Captain John Smith’s Shallop by JerryC - Ships of Pavel Nikitin - 1:32

[JerryC]

A little progress made. A couple of frames are still in the clinic.

[JerryC]

The can’t frames are still giving me grief. I’m thinking about dismantling the frames and sticking them into the jig and touching them with a little CA.

[JerryC]

I’m still wrestling with the cant frames. It’s slow going. It’s all put there together, take them apart, rinse and repeat.
I’m learning as I go, which is a good thing since my order for the osberg ship is in the mail. The lessons I have learnt should make that assembly much easier.   
I also have been cleaning up a pair of Altec lancing voice of the theater speakers. Much more forgiving.

[sirdrake]

I'm with you here, Jerry. Just assembled no. 22 and feel lucky that it fits into the frame...

What are your problems with the frame? They don't fit after glueing?

 

Frank

Edited April 6, 2023 by sirdrake

[JerryC]

I’m still not moving forward. I’m in a bit of despair. I still cannot fit the bow and stern can’t frames to fit. I just joined jup with the South Bay Model Shipwrights. I’ll take the kit with me to the next meeting on the 13th. Hope to get back on track. I haven’t given up yet, but I’m disappointed with the way things,are going at the moment. 

[Chuck Seiler]

Jerry,

    What is/are the issue(s) with the frames?  Bad angle?  Too wide?

[Chuck Seiler]

On 4/1/2023 at 4:19 PM, JerryC said:

The can’t frames are still giving me grief. I’m thinking about dismantling the frames and sticking them into the jig and touching them with a little CA.

Nooooooo.  Not CA.  If there are issues, it is much harder to unglue.  I recommend regular wood glue, but holding in place until it sets.  I find that my hands are the best clamps I have.  Its a bit tedious, but you can hold it whilst watching TV.

[sirdrake]

Although I was lucky with frame 22, that was not the case with the remaining ones. After using the individual frames for glueing them together, they wouldn't really fit into the bow or stern. I ended up disassembling all of them, and then inserting only the small connecting piece into its corresponding slot of the keel frame, but only after sanding them down into the right shape to make sure the bow and stern pieces of the upper half fit nicely on top. Then, after the parts of the upper half of the keel where fixed in place, I added the rest of the frames right onto the completed keel assembly. This still needed a lot of correcting and sanding of these nasty frame parts, but it made sure that everything is aligned correctly. Me too, I used thick gap filling super glue for the final steps.

 

Frank

[Chuck Seiler]

Frank,

 

    You are only talking about the cant frames, correct?

[sirdrake]

Chuck,

 

yes, only the cant frames are the problematic ones. The others fit in very nicely.

 

Frank

[Chuck Seiler]

    What news everybody?

 

    I have started the shallop in earnest.  I am making it while manning the shipmodeling booth at our county fair.  I assembled and faired most of the frames prior to the fair, but I didn't want to assemble the framing jig until I got there.  I will eventually do a build log, but not until I get further along.  That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

 

    The cant frames are really giving me trouble.  I was able to make 1 and 2, but had trouble getting them into the jig.  It seems as though the keel slots and the slots for the 2 pieces in the jig are not exact, so over the length if they line up at the bow, they are a MM or so off at the stern.  Frame 22 wasn't bad, but I am having trouble fitting it into the jig.  Frames 23 and 24 will have to be assembled in the jig.  Sadness reigns.  What have you guys come up with?

 

   

[skipper1947]

I have been seriously thinking of ordering this kit, but the problems discussed here have given me pause. Not sure if I have enough patience any more (just thinking out loud). 😁

[Chuck Seiler]

I have attached all frames and am about to start the planking.  The non-cant frames look great and will not pose any future problem (I hope).  The cant frames DID take some patience.  If I were to do this again, I would NOT make the cant frames in the provided jigs and, instead, make them off model and install when the rest of the frame is in the framing jig.

 

These frames must be beveled on both sides to accommodate (a) the eventual planking and (b) attachment to the keel/tab.  The bottom of frames 1 and 24 are extremely small and required much care in sanding.  Once I could seen EXACTLY what kind of bevels I needed, the task became easier.

 

That being said, it does take patience, but not much more than you would need to correctly make any model.  This certainly is not a slap-it-together model...but I think the end result will be well worth it.