yvesvidal

All of the decks are now in.  It's something of an adventure given the limited instructions.  The decks take some shaping to fit the hull.  You also have to figure out where the stern bulkhead goes -- finally I measured on the main plan and converted its scale to the main ship's scale.  The main deck went in last, and I positioned it (after shaping) and then installed fillets through the openings from bow sternward, measuring height from the top of the side bulkhead as I went along.
 
I also added cross beams under the main deck to keep it from sagging in the middle.
 
Regards,
David

Alan,
  Thank you very much!
 
The main structure of all six secondary turrets are done:

I need to clean them up, paint them all and make/add ladders & railings.
 
These have been very slow going.
 
Each of those turrets will have about fifty pieces each when complete.
 
That makes for approximately 300 pieces between the six turrets.
 
That’s just part of these models though.

I am enjoying this build very much!  It is a good challenge!
 

Crazy...crazy....It is time to call the White Coats.... !!!
 
I have been thinking about the railing of the rear quarter deck. If the planking was done in a curved and harmonious way with stealers and all the necessary stuff, the shape of the planking would follow the curvature of the railing. That is a view of the mind and it does not happen too often.
 
So, after postponing this stage for a while, I decided today to jump into it and go "Crazy".
 
The first thing to do is glue that nice strip (not included in the kit) that is supposed to delineate the hull from the railing. That is done after many dry runs and positioning of the freezes and ornaments. The rear of the hull is painted with that rare greenish blueish color described in the Monograph and that was in fashion at that era, in the French harbors. The strip is then positioned, secured and glued with liquid CA (1-3 seconds), carefully dropped from the top. The glue runs gently following the strip, without leaking underneath. I have used that technique with the HMS Bellona and the strips are still holding fine.
 

 

 
Another final checking that all the ornaments are fitting between the two strips..... And then we go crazy..... Using my Dremel with a cutting disk, I am butchering all the planking and framing above the top strip: 
 

 
You have to be super careful and hold your Dremel with two hands to prevent an irrecoverable slippage of the cutting disk....
 

 
This is it. Now, we have to sand to bring everything to the level of the top strip.
 

 
From that point, I will install a flat rail that will be my base for building the decorative railing comprised of freezes and other CNC carved parts. The original ship (and the kit) uses the frames as holders for the railing. My model will not have that. I think I can live with its absence.
 

 

 
A little bit of painting, to make things more elegant: 
 

 

 
I kind of like that deep cobalt blue/green. Below is the other side, which has not been butchered yet. You can clearly see that the planking would never align with the elegant curves of the stern.
 

 

 
To make your mouth water and as an appetizer of what to come (it will be a while...), here is what it will look like: 
 

 
The White Coats have arrived and I must go....
 
Yves

Crazy...crazy....It is time to call the White Coats.... !!!
 
I have been thinking about the railing of the rear quarter deck. If the planking was done in a curved and harmonious way with stealers and all the necessary stuff, the shape of the planking would follow the curvature of the railing. That is a view of the mind and it does not happen too often.
 
So, after postponing this stage for a while, I decided today to jump into it and go "Crazy".
 
The first thing to do is glue that nice strip (not included in the kit) that is supposed to delineate the hull from the railing. That is done after many dry runs and positioning of the freezes and ornaments. The rear of the hull is painted with that rare greenish blueish color described in the Monograph and that was in fashion at that era, in the French harbors. The strip is then positioned, secured and glued with liquid CA (1-3 seconds), carefully dropped from the top. The glue runs gently following the strip, without leaking underneath. I have used that technique with the HMS Bellona and the strips are still holding fine.
 

 

 
Another final checking that all the ornaments are fitting between the two strips..... And then we go crazy..... Using my Dremel with a cutting disk, I am butchering all the planking and framing above the top strip: 
 

 
You have to be super careful and hold your Dremel with two hands to prevent an irrecoverable slippage of the cutting disk....
 

 
This is it. Now, we have to sand to bring everything to the level of the top strip.
 

