New Bedford Whaleboat by John Ruy - FINISHED - Model Shipways - 3/4”=1’ (1/16 scale) - Plank-On-Frame Wood Kit

[Papa]

Love the weathered gray stain.

 

[John Ruy]

I’m back to the Whaleboat for now. Had to take a break from rat lines and battens on the Morgan. 😆

 

Time to build the Cheek Pieces. First step is to create two 3/8” x 1/4” From the 3/8” x 1/2” piece in the box. 
 

 

Then carve the cheek pieces from the two 3/8” x 1/4” piece. 

 

These pieces need to have rabbit and lap joints carved into them. 

 

Then glued into place on the bow of the boat. 
 

 

Saw off the stem post and glue the cheek pieces into place. Easy NOT...

 

Version 2.0 made it to the bow. 😆

 

 

A bit more carving/shaping and installation of the bow roller. 😎

 

Latter 🍻

[turangi]

Looking great! The cheek pieces were a challenge but after many looks at the illustrations and much trepidation turned out to my satisfaction. 

[John Ruy]

Bow roller installed...

 

 

Ready for inwales and gunwales...

 

 

cutting inwale into the cheek pieces. 
 

 

completion of gunwhale. 
 

 

Ready for. Final sanding and beveling. 
 

 

 

Onward... 😎

 

Filled, Sanded and Painted Gunwales. 😎

 

[catman42]

Hi Again John

 

Its a good thing your build is on line I would be lost with out it. Anyway have another question on the sheet 2 it shows on the plan bow chocks but can not find any reference to them any where else?? can you help.

 

thanks again

 

Brad

[John Ruy]

On 9/27/2020 at 10:46 PM, John Ruy said:

These pieces need to have rabbit and lap joints carved into them. 

 

Then glued into place on the bow of the boat. 
 

  
 

Catman42,

 

would you be referring to The Cheek Pieces? Page 79. They are a bit confusing at first. 

[John Ruy]

On 10/15/2020 at 10:32 AM, catman42 said:

Hi Again John

 

Its a good thing your build is on line I would be lost with out it. Anyway have another question on the sheet 2 it shows on the plan bow chocks but can not find any reference to them any where else?? can you help.

 

thanks again

 

Brad

Brad,

 

What you are looking for,  Bow Chocks is on pages 88-89. 
 

 

 

Havent quite gotten there myself just yet. 🍻

[John Ruy]

Making some progress on the Whaleboat. Thought I would give you all an update. Carefully shaped and Installed Thwarts to fit tight to the hull. 
 

 

Shaped and mounted the Thigh Board. 
 

Cut and laid out the planking for the Cuddy. 

 

 

Mounted the Lion’s Tongue. Nailed the Cuddy planking in place. 

 

 

Painted the Cuddy and Thigh Board.

 

 

Close up of Cuddy. 

 

 

Laid out filler blocks for the Thwart Knees. 

 

Very tedious micro carpentry with an Xacto Knife. 

 

 

Glued all filler blocks in place with CA glue. 

 

 

Shaped the curve in each filler block by hand sanding.

 

 

All filler blocks placed and shaped. Lines drawn for placement of Knees and Thwart Pads. 

 

 

Soaked 1/32 x 1/16 materials overnight  in ammonia and water before clamping the Thwart Knees in place and allowing them to dry overnight. 
 

 

After dry, glued the Thwart Knees on the Mast Thwart after placing the Mast Thwart Pad. Pre drilled holes to place Lill Pins as rivets in the Thwart Knees. 
 

 

Two Rivets in each Thwart Knee. 

 

 

Lill Pins are trimmed short so as to not extend to the outside of the hull. 

 

 

Completed Thwart Knees for the Mast Thwart. 

 

 

Stained and Painted Mast Thwart. Used pencil lead to represent the remaining nails, as I did on the ceiling planks. 

 

 

On to the remaining four Thwarts. Interesting word “Thwart” it is used as both a noun and a verb. 😎

 

[John Ruy]

Fitted remaining knees with laminated 1/32” x 1/16” strips. 
 

 

Thwarts completed with knees and pads. 

 

 

Micro carpentry work on the Bow Box. 
 

 

Finished the Bow planking and painted. 
 

