SiriusVoyager

This update is planking the deck. The instructions say that a rapidly drying glue should be used and suggests cobblers cement. I initially used CA glue and quickly made a mistake with the plank placement (second photo). I tried to glue a small piece of scrap in there but it wasn't taking it so I left it for now. After the first plank I used white glue and occasionally used a small drop of CA glue when there was a spot that needed to be held it place. The white glue worked perfectly fine. After about a third of the way through the planking everything was going pretty well. One concern I had was the number of planks in the kit. The instructions (in later steps) use planks of the same type of wood, but different part numbers and lengths for them. It doesn't look like there is any other planking besides the deck and hull planks. I tried looking at other build logs and for unboxing videos/photos, but I only found one and it wasn't clear enough to see if they had a bundle of planks that I didn't. I favored one side of the deck to have as much usable scrap as possible. All of the deck planks on... and trimmed. I had thought about cutting the planks to the proper lengths for install, but decided to just follow the instructions and draw in the calking and nails. I wanted to do a little bit of weathering to the deck so I made a dark burnt umber stain from acrylic paint. I was a bit nervous that I would ruin the deck so I tested on a small bit of scrap. I also tested using some gray for aging, but it looked more frosty than aged. I was quite pleased with how the dark stain came out. I used the deck plans to estimate where the open areas of the deck would be and used 220 grit sand paper to make a bit of wear from foot traffic. The next step is to attach the deck to the spine. This did take a bit of tweaking to get everything lined up properly. Everything was mostly square but 2 or 3 of the tabs on the bulkhead didn't line up perfectly. I am not sure if they weren't square or if some of the bend came back to the spine. It wasn't bad enough to be a problem though as just a little bit of force on the couple of difficult bulkheads got everything to snap into place. This was another step that called for quick drying glue. I am glad I ignored that because it would have been a disaster. White glue and rubber bands with clamps worked fine. The last step for today was to add a few battens. Simple enough. I did a little bit of preshaping on a few to reduce the amount of faring in difficult spots later.

Getting started the first thing I noticed is that OcCre's plywood sheets are much tougher than the basswood I was used to from previous builds. It was very difficult to cut the pieces out using a #11 hobby knife blade. I swapped out a number #17 blade and it was much easier. I had some minor damage before switching to the new blade. Always make sure pieces are cutout well and do not try to pop them out. I did find the chiped off piece and glued it back in. After getting the spine and bulkheads removed and dechared it was time to make sure everything was symmetric and flat. For the bulkheads I traced each one out, cut out the paper trace and folded them along the center line. Anything that didn't line up mostly right would be shaped to match. Everything was very symmetrical. Anything that was slightly off I attributed to tracing/cutting errors or something that would fix itself when faring the bulkheads. As for the spine, it wasn't quite straight I didn't want to soak the plywood part because I was worried about de-laminating it. I clamped it to the edge of the table, used a brush to wet one side then used an iron to apply heat. I then repeated on the other side. I let it stay clamped down for a couple of hours and after removal it was looking quite a bit better. Dry fitting the bulkheads onto the spine, everything fit pretty well but there was a little bit of play. I'm sure removing the char inside the slots helped cause that. They squared up pretty easily and should be dry and ready to continue by morning. The structure is resting vertically in the vise because there wasn't room to grab it by the bottom of the spine.

For my fourth build after finishing the modelshipways series. I am going with the Palamos by Occre. It seems like a fairly good beginner build, I like trawlers and I managed to find it on clearance for $75. It appears that the boat isn't modeled after any particular fishing boat (at least as far as I could find) but rather is a general representation of fishing boats seen around Palamos Spain. I like the clean wood colors of the Occre model, but it looks like the real fishing boats were all painted bright colors. I am a bit torn on if I should paint the hull or leave the nice looking wood. Opening the box everything looks to be in good shape. There are 3 pages of 1/1 model scale drawings and separate instruction and photo reference booklets. There is also a paint chart that isn't photographed. I was planning on doing a parts inventory, but the way the parts list is labeled and references the instruction booklet photos, it would be quite time consuming and difficult. Upon comparing it to my previous builds, there are only a few sheets of wooden parts but all of the planking is with strips rather than laser cut strakes. All in all, it looks fairly well organized and should be a good build.

Welcome to MSW!

Everything looks so clean and precise. Nice work!

Thanks you for post your log. That is very similar to what I was thinking about doing. I bought some pre etched decking to try different techniques prior to doing it on a boat. I’ll give this a try.

Welcome to MSW. I would be interested in seeing the the tall ships and your current models side by side at the same scale.

Thank you for the info and photos @Bob Cleek. My original plan wasn’t to paint the deck, but I may have to consider that now. If I don’t, it seems like creating a wash a mixture of gray and brown paint to darken the wood sounds like the way to go. I will definitely be testing it out on scrap wood first.

