Schooner Polotsk 1777 by Mike Y and his daughter - Master Korabel - 1:72

[Dutchman]

Great job, you two! Makes me want to pick it up again as well. But after the summer holiday it's back to work and it will take a few weeks to get things going again. In the meantime I enjoy following your progress.

[VonHoldinghausen]

Having seen Darias build In Real Life, I can tell you guys that the schooner looks fantastic this far!

A very clean and precise build.

Very well done!

 

[Mike Y]

Thanks everybody!  You made her day! 

[cog]

Sooner the other way around ,,, She made ours!!!

[lmagna]

1 hour ago, cog said:

She made ours!!!

Agreed!!!

[Mike Y]

The apartment move is over, so we are finally back to modelling! 

Hull sanding took a while, and it was a big lesson about patience and persistence. 

To make sure that planks would not start peeling off - we used plenty of glue. Maybe too much, it took forever to get it out using a nylon dremel brush (did not want to apply any moisture to that fiddly planks, they are very sensible to it):

Before sanding:

After:

There are some gaps visible, probably due to wood shrinkage.

But we liked the process, good teamwork  And she loves making something smooth, even though it is hard to keep going without breaks.

I trimmed the plank ends, it was too risky to let Daria do it - they can chip out, it is easy to scratch the transom with a scalpel, etc. A mistake in this area would be hard to fix.

 

But the result is ok. I am not sure what I think about this ebony, not very familiar with the way it sands and scrapes, kind of course and shiny at the same time. 

Edited May 17, 2019 by Mike Y

[Cathead]

So glad to see the two of you back to work together. Lovely job cleaning up the hull.

[Kurt Johnson]

Mike, Forgive me If you already know this but Ebony dust can really be a strong eye and skin irritant. I see the protective eyeware so your good on that issue. 

 

Kurt

 

 

 

[druxey]

Just stumbled on to your log. How wonderful to build this model together! Terrific work, Daria and Mike!

[gjdale]

Nicely done Daria! Good to see you’ve got Dad back to work with you. 😊

[lmagna]

Great to see you and Daria able to make progress again. The ship is looking fantastic.

 

I also like the view from your windows. I looks like you have found a very nice place to live.

[cog]

I almost thought we had to wait another year. Glad you two are back at the workbench. I see Daria, you have mum and dad at their respective tasks, as it should be. Take care your mum doesn't forget to take the important pictures  Your hull is looking very good

[mtaylor]

What a joy to see this model coming along.   

 

As for the ebony, it looks like the grain is not straight across the plank.  You might try scrapping a bit more or just some very fine sandpaper.  And, as been suggested, do wear a breathing filter even if it's a paper mask like doctors and surgeons wear. 

[Mike Y]

Thanks all for the comments and likes!  

 

Yes, we are using respirator masks when sanding (for some reason it was off on that photo, but it is mostly on), plus a vaccuum cleaner is always on to suck the fine dust right away. Working in a living room teaches you the dust hygiene pretty quickly, dealing with a fine sawdust everywhere is not a pleasant thing. And it is good for Daria to think about dust and lungs from early age, she is putting the mask herself now, I do not need to ask.

The ebony veneer is reeeeally thin, so we are thinking twice before doing any sanding of scraping on it. It is too thin to sand away that grain, so will leave it like this. 

 

[Henke]

Sorry for coming in late Mike, but what a nice build!

 

I take a back seat so that I do not disturb the other in the audience./Henrik

[mtaylor]

Mike, 

 

Give some thought to this... it's not difficult but it might help you based on your feelings about the stern.

Put a piece of filter paper over the vacuum inlet nozzle.   Create a bunch of ebony sawdust by whatever means.  The dust will be captured in the filter paper.   When you think you have enough, take the dust and make a paste of white glue, a tiny bit of water, and the dust to make a paste.  Use that to fill in the gaps and let dry.  Lightly resand it and it should be smoother.   I've this method on my own projects and it works well.

