mikiek

Ron - I believe there should be a 1/32" square stick running horizontally in addition to the ones running vertical. So yes, you may have to notch some planks but the horizontal 1/32" sticks will make the notch a little shallower. I do remember cheating on some planks - filing down the long edge to make them a little skinnier. Not everywhere, just as needed.

Good call on the ochre. Much easier on the eyes. Bright red has been around for centuries. It was just cost prohibitive to make quantities needed for a boat - unless you were a Roman emperor. Whereas red ochre was one of the cheapest colors to make. In the late 1800's they began to use different materials to make red - until then a particular dried bug imported from the Americas was widely used. Cadmium in particular became a major source and red for the masses soon followed. Interestingly the bug dye is making a comeback. FWIW

That strip is not the easiest to work with. So you are better off working around the strips with your planks rather than working around the planks with your strips. If that makes any sense. Don't forget you have to do the inside bulwark just like the outside. I spent so much time getting the outside perfectly flush which left some gaps and other imperfections on the inside. I was also shocked at how much time I spent masking and painting. Make sure you have a plan before you start that process. What will you mask first and why. Sometimes things are not as obvious as they first seem. I don't know what your experience level is with masking & painting. Mine was zero at that time. The one tip I pass on and follow is after you apply the tape be sure to burnish it particularly at the edges. Even more important, before using colored paint apply some clear paint (try to use the same brand) over the wood and the edge of the tape. You are trying to seal up the gap between the tape edge and the wood underneath it. This will help keep the colored paint from wicking under the tape and getting on the wood/paint you are trying to protect. While you can use varnish or lacquer to do the same thing, I've found clear paint to work better. Just try and stick with one brand (if possible) for all your paint/finish supplies. If you don't have some already, look into some detail paint brushes. I'm not necessarily suggesting these particular brushes, just trying to give you an idea. Some of these brushes are so fine you can literally count the hairs. They are very valuable for touching up those 1/32" frames. Good luck..........

Thanks for stopping by Don. I like the green too although I wonder now whether I should have darkened it a little. That's just plain ole Tamiya J.A. Green. I was trying to avoid some special mix. Painters remorse? One thing strange I realized - I did the usual masking tape to get a clean edge with the paint. The upper part of the hull - including where the tape went - was already treated with linseed mixture and stain. When I pulled the tape up it appears to have lifted some of the color off. Look closely at the pix, you can see right above the green edge the plain wood is lighter in color. Unfortunately the tape has already made its way to the garbage so I can't check the adhesive side to see if it has stain on it. Anyway, I thought stain soaked into wood, not cover over like paint. I use Tamiya masking tape and have never had a problem like this before, although I've done a lot more painting than staining up to this point in my career.

Hey everyone. I'm still finishing the hull details and the few deck toys that go with this build. Everything is looking good - no real problems. I did have that question on mast rake angle, turns out there isn't any for Trajta. Straight up & down. I keep thinking back to that mast foot that I glued in the wrong place. What a nightmare that would have been if I had not caught it. I've also painted the hull. Above the paint line the rest of the hull is wiped down with the linseed mixture and stained. Most everything on the deck is just the linseed. I'm still liking that on the walnut. Here's a few shots: The bitts Hatch covers - yes I know one looks crooked. Per the plans! Door to the forward cargo hold - I glued this one shut Door to the aft cargo hold - I glued the door off to the side so you can see in. The deck I have not put varnish on anything yet although you would never know it looking at the deck.

Chuck's products will add a lot to your build. I did use the kit rope in a couple of places, mostly for long runs right at the mast. Inside a lot of the other rigging. The MS deadeyes were not bad. I would suggest using them as long as the 3 holes look pretty even. You'll likely paint those anyway. I'll wager you really like the looks of your gun tackles with the rope & blocks. I felt like that was the best detail on my build. My only suggestion to you is when you begin to use them keep close tabs on how many you are about to use and how many that will leave you. There's nothing worse than being a few short and having to wait for another order. Inventory control! Have fun Tom.....

One other thought. When you're done with those port frames you might consider painting them and the insides of the ports before planking. If you wait until after planking then you will have to mask the planks and paint the ports. Then mask the ports to paint the planks. Painting before planking can save you a masking step. I found doing a good job of masking those bulwarks to be quite tedious. I described it as 90 minutes of masking for a 5 minute paint job. Then you tear it all off and do the opposite.

Check your plans on this, but I seem to remember that the gun & oar openings are "framed" with 1/32" square sticks inside & out. They go on top of what you have done. Your plank ends will butt against the ones running vertical. Instructions didn't mention them but they are on the plans. I suppose those might be done after planking but would probably be a lot easier done before. It's been a while but I do remember something like that.

