Pelican 1943 by FriedClams - 1:48 - Eastern-Rig Dragger

[FriedClams]

Greetings fellow modelers.   Thank you for your comments and likes!

 

 

Here's a short update.  The hull has been cut away from the station form extensions using a 1.25” diameter circular saw chucked into a Dremel rotary tool.  This is a somewhat dicey procedure because the rotating blade is just looking for an excuse to hop from the cut and remove a chunk of sheer strake instead.  But a strong grip on the tool keeps a pinched blade from jumping and makes quick work of the task at hand.  However, I do not recommend this method to sensible modelers.

 

 

 

 

Even though the hull planks were edge glued to each other, I decided to add reinforcing card strips between the station forms, which I glued into place with breathtaking amounts of CA.  Finally, I “painted” the entire interior with a 50/50 water/PVA solution to resist warping caused by humidity swings.

 

 

 

In the previous post I pointed out a few hull planks that were recessed - not flush with the adjacent planks.  I used wood shavings to build them up and then sanded them back.

 

 

 

 

Also, I removed material from the lower hull planks at the keel and stern post.  These planks previously stood proud and are now flush.  A shout-out to John, Andy and Håkan for clearing this matter up for me.  Being primarily a model builder with a secondary interest in boats/ships, my understanding of boat construction at the nuts-and-bolts level on anything larger than an open boat is a bit sketchy.  The knowledge base and ready willingness of MSW members to help, inform and encourage has made every model that I've built on this forum better and more accurate because of that input.  Thank you!

 

 

 

More hull filing/sanding and cleaning up is still needed.  And I've done nothing yet to finish the backbone assembly. 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

Be safe and stay well.

 

Gary

[FlyingFish]

Work of art Gary!

[Paul Le Wol]

Gary, thank you for showing your planking techniques both inside and out. She is looking great!

[Keith Black]

Beautiful hull, Gary. 

[KORTES]

Yes, a very beautiful  hull.

Edited March 2 by KORTES

[Retired guy]

Always a pleasure to see your outstanding work Gary 👍

 

 

Regards

Richard

 

 

[Wintergreen]

It has an intriguing hull form with the bulbous section just aft of the center. 

Nice planking and sanding.

 

Keep it up!

[FriedClams]

Thanks guys, for the kind comments, it's so appreciated.  Also for the likes.

 

On 3/8/2024 at 3:27 AM, Wintergreen said:

It has an intriguing hull form with the bulbous section just aft of the center. 

 

It does - and it seems a practical matter of finding a spot for the engine room and 3,000 gals of diesel.  The fish hold takes up about 16'5" (500cm) of prime real estate right out the center of the hull.  But, I still think she's a handsome girl.

 

   

 

Gary

[Retired guy]

Like the drawing, also like they have dimensions on it to, are you going to make the engine  

 

Regards

Richard

[Hubac's Historian]

It’s funny - I was wondering at the necessity for the card re-enforcements, but then I got a better sense of the scale with your arm in one of the previous shots.  This is a fairly large hull.

 

As always - great progress, Gary.  Hull looks sweet!

[Rick310]

 Beautiful planking job!!

Rick

[FriedClams]

16 hours ago, Retired guy said:

Like the drawing, also like they have dimensions on it to, 

 

Yes, the drawings are detailed in some respects and vague in others.  They are copies of the designer's originals that were used in the construction of three individual boats.  The intended users of these drawings were professional boat builders and consequently exhaustive details are not offered.  Details that a modeler would love to see. 

 

16 hours ago, Retired guy said:

are you going to make the engine 

 

This question stings because I agonized over the decision to not build this boat in a larger scale with one side of the hull fully exposing the entire below deck arrangement.  Fully framed with every possible detail shown.  But I chickened out, so no, there'll be no need to build the engine.  Thanks Richard.

 

3 hours ago, Hubac's Historian said:

 This is a fairly large hull.

 

Yes, the boat is about 79' and in 1:48 that's just under 20".  Not huge by any means, but the largest boat I've built.  Thanks Marc.

 

And thank you Rick for the nice comment.

 

Gary    

[FlyingFish]

On 3/12/2024 at 3:59 PM, FriedClams said:

I agonized over the decision

Can understand this Gary. However on a future build you should go for it - I have a feeling you would do an outstanding job!

