mark.bukovich

Painting I learned some valuable lessons while painting this model. 1) the quality of the paint matters. I used a relatively cheap acrylic paint, and it was quite difficult to get the coverage and depth of color I wanted. Only good paints for me in the future. 2) Some mistakes I had made with the model became more obvious while painting. For example, the excess glue was not easy to hide as I thought it would be. It required layers and sanding more than I would have liked. Also excess glue completely undermined staining the wood. This came about with the rudder and tiller assembly. I was supposed to stain the tiller, but the excess glue from a messy glue job prevented the entire tiller from being stained, and it just looked wrong, so I wound up painting the whole assembly to hide the mistake. 3) That leads to the third lesson: plan the painting as far in advance as possible and certain components should be painted before assembly. If I had stained the tiller before assembling it with the rudder, I wouldn't have had the problem stated above. Also, if I did this kit again, I would have painted the deck and cabin components before assembly. This would have helped produce much cleaner lines. Especially around the hatches. Here are pictures of the painted hull and some components.

The oldest pictures I have of the boat are after I attached the side and bottom planks and the stem. While trimming the side planks down level with the deck, I accidentally went too low at the bow. While trying to repair this, I made things worse and accidentally took off more material. I repaired it by fitting and gluing on a chunk of wood, and then sanding flush with the plank and deck. I got glue everywhere, but the shape turned out good. In general, my gluing technique has been pretty messy for this model as can be seen in the following photo and the photo of the repair.

Chesapeake Bay Flattie Midwest Products - 1:32 Hi everyone! Here is my first build log and first model. Some quick background on the kit: My Dad got this kit for me when I was a kid roughly 20 years ago (I can't remember the exact year). I was really into age-of-sail stuff at the time, so was very happy about it. I got up to the point right before assembling the side and bottom planks, the instructions were misplaced, I got distracted by other things, and the kit was never finished. Somewhat recently, my Dad passed away, I rediscovered the kit, acquired many of his modeling tools and a lovely little skiff model he made (also Midwest), and determined to finish the kit he had gotten for me. I completed the hull at that time, but with life being what it is, it has taken me a couple of years to get back to it. (It also helped that I was getting screen headaches and needed something else to do in the evenings other than working on the computer) So I am in a rhythm now, reading books about ship modeling, fishing and working boats, real boat building, etc, regularly working on the model, and really enjoying it. (I also fully intend to build a full-size boat or two over the coming years) Since I am just starting this log in the middle of the build, and the kit was started 20 years ago, I can't really show every step, but I'll do my best to catch everyone up in subsequent replies to this thread. I will include the kit box and current state of the model in the first post.

Hi everyone! Here is my official fist post in the forum. I'm very happy to be here! I am definitely a beginner at ship/boat modeling. I'm currently working on my first model: a Chesapeake Bay Flattie kit by Midwest Products (no longer in production) I plan to post a build log. I have already significantly benefited from reading through other members' build logs. I've attached a picture of the current state of the boat. (Note: I haven't glued down the companion way hatches. Just placing to see how it looks)