18th Century Longboat by PAnderson - FINISHED - Model Shipways

[PAnderson]

Hello Everyone,

This is my first build of a wood ship, although this is not a ship, in over 20 years. Gearing up and re-training myself for the bigger ones, I decided to start here. I spent the last year building a dollhouse for my Granddaughters and promised myself I would  not start another kit until this was done. Well, it is finished. I would like to thank everyone on this forum for providing such a great place to learn and I now hope to contribute to this great site.

 

I have built this up to the point of putting the keel, false keel, bulkheads and actually fairing the bulkheads. After watching other builds take place, I have learned a lot and I hope to do it justice. This a great little kit.

 

Paul

Edited December 6, 2015 by PAnderson

[PAnderson]

Here are a few pics after fairing of the bulkheads, Any ideas, criticisms, things I may do better are gladly welcome.

 

Have a great day.

 

Paul

 

 

[Erik W]

Paul,

 

It's good to see another longboat build!  The longboat is a fun kit, and it's perfect for developing the skills for larger, future projects.

 

Erik

[Mike Y]

Looks great!

But I am slightly worried about the way it is clamped into the vice - one accidental bump - and the keel will crack

It is very handy to clamp it upside down, just glue some scrap wood to the "rails" that you already have, the one that hold the frames together

[PAnderson]

Thanks for the comments so far. The boat was only held in the vise for picture taking. First, let me apologize for not keeping a more in depth build log. I get wrapped up in the building and forget to actually take pictures. I have made some progress and the boat is planked. I made a few mistakes, such as not beveling all of the planks, and it shows. That's why i picked this kit first. Also, one other more serious problem was that I had a couple of planks near the bow come out really thin after sanding. Chuck's instructions said the planking on this kit was tricky, and it is. More so than I would have thought. Other than that, i think it is coming along pretty good.

 

 

[PAnderson]

Next, I stained the whole boat with Minwax Cherry stain. I think it added a little age to the wood and I like the look. I then painted the hull from the waterline down with Tamiya white acrylic gloss. When that sets, I will use wipe on poly on the outer hull left bare.

There is a lot to learn/relearn since I built the Swift many, many years ago. I have the cap rails rough cut and ready to go on. First, I will paint the red insides, fit the inner rails.

 

Question: How do you guys finish the inside? Wipe on poly doesn't seem to lend itself to "wiping on" with ribs in place.

 

Paul

Edited October 25, 2015 by PAnderson

[MikeB4]

You've done an outstanding job on the planking. the first time I planked my boat I ended up ripping all the strakes back off and starting over.

[PAnderson]

Thanks Mike. Here is the progress on my 18th Century Longboat by Chuck. My apologies for not keeping up on this like I could/should have. I really had to just dive in and see if I could do this. Plus, while I work I really don't think to take pics while in progress. I am loving building this little boat. As I go, I really realize how detailed and awesome this boat is. Mant thanks to Chuck for designing this kit.

 

I  have just finished rigging the main mast, boom and boom sheet. Any critiques are kindly welcome. Have I forgotten anything?

Edited November 21, 2015 by PAnderson

[PAnderson]

Here are a few more.

 

 

[GuntherMT]

Good looking boat you have there.  Seems light on rigging, is there more to come (I ask because you ask if anything is missing, but you don't actually say if it is currently complete or still in progress)?

[PAnderson]

Thanks Brian. Yes, definitely  still in progress. A lot to go yet. Gaff will go up today. Then on to the chain plates.

 

Paul

[Erik W]

Paul,

 

It looks awesome!  I particularly like the red painted trim below the painted frieze on the sides.  That's a neat variation from what the rest of us have done.

 

Erik

[MikeB4]

I'm not quite as far along as you are. With the rope rapped around the belaying pin and hanging over the thwart like real rope ,did you put something on the rope to harden it to keep it in that position? That came out really good.

Edited November 22, 2015 by MikeB4

[PAnderson]

Hey Mike, all I did was coild the rope by wrapping 5 turns around an exacto knife handle, pinch it a the top and add a tiny point of CA. Then draped it over the belaying pin and pushed the bottom of the coil down with a steel rule then added another tiny drop of medium CA and held the steel rule in place for about 10 seconds. It's only glued at the belaying pin, the rest hangs naturally. This with Chuck's rope. Not sure if the kit rope would have hung so nicely.

 

Paul

Edited November 22, 2015 by PAnderson

[PAnderson]

First, I edited the thread title to more conform to guidelines.

 

I am truly amazed at the talent here, not just in the longboat section but in this forum in general. It is somewhat intimidating seeing the great work here. I can only hope to come close to the talent here. Somewhat embarrassed too, since I am a "beginner". I also apologize for the lack of posts on my build of this little boat. I think I felt I had to just jump in and do this with as little help from the great people here. Just to see if I could tackle this alone.

 

I have made quite a bit of progress and here are my latest pics. I hope I did this beautiful kit justice.