The next kit I plan on starting shortly is the Occre Palamos. I would like to weather the the boat just enough to make it look like a working fishing boat. Most tutorials I have seen online suggest staining the deck, then sanding it down were it is to look weathered. I have also read a lot of posts here that seem to suggest that using would stain isn't great for modeling. What would one use weather a deck to make it look walked on, particularly a deck made of darker wood?

It looks like the rudder is upside down. Hopefully it can be fixed easily, but otherwise the hull looks great!

I’m not sure whey the instructions say steam is required. The wood strip is fairly flexible already. I soaked it for five minutes then used an iron to add heat. It held its curve just fine.

I had the same issue at the bow. I used a small amount of wood filler and sanded it down flush with the deck and hull.

Welcome to MSW!

Thank you @druxey! Thank you @robert952! I am more than happy to answer some questions. I think that the best advice I could give would be to take your time and do additional research, particularly on this model set specifically. There are a small number instances where the instructions and blue prints aren't clear or don't match what the actual kit pieces are. For a novice, this was frustrating and I am glad I found resources here and elsewhere to turn those few frustrations into a learning experience that I could move past. Overall I would say I am pretty satisfied with the kit. I would give it an 8 out of 10. The instructions were usually pretty clear in explaining new terms and specific techniques for ship modeling, the models were fun to build and the price was very reasonable considering you get three builds out of it. My main concerns were the fact that there are some inaccuracies in the instructions (particularly for a kit marketed for beginners) and a few quality assurance issues. I can get into details if someone wants to hear them, but I don't want it to sound overly negative since I do have a mostly positive opinion of the kit. My biggest takeaways: Take your time, it is a journey not a destination. Look at other build logs. Embrace the frustration, but do step back and return later when you are a better mindset. Enjoy learning something new. Next up will be the Occre Palamos. I need to work on my planking and I am not ready to sink a few hundred dollars into a kit I where I may not bet happy with the results. I managed to snag the Palamos for $70ish on clearance so it should be a good next boat. I have noticed that there are no finished build logs for that model yet and I do intend on changing that.

Thanks @Bryan Woods and @JacquesCousteau!

Thank you!

Thank you Chris and Greg! I am going to take 2-3 weeks off to work on some projects around the house. In the mean time I think I will make some decking to practice some finishing and weathering. The next boat will be the Occre Palamos. I snagged it on clearance for $60 and it seems like a good next step.

The last step was installing the jib and adding the last few lines and tidying up a few loose lines. The jib was easy to hoist. The instructions mention that if the rings are too difficult to attach to the fore stay and the jib that it can be tied on. I found the rings to be one of the easier aspects of building this model. Simply open with small pliers or tweezers and they can be pinched closed with finger pressure. After that it was simply finishing the rigging and tidying up the lines which is fairly clear from the instructions. The only issue I had was that the jib halyard wouldn't fit over the cleat so I tied it down on the samson post. I did find that I ran out of .7mm line for some reason and didn't have enough for the topping lift. Fortunately there was plenty of extra line leftover from the pram. And there is the finished model, with all of its flaws, frustrations and lessons learned. I don't think anyone will confuse it for an airplane so I am satisfied. Thanks to everyone who gave advice and encouragement!

Welcome to MSW!

Thanks @GGibson! I bought some alligator clips and forgot I had them. They probably would have worked well. I will have to remember that for next time.

The mast is a bit easier to install than on the pram since there is internal structure to hold it upright and in place. I started making the eyes for the fore stay and the bobstay turnbuckles after the lines were attached. This wasn't an ideal method as it was difficult to control the tightness of the lines. Success! Except that I tied the fore stay to the jib halyard eyelet rather than loop it over the stop cleats. DOH! For the remade fore stay and the back stays I clamped the lines down and made the eyes on my work mat. Remaking the reef points earlier caused me to run out of .4mm line so I used some navy blue thread for the back stays. This method of making the eye splices worked much better. They were easier to make and the tightness could be controlled at the knot rather than by creating tension while creating the eyes. Be careful not to glue the eye splice to the work mat. Much better.

I had the same problem with the stem not being flush with the deck. I cut a small piece of scrap to fill in the gap. As far as the transom and the deck lining up, I think the deck is mostly correct based on the where the mast goes. I do remember having to sand down quite a lot of the transom to get it to fit. I can’t tell from the angle if that is a possibility on your boat.

I am pretty sure my problem ended up being that the spine wasn’t perfectly straight, and the bulkheads not perfectly square. I think as long as dry fit each strake to the previous one and adjust the fairing accordingly your planking will be good.

Welcome!

Welcome to MSW