Muscongus Bay Lobster Smack by WizardOfOs - FINISHED - Model Shipways - 1:24

[WizardOfOs]

Hello again, I’m back with the beginning of the third and final model in the Shipwright Series kit by Model Shipways: the Muscongus Bay Lobster Smack. 
 

 

It would appear that I’ve fallen slightly behind my cohort here as I’ve been away on vacation for a short time. I’m catching back up on everything Happening in the other build logs and have some really good work to live up to. 
 

So far all I have done is take a quick inventory to make sure everything is included and accounted for. I’m eager to get started. 
 

 

Most importantly, though, is that I’m going to take some time to read through the instruction booklet and familiarize myself with the first few steps before getting started. It’s a practice that served me well in the first two models and I see no reason to rush in on the third (even though I desperately want to get straight to the cutting, sanding, and gluing). 
 

I suspect this build will be at a bit of a slower pace than the Pram was because I’m transitioning between a very hands-on phase at work where I could have my evenings to myself and into a more creative phase where my evenings are going to become busier with recording or expanding ideas. 

Edited December 13, 2023 by WizardOfOs

[druxey]

While reading, enjoy the pleasure of anticipation!

[WizardOfOs]

Let the fun begin. 
 

I started with laminating the central spine pieces as instructed after cleaning them up a little. 
 

 

This step went smoothly and the spacers were very useful for getting everything lined up. To allow the glue to dry under weight I went looking for the heaviest, flattest thing I could find. 
 

 

Who ever said those old reference texts would never be good for anything again?

 

My next step was to add the centerboard. 
 

 

I elected to permanently fix it in place. In some ways that feels like dancing around what could have been a complicated process of building the rod and maintaining clearance so everything would move appropriately. That wasn’t my intention, rather I wanted a robust, static model that I wouldn’t be tempted to play with and then have need for future repairs, but it was a consequence of that decision. 
 

Following up was the addition of the other half of the centre spine. 
 

 

As I was cleaning it I experienced a similar break as described elsewhere, where frame #5 is attached. A simple thing to glue back in place before lamination. Not shown is the slight twist I got in the spine, I think what caused it was the moisture causing a curve in the wood and then the next layer being imperfectly laid on top. It’s very minor and I think it’ll be easy to correct moving forward given that I’m mindful it is present. 
 

Adding the reinforcing pieces and Cleaning the frames was next. There is something satisfying about having things organized and ready to go like this. 
 

One little hiccup was that the reinforcing pieces “B” were too large for the slots pre-cut into frame #4. That gave me two options, elongate the slot or shorten the “B” blocks. 
 

 

Whittling the blocks down to size felt like the more accurate option while also maintaining lots of edge surface area to help secure and square frames #3 and #5. 
 

Now I’m in the process of gluing the frames in place. Happily, frame #7 made a wonderful stand for the model until it came time to add it. 
 

 

Frame #8 has just gone on and is drying, leaving the cockpit floor and frames #9, 2, and 1 still to go. I was concerned about getting this square but so far that hasn’t seemed to be terribly difficult. A good example of how some things are easier in practice than they seem like they will be. 
 

 

[WizardOfOs]

Oh how we speak too soon. 
 

I spoke about a slight twist in the spine and how it was minor so I didn’t think it would cause much trouble. Yeah, about that. 
 

Turns out the twist was present at both the bow and stern. Picking up from where I left off, I glued in the remaining frames and all looked good to me. 
 

 

At this point I glued together the stern and it came together nicely, with some minor fiddling to get everything square. 
 

 

Fitting frame #10 was where the trouble began. The twist meant that the spine wasn’t centered so a small shim was needed on one side to take up the extra space and get everything aligned. 
 

 

The consequence of this will be that the spine is not going to be directly beneath the join in the two deck halves, but I’m hoping I can work around that. 
 

I also added the two seat support blocks, which were a little proud of frame #8 during the dry fit. 

