Kitamaebune by catopower - Woody Joe - 1/72 scale

[catopower]

Managed to misplace the instruction booklet for this Woody Joe kit. Fortunately, at this stage, the model is nearly identical to the Higaki Kaisen kit, which I've built before and still have the instructions for.

 

I haven't needed to deal with the sails yet, but I have been studying some photos I took of museum models to get some ideas.

 

I went ahead and added the main mast and worked out a way to fit the small bow mast. The main mast, I had built months ago, so it's been ready to mount for some time. For the bow mast, I fashioned that out of some of my hinoki supply and fit it into place. I placed it just forward of the foreward most beam at the bow, which allowed me to lash the mast to it for strength. I added a very simple rectangular piece of wood for the mast step, and fit a piece of brass rod into the base of the mast to help secure it to the deck.

 

I also added some lines to chocks I made for the tenmase, the small boat I placed on the foredeck. 

 

I forgot to mention that I added a pair of small eyebolts on either side of the bow and made a piece of red and white rope that's used to hold the sagari (the tasssle hanging from the stem) from swinging about.

 

I used white line that I'm told is cotton, but I'd swear it was linen line. Anyway, I used some red gouache paint on one length of line. It gave me the brightest looking color for the rope that I've been able to get. I then twisted this and a piece of white line to make the final red and white rope. This worked well enough, but had to be careful with the gouache, as it stays water soluble even after it dries. I'll be spraying the whole model with some matte laquer, so this will hopefully stabilize the paint in the rope.

 

I also got out the mini drill press and drilled holes to add bars to the windlass barrels. These would actually have been wood, but it seemed to be a lot simpler to use some wire I have on hand. They look pretty good here, but I'm sure these wouldn't have been iron, so I'm going to mix some paint to try to match the rest of the wood and paint these.

 

Securing the main mast was easy enough. There is a pretty simple lashing that makes several turns around the whole assembly. I'd seen one photo that had this nice crossing of the rope behind the mast, so I thought I'd work that in. Looks a lot less plain this way.

Finally, here's the tenmasen up close, now secured to the deck, with excess line trimmed off.

 

Next, it'll be time to make the sail. Haven't decided how I want to do it, but I have some ideas. We'll see which one wins out.

 

 

[cog]

2 hours ago, catopower said:

Managed to misplace the instruction booklet for this Woody Joe kit. Fortunately, at this stage, the model is nearly identical to the Higaki Kaisen kit, which I've built before and still have the instructions for.

Thought it looked familliar! How could I have missed this log(!) Lovely crisp details, Clare

[Ekis]

Really superb ! 😃

[druxey]

Those sails are fascinating! They would be less likely to blow out in  a strong gale than conventional Western sails.

[Tim Murphy]

Clare, I could E-mail you the kit instructions because as I have said I am work on the kit now.

Let me know.

Tim

[catopower]

3 hours ago, Tim Murphy said:

Clare, I could E-mail you the kit instructions because as I have said I am work on the kit now.

Let me know.

Tim

Hi Tim,

Actually, I managed to get some scans of the last few pages. That was all I needed. Turns out at this point it's pretty much identical to the Higaki Kaisen instructions. But, thanks for the offer! How is your build coming along? It's nice to know that others are building this and the Higaki Kaisen kit. 

 

Hi Druxey,

Unfortunately, at 1/72 scale, I can't do a whole lot of detailing to the sails. I can only simulate the overall appearance. I'm going to have to model a smaller craft that has significant sails so I can really show the details of the Japanese sails. Probably be a subject in 1/20 or 1/10 scale, but it's not at the top of the "Next Projects" list. 

 

Ekis, cog,

Thanks for the nice comments. I'm nearing completion. I already have the main yard ready to go. Just have to make the small one for the bow sail. Then, I just have to decide on how I want to make the sails. 

 

Right now, I'm thinking I might just sew most of the seams, but the sail panels are grouped into four sections, and these sections appear to have more noticeable lacing between them, particularly the seam at the center of the sail. Found a photo I took of a model – I think it was at the Sea Folk Museum in Toba.

 

 

This model was built at 1/30 scale I believe. Maybe it was even 1/20. I don't recall, and unfortunately I can't find a photo of the whole information card at its base. But, you can see in the last photo that each sail panel is folded over, so the modeler could successfully tie the panels together. Then, you can see the lacing between the groups of panels. 

