JacquesCousteau

As someone who's strongly considering this kit as my next build, I'm looking forward to following along!

Thanks for the suggestions! I have some tulle fabric that should work for the nets, I previously used it for the funnels in the lobster trap for the dory. Seeds could be interesting. The wooden beads I have correspond to roughly 12-inch round watermelons, which seems to be within the standard size range for present-day melons. They may be slightly on the large size for watermelons from circa 1900, but I think they should work out ok. I'll be trying to sand them a little, too, as most watermelons aren't perfectly round but a bit elongated.

Due to travel, I haven't done any further work on the build and won't for another few weeks. But, I have picked up a few small things that should be useful. As I've mentioned before, the only basswood I can find in Mexico is 1/16th inch thick, so I took advantage of being in the US to get a few sheets of thinner, 1/32 inch thick basswood (which I had to cut down in size so it fits in my carryon). It will be useful for some of the furnishings in the hull as well as the internal decking. The thatched rancho poses a bit of a building challenge. I was originally planning on using coconut fibers to make the thatching (which was made of reeds in real life). But, getting enough fiber seemed like it might be a pain in the neck. I saw this "excelsior" material and thought it might be easier to work with, although I'll still have to cut it to the right size. Canoas seemingly all had anchors dangling off their bows whenever they were sailing, attached to a sturdy chain. I got a couple of the thinnest jewelry chains I could find (they were cheap), one in a vaguely brass color and the other in more of a stainless steel. I'll have to experiment a bit when it comes to working with them, and I'm still trying to decide how to make the anchor. I picked up a couple threads and clamping tweezers, all intended for fly tying. The tweezers, especially, should make knots and rigging much easier. I got a few small dowels, perhaps useful for oars or fishing gear, and some wooden beads. I wasn't originally going to include a load of cargo, but I think it could be nice to include something with the Cargo Canoa. Gibbon mentioned watching a load of watermelons being unloaded from a canoa, so I'm going to see if I can fill in the holes in the beads and make a few. Finally, I still wasn't loving my tests with the paint for the Canoa de Rancho's interior, so I picked up a stain pen. I know that basswood is infamous for not taking stain well, but if I'm only staining the frames (hence leaving the planking natural) I think it could work? The frames are small so any blotchiness shouldn't be too noticeable, I imagine. I'll test it out beforehand, though.

So, I've shaped the upright portions of the frames for the Canoa de Rancho. They've all been marked as to their locations. They just need to be cut to the right length, which will have to wait until I figure out the crossbeam locations--some frames will likely be under a crossbeam. I also will do a bit more sanding to make sure the frames are roughly even in width. I have to say, I'm not worried about a little unevenness, as many of the frames on actual canoas were pretty roughly-hewn. (Ramón Rubín can't seem to help himself from calling them "mal labrado" at every turn in La canoa perdida). But, this is really highlighting for me how challenging it will be if I ever scratch build something with more complex frames. Looking around at things like the Triton Cross Section, to say nothing of a full-hull model, it's impressive that people can get so many small pieces even! I still have to make the bottom pieces of the frames. In the photo, they're just the upright pieces from the other side or bits of scrap, because the boat looks really weird with only the upright pieces in. Nothing has been glued yet. There will be cleats added near the bow, too. Before I glue in the frames, though, I want to decide how to color them. Canoas used pine for the side planks and mesquite for the frames. Pine is a light-colored wood and mesquite is darker, and I was wondering if I could represent that even if everything here is made of basswood. So, I decided to test a few options, although I didn't do a great job on the painting here as it's just to test color combos. The top left has natural wood. Top right, natural planks and a brown-painted frame. Bottom left, light-painted planks and a brown frame. Bottom right, just to see I went with brown planks and a light frame. I also added a little black wash to see how that would look. I also wondered about natural planking combined with a light-painted frame, and tried to place the test pieces to see how that looks. Overall, I'm not sure about the look of painting the interior and frames. But I've heard that basswood doesn't take stain very well, so I'm not sure if I want to try that. Any suggestions? Finally, I'll be traveling for the rest of the month, so no build updates for a while, although I might post other things in that time.

Davit supports look great, as do the rope coils!

Great job, the hull looks fantastic!

