Norwegian Sailing Pram by WizardOfOs - FINISHED - Model Shipways - 1:12

[WizardOfOs]

Following some encouragement in the new member introduction post Decided it was time to start a build log here. I already completed the Lowell Grand Banks Dory which I’m quite proud of. 
 

 

The Pram will be my second model, and in fact only the second model I’ve ever attempted of any kind. 
 

Let’s get into it. 
 

Day 1 was a simple matter of beveling the bow and stern transoms as described in the instructions. Just like the dory, I’m impressed with the detail provided and find it very useful. I also attached the knees and drilled a hole as directed through the bow transom knee. There was a little bit of tearing out, but I pieced the splinters back in place and glued them back down. 
 

 

Day 2 involved assembling the build board. I took the helpful advice of Ryland Craze given in the build log by Zack Soderquist and added some scrap to the board so that the transoms would sit flush. All added pieces are 3/64 thick. 
 

 

You can see that I also had to add some tape to make the stern transom support fit snugly, without the need for glue. Disaster struck after this picture was taken and I broke the thinnest part of the stern transom support, something I saw commonly happen in other logs and which I was trying to avoid. A little gluing back together and it works fine. 
 

Day 3 saw sanding and bending of the bottom boards. I treated them exactly like the Dory, soaking and bending over the frames with elastics. 
 

 

Those are now set to dry overnight. 
 

That brings me pretty much up to present. I decided to bend the keel board after the bottom boards because it’s going to lay on top of them anyway, counter to what the instructions say. I also can already tell I’m going to have a gap between the stern transom and the keel board so I’ll try to sand the notches a little deeper before gluing the bottom boards in place. I may also consider adding a little spacer between the bow transom knee and the keep board to fill up the gap that’s going to be present there. 

Edited April 11, 2023 by WizardOfOs

[WizardOfOs]

Finding time through the work week is always a challenge. As such, I’ve only managed to get a few things done. 
 

I started by getting the bow nice and square and gluing that down. The technique I found worked best for me was to glue the very tips of the two bottom boards together first, then glue the combined piece to the bow transom and let that set. Doing it this way meant I didn’t have to worry about them splaying unevenly as I fiddled with gluing them down. 
 

 

This left me free to square up the two bottom boards against the appropriate stops on the molds and then glue them (one at a time) to the stern transom. The stern doesn’t look square in the above because it is not, that got fixed when I glued as described. 
 

Next came bending and then gluing the keel board. 
 

 

The process was exactly the same as what I had done for the dory so it was a comfortable process. The only helpful thing I added was tracing along its edges with a pencil when I dry fit it to make sure it was as exactly centered as possible. 
 

Finally, I sanded the bevels into the garboard planks and tried my hand at cutting the rabbets. 
 

 

The instructions say to cut the rabbet a scale foot long and a scale inch wide. At 1:12 a scale inch is ~2mm so that’s the pencil line you see drawn. I went back and forth with myself, wondering it that was too wide and would impact the final height of the sides of the boat because of too much overlap. Ultimately I ended up only cutting them ~1mm wide but may come back and widen them before I soak/bend them after a chance to dry fit in the daylight. 

Edited January 20, 2023 by WizardOfOs

[WizardOfOs]

The weekend gave me a chance to steadily plank away. Here are a few shots of sequential progress:

 

 

This gave me the chance to practice carving rabbets, which I feel much more comfortable with and think I’m improving on. 
 

 

I decided to stick with the 1 mm width which worked very well for overlapping. I was happy with it right up until I uncovered a possible mistake. My second strake planks fell awkwardly on the connection between my upper and lower stern transom. There wasn’t enough material over hanging to justify carving a step, but there was too much overhand to let the final Sheer plank meet the stern transom without a gap. My solution was to just sand down the second strake plank and simply not carve a rabbet into the sheer plank. 
 

 

I think it’s going to work out okay. We’ll see when I bend the sheer planks in the next day or two. 

[WizardOfOs]

A little progress is still progress, even if it’s been a busy week. 
 

I began by bending the sheer planks in the same manner I’d bent every previous one: soaking in hot water for about five minutes and then attaching to the building frames via elastic band. 
 

 

This is where I encountered a strange new issue for the first time. While I was soaking one of the planks it began to “dissolve” in the water and splinter as I bent it around the frame. Here are a couple of shots of either side of the plank in the damaged area. 
 

 

To fix it I added white glue into the crack and held it with my fingers until it began to harden. From there I sanded them smooth again. This is the resulting repair. 
 

 

Certainly not perfect, but structurally much more solid. I wonder if there is any better method to fixing this/preventing it from happening in future?

 

From there I got the sheer planks glued in place and added the skeg and bilge keels. 
 

 

Then I turned my attention to the dagger board box. As many others have reported, the slot in the keel plank was too long, but rather than making the box to spec and filling the remaining gap I attached the two end boards “too wide” such that the filled the hole and then trimmed the sides to made a square box. 
 

 

I also slid an emery board into the slot and sanded the inside so that the dagger board could slide freely inside. 
 

Lastly, I added the bottom frames, inwales and got the stern quarter knees placed. 
 

 

Looking back on what I’ve just written makes it seem like a lot more building than I felt it was at the time. It’s coming together and looking more and more like a boat!

[druxey]

Comng along nicely. That 'punky' bit of plank must have had a flaw in the wood. You did an excellent job of repairing it. Sometimes stuff just happens with a natural material like wood.

[WizardOfOs]

Thanks Druxey, it’s reassuring to hear this is something that can happen rather than something I inadvertently caused. 
 

I’m also encouraged to see you and the others following along. These are wonderfully designed little kits and I feel like I am learning lots every time I sit down to work on it. 

[WizardOfOs]

This will be a bit of a quick update. Lots of small parts were added slowly, namely the ten seat and thwart frames. I also added and shaped the bow quarter knees. 
 

 

I’m not as happy with the bow knees as I was the stern. They’re not as perfectly even as I had hoped they would be. They’re close and from any kind of distance at all it’s difficult to tell. 
 

you can also see a slight modification I made to the first and second bottom frames. As other logs had mentioned that the two included mast step pieces both have holes in them and that a common solution was to cut some scrap wood to provide a solid bottom, I plan to do just that. I carved an inset into those two frames to receive that third layer. 
 

Next came the step I was most nervous of in the early part of this build, sanding and shaping the two transoms. 
 

 

They turned out pretty handsome if I do say so myself. Cutting the notch in the stern was going to have to wait until I could buy a file (more on that in a moment) so I moved forward a few steps and added the rudder gudgeon pad because it seemed easy to do. 
 

 

The next day, impatient of waiting for an opportunity to buy a file, I improvised. I took some coarse sandpaper and tightly wrapped it around the shaft of a screwdriver. 
 

 

Who says you need the proper tools for these things? Well, to be fair I think it would have been best to use the correct tool and I’m adding a file set to the list of things I still need to get. 

 

Something I have not noticed in other logs is the inclusion of the floor board cleats. There are six of them but it took me a bit to realize the two smaller, inner ones existed. 
 

 

I made a few assumptions with these which in retrospect I ought to have thought longer about. I assumed they would sit with the 1/8 dimension flat and the 3/32 dimension making the height. I’m not convinced that was correct due to the second assumption. I assumed the curve that the instructions describe referred to the curve on the bottom and didn’t account for any curve along the sides. 
 

 

Again, it’s difficult to see and I have no intention of changing things but the floor board cleats don’t match the angle of the bottom planks lengthwise. Only in the sense that they’re curved to the bottom of the boat. 
 

In the grand scheme these minor quibbles (bow quarter knees and floor board cleats) are not going to have a meaningful impact on the state of the finished model. Just something I’ve learned to pay more attention to and a way to include more fine detail. 

[WizardOfOs]

Details are hard. One tool I have found absolutely vital is the pin vise, it’s a pleasure to use and does exactly what it needs to. I have no idea how I would accomplish any of the small holes needed without one. It came in handy for drilling the hole in the rowlock pads as well as the chain plate slots. Specific to the chain plate slots, I just drilled two holes and used a knife blade to carve the space out between them. 
 

 

Up next we’re the dagger board and rudder. There was a whole lot of sanding and shaping (which I’m not quite happy with yet, it’s an ongoing process). Mostly I’m proud of how the stop at the top of the dagger board came together. I used 3/32x1/8 strip because I ran out of 3/32 square, and I think it looks good and proportional. I also added a couple of little tabs to keep it centered. 
 

