JacquesCousteau

Thanks, all! @wefalck, yes, I think I'll be looking into getting some more tools for detail work--a riffler file, maybe some micro-chisels--in the future. I'm making some basic furniture in my carpentry class and there's a lot more room for error at full scale. (At least for my current skill level--no fancy dovetail joints for me!) @KLarsen, you're right, I need to figure out how to make more effective use of the wood grain, especially when the futtock takes nearly a 90-degree curve. I think that laying out more frame pieces at a time will help me to set them up more efficiently on the sheet.

Lots of ups and downs, but I've made some progress on the Bateau. First, I advanced a bit on the building jig, although I still need to file the frame notches to the proper size (I forgot to bring the files that day) and add the bolt, nut, and washer assembly that will hold the jig up properly. I also decided to try cutting out my first frame. The first futtock turned out great. For the second, though, I didn't leave enough space cutting outside the line, and somehow managed to cut at a bit of an angle, resulting in an unusable, thin piece. I resolved to do better with the floor. But, as I was nearing on tip, the wood suddenly snapped, cracking at a diagonal that rendered this piece, too, unusable. The good piece is on the right, the unusable ones at center and left: This was a frustrating experience, but I think I can draw two lessons from it. First: I should just start drawing a line about 1mm outside the frame line to follow, because I have a hard time cutting a consistent distance outside a line. Second, I should cut the frames purposely overlong and only trim the edges to the proper size afterward, so that there's more support around the ends of the frames and they're less likely to break while cutting. Meanwhile, I worked out the rabbet shape. It was a bit tricky to get right, because the edge of the garboard is bevelled in a way that changes over the length of the hull. So rather than assuming a squared-off plank edge and setting the rabbet to the changing angle of the plank, I had to figure out how the plank bevel was changing and would interact with the rabbet. The result is a little messy and probably not quite right, but it should work and I can always make minor adjustments as necessary later. At both the bow and the stern, the rabbet needed to transition from a simple beveled edge to a squared-off cut, which I did with a sharp blade and mini-files. I think I extended the squared portion a little too far forward at the stern, but checking with a piece of planking wood shows that everything should still fit well. While the deadwood was pretty straightforward, just thinning the lower edges and corner a bit, the stem and sternpost were more complicated. At the top of the sternpost, the planks enter pretty much straight from the sides due to the pronounced curve of the hull, but that gradually shifts until, by the bottom, the planks will run flat into the sternpost. The stem is similar, but a different shape. To transfer the rabbet shape to the opposite side, I used a metal divider to scribe the line before cutting. After a lot of careful cutting, I decided that it was finally time to start gluing. I began with the bow. Unfortunately I couldn't get a clamp onto the parts very well while holding them against the plans on a flat surface, and right after gluing, I realized that it was angled to the side--very slightly, but possibly enough to cause a problem. I applied alcohol and began to separate the parts, when a minor tragedy struck and the stem snapped at the joint: After a bit of cursing and considering my options, I decided that I may as well see if I could glue it back together before making a new one. Between carving out a tight scarf joint and the rabbet, the stem had been the most complex part so far, and I wasn't exactly enthusiastic about remaking it. Fortunately, the parts fit very well and, after clean-up, the joint was practically invisible from the sides. While waiting on that to dry, I glued the sternpost and deadwood to the keel: And then the stem. After sawing off the excess bit of keel at the stern and sanding off the extra I left below the stem, I'm pleased with how the keel structure turned out! There's a bit of touch-up here and there to do, but it's coming along well. The repair at the bow is invisible from the sides and barely visible from the bottom (which of course will be barely visible on the completed model). Overall this has been an eye-opening experience. The complexity of making a POF build from scratch is an order of magnitude greater than any previous builds I've done, and I've made plenty of errors. (And tried to learn from them.) Even something as seemingly simple as the keel structure has taken a lot of work and plenty of frustrations. Challenging as it is, I'm learning a lot and (mostly) enjoying the experience.

