Medway Longboat (1742) by gjdale - FINISHED - 1:24

[gjdale]

Thanks for the likes folks.

 

Bob - I did consider adding the monofilament as you suggested, but decided that might cause more headaches with handling the model while placing planks, so will defer that until the planking is all in place.

 

Minor update today. Planking progresses cautiously with the first four strakes now complete. Using Chuck’s methods for both bending and gluing is paying dividends. Nevertheless, I have not been afraid to debond planks that I have not been satisfied with. One plank came off three times before I was happy. The last plank on the starboard side (Plank #8 ) went on late one evening. I didn’t trim it because I wasn’t sure about it. Having slept on it overnight, it came off again the next day. I took some extra care with bending it to make it fit properly at the last frame and transom, then reglued. Was much happier with the result. So far the strakes are all aligning nicely port/starboard at both bow and stern. It’s not perfect – there are some very minor gaps along some seams, but overall I’m happy with progress so far: 

 

 

 

I'll be back when once the planking is complete...

 

[fnkershner]

Are you beveling the edges where the planks come together?

[gjdale]

Yes I am Floyd, to the minimum amount I can though, as per Chuck’s instructions.

[Ryland Craze]

You do not want to over bevel the edge of the planks as gaps could develop when you sand the hull.  Also, the plank edges will be seen on the interior of the hull, so you want the edges to be tight.

[gjdale]

Thanks Ryland. Yes, I'm conscious of that point too. Tight edges is certainly the aim.

[BobG]

The planking looks really good, Grant. Isn't great to have the planks already spiled? It almost felt like I was cheating but it sure was nice!

[gjdale]

Thanks Bob - yes, the pre-spiled planks sure do make it a lot easier. There's still plenty of challenge there though - especially if you're as ham-fisted as I am!

[gjdale]

Planking has been completed. Although this was much easier using Chuck’s methods for bending and gluing, I still had some very minor “staircasing” at the bow, although this was nowhere near as bad as on my first attempt. Here is the first layer completed after an initial light sanding:

 

 

 

 

The whales were then added. I did these in reverse order, working down from the gunwhale in order to correct any minor misalignment at the bow. Following Chuck’s advice, I used a sharp chisel to pare down the forward end as it approached the rabbet. The aft end was simply sanded thinner for the last half inch or so. All of the holes have been drilled in preparation for the monofilament “nails”. I think I will complete this task and do a final sanding before removing the hull from the build board.

 

 

 

[JpR62]

Very nice planking. A good step completed 😃

[Ryland Craze]

Nice job on the hull.  If you purchased the Longboat display base from Syren, now is the time to fit the pedestals to the hull.  It is a lot easier to fit these at an early stage of the build.

[gjdale]

Thanks Ryland, and thanks for the tip re the display pedestals - I hadn’t even considered that aspect!

[gjdale]

The best laid plans....

 

Having intended to complete the monofilament nails prior to removing the hull from the build board, I found I only had enough monofilament to complete one side. Perhaps I drilled the holes waaaay to deep…. I thought I had previously tracked down some more monofilament but what I had in the drawer turned out to be a braided line and of no use at all. For some reason, black fishing line does not appear to be a popular choice in Australia as I could not find a single supplier of it within Australia. I did, however, manage to find a shop in New Zealand with an online presence, who happened to stock exactly the right stuff. I’ve ordered that, so hopefully I won’t be faced with the two-month delay I’ve been experiencing with other international orders lately.

 

So here’s where I got to before exhausting my kit supply:

 

 

A quick re-think of the strategy and I decided to go ahead and remove the hull form the build board. This I did following Chuck’s instructions and encountered no problems. Similarly, I removed the frame centres following the instructions and again encountered no problems.

 

 

Next up was to install the cap rail. The only issue I ran into here was that according to the instructions, I should have been left with a 1/16” gap between the upper strake of planking and the “ears” on the transom. For some reason my planking went all the way up to the ears on both sides. After fairing the sheer, I simply cut a notch out of the lower part of the ear to make room for the cap rail. The cap rail then went on easily. While I was fairing the sheer, I also did an initial clean-up of the frames – really just removing the laser char.

 

 

Ryland kindly gave me a tip to fit the pedestals to the hull at around this point as well, noting that this would be much easier at an early stage of the build – a point well made. So, I decided to make up the display base this weekend. I initially thought the substrate for the burl veneer was undersized, but after a quick PM exchange with Chuck realised that I was over-thinking things and there was no problem at all – in fact, it’s designed this way. Makes perfect sense when you actually put it together….

