Harvey by Spellapeaka - Artesania Latina - Baltimore Clipper

[Spellapeaka]

This is the build log of my second model ship, the Harvey. I am really excited to be able to work on this ship as I am from the Baltimore region. This build log will probably take some time to complete as I am a new father, full time employee and also a part time student. Hopefully when this semester is over I will get some more time to work on this kit. I started this kit a while ago and really haven't gotten much done since my son was born. Things have died down a little and hopefully you all will not find my progress too painfully slow.

 

A few notes on the kit:

 

1. The kit from AL has been sitting around collecting dust for a few years at my Moms house. I went to pick up some stuff one day and Accidentally spilled the entire contents out on the floor . I scooped up most of what I could find and took the kit home. I then spent the next 2 hours sorting all of the little pins, dead eye's, hooks, brass rings and so forth until I had the kit organized again. I am sure I am missing a few things. Hopefully I can salvage from other kits that have been collecting dust to complete this thing.

 

2. I was disappointed by the kit in that a lot of the deck hardware has been pre-assembled. I do not feel that this was an added benefit to the kit as the craftsman ship has left a lot to be desired. I am planning on rebuilding most of this stuff from scratch and I am hoping to turn a negative into a positive by gaining some small scratch build experience in this added task.

 

3. I have seen some artist renditions of the beautiful clipper ships of the 1800's and in particular have notice some additional sails fixed to outriggers on the yard arms (picture below). I was wondering if anyone has attempted to add something like this to a clipper, or any other vessel for that matter, and if they had some pointer for something like this it would be very much appreciated.

 

4. I have noticed in some builds that when sails are added it tends to cover up the rigging and some prefer to not add sails at all. I had an idea for this build to rig the vessel as if it is under way. Not just hang sails on it, but maybe try to adapt the rigging so that the ship is on a broad reach. I think this would add to the over all look of the ship fully rigged with sails. Has anyone tried this? Again, taking some ideas from pictures I seen.

 

Thank you all for any input and tips, tricks that you may have.

 

[Spellapeaka]

Beautiful!

[Spellapeaka]

So here is what little I have done so far. Pictures are taken with my phone. New pictures will be better quality. 

[Spellapeaka]

I have done a little more work since this picture was taken. I ended up removing the one strake and fairing the ribs down quite a bit. I now have 4 strakes on the hull. A long way to go.

[fnkershner]

What you are describing is called studding sails. I am planning to add them to my model as well. I see you have decided to cut hatches into your deck. what other modifications do you have in mind? Nice work on the deck planking. Did you know that it should be 4 or 5 planks before you repeat the pattern? Here is one of the errors in the plans.

[Spellapeaka]

I did realize that after the fact. I actually planked the decks a few years ago when I first bought the kit. Since then I have joined this site (and the old site) and have reviewed a few builds of the harvey. I happy with how it looks though. Not worth the trouble trying to fix it now.

[Spellapeaka]

THank you for the infor on the studding rails. I thinkn it give a more astetic look to the clippers.

[Spellapeaka]

My typing is horrible by the way, sorry

[Spellapeaka]

So I did a little work last night on my boat. Though I would post some pictures since this is the first work thats been done on it in a long time. Also, The planks are very, very hard to bend on this kit. I am sticking with the single planked hull for now. Although, if it ends up looking to poor, I will paint the hull black and white, kind of like the pride of baltimore so we shall see. I also have posted a few picturesof the tools I'm using to bend the planks. These have helped out quite a bit, it is still challenging work though. I had almost forgotten how stressfull and agrivatin.... wait, I mean enjoyable planking the hull can be. lol.

Edited April 24, 2013 by Spellapeaka

[fnkershner]

I have to agree, Those walnut planks are very hard to bend. If you want I can send you some basswood planking material. Basswood is much more forgiving. I believe that is why the kit went from 1 layer of planking to 2 layers.

[Spellapeaka]

Thank you very much for the offer. I am going to stick it out for now. Feel like im on a roll, a slow but steady roll. And the next kit I am likely to build will be a San Fran 2 which I belive is also a single hull planked kit. Looking forward to that as I would like to plank that ship with shorter planks to get that multi faseted texture on the hull. I know that is a much more delicate and time intensive proceedure than what im doing here but, I would like to get one single planked hull under my belt before attempting that. Even if the hull turns out less attractive than planned for this ship I wouldn't mind so much paintin the hull black and the top sides white like in the photo above. Thats my plan B. and I think it will still be attractive if so.

