Kenchington

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

Thanks JacquesC! I agree that it looks odd for the mast to be so close to the forward thwart and not pass through it. I'd not expect that in a traditional working boat. Then again, the plywood pram that was my own first (full-size) boat had a mast supported only by the step and the standing rigging. Come to that, so did the two racing boats that followed: an International Enterprise and then a Unicorn catamaran. It wasn't so uncommon for late- 20th Century recreational boats. True, but I don't want to go through the pain of re-creating the two supports (to fit higher in the hull), then shaping a replacement thwart. I'll just learn to live with what I have!

Got the forward thwart and the sternsheets in today. The thwart needed a lot of sanding, filing and checking -- as in: sand a bit, check the fit, sand a bit more, check the fit, file a notch a little, check the fit, increase the bevel, check the fit ... and on and on. When all was done, the underside (placed back into the gap in its sheet, to show how much I had removed) looked like: It would not have needed so much work but I had put the supports (the ones that fit in those notches -- offering no wiggle-room) too far forward, where the pram's hull is narrower. Indeed, the thwart is so far forward that it will almost obstruct the mast: I was aware of a possible problem and did check that the thwart would not be too close. Not sure what went wrong but I was so concerned to have the two supports equally far back from the bow that maybe I just didn't pay enough attention to other dimensions of their positioning. At worst, I will have to file a groove for the mast in the forward edge of the thwart. Once everything was shaped and in place (with some filing of the after pair of supports for this thwart), I discovered that I had given it too steep a slope (downwards towards the stern). Not a problem for my model but not something to be copied by anybody who may follow this build log in future. Anyway, it looks nice enough: The sternsheets had to be assembled from their two (already part-shaped) pieces, with a pair of cleats to hold those together. No cleats are provided in the kit but there is more than enough scrap to cut up. Before assembly, I rounded off the forward edge of the forward piece -- not the usual softening of angles but more like a half-round section. Did the same on the two edges of the forward thwart too. I figure that the model sailors would prefer not to have any sharp edges against the backs of their knees! The instructions call for a narrow gap between the two main pieces of these sternsheets (with softening of the four angles running along that gap). I don't know why that is needed but I left it anyway, with a business card inserted to ensure an even width. Then, to prevent everything moving around, I taped the two pieces to my cutting board, while using the board's markings to line both of them up -- so ensuring that the elegant curve in the front of the sternsheets would be centred relative to the transom (and hence the whole boat): When the glue had set, that needed only some more sanding and bevelling of the sides until it fit snugly into place. However, I then found that one of its supports was so far forward that it supported nothing. I thought that I had marked for the two of them to be safely back under the sternsheets but one support proved to be optimally placed, right by the forward edge of the sternsheets, while the other was too far forward. Further examination showed that the pencil mark was opposite the other support but the troublesome one had shifted before its glue set. So: Out with the isopropanol, off with the tiny piece, clean up the mess and re-glue. After that, the sternsheets themselves went win without problems: In the end, quite a pretty outcome: As I wrote in my last update, I need to make a new midship thwart. The kit part is 3/32 basswood and the only stock I have is 1/32. I may have to laminate but I would prefer to pick up some 1/4 inch in Halifax next week, then sand down. So I can't finish the pram's interior yet. Plenty of other tasks to push ahead in the interim! Trevor

Thank you, Mark! I my mind's eye, everything will fall perfectly into place. Somewhere deep in my belly, I expect to mess up and ruin the hours already committed to the model. Reality always seems to turn out roughly in the middle. I expect that experienced model builders will tell me that that is how this hobby always goes.

