USCG Harriet Lane by _SalD_ - Model Shipways - 1:96

[_SalD_]

Hello all.  I have some time I my hands so I thought I would do a build log of the USCG HARRIET LANE that I got as a Christmas present (to myself).  I wanted to try something a little different so the combination of paddlewheel and sails appealed to me.  I’ve been away from MSW and the NRG for a few years and had always liked the forum discussions and model postings so I thought I would give it another go.  The model’s scale is 1:96 (⅛" = 1' 0") and the overall length will be 28", width 8", height on base 16".  The model was designed and instruction book was written by David Antscherl.  The kit is from Model Shipways and was purchased from Model Expo. Description of the ship from the instruction book.

 

The Harriet Lane was 177' 6" long and 30' 6" wide, with a 12' 0" depth in her hold. Her mode of power was provided by double marine steam engines driving two side paddles, as well as two masts for sailing. When launched, her armament was described as ‘light guns’. However, when she joined the West Gulf Squadron her firepower was increased. She was given a 4" rifled Parrott gun and a 9" Dahlgren forward, with two 8" Dahlgren Columbiads aft. Her full crew complement was 95. Launched in November 1859, she was named for the niece of President James Buchanan, who was unmarried. Harriet acted as his First Lady.

 

Mandatory pictures of the box and contends.

[druxey]

Check out Bob's build log for additional helpful information:

 

 

[_SalD_]

druxey, Thanks for the heads up on bobandlucy's build and in fact I had already found it and have been in touch with Bob about certain parts of the build.

 

Thanks for all the likes also.

[_SalD_]

The central spine:

The first task was to glue the bulkhead spacer pieces to the central spine.  While dry fitting these pieces it was apparent that the bulkhead spacer’s tabs that fit into slots on the central spine were a little off.  A little sanding was required to make them fit.

 

Although the directions called for the use of the half bulkheads to help square up the bulkhead spacer and the central spine while gluing, I found it easier to use a combination of Lego’s and one inch aluminum angle.

 

Bulkhead spacers glued to one side of the central spine

[_SalD_]

Bulkheads:

After the gluing the bulkhead spacers to either side of the central spine the bulkheads were then glued in place.  Bulkheads were squared up using the same combination of Lego’s and the one inch angle.  There are guide lines etched into one side of the central spine that helps to align the pieces.

 

Thanks again for the likes.

 

Edited January 18, 2023 by _SalD_

[_SalD_]

Finished bulkheads.

 

As a general comment on this kit so far, I found that all the pieces are well labeled so you know exactly where each piece belongs and  guidelines are also provided to help with aligning these pieces.

[_SalD_]

First I would like to thank everyone for the likes.

 

Inner stem and stern post:

The direction call for tracing the curved line (bearding line) onto a piece of paper that was supposed to be laser etched into one side of the inner stem and inner stern post pieces.  This line was then to be transferred to the opposite side.  However there was no line etched in them.  I contacted a fellow MSW contributor, bobandlucy, who had completed this model and whose log I use for reference to see what he used for the curved line.  Bob was kind enough to send me an updated parts drawing that he obtained showing the curved line that was supposed to be etched into the parts.  Using this drawing I made a pattern of my own that I used to transfer the bearding line to the two pieces.

The back of the pattern was shaded with a pencil and then the line was traced over to transfer the line.

The pieces were then sanded down as called for in the instructions.

Inner stem post

Inner stern post

[_SalD_]

Inner keel pieces:

The inner keel piece is pretty straight forward and was cut and glued in place, leaving gaps for the mounting pedestals.

 

Stern knuckle pieces:

These two pieces were glued into place as per the instructions and then tapered after the glue had dried.

 

Appreciate the likes, thank you.

[_SalD_]

Fairing up the bulkheads:

To fair up the bulkheads I attached a piece of 100 grit sandpaper to and old emery board using double sided tape.  This worked well as the emery board was flexible enough to contour to the shape of the hull and stiff enough not to sag between the bulkheads.

