halvoric
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Everything posted by halvoric
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Now both floorboards are in and the hull polish is “done” (it’s hard to resist adding a micron or two more and then buffing it out again). Had to add a few coats to one side as my very last floorboard bracket screw hole popped all the way through. Oops. And I’ve found one more reference canoe online, this one with the glossiest finish I’ve seen yet. Makes me feel a bit more “scale”. Now for a lot of measuring twice and cutting once as I decide where the two seats and single thwart and their mounting pieces need to go. Not really looking forward to caning the seats as it is remarkably tedious work. But worth it I hope.
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The French polish magic is pretty much complete. Now it’s on to the second floorboard. Then seats and center thwart.
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One floorboard fully installed. I will be touching up the shellac on the ribs/interior to hide the nail holes. and the hull finishing is coming along slowly but surely
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More detail shots of the finish (about half done). The surface is a bit pebbly right now bc I am laying some thicker coats down. Will be smoothed at later stages with a lighter charge of alcohol/shellac in the pad.
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Building up to about 8 coats on the french polish so far. Sheen is getting deeper. French polish really can give a mirror finish: And here’s some incredibly fiddly work: installing the brass brackets for the floorboards:
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Finished all the holes, blackening, nails and filler for one side. With the very first rubbed coat of shellac. Also realized I could countersink/finish the nailheads with a punch/nailset. This will need/get SOOO many more coats of rubbed-on French polish shellac. Probably something like 20 coats—their thickness is measured in microns I think. Overall I am happy with the results so far.
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After drilling 525 holes I seem about 25% done. On one section, I have added random nails and “water stain” darkening and put about 30% of the total thickness of French polish shellac that it will ultimately need. The effect seems close to what was desired. This is the half-finished section beginning to show the depth and lustre of the final French polish. I will keep going until most of the divots are leveled; the copper nail heads will probably still sit proud of the finish. The full section from an angle that better reveals the DAP “Natural” wood filler in most of the holes. And here is the total progress to date. No shellac on this side yet; adding darkening and nails as I go along in stages. Surprisingly few ugly holes bored all the way through the hull.
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The first hull nails test: I am planning to make them mostly filler, with a few showing darkening/waterstaining and a few copper nailheads showing through. Ignore the “ghost” holes; I impatiently launched into making my starter holes (with an awl/stylus) without recalling from my source materials that the nails need to be at the (upper) EDGE of each plank (toenailed I think that is) to look like the original. Hopefully this one set of ghost holes won’t stand out when it’s all done (and if they do that side will face the wall 😂). Making tiny nails from 24ga wire. Production is slow.
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Kurt— Yes, I’ve definitely checked out that first link for BIG model canoes (I think they may even offer a 1:1 scale kit, not sure). Seems they like to make pool table/bar lamps out of them. Was tempted to get one of their kits—maybe after this model is done (girlfriend would be THRILLED).
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Thanks! Your canoe looks exactly like the kit I am bashing, if built to the plans. I’ve made a lot of changes to mine for scale realism, but the basic plank hull is identical. I think Midwest had a predecessor kit to my 1:8 scale (Canadien Canoe, based on the Peterborough Model 44) that was a bit smaller but very similar. The kit features no seats, just three thwarts, like yours.
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The layout methodology gets more complicated (as usual 😂).
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For the nail effect, I want to simulate this: Assuming I will need to start with several hundred tiny (and shallow) holes. I think I can lay out the rows with a stylus, using the spacing guide I originally made for rib spacing, and my trusty Weems & Plath triangle:
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Pores/grain and scratches are getting filled in the decks area:
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First pass at smoothing/grain filling with shellac and pumice polishing. It’s nice to get something into the pores of the wood and get a sense for what the grain profiles and seams will look like once there is a full finish.