Completed internal structure, all Steps through to 22. The pram has five pieces on each side that the instructions call "seat and thwart frames" but which fill similar functions to the futtocks and hanging knees of wooden ships. They support the two thwarts and a large after seat (the "sternsheets"). The instructions detail where the ten items should be placed, even including a paper template, but only their longitudinal positions and their orientations. As others have noted before on MSW, the booklet is entirely silent on the heights at which the thwarts and sternsheets should be, hence the heights at which the pieces should go in. I suspect that it says nothing because those heights are largely determined by the already-present structure -- though it would help if that had been explained. The after edge of the sternsheets rests on the top edge of the lower transom (where it provides a shelf abutting the upper transom). The plans of the full-size pram indicate that the sternsheets should extend forwards parallel to the underside of the skeg, which follows the baseline of the design. Meanwhile, the upper surface of the midships thwart has to be flush with the top of the daggerboard case. One of the supports of the forward thwart is notched to fit under and around the inwale, thus defining the height of that thwart. Seeing all that, the obvious thing was to start by dry-fitting the midships thwart, mark the positions of its two supporting pieces each side, and continue form there. Unfortunately ... With the inwales in place, the hull is now too narrow for the full length of the midship thwart to pass! (Considering that the instructions call for the inwales to be fitted at Step 15 but the thwart not to be finally placed until Step 34, one might have hoped for some sort of warning.) Still, not a big deal: Mark the thwart for the available width, cut off the ends, surely the flare of the sides will make the maximum that can pass the inwales more than the minimum required for the thwart when in position? WRONG!!! Now I will have to make a new thwart from basswood stock and, once made, it will have to be passed below the inwales diagonally, then jiggled into position. That's not a job I want to do twice, so I will assemble the thing once and be done. The instructions want the final fitting of the thwarts and sternsheets to be delayed, so that the hull can be painted first and the three seats then given a contrasting colour. As I'm planning on the same clear finish on both, that's not a problem for me and I can go ahead and glue all three in place. However, there are also battens supporting floorboards, which would be hard to fit once the thwarts and sternsheets were in place. So the only option for me was to re-arrange the whole sequence of the completion of the pram's interior. 1: Before the floorboard battens can go in, the position of the timbers supporting the forward end of the sternsheets must be determined (as the battens run to those timbers but not beyond). So the first step was to dry-fit the sternsheets. They comprise two pieces. The after one has to be bevelled to match the rake of the transom, so that it sits securely on the existing shelf -- securely but also neatly, as the junction will be prominent in the finished model. That done, it became evident that the sides of the piece needed a lot of shaping. (My guess is that the kit provides for models that have been allowed to flare out wider than the moulds. A sensible precaution in a beginner's kit.) That done, the forward piece could be shaped and the process repeated, until the two pieces sat with their edges against the sheerstrake, forming a more-or-less level surface. The fore-and-aft positions of the two supports could then be marked on the planking, tucked comfortably back from the extreme forward edge. With the sternsheets removed again, check measurements ensured that both marks were even, lengthwise. A bit of fiddling produced a satisfying height (very close to the inwale) and the draughting compass ensured that both sides had marks an equal distance below the inwale. 2: It was then necessary to shape the two pieces provided, until they fit into the places required. That was no small task, in part because each piece was so small but more because they were not even close to the right shape. The interior of the hull naturally has steps between the strakes (as their bevelling cannot come to a feather edge) but the laser cutting made no provision for those steps -- perhaps could not, as they are so small. I did not take photos of the first four pairs of pieces but they last, smallest and most difficult (the after pair under the forward thwart) looked like: The upper one as it came from the sheet (aside from removal of char), the lower shaped to fit. 3: Once the pair under the forward end of the sternsheets was close enough to a good fit, I tidied them up with the usual edge softening etc.. and glued them in place. That was when I discovered how far each would move under my thumb, as I held it in place for the glue to set. Oh well, they will largely be hidden by the sternsheets! 4: It was then time to think about the floorboard battens -- "cleats", a the instructions term them. They are made from 3/32 by 1/8 stock and require bending to fit the interior of the hull. (Previous build logs have noted that trouble follows if the bending is ignored.) The instructions say something vague about shaping them in your fingers. I gave them the usual boiling-water treatment, then curved them over the exterior of the hull and left them to dry overnight: The same stock is needed (and needed straight) for other parts of the model, hence the untroubled forward projections. 5: The battens sit on the outer edges of the bottom planks, with secondary ones along the inner edges abreast the daggerboard case. As the bottom is flat (athwartships), no bevelling is necessary. I just cut off the required lengths, tidied them up and glued them in place -- with the same shifting under thumb pressure. No images of that stage but my words will be easier to understand with the photo of the finished work: 6: Next up was figuring the locations of the four supports for the midships thwart, using the old, cut-off thwart as a guide. I figured that it will be easier to sand off too high a piece than to add above a low one, so erred on the side of going high. That aside, it was just a long, fiddly repetition of the pair under the sternsheets. 7: Before tackling the forward thwart, I glued in the mast step -- which could just as well have been done when it was first made. 8: The forward supports for the forward thwart are notched to fit around the inwale, which made them easier to work with. However, the thwart is notched to fit around the supports, so it was critical that they be equally distant from the bow. 9: The final pair of supports, besides being tiny, had no well-determined height. The plans show the thwart slightly angled, sloping down towards the stern. In the end, I placed the supports such that the thwart will just clear the heads of the "frame" that bears the mast step. All in all, a long and trying process, leading to an ugly mess. Still, I don't think it will detract from the finished model, as most will be half-hidden. Tomorrow, I will get busy fitting the sternsheets and thwarts (Step 34 in the instructions). Trevor