 

Thwarts and stern sheets were next. I hadn’t noticed anyone mention the cleats under the stern sheets so I figured I should snap a quick picture of those. 
 

 

Otherwise, these needed a little bit of narrowing and shaping but fit pretty close without much work on my part. 
 

 

Also visible in the above are the fitted midship toward knees. Those provided the first definitive proof that my boat isn’t perfectly symmetrical. The top of one knee was flush with the inwale while the other side needed sanding down by 2 mm or so.  That fact that I couldn’t tell until I got to this point suggests no one will ever notice and I’ll likely forget which side it was. 
 

I didn’t feel like painting yet so I moved forward to a few more wooden parts. The tiller assembly is shaping up nicely. 
 

 

I have absolutely no clue how I’m supposed to drill a hole through the extension horizontally to add the pin in the end. My current plan is to just skip that step. 
 

Skipping significantly forward, past all those intimidating metal parts (which I’d have to get to paining before I could tackle anyway) I came to the display stand. Nothing too remarkable there. It came together easily. The only added detail was that I beveled the tops of each dowel to make it a little more streamlined. 
 

 

Lastly, I began working on the spar shaping jig. As others have noted, there were only four notched blocks for the jig included in the kit. I fixed that by just shaping my own out of some scrap wood. 
 

 

It’s been a busy old time but I’m quickly running out of things to do before I need to venture into the brand new skill of metal working. At least painting will be familiar territory. 

 

[WizardOfOs]

Painting is always a slow process. Combined with some things at work getting in the way I’ve stepped back from the Pram for a while. Here’s what I’ve managed. 
 

Shaping the mast was an interesting experience. I really like the idea of creating a square block and rounding it as opposed to tapering down the included dowel.

 

 

It is, however, the greatest weakness I’ve encountered in the kit so far. The two mast pieces glued together produced a rectangle which lends to producing an oblong mast when rounded. It’s not too extreme and I’m happy with the result, but the scale feels off. 

Beyond that, I assembled and shaped the boom and gaff. The idea of adding the cleats to the spars was intimidating at first but it practice went very smoothly and presented no trouble at all. Now I’ve got a couple of coats of paint on everything. 

 

I did decide to paint the mast/seats/floor boards because I liked the look of it. This aspect may not be entirely authentic, but artistic license took over for a bit there. 
 

Final assembly of the wooden parts is up next, followed by a venture into brass. 

Edited February 28, 2023 by WizardOfOs

[druxey]

Looking very smart with your paint job as well as neat, clean work.

[WizardOfOs]

I’ve hit the point where I need to ask for help. 
 

First I’ll cover what I’ve done, where I’m struggling, and what advice I need. 
 

Successfully complete is the addition of the floor and seats. These I’m very pleased with. 
 

 

I’m also okay with how the pin at the end of the tiller turned out. 
 

 

To make it I used a pair of side cutters (ones I had for general electrical work) to snip the 1/16 brass rod to length, then used a small 8oz hammer to peen the ends to make rivets as instructed. It worked well and looks nice except that the hole on one side of the tiller split so I had to glue the wood back together. 
 

What didn’t work well at all was the pin for the tiller extension. 
 

 

I used the 1/32 brass rod as that seemed appropriate for the hole pre-cut into the extension and then matching hole I drilled in the tiller. Maybe my mistake was using too small a piece of wire but widening the hole in the extension would be tricky too. My problem was that when I tried to peen the ends of the pin the wire would begin to bend at a 90 degree angle between the tiller and extension. Eventually I got a product that looks alright, but the joint was so tight that the extension could not swivel. An aspect of that is that the rod is almost certainly bent inside the joint between the pieces. In frustration I glued the assembly together for strength. 
 

 

The final product looks nice but is no longer dynamic. I’m okay with that, if a little disappointed in my failure. Is there anything I could have done differently here?
 

Okay, where do I need help? Cutting the brass tube. Pinching a piece off using the wire cutters won’t work, and the small 6”hacksaw I have has fine teeth but I feel like they’re still very coarse for a 1/16 brass tube. Should a small hacksaw be able to do this, or will I need to look for some other type of saw? I’m not very keen on trying my razor saw on brass because I want to keep it sharp for cutting wood. 
 

