Ondras71

For a first time builder.. and new to this site...this looks amazing... awesome..

Fantastic work on that boat, Ondras!  Beautiful!
 
Gary

Hi guys and thank you.

In the end, the boat went to the Czech Championship, it returned unharmed. In the ship components category "C3D", the points went to the gold medal.😲 Satisfaction. But I miss the atmosphere of the competition and meeting with similarly strange people..😭

Greetings fellow modelers,
 
It's been said that the problem with doing nothing is you never know when you're done.  I'm not the best version of myself when I am doing nothing, so it's well past time to get back to work on this model.  After seven months I finally have some progress to share, but first I'd like to note the donation of one of my earlier scratch builds to the Jonesport Historical Society in Maine this past summer.
 
The model is the sardine carrier William Underwood.  This vessel, considered state-of-the-art when built in 1940, worked for decades out of Jonesport shuttling millions of pounds of fish to the Underwood cannery located there.  The sardine industry in Maine was no small affair and lasted over a hundred years from the 1870s to the closing of the last cannery in 2010.  At its height in the 1950s the industry employed some 8,000 people in many dozens of canneries up and down the coast and particularly in the region known as Downeast.  Sardine carriers were not fishing vessels, but rather they were boats that gathered up sardine herring from the vast number of weirs and seines stationed along the coast and transported those fish back to the canneries.  These carriers were numerous and ubiquitous during this period, but today only a handful remain mostly as yacht conversions.  Indeed, the William Underwood now floats as a personal pleasure craft.  Oh – and if the name Underwood sounds familiar, think deviled ham and chicken spread.
 
The Jonesport Historical Society is a small organization, run by enthusiastic volunteers.  I was surprised to learn they didn't have a sardine carrier model in their collection especially considering the importance of Underwood Canning in the town's history.  The carriers and the canneries are long gone but the history remains.  The society museum doesn't see a large number of visitors, but if only 50 people view the model each year, that's still 49 more than would have seen it collecting dust on my shelf.  The society was happy to receive it, but the satisfaction was all mine in giving it to them.
 
It's a POB scratch built in 1:48 and approximately 18”(46cm) long.  Finished in 2018, it was my first scratch boat model that wasn't an open boat.
 

 

 

 

 
Hull Planking
 
The Pelican is an Eastern-rig fishing vessel.  If you're unfamiliar with this type of boat and interested in knowing a bit more, there's a brief explanation of its evolution in the intro post.
 
I left off on this build with the stations in place and the backbone resting on top but not attached.  After working on it in irregular bursts of activity over the past month, the hull is now completely planked.  I don't have any incremental progress photos to share but here's a few images and where the model stands today.
 
In the image below, the backbone is set and the garboard is placed.  The slots in the bulkheads were intentionally cut deeper than required to allow for vertical adjustment if needed.  It's more important that the distances from keel bottom to shear are correct than having the backbone bottom out in the slot.  Happily, the rabbets I had pre-cut were at the proper height and the garboards fit into them quite well.  The stations forms were cut from 1/8”(3mm) plywood and the planking material is basswood.  At 070”(1.8mm) the planks are a tad thicker than I've used in the past.  I did this in hopes of gaining a smooth fair arc across the station forms.
 

 
 
This is a round stern boat, so I added a curved piece of wood aft as a landing spot for the planking.
 

 
 
I attached the sheer strakes which at midships scale to approximately 10” in width.  I then measured the distance between the garboard and the sheer strake at each station and divided it into four belts.  The boat had 24 strakes per side including the sheer and garboard, so I ended up with two belts of five and two of six.  I developed all the tick strips in CAD and printed them out.  I've never had much luck in accurately pencil marking the plank spacing on the stations, so instead I pin the center of the strip to the station to keep it from moving, then pin punch the remaining plank edge locations.  Obviously, it doesn't matter where the pin punches fore and aft on the station, only up and down.
 

 
 
I previously marked the landing spots for the plank ends at the stem on one side of the boat only.  After that side was completely planked, I transferred those plank edges to the opposite side of the stem using the little sled jig below.  Looking directly at the bow from the front, I want the planking on both sides of the stem to line up.  If the plank landings are a little irregular on side “A” I still want side “B” to match it.
 
The thin saw cut across the sled was when I thought I would use a scalpel to mark the opposite side.  I decided against that idea and made a second wider cut that would accommodate the width of a mechanical pencil lead.
 

 

 
 
As you all know, every hull plank is tapered.  To help in this repetitive process I created the little plank holder below.  It's just two strips of wood with an end stop glued to a scrap of plywood.
 

 
 
Below it is loaded with a plank strip standing on edge.
 

 
 
In years past I would taper planks with a straight edge and scalpel which I found to be a mind numbing and soul crushing activity.  I now use this miniature block plane from Veritas.
 

 
 
Sharp as all get out and no chattering.  Around $47 U.S. and worth every penny from Lee Valley Tools in Canada.  And yes, it is small.
 

 
 
The only problem with Lee Valley is in finding other items I didn't realize I needed so badly.
 

 
 
For bending, twisting and otherwise torturing the planks I used this small heating iron that is designed for quilt makers and in fact belongs to my wife.  Manufactured by Clover, it has two sizes of heat plates and three temperature settings.  The mid setting is just about right, but being a modeling Neanderthal, I use the high setting which if left more than a few seconds will burn the wood.  I prefer this iron over a clothes travel iron because I often use it directly on the hull.  It's small size and light weight make it easy to use and work with as long as you don't brand your forearm with it.  I'll take a prepared tapered plank and glue one end down on the model then apply heat to it as I work my way along the length of the hull.  Hold it in position until it cools then glue it down.
 