[KeithAug]

Beautiful looking hull Gary. 

[Valeriy V]

Gary, I am amazed at your ability to work with wood so carefully! The body is very elegant. 👌

[FriedClams]

Greetings Fellow Modelers

 

After a busy month with little time for modeling, I've finally begun work on the fish hold of this dragger.

 

 

But first, please allow me a quick diversion.

 

The path of the recent solar eclipse tracked over Maine on a day when there was barely a cloud in the sky.  My wife and I traveled several hours north on country roads to get close to the center of totality.  A total solar eclipse is such an astronomical coincidence that it's hard for me to get my head around it. That from a moving 100-mile diameter shadow on earth, two spheres appear to be the exact same size because one being 400 times larger is 400 times farther away, and that they line up precisely with the smaller sphere blocking all the direct light of the larger while leaving the entirety of its corona visible.  Perhaps I'm a simpleton, but I find this extraordinary.  To be honest, I thought this was going to be an interesting but ho-hum visual event, but when it went dark and I took off the glasses to see where the sun had gone, I was mesmerized.

 

I had a DSLR mounted on a tripod with 200mm of lens.  I promised myself beforehand to enjoy the experience and not spend the few minutes of totality tinkering with camera settings.  So, I preset the camera and hoped for the best - manual focus, aperture priority, exposure bracketing, cable release and crossed fingers.  I pushed the cable release quite a few times without ever looking at the results.  Later, I found most were completely blown out and a few were just terribly overexposed.  But I'm not disappointed.

 

 

 

 

The lens flare image below is my favorite.  A lousy eclipse photo, but an interesting image just the same – kind of surreal.

 

 

 

 

Fish Hold

 

My decision to display the boat with the hatches open and maybe a bunker plate or two, requires that the entirety of the hold be modeled as I can't predict what will be visible through each opening and view angle. Mainly that view will be small fragments of individual bunkers and planked partitions, so this modeling will be on the quick and crude side.

 

Before I started in on that, I first washed the hull exterior with India ink/alcohol to give it a little age. About 2 parts ink out of a hundred. I've yet to decide on how the hull will be painted/weathered, but this small amount of coloring doesn't narrow my options, and the alcohol tends to remove shiny sanding spots and helps to unify the overall look – at least to my eye.

 

 

 

I then penciled on the water line. I placed the hull back onto the base and used a squared scrap of construction lumber with a pencil glued to it.

 

 

 

The fish hold uses up almost 17' (5.1m) of hull length. The area is partitioned off into 20 individual bunkers/pens as shown below in the top-view drawing. The pens with green dots hold the ice/fish and the red dot areas do not. The blue dots are the stationary posts that hold the wood slats which make up the partitioning. The four pens in the center over the keel functions as a walkway but can also be partitioned to hold ice/fish.

 

 

 

Shown below is the lower half-section at station #7. The open space against the side of the hull is the area identified by red dots. This area is empty and begins at the lowest bilge ceiling strake. This drawing detail is actually from the “transverse section” plan sheet of a completely different boat by the same designer a few years prior to the Pelican, but it is labeled as the “type plan” for the Pelican.  Consequently, the dimensioning is incorrect for my boat, but the structural construction is the same – presumably.

 

 

 

The bases for the posts are 6” square timbers and on the model the six center bases are mounted on wood strips that span the entire length of the fish hold. The six bases away from the center are beveled to reflect the changing shape of the hull as it narrows toward the bow. The drawing below shows the bevel for the posts in the area near station 6A.

 

 

And for the posts in the area near station 4A. Note that the bevel has changed due to the base sitting higher up in the hull. This is necessary because the interior space is narrower yet the distance between posts must be maintained.

 

 

I print out spacing guides to locate the center line for the wood strips the post bases will sit on.

 

 

I mark the center line for the inner and outer strips on each station bulkhead.

 

 

 

 

The strips are placed, and the outer post bases are beveled and glue on.

 

 

 

As per the plans, there are three planks below the lowest bilge ceiling strake and below that is concrete. Although they are not yet glued down, the image below shows those three planks in position. The six inner post bases have been added as well as some styrene sheet material to act as a support floor for the “concrete”.  Also, note how the post bases (top of photo) incrementally sit higher from left to right as the hull narrows.