Got it. I have not looked at that sheet too much yet. Speaking of waterline would that typically be painted on the side - a stripe like on a square rigger? Or, I know you suggest painting the underside of the hull - is the waterline designated by where the paint stops? Is waterline really even shown on these boats? I'm asking because I was hoping to take the dark green paint up higher than the where the waterline is on the sides.

Zoran, if you're out there - Don. I can't find any place that specifies the mast rake. It really doesn't look like there is any but I need to be sure.

It's always fun when you can put in some major part like that - even if it isn't finished and/or the boat isn't ready for it. It can really change the complexion. Wait till you get the whole bowsprit done and slip that in for a test. Hope your workbench is bigger than mine. Whereas most install the bowsprit first, I did it last for for just that reason. Space got tight. You've probably heard this before but do as much rigging as you possibly can off the boat. You should be able to get at least one end of all the standing rig installed. It'll look like a big tangled mess but will be worth it. You can make a stand for your masts with a piece of 1'x6' or even a 2'x4'. Drill holes for each spar in your masts - main, top, top gallant, top gallant royal. Don't put them together permanently until you are ready to put it all on the boat. That way you can keep them low and don't have to work with your arms at head level. Keep it up Tom.

Don - I used the raw linseed oil - for no particular reason. Saw them both at the store, had no idea of the benefits of one over the other. I'm just a "natural" kind of guy so I see raw and boiled I choose raw I will say, days later, I see a difference in the foredeck and aftdeck. Each got a different combination of applications. First off, I think I could have added more thinner to the linseed/thinner mixture. I just eyeballed it and may have more linseed than thinner - the manual suggests 40% linseed, 60% thinner. The aftdeck got some pre-stain conditioner, then the Natural stain, then the linseed. I did it this way because at the time I didn't have linseed oil and as usual I couldn't resist getting some color to the wood. So it was conditioner and stain and about 2 days later the linseed. The foredeck (which was completed after the aftdeck) got the linseed first, then stain (I forgot the conditioner ). Days later I am noticing the foredeck darkened up as time went on. Right after the stain application it looked similar to the aftdeck but has since darkened some. One thing I am wondering. I mixed the linseed in a bowl when I did the aftdeck and just left the bowl uncovered on the bench. A day or so later I used the same mixture on the foredeck. I can't help but wonder if a lot of the thinner had evaporated so I was applying mostly linseed. So there's one thing to watch out for - proper ratios and keep any extra covered. The manual says to wipe up the linseed immediately, which I did but using a paper towel. I'm thinking something more absorbent like microfiber or at least a cloth rag would be a better choice. I would also give the linseed a minimum of 24 hours to dry. More time would be even better. This will give you a more accurate idea of the final look. Lastly, I wonder if when using the linseed mixture, maybe you just forego staining all together. The linseed did add a nice luster to the wood even before the stain. Don't let this sound like I had problems. I did not. Using the linseed mixture is quick and easy and if it could potentially eliminate the need for stain then it ends up be economical as well. As I posted earlier, I will use the process going forward for any staining I have to do. That said, I will continue to refine my process. The key I think - good ratios, effectively wiping up excess and allowing sufficient time to dry. One other note. I needed to stain the upper portion of the hull which has some spots where I had to apply some filler (paintable/stainable). You probably are aware of my feelings on trying to color filler I did apply the linseed first and it did seem to darken up the filler somewhat, bringing the filler color closer to the wood color. Staining afterwards brought the color even closer. Not perfect but better.

I don't know why but installing the bulwark rail proved difficult. If I understood the pix in the manual it's one stick that sits on the waterway running from stem to sternpost - 4mm x 2mm laying edge on. And it is supposed to have notches taken out of the bottom edge to match the scuppers in the waterway. So you have to lay the stick in place, mark where the notches go, file the notches and then hope when you install it they all line up. Try as I might, I didn't feel comfortable gluing the whole stick at once. Not enough hands. It was going to take some CA in spots for a quick join and white glue in others to get the best bond. Dry runs were proving that it wasn't going to happen. So I ended up cutting the stick in 3 pieces - much better. I could hold the piece down with 2 hands while the CA set. I'll give myself a C on lining up the scuppers and unfortunately the opening is too small to try to adjust it now. Several other tasks were contingent on getting these rails in so I can move on now. An observation - this 1 stick constitutes the entire bulwark. I guess at scale it means this piece raises up 10"-12" above the deck. That's not a lot of protection for a boat that could go offshore. Here's the bulwark The scupper notches

David - I hope you have a good place to dock her now. She's a real eye-catcher. I hope you are pleased with your effort. As far as a new kit for the shelf, if you want to stay small what about Enterprise or Independence? For either, you can stay with the plans or bash to your hearts content. I've had Enterprise in progress for over a year. When I need a change of pace - a little bit here, a little bit there. Once again, congratulations on your completion!

