BobG

Beautiful work, Michael!

How did you clamp the deck down since the hull is already planked? I'm really excited about this model and can't wait for it to become available to the public.

Wonderful work, Jean-Paul. This is going to be one of the finest Medway Longboat builds ever completed here on MSW and your build log will be of great assistance to many other modelers in the future.

Hi Harry, I spent part of this morning fairing the forward half of the frames. This process always makes me nervous. I hope I'm doing it correctly. I'll try and post some photos tomorrow and update my build log. I think it will be an adventure for sure! I hope I will be able to make a template from a few of the photos you emailed to me. I'm getting better at slowing down and double checking the plans since the written instructions are practically useless and the photos in the instructions are small and rather blurry so they are much help either. I'm flying by the seat of my pants at the moment but I seem to be on the right track...we'll see! Did you make a build log of your Cutty Sark? I'll have to take a look at your build log. You might want to add a signature with links for your completed builds and current log. You do such nice work that a lot more forum members would be able to easily find your models and logs that way. Just a suggestion... Thanks so much again for your continued assistance and interest in my build.

This build just keeps getting better and better, Hellmuht. I'm enjoying following your build very much. Your build inspired me to buy a copy of the Ancre monograph for the St Caterina. I think it will be very interesting to see all the steps you have taken to build your model even though I'm not skilled enough to undertake such a project yet. I'm also interested in dioramas and I recently ordered a book on making them: Waterline Dioramas by Justin Camarata. I ordered the book from Sea Watch Books: https://www.seawatchbooks.com/ItemDisplay.php?sku=107002 Continued good luck with your build.

I think you have hit on a lot of ideas. I guess I'll have to make a choice once I get to that point. It must have taken you forever to drill that hole just turning the drill with your fingers and pliers. Good on ya, man! I've finished gluing in all of the frames, keel stiffeners and the deck. I will start fairing the frames tomorrow. I always a bit unsure about this step since it's so easy to take off too much or too little which then creates problems in the planking. Are you currently building anything? Best regards,

Thanks very much for your informative reply, Mehmet. I would like to learn to do these kind of weathering techniques eventually. I look forward to following your build log on this wonderful model you are making. Best regards, Bob

That makes good sense. Did you have an extra long 4 mm drill bit so that the shank of the bit extended below the bottom of the keel in order for you to have something to hold on to as you turned the drill bit? If not, how were you able to turn the drill bit if the shank of the bit was flush against the sternpost? Many thanks Harry,

Wonderful work! She's going to be very special by the time you are finished.

Thanks so much for your informative reply, Harry. The instructions are so brief and lacking in details and the pictures are so small and blurry that I feel like I'm finding my way in the dark! Drilling the rudder tube still seems like it will be a very tricky operation even following your explanation . It seems like you are required to essentially blindly drill the hole once the deck and planking are done. Did you start the drilling from the deck and go down or from the keel and go up? Drilling from the deck down seems to be the obvious thing to do. I'm having trouble wrapping my head around this process. I guess the biggest question I have is how did you accurately set the angle of the drill at first? Then, once you had the angle of the drill set, how did you manage to keep it at the correct angle and also perfectly centered down the middle of the false keel so that the exit hole would be exactly in line with the center of the rudder? This seems like it must have been practically a shot in the dark trying to keep the angle and the centering of the drill accurate while drilling by hand without anything to guide the drill. I think your idea of adding a "doubler" to the false keel along the sides where the drilling will take place could be a good idea, but I wonder if the exit hole at the bottom would be in the correct place exactly once the planking is on the hull? I may end up just gluing it in a fixed position but it would be nice to have an actual rudder that articulates though. I also spent some time trying to blow up the deck photos from the French link you posted and try to get them to match up closely to the actual size of the Pen Duick deck piece. I tried quite a few different setting and couldn't get the enlarged prints to match the actual deck though. It may have something to do with the differences din the imperial measurement that we use here in the USA compared to the metric measurement used in the rest of the world. Our standard paper printing size is 8 1/2 x 11 inches which different than the A4 metric paper size used in the rest of the world. The conversion of our standard size paper to the metric A4 is 8.27 x 11.69 inches. So something is getting lost in the translation. I may just have to try and draw a layout of the decking joggles but I'm not sure how well I'm going to be able to do that. Thanks for you help. I'll go and continue fumbling along and see what happens!

The Flirt is looking great, Chris. I'm looking forward to watching James build her.

