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INTRODUCTION AND OTHER BUILDS In June 2017 I was considering what to build next. The main criterion was to keep learning but with a different type of boat and a different type of construction. I tinkered with the idea of La Jacinthe, Le Rochefort, and even thought of embarking on Ed Tosti’s plans for the Naiad. However I thought a logical next step would be to go for a longboat using a mould as construction type. So I started on Gérard Delacroix’ plans for the French armed longboat of 1834. The plans for this are available in several languages from Ancre at https://ancre.fr/en/monograph/31-monographie-de-la-chaloupe-armee-en-guerre-1834.html. As stated in the English translation of the introductory manual, the model is “based on a draught in the 1834 Atlas du Génie Maritime (Folio of the Corps of Naval Engineers). The longboat, at 42’8” long, is of imposing dimensions, being large even for a ship’s boat: a man standing on the bottom boards would have the thwarts at chest height.” This type of boat was used for the transport of the heavier loads required by warships and diverse tasks including carrying of anchors, shore duties, watering parties and carrying stores when the ship was in service. They could also participate in harbour defence and sometimes were armed with a single gun as well as several small cannon. There are several excellent builds that can be seen on the internet. The place to start, of course, is with the forum devoted to this model on Marine & Modélisme d’Arsenal at http://5500.forumactif.org/f83-la-chaloupe-armee-en-guerre-1834-plans-gerard-delacroix. There you can find a general discussion about points of interest that people come across while building the model as well as several builds. Very few of the builds go into the details of how they overcome problems as they come across them. However one in particular has gone to great lengths to detail each step of the construction. This is the build by Jean-Jacques Herault, which you can find starting with an index to the build at http://modelisme-arsenal.hlt34.fr/journal_de_la_chaloupe_armee_007.htm. All these builds are in French only. For builds in English, though, there are several on this forum: · Jeronimo’s build at https://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/497-chaloupe-arm%C3%A9e-en-guerre-by-jeronimo-1834/#comment-5561. (Just pictures, no discussion of techniques). · Aykut Anşin’s at https://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/5550-chaloupe-armee-by-aykut-an%C5%9Fin-small/#comment-159523. Only shown as far as the mould, last post in Feb 2015. · Decoyman’s (Rob) at https://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/4218-chaloupe-armee-en-guerre-by-decoyman-from-the-delacroix-plans/#comment-120001. Fairly full discussion but last post was in July 2015, and only as far as frames made on the mould. · Smac’s gallery of the completed build at https://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/gallery/album/109-chaloupe-armee-en-guerre-1834/. · Blockplane’s (Chris) at https://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/14743-1834-42ft-longboat-armed-for-war-by-blockplane-scale-136-first-time-wooden-boat-build/&. Complete, last post in May 2017. There is in addition a very useful series of 11 videos of a complete build (called Chalupa Armada) by Nacho Gomez starting at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlUJabWYFTY. Each of these is over an hour long and is a useful reminder of how to use basic hand tools. All are spoken in Spanish, but even if you don’t speak Spanish the videos are almost self-explanatory. No doubt there are excellent builds as well in the Russian, Polish, East European and Japanese forums, but as I don’t speak any of those languages I simply have not researched them. If anyone does know of such other builds I’d be grateful to add them to the list. MY AIMS WITH THIS BUILD LOG Clearly, with so many builds of such high quality, you’re not going to get anything classy in this build log. It is a very basic build by a novice with poor finishing and lots of