 

Anyway, here’s the display base completed with just one coat of satin WOP at the moment. Will apply further coats in due course. The pedestals have also been assembled and coated. I’ll fit them properly to the hull once the finish is dry.

 

 

I’m now officially past the point where I canned my first attempt. While this one is not perfect, it is so much better at this stage than the first one, that I’m really pleased I decided to bite the bullet and start over.

 

Next up will be the challenge of the bolsters…next weekend….

[Rustyj]

Very nice Grant. I'm glad you restarted it too!

[BobG]

On 11/7/2020 at 9:42 PM, gjdale said:

I found I only had enough monofilament to complete one side. Perhaps I drilled the holes waaaay to deep….

I ran out of monofilament early in the process of adding the nails to the hull also and was able to buy some on eBay. Your build is looking great too.

[gjdale]

Thanks Rusty and Bob, and also all of the likes.

 

The new stock of monofilament fishing line has finally arrived, so I’ll now be able to complete the “nailing” of the hull. While I was waiting for the post to arrive, I went ahead and completed the bolsters and the thinning of the cap rail and frames. The bolsters were quite tricky, as anyone who has reached this point before me will attest. Chuck even went so far as to provide six blanks in the kit to make the two bolsters required – and it’s just as well that he did. I started on the starboard side and blew two attempts before getting the third to a point that I was satisfied with. The port side only took two attempts, so learning clearly took place! I even had one blank to spare!!!😁

 

Here’s what they looked like after I glued them in place initially.

 

 

 

I then realised that the lower edge should have been tapered/bevelled considerably, so was faced with the challenge of achieving this with the bolsters in situ. Fortunately, with the assistance of Mikhail’s wonderful micro chisels and some sandpaper, this actually turned out to be easier to achieve than I’d first expected. Here’s the subsequently modified bolsters.

 

 

 

With the bolsters in place, I was then able to go ahead and thin the cap rails. Using the technique described by Rusty in his log, I used a scrap of 1/32” material to guide the formation of the outboard edge to a uniform overhang, then using a pair of compasses marked a line 5/32” from the outboard edge to guide the thinning of the inboard side.

 

 

At this point, I had to wait for the fishing line to turn up before going further, so my final task here was to decide on the paint colour for the cap rail etc. I had remembered reading somewhere what brand/colour Chuck had used but couldn’t find it again, so I PM’d Chuck and asked him directly. Chuck said that he used the Winsor and Newton Galeria Acrylic range of paints and the colour was Crimson (for anyone else wondering). I also noted that some others had chosen slightly different variations. For example, someone (can’t remember who) used Cadmium Red. There is an art supply store nearby, so I popped out and bought some of the Galeria Acrylic Crimson, and some Cadmium Red (Winsor and Newton Professional Acrylic range). I also had a couple of other reds in my existing range, including Naphthol Red (medium hue) and Permanent Alizarin Crimson – both from the Winsor and Newton Artists’ Acrylic range. I then did some test swatches on some art paper for comparison. The results are below, and I’d appreciate any thoughts from others on my eventual choice. 

 

What I noticed straight away was that the Artists’ Acrylic / Professional Acrylic range behaved very differently from the Galeria range – they mixed with water on the wet palette in a very different way that is hard to describe, and also laid down on the surface material quite differently, going on with much more even coverage and also seeming to dry more quickly. I guess there’s a reason this range is double the cost of the Galeria range.

 

I quickly discarded both the Cadmium Red (too orange) and the Permanent Alizarin Crimson (too purple) from the choices and was left with the Crimson (Galeria) or the Naphthol Red (Artist’s Acrylic). The Naphthol Red appears slightly darker and more subdued than the Crimson and I think I like that colour tone slightly better, though it’s a very close race in my mind. Being much nicer to work with tipped the balance for me in the end, so my current choice is the Naphthol Red. I know that photography and computer monitors will impact the way things appear on screen, but I’d appreciate any thoughts on my colour choice.

 

 

Now I’m off to finish the “nailing” and prepare the inboard sheer strake…

Edited November 23, 2020 by gjdale

[Chuck]

Im the worst person to ask about colors.  But I will say that you certainly did a fine job on the bolsters.  Indeed they are tricky.  Maybe I should add a fourth extra pair of blanks.  
 

i went through many attempts as well.  But its smooth sailing from here on out!!!

 

Nicely done.

[Rustyj]

First off very nice work!  I think your final two choices look very good and if Naphthol Red is easier to use then go for it.

[Ryland Craze]

The cap rail and bolsters look great.  I like the color you chose and look forward to seeing it applied on the model.

