Bluenose by jre8655 - FINISHED - Model Shipways - Scale 1:100

[jre8655]

I joined this forum in February with the express desire to obtain as much information as possible before beginning my first build.  I have remained in the background, so to speak, reading the posts on kit selection, tools, and building techniques in an effort to begin with a model that would not overwhelm me and piece together a workshop without breaking the bank.

 

I found that most of the tools I already had, with the exception of some power tools and specialized model ship building devices.  I have now acquired most of what I need to get started with the exception of a ship to build.

 

My final choice was to be the HM Schooner Pickle, however, fate, or providence, stepped in and presented me with an unusual opportunity.

 

Prior to my retirement in January, a couple purchased the house across the street from us.  I didn’t have the time, while working, to get over to meet them and it wasn’t until about two weeks ago that I finally saw someone at the house.  I introduced myself and found that these new residents were from Canada; which explained why I hadn’t seen much of them before this.

In getting to know them it came out that I was getting into model ship building.  Much to my surprise my neighbor told me that he had a ship model kit that he never had a chance to build.  He went on to say that he brought it to this new house with the intention of building it, but was now finding he really didn’t have the time to work on it.  A few minutes later he came over with the kit; which had not been opened.  After some discussion we came to an agreement that I would buy it from him for $20.

 

I therefore submit my build log for the Model Shipways, 1:100 scale, Schooner Bluenose.

 

Jack

 

 

[bhermann]

Hi Jack, and welcome to the growing fleet of Bluenose builders.  We are a friendly bunch and will follow along, helping where we can, and always giving encouragement.  I look forward to watching your ship come together.

 

My wife and I were out your way about a year ago, staying with friends in Scottsdale.  It was our first visit to that part of the country and we were impressed by all we saw and did.  Amazingly different from the Northeast!

 

Bob

[JeffT]

Hi Jack. I built this ship a while ago. I don't remember the keel and bulkheads assembling that way though. Very interesting.

[jre8655]

Nope.  Double checked it.  Pretty sure I didn't put it together upside down, inside out, or reversed.

[Richard Bradfield]

Jack, What a bargin! Good luck with the build.

[dgbot]

The Bluenose makes up to a great looking model.  There are many build logs to look at as well.

David B

[Tophog]

Welcome to a great hobby. You will find everyone here helpfully and encouraging. What a great deals on a wonderful model. I have several model kits in my storage unit that I have gotten at great bargains over the years at tag and garage sales. I look forward to watching your build, enjoy it.

[jre8655]

READ – READ – READ – THEN DOUBLE CHECK!

While I was preparing to cut out the stem and stern reinforcement blocks I discovered that the stern blocks, numbers 15, 16, 17, and 18, are mislabeled on the plans.  I made a pencil correction on the plans and the wood parts then cut everything.  Once I had all the blocks sanded and squared they went into place very nicely.

 

I finished tapering and blending the false keel, bulkheads, and reinforcement blocks.  I checked the tapering on the false keel with the keel to make sure it blended into the keel.  Made some minor adjustments to the keel to ensure a good fit across the false keel then glued the keel to the false keel.

 

It was at this point that my 5 year old granddaughter saw what I was doing and asked if she could see it.  I didn’t think she would break it so I let her look.  She very dutifully studied the construction then asked, “What is it?”

 

I showed her the photo on the front of the kit box and she brightened up and said, “Oh.  It’s a sailboat!  Will you make me one?”  I have a fan club.  I asked her what she would do with it and she told me she would put it in her bookcase.  That sort of tells me that she realizes it’s not a toy.  Guess grandpa is going to have to build one for her.

 

[bhermann]

Jack - You found one of the keys early on - read, re-read, study, compare, dry-fit... all needed steps to a successful build.  I'm glad to hear you've gotten some interest from your granddaughter - I'm hoping mine will come along someday... but there's time.

 

Don't worry about your kit looking different than Jeffs - he actually built the 1:64 Model Shipways original - I'd be surprised if it looked just like the 1:100 kit re-marketed from AL

 

Bob

[jre8655]

Experienced a break in progress, but am now continuing construction.  Glued the decks onto the top of the false keel and bulkheads.  I had to trim a bit of the decks to ensure they conformed to the shape of the hull as dictated by the bulkheads.

 

Following the instruction manual, I laid the first deck plank down the center of the decks then proceeded to glue the remaining deck planks.  Looks nice, but after finding some posts pertaining to deck planks I discovered that one plank wouldn’t run the entire length of the deck.  I’m not too keen to cut all these planks off and start over.  Besides, I don’t have enough to accomplish this.  I’ll leave this one as is and make a note to myself on the next build.

