Mahuna

I agree with your feelings about Sherline's customer support. I've had many dealings with them and all have been positive experiences.

Hi Patrick Welcome back - glad to see more progress on Shadow. The details continue to be amazing.

Thanks Patrick. LOL - it's probably the size of your Shadow with nowhere near the details.

Really nice work, Ken. This will be a unique model.

Part 40 – Yawl Boat cont’d The last post on the Yawl Boat showed the hull being built. The interior of the boat is mostly taken up by a Cummins 4 cal turbocharged diesel engine, covered by an engine housing with a vertical muffler/exhaust pipe. The exhaust pipe configuration was made from the pieces shown in the following photo: three telescoping pieces of brass tube forming the muffler, with pieces of solid brass rod forming the exhaust pipe coming our of the engine housing. The muffler was formed first, and the first step was to solder the three tubes together. Since there is a taper on the bottom of the muffler, the tubes needed to be different lengths. The soldered configuration was then chucked in the lathe and a hand file was used to form the taper. The pieces that form the exhaust pipe were soldered together and then soldered into the muffler. The configuration was blackened using JAX Warm Black. The engine housing was formed and painted, and the exhaust pipe/muffler combination was glued to the housing (using CA glue). Before the engine housing could be mounted in the boat, there were a couple of large ringbolts that needed to be installed inside the boat. These were formed of copper wire. The process for making the bolts uses a pin vise chucked into a hand drill. The pin vise allows the use of very small copper wire that would be difficult to hold in the larger chuck of the hand vise. An appropriate sized drill is held in the bench vise, the wire is looped over the drill bit, and then the hand drill is turned until the ringbolt is formed. This process results in identical ring bolts, and is very quick and simple. The following photo shows one of the bolts installed in the forward part of the yawl boat after the bolt had been blackened. The engine housing was then mounted in the yawl boat. The Yawl Boat has a metal ring configuration attached to the stem of the boat, presumably for securing the boat to the Skipjack’s transom when in use. This ring assembly required the use of a jig for forming and holding the ring configuration while soldering. The post is a 1/8” solid brass rod. The ring configuration is made of 1/32” brass rod, so the ring outside the brass rod was made with a 3/16 end mill and the grooves for the straight pieces were made using a .040” end mill. The 1/32” rod was annealed for bending around the 1/8” rod, and then the configuration was clamped in the jig for soldering the small crosspiece. After soldering the ring configuration was blackened. The legs were left long so that they could be properly fitted during installation. A bumper on the front of the Yawl Boat appears to be made from an old tire. This was simulated by shaping a piece of wood and then painting it without smoothing or sealing it. This was mounted to the stem along with the ring configuration. There are still a couple of items to be added to the Yawl Boat – some exterior trim (I’ll need to order some very small styrene half-round for this) and the boat’s propeller. I’ve never made a propeller before, but there are some very good examples in other build logs. This work will need to wait until I get back from our trip. I’ll be traveling for the next three weeks, so there will be no work on Kathryn until I return. During the trip I’ll be able to see Kathryn up close and hope to get more photos of the details that are still ahead of us. I’ll probably post some of those photos when appropriate. I’ll check in on MSW whenever we get good WIFI. Thanks everyone!

Thanks Brian. I hope we're able to have a meeting after mid-October. Thanks Druxey. I struggled with the decision on how much of the deck to plank, but I keep going back to my original intent - to make both the construction and the appearance as authentic as possible. As you say, I have lots of photos to show what's hidden.

Thanks Carl, Popeye, Rich, and Patrick for the comments. And thanks to everyone for the 'Likes'. I've been off the site for a little while due to some family business taking lots of my time. I'll be posting one more update, then I'll be gone for most of the next three weeks on vacation.

Thanks Rich! Thanks John - I'm pleased with the result.

Part 39 – Deck Planks cont’d Thanks for all of the input. I admit that I agree with you for most builds, since I really like the look of natural wood. But since I had committed to make the model as close to the real Kathryn as possible I felt that the decks had to be painted, since that’s how she sits today. I started by masking all the openings (I used the mast stub to close off the hole for the mast), and then priming the deck. I used the white primer from Model Master, and applied it with a brush. I rubbed down the primer with very fine sanding sheets similar to Scotch Brite pads. Then I airbrushed the deck. Overspray that reached the previously painted parts (log rail, king plank, Sampson Post) wasn’t a problem. I used Liquitex Titanium White, mixed with an equal amount of Liquitex Matte Medium, and thinned with Liquitex Airbrush Medium. Liquitex acrylics tend to develop a sheen, and the Matte Medium keeps the paint relatively flat. The following photos show the finished deck. I’m glad I painted the deck – it’s looking more like the real Kathryn. I’ve almost finished the Yawl Boat, and that will be the subject of the next post.

Part 38 – Deck Planks As I mentioned in the last post, I had decided to start installing the deck planks while I was building the yawl boat. Some decisions were needed for the deck planks. First, should some planks be left off to show all of the interior construction of the model? And second, should the planks be left natural or painted white? Kathryn’s deck is painted white, even though the paint is pretty roughed up during oystering season. All along, my goal with the model is to have the model look as close as possible to the real Kathryn. So this actually was the answer to both questions: the model would have a full deck, and the deck would be painted white. The interior construction would only be visible through the hatches, since the hatch covers are removable. Planking was started amidships, and the first planks were laid along the centerline. Small homemade C clamps were used to clamp the deck planks to the beams, and clamps were used to ensure that the planks were tight to each other. The bow area required a lot of fitting, since none of the deck planks are nibbed. As planking progressed, different clamps were needed to keep the planks tight together. Since the deck would be painted it wasn’t necessary to install any simulated fasteners or caulking, so planking moved along fairly quickly. Kathryn now has a full deck and is waiting for the deck to be painted. I’ll feel a little bad covering up that beautiful castello. Work is progressing on the yawl boat, and I hope to be able to show its completion in the next day or so.

