Harriet Lane by jct - FINISHED - Model Shipways - scale 1:144

[jct]

Hello All,

 

After a summer hiatus I'm back to the table with a new build.  The Harriet Lane from Model Shipways, I've always been intrigued by these type of vessel with the mixture of paddle power and sails, not really sure how practical they were but they look cool on the shelf!

 

Other builders here have done a fine job of inventorying the kit so I'll skip that and get right into the build.

 

This kit is a solid hull, a first for me, and after cutting out the kit provide templates the hull was marked out at the appropriate sections and the center line established.  I was surprised and pleased to see how close the rough hull was to the actual templates.  

 

At this time I marked out the high spots where material will be removed and also set the bulwark width using a compass, as I've described in my other builds.

 

Next steps will be to get the rough hull into finished shape and dimension and thin the bulwarks down.

 

Pics follow, as always thanks for your time and attention

J

[JerseyCity Frankie]

This is on my mind as a good candidate for a build, it's got a little of everything and the ship has a good long history with a varied career afloat. There is a pretty comprehensive Wikipedia article about her which I was just reading this morning. Good luck with the build!

[Tigersteve]

I think this kit looks cool as well. I will follow. Good luck!

Steve

[jct]

THX for the likes an the comments...

[jct]

Spent some time working the hull and thinning the bulwarks...

 

I initially tried to thin these the way the plans suggest but found that the material was to fragile and wanted to break out at almost every cut. So I adopted the technique described below...

 

first thing was to score the scribe line with a sharp #11, I continued to make light passes until I was about half way through, then with a very sharp chisel blade I made a series of diagonal cuts, taking care to stay inside the cut-line and going all the way to the deck.  Using the same chisel blade the excess was removed with a horizontal cut parallel to the deck,  

 

One thing to remember is to angle the cuts plunge cuts outboard when working the bow and stern sections, as the hull flairs out slightly at those areas. I got a little to horizontal up at the bow and broke a section away.

 

 This was repaired by cutting a couple pieces of planking from the spares box and cutting the breakout square,  the pieces were the set with cryo glue and puttied over.

 

The hull now has its final coat of wood putty drying, prior to priming, I hope to get the final sanding done tomorrow and will post pics of the result.

 

As always thanks for your attention Pics follow:

[jct]

Completed the repair of the bow and thinning the bulwarks, just a lot of sanding and putty work

[jct]

Hello all,

A little more progress, started working on the stem and stern post, the lower curved cut water and the figure head perch, these were all made from scrap stock from the laser cut parts, so be sure to hold on to them they come in handy.  I used the pieces the sponsons  are cut from as it is the thickness needed.  The perch shape was transferred from  the plans by setting the material underneath and poking through with a sharp needle, then just connect the dots

 

Also got the bulwarks cut for the sponsons, I wanted them to sit flush with the main deck when mounted so once the section of rail was removed I traced the depth and inset onto the hull and cut a rabbit for them to sit in...

 

Pics follow

 

[hof00]

Hi Chap,

An interesting build, one kit that I have often thought about!!

 

Looking good!!

 

Cheers....HOF.

[jct]

Thanks for all the likes and kind comments, I'll have more updates tomorrow...thanks again

[jct]

some additional pics...mounted the keel and stem and stern posts, still have to make the rudder, and started shaping the paddle-wheel housings, nothing new or exciting...just sanding

Edited December 22, 2016 by jct

[Pete Jaquith]

jct,

 

I look forward to following your build.  My ​Brigantine Newsboy build log here on MSW illustrates my approach to carving and finishing a solid hull.  Note that I found a digital caliper useful in thinning the bulwarks.

 

​Regards,

Pete

Edited December 22, 2016 by Pete Jaquith

[popeye the sailor]

hey there J!

 

good to see you've started another ship build     your off to a very nice start!   nice progress except for that boo boo at the bow {which you handled very well}........once planked over,  it will never be seen     look forward in following your progress of this fine build.

[jct]

Thanks Pete and Popeye...Pete your Newsboy looks outstanding, I'll look for your build log to follow along...thx Denis...good to be back, been itching to get started since the weather turned

[jct]

A few updates...after reading a few other HL build logs, I was prompted to check the height of the cannons in reference to the bulwarks, as others had discovered I too found mine were to low, so extensions were in order.  My thanks to those who saw fit to mention this in their logs, saved me a bunch of issues down the road. 

 

I turned to my spares box again and found some 1/16 X 1/32 strips and glued and clamped them to the existing bulwarks..,at the aft end the strip was soaked in hot water and bent and tacked down with cryo glue, that was followed by more wood filler and sanding

 

Pics follow

 

[jct]

Good day and happy holidays to all,

Another update...

Like others that have worked on this kit I was somewhat disappointed that all that was provided for the pilot house was a paper sheet, so looking to add a bit more character I copied the sheets and glued a couple to thick card stock.

 

 The idea was to create thicker material that I could cut and apply to the base template to simulate raised wood panels, for the doors I used slightly thinner material and cut the panels trying to represent a recessed panel.

 

  Windows were simulated with floppy disk stock, the windows will be masked off and everything airbrushed white to start...not sure where it will progress form there.

