JacquesCousteau
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Great start, looking forward to seeing it as you progress!- 11 replies
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- Skiff
- Midwest Products
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A little more progress. First, I began working on the tholes, which I cut from 1/32‐inch basswood. I then painted then a dark brown, and glued them in place. I'll add the thole pins later, once I'm sure I won't break them while doing other work. I then slightly shortened the mast base, chamfered the edges slightly, and applied sealer-varnish. I also started making a mast, based on dimension formulas in Francisco Oller and Vicente García-Delgado's Nuestra vela latina. I initially tried using a hardwood dowel, but it was very difficult to work, so I switched to basswood. At the moment, there's still additional work to do on the mast, like finishing the top and properly tapering it, but I'm not sure if I want to add it. As can be seen, with the mast in place, the model is a lot taller. Without rigging or the yard, which I'm not planning on making, or thd rest of the hull, the cross-section feels kind of overwhelmed by the long mast, which draws attention upward away from the hull to a largely featureless pole. I may just let the mast sit there for now to see if I get used to it, but I feel like I prefer leaving it off. The other option would be to do a stub mast, but that might look odd on such a small boat. Finally, as can be seen, I have not been able to successfully sand and scrape away the paint from the cut-aways. The end grain just absorbed the paint too deeply. This is an important lesson for the future. For this build, I need to decide which color to paint the exposed cut-aways.
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As mentioned above, I was able to find a cheap straw broom to use for thatching material. The bristles are mostly under 1/32-inch diameter. I tested how the material works on card, alongside my prior tests. As can be seen, it looks pretty good--straighter and sturdier than the excelsior, and lacking the grip of the wheat awns. Now to get some double-sided tape and a matte adhesive/varnish spray, in order to make strips of thatching that I can attach and layer on the frame.
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Thank you for sharing, that's fascinating! There's a definite resemblance, especially in how the elevated prow isn't formed from an upturn in the wales, but is made of separate, wedge-shaped planks added above the rest of the hull planking. I'd be very curious to know if some sort of similar vessel was in use in Spain in the colonial period, and the design was transferred to Chapala where it developed into the Canoa, or if it's a case of convergent evolution. I do wonder what purpose the prominent upswept prow serves, on both vessels. Also, I should note that, while a very busy period at work has kept me from making progress on the Canoa build, I did go search for new thatching material. No luck at finding plumbing hemp, but I was able to get a cheap straw broom, the fibers of which are thinner than the wheat stalks I already had and closer to scale, so I should be able to start on the thatching soon.
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Congratulations, really great job! I'll definitely be revisiting this log once I get around to my own lobster smack.
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- Muscongus Bay Lobster Smack
- Model Shipways
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Thanks! So I think it would make the most sense to cut the notch nearly to the rabbet, with the understanding that the bulkhead will be beveled during fairing. I'm wondering if I should try to pre-bevel the foreward bulkheads a bit, although that runs the risk of really messing up the fairing.
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Work has been pretty hectic lately, so very little has progressed on any of my builds. A week ago or so, I glued the keel pieces together on the building board. And yesterday, I started deepening the notches. About half were very easy to cut out with a sharp exacto knife, but the other half were a lot harder and the building board took a few stabs. I think there may have been glue at the spots I was cutting there, which would be something to look out for. I was also able to adjust some of the notches to better align with the lines on the plans. I should note that the D frame lines on my plans are a bit wider than the other frame lines, so it will be a little tricky to align. One question that I haven't seen explicitly addressed in the instructions or other build logs: do the notches only get extended on the keelson, or also on the fore keelson, too? I already extended one of the notches on the fore keelson, but am debating how much I should extend the other two if at all. Finally, I made another order at Modelexpo, which included a sheet of 1/32‐inch-thick cherry (seen below with a comparison to the basswood sheet). I'm hoping to use it to plank above the wale to create a nice contrast, although the cherry is more heavily figured than I expected, so getting consistent planks may be a challenge. If I can only get a few, I might limit the cherry to just the quarterdeck or something.
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- half hull planking project
- half hull
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I've had the same issue recently.
