Le Martegaou by HakeZou - FINISHED - Billing Boats - 1:80

[HakeZou]

I didn't mean to jump into this build so quickly after finishing my Endurance, but today was one of those dismal grey days on which it's nice to slip into the basement and sit at my worktable. The kit arrived a few months ago, so I had already unpacked and inspected everything. But it was good to come back and check everything again while I got myself sorted and organized.

 

Billing's description states: "A flat-bottomed boat from Provence. Vessels of this type were commonly used along the Rhone River for transporting building timber, tiles from Arles and fodder. The runs were eventually extended to include the southern coasts of France. The boats disappeared, however, as railway transport became widespread." This is a bit too simple for a historian like me, so I've been doing some preparatory research. The kit is of a fictional boat based on the tartanes and allèges that ran freight on the lower Rhone River, then along the coast in both directions as far as Sète in the west and Toulon in the east. (Coincidentally, two of my favorite places in France are Montpellier and Hyères, which are very close to Sète and Toulon, respectively.) The "allège d'Arles" is a celebrated boat in the Bouches-du-Rhône, particularly noted for hauling local tiles from Arles. While Billing comments that these ships were superseded by railway transport, steam-powered barges were the more direct culprit for the decline of these ships. However, the tartanes and allèges were part of a centuries-long development of sail-powered freight ships designed for the specific challenges of the Rhone River. Their flat bottoms, in particular, were essential for navigating through the shallow stretches of the river.

 

Here are a few images that I'm using for inspiration. The first is entitled "Allège en chargeant dans le port de Toulon" (Allège loading cargo in the port of Toulon). The second is a woodcut by Jean-Jérôme Baugéan and the title translates to "An allège from Arles descending the Rhone River." The third is a much earlier woodcut by Pierre-Jacob Gueroult du Pas entitled "Allège d'Arles, pour le transport de bois" (Allège from Arles, for transporting wood). Finally, there are two paintings by Antoine Roux of allèges d'Arles.

 

 

 

The kit comes with the usual variety of planks and plywood. The three thicker pieces of plywood seem to be of decent quality, though the laser-cutting left a lot of marks on the backside. The thinner piece (lower right with the main deck piece dominating) looks like single-ply plywood; it's very thin and badly warped. I have it sitting between two boxes in hops that it will flatten out. If not, maybe an iron on low heat will help? In addition to dowels, the planks are made of poplar and obeche. There's also a roll of sailcloth, which means I'll be making my own sails for the first time.

 

 

The instructions—available for free on Billing's site, which I appreciated when I was trying to decide what to build next—are what I've come to expect from most kits. The text instructions are very limited and assume prior experience building model ships (a note to any raw beginners: don't be scared off; MSW provides a great knowledge base for figuring out what the instructions aren't telling you!). The photos in the instructions are in black-and-white and of just okay quality. The diagrams are a single large sheet, accompanied by a single sheet with templates for the sails. Per my usual approach, I've hung the plans on the wall above my worktable.

 

 

In addition to the wood and sailcloth, there's a small plastic package with rigging thread, hardware, a ribbon (for a pennant on the mast), and the lifeboat. The rigging thread seems to be in three diameters, though I'll need to take a closer look to be sure; it's also much better quality and more rope-like than I've worked with on any of my prior kits. The lifeboat is plastic and comes in two pieces; I do not plan to use it. The hardware looks like it's all decent quality and is definitely usable.

 

 

In addition, you'll notice I picked up four dozen barrels from ModelExpo/Model Shipways. My plans for the kit are:

 

• This kit is primarily about improving my skills. I'm particularly looking to get better at planking both the hull and the deck.
• I'm hoping to go without paint for the first time. I'm hoping that the wood will look good enough that I just need satin varnish, though I'm also fine with using wood stains if I need.
• After my experience with the Endurance, I'll probably do a little bit of kitbashing and upgrading. For example, I'm going to build this as a fully loaded freight vessel, hauling a load of wine. (Coincidentally, a couple years ago, I gave my wife an artistic map of the Rhone Valley wine regions, along with some sample bottles...there's definitely some inspiration there.) Rather than placing the lifeboat and its cradles over the cargo hatch, I'll leave it open and fill the hold with the wine barrels.  This will also mean planking the lower deck. My goal is something that looks a bit like the first Roux painting above...though I'm not sure yet if I'm ambitious enough to add the other two masts from the painting.

 

I notice that Ben87 started a buildlog for this kit last year and that RDDP mentioned they are working on this, too. Hopefully, we'll have a nice little community as we work on this together!

