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

[GGibson]

Looks really sharp, Dan.  All that priming/sanding work has paid off.  Looking forward to seeing you progress.

 

Gregg

[druxey]

It is amazing what an angled light source can pick up!  The photo of your hull  looks good, though.

[DanB]

Marking the Waterline???

 

The instructions suggest putting the boat in its stand and then using a gig supplied in the kit that holds a pencil at what I think is supposed to be the correct height. It does not seem to work well. The boat does not sit level in the stand  ( think that is correct, mine looks like the manual) . A lot of the examples of how to do this on this site suggest that the boat should be level. After several attempts, using the the procedure in the instructions, I think I was able to get close to what it looks like in the manual except at the stern where the pencil does not really touch it correctly because of the angle. Not sure what I am doing wrong. I may have to just try to get it close to what looks right.  It is unclear form the pictures in the manual, but it looks like the water line  is a bit below the stern transom. 

[druxey]

Getting in 'underneath' at the stern is always a bit tricky, but you should be able to adjust your masking until the line looks right when viewed from the sides.

[DanB]

Thanks @druxey! I did as you suggested and have started painting it 

[DanB]

Masking and painting for the past few days. I need more masking practice.

[DanB]

Traveller, Tiller, Trail boards and starting bowsprit. 

 

This was all  a lot of fun and not too difficult except for the bowsprit. I had a lot of difficulty shaping the mast and spars or the Norwegian Pram. The instructions here were better, and after reading the instructions a few more times,  I figured out how to use the octagonal scale in the manual.  I also finally understood that the first step is to sand the rectangular shape of the part into a square.  I think that is where I went wrong on the pram. I was still nervous so made a copy of the bowsprit blank and used that to practice on. The written  instructions are not clear about when the spar goes from four square to octagonal. I figured it out after I looked at the plans a few more times. but had already tapered the final 1.5 inches of the bowsprit.  I think I will be able to do it much better with another try tomorrow . I am going to make another copy of the bowsprit blank--- just incase😃.

 

 

 

 

[DanB]

Bowsprit Number 2

 

This one came out better and not crooked at the end.  It took a while working slowly in stages with sanding sticks. I have a bit more confidence to shape the mast now. Tried out some golden oak  stain on bowsprit number one , but still trying to decide  weather to use stain on the spars or just leave them all natural with some wipe on poly .

 

 

 

 

[GGibson]

Looks great, Dan! Yeah, I did a much better job with my Lobster Smack mast, bowspirit, boom and gaff than I did with the mast on the Sailing Pran.  Was careful to just knock the four corners down a bit (didn't even try to do the octagon) and then just sanded them round where needed.  That way, I was much more in control of just how much I was taking off, especially with the mast, in order for it to fit snuggly in its position.  Interesting decision on whether to paint, stain or leave natural the spars.  I decided to paint the bowspirit the same white as the hull, but did a light stain on the mast, boom and gaff, and was pleased how they looked when the rigging was complete.  

 

Keep up the great work!  The sails and rigging work are approaching quickly!

 

Gregg

[DanB]

Thanks Gregg. I looked at your build ( and a bunch of others). I think I will use your suggestion of white on the bowsprit and stain the mast, gaff and boom.

 

[DanB]

Chain plates for backstays

 

I worked with the photo etch brass in the Pram, but the brass strip  here was thicker, and my crummy pin vise was no match for it. I had to get new collets for my ancient craftsman rotary tool so I could hold the drill bits in it. After a few tries to figure out how to use the center punch that they suggest that  you get in the instructions, I was able to get the holes sort of centered and then drill them out. This was loads fun! One down, one to go.

 

 

 

[druxey]

You are climbing the learning curve now! Did you heat soften the brass before trying  to drill it?

[DanB]

32 minutes ago, druxey said:

You are climbing the learning curve now! Did you heat soften the brass before trying  to drill it?

Oh absolutely. I would not pass up a chance to play with fire😀

[DanB]

I finished the chain plates and have been working on the mast and boom. They are coming out much closer to round than on the Pram. I mostly used sanding sticks to get the four square and 8 square. I tired the little plane I bought for the Pram but it was very difficult to get the balde set well and I was worried I would take off too much. It took quite a while, even starting with 80 or 100 grit standing sticks. On to the Gaff next and then plan to stain them and add the eye bolts.

[druxey]

Practice makes perfect! Your model is looking very neat and good.

[GGibson]

Boom and mast both look really good, Dan!  Yeah, I only used my little plane for a couple of swipes on the four square, and then limited my shaping to just placing a piece of sandpaper in the palm of my hand... kinda like a taco shell... and sliding the boom, mast and gaff in between the paper.  And, yes, I did much better on this one than I did on my first boat, as well.  Keep on moving forward! 

 

Gregg

[DanB]

Mast, boom and gaff are finished. Next step is to make the sails.  I had a lot of fun with the sail on the last model, but these look a lot more complicated than the sail on the Pram!.  It will probably be next week though as I will be busy playing with visiting grandchildren this week. 