[_SalD_]

Bulwarks:

The forward bulwark was attached to the bulkheads as shown in the instruction booklet.  I found that the wooden strip was thin enough that I didn’t need to soak it in order to shape it to the correct profile. 

 

In order to keep the lower edge of the bulwark even with the top of the deck line on the bulkheads I clamped a few pieces of scrape wood to a few of the bulkheads level with the deck.  This helped support the bulwarks while trying to clamp them in place.  The picture shows the scrape wood for the aft bulwark.  After clamping the bulwark in place I removed the scrape wood so they wouldn’t be glued in place by any excess glue.

 

Upper counter:

The upper counter is VERY fragile and needs to be handled with care. The laser etch gun ports in these piece makes them easy to break while trying to bend it.  I soaked the counter as instructed and formed it to shape at the stern.

 

  Everything looked good until the next morning when I went to check it and after drying it looked like this.

 

 

Fortunately the kit provides two of these pieces. This time after soaking and positioning the counter around the stern I soaked and fitted a piece of scrape basswood in the same shape as the counter to provide some stiffening.

 

[_SalD_]

Thank you all for the likes 

 

Bulwark inner filling strips:

The straight inner bulwark filler strips were cut to length and glued in between the bulkheads as instructed.  For the curved filler strips at the bow instead of cutting each individual piece and then trying to bend them to fit between the bulkheads, I soaked the entire strip of wood and then clamped it to the inner side of the bulwarks.  After it dried I cut the individual curved pieces and glued them in.

 

Around the upper counter at the stern the instructions say to use the keystone shaped pieces for the inner filler.  I don’t think these were provided or maybe you're supposed to cut them yourself, what I did was to trace the shape of the upper counter on the sheet with the inner filler pieces.  After cutting it out it was soaked and formed to fit around the inside of the upper counter.  To keep the upper counter from absorbing the water from this piece and possibly distorting it, I placed a piece of saran wrap between the two until the inner piece dried.

 

After it dried it was glued and clamped in place.

 

 

 Lower counter pieces:

The lower counter pieces were soaked and bent to shape.  The pieces provided are a little too short and a small filler piece was fitted between them.

 

Completed inner bulwark fillers with bulkheads sanded flush to the interior of the inner bulwarks.

Edited February 3, 2023 by _SalD_

[druxey]

You are doing well with that tricky stern shape!

[_SalD_]

Thanks druxey.  The stern pieces are fragile and need to be handled gently. Like my uncle the plumber would say while bending copper tubing, 'you need soft hands'.

[bobandlucy]

Clever use of plastic wrap! All looks very good.

 

Bob

[_SalD_]

Thanks Bob.  I was worried about getting the upper counter wet and having it warp out of shape.

[_SalD_]

Garboard strake:

Before fitting the garboard strake to the bulkheads I penciled in a centerline on the inner keel pieces to help align the planks. 

 

Beginning with the fore plank, it was soaked in hot water and then clamped in position on the hull.  These pieces were allowed to dry and then glued in place.  The same procedure was followed for the aft garboard strake.  After the fore and aft pieces were set the center section was fitted in between them and glued in place.

 

 

 

You may have noticed, and maybe you haven’t, but the picture background has changed.  This is because I am back at my residence in Florida. The previous photos were at my house in Connecticut where we spend the holidays with the family and a few of months in the summer.  My main workshop is still in Connecticut so I am relegated to the spare bedroom down here.  Most of my toys…I mean tools are still in Connecticut so I will try to make do with what I have. 

 

Thank you for all the likes.

Edited February 8, 2023 by _SalD_

[_SalD_]

Planking the hull:

The kit comes with four sheets of pre-formed hull planking, two for the port side and two for the starboard side.   The sheets are well labeled so you know where each piece belongs.  Starting with the first two fore pieces, port and starboard, I noticed that they were not the same width.  The port plank being quite a bit larger than the starboard one.

Going on the assumption that the planking should be symmetrical on each side of the hull, I choose to sand down the port plank making it the same width as the starboard side.

 

First set of fore and aft planking pieces in place.

Planking continues

Thank you for looking in and I appreciate the likes.

[_SalD_]

Used the first two sheets of planking which did approximately half the hull.  All the port fore pieces had to be sanded down to match the width of the starboard side.  All of the port and starboard center and aft pieces were the same size so no sanding was required for them.

 

I also found it very helpful to label the back of each piece to avoid confusion as to what side and in what direction the planks go after they are removed from the sheet.

[_SalD_]

Planking around the stern knuckle proved to be interesting with some creative clamping. 

I found I had to trim (shaded area on plank) two of the central planks in order to maintain an even run of the planking.

Completed planking

 

[druxey]

Looks like a very nice planking job. Well done. There will be filling and sanding required, though!

[_SalD_]

Thanks druxey and thanks for all the likes.

 

No workshop but at least I have a nice view while sanding.

[_SalD_]

Finished sanding the hull without having to use too much filler.  After the sanding was complete the outer keel, stem and stern post were glued on.

.

Inner bulwark planking:

Gluing the inner bulwark planking was pretty straight forward. 

 

[_SalD_]

First I would like to thank everyone for all the likes.

 

The gun ports were cut and lined as per an option in the instructions.  The porthole locations were laid out using the templates provided and the brass rings were attached to the hull using some ac glue.

 

The same brass ring used for the portholes was supposed to be used for the hawse holes just flattened out into an oval shape.  After doing this I just didn’t think the ring was the appropriate size.  I used some brass wire to form an oval for the outer hawse hole and went a little farther and cut and filed a piece of brass tubing to line the hole through the hull.

 

The brass tube was eventually filed down flush with the inner bulwark.

 

Since the hull will be painted I just used some wood filler to fill the gaps around the wire and tubing.

 

 

[Canute]

Well done correcting the hawse pipes.

[_SalD_]

Drawing the waterline:

In order to level the ship so I could draw the waterline, I improvised a little bit by clamping the ships keel in between two spare floor tiles I had.  The hull was leveled and taped down and the waterline was marked out.  Fortunately the dinning room table was also level. 

The rudder:

The leading edge of the rudder was rounded per the instructions along with tapering its sides. The dowel for the rudders shaft was fitted and glued on.

The hole in the hull was drilled and the rudder assemble was dry fitted.

Thanks for all the likes and for following along.

 

[hollowneck]

Looking good, Sal. Welcome back!

I've always thought you had it rough in Sarasota, you know - building your models on your porch, sitting in the warm sun, cool ocean breezes...

... I've got the Lime if you've got the Corona.

[_SalD_]

Ron, the frig is full of them, come on down anytime.  Good to be back and thanks for checking out my build.

[_SalD_]

Topsides painting:

I normally use a brush for all my painting but I decided I would try spray painting this time.  I think the biggest reason I don’t like spray painting is because of all the taping and masking off you need to do.

 

Taping the waterline.

 

First coat, and no, just in case you're wondering, I did not spray it in the bedroom. 

 

Three coats later.

[_SalD_]

Underwater hull paint or not:

To simulate the ships copper plated bottom it was recommended, per the instructions, to paint the bottom of the hull rather than actually copper plating it.  This was recommended because it was thought that copper plates would look out of scale at 1:96.  I had coppered the hull of my New York pilot boat the Phantom, which is the same scale (1:96) as this ship and IMO I thought that the plates looked appropriate.  In any case I decided to copper the ship’s hull instead of painting it.

 

Using the drawing shown below for reference I scaled the plates to be approximately 14” wide by 48” long.  I had some 3/16” wide x 1.5mm thick adhesive backed copper tape which at 1:96 scale would make the plates 18” wide. Although the tape is a little wider than what’s shown on the drawing I didn’t think that I could cut it straight enough to make it the correct width.   So for the plates I used a piece of tape 3/16” x ½” long (18” x 48”).  At this scale, however, I did not show any plate fasteners.

Port side plating.

The over spray on the bottom of the hull is from some touch up I tried to the upper hull.  This is why I don't like to spray paint, not patient enough sometimes.

 

Thanks for all the likes and for following my build.

[Jack12477]

 Nice job Sal, looks good and it covers the overspray 😉