yvesvidal

Dan, David, You guys are pushing the perfection to stratospheric heights, with these Indian canoes. This is fantastic. Yves

That is the instructions sheet to build the planking. They even got the thickness wrong.....

I have managed to connect front and rear parts of the ship together. It is a real puzzle and I had to mark each plank with numbers. If you ever assemble this kit, make sure to take your time and label everything. Very easy to make a mistake at that stage. This is how I approached it: From the mid-section, the planks have not been glued and are floating. This will allow us to position them correctly with the rest of the mid-rear planking. After a few hours of focused work: Half of it is done!! It seems to work. And now, from the center, I built the other side (starboard): Still a lot to do... Yves

Trumpeter should definitely hire you to improve their models.... 😄 Amazing work. Yves

Very eerie atmosphere for sure..... The ship will hit the harbor wall for sure..... Yves

That is quite a few rolls of PLA. Beautifully done. Yves

I have that kit in my stash. I bought it since I model in O scale (1/48th) and was hoping to find a chassis of 0-8-0 that I could use to turn that model into a rolling and working engine. Too many projects and not enough time.... Please start a new thread for this one. It is worth it. YVes

I started the deck planking. WOW, that is not easy, despite all the planks being pre-cut by CAF Model. As a matter of fact, I would have preferred at times, that it was not pre-cut.... This is how it looks out of the kit. You have two symmetrical sheets, including the entire planking of the main deck. If you think you can slap this massive piece on the deck and call it over, you are totally mislead. In fact, it becomes a very complex puzzle that needs to be addressed with respect and patience. It is important to keep all the planks in the proper location and order, if you want to match the defined curves. I started by the center as most people do and I am developing symmetrically as much as possible. Once the front center is done, I will try to position the long curvy planks that will also drive the stern planking. Measure ten times, and cut once as they say.... At this stage, I can place the long curvy plank (on both sides) that will also locate and allow me to plank the stern correctly. Note that the plank are made with Maple wood of 1.8 mm thick. That stuff is hard, stiff and really hard to cut. I wish they went with 1.2 mm or something of that kind. For sure, with such thickness, you can sand and polish the deck a lot. The laser charring provides a nice separation and caulking illusion between the planks. Each plank is detached, sanded a little bit and glued separately. I will try to use a pencil to correct the lack of caulking where the laser did not cut. Tree nailing? Hell no! I will just simulate with a pick and some pencil graphite as I did near the center of the deck. Overall, not easy and almost as hard as planking the real ship. 1.8 mm x 48 ... that is almost 4 inches thick planks in real life. Yves

Craig, You are such a good customer with MFH that you get the royal treatment. Yves

Finishing the deck beams around the mast. I looked for all kinds of information, regarding the colors of the Chebec features. In the end, I have decided to recreate an old model (more than 200 years ago) which is owned and displayed by the Museum de la Marine in Paris. A lot of the features on the deck are painted in red (ocre red), according to the Monograph. It will also provide a nice contrast with the clear wood of the deck. And no, I am not cutting the central support.... it will be covered, anyway. Next massive step is the planking of the deck..... Yves

Nice kit. I had never seen it before. I will be following with a lot of interest. Yves

After a good indigestion of deck beams, I have finally completed this stage of the assembly: The piece provided in the kit for the stern is way too thick and I have replaced it with a few scraps. I am still missing a couple of small pieces. Close to 58 deck beams.....sighs!! The variations in colors comes from the fact that the beams are not made with exactly the same wood, and are cut on different plates. Not a big deal, since this will all be covered. I am not cutting the central support quite yet. We will see when some additional deck beams will be installed. Last picture of the inside....The camera won't fit anymore. You can see a mistake I made by positioning the main support for the deck beams, a couple of millimeters too low. I had to use small shims to compensate in the rear and avoid too much tensions on the beams. Everywhere else was perfect. I just hope that the beams do not swing back up as it would destroy the planking. I have used a good amount of CA glue to secure everything and I am crossing my fingers. With the shims, the tension on the beams is very small. The inside of the hull is really dirty. I need to perform a good vacuuming and blowing of the dust. A few more pictures about some details: Ready to go down the monkey ladder? At this point, technically I "could" remove the assembly from the cradle. The problem is very simple: it will never go back into it. Therefore, I am going to keep it inside a little bit longer, for the planking and the construction of the bulwarks. Everything is cozy right now and this cradle is very convenient to move around the model without much risks of breaking anything. The cradle gives me the perfect position of the bulwarks supports, which is a big plus. Extraction postponed for a few more weeks !!! Yves

So true, Amazon is pure stealing. It is about half the price at your local Hobby Shop. Yves

