GSege

Hi all! I am currently building the Smuggler from Bluejacket. The progress is really slow, but I have come to realize the beauty of the journey rather than just wanting to reach the goal. Anyway, I am now working on finishing the different spars. They are partly painted and partly varnished. It is the clear varnish that I am a bit unhappy with, it simply doesn´t look right. The dovels used for the spars just look to much bright and "model-ish" with just neutral, clear coats of varnish. What do you suggest, some sort of staining first or trying to give the clear varnish a bit of colour? I would appreciate your comments! Best regards, Gunnar

Hi Allan, thank you! Just my thoughts. I wasn´t aware however that there is a technique where you actually have frames square to the hull as you show on the top right. Anyway, I think I know now how to proceed with the timberheads on my Smuggler. Best regards, Gunnar

Dear fellow ship builders, I would appreciate your comments on something I have encountered: I am currently building the Smuggler. Very slow progress, but hey, it´s the journey that counts, isn´t it? Anyway, I am about to assemble the timberheads. Since the timberheads are the part of the hull´s frames, they should be square to the centerline, rather than square to the bulwark, right? I think the drawing also decribes this, in addition to the tapered shape from bottom to top. However, when looking at pictures of the Smuggler found on the web, many builds have the timberheads square to the bulwark. I realize of course that it is simpler to do like that (and it will perhaps be the way to go for me...), but many of these builds are so accurate in details in other areas. Is there any other reason for not having the timerheads square to the centerline, or am I wrong about that? Best regards, Gunnar

Hi guys and thank you for your comments. The book is on it´s way, excellent suggestion! I just had a brief look at Bob´s Smuggler; INCREDIBLE! Best regards, Gunnar

I guys, thank you for your reply. When I started to cut the hull templates yesterday evening, I quickly realised that the "wood log" in the kit only roughly resembles the actual hull. So, there have to be a significant amount of fairing after all. Studying the scribed veneer for the deck that is included in the kit, I also realised just how small a 2 mm deck plank really is! I will take one step at a time now and start with the hull fairing. Best regards, Gunnar

Hi all! My name is Gunnar and I just joined this fine forum. After 45 years of being occupied with other things (you know, "life"), I at the age of 60 have started to build a model ship again. Just finished the "Lincolnville wherry" from Bluejacket (not exactly a ship but anyway) and my family has brought me the "Smuggler" from Bluejacket as a birthday present. Now, that is something else! Since I have spent all my life sailing, I am quite familiar with sail handling in general, so the much more complex rigging of a schooner isn´t that intimidating after all. The documentation mentions in a couple of places that you can go for a simplified method if you prefer and I would definitely consider to not overdo the finetuning of the hull shape. The most important thing with a hull is that it looks fair and if the templates doesn´t show any sudden bumps etc, I think I will be satisfied with that. However, with the deck I personally have a different opinion. I have allways felt that a beautiful deck is the first thing you notice on a yacht and I would really try to skip the scribed veneer that comes with the kit and instead do it plank by plank. The main reason is to avoid the simplified deck patttern on the quarter deck and possibly also the simplified "covering board" on the foredeck. A question for you: what would the preferred method of simulating the seams be? I have seen variants using pencil lead, wax crayon as well as acrylic paint. Best regards, Gunnar