FriedClams

Really like the color tone of the planking, Paul! I think the pre-staining was a good way to go and brings out the individuality of the planks without it looking busy. Very nice ! Gary

Great progress, Mike - and like Glen stated, you are a master with paint. Listing your paint choices at the end of your post is very helpful. Thanks for the link, Craig! Gary

Good progress, John - coming along nicely! Gary

Wonderful, and isn't it for times like these that we endure the tedious monotony of other tasks in modeling? Love this work you're doing and your vision for the project in total. I think you're being too critical of yourself - if this was in 1:24, you might be justified. Looking great, Keith! Gary

Greetings friends. Thanks to all for the comments and "thumbs up". Bulwark planking, scuppers and freeing ports. I expected to have the covering boards and rail stringers on by now, but . . . This fishing boat has a total of 104 scuppers and 8 freeing ports. The scuppers are 2” (5cm) in height and their width varies from 3” to 8”. There are three sizes of freeing ports, with the largest being 16” (40.6cm) wide by 9.5” (24cm) tall. The bulwark planking above the deck is the same thickness as the hull strakes and the waist strakes just below the rail are significantly thinner. Below is a closer look at the scuppers and ports at the forward deck. The cutouts are parallelograms that conform to the sweep of the sheer and their tilt angle is steeper the further forward they are positioned. The scupper cutouts below the gallows frame are almost as wide as the distance between the top timbers. Eventually they will be fitted with extensions that reach out through the vertical sheet steel that protects the hull from the heavy otter boards. Also, note the small freeing port in the sheet steel that has vertical bars instead of a hinged door. I made up the bulwark planking in four sections – P/S above the forward deck and P/S above the aft deck. I began with the forward port and made myself a template for the cutout positioning between the top timbers. As per the drawings, the top timbers are set to 18” centers except in the areas where the freeing ports are placed, which require added width. I printed out the template and checked registration against the “as built” top timber spacing by shadowing the timbers onto the drawing. I tweaked the drawing until it matched. I initially tried cutting out the scuppers/ports from a single wide plank using a scalpel and safety razor. Bad idea - crooked, sloppy and inconsistent. The majority of the cutouts are 2” x 3” which in 1:48 equates to approximately 1mm x 1.5mm and getting a uniform look was difficult. So rather than subtracting material from a wide plank, I added the material to a "header" plank between the cutouts to build up the plank width needed. The scuppers are of equal height, so the header plank provides for a nice even top edge. Many of the distances between cutouts are the same, so once I cut a wood strip of the correct dimensions to butt against the header plank, it could be used multiply times. I simply butt glued the strip to the header, chopped it to length with a razor blade and then moved it to the next location requiring that same width. Also, using the butt strips meant the vertical edges are always parallel and uniform. And to achieve the proper parallelogram tilt, I simply beveled the butt end of the strip as required. The freeing ports were enlarged with a scalpel and needle files. I rough cut the area out then hardened the basswood with “super thin” CA and file finished it. Next, the aft scuppers were done in a similar way, but because I cut them from thinner material and there are no freeing ports, I simply segmented a strip of wood and added back the spacing distances. Also, there is little or no parallelogram cutting needed. I added the lower waist strake and then glued on the scupper strips. At the stem, the waist strakes are sistered to increase the plank thickness for fitting into the rabbet. Thanks for stopping by. Take care and stay well. Gary

Nice - very nice, Keith! Gary

Beautiful work, Andy! Perhaps the white balance isn’t set to automatic? Gary

Just like all your work, Paul - neat, clean and everything fits together perfectly. Extremely fine modeling! Gary

I've been reading your log over time and have enjoyed watching your progress on this very complex model. I've especially enjoyed your modeling of the tanker's piping arrangement. I spent most of my working years in manufacturing as an industrial automation electrician and there was always chemical processing and treatment support systems associated with that manufacturing. Your pipe modeling on this tanker reminds me of those systems although the operations and purposes are completely different. Most of the individual process systems I worked on were quite simple when broken into segments and understood separately. But when these systems were all crammed, stacked and constructed closely together in an area or even a separate building, they look intimidatingly complex. A tangle of cable trays, racks of pipes, tubing, pump stations, valves, vessels, pits and tanks of all sizes. Almost steampunk. This modeling of yours has tremendous visual interest, authenticity and to me, great appeal. Wonderful work, Roel! Excellent craftsmanship and a level of detail seldom seen on a model. Gary