 
From that point, I will install a flat rail that will be my base for building the decorative railing comprised of freezes and other CNC carved parts. The original ship (and the kit) uses the frames as holders for the railing. My model will not have that. I think I can live with its absence.
 

 

 
A little bit of painting, to make things more elegant: 
 

 

 
I kind of like that deep cobalt blue/green. Below is the other side, which has not been butchered yet. You can clearly see that the planking would never align with the elegant curves of the stern.
 

 

 
To make your mouth water and as an appetizer of what to come (it will be a while...), here is what it will look like: 
 

 
The White Coats have arrived and I must go....
 
Yves

Crazy...crazy....It is time to call the White Coats.... !!!
 
I have been thinking about the railing of the rear quarter deck. If the planking was done in a curved and harmonious way with stealers and all the necessary stuff, the shape of the planking would follow the curvature of the railing. That is a view of the mind and it does not happen too often.
 
So, after postponing this stage for a while, I decided today to jump into it and go "Crazy".
 
The first thing to do is glue that nice strip (not included in the kit) that is supposed to delineate the hull from the railing. That is done after many dry runs and positioning of the freezes and ornaments. The rear of the hull is painted with that rare greenish blueish color described in the Monograph and that was in fashion at that era, in the French harbors. The strip is then positioned, secured and glued with liquid CA (1-3 seconds), carefully dropped from the top. The glue runs gently following the strip, without leaking underneath. I have used that technique with the HMS Bellona and the strips are still holding fine.
 

 

 
Another final checking that all the ornaments are fitting between the two strips..... And then we go crazy..... Using my Dremel with a cutting disk, I am butchering all the planking and framing above the top strip: 
 

 
You have to be super careful and hold your Dremel with two hands to prevent an irrecoverable slippage of the cutting disk....
 

 
This is it. Now, we have to sand to bring everything to the level of the top strip.
 

 
From that point, I will install a flat rail that will be my base for building the decorative railing comprised of freezes and other CNC carved parts. The original ship (and the kit) uses the frames as holders for the railing. My model will not have that. I think I can live with its absence.
 

 

 
A little bit of painting, to make things more elegant: 
 

 

 
I kind of like that deep cobalt blue/green. Below is the other side, which has not been butchered yet. You can clearly see that the planking would never align with the elegant curves of the stern.
 

 

 
To make your mouth water and as an appetizer of what to come (it will be a while...), here is what it will look like: 
 

 
The White Coats have arrived and I must go....
 
Yves

i have paid the bale money, you are free to leave the white coated community
 
love the green, the  dremmel has certainly helped with the stern shape

Aft deadwood piece was cleaned of char and adjusted so it was a nice tight fit in its position, it’s not been glued in as its shape needs to be sanded closer to what it will finally look like.



 

Crazy...crazy....It is time to call the White Coats.... !!!
 
I have been thinking about the railing of the rear quarter deck. If the planking was done in a curved and harmonious way with stealers and all the necessary stuff, the shape of the planking would follow the curvature of the railing. That is a view of the mind and it does not happen too often.
 
So, after postponing this stage for a while, I decided today to jump into it and go "Crazy".
 
The first thing to do is glue that nice strip (not included in the kit) that is supposed to delineate the hull from the railing. That is done after many dry runs and positioning of the freezes and ornaments. The rear of the hull is painted with that rare greenish blueish color described in the Monograph and that was in fashion at that era, in the French harbors. The strip is then positioned, secured and glued with liquid CA (1-3 seconds), carefully dropped from the top. The glue runs gently following the strip, without leaking underneath. I have used that technique with the HMS Bellona and the strips are still holding fine.
 

 

 
Another final checking that all the ornaments are fitting between the two strips..... And then we go crazy..... Using my Dremel with a cutting disk, I am butchering all the planking and framing above the top strip: 
 

 
You have to be super careful and hold your Dremel with two hands to prevent an irrecoverable slippage of the cutting disk....
 

 
This is it. Now, we have to sand to bring everything to the level of the top strip.
 