Beautiful, Mark. Just beautiful!

Indeed!

Steps 16 & 17, quarter knees, Step 20, transoms completion, and Step 26, rubbing strakes: All completed Display stand (Step 40) advanced; spar-shaping jig (part of Step 42) assembled Today's principal task was adding the four "quarter knees", which lock the sheerline assembly (inwale, top of sheerstrake and rubbing strake, combined) to each of the transoms. The long arm of each knee, which fits on the inboard face of the inwale) only needed removal of char. The curved face needed that, edge softening and some rounding of the toes into nicer shapes. It was the short arms of the knees which needed work. The ones faying on the stern transom had to be bevelled to an angle that was off-perpendicular in two dimensions. The forward ones were simpler. Seen from inside the boat, the knees are angled upwards across the transoms, as they are at right angles to the sheerstrakes, which are slightly flared. I followed a recommendation from a previous build log and marked where the knees should lie, as any asymmetry is liable to stand out like a sore thumb. At the bow, however, I already had asymmetry which had to be concealed a little. Not a big problem, however, and the knees were readily glued in place. One point to consider, however: Under Step 53, a length of line has to be fed through a hole in each stern quarter knee (the line forming the mainsheet horse, though it is curiously called a "traveller" in the instructions). I don't think that the instructions say anything about those holes, except that the line must be passed through them. I decided to drill them while the knees were still in their sheet, which gave better control. The instructions call for the mainsheet horse to be made of 0.7mm line. That seems a bit small to me and I may use larger, so I drilled 1.4mm holes (having a drill bit of that size to hand). That will be small enough that a figure-of-8 stopper knot tied in 0.7mm line won't slip through, while making it easier to pass 1.0mm. With the knees in place, the whole sheerstrake structure could be sanded to its proper form: Ends of everything sanded flush with transoms, then the ends of the rubbing strakes rounded off, the top surface of the inwale, sheerstrake, rubbing strake and quarter knees sanded flush (and perpendicular to the sheerstrake), finally the upper and lower angles of the rubbing strake rounded a little. (I have left softening the inboard angles of the inwale until the rowlock structure is in place.) While I was at it, I cut off the extended parts of the transoms (which had served to hold the boat on its building board), sanded the transom tops down to their laser-cut marks, rounded everything off and finally filed the sculling notch in the stern transom. The instructions call for the latter step to be done with a 3/8" round file. As has been noted before on MSW, that should probably read 3/16. No matter: I had neither size but worked the notch anyway with both a small round file and a larger half-round. The end result of that effort is falling far short of perfection but at least is looking increasingly boat-like: While all that was in progress, I put together the kit's jig for shaping round spars from square lumber -- mostly just because that let me consign the remnant of one basswood sheet to the scrap pile. The jig accommodates five spar supports but the kit only provides four. The easy solution, having bought the combo set of three kits, was to pirate a fifth support from the lobster-sloop kit. A word of warning for anyone assembling one of these jigs: The supports are very slightly too big for the slots they have to go into. However, it is not the charred sides that need to be sanded. Those can be left full-thickness, for a tight fit, while the other faces are sanded. (I did take the char off surfaces that the spars will lie on, to avoid staining wood that I want to keep.) I also primed the kit's display-stand base, while shaping the plinth that it will go on: Just a simple ogive, in keeping with the clean lines of the pram. The jatoba is a much redder shade than appears in this image and will be richer still once oiled. Next up: Framing the upper parts of the hull, supporting the thwarts and stern sheets. Trevor

