Medway Longboat 1742 by Ryland Craze - FINISHED - Syren Ship Model Company - 1:24 Scale

[Ryland Craze]

This will be the start of my Medway Longboat kit once I receive it.  I have been following the development of this kit and it will be fun building it in a Group setting.  I have watched projects being developed over the years by Chuck and each one gets better and more innovative than the one that preceded it.

 

The first step in this build is to visit the downloads page which has all of the chapters of the build plus other information that will help you in the building of your Longboat.  It can be accessed by going to the link below:

 

[Ryland Craze]

I was one of the lucky ones who was able to obtain one of the first run kits of the Medway Longboat from Syren Ship Model Company.  I ordered it Thursday morning and it made its way from New Jersey to Virginia and was in my mailbox Saturday afternoon. Upon opening the box, I could tell the quality of this kit that we have seen produced and designed by Chuck.  I have attached pictures of the kit's contents.  The laser cutting is some of the best that I have seen and there is very little laser char on the backside of the wooden sheets.  The boxwood and yellow cedar strip wood is milled very nicely and has clean, crisp edges.  All of the laser cut parts are easily identified and some have their part numbers etched on them or adjacent to the part.

 

I am glad to be part of this group build and I look forward to following the build logs of other Medway Longboat builders.  I also welcome suggestions from MSW members throughout this build on how to improve my model.

 

 

 

 

[MEDDO]

Ryland, will be nice to see the start of this project.  

[Jim T]

This looks like the start of a great build thread. Good work! 👍

 

Jim

[Ryland Craze]

Thanks Michael and Jim.  At 1:24 scale, this model allows you to add a lot of detail.  On the down side, mistakes will be harder to hide.  Chuck and Mike (Stuntflyer) have set the bar high with their quality work and I am sure Rusty will be building one.  I am no where close to their skills but will do the best that I can.  I am looking forward to this build.

 

[dvm27]

This sets the bar for what ship model kits should look like!

[Chuck]

That was really quick delivery.   Looking forward to seeing this logs develop.  Just take your time and enjoy the project.!!!!

[Rustyj]

Hi Ryland,

 

Yep I'm gonna build her too. Mine also arrived in the mail yesterday but being a busy day I only had

time to open the box, caress the wood and give it all a cursory glance. 

 

I'm looking forward to this group build. Lot of fun and learning!

 

12 hours ago, dvm27 said:

This sets the bar for what ship model kits should look like!

 

Greg you took the words right out of my mind!

[dkuehn]

23 hours ago, Ryland Craze said:

Thanks Michael and Jim.  At 1:24 scale, this model allows you to add a lot of detail.  On the down side, mistakes will be harder to hide.  Chuck and Mike (Stuntflyer) have set the bar high with their quality work and I am sure Rusty will be building one.  I am no where close to their skills but will do the best that I can.  I am looking forward to this build.

 

I don't know if you're just being modest, but I like to see mere mortals working on kits too. I'll never achieve the results of modeling gods like Chuck, but enjoy it nonetheless. 

[Ryland Craze]

Thanks guys for the comments and for the "Likes".  The kit comes with two types of keel assemblies. One is a simplified version which has scarf joints.  The other is a complex version that has lap joints that requires some carving and sanding.  I decided to go with the complex keel assembly knowing that if I messed up, I still had a simplified version.  I took it slow and easy, taking many measurements with my caliper, to get a good fit.  I cut and filed each joint so that it was half as thick as the keel.  I am pleased with the results as the joints are tight and lay flat on a piece of glass.  Here is a picture of the tools that I used.  I failed to put my digital caliper in the picture.

 

[Rustyj]

Nice joint work Ryland. Having it scored with the laser really helped me.

[Chuck Seiler]

Ryland,

 

    Well done!

[MEDDO]

Great work there.  I know if I tried that for sure be rounding over the corners.  

[Ryland Craze]

Thanks for the comments and the "Likes".  It has been awhile since I posted and thought that I would give an update on my progress.  The instructions call for a 1/32" rabbet along the keel.  This is accomplished by centering the four 3/32" notched pieces on the 5/32" keel.  I used a method that Doug McKenzie used on his Longboat build to center the notched pieces.  I created a small jig by gluing a 1/32" thick piece of wood to some scrap wood and used this jig to center the notched pieces.  Here are some photos of my construction process:

 

 

The remaining long jointed piece fit almost perfectly between the stem and stern jointed pieces.  All I had to do to get a perfect fit was to run a couple of passes with a sanding stick on the stem end of the long piece to remove some laser char.  This shows the precision of the laser cut pieces in this kit.

