gkharrin

It has been almost 2-1/2 years since I showed any progress. The model was set aside while I designed and built a new shop for my larger tools. The old shop was far too crowded, had poor light, and no heating or cooling. I did 99% of the work myself. A lot of things I did for the first time (including bending aluminum trim) and it took a lot of research to ensure I was doing it correctly and to code. I'm glad to say that project is finally finished. When the model was set aside, 5 of the 6 planks forming the 4th strake were in place. Since finishing the workshop about 3 months ago, I've only managed finish the 4th strake and add the 5th. As there are 10 strakes, this is a small milestone - half way through the planking. Most of these rivet heads shown here wiIl be covered by the deck, which is at the top of the 5th strake amidships and about the top of the 3rd at the stern post and forward end of the cabin. I included them as practice and also for the sake of construction photos such as these. I stopped adding the butt blocks. Some where never added because they interfered with the building jig. For the others, clamping the next plank in place sometime drove the faux rivet heads into the block. I'll add the rest when all the planking is complete. I know people for whom the hull is only a chore and the rigging is their true love. I am the opposite. I truly love a nicely formed hull, so I've spent a great deal of time to do the best job I can. I've fallen short of my own expectations (which did NOT include perfection), but I am not entirely displeased with the results so far. I don't mind learning from mistakes, but the bad part is that I repeat them too many times. My new favorite saying is "I never make the same mistake twice. I make it 4, 5,6 times, just to be certain." Worse than repeating mistakes is when I cannot figure out how the mistake occurred. The most painful mistake has been asymmetry of the planks at the ends. I measured and re-measured so many times I am flummoxed how this is occurring. I thought the problem might be cutting the gain too wide and later using it to line up the next plank, instead of using the next mark on the stem or stern post. You don't want the gain on the plank underneath exposed! But I know I did not cut them wide enough to account for the errors I have encountered. I was unwilling to replace the planks due to the risk of causing more harm than good, and the time it takes to shape a plank and add all the faux rivets. Some bad planks were not discovered until one or two more had been added. I resorted to scoring a curve along a spline clamped to the hull. The spline is aligned with the point it needs to be at the stem/stern and lies right along the plank edge starting a few scale feet away. This picture is exagerated - I never had to trim off quite that much. In a few cases where the offending plank had already been covered by others (no exposed edge), this effort resulted in a hole in the hull where it meets the stem or stern post. I repaired these with a putty made of wood glue and sawdust. I will use the same to fill in the gap left you can see above where the garboard strake meets the stern post - another dissappointment. I used dust from the same wood as the planks and it blends in rather well. It is still noticeable - I would say it detracts from rather than ruins the appeal. If I were leaving it natural, if not happy, I'd be at least satisfied with the results. It matters even less given the exterior will be painted and the repair will be covered up on the inside. So, not executed as hoped or planned, but acceptable. Those in my model club are chiding me for being too picky, but I feel I could do better and I think it is OK to strive for it. Onward we go.....

I see my post was moved to "Non-ship/categorised builds". I get that, because it closer to scrimshaw than a boat model. But when I looked at the rest of the posts in the category, I was dismayed my ship-themed item buried among dozens of plane and tank models. Why are those even on this site at all? At least mine is a ship. It was also changed to "finished", which isn't quite true. Not a problem. But as noted earlier, there are still a few details to add. This is the first of the belaying pin counting pegs.

I was certain I had compared them before, but as my memory is highly suspect, I double-checked. The dimensions of the web file and CD ROM files are the same. For example, 8415 x 6139 for the construction drawing of De 13 Søskende. More than adequate for building a model - you can see the grain of the paper.

The sad thing is, I bought the book and decided to build the eel drifter. Years went by and a CD with high-res scans was made available. So I bought that too. More years went by, and now all of the drawings in that book can be downloaded for free from the Maritime Museum of Denmark. This includes the German drifter: Lines Sail plan Construction Maybe you already have these in your research. I'll search out your build log also.

It most definitely is. I first learned of eel drifters from this book: All the boats are Danish, with one exception: it includes a German eel drifter for comparison to the Danish one. It specifically states the German boat design was adapted by the Danes. This article (same author) has the same information in somewhat greater detail. However, I'm sorry to say I think the Danish design is the more handsome one 😉

Yet to be done: Turn belaying pins to use as the counters, one set from brass and other of some white metal (aluminum, stainless?) Inlay some belaying pins or other decoration on the sides? Inlay the name "Aspinet" or add a brass plaque? If I inlay the name, I would carve it out and fill it with colored epoxy (after several trial runs). No way I could inlay script letters and I would not want blocky ones. The plaque would be safer.

I had custom cards printed by youreondeck.com Backs are the body plan for Aspinet Spade pips are replaced by eye splices Diamond pips are replaced by rigging blocks Heart pips are replaced by .... hearts Club pips are are replaced by deadeyes Each face card is a different fishing schooner from Chapelle's book Though not used in cribbage, the jokers delivered with the poker deck may as well be custom. Since it fished the Grand Banks (or so I presume), I made them cod.

I am pretty disappointed with myself for over-sanding and over-estimating how far I was driving the holly into the grooves (as opposed to just crushing the top that got scraped and sanded away). The pieces that were driven in well are still nice and white. Those that were not got sanded too far, and the glue is making it look gray. However, most people said they like the effect (maybe just being kind), and I'm afraid that if I try to fix it at this point the cure will be worse than the disease.

After applying Watco Danish Oil

Mostly done with the inlay at this point.

Some gaps were revealed after scraping well and a light overall sanding. I gouged out the worst areas to rework.

Moving along....

The masts are another mystery species of wood. Both were given to me by a friend whose late husband did working as a hobby. I regret choosing the purplish tone. A darker brown would have been better.

I steamed an pre-bent the holly for some of the tighter curves. The holly would bend well enough dry, but this way I wasn't fighting it so much.

I managed to get a pretty good fit on each piece. But to be sure, I mixed some cherry sawdust in with the glue, hoping the color of any visible glue line would be a better match.