jml1083

I’m taking part in the group build of Chuck Passaro’s kit of the HMS Medway Longboat.  The kit looks to be well made in a way that most experienced modelers will be able to successfully build the model.  The directions provided by Chuck are explicit and easy to understand.
 
I’ve started the kit and have completed the keel.  I followed Chuck’s instructions and everything went according to plan.  I followed the ‘more advanced’ instructions for making the keel. One thing I did that was sort of unusual was the way I determined where to place the bolts at the bow and stern.  I made a photocopy of the two areas of the keel with the bolts. I cut out the two places on the photocopy where the bolts were so the cutout fit the thicker keel part. I drilled the holes (using a #78 drill) on the port side since the plans show the port side of the boat.  Then I just turned the small photocopy over and used the small holes in the paper to drill the starboard side. I hope I’m being clear in my descriptions.
 

 
I don’t think my rabbits were 1/32 inches because the 4 thinner pieces were a little thicker that 3/32 inches. But the difference is so small I don't think it will be a problem.
 
The kit is really well designed and I think it will turn into a great build.
 

That might be tough but they are very small.  They are about 1/4" long and 1/32" diameter.   So I place a short length of square boxwood 3/64" into my dremel and have it stick out about 5/8 ".   Then I round it off with a sanding stick.  Each one is good for a pair of Thole pins and takes just a minute or two to make.  
 
Chuck

The photo below shows the thole pins on the contemporary model.  There is a discrepancy between this model and the other contemporary model.  This one has an extra row or two more pairs of thole pins than the other model.  I opted to go with fewer.  I made my thole pins from boxwood but you guys can easily replace with wire if you wanted.  I took a 3/64" x 3/64" strip and rounded it off in my Dremel.  I dont like the way the wire takes paint and because of this large scale I opted for wood instead, but this means you must also round off your stock in a Dremel as well.  If that is too much of a hassle though then wire can be used in its place....probably 16 gauge or 18 gauge. 
 
I drilled holes along the cap rail with a #55 drill bit and glued them in place.  Then they were painted red.  But you could leave them natural too....if you use the boxwood that comes with the kit.
 




 
THIS COMPLETES THE HULL!!!  Except for the oars but I will do that after I rig it......So let the masting and rigging begin.

Hi Chuck - 
 
Beautiful work, as always.  Those rudder gudgeons and pintles are a great solution to a tricky problem.
 
I hate to pick a nit, but I don't like the grapnel.  Judging by the shape of the laser cut pieces, the flukes on your grapnel arms are set perpendicular to the shaft, making the points stick straight out, rather than pointing up toward the top of the shaft.  Here is a photo of a modern grapnel. 

Other illustrations confirm the alignment.  If you think about how the grapnel works, you can see how having flukes that stick out would actually get in the way of the point biting in and holding.
 
I'm sure you can change this with a little adjustment of the ends of the arms.
 
Looking forward to watching the group build.
 
Dan

Hey Jim!  Hope to see you at our meeting next week.
You are inspiring me to start a build log even though I won’t have much to offer compared to you.
Keep up the great work.
Cheers.

Jim,
It is good to hear from you and to see you back in the workshop.  You will find a lot of support in this Group Build and I look forward to following your build.

After a very long absence I'm back at the ship modeling workbench. I've retired since my last posts on my Bluenose (which is still waiting in the wings) and retirement presents its own happy challenges that kept me out of the shop. I'm now up to 4 grandchildren and thrilled that they keep me really busy. The oldest is 9 and the youngest is 8 months old. Competition trapshooting keeps me very busy and during the nice weather I'd rather be on a trap field that holed up in my windowless shop. During the spring and summer months I travel throughout the northeast US for competitions and as a consequence I'm no where near my shop.
 
I have really missed ship modeling but the longer I was away from it the harder it seemed to get back into it. I'm still a member of the Ship Model Society of NJ so I keep in touch with modeling that way but it's not the same as sitting at the bench making something. My Bluenose is years behind schedule and the more I concentrated on trying to get that moving the more discouraged I became. Chuck is a very good friend of mine and he saw what I was struggling with and suggested I ease myself back into it via a group build of the Medway Longboat. That was the best idea I've heard in a long time so here I am. 
 
