1750-1760 Armed Longboat by Frank Nichols - Model Shipways - 1:24

[Frank Nichols]

Starting: Examine the parts, parts list, and read some of the build logs on for this model.  

Start Date: 2022-07-30

First build in 50 years.

My first build was a Cutty Sark and I had no idea what I was getting into, and of course it died.

So, starting over now that I am retired and have time to explore hobbies, with this as my first model ship build.

The kit claims to be historically accurate. Is that something I should believe? Or do some companies "exaggerate" how accurate they are? I was going to use this model as a starting point to learn to research each step. Or what do others do?

Do you research the entire ship before starting, or do research on each step as you go? 

 

Edited July 30, 2022 by Frank NIchols
spelling corrections and reduced noise...

[Frank Nichols]

Step 2: Prepare keel and false keel

Step time: 2.5 hours (not including reading and reading and more reading.)

Total Time so far: 2.5 hours

1. Several things need to be done first like removing the LASER burning of places that will (may) be visible later. And smoothing the pieces sanding down the connections that held the parts into the sheet. Do you all normally sand ALL the LASER burn off? I understand that glued surfaces might be stronger if sanded to clean wood.

2. The instructions say to use tracing paper to copy the markings on the front side of the false keel to the back side. I have never gotten along well with making paper templates to transfer things. So, instead I used a compass and a French curve. In photos you can see I measure from each slot on the front to the curve which marks the start of the tapering of the false keel down to the "rabbit" at the bottom of the false keel. Then make a mark below the slot on the back and repeat for each bulkhead (slot)? 

 

3. Then using a French curve I reproduced the curve on the back by connecting the marks. 

 

4. Next I used the compass to mark a line 1/16" in from the side of the bottom edge of the false keel. Repeat this for both sides, since the false keel is 3/16" thick, that divides bottom edge into thirds. (Not shown in photo's)

5. Then I copied the "bearding line" (called that in the instructions, I don't know what that means, so more reading to do - lol) to the back side using the compass. 

 

6. Finally I chamfered the edges from the bearding line down to the 1/3rd line of the edge. As shown in the last photo. I did this by sanding close to both lines using 180 grit sanding board, then I scraped the rest of the way to the line using the edge of an X-ACTO to get a flat even surface on the chamfer. The instructions call this a "rabbit". I have always called a rabbit a square notch that another piece fits into? After looking at a couple other build logs for this model, I see others did the chamfer approach which seems to make sense because this is going to be where the bottom plank will fit into the slot between the false keel and the keel. If the bottom edge of the plank is also chamfered, then it will slide into this tapered slot and blend perfectly (well, perfectly for others, I will be glad if it goes into the slot - LOL!)

 

7. Final step is to glue the two pieces of the keel together and glue the two pieces of the false keel together (no photo). I will leave them clamped (being careful to keep them straight) to dry over night and pick up with step 3 tomorrow where I will start with gluing the keel and false keel together and cleaning up some the dirty LASER dust on everything. 

Edited August 1, 2022 by Frank Nichols

[Frank Nichols]

Something I noticed that I need to work on. Cleaning the LASER burns results in lots of dark brown wood flour, which gets everywhere, and all over my hands. So, I going to have to scratch my head a little and figure out a cleaner way to do that. It results in both my hands and the piece I am working on getting "dirty" and that will not be good if I want to stain any of this. 

[Oldsalt1950]

Frank, you are off to a good start. While you wait for things to cure, take a look at all the build logs for your particular build. It saves a lot of heartache in the end. You might also look at the build logs for the MEDWAY longboat as the hull construction is very similar.

 

Jim

[Frank Nichols]

57 minutes ago, Oldsalt1950 said:

Frank, you are off to a good start. While you wait for things to cure, take a look at all the build logs for your particular build. It saves a lot of heartache in the end. You might also look at the build logs for the MEDWAY longboat as the hull construction is very similar.

 

Jim

Thank you, I have been looking over a few, I plan to review all of them I can find.

[Paul Le Wol]

Hi Frank, I totally agree with Jim. My understanding of the laser char is that you do not have to remove it in areas where it can’t be seen unless you need to remove it for fitment. Just keep a vacuum handy to get rid of the dirty stuff. Once you have cleaned it off of the visible areas you could apply some wipe on poly to help keep them from getting dirty again. 

[Frank Nichols]

3 hours ago, Paul Le Wol said:

Hi Frank, I totally agree with Jim. My understanding of the laser char is that you do not have to remove it in areas where it can’t be seen unless you need to remove it for fitment. Just keep a vacuum handy to get rid of the dirty stuff. Once you have cleaned it off of the visible areas you could apply some wipe on poly to help keep them from getting dirty again. 

Thank you, good advice. I see a vacuum in my office future - LOL!

[Frank Nichols]

Well, I decided to look in on the keel before going to bed. I think this qualifies as an Oops!

Now that I have the Oops out of the way I can get on with doing it right - lol!

I had it wrapped in parchment paper and checked it a few times. Apparently the last time I checked it I bumped it when I put it away - sigh. It is repaired and "this time for sure!"

 

[Frank Nichols]

Step 3: Assemble bulkheads onto false keel

Step time: 4.5 hours

Total Time so far: 7.0 hours

 

1. Keel and false keel assembled (temporarily). Notice the gap toward the bow, I just spot attached the keel in 3 points with CA so it will support the false keel while planking. Once planked I will remove it and sand, cleanup, etc, then install the keel permanently. Another build log I read did this and I love it. I don't like the idea of having to commit to permanently attaching something until I have too. Being totally new, I like having fall back options.

My work bench is actually my desk where I do my photography and computer programming, so ignore the extra stuff - LOL! I am sure some will notice the prescription bottle (center right). Being older, I have plenty of those, and here I am using it to hold my wood flour produced as I clean up and sand parts during the build. I have two of them, one for "dirty" (LASER burned) and one for "clean" dust. During todays step I got about 3/4 inch of flour and used some to fill a couple gaps here and there.

The pile of short pieces, lower right side, will be used to secure the bulkheads. I saw this in another build log also, seemed like a good idea. I have a box that I throw all the (un)used sheets and stuff (these are from the build I started and abandoned when I found it had copyright issues) I will get to use some of it here.

 

 

2. Dry fitting the first 4 bulkheads. Bulkhead #0 is the second from the right. I made a mistake here. The bulkhead #2 (left most) should have bottomed at the top of the diagonal lines instead of at the bearding line at the bottom of them. I didn't notice this until later when it because obvious. I had already glued this in, so I am going to wait to see if I need to "fix" this (obviously it needs to be fixed, I need to decide how) when I get to planking. Worst case I remove and readjust it. Best case, I can sand the bottom a little to bring it up to where it should be - it is about 1.5mm to 2mm too low. On another thread it was mentioned there was going to be a lot of sanding on these bulkheads anyway where I get to fairing etc. So, I will evaluate this oops then. 

If you look at the bottom of the keel under bulkhead #A (right most) you can see the joint I had to repair last night. In addition to getting the joint to fit right/better I had to (re)build up the bottom a little (don't ask - LOL!). You can see the patch I applied below the joint. Until I took this close up I had not notice the joint still as a bit of a void. I expect I will be painting (not staining) the keel, so the repair should not be visible.

Close up photos are useful it seems. I will use some of the flour to fill that in the voids when I get to attaching the bulkheads. These are still just dry fitting.

(Oh, and I threw together the stand. It will be replaced when I am done, but I don't have a jig to hold the model while working on it (yet), so I will use this for now.

 

 

3. Still dry fitting, here I am checking the level of the 4 bulkheads by placing a straight edge on top. This led me to checking both side to side and lengthwise every bulkhead as I attached them, by looking across and lengthwise to make sure transitions are smooth. 

Bulkhead #0 is second from the right, and it has the largest "shadow" under the straight edge. That represents a gap of less than 0.5mm - for me that is outstanding - LOL! In wood work I have always worked on big things and +/- 1/4 inch was "close enough". So, I have a lot of learning to do here - I am not sure just how close this should be, but, I plan to make the final adjustment with fine sanding when all the bulkheads are installed. Tomorrow or later.

 

 

4. Dry fitting is done, and I took a deep breath and started with bulkhead #0. The instructions said to be extra careful with this one, since all the others will be based on this. So, I took my time to get it fitted and square. The ruler is checking vertical perpendicular to the keel, and the small steel square is checking and holding the longitudinal perpendicular while the glue sets.

 

 

5. Bulkhead #0 is glued in and the glue is setup. Here I am checking the fit. The bottom is close to bearding line.

I am seeing a lot of glue residue around. My vision is not so great anymore (I am 72), so these closeup's are showing me things I need to work on. Almost all of this glue is removed at the end when I sand and clean up. But, it should not have been there to start with, just sloppy work. I used the puddle on wax paper and a toothpick method yesterday, today I have a better method, I show in the next photo(s).

You can also see another angle on the keel repair here. I laminated a piece about 1.6 mm thick along about 3 inches of the bottom of the keel and then sanded it down to the correct thickness to make the bottom of the keel flat (I oops the bottom when repairing the gap in the joint last night).

 

 

6. Here is the bottle I got for holding/despensing my Titebond II. It really helps me put the glue where I want it and in controlled amounts. I can see how much better my results are using this.

These bottles come in a set with 3 sizes with an assortment of nozzles from Amazon for about $5 for a bunch of them. I found that keeping a small bowl of water nearby, I can pop these nozzles off and into the water and get a clean one and put it on. I also learned that if I hold the bottle upright, squeeze a little glue out and wipe it off, then set the bottle down while I prepare the next piece, the bottle pulls air back in when it expands and clears the nozzle, so it is not clogged when I pick it up the next time. I didn't have to change nozzles this whole session - no clogs.

 

7. Here you can see how small the nozzle is and how I can place a very tiny amount of glue in precisely the right spot - like inside that notch and a slight amount where the bulkhead meets the false keel. The nozzle also works well to spread it around and even it out, so I didn't have to use any toothpicks in this session.

 

 

8. I have the first 4 bulkheads glued in. The one with the dark edge (second from the right) is bulkhead #0. On the right is bulkhead #A. Here you can see the waste strips I cut into about 1 inch lengths and I am using a small spot of CA to hold them down. I don't like using CA - my concerns are for longevity. But these are destined to be removed and the center of the bulkhead will also be removed, so I don't mind using it here, and it gives me a fast method of securing the bulkheads so I can move onto the next one while the Titebond is drying. 

The steel rule I am using to check the level of the four. You can see the bulkhead #0 is slightly lower than the others, as I saw in the dry fit. If you look closely you can see a shadow and a slight gap. I measured it and it is less that 0.5mm. I plan to adjust/fix this by sanding all the bulkheads so that the transitions are all smooth curves. 

 

 

9. Here the photo is from a lower angle.

As I put in each bulkhead I look across (like this) and lenghtwise (stern to bow), checking for lines to be straight and parallel and curves to be smooth. You can see the strips securing the bulkheads are pretty close to parallel The far side is not higher than the close side, it just appears to be because I adjusted the camera point of view to show the back and front strips. 

You can see my toothpicks and on the container one of my foam "que tips". I use the foam que tip to clean up any excess glue that gets squeezed out. Behind it you can see the small bowl of water, and if you look closely you can see it is already "cloudy" from rinsing the applicator. I only had to use 1 applicator for the entire session, so, at 100 for $5 they will last a while. Very convenient. 

 

 

10. All bulkheads are now installed. And there is another obvious oops. If you look at bulkhead #4 (fourth from left) there is a bad "bump". The bottom is very close to where it should be on the top of the diagonal lines, and I just thought the stern of the boat was just going to be "higher" and this rise started the curve upwards. It wasn't until I put in bulkhead #5 that it became obvious that #4 is wrong. The lesson here is before I glue, if anything seems "off" find a photo to verify what it should look like before gluing.

I decided to not take it out yet. Bulkheads #5,#6, and #7 all seem to follow the smooth curve of the tops of the diagonal lines the bottoms of the bulkheads are following. Bulkhead #4's bottom is right where it "should be", so, my first thought it to fix this by sanding the top of bulkhead down to make it conform to the rest of them. But, If I need to take it out, I guess I can take it out - I don't look forward to breaking that Titebond II bond.  Suggestions?

Most of my gluing experience is using Hide Glue and it is easy to release using heat. I am considering using that for a while (instead of Titebond) until I get better. I think Titebond works well, if you are good and you don't want to take it back apart. And hide glue is normally used on things you want to take apart. I think it might make sense for my first couple builds to have the option to backup and try again without potential damage to the wood. Suggestions?

Oh, and the little white bottle next to my Titlebond II denspenser bottle (bottom left) is my CA dispenser bottle (one of the different sizes that comes in that set). I tried using a needle/nozzle like I have on the Titebond bottle, but that clogged after every use. So, I switched to this regular "cap". I like it much better than the bottle the CA came in (little red bottle center left in front of big Titlebond II bottle). That has one of those screw it open/screw it closed nozzles which ALWAYS clog and glues itself shut for me. Using this, I can place a small spot of CA, then just point the bottle upright, squeeze a little out of the nozzle and wipe with a paper towel. Then let the bottle suck air back in, clearing the nozzle, and put the red cap back on. Did not clog once using it for 3 hours - works for me. 

 

11. Here is a close up of the stern. I can see that #2 and #3 are actually lower than they should be, going down below the top of the diagonal lines. (Those diagonal lines are the area of the false keel that is tapered down to the bottom of the false keel) I tapered it some already, but wanted to wait to do the final sanding/tapering/thinning when I am ready to plank and can see what is going to be done.

Bulkheads #4, #5, and #6 are pretty close to where they should be and #7 is a bit lower than it should be also. I obviously have a lot to learn about checking fit before gluing... Sigh.

 

I am going to wait until my next session when it is all dried solid and then when I start the planking I will have to decide the right approach to fixing this. I seem to have two obvious options, sand them into conformance, or remove the ones that are too low and try again.  

Oh, and the staining around where the bulkheads meet the false keel is not glue, that is just a little wet still from my cleaning the excess glue. I also, obviously need to learn to judge more accurately how much glue a joint needs - LOL!

 

Suggestions would be appreciated.

12. Here is the bow end.

You can see the curved line of the tops of the bulkheads appears to be fairly smooth (no big bumps) and the bottoms of the bulkheads appear to be pretty close to following the bearding line. Hopefully these will all be okay to move forward with. 

 

 

So, there you have it, my first attempt to install bulkheads on an FOB model. I have some problems to fix, but hopefully nothing that will require me to throw it out.

I KNOW it is not as good (or clean or pretty) as the other build logs I have looked at. That is okay, I have never been good at precision detail work. So, I look forward to learning from all my mistakes and can't wait to finish this one and move on and apply all I am learning on my next build...

It took me about 4.5 hours to do this step. Is that too fast, too slow, or just about right. I know everyone is different, and I am probably over thinking this, but it feels like maybe I was rushing things resulting in mistakes.

Any suggestions, comments, criticisms will be greatly appreciated. You are not going to hurt my feelings - you will help me learn! And please correct any terms I misuse, there is a whole new language to learn here.

PS: These build log posts take almost as long to write as the work they describe - LOL - I am NOT including this in my time at that start of each post, I consider this to not be part of the build process.

 

Edited August 1, 2022 by Frank Nichols

[Frank Nichols]

Hopefully the lighting is a bit better in these photos. The previous step I didn't bother to use any lights other than the ceiling light in my office. This time I used a strobe to avoid the shadows and other problems. 

It's interesting figuring out how to take some of the shots, another hand would be useful, since I hold the camera in one have, use my other hand to hold something, like the glue bottle and then need a while to work the controls of the camera. Maybe I need to setup my tripod - LOL! Oh well, it's all fun!

Edited August 1, 2022 by Frank Nichols

[Frank Nichols]

After a few days of examining the build, I made numerous adjustments and repairs. I am much happier now. 

I am starting the planking. Slowing down, and measuring and testing over and over before gluing. Here is the model with the first plank on both sides drying.

Again, I see in the photo that I missed a gap in the first plank (close up) to the rabbit in the kneel. So I added a clamp to close that gap. Last image using larger clamps as a stand while also applying extra pressure to hold the bent plant flat against the kneel.

For some reason, I find it is easier for me to see mistakes in my photo's than inspecting in real life - LOL. 

More photos as I progress with the plans. It feels like this is going to take a while.

 

[Paul Le Wol]

Frank, your Armed Longboat is coming along great. Looking forward to seeing your progress.