On the Canoa de Rancho, sanding is just about complete. The hull isn't perfectly smooth, but I did want to make sure the planks would still be visible after painting. I added a bit of sawdust and glue to fill some low spots, too. Overall I'm happy with how the hull is coming out. For the Cargo Canoa, I'm basically done with the hull now that I've added the rails. A quick word on painting. I've been using Politec brand acrylics. These are very widely available and cost about a dollar for each small bottle. They've worked well, but Politec really has very limited options for browns. So I went with a slightly pricier (but still cheap, just under 3 bucks) brand that had a much greater variety of browns. I'm much happier with how the color turned out, and I like how the bottle has a nozzle--one annoyance with politec is that I always had to scoop out the paint I wanted, while this is much easier. After painting the rails and adding a light black wash for character, I glued them in place. Gluing them was a bit trickier than I expected, especially in the aft half, as the rails really aren't attached to very much--mostly just the thin top of the wale, and a few supports--and I couldn't really clamp them. As a result, the rails ended up pulling away from the wale a little amidships. It's small and shouldn't be noticeable unless I somehow place this with a strong backlight, but it's something I'll have to watch out for on the Canoa de Rancho. Next, the aft rail. This entailed making a joint in the 1/32‐inch-thick rail, which was tricky. I'm glad I'll be using thicker rails on the Canoa de Rancho. After painting the piece for the aft rail, I placed it and marked where to cut. I did a mixture of carving and sanding to remove material as necessary. I nearly cut through the thin wood at one point, leaving a mark on the other, visible side, but I was able to fix the visible damage with sanding and a repaint after attaching it. It isn't a perfect joint, but it works. (Honestly, they're not perfect joints on the actual vessels, either. I suspect there was a lot of wear and tear on the rails and they were frequently replaced). It was especially hard cutting the joint into the side rails, as they were only attached on one side and were very flexible on the other. (The accidental near-cut-through is visible here, before sanding and painting). I then touched up the paint, and with that the rails are complete! Still to do for the Cargo Canoa: making the rudder (which can only be mounted after I make a stand as it's deeper than the hull), adding belaying points along the rail, adding an anchor and chain (present in a ton of photos, even on very small vessels), and then the mast, sail, and rigging.

Looks like it's coming along great!

Very brief note. First, feeling a bit frustrated with sanding the rails, I switched gears a minute to make the hinges for the stern box lid/helmsman's platform. No photos of this, so just a guess on the shape. I cut them from card and made the hinge barrel from a bit of toothpick sanded down into a tiny cylinder. I also added tiny dots of glue to represent the screws, although in the future I would try to get them smaller. I'm happy with how they turned out and think they add something nice to the build. Second, both rails broke at the joint when sanding and had to be reglued. The joint is really small due to the difficulties of cutting it into 1/32-inch-thick pieces. But, the rails have been sanded, getting off most of the old color, and they're ready for the next round of painting.

Thanks! From what I can tell the rail was used for seating (especially on smaller vessels like my Cargo Canoa), and on larger vessels people often stood there and on the crossbeams for poling and moving around the boat. There were also a number of points on the rail for belaying ropes.