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I know that Bluejacket has a particularly strong connection to Maine's maritime traditions and makes a lot of models of local boats. In line with that, a sailing Hampton Boat could be an interesting addition to the fleet--a small, two-masted, lapstrake-built, open vessel used for fishing. There's a good bit of information on them in Chapelle's The National Watercraft Collection. Personally my vote is for a relatively small model, as I find a lot of kit offerings to be too large given my limited space. A Hampton Boat at 1:24 would be pretty small, but that scale would still allow for a lot of interesting detail work, like adding fishing gear. Detail from plans shown on page 255 of The National Watercraft Collection: That said, I agree with the suggestions above for something from another region of the US, as so many existing kits are of boats from the central and northeast Atlantic coast. I second the comments for a Gulf Coast or San Francisco scow schooner, and for the CA Thayer or Wawona. I especially like @grsjax's suggestion for a Hawaiian sampan--what a fascinating vessel! And an interesting addition to American "traditional" vessels. A San Francisco felucca could also be another unusual American sailing vessel. Beyond those, I know that Bluejacket's focus is on American vessels, so I won't suggest anything from Latin America. A Biloxi schooner could make for an interesting model, and something a little different from the existing schooners that Bluejacket offers. On the smaller side of things, I also think that the 1883 Key West fishing smackee Jeff Brown would be a great option. At only 25 feet long between perpendiculars, a 1:24-scale model would be of a very manageable size while still allowing for fishing equipment and other detail work. The Jeff Brown is discussed, with plans, on pages 285-287 of Chapelle's The National Watercraft Collection. Interestingly, the Noank Historical Society also has a replica that was built in the 1960s, as the Jeff Brown was built in the Noank style. Site: https://eyh.cab.mybluehost.me/jeff-brown/ Although there are a few differences between the replica and the plans (the replica did away with the fish well and reversed the cockpit, if I remember correctly), I'd imagine that it would be possible to make a very detailed model, perhaps even plank-on-frame. Detail from plans shown on page 287 of The National Watercraft Collection: Looking forward to seeing what kits you add to the lineup!
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Nice job, it looks great!
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Looking great, nice job on the interior! Those files look very useful.
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I considered bare wood, but I already got some paint on it that I'd need to scrape off. In any case, I also really like how G.L.'s cross section of a fishing smack--an excellent and very unique build--has the "cut ends" highlighted in orange, as seen clearly in this post: Thank you! This has been a very fun little build, and I've learned a lot from it. I got a bit more work done on the stand. I don't think I'll be able to do much building over the next few weeks, so I wanted to get it to where I could at least put it on the mantle out of the way of things. I was able to make the vertical supports from a dowel, and drilled a hole in them and in the keel for a thin brass rod to hold the boat in place. I also drilled the holes in the base for the vertical supports. The verticals are over-long at the moment, but nothing is glued in place yet and I can cut them to size later. Still to do: finish the exposed ends and frames, add thole pins, add a mast if I decide to make one, and finish the base.
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Progress was held up a bit when I accidentally bought the wrong type of tamiya masking tape--I needed the tape for curves. Once I got the right tape, I was able to paint a dark red below the waterline. I'm still working out how to paint the exposed frames and edges of the cross-section, although I'm now maybe leaning toward the same blue as the hull interior. As can be seen, the model is small enough that a lot of exterior hull details are obscured if it sits low on its eventual stand. I've bought some very thin brass rods in order to prop up the hull a few inches, although I'm concerned about drilling a mounting hole into the 1/16-inch thick keel. Given that the brass rods will be very thin in order to fit into such a narrow keel, I am thinking of just using a thin dowel to hold the model up, with just a small section of rod to solidify the model on the stand. In the meantime, I also got started on the base of the stand. After finding a 1/8x1/4 basswood strip, I cut a number of lengths and glued them together to make a 3-inch square base. It still needs finer sanding, and I might chamfer the edges a bit.
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Well, it looks like I'll have to rethink using the awns. I varnished over my test thatching, and even with the brush-on varnish--which I suspect is thicker than a spray--the "grip" is still there. The little sawtooth pattern is kinda visible in the very low-quality photo below: This is a serious issue because it means the thatching would readily snag anything near it--rigging, sail, hands, etc--which could very easily knock the model to the floor. So, I'm going to test out the straw stem material. I may be able to cut it into more consistent widths, and a light wash might help even out the color. But if that doesn't work, or seems like more trouble than its worth, I may just bite the bullet and purchase the material I mentioned in an earlier post.
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Thank you! I think I'll just carefully carve them out with the exacto knife after the the keelson is glued to the keel, as the instructions suggest. I briefly considered extending the notches on the bulkheads themselves instead, but the plywood is really tough to cut, and in any case I need to move some keelson notches slightly to the side when extend them for alignment.
