Pond Yacht Ketch by JerseyCity Frankie - RESTORATION - 1/35 scale? - Finished

[JerseyCity Frankie]

I have been asked to restore this old Pond Yacht Ketch ( Thought it was a schooner at first!) . Its a solid hull with a full keel with a lead strip attached. A decent amount of work went into the original carving and laying out but not much sanding or finessing of the various parts. No blocks but there are cleats. 

Oddly there is no provision for controlling the rudder, it swivels freely with no tiller or even a post piercing the deck and there is no contraption for adjusting the sails, just three horses.

Mostly damage to the model is cosmetic, its not even very dirty. There is a broken boom jaw on the fore and the main boom is snapped in half in the center.

The oddest thing is the condition of the varnish. I would like to hear opinions on what you fine folks think is the issue. 

Edited April 20, 2015 by JerseyCity Frankie

[JerseyCity Frankie]

The hull is red below the waterline and that red paint is in excellent condition. The rest of the model was varnished. Then something odd happened.

The Starboard side is mostly O.K. with the varnish intact but not very pretty since there was little surface prep done, no fine sanding.

The Port side and most of the deck and all of the spars are covered with a chalky white translucent coating. I can't make out if its a very thin coat of white paint put on haphazardly or if its a sort of crazing of the varnish.

I could imagine the varnish being ruined by premature sailing of the toy vessel before it was dry? OR I could imagine some solvent of some kind splashing the hull and spars? There is no sharp line of demarcation between the chalky and the not-chalky, but it does run on a ragged line fore and aft down the center of the hull, lapping a little more onto the Starboard side all the way aft.

[JerseyCity Frankie]

I should add that I spent an hour cleaning everything with warm water, then warm water with a little dish soap. I will start ramping up to stronger solvents after I give this frosted coating some more consideration.

I tend to think the outboard part of the cockpit coaming was intentionally painted with a more opaque yet still thin white paint, ditto the inner face of the same coaming all the way aft. The rest of it looks like chalky residue, not paint, and comes off with a scrape of the thumbnail.

[JerseyCity Frankie]

A working theory is that someone wanted to paint her white at some point and was in the act of putting on a thin coat as a base layer, right over the varnish, then got drafted into the Army. Or discovered girls. Or SOMETHING. What would make them start in on a process then stop abruptly, never to take it up again? I'm at this point less inclined (but still open to the possibility) that this is a chemical process causing the frosting, or the foxing, or the blooming, or the silvering, WHATEVER this is called. Also if its paint over varnish, why didn't it flake off? There is no chipping anywhere that I see. THe parts of intact varnish do not appear to have been exposed by the falling away of the frosted layer, I believe they look now as the always looked.

Edited April 20, 2015 by JerseyCity Frankie

[jbshan]

Could it be shellac that got wet?

[TBlack]

Actually, Frankie, I think it's a ketch. A yawl has the mizzen aft of the rudder post and a ketch steps the mizzen forward of the post. Looks like fun. Enjoy.

Tom

[JerseyCity Frankie]

Oh right you are! I was confused in my recolection of the mnemonic device I use, which is this:  If you are sailing on a Yawl and the main mast falls behind you, you say "YAWL look out back there" and if you are on a ketch and the mainmast falls aft, you have to KETCH it!

[JerseyCity Frankie]

it could have gotten wet. If it lay over into a puddle it would have had the masts submerged and the side in the water and the irregular line of demarcation. Its a good plausible explanation.

[JerseyCity Frankie]

So this job was completed. Never found out why the old varnish was the way it was. I was able to dissolve enough of the old coat to get the wood to look like wood again, then I revarnished.

[michael mott]

Well, that turned out rather nicely. My own thoughts regarding the odd change on the white finish, I wonder if it was due to sunlight with the model sitting on a windowsill, condensation and heat, repeated cycles.

 

Michael

[JerseyCity Frankie]

Good point, I never thought it could have been UV radiation.