Emma C Berry by Maury S - 1:48 scale - POF rigged as schooner

[Maury S]

Attached is a photo of my earlier ECB (2010) superimposed over a photo of the ECB in Mystic.

 

 

The model deck is almost identical in color to the real boat.

Maury

Edited September 27, 2021 by Maury S

[Maury S]

The deck planking is done.  I started with the king plank(s) and laid each plank, expanding outboard.  That assured that the planks were parallel stem to stern.  The planking between the hatch and trunk and trunk and transom were then filled in.

A portion of the starboard side is left un-planked.  The color pretty much matches the boat at Mystic.   Next on to the bulwark stanchions.

Maury

[druxey]

Nice progress, Maury. I assume the rest of the model will be weathered eventually?

[Maury S]

Druxey, Painted, yes.  Copper-bottom-red below the waterline, green planking up to the bulwarks, which are black outboard and cream inboard. I certainly don't have the weathering skills of the RR or military modelers. 

Maury

[Windships]

Maury

 

I’ll look for the correct color for the bottom. Erik Ronnberg advised me about that for my Rita B. model. It’s an anti-fouling paint. 

[Maury S]

I've been using Model Expo's "copper bottom red".  Any improvement suggestions are welcome.

Maury

[Maury S]

There are 17 bulwark stanchions on each side.  The pieces are small and each is slightly different in shape.  When they are cut on the scroll saw, I put them on a piece of painter's tape to keep them in order.  I also leave a tab at the top with the piece number.

Once cut, they are sanded to rough shape.

 

Additional hand sanding is necessary as each piece is inserted into the holes in the covering board.  Once fitted, I will use a batten to align them before gluing.

Some were over-sanded a bit and will be replaced.   The tops will be cut off once the bulwarks are put in place. Fiddey little things.

Maury

[Maury S]

Gluing the stanchions in place needed a strake of planking to ensure they lined up.  Two birds with one stone...I use 1/32" basswood rather than card stock  for patterns.  I spiled the plank so it will be the pattern for the scupper strake.

 

Every other stanchion will be glued, holding each against the plank with clamps, then I'll go back and glue in the rest.  Hopefully I've not glued the plank to any stanchion.

Maury

[jlefever]

Looking good!

 

Jim

[Maury S]

The scupper strakes are in.

Thinner bulwark strakes above are next.  The outside of the bulwarks are black.  The planking below the covering board is green.  Painting the scupper strake before installation assured a clean cream line for the edge of the covering board.

 

Maury

[Maury S]

The bulwark is built up and the  stanchions are trimmed.

 

The bulwarks are painted with three coats of thinned "Hull Black" from Model Expo.

 

The insides will be painted cream.

Maury

 

Edited October 24, 2021 by Maury S

[Maury S]

A slight diversion...the bowsprit.  There is a tenon at the heel to fit into a mortise in the bit.

The plan shows the bottom of the stick is flat and straight.  All the taper comes from the top and sides.  In addition, it goes from square at the heel, to eight-sided, back to square as it passes through the bulwarks, back to eight-sided, then sixteen-sided and finally to round.  In addition, the top of the stick has a "walking flat".

Using 7-10-7 layout, the square pole is being shaped in a jig using a 5/8" chisel.

 

After cutting and sanding it's almost done.  The eight-sided section near the heel needs to be cut and I've left the ends square so I can line up holes that need to be drilled.   Photo is too low quality to see the details.

 

Maury

 

 

 

[druxey]

Well, that's a fun spar to make with all the transitions!

[Maury S]

Decision time:  Color of the cap rail.  We know from several documents that ECB in the period she was converted to a schooner was painted green below the covering board and above the LWL.  The bulwarks were black.  I have maybe 100 B&W photos of her as a schooner (admittedly all taken in the 1930s).  In each photo where the cap rail can be clearly seen, it is either 1] very light or 2] dark, but clearly not black.  Chapelle's "American Fishing Schooners..." has a section on paint, but offers no help.  Painting it cream to match the inner sides of the bulwarks doesn't make sense to me...it would not wear well on a work boat.  Adding another color to the palette  is not my choice so I'm leaning to the same green as the lower planking.  If anyone has solid information on color schemes of late 19th century New England fishing boats, I'd appreciate a comment.