Thank you, sir!

And I thought I had caught and corrected all of the gasps! I could ask why the MSW auto spelling-corrector doesn't use a custom dictionary with common shipbuilding terms included, but it doesn't. Every "inwale" I typed became "inhale" until bludgeoned into accepting that I did intend the "w". I don't know whether the pram is really so very involved. It can't be as complex as a rigged model of a three-master and I doubt that it is as demanding as a plank-on-frame model with an exposed frame. It doesn't even have hood ends fit into rabbets. The only thing that makes it complex is the desire (in a large-scale;e model of a small, open boat) to replicate every piece of wood in the full-size prototype. That and my intention to give mine a clear finish, hence to build without using fillers. Wait until the build progresses to the metalwork. Then you can watch my fumbled attempts to meet challenges far outside my comfort zone! Trevor

Step 15, inwales, completed; Step 26, rubbing strakes, largely done; Step 40, display stand, begun The pram has the upper edge of the sheerstrake sandwiched between 3/32-inch square-sectioned "inwales" (ugly term but I don't think there is a better, standard one) and 1/8-by-3/64 "rubbing rails" outboard, lengths of appropriate stock being supplied in the kit. The former need to be steam (or alternative) bent and I should have set that up to dry overnight. However, they are so thin that they dried quite swiftly, without loss of time. I bent them along the outside of the sheerstrakes, which worked well. Getting them to fit inside was more tricky, as there has to be a 3-D bevel at each end, to fit against the transoms, while the length has to be just right to put both bevels into place. After a long job with the first one, I evolved a better solution: With the bent inwale loose in my fingers, I held one end against the edge of the transom and drew a pencil line where transom and inwale crossed. After bevelling to that line, I worked by trial and error, first adjusting the second dimension of the bevel, then perfecting the fit (or close enough to perfect to satisfy myself). I then turned to the other end of the inhale and shaped the much more awkward bevel against the bow transom. That gave me a bevelled inwale but one much longer than the space available. I dry fitted the bow end in place, clamping to the sheerstrake and working aft, until I could go no further. The surplus end of the inwale projected outboard of the stern transom and above the sheerstrake. I penciled a length mark, removed everything, cut at the mark and then aligned the cut-off end with the new cut. With the old end as a guide, I started the bevel of the new end. Because of the rake of the transom, there has to be quite a bit more shortening, in order for the aft end of the inhale to drop down, flush with the top of the sheerstrake. That shortening gives plenty of opportunity to perfect the bevel. So I clamped the forward end of the inwale back in place, gently pried the aft end away from the stern transom, sanded the bevel, dropped into place, lifted, sanded some more, dropped back ... and on and on until everything fit. Compared to all that, applying glue and clamping in place was easy: (I bought all those pegs because that's how many the hardware store sold in one pack. Never thought I would us them all at the same time!) The instructions leave the outboard rubbing strakes until later in the build but I decided to complete the strengthening and stiffening of the upper edge of the hull at one go -- not least because it will simplify sanding everything flush. So, once the inwale glue was set, I removed the clamps, glued and place the rubbing strakes and re-clamped. That was almost too easy: No need for pre-bending, as the stock is so thin, no worries over length, which was trimmed after, not even any char to remove. Just glue in place with the upper edges of the three layers flush. Even that need not be exact, as the combination will have to be sanded later. The combined effect looks good, though only a small advance in the past 24 hours: While waiting for the inwales to dry in their new curves, I made a start on the display stand. When building my banks dory, I wanted an unobtrusive stand that would not draw the eye away from the model. What I ended with was a fully functional stand that is downright ugly. Not a problem with a model that hardly needs a stand at all but a lesson for the future. The pram has a long daggerboard, which necessitates a tall stand that cannot be hidden. The model should turn out to be a pretty thing but without much point except its prettiness, so the very visible stand needs to complement, not detract from, the appearance. The kit stand comprises two shaped cradles elevated on dowels, rising from a simple baseboard -- simple, cheap (as it should be in a beginner's kit) but not attractive. The cradles are necessary and I will use the kit ones. The instructions do suggest replacing the dowels with clear acrylic rod. $10 to Amazon is bringing me enough for a dozen pram models. I also have the good fortune to be within easy reach of a specialty timber importer, where they put the offcuts from orders of exotic lumber into bins that locals can rummage through. $5 bought me more than enough jatoba to make a good, thick plinth (with a nice, rich colour) on which to mount the kit's baseboard. (For $35, I could have had genuine ebony but that would be hard to justify!) So, today, I put a 45° bevel around the kit-supplied base. Tomorrow, I'll paint that and run the edges of the plinth past a suitable router blade to give them some interest. If all goes well, I'll glue the painted basswood to the jatoba and add the acrylic at the weekend. Trevor

