vaddoc

Dear all thank you for your excellent advice, I do not however own a hand plane. I would very much like a Veritas set and a proper sharpening jig but these things are expensive. In any case, I managed to secure the base of the dowel on my hand drill and span the mast on 80 grit sand paper. Despite being close to a meter in length, it worked well. It is now smooth, with a progressive taper and perfectly straight. I would have liked to taper even more and take off another mm or two from the tip but it will be too hard work so I ll probably leave it. I 've been reading a lot about gaff rigging and bought a book which already has been very helpful, I would like to try and properly rig the boat. Now, I have been experimenting with silver soldering but could not really make it work. I realised that the problem was the torch. At the scale I work at, the metal pieces are large and my proxxon torch just cannot get the metal hot enough. So I bought a much larger one which does not have the precision and refinement of the proxxon, but is hugely powerful. The pieces got properly hot under the massive flame and the results were excellent. I made the tabernacle from 1 mm brass sheet, the base is concave to fit to the cabin roof. The stone slate I use actually cracked form the intense heat! It also melted the thick brass wire I used to hold things in place. Pickling in a mixture of acid and hydrogen peroxide removed the scale. It was supposed to restore the brass colour by removing the surface copper deposits but it didn't. It does not matter though as it will be painted to resemble stainless steel. The solder really flowed very well. I use hard and then easy solder and all went well. Too much solder though! I decided to take a break and return to the woodwork. I glued the pieces for the cabin door, it does not really give the impression of a door but maybe when it is complete it will look better. I then started to attach the rest of the cabin trim. It actually went on much easier than I expected. A lot more to do but so far so good. Regards Vaddoc

I ve found that soaking wood in very hot water for 30 secs, allows extreme bends on most woods, even at 2 mm thickness, equally well to steaming the wood. I also have an old hair iron similar to this one which works well on wet thin strips that need to take extreme bends. I ve made laminated mast hoops with this iron very easily.

Thanks Michael and Druxey! Little progress to show, but I have been doing a lot of work in the background. I ve been experimenting with soldering, pickling etc. I read a lot and had some success with my initial tries with silver soldering. I think however that quite a lot of metalwork could be done with soft soldering. I also have been researching the gaff rigging, ended up buying a book. I find the gaff topsail particularly confusing and Deben has a very high mast with a substantial topsail. The mast will be 75 cm from the cabin roof and will taper for the last 29 cm, from 16 mm to a diameter of 10 mm. This is a lot of wood to take off and the Beech dowel I ll use is too hard and too big to attach to a drill. It took me a couple of days but I made a jig to allow me to taper the mast, keeping it straight. It actually worked beautifully! The two strips at the side dive to leave 3 mm of dowel exposed. The dark bits is copper sheet to protect the wooden strips from the aggressive sander. The next photo show how the dowel was progressively shaped. Still needs a lot of hand sanding but I am happy with the result.

To keep the shine, I ve found Renaissance wax is brilliant. I think museums use it to keep metal things shiny. I ve used it 3 years ago on my previous boat, all brass components are still as shiny.

I am experimenting with silver soldering and done a bit of reading and had a couple of attempts. Apparently, to restore the shine, dip the brass pieces in a solution of hydrogen peroxide+ sodium bisulphate (not tried this yet). I tried acid pickling with vinegar for copper, works brilliantly, removes fire scale and restores the shine very quickly, especially if heated.

Thanks John! I did a bit more work, the cockpit is coming along fine but its structure is becoming really complex. The sides are not straight but slightly curved so every bench back/coaming will be laminated from 2 plywood sheets and a cherry sheet on each side. There will be other pieces covering the top and some more at the ends towards the cabin, then strips where the coammings meet the deck. More L shaped supports must be glued, the surfaces to be sanded, tung oil applied, glued in place...days and weeks but in the meantime, some more photos.

Just another quick update, I did some more work on the cockpit, it slowly starts to shape. The bench tops are a single piece of cherry, I am thinking of lightly scoring them with a knife to give the impression of being made by several planks. I ll test this to see how it looks. The plywood subframe loosely fitted Small wood pieces glued to fix in place Then cardboard patterns are made Cherry tops ready, seem to fit well.

