Chesapeake Bay Skipjack by Dsmith20639 - FINISHED - Horizon - 1/32

[Dsmith20639]

Starting an older kit manufactured in the late 1980’s, solid hull. Something different for a change of pace.

 

 

 

[ccoyle]

Wow. That barely qualifies as a "kit." It will be interesting to see if you can work some magic with this.

 

Cheers!

[Dsmith20639]

It does include sailcloth, thread, and a variety of metal fittings which I had already sorted into a plastic box before I decided to start this build log so they were not included in the photos. No laser cut parts, all deck furniture and the push boat need to be cut out using a saw after copying their shapes from the plans.

[Dsmith20639]

Sanded ships hull, Used scroll saw to cut out centerboard, cutwater, keg, rudder and keel shoe from 1/8 basswood.

 

Edited May 15, 2021 by Dsmith20639

[Dsmith20639]

Faired the parts that were cut out with the scroll saw.

Marked the transom centerline.

Positioned and glued the skeg/stern post, centerboard, keel shoe and cutwater.

 

Edited May 16, 2021 by Dsmith20639
typo

[Dsmith20639]

Added centerboard battens

Keel battens

Added decking and stained

 

Strapped all blocks with 28 gauge wire, some with beckets, painted them black. Did not cut all leads to length at this time. Will do that when

attaching the blocks. Kit part list says there were supposed to be 12 1/8" single blocks. I only counted 11 and I only found 11 places for them

on the plans, so I may be OK.  These are cast metal blocks and I have wooden 1/8 blocks I can use if I fall short.

Using 3/8 square basswood, cut lower part of mast for first inch into an octagon.

Rounded and tapered mast 10 to 3/16 diameter at top of mast using small hand plane and sandpaper.

Drilled holes near top of mast as indicated on plans and sawed a slot in the top of the mast for mast head fitting.

Sanded bottom of mast to angle shown on plans.

Drilled hole in bottom of mast and inserted  1" brass pin for mounting.

Made and installed the boom support.

Using wire cutters cut each of the brass metal mast hoops and opened them wide enough to accept sail cloth.

 

 

Next up paint and stain mast, paint turnbuckles and mast hoops, install mast hoops on mast, etc. Waiting on paint which supposed to be here tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 23, 2021 by Dsmith20639
removed extra photos

[Dsmith20639]

Painted mast hoops and turnbuckles.

 

Glued mast hoops to leading edge of mast.

Made and installed mast head fitting, added cleats to bottom of mast. Made boom with boom jaws, made and installed fairleads on boom, added cleats to boom and  jackstay eyebolts to hold foot of sail, painted boom. Made and painted jib club. Made, stained, and painted bowsprit and installed eyebolts at end of bowsprit for attaching shrouds, headstay, and bobstay.

 

Installed bowsprit.

 

 

Made and installed wale.

 

Created knightheads

 

 

Created transom plate.

 

 

 

[Dsmith20639]

Installed plank sheer on inside edge of wale.

Added blocks at masthead and near top of mast.

Added guard and dredge guard to wales.

Added transom and stanchion blocks.

Added cap rails.

Removed excess wood from stanchions and sanded even to cap rail. Installed knight heads.

 

Created rudder with doublers and applied a coat of primer.

 

Added life rail (pipe rail) and applied a coat of primer.

 

[Dsmith20639]

Added rudder

Masked deck prior to painting hull.

Painteed hull with primer and then a coat of white.

Masked off water line and gave bottom two coats of hull red.

 

Built and painted forepeak hatch

wheel box

cargo hatch

deck house

stove pipe

engine box

engine exhaust

bottom of push boat and keelson.

 

[Dsmith20639]

Continuing construction of the push boat. Added stem and stern knees and transom. 

 

Applied side planks and chine log.

 

Painted inside grey and cut out deck on scroll saw.

 

 

Glued on deck cutting out opening and installed side coaming.

 

 Fabricated engine cover, exhaust pipe and and tiller stick.

 

 

Installed the same.