Mike (Stuntflyer) is also a friend and member of SMSNJ and I've been watching his progress closely both in person and by following his build log here on MSW. We were both at Chuck's house today and they convinced me that in addition to building the longboat, keeping a build log will keep me connected and, I know from past experience, motivated. So, here goes.
 
Work started today and I'm taking photos as I go and will post the ones I think most beneficial to others. If you have questions about how I did something please don't hesitate to ask.
 
To assemble the keel I'm using yellow Titebond wood glue. This will give me time to adjust pieces and things "just right" before the glue sets. I've not had problems with gluing on laser char in the past so I don't sand the char away, in most cases. This first photo shows how a piece looks when it comes out of the billet. The cream colored line is where the little tab was that connected the piece to the billet . 

The next photo shows the extent to which I sand the piece to remove what's left of the tab. As you can see I don't take off very much char or wood. It is only enough that when I run my finger over it I can't feel any sort of bump where the tab was. Once I reach this point I stop sanding.

This third photo is how I assembled the 4 pieces of the stern. The wood is very slightly oversized in thickness so I sanded it until it was very close to .0938" (3/8"). If I didn't do this there would have been less that 1/32" rabbet. I used two pieces of 1/32" scrap, one on either side so that when I clamped it all together the gray clamp holds everything nicely centered. The blue clamp keeps the vertical pieces in contact while the glue dries and the red clamp does the same thing for the horizontal glue joints. The red arrows and thin red lines show the 1/32" alignment pieces.
 

 
I used a lap joint to join the keel pieces but my photos of that process came out horribly which I didn't realize until after it was all assembled. I used a #11 scalpel blade to make a stop cut and then whittled away at it until the joints were only a few thousandths of an inch over size then used sanding sticks to clean it all up. It was easier than I thought it would be. My first inclination was to pull out the mill for this but I realized set up time would probably be longer than the process I used so I didn't go that route.  
 
Tomorrow I'll finish the keel and move on to making frames.
 
It feels good to finally be building again and writing this log.
 
 

After a very long absence I'm back at the ship modeling workbench. I've retired since my last posts on my Bluenose (which is still waiting in the wings) and retirement presents its own happy challenges that kept me out of the shop. I'm now up to 4 grandchildren and thrilled that they keep me really busy. The oldest is 9 and the youngest is 8 months old. Competition trapshooting keeps me very busy and during the nice weather I'd rather be on a trap field that holed up in my windowless shop. During the spring and summer months I travel throughout the northeast US for competitions and as a consequence I'm no where near my shop.
 
I have really missed ship modeling but the longer I was away from it the harder it seemed to get back into it. I'm still a member of the Ship Model Society of NJ so I keep in touch with modeling that way but it's not the same as sitting at the bench making something. My Bluenose is years behind schedule and the more I concentrated on trying to get that moving the more discouraged I became. Chuck is a very good friend of mine and he saw what I was struggling with and suggested I ease myself back into it via a group build of the Medway Longboat. That was the best idea I've heard in a long time so here I am. 
 
Mike (Stuntflyer) is also a friend and member of SMSNJ and I've been watching his progress closely both in person and by following his build log here on MSW. We were both at Chuck's house today and they convinced me that in addition to building the longboat, keeping a build log will keep me connected and, I know from past experience, motivated. So, here goes.
 
Work started today and I'm taking photos as I go and will post the ones I think most beneficial to others. If you have questions about how I did something please don't hesitate to ask.
 
To assemble the keel I'm using yellow Titebond wood glue. This will give me time to adjust pieces and things "just right" before the glue sets. I've not had problems with gluing on laser char in the past so I don't sand the char away, in most cases. This first photo shows how a piece looks when it comes out of the billet. The cream colored line is where the little tab was that connected the piece to the billet . 

The next photo shows the extent to which I sand the piece to remove what's left of the tab. As you can see I don't take off very much char or wood. It is only enough that when I run my finger over it I can't feel any sort of bump where the tab was. Once I reach this point I stop sanding.

