Richard44

No, fully open it's only 10mm between the jaws.

James, I've just come across your review, and it's made me get off my backside and retrieve my Planet bench which has been "stored" in the garage for quite some years. I could have used it yesterday as I had to drill a centrally located hole in some dowels - and it would have been so easy with this bench. Thanks Richard

Hi, The ink was simply brushed on. It is water-based so there is a tendency for the grain to be raised slightly. However, being water-based means that the wood is not sealed, as with paint, but just stained, so that all your normal glues will work as usual. The following photo shows the thole blocks glued using PVA to the already stained cap rail. I should add that I don't know how well the ink would cover any preexisting colour, especially paint or oil-based stain. Cheers Richard

Thanks for the comment Ernie, and the likes. The frame of the gun slide being assembled with the partly completed gun carriage in the background. A trial fit of thwart number three, the gun slide and the mast step, with the handle of a craft knife being used to locate the hole that has to be drilled in the step. The dowel supplied for the mast is 12mm and the lower end has to be reduced to 10mm to fit through the thwart and into the step. I have not yet done this so the knife handle was used as a proxy. The nearly complete gun carriage and slide with their blackened cannon. The formed mast step and a few small parts are also visible. The two blocks with the brass straps at the front of the carriage are to locate the bowsprit, if fitted. It isn't fitted there on the model, but held in brackets on the side of the boat (visible in the photo above). There are actually two bowsprits, one slightly smaller than the other, and they are held one on each side. A dry fit of the first three thwarts and the gun slide. As others have reported, there is a gap between the slide and the first two thwarts which increases towards the bow. As I mentioned in my first post, the foredeck as made does not agree with the diagram in the plan nor the photo on the box lid - it is quite a bit higher. And so the front of the slide where it rests on the foredeck is higher than it should be and as a result the slide is lifted off the first two thwarts. It seems the model has been partly redesigned but not everything was checked. The slide was modified so that it now sits on all three thwarts and on the foredeck. The slide before modification, with the block of wood showing the size of the gap. The slide after modification - a tapered strip of wood glued to the bottom of the slide. The stern bench seats and the swivel gun supports installed. Cheers Richard

Hi, There has been a bit of a break in modelling, but back to it now. The instructions would have you make the cap rail (gunnel) by cutting part of the supplied 3.5x10 timber into short trapezoidal sections, then gluing these back together in such a fashion as to give the necessary curve towards the bow. This seemed rather complex, and as edge bending the timber was never going to work, the outline of the hull was traced onto some sheet wood and the various sections cut out. Two of the cap rail sections stained and ready for fitting. The stain used was India Ink, which worked very well, though as it is water-based, the grain was raised slightly and a very light sanding was required before a second coat was applied. The two rubbing strakes high on the hull were stained and pre-bent before gluing in place. A mix of PVA plus a few drops of CA were used. Tape was sufficient to hold the strakes in place while the glue dried. The complete cap rail stained and in place. The foredeck and transom have been painted red. The outside of the hull was then painted. As the wood used for the planking on the lower part of the hull was quite coarse grained, putty was used to fill the grain before an undercoat was sprayed on (from a rattle can). The completed paint job. A clear satin finish is yet to be done. The decorations on the stern were picked out in gold, though the colour is not especially apparent in the photo. Cheers Richard