 

Also, most models of Kitamaebune show black sections on the sail, usually in the form of rectangles. These markings identify the ship owner. I found some examples recorded somewhere. I'll try to incorporate this on my model. Higaki Kaisen belong to the Higaki trade guild, so you don't see the sail markings on them. They're identified by the diamond shaped lattice work on their bulwarks.

 

Off to meditate on the sails...

[captain_hook]

That is an interesting build. You have put a lot of effort in the sails and they look great. 

[Tim Murphy]

I’m getting ready to install the last set of planks. There not the easiest set. I fear that I will have a gap on the run. These are the two plank run in the last part of section 24. I’m not happy.

[James H]

What a beautiful vessel. I like that very much. 

[catopower]

Thanks James. 

 

Captain Hook, thanks for the comments, but those aren't my sails – I have yet to make mine!

 

Tim, send me a photo and I can tell you if I had similar problems there. Not having the instructions anymore, I don't know what section 24 is  

 

Edit: Tim, I just looked at my own build log and there's a photo of step 24! So, I know what you're talking about. Yes, I had some issues there too. I have the lower hull painted black, so some issues are pretty well hidden. Also, I found that because the ship has a chine hull, imperfections in the seams between planks are not so noticeable as well.

 

A strip of wood behind any gaps is the most useful thing to do, as it will keep any stray light from shining out through the cracks. I had to do this in many places, and now I'd even forgotten that those gaps exist. This would be a bigger issue on a hull that's round with fair curves. This ship has a lot of stuff sticking out.

 

Edited April 3, 2020 by catopower

[Chuck Seiler]

Clare,

 

    Awhile back you mentioned Ages of Sail was working on being distributor for Woody Joe models.  Is that still in the works?

[captain_hook]

The sails will be as beautiful as your woodwork! 🤗

[catopower]

Chuck, I don't see this happening any time soon. Issues with non-english instructions and also Ages of Sail being a distributor/dealer and Woody Joe being a Japanese company whose operation doesn't fit with distributor operations. A bit like why Ages of Sail probably can't sell Vanguard Models kits or Syren Ship Model Company stuff. But, zootoyz.jp offers great service and very fast shipping. So, I think they're the best way to go anyway. 

 

Thanks for the kind words Captain Hook. I'll do my best. It's a bit tough trying to make them with special detail. It would be easiest to simply sew the seams on the kit provided sail. But, then I the bow sail would look a little out of place as it wouldn't match the main sail, unless I just have the bow mast, which no sail attached.

 

I did sew all the seams, but now have to simulate the separation of the four main sail panels. I'm hoping it will look natural. If not, then I have to scrap the sail and come up with a different plan.

[Tim Murphy]

I’ve used zoo toys.jp as my source for my two Woody Joe kits. You couldn’t ask for a better distributor.

They have a easy to use web page. You can change the page into English. There selling prices are in 

Yen and shipping is in Yen. There are apps where you can convert the price into $. I got my last order

in about eight days. 
Check Amazon for there price, then check zootoys. 
Tim Murphy

[catopower]

Actually, I think the default language may be english, as I've never seen the site in another language. And, there is a currency selector now, so you can see the prices in dollars or euros, etc. Personally, I like seeing the prices in yen, so I can feel that much better when I convert the cost into dollars. 

 

Yeah, Amazon. When I first found Woody Joe kits, Amazon sellers were trying to charge 3 times the cost of the kits because they felt they could get away with it. I contact Woody Joe to help find a seller in Japan, which is how I found Zootoyz. Took a while for the Amazon sellers to adjust downwards, but they eventually did. Prices aren't as bad as they used to be, but Morikawa-san at Zootoyz is a simple family man who runs the shop and provides fair prices and very good service. He is VERY conscientious about it!

 

Edited April 8, 2020 by catopower

[catopower]

No real progress to post on the kitamaebune. I'm still struggling with ways to make the sails in a realistic fashion. If I can't make something work well, I can always use the kit provided main sail and leave the forward mast, called the yahobashira, bare poled with just the halliard rigged. But, I'm still hopeful.

 

In the meantime, I thought I'd post this update on a boat that I posted pics for back in February called a Honryousen (hone-reo-sen). The model was commission by Douglas Brooks as a gift for generous donors who helped fund his project in Japan last Fall. The boat was one of two that he and his crew built, in this case under the guidance of Japanese boat builder Mr. Nakaichi Nakagawa. 

 

The model was completed and sent to its new owner up in Washington state, after which I received a very nice phone call thanking me for the model. I also was given a photo of the model where it is being proudly display, so I thought I'd share that here.

 

Nice to have some real closure on that project. 

