vaddoc

Beautiful boat Thanasis. Any thoughts as to why this kind of rigging evolved? It does not look much simpler than a standard boom although probably it allows more space on the deck when not sailing.

Dear friends following a disastrous attempt at painting the waterline I decided to take a step back and do a bit of testing. My main problem was bleeding of the paint under the masking tape. It seems that the consensus is that Tamiya masking tape works and it was also suggested to me to use masking film which seems a great but expensive option. However I first thought of testing tapes that are cheap and widely available, a general purpose masking tape by 3M, insulating (electician's) tape and frog tape (low tack). I intend to test these tapes on common modelling substrates, that is sealed and sanded wood, primed wood and cured paint. I will also use red auto paint (Halfords) and modelling acrylic white paint (Humbrol), both spray cans. It might be useful to post a few photos with the results. I prepared three pieces of plywood, (sanded to 400 grit, then acrylic sanding sealer, followed by sanding to 400 grit) First test is the sealed wood surface. I applied the three tapes, white is insulating, blue is masking and yellow frog. I painted one half with the red auto paint and the other with the white acrylic (2 coats each). The red paint was applied first and the two halves were separated with the 3M blue masking tape well tucked down. Although unintentional it is evident that a lot of white paint has bled and the line is not sharp. In the next photo the blue masking tape was top and the frog tape bottom. The masking tape bled a lot with both paints but the frog tape was almost flawless. In the next photo the insulating tape is top and the masking tape bottom. The insulating tape was better but still there was some bleed with both paints. Also, the tape left glue residue on the wood. On sealed wood the yellow low tuck frog tape is the clear winner and the only real option, allowing crisp lines for a cost of £6 for 41 m (24mm). The dead cheap insulating tape if extra care is used may have reasonable results but is far from perfect. The ordinary masking tape simply should not be used for masking purposes. Of note, the Humbrol paint left a raised edge when the tapes were removed but not the Halfords one. Next comes the same on primed and painted surfaces.

I somehow always smile when I see your photos Patrick, your models have this feelgood aura that is difficult to put into words. Vaddoc

Ok, the damage to the boat has partly been restored. Of course, pride and self confidence will take much longer to recover. Patrick and Mike thank you for your much needed support. Igor, I was not aware of the masking film but it seems good stuff. I think extra strong tuck is needed The way I am thinking of approaching this is: Fair, prime and paint the hull white. Possibly apply the film, mark the waterline and cut out the film. Use modelling acrylic spray paint, very thin layers, spray vertically. I really hope no paint has found its way inside the hull. I also am concerned that In order to cover the white paint, many coats of red will be needed and when the film is removed the red stripe will be raised and create a ledge. Clearly I need to do my homework!

Indeed the result is horrible. I need to take a step back and think how to fix this. It might be possible to sand away the excess red paint. I should have been much more careful, lesson learned the hard way.

Wow, your hull looks very good! I like how clean the plank-stem junction is, I spend a week trying to get this result myself and then gave up.

Thank you Pete, though I am not very optimistic it will continue like this, painting has turned rather messy. I have lost count of how many coats of white paint I applied, it took a lot to get good coverage. I taped off the waterline edges and carefully removed the strip, now heavy with paint but happily it did not peel. I then double-masked the rest of the boat... ...gave two coats of white paint to seal the edges of the tape and then went crazy with the red paint. I will wait for the paint to dry more and then remove everything. I am sure it will look terrible though because the tape at one area was not firmly attached to the hull so that area will be a mess. Also, the poor quality tape I used just lifted so the whole hull might be splashed pink. I must admit since the little one came my usual thoughtful preparation has gone out the window. But then again pink is very fitting, everything in the house is pink...

