18th Century Longboat by dcicero - FINISHED - Model Shipways - 1:48 - Tri-Club

[dcicero]

It's time I got around to working on my 18th Century Longboat.  I'm about six months behind my fellow Tri-Club Members.  (I'm a member of the Nautical Research & Model Ship Society of Chicago.)  My excuse? I was finishing up Scottish Maid.  This was my first model -- since I was a teenager, anyway -- and it took me eight years to finish.

 

Granted, my wife and I had two kids during that eight years and there were several years when nothing got done, but still -- start to finish -- eight years.

 

I think it turned out really well, though.  I entered it in the 37th Annual Model Ships and Boats Contest and Display.  On May 18th, it was awarded a Gold Award and I got received the Best Novice Builder Award.  I'm still walking on air.  It was the culmination of a lot of work.  The ship was judged by people who really know what they're looking at and the contest was held in Manitowoc, Wisconsin.  I grew up near there, in Green Bay.  It was like being recognized by the people of my native land.  (For those who don't know, life in Wisconsin, is very different from life in Illinois, where I live now.  I live near Chicago, a city of 2.6 million, about 8 million in the metro area.  Green Bay, when I was growing up, had a population of 47,000.  There is no metro area ... unless cow pastures count.)

 

Anyway, while others in the Tri-Club were making progress on their longboats, I was toiling away on Scottish Maid.

 

 

[dcicero]

The path I'm on with the longboat is well-worn by now.  This may well seem redundant to those who've been following the progress others have made.

 

As I said at our Nautical Research and Model Ship Society meeting last Saturday, I've been stealing shamelessly from others here, mostly from fellow Tri-Club members Bob Filipowski (BobF) and Toni Levine (tlevine).

 

I started with the building board.  Kurt Van Dahm, President of the club, provided the materials to everyone participating in the group build.

 

First step:  find the center of the building board.

 

 

 

[dcicero]

Mark a centerline on the board and mount a stem block square to the end.

 

 

[dcicero]

Then mark a line parallel to the groove in the stem block.  Glue a wood strip along that line.  Then use the basswood sheet as a guide to place the other strip, parallel to the first, forming a groove within which the keel former will sit.  Weight it down until the glue sets up.

 

 

 

[dcicero]

Here's the completed building board, with the keel former in place.

 

 

[dcicero]

There are a lot of burn marks on the basswood sheets that, like others have said, need to be taken off.  Because I don't have scrapers like Bob used, I used regular old sandpaper, taped to a sanding stick with double-sided tape, a technique I learned from Bob Filipowski.

 

 

[dcicero]

The bearding line needed to be transfered from the starboard side to the port side.  I took a series of measurements with my digital caliper and transfered them from one side to the other.  Then I connected the dots.

 

 

[dcicero]

According to the instructions, the keel former needs to be tapered from 3/32" down to 1/32".  I was pretty nervous about getting this right, but it really wasn't that difficult.  I extended the bearding line all the way around the stem and then, using a sanding stick, slowly and carefully sanded the taper that would form the rabbet into which the planks will fit.

 

As others have noted, the stem is very weak and a lot of care is needed to avoid snapping it off.  Again, calling on Bob's knowledge, I got myself a Bob Filipowski Autograph Model glass plate.  This is a 12" x 12" x 1/4" piece of plate glass, bought from The Glasshopper in Aurora, IL for $8.00.

 

In this photo, you can see the taper.  I didn't find that 1/32" to be so narrow that I worried about a good joint with the false keel and stem.

 

 

[dcicero]

Then it needed to be glued to the stem.  I used the glass plate to get the alignment, port and starboard, perfect.  There was a lot of sand-fit-sand-fit to do before that stem piece, when put up against the false keel, showed no daylight between them.  When that was done, a little glue and some clamps and that was all there was to it.

 

 

[dcicero]

Fitting the false keel required some sand-fit-sand-fit too.  I really made an effort to get the two pieces to fit together without forcing them.  I figured the last thing that little joint needed was a torque that was going to force it apart.  In the end, it worked out really well and was glued together using the glass plate again.