Thanks Rich.

Great work, as usual, Ed. I like the modified alligator clip - have to remember it.

Looks like a really interesting subject, Ken. I'll be following along.

Hi Elia: I totally agree. I ordered this supplement after you told me about it during your recent visit, and it's everything you said. Now I'm confident I'll be able to make the sails for Kathryn when I reach that point (in the distant future).

Hi Elia: Gluing the frames in tight quarters was a little bit of challenge, but as long as I was able to use the machinist squares to stabilize them while the glue set they came out OK (but not perfect). I used grey for the interior because I had no reference photos that showed the interior color. I'm sure the yawl boat interior gets beat up pretty well during the oystering season (as the rest of Kathryn does) so I thought it was a practical color. I'll probably find out if I'm far off in color when I visit Kathryn next month, so we'll have to wait till then. Good to hear from you.

Part 37 – Yawl Boat Laws governing oystering in the state of Maryland have restricted dredging to sail-only for many years. Recently however, the shortage of oysters and the difficulty in getting enough crew to man the oyster dredging boats 7 days a week has caused the state to relax the laws so that dredging can be done using the push boat (called a yawl boat in the Chesapeake) for power dredging 2 days a week. This has resulted in most dredging boats only going out during their permitted 2 days. The book “Working Skipjacks of Deal Island” by Brice Stump has some great photos of the yawl boat and its operator at work. The following photo is from the book: The operator is helping the Kathryn’s captain maneuver the skipjack by pulling on the ropes on one side of the davit. The configuration of the engine cover in this photo is different from the drawings in the HAER documentation. Obviously the yawl boat has been modified over the years, but since the model is based on the HAER documents that reflect how Kathryn was configured in the mid-1990’s, the yawl boat for the model will be built as it was in that timeframe. The HAER documentation contains line plans for the yawl boat, so these drawings were used to develop the keel and frames for the model yawl boat. The model frames are somewhat thicker than the real frames would be, but these frames would not be obvious in the model and the extra thickness provides some strength to support the planking. A holding device (a simple block of wood tapered at the correct angle and with a 1/8” groove milled in it) was made to hold the keel at the proper angle during assembly – this allows the frames to be set vertically. The frames were held during gluing by using two machinist squares. Given the small size of the yawl boat I didn’t think it made sense to try to replicate the jigs I used in the installation of Kathryn’s frames. The rearmost frame is not absolutely vertical, but I didn’t think this would be a major issue. When all of the frames were in place, chart tape was used to line off the sheer and the chine. Using the resulting drawn lines, the sheer plank was installed on each side, and the tops of the frames were trimmed to the top of the plank. The side planking is 1/32” thick. The sheer plank was made from 1/8” wide piece of madrone. Since the sides of the yawl boat are straight, the rest of the side planking was made from a single piece of 1/32” castello that was spiled on top and bottom. There is a ‘locker’ at the aft of the cockpit, which will house one of the large blocks used to raise and lower the yawl boat. This was added to the model, and the interior of the yawl boat was then painted a workmanlike grey. The exterior colors of the yawl boat mimic Kathryn’s color scheme, so the hull was painted next. The superstructure of the yawl boat still needs to be built. This will include an exhaust pipe for the boat’s diesel engine, and will be the subject of a future post. In the intervals between each step of Yawl Boat construction I decided to install Kathryn’s deck planks. This will be the topic for the next post.

Thanks Elija and Popeye!

Thanks Russ. Even though this is a very forgiving scale at 1:32 there are still some small items to deal with - many more to come when I get to the iron work. Thanks Rich. I find that using Sculpy for small 'carvings' is much easier than trying to carve them from wood.

Nice work, Rich. If you have trouble making working hinges you could make simulated hinges and leave the door of one side open to show the one-holer.

Thanks Carl. I can see what you're referring to, and of course you're correct.

Thanks everyone for the comments and 'Likes'.

Part 36 – Eagle Figurehead Kathryn has a small carving of an eagle as its figurehead, as in the following photo: The carving is a little ‘cartoonish’, and to my eye doesn’t look much like an eagle. So, even though I’m trying to replicate Kathryn as close to the real boat as possible, I couldn’t bring myself to copy her figurehead (and I’m not sure I even could at this scale). So I decided to make the figurehead as realistic as possible. Carving the figurehead at this scale is quite a challenge, so I decided to model it in Sculpy – still a challenge but more within my capabilities. A piece of 20-gauge copper wire was used as an armature, and the end of the wire was shaped and carved for the hook of the beak. The wood is a piece that replicates the end of the cutwater – this let me sculpt the base of the figurehead to the correct size. I didn’t take photos of the sculpting process. It consisted of first baking a very small piece of sculpy that was formed around the base of the wire. This gave a base for the rest of the sculpting. I used some very small clay modeling tools and a hobby knife to do the sculpting. The figurehead was painted with spray primer to ensure the acrylic paint would adhere to the copper beak, and then was painted with gold model paint. The following photos show the figurehead temporarily in place on the model. The figurehead was a welcome break from my current work – which hopefully will be introduced in the next post. For those of you who live in the area affected by Hurricane Harvey, I hope you and your loved ones are safe and dry. Watching the videos of the storm make me feel like our occasional dust storms are nothing we should complain about. Be well, everyone!

Thanks, Rich. I haven't been making much progress lately but I'm hoping to get back to it soon.

Wonderful work, Ed. Your attention to detail and research into actual practice continues to impress.

Thanks Popeye.