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- half hull planking project
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The rabbet was not as difficult as I thought it would be (unless I've actually ruined it). The instructions were fairly detailed, although some detail photos are a little blurry. I also checked Toni Levine's original build log, as well as a lot of other build logs, which were very helpful in making sure I understood what to do. First things first, I used a compass to mark 1/32 of an inch on the keel, keelson, stem, and the back half of the fore keelson. I found it helpful to lightly press the compass into the wood to mark out a groove I later drew over with pencil. I then drew out the approximate curve as the rabbet narrows along the fore half of the keelson and eventually disappears on the stemson. Then I began to carve the rabbet on the keelson. This cut will be hidden by planking, so I figured it was a good opportunity to try cutting the rabbet with an exacto blade. It worked all right, but was a bit uneven and had some slight gouges. Sanding it a little smoothed it out, though. I found it easiest and most consistent, as I moved ahead with the keel, fore keelson, and stemson rabbets, to use the knife for initial carving but to purposely leave space, and then to finish it with sanding. The long flat parts--keel and keelson--were best sanded against a simple sheet of sandpaper placed on a flat surface, which seemed to work well to get a consistent angle. I just had to make sure not to sand away the keel's slight rise at the bow, or after the aft marking. Meanwhile, I used sanding sticks for the curved parts. As can be seen, I was soon finished except for the stem, the trickiest part of the rabbet to make. Aft detail showing end of rabbet: Bow prior to making the stem rabbet: For the stem, I started by marking where the stemson rabbet disappears. Above that mark, I cut a mortise (essentially a right-angled cutout). Below it, I used a combination of the exacto blade and sanding sticks to shape a curving rabbet, which reaches a 45-degree angle by the time it meets the keel. Below you can see the results: And here's the complete rabbet. Hopefully I haven't somehow ruined it--the whole time I was carving it, I somehow had Elmer Fudd singing "kill the wabbit" to the tune of "Ride of the Valkyries" stuck in my head. Weird associations the mind creates! Next up to glue down the backbone pieces.
- 82 replies
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- half hull planking project
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Looks great, and very cool idea to add the LEDs!
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A tiny bit of progress: First, I ended up trimming back the aft end of the fore keelson so the slots better align with the markings. There will still need to be some shaping, as the distance between a couple slots doesn't quite match the plans--the aftmost slot on the fore keelson is especially off--but it should work better now. I also finally got a building board. I had originally planned on going to an office supply store a short walk from home, but it closed unexpectedly while I was away. I eventually found some in a target. It was only 1/8zinch thick, so I doubled it up. I then trimmed my plans to the right size. I still have to glue them down, but I'm ready to start on the rabbet.
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- half hull planking project
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Thanks! I decided to give it a try. The dash idea didn't really work as I hoped, so I ended up just drawing consistentlt around the rim of the ratchet wheel. When the light hits it right, it adds a textured appearance that is a definite improvement on the black paint. (Hard to see in the photo, though).
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Thanks! I ended up using an index card to make the hardware. I added additional handles at the other end, as I imagine you would want the flexibility to be able to crank from either side of the boat and you could conceivably have two people working at once. I then added the parts meant to keep the rope from getting too far off center. Rather than the large ones shown on the plan, I just used a bit of black-painted card. As for the ratchet wheel, I used black painted card as well. I decided after some experimentation that there was no way I could cut teeth in it at anything close to scale. So, the imagination will have to fill in that gap. (In hindsight, I'm now wondering if it would have worked to just dash around the edge with a pencil to create at least a subtle variation in color that would suggest teeth, but now that it's installed I wouldn't be able to reach all around it. Oh well.) Next up was mounting the windlass. I was concerned about how I would align it. Getting the supports squared on the hull seemed tricky, while simply gluing them to the windlass would also be hard as I needed to keep the bottoms level. But I came up with a solution. First, I glued one support in place in the hull. The second support was glued to the windlass itself. This way I could get proper alignment with minimal effort. I then glued the windlass into the hull. I also glued tiny strips of black-painted card over the axels to represent the metal parts there. I still need to finish the ratchet mechanism, although I think I can make something simpler than in the plans--rather than a piece that comes at the ratchet wheel from the front, requiring additional supports, I think I can just add something that approaches the wheel from the side and is attached directly to the existing supports. In any case, I thought I'd add the scale figure I made for the canoa to get a sense of size. The Juana y José is quite a small vessel! Overall I'm pretty happy with how the windlass has turned out, even if it's a lot simpler than the version in the plans.