Nice work! Expanding the bulkheads for more gluing area is a great idea. Every time I see this build I'm surprised again by how big it is.

Great job, it's turning out very well.

Very nice, precise work!

I'm not sure how helpful this suggestion will be, or how necessary it is for the model, but the chapter on grain in William Cronon's Nature's Metropolis might have relevant information--either the text itself, or a footnote may point toward a source on it in some trade journal or something. Edit to add: it's been a while since I read it, but grain transportation technologies are important to his broader argument about commodification, so the book should have something on it.

Nice work! The rivet heads are a great detail, just visible enough without looking out-of-scale.

Thanks, Paasch's From Keel to Truck looks extremely useful! I haven't been able to do as much work on this lately, as I started a new job and what modeling time I've had has been focused on the Lancha Chilota. But I've made some, miniscule, progress. First up, I've begun work on the framing jig. The top piece is made of relatively thin mdf, while the bottom is thicker mdf that I will strengthen with wood strips along the bottom to prevent warping. Cutting out the hull shape on the top piece with a fretsaw was a little challenging due to the size of the board, and the line wandered a bit in one part. Thankfully the cutout is just an internal line and doesn't need to be precise, as the frame slots are cut out separately. So far I've cut their sides with the fretsaw, trying to stay a bit inside the line, and I'll need to use a chisel to cut them out fully, and then file into the final shape. Sawing out the frame slots was a bit challenging, as the moment of greatest imprecision is always the start of each cut--in a couple cases, the blade skipped a bit, as can be seen, but it should be fine once I can file things straight. I also made a little progress on the keel structure. First, I marked the location of the rabbet on the keel, using a batten of planking material to ensure it would be the proper size. The rabbet is a bit odd, in that it's just a chamfered edge on the keel rather than a slot. This can be seen in the cross-section image below. In the monograph, it's described as: "... la quille, celle-ci ne comporte pas de râblure mais seulement un chanfrein contre lequel se place le premier bordage ou galbord." So, when I eventually get to planking, I'll need to chamfer the garboard edge to fit properly. I haven't cut out the rabbet yet, as I'm still trying to work out how it will be shaped as the planking angle changes along the hull. I think it will make the most sense to do at least a rough cut of the rabbet before attaching the stem and sternpost, taking care that everything will line up. Finally, I decide to at least try to carve out the mortise on the aft end of the keel where the tenon on the sternpost fits. I don't really have the right tools for this, lacking any micro-chisels, but with a sharp knife I was able to carve it out. It's not the prettiest joint, but a) carving it was a learning experience, and b) it will be entirely covered and invisible. It could be tighter and more precise, but even so, it holds up the sternpost without glue. Next up, I need to work out the rabbet, glue the keel assembly, finish the jig, and start on the frames.

Great job!

Looks like an interesting build!

Thanks, @wefalck! Dry brushing certainly seems to give a lot of bang for the buck--easier to figure out (at least the basics) than I expected and a little can add a lot of character. After more consideration, I decided to just go for mounting the chainplates outside the rubbing strakes. I painted the rubbing strakes off the hull and glued them on 1/3 at a time, starting at the bow and working my way back. Rubber bands were helpful around the center, but not further forward or back, due to the pronounced curve of the hull. I also attached the bowsprit and was able to attach the cross-piece rail that goes across it. I realized that I should have waited to weather the gammon iron and surroundings until I extended the white stripe of the rub rails around the stem. The area was quite tricky to tape off. Despite my best efforts to burnish the tape and seal it with clear varnish before painting, a good bit of paint still managed to escape on the port side (my apologies for the poor picture quality!). It took a good bit of patient scraping and repainting the area, but I was able to get it looking right, especially after adding the dry-brushed rust and some dark washes. At the transom, meanwhile, I used Tamiya masking tape for curves for the white stripe. Besides the rust, I also wanted to weather the hull a bit. I scraped and sanded some edges, especially on the rubbing strake and cap rail around where the shrouds/chainplates will be located and at the bow where the anchor would hang*, and around the keel, stem, and guardaplayas. I then used a dark wash to tone down some of the exposed bare wood (drawing on Gary's example in his dragger build). The effect is subtle. *Some photos show lanchas with a hawse hole through the cap rail for the anchor, but many lanchas simply ran the anchor cable over the rail, as I've decided to go with on my build. I also dry-brushed a very little bit of white in some places to suggest salt deposits. The hull could maybe do with a dash more color variation (maybe a brown wash?) to suggest more weathering, but I don't want to over-do it. (Not to mention that there will be rust around the chainplates and rudder hinges when those are added.) In any event, the hull is basically complete now! I still do need to shape the masthead. I'm happy with how the build is turning out, thank you all for your advice and comments.