Thanks! You'll definitely have to check out Xochimilco next time. Unfortunately the only images in color that I have of Canoas de Rancho (which are very few) seem to be hand-colored. The image you're referring to is the one that looks to me like it was done with the most care, but of course I have no real way of knowing. It looks better, though, than something like this: (Source: https://www.mexicoenfotos.com/MX13229838190754 ) The original black and white image is actually also available, in very high resolution, at: https://digitalcollections.smu.edu/digital/collection/mex/id/2308/rec/26. There's nothing in the original to suggest that one canoa a different color than the others, all are the same tint. Most importantly, the flag shown above is a complete fabrication by the artist. The only trustworthy color images that I have are later and only for smaller fishing canoas, but some may still be helpful. The following photo depicts what was likely a pretty typical sort of splotchy coloration that may well represent some of the canoas de rancho I've seen that have dark upper sides fading to a lighter shade. (It also shows the water lilies, introduced in the late nineteenth century, that quickly spread and began taking over the lake, leading to recurrent anti-lily campaigns. In Ramón Rubín's La canoa perdida, most of the protagonist's funds to buy the titular fishing canoa come from a stint pulling out and burning water lilies for the hydroelectric company.) Source: https://www.mexicoenfotos.com/antiguas/jalisco/chapala/pescadores-en-el-lago-de-chapala-1958-MX15186632784160/3 But other fishermen went a different route. This image, for instance, does seem to show painted hulls. Source: https://www.museocjv.com/chapalapostaless.html On the issue of hull painting, while the black and white photos aren't very clear, there are a number that show an evenly-tinted light-colored hull, often with a name painted on in dark lettering, as in La Gaviota below. (The name is a bit blurry in the photo, but the caption does include it). That's why I went with a white hull for the Cargo Canoa, although I'm going to do something different for the Canoa de Rancho. Source: https://mediateca.inah.gob.mx/repositorio/islandora/object/fotografia%3A433841 Incidentally, La Gaviota also shows off some common accoutrements like the anchor that I'll have to make later. Thanks! One more quick thing about the coloration before getting to the rails: according to José María Angulo Sepulveda, these boats were caulked with a mix of tar, beef tallow, and cotton tow, which undoubtedly contributed to the coloration on at least the unpainted vessels. As for the rails. First, thanks for explaining the name! I hadn't realized that the "cap" actually was because they capped the frames, but that makes perfect sense. My photo evidence is blurry and a bit unclear, but I think photos generally show that the frames were not capped by the rail. In the photo below, I've circled three such frames. The bottom left frame passes behind a crossbeam before seeming to end well inboard of the rail, and the middle top frame also seems to end in a squared off cut that's not covered by the rail. The top right frame looks almost like it extends up past the cap rail, although I haven't seen that on any other vessels, so I wonder if they will be cutting off the top before finishing the vessel. The other frames look like they taper at their top ends. Source: Minute 5:52 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHbBKiYs3QU Also, it's much less clear in this photo, but I think you can see the tops of frames on the port side of the hull (right side in the photo) that are not covered by the rail. Very hard to tell, though. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHbBKiYs3QU But, some other photos are less clear. These frames may be covered by the rail? Source: https://mediateca.inah.gob.mx/islandora_74/islandora/object/fotografia%3A140967 Finally, it is clear that the frames in the smaller fishing canoas were usually not covered by the rail. Source: https://www.mexicoenfotos.com/MX14140215743756 Source: https://mapio.net/pic/p-33141234/ But, sometimes, maybe they were. Source: https://www.mexicoenfotos.com/MX15570248148348 As for why they wouldn't cover the frame ends, I really don't know, it would make more sense to cover them. But, if the photo above with a frame possibly extending above the rail is any indication, I almost wonder if they added the frames after attaching the rails, or if they only cut the frames to size after the rails were on. In any case, it's tricky to tell what's going on with those frames, so any suggestions are much appreciated!

Work has slowed a bit, but I've made some progress. First, the Canoa de Rancho. I'm taking my time with sanding and smoothing the hull, as it's pretty tedious work. Thankfully the 1/16th-inch-thick planking can take a good bit of sanding. I've also started figuring out the frames. Unlike with the Cargo Canoa, I won't be trying to make each frame from a single bent piece of wood. Instead they'll be made of two pieces, one along the bottom and one along the side. As long as I get the angle of the cut right, the joint shouldn't be too noticeable, especially once the floor planking is in. The main issue has been trying to figure out the right thickness for the frames. Originally I was going to go with 1/8th-inch square wood, as I have some left over from the dory build. This corresponds to 4-inch thick frames on a real vessel, which seemed reasonable from photos, but it looked much too thick when I test-fit some pieces (which still needed final shaping). I toyed with the idea of reducing the number of frames, but it still wasn't looking right. Instead, I'll be reducing the pieces down to 3/32-inch thickness (corresponding to 3 inches). This seems like it will look about right. Now I just have to make and shape all the frames, and finish sanding the hull. On the Cargo Canoa: I decided I liked the look of natural wood for the crossbeams, so I attached those without painting. I also added a waterline, painting below it in a dark brown. This was a bit of a guess, color-wise, as most of my photos are in black and white, but a number of them do show hulls that are darkened below the waterline, and I don't think it's just the water itself darkening the hull. Next up, the cap rails, which have given me trouble. I outlined them on a piece of paper, then transferred the shape to a 1/16-inch thick board with a pin, then cut it out. I purposely cut it wide so it could be better shaped later (which is why it looks so terrible in the photo). I had decided to use the 1/16th-inch wood based on trials with some scraps, but the full cap rail looked much too thick. After briefly experimenting with sanding it down a bit, I decided I'd have to redo it in thinner wood. The problem is that I don't have much 1/32‐inch-thick wood left from the dory, so I had to make the rail of multiple pieces with a small splice joint. (This is actually accurate to the actual vessels). Anotger issue is that I originally planned on having the cap rails overhang the interior of the boat a little such that they rest on the frames. This seemed accurate from a few photos, but a more detailed look suggests that I was wrong and the rails should just be attached to the side planks and extend outward (where they're propped up by the crossbeams and supports). This means that 1) I needed to be pretty precise with shaping the inside edge of the cap rails, and 2) I needed to lightly sand down/round off the top of the frames and repaint them, which requires color matching the interior (which is not straight ochre). I was able to make the rails, but they brought with them another problem. The 1/32‐inch basswood is substantially lighter than the 1/16-inch wood used for the crossbeams, so the natural wood color looked much too light. So I painted them, slightly lightening the brown I used for the bottom. (I will be lightly sanding the outside edge once they are attached to the hull, which will make the rails more even and smooth). However, I ultimately don't like the color they turned out. The brown works for the bottom, and seemed fine in tests with painted scrap, but it looks oppressively dark on the entire cap rails. I had no luck with multiple attempts to mix something lighter, which is an area I need to work on for the future. (Just a test fitting, the rails haven't been glued yet.) So, I bought some lighter brown paint. Now I will be sanding the darker paint off the rails, repainting them, and then finally attaching them. Oh and also making the aft rail, too. Hopefully the paint troubles will be over soon! Painting is definitely one of my least favorite parts of the build process, and I'm hoping to find a color scheme I like better for the Canoa de Rancho. Hopefully I can leave more wood natural.

