maddog33

Knowing when to stop
 
My tendency with all things creative is to keep doing "one more thing" until I've made a mess of it. The good news is, I'm going to break that habit with this model. I struggled a bit with the decision to not include the sail on this boat but after spending some time with and without my paper mock-up in place, I decided l much preferred the sail-free look. I may revisit that at some point in the future but for the moment, this build is officially done. Thanks to everyone who took the time to drop in, have a look, make encouraging comments and show interest in general. It's much appreciated.
 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 

 

 

 
 
 

 

 

Great series of start up shots. The whale boat kit along with the build manual is a great choice. I am working on the same kit "anew" ... took three years off the build to work on two other hobbies. Shortly, I will begin to upload more log shots of work I've re-started over the last few weeks.
 
In any case, I can appreciate how well you are doing especially using the weathering style. Are you airbrushing?
 
Heads up. The laser cut cooperage wood is out of scale.
 
Mike

Thwart risers, some interior painting and ceiling planks:
 
I made one easily avoidable mistake here that careful reading of the plans and instruction book could have prevented. The thwart risers are intended to be slightly thicker than the ceiling planks that start under them but I failed to take note of this and used the same thickness of material. I’ve noticed this in several other builds so I can see that it’s an easy detail to miss. If I had realized this before installing the thwarts themselves I would have added a thin strip to fake the extra thickness. Oh well, another lesson learned. The ceiling planks went on mostly without a hitch other than having to improvise some hidden support here and there where a plank ended and the frame it was supposed to terminate on happened to be somewhere else. The great frame disaster strikes again! I added the first coat of paint before installing the ceiling planks but added some weathering later when I had a better feel for the overall color scheme. 
 

 
I decided to go with a dark blue/grey for the interior of the hull, thwarts and risers. These areas will be weathered to a lighter, sun-faded color eventually but my overall color scheme will be dark blue, black, various shades of grays, and white. Nobody seems to be able to pinpoint any particular combination of colors beyond the primer coats new boats were delivered with so I did my own thing. Given the jobs these boats were designed to do and the relatively short lives they were expected to do it in, I concluded that utility was probably much higher on the list than adventures on the color wheel. Distinguishing your boat from that of another ship seems to be a reasonable criteria when considering  how colors were chosen. 
 

 
I installed the first ceiling plank with the light gray paint I intended to use on those to get some sense of how the scheme would work. I knew everything would be toned down considerably with a little weathering so I settled on my choices. 
 

 
Before the ceiling planks could be installed in the bottom of the boat the centerboard case and mast step needed to be added. Painting these the dark blue rather than gray was probably something that would have been considered a waste of time in a real boat but I liked the contrast and the fact that they were installed before the ceiling on the real thing made it somewhat plausible. I didn't use fasteners on this build so I made a test of simulating nails with paint early on. I didn't think these looked overly convincing so I ended up scraping them away with a sharp blade and using a simple number 2 pencil instead. With a little weathering I thought the results were much better. 
 

 

 
With the ceiling complete and some subtle weathering applied (in my opinion) I was satisfied to move on to test-fitting the thwarts.
 

 
With the interior mostly complete and painted, all 5 thwarts were fitted in position as per the plans. According to Ronnberg's book, the bow and stern sheets weren't painted so I resisted making them light gray. As you can see, the forward-most thwart ended up with a misplaced frame right in the middle. It should have rested between two frames. I could have moved the thwart forward and maybe gotten away with it but I decided to stick to plans from this point forward no matter what. The great frame disaster strikes again! 
 

 
 
 
 
Fast-forward and a whole bunch of other interior details get done! All of this work took several months to complete. Carving the cheek pieces, bow chocks, loggerhead, oar locks, peak cleats and various other parts was time-consuming and educational. I thought carving was going to be my achilles heel but turned out to be something I rather enjoyed. If a particular step/activity seems intimidating, just give it a shot. You may discover you had nothing to be afraid of. 