Back from summer vacations, with a bit of tan and two now very wild children that need to be tamed. Took a week before I could find a scrap of time to open the garage. I did a bit of cleaning and a bit of maintenance. My home made disk sander needed some attention so I repositioned the drill, squared everything off and changed the sandpaper. Works much better now. I have two large work benches, this is the one with my power tools. A drill press joins in from time to time. I also brought back a couple of pieces from an apricot tree my father had cut down. It was badly damaged by bugs and I could salvage only a little. It seems a lovely wood and I would love to use it. I have no tools to mill it with though. I tried using what I had, very hard wood, gave out a very nice fruity smell when sanded. I managed to produce 3 strips with much effort! I would like to make the blocks and dead eyes out of this but I cannot mill it, I may keep it for use in future years. My dad has some other fruit trees (lemon, plum, peach, orange etc) and occasionally they get damaged so I may be able to get some more rare fruit timber in the future,. There is also a large cedar that looks like it is failing. Back to the boat, progress is very slow. I need to do some metal work before I continue (tabernacle, chain plates etc) so I need to learn silver soldering first. The cockpit is giving me lots of trouble as to make the benches and coamings needs some skill. I also am not at all sure how the rigging will be set up and how the lines will course towards the cockpit. I bought some more stuff and I ve been educating myself, this journey has a long way to go!

Thanks Michael, I am following silently your restoration project and keeping an eye for when you ll pick up that skipjack! Carl, the Valejo polyurethane varnishes are great. Being able to leave the very dusty garage and work in the house is a big advantage and they should be much cheaper than rattle cans. I finished varnishing the hull, the polyurethane varnish needs to be treated like paint, thinned heavily and trusting the varnish, not trying to repair any problem areas. I used gloss above the waterline, I am very happy with the result. There are a couple of problems and one more coat bellow the waterline would sort it out but I will leave it as is. Considering how unforgiving close up photos are and the size of the hull, I am happy. The next photo does not do justice to the colour, it is really much nicer. With this completed, I started work on the cockpit. I played around with card templates and I made a very sturdy laminated floor. I realised that the first thing to make would be the actual floor, as the rest would be built around it. Well, any serious boat needs to have gratings so here it goes! I tried to make it the proper way but failed miserably. I then tried another way, cheating a bit, and this worked better. I have a ton of maple so I decided to go with it, not sure if it will combine well with cherry but I don't want to use any of my diminishing cherry and pear stock. This piece was actually discarded but shows how the pieces look when sliced Then added one on top of the other And the grating is ready for sanding and final shaping and finishing I think it is acceptable for a first try! It only took a week to make... A word about the little proxxon table saw, I think it is fantastic and I have been using it heavily. i should have bought it ages ago. Off now for summer vacation, best wishes to everyone!

Very cool looking ropewalk Graham! I ve found that the most critical bits in a ropewalk are the shape of the spindle and the bearing thingy that allows the rope to spin freely as it is being made. It is extremely satisfying making rope and almost all settings will actually work. Another key element is the yarn, I have used quite a few but still have not found the ideal one to make a rope that will not stretch and that will be supple as a rope should be. Looking at your two ropes in the photo, maybe it needs more twist, more weight pull and more acute angle at the spindle, the base of it maybe needs to be more wide Regards Vaddoc

What an amazing diorama! Great fun for all, for the kids, for you and for us reading this. Many thanks for the good vibes Sam, I enjoyed this so very much. Vaddoc

In the boat I currently build, I spilled all 35 planks, some very heavily. The 2 mm maple refused to bend sideways but very happily bent any other way. Some planks were 80 cm long and after the first 2-3 planks I standardised a method. Best to spill, very satisfying too. You will not convince a 2 mm strip to take this bend!

