Paul Le Wol

Hey Everyone, I hope your week went well. Thanks so much for dropping by and for the Likes. Spent the week adding small bits and pieces starting with the braces that are mounted inboard of the grommets for the clew rigging. Made new ones out of pear. They were mounted and the hole was drilled through the plank. The drill bit was used as a guide to glue the grommet to the outboard side of the plank. A plate for the hawse hole was made from 1/4”x 3/64” strip I picked up a bag of aquarium pebbles at the Petsmart and used them for ballast. Glued them in with E6000 adhesive. The portholes were installed along with knee braces on the front of the cabin wall. The belaying pins were shown in the plans as being flush with the top of the horizontal part of the rail but I decided to bring them up a little higher Then finally I started the chainplates. The plans show them being mounted though a hole in the rail but but mine were faked. The Billings parts ( on the right ) didn’t seem wide enough to drill a mounting hole in them so I used 1/16” brass strip. One end was bent to hook under the sheer strake ( as shown in the plans ) and the upper end was filed to a sharp edge so that it could be pushed up and under the trim strip beneath the rail. Each strip was pushed into place to make a notch in the trim piece then removed and annealed. A hole was drilled and then it was blackened. Eye bolts will be mounted in the rail above each chainplate. A bit of CA was used to secure the nail in the hole. Next comes the rudder and a stand. See you then.

Hi Everyone, hope you all had a great weekend. Thanks very much to everyone for their Likes and Comments. The week was started by revisiting the portholes. Wanted to see what they looked like if they were blackened. It may have been because I didn’t wait long enough before glazing them but the next day the glazing had reacted with the blackener and turned blue around the edges. Going to leave the portholes brass. Continued planking the cabin roof. Should have pre-painted the planks where they overhang the front of the cabin right from the get go but I wasn’t thinking. Sanded for a couple of hours and then applied the first coat of Tamiya Dark Iron to the roof. Also resumed planking the front wall of the cabin. Second coat of paint to the roof and finished planking the wall. Opened up the holes for the portholes and gave the roof a third coat of paint. Moved down to the bow and started shaping the last frame/bollard out of pear. Next will be finishing the bow. Hope you all have a good week.

Dave, I’m glad to see that you have started your Rattlesnake. I shall take a seat, not right at the back, maybe half way to the back.🙂

Congratulations Dave on the completion of your Lady Nelson. You did a beautiful job. I look forward to your next project.

Hey Dave, I agree with Keith. Your coils look good. Looking at the coil in the stern, maybe you could use the same technique that you used for the anchor and lay something in the bottom of the coil to weigh it down and apply shellac or acrylic to keep its shape.

Hi Cisco, thanks very much for your comment. For the half laps I scored the plank with a razor knife and used the knife to cut a notch back to the scored line. Then sanded the plank with that 3/8”x 3/8” block. The block has 220 grit sand paper stuck to it with double sided tape. The rabbets are made pretty well the same way. The plank is scored with the razor knife and then a chisel is used to remove most of the wood. The sanding block is used to clean up the rabbet. I’ve been using the Mirka sandpaper that I picked up at Lee Valley. It hangs in there for quite a while

Hey Everyone, thanks to all of you for your comments and Likes. This week was spent working on the rails. There is a plank that sits on its edge and runs along the outboard side of the rail. Half lap joints were used at both ends. The half lap scarf joint at the forward end should be tapered but this was just easier for mounting and gluing. The jig was made with scrap pieces of 3/64” plywood from the carrier sheet and the plank is 3/32” x 3/16”. ‘The four pieces of plank were glued on at the rate of one per day. The forward port and starboard pieces required tapering and edge bending The symmetry at the bow is a little off. Three thwarts had to be removed so that the belaying pins could be attached to their undersides. I forgot to do that. If you use the Billings parts there are holes burned right through them and they can be installed any time. A few hours were spent sanding the rails and then they were given a coat of w-o-p. Been jumping back and forth between planking the front wall of the cabin and its roof. The three outboard planks of the roof were glued together before mounting because the first two planks run off the roof before they reach the last bulkhead/frame. A rabbet was cut along the bottom underside to lower the profile where the planks overlap. Finger holes were drilled in the deck planks for removal. They look larger than they actually are. My rough estimate puts them at 1.5 - 2 scale inches For a change of pace the portholes were “ glazed “. Saw someone using this product but can’t remember who. Thank you. It works very well. Placed the portholes on plastic wrap (Handiwrap) and put four drops in each one. Can’t really see them well but here they are after curing for 24 hours. Next will be finishing the roof and the front of the cabin.

Jim, it doesn’t get any better than that. Beautiful

Michael, your Sovereign is amazing and the way that you insert text into the pictures makes it so easy to follow along with your thought processes. Very nice.

Hi robert952, I’m using an iPad so this may not apply to everyone. Go to gallery. At the top of the page there are three pictures. Kit built models, scratch built models and contemporary models. Click the one you want to look at. You can then sort them a number of ways. Most recent, most popular etc. I get 52 pages of models in the kit built section

Hey Glen, it’s just a really good meal. The kind you get at one of your famous catfish diners

Hi Ian,, I know people that do/did that in Niagara Falls NY and Buffalo. Another benefit other than saving money is that you always get to have a great scoff at one of their excellent eateries. 😀

Hi Nils, thank you so much. This scale of boat is a lot easier to work on for me. But at 28” x 28” they do take up a lot of room.

Hi Cisco, thank you very much. Billings has this kit listed in their “ Experienced “ category but I think that if someone took their time with getting the planking right it would be a good project for anyone. I have a couple of wonky spots in the hull but overall it came out fairly straight. At 1/20 scale you sure don’t have to worry about tiny parts.