 

 

[jre8655]

Moving along slowly.  I have been away from the workbench for a while because of family needs.

 

I was getting ready to start planking the hull when a thought struck me.  I felt uncomfortable with the wood supplied for the planking.  It just seemed to me that it was too flimsy and would give too much spanning the bulkheads.  So I decided to glue filler blocks between the bulkheads to better support the planking.

 

I have completed these filler blocks and shaped the hull.  I’ll add some wood filler to round out the sharp curves and fill in any holes then begin planking.

[ronald305]

Hi Jack 

   I'm glad someone got a log started on this size Bluenose I too have this kit but never started it yet I will following your progress for sure by the way where did you buy  the hull support and the base

                                     Ronald

[jre8655]

Ronald,

 

The device I'm using to hold the hull is a Ship Modeler's Vice sold by MicroMark:

 

http://www.micromark.com/ship-modelers-vise,7120.html

 

I actually waited until it went on sale before I bought one.  You really don't need something like this to clamp the keel.  You can use a couple of strips of square stock screwed to a board.  I've seen several on other build logs.

 

The primary reason I purchased this particular vice was because I liked the swivel on the base.  You can turn the model just about any direction.

 

[ronald305]

 Ok thanks Jack ---your reason  is the reason is I want to use one it rotates LOL

                                                       Ronald 

[Timothy Wood]

Jack,

 

It looks like you're off to a great start!  My brother-in-law purchased the same kit a couple of years ago but hasn't started building it yet.  (How do you like the kit and instructions so far?)

Keep up with the photos, I look forward to watching your build.

 

Cheers,

Tim

[jre8655]

Tim,

 

Thus far I think the kit itself contains very good wood.  The instructions are easy to follow.  The only problem I've encountered is the one with the stern reinforcement blocks being misnumbered on the parts sheet.

 

There is an addendum which adds a strip of basswood onto the bulkheads at deck level to fill in the notch cut in the bulkheads before installing the bulwarks.  I'm not sure why the notches were cut into the bulkheads because if you do install the bulwarks without this filler strip the planking will not butt up to the bulwarks properly.  So someone at Model Shipways caught this error and corrected it in the instructions.

 

I have installed the basswood filler and the bulwarks and begun the hull planking.  This is going slow because of some family medical issues, but is progressing.  I figure if I can at least get one or two planks installed in the evenings I'll still be getting it done.

 

[ronald305]

great job so far keep up with the log and photo's  when I  get started on mine I will be using your log as guide 

[Timothy Wood]

Looks great keep up the good work!

 

Cheers,

Tim

[jre8655]

I had a chance to get the planking done over the three day weekend.  Adding the filler blocks between the bulkheads really helped.  I was able to ensure that the planks were glued along their entire length.

 

Most of the sanding is done.  Still a little more to go.  I'm not too concerned with the gaps between the planks right now.  I'll fill those in with wood filler to get a nice smooth surface.

[Timothy Wood]

Jack,

 

She looks great!  

I hope everything with the family and the medical issues are working themselves out for the better!

My brother-in-law was up for a visit this weekend, and I showed him your build log. He was very impressed with your build, with some luck we may see a build from him before too long!  

 

Cheers,

Tim

Edited July 11, 2013 by Timothy Wood

[Tophog]

She is a fine looking hull - keep up the great work.

[jre8655]

Stayed up late last night and applied a coat of Elmer's Wood Filler to the hull.  I thinned the filler down somewhat so I could get a into all the crevices between the planks.

 

Application was done using two different spatulas and then my fingers to achieve the concave curves.  I'll give this a chance to cure completely then begin a final sanding.

[jre8655]

Progress has been slow, but the hull is now primed and sanded.  I applied the first coat of primer, sanded this down to the planking.  A second coat of primer was applied and finish sanded smooth.

 

The poppets were then glued to the bulwarks and sanded flush with the top of the bulwarks.

 

Those of you that are either building this particular model, or plan to, need to watch out for this next bit.

 

After the cut is made to the stem for the bowsprit; the instructions call for the gunwales to be glued to the top of the bulwarks.  I went right ahead (all fat, dumb, and happy) and glued the first one in place.  Then I aligned the second one, at the stern, with the first one and glued it in place.  The two gunwales did not exactly align at the bow however, and I didn’t think that much of it because I could just do a little cutting and finishing to produce a nice alignment.