Nice work! Getting the joints right is certainly tricky.

Looks like a nice start! I second the suggestion to check out other build logs, they have a lot of useful information.

Great job on the repair!

Thanks, Gary! I've also finished painting the rudder, except for the hinges, which I haven't added yet. I made the metal straps that support the rudder extension out of card. Photos of the Quenita show that the rudder metalwork was almost more rust than metal. Source: https://lanchaschilotas.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/DSCN71501.jpg I'm not planning on weathering my model as much as the Quenita, but it does make sense to me that the rudder would be a bit more weathered than the upper works. It would have been totally submerged when sailing, but lanchas--which were operated by small farmers rather than specialized traders--were regularly hauled out of the water when not in use, which was often, and thus were subjected to a lot of wear. So, I used a little more rust coloration here: As for the other metalwork, a lot of it--rudder hinges, chainplates, block hooks--will need to be made of actual metal due to the pressure on them. Hopefully I'll be able to similarly weather them.

I decided to start on the bowsprit. To make the metal bracket around the tip, I used an index card, stiffened with super glue. To try to make it look more like painted metal, I first painted the card black, and then painted blue-green over it, allowing hints of the black to show through, as seen below: The image also shows the test piece where I tried out different ways of making eyebolts from wire. Ultimately, I went with the twist design seen below, as it seems to offer the best chance of gluing sturdily and resisting pullout. I then drilled holes in the top and bottom of the bowsprit through the bracket, affixed the eyebolts with superglue, and painted them blue-green as well. Next, I weathered the whole assembly. I dry-brushed a bit of brown to add rust stains, and ran a pencil along some of the edges to suggest metal shining through where the paint may have chipped off. This was my first time really making use of dry-brushing, and I'm happy with how it turned out. The same goes for the bowsprit tip as a whole. Next, I handled the gammon iron the same way, starting with black card: Painting said card: And finally adding weathering in the same way. I also added the wire loop through the stem that the bobstay attaches to, and added a little rust there as well. Finally, I gave the hull a final coat of black (this time with just a dash of white added) and then sanded and scraped in some areas to suggest a bit of wear and tear. I'm very pleased with how the bowsprit turned out. I haven't glued it in place yet because I'm still deciding whether or not to add a turnbuckle for the forestay. If I do, it will be easier to add it off the hull. But, if I go for a lanyard arrangement instead (which is what I'm planning on doing for the bobstay), it will have to be added on the hull as it will serve as a way of tensioning the stay. Beyond this, I'm now leaning more toward just adding the chainplates outside the rubbing rail rather than inside, as it's just as accurate and greatly simplifies construction.

Looks great! I'm very curious to see how it goes planking with styrene.

Nice work on the chainplates, they couldn't have been easy! Although I've never built it, I've repeatedly seen posts saying that the longboat is surprisingly challenging due to being a small boat at a pretty small scale, with only one layer of planking that is visible inside and out. I'm not sure if it would really be all that much easier than this one.