 

By the way, I found I have a few good close-up photos of the sails of the Hakusan-maru, which is the kitamaebune replica ship on Sado island. I'm hoping they will help me with my sail development, but they're more likely to complicate things further – a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing...

 

 

 

[mtaylor]

Congratulations the Honryousen.  

 

And yes, knowledge is always a dangerous thing with model ships.

[catopower]

Though I'm still dancing around the issue of how I want to construct the sails on the kitamaebune, I realized there were other areas I could work on in the meantime, so moved forward in other areas.

 

It seemed to me that the next logical step would be to set up the main stay. Calling it a main stay seems a bit weird, as on a ship of this type, there is only one stay. It took me a while to figure out this is called the Hazuo in Japanese. 

 

So, to recap or introduce some of the relevant terms for those who are interested:

 

Hazuo - Stay

Ho - Sail

Hobashira - Mast

Hogeta - Yard

Yaho - Fore Sail

Yahobashira - Fore Mast

 

Still trying to figure out the terms for some of the details, but these are the main ones regarding the masts and sails.

 

Anyway, dealing with the stay, or hazuo, requires making/rigging four different parts. Here's the section of the instructions that deal with this.

 

Writing about the stay is a bit difficult, as I don't know what I would call these parts in english. Right now, I'm thinking they might be: Stay, stay pendant, stay laniard or tackle, and stay collar. If you have any suggestions for the terms, I'd be happy to hear them.

 

I don't know the Japanese terms for all of these items. They would be pretty specific terms, and the only one I know for sure is the one I mention above for the stay – hazuo.

 

The stay itself is fairly easy. It's just a heavy line with a loop at each end. On it are threaded the baggy wrinkle and string of wooden beads. I presume these beads help keep the stay from vibrating in the wind. To some extent, they probably also prevent chaffing. But, that's what the baggy wrinkle at the top end of the stay is for. So, the wooden beads must serve some other purpose.

 

 

Woody Joe provides some instruction for making the baggy wrinkle, which they refer to as the hozure (ho-zu-ray). Wrapping heavy line around a piece of provided brass wire. the line is glued up with white glue. When the glue is dry, a hobby knife is used to make cuts across the surface of the rope. A piece of sandpaper is then used to fray the surface of the rope.

 

It took me a while to get this looking something close to what I expected the baggy wrinkle to look like. You can see the final result in a later photo of the completed stay.

 

Next are the beads. These come as laser-cut... wheels, that you have to round off. The technique given is to mount them onto a pointed stick and sand down the edges. This actually worked pretty well for me, though it might be possible to use one of those Model Expo Block Busters. 

 

For photos, I had to cheat a bit, as I didn't take any "before" photos of the beads, so I stole a couple from my past build of the similar model, the Higaki kaisen...

But, the results were about the same in the end.

 

I assembled the stay, but didn't take any photos of it by itself, so here are the photos for all the stay construction.

 

Meanwhile, I also rigged the line that runs across the top deck and is used for securing the sheets of the main sail.

 

And, finally, the stay is rigged...

I didn't like the way all the tackle was bunching up around that fore mast, so I shortened the stay by about 1/2" and also shortened the collar by about 1/4". The stay tackle is easily adjusted to make up for the change.

 

I've seen photos, possibly of models, that show the fore mast lashed to the stay. I may do this for additional interesting detail. It should be noted that the fore mast was removable, as was a second larger mast that often appears behind it. But, for that matter, the main mast is removable as well, and is often lowered when the ship is at anchor for a long period of time, lowering the center of gravity of the ship, and making it more stable.

 

Now, the one issue with the stay being rigged, is that this is not the order of the build in the instructions. And, from my experience with my Higaki kaisen build, I know that rigging the main yard might be a little tricky with the stay rigged, as the halliards are fixed into place and can not be adjusted. So, when they are tied to the yard, the yard has to be in place, high up on the mast. That can make tying the ends of the halliards a bit tricky with the stay in the way. However, if worse comes to worse, I can loosen the stay tackle and temporarily remove the stay. Also, the pins that hold the different parts together have not been glued into place. So, they can be removed, if necessary. 

 

There are still a few things I can work on before I absolutely have to have the sail ready, but we're getting down to the wire!

 

Edited April 26, 2020 by catopower

[Tim Murphy]

Clare, your making great progress on Kitamaebune. The info that you have posted gives a much clearer idea on how to rig the ship. Thanks for the info.

Question, when you made the first post of this section did you have some other reference info for some out side sources? I may be wrong, but it did look

interesting.   