 
 
The hull has been roughly sanded to see what else needs done before cutting it from the forms.  The image below provides a good example of the sort of thing I'm looking to find.  At the stem, the third and fifth plank up from the sheer line are slightly recessed.  There is enough plank thickness to where I could file down the adjacent planks flush with those two, but that's working down to the lowest common denominator.  Instead, I'll use my handy dandy block plane and strip a curl of wood from a piece of scrap and build up the offending planks, then sand them flush.
 

 
 
The garboard and lower planking appear to be sitting on the surface of the keel/stern post in the photo below.  But what is actually seen is one third of the plank thickness and the rest of the plank is sitting down in the rabbet.  Should the ends of these planks be flush at the stern post or stand slightly proud?  Chamfered into it?  After looking at many real boat photos, I'm still not sure.
 
Also, in the photo you can see evidence of my wood burning skills.
 

 

 

 

 
Next comes cutting the hull from the forms, sealing and reinforcing the planking between stations on the inside and finish filing/sanding the exterior.
 
Thanks for stopping by.
 
Be safe and stay well.
 
Gary
 
 

The boat placed on a stand...


...and bound...
 



 

The boat placed on a stand...


...and bound...
 



 

The boat placed on a stand...


...and bound...
 



 

The boat is ready, just the rudder and place it on the ship...🔥







The 1:60 scale is still demanding on details..

boat: bench and railing...
 





It's only 10.3 cm...
 


Now for accessories...🔥
 
For those interested in a competition or model exhibition : https://wchs-c-2023.eu/en/news/id:11798/czech-championship-of-section-c-2024

Another milestone behind me, the body of the boat finished, sanded and cut from the hoof with a razor saw..🔥💥


Again I used the option of dispersion glue. The sunken place on the bow after removal is wetted and pushed from the inside into the correct place..



A preview of the boat on the ship's deck..😍





Now clean the ribs and arrange.🔥

I continue on the work boat. Bending workshop..

According to the paper templates, I create more rows of boards, the edges highlighted with graphite..

The third row already has an extreme side bend. After a good soaking, the 0.8x3.5 mm strips can be bent well, just persistence. Step one - side bend..


Step 2 - after drying, bend into the shape of the torso, then fit.. I will save material against carving from wood plates..👍


The last part, closing the bottom. Too small, the bottom will not be visible, I helped myself by assembling the moldings from two parts. Otherwise, it would not be possible to do it well..🔥


 

I continue with the paneling boards, paper templates again..



Surfaces created on the ribs..

Gluing with long-term glue D3, fitting takes a long time..

First board..🔥



I wish modelers all over the world a lot of peace and time to build models in the new year 2024. Ondras

The boat placed on a stand...


...and bound...
 



 

The boat placed on a stand...


...and bound...
 



 

The boat placed on a stand...


...and bound...
 



 

The boat placed on a stand...


...and bound...
 



 

Děkuji moc přátelé, děkuji za další lajky.😍
 
Kormidlo hotovo..🔥



Loď vypadá na palubě dobře..




Udělám stojan a pevně postavím loď...💥

The boat is ready, just the rudder and place it on the ship...🔥







The 1:60 scale is still demanding on details..

I know it very well. But I think you should add more ribs and do more solid hull, at first to sand it to the shape and then put the first layer of the planking from more pieces. The hull would be stronger and it could save you a lot of sanding. Here is the ribbing of the similar ship made by me ( and as you can see I used the corrugated cardboard too ).
 
 
 
 

The boat placed on a stand...


...and bound...
 



 

Děkuji moc přátelé, děkuji za další lajky.😍
 
Kormidlo hotovo..🔥



Loď vypadá na palubě dobře..




Udělám stojan a pevně postavím loď...💥

Hello GrandpaPhil,
Nice to see that you take the challenge of the cat. And even with corrugated board. I did not know it was possible. I always held that material for inferior, but one can obviously be wrong. One piece of advise: Use more frames in the midship part. In the course of building you will often hold the model in one hand or between your knees (I do that a lot), adding or adjusting things. The chances that you will press too hard and squeeze the model are high.
Good luck with this project, I will follow with interest (I never built with corrugated board).
Ab 

One hull, some assembly required:



This one will come out to about 27” long, rigged.

My Admiral had me order myself Ab Hoving’s book “17th Century Dutch Merchant Ships” for Christmas this year, as part of wish list.
 
It comes with plans for 10 different types of ships.

The cat stuck out to me when I first read the book.
 
Cats were a type of wooden trade ship that plied the Baltic Sea.
 
They had very shallow draft and would never win a beauty contest.
 
They kind of remind me of a 17th Century version of a Mack truck.
 
I have taken the initial steps and scaled everything up to 1/64 scale from 1/96th scale.
 

That random looking pile of paper will soon be the framework of a hull.
 
I’m using a giant cardboard box that I got from something we bought as my starter material.
 
It is corrugated, which is a nuisance to cut, but it works quite well.

I found only one diagram of this ship, but there are doubts that it corresponds to the original. There are a lot of oddities and inaccuracies on it. I definitely won't follow it. I will clarify the details using models and drawings of English ships of that time, which are in museums.