Masting and Rigging, Part 2: Bowsprit and Running Rigging Bowsprit Rigging The plans show the bowsprit rigging in detail. They show a notch with a sheave in it at the tip of the bowsprit. Nestled in it is a bent metal rod with a hook in both ends, connecting below to the bobstay and above to a turnbuckle that, in turn, connects to the forestay. The tack of the jib is attached to this metal rod below the turnbuckle. This does not necessarily seem quite accurate, though. There are some photos that may depict something like this, although they’re not very clear. In the photo below, it’s unclear if the bobstay is culminating in some sort of lashing around the bowsprit, or if it’s entering some sort of notch or sheave (although in that case, it’s not clear what the lashing would be for). It also appears to show a rope bobstay, if the frayed knot on the stem is anything to go by. Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/luchinmardones/5202830330/in/photostream/lightbox/ But in most images where details can be made out, there seems to be a sort of bracket around the tip of the bowsprit with eyebolts on top and bottom, and no notch/sheave. Here I think we can see such an arrangement on the Quenita, which does have a turnbuckle to connect to the forestay. The tack of the jib also seems to be tied around the bowsprit. I should note that there’s a possibility that this is not in fact a metal bracket but just a rope lashing, but that seems like it would be a much weaker arrangement: Source: http://lanchaschilotas.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/9863788-R2-E004.jpg In other images, it looks more like they just looped the forestay directly to a loop of wire coming off the bracket, assuming it is a bracket and not a lashing. (Incidentally, I believe that the white rope belayed around one of the mast hoops is for the vang, which does not seem to have been a feature of every lancha.) Source: https://www.carlosvairo.com/galeria-puerto-montt-lanchas-chilotas This image, also by Vairo, doesn’t quite show the bracket, but does show the loop in the forestay around a sort of bullseye (or thimble?) with what may be a rope lashing or some sort of wire used to join the forestay. It also shows (mostly—it’s blocked by the anchor) how the bobstay could be attached to the stem, not by an eyebolt as shown on the plans, but with what looks like more of a wire loop running into the sides of the stem. Incidentally, the bobstay here is shown to be a metal rod with hooks in the ends rather than a wire or rope. It’s also very clear that there is no running rigging attached to the tack of the jib. Source: https://www.carlosvairo.com/galeria-puerto-montt-lanchas-chilotas I think that I can make a convincing bowsprit bracket out of cardstock, painted and glued with wire loops drilled through it into the bowsprit to affix the forestay and the bobstay. As I've mentioned, it's not wholly clear that the bracket actually was common earlier on, but it seems like a reasonable and realistic option. Running Rigging Finally, I should briefly mention the running rigging. In general, the plans are pretty accurate about this, although they show all blocks attached to the mast with an eyebolt, which is not necessarily correct (although photos are not very clear on what is correct, then). Peak and throat halyards and their associated blocks appear to be accurately shown on the plan. The jib sheet runs through a loop in the clew of the jib, which photos (including one shown above) confirm is correct. The main sheet is lashed to the boom, runs through the block on the traveler, then through the block on the boom, and finally is belayed on deck, as appears not just in the plans (below) but also in a number of photos. The topping lifts are slightly more complicated. The plan shows them as a single line. It’s lashed to the boom ahead of the sheet (just above “D” in the image above), runs up through a block attached to the masthead between the peak and throat halyard, then back down to the other side of the book where it’s lashed again. This is quite different from how topping lifts are shown in John Leather’s The Gaff Rig Handbook, although then again, other parts of the lancha’s rig don’t quite conform to the book either. It’s tricky to find good photos of the topping lift on lanchas, because many photos are of docked/beached lanchas, in which case the halyards were often led down and lashed around the gaff and boom and look quite similar to a topping lift. In any case, photos seem to conform to the plans. In the photo below, for instance, there’s clearly no block or anything affixed to the topping lift at left: Source: https://www.carlosvairo.com/galeria-puerto-montt-lanchas-chilotas Finally, the plans don’t mention vangs. Many photos of lanchas don’t show them, but there are a handful that do. Given that they seem to be rare, I think I will just leave them off my build. Back to the Build To create the mast, I took a ¼-inch square piece of cherry and cut it to the proper length, deciding to go with about 112% of the length (so slightly shorter than the average I worked out). Next, using my mini-plane, I tapered it on all sides. I then measured out where the crosstrees and boom gooseneck would be located. Between these, I marked out a rough 7-10-7 split (erring on the side of not cutting enough) to cut an octagonal cross section. I used a simple jig to hold the mast while cutting this with my plane—the jig came from a version of the Model Shipways Muscongus Bay Lobster Smack kit that I resized to 1:32 scale and made with a library laser cutter as a fun project (the “kit” will be built eventually). After making an octagon, I sanded the center section of the mast smooth and round. The masthead still needs to be finished. From what I can tell from photos, it should be trimmed on all but the back sides, with the flagpole attached to the fore side. Besides the mast, I also added the cap rails and trimmed them to size, and filed out the notches in the aft rail that seem to have been used for sculling oars. The build is coming together!