 

 

[PAnderson]

This is how I seized the shrouds. I do realize this method can't be used in all types of seizing but working really close to the mast is not easy, I learned the basic method from a youtube video but I decided to add a twist. I did the loop and wrap thingy around a piece of tubing then threaded the two shroud lines through the tubing. Then I pulled the tubing up to the mast, pulled lines through and then slipped the .008 seizing loop onto the shrouds, pulld the tube off of the lines then went to work pulling the lines of the seizing tight. Worked pretty good for me. I am sure someone else has thought of this.

 

 

[PAnderson]

Another trick I used to get the backstays even on the shrouds. I made little hooks to go through shrouds and when both lines were even I taped the bottom ends of the line on the hooks to the build board. I seized the blocks then took the hooks out.

Edited December 6, 2015 by PAnderson

[PAnderson]

This little boat is almost done. A few things left to do including adding the base.

 

 

[PAnderson]

Here are a few more leading up to christening her with a new base.

 

 

[PAnderson]

Last but not least, here she is on the base I made. I had a 10" X 10" piece of purple heart that I had left from another project from a few years ago. I decided to use this for my base. I ended up cutting the square base into 2 pieces. This way it fits better on our mantle and I have another piece for a future project.

 

 

[Mike Y]

After you finished the longboat with such a quality and style - you are officially not allowed to cal yourself a beginner!

Really like the colora of your boat, darker red looks good with that shade of stain.

 

What is your next project?

[mtaylor]

Paul,

What Mike said... and I'll add "very well done".  I like the color choices also.  So, go splice the main brace  and tell us what the next project is.   

[Erik W]

Paul,

 

Well done!  Your longboat looks great.  I'm in the rigging stage of mine, so appreciate your advice on some of this stuff.

 

Do you have any plans for a future boat/ship build?

 

Erik

[Canute]

Paul, I'll add my well done, too.

[GuntherMT]

Very well done, looks great.

 

If I can give one hopefully constructive criticism - your rigging appears to be very loose.  There are several places where the rope has visible bends/loose spots where it's not pulled tight.  For future builds I'd suggest tightening up your rigging more, it will give it a cleaner look as if the rope is actually under load (well, I guess it actually will be).  It is especially noticeable (but probably only in close-up photo's) in the lanyards between the deadeyes.

 

As I said though, really great looking job!  Congratulations.

[PAnderson]

Thanks everyone for the kind words. I do appreciate it. Brian, those lines were under load, LOL, But while working inside they got stressed a little, as did others. Maybe I can adjust them a little.

 

As for my next build? I do now have a stash comprised of:

 

Model Shipways HMS Bounty Launch

Model Shipways Armed Virginia Sloop

Mamoli USS Constitution

Model Shipways Confederacy

 

Can I get suggestions from the group on my next build? Not sure I am ready for the rigging job involved with the Conny yet. But I am really wanting to do the Confederacy. That will be a long project and would definitely need to do a proper build log for her. I think I need one more smaller project completed before I try either the Conny or Confederacy.

 

Paul

[GuntherMT]

The Bounty Launch is probably the simplest of those kits, followed by the AVS which will get you into considerably more complicated rigging (you can follow my rigging of the AVS in my log linked in my signature).

 

No idea how long the launch will take, but the AVS took me just over a year, and probably around 1200 hours, and it's not a terribly complicated model relative to the other two on your list!

[Nirvana]

Paul,

What can I say but WOW!

Amazing nice build with short instructions but also with valuable info. Thank you.

You make the some of us building this longboat working in a snail pace.

Nice work and I do look forward to your next build.

And why not build the Bounty Launch parallel with the USF Confederacy?

You will have two different builds to do. I could go for it if I had the Bounty Launch.

Edited December 9, 2015 by Nirvana

[Erik W]

Paul,

 

Of the 4 models listed, I think you should go with the Armed Sloop Virginia as a second build.  Like Brian said, the rigging is more complicated, which will get you prepared for the Constitution build.  The Bounty launch is similar enough to the longboat that I don't now if it will really give you the opportunity to enhance your skills much beyond what you've already developed with the longboat.  That said, anything you build at this point is just more practice for a bigger build down the road.

 

Erik

[PAnderson]

Nirvana, please don't give me any ideas, LOL. I was thinking that last night down in my little shop. One super long build does not appeal to me. I am not afraid of a complex build. As a machinist/toolmaker, I have built many things. I work for a machine tool manufacturer at the moment so I use model building to keep my mind sharp and my hands busy. When you like to build things, you must provide yourself an outlet. Besides, I love the smell of wood chips versus metal chips. I have a lot of wood working tools at home but only a few lend themselves to model ship building. But the USF Confederacy really calls to me. I love the idea of an admiralty model.

 

Brian, thanks. I will take the time to look over your build log again. I took a look a while back. What beautiful work that is. Either way, I have a decision to make.

 

I have about 70 great plastic kits in my stash. Now I have a major decision to make. Do I sell some?

 

Thanks to All,

Paul