 

Carved and shaped Bow Chocks. 

 

 

 

 

Glued Bow Chocks in place top of Gunwale and Cheek Pieces. 
 

 

Final sanding in place. 

 

 

 

 

Bow Joinerwork completed and ready for paint. Next up Stem and Stern Post beveling. 
 

Onward 🍻

 

[John Ruy]

With the beveling of the stem and stern posts completed, it’s on to the final painting of the hull. 

 

Once I was satisfied with the detail and I gave everything another coat of black, white and ochre acrylic, I sealed the finish with Varathane water based polyurethane (crystal clear satin)

 

I must say, I am pretty satisfied with the outcome. 

 

According to the instructions “I have met the most difficult challenges of this project, and what remains is relatively simple”.  LOL 😂 
 

 

What remains is a whole lot of detail. 😆 A bit over 100 hours in nearly seven months to get this far. Definitely a welcome change periodically from the Morgan. Time to head over to the other side of the work bench and continue with yard arms and whaleboats on the my Vintage Marine Company Charles W Morgan. 
 

 

She has been patiently awaiting my return. Time for a change of pace. 
 

I’ll be back... 😎

 

 

[lesterpalifka]

need whale boat info?  I am a volunteer at the Mystic Seaport Museum. i worked for 5 years on the Morgan restoration took over 3000 pictures during the restoration most pics are taken with modeling in mind. I have worked on the hull deck . spent 2 years in the rigging loft re-doing the rigging. if you need pictures of any thing let me know happy to help. also covered the whale boats also. i built the model ship ways whale boat. here is my email

lesterpalifka@gmail.com

let me know what you want to see..... Lester

[John Ruy]

Lester,

Thanks for your offer of info on the Morgan. I’ll be back here to finish up the Whaleboat as soon as I complete my CWM. 
 

 

Running Rigging is Completed on the Morgan. I am currently detailing the MinniMe Whaleboats. 
 

 

I am curious, did she come to mystic in 1941 with white or yellow ochre bulwarks? 
 

Thanks for the email address, I’ll let you know if I have any questions as I finish out the MS Whaleboat. 🍻

[John Ruy]

Wow! Went back to The New Bedford Whaleboat today. Opened My Build Log and saw it has been 3 months since I last worked on her. 
 

Where does the time go. I’ve been finishing the Charles W Morgan for 3 Months! 😆 

 

So I made progress today on the Whaleboat. Started adding details in the stern. 
 

 

 

 

 Standing cleats in the stern installed. 
 

 

 

Foot brace installed. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

Cleats installed...

 

 

 

 

 

Loggerhead installed

 

 

Stern details Painted... 😎

 

 

 

[toms10]

Is there no rest for the weary!?  The CW Morgan isn't even cold yet.  😃

 

Tom

[John Ruy]

2 hours ago, toms10 said:

Is there no rest for the weary!?  The CW Morgan isn't even cold yet.  😃

 

Tom

I just can’t stop, this is what I do. 😎

[John Ruy]

The Center Board Case is capped and the Lifting Strap is in place and functional. 👍
 

 

Onward. 🍻

Edited March 3, 2021 by John Ruy

[John Ruy]

Progress on Rowlocks and speak Cleats...

 

 

Rowlock pads in place. 
 

 

Hand Hewn Peak cleats created. 

 

 

Rowlocks and Peak Cleats Complete. 
 

Next up... The Rudder, Pintles and Gudgeons. Later... 😎

 

[John Ruy]

The Rudder...

 

 

The Rudder assembly is pretty straightforward. The Rudder itself is a laser cut piece, requiring some beveling. The Tiller is formed from 1/16th strip wood with some micro carpentry joint work on top of the rudder.  
 

The pintles however, require extreme micro forge work. The hardware provided has to be reshaped cut and drilled. Glad I use a 5x magnifying work lamp. 
 

 

Brass nails provided make for decent rivets. 😆

 

 

Just 2 hours later we have a completed Rudder with Tiller. 
 

Calling it a night... 😎

 

Edited March 6, 2021 by John Ruy

[John Ruy]

Gudgeons and Mast Hinge...

 

 

Some shaping required for proper fit of the rudder to the Gudgeons. 
 