Thanks man - wouldn't that be something! Can't wait to get some varnish on it.

Answered my own questions and I'm impressed. Per the manual, I mixed some Linseed Oil & thinner and applied that to the foredeck - applied thick but wiped it up immediately. Then it needs to dry - I left it for about 3 hours. So that was the mixture on raw wood. It looks really nice! So nice in fact that I wanted to put some on the aft deck which I applied stain to last nite. Sanded it first with a 600g sand sponge then applied the oil. Again, very impressive. I don't think the pix show it very well but the wood has a very deep, rich look to it. Zoran - you are on to something! I'll be doing this from now on for stained areas. So I need to stain the fore deck and will be ready to finish off the other deck items.

Steve - I'm reading a nautical oriented book taking place around the Revolutionary War. The guys are doing a lot of rowing around. Every time I read a section like that I picture this boat.

Thank you Don. The one thing I didn't do as suggested in the manual is an initial wipedown with linseed oil & thinner. I'm not sure if that is for cleaning the wood or conditioning it or all of the above. Have you done that with any of your Marisstella builds? Kinda makes me wonder if linseed oil could replace the Natural stain I used. I suppose it would give the wood that wet look and then you only apply some lacquer or varnish. Will need to pick some up and see what it can do.

Deck planking is complete although the finishing process is still in the works. At milestones like this I always try to to just leave things be and move on to the next task. The temptation is to paint/stain/finish whatever it is I have been working on. I think we all want to see how it will look close to being finished so we tease ourselves. I couldn't resist either so while the foredeck is still being sanded I did put stain on the rear deck. So it's walnut sticks, Minwax Pre-stain and Minwax Natural stain. Like I said earlier, everything above the wale will receive this same coloration which really doesn't stain like we are used to seeing. If you've ever wiped a damp rag over raw wood, that's about what the Natural stain does. Personally, I really like this stain. I ended up being off by one plank on each side of the fore and after decks. I used 1 less. But I am OK with the result. So have a peek.

Don't get overly dependent on tools like that. Not all the ports have perfect 90 degree corners. The waterways should have a vertical curve from bow to mid-ship to stern. If you set perfect squares on that curve it will look a bit odd. In a perfect world if your hull is level, the vertical frames should be aligned with a plumb line and you would see that in fact the ports are not square. Granted this is overkill for a model, but just understand the theory. Hardly anything on a boat is square. Things slope and slant for a reason. When you do use your tool be sure to center it on the holes in the waterway. Pins will go in these holes and would be used as a pivot point to help angle a carriage one way or another. So the holes are really the center line of your port. Adjust your framing accordingly.

Hello Antony - thanks for stopping by. I've never done scuppers where you have to chisel a notch in the waterway. Usually we just put some holes in the bulwark and call it done. This was a bit of a challenge - scraping away enough material to make them functional but not going thru the waterway. Looking at the photos I see I probably could have made the notches a little deeper, but I think I'll leave them be.

Had not considered shellac. Whatever it is I like it.

A good experience in trial and error. One of many you will encounter with this build. I think what you have will work. I like that you wrapped around the corner and were able to cover the edges of the transom planks. That is the purpose of those pieces - to cover the inevitable ugliness of that corner joint and seal it up. It's almost like a corner molding we use on a house. I wasn't sure what you were asking regarding the yawl? The rear davits will be a piece of wood mounted towards the end of the side hand rails. They will extend off the stern. No real relation to the fashion pieces.

Deck planking continues. I've been digging thru the pile of sticks trying to separate lighter colored ones from darker so that I can make a pattern similar to the pix in the manual. That shows alternating lite/dark sticks. I'm afraid there will not be enough lite ones for both front & back so I will continue on with the pattern on the stern deck since I can get 2 planks from 1 stick. I will need to determine how many shades of dark are left and figure out how to arrange them on the bow deck. Don't read this the wrong way. There are plenty of sticks to plank the decks. It's just that there are a lot more dark colored ones than lite colored The tapered planks are laying well and a slight overall curve is beginning to show itself. I think the sticks are going to end up very similar to the planking plan. I did (or at least have been) working on the hole for the mast. However the drill keeps wigging out - runs for a couple seconds and then stops. So that is still in progress. I think I've done a reasonable job keeping a gap between the plank tips and the waterways. This is done so the planks don't cover up the scupper openings on the rail. Be Exterior scupper opening. I have the start of a paint plan in my head. I'm thinking the bottom 2/3 of the hull being a dark forest green. From the wale down to the paint edge I will stain with the same dark stain used in the cargo hold. Decks and everything above the wale will be stained with Minwax Natural. And then a matte varnish all over.

Beautiful color on the spars. What wood and/or stain is that?