The hull looks great!

Thanks! I had read your page on the vessels of the Albufera, which was great, but hadn't seen the bibliography page. This is really helpful!

Thanks, I'll definitely check that out!

That's very kind of you to say. I would note that I did find it really helpful to build the MSW Grand Banks Dory first, which gave me at least some familiarity with the basics, and I was going to build the MSW Lobster Smack but my order was never shipped (I suppose that's what I get for trying to save a few bucks ordering from ebay instead of their site). As for scratch building, the big advantage is that you're not limited to what's available in kits. I've been able to pursue projects that are personally meaningful to me--I'm living part-time in Mexico, my wife is Mexican, and I'm strongly interested in Mexican and Latin American history--and that don't exist in kit form. The one thing I would really strongly recommend to other novice scratch-builders is to build something with plans. At the very least, it will save you a lot of worrying about whether your proportions are off, which has been a constant issue in my builds. I've decided that my next scratch builds will be based on plans, which will save me a lot of hassle. (I've already found plans for a Chilean Lancha Chilota coastal sloop, and for a Spanish lateen-rigged fishing boat like those I saw in Barcelona that got me interested in modeling, so I have those builds to look forward to). That said, I have nothing against kits and am strongly considering doing the NRG half-hull before I tackle anything with a curved rather than a flat-bottomed hull. I'd also love to do one of Vanguard's fishing boat kits in the future, when I have more space. Also, that model of the Mary Rose sounds fun!

Ribs are looking good. That figure has quite the head of hair!

Looking good!

The hull (or at least its unframed shell) of the Canoa de Rancho is complete! After trying a few different patterns from cards, I found a shape that seemed to work for the upper bow planks, using a batten to mark the curve. Rather than make them from separate planks, I made each side from a single piece of wood, marked out the plank thickness, and later cut along the plank lines and glued them back together on the hull. This ensured that the line of the curve was consistent. I bent the pieces to shape and glued them in place. Then it was time to take the hull off the strongback. I dabbed alcohol on the two points where I had glued it in place, scraped off the glue residue, and applied light bit consistent pressure at the bow end. Finally there was a sharp--and worrying!--crack and the bow end popped off the strongback. The stern end came off much easier. Despite the noise there was no damage. While the Cargo Canoa's sides wanted to squeeze in on themselves because the planks weren't bent before gluing, the Canoa de Rancho's planks were bent prior and it seems very stable. There's a little glue residue inside where the molds were, but overall I did a better job at cleaning off excess glue as I went than on the dory. A few dark spots left by the hair pins I used to hold the planks while bending and gluing will have to be dealt with if I want to leave the interior in natural wood, which I'm considering. There's still sanding to do, as well. I also realized that there's a very slight asymmetry just ahead of amidships. In fairing I had added a very small shim to a mold that seemed too short, but in hindsight I maybe should have sanded the surrounding molds a bit more instead. Although that may have just led to an asymmetry in the other direction, maybe I should have added a smaller shim and sanded more. In any case, it's hard to notice unless you're looking directly down on it from above. Overall I think the hull turned out fairly well, considering that I had to base it on photos of a wide variety of different boats with different hull forms. If I were to redo it, I might make the bow a bit higher, move the widest point back a tiny bit, and increase the width a bit on all or most molds. (Or I should really just build something with actual plans! Now there's an idea...) But, I think that the proportions aren't too bad and will look better if I paint the hull a different color below the waterline (which some photos suggest at least some canoas had, although it's a bit hard to tell). After all, most photos that I'm used to are of these vessels in the water, and they always look a bit boxy when they're hauled up on shore. I do think it captures Ramón Rubín's description of these vessels as having both "an elevated and elegant prow laid out with grace" along with "an oblong and unattractive stern" (La canoa perdida, p.123). It's maybe a bit of an oddly shaped hull, all things considered, but that's just part of the charm. Rubín's graceful, elegant prow: And his oblong and unattractive (I would have just said "boxy," but I guess that's why I'm not a novelist) stern: Besides that, I've also started painting the exterior of the Cargo Canoa white. I think the color combo works, although it's maybe a bit "Great White Fleet," but I do need something different for the cap rail. Natural wood, maybe? Next up: a bit of sanding and more white paint on the Cargo Canoa, and time to figure out the Canoa de Rancho's frames while I smooth its hull.

