Norwegian Whale Boat by G.L. - FINISHED - scale 1/10 - SMALL

[WBlakeny]

GL thats a work of art! Your buildlogs are always such a joy to go through. They're so informative and instructive. Thank you.

[G.L.]

4 hours ago, vaddoc said:

GL, the boat came out fantastic, lovely details! Your confidence working with metal and wood, both large chunks and tiny pieces, is impressive. A very enjoyable log apart from the "sticking a pole to the whale's blow hole" part!

Thanks, Vaddoc. That of the pole and the blow hole is not really my invention. The whole of whaling seems to me to be a very bloody event. I am very happy that it is now heavily restricted.

[G.L.]

14 minutes ago, WBlakeny said:

GL thats a work of art! Your buildlogs are always such a joy to go through. They're so informative and instructive. Thank you.

Thank you for your kind words, Chris.

[G.L.]

9.2 Dead eyes and chain plates (cont.)
Now I can place the dead eyes and the plates.

 

 

Here the boat cranes are swung out. They are kept in their position by metal crane hooks which are hooked in an eye in the davit.

The boat slides can now also be placed. The boat cranes are in their open position for hoisting of lowering the boat.

[G.L.]

9.5 Boat protection
In the logs for model boat kits I found the log of Mike_in_RI who was building a New Bedford Whale boat in the davits. He made mats to protect the keel of his boat from shafing on the cranes. His first idea was to use mats but finally he  made baggy wrinkles. Personally I like the idea of mats and I use his method to make some. I suppose that Mike can forgive my plagiarism as he didn't use himself mats.

 

When the two mats are weaved, I stain them with dark brown stain and soak them with textile glue around a piece of wood with the same dimensions as the crane to fix the shape of the mats and to flatten the rope fibers.

Then they are tied on the cranes.

With the boat keel standing on the mats:

 

When standing on the cranes, the boat is also leaning against the bearing posts. In heavy weather the boats' rub rail can be damaged by chafing against the bearing posts. To protect the rail I make a rope seizing round the bearing posts.

As finish of the seizing I want to  place a Turkish knot above and below it. To make the knot I use a googled jig 

 

When the whole pattern of the jig has been followed I slide the knot on a round tube to tighten it up a bit ...

... and to double it.

Then I place the knot on the bearing post on top and at the bottom of the seizing.

 

Finally the rope work is stained dark and coated with mate varnish.

 

Thank you very much for reading this log, for your likes and for your encouraging comments.

 

 

Till next week!

 

[Wintergreen]

Ah, details!

Like spice on a dish, that (not so) little extra 🙂 

Suddenly the whale knot found a proper place. Same meaning in Swedish actually, valknop or Turkish head knot. Google told med the origin is from the Viking age. Well what do you know. Used one as a boy scout to keep the scarf taught. 

 

Lovely rope work nevertheless GL!

 

[vaddoc]

How very nice! Indeed, these details have made a world of difference. This is a fantastic model GL.

[G.L.]

On 2/17/2021 at 8:28 PM, Wintergreen said:

Ah, details!

Like spice on a dish, that (not so) little extra 🙂 

Suddenly the whale knot found a proper place. Same meaning in Swedish actually, valknop or Turkish head knot. Google told med the origin is from the Viking age. Well what do you know. Used one as a boy scout to keep the scarf taught. 

 

Lovely rope work nevertheless GL!

 

Thank you Hakan,

 

Well, if the Turkish knot has a Viking origin, it is certaily at its place on a Norwegian whaleboat.

[G.L.]

On 2/20/2021 at 7:47 PM, vaddoc said:

How very nice! Indeed, these details have made a world of difference. This is a fantastic model GL.

Thank you, Vaddoc.

[G.L.]

9.6 Lower blocks
The boat is lowered by two-sheave blocks.
Each block is made with three wooden slices.

Gluing them together, separated by wooden sticks.

Sanding the blocks when the excesses of the sticks are sawn off.

 

 

And here I forgot to make some pictures of the finishing of the blocks (final shaping by sanding the edges and placing the sheaves). I'll make up for it by posting some more pictures of making the hooks.
Starting by making an eye in a copper wire.

 

Sawing of the excess.

 

Folding the hook.

 

 

Filing the end sharply.

 

 

When the blocks are ready, I hang them with weights in the davits to straighten the ropes.

 

[G.L.]

9.6 Deck and pin rail

The deck is consisting of two layers, first the deck planks and on top of those a thinner wooden sheathing. I presume that this was done because flensing and boiling the whale blubber was a dirty job and the oil made the deck greasy and slippery. When a whaler was prepared for a new voyage it was easier and cheaper to remove and replace the upper plank sheathing than replacing the whole deck.
Laying the deck planks.

Covering the deck with sheathing planks.

 

The deck is ready.