Stay safe and thanks some much for your work!  Tim

[catopower]

Hi Tim,

 

Thanks for the comments. I use a lot of reference materials including books (mostly in Japanese), websites, personal photos, plus the Higakikaisen kit that I built a few years ago, and have posted many of the sources here. Which reference info are you referring to? 

 

Also, there are some very fine builds of similar ships here on MSW.

There's this scratch build by guraus.

And, there is this Higaki Kaisen by BRiddoch.

 

 

[catopower]

Sorry for the lack of progress on the kitamaebune. I've been going back and forth on the method for making of the sails, but I think I'm going to settle on sewing the seams, but making 4 distinct panels, and lacing them together.

 

On the fore sail, or yaho, I'm considering leaving it off the model. I noticed that all of the drawings that depict the yaho, show it in profile, as if it is turned sideways. This works out fine, because the bottom of the sail is shown below the main stay and its tackle. If the sail is facing squarely forward, the stays would be in the way. So, I'm wondering if that sail was really used primarily for beating or reaching, to use sailing terms?

 

Meanwhile, the big delay is due to work on a model of the boat that Douglas Brooks built last years with Nina Noah and Japanese boatbuilder Mr. Mitsuaki Bansho in Toyama prefecture last Fall. The boat is called a tenma, and is a small, general purpose boat about 13 foot long. My model is close to complete, I just have to add a beam across the top of the bow, and two pairs of half-frames, noting that in Japanese boats, frames are usually added after the hull is constructed.

 

I just finished building a sculling oar and adding simulated nails. Like on the kitamaebune, the nails are copper wire that's been blackened with liver of sulfur.

 

 

This weekend, I think I'm going to do a little sewing...

 

 

 

 

[catopower]

I'm just getting back to the Kitamaebune model... yikes, 4 months later!

 

I'm really happy with this model, though it some rough spots early on. At this stage, I feel it's a very accurate model of a 19th century trade ship.

 

I'm going to try going with a kind of complicated and possibly fragile sail construction, but I think it should look very good... right up until it falls apart. More on this later.

 

I just wanted to share this link that I learned about this past week that might be particularly beneficial to those who are building, or are interested in building, one of the Japanese coastal transport kits from Woody Joe.

 

There is a book published by the Tokyo Maritime Science Museum on Higakikaisen and Tarukaisen (barrel carrying transports). It's a small format book that I think cost me only about $10 or so. But, of course, if you want to buy a copy, you pretty much have to be in Japan to do it.

 

 

 

Fortunately, what I found was that you can download a pdf copy of this book for free from the Nippon Foundation website (Japan Foundation). Here's a link to the download page (in Japanese): http://fields.canpan.info/report/detail/4963

 

And, to make life easier for those of us who can not read Japanese (all of us, maybe?), here's the direct link for the download:  http://fields.canpan.info/report/download?id=3233

 

I hope more people will build one of the Woody Joe coastal transport kits, though I know now is a terrible time to try to get one, since normal mail service from Japan to the US is non-existant right now. And, while DHL shipping is available, it's SUPER expensive.

 

One thing to note is that there is a Japanese shipping service that's now available in the US called Yamato Transport. Our favorite Japanese online shop Zootoyz.jp is able to use this to ship the mini-kits to the US, and he can fit 2 or 3 of them in a package, that should cost $20 to $40 to ship, and it shouldn't take more than a couple weeks to get, if that. If you just contact Zootoyz about what you want, he can tell you what they can do. 

 

 

 

 

[catopower]

So, here's something I've done since my last posts back in April and May. I started experimenting with the making of cargo. I am absolutely no expert on the kinds of cargo that these ships carried and how it was packaged. But, I think there are three main types in appearance: rice bales, barrels, and packaged goods. 

 

Rice bales, called tawara, are the most regular of the cargo in packaging and quantity, since it's the main staple product in Japan. Rice was put into straw mat bags, which were tied up in a pretty specific manner. These were about 1-1/2 feet in diameter and about 2-1/2 feet long.

 

I found this great photo on the Internet that wasn't accompanied by any description, but from the bow planking of these boats, I can identify these as being from the Lake Biwa area. A little digging leads me to determine that these are Sosuibune (so-soo-ee-boo-ney), which were canal boats that carried rice and firewood to Kyōto in the late 1800s. 

 

 

Anyway, I've been making some tiny, 1/72-scale tawara. I don't know if I'll add them to this model, but I think they would work. They're just so small and time consuming to make as many as I would need. 