 

 

It would have been easier to place the two lowest bilge ceiling strakes as one piece and mount the post bases on top of that. But, I didn't and decided instead to piece it together around the posts for reasons that in retrospect make absolutely no sense. But that's water under the bridge and in the end it won't show anyway.

 

 

 

 

I smeared on some Hydrocal to form the floor of the main fish pens.

 

 

 

Colored up the bulkhead planking with chalk/alcohol (burnt sienna, raw umber and black).

 

 

 

Made up the grating to place over the keel and gurry trough.

 

 

 

I'll be placing some dim-ish lighting in the hold, so a gloppy PVA mixed with black acrylic paint is slathered onto the hull to prevent light leaks. All of this mess will be hidden by the wood plank partitioning.

 

 

 

Next – posts, partitioning and completing the hold.

 

Thanks for taking a look.  Stay well.

 

Gary

Edited May 1 by FriedClams

[druxey]

And... the magic begins to show! Lovely work, as ever, Gary.

 

Off topic, the eclipse: If one believes that it is all a coincidence in size and distance.... BTW, in Niagara we were almost totally cloud covered that day. Sigh.

Edited May 1 by druxey

[Glen McGuire]

4 hours ago, FriedClams said:

Perhaps I'm a simpleton, but I find this extraordinary.  To be honest, I thought this was going to be an interesting but ho-hum visual event, but when it went dark and I took off the glasses to see where the sun had gone, I was mesmerized.

Count me as a simpleton too, Gary!  I was also mesmerized even though most of the eclipse, including the 90 seconds of totality here in Austin, was obscured by clouds.  Your pictures are fascinating.

 

As for your build, superb work and detail as always.  I particularly like how the ageing on your bulkhead planking turned out.  So well done!

Edited May 1 by Glen McGuire

[Keith Black]

 Cool photos of the eclipse, Gary. I do love your weathering, are you gonna add a wee bit of lighting in the fish hold?

[Roger Pellett]

Great work up to your usual standards, Gary!  
 

My son, his family, and a close friend all live directly in the Eclipse’s path in Indiana.  All had reactions similar to yours..

 

Roger

[TBlack]

Great photography, Gary. You continue to show great attention to detail in this model, following a fine tradition 

Tom

[FriedClams]

Druxey, Glen, Keith, Roger and Tom – Thank you for the positive and encouraging comments.  I sincerely value them.  And thanks to all for clicking on the "like" button.

 

On 5/1/2024 at 3:51 PM, druxey said:

in Niagara we were almost totally cloud covered that day. Sigh.

 

On 5/1/2024 at 6:52 PM, Glen McGuire said:

most of the eclipse, including the 90 seconds of totality here in Austin, was obscured by clouds

 

Druxey and Glen.  Too bad about the cloud cover - disappointing no doubt.  Here in Maine, early April is a time of year when we expect fast changing and unsettled weather. In fact, four days prior we had a late snowstorm – wet heavy stuff with strong winds that dropped many trees and limbs and left us without power for several days.  The day of the eclipse was some of the nicest weather we had seen in weeks.  Unbelievable good luck.

 

 

@Glen McGuire @Keith Black @TBlack Thanks for the comments on the eclipse photos. I shot about 20 photos with a cable release during totality.  All were exposure bracketed sets of three - so 60 images total.  All were very over exposed, and the three I posted were the most interesting of the lot.  Never thought I'd be grateful for lens flare. 

 

 

On 5/1/2024 at 8:32 PM, Keith Black said:

are you gonna add a wee bit of lighting in the fish hold?

 

Hey Keith - yes, because I'm not sure one would see anything down there without it.  But it will be on the dim side.

 

Thanks everyone.

 

Gary

[KeithAug]

Internal finishing looking great Gary. Im looking forward to another master class in finishes.

[Jim Lad]

Beautiful work in the hold, Gary.

 

John

[druxey]

A pleasure to be-hold, is it not? (Sorry, couldn't resist that.)

[FlyingFish]

Just catching up Gary - it's looking good, always enjoy seeing the insides come alive. Needs some fish in those holds now...

[FriedClams]

Greetings Fellow Modelers

 

Thanks to all for your fine comments, for the "likes" and to those watching quietly.

