FriedClams

You're doing a great job maintaining historical accuracy on these sail and rigging details. But I'm not surprised as this has been a signature on all your work. Looking fantastic! Gary

Those two stanchions and the bulwark planking fit together nicely, Paul! I like that Vallejo paint color - a warm neutral gray, not bluish. Looking great. Gary

Greetings Fellow Modelers, Thanks for the comments and "likes". In the past several months, the most I’ve seen of the Pelican has been when walking by it. This is due to a lack of time and not a lack of interest, but with a friendly nudge from Phil, here’s an update on what I have been doing - sacrificial hull sheathing and protective sheet metal in way of the gallows frames. I want to mention that Phil @Dr PR has already installed protective hull sheathing (a feature rarely modeled) on his excellent USS Cape build. Check it out if you haven't already. In my last post, I described the construction of the gallows frames and associated brackets. It would seem logical that the next step is to now paint, weather, and install these frames. But doing so now would greatly complicate installing the sheet metal below the gallows. This led to yet another task that had to be done before the sheet metal could go on - laying down the protective hull sheathing. Many mid-century wooden fishing boats in New England had partial sheathing that protected the hull from damage when raising and lowering the heavy trawl gear. This sheathing (typically ¾” oak) was sacrificial, and the planks were installed straight and untapered making them easy to replace/repair. The Roann, built in 1946, is a small eastern-rig dragger in the collection of the Mystic Seaport Museum. It was designed by Albert Condon a few years after he designed the Pelican. In the photo below one can see that the sheathing under the starboard gallows extends down below the waterline nearly to the keel. The sheathing also extends forward in a waterline band all the way to the stem. This forward band of sheathing was added to protect the hull from floating ice slabs at a time when harbor freeze-overs were not uncommon. Because the Roann was not equipped to “drag” off port side, only the waterline sheathing was installed, which extends back to midships. Based on the plans and other boats by the same designer, here’s what the sheathing looks like on the Pelican. The boards are scale ¾” by 4” and will be applied to both sides, because this vessel could drag off both sides. Vertical strips of wood are installed against the end grain to reduce water absorption, crushing and splintering of the board ends. Perhaps tar or some other waterproofing was slathered on the ends before the vertical strips were attached. The sheathing extends onto the stem. I added the rub rail which sits just below bottom of deck. It’s made up of two pieces which combined stand out from the hull about 3 scale inches. The outer piece is half round styrene. In the cross section below the sheet metal under the aft gallows is highlighted in blue. The metal is #10 galvanized steel, about .138” (3.5mm) thick. I don’t have a forward cross section of this detail to show, but it’s very similar. Note the added wood structure that holds the sheet metal out from the bulwark and guides it over the rub rail. The main area of sheet metal consists of seven vertical sections, so the structure is constructed to support them. Here’s the forward support framing. And the aft framing. The drawing below shows the individual sheet panels and their arrangement – also there’s a “U” shaped cap that fits over the rail. I drew up the forward starboard sheet-metal group in CAD and then adjusted it to match the “as-built” framing of the support structure. On the full sized boat, the vertical panel seams overlap, but on the model they simply butt to each other. The drawing was separated into individual panels to be used as templates. Thinking that copper would be the material to simulate the metal, I purchased foil that closely scaled to the actual #10 gauge used on the real boat – but that was a bust. While the copper was malleable enough, it dented, scratched and crinkle creased way too easily and so I tried a variety of different materials including aluminum, brass, paper, card and styrene. Each had appeal and issues, but for the small panels on this model, I decided on using inkjet photo paper instead. More precisely, the reverse side of the paper because of its smooth coated surface. It sort of looks and feels like styrene and there’s no sign of fiber. When folded, it creates a nice sharp bend, and the cut edges are clean and fuzz free. This paper is left over from when I had an ink printer, and I suspect any dense hard surface paper would work just as well. Out of curiosity, I did try painting the front “photo” side of the paper. Not good. Think of how an old photo looks that’s been folded, creased, reopened and flattened. Anyway, I printed out the templates directly to the reverse side of the photo paper and cut free the lower section panel to work on first. The upper seven vertical panels will shingle over this panel. I began by slowly going around the perimeter with a black permanent marker allowing time for the paper to absorb the ink. I then flattened/burnished the edges with a spoon shaped sculpting tool. I then colored it with oxide black acrylic ink. I painted it with True Metal “iron” and stippled it to remove brush strokes while allowing some small peaks to remain. No attempt at a uniform look. Letting the paint dry half an hour or so, I then polished the surface with a scrap piece of clean styrene sheet. I just flop the styrene (about 4” square) on top and briskly rub in one direction at a time. The thickness and pattern of paint that was applied in combination with the speed and pressure used when polishing will yield different results. This process reminds me of the drywall texturing I did on a house we renovated about thirty years ago. Called “orange peel knockdown”, it was all the rage back then and great for obscuring a less than stellar drywall installation. The procedure was to splatter spray drywall mud on the wall, wait for it to partially dry, and then knockdown the peaks with a clean trowel. Similar idea here in micro scale. You can create a variety of different looks by modifying the paint thickness, texture and by how long you let it dry. The test piece on the left in the photo below is True Metal iron on .05” styrene. The paint was gently streaked vertically with just the edge of a toothbrush, allowed to dry then polished with the styrene sheet. In the middle is TM steel with a speck of burnt umber oil paint added and then applied to 24lb copy paper. The paint wasn’t quite dry when polished leaving long streaks. On the right is TM iron on the back side of photo paper. Because all these materials are thin, any imperfections on the work surface will telegraph up onto the surface of the "metal". This can be used to advantage. Back to the example on the right, I took a piece of double-sided cellophane tape with a fine thread stuck to it and fixed it to my work surface. Placing the photo paper on top and polishing it left a vertical image on the metal. A close look even reveals where the butt end of the tape was. This works so well because the paint is wax based and it’s looking for any excuse to clot. A slight protrusion or hump that develops a hot spot when polished is all it needs. For size reference, the piece on the right is a tad over 1” square. I cut the seven vertical pieces out and blackened their perimeters. It would have been great to do this as a single piece, but it needs to bend in two dimensions, so that was out. Painted. So here it is all glued to the boat. I used aluminum for the “U” shaped rail cap and applied the same paint and polish to it. The paper cap just looked lumpy. The hull paint is not final and it’s more of a color test than anything. Hull weathering won't be for some time, but I want to see how the metal weathering will look surrounded by those colors. Typically, I like to start with something that looks new and progressively add wear and age. This "metal" clearly needs darkening, dents, gouges, streaking, rust and other fun stuff. I wish I liked this metal more than I do, so, I’m going to take another crack at using styrene for the aft metal work and see how they compare. I'll post those results and that of the weathering. Until next time – Take care and thanks for stopping by. Gary