 

I was double checking my glue joints when I discovered that the pre-cut holes in the port and starboard gunwales do not line up.  The two parts have been cut differently.  Measuring these holes I found them to be off by about two millimeters.  It was significant enough that had I not corrected the problem all the rigging would be askew when finished.

 

After making the measurements, I plugged the holes on the starboard side and re-drilled them to match the port side.  The plugging was easy; I just used the tapered ends of some round toothpicks.  These fit very nicely into the holes and sanded smooth.  Doubt you’ll even see any trace of them after painting.

 

I tried to show, in the photos, how this misalignment looked before and after correction.  The last photo is a combination of a photo before the fix and one taken afterward.  Hope this helps.

 

So, what did I learn?  Two identical pieces probably aren’t!!

Edited June 7, 2013 by Jack Tar

[bhermann]

Nice pickup, Jack, Having those starboard pins behind their port counterparts would have looked odd.  Isn't it great to find these things early while they are relatively easy to fix?  Nice attention to detail on this.  The hull is looking good too.

 

Bob

[jre8655]

Time to install the rudder.

 

The instructions called for the rudder to be butt glued to the keel then the copper strips glued to the outside of the rudder and keel to simulate the hinges.

 

This just didn’t look right to me so…I cut two pieces of 1/32^nd inch piano wire, drilled the rudder, and inserted the wires into the holes.  I formed the copper strips (hinges) around the rudder and around the keel.  The hinges that would conceal the wires were notched so the wires would fit between the two hinges.

 

The rudder was lined up to the keel and holes drilled in the keel to accept the wires.

 

The hinges were glued to the keel and rudder then the rudder wires were inserted into the keel and glued with epoxy.

 

The overall affect is that the rudder is spaced from the keel by about 1mm.  This gives a more realistic look to the assembly.

 

[jre8655]

The hull is now ready for painting.  This is going to be a somewhat lengthy process because of the weather.  I’m not worried about the paint taking a long time to dry; I’m more concerned about the paint drying before it even hits the hull.

 

I’m using an airbrush for the first time and did some test spraying to get feel of the airbrush and adjust the spray pattern.  One of the first things I discovered was how fast the paint will dry when the temperature is above 95 degrees.  I’m forced to confine my painting to early in the morning.  Around here (Surprise, Arizona) the temperature is already at 85 degrees at 6:00 AM.  By 10:00 AM we’re already approaching 100 degrees.

 

After tracing the waterline I used 3M Automotive Masking Tape to cover the hull above the waterline.  That accomplished, I applied the first coat of red.

 

In the time it took to clean the airbrush the paint was already dry to the touch.  A light sanding and I applied the second coat of red.

 

I plan on letting this set for at least 48 hours before I pull off the masking tape and begin prepping for the black paint.  It may be next Saturday before I can get back to it.

 

[Dave B.]

Thanks for pointing out the misalignment of the shroud holes on the gunwales, I'll be sure to look for it while working through my BN-100.

 

Dave B.

[jre8655]

Dave, glad I could help.

 

Over the past couple of days I've been able to re-mask the hull and prepare to spray the upper section black.  After I had the masking tape in place I went over the edges with a thin coat of the underlying color.  In other words, where the tape covered the red, I painted a coat of red, and where the white (for the gunwales) will be, I painted a coat of white.  This should keep the black from bleeding into the other colors.  It used to work for model airplanes...don't know why it won't work here.

 

I sprayed the first coat of black, lightly sanded, and then sprayed a second coat.  Seems to have come out pretty good.

 

I will not get a chance to complete anything further for about a week.  The Admiral just found out that our daughter has been cleared by her doctor to resume normal activity following surgery and we can get out of this heat for a while.  We're heading for San Diego on Sunday.  That should give the paint a chance to cure properly.

[Timothy Wood]

She really looks nice, keep up the great work!   

 

Tim

[jre8655]

After a bit of delay: trip to San Diego, the July 4^th celebrations, and our grandson’s 2^nd birthday, I am back at the workbench.

 

I’ve moved building into the house and set up a card table in the library.  At least I’m out of the 110 degree temperatures we’ve been experiencing of late.  From this point on there shouldn’t be much dust from sawing, drilling, sanding, etc.

 

Now that all the major painting is complete and I am ready to begin construction of the deck furniture.  Maybe now it will look like I’m actually making progress as the little bits and pieces go onto the deck.