Planking the jig:
 
This process went much smoother than I had anticipated and reassured me that modifications I made to the jig didn’t hurt and may have even helped set the stage for pain-free planking. If your jig matches the plans, your planking should go on without a hitch. I probably could have done a more precise job of beveling each plank to create nice tight joints up and down the hull but I had intended to paint the model from the start so a little filler here and there wasn’t the end of the world. The biggest area of concern for me was getting the planks to transition properly into stem and stern posts . This is something I’ve noticed about several builds I’ve seen of this boat on the internet. The planks appear to rest on top of the stem and stern posts creating a ledge rather than merging into them. With that in mind, I made sure to overkill the depth these rabbets while building up the laminated stem/stern posts and still allowing enough gluing surface to complete the laminations. As it turns out, my version of overkill still wasn’t enough! I needed to thin the planks quite a bit to get a somewhat smooth transition. It wasn’t the sharp/clean result I had envisioned but it wasn’t horrible either. Live, learn, move forward.
 

 
Starting the planking process with a little help from my friends at the Albany Distilling Company. 
 

 
So far, so good.
 

 
Mission accomplished.
 
Interior frames:
 
So my completed hull came off the planking jig as advertised with surprisingly little glue seepage inside. Joy to the world! On to the frames. These are made by laminating 2 thin strips together and conforming the lamination to the insides of the hull at regular intervals. The instructions recommend soaking the strips in water first for ease of bending but I used heat instead which did the trick nicely and saved me from having to sand a lot of unsightly “fuzz”.  
 
Bring on the first major mistake: 
 
For reasons I can’t really explain given how carefully I had measured things to that point, I pretty much eyeballed the placement of the frames as if I’d been building these things for years. I hadn’t and the results made that clear. Inaccurate frame placement isn't apparent at first, but trust me, it makes itself known later. Amazingly enough, the plans are far more accurate than my eyes and the issues this would cause turned up after the majority of the ceiling planks were glued in and tearing everything out just wasn’t in the cards. For 99 out of 100 people who might actually see this boat in person, the great frame disaster would hardly be noticeable. For me, however, it was very close to the moment I introduced the project to the wood stove. Instead, I put the kit aside for several weeks and went about formulating a plan to salvage things as best I could. While taking some time to reread the Ronnberg book I was heartened to discover that Delano himself had laid the frames for the 7 half-sized Lagoda boats for the New Bedford Whaling Museum inconsistently, even going as far as to have different numbers of frames from one boat to the next. If a guy who built the real thing for 50 years wasn’t fretting over frame consistency, I certainly had no business doing so. Vindicated! Feeling slightly less stupid (just slightly) for not taking simple/accurate measurements, I moved on to another issue with this kit I felt was worth fixing. If you look at builds of this kit you’ll notice that there are gaps along the insides of the frames and the planked hull. This is caused by both the battens between several of the planks and the overlap of planks in areas where there aren’t any battens. On the real boats, the frames were cut to conform to all the intricacies of the inner hull so those gaps are neatly filled. Given that I intended to paint the frames where they were visible above the ceiling planks as well as in the bow and stern, I decided to take the time to close these gaps with wood filler. If you’re planning a natural finish, this technique would probably be too noticeable to get away with. It’s a small detail in the grand scheme of things but I thought it was worth doing, especially at this scale. With the frames installed it was time to move on to thwart risers and ceiling planks.
 

 
Measure frame placements carefully. I didn't and lived to regret it. The gaps that I mentioned between the inside of the hull planking and frames are clearly visible here. I closed these with wood filler where they would be visible.  

Bugra, had a look through those files, just what i needed! 

You have two books that are excellent for her. As Nenad said, get George F. Campbell's plans from the museum gift shop. They'll ship them to you. They aren't very expensive. You get detailed drawings of just about everything you could possibly want to know about the ship's external features and much of her internal as well. POB construction means her internals will not really be very important to you anyway. Her rig, decorations, layout etc is all in those three precious peices of paper. There's a drawing by Max Millar I think of her showing from her stbd quarter somehwat above her with cutaway views into the hold. It's a pretty good drawing as well though not as much detail can be gleaned from it as from the Campbell drawings. Lou mentioned some drawings from out his way, I have yet to see them or order them. I intend on it though before I start another CS. (I think I'm sick, I only want to build CS....) Try to find a copy of Basil Lubbock's Log of the Cutty Sark. It's one of the best books out there about the ship. It is filled with all sorts of details about her construction and her time at sea during her career until she ended up as a training ship on the Thames at the nautical college. Of course the internet is good for research as well. Plus post here. We'll all do our best to answer any questions you may have about her.