Hello Harry, I've been reading over the brief instructions and studying the plans and I have a couple of questions that you may be able to help me with. As you know, the instructions are pretty brief and the photos are not a whole lot of help either. One of the last things the written instructions tell you to do is to drill the rudder blade shaft which is a long, diagonal hole through the deck and false keel for the rudder masthead (the rod that attaches to the top of the rudder). I can't imagine how I could accurately drill that hole especially after the planking and deck have been completed. I wonder if you did this and, if so, how you managed to do it? Here is a photo of the the hole that would need to be drilled to make the rudder blade shaft for the rudder masthead #56: Also, the plans show that the stiffeners along the middle the false keel are not glued flush with the bottom of the keel. There is a small space between the bottom of the stiffeners and the bottom of the false keel as seen in the photo below (parts 23 and 24 for example). I'm not sure what the purpose of that is? Should those stiffeners in that part of the keel be flush with the bottom of the keel? Thanks very much and I hope your move is going well.

Happy birthday, Dave, you're still a spring chicken compared to me! Ain't that the truth! I spent most of the day correcting mistakes and trying to make sense of the instructions and plans on the Pen Duick I building. Two steps forward and one step back all day long... 🥺

The debonder will work. It's a bit messy. Give it a little bit of time to soak in where you want it to go and then use something like an a sharp Xacto knife blade to gently help pry the plank away from the spots where it is glued to the bulkheads. After the plank is off you can clean up the bulkheads with some very fine sanding if necessary being careful not to change the fairing. Wait until all the bulkheads are completely dry before applying another plank. It's good to always have the debonder available for ungluing your fingers too. Believe me, it will happen!

Hello Hellmuht, Thanks for your reply. I just looked at my Messages Inbox and I didn't receive a message from you. I'm not sure why it isn't there. I just read your entire build log again and you are a very skilled craftsman! The details you are adding to this boat are wonderful. I love the grapnel, buckets, and nets. The glass ball float is fantastic! I spent a 1 1/2 years aboard the US Coast Guard Cutter Storis in 1966-67. We patrolled the Being Sea and the Gulf of Alaska and we would often find these glass balls washed ashore on remote beaches. The replica you made is wonderful. I have a very long way to go before I have the skills to undertake a scratch build like this. The beautiful job you are doing on this boat is inspirational for me though.

I'm really happy to see you are doing a build log on this wonderful, working vessel. I'll be following along. I curious about the laser etched deck. I'm relatively new to the hobby and have never seen one personally. How would you say it compares to models where you planked the deck? I am concerned that it just might look so perfect that it wouldn't be very realistic. I just started to build the Pen Duick by Artesania Latina. I think this legendary, ocean racing sailboat is stunningly beautiful. I've had it on the shelf for a year and, like you, decided to do something a bit less intensive before I commit to a more complex build. However, as I continue to read and research the Pen Duick, I am finding things that I want to change to improve the model and it is becoming more involved than I originally thought it would be. I imagine that the same will happen to you as you read your books about these fishing vessels and see photos of things may decide to tweak. I'm looking forward to seeing your progress. Chris has made a great looking model.

I hope both of you will start build logs on your Lady Eleanor models. I'd love to follow along. She's on my tick list at some point soon.

So maybe something to look forward to in the future for you, Elijah!

Thanks for the link, Elijah. Are you thinking doing this model?

Thanks, Justin, I'm sure I'll be treading water and trying not to sink on this one!

Thanks to Harry (hof00) for the links to the Pen Duick videos. This one really captures the beauty of this sailboat and look at the amount of canvass they have up on her and how far she can heel over under all that canvass!

Hi Harry, thanks very much and thanks for the video links. She's a beautiful sailboat for sure! I must say, you live in one of the most beautiful and friendly countries I've ever had the pleasure to visit. My wife and I spent 4 weeks traveling in New Zealand in 1985. We rented a camper van and drove from the tip off the north island to the bottom of the south island and absolutely loved it. We flew out of Christchurch on Christmas Day to Tahiti where we arrived for a second Christmas Day on Bora Bora! Then we spent 17 days in French Polynesia on 4 different islands. I even got to got to do several shark dives on the coral atoll of Rangiroa. It was one of our favorite and most memorable trips ever. I hope your move goes smoothly and thanks again for looking in on my build log. I should be able to get something done on the model in the next week. Cheers!

Hi Bob, thanks for your post and information. I actually tried to find this book after reading about somewhere on this forum. I believe it was from a post of yours some time ago. Anyway, I recently found a used copy on eBay and ordered it. The book was located in Germany and they tried to mail it but, for some reason, the German post office had a problem with sending it so the eBayer sent me a refund. I'd like to find a copy of it somewhere. I'd love to see some photos of your model. She's such a gorgeous sailboat!

Thanks, Harry, I'll hope I can come close to getting the deck as nice as you did.

Thanks, Yves, I'm moving rather slowly getting this build going but I should be able to get some time at my modeling desk pretty soon. I've been cleaning up my work area and trying to get things more organized after the completion of my Medway Longboat. I've been reading more about Eric Tabarly and the Pen Duick and have been watching quite a few videos about him and this legendary sailboat. It has really piqued my interest in his life and the history of the the Pen Duick. I hope I can do as good a job building this beautiful model as it justifies. It will be challenging for me since I've still got a long way to go in the development my modeling skills.