[Mike Y]

Mark, thanks for the advice! It is an interesting idea. Though this grain does not bother me so much, because the whole model has an out-of-scale grain, it is part of it style Transom is not an exception. 

SpyGlass: interesting, it is very well dyed then - the wood is black over its entire thickness (which is like 0.5-0.7mm though), and it is pretty hard. Not sure if dyes can do that with this grain direction. There should be some areas of incomplete penetration then.

Also, it behaves similar to ebony when you scrape it - you get small particles instead of chips. All my limited experience with ebony shows the same picture. But I agree, the grain looks unusual. Can be a different type of ebony, or maybe branches vs trunks? Though the veneer sheet used here is 10-15cm wide, hard to find a branch that thick (ebony trees are pretty thin, afaik).

[cog]

Mike, veneer is normally peeled from a trunk, like peeling an apple, no to so much sliced. It would explain the fineness of grain being more toward the centre of the tree, compared to a somewhat coarser structure on the outside. The kit could be with an outerlayer ebonny veneer

Edited May 13, 2019 by cog

[DPK]

Large plates (wales. sometimes railing) - made from black fineline.

Smaller plates (stern outer planking, some others) - dyed veneer (usually hornbeam)

[mtaylor]

I've been cheating a bit then lately by not using ebony.  I've been using boxwood, cut, fit, sand, get it look right in position and they dye the wood with ebony stain.  When dry (2nd coat if necessary) a mild light sanding with 800 grit sandpaper and glue into place.   It's a bit of a pain, but the wood looks good and I'm not having to contend with ebony dust.  

[Kurt Johnson]

The shoemaker’s stain is supposed to be particularly effective in staining the wood to look like ebony. I believe it is supposed to penetrate the wood better. 

 

Kurt

[Mike Y]

Thank you for warm comments from both of us (Daria included). We had a nice bonding time reading them together.

Will keep up the progress  

[vossiewulf]

On 5/14/2019 at 5:59 AM, Kurt Johnson said:

The shoemaker’s stain is supposed to be particularly effective in staining the wood to look like ebony. I believe it is supposed to penetrate the wood better. 

 

Kurt

My recommendation is finish sand the piece of wood, and either use Indian ink directly, or an Indian ink marker (artist supply stores have them, most "black" markers are actually dark purple). Both will penetrate the wood and leave the wood texture totally exposed, so it looks like the wood is black and not painted.

[druxey]

Personally I prefer shoe dye. One needs to be very careful not to get it where it's not wanted! It does not raise the wood grain. I use two or three coats, then buff the wood with a paper towel to a nice dull sheen.

[cog]

6 hours ago, druxey said:

Personally I prefer shoe dye. One needs to be very careful not to get it where it's not wanted! It does not raise the wood grain. I use two or three coats, then buff the wood with a paper towel to a nice dull sheen.

Thanks druxey, have not thought of that

[Mike Y]

Daria is back after the summer, yay! The modelling sessions were rare, but enjoyable nevertheless. 

We learned how to taper flat surfaces:

Fine fitting is easier now, she can do it alone:

My clamps were quite handy when laminating the stem, it is tapered so you can't just clamp it between two pieces of glass, and veneer bends with moisture.

First time using marking knife for precise trimming of veneer pieces so they fit each other:

And her favourite photo:

Also learned how to use a chisel in gentle pairing motions. Keeping a consistent angle is hard!

And a few last pieces were done completely without me, she did everything from masking to fitting and gluing:

But clamping a long piece with a masking tape is more fun if you do it together  

Hope we'll finish the stem soon! 

[cog]

Looks promising, glad to see you back at the model Daria. Hope you've had a good summer holiday

[gjdale]

Great to see you back at the bench Daria. Looks like you’ve got everything under control there - except Dad! 😉

[VTHokiEE]

This is really impressive! Nice job, when I get a few more ships under my belt I may have to see if my kids are interested. These kits seem perfect for that type of build.

[lmagna]

Great to see you back and doing so well on your schooner Daria. Looking forward to seeing more of your progress.