Richard44

Hi Allan, Thanks for that info. The kit will still build up to a neat little model, but maybe I'll omit the nameplate that says "Captain Smith's Shallop". 🙂 Cheers

Other activities are taking a fair bit of my time, so this post will be primarily photos. The first two strakes in place. All the planks are spiled and laser-cut and only clean up of the char was needed. The boat is generally clinker-built, except for the two upper strakes which are carvel. There is one strake which abuts the nextmost upper strake in carvel fashion, but overlaps the strake below in clinker fashion. As there was no guidance as to how much overlap was required, I decided to work down from the top and add this hybrid strake last. There was a risk otherwise of the topmost strake being either too high or too low against the frames. This photo shows the topmost strake in place. The planking complete. Some minor trimming of the notches in the frames was occasionally necessary. Of more concern though, the upper planks were all slightly short, and short (a few mm) lengths of suitable scrap had to be inserted to close the gaps against the stern post. These aren't obvious from normal viewing distance. It's possible that I didn't fair the frames enough. The parts for the fore and aft decks; parts 47 an 48 have their numbers transposed though this was obvious enough. The thwarts and decks added to the hull. Cheers.

Hi Richard, This is the method I used to copper my Bellona (back in the days before the internet). All mentions are to pages in portrait orientation. I painted some sheets of photo-quality A4 paper with Humbrol copper paint, using a reasonably broad brush and brushing straight up and down, not trying to eliminate brush marks. I then marked the page along its long edges, with the marks being the length of a copper plate apart. A rotary cutter was run across the page from mark-to-mark, just lightly enough to score the paper but not cut through. The top and bottom were marked with the width of the plates, then the cutter was used to cut the page into long strips, with each strip resembling a line of plates. These were easily glued to the hull using ordinary PVA. Some final touch with a fine brush was done where white showed. Perhaps not a method agreeable to everybody, but it worked for me 🙂. The photo shows the bow of my Bellona. Cheers

After seeing JamesH's review of this kit (here) I decided it would be a good one for me to build. Small, as I have limited space, only one mast and no rat lines 😁. I then found the videos by Olha Batchvarov (here), and she made it look so easy. There are a few members on MSW who have mentioned the shallop, but as far as I am aware, there is no actual build log. There are three main jigs to be used at various times, all of which were easy enough to assemble, though some easing of slots was required. The first jig is used to build the 20 main frames, plus there are five cant frames (each with its own jig), three at the bow and two at the stern. The latter consist of two futtocks (I assume that’s what they're called) joined by a cross piece (chock), while the former have two futtocks and a floor that overlaps them. All pieces have laser etch marks to show how much fairing is required to allow a fair run of the planks. The boat is clinker-built, so all frames are notched for the planks. The illustrations on how to assemble the main frames were somewhat confusing (there are no written instructions), but after some thinking and doing a couple of dry fits, it became obvious that frames 3-12 (towards the stern) had to have the futtocks and the floor placed with the etch marks downwards, while the other frames (towards the bow) needed to be placed with etch marks upwards. The floors were always placed on top of the futtocks. The frames in the jig, and a close-up of frame 21, showing the fairing. I faired the futtocks and the floors before assembly. The cant frames were difficult as some fairly precise sanding of angles was required to get the three pieces of each frame assembled correctly in its little jig. Again, thinking before glueing was definitely needed. The parts for the cant frames and their jigs…. ….and assembled. The keel, stem and sternpost were glued together, let dry, and placed in jig 2. As there was a small amount of sideplay, four completed frames were carefully glued in position, making sure that they and the keel were correctly centred on each other and in the jig. By doing this, the keel was kept firmly in place. All other frames were then glued to the keel. Two stringers were soaked, bent, then glued to the frames. The keelson and some other pieces were added. Next up, planking. Cheers

Thanks Steven. Another trick is to disassemble the pegs and reassemble them so that you get a much larger flat, and tapered, surface that will help with the clamping. Cheers PS Those pegs have seen a lot of models. 🙂

You can also use normal pegs and cut them down to suit. These were reversed before doing so.

Very impressive. How did you form the "J" shaped pieces? Are they styrene? Cheers

Are you sure about that? Seems odd to me. Is your keel assembly fully seated in the jig? You may need to ease the slots at each end of the jig to allow this. Maybe try dry fitting a frame or two and see whether they are correctly fitted on the keel and in the jig. Should be a neat little model. Edit. You may need to ease the slots in the jig to allow the frames to fit snugly without having to push them hard. Cheers

Impressive!

