Gloucester Fishing Schooner by Alfons - BlueJacket Shipcrafters - scale 1:48 - first build

[Alfons]

David.

 

Thanks for the kind words. I only wish I could spend more time building..

 

/Alfons

[OzSatyr]

Hi Alfons,

 

The pictures of your model have left me utterly gobsmacked (a typically aussie word meaning stunned and amazed).  The attention to detail in your workmanship is beyond beautiful.  Its hard to believe from some of your pictures that its a scale model.  One valuable tip I have written down for my first build as a result of reading your log.  Paint before assembling. 

 

You have a beautiful ship Sir.

[Alfons]

Thanks Ulli, you are much to kind. I am really glad you like my work.

 

I am looking forward to follow your build log of the Bluenose.

 

/Alfons

[Mirabell61]

Finally, I got around to finalize the structures and most of the details on the fore deck. There are still some touching up to do, final painting of the barrels for instance, but I feel I have done enough to shoot some pictures.

 

Thanks for looking in, please enjoy.

/Alfons

 

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Beautiful work Alfons,

 

clean and accurate build, Looks great

 

Nils

[Alfons]

Thanks Nils!

 

All the positive feedback you guys have posted really pushes me to find the time to get going again Since the last month, I am planning the next building steps in my mind. In one week, summer vacation is over and I will be back in the ordinary routines again. But first, one week of cod fishing off the cost of Norway

 

/Alfons

[Overlander]

Hey Alfons,

 

Good luck with the fishing. I, like so many others, are real happy to hear that you will be building again. Can't wait.

 

Frank

[Perls]

Hi Alfons,

 

I want to take advantage of your offer to post a couple of pics. of my Smuggler. I don't think I can hold a candle to you or Nils, but it's my first build and I've given it my best best shot so far. You guys have really inspired me to take my craftsmanship up to the next level going forward.

 

None of the deck furniture is attached. And, as I mentioned I'm reworking the color scheme. I'll use these photos as a starting point and put together my own build log in the very near future. Thanks again for your inspiration.

 

Best,

Steve

 

 

[Alfons]

Hi Steve.

 

It looks like you are off to a really good start there, your schooner looks beautiful.

 

I am looking forward to following your progress in your upcoming log.

 

/Alfons

 

Ps. Cod fishing in Norway was a blast! My fridge is now full of nice fish.

[Alfons]

Thanks Lawrence!

 

I am really glad you like my work. I have just started making some wooden barrels, seems like a suitable project to get going again. 

 

The Annie M. Parker sounds like an interesting project, I will follow you along the way for sure.

 

/Alfons.

 

Ps. Your Victory is fantastic, the level of detail, crispiness, and paint job, is spot on

[Alfons]

Fellow ship builders.

 

First of all, thanks for all the nice comments, and also for the "likes".

 

I have finally gotten around to start working of the Smuggler again, feels great. Making my own wooden barrels seemed like a good way to get up to steam again. This is the first part of the wooden barrel project, enjoy.

 

First, I took the barrel that I originally had planned to use, and sanded it to a nice and smooth shape.

 

Secondly, five sections of staves were glued edgewise to one end of the barrel, creating a lid.

 

Then pieces of individual staves were tapered in both ends and glued to the barrel form.

 

Finally, staves were trimmed and sanded to final shape.

 

This is the result compared to the original barrel.

 

My next post will contain painting and barrel hoops. 

 

What I learned so far (to be practiced during the build of the 5 remaining barrels) are the following. It´s a good idea not to use too thin staves, since quite a lot of sanding is required to achieve the final shape of the barrel. I also learned the importance of placing the first stave accurate, and to safeguard each stave in terms of its shape. One litre misalignment has the tendency to grow for each stave this is added. Hopefully the next barrel will turn out even better.

 

Thanks for dropping by.

/Alfons

[russ]

The barrel staves look much better. That is a nice detail. You can use paper or tape for the hoops. Once they are painted, they will look every bit the real thing.

