New Bedford Whaleboat by Mike_In_RI - FINISHED - Model Shipways MS2033 - Scale 1:16 - Small

[captgino]

Just caught up to your build. Nicely done and great craftsmanship.

[Mike_In_RI]

Hi JP, thank you for your comments. Actually, the Armed Virginia Sloop was one of the models I was considering this time. I opted for the whale boat mostly because my proximity to New Bedford and Mystic.

 

Regarding varnishing, I tested the Krylon matte spray as well as assorted ratios of Vallejo matte to thinner. I feel that airbrushing the varnish is much more controllable so the inner hull is now varnished with airbrushed Vallejo. With thin coats, the finish is flat which was my preference.

 

I've never used treenails, nails, rivets etc. before but wanted to try it this time as long as I could keep things to scale as much as possible. This site had a lot of great tips for which I have much appreciation. Here is the scheme (so  far) and some thoughts about what I'll try:

 

Outside Hull:

  - generally paint smooth where plugged over screws attach the planks to the timbers. These are all but imperceptible on the subject whale boat at the New Bedford Museum.

 Ceiling Planks:

 - try to replicate ~1/4" plank-to-timber hammered nails. (attachments) 

Other:

 - try to replicate any hardware over 1/4" i.e. through bolts, peened over rivets, etc. Likely, these will be reworked miniature brass nails.   

 

Here is the tool used for the simulated nails in the ceiling planks. The blue hypo needle is sharpened on the outside using a #800 sandstone. Time to emboss ~700nail heads -- 4 hours. Time to figure out which way do it... 3 weeks. After some use, the needle tends to bend. A small sleeve of aluminum tube slipped over the needle solves the problem.

 

 

 

 

Mike

 

 

 

[Tigersteve]

Very clean, impressive work!

Steve

[Mike_In_RI]

Thanks Steve, the encouragement goes a long way! 

Mike

 

 

 

[Mike_In_RI]

The instructions for the mast hinge assembly (photo) suggested forming the etched brass strips into a hinge by curling over the small tabs. On practice material, I just couldn't get the brass uniformly curled and the more I worked on it, the worse it looked. Possibly, the tools I have (hardware and skillware) are not right for the job.

 

Sorry again for the rotated photo .... it seems random since the site update. Other photos are fine.

 

I happened to have some copper tube and after a few versions of soldering the tube to the brass, the below method seems workable. I'm trying to get the axis of of the hinge all in line. The piece on the left is made from scrap and the forming was very difficult. The piece on the right is made using one piece of copper tube then sliced after soldering.

 

Note the piece of copper tube has a partial cut in it about 3/8" in from the left. That's actually the key to the solder job. The cut prevents the heat from running up the tube and giving a cold joint. Also, just under the copper, are two small grooves ground into the brass tabs. The groove stabilizes the position of the copper.

 

The tube gets sliced up with a rotary tool. The cutoff wheel is just thin enough to cut and finish grind the inner groove.

 

 

... using the same procedure for the horse shoe shaped part.

 

 

I have some Brass Black on order. Hoping(?) it will blacken the brass, copper and solder.

 

Note: I used electronic grade solder here and have not tried silver soldering .. would that be applicable on small parts?

Mike

 

 

 

[Mike_In_RI]

I'm a bit behind in the build log so it's catch-up day today. Per the build guide, thwart installation is next but I skipped over that to work on the peak cleats without the thwarts getting in the way. The build guide includes a sketch that represents the the shape of the cleat and of course the plans have a few different views.

 

Sorry again: The site is still rotating my photos...

Here is a photo of a cleat in the 1/2 scale boat at the museum. It helped a lot in understanding how to shape the part as simply as possible. This little piece has a nice curve on the inboard side which I'll call the "inboard curve".

 

Once the hole is drill in the face, the shaping can be done in two steps: Creating a curve on the face and beveling an edge. Note: the bevel in this method does not match the bevel in first photo which seems in to be an error or just a just a long way to get it done. (or, more than likely, I just didn't get it ) This curve is important, if it has any flatness to it, it will project onto the inboard curve after the final bevel.

 

Just one straight bevel is needed to go from the top of the hole to the bottom edge.

 

Note the flat part on the right side of the inboard curve. It is due to a flat section on the face curve and is corrected with more rounding on the face curve. I tried to edit the photo in MS Paint but the font turned out too small.

One done .....

 

Mike

 

 

[Mike_In_RI]

Thwart Knee Fillers

 

The build guide and plans differ a little in the curving of the knee filler pieces. The guide shows a wider curve ending at the wales while the plans show a tighter curve blending to an almost vertical section up to the wales. I chose to mimic the plans version using some 1/16" castello boxwood with the grain running parallel to the thwart. The boxwood is much more robust than the basswood especially at the point where it meets the thwart. The maple knee strips were bent separately in a jig then glued together approximating the shape of the filler pieces.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The thwart pads are straightforward although the the photos of the Delano boats show that the padded knees are not as tapered toward the center line as the un-padded knees.