This third photo is how I assembled the 4 pieces of the stern. The wood is very slightly oversized in thickness so I sanded it until it was very close to .0938" (3/8"). If I didn't do this there would have been less that 1/32" rabbet. I used two pieces of 1/32" scrap, one on either side so that when I clamped it all together the gray clamp holds everything nicely centered. The blue clamp keeps the vertical pieces in contact while the glue dries and the red clamp does the same thing for the horizontal glue joints. The red arrows and thin red lines show the 1/32" alignment pieces.
 

 
I used a lap joint to join the keel pieces but my photos of that process came out horribly which I didn't realize until after it was all assembled. I used a #11 scalpel blade to make a stop cut and then whittled away at it until the joints were only a few thousandths of an inch over size then used sanding sticks to clean it all up. It was easier than I thought it would be. My first inclination was to pull out the mill for this but I realized set up time would probably be longer than the process I used so I didn't go that route.  
 
Tomorrow I'll finish the keel and move on to making frames.
 
It feels good to finally be building again and writing this log.
 
 

After a very long absence I'm back at the ship modeling workbench. I've retired since my last posts on my Bluenose (which is still waiting in the wings) and retirement presents its own happy challenges that kept me out of the shop. I'm now up to 4 grandchildren and thrilled that they keep me really busy. The oldest is 9 and the youngest is 8 months old. Competition trapshooting keeps me very busy and during the nice weather I'd rather be on a trap field that holed up in my windowless shop. During the spring and summer months I travel throughout the northeast US for competitions and as a consequence I'm no where near my shop.
 
I have really missed ship modeling but the longer I was away from it the harder it seemed to get back into it. I'm still a member of the Ship Model Society of NJ so I keep in touch with modeling that way but it's not the same as sitting at the bench making something. My Bluenose is years behind schedule and the more I concentrated on trying to get that moving the more discouraged I became. Chuck is a very good friend of mine and he saw what I was struggling with and suggested I ease myself back into it via a group build of the Medway Longboat. That was the best idea I've heard in a long time so here I am. 
 
Mike (Stuntflyer) is also a friend and member of SMSNJ and I've been watching his progress closely both in person and by following his build log here on MSW. We were both at Chuck's house today and they convinced me that in addition to building the longboat, keeping a build log will keep me connected and, I know from past experience, motivated. So, here goes.
 
Work started today and I'm taking photos as I go and will post the ones I think most beneficial to others. If you have questions about how I did something please don't hesitate to ask.
 
To assemble the keel I'm using yellow Titebond wood glue. This will give me time to adjust pieces and things "just right" before the glue sets. I've not had problems with gluing on laser char in the past so I don't sand the char away, in most cases. This first photo shows how a piece looks when it comes out of the billet. The cream colored line is where the little tab was that connected the piece to the billet . 

The next photo shows the extent to which I sand the piece to remove what's left of the tab. As you can see I don't take off very much char or wood. It is only enough that when I run my finger over it I can't feel any sort of bump where the tab was. Once I reach this point I stop sanding.

This third photo is how I assembled the 4 pieces of the stern. The wood is very slightly oversized in thickness so I sanded it until it was very close to .0938" (3/8"). If I didn't do this there would have been less that 1/32" rabbet. I used two pieces of 1/32" scrap, one on either side so that when I clamped it all together the gray clamp holds everything nicely centered. The blue clamp keeps the vertical pieces in contact while the glue dries and the red clamp does the same thing for the horizontal glue joints. The red arrows and thin red lines show the 1/32" alignment pieces.
 

 
I used a lap joint to join the keel pieces but my photos of that process came out horribly which I didn't realize until after it was all assembled. I used a #11 scalpel blade to make a stop cut and then whittled away at it until the joints were only a few thousandths of an inch over size then used sanding sticks to clean it all up. It was easier than I thought it would be. My first inclination was to pull out the mill for this but I realized set up time would probably be longer than the process I used so I didn't go that route.  
 
Tomorrow I'll finish the keel and move on to making frames.
 
