Lowell Grand Banks Dory by DonBMichigan - FINISHED - Model Shipways - 1:24 scale

[DonBMichigan]

A few of the first days of working on the Dory. 

 

My first attempt at gluing the bottom pieces didn't work - I didn't use enough glue. I did it again and used a corrogated plastic board and pins to hold it together. while it dried, and this worked. 

 

The cleats went on fine. It was unclear, given the markings on the bottom pieces, how far to the edges the cleats should go. Pictures in the instructions, and on this forum, showed them short of the edges, so I followed those. 

 

 

I found the instructions about gluing the knee and transom a little confusing - I couldn't tell what order to glue the knee to the bottom and the transom.  I glued the knee to the bottom first, then the transom to it. I wish I had glued the knee to the transom first, then glued that assembly to the bottom, because I feel like that would have been easier to adjust and line up. In the end, I think it came out fine. Looking at the result, I wonder if I should have put a little more effort into removing the char from the pieces. 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 23, 2023 by DonBMichigan
resizing photos

[wool132]

You're off to a great start!

 

Jonathan

[druxey]

Unless you are leaving the wood unpainted, the sanding off of char looks fine the way you have it.

[MrPross]

On 12/31/2022 at 11:38 AM, DonBMichigan said:

My first attempt at gluing the bottom pieces didn't work - I didn't use enough glue. I did it again and used a corrogated plastic board and pins to hold it together. while it dried, and this worked.

 

Great idea, I held mine together with pegs but this seems a little more precise!

[DonBMichigan]

The bottom got its curve, using the pictures in the instructions for where to place the 1/8" risers. I taped down the risers so they wouldn't move. I used a scrap piece of wood to ensure a flat surface. 

 

 

All 5 frame blocks ("cross-pieces") required some fitting before they would line up correctly with the plan outlines. The parts I sanded were the rectangular cut-outs into which the frame ends fit - see the red circles in the image. Right off the laser-cut sheet, they were all too wide to fit onto the plans.

 

 Pictured is a frame being glued, on corrugated plastic sign, wax paper, and pins to line things up and hold them in place.

 

I broke the end off one of the frame pieces while sanding - I glued it back on after the majority of the piece was glued to the assembly.

 

I fit the frames into the build board, using 150-grit sandpaper on a thin piece of wood as a sanding "block" in the slots, all of which needed a slight expanding. 

 

 

 

Edited January 23, 2023 by DonBMichigan
resizing photos

[DonBMichigan]

I started prepping to glue the bottom, and I was never happy with the position and orientation of the frames - they were always a little off 90 degrees from the building board. Some were a little wobbly. I made some small wooden blocks to fit between each frame to attempt to hold it as close to vertical as I could manage. I used a small square's ruler to test. I continued to fiddle with these little blocks, and folded some tape to put into some gaps to get everything in place, which you can see in the second picture below. 

 

When I was happy with that, I practiced putting the bottom onto the frames and pulling rubber bands up over the assembly. I was having trouble getting the rubber band in the middle, and I noticed that the third frame was not quite touching the bottom when I did the dry runs. I have broken a few pieces so far, and I was worried about breaking something during glue up. I decided to use some blue tape instead of a central rubber band - I cut a foot-long piece of tape, attached it to the bottom under the third frame, and had two rubber bands ready go on either end.

 

I got three spare paint brushes and dipped them in water so I could quickly clean off glue squeeze-out.

 

Next steps:

Put glue on the bottom of the frames

Put the transom into the holder, then pressed the bottom down onto the frames. When I was happy with it, I wrapped the strip of tape around to secure the middle. 

Pulled the transom-end rubber band up over and check the fit with frame 5. 

Pulled the rubber band over the stem and checked the entire position of the bottom. 

 

As I was lining up the bottom and brushing glue squeeze-out, I didn't notice that the transom had crept out of its holder, and when I was done, the end of the transom was about 1/8" off the building board. I don't know if that's going to be troublesome later. It looks worse in the picture than actual.

 

 

 

If I did this again, I would probably not use the tape, but rather put a small weight in the middle once the bottom was lined up and the rubber bands were on. 😀

 

 

 

Edited January 23, 2023 by DonBMichigan
resizing photos

[DonBMichigan]

I started sanding the bottom and frames to prepare for the sides. A short way into this, I popped the stem off the bow. It came off cleanly as one piece. My tendency early on was to use as little glue as I thought I could get away with, and I misjudged this one. A short deliberation later, I chose to reglue it with a gel CA. I didn't feel like the wood glue was going to work in the same place again, and I wanted to make sure the sanding wouldn't separate the joint. 

