Cannon Jolle by Papa - FINISHED - Master Korabel - 1/72

[Papa]

I have been wanting to try one of Master Korabel’s kits after reading about them on this site.   I finally purchase the small gun boat and added the pre made sails.  I am very impressed with the quality of the kit and the detailed instructions.  The English is a bit strange but that is probably because it was translated from Russian; or maybe just written be a non native English speaker.   Anyway, they are very clear, detailed and precise.  The instructions seem to anticipate where one might go wrong and caution you. The picture shows the box contents and the first sub-assembly before gluing.

[ccoyle]

This is a delightful kit and makes a very interesting model with minimal space requirements. If you read my build log, then you already know that the only real gripe I had with the kit is its poor-quality rigging line. You would do well to shell out a few extra bucks and replace that material.

 

Good luck!

[Papa]

15 hours ago, ccoyle said:

This is a delightful kit and makes a very interesting model with minimal space requirements. If you read my build log, then you already know that the only real gripe I had with the kit is its poor-quality rigging line. You would do well to shell out a few extra bucks and replace that material.

 

Good luck!

Reading your build log encouraged me to purchase this kit.  And I definitely plan to purchase quality rigging line. 

[Papa]

Sub assemblies and the main set of frames ready to be glued. I am sanding the bevels after the frames are glued in place.

Edited July 2, 2023 by Papa
Add information

[Papa]

I may as well confess. I managed to reverse the forward and aft directions on the first subassembly.  By the time i got to step 7 or so things wouldn’t fit and I discovered the problem.  I then tried to disassemble what i had done with disastrous  consequences.  Progress will resume when my replacement kit arrives.  With 2 kits i expect I will have many parts left over. So in the future if one of you out there needs a replacement part for the Jolle,  let me know and i might have it.   Unless i make many more terrible mistakes.  Read and read and read and check and double check and check again.  My 80 year old brain does have a tendency to get confused easily. 😖

[Swinging the lead]

I am building this at the moment. This is my third Master Korabel. Exceptional kits. Very completely and the instructions are second to non. One piece of advice I would give is to give the frame parts a very slight sanding. Just take off the char. Otherwise the fit is that excellent you might not get them apart. And age is just a number!

[Papa]

On 7/6/2023 at 4:48 PM, Swinging the lead said:

One piece of advice I would give is to give the frame parts a very slight sanding. Just take off the char. Otherwise the fit is that excellent you might not get them apart.

I received my replacement kit and I have taken your advice.  Previously I could not get the keel parts to fit over the frames.  A bit of sanding in all the notches and they went in perfectly.  The close fit on the parts in this kit is quite amazing!

[Swinging the lead]

With a dry fit I found the 3 keel pieces very tight managed to file the frame to fit. It might be best to small pieces of scrap wood to make sure it fits when building the frame. Hope this makes sense. 

[Swinging the lead]

[Swinging the lead]

Didn’t mean to high Jack your build log, just showing how good they build. Looking forward following your build. 

[Papa]

18 hours ago, Swinging the lead said:

Didn’t mean to high Jack your build log, just showing how good they build. Looking forward following your build. 

No problem. I appreciate all the advice i can get.  I now am dry fitting everything and light sanding so i am not forcing pieces together.  

[Papa]

I finally looked up a translation for Korabel. It is “shipbuilder” .  I had a year of Russian when i was a freshman in college in 1961 but I don’t remember ever seeing that word!  I think the first vocabulary word in the text was the word for postman pochtalon. Very useful word, hey.   

[Swinging the lead]

At the moment I am cleaning up all the brass etch ready for the paint shop. 

[Papa]

It took hours of sanding and dry fitting but I finally was able to assemble the frames and keel pieces. 

[Papa]

Dry fittings some beams as well as some preliminary sanding of the hull. 

[Papa]

She is ready to get sanding and final shaping done.  If I may offer a word of advice.  There is no room for error in this kit.  Everything is designed to fit snugly and perfectly in position. So check and check and check.  I discovered when I was attaching the stringers C10 that the rough transom was not pushed all the way into its slot. Fortunately I was able to loosen the joint enough to tap it down into its correct position.  I should have noticed that it was not correct when I attached it but somehow missed it.  