mistakes and ugliness. However, as with my previous builds, these are presented as they came, with the idea that there are lots of other builders with the same lack of expertise who come across similar problems and would like to see how I might have coped with them. I also know that along the way those who are more experienced might well chip in and give words of caution, advice and rebuke. All are welcome! FIRST STEPS As usual, the first steps are to study the plans and trace them into a CAD programme so that I can make accurate copies for cutting out and for planning. I use TurboCAD, which is very low cost and which I am now used to. The next thing is to make the mould. The plans are based on making a mould from 5mm thick plywood sheets (the waterlines are space at 4.5mm). Since that size is impossible to find in the UK, I had to work out how to make it from 5.5mm sheets. That meant making the waterlines spaced at 5.5mm, and so I set about doing just that using the time-honoured method of calculating the points of each waterline from the body plans of the station lines and the station lines set at right angles. In order to do so, however, although you only need the body plan from Plan 2 for the mould to create the water lines, I thought it would be a good idea to draw the frames completely as I’d have to be doing that anyway. The way to do this is to combine the body plans from Plan 1 (which shows the station lines to the edge of the frames but without planks) with those from Plan 2 (which shows just the body plan for the mould itself, without frames or planks). The result can be seen in the following diagram of one of the frames, Frame 4F (F for Front or 4Av in the plans, for 4 Avant). This shows that the frame starts at 3mm at the keel and taper upwards to 2.2mm at its tops – but this is an issue to which I will return later when I try to correlate the suggestions in the book to use 2mm square stock for the floors and futtocks against the 3mm floors derived from the Plan. For the moment all that matters is the trace of the inner aspect of the frame to create the mould. The following is the creation of the new waterlines to space at 5.5mm, which is the thickness of the plywood I was able to buy here in the UK. You will also note the various measurements I also inserted to help with the placing of the wales and the stern timbers. With the drawing of both the waterlines and the frames completed, I could then move on to drawing the outlines of each of the waterlines for the 5.5mm plywood. The method follows the classical way of doing this, so no surprises here. A final question that I faced for the creation of the mould was how to do that from Plan 2 because the stern shown in the drawing on that Plan has a very troubling empty space. At the time I decided to just follow the sweep of the hull, but it later dawned on me that a more exact way would be to superimpose the tracing of the outline from Plan 1 onto Plan 2. That way both the line of the hull and the cut for the sternpost and deadwood would be clarified. Should I ever have to rebuild the mould I’ll be doing it that way in future. The following diagram should explain it better. Now that all the drawings were ready, I set to cutting the waterlines from the plywood and, for the keel, cutting the 1.6mm groove for the keel using a 3mm milling bit on my Proxxon drill. I’ll be showing how I made the modifications for using the drill as a mill later on in this build log. I cut the outline for the sheer view with a scroll saw and a sander on my drill. The individual stations were printed to thick card and the cards then glued to a 2mm plywood frame for strength. And at last we get to the assembly of the waterlines. The above picture was taken on the 27th July 2017, just before sanding. After sanding it down I had to put aside all modelling as we were packing up the house to prepare it for sale and spending time searching for a smaller place to move into. I’ll therefore leave this log for the moment and the next part will take it from 29th September this year when I finally was able to start work on the model again. Tony

