JacquesCousteau

Thanks, I'm definitely going to look into some fly-tying thread and a needle. I used to tie flies and this definitely reminded me of that, although I'm very out of practice and don't have my old tools anymore.

Next up, I added the keel. The instructions say to use two of the 1/8x1/16-inch strips used for planking butted together. As it turns out, the strips are just barely too short (I think by around 1/8 inch) to use a single strip, which would have been a simpler option. In any case, I soaked and heated the strips and bent them to shape, leaving a little overlap to better cut them to size. Once they were dry, I trimmed them and glued them in place. I then added a little more filler, especially where there was a slight gap, sanded, and added a coat of sealer-varnish to the outside of the hull. I'll be handling the hull a lot while I work on the interior, so I wanted to protect the exterior, especially the filler, which is not very hard. One downside of this method of keel construction is that it's hard to get the keel perfectly straight. Mine ended up with a slight kink, as can be seen. Oh well, it will not be visible to anyone when the model is on display.

I've done a bit more work with the mast. First, I drilled and cut out the sheave at the top of the mast. I decided to try to make a working sheave, as I had picked up a small bag of 3.5mm sheaves from the Crafty Sailor closing sale. I used a bit of 24 gauge wire. It was hard to get a good photo, but it is a working sheave. Next, although I won't be fully adding the rigging until after the move, I thought that I could at least add the backstay and leave it dangling loosely off the mast. I used .7mm rope from Ropes of Scale, my first time using it. It's a very nice product! Worried that I would ruin it, I just worked on making a loop at the very end of the rope. First I tried to actually splice in the loop, but I had a very hard time opening up the rope for that. Instead I used glue to "knot" the loop, and tried my hand at serving the "knot" with some tan thread. I'm not sure whether they actually served any of the rigging on actual Canoas, as I couldn't find a very clear photo, but I figure that this is a learning experience, and if I decide against it later, I've only lost an inch or so of the nice rope. Serving it was tricky and would have been impossible without a set of helping hands. Here's before I trimmed off the excess. As can be seen, it turned out rather lumpy, unfortunately. In any case, once I tied off the end and applied some watered-down glue, I was able to place it around the top of the mast (nickel for scale): And then a test fitting, although without getting the line taught yet (as the mast is just on a pin and not lashed to the crossbeam). I'm still deciding whether to redo it, as the serving is a bit bulkier than I think I really want. It's still attached to the whole spool, so I wouldn't be wasting much rope. After some consideration, and looking at lots of photos of canoas with one, two, or no backstays, I'm leaning towards giving this model just one, and tying off the halyard at the other belaying point aft.

Thanks! I'll definitely have to try thinning the filler when I add it to the interior, I'd prefer to keep a lighter touch there. My hull seems to have pulled in only very, very slightly when I had it off the formers, but not enough that I'm concerned about it. The instructions seem to assume you'll just glue the strips in place without pre-bending them to shape, which probably helps explain it.

Thanks! One thing I would do differently if I redid this would be to be more careful about making sure all the planks run to the end of the stem/sternpost. Thankfully it seems to be evening out with a little filler.

I finished planking the hull. The last two planks on each side were tapered down with the plane to paper-thin at each end. As can be seen, I had to use shims to hold the second-to-last in place while gluing. The final strips just slotted into the holes on each side of the keel. Once the glue dried, I was able to remove the rubber bands. Not the smoothest of hulls, but I'll take it. To deal with the unwanted clinkering around the turn of the bilge, I added Elmer's wood filler. Unfortunately I bought walnut-colored filler without realizing it, but this will all be painted anyway. My goal isn't a totally smooth hull--the working peapod in the photo at the top of this page doesn't seem to have a perfectly smooth hull: https://www.woodenboat.com/online-exclusives/gallery-peapod-lines --but rather to reduce the unevenness. I tested with one side first. And then sanded. It seemed to work, so I added filler to the other side and set it to dry. Once it dried, I used a saw to cut the stem and sternpost. It took very little pressure to pop the hull off the formers. It definitely looks like a boat now! The hull wants to narrow very slightly, so for now I'm going to keep it on the building board. Clearly the interior will need a good deal of sanding and smoothing, but I'm looking forward to the next steps.