Hello Everyone, there is a bit more progress to show. Thanks to all of you for your comments and Likes. A template of the fore most frame was made so as to figure out where the rails would end. The kit supplied rails where marked, cut and test fitted to the hull. Once they where close they where used as templates to make new rails out of 3/32” AYS. The port and starboard rails from the stern to midship were glued with pva and clamped. They were made extra wide because I thought it would be easier to trim them later than try to make them more accurately. The remainder of the rails up to the last frame before the stem were moistened, heated, clamped to the spaghetti pot and left overnight. There is a piece of trim that runs under the rail from stem to stern. I used a piece of 1/16”x 1/8” AYS. It had to be shaped at the stern and edge bent at the stem. CA was used at each end and pva was used in between. While all this was going on and glue was drying I started on the doors and trim for the front of the cabin. I had some 1/4” x#18 brass escutcheon pins laying around so they became the doorknobs. Now there’s just a whole bunch of planing and sanding to get the rails to the proper width. After that there is another piece of wood that runs along the top of the rail on its inboard edge

Thank you GrandpaPhil. There has been a lot of models finished lately and I join you in congratulating everyone.👍

Hi Glomar, I’ve used dry transfer lettering on a couple of boats with good success. I think it was Letraset. Probably all depends on if it comes in the font and size you need.

Hi Ian, I realize that this doesn’t help your present situation but, whenever I order something from offshore, I try to find a retailer that offers a postal service option for shipping. Say for example USPS. Even if it initially costs more, you won’t be subject to brokerage fees. Occasionally your shipment may get flagged and you will have to pay GST. I’ve only had that happen a few times. At least this has been my experience.

Hi Dave, glad to see you here. You’re not late, there’s a way to go yet.

Hi Everyone, thanks for dropping by and many thanks for the Likes. I was going to work on the gunwale rails (Billings calls them rails ) but it seemed to me to be better to attach the side walls of the cabin first. These are the kit supplied rails that taper to an end about half way between the front of the cabin and the stern post. If you install them first then the cabin wall would have to drop down to the gunwale strake (?) where they end. Thought there would be too much room for error there. I have some AYC left over from my Cheerful build so the plywood cabin walls will be replaced with it. I also broke one of the plywood parts. They are very tender where the porthole is cut in. The cabin walls curve then twist and then straighten out. At the halfway mark they stop following the planking and head inboard where they attach to the front of the cabin. Some 1/8” basswood parts where made to keep the walls on track. CA was used from the stern post to the first bulkhead and then pva and clamps took over. This is her after a first sanding and application of w-o-p. The red oxide is starting to grow on me. The thwarts have also been finished. I’ve been adding 1/16” x 1/16” strips of basswood along the top plank to give more gluing surface for the rail. Once they are completed the rails can be worked on.

Hi Everyone, thank you for your Likes and Comments. They are always very nice to receive. The veneering of the stem, keel and stern post is finished. I also spent a bit of time this week testing stain and paint colors. The Varithane Espresso turned out to be more black looking than brown so it may be used for the cabin roof. The Minwax Red Mahogany was tested where it will be covered by the deck. The gel stain didn’t cover all that well and it washed off a bit when applying the wipe on poly over it. I also ran a pencil along the tops of the planks to simulate caulking but didn’t really like that. But when the w-o-p was applied over it the graphite, or whatever they make pencils out of these days, it smeared around giving the planks a weathered kind of mildewed look. Between the next two ribs I grated some HB lead from a mechanical pencil and smooshed it around with w-o-p on a cotton swab. That turned out pretty good. Kit supplied Obechi is being used for the floor boards to cover the plywood. The instructions say to score and draw lines on the plywood to simulate planks. The Obechi didn’t like the graphite. It has a deep grain in it. Started making thwarts out of pear to replace the plywood kit-supplied parts. The third test area turned out too dark and blotchy because a second coat was applied before the first one dried. From that point on, the graphite was mixed in a bottle cap with the w-o-p and then applied. The deck boards were made using what I believe is pear also. The floor boards were then finished Next will be making more thwarts and then some work on the gunwales. See you next time.

Hi DeHammer, welcome. The box of your Bluenose No. 576 says that it is laser cut. According to Billings they started using lasers in 1989/1990. So it could be 30 years old. I think it is great that people are buying these old kits and bringing them to life.

Hi LCDr Dave, David is correct. Here’s a page from a Billings set of plans that I have. Good luck with your Mayflower. It looks very nice. I guess I should mention that they are not Mayflower plans but the symbols should be the same

Hi Everyone, my thanks to all of you for the Likes. Patrick and Ian, thank you so much for the comments. A big storm blew through here yesterday and the power was down for 12 hours so I’m making up for lost time. Had a bit of 1/32” basswood so I started on veneering the stern post. Have to get over to the hobby store this week to get some more.

Hello Everyone, I hope you are all enjoying the weekend. Thank you very much for the likes and comments. This week the boat was turned over and planking was resumed. This is a very clamp intensive model. Only been doing one plank a day because of a lack of clamps. Picked up some 2 inch clamps at Princess Auto. Should have bought everyone they had. _ Added some bracing between the stern post and the bulkhead to keep the planks from cutting across that large space. All of the planks except the last ones have gains cut in them at the stern post and the stem. It also helps to keep them positioned correctly when gluing. All of the planks had to be trimmed a bit so there’s a lot of clamping, test fitting, removing, cutting, clamping………… And now there are 9 planks on each side. Turned it over and started cleaning up the interior of the hull. Actually it wasn’t all that bad inside. I thought there would be more glue everywhere. I think the next thing on the agenda is to cover each side of the stem, keel and stern post with 1/32” basswood. Doesn’t really need it but I think it will look better. Also trying to decide what colors to paint her. Sorry, this photo is out of place.