 

Next steps: prepare and assemble the spine, flat bottom, and keel pieces.

[BobG]

I'm onboard for the voyage, Hake. I love the look of these working vessels with their lateen sails.

[clearway]

i cut my wooden ship modelling teeth on billings kits in the days before laser cutting - i always found their instructions provided all you needed to know but you had to study the instruction booklet/ plans several times before even starting. You will find the billings kits easier to adapt/ upgrade than the occre kits.

 

Keith

[HakeZou]

Hi, Bob and Keith! Great to see you again! 

 

Bob, one of the features that really drew my eye to this kit is the stern, which is built up in an interesting way (you can see this best in the second image of my opening post). I'm not sure yet what the functional reason for that design is, but I'm sure I'll figure that out along the way. 

 

Keith, I think that's a fair assessment of this set of instructions. For somebody who's new to ship modeling, though, a resource like MSW or Frank Mastini's Ship Modeling Simplified will be invaluable to learn strategies for installing the frames, planking the hull, etc. But it's not an overly complex build, so I think it should still be reasonably accessible for a first-timer.

 

Last night I cut out all of the pieces through the decks, so I could dry-fit everything and see how it goes together. The two support pieces that run along the tops of the frames aren't cut evenly, so one of them fits beautifully and the other will need to be sanded down. The mast foot goes in nicely and helps hold frames #3 and 4 straight. The warping of the main deck is going to be a hassle, so that went back between boxes as soon as I was done with dry-fitting. The aftdeck and frame #7 are going to take some care to be aligned well; I saw Ben87 ran into a problem with this in his build, too.

 

Here are some profile and overhead shots, with and without the deck. The fit of the frames is a little loose, so they look pretty wonky here; nothing to worry about yet, though.

 

 

This morning, I installed the flat bottom onto the spine. I used clamps and brackets to ensure a square fit. (The brackets on the ends are just there so it will stand up.) I was hoping to put the keel on at the same time, but it wasn't cooperating very well. Once the glue for the bottom is dry, I'll work that out. 

 

 

Next steps: install the keel; prepare and install the frames.

[HakeZou]

Another big storm in the Midwestern US—8 inches of heavy, wet snow fell here—so another day with a lot of time to myself in the basement. In between sessions of working from home, I installed the keel and the frames. Frames #1 and 7 were the trickiest ones, so I started with them, using 4 brackets and 2 clamps on each. I left the aftdeck in place (dry-fit) the whole time to ensure that frame #7 didn't move around at all. I'm finding that the slots are generally on the loose side, so there are lots of opportunities for the frames to wiggle around before the glue sets. I also spent a lot of time putting the main deck on and taking it back off, ensuring that each frame was aligned correctly. When I got to frames #3 and 5 (6th and 7th photos), I realized that I had completely missed frame #8, which abuts frame #7; that's why there is suddenly an extra set of clamps and brackets at the after end. A long series of photos here as I gradually worked my way toward frame #4 in the middle. 

 

 

 

After shoveling snow, I went back down to the basement and decided to work out the cargo hold. This went much easier than I expected! The mast step, which stretches from frame #3 to frame #4, is a piece of 2mm thick plywood. I extended that backward to frame #6 with some leftover 5x2mm planks. After a quick test, I added some side rails to keep the barrels from rolling off. Back when the kit first arrived, I took some measurements to figure out how I would install the barrels: there will be three layers of 21, 14, and 6, respectively. I mounted the center line of barrels for the bottom layer and discovered that I needed a couple of minor adjustments. In order to leave space for the mast, I had to sand down the forward-most barrel in that center line. Once I started laying the outer lines, I realized that I would have to either sand down some barrels or sand back the bulkheads. Since the bottom layer won't actually be visible, it was an easy call to just sand down some of the barrels; in the first photo, you'll notice that the third barrel in the bottom row has been sanded flat on the side facing the camera. Just before I wrapped up for the evening, I decided to test out the final effect, so I tossed on a few barrels for the second and third layers, then laid the main deck in place.

 

 

Next steps: finishing mounting the first layer of wine barrels; install the support pieces on top of the frames.

[HakeZou]

Just a short post after a long session working on the Martegaou. I installed the long support pieces that run along the tops of the frames and underneath the deck. This was a lot more challenging than I expected!