I am considering whether to arm my 'armed' longboat of 1834, and while doing so I'm looking at the type of swivel guns used. In all the models of this I've seen a standard muzzle-loading swivel gun is depicted, as it is in the plans of M.Delacroix from which I am working. However, I was wondering whether this type of longboat might have used breech-loading swivel guns as these were popular at the time and provided more rapid fire than could the muzzle-loaders although they were less reliable. So if there's anyone who's knowledgeable about this please do chip in with your opinions. It may be that I don't end up putting any armament on the longboat, but I'm still interested in the question as may others be when considering the type of swivel gun to use on their models. The following is an illustration of a breech-loader that was put up on Pinterest by Brian Walters Thanks Tony

1/50 Viking Longship – Drakkar Amati Catalogue # 1406/01 Longships were a type of ship invented and used by the Norsemen (commonly known as the Vikings) for commerce, exploration, and warfare during the Viking Age. The longship's design evolved over many centuries, beginning in the Stone Age with the invention of the umiak and continuing up until the 6th century with clinker-built ships like Nydam and Kvalsund. The longship appeared in its complete form between the 9th and 13th centuries, and the character and appearance of these ships have been reflected in Scandinavian boat-building traditions until today. The particular skills and methods employed in making longships are still used worldwide, often with modern adaptations. They were all made out of wood, with cloth sails (woven wool) and had numerous details and carvings on the hull. Longships were characterized as a graceful, long, narrow and light, with a shallow-draft hull designed for speed. The ship's shallow draft allowed navigation in waters only one meter deep and permitted arbitrary beach landings, while its light weight enabled it to be carried over portages or used bottom-up for shelter in camps. Longships were also double-ended, the symmetrical bow and stern allowing the ship to reverse direction quickly without a turnaround; this trait proved particularly useful at northern latitudes, where icebergs and sea ice posed hazards to navigation. Longships were fitted with oars along almost the entire length of the boat itself. Later versions had a rectangular sail on a single mast, which was used to replace or augment the effort of the rowers, particularly during long journeys. Drakkar are only known from historical sources, such as the 13th-century Göngu-Hrólfs saga. Here, the ships are described as elegant and ornately decorated, and used by those who went raiding and plundering. These ships were likely skeids that differed only in the carvings of menacing beasts, such as dragons and snakes, carried on the prow of the ship. These carvings allegedly protected the ship and crew and warded off the terrible sea monsters of Norse mythology. It is however likely that the carvings, like those on the Oseberg ship, might have had a ritual purpose, or that the purported effect was to frighten enemies and townspeople. No true dragon ship, as defined by the sagas, has been found by archaeological excavation. Extract from Wikipedia The kit This isn’t a new kit, and in fact I know this was once released under the name Oseberg Viking Ship, again by Amati, some years ago. I know there to have been at least two boxings of this over the years. In fact, some vendors still have it listed as this, or may even carry that older kit in stock. I’m unsure as to when the kit changed its name to the current Drakkartitle. The kit itself comes in a high quality, glossy and attractive box, carrying a colour image of the profile of the vessel on the lid, and accompanying small detail photo. It can be seen on the lid that the 1/50 scale equates to 44cm length. Inside the box, Amati has given some strength to the packaging my adding a card shelf to make the interior shallower and preventing the contents from rattling around because there is surprisingly little timber by the way of sheets, than you might expect due to the way Amati has approached the design. A Plywood sheet contain the keel which incorporates the curved bow and stern, plus also the nine bulkheads that are notched to match their respective positions on the keel. As you see, the construction is quite traditional in this respect, and the shallow draught of the ship is the reason for a relatively low number of ply sheets. Now, whilst there is of course some strip stock in this kit, the ship’s planking isn’t associated with this. Instead of what would be a rather complicated method of planking, this particular model is provided with two sheets of thin, laser-cut planks which are perfectly shaped to follow the contours of the hull, and also sit within the stepped recesses of the bulkheads. These planks are produced from very thin plywood and just require the scorched edges of the parts gently sanded and then sitting into the recesses. Those bulkhead recesses will need to be slightly sanded for the planks to fully conform, and most definitely at both stem and stern. This is clearly shown in the accompanying instruction manual. It is also necessary, again shown on the instructions, to