It feels good to finally be building again and writing this log.
 
 

After a very long absence I'm back at the ship modeling workbench. I've retired since my last posts on my Bluenose (which is still waiting in the wings) and retirement presents its own happy challenges that kept me out of the shop. I'm now up to 4 grandchildren and thrilled that they keep me really busy. The oldest is 9 and the youngest is 8 months old. Competition trapshooting keeps me very busy and during the nice weather I'd rather be on a trap field that holed up in my windowless shop. During the spring and summer months I travel throughout the northeast US for competitions and as a consequence I'm no where near my shop.
 
I have really missed ship modeling but the longer I was away from it the harder it seemed to get back into it. I'm still a member of the Ship Model Society of NJ so I keep in touch with modeling that way but it's not the same as sitting at the bench making something. My Bluenose is years behind schedule and the more I concentrated on trying to get that moving the more discouraged I became. Chuck is a very good friend of mine and he saw what I was struggling with and suggested I ease myself back into it via a group build of the Medway Longboat. That was the best idea I've heard in a long time so here I am. 
 
Mike (Stuntflyer) is also a friend and member of SMSNJ and I've been watching his progress closely both in person and by following his build log here on MSW. We were both at Chuck's house today and they convinced me that in addition to building the longboat, keeping a build log will keep me connected and, I know from past experience, motivated. So, here goes.
 
Work started today and I'm taking photos as I go and will post the ones I think most beneficial to others. If you have questions about how I did something please don't hesitate to ask.
 
To assemble the keel I'm using yellow Titebond wood glue. This will give me time to adjust pieces and things "just right" before the glue sets. I've not had problems with gluing on laser char in the past so I don't sand the char away, in most cases. This first photo shows how a piece looks when it comes out of the billet. The cream colored line is where the little tab was that connected the piece to the billet . 

The next photo shows the extent to which I sand the piece to remove what's left of the tab. As you can see I don't take off very much char or wood. It is only enough that when I run my finger over it I can't feel any sort of bump where the tab was. Once I reach this point I stop sanding.

This third photo is how I assembled the 4 pieces of the stern. The wood is very slightly oversized in thickness so I sanded it until it was very close to .0938" (3/8"). If I didn't do this there would have been less that 1/32" rabbet. I used two pieces of 1/32" scrap, one on either side so that when I clamped it all together the gray clamp holds everything nicely centered. The blue clamp keeps the vertical pieces in contact while the glue dries and the red clamp does the same thing for the horizontal glue joints. The red arrows and thin red lines show the 1/32" alignment pieces.
 

 
I used a lap joint to join the keel pieces but my photos of that process came out horribly which I didn't realize until after it was all assembled. I used a #11 scalpel blade to make a stop cut and then whittled away at it until the joints were only a few thousandths of an inch over size then used sanding sticks to clean it all up. It was easier than I thought it would be. My first inclination was to pull out the mill for this but I realized set up time would probably be longer than the process I used so I didn't go that route.  
 
Tomorrow I'll finish the keel and move on to making frames.
 
It feels good to finally be building again and writing this log.
 
 

After a very long absence I'm back at the ship modeling workbench. I've retired since my last posts on my Bluenose (which is still waiting in the wings) and retirement presents its own happy challenges that kept me out of the shop. I'm now up to 4 grandchildren and thrilled that they keep me really busy. The oldest is 9 and the youngest is 8 months old. Competition trapshooting keeps me very busy and during the nice weather I'd rather be on a trap field that holed up in my windowless shop. During the spring and summer months I travel throughout the northeast US for competitions and as a consequence I'm no where near my shop.
 
I have really missed ship modeling but the longer I was away from it the harder it seemed to get back into it. I'm still a member of the Ship Model Society of NJ so I keep in touch with modeling that way but it's not the same as sitting at the bench making something. My Bluenose is years behind schedule and the more I concentrated on trying to get that moving the more discouraged I became. Chuck is a very good friend of mine and he saw what I was struggling with and suggested I ease myself back into it via a group build of the Medway Longboat. That was the best idea I've heard in a long time so here I am. 
 