Step 14, bottom frames, completed; Step 22, mast step, commenced The design calls for three pieces (not really "frames", closer to "floors"), spanning from garboard to garboard or a bit further. The midships frame (also called "number 3" in the instructions) goes in first and doesn't pose much trouble. Mine only needed removal of char, followed by a little adjustment (to compensate for minor errors in the placing of the planks), softening of the exposed angles and a general clean-up. Then it could be glued in place, tight against the after side of the daggerboard case. It does have to be at right angles to the centreline of the hull. I laid the boat on my cutting mat, aligned with the marked grid, then eyeballed the orientation of the frame in alignment with the other direction of the grid. That seemed to work. I had tried inserting a plug into the hole left by the over-long slot in the keel plank, but basswood proved too breakable for anything so small to be pushed tightly into a hole. So I put the frame in first, then flipped the hull over, filled the remaining hole with glue and dropped a tiny fragment into the mess. Once set, I snipped off most of the excess and sanded down the rest. That seems to have worked too: If the midships frame went in easily, the next one did not. Challenge #1 was figuring out where to place it along the length of the hull. The instructions offer a paper "measuring strip" but that is clumsy and its distances do not correspond to the design of the full-size pram (maybe because it was been scaled down during the printing process). Fortunately, the kit material also includes a (very small) reproduction of the original design's longitudinal-section drawing, which has enough measurements given to figure out the required spacing. From that, I determined that frames 2 and 3 are supposed to be 37 3/4 inches apart (centre-to-centre)at full-size or 3 1/8 inches at scale (to the nearest 1/32) -- call it 80mm, for those enlightened ones who only work in metric. With that set on a draughting compass, the distance of the forward edge of frame 2, ahead of the forward edge of frame 3, could be readily marked on the planks. The only tricky point is keeping the measurement parallel to the centreline and not following the run of the planks. It is important to mark the position on each plank. It would be all too easy to install frame 2 perpendicular to the keel plank. That was fine for frame 3, as the plank is parallel to the waterline near the daggerboard case. But the keel plank slopes up towards the bow and a frame installed at right angles to it will have its heads angled aft. As others have found, that plays havoc with positioning later pieces. Marking up the hull was, however, the easy bit. It was then necessary to bevel the frame to match (by trial-and-error) the slopes of each plank that it contacts -- a very fiddly task which I fudged enough that the poor fit will not be noticed. After the usual clean-up and final preparation, frame 2 was glued in too. "Clamping" was by means of two blunt thumbs pressing the piece into place. The bow frame is much smaller and much more steeply bevelled but a simpler shape and perhaps easier to work on. Or maybe I just wasn't so worried about a neat fit. Its distance from the midships frame should be 51 1/4 inches or 4 1/4 (108mm) at scale. Much more important, its distance from frame 2 has to match the length of the mast step. I therefore constructed the step and had it on hand for dry fitting to confirm the spacing. There's a problem here that has caused some grief to other builders of this kit. The mast step is made of two layers of wood, glued together -- one spanning across the two frames, the other filling the space between them. The instructions say that "The top layer has the hole for the mast foot and the lower layer is solid for it to rest on". However, the kit comes with two identical pieces, both of a length to span across the frames and both with mast holes. On top of that, both have the grain of the wood sheet in the same direction, running across their widths, making them vulnerable to splitting where the sides of their holes are narrowest. One solution is to pass the mast through both holes and let its heel rest on the keel plank. That would be a mistake (at full size). The whole point of having a mast step supported upon two frames is to spread the load across the thin planking. It's not just the weight of mast and rig. There is also the downward portion of the tension in the rigging -- which has to be several times the forward force conveyed to the hull through the shrouds. My alternative was to cut a new bottom piece for the step from the same sheet of basswood, making it as wide as the laser-cut top piece but shorter by twice the thickness of a frame. I made sure that the grain ran along the length of that bottom piece, then glued it to one of the kit-supplied mast-step pieces (centred along the length of the latter). After final shaping (the instructions call for a 45° bevel on each of the upper edges), the mast step was ready for dry fitting in checks of the position of the bow frame. The end result looks like: The mast step (dry-fit for now) is: And that's enough for tonight. Completing the rest of the internal hull structure occupies steps 15 to 22 and will likely take me a few days. Trevor