trace a curve to stem and stern, which sets the line against which to plank to. Also presented in plywood is the main deck, in two large main pieces, and three small sections. With the model planked and the tops of the bulkheads previously sanded to conform to the keel, these can be attached and then planked with the supplied strip stock. Deck planking is done in short pieces that only span between each former. I’m pretty sure that these sections could be removed on the real thing, and tools, weapons and food stored in the void below. Strip wood stock is included for the deck planking, and dowel for the mast and oars. Timber quality is excellent, with tape holding together the various bundles. A smaller piece of walnut sheet is also included, and this contains parts for the rudder paddle, oar storage frames, rigging blocks, belaying posts and bases etc. Laser cutting quality is nice and fine with only minimal timber to snip through to release each part. For protection, all timber sheets are placed in a thick, clear sleeve, as are the instructions manual and plans. Fittings Sitting on top of the timber sheet is a vac-form plastic box with a removable clear lid. The box has six compartments holding a few loose wooden pieces, rigging cord, as well as the metal fixtures and fittings for the Drakkar. The small number of loose wooden pieces are for the cleats. These just need a little final shaping before use. A large bag of metal shields is included, with their respective bosses and timber details cast in situ. I’m unsure as the metal for these, but they aren’t white metal, and possibly some alloy. They have also been given an aged finish, but I would carefully paint these to make them look more realistic. A single anchor is provided in metal, utilising a wooden stock, and a small length of brass chain is provided for this. A small number of cast white metal parts are included, and these are for the ship’s dragon head (with separate horns and tongue) and a deck bucket (slop outtoilet?), longbow, axe etc. The casting here is very nice and when painted, should really look the part. A bag of brass nails is included, and these are well-formed and sharp, unlike some I’ve used over the years. You are best drilling a small pilot hole before applying these, so you don’t split any timber when you drive them through the hull planks and into the bulkheads. As Viking Drakkar were of a very shallow draught, the mast needed something substantial to hold it in place. Under the deck would have been a keelson to locate the base of the mast, but above deck, this was achieved via a hefty wooden block. That had a wedge as part of its structure. As far as I can tell, these were called the mastfish and wedge, respectively. For some seriously interesting information on these vessels, check out this link: http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/manufacturing/text/norse_ships.htm As well as two sizes of rigging cord for standard and running rig, a piece of sailcloth is also included. You will need to make the sail yourself, including the diagonal strips that run at 90 degrees to each other. You need to sew along the edges after folding them in, replicating the looping stitch that should be seen. One thing you’ll need to do is to buy some fabric paint for the sail stripes. Aging the sail can be done with the age-old method of soaking in tea, should you wish. However, another method is to soak in a Potassium Permanganate (KMNO4) solution. Only a little is needed, and you can gauge the finish on a test piece as the colour develops when you remove from the solution. Also included is a chest that can be sat on the deck as extra detail. This is cast from a cream-coloured resin. Plans and instructions Amati include an 8-page basic instruction manual for this model, guiding you through the principle steps of the model and explaining the various key areas of construction. Illustrations are in line drawing format and are clear to understand, despite the Italian text. A separate sheet with English annotation is also supplied for those of us who haven’t grasped the rudimentary elements of that beautiful language. Of course, a plan is also included for the model which describes things in greater detail, including the rigging stages. This is also typically easy to understand and also contains the shapes for a good number of kit parts, so if you were to screw up, then with a little extra timber, you can right your wrongs. Conclusion As I originally stated, this isn’t a new kit, but it is one that has stood the test of time and for me, still ranks as the best-looking Drakkar you can buy in kit form, and certainly the most authentic in appearance. I know some people don’t like the plywood planking, but as you shouldn’t need to thin the planks much (if at all), then this doesn’t feature as an issue for me. Some timber edges will need to have the charring from the laser cutting removed, but again, this isn’t a problem as far as I’m concerned. Amati has designed this kit to be relatively straightforward and they have succeeded. As far as price goes, it can vary, but I’ve seen in in the UK/EU for around £90 to £100. I’ll start my own building log of this on Model Ship World very shortly. My sincere thanks to Amati for sending this kit out for review here on MSW.