 

The cut-outs in the frames line up nicely, which is very helpful. The two planks, however where not cut equally. The inventory list indicates that they are supposed to be 3x5mm, but one was closer to 3.25x5mm and the other was 3x6mm. After sanding them down to fit, I started working on shaping them to follow the curve of the deck. This was my first chance to try out my new electric plank bender (one of the ones that's basically a soldering iron with a large, round piece on the tip). With such thick wood, it was slow going, but eventually I got the curve almost exactly right. I also used CA glue so they would set in place more quickly. 

 

Then I encountered another challenge: I had a LOT of fairing to do. I'm not sure if this is because the frames weren't cut perfectly level, they fit so loosely on the spine, or maybe I just did a poor job of installing them. Frames #6, 7, and 8 were particularly problematic with the port side 2, 4, and 3mm higher than the starboard! I have a small spirit level that's about two inches long, which came in handy here. Using that, I spent a few hours going back and forth, checking every frame with the level and then sanding the frames and support pieces until everything ran smoothly and evenly. 

 

 

After looking at these photos, I realized that I had forgotten to install the last barrel in the first layer. Not quite sure how I missed that while spending so much time staring at the skeleton of the ship!

 

Next steps: prepare and plank the decks; do some planning ahead for planking the hull (more on this in another post).

[BobG]

Taking your time getting the frames aligned properly and fairing the hull well is time well spent, Hake, as I'm sure you already know. Errors in these two steps inevitably create big problems down the road. Nice work!

[RDDP]

I'm very relieved to see you are building the Le Martegaou and sharing your progress here on Modelshipworld. Your skills are far better than mine and I didn't take the care you did with frame alignment so I'm sure I'm headed for more pain and misery. I'd love to know what the name/source is of your aluminum 90 degree brackets are ? I've seen legos used but these look easier to use.  I'll post photos of my progress ( cringing slightly ).

[HakeZou]

Thanks, Bob! I don't think I've ever been so careful about fairing the frames...usually I've charged on ahead and only realized too late that there was a problem! A sign that I'm learning as I go, I guess.

 

RDDP: I'm so glad you found your way over here! And I'm even happier to see how your build is coming along! By now, with the hull and deck planked, you're probably through the worst of the pain and misery from misaligned frames. (And your frames #7 and 8 don't look bad at all—I've definitely had much worse alignment in similar places!) There may be a lot of wood filler on the hull, but this is your first kit, right? The more kits you build, the better your skills get (to quote the advice another MSW gave me during my Endurance build).  You're doing great and that wood filler will look fine once it's sanded smooth and you've painted the hull. The brackets are just 1-inch corner braces that I ordered online. You should be able to find something comparable at your local hardware store or your favorite mega-retailer on the web. I hope you'll start a buildlog for your Martegaou, so we can all see your progress!

 

Finally, a quick update. I spent a bit of time this afternoon and evening working on the deck. Despite going after it with an iron, it's still frustratingly curved, though I think it'll be fine once it's installed. While preparing my first pair of deck planks, my eye happened to land on a spool of black cotton thread. And then I got an idea... Not an original idea, of course, since others here on MSW have done the same. But an idea to try a new technique. Rather than using pencil on the side of the planks to simulate caulk, I laid a piece of black thread between each of them to more accurately represent the caulk. With how dark the obeche planks are, I'm really liking the look so far! An overhead shot of the deck (still just dry-fit on the frames), then a detail that shows the caulk effect better. 

 

 

 

Next steps: Finish planking the decks; work out plans for planking the hull.

[BobG]

I like the black thread between the deck planks, Hake. It's very realistic looking.

[HakeZou]

And just like that, the decks have been planked! I'm really happy with the effect of the black thread as caulk. The second layer of wine barrels is in place, too, and I lined both the edges of the cargo hatch and the bulkhead between the main and aft decks. So far, I've done a rough clean-up of the edges, but there's still quite a bit of clean up to do.

 

 

A few quick notes: 1) The wild angle of the main deck on the aft bulkhead is nothing to worry about; the deck is just sitting in place and is still badly warped. Once that's glued in place, it should be fine. 2) In the second photo, especially, you'll note CA glue drying on the wine barrels; all of that was placed in such a way as to be hidden under the third layer. 3) When I set the aft deck in place I knocked loose one of the planks lining the bulkhead...didn't see that until after I'd taken the photo, but it's fixed now.

 

Next steps: clean up and install the decks; finish working out plans for lining the hull. 

[RDDP]

Hi,

 I'm so new to this forum I wonder if I should not have posted my photos on your page 😳. 