This would be very interesting Thanasi. I have the excellent book "Greek traditional shipbuilding" by Kostas Damianidis and I will definitely build a trexantiri some time. I am also looking forward to the results of your research, there is I feel very little written information on the subject. Best regards Vaddoc

Thanks Bob, it came out better than I expected. The most difficult part I think was bevelling the edges so that the planks would sit flush to the frames and to each other. I re-did the stem plank junction and again the result was terrible. It actually looks acceptable up until the primer goes on. I had to again take the filling out and re-do it for the forth time. The next pictures were taken after many coats of paint and show the port side which is ok and the starboard one, which is better but still not ok. The good side is with the silicon caulking (thanx Druxey!) but even after 4 tries I cannot reproduce the result on the other side. I think I must accept defeat. Next, I marked the waterline. It looks near the bow to have a funny shape but actually it is straight. At the stern I added a bit of curve so that the line would be fair. I have started painting the hull, the spray cans are really easy, 15 min between coats and no clean up. The next pics are after 7 or 8 coats, the areas of unprimed wood still show through. It still needs another 8 coats I think, then re-mask and paint red the waterline. I will brush satin or matt (or gloss?) enamel varnish over, I wonder though if I should sand the paint with something like 1500 grit.

Thanks Patrick, yes, the size is satisfying, 24" long! In contrast, I know someone who can fit 112' feet of boat in his palm!

There have been no updates recently but really I was too busy changing nappies and singing lullabies. I did however clean the garage and my work bench! The silicon filler worked reasonably well, the stem-plank junction is somewhat smooth on one side. I think I need to redo the other. The hull has had 3 coats of primer with sanding in between and is smooth. Still, new imperfections appeared so some filling and another sanding and coat of primer will be needed. Hopefully, the last! Then I plan on using Halfords gloss white appliances can paint and matt varnish to finish. But first the waterline needs to be determined. I put together a simple tool. I marked roughly the waterline, it looks somewhat funny near the stern but it is nearly perfectly symmetrical in both sides This is how the hull looks at present, still lots need to be done.

Looks really nice Patrick, especially considering the unforgiving gloss paint. Beautiful colour as well!

Thanks, I know what you mean. Never thought of using it for modelling!

Yambo and Bob, the primer certainly did its job, but I was surprised how bad my carefully sanded hull actually was. Druxey, the caulking suggestion is an excellent one but I read your post after I had gone into a putty frenzy. Still, it might be needed as I can't get a clean edge at the joint. I tried steel wool but the improvement was marginal. What would you use for caulking? Would it need to be used also all along the keel and planks as well as the stem? This is how it looks after the final sanding to 320 grit. it looks smooth but still not perfect. This is a critical stage and time spent fairing will be paid back many times after painting. I am sure more sanding and fairing is needed. Also, I am concerned the edges of the planks might get rounded off with all the sanding.

Your suggestions are always most welcome Mark, looking at the pics I feel you are probably right. It did not cross my mind to weather the boat but it does looks like it has had years of use already. I am afraid though I do not have the skills yet for a proper weathering job and would not want to try on this particular boat, it has taken me 10 months to reach this point! Besides, all the frames and interior woodwork have already been sanded to a shiny 400 grit. I ll give it a try to get a smooth surface and if not possible I will probably need to build another small boat out of the same wood to experiment with weathering. But I do agree, a model of a beat up worn boat is so much more interesting than a shiny new one!

Many thanks to all for your support and comments! The built continues but problems start pilling up again! I am afraid the photos that follow are not that great. On the plus side, I seem to have avoided having a flat sheer towards the bow which I understand can happen if the plans do not compensate for this visual effect by increasing the curve. However the hull surface is far from ready to be painted. I did some fairing which I thought was adequate and I proceeded to shape the end of the stem and then mask the whole boat prior to spraying white primer. And then the primer went on which revealed how inadequate my fairing was. The bow looks rough and the rivets are standing out too much. Deep scratches were revealed in two of the planks The plywood has a rough surface despite previous sanding and finally the plank-stem junction needs some attention I think that with some putty and careful sanding will improve things. Certainly I will not (or should not) move on to painting the hull until I get a nice smooth primed surface.

I just registered what the second picture shows following Row's comment and I caught my self smiling, this is style in modelling!

Top of the world Patrick!

I already made myself comfortable, looking forward for the show to start Patrick!