Well ordered the model and after reading about a dozen threads on here I'm about to start my first wooden model build. I'm totally new to this so please bear with me if my terminology is incorrect at times 🙂

Hello fellow shipbuilders I’ve been a member of MSW for awhile, but while I have gleaned considerable mounts of techniques and information, I haven’t “given back” by contributing a build thread. So I figured I’ll dip the proverbial “toe” into the lake of knowledge and wade gently into the wash of expertise here in MSW. Although the initial build of the hull is finished, I will be rigging the model and will continue to post my progress. I have modeled for years and my passion has waned from ships to giant scale RC aircraft and now back to ships. I will admit that my ship modeling has increased my scale fidelity in aircraft considerably, but my first love is the sea so the ships call again. So hear I am. Jumping back into the ship realm after 15 years of dormancy and to be honest, it feels like coming home after an extended trip. I will try my best to make an acceptable model but doubt that it will ever touch the level of perfection seen by many on this site. The subject is the 18th century longboat designed by Chuck Passaro in 1/4 scale (1:48). However, it will be a blank canvas to serve as inspiration for the true subject, an 18 century merchant longboat used in the Pacific Northwest fur trade circa 1790. I never build kits per plans. I like subjects that are unique and that include some research. So the kit will provide a starting point for departure. My main interest per my signature line below are the historical and exploration vessels of the PNW coast. As such, I figured it would be interesting to build a longboat that could theoretically be used from a frigate like Columbia Redidiva (name sake of the Columbia river in Oregon). Some planning assumptions: The larger ships that the boats came from were small, so the longboats, cutters, yawls and jolly boats that accompanied them were small as well to fit between the masts or on deck. Reviewing their logbooks, these small boats 16-24 feet were constantly employed shifting and setting the anchors for warping or mooring in the treacherous tidal and unknown waters. Typically the boats were armed with swivel guns and muskets. Sailing rig seems to be either a gaff or lug sail rig that was preferred. The boats needed to be very sea worthy due to the unpredictable weather, tides and heavy usage lightering water casks, wood, furs and supplies to and from shore. Due to unknown shoal water throughout the area, these boats were typically employed trading for furs with the natives in shallow water while the larger ship stood off the lee shore in deeper water. This offered the boats the opportunity to explore and operate independently for a considerable time. Terrifying if you think about how small they were in a hostile land halfway around the world will little supplies or support if stranded. As far as paint or preservation, merchant ships were typically cheap and paint as a luxury and was used sparingly for preservation. Paint was expensive and cut into profit. Reviewing logbooks showed that the typical paint carried was lampblack, Spanish brown, and varnish. Enough of my blathering........ I built the basic hull earlier before I decided to do a build thread. Sorry, no build picks. But I assure you that the construction was the same as all of the other 18th century longboat kits on this site. No real revelations or deviations from the basic construction. I used only the basswood parts provided in the kit. If I had it to do over, I’d probably mill my own yellow cedar and boxwood for the planking and parts. The basswood is soft and a pain to work with and the grain is too fuzzy. One of my least favorite woods. Here’s the hull built. I’ll point out some of the unique features. Paint was lamp black, hull white and satin poly-c. I added a bit more sheer than the plans called for simply because I like the look and some of the plans from NMM had the amount I was looking for, so I figured it could be justified. Instead of thole pins supplied in the kit for the oars, I used another option that is typical of the time period instead of a washboard. I’m not sure what you call it. Why did I use this style, I don’t know, I like the look 😃. There was quite a bit of discussion on some other threads about placement of the horse. I chose the option of above the tiller. There are plans circa 1800 that show this so it fits and seems logical. You can also see the tree nails used in the planking. Holes drilled and filled with hobby putty as shown by Chuck in his builds. I typically like to use actual treenails but at this small of a scale with it being so fragile I decided to give Chucks method a try. It worked well. Below you can see that I added a post for a swivel forward of the second thwart, let into the raised deck into the keelson and secured and notched into the supported thwart. The swivel gun itself was purchased from Chuck at Syren Shipmodels. The handle, was 24 gage wire bent around the pommel and blackened. The metal supporting bands on the post and swivel support carriage were made out of paper and painted black. You can also see that I added a roller to the bow like BobF did with his boat. Very functional considering the heavy work that the boat would be doing moving anchors etc. The grapnel anchor rests on the floorboards. The chainplates have eyes for hooks instead of strapped into the deadeyes. This allows the rigging to be set up and taken down quicker. The NMM model is set up like this. Finally, I added a block onto the stem for the outhaul for the jib. If you look at the NMM model it has this feature but isn’t rigged. If you look closely there is some damage to the bowsprit so I assume the rigging was probably repaired at some point and perhaps not rigged. There are contemporary paintings and plans showing this out haul rigged through a block such as this. I’m assuming that it helped hold the bowsprit when the jib was rigged in brisk winds, acting like a bobstay. A few more pics So with the hull complete its time for the rigging. The next installment will start where I’m currently at. We are now all caught up. I hope you have enjoyed it so far.

I completed a couple simple kits from Midwest a few years ago and have recently decided to devote more time to building. This is the first time I’ve created a log, and hopefully it will be a good learning tool for me as I progress with this kit and others in the future. I’ve already begun the model and will post some updates shortly!