Yes, don't be too concerned with spilling. After a while it becomes routine

My experience has been a bit different Jeff. I ve never used or even seen holly. I ve used swiss pear a lot though. I ve found that it does not like bending much. It can but it needs a lot of force to keep it in shape, it can fracture suddenly and does not respond well to steam/hot water bending. Also, it resists sanding as it is hard. At 1 mm any wood will bend. At 2 mm, you might struggle with pear. Maybe I am wrong though. Of all the timbers I have, pear strips are the only ones that even after many years they are still dead straight, everything else has warped with moisture changes and time. My 2 cents

Dear all, a quick update. I finished painting the hull. The whole job was done on the kitchen table, no way this could be done with enamels. The upper part of the hull came out great. It did take more than a dozen coats though. This is impressive considering its brushed! I then unmasked the hull and remasked to start applying Varnish. I used the Vallejo polyurethane gloss varnish heavily thinned. It went on reasonably ok but it looks it will need 2 more coats. There is some bleeding under the tape but this is my fault, not tacking the tape down well. I decided to leave it, I will not try to correct it. I like the colour combination very much, not surprising as it was chosen and approved by the admiral...

Thanks John and Mark! Now, some more progress has been achieved and interesting things happened. First I painted the waterline, in the same ivory colour as the deck and cabin top. I will be praising Vallejo acrylics later on but one thing that enamels do some much better is coverage. I put on 20 coats and I still felt the grey primer was somehow coming through. Overall it looked ok though. I then masked the painted waterline and removed the masking from the bottom half of the hull which would be painted red. There was a bit of bleeding near the stern but this was my mistake as I had not masked properly. The Tamiya masking tape was faultless. So now it was time to paint in red the bottom half of the boat and this is a huge continuous surface. I was certain the result would be a celebration of brush strokes but I did not want to use enamels. It came out great! No brush strokes at all, just a few blemishes due to very pour technique. It took a dozen or more coats using an 1" brush (!) but I could not be happier. Vallejo model colour line is simply amazing. Interestingly, I spilled my tea (with milk and sugar) over the hull in between coats but this did not affect the outcome. Maybe I accidentally stumbled over their secret thinner recipe? Then I used the Vallejo polyurethane varnish. Disaster... I brushed unthinned satin varnish, and it just would not spread. It would leave lots of bubbles and also seemed to react with the colour, creating lumps. I had to use the brush to scrape these off, just a huge mess. In the end after I had kind of patched things up, I left it to dry. Miraculously, it healed it self leaving only some unevenness. Then I applied a second coat but I heavily thinned the varnish, stupidly using water. It went on much better but the varnish separated, so after it dried, there were large gloss areas and large matt ones. A third coat went on, matt varnish this time but thinned with proper acrylic thinner. This worked extremely well. Easy to apply, no brushmarks, all wet edges blending together and becoming invisible. This is what I should have done from the start. This is how the hull looks now. A few small shiny areas, some brush marks and a few uneven areas. It probably needs another coat but these problems will never go after the abuse the hull suffered during the first two coats and in any case they are not visible due to the scale and the size of the hull. Overall I am happy with the outcome.

Does the beam narrows at the middle or is it a trick of the eye Patrick?

Thanks John! It is (very) slowly coming together. Now, the waterline gave me trouble. Initially I used a pencil fixed to a jig, but it did not perform well. I then used a ball pen which did better, but I was not happy with the ink line that I suspected would not easily be covered by paint. So I sanded everything and re-sprayed primer. It took pretty aggressive sanding to get the pen lines to disappear. Then I found the solution. I attached a bamboo skewer and dipped the tip in talk powder. As the tip touched the hull, a tiny white dot was left. Nothing permanent as the powder very easily wipes off. I then masked at the line, then added two more tape strips above and then removed the middle strip. I used Tamiya tape for the first time, it is indeed great. Then I painted the line with Valejo acrylic. What a wonderful paint! No brush marks, absolutely brilliant. I have put on about 20 coats but still some how I think the grey primer is coming through. I think it is enough though! I will wait for the paint to cure and then I will mask over it, remove the top and bottom tape strips and the paint the rest of the hull.