Having a hard time catching up to you, Rob. You're moving fast and everything is looking terrific. Gary

Really sweet work on those catwalks, Roel! Gary

Wonderful, Glen - congratulations! Gary

Beautifully done, Dan - congratulations! Gary

Nice work, John - everything looking very good! Amen. Gary

Nice progress, Phil. Wonderful CAD work and I'm looking forward to seeing these 30 or so deck fittings come to life. Gary

Catching up on your progress and everything looks great - sails, anchor, water bottle and logs. A shout-out to @wefalck for sharing the bark technique, very convincing - surprisingly so! Gary

Wonderful work, Paul! HA! Yes, scuppers are always nice to have in the rear-view mirrors. Very nice progress and everything looking great. Gary

Excellent SIB and display, Glen! Very nice indeed. Gary

Thanks to all for the discussions in this log - it makes for interesting reading. Your pilothouse looks great, Keith! The weathering on both the vertical siding and roof feels like just the right amount. It has that look of honest wear and neglect without being overdone, which can be challenging at such a small scale. You have a good eye and controlled hand - well done! Gary

Congratulations, Glen - a very generous act and a fantastic job. Gary

This sternwheeler is simply begging to be modeled, Keith and just the kind of subject you can really dig your teeth into. Just keep a toothbrush handy and don't swallow the soot. Grabbing the popcorn and looking for an empty seat. Gary

Knowing how inventive you are, I was wondering what you might do for a base. Never expected bonsai driftwood, but what a great choice, Glen. Looking forward to seeing the final completed display. Gary

Congratulations on the completion of Lula, Keith! I agree with all the previous statements and have little to add except to thank you for your efforts in giving us such an interesting, informative and fun log to follow. She's a delightful and charming little vessel and masterfully built. Gary

Phil, I know you were concerned how this would turn out - well I think it came out fantastic - very nice, well done! Gary

Lula is looking great with completion around the corner. Good call on your next build subject, Keith - interesting craft and just your style. Gary

Hey Paul - Nice progress and looking great. Really like those last two photos. Haven't seen that style of Cleco before. The millwright shop at a manufacturer I once worked for had buckets of the temporary rivet kind for sheet metal fabrication work. Different colors for different sizes - handy stuff. Gary

Nice job, Glen. She's in the bottle and looking good! Gary

Nice progress, Jeff. I particularly like the rolled canvas and the way it slumps off the end of the rack. You've a good eye for details. Gary

Good to hear your surgery went well, Bruce and your model is looking great! Gary

Phil, on my boat I would say yes. To keep the end grain from absorbing water and quickly rotting away they must have done something to impede that process. Being a low-tech fishing boat of the 1940s, I have this image in my head of a guy slathering the board ends with pitch/tar and then pushing the vertical strip into the mess and nailing it down. But that’s just a thought based on zero evidence of what they actually did. But considering the USS Cape, wasn’t the military using epoxy decades before it was widely used commercially? If so, I wonder what purpose these vertical boards would have served except for added mechanical protection against crushing/splintering the plank ends. Yes, sometimes I feel like I'm building a bulbous shed. Your sheathing is more extensive and complicated than mine and your plank widths are wider which further complicates the process, so I don’t envy your task. But you’re making a great job of it and the added interest it gives to the hull will make the effort worthwhile. Gary

Just catching up, Phil and you're doing some very nice work on this model. I have never seen anyone install this type of sheathing on a boat before - except that this is exactly what I'm currently doing on my F/V Pelican. How coincidental. So, I can offer what I know as it pertains to mid-century wooden F/V in New England. The sheathing was installed below the gallows frames and extended down well below the waterline. The sheathing was ¾” oak and protected the hull from the heavy steel edged “doors” (otter boards) when the trawl gear was deployed and retrieved. This sheathing is sacrificial and was replaced/repaired as needed. They are not tapered and there are no gaps between boards. The Roann (built in 1947) is a small eastern-rig dragger and part of the Mystic Seaport Museum collection. In the image below, one can see that the starboard sheathing not only covers the hull below the gallows but also extends in a narrow band at the waterline forward to the stem. On port side, there is only the narrow band which extends to midships because there are no port side gallows frames on this boat. My understanding is that because this class of offshore F/V fished year-round, the forward waterline sheathing is there to protect the hull from floating slabs of ice in a time when harbor freeze-overs were not uncommon. Here’s is the sheathing that I've applied to the Pelican as per the plans and images of other vessels by the same designer. This is complete minus the trim to protect the end grain, and the waterline band still needs to be extended onto the stem. Because this boat had four gallows and could drag off either side, I will be sheathing the port side identically. If not helpful, I hope this is at least interesting. Gary