 

 

Painted white and masked for bottom paint, then painted bottom hull red.

 

 

Began construction of winch assembly and added to engine box.

 

 

Added windows to deck house.

 

 

Began construction of davit components. Drilled hole in deck for davit installation.

 

 

This is an older kit with NO laser cut parts so most of the construction is an experience in scratch building. Luckily the instructions given in the kit are very detailed.

 

[Dsmith20639]

Fabricated and installed davit to hold push boat.

 

 

Created "A" frame and painted black.

 

 

Created and installed horizontal and vertical rollers.

 

Created oyster  dredges.

 

 

Created and installed gammon iron to bowsprit.

 

 

Created cradle for water cask and painted white.

 

Created stove stack and painted black.

 

Painted windlass black and installed behind Samson post with holes to accept anchor chains.

 

 

Installed jib sheet deck horse. Drilled hole to accept mast pin. Glued on forepeak hatch, stove stack and cargo hatch.

 

 

 

 

Edited June 28, 2021 by Dsmith20639
misspelling

[Dsmith20639]

Installed the dredge winch and the assembled engine box.

Installed A-frame and ran cable thru blocks and attached to oyster dredges and place on fabricated deck sheathing.

Added the deck house, water cask and wheel box.

 

Added rudder horns and connecting rods.

Added push boat block.

Added push boat to stern davits with block and tackle.

Drew sail pattern on fabric and cutout sails.

Mounted mast with sail, halyard and topping lift on deck

Edited July 4, 2021 by Dsmith20639

[Dsmith20639]

Installed reefing lines. Had a problem with the line provided in the kit. Once installed the reefing lines stuck out instead of lying flat due to the stiffness of the line. Removed the reefing lines and reinstalled using thread that hung more naturally. Also installed the jib stay and rigged the jib sail. Painted the chain white.  Installed the jib halyard and the jib club. I installed the jib club incorrectly and had to remove it and reinstall. Ended up tearing the foot of the jib slightly and will need to try and correct that. Made up the spectacles and installed along with the head stay.  Photo shows spectacles with bridles hanging from the mast head, otherwise it just slides down the head stay until I attach it to the spectacle halyard in a future step.

[Dsmith20639]

Rigged the spectacle halyard and installed the lazy jacks on the jib sail.

 

Installed head rails and supports.

 

 

Installed bowsprit shroud.

 

 

Installed main sail lazy jacks.

 

 

Installed clew reef lines.

 

 

Rigged the main sheet.

 

 

Installed the centerboard pendant and tackle.

 

 

Rigged the shrouds and sheer poles.

 

 

Installed the pin rails , fastened the spectacle halyard to the pin rail and rigged the cargo hook and belayed both to the port pin rail.

 

 

Rigged the jib sheet to the deck horse then up to a block on the mast and finally down to the cleat on the front of the mast.

 

 

 

[Dsmith20639]

Finished the skipjack. Mounted on board. Instructions suggested mounting using to dowels pinned to board and keel, but this proved to be unstable so I added a third dowel to make the result more stable. Added number boards, running lights, name plates, anchor and chain, cargo hatch rings, etc.

[ccoyle]

Nicely done -- congratulations!

[Dsmith20639]

Thank you

[Roger Pellett]

Nice job!

[Ed Gibbons]

Amazing job!  I’m a beginner and can only dream about getting to your skill level.

[Dsmith20639]

Thank you for the nice complement.  My success with this model rests mainly on the excellent step by step instructions that were included in the kit.

[GrandpaPhil]

Congratulations!  Well done!

[MSLaw]

You did a great job on that kit.

 

Question for you.  Do you still have the plans associated with this model.  I have the same kit but lost all the plans and paperwork in a flood.  I was wondering if I could get a copy with the instructions from you?   

Thanks in advance.

Mark

[Dsmith20639]

I generally discard the plans and instructions after building the model but in the case I still have them. If you send me your name and address I will mail what I have to you. No cost, my treat!  Since you just joined, hopefully you will create a build log like I did when you start to build the model.