18th Century Longboat by Erik W - FINISHED - Model Shipways - Scale 1:48 - First wooden ship build

[Canute]

Nicely done, Erik. Looks good. Thanks for sharing.

[Erik W]

The mast, bowsprit, boom, and gaff are now complete.  The couple inches of snow on the ground this morning here in Colorado is a reminder that it will soon be too cold to stain/poly in the garage, so I'm shaping the oars next, since they're the last wood, besides the base, that will get stain/poly. 

 

 

 

Erik

[dgbot]

You are doing a great job Erik keep up the fine work.

David B

[Erik W]

I finished the oars, the last of the wood work on the boat.  Like others, I'll only display 4 of them in the boat.  No one really mentions shaping the oars, but after struggling to get one shaped correctly, I figured out the trick.  The laser cut oar handles are .064" (1.63mm) thick, by .090" (2.29mm)  wide.  If you file off the four edges so you have an octagon, it's not symmetrical.  Your oar handle then will be oblong rather than round.  I wound up sanding the .090" (2.29mm) side down to .064" (1.63mm) first.  I then was able to sand the handle perfectly round.  Using my digital calipers I was able to check all 4 handles several places along their length to make sure they were uniform .062" (1.57mm) diameter when finished.  Also, when carefully comparing the photos in Chuck's original build log, these laser cut oars are 1/2" too long.  So, I removed 1/2" off of the length so they won't overpower the boat interior when displayed.

 

In preparation for rigging, and tying small knots, I bought a magnifying lamp.  It is 2x with a spot that is 5x, and contains a bright LED light.

 

 

 

Erik

[Dan Vadas]

Nice Sweeps Erik. One point to note in future is that the outer ends of them flare out wider before cutting back to the handgrips. This aids in balancing them.

 

See THIS link to the ones I made for the longboat in a bottle.

 

  Danny

[Erik W]

Danny,

 

Thanks.  I had seen how some oars (sweeps) even had squared off outer ends before the hand grip.  The balance thing makes sense.  I figured I'd pattern mine after the oars on Chuck's build, as well as the prototype longboat model photos on the National Maritime Museum website, which have uniform diameter handles on them.

 

Erik

[Erik W]

I had a pretty frustrating evening the other night.  I dove right into the rigging thing . . . and wound up with pretty crappy results.  The nylon rope that came with the kit was hard to work with, being inflexible, stiff, slippery, etc.  That, and I hadn't researched enough what I was doing . . . so felt pretty defeated.  But, thanks to Chuck answering a late night message, I placed an order with him for quality replacement rope, and Mike (Stuntflyer) was kind enough to point me towards some good links on basic rigging techniques.  My hat is off to both Chuck and Mike for bringing me back to an even keel.  And yet again . . . I've learned that patience is the name of the game. 

 

The other thing I needed was a workable 3rd hand system.  I came up with this, since I don't own anything that would work otherwise.  I flipped the wood around in two clothes pins and tapered the new front, and then glued them to my build board.  One oriented on it's side, the other upright.  Should work fine to hold blocks for seizing and stropping.

 

 

 

Erik

[MikeB4]

Eric,

 

Where can you get those basic rigging tips?

 

Mike

[Erik W]

Mike,
 
Here are the links Mike (Stuntflyer) sent me.  He had said the top one was the most useful to him.  That short video (in the top link) on seizing was very helpful in understanding that.

http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/5295-rigging-blocks-how-to/
http://www.modelboatyard.com/stropping.html
http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/7277-stropping-and-seizing/
http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/3145-hooks-and-blocks/?hl=seize

Also, I found some good advice on how to handle things here:
http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/9180-how-to-work-with-teeny-blocks/

The part of the rigging that was confounding me was fastening the two blocks to the top of the mast. I had sent Chuck a message and his response was:

"Remember that the block must be oriented in the right direction. Meaning on those blocks the hole is on top if you are using the blocks that come with the kit. I basically took a length of rope and put it through the eye on the metal band first and tied a knot. The two tails were left extra long. Then I used the two tails to strop the block in position afterwards. You can use a drop of glue to fix the block against the original knot so it stays there. Then tie a simple knot with the tails around the block. Not a double knot.....just one time so you can trim the tails after applying some glue. This way you cant see its a big knot at the bottom of the block afterwards."

 

Hope this helps you a bit.

Erik

Edited November 18, 2015 by Erik W

[MikeB4]

Thank you, Erik!

[Erik W]

I added a few blocks to the boat.  I followed Chuck's advice for the two blocks on the mast (see my last post).  I did something similar for the block on the horse.  I tied one overhand knot after looping the rope around the horse wire, fixed the block to the knot with a tiny dab of full strength PVA, then wrapped the rope around the block and secured it on the top with one overhand knot pulled flat along the line of the rope.  I then added 50/50 diluted matt medium to the top and sides of the block.  Once dry, I cut off the ends of the rope.  I know others like a more elaborate arrangement, but because I'm a novice, I'm just trying to keep it simple and as clean looking as possible.

 

 

 

 

Erik

[GuntherMT]

They look good Erik, and that's all that really matters, not how it gets done!  At least in my opinion.

[Dan Vadas]

That's how I do them as well, but I use PVA instead.

