to dry using 1/32" half round to the angled side surfaces first and then to the transom. After they are in place then the rest of the transom will be addressed.
Again thanks for your words of encouragement.

Great!! looking build Jack you did a beautiful job... sorry I missed most of this... next time!!  
 
Frank

Final Update:

While building the model, I decided to conduct a little research into the area from which these boats sailed and found that this area comprises the original six Celtic Nations (Note:The term "nation" is used in its original sense to mean a people who share a common identity and culture and are identified with a traditional territory. It is not synonymous with "sovereign state".). The six Celtic Nations are  Brittany (Breizh), Cornwall (Kernow), Wales (Cymru), Scotland (Alba), Ireland (Éire), and the Isle of Man (Mannin). Both Brittany and Ireland border onto the Celtic Sea.  

Since I am of Celtic ancestry, Ireland, I decided to take a little modeler's license and make the model an Ireland based fishing vessel. Looking deeper into the geography I located two major fishing ports in Ireland; Killybegs is the largest and Dunmore East (Irish: An Dún Mór Thoir) is the second largest.  Killybegs is located near Donegal Bay on the northwest side of the island and borders more on the Atlantic Ocean; so I decided to eliminate it as a possible port for my boat.  Dunmore East borders the Muir Cheilteach (Celtic Sea), has the second highest figure for fish landings after Killybegs, and is the world record holder for the largest tuna caught on a rod. For these reasons I decided to make Dunmore East the home harbour for my mythical boat.

New decals had to be created for the bow and stern. I decided to list Dunmore East in both English and Irish Gaelic on the stern.  A small Irish flag was fabricated from the toothpick flags one finds on St Patrick's Day cakes and cupcakes and my family Coat of Arms was added to the Jib to identify the vessel's ownership.

I want to thank Denis (Popeye the Sailor) for helping me locate the Decal Making software, decal paper, and Decal bonder chemical, and for giving me hints on how to use it.

I spent a lot of time learning how to create my own decals; after a lot of experimenting with some scrap sail cloth material I was finally able to get a process for applying decals directly to the sail. After applying the Coat of Arms decal to the Jib I completed the rigging of the sails, and proceeded to install and rigging the large outrigger fishing poles. Interpreting the rigging drawing was a bit of a challege but I finally figured it out.

For those wondering, I used the MicroScale brand of decal products, SET, SOL, Glossy, and Flat, to apply the decals; these are the same products I used to use to apply decals on my plastic models.

Below are the photos of the finished model, Marie Jeanne. To get the best lighting I decided to take the model outdoors and photograph her in full sunlight. A slight breeze helped add some volume to the sails and extend the flag.
 


 
I want to thank everyone who has been following my build, posting comments, or LIKEs - it's been a fun build.  Now  I need to decide on my next build. Will update my signature with a link to the next build log.
 

Small Update:
 
Added the Mainsail and Main Gaff topsail to model, spend several hours trying to determine where the Gaff topsail tack and sheet attached to the belay points - the rigging plans were very vague. Finally got it figured out and attached. Attached the boat rack and boat to deck. Rigged the anchor and chain and attached to capstan and into hole for chain locker.
 

Likewise from me Jesse - speedy recovery from your health issues.

Today, I started by making the Turnbuckles, I then turned my attention to making the Blocks, I thought about this a lot and I wanted them to look more like real Blocks. I modeled these after the Harken Blocks on my boat. Another thing that I wanted was to have the Halyards in easy reach of the Cockpit rather than have them Cleated to the Mast. ( this is better for single handing the boat )I then attached the Turnbuckles and prepped the Mast for the Standing rigging. With the stays attached to the Mast, I installed the Jib halyard Block and the Blocks for the Halyards. I then ran the rope for the Halyards extra long. Next will be to finish making the blocks for the running rigging and install the standing rigging. Here are the results

Thanks guys.  I have actually switched to Grumbacher paints for this model.  Just to try them out.  They are from a tube and acrylic.  I am using Mars Black and Crimson.  Thats it.

Hi Chuck
 
As you said, replacing the truck is easy enough, so make one red, one black and leave one natural. Then take a photo of the three on the ship together to compare them. That way way can all see how they compare in one shot.
 
Cheers