Polaris by Havelock - FINISHED - OcCre - 1:50 - first build

[Havelock]

And done! (Well I still have some rope coils to make):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I added a little summary of my build experience to the first post in this topic as I feel that will be more helpful to people who might be browsing the finished build logs and thinking about building this kit.

[Gr8teful Rick]

Thanks for the build log, and the up-front summary. I'm also new to this craft, and selected Polaris as my first build. I will be looking through your log carefully as I make my way. I hope mine turns out as nice as yours!

[Stevelm]

Thank you for your detailed log. I’ve found it very helpful to read while I am also making my very first model ship, the Polaris. 

[GrandpaPhil]

Congratulations! Well done!

[Scuttlebutt]

On 7/27/2020 at 2:55 AM, Havelock said:

Got the deck planking finished and marked up. Decided to use a wipe-on poly to seal them:

 

 

The WOP is really easy to use. Had to do a few thin coats; the wood really soaked it up. First time using this kind of product. I think I put enough down to protect the wood but not enough to make it look like a finish. I can always put more down later, right?

 

Gluing the deck to the false keel/ribs was quite the effort. Did a dry fit (a few times) to see how well they mated. The slight bend in the false keel meant I had to twist things a bit to get all the rib keys to sit properly in deck rabbets.

 

Used generous amounts of Titebond and tried using CA to tack down the deck while the wood glue dried. Should have used a medium CA but only had thick CA on hand and it wasn't very effective. In the end I was able to squeeze things together long enough for the glue to take. Titebond is relatively fast I'm finding:

 

Happy enough with the results. However, the transom is not square with the deck:

 

 

Thinking it's not the end of the world.

 

Also somehow managed to lose one of the bow filler pieces (C1) and had to make a replacement out of 1/8" basswood. Still can't figure out where that piece got to....

 

All in all a very productive day and am pretty happy with the deck, even with the horrible grain:

 

 

Now on to doing all the fairing, ugh.....

 

Looks really nice. I am currently on this step, and you are correct, it is quite the effort 😐 . I hope mine comes out as nice as yours 👍