Hi Everyone. Just a small update and question if anyone can help?  as you can see I have completed the bow deck and put the strengthens on the bulwarks. I now need to drill all the holes for the gunwale covers. this is where I am a little confused! Again the instructions are a little vague, it gives the measurements for the distance apart 19mm, but not how far in, and where do I start? I also found that the instructions say to use a 01.5 mill bitt, I found this far to big for the size of the wire, good job I didn't start drilling 😁 I am held up at the moment waiting for some new collets and twist drills for my small drill, so I am using the time to do some repairs to pieces I damaged on the gunwales while I was sanding and just tidying her up. Please forgive me but this is my first build. I should have started a little smaller but hey if you don't dive in you will never learn! Learned I certainly have, and still learning so once again please bear with me.
Hope your all fit and well. Martin.

Looks good Jens,I look forward to seeing the pictures of the frames and planking.  Bill
Welcome to the forum

Hi Nenad and Mark
Thanks for warme welcom .
i pose just fjue pic . becors i tomorov vil com op vit a new start on this site ,starting from the begining so it seems more lotigly 
 
il bee back.
Cheers
Jens

New hand rails made from 2x2 Sapele wood:
 
 

Before installing the 2nd deck, I thought it would be a good time to add some precious cargo while access was easy:
 
Yeah, I know, the alfalfa looks more like celery, but I think under the second deck, in the dark, it'll look alright. I stole some Timothy hay from my rabbit and diced it up.
 

More updates on the Fair American Model Ship:
My workbench isn't as roomy as I'd like. Its basically a small desk in the garage corner, and lighting leaves something to be desired.
 
At about the 6month mark, working on it a few hours a week of course, I managed to get some paint on the transom, main and fancy rails. This was important now before any planking could begin, so that once the main and quarter deck are installed, I won't have to go back and worry about paint getting everywhere, especially the rails and waterways. 
 
A few weeks later, I got all the quarter deck planked. I used the supplied 1/8" deck planks, as per the instructions, even though the plans show 1/4" wide planks.  There wasn't a dramatic camber to the quarter deck, but still looks nice - I made sure to rub the sides of each plank with a brown colored pencil for caulking effect.  I used a small drill bit to make little pockets to simulate treenails holes, then just spun a 0.5mm led pencil inside a few times to darken them. I added a thin coat of clear poly and voila!
 
 For the transom windows, I took the cast frames from the kit, filed and then painted gold.  I saw another modeler come up with a neat trick to mimic glass: clear plastic from an envelope. Genius!  I used the same technique here. CA glue worked fine for the most part, but did smear in a few spots, and it isn't perfectly taut everywhere, but I like the effect. After they were glued in place, I added the counter molding, then painted with some more gold. It really pops!  I didn't do the lettering or the curtains yet, but I'll need to eventually, once the wales are installed.
 
Slow and steady progress....
 
- Jason -
 

All right, I made a mistake. Not a modelling mistake tought.
 
I went to one of my relatives, and brought the hull to show them the processus of ship building and how far I was. The thing is, I forgot it there. The good news is, I will go to this person's house again in about 2-3 weeks and I will be able to bring it back to the shipyard. 
 
In the meantime, I will be doing the several launches. Here is where I'm at for the (23 foot?) one. I don't think I will be painting it white if I do a good enought job on the hull.

The ship finally arrived!

Thank you both for the welcome. Chris by all means change the title. 
When I said I broke the keel, that was incorrect. It was the false keel. Continuing to work. Created the rabbit between the false keel and the keel. Attached the keel and started the frames. I am moving slowly on the frames. I want to make sure they are square. 

Thanks all for the likes, and Thunder thank you for looking in, there don’t seem to be many logs of this kit and I’d definitely appreciate your input and insights as I proceed.    Scott 
 
And so begins the sawdust - prepping the prow, keelson and rudder post ahead of gluing 

Hi everyone, I’ve been semi-active on the site for a while now but this is actually my first build log. I’ve previously completed one prior build, Endeavour’s Longboat.  Onward as they say.   I’ve selected Chatham Yacht as a level up in complexity.  I’m attaching some initial kit photos for reference.    Scott

I pre assembled the bow and keel pieces

Then after making a miniature long board did a bit more sanding at the stern and along the keel to try and form a rabbet. I actually reverted to a 16mm hardwood dowel with 120 grit paper wrapped around it for most of sanding, then glued the bow, keel and stern post on. Sorry I forgot to take a photo of this.