The instructions recommend a butane torch to anneal the brass, which I’ll have to go look for. Would one of the cigarette lighter style torches suffice? 

Aside from that, any general brass advice that I may not even know to ask for?

 

Thank you all in advance. 

[Bryan Woods]

1 hour ago, WizardOfOs said:

I’ve hit the point where I need to ask for help. 
 

First I’ll cover what I’ve done, where I’m struggling, and what advice I need. 
 

Successfully complete is the addition of the floor and seats. These I’m very pleased with. 
 

 

I’m also okay with how the pin at the end of the tiller turned out. 
 

 

To make it I used a pair of side cutters (ones I had for general electrical work) to snip the 1/16 brass rod to length, then used a small 8oz hammer to peen the ends to make rivets as instructed. It worked well and looks nice except that the hole on one side of the tiller split so I had to glue the wood back together. 
 

What didn’t work well at all was the pin for the tiller extension. 
 

 

I used the 1/32 brass rod as that seemed appropriate for the hole pre-cut into the extension and then matching hole I drilled in the tiller. Maybe my mistake was using too small a piece of wire but widening the hole in the extension would be tricky too. My problem was that when I tried to peen the ends of the pin the wire would begin to bend at a 90 degree angle between the tiller and extension. Eventually I got a product that looks alright, but the joint was so tight that the extension could not swivel. An aspect of that is that the rod is almost certainly bent inside the joint between the pieces. In frustration I glued the assembly together for strength. 
 

 

The final product looks nice but is no longer dynamic. I’m okay with that, if a little disappointed in my failure. Is there anything I could have done differently here?
 

Okay, where do I need help? Cutting the brass tube. Pinching a piece off using the wire cutters won’t work, and the small 6”hacksaw I have has fine teeth but I feel like they’re still very coarse for a 1/16 brass tube. Should a small hacksaw be able to do this, or will I need to look for some other type of saw? I’m not very keen on trying my razor saw on brass because I want to keep it sharp for cutting wood. 
 

The instructions recommend a butane torch to anneal the brass, which I’ll have to go look for. Would one of the cigarette lighter style torches suffice? 

Aside from that, any general brass advice that I may not even know to ask for?

 

Thank you all in advance. 

Hey, I’m not an experienced modeler and I have just started building this boat. I looked at the end of the tubing I had in my kit and it was sawed off, probably by a small band saw. But I think a thin cutting blade for a Dremel would work.  Or you could roll it under your knife and eventually cut through it, but that may take awhile. Good job, by the way, and thank you for better clearing my vision for the future build.

 

Bryan

[Paul Le Wol]

Hi Wizard, your pram is looking really good. To cut the brass tube, try sliding a piece of 1/32” brass rod inside the 1/16” brass tube to keep it from crushing and use a razor knife to cut it. Roll the tube back and forth under the knife blade. Annealing will make it easier but you can try it without annealing. That’s a nice looking red. What color is that? Hey Bryan, we were answering at the same time. Good suggestion 😀

Edited March 5, 2023 by Paul Le Wol

[druxey]

A small butane torch creates sufficient heat to anneal brass rod or tube. Be sure to do it on  heat proof surface! When peening over, multiple very gentle taps work far better than banging down hard once or twice. This is especially true if the wood is soft, like basswood. Again back up with a very hard surface that will spread the other end of the piece being peened.

[WizardOfOs]

Bryan and Paul, excellent advice about sliding the smaller 1/32 rod into the 1/16 tube and rolling it under a box cutter. I tried it without annealing the brass and it worked perfectly. 
 

 

This exactly solved my issue and isn’t something I would have considered on my own. 
 

Paul, the red is a “claret rose” from Jo Sonja that I borrowed from a special someone’s paint supplies. She’s been very supportive even if she doesn’t quite understand why I’m constantly producing so much sawdust. I havn’t the slightest idea where she found it, other than it’s been in our closet for years. 
 

 

Druxey, as always I appreciate the insight. I’ll be looking for just such a torch to make the cutting more efficient and help with bending other parts. I’ll also keep in mind that a lighter touch with the hammer could make the difference. 
 

Thanks again to the three of you. 

[robert952]

Got my cuppa and getting up to date on this  build.