In the picture above , you see in the fancy rail twelve holes. The fancy rail is at the same time pin rail.
Making the belaying pins on the lathe with some small chisels and files and with the help of a wooden jig.

The twelve belaying pins, ready to be stained.

The belaying pins in the fancy rail.

 

Thank you very much for reading this log, for your likes and for your encouraging comments.

 

 

Till next week!

[G.L.]

9.7 Finishing the display stand
The davits are ready to receive the boat. With the boat on the cranes its full weight comes to the front of the stand. The boat and the equipment don't weigh that much that there is a big risk that the stand falls forward but some more stability will not hurt. Therefore I will expand the base of the stand a bit forward. At the same time it gives the opportunity to show height above the water level at which the boat is hanging.
I start with sawing an MDF base plank.

About half of the plate will remain visible in front of the davits model. I paint is in dark blue to simulate the sea water.

I hammer a wooden frame around the base plate.

To make it a little bit more 'sea' like I cut a plexi glass with a wrinkled surface to make the sea surface a bit more realistic.

 

The davits are now ready to receive the boat.

[G.L.]

10. Finishing the project
The boat can now be placed in the davits.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This also concludes this project.

This project was fully realized during the Covid 19 epidemy. The lockdowns and other contact restrictions over the past months allowed me to spend more time in the workshop than usual. However, this is little consolation as I miss real contact with my modeling friends during our regular meetings to view, admire and discuss each other's work.  Let's hope that life soon comes to normal again. Fortunately there is also this forum where we can keep in touch with so many like-minded friends worldwide.

As for the near future: a monograph from the publisher 'Ancre.fr' for a next project is already laying on my desk. 
But first of all, I will finish an old project first.

I thank who read and viewed this log. I thank you for your likes, your advises and your comments.

[Blackreed]

Very nice.

[gsdpic]

Wonderful result with great features.  I really like the davit display and the "seawater".  Just amazing attention to detail here.   Some of those pictures in the last post could easily pass for pictures of a life size representation of a whale boat on a davit.

 

[Baker]

Very well done.

Congrats on this nice model.

[Wintergreen]

Excellent display!

Thanks for sharing your work with us 🙂 

 

Yes, lockdown is a bummer. Let's restrictions and such will be lifted soon.

[noel_colledge]

You have outdone yourself again sir, congratulations on completing your build.

[vaddoc]

This is wonderful model GL, congratulations! I think the worse is behind us, we ll find a balance soon.

An Ancre monograph, this sounds very exciting. After you ve tied the loose end of course...

[G.L.]

On 3/3/2021 at 6:37 PM, Blackreed said:

Very nice.

 

On 3/3/2021 at 6:41 PM, gsdpic said:

Wonderful result with great features.  I really like the davit display and the "seawater".  Just amazing attention to detail here.   Some of those pictures in the last post could easily pass for pictures of a life size representation of a whale boat on a davit.

 

 

On 3/3/2021 at 7:02 PM, Backer said:

Very well done.

Congrats on this nice model.

 

On 3/4/2021 at 8:57 PM, noel_colledge said:

You have outdone yourself again sir, congratulations on completing your build.

Blackreed, Gary, Patrick and Noel,

 

Thank you all very much for your kind words of appreciation.

[G.L.]

On 3/3/2021 at 8:09 PM, Wintergreen said:

Excellent display!

Thanks for sharing your work with us 🙂 

 

Yes, lockdown is a bummer. Let's restrictions and such will be lifted soon.

 

On 3/4/2021 at 10:26 PM, vaddoc said:

This is wonderful model GL, congratulations! I think the worse is behind us, we ll find a balance soon.

An Ancre monograph, this sounds very exciting. After you ve tied the loose end of course...

Hakan and Vaddoc,

 

Thank you for your comments.
With respect to the Covid restrictions: I think also that the end of the tunnel is in sight. The government  promises relaxation in spring. And my wife and I also have something else to look forward to, a few weeks ago we got the news that in August we will be grandma and grandpa for the first time. So not everything is doom and gloom.

[captain_hook]

Absolutely beautiful!

[vaddoc]

These are wonderful news!

[G.L.]

On 3/7/2021 at 11:50 AM, captain_hook said:

Absolutely beautiful!

 Thank you, Captain.

[G.L.]

On 3/7/2021 at 2:00 PM, vaddoc said:

These are wonderful news!

 

Yes it is. My wife and I look forward to the birth. We don't know yet whether it will be a girl or a boy.

[Richvee]

What an absolutely beautiful model. Impressive size, and the details are amazing. Enjoyable read. Thanks for sharing. 
 

[G.L.]

On 4/3/2021 at 7:38 PM, Richvee said:

What an absolutely beautiful model. Impressive size, and the details are amazing. Enjoyable read. Thanks for sharing. 
 

Thank you very much, Rich. I am glad you like it.