 

 

Sanding those down worked well, and I began my journey to flatten out frames #9 and #10. 
 

 

A lot of material needed to be removed. 
 

 

That sorted, I decided to test fit the two deck halves to see if any other areas needed leveled out. Did they ever. The twist meant that frames 7 and 8 needed shims to allow the deck to meet the now sanded down frame 9. 
 

 

These then got a subtle curve added to them and now things are looking good from frame 4 back. It was time to turn my attention to the front. 
 

Frame 1 had straightened the twist at the bow from that point back, but forward of the first frame the twist persisted and had everything very off centre. My solution was to wet the spine thoroughly, add a small shim, and then clamp things as straight as possible. 
 

 

I think it did a decent job. Here I’ve learned my lesson. Either I underestimated how much twist was present or I need to take the time to recognize that if it’s perceptible to me then it’ll cause difficulty later on. Error corrected, I can now start planning next steps. 
 

I want to paint the cockpit area white before adding the seat, probably I’ll paint that some contrasting colour I choose. I’m feeling blue. 
 

Given that I elected for a fixed centre board early on, I don’t need the access hole in the deck. To made certain everything lines up well I’ll glue the two deck haves together before adding them and then either fill or cover that hole later on. 
 

That was a long post were I didn’t really progress, just fixed errors that I ought to have avoided. I suppose it’s the best way to learn. 

[WizardOfOs]

We’re back on track. It feels good to see some positive progress after having spent some effort fixing mistakes. 
 

The first thing I did was glue the two deck halves together, explicitly against what the instructions recommended. 
 

 

Then I decided that painting the cockpit would be easiest before the deck was attached, so I gave everything which would remain visible a couple of coats of white paint. This is the same white I plan to use as my base colour for the entire deck and upper hull. 
 

 

While in the painting mood, I quickly gave a nice coat of blue to the seat. This is my intended contrasting colour for the lower hull, rails, and likely the mast as well. 
 

 

It still needs a second coat, but it was at this point that I decided I’m not actually going to glue in the seat until after the planking is complete. By leaving the seat out until the planking is finished I will have an easier time painting the inside of the hill white without needing to avoid the seat. You can also see the patch I added to the seat back to fill some of the oversized hole. 
 

Here came the tricky part, gluing the deck to the frames. I hadn’t thought through this consequence of permanently gluing the centre board into the “down” position. It made fitting rubber bands tricky and I’ll have to keep that in mind for when o get to the planking. 
 

 

Deck installed, I cleaned up the edge where it met frame 6 and filled in the unneeded hole intended for the centre board mechanism. 
 

 

Once the paint goes on I suspect the seams here to disappear nicely. 
 

Now I’ve begun the job of fairing. This is going to take a long time.

 

 

It’s not something I should rush, and getting it right is vital to having the planking look correct, but I’m feeling a little impatience with this step. Time to put it down and come back tomorrow. 

[WizardOfOs]

I learned something about myself here. I put the model down and didn’t touch it for two weeks. Fairing the frames was not something I enjoyed. It’s unavoidable to have to do, and I’ll certainly tackle it again with my next model. For now I’m glad it’s done. 
 

 

While I was working on it I had to made a couple of small repairs. Here you can see the two small pieces of wood I glued on to build back up a void I created (either from misaligned frames or too much sanding). 
 

 

Then I got back to parts I enjoy. First came gluing on the keep pieces to form the rabbet. 
 

 

Then I began the first of the plank bending. 
 

 

Perhaps I’m just amused by simple things, but I’m endlessly amazed at the ability of wood to go from rigid, to perfectly pliable, and back to rigid with only some careful application of heat and water. 
 

 

The change that made the above picture possible feels magical and seems like it should have been much more difficult than it is. We’re back to things I enjoy for sure. 

[WizardOfOs]

I’m continuing to gradually plank away. 
 