 

Russ

[Perls]

Hi Alfons,

 

Its great to have you back. I like the barrels, you're crazy, crazy in a good way, but still crazy. I'm just as crazy, I have a couple of barrels I was planning on using and didn't like the ways the rings looked so I sanded them off. I have some copper tape I had left over from another project and sliced a thin sliver (it was a bit tricky to get the curve so it would lay flat)to make the rings. Instead of painting them black, I used a black Sharpie (Marker), so some of the copper red seems to show through so they look like iron with a tiny bit of rust.

 

I'm traveling now, but when I get home I'll post a pic.

 

Best,

Steve

[Elia]

Alfons,

 

The staved barrel looks quite nice and an improvement over the initial try. A set of six of those will look sharp on your schooner. I too am going to put some barrels on deck...I might take a pointer or two from you.

[Alfons]

Thanks for your nice comments and feedback

 

My plan is to use thin strips of masking tape to produce the hoops. The tape will be painted flat black before assembly.

 

Prior to painting, I am working with the rest of the barrels. Quite time consuming, I spent about 3h making one single barrel! But ones finished, I hope they will make a nice addition to the deck.

 

I also managed to find a suitable material for the seine net and the dip net! Finally.

 

Thanks for looking in.

 

/Alfons

[captainbob]

“I hope they will make a nice addition to the deck.” 

 

Yes, the barrels will really dress up the deck.  I will be needing a seine net for the Lettie, what material did you find?  

 

Thanks,  Bob

[Mirabell61]

Hi Alfons,

 

those Barrels are beatiful made, also the ship is a delight to see, I love those Gloucester fishing schooners with their high seaworthy hulls, every time I see one I must think of the Film "The Boston man", staring amoungst others, Gregory Peck as the Skipper with his gloucester shooner "Pilgrim of Salem", also featuring the best bluewater schooner race at its Limits, I ever saw on film

 

Nils

Edited September 15, 2014 by Mirabell61

[Alfons]

Bob. I simply went to my local fabric store. They carried quite a few different kinds (and colours) of suitable fabric. I am not quite sure about the english name, perhaps "bridal veil" is an appropriate denomination. Someone also advised me to search for "Japanese hair net". The material seems to be some kind of plastic.

 

Here are two pictures. I will go with the fabric to the left, which in my eyes looks more like an actual fishing net.

 

 

 

The color for the seine net will be grey, and for the dip net black. The only downside is that the material appears to be rather stiff, so I expect folding the net in a credible fashion to the deck will be a challenge.

 

Nils. Thanks for the nice words. I did not watch "The Boston Man" yet, will try to find it

 

Thanks for dropping by.

/Alfons

[Mirabell61]

Alfons,

 

sorry, my mistake, the filmtitle is  "The world in his arms", I had saved it as the Boston man.....

enjoy if you should find it on u-tube or so..

 

Nils

[dgbot]

Put your material in some fabric softener and let it set.  This will probably do the trick.

David B

[Alfons]

Put your material in some fabric softener and let it set.  This will probably do the trick.

David B

 

Even though the material seems to be plastic?? A good thing is that I have plenty of material to make tests with.

 

/Alfons

[dgbot]

What kind of plastic?

David B

[Perls]

Hi Alfons,

 

For the nets, I was planning on using cheese cloth attached to a thin cotton string to act as rope. I was then going to fabricate cork floats out of Sculpy (a type of plastic clay which hardens in a low oven).

 

Best,

Steve

[Alfons]

What kind of plastic?

David B

 

I have no idea, some kind of syntetic fabric. Worst case, I will have to spend some time (and glue) to achive a scale like shape.

 

Hi Alfons,

 

For the nets, I was planning on using cheese cloth attached to a thin cotton string to act as rope. I was then going to fabricate cork floats out of Sculpy (a type of plastic clay which hardens in a low oven).