 

Comments or questions always welcomed,

Mike

 

[Tigersteve]

That worked out nicely. Which parts of the build are maple? How is it working with the Maple? I would like to order some for my next project (English Pinnace). 

Steve

[Mike_In_RI]

Hi Steve,

 

The only maple that I have used so far was for the laminated bends for the hull frames and the thwart knees. So two pieces of 1/32" x 1/16" glued together after wet bending. The maple was far better than the basswood for that purpose. With that thickness, a 20 minute soak  and working it a little with your fingers, it easily wraps a 3/8" diameter. It also holds an edge much better than basswood and doesn't fuzz up when wet bending. I read in the guide that holly also bends well. As you would expect, the maple does not shave/chisel as easily as the basswood.

 

Mike

[Doug James]

Looking Great. I also want will follow this through to competition.

[Mike_In_RI]

Thank you Doug. I appreciate the comments. Time to catch up on my build log today.

 

Mike

[Mike_In_RI]

Catching Up on Small Parts

 

The whale boat uses some larger riveted fasteners that I decided to try to replicate with brass pins. The majority of these are used on the thwart knees  and all of them will be painted over. After several trials, I settled on the version shown below. One can be made in just a few minutes.... dropping one really takes up time.

 

The pin is held in a rotary tool and the head of the pin is first flattened down to it's widest diameter. Then the diameter is ground down against sandpaper to the scale width desired. In this case, slightly smaller than the width of a hull frame member. They are cut off and push fit into a suitably drilled hole but do not to go all the way through the hull.

 

The foot brace is made from boxwood. At this point, it's just a push fit into the stern sheets and the thwart riser so I can remove the sheets easily.

 

 

The brass bow roller is blackened and set just below the top of the cheek pieces. Note, the bow chocks are not installed yet.

 

Also, there should be a shallow groove in the stem piece just behind the roller.

 

 

...back to applying sanding sealer to the thwarts, etc.

 

Mike

 

 

[Mike_In_RI]

In between brush coats of paint on the thwarts, I've been working on more small parts. Also, the bow chocks have been added. I assembled the cuddy boards while off the model in order to do a neater job on the compass box attachment.

 

... just making sure there is a little back rake in the mast.

The compass box is make from 1/32" boxwood. I really like it for the small parts.

 

The stem joinery not including the clumsy cleat and bow chocks are also boxwood.

 

.... next comes the loggerhead and attachment of the cuddy boards.

 

Mike

 

 

[Mike_In_RI]

I've been a little outside my comfort zone this week practicing brass wire bending and solver soldering. I bought a forum suggested book by Ken Foran "Model Building with Brass" which helped me out on the basics and really got me going. However, for me, I need something a bit more practical i.e. handling small pieces, fixturing, etc. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

 

The bow and stern fixturing is complete. I've really gotten to like the 1/32" and 1/16" boxwood sheets I bought and am now using it on all small parts of those thicknesses. In this weeks work, I used it on the ore lock pads, centerboard case caps, cleats and lions tongue.

 

Here is a shot of the loggerhead post. Per the build log, I made the cross section octagonal. But the plans call for a square post with beveled corners so I may re-do that. 

 

The loggerhead was turned in the lathe and made from maple scrap. There are 3 coats of cherry stain applied so far and I will put on a few more coats to get it a little darker. The three cleats are glued and pinned with ~ .020" steel pins.

 

The rowlock pads will have simulated cast iron sockets using silver soldered strip brass and tubing.

 

This shot is focused looking to the stern from the harpooners thwart.

 

The inner hull painting should be finished soon while the rudder and its parts are next in the queue.

 

As usual, any comments, corrections and questions are welcome.

 

Mike

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Tigersteve]

Mike, it's such a fantastic build you have going. Everything looks great. I've seen some of Ken's impressive work and you should check it out if you haven't already. He has logs under the username: xken. Keep up the excellent work... I'll keep following.

Steve

[Mike_In_RI]

Thanks Steve, I appreciate the comments. These little parts are more suited to my eyesight when I was 16 . I'll check out Ken's logs ... thanks for the tip.

 

Mike

[Salty Sea Dog]

Your whaleboat is looking great! 

[Mike_In_RI]

Thanks Buck, I just checked your Morgan whale boat build. The miniature parts are great. I especially like the brass screws for the mast tabernacle. I may have to "pirate" that one!

 

Mike

[Mike_In_RI]

'Sorry for my tardiness. I thought I could get the build done in the winter months but intentionally put more time into scale representation and got behind. But, it's quad-copter racing season now so I'm only working on the whaleboat during rainy days. Oars.... tubs... knot training, etc. ... I have not given up!!!

 

Mike

[Shiphile]

What a detailed, precise clean build.  I just happened upon your thread and impressed does not convey the proper words.