Thanks, all, for the likes and helpful comments! Progress has slowed a good bit recently. First it was because I was trying to work out how to make the shrouds, and especially how to make them accurately, but as I worked on that, I decided that I may as well figure out all the rigging details now. Although the lancha is a very simple vessel, relatively speaking, it's nonetheless much more complicated than anything I've built before, and there was a lot for me to learn. John Leather's The Gaff Rig Handbook was helpful in working things out, although the lancha differs differs in a lot of regards from what he shows. As I’ll show below, there are a few points where the plans diverge from common practice or are outright inaccurate according to photo evidence, although they’re generally correct and I would have had a much harder time figuring things out without them. Apologies for the giant post and for repeating in it a few photos and points discussed earlier! I wanted to get everything in a single post (well, actually, two posts) that would be useful not just to explain things, but also for me to go back to and re-read as necessary. Masting and Rigging, Part 1: Masts and Shrouds Overview In general, the lancha chilota used a pretty standard gaff rig. Standing rigging was limited to a forestay running from the masthead to the tip of the bowsprit, a bobstay to counteract the upward pull on the bowsprit, and a number of shrouds to the side of the mast (I should note that at least some of which might actually be backstays—I’m not totally clear on the distinction in cases when the lines are running more to the side of the mast than aft of it, and some small vessels have what look like shrouds to me but they’re called backstays). Running rigging consisted of the jib halyard and sheets—there does not seem to have been a downhaul on the jib tack—for the jib, and for the gaff, a throat and peak halyard, topping lifts, the main sheet, and, in some but not all lanchas, vangs on the gaff. While the gaff has jaws to hold it around the mast, the boom is attached with a gooseneck. The plan sheet's rigging diagram is shown below; some specific parts will be shown in more detail as necessary. The Mast As mentioned in an earlier post, I determined from photos that the mast given in the plans is a bit shorter, proportionally, than was typical. There are a few other interesting points, too. As the plans correctly show, lancha masts were usually square in cross-section at the deck. They then become round around where the boom is attached (via a gooseneck). The mast stays round throughout the area where the mainsail is attached, then switches back to a square cross-section for the mast head. There are also a pair of small crosstrees located at about this point, which are not shown on the plans. Finally, there’s a small flagpole attached to the front of the masthead and extending upward (and not simply pointing out of the top of the masthead, as shown on the plans). While there was a fair bit of variation in the photographed mast height to hull length proportions that I checked earlier, checking for the location of the gaff and especially the crosstrees by the same procedure revealed much greater consistency. In a sample of six photos with the gaff set, the gaff intersected the mast 69.4-75.7% of the way up the mast, with an average of 72.7% up it. The crosstrees were all located very consistently between 84.3-87.8% of the way up the mast, averaging 85.4%. The dimensions given by Garnham’s diagram (which doesn’t include the gaff) is very close to this, at 83.7%. Finally, photos showed the boom located roughly knee- or thigh-high above the deck. Masthead and Shrouds As mentioned above, the plans (and many photos) show three shrouds per side, two attached low on the masthead and one near the top. Eyebolts are used to attach all shrouds on the plans (as well as the blocks for the throat and peak halyards and the topping lift). They also show the forestay attached to an eyebolt, with the block for the jib halyard attached to the same point. Eyebolts may not have actually been used, though. They may have appeared in more recent lanchas: the masthead of the Quenita, shown below in closeup from the front, clearly has eyebolts as part of a metal band around the mast for one pair of the lower shrouds and for the upper shrouds. But, one pair of shrouds is looped around the mast itself at the crosstrees. It’s hard to tell how the forestay is attached, but it’s not an eyebolt—it looks to possibly be looped around or through the masthead (and around the flagpole). (It’s also not clear how the flagpole is attached to the masthead, as there are no visible bands; it may have just been nailed or screwed into the masthead, as it would have borne very little strain). Source: https://lanchaschilotas.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/9863788-R2-E004.jpg Older photos seem to show all shrouds looped around the mast without eyebolts, with the lower two pairs supported at the crosstrees, as seen below. It’s not clear to me what sort of ledge in the mast supports the upper pair of shrouds. Source: https://www.memoriasdelsigloxx.cl/601/w3-article-1805.html The lancha on the left of this photo seems to have a second, smaller crosstree at the top of the masthead, but upon closer inspection, it looks to be more of a spreader, with the shroud coming off of the end. Source: https://www.bibliotecanacionaldigital.gob.cl/bnd/629/w3-article-164339.html It’s also worth noting that, while the plans and many photos show three pairs of shrouds, some photos show two per side or even just one per side. The photo below from 1960, for instance, shows just a single shroud on each side. Incidentally, the chainplate in this case runs inboard of the rub rail, rather than around it. Source: https://www.bibliotecanacionaldigital.gob.cl/bnd/629/w3-article-613546.html While the lancha in this photo, from 1959, has two per side (as does the lancha in the top right): Source: https://www.bibliotecanacionaldigital.gob.cl/bnd/629/w3-article-164247.html This raises the question of how the shrouds were attached to the hull. I’ve discussed this a bit in earlier posts, but here I’d like to be a bit more systematic to clearly identify different possibilities. According to Edwards, based on research done at midcentury, “Most lanchas now have standing rigging of steel wire, which has all but replaced the rope used formerly. The rigging is set up with rope lanyards rove through rigging eyes and chain plates. Manufactured fittings such as turnbuckles and rigging shackles are rare. Many of the metal fittings are fashioned from miscellaneous scraps of iron which are bent crudely and adapted to use as marine hardware. Often, lengths of wire or iron chain are made up in rather ragtag assemblies to repair broken shrouds and stays.” (p.34, from Clinton R. Edwards, “The Lancha Velera of Chiloé,” The American Neptune Vol. 26 No. 1 [1966]: 33-36). The image above is notable in that there are no turnbuckles anywhere. Instead, it looks to me like there are loops in the ends of the shrouds and the chainplates—at least some of which look to be made of thin metal rods rather than a flat “plate”—with some sort of lanyard, whether rope or wire, joining the loops. Similarly, this image of a lancha with a single shroud per side seems to show more of a flat chainplate with a hole in the top, but a similar lanyard arrangement to connect to the shrouds. (Incidentally, it also shows what looks like a bracket around the end of the bowsprit at top right, although I suppose it could be a rope lashing, and a chain bobstay. The bowsprit details are described below.) Source: https://www.bibliotecanacionaldigital.gob.cl/bnd/629/w3-article-164721.html The photo below is interesting. There are no turnbuckles visible. The aftmost chainplate is a single piece and extends, bending, quite a ways above the wale, ending directly in a hook that hooks directly to the shroud. The fore shroud has a shorter chainplate and is connected to the shroud with a smaller hook. Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/luchinmardones/5202830330/in/photostream/lightbox/ Turnbuckles were present in reduced numbers early on, becoming more common later, but were often used in conjunction with assemblages of wire, rope, and metal bars. The image below from 1950 shows two shrouds in detail. The leftmost one has a small turnbuckle at the bottom, apparently attached directly to the chainplate. There is then a twisted segment of wire, with what looks like rope servings, running to a loop through some sort of bullseye or heart that the shroud is wrapped around. The shroud at right has a crude hook connecting to the chainplate; with a wire shroud either looped around it or seized to it with what looks like rope. Source: https://ceph-puerto-montt.blogspot.com/2009/02/album-del-recuerdo-imagenes-de-nuestra_22.html In the photo below, it’s interesting that the aftmost shroud pair is thinner than the other two (a fairly common feature), and doesn’t seem to have any turnbuckles to tighten the shroud. None of the turnbuckles have shackles. While the foremost and center port shrouds, and the foremost starboard shroud, all have a turnbuckle each (along with wire loops and hooks), the center starboard shroud is a little different. The turnbuckle there is attached to the chainplate (which seems to culminate in a small hook) with a small double loop (of wire?) and is joined directly to a loop in the end of the wire shroud. But the turnbuckle is also doubled by what seems to be a hooked rod, which ends somewhere unclear. The port foremost shrouds are also joined by a hooked rod, as well. (The photo is also interesting in that it shows very clearly that the blocks for the throat and peak halyard were internally stropped and had hooks. The throat halyard hooks into an eyebolt in the gaff, while the peak halyard appears to hook around some sort of lashing.) Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/luchinmardones/5232587713/in/photostream/ Even by the 1980s, the shroud setup could be fairly haphazard, as many Vairo photos show. The image below shows a mix of turnbuckles, hooked rods, looped wires, and rope seizings on the three shrouds. (It also shows the jib sheet consists of a single line, belayed to the deck on both ends, running through a loop at the clew of the jib.) Source: https://www.carlosvairo.com/galeria-puerto-montt-lanchas-chilotas Initially I had been planning on just doing two shrouds per side, as this is not a very large lancha. However, I’m reconsidering now, as I’m wondering if three shrouds will provide more force to keep the forestay from bending the mast forward. If I do three, though, I’ll need to work out how to connect the topmost shrouds to the masthead, as it’s not totally clear in photos. For the chainplates, I think that using the turnbuckles on about half the shrouds or so makes sense, but rather than making shackles, I’ll just be using hooks and wire loops, as they seem more accurate. The chainplates will need to simply have a hole in them rather than the loop I’ve already made, meaning that I will need to do a lot more brass drilling than I have before, and some of the chainplates should be a hook (as Paul suggested) rather than a flat metal sheet. Finally, I'm considering just placing the chainplates outside of the rubbing strake, rather than under it, as both methods are accurate and it would be much easier to not have to precisely file out slots on the inner side of a thin strip of basswood. Next up: the bowsprit and the running rigging.

