Kenchington

I agree. Though I'd not be dogmatic about what was done in 1805.

The really messy job is tarring the shrouds and I've never done that. (The nearest I came to it was tramping around one of Kruzenshtern's capstans to hoist a Russian cadet who had been lowered too far down the rigging he was tarring. Happier times.) But the mess on your hands when going aloft also comes from the shrouds because you should never, ever hold the ratlines. They have a very nasty habit of breaking at just the wrong moment, when a firm grip on the shroud will save you from embarrassment. One did fail on me, the very first time I went aloft (on a dubiously authorized climb, at age 13) and I have not needed to be told again. Trevor

Not much to report today and that not good. I did get the floorboards in, though the result is not pretty: I should have been much more careful about matching the lengths of adjacent boards, cutting them diagonally of necessary, so that their corners aligned -- maybe something for those thinking of building this kit to consider. Also, there are supposed to be narrow gaps between the boards. There were, at least forward of the thwart, when I shaped them. Maybe the basswood expanded when painted with water-based acrylic. However it happened, I had to squeeze in th forward boards and sand the edges of the after ones before they would go in at all. On the positive side, I got to try CA glue. I hate the hardware-store version and always get into trouble with it. But I figured that gluing painted wood to oiled wood probably needed something other than white glue. As it was out of sight, under the boards, I gave hobby-shop CA a try and it worked well. Gives me more confidence moving forward with some of the trickier challenges to come! Trevor

Every ratline I have climbed was tarred to a black shade (remembering that even brown-looking hemp and manila rope typically contain some tar) – aside, that is, from those that were black plastic, masquerading as tarred hemp. I think that rigging lanyards have typically been made of tarred rope also, though I'd not swear to it. Oddly, none of the contemporary texts that I can immediately place my hands on seem to say what was tarred and what not. Trevor