 

I ended up making them initiall for this project that I whipped out in a couple weeks. It's a Tonegawa Takasebune, a river cargo transport that brought shipments of rice from the farms upriver from Edo. They were famous boats and numerous. One of the noticeable features is a small cabin near the bow.

 

 

 

 

These models call for a large number of these tiny things to be made. But, if you look closely, you might be able to see how I can cheat a little. The bags that are completely hidden can just be plain dowel, the ones on the bottom, can mostly just be detailed on the visible end, the ones on top are the only ones that really need the full detailing. The same would be true for any I decide to mount on the kitamaebune.

 

They take time to make and so many are needed...

 

[mtaylor]

If it's any consolation, the rice bags do really bring the boat to life. 

[catopower]

Yes Mark. Yes, it is a consolation... 🙂

[cog]

Clare,

Before you tie the rice bales down with rope, you could try to glue some woolen string (beige, and grey-green) on them. Let the glue set, and pull the string off, leaving a somewhat fiberish look.  Furthermore, yours look very round, whilst the ones in the picture have an oval look from the side. Probably from being stacked during storage, and/or transit.

 

As Mark said: "the rice bags do really bring the boat to life". Lovely detail.

[baskerbosse]

Hi Clare,

 

Looks great.

This Takasabune, is it also a Woody Joe model?

 

 

Cheers,

Peter

[catopower]

3 hours ago, cog said:

Clare,

Before you tie the rice bales down with rope, you could try to glue some woolen string (beige, and grey-green) on them. Let the glue set, and pull the string off, leaving a somewhat fiberish look.  Furthermore, yours look very round, whilst the ones in the picture have an oval look from the side. Probably from being stacked during storage, and/or transit.

 

As Mark said: "the rice bags do really bring the boat to life". Lovely detail.

Hi Carl, you know, I considered making them more detailed, but they are already so small and require me to double-wrap 6 pieces of thread around each one of them that I just don't think I care about adding any more detail to them. At any larger scale, I would have to do more, but these are 10mm lengths and each and every one are done individually.

 

I originally planned on making them from polymer clay, but the softening, rolling to get just the right size, cutting, shaping, baking of each one just added a lot more time than cutting off and shaping the wood. If they were clay, I was going to flatten them a bit. 

 

Regarding the color, I've seen bales from newely green rice straw, and I've seen bales from older yellow rice straw. They're definitely a gray green here, but it's also a hand tinted photo, popular in Japan in the late 1800s, and the paint itself seems a bit colorful and unnatural to me, so I mostly ignored the colors. Still, you may be right and a more greenish tint could be called for.

 

I'm not so worried about these in 1/72 scale. Actually, I made these after I started trying to make one in 1/20 scale. I shaped it with polymer clay, and I made it a bit of a flattened cylinder, but making it actually look like straw mat has me a bit perplexed. I have some ideas to try. But, to be honest, I'm not very hopeful that it's going to look right. Which is why I suddenly took to making some 1/72 scale cargo!

 

[catopower]

3 hours ago, baskerbosse said:

Hi Clare,

 

Looks great.

This Takasabune, is it also a Woody Joe model?

 

 

Cheers,

Peter

Hi Peter, I went through the small selection of Woody Joe kits of traditional Japanese boats. The Kitamaebune is really the last one, though I do have another Hacchoro and another Higakikaisen kit.

 

For the most part, everything I'm doing is scratch now, including this Takasebune. It was hard to find a drawing with sufficient information that I didn't have to guess on a whole lot. 

 

Here's the whole boat, only about 9" long.

 

 

I was going to make it 1/20 scale so it could be compared with other 1/20 models – a good scale for the medium-sized Japanese boats. But, it was still 36" long, and I'm running out of room here. So, I went with 1/72 scale so it could be compared to the Kitamaebune and later the Higakikaisen model.

 

The model represents a 60-foot (60-shaku, really) boat. These riverboats ranged from around 30 feet to close to 90 feet long. 

 

If I recall correctly, a boat this size would typically carry 500 bales of rice.

 

[baskerbosse]

Looks really crisp and clean!

 

 

Every time I see Woody Joe kit builds for the last couple of years now, I'm thinking I should get one. Particularly the medium sized kits.
(I like the the look of Hacchoro for size and detail)

A few years back, I saw your Yakatabune build, and nearly bought a kit back then.

This year, I have started studying Japanese and so getting even a bit more interested.

The Kitamaebune seems to me to be a bit too large to start with.

Having built all of the Woody Joe traditional Japanese ship/boat kits, have you got any recommendations?
 

Thanks,

Peter