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

[DrDeathproof]

This was the first kit I purchased a couple of months ago, on advice from Occre because it's recommended for beginners. Unfortunately I hit a snag because the deck board was cut wrong - the grain went longways instead of side to side. (necessary so it bends into place on the keel properly)

 

So I'm waiting for them to send a replacement piece but it sounds like a lot of their people are on vacation so shipping times are drastically increased. I might drop them an email next week to see if they actually shipped it yet or not.

 

Looking forward to your progress - I hope to continue working on my own soon.

 

 

[Havelock]

16 hours ago, DrDeathproof said:

 

So I'm waiting for them to send a replacement piece but it sounds like a lot of their people are on vacation so shipping times are drastically increased. I might drop them an email next week to see if they actually shipped it yet or not.

 

 

That's so annoying! Hopefully you don't have to wait much longer. The Palamos looks really cool!

[Havelock]

Got the main planking done:

 

 

Filling in the gaps is going to be really hard.

 

The one thing I learnt with contact cement is to not have too much laid down, i.e. remove any excess. There are some areas where the strips are a little "springy", though nothing too serious.

 

Once I got used to using the glue, the planks went down very quickly. That was very satisfying.

[VTHokiEE]

Nice job so far; have you looked into tapering the planks at all? If not it might be an interesting experiment for the next build to reduce (or even prevent) having to fill in those gaps.

[Havelock]

35 minutes ago, VTHokiEE said:

Nice job so far; have you looked into tapering the planks at all? If not it might be an interesting experiment for the next build to reduce (or even prevent) having to fill in those gaps.

 

Excellent suggestion! I didn't think of that simply because I am following the instructions verbatim for now, but for sure I would consider that for future builds.

[Havelock]

That. Was. Hard.

 

Can't believe I spent 3 hours filling in 18 holes.

 

But it's done:

 

 

 Well the hull is done. Still, it seems like the hull is the most stressful part of the whole build so I'm thinking it's plain sailing from here on out....

 

I'm actually most excited about getting to the above deck stuff. Should be getting there soon once I've completed the keel, waling planks and the bulwark work...  

[Wahka_est]

Nice planking! Tapering for sure for next build, no filling of holes but again new thing to learn.

Take you time on deck as thaths the part of ship you will look maybe the most. So quality there is important (like everywhere). Learned that the hard way on my first build.

 

[Havelock]

Minor update.

 

Did a lot of sanding of the hull and bulwark areas. Cut out the freeing ports. Batch sanded and stained most of all the parts that will need staining (as it takes time for the stain to dry fully):

 

 

Did quite a bit of work sanding/filing the bow section so the stem fits on nicely. Also a fair bit of sanding of the keel sections so that they mate up nicely.

 

At present trying to bend the rub rails but really need to make some kind of jig. In the instructions/video they glue the railings down without bending using super glue. I'm not a fan of CA and in this case I'm sure I'd mess it up royally. Going to use wood glue instead but need to bend the planks before gluing or it's going to be really hard to hold them in place.

 

In the meantime I notice more problems with the bulwark planking near the bow:

 

  

I messed up applying the contact cement in this area. Put too much down (and probably didn't let it dry enough) and so the top edges of the planks are not secure. However, you can see two places above where the planks have really separated.

 

Thankfully I'm able to get wood glue in there using an X-acto knife and toothpick:

 

 

And do a fairly decent job of fixing them up. There are two or there spots on the hull planking that have similar problems but not as bad as the bulwark.

 

Also took a crack at wire bending the decorations for the stern of the boat:

 

 

Not great but I think passable for this build. Might do some research on tools to use for shaping metal. Here I was just using some cheap needle nose pliers. Definitely harder than it looks in the videos. 

[Havelock]

Yay! Starting to look like a boat... warts and all:

 

 

 

 

 

Laying down the rub railings was nerve racking. I used small amounts of CA glue in the center and ends of the railing with wood glue along the rest. Actually started in the center (where the freeing ports are), then the stern and then the bow. Worked out really well.

 

Laying the stem, keel and sternpost was hard. Didn't do the best job. I realise now how much work it is to get really good results. I'm amazed at the level of execution I see here in NSW. Truly astounding!

 

It's a real shot in the arm to see her actually looking like a boat but unfortunately won't be able to work further on her till next week. So bummed!