And that's the point of building the dory: To learn techniques -- learning from your own mistakes, if that's the way things turn out. Which means that you've made great progress! Looking forward to seeing what you make of the pram! Trevor

There's no denying, she's a beautiful ship. And that's even a good video, which isn't something I will often say of modern productions. Long ago, I once asked if I could go aloft -- and was denied. But, much later, I did get to work aloft in Stad Amsterdam, which has a close approximation to a 7/8 copy of Cutty Sark's rig -- and at sea under sail. Magical! Trevor

That's good to hear! A racing yacht without her sails seems a bit like an eagle with one wing missing. Trevor

Step 13: Daggerboard case I started on the interior of the pram last night. The daggerboard case came out well: That was more by luck than judgement, though. I rushed the job, carelessly, which is always a bad mistake. Fortunately, all is OK. The case is simply four pieces: 2 sides and 2 ends. The ends are long and project through the slot in the keel plank: A bit out of focus but it makes the point. The projecting ends will need trimming later. The sides of the case are not square. The instructions don't say but the longer dimension runs fore-and-aft. No problem figuring that out as the long sides are as long as the ends (leaving nothing to project into the keel slot). What is more challenging is that the bottom of each side is very gently curved. I missed that with the first side, sanded off the char against a straight sanding stick ... and had to re-create the curve in parallel to the side that I had not messed up. Bad mistake but recovered. By shining a flashlight through the keel slot and holding each case side in place, any deficiency in the curvature would be easily seen. Mine did not need further shaping. The instructions also don't say but the curve isn't symmetrical. It leaves one end shorter than the other. The shorter end goes forward, making the case vertical even though the keel plank curves up towards the bow. To glue the pieces together while keeping all square, I followed an idea in another build log and assembled the four pieces against the weight and perpendicularity of a pair of mechanics squares. I added some weight while the glue set, though I don't know whether that was needed: The instructions then say: "bevel the top edges and corners, as well as the vertical sides". That would be a mistake and its consequences can be seen in too many build logs on MSW. The reasons why will come into play later in the build, so can best be explained here. When a full-size version of our pram is sailing on the wind, that wind would push her sideways. Almost the only thing stopping her from sliding across the water's surface (making extreme "leeway", to use the technical term) is the deep, narrow daggerboard. The hydrodynamic force is considerable (balancing the aerodynamics of the sail) while the shape of the board gives that force a lot of leverage. It is transmitted from board to hull through the case alone. So, if the case wasn't well braced against side forces, it would break free of the keel plank, resulting in at best a nasty leak, at worst disaster. There are various ways that the bracing might be provided but, in our pram, it depends entirely on the midship thwart -- which is notched to fit around the upper, aft corner of the case. Thus, the joint between thwart and case has to be tight and the case should not be bevelled nor rounded where it meets the notch in the thwart. Moreover, when the pram is being rowed, the oarsman will usually sit on the midship thwart and must have his/her backside on the centreline (to keep the boat, and the pull on the oars, balanced). Lumps and bumps there would not be welcomed. The vertical front of the case could and should be well rounded (not bevelled). There is timber enough to make it semi-circular in section (so long as that isn't carried all the way down to the keel plank, or a leak