[WizardOfOs]

I’ve had a couple of frustrating days at work which have led to staying up too late at night working on the Pram as a way to try to relax. As a result I’ve put out some sloppy work which I don’t feel very proud of. I need to learn to slow down. 
 

With my new found brass skill I cut down a couple of nails and cleaned up the anchor plates. 
 

 

I held the plates against the inner side of the inwale at approximate my desired position and used a thumb tack to mark the centre of the smaller hole in the wood. Then I put the plates on a bit of scrap wood and drove a nail through the smaller hole to widen it. 
 

Using the tack hole as a guide I drilled out holes approximately the diameter of the nails. 
 

 

Then smeared some PVA glue into the two openings, slid the plate into its hole and drove the shortened nail home to secure it. The whole assembly then got a little more PVA to hold it. 
 

 

Once everything was good and dry I bent the plates in situ to the appropriate angle. 
 

Next was the eye on the bow and associated plate. I pre-bent that as seen in my previous post and carefully assembled it one part at a time. Some PVA along the shaft of the eye bolt then inserted through the bow transom, some more glue on the back of the plate and slid down the length of the bolt, and a little more before sliding on the tube. Once it was dried I used the file on a Swiss Army knife to clean it up a bit and secured everything with a little more glue. 
 

 

While I was waiting for the glue to dry I wrapped the copper wire around the block. 
 

 

I feel so much more comfortable with copper wire, a little past experience with a material makes one feel so much more confident. The eye at the top isn’t as tight as I’d like but twisting it any further would probably cause it to break off. 
 

I also added all the brass loops to the spars. I’m reasonably happy with those. 
 

 

Here’s the part I’m disappointed in. The lower gudgeon seemed simple in concept but didn’t come out as clean as I’d have liked. The nail heads look too big and it’s a bit off centre. There’s also a lot of excess glue I wasn’t able to clean up. 
 

 

On the rudder side things are also a bit tenuous. 
 

 

The pinlet straps were too small to accommodate the sections of tube I had cut so I just shaped them and added them without the tube. My plan is to cut the pinlets next and simply glue them directly to the straps. Once the straps were bent to shape I again marked the holes with a thumb tack, removed the straps, and drilled to accommodate the nails. Straps went back in place and I drove the now headless nails (remnants from those I’d used to secure the gudgeon) all the way through the rudder and through both strap holes. I shortened the nails by clipping both ends with side cutters and plan to peen them into rivets at some point in the future when I won’t wake anyone up with my hammering. 
 

What isn’t visible is on the upper pinlet is the repair I had to made after splitting the wood when drilling. I glued it all back together and it’s hidden underneath the strap but I’m afraid on a real boat I would no longer trust the structural integrity of that part. 
 

Omitting the tubing under the pinlet straps isn’t going to make much visual difference to the final product but it still bothers me that I didn’t follow the directions explicitly and will probably result in my needing to glue the entire rudder assembly in place such that it will become immobile. 

[Bryan Woods]

27 minutes ago, WizardOfOs said:

I’ve had a couple of frustrating days at work which have led to staying up too late at night working on the Pram as a way to try to relax. As a result I’ve put out some sloppy work which I don’t feel very proud of. I need to learn to slow down. 
 

With my new found brass skill I cut down a couple of nails and cleaned up the anchor plates. 
 

 

I held the plates against the inner side of the inwale at approximate my desired position and used a thumb tack to mark the centre of the smaller hole in the wood. Then I put the plates on a bit of scrap wood and drove a nail through the smaller hole to widen it. 
 

Using the tack hole as a guide I drilled out holes approximately the diameter of the nails. 
 

 

Then smeared some PVA glue into the two openings, slid the plate into its hole and drove the shortened nail home to secure it. The whole assembly then got a little more PVA to hold it. 
 

 

Once everything was good and dry I bent the plates in situ to the appropriate angle. 
 

Next was the eye on the bow and associated plate. I pre-bent that as seen in my previous post and carefully assembled it one part at a time. Some PVA along the shaft of the eye bolt then inserted through the bow transom, some more glue on the back of the plate and slid down the length of the bolt, and a little more before sliding on the tube. Once it was dried I used the file on a Swiss Army knife to clean it up a bit and secured everything with a little more glue. 
 