[maso]

Looking good so far. I found that once I was about half way through the first planking, I was getting the hang of it. I removed some of the earlier planks and re-did them. By the end of the second planking, I was actually quite enjoying it.

 

Dave.

[fnkershner]

Well Good luck to you both. As you will note in my log, I found that I didn't have enough planks for the 2nd layer and tried to mill my own. I think I need more practice at that. I may just have found a need for the only Byrnes tool I don't own. So I got a bit more that 1/2 way thru the 2nd planking and removed everything. Now the ship yard is closed until we finish moving. Once we get settled I hope to catch up with you guys.

[texxn5]

very nice looking build. These are really sleek looking boats, and an excellent example of the style

[Spellapeaka]

Well that was quite a break from this hobby. Its been just about 4 years since I have worked on this little ship. In that time, I have graduated with my bachelors, switched jobs three times, my kids are growing up and we just moved. Now, I find myself with a new hobby room! Its all coming back to me slowly. Here's an updated photo of how the ship stands as of right now. Still struggling through these ridiculous walnut planks and the flimsy pins they give you. But, I am enjoying working on this ship again! 

P.S. at the rate I'm going I will complete this model some time in the year 3026.

[Spellapeaka]

Not the prettiest ship right now, but its a diamond in the rough. following along with the instructions so far so good. I can see now why so many people on here have developed better methods for planking these ships.

[Spellapeaka]

Got some more work done on the little ship. I figured I would post some action shots.

[Spellapeaka]

Finally got around to working on the hull a little. Not looking to bad. For those of you who may have this kit (the old one, single hulled planking), I cannot recommend in good consciousness to follow the directions included with the kit for planking. There are many, many examples of much better techniques on how to plank a model ship hull on this website. Had I known when I started so long ago, I would not have wasted my time with the method included in this kit. The results may look "Okay" but seeing some of the other techniques (Splining, double planking, ect) I wish I could go back and start again. Well, having said that, the hull is nearly there, just need to finish up some bits at the back end and then start putting on the bulwarks. So glad to be almost finished with the planking on this vessel.   

[Spellapeaka]

Well, Its been almost 2 years since I last uploaded any progress to this little vessel. Who would of thought that it would take a global pandemic to get me some time to work on it. Maybe in a hundred years when I finish this thing I can win some kind of award for longest build in history. lol. Any way, Its coming along nicely. I finally finished up the hull, still have some sanding to do though. I put on the sides and started on the finer bits. I am into the fun stage finally, where the little details matter and It is starting to look really neat.   

[GrandpaPhil]

Welcome back!  

Well done on finishing the hull.  Finishing the hull is the hardest part for me.  I really enjoy fitting out the hull and doing the detail work.

[Spellapeaka]

Thank you sir! It's been real fun over the last couple of days. I did a little more work. And I took a stab at a little kit bashing. The little pre made pieces that come with the kit are pretty aweful. I'm not sure that mine are that much better, but at least I won't leave glue everywhere all over it. After a whole lotta sanding, I have to say I am really please with the way the hull came out. I noticed a problem though. The angle of my bulwarks is a little to flared out. To late to do anything about it now. The dead eyes up front will probably look a little silly rubbing up against the sides. I'm not to worried about it though. It's only my second model so, lesson learned.

[Spellapeaka]

[Spellapeaka]

Much better! (In my humble opinion)

[Spellapeaka]

Well I got a little more done over the weekend. I got the hull glossed, put a matte varnish on the rest. I am a little jealous of how good the matte finish looks. Now I am wishing I could do the whole thing in matte, oh well. I got the rudder installed and a couple of the details for the deck started. A little more bashing, looking pretty good. 

[Spellapeaka]

Well it took a few tries but I started getting the hang of the grates

[Spellapeaka]

Much better then the supplied ones in my opinion. Work has slowed down a little as I have to reverse engineer each element. Slow but steady. More pictures to come soon.

[Spellapeaka]

I really enjoyed remaking all of these do-dads (I don't know what they are called) I think the tone of the wood really sets them apart. Onward!

[Spellapeaka]

It came out a little bigger than the supplied one. But still, I think it looks nice.

[Voyageur]

Very nice! Your grates look... good. Just kidding, they look GRATE.

[Spellapeaka]

Thank you! I got a little more done. I had to re make the side boards that hold the dead eyes (shocker) and I decided to move them up the side walls a little to make them easier to attach to the rat lines without the side walls rubbing against them. It might not be "historical" where I've placed them, I think it will come out looking better in the long run.