 

 

More Fish Hold Stuff

 

Continuing on with the fish hold, the next step was to build the back walls of the bunker partitioning.  In the drawing below, the hold is defined by the yellow cross-hatching and the back wall partitioning by the green lines.  The back walls are individual bunker partitions, but for this model I've simplified it as a single one-piece wall.  The blue dots are the vertical posts used to segment the hold into individual bunkers/pens.

 

 

 

To begin, I created a paper template of the area to be walled.

 

 

 

Planking was glued directly to the paper template.

 

 

 

 

Styrene channel was glued on at each post base location. The proper depth channel needed for this is not manufactured, but I found an “H” column that was close enough once modified.

 

 

 

 

The back wall pieces were then glued on.  A corner torn from a Post-it note makes a hands-free right-angle square.

 

 

 

At this point, I became aware of two errors that needed to be addressed.  First, the height of the perimeter partition walls, and the bulkhead end walls were too short.  This would allow a view through an open hatch to see above the walls.  It would be an extreme angle view to be certain, but a deck mock-up proved to me it was possible.  The second error is that the forward bulkhead end wall was placed 12 scale inches forward of where it should be. That's a problem because it interferes with the proper placement of the mast, which is unacceptable.  So, a second end wall was installed 12” aft of the first one.

 

In the image below the new (taller) end wall is on the right.  One would now expect that the two forward bunkers are 12” narrower than the other bunkers, but they are not.  The post spacing is correct from the aft bulkhead forward and only the forward wall was misplaced.  Indeed, I caught this error because the forward bunkers appeared to me a tad wider than the others.

 

Extra work caused by working carelessly.

 

 

 

Next, the four-sided posts for the bunker partitioning were made.  They are a five-piece styrene construction.

 

 

 

 

A construction jig is assembled. The styrene is modified “H” columns and strips from Evergreen.  Solvent cement keeps the posts from being inadvertently glued to the jig.

 

 

 

A channel is placed into the jig.

 

 

 

A flat strip is cemented on top of that. Two of these channel/flat piece assemblies are made for each post.

 

 

 

The center rectangular strip is added to one of the above assemblies.

 

 

 

Then both assemblies are cemented together.

 

 

 

 

The posts are glued onto the post bases.

 

 

 

One of the back walls is heightened, a channel extension is glued on, and a partition is installed.

 

 

 

The partitions are cut from blanks of edge-glued wood strips. A paper template of the partition is placed on the blank and the shape is cut free. They are stained with chalk and alcohol. I use alcohol to liquefy and apply the chalk because it penetrates the wood and evaporates off quickly leaving no time for the thin wood strips to warp.

 

 

 

I used “super thin” CA to glue these partitions in.  With the partition already in place, a drop of the CA at the top of the post races down the channel and glues most of the plank ends.  I have an extension tip on my bottle to help control the flow and I use the watery glue infrequently and cautiously.  I feel there should be a “skull and crossbones” on the bottle.  If you must use it, keep a can of fresh acetone at the ready.  A mishap will glue your fingers together instantly with the possibility of a trip to urgent care.  Am I exaggerating?  Not really.

 

 

 

The partitions are all in.  I'm considering partially filling a few of the bunkers with ice.  What do you folks think and what would make a convincing 1:48 ice?  It would have to be a non-soluble material.

 

 

 

 

I've installed 8 surface mount LEDs (one over each bunker) to light up the hold.  That seems like a lot, but they are small and their output will be adjustable.  Two wood strips holding four diodes each are assembled.  These LEDs are SMD 805 warm white and are attached to the strips with a clear (when dry) version of Gallery Glass.  For scale, the grid on the mat 1/2” (12.7mm)

 

 

 

Both strips attached over the bunkers.

 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

Be safe and stay well,

 

Gary

 

 

[Keith Black]

 

Edited Monday at 10:41 PM by Keith Black
Gary, the fish hold is looking like, well, a fish hold. those center post are superbly done. I don't if you can use any of the materials the guy in the YouTube video used.

[Paul Le Wol]

Gary, beautifully amazing work. When you stain the wood with the chalk/ alcohol do you apply it to the raw wood and have you had any problems with blotching?

[Jim Lad]

beautiful work on the fish hold, Gary.

 

John