Bluenose by JohnU - Model Shipways - 1:64

[JohnU]

Today, I gave some thought to the cove below the waist. Looking at pictures of the prototype it adds a nice detail to the ship. It would be even more pronounced in color(yellow) against the black of the hull. I didn't see much about it in most build logs.

I made a simple tool to create the cove and experimented. The tool is a block with the backside of an old scalpel blade. The idea is to press the shape into the basswood rather than cut or scrape. The thickness of the blade(could be any rounded piece of metal) determines the width of the cove and the thickness of the shims on the block determine the offset from the edge of the plank. The depth can be controlled by how far the blade extends beyond the block. In practice the depth is easily controlled by hand pressure and the setting of the blade was not too important.

 

 

Below is a picture of the result:

 

 

This does a pretty nice job but requires a steady hand. With parts this small it's easy to slip. It wouldn't be too hard to make a jig that you push the plank through for a more controlled impression.

In the end, I decided it wasn't worth the difficulty. It still has to be masked and painted. When the ship is finished the detail would probably not be noticeable at a normal viewing distance. The grove necessitates a constant  cleaning out to keep it visible when filling and painting. It will be there but I'm not going to make a great deal of effort to keep it cleaned out. I suppose it'll serve as a nice guide for masking during painting.

Edited November 28, 2020 by JohnU

[Ron B]

Very nice work and detailed information ,john.

 

I just ordered the MSW Bluenose kit ...my first attempt at this , save for a small tugboat kit over 40 years ago.

 

I'll follow you with interest.

 

Ron

[JohnU]

Did more work on the stern yesterday. Due to my lack of carving skill this is an iterative process. It's a fill, sand, check, fill job. Each iteration gets closer. To get the proper shape of the main rail at the stern I shimmed key points and slopped wood filler on, then placed wax paper, wax side to the filler, over the filler and pressed it into shape using scrap clamped into place to create the correct shape.

 

 

It turned out pretty close. Still some filling and shaping to do.

 

 

While I waited for the filler to harden I started on the main boom buffer. The brittania metal buffer is not so nice as "Retired Guys". He created an actual working boom buffer in scale. Be sure to check out his build log.

The supplied one cleans up pretty well and is mostly hidden but lacks some detail. The supplied plans have great detail on this piece for those with a mini-lath.

 

 

Edited November 30, 2020 by JohnU

[JohnU]

Next were the mooring chocks and ferule. As pointed out on other blogs, this is a less than nice Britannia metal piece. I was able to clean it up fairly well and carefully drilled a hole in it. The piece also had to be shortened so it doesn't stick out the inside of the chocks. I'm still looking for some way to flare this piece. The hole doesn't look right when simply drilled. While the part is not well cast, it should look OK once painted.

 

Oops. Looking more closely at photos of the prototype the flange goes on the inside. It's set into the mooring chocks. Have to tear this out and redo.

Edited December 2, 2020 by JohnU

[Ron B]

Hey John,

 

Don't feel bad. It seems this piece has caused a lot of headaches....you're coming along nicely. 

Hope I can do as well when I get my kit.

 

Ron B

 

[JohnU]

Hi Ron,

The whole stern area is a headache. I think it's not very well documented for such a complicated part. I've noticed it's a common problem area in many build logs. For the Model Shipways kit the stern ends up too wide. The laser cut parts match the plans, but people find the as-built stern is often wider. When you get to that part look through the logs. There are two common solutions:

1. Make a new main rail stern piece to fit the actual model.

2. Make cuts to separate the side rails from the center and add appropriate sized spacers.

They should provide a stern view detail drawing with actual dimensions at 1:32 scale.

The boom buffer support is also shown incorrectly on the plans which show a simple shelf. If you look at the prototype photos its more of a box or perhaps a solid piece.

The flanges are not correct on the mooring piece either. On the prototype photos you can see they cover the entire space of the mooring chocks on the inside. I'll probably just paint the area black to simulate the larger flange. It's in a place that is not very noticeable.

Thanks for the compliment, John

[Ron B]

Yikes, thanks for the heads up.I know from watching Gary Brinker that there a lot of out of spec items and some poor instructions.

He's not shy to point them out....if you haven't watched him it can be entertaining.

But I guess that what makes the journey fulfilling.

Ron

 

[JohnU]

Working on stanchions tonight. Supply run with the wife today. She likes the moral support. Like most here, I found the bulkhead extensions make poor stanchions. They are uneven, too short and not angled quite right. I used them for the first plank above the waterway to set the line of the bulwarks. After gluing the fake stanchions on, I cut the bulkhead extensions off and replaced them with properly made ones.