Mike (Stuntflyer) is also a friend and member of SMSNJ and I've been watching his progress closely both in person and by following his build log here on MSW. We were both at Chuck's house today and they convinced me that in addition to building the longboat, keeping a build log will keep me connected and, I know from past experience, motivated. So, here goes.
 
Work started today and I'm taking photos as I go and will post the ones I think most beneficial to others. If you have questions about how I did something please don't hesitate to ask.
 
To assemble the keel I'm using yellow Titebond wood glue. This will give me time to adjust pieces and things "just right" before the glue sets. I've not had problems with gluing on laser char in the past so I don't sand the char away, in most cases. This first photo shows how a piece looks when it comes out of the billet. The cream colored line is where the little tab was that connected the piece to the billet . 

The next photo shows the extent to which I sand the piece to remove what's left of the tab. As you can see I don't take off very much char or wood. It is only enough that when I run my finger over it I can't feel any sort of bump where the tab was. Once I reach this point I stop sanding.

This third photo is how I assembled the 4 pieces of the stern. The wood is very slightly oversized in thickness so I sanded it until it was very close to .0938" (3/8"). If I didn't do this there would have been less that 1/32" rabbet. I used two pieces of 1/32" scrap, one on either side so that when I clamped it all together the gray clamp holds everything nicely centered. The blue clamp keeps the vertical pieces in contact while the glue dries and the red clamp does the same thing for the horizontal glue joints. The red arrows and thin red lines show the 1/32" alignment pieces.
 

 
I used a lap joint to join the keel pieces but my photos of that process came out horribly which I didn't realize until after it was all assembled. I used a #11 scalpel blade to make a stop cut and then whittled away at it until the joints were only a few thousandths of an inch over size then used sanding sticks to clean it all up. It was easier than I thought it would be. My first inclination was to pull out the mill for this but I realized set up time would probably be longer than the process I used so I didn't go that route.  
 
Tomorrow I'll finish the keel and move on to making frames.
 
It feels good to finally be building again and writing this log.
 
 

After a very long absence I'm back at the ship modeling workbench. I've retired since my last posts on my Bluenose (which is still waiting in the wings) and retirement presents its own happy challenges that kept me out of the shop. I'm now up to 4 grandchildren and thrilled that they keep me really busy. The oldest is 9 and the youngest is 8 months old. Competition trapshooting keeps me very busy and during the nice weather I'd rather be on a trap field that holed up in my windowless shop. During the spring and summer months I travel throughout the northeast US for competitions and as a consequence I'm no where near my shop.
 
I have really missed ship modeling but the longer I was away from it the harder it seemed to get back into it. I'm still a member of the Ship Model Society of NJ so I keep in touch with modeling that way but it's not the same as sitting at the bench making something. My Bluenose is years behind schedule and the more I concentrated on trying to get that moving the more discouraged I became. Chuck is a very good friend of mine and he saw what I was struggling with and suggested I ease myself back into it via a group build of the Medway Longboat. That was the best idea I've heard in a long time so here I am. 
 
Mike (Stuntflyer) is also a friend and member of SMSNJ and I've been watching his progress closely both in person and by following his build log here on MSW. We were both at Chuck's house today and they convinced me that in addition to building the longboat, keeping a build log will keep me connected and, I know from past experience, motivated. So, here goes.
 
Work started today and I'm taking photos as I go and will post the ones I think most beneficial to others. If you have questions about how I did something please don't hesitate to ask.
 
To assemble the keel I'm using yellow Titebond wood glue. This will give me time to adjust pieces and things "just right" before the glue sets. I've not had problems with gluing on laser char in the past so I don't sand the char away, in most cases. This first photo shows how a piece looks when it comes out of the billet. The cream colored line is where the little tab was that connected the piece to the billet . 

The next photo shows the extent to which I sand the piece to remove what's left of the tab. As you can see I don't take off very much char or wood. It is only enough that when I run my finger over it I can't feel any sort of bump where the tab was. Once I reach this point I stop sanding.

