catopower

I appreciate everyone's comments and faith in my mini (micro?) shamisen making skills. Well, I had to push forward and see if I could a halfway decent job on it. I found some drawings on the Internet and resized them down to proper scale. For the wood, I have a nice piece of Peruvian walnut that seemed perfect for the job. I can't really explain what I did beyond that. It was just a matter of making it. Final shamisen is about 2-3/4" long. The tuning pegs are called Itomaki (ee-toe-mah-key) and I just made them from blackened sewing pins. The fan shaped object is a plectrum called a bachi (bah-chee) that's used to strike or pluck the strings. Oh, and those are 3 strings you see in the photo. I had some tan monofilament thread I used for that. The entertainer's shamisen set aside in the Yakatabune's Tatami Room. The entertainer's shamisen set down between songs. Since we're looking at probably 19th century life, I thought a couple black and white photos seemed appropriate. I think the only other detail items I may make are sake cups and bottle. One could go crazy making small plates of food, hashi (chopsticks), and so on, so I'll have to stop myself before I go overboard. I still have to think about lighting, wiring, and maybe some painting. The kit calls for only a tiny amount of black paint on the tip of the stem and that's about it. I'm thinking about painting the lower hull black and also the metal plating that covers nails, beam ends and such. This would make the boat look a little more like those boats pictured in Ukiyo-e paintings. The only thing holding me back on the painting is that those boats are mostly different from the boat represented in the Woody Joe kit. Clare

Small update, I worked a little bit on the sail set I bought for the Alert. It was a separate purchase I made from Shipyard shortly after I got the kit. The sails are nicely printed on one side, but the back sides are blank, so I just traced out the lines on the back using colored pencil. Afterwards, I took some .4mm model rope and used it for the bolt ropes. At this scale, it makes sense to simply glue the bolt ropes into place without sewing, which is all the kit instructions call for as well. Personally, I've had good results doing this at 1/4" scale as well. I also received the swivel guns from Syren Ship Model Company, so I quickly went to work adding the trunnions and blackening them all using BlueJacket's Brass Black. Interestingly enough, the swivel guns' short trunnions were a perfect fit for the small cannon carriages. These are beautifully turned barrels. I haven't made a final decision on using paper or pear wood blocks yet, but I just ordered some more pear wood blocks from Chuck just in case. Clare

Since I was already on a roll looking at detail of the tatami mats, I started thinking about the table and some decor. The table is included in the kit. I'm not positive about this, but I believe the table is called a zataku (zah-tah-koo). I was steered wrong when I was describing the table to a relative and they came up with a name that I don't recall at the moment, but it referred to a kind of individual tray/table, which this is not. I'm planning on finishing it in a dark brown color. For people sitting around the table, there were individual cushions called zabuton (zah-boo-tone). These are kind of flat cushions about 2' square. I guess they're several cm thick when new and probably flatten out over time. I started playing around with making these out of sculpey to see how they'd turn out. Before I knew it, I made 6 of them. I figured these would be a mix of colors, and I chose colors that were mostly subdued. I think these kinds of colors are more traditional natural Japanese dye colors. The cloth used for making these might have had some kind of small repetitive pattern on it, but that would be too small to discern, so I just used solid colors. I have yet to give the pillows a coat of some kind of matte finish, so they're a bit shiny right now. In the meantime, I'm messing around with trying to model a shamisen to place inside. The shamisen is a 3-stringed fretless lute that sounds a lot like a banjo. It is played with a fan-shaped plectrum. I myself have been playing the shamisen for about 10 years now and I'm with a group that performs traditional Japanese folk music. So, it seems only right for me to try to include one here. We'll see how successful I am at that. Here's a picture of a full-sized one that I'm using to help me model one in 1/24 scale. Wish me luck! Clare