Here's a picture before the bulkhead extension was removed for comparison:

 

 

Here's my simple jig for cutting stanchions;

 

 

This was not as uniform as I would have liked. I cut them a touch long and will sand them to the correct height after the waist is installed. The Knighthead was cut to the (incorrect) height of the "A" bulkhead extensions. I added shims to raise the timbers to the correct height. Note the stanchions start to slant outward near the stem. It's necessary to sand a slight bevel on their bottoms. There are 60 of these little things to make. Took a whole day. Here's the finished stanchions;

 

Edited December 4, 2020 by JohnU

[JohnU]

I decided to do some experimentation in the daylight today. I wanted to settle my mind about the cove. The cove shows up nicely close up.

 

Then I took another from a viewing distance of about two feet;

 

The scuppers show nicely - that was worth doing. The cove is almost invisible. The yellow paint line will stand out much more than the actual cove. My conclusion is painting the thin yellow line is better. It's a lot of extra work to make and to maintain the cove during finishing when the it will not be noticeable at viewing distance.

[bhermann]

18 hours ago, JohnU said:

I decided to do some experimentation in the daylight today. I wanted to settle my mind about the cove. The cove shows up nicely close up.

 

Then I took another from a viewing distance of about two feet;

 

The scuppers show nicely - that was worth doing. The cove is almost invisible. The yellow paint line will stand out much more than the actual cove. My conclusion is painting the thin yellow line is better. It's a lot of extra work to make and to maintain the cove during finishing when the it will not be noticeable at viewing distance.

The cove looks pretty evident to me in the longer range photo, John.  I agree that keeping it nice and crisp during finishing will be challenging.  But then I wimped out and just painted a yellow stripe!

 

Bob

[JohnU]

Hi Bob,

The yellow paint will be so prominent that the cove will not be noticed. Retired Guy did a cove that's a bit bigger than scale and it looks really good. But he used a special power saw to cut it. In the end, I don't think it adds much over the simple yellow line when viewed from a distance.

John

[JohnU]

Got back to Blogging today. Some progress has happened. I was not looking forward to the hull sanding. It actually went very well. A pleasant surprise! The weather was warm enough to sit outside so the whole house didn't get dusty.

The planking was pretty uneven and had various bumps and dips.

 

After some experimentation I used a foam sanding block and a small solid block. For the tight curves I used an appropriate diameter auto hose wrapped with sandpaper. I started with 100 grit to remove the high spots. Then used a generic, water based, natural color, wood filler from Ace to fill the dips an cracks.

 

As you can see, there's a lot of dips and cracks. I also experimented with using model airplane dope mixed with micro-balloons. That's the white stuff in the picture. I found the dope mixture dried quite hard and was difficult to sand. It did fill small cracks well.

This was done twice and then a pass with 220 grit. The hull now looks pretty good. There are still a imperfections and slight dips to fill. One more pass should do it.

 

The next step was installing the waist. The supplied wood was not long enough to run the entire length. I split it at the mooring chocks at the stern and the knighthead at the stem. Then trimming the stanchions which were deliberately cut a bit long. I used this neat little 1" sanding disk with a Dremel. Just have to be careful with the angle of the cut and not nicking the waist.

 

 

Here's the overview:

 

[GuntherMT]

Looking good.  Sanding tip for soft wood (I'm unsure if this is a double planked model or if that is the final planking and will be painted) - get the wood damp.  Don't soak it, just run a wet cloth across it.  That will cause the grain to raise, then when it's dry give it another final sanding and it will smooth out very nicely.

[JohnU]

The hawse holes were created yesterday. It was a little tricky getting the position and shape right. Takes a bit of filing. I used the supplied Britannia metal hawse rings to get the shape. Getting the right angle and position is a little tricky. The hole was made by starting with a small drill and working up to the full 1/8 inch gradually. The basswood is soft and the drill bits tend to grab. The final hole size was done chucking an 1/8" drill in a pin vise and drilling carefully by hand. Still needs some cleanup after the hawse ring is mounted and the first pass of paint. Next is to cover up all the ugliness with filler and fine sanding.

[JohnU]

I had a few springy planks where the edge glue missed. This is a problem as they can never be sanded smooth with adjacent planks. The springiness means the pressure of the sanding block is less on them and they always end up just slightly above adjacent boards. To fix this I spread a layer of PVA glue on the inside of the hull where the boards are springy and rubbed it in. After the glue set the planks were solid enough to be sanded even with the adjacent planks.

[JohnU]

Took a break from the hull. Wanted to do some detail work for a while and try out my airbrush. I assembled the pin rail and boom crutch for the main mast. The laser cut parts are very delicate. Several blogs mentioned the horseshoe shaped piece as being particularly fragile. Most builders have simply made a new one from sturdier stuff. Being bad at carving, I decided to follow the advice of one builder who cemented cardboard to the piece to increase strength.

 

This worked out well. After I attached the cardboard I left the center uncut until sanding was done. This provided something to hold on to while sanding. Sure enough, after I cut the center out and tried to sand the inner edge it broke.😞 Fortunately the cardboard held it together and I was able to simply apply glue to the break and it was good as new. Stronger probably.

 

The Britannia metal legs are of the usual quality. Takes a bit of filing and fussing. I would have made new ones from wood if I had a mini-lathe.

 

The supplied brass belaying pins are excellent. They will just need cleaning and blacking. The brass looks nice but is not authentic. They may be a little bigger than scale too. That's not noticeable from viewing distance.

 

Ready for finish prep and paint;

 

[bhermann]

Nice job on this assembly.  I recall gluing a piece of paper to the underside to help it hold together.  As it was all being painted, it is hardly noticeable.  Thanks for detailing your experience so well!

 

Bob

[JohnU]

There was one problem though. The extra thickness of the cardboard made the legs too long. That caused the pin rail to slant.  I had to cut the cardboard away around the legs where it needs the reinforcement most. Of course it broke in the weakened  area around the holes. Fortunately, I was able to glue the part back together using plenty of glue on the underside to strengthen it.

[JohnU]

The mainmast pin rail/boom crutch is painted. Still not as nice a finish as I'd like. Suggestions for getting a smooth finish would be welcome! This was my first attempt at airbrush. It took some practice, especially getting the paint thinned correctly. That seems a critical step. I purchased the Model Expo Bluenose paint set before I had read the tips and techniques forum about airbrush paints. There seem to be a lot of negative comments about Model Expo paint. The primer didn't work very well, but the white paint sprayed OK. Of course I'm a newbie at thinning which might have something to do with it.

 

In the tips and techniques forum I had seen a lot of discussion about blackening brass. There were lots of complex procedures and noxious potions. Some science and some alchemy. Not something I was looking forward to. I saw a product for blackening on Model Expo's site which looked simple. Turned out this was the "right stuff". I simply dumped the brass parts directly from their packages into Alcohol to degrease, dried and dunked them in the blackening solution agitate for a couple minutes, rinse with water and dry. The hardest part was separating all those tiny parts afterward.

The parts were a uniform, flat black. They are easily burnished is you want a little sheen. The finish seems durable.

 

 

[JohnU]

Now back to the hull. There are still some odds and ends to do before painting. Due to my carving skill I had some trepidation about the "fashion piece" at the fantail. This is a part with complex curves and a odd shape. It's also very tiny. The plans do not have any detail aside from a front and side view at scale.

The procedure I decided on was to use a hull plank and cut it down to size and shape. A mini disk sander was used to take the thickness of part of the plank to the require size. A chisel blade was used to cut the angle and trim the thick end to dimension. The piece was fitted to the fantail and trimmed to size and angle. A steam iron was used to soften the wood for bending to shape.

[GuntherMT]

Hey John,

On the painting the best advice I can give you is that surface preparation is key to good paint appearance.  I think your parts are basswood?  That's what Model Shipways provides for most things.  Unfortunately basswood is very soft and 'fuzzy' which means it needs a lot of paint preparation in order to look crisp after painting.

 

I'm not really the best person to ask about painting since I do it only minimally, but I know that on a soft wood like that you need to do things to 'raise the grain' (wet it with water or alcohol) and then sand it back, sometimes multiple times, and then you need some sort of a wood sealer or at the very least a good primer which would be sanded back again, or maybe just buffed if it was good.  All of that would be done before spraying on your color coat, and then at some point followed up with a matte clear finish that you could buff with tissue for a nice finished look.

 

I'd check in the paint technique subforum to get better advice, as like I said I do the least amount of painting possible on my models, preferring to leave natural wood finishes (although this does mean I also have to replace all the kit basswood with something else if it will be visible).

[Nirvana]

When I painted my Bluenose I used Crylon  grey primer, worked like a charm and let see me where to do more sanding or filling.
After that I airbrushed the hull, my first air brush adventure.

[JohnU]

When reviewing the pictures of the Bluenose in the Nova Scotia archive, I discovered a discrepancy in the actual ship versus the plans. The fashion piece is not as long as shown on the plans and is squared off on the end rather than cut at a slant to follow the planks. It's also not clear in the photos but the end may have been tapered to the plank. The longer piece shown on the plans is, to me, more attractive. Builders choice for this.

[JohnU]

On 12/26/2020 at 4:48 PM, GuntherMT said:

Hey John,

On the painting the best advice I can give you is that surface preparation is key to good paint appearance.  I think your parts are basswood?  That's what Model Shipways provides for most things.  Unfortunately basswood is very soft and 'fuzzy' which means it needs a lot of paint preparation in order to look crisp after painting.

 

I'm not really the best person to ask about painting since I do it only minimally, but I know that on a soft wood like that you need to do things to 'raise the grain' (wet it with water or alcohol) and then sand it back, sometimes multiple times, and then you need some sort of a wood sealer or at the very least a good primer which would be sanded back again, or maybe just buffed if it was good.  All of that would be done before spraying on your color coat, and then at some point followed up with a matte clear finish that you could buff with tissue for a nice finished look.

 

I'd check in the paint technique subforum to get better advice, as like I said I do the least amount of painting possible on my models, preferring to leave natural wood finishes (although this does mean I also have to replace all the kit basswood with something else if it will be visible).

 

On 12/26/2020 at 5:18 PM, Nirvana said:

When I painted my Bluenose I used Crylon  grey primer, worked like a charm and let see me where to do more sanding or filling.
After that I airbrushed the hull, my first air brush adventure.

Thanks for the tips! I did try sealing and sanding the pin rail as an experiment. I used shellac as recommended in several posts. In retrospect it would have been better to seal and sand before assembly. It's hard to sand such a delicate assembly. The result was better than simply painting basswood but not quite what I would like.

[JohnU]

While waiting for paint to dry on the hull, I started the Jumbo boom crutch with it's gears. The Britannia metal was previously cleaned and trimmed. As usual they are not of the best quality.

 

Following my experience with the main mast pin rail The parts were prepared for painting -before- assembly. Quick work was made of sizing the two posts using my handy-dandy upside down mini plane. Wonderful tool! The knees were glued to the posts then all parts sanded with 400 grit. A temporary block was glued between the crutch legs for strength during assembly. This will be removed when the part is glued to the deck. Shellac was applied as a sanding sealer. Then Sanded again with 400 grit. I used Tamiya flat white applied with a brush. Three thin coats were applied to get coverage and keep the paint thin. Much better result than the pin rail.

 

The next challenge was the axle for the gears. The port bearing bracket and the large gear were supplied as separate items and the winch drums, clutch gear and Starboard bearing bracket were molded onto the axle. That left no way to put the port bracket and large gear on the shaft. 

 

Some experimentation on waste Britannia metal yielded the fact that it melts at soldering temperatures. Heating the shaft gently with a soldering iron softened the metal enough to slide the winch drum off the shaft; allowing the big gear and bearing bracket to be installed. The winch drum was drilled through to allow adjusting the fit.

 

[JohnU]

It was finicky working with such small parts. Need a magnifier and tweezers these days. Age takes it's toll.

The kit has an amazing number of small parts for the mechanical apparatus. But there are inexplicable parts left off. The gear side of the clutch is provided, but not the lever side or the lever. This is true in general for this kit. overall it's nice. They leave odd bits out. Usually chain is supplied but this kit doesn't have any. Things like that.

 

Anyway, I made the lever assembly from the flat brass wire provide with the kit. This was a little tricky as there are three pieces, two of which wrap around the missing clutch cylinder. To simplify I wrapped them around the hub of the clutch gear. It's not a working assembly and it looks correct. I used CA glue to assemble the parts. Here's the result:

 

Needs some touch up. The Britannia metal parts are a bit crude when looked at close up. The camera reveals details and textures that I don't see with my naked eye. It looks good from normal viewing distance.

 

Note: the sanding sealer and sanding before assembly completely got rid of the fuzzies. However, using a brush doesn't provide uniform  coverage as airbrushing would.

[EricWilliamMarshall]

She’s looking great. Keep up the good work!

[JohnU]

Thanks Eric, I've been working on some volunteer stuff I do and had to put this on hold for a while. Hope to get back to it soon.

John

[Rach10199]

On 12/4/2020 at 12:56 PM, JohnU said:

I decided to do some experimentation in the daylight today. I wanted to settle my mind about the cove. The cove shows up nicely close up.

 

Then I took another from a viewing distance of about two feet;

 

The scuppers show nicely - that was worth doing. The cove is almost invisible. The yellow paint line will stand out much more than the actual cove. My conclusion is painting the thin yellow line is better. It's a lot of extra work to make and to maintain the cove during finishing when the it will not be noticeable at viewing distance.

Hi John, this looks fantastic! I don't see any tapered planks here, did you have to taper any at all?

[EricWilliamMarshall]

1 hour ago, JohnU said:

had to put this on hold for a while

No worries! This a hobby not a job. We’ll all be here still, when you have time.