would open in the corners) but I didn't go that far. The outer edges of the top of the case cannot be curved quite so much but something more than a softening would be good. The case is, after all, the thing that our intrepid sailors are most likely to bang into. Doubly so at the top of the case front, which needs three-dimensional curvature and can be well rounded. The back of the case can be rounded off a bit too, but only below the thwart and above a frame that will later fay against the case. However, the case back will be under the thwart, so out of harm's way. Fortunately, all that shaping was easily done with sanding sticks. Another thing that the instructions do not emphasize applies as much to model as full-size: It is critical that the case is installed upright -- in a thwartships (port/starboard) sense, when the hull is upright. The long daggerboard will be a prominent feature of the finished model. It would look awful if angled off to one side. Since the thwart and its notch where available, I simply used that to hold the case in position while the glue set. Also, and as others have found before me, the laser-cut slot in the keel plank is longer than the case. I opted for the common solution of placing the case at the forward end of the slot, leaving a gap abaft it: Under the next step, that will be covered by the midship frame. I will insert a fragment of scrap from the same sheet that the case parts came from. I was thinking of doing that after the frame is in place but I think it would be easier to glue in a longer piece, then slice it off both inboard and out, while also trimming off the outboard excess lengths of the two case ends. And then on to Step 14: Bottom frames Trevor

Maybe parallel purposes. Baggywrinkle mostly keeps sails away from contact with rope to protect the canvas from wear. It forms a thick layer, to hold the sail at some distance, such that you don't need to encase entire lengths of rope in the stuff. Service mostly keeps stuff (solid stuff but also water) away from the rope within. Since service is usually coated in tar, sails have to be kept away from it where possible -- hence baggywrinkle over a served backstay, for example. I usually think of chafing mats as being more for where two rigid things would otherwise rub together, such as between two spars. But Dr.PR is right: Chapelle used the term for the baggywrinkle on schooner topping lifts.

Three different things. Dr.PR's arrows point to baggywrinkle. "Service" is twine (usually tarred marline) wound very tightly around a larger rope. Chafing mats come in multiple forms but they are rope mats. Ashley's shows them all. Trevor

I may be the only person who bought his first Lego set after passing 70!

Hi Venti, Good to see your dory coming along! My Norwegian pram is progressing nicely (just took it off its building board this morning) but I'll not deny that it is a whole step more challenging to build than the dory. Still, that is kind of the idea of taking the three Model Shipways kits in sequence. The pram kit instructions are part of the problem, but the build logs on MSW can guide you through those complications. As to lapstrake ("clinker" in the UK) versus smooth-skinned construction in wood: In the full-scale world, lapstrake became standard in northern Europe during the Iron Age, when the many nails needed (to join the strakes together) became affordable. It's not the best way to build a large ship, so was gradually replaced with "carvel" (plank-on-frame) construction, but remained in use for small craft until the coming of plastic boats. Any kit worth building will reproduce the construction of the full-scale prototype. So, if you want to build a small, open boat from the 19th Century or a Viking longship of the 9th Century, you will need to build in lapstrake. If your aim runs to something larger and/or more recent, even a Maine lobster sloop of 1900, then it will likely be carvel -- though usually simplified to plank-on-bulkhead. Trevor