 

 

 

[DanB]

Working on the main sail. The measurements for the reinforcing strips given in the instructions differ from what is on the full size plans for the sails. I decided to go with the plans.  My pencil marks to lay out the sail were too dark and showed on the other side after I had added the strips along the edges, so I added strips on both sides to cover up the marks . I will remember this for next time-- minimal or no pencil marks.  It has been a lot of fun so far; moving along slowly. 

 

[AJohnson]

Wow, those a re very good looking sails Dan! 👏

[bobandlucy]

All looks really good, Dan! This is a challenging model.

[DanB]

Finished the mainsail. Now working on attaching it to the mast and gaff.

 

[druxey]

Nice neat job on the reef points! Looking very good.

[AJohnson]

Very good reef points, did you do a knot near the sail on each side?  I’m about to do some reef points and wondering how to do the knots at the sail end. 🤔

[mark.bukovich]

10 hours ago, DanB said:

Finished the mainsail. Now working on attaching it to the mast and gaff.

 

 

Nice!

 

In this kit, does the sail get any coating like clear-coat, Polyurethane, or diluted glue?

[DanB]

 

2 hours ago, mark.bukovich said:

 

Nice!

 

In this kit, does the sail get any coating like clear-coat, Polyurethane, or diluted glue?

Yes, the sail material is stretched  first by taping it to a flat surface. (I found I also need to iron out the folds)  Then paint diluted white glue on the sail and allow it to dry. Then  mark out the sail and add reinforcing strips by gluing them with more diluted glue. It seems to work well, and  after doing it a few times I think I could now do this for a model that did not have sails supplied. 

[mark.bukovich]

4 hours ago, DanB said:

 

Yes, the sail material is stretched  first by taping it to a flat surface. (I found I also need to iron out the folds)  Then paint diluted white glue on the sail and allow it to dry. Then  mark out the sail and add reinforcing strips by gluing them with more diluted glue. It seems to work well, and  after doing it a few times I think I could now do this for a model that did not have sails supplied. 

Cool. I like the reinforced portions of the sail. In addition to looks, this will probably help avoid damaging the sail while bending it to the spars and rigging everything up. Does the sail have rings/grommets at the holes, or just punched through the cloth?

 

I just got done with sails for the kit I'm working on and used an acrylic varnish. It looks like the Model Shipways Lobster Smack is more involved and advanced in many ways. I'm definitely considering doing this kit at some point.

[DanB]

14 hours ago, AJohnson said:

Very good reef points, did you do a knot near the sail on each side?  I’m about to do some reef points and wondering how to do the knots at the sail end. 🤔

The instructions did say they are usually knotted on each side of the sail, but they recommended gluing them on each side of the sail.  Drill a hole with a #55 bit at each point Then use 0.3 mm line that has been stretched so there are no kinks. I found stretching it and using dilute white glue worked well  Then cut to 1 inch lengths and glue at each hole on both sides so they appear to hang vertically Then trim to 3/4 inch  on each side to get them about even . It is described much better in the instructions for this kit, and they can be downloaded as a pdf from the Model Expo website on the page for the kit.

[bobandlucy]

My reef points did not hang vertically. I tell myself they are flapping a bit in the wind. Yours certainly give a better appearance. . .

[DanB]

Attaching the sail to the mast, gaff and boom. This is just like the Pram, but I forgot how to do it and had to read the instructions in the manual several times, look at the instructions in the back of the manual , and look at the Pram instructions. I still managed to mess it up a few times  I used  up the 0.4 mm line, but I think the rest of the rigging is 0.7mm.  I am sure that Model Expo thought they supplied enough line, but it would have been helpful to include a bit more to account for mistakes.

 

I added the beads for each  parral that holds the mast and Gaff. The manual says to use seed beads but does not say what size and they come in a lot of different sizes . The first ones  that I ordered were too small. The ones I finally used are size 8/0 and seem to be about right and look similar to the picture in the manual. I now have a lifetime supply of these beads unless I decide to give up on ship models and make jewelry instead😃.  I had a better picture but the file will not upload and I  just get Error 200 message .

 

Onward to attaching blocks 

 

Dan

 

[mark.bukovich]

1 hour ago, DanB said:

Attaching the sail to the mast, gaff and boom. This is just like the Pram, but I forgot how to do it and had to read the instructions in the manual several times, look at the instructions in the back of the manual , and look at the Pram instructions. I still managed to mess it up a few times  I used  up the 0.4 mm line, but I think the rest of the rigging is 0.7mm.  I am sure that Model Expo thought they supplied enough line, but it would have been helpful to include a bit more to account for mistakes.

 

I added the beads for each  parral that holds the mast and Gaff. The manual says to use seed beads but does not say what size and they come in a lot of different sizes . The first ones  that I ordered were too small. The ones I finally used are size 8/0 and seem to be about right and look similar to the picture in the manual. I now have a lifetime supply of these beads unless I decide to give up on ship models and make jewelry instead😃.  I had a better picture but the file will not upload and I  just get Error 200 message .

 

Onward to attaching blocks 

 

Dan

 

 

Nice! I think rigging the sails is an exciting part of a build.

Edited May 1, 2022 by mark.bukovich
Changed sentence structure and emphasis