Steps 27 (Daggerboard), 28 (Rudder, round 1) and a beginning on Step 34 (Floorboards) {The instructions skip from Step 28 to Step 31 with no #29, nor #30. To compensate, there are two Step 34s!} The pram has a long, narrow daggerboard that would be a swine to sail with. I had a boat with a similar configuration once, though it was a metal plate rather than wooden board, on a boat that the previous owner had converted for sailing from a trap skiff. With a traditional rig that would not function as hard up on the wind as modern racing sails, there was often a temptation to luff up too close. Then the rig lost power, the boat lost speed, the daggerplate failed to generate enough side force, the boat made excessive leeway ... and the water flow over the high aspect-ratio plate stalled, just like the flow over a plane's wings when flying too slow at too high an angle of attack. Result was a complete failure of the dagger-late to provide any lift and the boat just went sideways! A low aspect-ratio centreboard would have been much better. On the other hand, the narrow daggerboard does make construction of a watertight case relatively easy. And that case is needed so that the board can be withdrawn, simply by lifting it clear, when not needed or when approaching shore. For the model, the kit provides the board in one, easy piece. However, it is laser-cut on the same sheet as the components of its case and thus is as thick as the case opening is narrow. To get it to slide through the case, the board has to be sanded thinner. The instructions say to go on sanding until the board is a loose fit, so allowing for a future coat of paint. As mine will be oiled, that was less of a concern. Once down to size, the instructions call for the trailing edge (along as much of the length of the board as will protrude below the keel plank) to be tapered. There is no suggestion that the leading edge should be anything but blunt. That, however, would encourage stalling. Ideally, the daggerboard would have an aerofoil section but that's hardly practical in a pram (though fast catamarans and foil-borne boats do have that refinement). I compromised, rounded off the leading edge and extensively tapered the trailing one, while leaving most of the board flat. With the board itself shaped, a cap has to be added at the top, to prevent the board simply dropping through its case, while forming a handle for lifting and a cover to stop water sloshing up through the case. I glued a piece of scrap onto each side, then whittled two other pieces to fit in the narrow gaps (forward and aft) between the side pieces. Another time, I would probably put on one side piece and add larger end pieces, then sand those flush with the board and add the second side piece. Whichever way it is done, the cap can be trimmed for length and width, sanded flush on top, the edges softened and bevels worked on the underside to give a finger grip when lifting the board. Nothing very difficult in any of that. The rudder is also provided as one piece. Step 28 only covers its initial shaping, probably because the instructions expect it to be painted before its metal fittings are added. But the shape is complex and should be much more developed than the ugly version presented in the instructions. In profile, the leading edge of the rudder is straight from above the transom to the bottom tip of the skeg. It then angles back like a swept wing, before transforming into a curved trailing edge. That leads to another angle back up to the transom, then straight once more to the rudderhead. All that needed char removal, of course, but so did two tiny notches, one each side of the rudderhead, where the tiller will fit. I thought I was doing OK until the thinnest piece of wood snapped off. I will wait to see how the tiller goes before attempting a repair. Aside from char removal, the instructions call for three areas to be shaped. They want the straight leading edge below the lower pintle to be sanded to a half-round section (which I did) and the curved trailing edge to be broadly tapered on both sides. The "swept wing" leading edge is to be left square, according to the book. However, I went much further, shaping the whole of the rudder that will be below keel-plank level, into something approaching an aerofoil section. Finally, the instructions also call, very unclearly, for some shaping near where the pintles will fit. As I don't intend to paint, I have deferred that until I better understand the size and fit of the pintle straps. The end result of those various tasks looks like: Today's remaining effort went on the floorboards. There are 6 that span the supporting battens (previously placed on the bottom planks) abaft the daggerboard case, four more forward of that and two pairs of little ones on each side of the case. The laser-cut pieces are generously sized -- so long, indeed, that they sit on the garboards rather than the battens. I tried sanding them until they were just clear of the planking, while their outer ends formed a neat curve. I tried and tried but the more I tried the bigger mess I made. So I just set the draughting compass to the width across the battens where each board will go, added an arbitrary 5mm and cut the board square at that length. (The floorboards are so thin that they could be cut with a craft knife.) The space available for these floorboards depends on just where the various frames ended up. The six from daggerboard case to sternsheets were too wide to fit my pram and so had to be narrowed a bit. Those who paint their model prams are encouraged to leave the floorboards as bare wood, giving a pleasing contrast. To get something of the same with mine, I am finishing the floorboards with the clear satin acrylic provided with the kit. When I did that with the oars for my dory model, they came out very pale. I'm hoping that the effect with the pram will be something like scrubbed pine, whereas the oiled wood looks more like varnished pine. The acrylic is drying now, so I'm not certain how it will turn out. I'll rub down the raised grain tomorrow, put on a second coat, then glue them in place on their battens. And that will bring the build up to completion of the instructions' Step 34 -- both of them. After that, the really tricky tasks will begin. Trevor

Thank you, Mark! I'm reluctant to try a second oiling. I find that the first one tends to seal the pores in the wood, even if it is less than a thorough soaking. Then any extra oil sits on the surface. Not a problem if you can polish the piece but that wouldn't be an option with the interior of the pram. As for the stand: I've never been good with spray cans. The white on the flat of the kit's baseboard went on too thick and now has picked up marks, while the primer still shows around the edges. Too late to separate it from the hardwood plinth, so I'll have to mask that and try again. I won't spray in the house and, even with spring coming on, it's hard to find an hour when the outside temperature is up and the humidity down! Trevor

Then I hope it proves helpful!

It's a very rewarding kit but, be warned, it is a whole big step more challenging than the dory! Finished the hull of my pram yesterday and now trying to find a way to make the floorboards go in neatly. Then it will be a leap into metalwork. Trevor

Congratulations on finishing! If it makes you feel any better, I gave up on the thole pins and used pieces cut from bamboo cocktail sticks instead. You did a much better job. Trevor

Thank you, druxey! And thank you also to all who have "liked" my log contributions! Trevor