I put a coat of wipe on poly on the keel assembly, inserted the simulated bolt pieces using the the supplied fishing line, sanded the bolts smooth and finished it off with another coat of wipe on poly.

Next up is assembling the frames.

Edited December 3, 2018 by Ryland Craze

[Rustyj]

Very nice work Ryland!

[John Cheevers]

Great start! Looking forward to seeing the boat come together.

[JeffT]

The jig is a great idea. I think I'll do the same.

[MEDDO]

Ryland that looks really nice.  Definitely like the jig idea.

[gjdale]

Very nicely done Ryland - great idea with the jig!

[Ryland Craze]

Thanks guys for the comments and for the "Likes".  I cannot take credit for the spacing jig as this was Doug McKenzie's idea.  I am also participating in the Ship Model Society of New Jersey Group Build of this kit and Doug had emailed members a drawing of this spacing jig.  I just put his jig idea into pictures. 

 

I left a little gap between the keel and the 1/32" spacer so that any glue that would seep between the 3/32" notched piece and the keel would not glue the jig to the keel.  After a few minutes of set time of the Titebond II glue, I removed the jig and cleaned up any excess with a small dental scraper and a paint brush dipped in water.

[KenW]

Your model looks really good Ryland. 

I also used Doug McKenzie's spacing jig (and forgot to give him credit in my log).

Cheers.

[Ryland Craze]

Thanks for the "Likes" and to  Ken for his comment.  I have completed the frames by following the instructions.  I sanded them with 600 grit flexible nail files.  I had to do very little sanding to get the frame tabs to fit into the slots on the build board.  I also had to do a little filing of the slots in the keel to get the frames to fit.

Once completed, I test fitted the keel assembly to the frames and everything fit perfectly with some minor adjustments.

 

Next up is to get the frames properly aligned and glue the keel to the frames.

Edited March 27, 2019 by Ryland Craze

[Ryland Craze]

Thanks everyone for the "Likes".  In preparing the frames for gluing the keel to them, I took care to make sure that they were properly aligned.  The design of the kit gives you a little "wiggle" room for adjusting the frames from side to side.  With the keel dry fitted to the frames, I used a 1/32" thick piece of flexible planking material as a batten and kept adjusting the frames from side to side until all the frame edges touched the batten.  I taped some of the frames to the build board using painters tape so that they would not move when I removed the dry fitted keel.  I also marked the frame where the edge of the keel was so that I would have a reference point to place my glue.  When it came time to glue the keel to the frames, I followed the kit instructions and placed a generous dab of glue on the frame pieces. After aligning the keel, I used a damp paint brush to remove any excess glue. I glued the stern half of the frames to the keel and let them set up for 24 hours and then glued the forward half of frames to the keel.  Here are photos of my progress to date:

 

 

 

 

Next step is to "gently " fair the frames and to line off the hull.  I hope everyone has a safe and Happy New Year!

[Chuck Seiler]

Ryland,

 

    I see that you applied tape to the frames to help strengthen.  It appears that the tape overlaps the frame edges.  Am I seeing this correctly?  If so, how will that affect your ability to fair the frames?

[MEDDO]

Looking real nice.  Fairing those thin frames looks like it may be a bit tricky.  Like to see how everyone seals with the issue

 

[Ryland Craze]

Thanks Chuck and Michael for your comments and also for the "Likes".

 

Chuck, the tape really made a difference as it strengthened the frames.  The camera makes it look as if it is overlapping the frames in some places.  I trimmed the tape so that this would not happen.  But, I did not allow for the angle of the frame edge being changed when the frame was faired and a small portion of the tape has come in contact with the sanding stick in some places with the sanding of the frames. This has not caused any problems with the fairing process.  I will be removing the tape when I begin the planking process so as not to chance the tape being glued to the frame.

[Rustyj]

Hi Ryland, Looking real good and it is a good idea to remove the tape as you plank. it gets harder to remove when some

of the planking is in place even if you don't glue it accidentally to the frames.

[Ryland Craze]

Thanks Rusty.  I will definitely remove the tape after I finish fairing the frames and before I start the planking.

 

When fairing the stern portion of the frames, I accidentally hit the "ears" of the transom with my sandpaper.  This took off a little wood on the "ear" of the transom where it should not be faired.  This did not cause much damage, but repeated  hits with sandpaper would round off the the transom edge.  To prevent this from happening again, I placed a piece of painters tape over the "ears" on the transom to protect it from accidental fairing.

 

[Rustyj]

HI Ryland.

 

If your cap rail turns out like mine you won't have an issue. I ended up sanding off about a 1/32" from those transom ears.

[Ryland Craze]

That is good news.  Thanks!