Thanks everyone for the nice comments. This is a fun build and I'm learning quite a bit from it. When I look at those close-up photo form inside the deck house, I imagine being inside and drinking tea or sake, maybe listening to music played by a geisha, feeling the gentle rocking as the boatman sculls us along the river on a warm Summer's evening. Of course, everyone's invited along – good company is mandatory! Tatami Room The floor of the cabin is covered with Tatami mats, roughly 2" thick straw-filled mats, so I did some reading up on the Internet. Tatami were originally a luxury item used by nobility, but they became popular among common households by the 18th century. Tatami mats are made in standard sizes. A full sized Tatami is twice as long as it is wide, and there are half-sized, square Tatami. While standard sized, apparently, sizes varied a little depending on region. Assuming this boat is from the Tokyo (Edo) area, Tatami are 0.88m x 1.76m. Found this image on the Internet of a full-size mat. This is from oriental-decor.com The layout of the Tatami determined the dimensions of rooms. The yakatabune's cabin is a 4-Tatami room, since 4 mats, laid side by side, exactly cover the floor. From this, I determined that the actual scale of the model has to be 1/25-scale, rather than 1/24-scale. At the top of the image attached below, I show the layout of the Tatami as described in the kit. I'm considering using a different layout for better visual interest (see the bottom layout in the attached image below). Also, there will be a small table that will straddle the seam in the middle of the alternate layout I'm considering, and I think the layout means that fewer guests will be seated on top of a seam. After I came up with my alternative layout, I found another image on the Internet that showed some room layouts. Notice that there is only one layout that is the same dimensions as the yakatabune's cabin, and it is the same as my alternate layout. Found this image on the Internet of some room layouts. This is from store.zentai.com.au An interesting note from the source for the above image indicates that Tatami are never placed in such a way that the corners form a "+", as it is considered to bring bad fortune. I think the Chinese would call it bad "Feng Shui". I guess this means that the kit's proposed layout is okay. To me, seating guests on the seams of Tatami also seems like it's not great Feng Shui. Yeah, I'm kind of jumping ahead here, but it's all part of research! Clare

Got on a bit of a roll and finished steps 21 through 23. I'll come back and fill in some of the details later, but here are some progress pics for now. Clare

Thanks Mario, Woody Joe doesn't do direct sales anyway. I recommend ordering from my friend Kazunori Morikawa at Zootoyz.jp. His site is in english and service is very good and prices are reasonable. Here's a direct link to the Woody Joe ship model kits: http://www.zootoyz.jp/contents/en-us/d67_Woody_JOE_Wooden_Sailing_Ship_Model.html. The Yakatabune kit is about halfway down the first page. Clare

Before going one with my build, first things first. Took the model to a ship model meeting last month and by the end of the meeting, found the tiller broken off, lying on the deck. It was a simple, clean glue break, but I left it for a few weeks and didn't do much on the model. Then this past Saturday, I needed to take something over to work on our model workshop on Hyde Street Pier, so I took the Yakatabune. I was really glad I did because nobody else showed up and I got a bit of work done. Anyway, the tiller was a simple glue attachment, so this time, I drilled it out and peg it this time, using a piece of 1/32" stiff brass wire. At the workshop, I continued with the next step, Step 21, which deals with the sliding screen panels. The instructional text: 21 Assembly of Sliding Doors • Sliding Doors A, make 12 pieces. • Use Shoji paper A, printed side up. The last line was hard to translate correctly, but the gist is that part 11 should stick out 1mm on each end when it is glued to part 12. It makes more sense when looking at the instructions. This line refers to the image at the very left side. There is a second half to these instructions that is almost identical to the first, except that it refers to another set of sliding doors... • Sliding Doors B, make 8 pieces. • Use Shoji paper B, printed side up. i didn't add the paper yet screens yet. That's coming up next. Clare Edit: The 1mm ends of part 11 form tabs that fit into slots, allowing the screen to slide. Part 11 is on the FRONT side of the doors. If the shoji screen paper is going to fit securely, the door pieces need to all be flush on the front side. Problem is that the other pieces are a different thickness than the 11/12 assembly. So, you just have to be aware. I didn't catch this initially and had to adjust, re-gluing some pieces part way through.

Looking nice Bob! You did a much better job that I did on those tapered bow planks. Clare

Thanks Chris, Mark, Slog, for the advice. I'm moving ahead with the turned brass cannon barrels. Regarding blocks and such, I needed to work on something fairly mindless, so I started working on the paper blocks. I figured I'd see how they turn out. If they're not so good in the end, I'll switch to purchased wooden blocks. The paper blocks have one advantage over the Syren blocks in that this is a small model and with the paper blocks are available in 3.5mm size, which I can't get in pear wood. So, in paper blocks, I now have 2.5mm, 3mm, and 3.5mm sizes. 2mm blocks are available from Shipyard too, and rigging calculations would normally call for them, but that's awfully small to assemble. Anyway, I don't have any of the 2mm paper blocks on hand, and the kit itself calls for these sizes I do have. Here is a sample of the unassembled blocks. These are the same kits that come in the boxed kits. A nice, cool but sunny Sunday morning, cup of coffee and ship modeling project – A perfect day! Here's a close-up of painted, CA reinforced and touched up blocks Sorted by size and cleaned up a little more. This certainly took a bit of effort to pre the blocks. I painted them while still in their sheets, I also glued them up in batches, which is easiest to do on the sheets. The process of assembling is exactly the same as the Syren built-up blocks, except that because they have to be painted, they need touch up. Also, cardboard isn't a very strong material, so I made sure to wick in some thin CA glue. I have yet to see how well these hold up when rigged, but at least their ready when I need them. Clare