Work continues at the usual very slow pace but also things are getting pretty challenging. I need to think very carefully before I glue, cut or screw anything and an order needs to be followed, otherwise the next steps become very difficult. Also, the pieces with the Tung oil on are temperamental, they tend to discolour with even a brief contact with masking tape. Tape also raises the grain so need sanding and then more oil. I sprayed the hull with Humbrol grey primer which is great but very expensive and each can lasts for 2.5 thin coats. The hull is very smooth, only very few slightly rough areas due to the mistake with the methylated spirits. Also the areas which I filled with my previous filler are rough but these are on the underside of the keel so will not show. I then had a go at marking the water line. I am not happy at all, I ordered a selection of narrow Tamiya tapes. I continued work on the Cabin. It is crucial to get it right as it will be the only shiny luxurious part of this little boat. I started fitting the various wood trims and also started to shape the doors. The discolouration bellow is from low tack tape. The screws will be replaced by wood nails, unfortunately white as I have difficulties making tree nails from my cherry pieces. There will be very many wood pieces that will go on the cabin, these are the ones I have prepared so far, sanded to 600 grit and oiled. The oil appears to have polymerised, it takes about a week to 10 days for it to fully cure.

What is the wood you are using John?

Hopefully all is going well with the health issues John. Your hull looks very good, especially considering you hand draw and cut the frames! Speedy recovery Vaddoc

Lovely boat Mark! Your metal work is truly inspiring. I think you are right, this beautiful design shows better without too many stuff on deck. Vaddoc

Another thing, the sheered waterline is probably similar to the "exaggerated sheer". At the bow, the sheer should rise more that a faired sheer would suggest. The reason is that otherwise, visually it would appear that at the bow the sheer is flat or dips down. This actually happened with my first model and it is very much noticeable.

Oh dear Mark, your comment about the sheered waterline created a whole lot of new problems! Have a look at this thread, I only had a quick glance myself but seems helpful https://www.boatdesign.net/threads/sheered-waterline.35840/ "Tad" is actually Tad Roberts, a well known boat designer. The other people are probably equally qualified. Regarding Tung oil, it is a fascinating product. It enhances the colour of the wood and when in contact with oxygen, it polymerises into a waterproof hard plastic like substance. It builds a very fine film, so it needs many coats to really finish wood. I read that in ancient China, they would put dozens of coats and as it takes anything from a week to 4 weeks for it to polymerise, it might take months or years to finish a piece. If you thin it with turpentine, it penetrates the wood much better. I just use it for the colour effect. However, if I varnish immediately, it will never polymerise due to lack of oxygen and the uncured oil might mess up the varnish. For the same reason I will not use water based products over it. It smells quite nice as well! I would expect that as the pieces we use are tiny, it would cure much faster. However, even 3 weeks after oil application, a very fine layer, the masking tape still refuses to stick. Regards EG

Some more progress so time for another post. I finished painting the deck and the cabin top. Valejo paint is wonderful, no brush marks at all! I did not want to use enamel varnish and I was never happy with the Valejo acrylic one. I decided to try the polyurethane Valejo varnish. This thing is amazing, odourless, dries fast, does not need any thinning. No brush marks at all! I did a bit of head to head with the decoart/americana polyurethane varnish, Valejo is better. I was planning to make the forward hatch and I had in mind to make it very simple. However, following your positive comments, I had to make it similar to the cabin hatch! This is actually a complex bit to make. The bottom frame is made of 4 strips, with 4 more thin ones over like veneers. Then the four top pieces went on and then two supporting pieces, matching the curvature of the hatch were added. Then the 6 strips were added. Then the underside of the hatch was covered with thin pieces of wood to allow the caulking to stay in place The caulking was made by mixing Elmers wood filler with a bit of black acrylic paint The caulking went on thickly Masking tape off, a bit of sanding and then tung oil This hatch is different than the cabin one as the top extends beyond the sidewalls. I decided I ll use enamel gloss varnish in all wood pieces. I sanded everything to 600 grid and added another coat of tung oil. I ll wait for a few weeks for the oil to polymerise before I varnish. However, now it was time to start painting the hull. And things got interesting! First of all, I had to mark the waterline. I had prepared a jig to allow the boat to stand hull up at a predetermined height with the waterline horizontal, but since I was hasty enough to glue the transom rub rail, this can no longer be used! I tried to take it out but it is glued very well. I had to improvise another jig which would kind of compensate. It actually worked quite well and I was surprised to see that the hull ended up vertical! And then I thought I should degrease the hull so I used methylated spirits. Almost a disaster! Immediately it started to dissolve the sanding sealer! I managed to quickly wipe the hull with isopropyl alcohol and then I lightly sanded with 400 grit. I will leave it to rest over night but hopefully no harm done.