[Wahka_est]

Really nice.

Do you plan to make rudder hole at stern later? Little easier if you leave there a hole. Just a suggestion.

[Havelock]

On 8/13/2020 at 10:51 AM, Wahka_est said:

Do you plan to make rudder hole at stern later? Little easier if you leave there a hole. Just a suggestion.

Sorry Wahka, not sure what you mean. I plan on making the hole next actually. In the instructions they leave it till much later but I'd rather do it now as I need to sand down part of the sternpost and want to make sure the rudder fits correctly before moving on.

[Havelock]

Created the opening for the rudder:

 

 

Not quite as long an opening as in the instructions but I'm able to get the rudder in and out no problem.

 

After that it was a few coats of wipe-on-poly:

 

 

 

 

 

Then painting the inside of the bulwark:

 

 

I brushed on Vallejo White acrylic with a touch of Buff to make the white not so stark. I mainly build plastic models and always airbrush large areas. Here I wasn't bothered to do more masking and Vallejo acrylics go down really well with a brush if you water them down a little and do many thin layers. I think I ended up doing 6 passes. Finally did a clear coat of Future/Pledge to protect the paint.

 

Also managed to get the baseboards (?) glued down, using CA, without messing up too badly:

 

 

Not a perfect job in terms of alignment but not too bad at all and thankfully very little CA showing at all which is great!

 

Next up is putting in all the 40 or so bulwark uprights which is going to be a process in itself, but once I can get the rail caps down and the rudder mounted I'll be starting on the above deck stuff which I'm very excited to finally be getting to.

 

Up to about 38 hours in the build so far.

[Havelock]

Got the bulwark stays in... all of them:

 

 

Not as tedious as I was expecting.

 

Sanding down the tops was not terrible:

 

 

but I did have some stays I "popped" off in the process. Thankfully the clear coat I put over the paint meant that there was no damage as the CA came away cleanly.

 

However, putting on the rail cap and the stern trim was a nightmare. I hate using CA. It's so unforgiving. 

 

 

You can see one of the stern trim pieces is not seated well. I had such a hard time of getting those corners in.

 

The other main issue I'm seeing is at the bow:

 

 

I'm at a bit of a loss as to how this came about.

 

Here is a final shot of the whole boat:

 

 

 

Anyway, thankfully this part is over.

 

Also managed to get the rudder fully assembled:

 

 

and ready for installation....

[Havelock]

Attached the rudder:

 

 

The lower hinge (?) was easy to do. The upper one I messed up:

 

 

It was not aligned correctly and resulted in the hinge pin breaking off from the rudder's metal brace. Not sure how to fix this. Might just leave as is.

 

The alignment of the rudder is a little off too. Not sure I could have done better at this point. 

 

[Havelock]

Painted the stern section.

 

Masking was simple enough:

 

 

Primed with Stynylrez:

 

 

Which is what I used for all my plastic and metal models.

 

Was going to paint with Vallejo acrylics but decided the primer was good enough as is.

 

However....:

 

  

I believe applying the wipe-on-poly first was a mistake. The primer came away easily as you can see.

 

 

I'm going to put the metal decorations on at the very end as I'm sure any pressure will pop them off.

 

Next started with the deck attachments. Not sure what these blocks are called but I was really glad to have Micro-Mark's "Sand-It" tool to get the blocks square:

 

 

However, I did hand drill the "crossbars" so they were not so square:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Havelock]

Nearly completed building the hatchway but decided to redo it. Good exercise in unbounding the wood glue:

 

The main thing I didn't like was the color of the wood stain. I used golden oak but would prefer a lighter pine color.

 

The other thing I wanted to do was raise the framing, like I did for the rightmost piece in the photo above, but do it for all the framing not just the edge ones.

 

So it's off to the hardware store tomorrow to get the pine stain.

 

In other news... bought some beeswax for coating the threads... and got the deckhouse assembled and ready for planking:

 

 

Some progress at least.

[Havelock]

Got the deckhouse and hatchway completed:

 

 

That was actually quite a bit of work, more than I thought it would be. Interesting how the smaller more detailed work takes so much more effort and time... 

[VTHokiEE]

Very nicely done - all the time and effort shows!

[Wahka_est]

Those look really nice!

