Felucca 1887 by TurkSailor - FINISHED - Amati - N/A

[TurkSailor]

Hi folks,

 

I am by no means good at modelling, let alone ship modelling, however I find the craft to be extremely relaxing.

I won't allow my lack of ability get in the way of this most excellent hobby.

I should point out that I cannot use CA glue as I am highly sensitive to it, I use just wood glue.

 

That being said.. I thought I'd share my progress for this very small kit by Amati.

Please forgive me as I am extremely slow, though as I said earlier I am not in a rush.

This is a hidden gem of a hobby and I intend on fully immersing myself and enjoying it for as long as I am able. 

 

A little about this kit; It is the cheapest Amati kit I could find, and I figured a good starting point to get into the hobby.

Mods, I couldn't find any information about the scale of this model.

 

Small Box 

 

Carefully extracting the parts

 

Dry fitting the frames

I did a little bit of sanding to ensure they were flush with the keel 

 

Glue deck and bottoms

Here I am gluing the bottoms after having glued the deck.

You might notice the little blue. I painted the tips of the frames there as they will be visible on the deck.

 

Planking 

I did not cut any planks until I got to the bottom. This is a single planked hull so I took my time and tried to make sure there were no obvious gaps.

It wasn't till after I was done planking the hull did I notice the kit came with a pile of nails that I suspect were meant to be used here. 

No mention of using them in the steps though, also I think they wouldn't have looked good either considering this the the one and only layer of planks.

 

Planked and sanded down a bit

I am quite pleased with how this turned out considering I am a rookie shipbuilder.

Since I can only use wood glue, this took some time, perhaps that is the key here, going slow.

 

Painting

I have absolutely no experience painting, let alone painting a ship.

Anyways, I painted it entirely white first, just a single coat. 

Next I masked the area for the waterline and drew a waterline on then cut the tape with a knife.. This could have been straighter.

Once I painted the waterline I realised I should have probably painted the black area first.. Oh well.

I ended up masking the waterline and doing the black area after.

It isn't a perfect paint job but I'm quite pleased considering it was my first shot at it. Perhaps It will add to the charm of the boat when it is done.

 

 

The result

 

If you got this far, thanks for reading! 

I'll likely update again in a week, I'm now going to work on the fittings that go on deck, and shaping the dowels for the mast and sail.

 

Cheers!

The Turk Sailor

 

[TurkSailor]

Fittings 

 

Mast

 

Finished

 

 

 

 

It isn't perfect but I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.

 

Thanks for checking out the build! 

[BobG]

What a great job you've done on this colorful, little boat, Turk Sailor!

 

I'm glad to see a build log for this model. It's a perfect entry level model and you were wise to start off with a model you could be successful with. Too many first time ship modelers get in way over their heads with an advanced model and then get discouraged and never complete it. I started off with a little dory boat by Artesania Latina and found out that I really wanted to learn more and improve.

 

So congratulations from a fellow Californian. San Francisco is one of my favorite cities. My son works in the city too.

 

Have you decided what your next build will be?

[TurkSailor]

Bob thank you for checking out my log and thank you for the congratulations!

 

I agree about this model being perfect for entry level. Not too hard, but not too easy, and certainly small enough to finish in a relatively short period of time.

It also gave plenty of wiggle room for those who like to go above and beyond.

 

For such a simple model, I learnt quite a few things.

As an example the waterline was very difficult for me to get right. Also I have no clue how to tie the right knots used in rigging.

 

This is to be a lifelong hobby, I imagine with time I will improve and learn much more.

 

I must admit, I found the quality of this kit to be superb and so I plan to stick with Amati for now.

My next build is to be the Sampang. I'm working my way through the Amati catalog in order of price.

 

 

I agree, San Francisco is a charming city. I live in San Jose now and will update my location.

[BobG]

The Amati Sampang is a very interesting model and looks like a nice choice for your second build.

 

I would highly recommend that, at some point, you look at the two new fishing boat models that Chris Watton of Vanguard Models has recently designed. The Lady Eleanor, a fifi, and the Lady Isabella, a zulu, are very interesting models that are historically accurate and are suitable for beginners. The materials are outstanding and the instructions and plans are as good as it gets. James H has made professional build logs here on MSW also that are excellent too. You can take a look here: vanguardmodels.co.uk.

 

I look forward to your next build.