Will pull up a chair and watch for more postings.  I am a big fan of working boats, and a whale boat  screams working craft.

I opted for another version of this kit, a Marine Model Company.  Will use your thread for those extra details.

Cheers

Rick

[Tigersteve]

I hope you're still working on this. 

Steve

[Mike_In_RI]

Thanks guys for checking in. Yes, I will get going again on the whaleboat when the snow hit's. I'm up to my ears now in broken quad copter parts now so am looking forward to my winter hobby.

 

Mike

[killickthere]

Beautiful build Mike. I don't care for the industry but the boat is beautiful and yours is art. Following...

[Mike_In_RI]

Well, that was a fast 3 year break from ship modeling! It's time to get back to the whaleboat project so all the sawdust creating tools are back on the bench.

 

I began working on a lot of the smaller accessories of the whale boat. Most of that time was spent trying to develop some new skills i.e silver soldering for the cooperage and lances, etc. The lantern took three versions to get (almost) right just from learning how to drill those tiny holes. For me, the kit basswood is too thick for the buckets so I took a shot at building them with individual staves using 1/32" boxwood and a very sharp chisel. After the first one, the job became easier notwithstanding the drogue which took 3 different method to get right. The cut down copper fitting was used to maintain concentrically between the upper and lower inside diameters of the drogue.

 

 

The cove molding piece is holding and controlling a drogue stave. The 3/4" chisel is sliding against an angled (12 degree) piece of pine to set the inside angle of the stave. The inside face of the stave has 2 pair of marks on it to set the taper along it's length.

 

 

Below is the fixture used to plane down the stave edges with a small bevel at the joints.

 

Hoops of .005" brass were sliced to 1/16" with a heavy old paper cutter. The joints were solder using silver solder and a temperature controlled soldering station

mostly used for electronic projects. "Model Building with Brass" by Kenneth Foran is a great reference.

 

 

The two line tubs and the drogue have staves that were not bent and were just sanded round. The remaining cooperage has staves that were steam bent with a  floor steamer we got that has a little attachment for small areas. The boxwood bent easily and the joints were almost too flush as I like to see a small gap.

 

 

Most of the completed small parts are not yet painted, stained or blackened.

 

 

 

[PJG]

Really impressive work Mike...glad to see this build continue.

[Mike_In_RI]

Thank you PJG. I can see that a lot of the aesthetic decisions that I have been putting off are catching up with me. i.e as you mention the presentation choices.

 

Re: The boat lantern.

This small part was a real learning experience for me. Although it will be almost, if not, invisible, I needed to learn more about fine work with sheet metal, soldering, etc. So after three version of the lantern... very crooked, crooked and almost straight... I did get a satisfactory boat lantern finished. It even has a wick just to up the parts count.

 

The frame is made from 2 small pieces of 1/4" square brass tubing supported by 4 brass pins. The pin heads are ground down to emulate the sample in the plans.

 

 

The cage wire is .014" copper soldered horizontally on 3 sides to the brass pins and vertically to holes in the brass stock.

 

It took the longest time to make an acceptable door. Center punching at that scale was troublesome.

 

The solder joints are on the back side of the door to minimize removing the excess solder.

 

I choose to make it an oil lantern rather than the candle version in the plans.

 

By now, I can't wait to get back to wood and sawdust.

 

Mike

 

[PJG]

Hi Mike...the metal work on that lantern is phenomenal! The high-end craftsmanship just keeps on coming with this build. Very impressive.

[Mike_In_RI]

Thank you again for the encouragement. I'm +1 for getting in the practice and -3 for eyesight.

 

Here is the final version of the lantern after using the "Brass Black".

 

.. and the compass is now in the compass box. I hogged out the zinc compass that came with the kit in order to paint it and fit the rose.

 

 

 

 

Now onto painting the oars...

 

 

[PJG]

The compass looks great...I had a feeling you'd pretty much reproduce the real thing! I just completed my compass and will be posting shortly. We seem to be heading for the finish line on the same schedule. Any thoughts on your next build?

[Mike_In_RI]

Thank you for compliment on the compass. I had to put a little extra time into it... (it's my avatar). That shot is from the New Bedford Whaling Museum and they have a few of them on display. I have no experience with sail work but I'm leaning toward furled sails with silk span. Just last night I was looking at online tips for that. The presentation of this whale boat, as you mentioned earlier, generally tends toward being over crowded so I'm considering a version that has the eye catching stuff in the boat while the more repetitive stuff is on display in the case somewhere. Possibly, unless I'm to itchy to get to the next build, I'll include a davit look that does not include ships bulwarks.

 

My next build.... great question. There are a few general ideas. A plank on frame build that is slightly above my current skill level with little/no above deck work. Or, a ship cross section build i.e the Constitution. Or, based on the great look of your weathered items, I might dip my toe into a scratch build of a partial whale boat in a boat builder workshop setting. The last one being a big leap for me as my artistic skills are ... none.