Maury

[jlefever]

You're probably looking at some of the same photos but when I review Joseph Garland's books - Glouchester on the Wind and Down to the Sea the contemporary photos of fishing schooner rail caps appear to pretty consistently match the color of the inner sides of the bulwarks.

 

...it does appear that they got dirty in use.

 

Jim

[Maury S]

Jim,

Thanks for the comments.  The pictures in the books you referenced clearly show light colored rails (matching the inner bulwarks).  I've laid the dark green as well as the cream along the top and clearly the cream "looks" much better.  I have a lot of leeway here so I appreciate the input.

Maury

[KeithAug]

I do admire your commitment to detail, A beautiful little ship.

[Maury S]

A lot of waiting for paint to dry...

The planking between the LWL and the covering board has received 6 coats of diluted dark green (Model shipways Dark Green).  The first coat of "Bottom Copper Red" (also Model shipways) has been applied.  The broad yellow line is the (Tamia) tape marking the limit of the red paint.

 

Probably 4 or 5 more coats of diluted red.

Maury

[niwotwill]

Small comment on painting with red paint:

Red paint is somewhat translucent and requires many coats to cover evenly. (Thinned I've had to make 8 coats getting even coverage)

Sand lightly between coats helps getting better coverage.

lastly a lot of patience.

 

The model is looking very nice can't wait to see the colors completed.

[Maury S]

Thanks for the tip on the red paint.  I was planning on 5 - 6 coats after my experience with the green.  I wait about 24 hours before light sanding and the next coat.  While acrylics do dry faster, I'm not sure that a couple of hours is enough for a proper cure before sanding.

Maury

[niwotwill]

Yes Maury 24 hours is probably the minimum. I live in Arizona and I painted my red during the summer here leaving it outside in the shade to cure after tacking up on the surface. Made sure it was in the shade and above 100 degrees so the next day it was hard enough to sand without gumming up the paper. I use 400 grit paper between coats and honestly it probably could have used a couple more LIGHT coats. Hope this helps

[Maury S]

Hull painting complete.  Five coats of Copper Hull Bottom (red) and six coats of Dark Green.

 

 

 

 

 

Not a brush mark in sight.  The green is a bit darker than it appears in the photo.  Next is the cap rail.

Maury

Edited November 13, 2021 by Maury S

[niwotwill]

Maury it looks wonderful. Patience paid off surface is flat, color is even, texture is nice. 5 days of work and now look at the results which you'll admire as long as you look at your model. Well done.

Will

[Maury S]

Cap rail

The cap rail was created by marking a piece of card stock held on top of the stanchions/bulwarks for the outside edge.  That piece was divided in two and marked on a piece of .05" pear.  Once faired, a compass was used to set the inside edge.  Scarf joints were cut in each side and glued up.  A small variation in the face of the joint impacts the overall run of the rail, so some minor heat edge bending was necessary.

The jig is just a scrap base with a lever and a couple of hold-downs so the piece doesn't twist.

A few minutes with a heat gun does the trick.

 

Once painted (3 coats so far) they were put in place and held there with every available method.  Before this, the connection with the side and transom rail were cut to shape.  The transom piece was glued in place first and the long rail pieces were mated.

Once again, the use of the gantry on the building board allows for downward pressure on the rail.

Maury

[Windships]

Ingenious Maury

[Maury S]

The cap rails are in place:

 

 

Maury

[KeithAug]

On 11/23/2021 at 2:29 PM, Maury S said:

The cap rails are in place:

Very nicely done, always a tricky job.

[Maury S]

More work on the hull and related items.  The rudder and wheel box are under construction.

The rudder post is metal lined per the plan.  I sliced a piece of brass tubing and scored the rudder to accommodate the post.

 

The wheel box will be a solid block with planking on four sides and a roof.  I drilled the planked box to accept the axle of the ship's wheel. (No photo included).  Doors to the main cabin next.

 

Maury

Edited December 6, 2021 by Maury S

[niwotwill]

Very nice Maury. I like the sliced brass tubing. Did you also use the tubing to score the rudder post? Overall she's looking fantastic.

 

Regards

Will

[Maury S]

Will, I scored both sides of the rudder on the Byrnes table saw after the tubing was sliced.  The fit came out perfectly on the first try. (Careful measuring)

Maury