 

It has been a slow process because I tend to get a plank bent each evening for a couple of days, then a bent plank glued on each evening for the next couple, and then repeat (with the occasional missed evening mixed in). 
 

 

As such there is little to show, just the creeping growth. 
 

 

Im reasonably proud of the job so far, even if there are some gaps I would rather had net been there. An expected part of the process and I’ve already got some wood filler waiting for when it is needed. 
 

Then the “oops” occurred. 
 

 

Turns out I was sanding a little too aggressively. 
 

 

I’m currently bending that plank and will see if I can salvage it by gluing the broken piece back on after it has been otherwise formed. 
 

I also went looking to see if I had sufficient “scrap” on any of the other sheets to make a new plank if needed. 
 

 

I probably do, but was disappointed to find that I’m going to have to remake another port side #7 plank anyway. That break is in a much worse spot and is probably going to result in a bend not being possible. 
 

Only think to do is keep going for now and see how few replacements I can get away with cutting. 

[druxey]

Looks easily recoverable. Use a little scrap piece glued under the break, then glue the end piece on over the reinforcing piece and transom.

[WizardOfOs]

Thank you for the advice Druxey. As always you provide exactly the extra details needed. I had not considered adding a reenforcing backing piece but once I saw your comment I did exactly that.
 

The final repair looks a bit rough right now but I am confident it will completely disappear following the sanding, filling, and painting steps. 
 

 

The next repair was a bit more difficult to organize. 
 

 

Plank #7 disintegrated upon submersion in hot water as I expected it would. I tried to form it anyway, which did make subsequent steps easier, but there wasn’t really any way to fix it as an intact piece. 
 

 

Shortly after I took this picture it gave up on me and broke completely through. 
 

My fix was dramatic. 
 

 

 

 

 

Another case of filler needed to hide some ugliness, but I suppose I could argue that these are working boats and likely needed occasional repairs. 
 

With that I continued to plank down the remainder of the way. I won’t add gratuitous photos of the process, instead skipping to the final product. 

 

 

I’m proud enough of things so far. A little basic shaping with a sharp knife has been done and my next step is filler.
 

Wish me luck on that one. 

[JacquesCousteau]

Nice job with the repairs, the hull looks great!

[Bryan Woods]

I think it adds excitement to the build, that is after you know your plan will succeed. Sanding the hull, I believe is the most relaxing part of the build 🙂

[WizardOfOs]

Thanks Jacques and Bryan, it seems there is always something that needs a little extra attention and that’s part of what is keeping me engaged with the build. 
 

I am absolutely looking forward to the sanding, if for no other reason than that it’ll be a good excuse to go sit outside at night and listen to/watch the traffic on the Harbour. No real need for a solid work surface to sand. 

[WizardOfOs]

As Bryan predicted, sanding was a very satisfying job. 
 

I gave the boat a rough first sand to get approximately smooth lines, then used some wood filler to seal up the gaps between boards. Here’s what it looked like after the second sanding following the wood filler. 
 

 

I outlined remaining low spots with pencil so I would know where to focus on building things up with the filler. A second round of filler and third, final sanding yielded a result I wouldn’t have believed I was capable of. 
 

 

Then it was time to clean up the transom. Here it is trimmed, filled, and sanded. 
 

 

While I was working with the filler it occurred to me that now would be the best time to paint the inside of the boat, before I install the seat and before adding any additional parts. I painted the cockpit white and I painted the remainder of the inside black. 
 

 

That brings me back up to current, where I just soaked the toe rail in hot water and am waiting for it to dry to shape on the model itself. The best possible jig is the thing you’re trying to have it exactly fit to, right?

 

Edited July 30, 2023 by WizardOfOs

[WizardOfOs]

Time for a bit of a disorganized update because I got engrossed in working on things and forgot to take pictures as I progressed. That’s a good sign for interest in the actual building part. 
 