This third photo is how I assembled the 4 pieces of the stern. The wood is very slightly oversized in thickness so I sanded it until it was very close to .0938" (3/8"). If I didn't do this there would have been less that 1/32" rabbet. I used two pieces of 1/32" scrap, one on either side so that when I clamped it all together the gray clamp holds everything nicely centered. The blue clamp keeps the vertical pieces in contact while the glue dries and the red clamp does the same thing for the horizontal glue joints. The red arrows and thin red lines show the 1/32" alignment pieces.
 

 
I used a lap joint to join the keel pieces but my photos of that process came out horribly which I didn't realize until after it was all assembled. I used a #11 scalpel blade to make a stop cut and then whittled away at it until the joints were only a few thousandths of an inch over size then used sanding sticks to clean it all up. It was easier than I thought it would be. My first inclination was to pull out the mill for this but I realized set up time would probably be longer than the process I used so I didn't go that route.  
 
Tomorrow I'll finish the keel and move on to making frames.
 
It feels good to finally be building again and writing this log.
 
 

After a very long absence I'm back at the ship modeling workbench. I've retired since my last posts on my Bluenose (which is still waiting in the wings) and retirement presents its own happy challenges that kept me out of the shop. I'm now up to 4 grandchildren and thrilled that they keep me really busy. The oldest is 9 and the youngest is 8 months old. Competition trapshooting keeps me very busy and during the nice weather I'd rather be on a trap field that holed up in my windowless shop. During the spring and summer months I travel throughout the northeast US for competitions and as a consequence I'm no where near my shop.
 
I have really missed ship modeling but the longer I was away from it the harder it seemed to get back into it. I'm still a member of the Ship Model Society of NJ so I keep in touch with modeling that way but it's not the same as sitting at the bench making something. My Bluenose is years behind schedule and the more I concentrated on trying to get that moving the more discouraged I became. Chuck is a very good friend of mine and he saw what I was struggling with and suggested I ease myself back into it via a group build of the Medway Longboat. That was the best idea I've heard in a long time so here I am. 
 
Mike (Stuntflyer) is also a friend and member of SMSNJ and I've been watching his progress closely both in person and by following his build log here on MSW. We were both at Chuck's house today and they convinced me that in addition to building the longboat, keeping a build log will keep me connected and, I know from past experience, motivated. So, here goes.
 
Work started today and I'm taking photos as I go and will post the ones I think most beneficial to others. If you have questions about how I did something please don't hesitate to ask.
 
To assemble the keel I'm using yellow Titebond wood glue. This will give me time to adjust pieces and things "just right" before the glue sets. I've not had problems with gluing on laser char in the past so I don't sand the char away, in most cases. This first photo shows how a piece looks when it comes out of the billet. The cream colored line is where the little tab was that connected the piece to the billet . 

The next photo shows the extent to which I sand the piece to remove what's left of the tab. As you can see I don't take off very much char or wood. It is only enough that when I run my finger over it I can't feel any sort of bump where the tab was. Once I reach this point I stop sanding.

This third photo is how I assembled the 4 pieces of the stern. The wood is very slightly oversized in thickness so I sanded it until it was very close to .0938" (3/8"). If I didn't do this there would have been less that 1/32" rabbet. I used two pieces of 1/32" scrap, one on either side so that when I clamped it all together the gray clamp holds everything nicely centered. The blue clamp keeps the vertical pieces in contact while the glue dries and the red clamp does the same thing for the horizontal glue joints. The red arrows and thin red lines show the 1/32" alignment pieces.
 

 
I used a lap joint to join the keel pieces but my photos of that process came out horribly which I didn't realize until after it was all assembled. I used a #11 scalpel blade to make a stop cut and then whittled away at it until the joints were only a few thousandths of an inch over size then used sanding sticks to clean it all up. It was easier than I thought it would be. My first inclination was to pull out the mill for this but I realized set up time would probably be longer than the process I used so I didn't go that route.  
 
Tomorrow I'll finish the keel and move on to making frames.
 
It feels good to finally be building again and writing this log.
 