Hi Slog, A good question. Shipyard has 4 main product lines and two of those product lines include ship model kits. One product line is their "Laser Cardboard Kits," which includes this HMS Wolf kit, and the other are their "Paper Models." The Paper Models are all 1/96-scale and have parts you have to cut out yourself and they are printed in color. The Laser Cardboard Kits are boxed edition kits in 1/72-scale. The parts are all laser cut from plain white card stock, and the necessary paints are included in the box (as well as paint brushes). Some items like decorative friezes are not laser cut, but are printed in color. Hope that helps! Clare

Hi Mark, Ah, I get your meaning now. Okay, I'm not really trying to be a salesman here... But, what about the non laser-cut 1:96 scale paper model? You should easily be able to scale it up by 100% to get a 1/4" scale model and it's less than $40. It's all the same parts, just not laser cut. Of course, you don't get to use the cast resin figurehead that's included in the boxed kit, if that was your intent. Ages of Sail should has them (I'm sure I've seen them on the shelves), the staff is just really bad about getting products online where people can actually buy them... Clare

Hi Mark, Thanks for the quick reply! I appreciate the input, even if it is to tell me that I have to make the call myself! On HMS Wolf, not sure what you mean about a small fortune for the plans. The plans package is on Ages of Sail for just under $50. I have a set myself. They're beautiful plans. They don't have any "Model Details", but they have all the plan drawings in 1:72 and 1:48 scale to easily build in wood. Clare

Okay you ship modelers out there, paper or otherwise, here's a question. The basic model is all paper: hull skeleton, hull planking, deck planking, deck furniture, etc. I know this is a "Card Model", but how much of it really has to be paper? Already, the masts, gaffs, boom, yards, bowsprit on this model are all wooden dowels, and I'm already going down the path of using commercially available brass cannons. The reason for this is that I just don't think I can do a good job making such small cannon barrels, especially in paper. Now, I'm starting to look at the blocks, deadeyes and such and now wondering if I should just use Syren blocks and such, or if I should make them from paper. It's not difficult to make the paper blocks using the laser cut sets that Shipyard sells and I have enough on hand for this model. My initial plan was to make a paper model using the Shipyard kit as much as possible. But, I want the model to look nice too. Still, I feel like I'm taking the easy way out to some degree here. I certainly don't have any qualms about using commercially available metal cannons on a wooden ship model, or metal blocks and deadeyes if they served the model well. Any thoughts? Clare

Mark has the link posted. With the latest shipment that Ages of Sail received, there are 5 of them in stock. At the moment, the sixth one is in my hot little hands here... I want it badly, but it's actually inspiring me to push along on my Alert build. Also, making me thing about taking on one of the smaller Laser Cardboard Kits, like the French lugger Le Coureur or schooner Berbice. Too much cool stuff out there... Clare

Here are some more pics... Clare

Just thought I'd share some photos I took of the new kit from Shipyard. This is a nice looking kit that's more expensive than many of their other kits, but a lot less than their HMS Mercury kit. HMS Wolf is a 10-gun brig of war. She's actually "Snow Rigged" meaning that she carries a small mast immediate aft of the main mast, which carries the spanker sail, boom and gaff. The ship is small, and while the Laser Cardboard Kits are all of a larger scale than their Paper Model kits, it's still only 1:72-scale, so the model measure about 20.5" long complete. As with all the Laser Cardboard kits, this one contains all the paints, spars, blocks, rigging line, sails, turned brass cannons and swivel guns. It also includes resin castings for the figurehead and some of the carvings. Other flat carvings are laser-etched cardboard. The Laser Cardboard kits also include instruction books, far better than the instructions provided in their less expensive Paper Model kits. For other information, you'll just have to take a look for yourselves... Clare

Have been too busy with projects that are "due" to do much here. But, working with swivel guns on one model, I came to discover that these 1/4" scale swivel guns from Syren Ship Model Company were the perfect size for the cannon barrels for this 1/8" scale model of the Alert. Anyway, the look visually correct and they look nice – a lot nicer than my rolled up paper barrels were looking. Also, saves me from having to turn or cast my own. So, why not? The brass barrel actually looks really nice, but I'll probably blacken them. I know this is not much progress to report. But, it is a solution to one issue on this model. I'm considering just leaving off the swivel guns since they'd need to look like this, but about half the size, and my understanding regarding swivel guns is that they were often stowed until needed. We'll see. First thing's first. Clare Edit: Forgot to mention that I went ahead and ordered the gun barrels from Chuck a couple days ago. Should be here tomorrow or Monday.