The method of bending the toe rail against the side of the hill worked well and I got that installed correctly. I also finally glued in the seat, which I think looks nice in place. You can also see the added oarlock pads, which I thought were a bit bulky at the time but have come around to really liking the look of now. 
 

 

 

While I was working on the toe rail I also added on the rub rail, which makes the side of the hill look a lot more complete. 
 

 

Carving the drainage holes into the rail was a fun challenge. It’s a whole new scale of small detail. 
 

 

Then came some bits and pieces. The Samson post broke as I was sanding it to fit, but came out looking nice. I applied some of the lessons learned from working with bras on the Pram and the small rod was easily made. 
 

 

Getting the fairleads to look right was more of a challenge and I’m not convinced I’m happy just yet. I’ll fiddle around with them a bit more. 
 

Most recently, bending the combing was quite stressful as it pinched sharply along one of the etched cut lines. I think it’s mostly salvaged. 
 

 

I thing the next step will be to bend the cabin sides, the. Pain the entirely of the upper deck white before gluing in the combing and cabin sides. 
 

Looking back, I’m somewhat amazed at the small pile of tools I’ve accumulated as I needed them. 
 

 

Everything has a very specific purpose and has become indispensable. 

[WizardOfOs]

I have been slowly working away. It turned into an unusually busy summer and I’ve been a bit limited in free time. Ah well, the more sweet it makes the few hours I can spare. 
 

I cleaned up the fairleads considerably and am much happier with them now. They look intentional, as opposed to “roughed in” like they did. I also glued in the post and have that nicely situated. There was a lot of dry fitting with the bowsprit (even if it is as yet unshapped) to make certain everything fit square. 
 

 

I also got the combing and cabin sides glued into place. That happened after my initial layer of white paint and should make for a sleek looking deck when everything is finished. 
 

Now I’m still working on the difficult part: painting all the details blue. 
 

 

The common wisdom is to paint before assembling. I was aware of that and gleefully disregarded it with the attitude that “it’ll be easy to just add some paint where it need it.” Ha, that was wrong. A lesson for next time, and a lot more work for what I’ve already assembled to try to get clean lines. 
 

Unrelated to my build, we had a visitor to Halifax last week, the ARC Gloria out of Columbia. 
 

 

Maybe some day I’ll work my way up so something a little more this style. 

 

[Bryan Woods]

Looks great Wizard! I am sure lacking at painting those lines and edges:-) 

[druxey]

Sharp paint scheme, even if you are giving yourself more work!

[WizardOfOs]

Thank you both, the painting was fun even if it could have been easier. 
 

I’ve even learned my lesson, and pre painted the well covers and hatch door. 
 

 

Those were glued in place, along with the roof. I also assembled the hatch cover and runners while I was waiting for the roof to dry so you can see my mock-up fit here. 
 

 

Applying the same lesson again, the roof got its coat of paint prior to gluing the runners on, as did the runners themselves. I also touched the rub rails with some blue paint because I liked the contrast it gave Bryan’s build. 
 

 

Then I glued everything together once I was happy with the fit. 
 

 

Visible here are some custom handles I made from scrap brass salvaged from the Pram kit. I thought it would be nice to have something to grab on to when opening the wells or going below deck. Encouraged in my ability to bend brass, I shaped the traveler and, while I was at it, cut a length of rod for the rudder. 
 

 

Ah, the rudder. Everything to this point went smoothly so there wasn’t a need for much elaboration beyond that tasks got accomplished. The rudder was more involved. In the process of filling, sanding, and painting the hole for the rudder became partially occluded. After some fruitless struggle I decided to risk something. I put the rod as far into the hole as I could and then tapped it with a hammer until it went all the way in, then pulled it back out with pliers and repeated the process until I could slide it in with just my fingers. Maybe that was a bad idea, but it worked out for me. I did the same thing with a short piece of scrap brass at the slot in the keel. This was where I had the most concern about breaking something, but again it worked fine.

 

Finally, I shaped the rudder itself and glued it to the rod. 
 