The model looks amazing! As for the tiller: you've probably already done this, but maybe looking at examples on other types of vessels would be helpful? From what I can tell, the Chesapeake Smith Island Crab Scraper seems to have had a similar steering arrangement, although I'm not sure if there are any good explanations of how the cable system worked or even if it's actually a comparable mechanism. Hope you're able to find something, this is a fascinating build to follow.

Your suggestion to use painters tape is an interesting one. I briefly experimented with using Tamiya masking tape to try to hold the planks in shape, but it didn't stick very well. Probably because I am cheap and was using the leftover strips of tape I had already used once to spile the planks on my NRG Half-Hull build. But, if I had just bought some ordinary painters tape and tried that, I probably would have had much better adhesion. This probably would have been very useful around the bow/stern, where clamping was especially hard. Your build log has been extremely helpful as I work on this build. Hope you're able to add to it soon! I will also definitely be using a lot of filler on this hull to try to mitigate the unintentional clinkering.

Thanks! I actually have been soaking and heating the strips, although via a different method. First I soak them in water for a bit, then wrap them in a damp paper towel, then microwave it all, usually for about 15-20 seconds or so. It seems to work ok, I think the main issues I've had have been with getting the appropriate twist in the strip, given the difficulties I've had with clamping at the ends. But perhaps I should try a longer soak and see if that helps.

I've been making further progress on planking. These photos show the most recent planks set to dry into shape--I have not yet shaped the ends. As can be seen, I've realized that bobby pins, combined with rubber bands and some scrap, are very useful in holding the strip in place while it's edge-bent. Although I've been substantially tapering the strips, it apparently hasn't been enough, and the "garboard" won't be reaching all the way to the stem and sternpost. Overall, this has been a very interesting planking experience, and quite different from how things are going on my concurrent NRG Half-Hull kit. I've found the strip planking to be a bit difficult to work with. Perhaps because of how I've been tapering the ends, it's been very difficult to get the wood to twist, and it's especially wanted to come up off the middle formers, leading to the "clinker effect." In hindsight it may have been simpler to have either not tapered at all or tapered very little. I also have to wonder how this would work with a slightly wider strip--say, 3/16 instead of 1/8 inch. It would probably be harder to edge-bend, but maybe the extra width would make it easier to hold it down again the formers? In any case, I'm still enjoying the build, just trying to think through what I'm learning from this experience.

As it turns out, the shim was not very difficult to add. I used the scrap plank to determine how far it needed to extend and tapered the shim's thickness at each end and glued it in place. After it dried, I lightly sanded to fair things up, and then re-drew the belt and wale lines. Testing shows that the planking will fit much more smoothly now. Also, to finish up the earlier step-by-step post on planking: the plank is in place. Apologies for the multiple blow-by-blow posts! I'll be quiet now until I figure out the stealer.

Thanks, glad to hear people are finding this useful! The plank is now being glued in place after having the "caulking" added: Unfortunately, I've run into an issue at the bow. I noticed that the uppermost plank isn't quite sitting on frame number five. Instead it's hovering just above it. This gap is small enough that it looks like I can fill it with glue without causing any problems, but I was worried about whether this would continue further up. So, I soaked and clamped a scrap plank to bend it to shape, and took a look. It's hard to see in the photo below, but the plank does indeed float well off from frame 5. I'm not sure how I missed this problem earlier, given that I checked things pretty extensively with a batten when fairing. And as can be seen, it's not like I was especially aggressive in fairing frame 5, which still has a substantial amount of char that was never touched. I may have missed it due to the difficulty of fairing around the bluff bow, which broke a number of battens when I tried to check for fairness, and I may have placed the battens at different angles as I wasn't sure of the strake lines then. Perhaps I placed frame 5 too high, but I don't think I did. In any case, I think I'll have to make a very thin shim, tapering to practically nothing at the current uppermost strake, in order to correct this issue. As can be seen below, a bit of 1/32‐inch thick scrap seems to correct the problem. I just hope I can add it with a minimum of re-fairing and re-working the planking belts.