Today, I finished the fixed wooden structure of the pram (if the floorboards can be ignored for now). That's steps 23, 24, 25 and 33 of the instructions (though I still have to work on 27, the daggerboard, and 28, the rudder). Step 23 has been sending shivers up my spine since I first read the instructions. It involves creating a slot through each inwale, adjacent to the sheerstrakes but without piercing those critical pieces -- each slit later taking a chainplate for securing the lower end of a shroud. The instructions say that this operation should begin one foot (1 inch at scale) abaft the hole in the mast step. It does not say whether that is abaft the centre of the hole or its after edge, nor whether the measurement should be along the centreline (probably) or perhaps following the sheer line. I figured that the really key thing is that both chainplates should be equidistant from the centre of the bow transom, lest the whole rig look askew when the model is finished. It is also necessary to place the slots clear of where the rowlocks for the forward thwart will go. In practice, all that lot fell into place quite easily and I could mark the spots. Next, we are told to drill through the inwale, parallel to the sheerstrake but without cutting into it, using a #72 bit. An internet search turned up an extensive table of drill sizes, which stated that a #72 has a diameter of 25 thou, meaning 0.635mm. The bits that came with my kit are metric. The 0.7mm proved detectably larger than the saw blade to be used in the next task, so I drilled with the 0.6mm instead. Rather to my surprise, the hole appeared where it was required, without harm to anything else. Then we are told to insert a #15 saw blade into the drilled hole, enlarging it into a rectangular slit (before reversing the saw and tidying the other edge of the slit). The #15 in this case is an Exacto #15 blade (which my local Great Hobbies conveniently had in stock -- none being provided amongst the tools that came with the model). The #15 did not want to go into a 0.6mm hole until that had been expanded a bit with a knife blade but then worked like a charm: (Confession of guilt: That's a posed photo, after the slit was cut.) The instructions call for the slot to be made "scale 2" long" but, as has been noted before on MSW, the supplied chainplate is only about 1/16 inch wide (meaning 3/4 inch full-size), so a slit of around 1.5mm would be enough. That job done (and feeling a glow of quiet pride at having achieved the seemingly impossible!), nothing could go wrong. Step 25 calls for creating four pads, from the remaining stock left over after creating the floorboard battens, those pads serving reinforce the holes for the rowlocks. (I know that I've seen identical pads on a full-size lapstrake boat somewhere but I can't think where!) Each of the four pads involves marking off three 1/4-inch lengths of the stock, finding the centre point of the central third, drilling a hole there (with a #55 bit, according to the instructions, I used 1.6mm to aid fitting the rowlocks), before shaving the outer thirds into long bevels, then cutting the pad free: I was unhappy with one if the drilled holes, so made a fifth pad and discarded the bad one: The four that I kept were glued to the top of inwale and sheerstrake (not the rubbing strake). The instructions say 1' 6" aft of each forward thwart frame. I made it 1.75-inches at scale instead, as a foot or so of space from an oarsman's backside would make for very cramped rowing. For Step 24, anther piece of the left-over floorboard-batten stock needs to have one face bevelled to match the rake of the transom (using the bevelling guide one last time). A half-inch length of that gets tidied up and then glued at the very bottom of the transom (immediately above the ends of the bottom planks), its bevelled lower face parallel to the waterline, while its upper face is perpendicular to the transom. That will support the lower rudder hangings in line with the upper ones, despite the step between the lower and upper transom pieces. With that, all of the wooden structure permanently part of the hull was finished, so I left the glue to set for a few hours while working on a quite other project. When building the Model Shipway's banks dory, I painted it in the expected colours for such a boat. But I wanted the thwarts to look more like bare wood, so I tried soaking them in tung oil, then drying. That worked quite well, though the oiled basswood dried to a tone little different from the buff paint of the dory's hull. Oiling did produce a nice satin finish (reminiscent of a golden varnish) without raising the grain or otherwise calling for sanding after its application, hence it could be done in the nooks and crannies of a boat's interior. With that experience, I decided to oil the pram throughout. After a final sanding and clean-up, I just brushed on the tung oil, applying all that the wood wanted to soak up. Did the interior first, let that dry for a bit, then the exterior. I'm happy with the outcome, at least as it is now: Time will tell whether the wood darkens too much or even that the oil dissolves the glue! Daggerboard, rudder, tiller and floorboards still to go, before I have to learn some basic metalwork techniques -- and that at a miniature scale. And the rig to follow, of course. Trevor