 
From that point, I will install a flat rail that will be my base for building the decorative railing comprised of freezes and other CNC carved parts. The original ship (and the kit) uses the frames as holders for the railing. My model will not have that. I think I can live with its absence.
 

 

 
A little bit of painting, to make things more elegant: 
 

 

 
I kind of like that deep cobalt blue/green. Below is the other side, which has not been butchered yet. You can clearly see that the planking would never align with the elegant curves of the stern.
 

 

 
To make your mouth water and as an appetizer of what to come (it will be a while...), here is what it will look like: 
 

 
The White Coats have arrived and I must go....
 
Yves

Crazy...crazy....It is time to call the White Coats.... !!!
 
I have been thinking about the railing of the rear quarter deck. If the planking was done in a curved and harmonious way with stealers and all the necessary stuff, the shape of the planking would follow the curvature of the railing. That is a view of the mind and it does not happen too often.
 
So, after postponing this stage for a while, I decided today to jump into it and go "Crazy".
 
The first thing to do is glue that nice strip (not included in the kit) that is supposed to delineate the hull from the railing. That is done after many dry runs and positioning of the freezes and ornaments. The rear of the hull is painted with that rare greenish blueish color described in the Monograph and that was in fashion at that era, in the French harbors. The strip is then positioned, secured and glued with liquid CA (1-3 seconds), carefully dropped from the top. The glue runs gently following the strip, without leaking underneath. I have used that technique with the HMS Bellona and the strips are still holding fine.
 

 

 
Another final checking that all the ornaments are fitting between the two strips..... And then we go crazy..... Using my Dremel with a cutting disk, I am butchering all the planking and framing above the top strip: 
 

 
You have to be super careful and hold your Dremel with two hands to prevent an irrecoverable slippage of the cutting disk....
 

 
This is it. Now, we have to sand to bring everything to the level of the top strip.
 

 
From that point, I will install a flat rail that will be my base for building the decorative railing comprised of freezes and other CNC carved parts. The original ship (and the kit) uses the frames as holders for the railing. My model will not have that. I think I can live with its absence.
 

 

 
A little bit of painting, to make things more elegant: 
 

 

 
I kind of like that deep cobalt blue/green. Below is the other side, which has not been butchered yet. You can clearly see that the planking would never align with the elegant curves of the stern.
 

 

 
To make your mouth water and as an appetizer of what to come (it will be a while...), here is what it will look like: 
 

 
The White Coats have arrived and I must go....
 
Yves

Crazy...crazy....It is time to call the White Coats.... !!!
 
I have been thinking about the railing of the rear quarter deck. If the planking was done in a curved and harmonious way with stealers and all the necessary stuff, the shape of the planking would follow the curvature of the railing. That is a view of the mind and it does not happen too often.
 
So, after postponing this stage for a while, I decided today to jump into it and go "Crazy".
 
The first thing to do is glue that nice strip (not included in the kit) that is supposed to delineate the hull from the railing. That is done after many dry runs and positioning of the freezes and ornaments. The rear of the hull is painted with that rare greenish blueish color described in the Monograph and that was in fashion at that era, in the French harbors. The strip is then positioned, secured and glued with liquid CA (1-3 seconds), carefully dropped from the top. The glue runs gently following the strip, without leaking underneath. I have used that technique with the HMS Bellona and the strips are still holding fine.
 

 

 
Another final checking that all the ornaments are fitting between the two strips..... And then we go crazy..... Using my Dremel with a cutting disk, I am butchering all the planking and framing above the top strip: 
 

 
You have to be super careful and hold your Dremel with two hands to prevent an irrecoverable slippage of the cutting disk....
 

 
This is it. Now, we have to sand to bring everything to the level of the top strip.
 

 
From that point, I will install a flat rail that will be my base for building the decorative railing comprised of freezes and other CNC carved parts. The original ship (and the kit) uses the frames as holders for the railing. My model will not have that. I think I can live with its absence.
 