 

While I was waiting for the glue to dry I wrapped the copper wire around the block. 
 

 

I feel so much more comfortable with copper wire, a little past experience with a material makes one feel so much more confident. The eye at the top isn’t as tight as I’d like but twisting it any further would probably cause it to break off. 
 

I also added all the brass loops to the spars. I’m reasonably happy with those. 
 

 

Here’s the part I’m disappointed in. The lower gudgeon seemed simple in concept but didn’t come out as clean as I’d have liked. The nail heads look too big and it’s a bit off centre. There’s also a lot of excess glue I wasn’t able to clean up. 
 

 

On the rudder side things are also a bit tenuous. 
 

 

The pinlet straps were too small to accommodate the sections of tube I had cut so I just shaped them and added them without the tube. My plan is to cut the pinlets next and simply glue them directly to the straps. Once the straps were bent to shape I again marked the holes with a thumb tack, removed the straps, and drilled to accommodate the nails. Straps went back in place and I drove the now headless nails (remnants from those I’d used to secure the gudgeon) all the way through the rudder and through both strap holes. I shortened the nails by clipping both ends with side cutters and plan to peen them into rivets at some point in the future when I won’t wake anyone up with my hammering. 
 

What isn’t visible is on the upper pinlet is the repair I had to made after splitting the wood when drilling. I glued it all back together and it’s hidden underneath the strap but I’m afraid on a real boat I would no longer trust the structural integrity of that part. 
 

Omitting the tubing under the pinlet straps isn’t going to make much visual difference to the final product but it still bothers me that I didn’t follow the directions explicitly and will probably result in my needing to glue the entire rudder assembly in place such that it will become immobile. 

All you done looks great! Your experience will for sure help me when I get started back on the Pram.

 

Bryan

[DanB]

Your Pram is looking good. It’s been a while since I built this kit, but I do recall being frustrated with cutting off and driving those brass pins.  Model expo  did not send me enough and I finally left a couple off. We have a gas stove  a I held the brass in some pliers and used the flame from the stove to heat it. 

I recall that the rudder assembly was tricky and I had to glue the tube with the pins in a few times while I was attaching the rudder .  

[bobandlucy]

Looks great! 

 

Save yourself some grief, though- PVA glue is not the best for metal-to-wood bonding. Consider using cyano or epoxy. . .

 

Bob

[WizardOfOs]

In the light of a new day that post feels like I was fishing for compliments. That was not my intention but I appreciate them none the less. The support from everyone here has been a huge help. Bryan, I'm glad there is something useful in here for others as well. I'm following your progress and always excited by a new update on your log.

Dan, your build log is one that I have kept permanently open in a tab to refer to throughout this build. I appreciate the details and advice contained therein. 

Bob, I hadn't previously found your log but I've now added another such tab to the collection. Regarding the CA/epoxy, is the grief you're referring to encountered while building or is there an issue with longevity as well? It seemed to work well for attaching the rudder to the boat (photo coming in the next update) and all I really have left are the oarlock pads and the mast plates. 

Edited March 9, 2023 by WizardOfOs

[bobandlucy]

Regarding the glue- PVA is meant to penetrate porous material, such as wood, to establish a bond. Metal items that will be under tension, such as eyebolts for rigging, are likely to come loose when tension is applied. Similar for items that may be bumped accidentally. I do believe this is discussed and recommendations made in the kits instruction manual.

 

But, I'm not by any means an expert, and maybe should have remained quiet. I was hoping one of the experts would highlight this issue for you.

 

And, personally, I did not feel you were fishing for complements at all! Just exhibiting some self-doubt and humility, not a negative trait at all. . .

 

You work does look good!

 

Bob

 

 

[WizardOfOs]

Fighting with brass has been an experience. Small pieces that go flying across the room led to a lot of searching for lost parts. 
 

As alluded to, I added the other gudgeon and hung the rudder. 
 

 

I’m still not happy with this and it’s the only real disappointment I have in the model. Entirely because of poor skill on my part and the choice of the wrong materials. I can absolutely understand why CA would have been better, but this was done before the conversation with Bob. Thank you, and I’ve learned for next time. 
 

While I was at it I glued the model to its stand and put the dagger board in place. 
 

 

It cuts a nice outline. 
 