 

  Danny

[Chuck]

It looks very good.  That is a very simple way and a clean way to do it.

 

Chuck

[Erik W]

After a couple of false starts, I got the first part of the rigging compete.  It's a bit stressful to work on . . . I feel like I'm going to break something!  While trying to keep my knots small and unobtrusive, I had a couple of the them come out, and had to redo them and alter how I was gluing/handling them.  I didn't like the parrel beads that came with the kit so I wound up, buying size 11 seed beads at a craft store and using those instead.  They're 1.7mm long vs. the 2.3mm beads that came with the kit.

 

One of the things that has attracted me to wooden ship modeling is how boats and ships look when fully rigged.  I have high expectations of how this will turn out, tempered by being a complete novice though.    I'm happy, more or less, with the results so far.  There's room for improvement as I continue, but the results are in line with the quality of the rest of the build.  Can't ask for too much more as a beginner!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Erik

 

 

 

 

 

[Stuntflyer]

Looking really nice Erik!

 

Mike

[Dan Vadas]

It's a bit stressful to work on . . . I feel like I'm going to break something!

 

 

Don't get stressed - you won't break anything because you've done everything right (and then some ). The Castello can take a LOT of strain without any damage.

 

  Danny

[Erik W]

Mike, Danny,

 

Thanks for the kind words!

 

Danny,

 

Once I permanently attached the mast a few days ago, I've had some near misses with misjudging the new size of the boat.  Also, I'm doing my build with the kit supplied basswood, though it does seem pretty strong at this point . . . it's the Wipe-on-Poly holding all together. 

 

Erik

[PAnderson]

Nice work Eric. Coming along beautifully

 

Paul

[GuntherMT]

Looking great Erik.  

 

On the knots, once you have them tight, hit them with your matte-medium and that will 'fix' them and keep them from coming undone.  You can also use the white glue/water mix for this, but it's not as quick, but is easier to undo if you decide to make a change later.  Some people use CA for this (I did in the earlier parts of my build), but there are enough down-sides that I stopped part way through.  It discolors the rope, makes it stiff, is shiny, and if there is too much moisture, can form white crystals.  

 

You'll end up having to paint over any CA knots with matte-medium to get rid of the shine too.

[Erik W]

Brian,

 

Thanks for the advice.  My knot failures were my own fault.  I had tied them, hit them with diluted matt medium, let that dry, and then trimmed the knot ends close to the knot.  I got the great idea to dab a little more diluted matt medium on the knot and use tweezers to clean up the knots a bit . . . not realizing that by wetting the knot it would soften the original treatment.  Lesson learned!

 

Erik

[Erik W]

I made the rope coils. I made a jig using two brass rods, with the smaller diameter rod at the top and a larger one at the bottom. The rods were put into a block of wood that was covered with clear packing tape (to keep the finished coils from sticking). In order to get the 90 degree bend of the rope, I attached one rod on the top of the block and one on the side. I looped the rope around the rods and saturated them with a 50/50 mix of matt medium and water. Once dry, I removed the rope coils from the jig and glued them in place by saturating them again with more diluted matt medium mix. This allowed me to tweak the coils in place. 

 

 

 

 

Erik

[Erik W]

I made the chainplates.  They were a total pain in the butt!  I have many rejects.  I figured soldering would be the way to go, but the wire doesn't solder.  So, I went the super glue route.  At any rate, in real life they look perfectly fine.  Keep in mind in this photo they are about 350% their normal size!

 

 

Erik

[Justin P.]

Those look great...   I fear this step, the finer the detail the messier the mess.  Great Job!

[MikeB4]

What did you use for paint on the chain plates?

[Erik W]

Mike,
 
I used Polly Scale Engine Black acrylic paint.  It has been discontinued.  With many years of model railroading under my belt, I have a lot of these railroad colors.  I'm not sure what I'll do when they dry up/run out . . .  If you're looking for a good black acrylic paint for brush painting, Vallejo paints are among the best out there.  I've applied them with a brush and they leave an even coat with no brush marks. http://www.acrylicosvallejo.com/Also, Ryland Craze, in his build log, says these paints are good: http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/850-18th-century-longboat-by-ryland-craze-model-shipways-148/?p=368056  I've also used Testors Model Master acrylic paint with good results.

 

Erik

Edited December 5, 2015 by Erik W

[MikeB4]

Eric,

 

How do you get the acrylic paint to properly cure to metal? I've found that most acrylic paints will chip off of metal parts real easy. Do you coat it with something after it's painted?

 

Mike

[Canute]

You should clean and prep the metal (brass?), either dunk it in some vinegar for brass or apply a primer paint for other metals. The vinegar is acid, so it etches the brass and gives some tooth to the part for the paint to stick to.  Let the primer, then paint your color.

[PAnderson]

Eric, that is some seriously nice work. Those chain plates look nice. She is going to look awesome when done. And your coiled lines look awesome too.

 

Paul

Edited December 5, 2015 by PAnderson

[Erik W]

Mike,

 

I never bother to clean the metal before I paint it, and haven't had a problem.  I rarely have issues with chipping.  If I do, I just touch it up when I'm finished with assembly.

 

Erik