 

 

[dcicero]

Yesterday, I pinned the scarf joint.  That worked well enough, but there's not a lot of room to work with there, so you need to be careful to make sure the drill bit goes in straight and plumb.  Mine was off a little bit and you can see some deformation in the groove formed between the keel former and the false keel.  I doubt it's going to make any difference, but it just a warning.

 

I also drilled holes for the mounting posts.  That operation went fine.  No pictures of that, but maybe when I get back to the workshop a little later in the week.

 

 

 

Dan

[tlevine]

Welcome aboard.  Soon there will be a fleet of longboats.

[BobF]

Hi Dan,

 

You're off to a good start.  Keep it up, and you'll pass me up like I'm standing still!  Come to think of it, I AM standing still.  Gotta get goin again!  One thing I noticed, and it might just be the photo, but the aft edge of your false keel needs to be 1/32" wide from the bottom up to the notch that the transom rests on.  Otherwise, you won't have room for the planks to butt up against the stern post.  Keep up the good work, mate!

 

Bob

[dcicero]

Hi, Bob.

 

 

Nope.  You're seeing what I did accurately!  I just tapered from the bearding line down to the bottom of the keel former.  If I have to taper the bottom of the former aft down to 1/32", then I need to do a little more work.  Thanks for letting me know before I made a mistake I couldn't correct.  I think I can do that taper without ruining anything in the process.

 

 

 

Dan

[BobF]

Dan -

 

Since you don't have any bulkheads mounted yet, it shouldn't be a problem tapering down that area.

 

Bob

[42rocker]

Dan

And your off. Good Luck and enjoy the build. Looks like you have lots of folks going on before you that can help you out.

 

Later 42rocker

[Chuck Seiler]

Toni

 

You better get Dan in gear. The San Diego fleet has at least 3 complete on the west coast and 1 on the east coast, with 2 more complete by August or September. By then we can arm up the fleet, sail in your general direction and overwhelm you.

 

Dan,

 

Welcome to the group. Toni and Bob have great build logs and great examples for you to follow.

[tlevine]

Chuck, I hope the Chicago contingent will catch up with you guys soon.  I know of two complete models.  Maybe the fleet can form an armada at the NRG Conference in October.

[dcicero]

Tonight, I tapered the keel former to make the aft end 1/32" wide.  (Thanks, Bob!)  The operation was successful and nothing was snapped off in the process.  I tried to get a picture of that, but it was hard to get one that really showed anything.

 

Then I started fitting bulkheads.  The first seemed to go just fine.  The second ... well, I had a question.  It fit fine and I got it aligned.  I applied a little glue and slipped it into place.  That's when I noticed this.  The top of the keel former is higher than the bottom of the frame.  When it comes time to snap off the inner portion of the bulkhead, isn't that going to be a problem?

 

 

 

 

Then I looked at where the bottom of the bulkhead meets the bearding line.  That looks normal.

 

 

 

Am I over-thinking this?  Or do I have to adjust something?

 

By the way, I also drilled the holes for the mounting wires.  You can see them in this photo.

 

 

 

 

 

Dan

 

 

 

 

[tlevine]

Yes, Dan, you are overthinking this.  The key is where the exterior bulkhead meets the rabbet.  You are going to be sanding down the internal keel and thinning the remaining part of the bulkheads once the central section has been removed anyway.  One suggestion...as much as possible keep the keel assembly in the building board to prevent racking.  Looks good so far. 

[BobF]

HI Dan,

 

I agree with Toni.  I had the same doubts when I started gluing the bulkheads to the false keel.  It all works out ... really!  One thing to watch out for:  You don't want the bulkheads to be too tight, when you prefit them.  If you are using a PVA glue, the basswood will swell, and you might have a problem getting the proper alignment.  I had to remove one bulkhead twice before I could get it correctly aligned.  Also, if the fit is too tight, you might start stressing the frame while you're ligning up the bulkhead.  Like Toni stated, keep the keel assembly in the building board as much as possible.  It's looking good, mate!

 

Bob

[hopeful]

Hi Dan,

 

Congrats on the completion of your "Scottish Maid" and the deserved accolation.

