Le Coureur by PC52 - Mamoli - 1:54

[PC52]

Hi all,

In a few weeks i will start my third built, Le Coureur which i purchased a few weeks ago.  I already learnt quite a lot building the AL Red Dragon and Le Renard but I was reticent to post anything but a couple of technical questions.  So this time I will muster the courage to post and share my accomplishments, mistakes and disappointments.

Feel free to chime in, share suggestions and give constructive criticism, and if you already have built this Mamoli kit please let me know how it went and if there are pitfalls i should be aware of.

Thanks!

PC

 

 

[PC52]

As I am preparing the instruction sheets I see a couple of issues.

First, plan and instruction sheets are not attached... lots of loose pages.

Second the type size is 8. Too small to read.

I scanned the instructions in English then opened the saved pdf file as a Word document and increased the size to 12. Then printed the doc out.

 

 

See attachment.  Much more legible.  I will do this conversion for all docs.

 

 

[bolin]

Nice trick. Good luck with your build. I like the lugger riggings, they are different.

[PC52]

Time to get to work.  So here is the open box.  As I wrote, first surprise is the loose sheet instructions.  Second surprise the parts are not numbered. The i discovered that the false keel is slightly warped.

Below are a few pictures:

 

 

I dont like the fact that all the planking and dowels are bundled together.  We'll see what happens...  Also the life boat is cast in metal.  I may want to built one from scratch.

 

 

All instructions are in multiple languages.  The font is very small (size 8?).  No pictures, only black and white drawings.

 

 

 

Nice 4mm thick wood for the false keel, bulkheads and the likes, but no numbers on parts 😞

 

 

Using the one of the plans as reference i numbered the parts.

 

 

Home made jig with legos.  It's adjustable 🙂

 

 

The false keel needed some attention. By tomorrow it should be straight.

 

 

[PC52]

No instructions on how to assemble the keel. Could be a challenge for someone without experience.  No mention of

 

12B, 12 C, 12 D and 12E in the text pages nor on the plans :-(

 

 

 

I decided to go ahead and glue the parts together. I am using white glue for this part (you can see a little spot which i wiped out after taking the picture).

 

 

[bruce d]

Looking good so far. Mind if I watch?

[PC52]

Hi Bruce D.  No problem watching and feel free to comment.

[PC52]

I made some progress this week.  The false keel is now straight and i glued the keel on to it.  

 

 

However there is a small problem here.  A gap at the bottom between the two parts.  Some sawdust and glue will be de rigueur.

 

 

While my glue work is drying i explored the bundle of wood provided.  I mean a real bundle.  here it is and figure it out.  

 

 

 

Using shape, color, width, length, thickness i manage to regroup them all by similarity.

 

 

However i still don't know what is what.  Nothing in the instructions to figure that out.  And since the instructions say take part number X , it looks like it's a guessing game.

 

To be continued...

 

 

[PC52]

Forgot to mention i glued bulkhead number 1.

[PC52]

I hit a snag this week end with the keel and false keel assembly.  I have a 3mm gap per the pics below.  Any suggestion?

 

    

[PC52]

I decided not to follow the instructions as the progression seemed strange to me.  It said to start with gluing the deck and the bulwarks then planking the hull and finally cutting the "cat ears"  (circled in red)

 

 

I found it more logical to cut those "cat ears" first (they are not very useful since the bulwark will sit 2 mms below the fore deck line and 10mms or so against the aft deck) then lay the planked deck and glue it.

 

 

The decks are now planked and varnished.

The wood for the strips to plank the hull seems low quality.  It's called soft wood and indeed it is. However it's only 1.5 mms thick so it bends nicely.  

 

A question if someone can help.  At some point there is a metal transom that needs to be bent.  It doesn't say what metal type it is.  Does anyone have a suggestion?  Thanks in advance.

 

 

 

 

[VTHokiEE]

14 minutes ago, PC52 said:

(they are not very useful since the bulwark will sit 2 mms below the fore deck line and 10mms or so against the aft deck)

I would have thought that those cat ears would've provided support for the bulwark planking? Are you certain they aren't needed while you plank the hull?

 

18 minutes ago, PC52 said:

At some point there is a metal transom that needs to be bent.  It doesn't say what metal type it is.

Do you have a picture of it?

[PC52]

Hi VTHokiEE and thank you for your feedback and offer.

You are right that's what the cat ears are for but cutting them after the planked decks and the bulwarks are glued would have been too much of a challenge for me.  So i called Lego to the rescue 🙂

 

 

 

As for the metal transom here it is.  I don't know what kind of metal this is.  I sent an e-mail to Dusek who now owns the mamoli catalogue but he has yet to respond.

 

[VTHokiEE]

I’m glad the LEGO bricks are working for you! I must say I was a little nervous when I saw that you chopped them off so it’s good to know that it didn’t slow you down.

 

I’m not certain what the metal is (aside from a generic white metal). Hopefully someone can help identify it. How much bend does it need?

[PC52]

Hi VTHokiEE,

It's a very slight arc but an arc nevertheless.  Cannot be ignored...

[PC52]

Happy New Year to all.

Well it's been two weeks since the last time i posted.  With the holiday season I worked piecemeal on my project but forgot to take pictures.  Sorry.  Here is where it stands:

I bent the bulworks

I planked the decks

I planked the hull (nopics sorry)

 

 

 

 

 

After some more patching, sanding and cleaning i will start the second planking.