Thanks for all the "Likes". Along each side of the hull is a rubbing strake, which needs to be formed from 3.5x5 wood, and edge-bent to conform to the shape of the hull. The locations of the strakes were marked on the hull, and a flexible rule was used to transfer the required curve to cardboard. The flexible rule laid on the hull, the tape is only holding it in place for the photo. The timber strips were soaked in hot water for about 20 minutes then bent using finger pressure only and using the curve on the cardboard as a guide. The two strakes formed but not glued in place. Masking tape was sufficient to hold the strakes in place while the glue dried. The next job was fashioning the two small gun supports. These run upwards from the rear deck, are flush against the side of the hull and are notched to go over the stringers and the cap rail. There are two rear benches which are themselves notched to allow fitting over the gun support (and the ribs). The benches are then glued onto the stringer and fitted flush against the hull. If the instructions were to be followed in the order given, you would have installed the benches first, then puzzled about how you were going to fit the gun supports behind them. Clearly the supports must be fitted first. A cardboard template was made to ease the fashioning of the supports. As the supports fit flush against the hull, the necessary curve for this was obtained by placing the flexible rule against the outside of the hull, then transferring this shape to a piece of cardboard. Some trial and error gave the locations of the required notches. The template was then used to copy the shape to the wood. The flexible rule bent around the hull. The rule and the cardboard template. The two gun supports and the benches shaped and ready for final finishing and fitting. Cheers.

Next job was making and installing the gratings. As with the shutters, these should have been assembled on the cutouts from the deck, but as I no longer had them, Plan B was started. Paper templates of each opening were made and the frames of 2x2 timber were sized and glued to the templates. The two larger openings were subdivided into four, the two smaller ones into three. The gratings themselves were assembled from the pre-cut material, keeping in mind other builder's comments that Panart only provided barely enough material. And yes, I did run out and had to use some gratings left over from some other kit. Fortunately, these gratings were very close in size to the Panart material. Once all the individual gratings were made, they were glued to the paper template, which was dyed black before doing so. I then stained the gratings before fixing them in place in the deck openings. Cheers Richard

Neddie, it's been a long time since I glued up the pinnace hull, but I'm reasonably sure I would have used a strip of masking tape across the plank (the first layer) and wrapped over the top of the bulkhead to hold the edge-glued plank in place while the glue dried. If you try and fit a plank, without glue, you'll see what I mean. And not the high quality model-type masking tape either, just the cheaper paper stuff. And as Lou (ASAT) said, be careful of getting glue on the inside of the planks - it's a bugger to get off later. Cheers Richard

You could also put cling wrap on the edge of the bulkhead to prevent the planks being glued to them.

Hi, This is a build log of Panart’s 1/16 scale, Armed Pinnace, though as I commenced this model quite a number of years ago, the log actually starts from where I finished back then. If I’d known then what I know now about model ship/boat building, I would have approached the build of this kit somewhat differently. I would have planked the hull using scale lengths, for instance. Also I would have thought ahead about the colour scheme and painted/stained various parts before assembling. I’d finished the basic triple-planked hull construction and done a reasonable amount of work on the interior. I was however not happy with the wood supplied for the outer planking as I thought the grain was too obvious for my liking. The instructions say that this wood is walnut, but it looks as if it might be beech with a very pronounced flecked grain. I did use this for the hull below the waterline as this is to be painted and the grain won’t be a problem. Above the waterline I used walnut strips which I had available. The two different types of wood can be clearly seen in the photos. Several drop planks can be seen at the bow in the photo below. Other build logs mention a problem with the foredeck being undersized, but I cannot remember if I had that particular problem, though the appearance of the deck as I’ve built it, does not quite match the drawing on the plan. This may affect the installation of the gun slide, so we’ll see. As well as the hull planking, I’d finished installing the ribs, the stringers, the decks, planking at the stern and bow and fashioned and glued in place the bow hatch. The instructions actually say to fit the cap rail (that goes on top of the planking and the ribs) before putting the ribs in place, but this would have been extremely awkward as the ribs would have had to butt up against both the deck and the cap rail. Very fiddly indeed. Instead the ribs were installed and easily trimmed at the top ready for the cap rail at a later date. Then the next thing to do was to reacquaint myself with the plans and the instructions, the latter not being the greatest. The infill blocks between the ribs at deck level were installed and the decorative nails at the rib/stringer junctions were pushed home after drilling pilot holes. The supplied nails were shortened as they were not meant to penetrate all the way through the planking. The stern hatch cover was made and glued in place. The shuttering was then made. This was actually the very last of the instructions, which doesn’t make sense as these need to be fitted before the interior of the boat, including the cannon carriage and slide, is completed. I also didn’t follow the instructions anyway, but simply fitted and glued the transverse planks directly to the deck. The cutouts from the deck that I should have used, gluing the planks to these before putting the shutter in place, had gone missing anyway. The shutters completely installed but not yet sanded. The anti-slip strips were cut to size and glued onto the shutters. A strip of wood was taped to the shutters to allow the strips to be aligned. The partly assembled gratings, which will cover the four remaining holes in the deck, are also visible in the above photo. These will be the subject of the next post. Cheers. Richard