 

I’ll leave off with another visitor to the Harbour. Although, visitor isn’t really fair considering we’re her home port. She just isn’t usually up by the boardwalk. 
 

[WizardOfOs]

Picking back up exactly where I left off, I completed shaping the tiller and got both it and the rudder painted to match my hull. 
 

 

I also got the first of my blocks formed and painted, then threaded that onto the traveler and secured it into place. 
 

 

The bowsprit was a lot of fun to shape. I particularly enjoyed shaping the transition from square to octagonal to round, leaving sections in each of the intermediary shapes. I got it painted in preparation for adding the eyelets.  
 

 

Then I turned my attention to the trail boards. I was nervous about breaking them given the angle of the bend needed and how thin they are. Everything turned out great. Learning from past difficulties, they were painted first and then glued on.
 

 

Underneath you can also see the glued in anchor point. Two more were added to each side of the cabin. They are very fragile brass eyelets. 
 

 

Now we’re getting back to what I’m currently working on. I got the mast whittled down to square. 
 

 

One of the things I was unhappy about with my finished Pram was the oval shaped mast. I hadn’t whittled that to square first and doing so here made a world of difference. I’m so much happier with the final shape once it was rounded. I got everything fit together without glue for a mock-up of final shape. 
 

 

We’re at the exciting stage where I can see what it’s going to look like. 
 

The last photo I’ll share is this one:

 

 

The pre-cut mast had the three bottommost holes already cut into them. I drilled to two top most holes to act as my sheave. What I need to decide is: are these precut hole close enough for me to be happy with them as eyebolt point, so should I use wood filler to hide them and re-drill my own where the plans suggest they should be?

 

Something to think about over the next couple of days before I come to a decision. 

[Bryan Woods]

2 hours ago, WizardOfOs said:

 

Something to think about over the next couple of days before I come to a decision. 

It’s looking good:-) I love that build! My blocks and rigging were to close by my eye. I don’t know what’s right, just what looks good to me:-) I would check all that out if I were doing it again.

[WizardOfOs]

Thanks Bryan, I took another look through your log and see what you mean. Your blocks look good and you made them fit well but it gives me something to pay attention to moving forward. 
 

For now, I’ve been busy carving squares to octagons to rounds. I mounted the stop cleats to the top of the mast and shaped the copper rings for attaching the sail. 
 

 

Then I shaped the boom and the gaff the same way. 
 

 

 

My goal is to get these all painted before gluing in the eyelets. I need to decide if white or blue will look better. I’m leaning toward white right now. 
 

Then I dove back in to the world of brass work. Bending the rod was one thing but building an entire piece from stock was another. The wonderful thing about these three kits as an introduction to the hobby has been that they force me out of my comfort zone in a way that has a lot of room for learning and achievable goals. I can’t recommend them enough to other beginners. 
 

I don’t have a torch so I just used a candle to anneal the brass. I held the strip in a pair of pliers and passed it back and forth through the flame until I saw the colour begin to change, periodically wiping off the soot to keep it from insulating the metal from the heat. 
 

Then I drilled the holes and used a metal file to round off the top of the piece. Finally, a pair of sidecutters freed the piece from the stock and the file cleaned the flat end back off. 
 

 

They’re not identical, but I think quite close for my first try. 

[druxey]

Well done for tackling metalwork! 

[WizardOfOs]

Thanks Druxey, I’m learning as much as I can as I go along. Some excellent instruction and tips are to be found from you and elsewhere on MSW. 
 

Outside of model building, in that dreaded world of real life, things have gotten very busy for me. I knew it was coming but that doesn’t make it any more fun. As a result, I’m spending 8-10 hours a day sitting in front of a computer and attempting to write a dissertation. That doesn’t leave much time of mental energy for this, thus, progress has been slow. 
 

Glueing and nailing the chainplates went well, and I couldn’t be more proud of them. Slight flaws and all. 
 

