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Hi Gary,

Congrats on the William Underwood!!! As per usual, your work is incredible!

Looking forward to your build of the Pelican

Awesome! Great job on a beautiful boat. 

Kudos on your build and your very informative log! She looks beautiful. I’d be afraid to put her in the water😂  Nicely done!

This is from: https://maineanencyclopedia.com/bath-historic-register/

SEGUIN (tugboat)

[Bath Marine Museum] Named for Seguin Island in the Kennebec River, the tugboat was launched in Bath in 1884. For most of her career the tug operated out of Bath, and was used in her early days to tow four and five masted sailing vessels, as well as barges, from the sea to various parts of the Kennebec River. During the latter stages of her working life the Seguinoperated out of Belfast on Penobscot Bay from 1950 to 1969 until she was retired. She also towed cargoes as far south as Norfolk, Virginia, as well as tending to oil tankers and destroyers.

The Seguin is the oldest steam operated tug in Maine and possibly in the country. She was considered to be a very reliable craft. She suffered through only one serious mishap, a collision with a submerged pier of the Richmond, Maine bridge. The tug had a four foot hole opened in her side. Divers patched, raised, repaired, and recommissioned the little steamer. Her 400 horsepower engine was built by the Portland Company in 1909. For many years the Seguin trademark was a large three-footed, white wooden rooster perched on her pilot house. In the 1920s the rooster was mysteriously stolen. No trace was ever found. The the tug had been the only one on the Kennebec River for many years.

The Seguin has had four different owners during her colorful career. It is 88 feet long and 19 feet 8 inched at the beam. Her relatively shallow 12 foot draft was ideally suited for working on the river. Now at the Bath Marine Museum on the Kennebec River, it is a major part of its substantial collection.* [Bath Marine Museum photo]

She is looking so great! I’m out for a short trip cruising coastal Maine. When we went by Seguin Island I thought of you and this build. 👏🏻

Looking great! Nice progress. 
 

Also nice bass! I don’t know that I’d risk with those lurking about. 🤨

Nice job! Looking so good. 

Gary,

 I‘be been away from modeling and forum for a bit (life happening), but I’m so excited that you’re working on another project. Great lead in! I’m onboard. 

Hey Tim - The Seguin is a beautiful boat. I can’t wait to watch your progress. 

Really nice job! You should be proud. 

Bravo Gary! You’ve done it again. I look forward to your builds so much. So amazing. Your attention to detail makes everything look so real. Thanks for sharing with us. 

Really nice job! She looks great!

Wow! Melissa she looks awesome! Nice work. 

14 hours ago, FriedClams said:

Hey Paul.  That’s not the easiest hull shape to plank.  If it’s your intention to fill and sand, I think you should be fine.  You can fill the gaps and build up material where needed to obtain smooth fair lines.

 

You probably already know this, but the NRG has a couple of great articles on hull planking.  Being new to this, you may find them helpful in better understanding the process more completely.  I found them invaluable.

 

Gary

 

 

Thanks for the feedback Gary. I know it looks pretty rough right now, but I’m thinking that with fill and sanding I’ll be able to get a fair shape. 
 

I’m also going to look up the articles you mention above. 

Wow! I've been going through the planking primer and now see how rough my planking looks!😳 Well, I'm going to forge ahead and stick to my plan. I will try to incorporate some of the information within the primer as I plank the other side.

It's been a while since I've updated my log. I am making progress and learning a lot about planking. I have finished planking one side and have a third of the other finished. When I was working on the first side I got a bit of tunnel vision and tried my best to fit the planks contiguously, but soon found that was not possible. I ended up having to cut a lot of planks to fit my gaps. It was like a puzzle. Anyway, on the other side I am allowing for the gaps, but hoping I will not have as many fill pieces to fit in. In the end, I will be using a filler and sanding, so I'm hoping it won't matter.

10 minutes ago, FriedClams said:

Thanks for the kind words Paul.  But I'm far from a master, and I I've picked up many tips and techniques from our fellow builders here at MSW. 

Any progress on Mighty Mite?

Yes, I am making progress on the Mighty Mite, thanks for asking. I just haven't updated my log yet, so I'll go and do that now.

Gary, once again - amazing work! I love the obligatory giant glasses shots. They always remind us of the scale you’re working with. You are the master. 

So cool! Looks great! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

I’m a sucker for anything sci-fi and space craft.  Looking forward to your log. 
 

Paul

53 minutes ago, FriedClams said:

I just found your log Paul, and a very interesting build this is going to be.  I agree, there is something about a tug - the shape and power of the craft.  They just command your attention.  And thanks for the historical background on the builder and the links.  Putting a story to a model breathes real life into them.

 

Good luck with your new project.  You keep raising the bar on the build difficulty, and I'm sure it will turn out great, as have your other three.  Good solid start, by the way.  

 

Gary

 

 

Thanks so much, Gary. Your comments are always welcome and appreciated. 
 

Paul

Gary! It’s amazing! Looks great and I love when you put a pair of glasses next to your work. It totally reminds me of how small a scale you’re working with and totally gives me perspective. Kudos my friend 

A short update. 
 

I attached the keel and started to hang the planks. 
 

A shout out to @MrBlueJacket. There was a small booklet included with my Swampscott Dory kit. It was a general information and instructions for planked kits. It is proving to be invaluable to me. 

So, my next build was a complete surprise to me. Knowing my love for tugboats, my wife gave me the Mighty Mite steam powered harbor tugboat kit from NautiCurso. It is a plank on bulkhead construction and 1/64 scale.

My further research tells me that there wasn’t an actual tugboat called Mighty Mite, but I guess it is representative of small steam powered harbor tugboats that were built in Philadelphia starting in 1887.

They were built at the Neafie & Levy Ship and Engine Building Company which was one of the earliest iron shipbuilders and the chief rival to William Cramp in 19th-century Philadelphia.  It was started in 1844 by Thomas Reaney, Jacob Neafie and William Smith; Smith died in 1845 and John Levy took his place; Reaney left in 1859 to start his own shipyard in Chester and from then on it was Neafie & Levy, until it closed in 1907.  The shipyard was located in the Kensington section of Philadelphia, on land now occupied by a Philadelphia Electric power plant: the plant's pier is believed to date from the site's days as a shipyard.  See it from the air on Google here. (*note: taken from http://www.shipbuildinghistory.com/shipyards/19thcentury/neafie.htm)

I have searched these forums for build logs of the Mighty Mite, but couldn’t find any. I can’t imagine I am the first and if anybody out there has built one of these kits or scratch built one, I would love to hear from you.

The first image below is of the kit contents.

The image below is of the building board and the frames that I cut out of their sheets.

Here I have mounted the frames onto the building board.

The brick walls look fantastic Gary! Nice start. 

Really nice work, Grant!