Installing more deck beams, in the front of the ship. It is best to start on each end and converge towards the center. A couple of inside pictures: Yves

Great idea.... Yves

Implementation of the forward mast base and deck beams. Not really easy and requiring a lot of fine adjustments to position it correctly. I glued the deck beam #3to come as close as possible, before cutting the central support beam. After cutting (below): I would strongly recommend not installing any more deck beams, as you need the access with your fingers to position the base. The installation of the base must be done after filing the base of the front mast, for a correct and still tight fit: The base is now glued strongly as much as possible: According to the Monograph, the front mast is leaning by 20 degrees from the vertical (70 from horizontal). CAF Model does not provide much instructions on this subject. Pretty close to the 20 degrees. Below, both masts installed: Next is the big puzzle of the bow deck beams: Here, a lot of fine adjustments are necessary. I do one side at a time: Then the other side and the front plate, still checking with the mast and its inclination: All these beams will be covered by the deck planking. Note that the middle cross-over beam was not fitting in the original position. I re-positioned it a little bit behind. And a final verification with the mast: Now, we can proceed with installing all the remaining deck beams in the bow. Yves

Very nice work and beautiful hull. Yves

That is correct. Billing Boats decided to link the two main cabins since the kit was designed to be R/C and thus required a good access to the inside of the hull. For a more precise model, the two cabins should be separated with a passage in between. Yves

I am moving along with the installation of the deck beams and the main mast base. On the picture (above), you can see that the central support has been carefully cut to allow the main mast to be installed. Before cutting, I installed on each side a few more beams to secure the central support. I did not want it to collapse or buckle in any ways. The main mast fits just right. It is 15 mm in diameter and will probably be slightly reduced when sanded to shape. After carefully eyeballing the mast to be perpendicular, the mast base can be positioned and glued (See above). Gluing more deck beams, after sanding slightly the waxed wood and using exclusively CA glue. A vertical support piece has been added next to the base, according to the Kit plan and Monograph (above). I know, it is a lot of beams.... Next, I will be doing the same with the front mast. Stay tuned. Yves

Brian, Regarding your question about the interior of the hull, I have been pondering whether I should show some of the deck beams open (not planked), since the hull will not be planked to display the numerous frames. However, I tend to go with a full planking of the deck as there are a lot of things to install and display on the deck. Leaving a section of the deck un-planked, would restrict the amount of stuff that can be installed on it. In addition, the model is fully rigged and as such there are all kinds of anchoring devices and pulleys that need to be installed on the deck for the standing and running rigging. Yves

Brian, No interior is planned in the kit. Besides, the entire deck is planked, so it will be impossible to see anything inside, even with no hull planking. The central support beam is 3 mm thick and the keel is 8 mm wide. Lining up was not so much of an issue. What is delicate is lining up the little slots for the deck beams with their corresponding hull frames. The Plan provided by CAF Model regarding that specific alignment, is slightly different than the Monograph. I am following the CAF instructions, as you may easily guess. Thank you for the compliments. Yves

I was planning to finish the stern (and the Session #1 by the same token), but it is not possible (or practical) because of the cradle. At this stage, I have no other choice than starting the installation of the deck beams. I know it is hard, but someone has to do it... 🙂 I decided to install the central beams as they are the pivot of the whole deck and it will allow me to position correctly the mast base. Lots of beams to install (about 58) plus the platforms for the bow and stern. That should be interesting. Once this is done, it may be possible to extract the assembly out of the cradle. We will see. Yves

A quick update and a major milestone completed for me: the building of the deck frames supports in the hull. The central support has been installed: To position correctly the 3x5mm deck frames support on each side of the hull, I am approaching it in two ways: 1) An approximate marking using multiple deck frames. It gives me some kind of indications. 2) Using the plan, a precise measurement from the base of the cradle: It is the line marked "4". I am using a measure every ten frames. When happy, it is time to glue, using CA glue and strong fingers pressure, since there is no easy way to position these 3 x 5 supports. Once glued, I am drilling through the beam and into each frame. A real nail (pin of electronic components - 0.8 mm diameter) is inserted after coating the "nail" with CA glue. Then some sanding, oiling and waxing. The nails are useful in places where the frames are not touching very well the beam, due to the poor fairing of the internal hull. This is mostly the case in the stern (see above). Both sides are now done...sighs. I hope it will be alright. There is no coming back. Next, I am going back to the Session #1 and will try to finish the stern: Overall, I am very happy to have this milestone behind me. It was not the most pleasant thing to do. Yves

You are doing a good job with the planking. It is going to look great. Yves

Kevin, I hope you will be gifting us with a separate Build Log. That should be monumental !!! Yves