 

 
A little bit of painting, to make things more elegant: 
 

 

 
I kind of like that deep cobalt blue/green. Below is the other side, which has not been butchered yet. You can clearly see that the planking would never align with the elegant curves of the stern.
 

 

 
To make your mouth water and as an appetizer of what to come (it will be a while...), here is what it will look like: 
 

 
The White Coats have arrived and I must go....
 
Yves

Installation of the door and the remaining deck beams to the cabin wall. The other beams cannot be installed yet, because of the guns.
 

 
I started building the planking of the rear bulkhead, after using some spacers to account for the quarter deck planking.
 

 
I am approaching the construction by mixing elements of the instructions: 
 

 
 I am also modifying very slightly the rear wings (1K-5) to better accommodate that platform on the stern (3K-1 on the picture). I am adding a small strips to support the platform, on both sides: 
 

 
I am also adding a 2 mm strip to increase the height of the "wings" and compensate for the thickness of the platform: 
 

 
Before gluing the platform, I am trying to finalize all the gold painting of the freezes, that will be hard to reach, once glued: 
 

 
Finally, the platform is glued, making the stern a lot more solid and sturdier: 
 

 

 
There is still a lot of sanding and painting that has to take place, to make it presentable.
 
Yves
 
 

Crazy...crazy....It is time to call the White Coats.... !!!
 
I have been thinking about the railing of the rear quarter deck. If the planking was done in a curved and harmonious way with stealers and all the necessary stuff, the shape of the planking would follow the curvature of the railing. That is a view of the mind and it does not happen too often.
 
So, after postponing this stage for a while, I decided today to jump into it and go "Crazy".
 
The first thing to do is glue that nice strip (not included in the kit) that is supposed to delineate the hull from the railing. That is done after many dry runs and positioning of the freezes and ornaments. The rear of the hull is painted with that rare greenish blueish color described in the Monograph and that was in fashion at that era, in the French harbors. The strip is then positioned, secured and glued with liquid CA (1-3 seconds), carefully dropped from the top. The glue runs gently following the strip, without leaking underneath. I have used that technique with the HMS Bellona and the strips are still holding fine.
 

 

 
Another final checking that all the ornaments are fitting between the two strips..... And then we go crazy..... Using my Dremel with a cutting disk, I am butchering all the planking and framing above the top strip: 
 

 
You have to be super careful and hold your Dremel with two hands to prevent an irrecoverable slippage of the cutting disk....
 

 
This is it. Now, we have to sand to bring everything to the level of the top strip.
 

 
From that point, I will install a flat rail that will be my base for building the decorative railing comprised of freezes and other CNC carved parts. The original ship (and the kit) uses the frames as holders for the railing. My model will not have that. I think I can live with its absence.
 

 

 
A little bit of painting, to make things more elegant: 
 

 

 
I kind of like that deep cobalt blue/green. Below is the other side, which has not been butchered yet. You can clearly see that the planking would never align with the elegant curves of the stern.
 

 

 
To make your mouth water and as an appetizer of what to come (it will be a while...), here is what it will look like: 
 

 
The White Coats have arrived and I must go....
 
Yves

Finally back to work on the model, I finished the last remaining Hawes pieces and now I’m moving onto finishing up the gunports and fairing caps. Chapter one is almost finished and then I can move on to fairing the hull.
 

And time for an overview: 
next steps: 
- fix some issues with the piping edges at the forward edge of the hatch and piping issues forward of that edge
- level out forward catwalk since it determines the height of the next part along the deckhouse

- complete the piping connections to the deck house
 

- finish and fix catwalk next to deck house
- finish forward edge of manifold catwalk where it makes a step to the part next to the deck house

I believe after that that I will proceed with finishing the deckhouse (finally put the real crane jib support in place instead of an airbrush jar) and railings on top of it. And together with that, start making the stairs to the catwalks.

 
Only the aft catwalk is glued, all others are just dry fitted. I will first put some transverse beams, paint those and also the catwalks themselves before gluing them, same sequence as I used on the aft part.
 