So, here's how I've been shaping the planks. This is one of the two methods shown in the kit instructions. I haven't used the other, compass-based method that's included in the instructions because I don't have a compass and it sounds like it adds more steps where things can go wrong, but perhaps other people have found it simpler. The below is just what's worked for me. First, I use Tamiya masking tape, which is semi-translucent and allows me to see my markings on the frames, to mark 1) the bottom edge of the new plank, 2) the fore and aft ends, and 3) the markings for plank width on each frame. I then transfer the tape to the basswood sheet. I "connect the dots" into a more-or-less smooth curve. A set of ship's curves would probably be most useful here. I use a very cheap french curve, or sometimes a ruler, to connect up to three width markings at a time. Keep in mind that the plank will be smoothed out with final shaping. I then cut out the plank with a sharp exacto knife, leaving a bit around all the edges. I like to leave the tape on until the very last steps, as it allows me to draw markings for where I need to remove material and where I need to NOT remove material. Then, i do an initial test fitting, focusing on fitting the plank to the strake below. This is just done by hand, but the clamps were necessary to be able to take photos. As can be seen, there are a number of gaps, so I need to remove material at the points where the plank contacts the strake below. After shaping with the exacto and sandpaper, I did another test fit. That looks much better, but there's still some shaping to do. It's a good thing that I left a bit of meat on the edges of the plank, because when shaping it, I accidentally cut off a little too much at one part. Thankfully, the plank was oversized enough that I was able to just reshape the bottom edge to get a perfect fit, leaving the plank still wide enough. With the bottom edge ready, I moved on to the top edge, marking where I needed to remove the most material and not. I stopped clamping for the top edge because the clamps would have blocked the view, so in some areas the plank isn't right up against the frame, but you get the idea. I like to use the exacto knife to shave down where I need to remove a lot of material, and then sandpaper for final shaping and to make sure the plank forms a smooth line. Once I get it just about there, I remove the tape for final shaping, as sometimes the tape can get in the way. I try to shape the plank down to where I can just barely see the edge of my width markings on the frame, as can be seen with frames A and DF below. Due to the curve of the hull, the plank isn't fully up against frames B and 1, hence why they look like the plank is below the marking there. Finally, I moistened the plank and clamped it to dry. This isn't always necessary, especially for planks in the middle of the hull that are minimally curved. But I find that the plank always fits best for gluing when it's been given the appropriate twist/curve. The less you need to push the plank into shape when gluing, the better. So now I just have to wait a few hours for it to dry (I'm in no rush). Then I'll draw the caulking on the edge. A note about this: when I draw on the caulking, I always hold the pencil to approach the plank from the inboard side. In the photo below, the right side of the plank would be on the inside of the hull, and the left side is the exterior. I usually slip and end up drawing lines on the plank, but this way they're on the interior and won't mar the surface. Finally, I'll glue the plank in place. This is all obvious stuff to the more experienced modelers out there, but I wanted to show it in case it was helpful for anyone. There have been plenty of times where I've been really helped out by seeing someone else's step-by-step instructions, even for something basic, on other build logs.

I've completed up to the third strake on the first belt. I have to admit that I was a bit worried about how much I would enjoy the kit earlier when I was stuck in a seemingly endless fairing process, but I am having a lot of fun planking! So much so that I haven't actually taken any photos of the process itself, which maybe I should remedy. I've just been using tamiya masking tape to mark the planks, cutting them oversize, and carefully shaping them to fit. It's a very calm, thoughtful process, and I can easily do a plank in 15-20 minutes or so. I've only had to redo a few. So far one of the main challenges has been remembering to draw the caulk on the sides of the plank before gluing it down. For whatever reason, there was significant color variation between some of the 1/32‐inch basswood sheets. I'm actually liking the mix of lighter planks among the darker ones, I feel that it brings more attention to the fact that each plank is unique and individually shaped. As can be seen above, I don't think my bow planking was all that precise, but I can see it getting better as I get more practice. It also probably helped to lightly sand back the inner edge of the rabbet under frame 5 so allow a smoother entry of the plank. Now that I'm gearing up for the top strake in the first belt, I need to actually figure out how to shape the stealer and surrounding planks.

Thanks! It was a very cheap plane that I bought on Amazon. I don't know how long it will stay sharp, but so far it's been very useful.

Thanks, your log has been very helpful in knowing what to expect with this kit!