Just a thought-maybe eyelets black next time. Left them like you on first build. Black gives nice contrast and would be more areirate probably.

[Duanelaker]

Looks very clean!  Wonderful work!

[Havelock]

Thank you, guys! It's not too bad so far but now that I'm doing more of the small pieces I'm finding that precision and attention to detail is getting much more demanding, and my mistakes and inexperience are alarmingly exaggerated at scale. I've only done plastic models before this and there the precision is built into the molds (mostly). Really have an appreciation of the work others achieve here on MSW...

 

On with the build.

 

Got all the metal pieces prepped (lots of filing!) and painted:

 

 

Not at all happy with the acrylic primer. Next time for sure going to use an enamel based one, like Tamiya's Surface Primer. For now just going to soldier on and hope I don't ding them too much during the rest of the build.

 

For the bilge pump I drilled a hole for the top ring to have something to fit into. Made another hole in the bottom so I could add a piece of rod to better secure the pump to the deck later:

 

 

I don't really have the proper setup for small metal working so it was difficult to drill the holes. Another area of hobby tools to look into...

 

Next I worked on getting the masts and boons milled (? if that is the correct terminology). Used the drill press as a lathe:

 

 

 

and it worked out well:

 

I did have one major screw up. Used one of the 6mm dowels for the bowsprit which meant I didn't have the correct size dowel for the main mast. Went to the hardware store and got two 1/4" dowels and was able to find a section to cut that was reasonably straight. But then milled the top of that too much and had to find another straight section and do over. 

 

Not sure if this is a good idea or not but I decide to put notches in the masts where blocks get tied on:

 

 

This should make it easier to tie them on and secure with CA. I guess we'll see soon enough.

 

Finally got the pieces stained and various hardware attached:

 

 

Before moving on to the masts and rigging, I got the chainplates and all the deck pieces installed. 

 

 

 

Going to leave the bowsprit and anchors till last.

 

Also not sure if I want to add the sails... have to wait and see.

 

At this point I'm 60 hours into the build.

[Havelock]

Gotta not let the workspace get out of hand:

 

 

 

Got the masts, bowsprit and anchors installed:

 

 

[Noticed after the fact that I used the wrong thread for the anchor rope. 😧 ]

 

 

 

 

 

Forgot to do the metal work for the bowsprit. After that it's a lot of rigging.

[Havelock]

Got started on the rigging:

 

 

Didn't do a great job on the fore shrouds but they are passable. I'll see how the aft shrouds look and if they are much better I'll redo the fore ones. 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm glad I got the beeswax. Definitely makes the lines look better.

[Havelock]

Did a better job of the aft shrouds so re-did the fore shrouds too:

 

 

Not the best job ever but happy enough with the results. 

[Wahka_est]

Superb work you are doing with this ship! Also very fast - how many hours you have roughly spent on it - you work on it most of the evenings?

[Havelock]

11 hours ago, Wahka_est said:

Superb work you are doing with this ship! Also very fast - how many hours you have roughly spent on it - you work on it most of the evenings?

Thx, Wahka. I've spent just over 60 hours so far. Been able to work on it in spurts but mainly on the weekends and in the evenings when I had the energy.

[Havelock]

Got all the main rigging finished:

 

 

 

 

Adding the sails in next up.

[Wahka_est]

You are fast!

Any thoughts on next kit allready?

[Havelock]

3 hours ago, Wahka_est said:

You are fast!

Any thoughts on next kit allready?

I have the Taurus still to do and at some point I'll get back to the longboat (probably when winter comes and I'm stuck indoors).

 

I'm definitely going to do another more substantial kit but going to take my time about choosing one as they are so time demanding and I want a boat/ship that I'm really excited about. Half the fun is the hunt/acquisition, right? 

 

Also have a bunch of plastic kits on hold that need some TLC. And I promised a friend to build a Tamiya Tiger I tank (with remote control) that he was given but doesn't build models himself. 

 

But I'm guessing I'l like 99% of model makers.... way too many kits, way not enough time... 

[Havelock]

Got the Jibs on:

 

 

 

I had to make an adjustment to the block used for the Jibs. For whatever reason it was too low. Probably shouldn't have pushed the mast all the way into the hole. There where measurements in the plans on how high the masts ought to be but I didn't check them. Anyway I simply moved the block higher: