Nordlandsbaaden by Paul Le Wol - FINISHED - Billing Boats - 1/20

[Waldemar]

 

Ship models featuring visible structural elements have always been my favourites. A pleasure to see yours.

[Paul Le Wol]

Hi Waldemar, thank you so much for your kind words. I find that more and more I am drawn towards those types of vessels.

[Paul Le Wol]

Hey Everyone, thanks again for your comments and Likes. They are really appreciated. The last two frames in the bow were finished and attached. A couple of single blocks were rigged to eyebolts and mounted. They were PE eyebolts and I have got to say that I didn’t get along with them very well. They seemed way too thin and flimsy.

 

 

Some 1/8” art tape was used for the steel bumper on the stem.

 

 

 I had some laserboard parts left over from Cheerful’s pintle and gudgeon kit so they were used for the rudder straps. Just made new pintles and gudgeons. Here’s the gudgeons before shaping.

 

 

The rest of the week was spent working on the stand. The plaque is from Michael’s. It was $12 after using a 30% off code. The 5/16”x 11/16” x 96” clear pine is from Home Depot. It was $16 (! ?). 
 

 

Two 12” pieces were glued to each side of an 18” piece

 

 

The vertical pieces are 3” and are glued to the center piece at each end of the 12” pieces.

 

 

Two small blocks are glued on next at each end and end up being 1/2” shorter than the center piece.

 

 

 

A 16” piece is glued to each side to cover all of that.

 

 

 

 

 

A 6-32 screw and nut will tighten the vertical pieces against the keel. The keel will rest on top of the machine screw. Finally a test fit.

 

 

 

 

 

Forgot to mention that the bottom of the hull was also painted with Tamiya Dark Iron acrylic. I think that the stand will end up being black.

See you next week.

 

 

[Paul Le Wol]

Hi Everyone, thank you for the Likes and stopping by. The stand has been painted with five coats of diluted Liquitex Ivory Black acrylic. The hardware used to tighten the vertical pieces to the keel is 8-32. A piece of plastic tube is used to cover the threads of the machine screw and acorn nuts do the tightening. Mounting the boat on the stand seemed like a bit of a milestone so I took a progress picture. Unfortunately the sun went away just before that.

 

 

 

The brackets that support the long tiller arm were made from the kit supplied brass strip and blackened.

 

 

A couple of storage boxes were made for the deck. They are made from AYC strips using white pva.

 

 

 

 

They still need some details like handles added. Eventually they will be glued to the deck. A gang plank has also been positioned.

 

 

 

 

Extensions were glued and pinned to the vertical portion of the rail. The upper part of the chain plates were glued into place with CA. They are supposed to look like bars that have been bent over to form a loop. And lastly the oars were made and painted with Tamiya Hull Red acrylic.

 

 

 

You can see that the mast has been stepped. The dowel that came with the kit had a pretty good wow in it so I picked up a new one at the lumberyard. I think it’s poplar. It has kind of a green tinge to it that looks ok to me. Going to start the rigging next. See you soon.

[Waldemar]

 

 

A lovely finish, natural, 'everlasting' materials (if properly cared for) and a visible structure. This is my favourite way 🙂.

 

 

[Waldemar]

 

... forgot to mention both realistic and attractive shapes.

 

 

Edited July 31, 2022 by Waldemar

[Paul Le Wol]

Thank you Waldemar, you are very kind. I also like this style of working. Paint is not a friend of mine.

[BobG]

I'm so happy that I just found your build, Paul, as this is a model that I have admired for several years now. I loves the lines of this boat and the clinker planking is wonderful. Your work, as usual, is meticulous, precise and gorgeous. There's no doubt that your model will set a high standard for the rest of us who may attempt to build it someday. I look forward to following along.

[Paul Le Wol]

Thank you so much Bob. This boat has had its challenging moments but overall it’s been a lot of fun. Now that I think about it all boats have their moments 

[BobG]

1 hour ago, Paul Le Wol said:

This boat has had its challenging moments but overall it’s been a lot of fun. Now that I think about it all boats have their moments 

What have been the most challenging steps in this build, Paul? Getting the frames seated properly looks like it would be difficult. I've read that the Billings Boats instructions are generally quite sparse too. 

[Paul Le Wol]

Hey Bob, here are the directions and one of the photos mentioned in them (figure 5). 
 

 

The biggest challenge for me was getting the planks to overlap correctly. They say to overlap them 2mm. If you stray too far from that measurement then you start having issues getting the planks to sit right. That’s why I had to remove the hull from the build board after half of the planking was done. I kind of lost my way and the only way I could get back on track was to flip it over and see what was happening on the inside of the hull. Attaching  the ribs before finishing the rest of the planking made it easier for me because I could see where the planks needed to go. I’m sure that if you keep the overlap correct you won’t have the same problem that I had and could leave it on the build board until the planking is completed. I didn’t wet any of the planks to try and shape them. Maybe I should have. Another thing that was a bit confusing was that some of the planks needed their length adjusted. In hindsight I should probably have trimmed a bit off each end but I didn’t. Just trimming one end might have thrown things off a bit because some of these planks have some pretty wild shapes.

[Paul Le Wol]

Hi Everyone, thank you very much for your comments and Likes. I have started the rigging process after determining that there would be no sails. Don’t have the wherewithal for making them. Because there will be no sails I am shortening the mast to make it a Nordland boat with just a main sail. This will also save 6 or so inches in height. The yard will be presented in the lowered state. Some of my Nordic rigging terminology may not be correct so bear with me. Four tackle pendants were made and hung from the mast.

 

 

This is a shot of the drawings. I’m not sure of what kind of knot is being depicted to secure the tackle but there doesn’t look like there’s anything to keep it from slipping. After looking at hundreds of photos and countless hours of videos I’m still no further ahead.

 

 

So I’m using a truckers hitch.

 

 

The same went for the main stay.

 

 

The parrel was made of pear. I just think the wooden ones look neat. The rope attached to the back of the parrel is, I’m assuming used to keep it from jamming on the way up and down. It runs up through a thimble in a sling at the top of the mast. It probably would have looked better if a wooden bull’s eye was used.

 

 

The storage boxes were moved to the center of the deck and given rope handles.

 

 

A jig was used to make the various rope coils. Cotton thread was loosely tied around the coil before removing them from the jig. They are placed and gradually shaped using diluted white pva. The Tamiya clear acrylic was leaving white residue so I switched to the pva. The tread is removed or moved as the pva is applied. Usually a small section of each coil is done every day, shaping as needed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The flagpole was mounted and sockets for the oar locks were glued to the rail.

 

 

 

I was looking through @killickthere’s amazing Oseberg Viking Ship build log when I saw the stone anchor that he made. I figured that if I was building a real Nordland boat it would have a stone anchor so this model gets one too. Thank you to killickthere for the inspiration.

 

 

Not far to go now. See you soon.

[Dave_E]

Looking REAL NICE Paul! 👍😀

[Paul Le Wol]

Thanks very much Dave.

[BobG]

Beautiful work on this fascinating boat, Paul!

[Paul Le Wol]

Thank you so much Bob and and thanks to everyone for their likes

[Paul Le Wol]

Hello Everyone, thank you all for the Comments, Likes, and for dropping by. The rigging didn’t take as long as I thought it would. Basically it’s mostly a bunch of rope laying around waiting for the sail to get back from the cleaners. I am declaring that the Nordland Boat is finished. Here are some photos. Thanks to everyone for their support and for joining me with this build. It was a lot of fun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

See you on the next one.
 

 

[Prowler901]

Beautiful work, Paul.  She looks outstanding!

[Dave_E]

REALLY nice Paul, outstanding! 👍

[ccoyle]

That's really a striking model -- congratulations!

[Paul Le Wol]

Thank you Todd, Dave, and Chris for your Comments. Thank you baskerbosse and Ryland for your Likes. Everyone’s support has been great to have. Took some more pictures trying to get some different angles for the Gallery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Seventynet]

Absolutely beautiful model Paul. Congratulations on her completion!

 

Ian

[Baker]

Very nice work 

[BobG]

This is such a beautiful model. I love it. Great job, Paul!

[Paul Le Wol]

Thank you Ian, Baker, and Bob for your comments. And thanks to everyone who Liked. Your support makes a huge difference in whether or not a project gets completed. This is such a great community!

[rvchima]

What a beautiful model! Outstanding work.