Welcome back! The dory is a great kit, very fun and comes together into a great little model. I think we all would love to see a build log!

Looks sharp, nicely done!

Planking's looking great!

You picked a great model for a first build, and it looks like you're off to a good start! One thing to be aware of with the stem is that, if it doesn't extend forward as far as it previously did, the bow will be shortened not only horizontally, but also vertically as the planks will intersect the stem earlier. So the bow may be a bit lower than the stern. It also might lead to issues with the kit-provided cap rails and breast hook later. If it's possible to redo the stem at this early stage, it might be worth it to avoid problems later, but any issues caused also should be readily surmountable down the line as well, you just might need to reshape some parts. Just something to consider. Looking forward to seeing how the build progresses!

Thanks! The paper was one of the first things that came up when I googled "Average Male Height Mexico 1940" or some other year, so it didn't end up being too hard to find. Unfortunately, this does mean that, when I was judging sizes from photos, my measurements are a bit off as I guessed at a height of 5 feet 6 inches... but I left room for error and I'm not modeling any specific ship, so it's not a big deal.

No worries, thanks for the helpful comments, and that rowboat sounds like it must have been fun! I can see how shorter floor panels running across the bottom would be a lot easier to manage for cleaning out the bilge. What little of the decking is shown in José María Angulo Sepulveda's La navegación de antaño en el Lago de Chapala shows the planks running lengthwise, so I went with that, but his drawing has a few inaccuracies and irregularities, so maybe I shouldn't have taken it as accurate in this respect. My other concern with cross-wise decking is that many planks would be unsupported by the frames, although perhaps the planks themselves had supports attached below to prop the decking up to a consistent height and to allow clearance in the bilge. Definitely something to think more about for the larger Canoa de Rancho--I seem to be using the smaller Cargo Canoa to make all the mistakes and figure out how to deal with them! Very brief build update. I started sanding the hull of the Canoa de Rancho and it looks much better now, although I still have a bit of smoothing to do. I also fiddled around with cardstock today for three things. First, I finally decided to make a scale ruler, as I was getting tired of constantly having to count out 3/8th-inch increments. Next, I used the card to try out one possibility for the bow hull planks, making a straight triangle that would be made of two planks. I have seen photos of vessels like this, such as the one below, so it would not be inaccurate. Source: https://mediateca.inah.gob.mx/islandora_74/islandora/object/fotografia%3A139788 But ultimately, I think I prefer the look of a smoother, more natural curve to the bow, rather than just a straight angle. So, back to the drawing board. I'd prefer something like the photo below, which will also have to start further back along the hull: Source: https://www.mexicoenfotos.com/antiguas/jalisco/ocotlan/el-rio-lerma-MX15091260387054/1 Finally, I read in another build log (sorry, I forget which) that it can be useful to use a scale human figure to get a better grasp on how you're placing things (like tiller height, cleat location, etc). So, mustering all of my meager figure-drawing skills, I sketched out a 1:32-scale male figure. He look a bit Ancient-Egyptian, actually, given the arm and foot positions, which testifies to my limited artistic abilities.... He stands about 5 foot 4 inches tall, which seems more or less accurate for a working-class person in the early twentieth century from this region of Mexico, based on information in Moramay López-Alonso and Roberto Vélez Grajales's "Measuring Inequality in Living Standards with Anthropometric Indicators: The Case of Mexico 1850-1986" (Journal of Human Development and Capabilities 16.3, 2015, 374-396--which is a fascinating article, it's particularly striking how much heights diverge between upper-class passport holders and lower-class military conscripts). If anything, it might be a hair too tall, although comments in Eduardo Gibbon's and Thomas Philip Terry's writings suggest the locals were considered by contemporaries to be rather robust, so I suppose it's fine. But anyway, the figure gives a sense of how small the Cargo Canoa I'm building is, but also confirms that, as in photos I've seen, passengers would be comfortably able to sit on the cap rail or on the crossbeams. It also suggests that the sides of the Canoa de Rancho aren't too tall to prevent the vessel from being useful for fishing, something I was a little concerned about as I'm trying to make a Canoa that could be used for fishing and cargo hauling.