On the left hand side of the box you can see the cast white metal parts. Here’s a close up:

 

 

I gave then a couple of coats of gold paint to help them match the brass parts. It’s not a perfect colour match but is close enough to make them look finished in a similar way. 
 

Next was on to the oarlock pads. As with all the photo etched parts the holes for the pins were too small. Here’s a snapshot of the process I used to widen them:

 

 

On a scrap piece of wood I drove one of the nails through each hole, then hammered the pad flat again to eliminate the introduced bend. The nailhead was then cut off short to fit the needs of the model. 
 

After drilling holes for the nail heads into the pads things went together smoothly. 
 

 

I’m very happy with how those turned out. 
 

As an aside, I was playing with ideas for how best to display the oars. My intention is to do something like I did with the dory, making more of an “in use” scene rather than a static model. I want the sail up and in position so I ultimately decided not to place the oars in the oarlocks, which I why I have them positioned the way I do in the above photo.

 

Im open to any ideas or suggestions for extras to build to make it look more like a boat that someone has just rowed out of Harbour, shipped oars and put up the sail. I’m thinking I’ll build/paint all four oars and then bind them together with some leftover rope and place then toward the bow. 
 

Which brings me to the next project, sanding down the oars to shape. 
 

 

Once that’s done I’ll paint them and get started on sailmaking. I plan to incorporate the pockets for the sail battens as described on DanB’s log (suggested there by Veszett Roka). I think they’re an important detail which will add a lot. 

Edited March 19, 2023 by WizardOfOs

[SkiBee]

Really nice work, keep it up and enjoy the journey.

 

[druxey]

Very nicely done, Wiz.

[WizardOfOs]

Still shaping parts but I’m eager to share a little bit of creativity. I’ve been trying to figure out what I would take with me, were I to go on a day sail. 
 

Oars first. They thinned down nicely and the dory proved excellent practice there. 
 

 

Shaping came from my experience with the mast and spars 

 

 

The main benefit was having the jig to help take down the corners. A little rolled up sandpaper and they rounded nicely. 
 

 

What’s that above the oars? Well, an item I’d want to have for a day on the water. Shaped from some leftover dowel after making the stand. 
 

 

Here’s the matching piece, this time made from the excess sheet containing the base of the stand and a couple lengths of toothpick. 
 

 

If I have to tell what they are then I didn’t do a good enough job making them. 

Edited March 22, 2023 by WizardOfOs

[Bryan Woods]

9 hours ago, WizardOfOs said:

Still shaping parts but I’m eager to share a little bit of creativity. I’ve been trying to figure out what I would take with me, were I to go on a day sail. 
 

Oars first. They thinned down nicely and the dory proved excellent practice there. 
 

 

Shaping came from my experience with the mast and spars 

 

 

The main benefit was having the jig to help take down the corners. A little rolled up sandpaper and they rounded nicely. 
 

 

What’s that above the oars? Well, an item I’d want to have for a day on the water. Shaped from some leftover dowel after making the stand. 
 

 

Here’s the matching piece, this time made from the excess sheet containing the base of the stand and a couple lengths of toothpick. 
 

 

If I have to tell what they are then I didn’t do a good enough job making them. 

Those are GREAT! In fact I have two real items that look just lik’em.

[druxey]

Great additional detail there, Wiz!

[WizardOfOs]

Where did I leave off? Doodads and Whatsits!

 

 

I think the paint job brought them to life and now I’ll have a cold lunch and a hot drink on the boat. Along with lunch, what’s better than reading for a bit in the sun and the wind?

 

 

My first try was far too small. It only measures 7mm, 8.4cm at full scale. That’s more of a pocket book than a novel. So I tried again. 
 

 

At 14mm it’s much better, though not as cleanly built. 
 

Next up came the oars. A quick painting using my same colour scheme. 
 

 

Followed by wrapping in “leather” made from painted printer paper. 
 

 

Accessories made, I’ve next turned attention to sails. These were first ironed flat and cut to size. 
 

 

And I’ve just taped the larger piece down and painted it with dilute glue as instructed. 
 

 

Now I just need to wait for that to dry so I can trace out the pattern and start gluing on the reenforcing strips. 

[bobandlucy]

Love the accessories, especially the books!