Sultana by DanB - Model Shipways - 1:64

[DanB]

I am moving on to this ship after finishing the NRG half hull planking project. I was looking for my next ship when I was finishing the MS Lobster Smack and found Chuck Passaro’s very detailed shop notes for this model. I kept looking at those instructions wondering if I could follow them. I finally decided to order the kit, but after about 6 weeks, Model Expo told me that they had stopped making it. So I did the half hull project next to work on my planking  skills.  While I was working on it I  found a Sultana kit on EBay. I think it’s pretty old.

 

The shop notes give detailed instructions for modifying the kit and doing some scratch building. Some parts of it look pretty difficult. I am especially worried about the fun with Sculpy parts that involve sculpting a new quarter badges and a figure head, but they are a long way off, and I can always wimp out and just use the cast ones that come with the kit. 

 

The hull is supposed be planked above the waterline, and the planking replaces the carved bulwarks so the first step is to modify the solid hull.

 

This is the hull as it comes out of the box:

 

 

This is after slowly shaving off the bulwarks. I am glad I bought a big pack of number 11 blades for this one.! I think there is more to take off, but decided to finalize it when the time comes to sand and shape the decks:

 

I cut out the hull profile templates and started shaping the stern. It needs a lot of wood removed! Chuck recommend a rotary tool. I did that for a bit. It made quite a mess and made me nervous I was going to take off too much wood. I switched to sand paper wrapped around a dowel to take away more wood for the concave curve at the stern. The profile  template says there is more to take off. This is my first solid hull  model, and I think the challenge is going to be using the templates to get the hull shape correct.  I seem to work pretty slowly, and I think this one is going to take me a quite while!

[DanB]

Shaping the Stern

 

This is my first solid hull model, and I am trying to get the hang of using the card templates to shape the hull. The stern is tricky because after it is shaped it is supposed to be reduced 1/16 inch to allow planking above the wale and 1/16 is added back to the lower part. I think I am pretty close and will wait until I shape more of the hull to do the final sanding . The basswood carves and sands pretty quickly and it is easy to take off too much, so some wood filler has also been helpful. 

 

 

 

[Wawona59]

Hello DanB,  it looks like you've made a really good start on your Sultana.  While the hull is still being shaped, I would establish an accurate centerline.  It seemed to me that everything on the model going forward, deck, deck fixtures, keel and masts all reference off of this centerline.  I made the mistake of not making an accurate centerline on my Phantom.  The hull ended up not symmetrical and took on a banana shape to my eye.  Have you checked out any Sultana build logs on MSW?  Keep moving forward with little steps.

 

Wawona59 

[DanB]

 

 

Thanks for the suggestions!

I marked on the center line and the station lines for the templates. There are several excellent build logs for the Sultana on MSW that I plan to keep referring.

[DanB]

I took some time off from this build.   I had difficulty figuring out how to shape the hull using the templates. I looked at a bunch of build logs of solid hull models. Many did not say much about the process, others used all sorts of techniques to try to get the shape very accurate--some of them very elaborate.  Chuck's instructions say to establish a centerline mark the stations and use the templates to shape the hull ( the kit instructions are the same). The centerline  was difficult as the hull came  out of the box a bit asymmetric at the bow and it took some initial sanding and filling to try to get that sorted out. I finally used dividers and a ruler to get a centerline on the deck and used tape to carry the line to the the bow and stern and keel. After working on the bow , the hull did not need that much sanding ,and it was surprisingly easy to take off too much even using 220 girt sand paper. More filler. 

 

 The floppy templates were hard to use so I glued them to heavier cardboard which  made it easier to line them up with the stations. I think I have it pretty close at the bow and stern profiles and at the most of the stations. It is not perfect. Finally though, I think, it comes down to it looks symmetric and about right  It seems similar to faring the bulkheads the POB models.  One of the other folks who built Sultana following the practicum, @Overworked724mentioned letting go of fear of messing it up.  That was helpful advice! It has taken me a while to just get this part of it done. 

 

I marked the wales by transferring the measurements to templates from the plans, marking them on the ship. and then used tape to make them out on the hull.  (I learned about the wonders of using tape from the NRG half hull project!) Chuck said to use a strip of wood, but the tape seemed to work fine and was easier to adjust and bend to follow the hull shape. 

I have  started caring the hull back 1/16 inch  above the wales to allow for the planking. It's pretty tough at the bow where the carving is against the grain. I'm going slow and being careful not to crave my fingers too. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Overworked724]

Oh yeah…Following you with great interest!! 👍🏽😁

[DanB]

Carving the Hull above the wale to add planking

 

This week I carved the hull back about 1/16 inch since the plan is to plank it above the wales. It was a lot of work! I used number 11 and 17 knife blades as Chuck's instructions recommended . I went through a lot of blades, and it was slow going. I alternated my modeling time between shaving the hull and ballasting track for the small model rail road layout I am building for me and my train-addicted grandson. It was helpful to be able to take a break from the carving and ballast track, and take a break from the track ballasting to go back to carving!  The kit instructions recommend screwing a block of wood into the deck to hold it in a vise. I did that for this step and it was very helpful to have a firm hold on the ship as I carved it. 

 

The suggestion to use rubber cement to glue photocopies of the deck plan to the deck to make sure the profile was correct at deck was brilliant. It made it easy to see what needed to be removed and how the decks needed to be shaped. I'm getting  getting close but there is still some final shaping to go. The next step after that is to sand the deck camber and take the deck down about 1/16 inch for the deck planking. 

 

[DanB]

Shaping the hull for planking

 

Carved sanded, carved more , sanded more.  1/16 inch all around is a lot of wood! I think its pretty close , Maybe not deep enough in some spots, but I was worried sanding off too much..Sanded down the decks about 1/16 inch and then sanded the camber.This solid hull business does not feel as precise the POB way. If it winds up more or less symmetric and close to the right shape, I think that’s going to be good enough. 

 

 

I started bending the planks. Even after soaking them and slowly bending them, they would still break. I had better success soaking them in warm water for about 15 minutes and then using the Model Expo electric plank bender to gradually bend the sharpest part of the bow curve, and then fit them into the bending jig to dry. 

 

After they dried I used the edge bending tech technique Chuck showed in his videos to bend the lower cure. It seems to be working as the planks now fit the bow curve and curve long the hull. Now to try to glue them in ,,,

 

[Overworked724]

Looking mighty good!

 

 I know you’ve probably started this already, but you should be clear on how you want to mount your ship before you get too far in the build. Same for the mast holes. I got those ironed out very early and was glad I did. 
 

Great job on the hull thus far!

[DanB]

Thanks very much for the suggestion Patrick. I had not considered either the mast holes mounting the hull. but it does make sense to do it now. I will look ahead and try to figure out what to do. 

 

Dan

[DanB]

Planking in Progress

 

The electric plank bender worked best. Soaked the planks for a while, bent them with the plank bender first to get the curve at the bow and then bent the edge to match the curve along the wale. Also put them on the hull with rubber bands and let them dry. Somehow my wale, hull, decks, did not wind up like in the practicum and the overlapping planks at the bulwarks did not work quite right. So I am fudging it , making the bow plank a bit wider on the outside.  Puzzling out what to do with the other bulwarks further back. I think there’s going to be a lot of guesstimating and adjusting to get this one together. The line along  the wale aso was not so pretty—- working on my wood filler skills .

 

 

 

 

 

[Overworked724]

Well, the upsweep of the planking towards the stern is a crinkle, but not a bad one. If you have symmetry on both sides, you can run up your bulwarks and then simply trim them down to the appropriate height above the deck per the plans. That might look a bit odd from the exterior, but I’ve seen it happen on other models. The end result still looks beautiful and you’ve done a great job laying in the hull planks thus far. 
 

The only option to ‘correct’ the upsweep would be to remove the planking near the stern and do some additional adjustment on where the wales will be. That’s a bit more time but the planking would then line up more closely with the deck lines. 
 

Either way, doing a great job so far!  Enjoying your build!

 

Pat

[DanB]

It took me a while  to puzzle out the bulwarks, but I think. I have the heights close. I drilled a bunch of holes and then filled them with a darker wood filler to simulate the trenails. On to planking the counter and then some final filling and sanding . Kit instructions say  to make a cradle to hold the ship. Used what was left over from making doll house walls for my granddaughter . It came out pretty ugly, but it does give the ship a home.

 

[DanB]

Lots of sanding and filling. Multiple thin coats of Model Expo tallow color on the bottom of the hull with more sanding and filling between coats.  I have had bad luck staining basswood, so I just used an oil finish on the planks rather than the golden oak stain suggested  in Chuck's instructions This is after one coat of 50/50 Tung oil and mineral spirits on the  wood planking. More paint and filling on the bottom still to go.

 

 

 

[DanB]

Drilled holes for masts. Kit instructions suggested using a wooden block with a hole at the correct angle  as a guide. I did that. Not so clear though how to line it up with the spot on the deck where the hole needed to be drilled. Used a finishing nail in at the spot, slid the guide  block over it glued the block to the deck with the nail centered in the hole, removed the nail after the glue dried and then drilled the hole. I think I got pretty close and can adjust them a bit when (if?) i get to mounting the masts. 

[DanB]

Added the stem, keel and stern post. Trying to get all the big holes drilled before adding more more delicate parts. Made the rudder to try to get that hole right. Made a scary deep square hole for the ladder that will go down below deck. On to holes for the pedestal screws and then will continue working on stern and transom.

 

[JacquesCousteau]

Looks like it's coming along well!

[DanB]

Transom

 

This has been really challenging! Other build logs left this adventure for later on, but have been following the sequence Chuck outlines in his shop notes. 

 

Transom number one came out too small even though the paper cut out seemed to fit, so I made  a bigger one . I did not enlarge the arches on the windows as much as I drew on the plans and just increased them a bit 

The second transom fit the hull but the stern needed some (actually a lot) of shaping to get the transom to fit.  I messed up the acetate piece with the windows and had to make another one.

 

Despite soaking it bending it before gluing, the first layer piece cracked at columns for the windows. I considered making another, thought that would probably also split. Decided to glue it and fill the cracks and paint it. Instructions say quarter badges can be blue so some blue for the transom also!

 

I was able to glue and shape the first layer and then added the second. It took a few more tries and creative work rubber bands form the bulwarks to the transom to keep it all on while the glue set. Then added the second layer with lots of clamps and a few more tries to get it together 

 

It needs more paint and fiddling, and I am not sure it is quite right, but I think this will have to do given my current skill level. Now to try to get the cap rail around it  

 

Made the rudder before I stared this process to be sure it would fit though the hole to the deck. It fits but not  at the angle on the stern post. More fiddling ahead!

 

Edited November 9, 2023 by DanB

[DanB]

Wales, Transom

 

The wales went on easily. The little fashion pieces that connect the wales to the transom took several tries, after puzzling them out between the drawings on the plans and the pictures in Chuck’s instructions. The transom has been really difficult. There is not much glue surface for it. I think I knocked it off at least 5 times while working on it and there may be a few more times on the way!

Starting the cap rails.

 

[DanB]

I've been working on Sultana, making slow progress. 

 

Added the cap rails. I tried making the scrolls with Sculpy but they did not look good and after making about 20 very small irregular scrolls, I gave up and left them off

 

Quarter Badges and Rudder are next in Chuck's shop notes

 

I used the kit castings for the quarter badges as I don't think I could do a better job with Sculpey. . Added windows using acetate sheet and pin stripe tape. Manual is not very specific about colors (not sure anyone really knows what they looked like on this ship)

The rudder has been really difficult. Actually the whole ship has been difficult!. I am learning a lot, but almost  every step has been slow going and ,I am not sure if I am going to be able to finish  this thing.  I had to tweak the stern post some, and it looks bit funny but the rudder now fits. The pintels and grudgeons are very small. Plans show them only 1/32 inch wide. I tired copper sheet but it was too thick and a pain to work with. Manual suggests 0.005 brass, which the local Ace had in stock.. I was able to cut it by scoring the line with a knife and then using scissors, but not to 1/32 with any consistency.. I made them wider. I annealed the brass which made it easy to shape, but maybe too soft. I have made multiple sets, gluing bits of 22 gauge wire for the pintels.. They have broken, wound up on the floor, or just disappeared. I tried to paint them back, and attach the rudder and it was a disaster as the CA melted the black  paint on to the white rudder . Chuck suggests painting them white, so they are now white.  I had them on wrong way around on my first attempt and was still not sure about the process attaching them to the rudder and the rudder to the ship. 

 

This video, was very helpful to understand the whole process even though my parts are simpler and smaller.

 

 

This is where I am at after a lot of false starts and lost or broken parts. I had painted everything before putting it together, but it was not so pretty after it was all glued on and they will need more paint .  I decided to leave the adventure of attaching the rudder to the ship for tomorrow, when I am less tired and have recovered some of my patience . 

 

 

 

[DanB]

Rudderattached!

 

 

Started planking the deck and painted the places where the gratings and ladder will be black. 

 

 

[hamilton]

Looks great - I had a lot of fun building this model way back - the finished product is still in my office! Hope you're enjoying this one

hamilton

[DanB]

More planking. Used the same technique as the hull planking: drilled holes for trenails, filled them with darker wood filler (“golden oak”) and finished with tung oil. The filler darkened some with the tung oil. Having fun with this part! Moving forward.

 

[DanB]

More deck planking, I used a rotary tool to drill all the holes. Much faster than the pin vise I was using!

 

 

 

[DanB]

Continuing to plank the deck. I am following Chuck’s suggestion to do one deck at a time to spread out the drilling, filling and sanding tasks. I am working on the margin plank to joggle the planks on the fore deck. 

 

[DanB]

I finished the deck planking!   I Looked at Chuck's shop notes and drawings in Historic Ship Models a bunch of times to try to understand joggling the planks into the margin plank. It did not come out so well. There was not much margin plank near the edges, and it split as I tried to fit the planks in. It was surprisingly difficult to get rid of the pencil lines I made to mark the cuts in the margin plank. Lessons for next time.! 

 

The next task is to install  the waterway Chuck says to slice a 1/32 square basswood strip. diagonally so it has a triangular cross section. I am not sure I can do that, certainly not accurately, and I do have a fondness for my fingers!. Sanding the strip did not seem to work well, but it's safer! The wedge shaped piece then is supposed to get a concave shape by using a ball shaped sculpting tool to crush the triangular shape after it is glued down. This bit may be beyond me. I may just put in the strip ,smash it a bit with the ball thing and call it good!  

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 12 by DanB

[DanB]

Working on hatch coamings and gratings. I marked out the holes based on the plans and planked around them. The problem was the gratings wound up being a bit larger to make the gratings fit well.  so I had to make the spaces on deck bigger.  It was difficult to enlarge the spaces in the planks and keep them aligned and square. I think should have made the hatch covers first and used them to mark out the spaces and then planked around those spaces. It’s a slow journey, this ship. I am learning how to do it better the next time though! Two more hatches to go.

 

[DanB]

More Hatches

 

Chuck’s instructions say to make eye bolts and  split rings for the boards that cover the next hatch by bending 28 gauge black steel wire. I got an excellent refresher on how to do that from this thread. 

 

 I took a bunch of tries and looking at the pictures in the thread a few times,  but then it was not too difficult to get close :

 

 

 

The last 2 hatches continued to need a lot of fiddling, but they are on the ship.

 

Next is to make a ladder to go below decks.

 

[DanB]

Added the coaming for the space that goes below deck (left it off by mistake) and built a ladder to go down there. Ladder took several tries using Chuck’s template. It’s still a bit rough, but most of it really is not visible. 

Next is to build a traveler rod for the boom and install it on the  in on the not very thick and not very sturdy transom. The kit instructions say it’s supposed to have a double sheave bock connected to the rod with sister hooks .I was able to find pictures of what those look like. I am not really sure how I could make them and attach them to the block. The bock is also supposed to have a rod on each side of it. Chuck says he used two small nails for that part.

This will be an adventure. I hope the transom survives it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DanB]

Ship instructions have a nice drawing of the block set up for the traveler rod and .

 

 

Kit has pins that worked well for the extended pin. Made the loop and sister hook with 28 gage steel wire. 

Will paint pins and traveler rod and figure out how to attach hook to the block and get the rod on the ship next.

 

 

Edited January 30 by DanB