Like others who go to sea, the major part of what I have learnt is that there is so much more that I don't know. However, most of such as I do know, I learnt the way teenagers usually do: By doing it and sometimes listening when the adults told me I was doing it wrong. For those who don't have that opportunity, I would recommend "Hand, Reef and Steer", by Tom Cunliffe. It's directed at those who want to sail gaff-rigged yachts but tells much of what might be shown in a model. As our immediate subject is a fishing schooner, I would also recommend Captain Collins' account in Section IV of Goode's 1887 "The Fisheries and Fishery Industries of the United States" (especially the part beginning p.130). That details the handling of clipper schooners but it will serve well enough for the earlier sharpshooters and later indian headers. Better still, the whole work is available on-line for free, courtesy of your federal government! Trevor

Steps 12 (fitting the skeg) and 13 (bilge runners) completed The pram has a large centreline skeg aft. The instructions say that it is to protect the rudder and supplement the daggerboard in resisting leeway, when sailing on the wind. It would doubtless help with both of those, but its primary role will be in providing some directional stability when rowing. Any good rowing boat tends to track straight, so that minor differences in the forces exerted by the oars do not make the boat yaw. (When there is a need to change course, the wide reach of the oars provides plenty of leverage for the turn.) Without its skeg, our pram would be a mere cockleshell, spinning around whenever one oar catches a wave and the other misses or if one oar is pulled a little harder than the other, while it would weathercock even in a light breeze -- much to the aggravation of the oarsman! The instructions explain how to sand the upper surface of the skeg, so that it matches the curvature of the keel plank. That was not necessary in my case and probably won't be in any build that had the moulds and transoms carefully set on the building board. Hence, it was mostly a matter of cleaning char, softening edges etc. until the skeg was ready to glue in place. The only elaboration I added was to round the forward and aft lower (with the boat upright) corners, as those are the points which would most strongly encounter obstacles on beach or trailer. Gluing the skeg in place (with its aft end aligned with the aft face of the transom, both ends on the centreline of the keel plank) posed only one issue: How to keep it perpendicular to the keel plank. I turned once again to Lego blocks. The pram also has two bilge runners (which the instructions curiously call "bilge keels"!), to protect the planks when the boat is ashore but also to give it stability when sat on a flat surface. Those also fit easily, after cleaning up and having corners softened, with only some extra rounding of the ends for the same reason as with the skeg. I did break one, through overly enthusiastic sanding of char, but it went together again as both parts were glued to the hull (though needing one extra rubber band). I glued runners and skeg in one operation: When the glue was set and the bands off, it was finally time to slice through the holder for the bow transom and release the boat from its building board! Internally, there is some excess glue and marks from the moulds to clear up, but not much: Those pesky plank ends don't look bad either: At the bow, one sheerstrake will need more glue, while I am adding other pieces there. The asymmetry in the 2nd and sheer strakes is visible but probably not to the casual viewer. The kit instructions include a rather cryptic direction to "Sand the outer surfaces [of the runners] vertical". One MSW build log states that the plans for the full-size version of this pram call for the runners to have a 5-sided section: Square to the garboard plank where the two are attached, but parallel to the waterline at the bottom and perpendicular to that on the outer faces. I was just going to leave the ones on my pram rectangular (as the runners on my full-size boat are). However, that would leave the model perched on the angles along the inner edges of the runners. So I lightly penciled the lower faces and got busy with a stiff sanding-stick, laid transversely across the two runners, continuing until the pencil marks were gone. There is no need to extend that sanding to the forward or aft ends of the runners, as the curve of the hull and the presence of the skeg prevent the model from sitting on those ends anyway. The result is a nice thwartships flat, which lets the pram sit level and stable on my cutting mat: It has, however, created an acute angle between the new flat and the outer side of the runner. That's where the vertical sanding is needed -- on a full-size boat if not also a model. Maybe I will address that further when finishing the outside of the hull. But the next tasks will concern the interior of the boat, until the rubbing strips go on (under step 26 of the instructions). Trevor

Exactly so!