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While I wait for the masking tape and debate whether to build a mast, I've gotten started on the windlass. This was used for clam dragging in a small vessel. Rather than try to drag a heavy dredge under sail or oar, the method shown in the plans entails dropping anchor at one end of the clam bed, letting out the anchor cable and traveling to the other end of the bed, dropping the dredge there, and winching back to the anchor. Undoubtedly very tiring work! The design in the plans looks a bit complicated to my eye. As can be seen, it uses socketed bands to mount the handles, as well as wheels to demarcate the rope location. Most complex of all is the ratchet system. I will be simplifying this a good bit, to make it more possible to build at my chosen scale without metal working. First, I added the support beams that run under the thwarts. Given the hull's curve, the thwarts aren't perfectly aligned, so I lightly shaped the ends of the beams for a better fit. Thse pieces are cherry. Next, I made the seats for the ends of the captsan (out of mahogany) and the captsan barrel itself (from a dowel, maybe birch?). I also sanded down a toothpick tip to make the captsan axle. I drilled a little into the ends and mounted the axel pieces. At this point the captsan looked like a miniature rolling pin. One simplification I made is that, instead of a complex socketed band to mount the handles, I simply drilled holes into the barrel. I went from both ends and was happy to see that the holes aligned properly. I was going to make the handles from toothpick again, but for added visual interest I decided to go with mahogany. I then test-fit the captsan. In hindsight, the mahogany handles might blend in a bit too much with the deck. As you may have noticed, I committed an error--according to the plans, there should be another set of handles at the other end of the barrel! I completely forgot about it in my excitement to fit the handles. So that's where I am at the moment. First, I need to think about whether to add the other handles or not. The plans show it that way, but on the other hand, this is quite a small windlass--barrel length would be 2 feet 4 inches in real life--and I'm not sure how practical additional handles would be. Second, I need to figure out the ratchet mechanism. I was considering cutting a card disk and sealing and painting it. That might work, but I would still also need to figure out how to make the rachet mechanism, which is extremely tiny at this scale. (I can really see why this is usually built at 1:15-1:20 scale).
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I did a quick test of layering the excelsior material on card backing, gluing at a couple of points to simulate attaching it to the framework, and determined that it wouldn't work very well for my purposes. It twists and curls too much to be readily glued into place, and doesn't really look all that much like thatched reed. The curves in the fibers made it very hard to work with. But, while getting groceries at Trader Joe's, I saw this: I first tested out breaking down the stalk into thin strands of fiber. This didn't work very well, as it was very difficult to get anything close to a consistent length. The interior also has a notably different texture and color than the exterior. More promising, though, seem to be the awns--the little fibers extending from the seeds. They're aready the right diameter, very consistent in coloration, and quite straight. The one issue is that, as they developed to help spread the seeds, they catch onto things if approached from one direction. This makes them a bit odd to work with--one way they slide and move easily, the other they stick to your fingers, the workboard, etc. I was able to similarly test a bit on the card, and I think they'll work. I used tweezers to place them, as they didn't stick to the metal. Hopefully a matte spray varnish will block them from sticking to things--if not, they won't work very well on the model. I think my plan is to use ordinary white glue to first stick them in place, and then to spray the matte varnish at the end (or at least after each layer or section).
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Thank you, this is very helpful! I'll have to look into the matte varnish spray, it would undoubtedly be very useful for this but might not be very feasible in my apartment. Although I suppose I could spray it my building's basement/laundry room, which is huge (helping with ventilation concerns) and entirely bare concrete. I was looking a bit more at photos to get a sense of how they actually thatched the rancho. In a lot of cases, nearly all of the fibers end at around the same edge, and there doesn't seem to have been a lot of layering of rows. In this photo, for instance, practically all the reeds end off the edge of the rancho, and the thatching looks to be of a consistent thickness, which to me would suggest a single layer (itself several reeds thick) running the whole side rather than several layered rows. Source: https://mediateca.inah.gob.mx/islandora_74/islandora/object/fotografia%3A139791 Others look a bit bulkier and "hairier," seemingly with more variation in fiber length, which perhaps does suggest more layering: Source: https://www.mexicoenfotos.com/antiguas/jalisco/chapala/cargamento-de-entre-MX14652247742300/5 This one, meanwhile, shows a definite additional layer covering the top: Source: https://mediateca.inah.gob.mx/islandora_74/islandora/object/fotografia%3A140947 So, I'm debating whether to thatch by building up multiple rows--which would certainly make it easier to cover gaps--or to try for a single main layer with an extra layer at the top. As for building materials, apparently carrizo reed is usually around half an inch in diameter, so at 1:32 scale, 1/64 of an inch. Breaking apart the fibers of long grass would be useful for this, but I'm not sure when or where I'll be able to get it. I'm also considering just ordering something like this: https://dollhousejunction.com/products/thatch-roofing-material.
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