Crazy...crazy....It is time to call the White Coats.... !!!
 
I have been thinking about the railing of the rear quarter deck. If the planking was done in a curved and harmonious way with stealers and all the necessary stuff, the shape of the planking would follow the curvature of the railing. That is a view of the mind and it does not happen too often.
 
So, after postponing this stage for a while, I decided today to jump into it and go "Crazy".
 
The first thing to do is glue that nice strip (not included in the kit) that is supposed to delineate the hull from the railing. That is done after many dry runs and positioning of the freezes and ornaments. The rear of the hull is painted with that rare greenish blueish color described in the Monograph and that was in fashion at that era, in the French harbors. The strip is then positioned, secured and glued with liquid CA (1-3 seconds), carefully dropped from the top. The glue runs gently following the strip, without leaking underneath. I have used that technique with the HMS Bellona and the strips are still holding fine.
 

 

 
Another final checking that all the ornaments are fitting between the two strips..... And then we go crazy..... Using my Dremel with a cutting disk, I am butchering all the planking and framing above the top strip: 
 

 
You have to be super careful and hold your Dremel with two hands to prevent an irrecoverable slippage of the cutting disk....
 

 
This is it. Now, we have to sand to bring everything to the level of the top strip.
 

 
From that point, I will install a flat rail that will be my base for building the decorative railing comprised of freezes and other CNC carved parts. The original ship (and the kit) uses the frames as holders for the railing. My model will not have that. I think I can live with its absence.
 

 

 
A little bit of painting, to make things more elegant: 
 

 

 
I kind of like that deep cobalt blue/green. Below is the other side, which has not been butchered yet. You can clearly see that the planking would never align with the elegant curves of the stern.
 

 

 
To make your mouth water and as an appetizer of what to come (it will be a while...), here is what it will look like: 
 

 
The White Coats have arrived and I must go....
 
Yves

@yvesvidal welcome aboard and thanks for following.
 
@robdurant welcome and thank you for all your help.
 
Quick Update:
No major progress on the ship build yet, but I did receive some key parts to begin motorizing the model. I picked up a 40mm 3-blade brass prop, a Torpedo motor with mount, a 4mm shaft and stuffing tube, a universal joint coupler, and a 15-amp ESC — all from Harbor Models. Big thanks to Nick, the owner, who was very helpful.

I also got some great gear from my brother (mentioned in the first post), including a Spektrum DX6 transmitter, Spektrum AR635 receiver, Spektrum A6000 servo, and a battery charger. All I need now is a battery, and I’ll be ready to start testing things out.
 

 
Just a reminder — this is my first R/C boat model, so I’m still learning the ropes. Any tips, advice, or constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated!
 
 

Great kit and beautiful trawler. I will be following your build log. My brother has the kit but never started it.
 
Yves

Well, its been a few months but my “other duties as assigned” are winding down.  This has allowed me time to finally get the planking done.  This has not been with out a few re-do’s on some of the individual planks but the product is now acceptable.

I now need to paint the hull.  If you recall, Thistle was historically accurate with a green upper and “two coats of boiled linseed oil” below the waterline, circa 1908.  I do not know what JHC’s colours were.  For below the waterline, I have seen discussions for white, black and oxide red. Above the waterline, later Thistle photos seem to be white, black and grey.  Or so it seems, given these were black and white photos or colourized.  The JHC photo at the beginning of this article seems to be grey.  I would appreciate if anyone has insight into hull colour schemes.  Otherwise I will pick period appropriate colours. 
 
Hopefully, my next entry will not take so much time as we head toward the holidays.

I have gotten things glued in and starting the planking   It will take some time for the full planked hull due to other duties as assigned.
I temporarily put the boiler in the pit. Again, it will be a while before I get to the boiler. The gauges for the boiler will have a bit different layout than what is normally seen on the boiler itself. I have a Marine Iron Works of Chicago USA brochure (one of several that I have) that shows a lithograph from a boiler that was reproduced from a photograph – so that layout actually existed.  Stay tuned.
 