Kurt, Too late. My book is already signed and inscribed! He offers that on all orders through his website. But, buying the book at his table at the conference is a great way to get the book if you aren't already familiar with him and his work. Clare P.S. Here's a review from another source: http://www.oceannavigator.com/Web-Exclusives-2015/A-definitive-look-at-Japanese-Boatbuilding/ And some photos the author recently posted on Instagram: https://instagram.com/douglasbrooksboats

Hi Kurt, I figured that might be the case, though I wasn't sure how long he'd actually be staying at the conference. For people who can wait and will be at the conference, that's a great way to get the book since they get to meet the author, see the book, and then the inscription will have some meaning. Some of us just have to have it NOW, like me... Clare

Hi Richard, sorry I'm late showing up here. Didn't see your blog until today and you're already so close to being done! The lights are going to look great on this kit. I have one of the mini-yakatabune kits on the shelf and I'll have to check out that source for the LEDs you posted. Looks like a perfect solution. Your model is coming along beautifully – I think your daughter is going to be very happy with it. Clare

Well, regardless of the overall price in the end, I think this is a really wonderful thing. What other effort has made ship modeling visible to so many people all at once? I was blown away the first time I saw a TV ad for a ship model kit. Sure, a lot of people will start and never finish. That's also true about people who spend 100s of dollars on a kit, only to have it sit unfinished in the closet for all time. That's why there's so much unfinished stuff available on Ebay. But this way, at least you'll figure it out before you buy the whole thing. This is definitely a good thing. It's not for everyone, but I do like the expanded instructions as Ulises Victoria points out. That's one of the biggest complaints by Americans who buy European kits – limited instructions. Clare

This brand new book by American boatbuilder Douglas Brooks details his five apprenticeships with traditional craftsmen in Japan. I just received my copy today and wrote up a post about it on my blog. You can read it here: https://shipmodeler.wordpress.com/2015/08/19/japanese-wooden-boatbuilding-book-by-douglas-brooks/ The book is $75 plus $10 postage. If you do get a copy, I strongly urge you to buy it direct from the author to help support his research. In return, you'll get a book signed by the author and you can choose to have it inscribed if you like. Mr. Brooks is a scheduled speaker at this year's NRG Conference in Mystic, CT. Clare

mkmossop, nice job painting that emblem. I think that can be easier than iron on because after you do your sewing, you've already got the right colors matched to do your touchup. As JerryTodd points out sewing will be a little out of scale. But then, the printing is probably equally out of scale and I think the sewing stitches will look better. I personally like a tight stitch as it forms a solid line, like the seam of the cloth itself. Use a fine thread. When I have sewn, I'd sewn to the edge of the sail itself. I think I was initially sewing on past it, but then I had to take a needle and pull out the excess stitching back to the edge of the sail. I agree that adding the reef band and reinforcements can look really nice. It's at that point that I personally glue the fabric and do not sew. The extra layer of fabric is enough to give definition to the feature. Same with the bolt rope. The glued bolt rope looks nice, but a sewn bolt rope tends to stand out a lot more than a glued one. With sails, I think it becomes something of a matter of personal taste and use of artistic license. Clare

Hi Richard, The Mini-Yakatabune looks like a really nice kit. Personally, I haven't put a finish on these. I don't worry about dust because I put them into cases, and Hinoki is also naturally mildew resistant. If you check with Bob Riddoch, I think he's using some wipe-on poly on his Higakki Kaisen, giving the wood a nice darker color and sealing it too. Anyway, you really only get the smell of the wood when it's wet or freshly cut, so the completed model won't have that nice smell. If your daughter really loves the scent, you might just get her a small bottle of Hinoki Oil or some Hinoki Soap. Now that I say that, I may just have to get some myself! Clare

Hi Richard, Glad you like the saw. I feel a bit responsible for Kazunori at Zootoyz having ordered a stock of them after I asked him about carrying the product. They weren't selling very well at first and I expect it was mostly because nobody knew he had them. So, I had to "spread the gospel." The towel is something he recently started doing, including small gifts with each order. It's a nice touch. I got a towel with The Great Wave painting on it. Maybe they'll end up being like trading cards "Collect all 10!" Druxey, I love that you know the name of the artist and the actor in that painting. You never cease to amaze me! Clare