As I am approaching the process of applying the frieze on my 18th century longboat, I notice that the one's provided in the kit are terrible. As I read through the builds of everyone that has built this wonderful boat, I noticed a lot of you mention printing out Chuck's PDF templates. I feel like I've looked through the entire forum, but I am having no luck finding the PDFs or Chuck's build log. Could anyone point me in the right direction? Your help would be greatly appreciated!

Ok so I finished my longboat kit build from model shipways and found it was fun and challenging,so I started looking at other kits to build my second model . Then yesterday by chance I got a bunch of teakwood from a friend and thought to myself what am I going to do with this . Then I figured why not cut it up and build another longboat but this time from scratch using all teakwood. I have never done anything like this before and never worked with teakwood before . But what the heck I figure I'll give it a shot. I will build it using Model Shipway plans and instructions .

Well folks I am going to jump in here. I will dispense with posting any pictures of the box etc. I am sure that has been covered by the wealth of logs on this forum. My recent acquisition of this kit is explained elsewhere (see Dr. Per) So let me begin with my impressions and a few question for my fellow Longboat builders First of all this is a 1st class kit. Extremely well designed (what else would you expect from Chuck?) and the materials are very good. I have done a trial fit of the bulkheads and they all fit very snugly with almost no adjustment. I plan to use this as a learning tool. I want to experiment with Boxwood (which I have never used before). I also plan to use this as a platform to do treenailing (another item I have never attempted). I am especially interested in Chuck's method of using putty. Lastly Sam has inspired me to think outside the box and so I am not sure yet how I will modify the kit from the standard provided. So now some questions for those who have built this kit - The Basswood sheet that contains the bulkheads is 3/32 of an inch thick. Also on this sheet are the 2 lengths for the keel & 2 rudders. is this just extras or are we intended to glue then together to get a thickness of 3/16? The same occurs on the sheet with the Stem. I have 2 stems. Next question, On the 3/32 sheet with the stem there are 2 small pieces which I believe are the stern post. Again is the intent to glue them together to get more thickness. Finally there are 3 bow blocks on this sheet. I can figure out what to do with 2 bow blocks but is the 3rd one extra? Last question (for now) - I see many using brass rods to mount the longboat. In particular concentric brass rods. can you tell me where you got these? this method looks quite nice. A final comment, since Jeff is backed up supplying all of us builders with wood. This log may move a bit sow for the next couple of months. I started it now because this is a great opportunity to gather info from those who have gone before me. I also felt this was the best way to ask questions without cluttering someone else's build. PS you should all hound Dr. Per to start his build log here too. he has agreed to do a group build with me. My local club is meeting at my house today. I am going to suggest that this would be a great club build.

Good day all! After an extended hiatus I'm back in the shipyard! Today I received my next project, the longboat from HMS Sirius, one of the first fleet ships. The box in which she came! Next is the contents of the kit spread out. First step was to lay out the frames and put the keel in place. The frames aren't glued to the baseboard so once planked it can be removed from the internals of the longboat, it is there to provide the framework to build on to. The transom is glued on to the keel however. Next was to shape the bow blocks with a 45 degree bevel. To do this I used my rotary tool in the Dremel drill press with a sanding disc on it. It made the job faster, easier and did a great job!

Group, I have all the material for the build of the longboat, even the nice boxwood from Jeff Hayes and HobbyMill. However, I have a question with this before I get head into it. The sheet holding bulkhead and keel is very heavy chard from the laser cutting. In the attached picture I have gone over the sheets with a 400 grit paper, don't want to do to much. But the chard remains. Has anyone else experienced this and how was your approach to get a clean surface? Thank you

Brand-new to modeling and would like to start with a project that offers potential for reasonable success without being boring. I'm considering the 18th Century Pinnace or Longboat for a first project. I've read through Chuck's instructions and find them very clear and logical. My head seems equal to the task and I know my hands will learn as they work, but I am spooked because Model Shipways has labeled this kit as "Advanced". Can anyone speak to this question? Also, I see in other forum posts that kits sometimes go on sale. Is there a notice board or other means of being notified about sales? Thanks! Red