My build of the same boat is moving along to the sails and rigging. I thought I'd ask you a question about the plans. When doing the rigging, the plans are defined with a circle and a number inside the circle. I have not been able to identify why the number is placed in that specific place and what the number is in reference to ? It feels as though I'm missing a page of instructions. Any ideas ?

Thank you 

[HakeZou]

Hi RDDP, as I understand the customs here, it's best not to take over other people's buildlogs (and I don't think your previous post did that, especially since we're working on the same project). Regarding your rigging question: I was just looking at the rigging plans the other day. The numbers in circles each represent one attachment point of one rope. So, look for each number to appear two or three times in the plans (three times if it runs through an intermediate point). I'm not at home so don't have the plans in front of me, but if I recall correctly, rope #2 is the one for adjusting the antenne (the long yard holding the main sail). You'll tie this rope around the front end of the antenne, below the front corner of the sail, then you'll tie off one end on the port side and the other on the starboard (I think on belaying pins in both cases). Just look for that number 2 and you'll find the correct places to tie off the ends of the ropes. In order to get a better understanding of how rigging works with lateen sails, I highly recommend this video.

 

***

 

As for my Martegaou build, I've reached a point of pretty massive frustration. Two key issues: 1) When the kit arrived, the plywood sheet with the deck planks was badly warped. I tried to iron it flat, but never got it stay flat. I was hoping that I had it flat enough that it would be okay once I installed it on the frames. Not so much...it's putting enough tension on the frames to twist the spine a bit. 2) The main deck tapers at its aft end and is significantly narrower than the front edge of the aft deck. I started fairing the frame in hopes of getting the bulwarks on and stabilizing things. But I just can't figure out how to get the bulwarks on without having massive gaps at the bulkhead connecting the main and aft decks. 

 

Right now, I'm not quite sure what to do, but my goal of making a ship that doesn't need to be painted doesn't seem very likely anymore. I'll be spending some time this week brainstorming some solutions...hopefully my next post will be a little more positive!

[clearway]

ah the joys of billings decks!!! i normally fit the deck without any deck planking , then plank the hull after which the gaps can be filled in between the decks and the bulwarks which is o.k. so long as you are going for a painted finish.

 

Keith

[RDDP]

Thank you for taking the time to explain one of the vagaries of the plan. It still feels very opaque and I look forward to my next model that will have more detailed plans better suited for a novice builder. You have been so helpful. i really appreciate it.

[HakeZou]

After a week away from my Martegaou, my feelings of frustration are finally dying down. So, I went back down to the basement this evening to reassess things. The heart of the problem is with frame #7 (the leftmost frame in the following photos). As can be seen in the following photo (which I've previously posted), frame #7 comes up at a significant angle, so the top posts are significantly wider (about 7–8mm) than the after edge of the main deck, which abuts the frame. For this to work, the bulwarks have to make some pretty incredible contortions to avoid leaving a gap at the point where the main deck abuts frame #7.

 

 

I tried to make that work a week ago, but once I had installed the bulwarks and the shear strakes, I knew there was just no way to continue moving forward. So tonight, I removed the bulwarks and shear strakes that I had foolishly tried to wrestle into submission. After cleaning them up, I went to work sanding down frame #7, to ensure a smoother line from the main deck to the aft deck (the red box is focusing the attention on that line). After a bit of testing with the bulwarks, I think I'm in better shape now and can try moving forward again.. 

 

 

Looking ahead, I'm still hoping to do this build without paint. Once the bulwarks are installed, I'm going to remove the posts coming up from the frames. I'll line the bulwarks and the edges of the deck with a lighter colored wood from my stockpiles, then install timberheads from something similar. 

[tkay11]

Sorry to have only just caught up with this build. These tartanes are lovely boats. I hadn't realised the Martegao was an allège as I just looked at the name when running through the posts.

 

I can see you've done your research, but just in case you haven't seen the following, I'm putting some suggestions that I found useful in case others would like to research this area as well. There's a good monograph on the allèges by Ancre in English as well as French (both translations from the Italian) which covers their history and has lots of illustrations including some of those by Roux. It also has a set of plans which show the flags and stern coat of arms. What I found particularly interesting was the rigging of lateen sails, and in addition to the plentiful French sources, there's a nice video about traditional lateen sailing boats on YouTube which gave me a good understanding of how the main yard was set up.

 

There are also a few builds of the card model of an allège on this forum (notably Kondzik's), as well as wooden from the ANCRE plans, and a beautiful miniature by Javier Baron, but these differ in some details from the Billings version.

 

I look forward to the rest of the build. Have fun!