This build hasn't been forgotten, I've just been making very slow progress planking it one strip at a time. As I've been soaking strips to take the necessary curves, and I prefer using white glue over superglue, it takes a while to make visible progress even when I'm able to work on it every day. The mini plane has been extremely useful in tapering the strips. I'm able to taper two at a time so they're even. That said, there have been a few strips that I cut too short at the ends and had to replace. Thankfully, because the strips get shorter as I get closer to the keel, I've been able to reuse the strips I cut too short. As can be seen above, despite my best efforts with tapering strips, beveling the edge, and bending them to the proper curves, I still ended up with a marked "clinker effect" around the turn of the bilge. This seems to be a very common issue on these Midwest strip-planked kits, and I'm not sure what more I could have done to prevent it. My sense is that the large distance between formers makes it difficult to bend the strips to shape, and that properly twisting the strips is a bit tricky because I've tapered them so much at the bow and stern. In any case, I don't think it's a serious problem, and it should be readily covered up by sanding and wood filler. I've now reached the last strip where I'm able to clamp it to a former, as the gap will be too small with additional strips added. If anyone has any clamping suggestions for this, I'm all ears!

Looks great! Will you be leaving the deck partly unplanked to show into the details of the hull?

Very cool! It looks like this model will be a bit of a challenge to plank because it's an open boat, so any errors will be visible inside and outside. On planking in general, this site has a lot of resources that you can look for, like Chuck Passaro's planking tutorial. You might also look for examples of small vessels that are similarly constructed around removeable molds, like the Midwest Maine Peapod kit (although that uses strips for planking and may not be the best example to follow). Looking forward to watching the build move forward!

I'm glad I let it sit overnight, because the next morning, the aft run of the belts didn't look right to me. They were a bit too high and would have led to some very odd plank shapes, including a notable bottleneck in the upper belt. So, I adjusted. Satisfied, I marked the belts in pen. Following the instructions, I figured out the plank butt joint locations. Once again, this was hard for me to understand when reading it, but much easier to grasp once I took the advice to draw it out. The drawing is pretty crude, but it worked. Well, mostly. Try as I might, I couldn't work out a pattern that satisfied the proper distances between joints. It was easy enough to not place a joint on the same frame for two consecutive strakes, but the rules about distance between joints (at least 1.25 inches apart on consecutive strakes, and at least 1 inch apart on strakes separated by another strake) were extremely hard to follow, especially as the frames are an inch apart. Then I noticed that the example in the instructions seems to have fudged it slightly (or I'm misunderstanding something, which is entirely possible) such that a number of joints on adjacent strakes fall one frame apart, under the 1.25-inch rule. I ended up simply following the example given in the instructions. The stealer was also very confusing to me. I marked what I think is the correct location for it, but I'm really not sure. In any case, it's at the top of the first belt, so I have some time to figure it out. Finally, I've begun planking the first belt. Very exciting!

Thanks! Wefalck's suggestion to use string to weave together bunches was extremely helpful and has definitely led to a stronger thatching than my first attempt. I've made the oarlocks/thole pins, using a bit of basswood and a thinned toothpick. From what I can tell, these weren't all that common on Canoas de Rancho, but some of the smaller ones had them. As my build is meant to model a vessel that would be used not just for cargo hauling but for fishing, which did require the use of oars, I decided to add them. They're not glued in place yet. From what I can tell from photos, they were often staggered, as I've depicted here. I may redo them, though, as I think they came out a little oversized. I also might paint them instead of staining them.

Picking this back up, I've now defined the runs of the belts. This took me a bit of thinking. I found the instructions on this point a bit confusing when reading them, but they were clear enough once I started actually laying things out on the hull. Note: when the instructions say "Measure inbound along the lower edge of the counter the width of four planks 0.75"," what it means is to measure from the aftmost lower mark of the wale, inboards toward the stempost. Here we can see my planking bands marked out in chart tape. I think I've managed to avoid too much of a "smiley face" at the bow. I've read that you should consider the run from multiple angles. I found that sighting along the length of the hull was helpful for finding a few high or low points and correcting them. Here are some other angles. The instructions suggest that, once you're happy with your belt runs, you should let it sit overnight and come back to it with fresh eyes. That's what I plan to do, although I've marked it in pencil in case the chart tape comes loose overnight.

Looks great, very nicely done!

Looks like a very cool model, I haven't heard of that one before. How did you find the kit, and what got you interested in building it?

Very nice!