 

After a very long absence I'm back at the ship modeling workbench. I've retired since my last posts on my Bluenose (which is still waiting in the wings) and retirement presents its own happy challenges that kept me out of the shop. I'm now up to 4 grandchildren and thrilled that they keep me really busy. The oldest is 9 and the youngest is 8 months old. Competition trapshooting keeps me very busy and during the nice weather I'd rather be on a trap field that holed up in my windowless shop. During the spring and summer months I travel throughout the northeast US for competitions and as a consequence I'm no where near my shop.
 
I have really missed ship modeling but the longer I was away from it the harder it seemed to get back into it. I'm still a member of the Ship Model Society of NJ so I keep in touch with modeling that way but it's not the same as sitting at the bench making something. My Bluenose is years behind schedule and the more I concentrated on trying to get that moving the more discouraged I became. Chuck is a very good friend of mine and he saw what I was struggling with and suggested I ease myself back into it via a group build of the Medway Longboat. That was the best idea I've heard in a long time so here I am. 
 
Mike (Stuntflyer) is also a friend and member of SMSNJ and I've been watching his progress closely both in person and by following his build log here on MSW. We were both at Chuck's house today and they convinced me that in addition to building the longboat, keeping a build log will keep me connected and, I know from past experience, motivated. So, here goes.
 
Work started today and I'm taking photos as I go and will post the ones I think most beneficial to others. If you have questions about how I did something please don't hesitate to ask.
 
To assemble the keel I'm using yellow Titebond wood glue. This will give me time to adjust pieces and things "just right" before the glue sets. I've not had problems with gluing on laser char in the past so I don't sand the char away, in most cases. This first photo shows how a piece looks when it comes out of the billet. The cream colored line is where the little tab was that connected the piece to the billet . 

The next photo shows the extent to which I sand the piece to remove what's left of the tab. As you can see I don't take off very much char or wood. It is only enough that when I run my finger over it I can't feel any sort of bump where the tab was. Once I reach this point I stop sanding.

This third photo is how I assembled the 4 pieces of the stern. The wood is very slightly oversized in thickness so I sanded it until it was very close to .0938" (3/8"). If I didn't do this there would have been less that 1/32" rabbet. I used two pieces of 1/32" scrap, one on either side so that when I clamped it all together the gray clamp holds everything nicely centered. The blue clamp keeps the vertical pieces in contact while the glue dries and the red clamp does the same thing for the horizontal glue joints. The red arrows and thin red lines show the 1/32" alignment pieces.
 

 
I used a lap joint to join the keel pieces but my photos of that process came out horribly which I didn't realize until after it was all assembled. I used a #11 scalpel blade to make a stop cut and then whittled away at it until the joints were only a few thousandths of an inch over size then used sanding sticks to clean it all up. It was easier than I thought it would be. My first inclination was to pull out the mill for this but I realized set up time would probably be longer than the process I used so I didn't go that route.  
 
Tomorrow I'll finish the keel and move on to making frames.
 
It feels good to finally be building again and writing this log.
 
 

I was one of the lucky ones who was able to obtain one of the first run kits of the Medway Longboat from Syren Ship Model Company.  I ordered it Thursday morning and it made its way from New Jersey to Virginia and was in my mailbox Saturday afternoon. Upon opening the box, I could tell the quality of this kit that we have seen produced and designed by Chuck.  I have attached pictures of the kit's contents.  The laser cutting is some of the best that I have seen and there is very little laser char on the backside of the wooden sheets.  The boxwood and yellow cedar strip wood is milled very nicely and has clean, crisp edges.  All of the laser cut parts are easily identified and some have their part numbers etched on them or adjacent to the part.
 
I am glad to be part of this group build and I look forward to following the build logs of other Medway Longboat builders.  I also welcome suggestions from MSW members throughout this build on how to improve my model.
 

 

 

 

I am looking forward to getting started so I can try using a method Kurt VanDam suggested during one of the NRG Conference technical sessions.  Using an iGaging multi-use huzzywutchet (purchased for a mere $19 on Amazon) I plan to measure the thickness of the piece to be joined, cut it in half to determine the depth of the cut.  "What is so new about that?" you might ask.  I will then use the huzzywutchet to set my Byrnes-saw blade to the correct height and mill away.  (Don't tell Kurt I might be doing this free-hand.)  I will try it out on a test piece first.
 