 

Tony

[HakeZou]

@tkay11, thanks for joining along! I don't have a copy of that Ancre book yet, but it looks really fantastic! The other links are helpful, too. I'd stumbled across Kondzik's build, but hadn't found Javier Baron's yet—his work is really fantastic! The video is nice, but my Italian is so poor that I remain partial to this one. Thanks for sharing the resources and recommendations!!

[RDDP]

So glad you are back in the game. I look forward to seeing how the boat progresses in your hands.

[HakeZou]

Some slow progress this week, thanks in part to a nasty cold that laid me flat for a few days. I'm continuing to do some prep work before reattaching the bulwarks. I picked up some balsa blocks to fill out the bow and stern. I've sanded the ones up front to an almost final shape. The aft ones still need to be cleaned up. 

 

 

 

Next steps: finish fairing the balsa blocks and frames, then attach the bulwarks. Prepare the edging boards for the decks.

[HakeZou]

A little more progress has happened. Since I'm waiting on some planks to soak, I thought I'd go ahead and write my update now. The key update is that I've finally gotten the blasted bulwarks on. I'm not sure why I struggled so much with these...maybe it's an issue of design, maybe it's that I'm trying to do too much with this build...probably some of both. But they're on!

 

One of my new acquisitions for working on this kit is the Model Shipways electric plank bender. Generally speaking, I like it and I definitely found it helpful while shaping the bulwarks. It comes with a mold that is helpful for both curves and twists, and these bulwarks need both. Once the bulwarks were shaped, I went ahead and lined their in-board side with some .6mm strips from my stock. Those needed shaping, too, to account for the curve and a certain degree of edge-setting. Clamping the bulwarks in place while the glue set was a frustrating process and required a few attempts. What finally worked was using binder clips with an extra loop inside (see photo below if that description isn't clear). At the bow, I used some pushpins along the curve, then clamped a couple pieces of wood around the stempost to hold the forward end of the bulwarks in place. At the stern...ugh. After some futility, I ended up just using CA glue and holding them in place with my fingers.  

 

 

After getting the bulwarks installed, I trimmed off the tops of the frames. I'll replace these with new timberheads after I've laid the edging around the deck. From overhead, the line of the bulwarks looks pretty good to me.

 

 

Looking fore and aft, the flaws are a bit more visible. At the front, there's a slight misalignment, due in part to the warping of the deck. I plan to reduce the effect of this by sanding the bulwarks down to match each other. At the stern, the various gaps will take a little more work to resolve. Given everything that will be built up back here, I don't think these will be too much of a problem in the final product. I will also be doing a second planking on the hull (though the kit doesn't call for it), so that will also let me use some wood filler, then cover it up on both the in-board and out-board sides. 

 

    

 

Overall, I'm feeling better about this model now than I was a week or two ago, but the frustrations continue to be significant. 

[HakeZou]

Ahhh... Starting to feel much better about my Martegaou now! Over the last three days, I've worked on the edging for the deck and the timberheads. (And thanks to a Zoom conference today, I could get a lot of work done while listening to the presentations!) I started off by soaking two .6x3mm planks for about 18 hours in my favorite wine bottle. I knew I was going to need some serious edge-setting, so I wanted them thoroughly soaked and as flexible as possible. I used an iron to help steam the wood as I bent it. Once it was close to the right shape, I used as many clothespins as possible to clamp the planks to the plywood pieces that will eventually be the caprails. Then I left them clamped like that for about 24 hours.

 

 

Once I felt confident the edging planks were ready, I removed the clothespins and trimmed them down to the necessary shape. I went bit-by-bit, using CA glue to ensure that everything locked into place quickly and firmly. Then, I cut some 2x2mm pieces for the timberheads. Following the plans in the Ancre book, I noted that there were 19 timberheads down the length of the main deck. I had to round off a decimal in my measurement and, over 19 pieces, those decimals added up to 20th. I also placed timberheads against the bulkhead on the front of the aft deck; these are covering up some big gaps that were, conveniently, almost exactly 2mm!

 

 

Then, it was just a matter of sanding down the timberheads. I also sanded the tops of the timberheads at an approximately 45º angle. The result? Very satisfying. This has really lifted my mood with this ship! 

 

 

Next steps: Add edging to the aft deck. Then on to the first layer of the hull.

[RDDP]

Looks great ! I completely missed the deck edging on my build ! Looking forward to how this one turns out .

