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Showing results for tags 'Willie L Bennett'.
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Hello all. Long time lurker who's not posted much until recently. I've built a few model boats/ships. I got started modeling in HO. Had one particularly lovely 1910's NH&NYRR layout many years ago. That's what got me scratchbuilding scale bits of the world. I've built a few metal car kits (the old Hubley kits), and a few aircraft (I'm also a pilot and owned a 1946 Aeronca Chief until some years ago). But I've always loved boats as well, and have owned a fair few of those also (almost all sailboats). I just think the alchemy of function and beautiful line makes for some of the most aesthetically pleasing forms ever made by men. I've built exclusively from kits so far. And I prefer working boats over naval ships, although my very first ship model was a Halifax brig. Anyway, I'm in the middle of building the Willie Bennett. I've posted about it asking for help with colors in particular; but I thought I'd go ahead and post a build log. Not that I think much in it will be new or that impressive. But I've learned a lot from reading other logs over the years, and it only seemed fair to participate. If I think of any particular problem I worked through that might be generally illuminating, I'll be sure to mention it. But, like I said, I wouldn't get my hopes up. 🙂 I'll take a few days to put together a few posts that will bring the log up to date. Not much to belabor with the early parts of the build, since they've been done so often. I'm finishing the houses and hatches at the moment, and about to start on the other deck furniture. I'm still working, so progress is not rapid. But I manage to get a little work done on things most days. To start: Building board, keel (with rabbet). Planking goes fast when the planks are this wide! Transom. Bottom planked and shaping the front blocks. Off the build frames and right side up! -
Hello all, This is my first build log and my first build of a somewhat detailed wooden model boat. I retired about 18 months ago and decided to get into building model boats. I am partial to work boats, especially those of the Chesapeake Bay, so I built a simple crabbing skiff and a smaller scale skipjack wood model to get into it a bit. This kit is far and away more difficult. I am having fun though and the hours just slip on by. I am sorry I did not start the build log properly by documenting the kit unboxing and early stages of my build so this log picks up after I finished the basic hull. I started this build on Jan 15, 2013. I am building the boat as close to the "real thing" as I can and adding as much extra detail as I am capable of. Comments or questions are welcome of course. The cabins and hatches are just temporarily placed on the deck. The main cabin roof was split in two so that I can remove half to see the detail. The cabin windows are clear plastic. The cabin mattresses are pieces of cardboard covered with old sail cloth. All doors are hinged and hatch covers are removable. Well that brings this build up to date. The next task is to cut and install the planksheers. -
Hi all! Well finally decided to try and start this kit. Not really a ship modeler, but would love to learn. I am currently working on the build "Moulds" and getting up the courage to tackle the RABBET CUT. My question is: Should the cut be made before I assemble the keel? Meaning, Stern post, AFT SKEG, SKEG BATTEN and other sub assemblies are attached to the Keelson? All help greatly appreciated. -
For my third build I've decided to resurrect the kit I started about 3 years ago, but gave up on because I found the plan sheets so cluttered and confusing that frustration took the fun out of the build. So after completing the basic hull structure on the inverted skeleton I packed the entire boat up in the box and went on to do Chuck's 18th Longboat and the AL Marie Jeanne instead. Now that I have several excellent Willie Bennett build logs to use as references, I've decided to give it another try. I've wanted to build a Skipjack model after taking my granddaughter to the Chesapeake Maritime Musuem on St Michaels MD several years back and seeing several examples of these fine Chesapeake Bay work boats. First the box with contents and ship's plans (if you enlarge the photos - last 3 photos below - you'll see what I mean by cluttered). This is where I left the model when I decided to suspend the build This is the status so far. Since the below decks structure will be completely covered I chose to not spend a lot of time detailing it and instead installed just enough to strengthen the model. This kit has a tendency to paint one into a corner if not careful. Installing the centerboard was a bit tricky and drilling the holes for the pivot was even more tricky given the side to side clearance and the length of the drill bit. I had to hold the bit in my fingers and rotate it slowing without the aid of a chuck. And, yes, a few of the deck planks are skewed and not completely perpendicular. I cut the notches in the clamp plank off the model after bending to shape using Chuck's hairdryer heat method and letting the planks sit clamped for about 36 hours. In some instances I am using butt joints and in others I'm notching the ends to fit into the pre-cut notches in the clamp plank. ("Clamp" is the term used in the plans) So pull up a barrel, bench, chair, box or whatever and enjoy some popcorn from Sjors popcorn machine (Thanks Sjors ) and join the build. -
Hello Fellow Shipwrights, I bought the Model Shipways' Willie L. Bennett kit about 6 years ago, but have been intimidated to start. Plus I'm active-duty Navy (Surface Warfare), and have been stationed on ships for the past 3 years. Now that I'm on shore duty (and about 18 months from retiring after 29 years of service), I am making the time to start learning this craft. At any rate, I finally decided to start this thing. I am using the instructions as well as the excellent series of articles written by Kurt Van Dahm (2004, Ships in Scale). After building the build-board, I started working on the keelson assembly but immediately hit a snag. The dimensions of the keelson pieces (it comes in three that are glued together) don't match the drawing near the aft end. Model Expo is sending a new sheet with the laser-cut keelson on it, I'm just hoping it has the correct dimensions. Worst case, I'll just modify the skeg to account for the missing section of the keelson. Has anyone else had this issue? Here is a photo of my build board (I added additional strength members because it felt too flimsy to me, even with the triangle braces on each side). Last question (for now): What is the best way to create the proper camber on the deck? Do people make a jig, eyeball it, use a template, or some other technique?- 45 replies