 

I also got onto strapping blocks and attaching them to eye bolts. 
 

 

 

Painting some of the white metal parts also provided a lesson or two. I stuck the cleats to some tape and painted them gold with acrylic, but when I pulled them back up the paint partially peeled back off the metal. A few touch ups later and it all worked out. 
 

 

 

Next up comes the sail. The sheet of material I received in the kit was 12” by 18.5” so I cut that into a 12”x10” and a 12”x8.5” piece. I’ve just soaked the larger one in dilute glue and it can dry over night. 
 

 

That brings me to the end of the update. No fun ship photos because I haven’t seen the Harbour (or natural light) for days. I do have a meme though, are memes allowed?

 

[JacquesCousteau]

Good luck on the dissertation! Having recently been there myself, I don't envy you being in the writing phase. But it might be good to have a hobby to take your mind off it? In any case, the build is coming along quite well, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it finishes!

[druxey]

Ah, the old story; dissertation writers' block.... If it's not too personal, what is the subject? Hopefully it is proceeding well. The model is coming along fine!

[WizardOfOs]

Thanks for the support on writing, Jacques and Druxey. There are always so many more tempting things to do than write. 

 

I'm working in pharmacology. My project has been to determine the biochemical mechanism of action of a naturally derived cytotoxic agent. Basically, I have a "new" chemical which we could collect from bacteria, and we knew that chemical kills cancer cells, but we didn't know how it was doing it. I've been working to try to find that "how" and use the information to see if there is any potential to develop the chemical into a useful drug. 

[druxey]

A fascinating project, exploring chemical mechanisms at a cellular level. Hopefully it will lead to another pharmacological tool to combat certain cancers. But we digress!

[WizardOfOs]

How could things be “sailing along smoothly” without any sails? Let’s fix that. 
 

I traced the outline of the sail from the schematic to the cloth and glued all the reenforcing strips in place. 
 

 

What came out were two very nice looking sails. I’m much happier with these than I was with the sail on the Pram. Turns out practice really does make you better at things. 
 

 

I used dots of gold paint to replicate grommets again and drilled holes as instructed. Then secured the main sail to the boom and gaff. 
 

 

While they’re difficult to see here, I also attached the small brass rings to the jib sail. It’s been patiently set aside until I get everything else ready for it. 
 

 

The main sail was attached to the copper rings on the mast. A job I really enjoyed. The knots look good to my eye and I’m proud of them. 
 

 

Next the sail was fully lashed to the gaff and boom. I made a small error in that one of my lashing lines was too short so I couldn’t tie it off at the end. I managed to hide it so no one will ever know but me, but if someone looks close enough they may be able to spot the oddity that the line just ends without any kind of knot securing it. I also added all the reef points by passing them through the sail and tying knots on either side. 
 

 

Once those were all in place I cut them to length and glued them down in a way I hope looks like they are hanging naturally. 
 

 

The perfectionist in me wasn’t happy with just tying the gaff and boom to the mast with rope so I got some seed beads. They’re 11/1 black acrylic, about 3mm wide. I found four fit nicely for the gaff but only three fit at the boom. As a lesson learned, this would have been much easier to assemble had I done it before I had tied the sail to the mast. It was a lot of painful fiddling in the order I chose. 
 

 

Most recently I’ve started to run some lines. 
 

 

I’m anxious to get the mast stood up and secured into place. Shouldn’t be too far from complete now. 
 

Oh! I also came to the realization that I hadn’t prepared a name plate for this model yet. Luckily I still had a good sized frame left over from the Dory. I’ll need to shape it up some and paint it. 
 

 

Meanwhile, I’ve now got about 145 pages written. Certainly not done, but progress on two fronts. The model is absolutely going to get finished first. 

[JacquesCousteau]

Nice job!

[GGibson]

Excellent work, Wizard!  Never really thought about a name plate for my first few ships.  Great idea!