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All the screws & nails are in place and now starting the first shellac stages of finishing. A few coats on the decks/outwales/king planks/coamings and interior. I will be smoothing some of the finish on the surfaces with a French Polish technique using old-school linen “rubber” and 4F pumice powder, followed by additional french polish coats (if you’ve done french polish you know how long this can take. For the hull I am just doing an initial fill coat of shellac which will be knocked down with pumice/alcohol and repeated shellac steps to fill seams and grain. When that first smoothing phase is done, I will decide how to do simulations of the 800+ copper nails that hold the strips to the ribs. It seems like a crazy amount of holes to drill, but let’s see how much patience I have. Installation of the floorboards, seats, thwarts and brass keel strip will follow that nail project, then final french polish finish for the hull. (And making a couple of paddles)
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Added the first of the two coamings made from 1/32” cherry strip: CA, then added six screw holes: Making screws from 22 ga copper wire. Clamped in the old vise grips, I planish the head with brass hammer, then add a screw slot with #11 blade and a tap from the hammer. Then snip at an angle with Xuron 440 photo-etch shears.
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Thanks Alan! It’s the upside of obsessiveness I suppose.
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And here are the screws after patina. I have polished up a few so far, and will leave some fully oxidized. The brass brackets for the floorboards. Some have been polished with 400, 1000 & 2000 grit paper. The floorboards (in background) have been finished with diluted Judea Bitumen and English Oak (from Model Expo), then 3-4 light coats of Amber shellac (Bullseye/Zinser). How they will attach:
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Making old-looking faux screws, part one: Starting with these teensy brads, I clamp them in some Vise-Grip pliers as an anvil and then cleave the heads with a cold chisel and little brass hammer. Then sand the heads to reduce the diameter a bit, giving us these (some of the chisel cuts are off center and either look like a Phillips screw or, more often, like garbage). Then they get suspended over a mix of 1 part Miracle-Gro fertilizer powder to 3 parts red wine vinegar, to accelerate a verdigris patina. I just started using the tea ball (don’t tell the girlfriend) and it works great. There’s a piece of paper towel in the solution to act as a wick and speed the evaporation. I get a good thick patina on copper or brass in about 12-24 hours with this setup.
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Four of the six “screws” installed. Countersunk pockets were darkened with Bitumen of Judea, then a first thin coat of shellac applied to see the effect. These surfaces will probably get three more coats of shellac applied. closeups
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Next step will be adding the 6 screws (countersunk/pocketed I think) holding each to the decks on the ends. Research examples: I notice a fair amount of variation among the research canoes on the final shape and width of the outwales (many are restorations). So I will try to hit a happy medium.
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The outwales are made from 3/16” x 1/8” x 24” basswood strips. Looking at resource photos, the Mike Elliott book, and the archival Peterborough catalog, it’s clear that there is a particular shape to the outwales on the Model 44, the profile of which is best seen in the catalog at the top of the strip canoe page: The Elliott book also shows a similar profile (“wide outwales”) found as well on canoes of other makers: I first sanded the inside edge camber to match the top plank, then soaked and bent the two ends to match the curve of the stem end decks (neglected to take a photo). Then sanded most of the top bevel into the strip before attaching, to minimize the amount of shaping needed once on the canoe (still had to do a lot of shaping). For the other side I will also thin the ends in both taper (horizontal) and thickness dimensions before attaching. I glued it on with medium CA in 2-3 inch sections, taking care to keep the stock flush with top plank and matching the upturn curves on the deck ends. The photos don’t show the shaping very well unfortunately. I think the shape looks more accurate to the full-scale in person.
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The nails for the king plank are made from 24 gauge bare copper wire, half hard, from Craftwire. I have some 22ga as well, may use that for bolts or screws if my Etsy-sourced brass brads are too big. The pin vise bit is 1/32”, approximately a No. 69 size (about 30 thousandths). I’m leaving the nails longer than they need to be as no one will see the ends. Maybe will get obsessive about scale length on the next model 😂.
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King plank, glued and shaped, markout for “nails” started: Glued and clamped the second deck:
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King plank, final shaped but not yet glued down: Clamping set-up for the veneers (hanging on a plastic coat hanger):
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