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Greetings All!! This is actually my second undertaking. My first was the Phantom which I will be putting up shortly. This was a Christmas Present from my lovely wife, and as such had to cut ahead in the Ship queue. We start with the traditional unboxing. We begin with the documentation which consists of one manual, a parts manifest, 2 large plan sheets and an errata sheet. The model is kind of a hybrid POF/POB so the contents consist primarily of strip stock, raw brass, and some laser cut sheets as well as various white cast parts which appear at first glance to be of decent quality and useable as is. Finally the normal supply of blocks, string and normal ship fittings. The instructions are not too too bad. It is quite informative with history anecdotes as well as examples of how the real ship is built. The trouble is these are intermingled with instructions on how to build them in the kit and they tend to get muddled at some points. I like the information however, being a novice, I found it confusing at points. To kick off the build a template needs to be attached to a build board which will be used to set up the build molds. I just grabbed an old particle board shelf as the build board and using a glue stick attached the template. I think next time I will use rubber cement to make it semi-permanent because at the moment I am having issues getting the template off of the board - and would like to reuse it as it is a very nice build board =). Once the template is down it is just a matter of attaching the laser cut build molds to the build board using the template as a guide. I added some spars at the base to stabilize the molds and give them some reinforcement. Once all of the molds were in place and proven square it was time to attach the keelson and chine logs. This was very straight-forward, no muss no fuss. The next part is construction of the hull shell itself. The side planks are a single piece of wood cut to follow the chine logs, bent to shape and attached stem and stern. Remember, do NOT glue them to the molds - that would be very very bad. If you should by accident you can carefully pop them off when it is time to separate the shell. *You can, to avoid getting glue stuck to the molds place some wax over them. Once you get the sides in place, time to lay the planks along the bottom of the hull. Again, pretty straight-forward. Cut and place the planks up to the chunk, place the chunks, sand and shape and walla! One Willie Bennett hull shell!! Sand, sand, sand and sand!! I went ahead and primed mine prior to removing it from the molds but there is no requirement to do so, I just wanted to be sure my hull was as finished as possible before flipping it over. Once the shell is complete and removed from the build molds it is decision time!! The next step is the deck framing. There are two ways given to go about it, the first is a basic framing and the second is a "realistic" framing. The main reason to do the second is if you want to build the ship as close to the real thing and/or plan to have it opened up or have some of the interior visible. If the latter is not the case, the basic framing is more than adequate as it just needs to support the decking. I opted to do the realistic framing including the blocking, more so for the experience than anything else. I did not however detail the bunk areas or the internals of the different wells since the ship will be in a display case and not easily accessible to move and scrutinize close enough to see the detail. The next four pics are of the framing, the first pic is actually partial framing prior to deciding which way to go. At that point I could have gone either way. The last three are the framing completed and ready for the plankshears! The BIGGEST tip I can give at this point, regardless of which style you decide to do - make sure you mark and cut the notches in the clamps which hold the deck beams PRIOR to attaching them to the hull. It is doable after they are attached, but much much easier to do after the fact - so I found out =( From here, I had to break. I was working on the plank shears trying the cuts to get a nice curve and well - let us just say I have some more practice needed! I chewed up a fair amount of wood trying to get them right so had to replace the wood. To keep working I did some work on another kit while waiting to be able to pick up the wood at which point will return to the Willie. that will be tomorrow =) Thank you for popping in!! And as always - whatever you do, and however you do it... enjoy it!! -Adam- 97 replies
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I started this model back in April and have decided to share what I have done, so fa,r for coments and constructive remarks. I choose this model because it would allow me to practice some techniques that I wanted to learn before I return to my Charles Morgan. Also my deceased wife and I enjoyed a wonderful afternoon on on of these marvalous little boats before she passed. In particular this model has a lot of what most would call scaratch-building and there will be ample oppertunities for me to practice "ironwork" and silver soldering. Building board with building moulds. Keel assembly with rabbit Transon added and chin logs -
Ahoy. Newbie here, just starting out in model ship building. I ordered my first kit the other day and wouldn't you know, it's been delayed by a hurricane' Hm. Taking advantage of the time delay to outfit my commandeered dining room table as a workstation. From what I see around the forums, there's plenty of good advice and excellent build log photos to guide me. I see you folks are a dedicated fleet of generous artisans. I'm starting this build log to harvest a good catch of tips and critiques. Well, if my kit and FedEx both survive Hurricane Arthur I'll be back. And if you're reading this, you probably built a skipjack or you're working on one. Let me know who you are so I can follow you & plunder all your advice - AAARGH! Thank you, Rick -
After reading many of the build logs, I have decided to make my second project, and first build log, the Willie Bennett by Model Shipways. My first build was a solid hull so the built up hull of the Willie looked like a logical next step. I did not photograph the kit box and it contents. Sorry about that but there are many such photographs on this website. I will state that the kit contents are very nice and the lazer die cut parts are well done. The Willie build begins by building a simple frame over "moulds". The moulds were laser cut and matched the plans perfectly. Generally, the beginning assembly is relatively easy. I did find, however, that when I added my first stringer that it caused the structure to twist. I tried removing and regluing the stringer but the structure continue to twist. I decided to continue and add the sides hoping if I weighted the structure down when I added the sides it would dry and remove the twist. It worked. Here are some pictures: 1) This is the basic structure. You can see the pattern I made for the sides in the background. 2) Fitting my pattern for the sides. I cut the pattern from construction paper. 3) Gluing the sides in place while weighting the structure. I used sandbags made from sand filled baggies. I learned this trick in my model airplane building days 4) The basic structure is complete. -
While text and drawings show stiffeners added to transom, none of the kit build photos seem to show those pieces in place. Are they for actual strength in the model or for realistic look of interior of transom (which is hidden by the deck)?
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