EricWilliamMarshall

This time I make a paper pattern (by simply rubbing a pencil against the paper held to the boat). It wasn’t accurate enough to be a pattern, but it showed where and how to bend my planks. It seemed to go better than before.

I found in this phase I have a wiggle in one side. It is subtle but can be seen if one looks down the side of the boat.

So I made another from my cache of coffee stirrers.

Have it not read @DelF’s advice yet, I started on to the inside planking. This seemed extra tricky. My first attempt didn’t yield to my skills and I noticed there would be glaring gaps given the size of the boards across the bow.

I will also add there is a lot of practical information in the book as will as great background knowledge from the point of view of both an user of tools and as a maker of tools.

I’ve added the filler strips without any trouble.

She looks very handsome indeed. Thanks for sharing your bumps along the way; most instructive for me as I attempt to build this kit.

Thanks for the detailed log. I wish I read it earlier in my journey with this kit. She looks great!

Thanks for taking the trouble to record your trails and tribulations. I’ve read through a couple of times as I have worked on my copy of the kit. As this is my first attempt at planking, it was heartening to hear of your challenges. She looks beautiful; well done!

No worries! This a hobby not a job. We’ll all be here still, when you have time.

A careless oversight on my part may prove instructive to others. I sanded both sides of the bass wood hull with 280 grit sand paper but treated only one side with 500 grit sand paper and OOOO steel wool. I then, on both sides, used a water-based stain and then when dry, I used matte acrylic varnish on top (details above). In the image below you can see the difference in evenness and color. For this model, I’ll be painting the hull in order to minimize my mis-step. In the image below, the left side is the rougher surface.

She’s looking great. Keep up the good work!

That is great book! That and Hock’s book are my bibles. Thanks for mentioning it.

I made a bit of progress. I used Grumbacher Academy Scarlet Lake watercolor with a brush. The wood was sanded down with 500 grid sandpaper and I used CA as my glue.

I made some progress. I made the floor board from the coffee stirrers since I used a large number of my kit strips on attempting to bend planks. I used @Chuck’s suggestion to make paper patterns to find the correct fit and then cut the wood to match the paper’s shape. I used a mitre gauge to add the beading on the seats.

A few thought to share: The surface of your wood counts for a lot! Wood sanded with just 280 grit sand paper will look more uneven then wood sanded with 500 grit or Fine steel wool. testing on scraps is always your friend! Many of the instructions for kits show a prototype of the kit being built, not the actual kit. More importantly, the model in the instructions may be built with another wood than what is in the kit. Bass wood is the most common wood found in kits but if you poke around here at MSW, you will see a variety of other woods being used. Alaskan Cedar, Pear, Holly, Boxwood, Cherry, etc. are all in play, each with a different hue and color. Plus each species has color variations! If you look at the work of @Chuck, you will see a similar shade of yellow to the instructions you are following. He is partial to the aforementioned Cedar and I believe he wrote the instructions you are following, if I’m not mistaken. Given all the above, I suggest playing around with 320 or 400 grit sandpaper to see how that changes the blotchy results of the staining. There are stains that can get the color yellow if you wish it but don’t feel you must achieve that exact shade of yellow for your model! Historical colors is a vast and tricky field of inquiry - not all the recipes nor materials are known, nor had they fade or oxidize or darken due to exposure, use or added materials. Books have been written on the topic! Keep up the great work!

It’s looking great so far and I’m sure your hard work will pay off! Regards from another Jersey native!

I’ve been away from MSW for a few months and have recently returned.Your progress is a delight to behold and a serious inspiration. Your log has prompted me in a number of ways - I’m chewing through a number of machinist’s tomes and I can say, i have a tiny lathe now and have even soldered in the last few weeks. (Nothing to show for it on the modeling front yet - the current project is more about learning planking.) In any case, thanks for sharing your beautiful work and happy New Year!

Exactly! Plus I love the crisp sound a sharp chisel makes.

Thanks so much!! I just read the series a couple years ago and that’s what lead me here to MSW! The first episode was a treat!

I would mention to anyone making the plunge to buy chisels, there are two learning curves: one, to learn to weld the chisel and ideally carve and two, to sharpen the chisel itself. The first Is dependent on the latter. Most, if not all of the best qualities of a chisel are lost if it isn’t sharp. (To be useful, lathes and mills also require some learning as well, in my opinion.) If you are model shipbuilder and can tie your shoes, then you have the patience and the dexterity to master sharpening. Part of that challenge, in my opinion, is knowing how a sharp tool behaves! So, if you are new to this, find someone to sharpen your tool for you to start with! Once mastered, excellent performance can come from even middling tools. Like everyone else, I vote for buying nice tools. More so for carving tools in particular, since a chisel will last decades if used correctly (or close to correctly). I still have my chisels bought in the late eighties. I will also mention that it is easy to recondition old carving tools and the like, and that can be a very cost-effective path.

I assume the Constitution has sold, yes?

While Charles Darwin was a non-fiction writer, the HMS Beagle, which he sailed on and wrote about, is available in kit form from a number of makers. I realize that non-fiction may be a bit outside of the spirit of the thread.

They used to have a collection of R/C boats not included in the 'apprentice' series as well. Below is a link in the way back machine to the old Midwest website. https://web.archive.org/web/20050216100107/http://www.midwestproducts.com/RC boat models.htm

I mentioned before experimenting with wooden coffee stirrers. Here is an image of some of that silliness.