 

 

I also noticed as I was sanding that the stem was moving around in its slot, so I taped some small pieces of wood around it to hold it centered and stationary.

 

The 150 grit sandpaper seemed too "grabby" for the job at this stage, and I am working on using a lighter touch, so I made another sanding stick with 220 grit so I could go a little slower and take lighter passes. Instead of scrap wood for the backing, I used a thin styrene strip. This is flexible lengthwise, and will keep its shape along its width. I have a lot of it around, unlike the very thin wood strips. 

 

As I mentioned in my last post, the transom ended up hovering a bit off the surface of the building board after the glue-up, which means that the prescribed blocks for either side of it were not holding it firmly in place during sanding. I put some pins through the becket holes and buried the ends in the building board, and that was sufficient to hold it steady for the sanding steps. I took very light strokes on it with 220 grit to avoid stressing it. 

 

 

Sanding down the rest of the frames and bottom went well. I have 2 tiny misalignments of the frame to the bottom where further sanding would have forced the bottom out of shape, and the rest of the frames line up well, so I left the two alone. 

 

After I had the shape I wanted on the frames, I noticed the stem still wasn't as tapered as pictures show it should be, but I didn't want to keep sanding the frames. I put a piece of paper over the frames and sanded with the sanding stick as normal so I could get the right curve on the stem without altering the frames. I'm almost done with that. 

 

 

 

Edited January 23, 2023 by DonBMichigan
resizing photos

[druxey]

Doing a nice careful job of it, Don. Styrene for sanding sticks is a good idea.

[Ryland Craze]

Your build is coming along nicely.  Glad you have learned to solve some of the problems that have occurred during the build.

[rcmdrvr]

Welcome to ship modelling.  Your ability to work thru problems will be a great asset as you progress through this build and more complicated models in the future.  I think problem solving is one aspect of this hobby that makes it so interesting.

[DonBMichigan]

I spent several days fiddling with ideas for how to clamp the garboard to shape it to the bottom and frames. I was paranoid about breaking one of the pieces (after sanding the edges as shown in the instructions), so I made a copy out of double-thick card stock and used it for practice.

 

 

I settled on the following strategy: by putting some spacer blocks on the bottom, and some on top of the building board, I could slide the garboard into place, clamp at the stem, then remove the spacers to snug the rubber bands against the garboard one by one. 

 

 

I soaked the board in hot water for 5 minutes, patted the extra water off, then slid it into its place. I lined up the bow end with the stem and clipped it there. I put some double-thick card stock on the jaws of the clip as suggested in the instructions. You can tell by looking at the next picture that I didn't cover enough with the card stock. 

 

 

The spacers were removed, and I moved some of the spacers down between the rubber bands and the garboard to provide a little pressure. When I was done with that, I turned the assembly over and looked underneath to see if the garboard was sufficiently in contact with the frames. Several weren't - the rubber bands were perhaps a bit stretched out by the previous steps, and not providing much pressure. The clamps went on at that point - now things looked better from the underside. 

 

The instructions appear to show the clamps holding the rubber band to the exposed frame, and that may have worked well here to provide tension. Maybe I'll try that on the other side. 

 

The bend turned out OK, except for the indentations where I didn't cover the clamp jaws sufficiently. The instructions say to put some water on this; if that doesn't work, a little heat might help the water.  

 

 

 

Edited January 23, 2023 by DonBMichigan
resizing photos

[druxey]

Basswood dents easily, but it's usually good when treated as you suggested.

[SkiBee]

Your work looks great, I did enjoy building the Dory, learned a lot.

[DonBMichigan]

[Update from last post: Putting some water on the dents swelled them out quickly.]

 

I glued both garboards, and have a few questions below if anyone has some ideas to pass along. 

 

First, though, I bent the second garboard, I did basically the same as the first, but this time used the clamps to "pinch" the rubber bands to the frames, which did a better job of holding the garboard tight while it dried. See the first garboard glue-up shot below for what this looked like,  

 

Now, gluing: With the garboards bent into the right shape, it was easier to set up and prepare for this step. I got all my clamps and card and spacers in place. 

 

 

I brushed glue on the frames, bottom edge, stem, and transom, and clipped the stem end on first. I removed the spacers one by one. I used the clips the same as during the bending process. One of the frames was not making solid contact with the garboard, so I moved the clamp up and put a small spacer in there to provide some extra pressure. 

 

 

It worked well and everything stayed put.

 

I put the second garboard on, and did my best to hold the stem in place on the glue while moving the board around into position under the rubber bands and clamps on the frame. When things were in place, I held the transom and stem ends of the board with my fingers for a while. Neither the stem nor transom ends held fully after I released them - I probably didn't put enough glue on them. I used a pin to insert a little glue onto the stem, held it for a while till it stuck, then did the same for the transom end. 

 

Two concerns I have at this point, if anyone has some advice:

Concern 1. When it was all dry, I noticed that the starboard garboard is very slightly (a few mm) higher up the stem and transom then the port side. Should I sand these down a tiny bit to line them up, and recreate the tapers? 

 

Concern 2: Neither garboard end extended past the surface of the transom. See picture below. I was hoping to have a little extra there. I'm wondering if the transom angle isn't right, and the next two courses of the sides won't be long enough to reach the transom. A (very) dry fitting of one of the broad planks appears to show that it will have enough length to reach the transom, I hope that pans out.   

 

 

I don't yet understand the instructions about tapering the edges of the broad plank, I am going to have to study them more, and maybe find some info in someone else's build log.

 

Edited January 16, 2023 by DonBMichigan
Resizing photos, now that I know how to do it.

[robert952]

I have this model in my stash but haven't built it yet.  I did pull out the instruction manual.  I hope I am on the right step (#9) and looking at the area of concern (rolling bevel).  If I interpret the concept, the 'rolling bevel' allows the boards at the stem to be more flush than the 'clinker' fit of the rest of the planks. (Like a hybrid, clinker to carvel adapter?)  

 

I found an image I think shows this concept:  Strakes at stem and stern.  Post #3 in this thread by Mark P shows an image of a boat on the Cutty Sark.  Notice the planks at the stem are flattened more and have a slight bend outward. 

 

I feel like I'm the blind leading the blind since I haven't built this model.  Someone else may need to verify my thinking.  (That way I can learn, too. ) 

 

I've been following the build and already have learned from it.  Thanks for sharing your experinece. 

 

 

Edited January 16, 2023 by robert952

[DonBMichigan]

3 hours ago, robert952 said:

I have this model in my stash but haven't built it yet.  I did pull out the instruction manual.  I hope I am on the right step (#9) and looking at the area of concern (rolling bevel).  If I interpret the concept, the 'rolling bevel' allows the boards at the stem to be more flush than the 'clinker' fit of the rest of the planks. (Like a hybrid, clinker to carvel adapter?)  

 

I found an image I think shows this concept:  Strakes at stem and stern.  Post #3 in this thread by Mark P shows an image of a boat on the Cutty Sark.  Notice the planks at the stem are flattened more and have a slight bend outward. 

 

That's a good picture, thanks! It does help to visualize the rolling bevels. 

 

[robert952]

1 hour ago, DonBMichigan said:

 

That's a good picture, thanks! It does help to visualize the rolling bevels. 

 

Glad to be of help.  

[MrPross]

Great job so far Don, I'm just a few steps behind you on the Dory and I will be following your build with interest.

The use of pins for simple jigs is brilliant, reading through your log I've lost count of the times I've said to myself "why didn't I think of that! "

 

Edited January 18, 2023 by MrPross

[DonBMichigan]

Bending the broad planks: Bending and clamping was similar to the garboards, but I was having trouble picturing what the bevels were supposed to look like or how they necessarily fit with the garboards, so I cut copies of the supplied planks out of basswood I picked up at a nearby hobby shop. I sanded and beveled away until I was able to see what it looked like at the ends of the planks where they meet. When I was comfortable I knew what to do, I sanded the bevels on the supplied planks, soaked them, and attached them with rubber bands and clamps.

 

 

 

The instructions for gluing the broad planks in the following step indicates that, during gluing, it may be necessary to adjust the plank by adding water to it and shaping it. I wanted to avoid this as much as possible, so I spent quite a bit of time trying to get it to line up with the garboard as I clamped and adjusted it across its length. Hopefully, that will minimize any adjustments needed at glue-up time, although I'm prepared to do so if needed. 

 

I used pins and some small scraps of wood to hold the aft end of the broad plank in place at the transom, as pictured.

 

 

The stem end of one of the planks was clamped too far in, and the plank took on an unfortunate curve. I flattened this by putting a small piece of wood on top it, and putting a heavy object on top. 

 

 

I'll plan to return to this log after I've glued both broad planks, or even after the final planks are bent and glued. 

[DonBMichigan]

Today, I glued on both broad planks. My approach was to glue the stem end, and use a clip at the first frame to hold the orientation I wanted so I could work my way down the frames with minimal adjustments needed. My main goals were: glue the planks, avoid wetting the wood or making adjustments. This kind of worked, but I ended up wetting down parts of the planks on both sides around frames 4-5, and it was enough to give me that extra millimeter or so of bend I needed.

 

 

The process from the instructions worked fine for the first plank: glue the stem and let it dry; apply diluted glue to the edges and frames; and work down to the transom. I put a few clips onto the frames/plank and the transom to make sure it stayed put after I took my hands off it.

 

The other side didn't work well. I started the same as before, but when I started to apply glue to the first frame, the stem end came off. I tried it again, and this time I glued the stem AND the first frame, using clips at the frame and holding the stem with my fingers for a while. The process of moving from frame 1 down to the transom worked fine, and I left a few clips on a few frames to help it hold on for good.

 

Here are a few close-up shots at the stem, showing the 45-degree tapers on the garboard and broad planks fitting together.

 

In a previous post, I noted that the garboards were not at equal heights at the stem and transom; I made an effort to adjust the positions of the planks on the stem to try to get them as close to alignment as possible. The picture here shows that the two are a little closer now, and I'm hoping the next plank will give me the opportunity to line them up exactly at the top.

 

 

I notice that the final plank will fit just barely above the building board. (Also, I need to do more sanding on the stem!)

 

 

Edited January 23, 2023 by DonBMichigan

[DonBMichigan]

The last course of planks...

 

I soaked the first and it was drying against the side of the dory while I worked on the other one. I was sanding the rolling bevel on the fore end a bit too hard and pushed some of the fibers off the edge of the bow end, taking off a "corner". It was enough material I had to decide what to do - go ahead with this piece or make another and use it instead? I made a duplicate piece from 1/32" basswood as a backup in case I needed it.

 

I decided to glue the plank on the other side first, then dry fit both the damaged original and the copy, and see which one fit best. In the end, the original was good enough, so I used it. Shown after gluing, but before sanding it down to the stem. 

 

 

Before gluing, I put a 1/32" wood spacer under the second of the two planks to make sure the "top" of it would line up with the other.

 

Because I had so much overhang at the transom, it occurred to me that the instructions to make the rolling bevel right at the end of each plank didn't make sense - the bevel really needs to be where the plank overlaps right at the transom. I made the 45-degree bevel longer so it would fit where it belonged, although it was just a guess, since it's hard to know precisely where the plank will end up at the transom before gluing. 

 

I never really got the hang of the method described in the instructions to use some dilute glue and hold in place with my fingers. Anything short of almost 100% glue didn't seem to stick well. I realized at one point that when I was using a brush with water to clean off the glue squeeze-out that I was probably accidentally introducing water into the joint as well, and washing the glue a little, so I was more careful in later steps when doing the same. 

 

I used pins and a rubber band to hold the transom end in place, although by the time I did all this, the glue was probably set. 

 

 

The heights of the two planks at the transom isn't identical, but it's really close, and I'm hoping a little sanding will even them out enough to the naked eye.

 

 

I'm relieved to be at this stage. It was a bit of a struggle to get the combination of glue/clamps/rubber bands/blocks and positioning just right each time. The tip to use a little water to help the board be flexible is a good one - use it.

 

Some pictures before sanding the transom and stem overhangs flush...

 

 

 

 

Edited January 27, 2023 by DonBMichigan
spelling/clarification

[DonBMichigan]

Looking ahead to the step with the false stem: This step generated a lot of comments in other build logs, and the instructions are vague - they imply there is a false stem piece included in the kit, and if there is, I couldn't find it. I looked at as many finished models as I could find that showed the bow in detail, and also checked for images of real dories online to see what the stem looks like. There are lots of different styles, some are completely smooth, some have a bulging false stem - most appear to have a "triangular" point.

 

I noticed that the false stem step happens after removing the cross pieces and removing from the building board. I thought it would be easier to bend the false stem and glue it if it were still on the building board, so I skipped step 12 and went to step 13.

 

I cut a 1/16" wide strip from a scrap piece of 1/8" basswood (use scrap from the kit that has a machined flat side), and sanded it down to about 1/16" square.

 

 

I put a spacer under the first cross-piece to hold the bow off the board. Frame 3's cross piece came off when I lifted it out of the building board, but the rest stayed intact. I sanded the front of the stem where the planks meet to make sure there was a flat surface for the false stem to seat.

 

I soaked the false stem piece in hot water and bent it with a flat side against the stem, then glued and used a few rubber bands to hold it in place.

 

 

I sanded the false stem parallel to the planks with the goal of having a smooth, "triangular" look that blends the stem into the planks. 

 

 

I went back to step 12 and removed the building board and frame supports , and sanded the frames down. Some of the cross pieces just snapped off when I handled them. 

 

Next is step 12a to sand the inner sides of the frames, then step 14, side cleats.

 

[DonBMichigan]

I came out here with a question about step 12a (basically, that I didn't understand it), and found an answer in this previous build log. I have about 10 finished build logs bookmarked here and have been able to get lots of good information from them. 

 

In the meantime, I noticed that neither cleat 1 or 6 were still attached to the bottom. I must have popped them off at some point. Fortunately, those will be easy to fix. Onward and upward. 

[robert952]

 Nice looking stem post. The challenge of solving  problems like these make for great learning experiences.   I like how you used rubber bands.  I'll be challenged to keep the pressure equal when I get around to building this.  

 

The big advantage at this site are the builds.  Sometimes you have to dig around to find specific models. Sometimes you can find a similar problem on a different build, though that takes a bit of digging.  

[DonBMichigan]

I noticed as I was looking at the next few steps that my cleats at positions 1 and 6 had disappeared at some point in the build. I replaced them.

 

I was about to return to step 12a, but if you read ahead a few pages, you'll notice step 15 mentions the marks on the frames where the seat risers align, and some build logs have mentioned that they can't find the marks when they get to that step. That's probably because they sanded them in step 12a.

 

The original frame marks are circled below, and you can see them before sanding. I took a pencil and extended them before sanding in 12a so I wouldn't remove them completely. Thank you to the people who mentioned this in their build logs - otherwise, I probably would have sanded them off too.

 

 

 

As far as step 12a and what it means - I was confused at first. I was able to find the answer in another build log. It was what I had suspected: the "bevel" mentioned means to shape the frames inside to receive the riser, in a similar way to how the outsides of the frames were sanded to receive the planks.

 

Here's a shot of a few frames that were sanded for step 12a. The leftmost one in the shot is frame 3, which wasn't sanded at all. 5 and 1 got the most treatment. 

 

I did step 13 (false stem) already, so on to step 14.

 

I had a problem right off when cutting the side cleats out of the parts board: the grain is running across the width of the cleats, and that makes them very fragile. As I was cutting to free one side, I ended up "exploding" part of it, breaking off the end of one of the pieces in the process. I broke ANOTHER cleat on the other side of the parts board, even though I was being very careful. Fortunately, each side cleat had enough material left to glue it in one piece.

 

 

I put a little glue on these side cleats and held them in position for a few minutes while the glue dried - I was afraid to use clamps for fear I would just break them in half. They are very pliable, there is no need to wet the inner part. 

 

 

 

Risers are next. 

 

 

 

 

[DonBMichigan]

Step 15: For the seat risers, I made a small mark at the center of the riser, and lined that up with frame 3. I put a little glue on it, and clipped it to the frame, using a small piece of scrap wood on the outside planks to prevent damage. I rotated the riser slightly so the ends would more or less line up with the marks on frames 1 and 5. Was clipping this necessary? Probably not. 

 

 

When frame 3's glue was dry, I wet the riser a little on one side, put a little glue on where it meets the aft-er frames, and held it gently against frames 4 and 5. I discovered doing this on the first side that I had oversanded frame 4 when beveling it. If I were to do this again, I'd sand a little off frame 4 and 5, then test with a riser piece to ensure the curve matched that of the planks. It looks fine as is, but it could be better.

 

I glued frames 1 and 2 the same way, then did the other side.

 

 

Next was the band: I took the advice from the instructions to use the clips on this step, and I think I would have gotten better results had I not done so - the clips ended up squeezing the band enough to move it slightly down on the first side I glued, which I didn't notice until too late. I also think my technique with the clips was responsible for moving the bow end away from the false stem just a millimeter or two.

