Papa

Very clever clamping idea for the stem. I’ll have to remember this!

The wale is also a problem. It is not consistently proud of the upper planks.  Probably can fix this with very careful sanding. 

Thanks for the advice. I had pretty much decided to sand the plankshear down and put on a piece of strip wood.  I tried just building up the low sections with smaller lengths but it looks messy. Better to sand it all out and add a new piece.

Planking is progressing nicely.

Hmmm. A bit out of focus. I will have to try again.

I recently started my Fujimi A 6A intruder Knight Riders kit that has been on my shelf for at least 25 years. This is the seat module. The kit included pilot and navigator figures but I lost the head of one 😯. I decide just to omit them.

Finished captain’s cabin/galley waiting to be glued into place.

On 9/17/2019 at 9:05 PM, Duanelaker said:

lso recently read the log of a completed pilot boat where the creator states that if he ever did a solid hull he wouldn’t get hung up on things and would make sure it was boat shaped and move on.  I am following his advise and not stressing about it matching the plans to a tee as long as it looks like a boat and I am happy with it.

Right on! I doubt that anyone who looks at the model will have a set of templates to check that the hull exactly matches the prototype. If it looks good it is good. Don’t obsess over the exact shape. When I made my Young America, Newsboy, and the Essex, once I had a smooth hull I was happy. I never worried if the shape was exact.

Fantastic detail!

10 minutes ago, Bob Cleek said:

Building these old Model Shipways kits can be a real education. You really had to bring some skill to the table to build a ship model in the days before laser-cut parts and internet advice forums. Once they had a couple of these old kits under their belts, the old timers were all "scratch-builders." These days, kit models are assembled, not built! 

When I started my Caldercraft Granado several years back I had the same impression.  This is just a plastic kit made of wood instead of plastic. I built the Young America, Newsboy, and Essex from yellow box kits. Much more satisfying than today’s laser cut kits, though I’ve done my share of those! The instructions in the yellow box kits were like: take the pieces of wood and turn them into a ship. Refer to the plans for hints. Also be prepared to purchase 1000s more blocks as we don’t give you nearly enough.

On 9/18/2019 at 11:10 PM, Javlin said:

Interesting project off the beaten path Kevin

Yes, I agree.  I haven't seen a build log for it before.  It is a model I've wanted to build for a long time; mainly because when I first discovered Model Shipways around 1966 or so, the City of Pekin was about the only kit I could afford. Never did purchase it though since I was lusting after the Young America kit. My new wife got me the YA as a wedding present!  I found the current CoP on eBay a couple years ago and it has in my stash daring me to start it.

On 9/17/2019 at 5:49 PM, Roger Pellett said:

Very small two bladed propellers can be made by twisting thin wire into a figure 8 shape, skewed to represent pitch.  The two lobes can then be filled in with modelling putty or even thick paint.

 

Roger

That is a good idea. I used a thin brass strip, rounded the edges and gave it a twist.  I think I will try your wire idea.

Looks like I need to touch up some of the paint.😑

Starting the deck cabins. I made a half dozen forward cabins before I was happy with result shown here.  The port and starboard walls of the captain’s cabin are shown under construction.

I would never guess that this is a plastic model. 

looks great.  Paintwork is so clean and sharp!

I started this kit a while ago and have postponed starting a build log for no particular reason. I am a professional procrastinator.

This is a very old kit with minimal parts.  A machine carved hull; some blocks of wood for the deck cabins, some strip wood; and various white metal castings. There are 2 sheets of plans. One for the original tow barge and a second set showing the conversion to steam power.

When I took the contents photo I had already started to lay out some reference lines on the deck.

Some observations:

1. I discovered that the blocks for the deck houses were sized totally different from the plans.  I planned to scratch build these anyway

2. The strip wood were of sizes that were way off scale for their required application.

3. The bow shape did not agree with the plans; hence all the plastic wood.

As in all solid hull kits I've seen, the bulwarks are oversized by design and have to be shaved down to the proper thickness.

The kit included scribed sheetwood for the decking but i decided to lay individual planks with 1/32x1/32 stripwood. Initially I varnished the deck and then later decided to paint it deck grey.

After installing the decking one has to cut a bazillion little notches in the bulwarks.

Most recently I test fit her on a walnut base.

At this stage I installed the rudder.  This was a bit of an issue.  The casting included had no resemblance to the rudder in the plans.  Also, the drawing was too small to really understand what the rudder actually looked like.  Thanks to Google, I found an archeology study of some sunken barges of the same period as the CoP that had a good drawing of a typical rudder.  I scratch built a reasonable copy for my CoP.  I also had to scratch build 2 props as these were not provided in the kit. The result is passable, but they are not very visible anyway.

Next step is to start making the deck houses.

Final note: I am building the CoP at the same time as I am planking my Charles W. Morgan.  I need to do something as the glue dries or the planks soak. LOL

and myself also.  I organize stuff and then I can never find anything.

PS. It’s nice to see a work are as messy as mine😂

Interesting aircraft. I have to admit I had never heard of it. Nice job on the shark nose painting. Was that freehand?

Nice work. Both cases are very nice.

Perhaps I should make the tow barge version showing it prior to the conversion to steam.

In between laying planking on my C W Morgan, I have been building the old Model Shipways “Yellow Box” City of Pekin, steam canal barge. Today it seemed like a good idea to install the props, prior to setting it on a base. But, the bag of fittings did not include the props. I purchased the kit on eBay several years ago. I don’t know if the seller lost them or MS didn’t include them. They need to be rather small, about 1/8th inch in diameter. (Model scale is 1/8” to 1’). To get to my point I haven’t been able to find props that small at any of the model ship stores. The smallest seems to be 20mm. I can probably scratch build something passable but I am wondering if any of the shipwrights out there have any suggestions for a source.  I was thinking that perhaps an old plastic warship kit might have something useable.

Ron Gove

I haven’t posted progress for a while since the admiral and I were touring Colorado.  Beautiful country!

Since we’ve returned I’ve finished planking the “A” band. Slow work.

Dan,

do you ever sleep? You are turning out beautiful paper models faster than I can read the postings!

Ron Gove