 

Wish you well as you build your longboat.

 

Cheers,

Hopeful aka David

[dcicero]

Thanks to everyone for all the encouragement!

 

Bob, I hear what you're saying about the glue swelling the basswood and making the bulkheads fit too tightly.  I found the same thing.  I'd dry-fitted the bulkheads and they were snug.  I didn't want "snug," so a loosened them up a little.  (Putting any pressure on these tiny, fragile parts seemed like a recipe for disaster, so I thought it better to have a little wiggle room in there.)  When I applied the glue, the wood swelled and the fit was snug again.

 

I took my time with the alignment ... a necessity, really.

 

In getting the third and fourth bulkheads in place, I broke a cardinal rule:  never work on a model when the kids are around.  My two boys -- ages six and eight -- require a lot of attention.  Better to just work on the models after they've gone to bed and avoid the mistakes that happen when one is distracted.

 

Anyway, I fit the next two bulkheads and helped put together a Lego model and helped with some other little project.  Here are the results.

 

 

When I got a quiet minute to look at it, I thought:  "Holy c*%^!"  Those bulkheads don't extend down to the bearding line!  How am I going to plank that?  I should have deepened the notches on the bulkheads!

 

Then I looked at some of the other builds.  Bob's had some really good pictures of this phase of construction.  And I now see that the bulkheads should be this high.  This, I guess, is one of those things that come with experience:  the ability to see how something's going to look before the actual construction is completed.  That's one of the things I really enjoy about building.

 

 

 

Dan

[dcicero]

By the way, those bulkheads are perpendicular to the keel former.  I couldn't get a good picture showing that and the depth to which the bulkheads extended.  What's one to expect from any iPhone?

 

 

 

Dan

[dcicero]

Just a quick update.  Got all the bulkheads in place.

 

I started installing the spacers in between the bulkheads last night.  I was a little concerned about them pushing the bulkheads out of true.  I didn't force them between the bulheads, but I made them out of basswood which expands when exposed to the glue, just like the bulkheads did.  I'm thinking I like the idea of just running some strips across the tops of the bulkheads to provide stability rather than putting the spacers between them.

 

Probably doesn't make much difference because the goal is just to stabilize the bulkheads and give them enough rigidity to withstand the fairing process.

 

 

Dan

 

 

[BobF]

Dan,

 

I glued strips across the tops of the bulkheads, which worked well.  At times, I put a lot of stress on the frame while applying planks, and I didn't experience any distortion.  Your model is looking good, mate!

 

BobF

[tlevine]

Dan, if you put the same width spacer to either side of the centerline there should not be any distortion.  If you are really worried, use CA for this step as it will not cause any swelling of the wood.

[dcicero]

Thanks, Toni and Bob!

 

I decided to go the "strips across the top" method.  Here's a picture of the model with the last two strips strapped down in place.  I checked it this morning and everything is nice and stable.  This'll make fairing the bulkheads less stressful.

 

 

Dan

 

 

[dcicero]

It's been quiet around here lately!

 

Here's an update on my progress ... slow, but steady.

 

I used the tick strip method described by Bob.  For each frame, I measured the distance from the bearding line to the top of the frame.  Then, laying the tick strip on the plans, I shortened that length by the distance from the top of the frame to the wale.  Then I measured the length of the tick strip and recorded it.

 

 

I've decided to go with 13 planks on each side, so I divided the total width by 13 to get the width of each plank.  (At the bow, forward of the end of the garboard strake, there will be only 12 planks.)

 

Initially, I measured out those plank widths on the tick strips with the intention of transfering them to the frames, but I found that really tedious and I wasn't sure that it would help me all that much with the actual planking.  This differs from Bob's process ... which means I'll probably pay for my errors later!

 

Now that all that measuring has been done, I've developed this table, showing the widths of the planks at each frame.

 

 

Next step:  cutting some planks and fitting them in place.

 

 

 

Dan

 

 

[BobF]

Dan:

 

I know a modeler who planks his hulls using tables very similar to your's, and they turn out awesome!  The method you will be using can be very precise. I think you're on the right track.

 

BobF