Thanks Steven. I never saw the TV show, so can't comment on Sigrid's acting ability. Didn't see Sea Change either. 😁

Thanks everybody for the likes and comments. I remain in awe of your skill with wood, B.E., and yours with card Chris. On to the next build, a wooden boat this time. The build log will start soon. Cheers

Next thing to do is form, from styrene stock, the frameworks, fore and aft, that support the sunscreens. No particular problem, but a bit fiddly. The stays now have to be fitted. The two fore stays pass through the roof of the wheelhouse and through the sunscreen. The roof had points marked where the stays should go but the sunscreen didn't. Two templates were therefore used to locate the correct positions on the sunscreen for the required holes. The first template was chopped around until it fitted around the stays which were temporarily in position. This template was then used to give reasonably accurate locations for the holes on the second template and these were fine tuned and marked on the actual sunscreen. The stays were then fastened in position as was the sunscreen. The two aft stays presented a problem as they passed through the roof of the deckhouse and also the railing. No points were marked on the roof. The use of a template as I did for the fore stays was not an option, so a strip of card was used as a guide to finish with a best guess as to where the stays passed through the roof and the railing. Only one chance at this. Close but not perfect. The rudder was attached and I used the finest chain I had (instead of the printed option) to run from it to the rear of the deck. Finally, seats, tables, a barbecue and some buckets were added. The kit had some problems, nothing serious, occasional misidentification of parts. Some of the sheets were printed on both sides, but often the patterns didn't match, the rudder being an example. Instructions could definitely be better including more diagrams. Thanks for all the likes and the comments. Cheers

Agreed!

Various pieces added to the cabin - towing mast, funnel, chimney, whistle, nav lights, corrugated iron water tank and an iron bar across the rear of the cabin to provide protection from the towing rope (when used). Like other parts of the model, the winch can be made detailed (my choice) or simply. The image shows the parts for the detailed version at the top, the parts for the simple version at the bottom, and in between, the diagram is the only guide as to how the detailed pieces go together. Ah well. As I could barely make out that diagram, I decided to make a copy of the detailed pieces and attempt to put them together. It took some fiddling, but I did end up with a reasonable version, not quite as it should have been but close. I then built the final version, which looks very reasonable at normal viewing distance. Some styrene was used in place of card. Next, the railings. These were either printed or lasercut. I didn’t like the printed ones, so used the lasercut ones, and to represent the metal netting, I used some nylon net from the local fabric store. This was glued to the lasercut pieces, very carefully using gel CA, then trimmed. The railings were then glued in place, again using small drops of gel CA. The two ladders going from the main to the upper deck were assembled and glued in position. Cheers.

Hi Keith, I too am in Aus, and have had no problems with either uploading or downloading. Hope your problem clears up. Cheers

Thanks for all the likes . The parts for the wheel house. The instructions suggested that the main part of the wheelhouse (G3) be cut so that you would get four separate pieces - front, back and two sides. Then after gluing in place the internal details, glue the four pieces back together - seemed odd to me, so I didn’t. I simply folded G3 around the bottom (the yellowish piece) after adding the internal front and back doubled walls. The bottom was too small and some card had to be used to fill the gap between it and the walls. The completed wheel house, including a lasercut wheel, in place on the top deck. The passenger cabin was a simple unit, and it was glued to the top deck behind the wheelhouse, and this deck was then fixed in place, resting on the framework above and around the engine, and on the edges of the paddlewheel boxes. The engine is barely visible from the front and not at all from the sides, but I know it’s there! Cheers

So, having sorted out the paddlewheels, time to fix them in place. The framework aound the engine space has also been completed. The kit provides extra doors etc so that these can be doubled to give some impression of depth. Two of the extras are the fire extinguishers and the life buoys (these actually have the boat’s name on them). This photo shows those as printed, and cut out, edge coloured and ready for mounting. Next are the boxes that cover the paddlewheels, only two parts each but multiple bends. The doubled fire extinguisher and the life buoy can be seen on one. Cheers

The paddlewheels could also be made as a simple version, or a more detailed version. I decided on the detailed version which has lasercut "wheels", rim, spokes and hub, plus card blades. These are all quite delicate, so to minimise the chances of damage while these were being assembled, a simple jig was devised to hold the rims in place while the blades were glued between them. This was successful and the completed paddlewheels looked very good. BUT, BUT, when I tried a test fit of the paddlewheels into the slots on the sides of the deck, they wouldn’t fit! 😖😖 What the…☹️. Everything seemed to have been assembled according to the instructions, but as I had decided to build the detailed version, I totally ignored the instructions, and in particular the printed parts, for the simple version. Big mistake 🥴, as if I had taken notice I would have seen that the blades needed to be inside the actual rim, rather than standing proud as I had made them. Now what 🥴. Trimming the blades flush was not an option, as most of the blade would have been removed, and damage was almost guaranteed. If they had been made of wood I could probably have de-glued them using isopropyl alcohol, but the fragility of the wheels and the unknown effect of the alcohol on the lasercut material suggested this was not going to work - I did try and it didn't. I therefore got in touch with Jeroen from World of Paperships and he very kindly sent me a replacement lasercut sheet free of charge 🙂🙂. So, paddlewheels, second attempt. Cheers

Hi Andrew, No, not much chance of seeing much once the superstructure goes on. A lot of models, ships/boats, aircraft, whatever, seem to have a lot of hidden detail that only the builder knows about. Sort of the modeller's curse - do I add that bit that will take much patience and a fair amount of time, knowing full well that no-one will ever see it. Ah well, it is a hobby 😁. Cheers

Thanks for your comment B.E. I've visited Echuca quite a few times, firstly about 20 years ago. I thought then that I'd like to make a model of one of the paddle steamers, but no models were available.