Thank you for your kind words, Mark! Curiously, Smythe included "seat" in his "Sailor's Word Book" but only as a name applied to some oddly shaped mountains, such as Arthur's Seat, outside Edinburgh. But he defined "thwart" as a "seat" for oarsmen! Then again, Smythe seems to have been amused by nautical terminology, rather than being a careful lexicographer. To me, a "thwart" is something that you sit on which spans a boat athwartships (meaning side-to-side). Something that you sit on which runs fore-and-aft is likely to be a "side seat" (unless it is a side deck, with the distinction sometimes unclear), while I would not use either term for the seats that surround a cockpit nor for something running along the centreline of a boat -- like the centreplate-trunk's cap that I sit on to row my own plaything. But that's just me. While I have my copy of Smythe off the shelf, I see that he defined "stern sheets" as the whole area of a boat abaft the aftermost thwart, which area he says is "furnished with seats for passengers" ("seats" again!). The pram's instructions use "sternsheets" for the seat itself but I'd trust Smythe on that one: As an Admiral in Victoria's navy, he had been seated in the stern sheets of many boats. Trevor

Linden, lime, basswood: All the same botanical genus, though there are many species. Besides, the quality of lumber depends on much more than just the kind of tree: Soil type, local climate etc. all have large effects. The variety used by Model Shipways is certainly light, and nowhere near as strong as the tropical hardwoods I use on my full-size boat, but I don't find it excessively fragile. (And no: Nobody would describe my hands as small!) The parts do need care, but that is one of the things we need to develop when building ship models. To me, one of the attractions of the Model Shipways dory and pram is that the wood thickness is as much in scale as are the length and beam of the boats. Both prototypes are light-weight boats and the models reflect that. Besides, working with those 1/32-inch (0.8mm!) planks is all part of the learning experience. On the other hand, the instruction booklets do fall badly short. I'm not here to promote Model Shipways products, though. There are only one or two of their other kits that interest me and neither would be next on my list. It is just that I have found building the first two of their introductory trio to be really helpful. Trevor

I agree that that is a terrible price! However, after building that kit and now being well ahead with the next in the trio (the Norwegian sailing pram), I have spent far, far more on the tools and supplies needed to complete the two models to my satisfaction. Of course, the tools are available for any subsequent models, while the amount spent on extras is partly because they come in packages of six, when you only need two, or 200, when you need 20 -- so I'm left with a supply for later projects too. But then there is your time committed to model building to consider and, most important, the value of the learning experience from a first model (or a first three). If the option is either 200 euro for tools and materials, plus 90 for a kit, to get a precious lesson that will set you on the path to advanced ship modelling, versus 200 for tools and materials plus 25 for something cheap and simple from which you will learn little, I know what my choice would be. Same if it was 200 for the extras and 200 for a more complex kit that might drive you to give up in frustration. So I'll second what mark advised: Except that I would add: If there isn't anything comparable locally available, accept the cost and get the Model Shipways combo anyway. Trevor

Managed to get the last locally-available sheet of 1/4 inch basswood today, so I sawed off a suitable length and got busy with chisel and sandpaper until I had a 3/32 thwart substitute. Not too concerned about remaining irregularities, as they would be on the underside and not visible. It was probably the messiest job I have yet got into with these models: But it was done. Using the too-short original thwart as a guide, I was able to measure the length needed to fit the width of the hull at the required position. Then, like an idiot, laid out those measurements on the wrong side of the replacement piece and shaped that. Stupid of me. But the newly created surface turned out regular enough to be going on with. The required length did not want to go into the hull, between the inwales, but it could (just) be done by jiggling a bit. Fortunately, my measurements proved accurate enough and I did not need much checking, removal and further trimming before it was ready for gluing in place. This midships thwart has two small standing knees to further stiffen the structure of the boat: Looks good to be, except that the new thwart emphasizes the excess slope in the forward thwart. Something for people who build this kit to guard against. With those in, the interior is complete -- save for the floorboards, which have to wait until the bottom planking has been given its final finish. There are still pads to go on the sheer line for the rowlocks, a pad on the transom for one of the rudder hangings and slits to be created in the inwales for the chainplates. Then it will be time for a final clean-up before oiling the wood of the hull. But enough for one evening. Trevor