I roughly graded the walnut planking by colour and plan to use the lighter at the top, then get progressively darker toward the keel.

I soaked 2 light coloured planks and bent them to shape around the top of the bulwark and clamped them in place. I'll let it dry overnight, but I can tell already that this won't do much for me. I think I'm better off just soaking and bending (with my planking iron) the bow section, then gluing it on progressively with CA once it's dried.
 
I would give it a go now, but need to psych myself up for it...

Stand by - more in 24 hours.
 
Cheers,
Stu

For those members who have never perused the Database section of MSW, here are the links to the planking tutorials by Antscherl and Passaro.  
 
http://modelshipworldforum.com/resources/Framing_and_Planking/Planking primer.pdf
 
http://modelshipworldforum.com/resources/Framing_and_Planking/Lining Off your hull for planking.pdf
 
http://modelshipworldforum.com/resources/Framing_and_Planking/NailPatternJig.pdf
 
http://modelshipworldforum.com/resources/Framing_and_Planking/plankingfan.pdf

I got the bulwarks soaking in quite warm water and traced the deck profile onto a stack of 3 cork tiles.


Using a metal ruler as a square I set up some 1'1/2" pins as a clamping line for the bulwark shape.


 


I thought I had a pretty good fair bend in the bow section until I removed them the next day and it was cactus. So I re-soaked them, and got a good bow profile with a planking iron/bender and then clamped it onto the stanchions to get the rest of the curve. I tested the planking iron on a piece of scrap first as I was worried the soaking and/or heat may cause the glue to fail. But it didn't and I've got a much better result now.

 

I took my time fairing the bulkheads. I was hesitant to take too much off and took some shots showing 1 side roughly completed before going on to the other side. I figure this might be helpful as a guide to others who are building a small cutter like this. I'll give some feedback later if it was too much or not enough.
 
I used a 200mm flat and half round file (second cut file- as opposed to a coarser first cut), which did the job quite well.





I then went on to the other (port) side.


I fixed up the slight asymmetry at the stern post after these photos


I didn't want to take more off where the stern post will be glued to, but in hind sight maybe I should have. In any case I think I should be able to taper the thickness of the first and/or second planks to fair it down to the 3.2mm (1/8") of the stern post.
 
Cheers,
Stu
 

The mast is rigged with every rope both standing and running rope in advance including the loosely fitted shrouds. It looks like a mess now but doing this makes installing the rigging so much easier by doing all the seizing and blocks off the ship.

The next step is critical, stepping the mast permanently in place.  Do this wrong and I’ll just toss the whole thing away - a crooked or twisted mast does not a ship make. The small ship with a tall mast makes it a little bit more of a chore finding and keeping level. I started by inserting a cut off straight pin in the bottom of the mast leaving only about 5mm protruding.  This does a nice job of grabbing purchase in the mast seat below the deck to prevent it slipping around.
 
Next is leveling the boat which I confirm by the line level on the deck, I did this before I epoxied it into the stand, I was happy to see it still level on the stand (which I also confirm with another line level on the table to check they match up.


The red laser up the mast confirms its level on dry fit, so I take the mast out, dump in the PVA and insert the mast. The pin catches the seat, a little maneuvering to make sure its straight and facing the right direction (wouldn’t that be fun to find later I had it facing backwards).

I doubly confirm its all lined up, if you look close you can see the laser hits the stem, the forward bit and the mast, then travels straight up the mast.  I carefully backed out of the room and left it to dry and cure overnight. 
 
I’m going to leave off the swivel guns, they are so comically out of scale they make the whole ship look silly. I made new posts to fill the slots on the cap rail.
 
Now the final attachment of the rigging begins and the ship is almost done. My log to myself will then be complete.

Thanks guys. FYI, this is a model I’ve already finished, the build log was done on the other forum and I’m slowly porting it over having had my account there “suspended” for questioning their stance on piracy multiple times. Since I won’t go back there I just wanted the log captured in the hopes it might someday help someone. 
 
This simple little build was to check my interest in returning to modeling after a near 4 year absence. 
 
Nonetheless, I appreciate the comments. 

Your reworking of the parts is an improvement over the kit supplied parts. This makes the difference between an average model and an exceptional model.  Keep up the good work.

You're doing a nice job. I like the pear