Congratulations, very nice job! It looks great. Also, is that a lobster smack I see in the background?

Nice start, the cherry looks great!

Yep, just making sure that it's properly stuck down to get rid of any gaps. You can use your finger, but a hard, rounded shape works best.

If you search a bit, there are a lot of posts asking these same questions, and a lot of different answers. On tape, Tamiya masking tape works very well and their "for curves" tape can be curved to follow a waterline--something impossible with other tapes, making it very useful. The most important thing with masking is to burnish the edge by running something over it (I use the round non-brush end of a paintbrush) and to first paint over the edge of the tape with some sort of matte transparent paint or varnish. This will seal any gaps and prevent paint from seeping under the tape. On paint and primer, everyone seems to have their own way of doing things. Many use Vallejo or Tamiya modeling acrylics, which seem to have a wide range of colors. I use cheap craft acrylics and mix different colors. In either case, you want to thin your paint (check if you do this with water, alcohol, or something else) a good bit and use multiple coats. Your first coat will look terrible, but you'll sneak up on a nice finish after several coats. Painting this way avoids the out-of-scale effects of a thick coat of paint, and helps to preserve detail under the paint. And that's not to mention that a lot of people have success doing interesting things with enamels or other types of paints. As for priming, it really depends. In general, woods take paint pretty well and you don’t need a primer for paint adhesion (as you would for metal or plastic), but it can have other uses. Paint can raise the grain on wood (especially on basswood), so you'll usually have to sand after your basecoat to get a smooth finish. Applying some sort of sealer at the start can be useful for this, as well as to prevent gaps from forming if the wood expands and shrinks over time from humidity differences. If you're painting a light final coat and your wood is really varied in color, it could be useful to even things out with a gray basecoat. In general, I'd recommend just checking out what people do in build logs, see what effects you like, consider what's feasible for you, and copy that.

Thanks, Paul! I'm still figuring out the rigging, but in the meantime, I wanted to start considering some options for deck fittings and rigging metalwork. First, there were a number of cleats arranged on the lancha's deck. The plans show them as around 7 mm long at this scale, while the dimensions Graham gives would be about 10 mm at this scale. A while ago, I bought a number of cleats from now-defunct Crafty Sailor for this and other builds, so I finally took out the 7.5mm and 9mm cleats to see how they look. Size-wise, I felt the 9mm cleat looked appropriate (figure to scale). However, as you can see in the image below, the cleats are quite dark and really stand out against the deck, while most photos show cleats pretty much the same color as the deck. (Not to mention that they're a slightly different shape, although it wouldn't be noticeable with a turn of line belayed around them). Source: https://www.carlosvairo.com/galeria-puerto-montt-lanchas-chilotas So, I'll need to decide between trying to lighten the pre-made cleats with a mix of sanding and washes, and just making my own. In any case, I need to make the rather large double-cleats that were placed on deck in strategic locations (see the rigging photo, below), so for consistency's sake just making everything may be better. As for the rigging metalwork, I already have some turnbuckles that I blackened a long while ago. What I don't have is a way to connect them to the rest of the rigging. I experimented with using copper wire to make a shackle, drawing on the design used by @Paul Le Wol for his Glad Tidings build although without yet making a jig or soldering anything. This was a bit finnicky, and the final design would need to be tightened up a bit, not to mention blackened or painted and to hathe excess wire cut off, but I was surprised by how it turned out. (Not as good as Paul's, but better than I expected without any soldering or jig.) While this was a fun experiment, and Paul's method seems like it works great, it's not certain that Chilotes would have actually had shackles on their turnbuckles. The photo below, for instance, seems to just show wire looped directly to the turnbuckle or attached with large iron hooks, although the bottom edge where they connect to the chainplate isn't very clear. (The photo also shows the blocky double-cleat I mentioned earlier). Source: https://www.carlosvairo.com/galeria-puerto-montt-lanchas-chilotas Finally, the chainplates. Way back when, having found plain brass strip to be a little tricky to work with, I bought some simple Billings "chainplates" as I figured their seemingly thinner metal may be easier to handle. I also figured that, if I didn't like the look of the blocky end, I could just trim it off. By now, I'm not sure if super glue alone will really stand up well to the shear force from the rigging, but I may be able to drill my own smaller holes to secure the chainplate. Meanwhile, to test creating a simple loop at the top, I folded the tip back on itself. I found it very easy to bend and, when I went to anneal it, the annealed part turned silver. I'm not sure if this is a normal reaction to annealing, or if it means these are not actually brass.