The paddlesteamer Pevensey was built in 1910 at Moama on the Murray River (Australia), as the non-powered barge called Mascotte, but in 1911 the vessel was equipped with a steam engine and renamed Pevensey. This turned it into one of the largest towing boats on the Murray, and it itself was capable of carrying 120 tons of cargo. In 1932 she was almost destroyed by fire, was rebuilt in 1933-35, ran a regular cargo run in 1939, but was then made redundant and tied up at Mildura. In 1975 she was slipped at Moama and completely restored. A 1983 Australian TV series called "All the Rivers Run" starred her as the PS Philadelphia. The Pevensey is now based at Echuca and runs tourist trips along the Murray. The kit from World of Paperships (from the Netherlands) has two sheets of general information (with some photos), one sheet of diagrams, four sheets of English instructions, five sheets of printed parts (some sheets are printed on both sides) and one small sheet of lasercut parts. The sheet of diagrams is complex and in places difficult to follow, hopefully this won't cause problems later. The bottom of the hull was tacked to a sheet of glass to act as a building board for the initial stages of the build. Two dabs from a glue stick sufficed for this. The sides were glued to the frames and the rubbing strakes added (forgot to take photos at this stage) then the deck was fixed in place. A portion of the foredeck had been removed and a replacement glued lower down to represent a shallow cargo hold. A cutout was also made to allow for the engine space. There are triangular supports between the underside of the deck and the sides. To ensure that the deck did not develop any waviness, a small steel rule was clamped to the top of the deck (the hull was off the glass and upside down for this step) while the supports were glued in place. Many of the parts of the boat could be made either as a simple version or a detailed version. This photo shows the simple version of the engine and its surrounding safety railings, folded up from the provided card print. The detailed version has 40 parts... ....and is the one I built. Unfortunately, I've somehow lost/deleted the photos I took of the completed engine, standing alone. A template was provided to allow construction of the main framework that is around the engine space, and it, and the safety railings, were made from 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 mm square styrene stock. The framework supports the base of the superstructure that will be above it, and so had to be carefully fitted so that it was flat, even and of the correct height. Temporary "scaffolding" of wood strips and folded card was put in place to achieve this. The engine, engine space and surrounding framework (the latter is not quite complete). There is a small crew cabin just aft of the engine space. Cheers

Well done!

Thanks for your comments Egilman. My short build log has turned into a very interesting history lesson. 😁

Duh, stupid autocorrect. And I didn't see it even when proofreading! I'll correct it. Cheers

Many, many years ago I was an avid builder of plastic aircraft kits. One of them was the Monogram model of the Wright Brothers Flyer (scale was about 1:40). This didn’t survive a house move so I made a second. This too did not survive, so number three was built, and I still have it. Slightly the worse after a couple of house moves. I was idly browsing the net when I saw an ad for a 1:72 brass model of the Flyer, so I thought why not. The model is produced by a Japanese company called Aerobase (aerobase.jp), and comes in a stout box with two sheets of PE, three A4 pages of diagrams and a black acrylic display base. A cast (?resin) engine and figure representing Orville are included. The diagrams are annotated with instructions, unfortunately these are in Japanese, though they seem to be adequate - but we’ll see. The model is interesting in that most of the pieces are attached to each other with tiny tags, with the diagrams showing glue being used only occasionally. There are only 21 pieces plus the ribs, so this will not be a long build log. The first step is to form the forward framework that holds the two elevators. This framework is in one piece and only needs simple bending to form the correct shape. Visible in the photo are the tags used to attach parts to each other (one next to the point of the knife blade), these are vertical (in the photo) here, while other tags, at angles, will be used when rigging the plane. The framework with the lower elevator in place. Both elevators in place. The ribs for the wing are to be fitted into tiny slots, and the diagram shows that these slots then need to be squeezed tight. I tried this but didn’t have suitable pliers so I used drops of gel CA instead. The lower wing partly complete with a rib ready to be fixed. The lower wing complete. Both wings complete with the interplane struts ready to be glued in place. The struts have locating pins top and bottom which make assembly relatively easy. The two wings assembled together, with some “authentic” wing warping visible in places. I tried to remove the warping, but there was a limit as to how much pressure I was willing to apply to the wing. The rudders that needed only a few bends to be formed. The assembled plane, though without rigging. The plane rigged, but no pilot yet. The kit came with some normal thread for the rigging, but I chose to use one of the fine, elastic-type threads, not EZ-Line but something similar (AK Thin). Rigging was a real exercise in patience. There was not a lot of room to get thread, tweezers and fingers in simultaneously. Several breaks were required to allow stress levels to drop. Mounted on the display base. Some of the diagrams weren’t as clear as they could have been, and the order of assembly appeared to be decidedly odd with the ribs apparently being added (Step 5) after the plane was assembled (Steps 2,3,4). Not what I did, as this would have been near impossible. Anyway, a neat little model. Cheers