Hi All,
 
Here is my first update on the Medway Longboat. 
 
I didn't have a huzzywutchet but I did use my Byrnes table saw. I set the blade height and did a test cut with scrap wood from the keel billet.
 


 
Once I had the depth set correctly I "milled" the keel pieces. I left them a "hair" thick and then filed them to a smooth fit.
 


 
I then glued them up and added the four 3/32" notched keel pieces leaving a 1/32" rabbit on each side. I followed Chucks recommendation to
add the bow piece first then the two pieces at the stern and lastly the long piece to the top of  the keel. They all fit perfectly with no sanding adjustment needed.
 

 
Bolts were simulated using black monofilament that was supplied with the kit.
Next up is to add the transom and the begin assembling the frames. 
 
Great kit with very precise fitting pieces. Another Syren gem!

Medway kit purchased Thursday AM, Shipped that same Thursday, Arrived Saturday, Priceless!!!!!
 
As expected the contents of the box were packed very well and nothing was damaged in transport.
All of the sheets of wood were very nicely laser cut with reference numbering etched on the wood to assist in identification.
The yellow Alaskan cedar has a very nice look to it and the cedar aroma is an unexpected added treat.
 
As Greg said "This sets the bar for what ship model kits should look like!" and I couldn't agree more!
 
Ships Plans,

 
Packing List

 
Friezes

 
Packaging

 
Various laser cut sheets


 
Comparing Queen Anne Barge Frame Size

 
The rest of the kit parts and strip wood


 
 
I marveled at how Chuck used the laser to cut joints and a channel to the correct depth for us!
 

 
I have a couple of minor projects to finish first but the temptation to start is like an itch that you can't reach to scratch!!!!!!

This will be the start of my Medway Longboat kit once I receive it.  I have been following the development of this kit and it will be fun building it in a Group setting.  I have watched projects being developed over the years by Chuck and each one gets better and more innovative than the one that preceded it.
 
The first step in this build is to visit the downloads page which has all of the chapters of the build plus other information that will help you in the building of your Longboat.  It can be accessed by going to the link below:
 

This group build seems to be a great way to build and learn. I've already (mentally) reserved a spot on the mantle for the finished product.

Planking fan for Longboat....
 
large planking fan.pdf
 
Bow and stern Lining off templates.....
 
line out templates.pdf
 

As we wait for the MLB to come available, I recommend you review Chuck's MLB buildlog (posted at the bottom of the topic).  This is particularly true for anybody who has not read it yet and/or has not built the Queen Anne Barge.  There are a lot of little tips to; keep from losing parts; to keep your frames true and the keep the frames from wobbling around in the build board.

Its easy enough to change that......I will make a slight adjustment.  Its easy enough for folks to change if they want to as well.  They just have to change the angle of the flukes if they want.  
 

 
Chuck

That is my go-to color (rusty brown) for black items that I want to look like metal.  I brush it on an item I painted black with acrylic and then buff it off with a soft clean paint brush.   I used it on these anchors. It works a treat.   You shouldnt go overboard with it so it looks like a rusty piece of junk.  But just add a little and then buff off.  If you paint an item neatly and the surface is smooth,  when you buff the weathering powder it will give it a slight matte sheen and really simulate a metal item which looks different than anything you painted black and didnt do anything to.
 

 

Well, having seen Chuck's Longboat in AYC I decided that I much preferred that look over what I was getting from the Pear. So, off to the races again with another re-do. Things are now close to where I was a month ago. I like the fact that there is much less char build up on the AYC. The stem/keel joints were glued together without any char removal. The wood is quite flexible which makes the planking process easier. I'm holding off on the final fairing of the two aftmost bulkheads and transom until I get a better idea of just how much more is needed. As I move further up the hull I will start to sand those butt joints. Right now it would be easy to sand them too thin. Here are a few photos of where I'm at now.


Mike