Ok Glenn, I was a bit worried there 😀.

Er, Glenn..., I could be horribly wrong here, but haven't you got the lower trestle tree upside down? Richard

Hi Scott, I built this kit about 35 years ago, so my memory is a little vague. But I think that if you check the height of the mizzen mast as shown on the kit plan, it is quite a bit less than the height that Marquardt argues is correct. He goes into a fair bit of detail about this. Cheers Richard

I have one of the Perma Grit tools - a sanding block with coarse on one side and fine on the other, though I now rarely use the coarse side. I bought this about 25 years ago and it has been well and truly used, initially on RC model aircraft and now on model ships. Neither side has worn out, and I was actually using it this morning (the fine side, along with normal sandpaper). Like all tools, this sanding block has its uses, but it won't do everything 😀. Cheers Richard

Way back in 2000, I visited New Zealand and had the chance to look at the preserved remains of the Edwin Fox at Picton. I took photos, but as I wasn't interested in building model ships at that time, the photos are more general than specific for modelling purposes. A selection is below. It is interesting to note the external planking of the hull - double planked, with the second layer being vertical amidships and then fanning out fore and aft. The hull was also coppered and one photo clearly shows the difference in appearance of the copper plates depending on whether they were above or below the waterline. Internally, there is a lot of iron bracing. The following text is courtesy of Wikipedia. Edwin Fox is the world's second oldest surviving merchant sailing ship, and the only surviving ship that transported convicts to Australia. She is unique in that she is the "only intact hull of a wooden deepwater sailing ship built to British specifications surviving in the world outside the Falkland Islands". Edwin Fox carried settlers to both Australia and New Zealand and carried troops in the Crimean War. The ship is dry-docked at The Edwin Fox Maritime Centre at Picton in New Zealand. She was built of teak in Calcutta in 1853 and her maiden voyage was to London via the Cape of Good Hope. She then went into service in the Crimean War as a troop ship, and later carrying passengers and cargo. In 1856 she began her first voyage to Melbourne, Australia, carrying passengers, then moved to trading between Chinese ports. In 1858 she was chartered by the British Government as a convict ship bound for Fremantle, Western Australia. In 1867 she was converted from a full-rigged ship to a barque, and from 1873 served on the emigrant route to New Zealand, making four voyages. Edwin Fox was overtaken by the age of steam, and in the 1880s she was refitted as a floating freezer hulk for the booming sheep industry in New Zealand. She was towed to Picton in the South Island on 1897 where she initially continued as a freezer ship, before being further dismembered in 1905 when converted into a coal store hulk. By this time she had long since lost her rigging and masts, and suffered holes cut in her sides and the removal of most fittings. The ship was in use until 1950, then abandoned to rot at her moorings. In 1965 she was bought by the Edwin Fox Society for the nominal sum of one shilling. In 1967 she was towed to Shakespeare Bay where she remained for the next 20 years. After much further fundraising the ship was refloated and towed to her final home, a dry dock on the Picton waterfront. She floated in and the dock was drained to begin restoration. Initially it was planned to restore the ship completely, replacing rigging and refurbishing the interior. It has since been decided that this is not practical, not only for reasons of finance but because the timbers required are no longer available. She is thus preserved as a hull with an adjacent informative museum.