[Papa]

I have the seat supports (D10) in place and decks D5 L/R, D2 and D3.   These pieces are very thin and fragile and the protrusions of D10 broke in many places places and 2 of the cross pieces of D2 broke as well . I wonder how anyone could install these without some breakage.  It was certainly way beyond my skill level. In any case I think it will all look ok when finished.   This kit is not nearly as easy as I had expected!

After posting and looking at the photo I think the two forward deck cross pieces look wonky. They were the parts that broke.  Since I have an extra kit I may just replace those two, cutting the replacements from the extra D sheet.

Edited July 20, 2023 by Papa

[Swinging the lead]

You’ve done a good job so far. The wood for the deck is not the best, very flaky. I’ve started the planking. No problem so far. Take your time getting the first one right. The rest should follow easily. 

[Papa]

On 7/13/2023 at 12:18 PM, Swinging the lead said:

With a dry fit I found the 3 keel pieces very tight managed to file the frame to fit. It might be best to small pieces of scrap wood to make sure it fits when building the frame. Hope this makes sense. 

I just started fitting the keel.  I see what you mean about a tight fit.

[ccoyle]

2 hours ago, Papa said:

I just started fitting the keel.

 

You are aware the kit is designed to be planked first before installing the keel? It's not a deal-breaker if you don't (I did mine that way by accident), but that was the designers' intent.

[Papa]

Yes, I know.  Thanks for the reminder anyway.  I wanted to make sure the keel fit before planking and the instructions suggested this step in fact. It took a lot of sanding but now the keel pieces fit perfectly without excessive force.  I also now have 3 rows of planks in place. It is nice having the planks shaped to fit.  The shipyard will be closed for a week as we are taking our granddaughter to a nearby lake for a week.  

[Papa]

Back from the lake and spend the morning reviewing build logs for this kit.I would have saved myself a lot of trouble and expense had I done this before starting!  Never to old to learn a valuable lesson.  I was wondering if i should keep the PE parts bright as shown on the box art.  Looks like all the builders painted the PE black.  I am also looking at how the kits were finished (i.e., painted or stained etc.).

[ccoyle]

I don't think the MK kits look bad when finished bright -- they use good-quality wood, and the combination of wood tone and brass is attractive. But you can't go wrong with adding a touch of paint, either. I've seen them both ways and like them equally well.

[Papa]

Planking is done.  Started sanding.  The planking was quite easy with pre-shaped planks.  I did find it easier to align and glue the planks to the reference frame (15)  first. And then glue forward and aft rather than starting at the bow or stern as recommended. 

[Papa]

Planking is done. I installed the sternpost binding.  I found that I could not do the nails as described by MK; they were too tiny and went flying around the room.  Instead I drilled out the holes about 0.001 larger than the wire, held a small section of wire with needle nosed pliers and pushed the wire into the hole after dabbing the end in some superglue.  I then snipped the wire flush with the binding plate.  Some needed a bit of filing to get flush.

 

 

Edited August 4, 2023 by Papa
Better photo

[Papa]

Current status.  The long rails along the deck were difficult to glue down as the glue surface is very narrow and there is nothing to clamp to.   I was eventually able to get a clamp from the rail down to the bar in the keel vise.  It was unstable but held long enough for the glue to set.  See photo (I used 3 clamps per side)

[Swinging the lead]

Looking good. I would say the hardest part is done. Plain sailing from now on! Some of the brass etch is tiny. 

[Papa]

5 hours ago, Swinging the lead said:

brass etch is tiny. 

A bit of an understatement!  And very difficult to snip off of the sheet. 

[Papa]

Adding those tiny brass etchings.   😬🤬

[Swinging the lead]

Rudder not yet finished. Took most of a Sunday afternoon. All metal work will be painted Matt black. Yours is coming along excellently.