 

If I were to do this again, I'd line up the first 3-4 inches at the bow, glue them, then hold them in place until they dried (2 minutes). Then I'd wet the remaining part of the band and brush some glue on it and move my way aft, holding it with my fingers. With just a little glue, it would only take a few minutes to glue the whole band in place. To add to the grief, a few of the clips squashed the shape of the band - I'll blame myself for not using the clips properly - lessons learned on this step for sure.  

 

 

 

 

 

I spent some time thinking about what I wanted to do with the misaligned band top. I wanted to remove it, then reglue it, so I drizzled 99% isopropyl on it, while holding the model upside down to prevent getting the alcohol in other joints. I put quite a bit on over the course of 10-15 minutes, and didn't see any signs of relief. I stopped, as I would rather have this be a little off than have an unforeseen side-effect in another joint coming apart. I'm currently gluing sandpaper to a piece of wood to use as a sanding stick in step 16, and pondering whether I want to take any other action on the band before continuing. I may do another round of alcohol, not sure... 

 

 

[druxey]

Try using the alcohol under Saran wrap so it stays where needed. Also, perhaps your spring clips are too strong?

Edited February 3, 2023 by druxey

[DonBMichigan]

5 minutes ago, druxey said:

Try using the alcohol under Saran wrap so it stays where needed. Also, perhaps your spring clips are too strong?

 

Good ideas. I used a q-tip to put the alcohol right where I wanted it, but it just soaked in and didn't seem to do much against the glue. 

 

The spring clips are the ones that came with the kit - they were just overkill on these steps. 

[DonBMichigan]

Moving to the second part of step 16, sanding the tops of the bands/sheer plank: my sanding stick was 320 grit because I wanted to be gentle with it, and it took a long time, but eventually holding a straight-edge across showed that things were ready for the next step. 

 

Step 17: Cutting the frames and installing the gunwales.

 

The instructions say to take about 1/8" off the top of the frames, and I must have measured from the wrong starting point, because I took way too much off the first two I did. I cut off a 3/4" piece of the 1/16" square stock and used it as a guide for where to cut off the tops of the remaining frames and fore and aft cleats. I didn't have a #17 chisel blade, but I do have a #16 blade and a #1 handle, which add to 17. Ha ha.

 

 

 

I cut down across the top of each frame carefully, and when I got to the plank, I chipped away the waste with a #11 blade. I put water on what remained of the glue and frame, and that softened it enough to scrape it away.

 

When I was done cutting everything, I went back to the original frames and added some 1/32" pieces to build them back up to where they should have been. They shouldn't be noticeable.

 

To put the gunwale on, I cut a slightly long piece from the provided stock. I wet it with a brush so it would conform to the sides while I measured it out. I started at the bow, where I had cut a 45-degree piece out of the bottom to fit the stem, then worked my way aft. I made some marks with a pencil and then cut the aft end.

 

I brushed glue along the top of the inside of the sheer plank, on top of the frames, and at the bow and transom. Starting with the bow, I worked the gunwale along the inside, pressing down into the frames, then added some clips (making sure they did not cause the gunwale to shift).

 

In the process of gluing and fitting things, I separated the starboard sheer plank from the transom, so I glued that back on as well (that's the reason for the rubber band in the picture below.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next: sanding again, and considering the frame head irons (step 17a.)

Edited February 5, 2023 by DonBMichigan

[DonBMichigan]

I finished sanding across the gunwales and checked progress from side to side using a straight edge.

 

I skipped step 17a (frame head irons) in favor of doing the breast hook (step 18). The provided piece was not the same size or profile as the one shown in the instructions. I shaped it, and glued it in. It was hard to hold, given its very small size - clamping tweezers helped. I thought I had it in properly, but it was not flush after drying. I popped it out and tried again. There are a few very tiny gaps, and I will leave it as is rather than risk damage to nearby parts if I try to remove it again. 

 

If I built this model again, I would consider constructing a larger breast hook with the same beginning design and angles as what the kit provides. Something even 30% larger would have been easier to hold with clamping tweezers or even fingers.

 

Back to step 17a: The instructions indicate that the frame head irons are to be scale 3" x 4", and the pictures in the instructions did not appear to have that size ratio. After trying a few things, I settled on scale dimensions 1.5" x 4.5", which looks more like the pictures, and because those values, scaled, at 1:24, are easy to find on a ruler.

 

 

I will consider filling in the gaps at the breast hook, and preliminary trials show that there might be a gap between the cap rails. Recommendations are welcome - the instructions mention auto body filler. 

 

Next up is (maybe) filling and primer.