 

 Took time and made a tape template for the decking material as well,

THX for your time and attention

Pics follow

[popeye the sailor]

they didn't laser cut your deck panel?    interested in what your doing with the cabin panels.   are you going to fill in with mahogany strip?

 

great progress     hope you had a good Christmas  

[jct]

Hi all,

Thank for all the likes...hey Popeye...no just a per-scribe sheet, I'm not sure how the cabin will evolve...just got the windows masked and plan to shot a primer coat tomorrow to see what I've got to work with, may just paint it, the mahogany is a good thought though, may need to find some super thin veneer, hope to post some pics late tomorrow.

 

  Christmas was good, nice and quiet... thanks for asking hope yours was good as well

[jct]

Hi everyone,

another update...after priming the the pilot house i was not happy with the look...the panels looked to thick and out of scale, some were also crooked and the window opening were ragged looking.  So I stripped it back to start over with a new plan, actually inspired by Popeye's question about strip mahogany.

 

 I went rooting through my spares box and found some very thin (approx 1/64 thick) strip, what species I'm not sure...I'm thinking it's that world famous brown wood!!   So after cutting this down to a 2mm width I'm all set to start over...going for recessed panels this time.

 

The Pilot house was trimmed out per the plans with coaming and base molding applied, the next step will be to use the new thinner strip inside this molding, both horizontally and vertically to form the new recessed panels, I think it will look better and more to scale and closer to the original.

 

Still have to work out how to form the doors...may try splitting down more brown wood to 1mm to build them out...not sure yet.

 

Got the deck plank sheet cut out and test fitted, and also drilled out the dowel for the smoke stack, and just like with my Picket Boat I blew the side right out,,,I gotta get better at drilling dowel, so that will be fixed by gluing back and filling 

 

As always thanks for your time and attention,

Pics follow

[jct]

more pics

[jct]

Thanks for the likes...the new paneling process is started, pics follow, I'm much happier with the appearance

 

NEW PANELS 

 

[hof00]

Looks good Sir!!

Can't go past Wood sometimes?

 

Cheers.....HOF.

[jct]

Thx Hof...you are correct

[jct]

Happy new year everyone...a short update, the pilot house is trimmed out and in primer...it will require a lot of touch up, hoping some sanding will take care on most issues I see.   Also put some thought into the windows...trying to trim down stock to create the scale muntin bars proved to be a fairly impossible task, for me...ending in a pile of irregular  width splinters and at least 4 xacto cuts     after rooting around looking for something to simulate the bars I spotted some vinyl screen, I cut off a small piece and shot it with white spray paint,,,thats where it sits right now, I'll post the results and pics of the window development as it goes,

thx for looking in, Pics follow:

 

Trim complete

 

needs serious cleanup

 

window muntins??

[popeye the sailor]

shaping up really neat J.   are there to be steps for the helm room doors?

[jct]

Hi Pop...yes there will be steps, eventually...but I stripped it all back again...I'll finish it the same way, with the recessed panels, but I could not get the 'panels' flat & smooth enough for my liking, some of the original paper finish showing through, so it's strpped again, the current plan is to sand the s---out of it, fill and sand some more...glad the spares box is deep  

[popeye the sailor]

that's the spirit J...........keep at it till it pleases you!     you could even buy some balsa blocks,  or do what I do and make it out of flat stock.  1/32 {with the grain} bends real easy     can't wait to see the change  

[jct]

yep how I see it as well,,,strip stock is on order, I'll have to jump to other tasks till it arrives but there is plenty to do 

[jct]

hey everyone, thanks for all the likes...with all the teardowns the little pilot house was showing the wear, the corners were really beat... so I decided to freshen them up.  I cut corner sections out with a razor saw and replaced them with the appropriate thickness wood from the spares box...Pic follow

 

 

Beat corners one section already replaced

 

 

The nasties cut away

 

 

New sharp corners

 

 

dirro

 

 

ready to go....again

[jct]

Hi all, 

An update, while work on the pilot house has stalled due to a lack of material(on order hope to see it today!) I moved on to some other items.

 

First up was the bulwarks, all the sanding left them a little thin and tapered to a sharp edge on top, they were really fragile and had been broken in a couple spots just from handling, so I decided to thicken them up and try to get them closer to square at the same time.

 

 This work started by adding a 1/32 reinforcing strip to the top...then filler was floated between the strip and the bottom of the bulwark.   Then started the fun cycle of ...sand...check...refill...repeat...until I was satisfied with the finish, well not really satisfied but close enough for rock and roll,      Then the ports were reopened.

 

Those of you that may have looked in on my Half Moon build know that I can manage to butcher gun ports fairly well !  So it was no surprise (at least to me) that the ports on the HL needed a bit of work. I had originally cut them slightly oversize to allow for frames so now I carefully sanded them with sanding sticks and made frames out of 1/32 stock and have begun to set them in place...the ones at the bow are complete the rest remain to be done.  After I should be able to get the hull back in primer for further evaluation and probably more filling and sanding...

 

That's it for now, as always thanks for your attention, Pics follow:

New paneling

Razor edge

Reinforcing strip added

and fill (wood putty)

aft as well

sand and refill...etc

 

cutting port frames 

Installed

[popeye the sailor]

what's a little filler and a good sanding........the road to perfection!   looking good J