JHC will have eleven wider bottom planks just like its younger sister boat, the 1907 Paul L had.  The Oshkosh Public Museum has numerous online photos of the capsized Paul L in May 1910. The Paul L capsized when the coal cargo was unloaded from the starboard side but not the port.  Predictable result.  Over Paul L went, throwing crew into the cold Fox River. The Museum photos show not only the normal bow shots but there are two of the upturned stern views which prove invaluable.  I obtained several of these Museum photos of excellent clarity, but I am not permitted to publish them here.  I also own some postcard photos of the capsizing but not the stern shots.
The actual JHC bottom planks were of locally sourced oak, while the Paul L were southern cyprus.  The narrower JHC side planks were locally sourced Eastern white pine while the Paul L were Washington or Oregon Douglas fir.  The change in material speaks to the rapid deforestation of Wisconsin in a less than fifteen-year period of time due to intensive and destructive logging.  I used basswood throughout my model. 

I cut out the frames and began to build the hull structure. Nothing below has been glued in place yet.  The cylinder timbers are at the stern and additional longitudinal supports inserted.  The supports will outline the boiler pit.  JHC had a single Scotch Marine boiler below the main deck.  It was noted that the engineer’s ladder slipped when he was going to inspect the boiler during construction.  The engineer ended up with a broken arm and his left ear nearly torn off. 

Next steps will be cutting out the boiler pit and actually gluing things together.  Things are going slower due to summer months and life's little adventures.
 

These are comparative 1:64 profiles of J. H. Crawford (upper) versus Thistle (lower).   


The obvious differences in the much simpler JHC is the 14-foot shorter length, but also an old type double stairs compared to a grand stairway.  Most main deck windows are omitted as are the fancier bulwarks - including the bow bulwark.  No electric in the early years, so a “railroad type” light was installed on the hurricane deck by 1895.  Note the reduction or absence of lifesaving equipment: no rafts or life planks, only 2 yawls, and no boiler deck ladder.  There are numerous subtle differences which will be evident later.  
 
Now I need to get started on cutting out the frames for my plank-on-bulkhead model.  One of the things I did learn is that I really do not need as many frames as I used in Thistle.  If I wanted to build a true framed model that would be different, but I do not want that much detail. I hope to build a stronger but more cohesive p-o-f model.  What most are unaware of, is that the Thistle had an early launch that resulted in sprung planks, a destroyed stem post and a broken keel.  Those type redo repairs I hope to avoid.
 

I lashed down the stream anchor and completed the anchor and winch installation... there are 86 individual parts making up the winch not including the anchor cable and chain!
From all the pictures I was able to find (thanks AON!) I figured that the winch was manufactured as a unit and the mechanical drive added later to suit the ship. Other than the drive coming from the cargo winch on the main deck there is no other information extant. It could have been a chain, or a belt. The overall looped length would be 80 feet (25m). Similar belts were used at that time to drive agricultural machinery from traction engines, so I think this is a real possibility.
Also, I do have two pictures showing the port side of the cargo winch... there is a warping drum, but no gear or pulley, therefore I made my anchor winch drive pulley to be able to take a belt. 
My decision to own and defend!




The anchors are not glued to the hull, but hang on their chain or cable. I made the pelican hook and cable gripper by modifying miniature turnbuckles and adding eye bolt and wing nut details.
This completes the work on the fo'c's'le deck, now on to the main deck, where I will be making the open hatch cover, cargo winch, and possibly the spare rudder stowage!
 

Everything shown in the photos is soldered without using a radiator. I very rarely use a radiator.
In this process, you need to determine the correct soldering sequence. First, the most massive parts are soldered and only after that the small parts are soldered. In this case, you can do without a radiator.

Thank you all for your feedback and likes!  
And I have a small continuation of brass soldering.  These are the upper tiers of the bow superstructure.

Finished plating the port side of Phantom today. I had placed a strip of tape to mark the water line / position of the last line of plates: