Muscongus Bay Lobster Smack by SkiBee - FINISHED - Model Shipways - 1:24 Scale

[SkiBee]

Planking
Life requirements got in the way of enjoyment of building models this past month, but I’m back to work on the planks.  Planking this model continues the learning challenge, but I am gaining more knowledge that I can apply to future builds.

 

Planking at the Bow end; the challenge with garboard plank at the bow was getting the bend in it and fitting it in the rabbet.  To get the bend, I soaked the plank in hot water then clamped it down on the frames and let it dry.  After the plank was dry, I dry fitted it in the fwd end and then started gluing the garboard from the bow to the aft, 2 or 3 frames at a time, holding the plank in place with clamps like I did when setting the bend.  I ended up with a small gap between the plank and the stem / keel doublers, it appears to be caused by not having enough bevel on the spine for the rabbet.  Thus, the rabbet was more like a grove which was difficult to get a smooth transition in.  

So, take extra time to get the spine bevel smooth for a good transition.

 

The other area that was a challenge was the smooth transition from the stem to frame 2 to frame 3.  As mentioned before frame 3 was not faired enough or frame 2 was faired too much, more than likely both.  ‘druxey’ recommended removing the plank and sanding frame 3 down with sanding sticks, unfortunately by the time I read his post I had already glued a few more planks on.  However, I noticed that the depression lessened as I progressed and was essentially gone by plank 4.  If needed I’ll fill it in with wood putty since as you can see the gap between the planks and stem will need to be filled.

 

The other key problem was the aft plank transition of planks 3 to 7 between frame 8 and 9.  You can see by the below pictures a number of issues from gaps and depressions. I believe the problem resulted from trying to bend/form the planks at that curve and fitting flush on the stern post doublers and reinforcing piece ‘D’ on each side of the aft spine.  The dent was probably due to putting to much pressure on that spot as I was forming and then gluing the planks.  I tried rewetting the planks to get them to relax but that only helped a little.  I really did not notice the degree of depression until I was gluing plank 8, thus I did not want to remove all the planks and start over, so I’m going to wait until I am done planking and sanding to see if I need to fill in the depression.

The lesson learned is to take more time forming the planks until they fit better without a lot of forcing prior to gluing them in place.
 

[niwotwill]

SkiBee

Your planking looks about like mine prior to finish. Sorry I didn't take photos while building the smack. The dent you mention is similar to the dent I have on mine. I believe the dent is caused by the frame fairing of Number 9. I didn't fix it on mine as I just didn't want to remove the planking so its still there. On mine after number 8 the planks have to rise to meet number 9 causing the dent/recess.

I used David Anscherls method of gap filling to great success. Mixed sawdust with white glue and filled the planking gaps, works wonderfully. Putty will fill between the planks but!!!!!!! the distance between frames and thiness (not sure if its a word) of the planks caused the gaps to crack over and over until I tried Davids method. 

Youre on a good path it's looking very nice.

 

Stay Well and Stay Safe

Will 

[Bob Keller]

I sure appreciate the outstanding explanations and photos....they have helped me  a lot in view of the inexplicable lack of a schematic showing the relationship of the parts.

[SkiBee]

@Bob Keeler  please fell free to ask me about this build or message me directly 

[SkiBee]

@niwotwill thanks, I really appreciate your input!

[Bob Keller]

when i got ready to put on the sheer strake i found that there is a gap running from zero to 1/4 inch remaining in the forward part of the hull.  All the previous strakes were put on without overlapping so guess I'll have to cut out pieces to fill in and complete the hull!!

[Bob Keller]

As I look more closely I realized I didn't put the garboard on correctly....but that still doesn't account for all the gap.

[SkiBee]

Side Note: Most of us refer to our workspace as our Ship Yard, I was lucky enough to work in the Washington DC Navy Yard for a few years before I retired.  It was really interesting working in one of the old buildings that had been preserved, as well as walking around and looking at all the old buildings and reading about them and what they were originally used for.  The Yard also has a great museum that the public can access and I highly recommend to anyone to visit and just walk around, but first look up the history of the yard.

[SkiBee]

Finishing the Planking
Finally, was able to get back to planking this past week and I have finally finished it.  Planking this boat has been a challenge and my key recommendation to everyone is to take your time to bend the planks to help reduce gaps.

 

The Sheer Plank, I had to wet the sheer planks a few times to get the right vertical bend as well as to form it at the aft end.  When I was forming them one of the challenges was the top of the plank kept wanting to bend over the edge of the deck which made it difficult to get the plank to butt up tight to the other plank and not gap at the deck interface.  My recommendation is to take your time and use some left over wood to keep the elastic band from bending the sheer plank over the deck, see pic’s below.  Also, you can see the gap at the aft end that I finally had to hold around the aft end while the glue dried.  Also make sure you have enough glue coverage on the deck edge to bond the sheer take to the deck.

I then used my knife to trim the sheer plank down to the deck.  As I was trimming the plank wanted to split along the grain, you can see some areas where the sheer plank dips below the deck a little which was caused by this split.  Even being aware of the grain, I still had a few areas that dipped below the deck.

Started to sand the hull as you can see the results of my initial rough sanding below.  I would like to sand the hull smoother before resorting to using putty, but concerned of making the planks to thin.  I will have to use putty to fill in at the bow and stern, see below.  I’m going to rough sand some more and will upload pic’s before I start to putty the gaps and depressions.

[SkiBee]

The starboard side I sanded a little more then put the first coat of putty on to fill in the gaps and depressions.  You can see that the depression at the aft end next to the stern post will need much more fill and smoothing.

I think I should have sanded more to even the planks more, so that is what I did on the port side, I think it looks better and will result in a better job.

[bobandlucy]

Looking good, Skibee! I am starting planking this weekend- a little nervous about it but determined to take it slow and enjoy the process. I am getting my moneys' worth out of these kits for sure!

 

Bob

[SkiBee]

Finished filling and sanding the hull, there are still wavy and depression spots, but they are not as prominent.  Hopefully, they won’t be very noticeable when painted with flat paint.

Trying to decide what color of stain to use on the deck and toe rails.  Will paint the hull off white and hull red.

[SkiBee]

After a couple of coats of gray spay primer and an off-white spray paint, I thought might look ok but did not like the color.  Needs a little more work on the bow.  Wet sanded to get some dust off and will start painting the hull later this week.

[druxey]

Looks like you are getting there. Filling ,rubbing down and repeating is tedious, but the end result is worth taking trouble over.

[Jim Lad]

She's coming along very nicely.  Druxey's advise is excellent - don't be tempted to skimp on this stage of the work.

 

John

[SkiBee]

I’ve finished the hull painting; I painted the upper half a slight off white, mixing white paint with a little cream color paint.  (My wife does a lot of crafts and has a lot of acrylic paints) I did paint the bottom of the hull Model Expo Hull Red, MS4968.  I thought that the hull was a little bland so I painted the rub rail a Tamiya Flat Black that I had.

 

For the first time I used Tamiya plastic masking tape and it was fantastic.  I really like the way you can stretch the tape to make curves, the water line, or fit a curved piece, the toe rail.

[druxey]

Looking very sharp!

[SkiBee]

It took me 3 bending sessions for the Coaming and Cabin Sides so as not to break the wood.  I started with a wide bend, then a smaller one, then actually using the model as a bending mold.  The Cabin Sides worked out really nice.  However, the Coaming kept wanting to bend at a 90 deg angle rather than a curve but I finally was able to get the curve.

 

It took me a minute to figure out that the top of the fwd end of the coaming sat level with the deck since there weren’t good pictures in the instruction of this area and since a schematic drawing was not included in the kit.

The real problem was the coaming would not fit level to the deck and the fwd starboard tab kept wanting to go below the deck level.  The problem was the Coaming stopped when it hit the ‘seat back’, since the seat back stuck out fwd of the deck opening.  I had to reduce the height of the seat back to the Coaming could sit lower.  Also, I had to cut down the two starboard frames in the seating area to get the coaming to sit level.

I also had to widen the space between the deck and the frames in the cabin area.  I cut the frame to widen the gap for the cabin side to sit down in rather than the deck to ensure a smooth curve of the cabin side.

[druxey]

You'e compensated well for the slight variations that inevitably creep into a build, and you've mastered bending nicely! Slow and steady does the trick.

[SkiBee]

I didn’t like the small gap between the coaming and the end of the cabin sides so I filled it in with putty.  Also, I filled in the area in the aft part of the coaming were it had a tendency to crease.

Put the cabin roof on and the access hatches on and then sprayed with a matte clear coat.  Now I will move on to shape the mast and spars.  Waiting on the replacement sheet that has the rudder and tiller as well as the right size of line.

[SkiBee]

Also, note that the brass rod to raise and lower the centerboard is missing now.  It came out while I was painting the model and I couldn't get it back so I just left it off and filled in the slot on the deck for it.

 

I also used Mod-podge to adhere the 'trail board appliques' to the trail boards, I had used this water down white glue to adhere appliques on my 18th Century Long Boat.  In both cases it worked grate and dried clear.  I did break one of the trail boards in half while I was sanding it.

[bobandlucy]

Skibee, this looks fantastic! Yu must be feeling pretty good now!

 

Bob

[SkiBee]

Well after a break of over 2 months, I’ve started back on the build.  Installed the rudder and tiller without too much problem.  I did make the tiller out of thicker material than the kit, it was just too thin and flimsy to do anything with and I did not want to go through the trouble of doubling it.  

I had better luck at this mast, boom, gaff and bowsprit; at getting them round than the Norwegian Sailing Pram.  The dimensions of my mast were not the same length as the drawing but it should work without a problem.  Small goof, I stained the mast, boom and gaff prior to installing the stops.  Had to make two small stop cleats for the gaff since I could not find any on any of the sheets in the kit.  I used cyano to glue the bowsprit on, had to glue the aft end first then bend the bowsprit a little to align with the beakhead.

Drilling the holes in the two brass chainplates was a challenge, even after annealing the brass strip.  Need to find some stronger drill bit tips that will cut through brass better and quicker.

I painted the cleats and turnbuckles brass with some enamel model paint, had to let them dry for over 24 hours before gluing them on.  On to the mast hardware, making the blocks and sails.
 

[SkiBee]

Sanded the edges off the blocks but did not shorten them.  Broke a few wires as I was twisting to make the wire tight around the blocks, but had enough wire.  I left the hook loop unfinished until I threaded the wire in the brass eye.

Making the sails was very similar to the Norwegian Pram.  I used water thinned Mod-Podge which is very similar to white glue if not the same material.  Ended up with some pencil lines which don’t look so good.  Also, might have used to much Mod-Podge, the sail is very stiff, will have to wait and see.

I also don’t think I should have tied the brass mast hoops so close to the sail as well as the sail to the gaff.

Completed the running rigging on the mast and starting to make the standing rigging.  I wish I would have waited to after I put the standing rigging on the mast before I put the upper gaff block so I could have made the standing rigging eye off the mast.

 

[bobandlucy]

Very Nice!

[SkiBee]

Well, I’m finally done with the build.  I have improved my skills and learned some additional things building this boat.  Planking of the aft end is definitely a challenge for a beginner builder.  I was very glad I had had the planking experience from building the MS 18th Century Long Boat. 

Besides the issues that we all have had with this new kit, I will get on my soap box again, Model Shipways needs to add a more detail schematic of this boat to include one of how the rigging is laid out, such as the one with the Model Shipways 18th Century Long Boat.  The Long Boat plans and instructions by Chuck Passaro are fantastic for a novice. 

 

In regard to the rigging, I wish I would have done a single loop & knot on the lashings to make an eye in the rigging.  I tried to do a double loop, like a double clove hitch, and it did not look good.  Also, I like it with a much finer line to do the lashing.

 

Now on to my next build, I’m trying to decide between the Phantom New Your Pilot Boat, which is a solid hull, and the Armed Virginia Sloop, which is Plank on Bulkhead, both by Model Shipways.  I have both and I had previous started the Phantom but shortly into shaping the solid hull, I determined that it had been miss-machined.  Model Expo sent me a new hull and it looks better. 

I’m still a little intimidated by finishing a solid hull, I’ve never been good a carving or shaping small wood.  Even in Boy Scouts, I was terrible at whittling.  I have to take care of some other work for the next two weeks so I have time to decide which I start first.
 

Edited September 3, 2021 by SkiBee

[druxey]

Despite your difficulties, you have done a very nice job. Every model is a learning experience, no matter how long you've been at it. Congratulations!

[Jim Lad]

You've got a very nice looking model there.  Congratulations on overcoming the problems you found along the way and completing your smack.

 

John

[SkiBee]

Thanks to everyone for their comments, suggestions and likes.  Your support is very helpful.

[GrandpaPhil]

Congratulations!  Well done!