[Canute]

Interesting study of the cap rail colors. May be stretching my skill base using these artist tube paints.

[gjdale]

Thanks for the kind comments and opinions on colour choice. I've almost finished painting the cap rail - lost count of the number of coats, but it's somewhere between 12 and 20..... I would never have thought of this painting technique before but it certainly works well and is not at all hard to do once you get going. I've been using a "wet palette", which I think really helps as well.

 

I have a quick question (actually two questions) for Chuck and/or any of you who have been down this path already.

 

1.   Once the cap rail painting is completed (using acrylic paint), is it necessary to use a clear finish over the top of it (for protection)? If so, what do you recommend for this clear coat?

 

2.  In applying WOP to the exterior of the hull, is it advisable to put this over the printed frieze (again for protection), or will the WOP likely destroy the frieze?

 

Thanks in advance for any and all advice.

[Ryland Craze]

Grant, I did not use a clear coat over my paint.  I did spray Krylon Matte Finish over my friezes before I cut them out and did not use WOP over them for fear it would yellow them.

[gjdale]

Thanks very much Ryland. The paint is looking quite nice as is, so I'm reluctant to do anything to it that might change that!

 

I'd been thinking along the same lines regarding the friezes. I just did a test on them with WOP and found that it did smudge the colour. Then I found a can of spray matte finish in the cupboard - the can says it is specifically designed for "all papers & boards, drawings, layouts, artwork, prints, photographs and maps". That will be my next test.

[Merriann B]

I'm pretty new to ship modeling and this forum but wanted to say I'm enjoying reading and learning from your build log.  The patience you demonstrated in restarting this from scratch has encouraged me to totally remake the mast and boom on my Norwegian Pram as I am not thrilled with the proportions I ended up with.  Your ship is looking great and am looking forward to seeing how the paint looks on it!  Hope some day to be building one of these myself!

 

[BobG]

1 hour ago, Merriann B said:

I'm pretty new to ship modeling and this forum but wanted to say I'm enjoying reading and learning from your build log.

You can learn a lot by reading build logs on the forum but the best thing you can do is start a build log for the model you are building. You'll be able to ask questions and get excellent advice. Others will be able to learn from your build as well and you'll make friends here in the process.

 

Welcome to MSW and good luck with your build. You've chosen a great model to begin with. 

[gjdale]

Thank you for your kind comment Merriann and welcome to MSW. As Bob has said above, the most valuable tool in your toolbox will be your build log. I would encourage you to start one for your current build - it doesn't matter that you are already well into the build.

 

A small update...

 

Having decided to go ahead with the Naphthol Red colour, many very thin layers were applied to the top of the cap rail and the inboard sheer strake. Having not used this painting method before, I was somewhat apprehensive to begin with but quickly overcame that as I saw the colour building up with a very smooth finish, free of brush strokes. I lost track of the number of coats, but it was somewhere between 12 and 20-ish, with light sanding every third or fourth coat. Special thanks to Chuck and others who have described this painting method in some detail in various logs.

 

While waiting for the paint to dry, I prepared the molding strips. To create the profile, I used a set of profile scrapers that I purchased some time ago from Artesania Latina. They come in a set and cover a range of sizes of stock material and profile shapes. I found the 1.5 x 3mm fitted the supplied boxwood strip quite nicely and in no time at all produced the desired molding profile. Picture below shows the scraper and the end result.

 

 

Once the paint had dried, I applied the friezes along the sides and bow. I cheated a little here by printing them on sticky label paper on my laser printer so that I could just peel and stick. This worked well. The molding strips were then applied, the hull given another coat of WOP and the transom frieze applied. The only tricky bit here was choosing and then tailoring one of the five options to fit my transom. To assist in this, I used some tracing paper to trace the outline of my transom and then transfer this shape to the closest fitting of the supplied options. A little further trimming and a good fit with a relatively even border was achieved. That completes Chapter 3. Here are a few photos of the current state of play as I start work on the floorboards and platforms.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ryland Craze]

I can see that your Longboat is going to turn out to be a beauty.  The color is excellent as well as your craftsmanship.  Chapter four will be a fun one and I am looking forward to seeing your progress.

[gjdale]

Thanks Ryland,

 

It feels good to have reached this point after so long. By the way, your own excellent build log is serving as a key point of reference for me - invaluable!

[rafine]

Looks great Grant.

 

Bob

[Nunnehi (Don)]

Very nice work, Grant - looks great!

 

Don

[jwvolz]

Nice work Grant, good choice on the red.