Thank you all, I really appreciate your support. I must admit though I am not at all confident that the boat will end up looking as good as it deserves. With a baby now in the house work progresses slowly. The sheer plank rivets are now left and of course all rivets forward of station 0 at the bow. This plank was left unpainted by the american team and I am tempted to do the same. There will also be a rub rail added which will hide the uppermost rivet line. In the next picture also note the shaping of the stem which at the level of the sheer plank is left square. I needed a brake so I concentrated on the false stem. It was first shaped with the needle files and then glued to the hull. Hopefully there is some similarity with the previous picture. With this done its back to riveting. I am concerned that the CA glue will stain the wood and although this is not a problem for the lower planks, if the sheer plank is left unpainted it will need a lot of sanding which with all the rivets will be ddifficult. I am also concerned that there will be a lot of stains on the inside of the hull but there is no better alternative to superglue. So here it goes. First I covered the plank and then marked the width of the rub rail to make sure all upper rivets will be hidden And drill and glue and drill and glue and drill and glue... Drilling 200 holes in a row is very satisfying And another brake was necessary, so I finished cutting the centerboard slot And finally all rivets done! There are a few left at the bow but the cant frames need to go in first. The sheer planks are sanded with 180 grit but the glue stains are still somewhat visible. And finally, the long awaited moment has come. The boat needs to be taken off the jig, turned around for the cant frames to be installed and then positioned back to the jig for the rest of the rivets to go in and then fairing, priming and painting. Picking up the boat I was surprised, the hull is very light but extremely rigid. Next the cant frames went in which took a bit of head scratching but I am happy with the result. Lots left to be done but making progress at last!

Beautiful boat Patrick, it oozes affection and dedication! Well done Vaddoc

Nothing really exciting to show, life is a monotonous mask-drill-glue-file. But I think that the the first 500 rivets deserve a post! I only took a photo of one side, no strength left to photograph the two rivet lines on the other side. 700+ more left...

Patrick Such elegant work and such a nice model! The sails add so much! Looking forward to your next posts Regards Vaddoc

The work continues and new problems and challenges pop up all the time! The fairing putty I got from the model shop is really good, much nicer to work with than the one from the DIY shop. I faired the bow and also trimmed the planks at the the stern and faired the transom. I have already decided to rivet the boat and I think I should tackle this now. Besides, it would be a nice change from all the laminating and woodwork. I realised however that I did not mark the position of the frames during planking. I tried a simple solution This did not work due to the curvature of the hull so a more complex tool had to be improvised which worked fine. The positions of all frames is now marked. I next need to make a pattern so that all rivets all equally spaced. A short maple strip and a folded piece of paper was an easy solution. It was easy now to mark the position of the rivets. The thickness of the plywood is only 0.8 mm so the overlap is too small for the rivets to go through both panels so this line of rivets is not going to be too functional but it needs to be done to stay as close to the original design as possible. Interestingly, the american team added stringers at the lower chines, the next photo shows these as they reach the transom. Either way I think the floor boards will hide this lower river line. I drilled the holes with the Dremel and a 0.7 mm good quality drill. I used brass wire for the rivets and CA glue and used masking tape to prevent the glue staining the wood. There was a learning curve to go through but it worked ok. A few of the rivets have a lot of material to be trimmed on the inside of the hull. I used the grinding wheel on the Dremel to trim the rivets flush with the planks but it did not work out, the wire gets very hot, the glue melts and the rivet just slides in. Trimming with the needle file was much more efficient. There will be 6 rivet lines per side with approximately 100 rivets each, so around 1200 rivets! That's a lot! I will not rivet past Station 0 as I will complete this job after the cant frames are installed. I also redid the false stem and added the final plank to the keel. I took the precaution of blocking the centerboard slot to make sure the epoxy does not drip. Next job to glue in and trim the false stem, do some more fairing and of course more rivets!

Thank you for the encouragement Patrick, it really motivates me to push forward! You are right about the keel, it is really hard work, it took 2 days of hard work to reach this stage and even sanding these small pieces was physically tiring as the laminates are really hard. Yes, both me and the Butterfly Explorer are looking forward to break free of the support and sail into the horizon! Not too long now I think.