 

One down one to go...

 

 

 

Rudder properly installed. Now I can remove it and set it aside, so I don’t destroy it while I continue on to the Mast Hinge. 
 

 

Ok that didn’t cut out so well.  😆

 

 

OK... I think I’ll go with the first one. CA glue to the rescue. 🤪

 

 

Pilot hole for the nail, don’t want to risk any more splitting. 
 

 

Parts are ready for assembly. 
 

 

Completed Mast Hinge... Another 2 hour experience at jewelry work. Those hinges were tough. 
 

Sorry, forgot to take pictures of the process. Too focused, to even think about a build log. Oh well, I’m not going back to do that again. 😎

 

I’ll be back... 🍻

 

Edited March 6, 2021 by John Ruy

[Moab]

Looking outstanding...Moab

[John Ruy]

Mounting the New Bedford Whaleboat, before adding the finishing details. 
 

 

Following Eric A.R. Ronnberg, Jr.’s example I will be using the brass supplied for the mounts. 
 

 

I have determined I will need to mount the Whaleboat just one inch off it’s base to fit the display case height. 
 

I cut the brass tubing to one inch and aligned the Whaleboat to a diagonal position, again to fit the display case dimensions.
 

 

More micro-forging to form the bilge supports. 

 

 

Made sure all was level with iLevel Ap on My iPhone.  

 

 

 Purchased this case on eBay for $50.00. Deal! 😆 Just add glass.

 

Ready for Mast, Oars, Line Tubs, etc...

 

Getting really close to the finish line on this one. 😎

 

 

 

[John Ruy]

Now comes all of the neat miniature stuff that drew me in to build this Whaleboat. 😎 

 

 

Very detailed Whale gun provided in this kit. Painted Flat black with Testors Enamel. I will have to dress it up with a bit of flat brass. 👌
 

 

Building the Gun Box... 

 

 

Never give up your scrap, you never know when you need to go to your wood pile. 
 

 

Some fine Micro carpentry. 😆

 

 

Little Cherry Stain to finish it off...

 

 

 

Mounted for display...

 

Onward... 😎

 

Edited March 9, 2021 by John Ruy

[Moab]

That $50 case looks terrific. A perfect home for a beautiful boat...Moab

[Mike_In_RI]

Hi John, sorry I missed your build up to this point. Once I have a project my head goes in to ostrich mode. In any case, your whale boat looks great. The color choices and weathering are super. Yes, no end to the tiny pieces yet to be made. "Micro Carpentry" ... exactly.

 

Mike

[John Ruy]

On 3/10/2021 at 11:11 AM, Mike_In_RI said:

Micro Carpentry" ... exactly.

Working on that compass box. 😆

Edited March 11, 2021 by John Ruy

[John Ruy]

    
 

Box completed, but need to clean up the compass with a  new card.

 

 

Compass 2.0, next to its inspirational photo. 😆
 

 

Compass mounted..

 

 

Onwards... 😎

Edited March 11, 2021 by John Ruy

[Mike_In_RI]

Very nice job on the compass, harpoon gun and weatherizing . How's your eyesight? Working on the compass was about the time I got a new OptiVisor. 🧐

 

 

 

 

[John Ruy]

I use a fluorescent light with a 5x magnifying lens. Helps me with my OCD. 😆

 

 

Best tool I have on my bench. 👍

 

Eyesight? Well, that’s a good Optomitrist. 🧐

[toms10]

Hi John

The whale boat is coming along nicely. I have the same light. Picked it up at Harbor Freight a few years ago. For magnification I use an Opti-visor also picked up at Harbor Freight. I find it much easier to work with instead of underneath the magnifier light. I can also swap lenses for different magnification. I haven’t done that yet as the lenses that came with it are fine. I think they are 5x. I would need to check. Now I have the ring light up high over my model and magnifier on my head. Works well. 
 

Keep up the great work. 
Tom

[John Ruy]

Onwards to building oars and a mast. 
 

 

Laser cut oar pieces added to tapered dowels. 
 

 

First cut at shaping the oars and masts.  I’ll give it another shot at blending in the dowels after the stain sets overnight. 
 

later 😎

Edited March 19, 2021 by John Ruy