 

Thanks in advance for your feedback/support/interest.

 

[PC52]

Today I hit a snag with the small quarterdeck.  The instructions are pretty skimpy:

Glue the small quarter-deck 35 and sheathe the planking 36.

 

 

The snag is that the quarter-deck will sit too high.  On the drawing it shows the quarterdeck is sitting about the height one strip below (circled in red)

 

Here is what happens

 

 

The quarter-deck sits flush.  If i shorten the posts i have an issue with the rudder post and tiller.  If i cut the top of the posts then the quarter-deck will sit too low for to squeeze the tiller on to the rudder post.

 

 

I hesitate between setting the quarter-deck on the posts and let it sit flush or cut the top of the external posts and bend the quarter-deck... which may spilt...

Suggestions?  Thanks in advance.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 9, 2021 by PC52

[PC52]

Unlucky.  Someone who built Mamoli Le Coureur told me he was able to bend the metal transom by hand.  So i tried and mine broke.

I emailed Dusek and asked if they could provide a new one.  I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Edited January 10, 2021 by PC52
wrong assumption

[PC52]

It's my lucky day.  Not only will Dusek send me a new transom, it will be bent.  Great customer service.

For the inquiring minds the transom is zinc alloy, it is possible to bend it after heating it in oven  (100-150 degrees celsius).

[PC52]

Started the second planking.  Will have to send and stain the wood to get rid of the glue blotches...

 

 

 

 

[Gregory]

2 hours ago, PC52 said:

It's my lucky day.  Not only will Dusek send me a new transom, it will be bent.  Great customer service.

For the inquiring minds the transom is zinc alloy, it is possible to bend it after heating it in oven  (100-150 degrees celsius).

Something else to consider, depending on the thickness, you can see how far you can sand down the backside of these pieces and make them as thin as possible without losing the detail..

 

I have done this with Dusek/Mamoli kits before..

[PC52]

Thanks for the tip, Gregory.  This part is 3.3 mms thick or 0.12 in.  Seems thick to me.

Out of curiosity what did you use to sand your zinc alloy parts?

[Gregory]

I used something like 80 grit sand paper.  I laid the paper flat, and rubbed the piece over it..

 

I don't think I had a disk sander at the time,  so I think I would use that to some extent today.. 

 

 

 

Here is an example of some of the pieces on my Mary.

[PC52]

Thanks for the tip Gregory.

 

Back to my project.  As I wrote initially the instructions are very skimpy and the drawings quite imprecise, which leaves lots of room for pondering/dreaming/fuming/extrapolating and more -ing...

Here we go with the second planking:

 

 

 

Basically the instructions say plank with number 25 or 30.  The rest is up to one's interpretation of the drawings.

Luckily i noticed a small picture on the box cover.  I enlarged it and saw what the second planking should look like around the keel

 

 

I also ran out of strakes for the second planking (about 10 short).. Fortunately i had some 1x5 walnut strakes from a previous jb so I'll be able to complete the second planking without contacting Daniel Dusek again.  The color is not an exact match but i plan the stain the hull so it should not be too much of an issue.

 

 

[PC52]

Hi all,

New snag with this Mamoli kit.

As I am moving along Part 41 is missing (nastro elastico). Unfortunately this part has no  reference number so I am sending you a copy of the instruction sheet for help.

I contacted Daniel Dusek but he cannot find this part either.  The description goes like this : false mattresses made from rolled up resilient cotton ribbon or "nastro elastico" I guess it's a ribbon that is missing. 

 

Any suggestion as to how to replace this part?  Thanks in advance.

Phil

 

 

[PC52]

Although i thought the maple strakes were similar in color the result is awful.  I will cover the entire hull with some 0.5 by 5.

Oh well...

 

 

 

[Gregory]

On 2/14/2021 at 1:53 PM, PC52 said:

Any suggestion as to how to replace this part? 

Here is an image where walrusguy   (  skip down past the ship's boat ) used tissue paper to make hammocks..

 

 

Just roll up tissue paper.   Wetting it may help to get a wrinkle effect.. 

You  might use some light coloring if you don't wan't it to look too bright white..

[PC52]

thanks for the suggestion Gregory.

BTW I bent my new transom successfully.

 

 

 

 

A home made jig, 20 minutes in the over at 400F (350F then 375F was not enough)  and voila!

 

 

 

[PC52]

Well it's been quite a while since last time i posted.  I hit several snags but also took pictures so i am going to share with you what happened the last 4 weeks.

 

First i planked the hull again with 0.5x 5.  It looks much better now

 

 

the i stained the hull

 

 

 

About the basswood supplied with the kit:  First the basswood is not good quality.  The 1x1 broke when I attempted to bend it and the 1x3 brittles under a band new blade.

 

 

I tried to strengthen it with a mix of white glue and water but it didn't work

 

Also I replaced the 1x1 with 2x2 and sanded it

 

 

Next issue was the plans scale.  With very skimpy instructions i wanted to use the plans for positioning parts.  The plans are not 1:1 scale

 

 

 

Next the transom rough opening were cut too wide.  I had to resize them 

 

 

More to come later.  Unfortunately my impression is that Mamoli cut a lot of corners.  I would not recommend this kit for a beginner.  There is too much guessing work to be done and without experience it could become overwhelming.

 

 

[Gregory]

I really like the look of the wood on the hull!