[HakeZou]

Just a quick update this evening. I've started working on the first layer of the hull. Since I'm planning to add a second layer, I haven't been too precious about things. I'm still taking my time and making sure that there will be a good base, but I will definitely need both a lot of sanding to fair the hull and wood filler for the gaps. Over the last few days, I've installed the garboard strake and the top four strakes. Should be four more strakes to go, plus stealers.

 

[HakeZou]

Throughout the remainder of last week, I finished up the first layer of the hull. Yesterday, I applied the wood filler and this morning I sanded it down. I think I've done a pretty good job of fairing the hull, so will start working on the second layer soon.

 

Prow (left) and stern (right) 

 

.  

 

Port (top) and starboard (bottom).

 

 

[HakeZou]

I wasn't intending to get a second work session in today, but I got a late start making a birthday cake tonight and I had to do something while the cake cooled enough to frost it. After looking at my hand and arm in the photos from earlier today, I figured it was a good time to build the display stand. The materials and a pattern for a simple stand come with the Martegaou kit. The materials are a long block of 8x15mm obechi, which is cut in half to make the two ends, and another long block of 5x10mm obechi, which connects the ends. The plans in the kit include a pattern for the ends, but there are no further instructions. 

 

I started off by marking the length of the top and bottom. Then, taking measurements from the plans, I drew a grid to help me free-hand the curves. The vertical lines are 5mm apart; the horizontal lines mark the spots where the vertical lines intersect the curves. (The horizontal lines aren't quite straight, but the points of intersection are accurate.) Once everything was sketched on to the wood, I used a saw to cut along the vertical and horizontal lines.

 

 

Next, I needed to smooth out the curves. I ended up using a combination of sanding sticks, sanding blocks (a nice set from OcCre that I received as a gift), and my Dremel tool. To ensure that the ends matched, I clamped them together while I did this, regularly flipping one of the blocks until all four curves matched.

 

 

Next, I considered how to attach the middle piece to the ends. A butt joint would be the easiest approach, of course, but I worried about stability. A mortise-and-tenon joint seemed like a much sturdier option, though I had never tried to make one before. So, I got ambitious. After carefully measuring things, I used my Exacto knife to carve a mortise into each end. Then, I measured a tenon to match each mortise, using the saw to cut off the unnecessary bits. Since I wasn't perfectly consistent between the two ends, I marked each joint with a letter; you might notice the "A" and "B" inside the mortises and there are matching letters on the ends of the tenons.

 

 

I still need to do finish sanding, so nothing is glued yet. But I did take a moment to enjoy the successful fit.

 

 

Finally, I cut out the tracks for the Martegaou's keel. After cleaning those with a square file, I couldn't resist setting the ship in place.

 

[RDDP]

Looks great ! I remember that you are going to double hull. What type of wood will you choose for the second layer ?

[HakeZou]

Thanks, RDDP! I have a substantial stock of .6mm-thick sapele leftover from building the Endurance, so will be using that. I'm also planning to use some lighter colored wood (boxwood? I can't remember...) to cover up the plywood on the stempost, sternpost, and keel. I've already lined the flat bottom with sapele, though I still have a bit of clean-up work to do on that.

 

 

[RDDP]

Sweet ! That sapele looks beautiful... no paint ( I hope ?) 

I received the San Juan Felluca by OcCre last night in the mail !  I'm enjoying watching you make Le Martegaou as it should be made .

[HakeZou]

RDDP: Enjoy that San Juan Felluca! That looks like a great kit that will help you push your skills to the next level.

 

I haven't had a lot of time to work on the Martegaou this week, but have made some progress on lining the keel, sternpost, and stempost. If I were painting, I wouldn't worry about doing this, but since my goal is to not need paint, I want to cover up the bare plywood—especially the cut ends that show the plywood layers. I have some leftover .6mm walnut strips from a previous kit and am using those, since they complement the sapele so nicely. 

 

I've finished lining the keel, so a quick before-and-after comparison to show what my goal is. The after photo is a bit too thick, but I'll sand that down later.

 

 

After trying out my ideas on the keel, which won't be visible once the ship is on its display stand, I moved to the sternpost, which will be simpler than the stempost. After trimming the side planks down to size, I cut out toothpicks on the forward side. These will serve as rabbet lines once I'm ready to apply the second layer to the hull. The second photo shows me testing a sapele strip to confirm that the rabbet line is big enough.

 

 

 

Next up will be lining the stempost and the prow. In this photo you can see the strip covering the cut edges of the plywood on the bottom and forward sides. The curve should be an interesting challenge!