A very interesting restoration project, John. I'll be following your progress which so far looks great! Gary

Been reading through your log, Mike, and you're doing some fantastic work here! I agree with the comments above - the scratch gear looks great and certainly a worthwhile effort. An interesting subject and build. Gary

Beautiful finish, Glen - the smoke coming out of the stacks is nothing short of wizardry! My favorite build of yours yet. Fantastic! Gary

You’re probably right, Keith. Actually, I was thinking more of the barge itself and not so much the driver. The driver timbers were probably treated with creosote or some other nasty brew of toxins and heavy metals to preserve the wood from rot. So you’re brownish/black could very well be spot on. Gary

Nice progress on the model, Keith - I like it very much. I do agree with the other members that mentioned adding white and grey to the barge. I think we instinctively see wood as brown, but once the sun and water get at it - the surface is bleached of pigment and turns grey. Only unexposed wood retains its coloring, unless of course it's constantly cared for, and I'm guessing these pile drivers were not. I don't believe that pastels/chalk will stick now that poly has been applied but thinned acrylic or even oil paint might. Just my two cents. Great and fun project! Gary

Been reading through your log and have just caught up. Wonderful work on this interesting vessel, Ras! I admire your resourcefulness in both materials and construction technique. Will be following along on your final steps. Gary

Yes, end grain is super absorbent. But because it is, would it be possible to seal the ends of the basswood clear before applying the Tung-Oil? Excellent work on this model by the way! Gary

Nice looking planking, Glen! Oh, the many uses of 1-2-3 blocks. Gary

I've been reading your log over a couple of sessions and what a beautiful model you're building! Such nice work, Andrew. I found your hull color-banding technique for tone variation to be unique and effective. Had not seen that done before. Will be watching for future updates. Gary

Yes and 28 times no less! Keith, when you chose a pan to soak the wood in, did you intentionally go looking for the most expensive one you could find? My wife bought a Dutch oven from Le Creuset a few years ago that made me literally gasp when she informed me of the price. If she had caught me using it to stew wood - well, I shudder to think. Gary

That's a great water effect, Glen, and I think that added white really brought it to life. Just the right amount of surface agitation. Gary

Thanks for the info, Paul. I'm going to give it try soon. Gary

Nice work on the cabin, Paul. I was wondering how you like working with the Alaskan cedar? Never tried it myself, but something a little harder than basswood would be nice. Gary

Wonderful work, Keith! Gary

Keith, I must be experiencing the first stages of dementia. Back on page three, post #61, I explained how I repaired two recessed planks by adding on additional wood to the surface and then sanding it back to flush. I did this to a number of areas on the hull, but the planks I was using to demonstrate this process were these two very same planks. They are indeed repaired, and it was that repair that saturated the wood with CA. Good grief - this getting old business is not easy and at times downright troubling. Thank you, Mike, for the kind comment Gary

Thank you, Tom, Paul, Keith B, Keith A, Andy and Rick for the nice words! And thanks to all for the visits and the "thumbs up". Thanks! I have a Sony RX 100 that a bought about eleven years ago and use for all the posted photos. It's a fixed lens pocket camera that has features you would only expect to find on a DSLR, like RAW capture. It takes great images even in bad lighting and can focus inches away from the subject. It makes taking a decent photo easy. If you mean the third and fifth hull plank down where it is attached to the stem - no, that's a spot where I got CA smeared onto the surface when I was forcing those planks to submit to my will. After the hull was fully planked, I washed it with india ink/alcohol to give it little age, but the solution couldn't absorb into the wood where CA had penetrated. In fact, all the lighter colored splotched or streaked areas are due to this. In the end, the hull will be painted, weathered and I wouldn't be surprised if there is chipped and flaking paint here and there exposing some of that aged wood underneath. Not sure yet. Thanks for observing that, Keith, because if it had been recessed - now would be the time to fix it. I agree, Andy. A utilitarian design for sure, but I think the designer had an aesthetic eye just the same. Gary