 

Best,

Steve

 

In my opinion, one of the sweetest things with our hobby is the fact that you can spend hours thinking of different materials, techniques, tooling, etc., to achive your desired result. And then, even better, to share this with your fellow builders her on MSW

 

My plan is to use styrene tubing for the cork floats, cut to pieces and sanded to shape.

 

I am quite sure that your nets will look perfect Steve, and I am looking forward to see the results.

 

Yesterday I made yet another barrel, only 3 or 4 left now (I will use 4 in total, 2 closed and 2 with visible salt in them).

 

/Alfons

[RGL]

Really nice work

[Perls]

Hi Alfons,

 

There is something about your barrels that makes me smile when I see them or you mention them.

 

I've finished all the hardware for the Bowsprit and Jibboom. I thought about you re the sheves in the Jibboom which I made from a thin slice of dowell, copper tape, and brass paint. I've been a bit of a veg. regarding pictures which I'll try to take and post tomorrow.

 

The big question I need help with is whether or not there is any reason not to install the bowsprit and Jibboom at this point. Can you think of a reason why I shouldn't?

 

Thanks,

Steve

[doghomer]

You probably have covered this in the earlier  now lost presentations but I would like to  after you have done this in a poor and inadequate fashion you find when you install the  decks  the bulwarks are at an  unrealistic height.    The usual recommendation is to thin the bulwarks  with  either sand paper  or thinning  with a gorge taking downward strokes.  I find either of these methods to be not only laborious but in thinning and of course completely effective in  increasing the depth of  the bulwarks after laying of the deck.  I was wondering  in your beautiful model did you simply cut off the bulwarks  and then when the decking was  in place  install  sheet bulwarks in their place.  The bulwark supports do not appear  to be set into the hull?  Is this interpretation correct?  Any other comments you may make along these lines will not only be appreciated but valued as well.  doghomer   

[Alfons]

Greg, thanks!

 

Steve, I am looking forward to see your pictures. The one reason why I didnt install the bow sprit and jobb boom yet is that the complete model becomes so much more fragile once this is done. I am in a situation were I need to handle the model as soon as I work on it, mostly because of my 2-year old son and his "hands-on interest" in my progress

 

Secondly, I dont really see a reason for installation just yet, as I still have some work left to do to the hull (sticker with ships name), and deck (additional fittings).

 

Doghomer. Thanks for your interest in my build. I remember working with the bulwarks to be rather complicated. In my model, I did not remove them, but used my dremel and sanding blocks to achieve the right thickness (roughly). The hight of the deck also required quite some sanding as I can recall.

 

You are correct, the bulwark supports are not set into the hull, but rather supported by the bulwark itself.

 

I have seen other builds of the Smuggler, were people did remove the bulwarks completely, then built them up plank by plank after completing the shaping the the deck. This seemed to complicated for med, but the results were stunning.

 

Next complicated step in my experience were cutting the scuppers. Cutting scuppers will really prove the shape of your deck, as the hight of the deck will be visilbe also on the outside of the hull.

 

/Alfons.

[doghomer]

Thank you so much for your reply.  Perseverance seems to be the key.  I certainly enjoy the exchanges that go on as a result of your  logs.   I will give your  method another  try on a Marine Model company tug boat kit that I have. Thank you again for the reply to  my problem and your  future insight. 

[dgbot]

Scuppers can be a pain.  The easiest way I can think of is to mark out where they are located and then start out the holes with a drill bit then clean it out.   At this scale it will be better than starting out with a knife or chisel.  Unless both are extremely sharp.

David B

[Alfons]

G'day Alfons, what a wonderful build, she is very nice, crisp clean and smooth all in one, thanks for sharing,

 

  best regards John.

Thanks John, I am glad you like my work.

 

 

Scuppers can be a pain.  The easiest way I can think of is to mark out where they are located and then start out the holes with a drill bit then clean it out.   At this scale it will be better than starting out with a knife or chisel.  Unless both are extremely sharp.

David B

 

I agree, here are a few pictures showing when I made the scuppers for the Smuggler. The result is not perfect, but acceptable I think.