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

[SiriusVoyager]

I painted the hull gray, dark blue, dark gray on the top of the cabin and golden brown on the cabin hatches and inside the cockpit.  I wasn't very happy with how it looked initially.  After some discussion at home it was decided that it was too matte so I decided to add a coating of shellac and I think it looks okay now.  I forgot to take a photo prior to the shellac. I think I would have preferred white rather than gray now that it is done, but for now I am content with it's appearance.  It was also mentioned that looks like a Detroit Lions boat and now I can't unsee it.  I will definitely be investing in some higher quality masking tape for my next model.

 

[SiriusVoyager]

The rudder, tiller and traveler are installed.  The tiller and the rudder were easier to install than I had anticipated, and they actually work!  I couldn't get the brass rod for the traveler to bend at exactly the right spots so it isn't quite 90 degree bends, but I think it is fine.  The camera angle makes the traveler look cockeyed but it is straight.  The fairleads and the bobstay eyelets were easy enough to install.

 

 

The trail boards and the bowsprit are also done.  I decided that I didn't want to use the supplied design for the trail boards, so I just tried to match the dark gray of the cabin roof.  I had to read the instructions for the bowsprit multiple times, but once I understood what it was doing it made sense.  The photo below has the backstay chainplates installed, but I will talk about those in the next post.

 

 

 

 

Edited January 16 by SiriusVoyager

[SiriusVoyager]

Unlike in the Pram, we have to make backstay chainplates out of a strip of brass.  As I read this, I assumed chaos would ensue.  It actually wasn't too bad.  Fortunately I do have a torch to anneal the brass.  I used my little finger drill to make the holes.  It wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be, it just took a bit of time and elbow grease. Maybe too much elbow grease since I broke the bit.

 

 

The most difficult part was centering the bit over the brass strip.  I drilled the larger hole at the top of the strip first.  There is a little drawing of the plates in the instructions so I simply measured the distance between the holes to find the distance for the next drill spot.  I then drilled that hole, then used snips to cut the plate off of the strip.  Repeat for the second.  A little filing, sanding and polishing and they turned out ok.

 

 

 

When I went to install the plates I realized that there was a bit too much brass below the nail hole, so I had to trim them down a bit.  I don't like the nails that are supplied with the kit  (left) so I swapped them out with some brass sewing pins (right).

 

 

Installed.  The instructions say to bend the plate 20 degrees now, but I will do it when I install the mast.  I like how the sewing pins are more flush than the nail would have been.

 

Edited January 16 by SiriusVoyager

[SiriusVoyager]

The mast, boom, gaff and blocks are done.  I coated the blocks and the mast hoops in a thin layer of shellac in the hopes that it will prevent the copper wire from corroding.  They were all pretty straightforward to make, except for the gaff, which I ended up breaking twice, once at each predrilled hole.  I only have photos of the first break.  I also learned at this time that superglue does expire.  It was quite frustrating trying to glue the pieces back together and having it not stick at all.  Fortunately I had other superglue available.  To get a stronger bond I sanded two sides flat near the break and glued on a couple of small pieces of scrap wood.  I then filled in the little gaps with wood filler.  After some sanding and painting, it turned out ok.  I am glad I didn't have to carve out another gaff.

 

 

 

 

[druxey]

Well, that was a good save!

[SiriusVoyager]

Thanks! I was worried there for a bit.

[SiriusVoyager]

Making the main sail was fairly straightforward.  The trickiest part was the reef points.   On one side of the sail I made the reef points as the instructions stated.  I didn't like the method.  I soaked and stretched the line, but still had a hard time getting the line to be straight.  It was also kind of annoying cutting a bunch of one inch pieces of line, then trimming them down to 3/4 of an inch once attached.  For the other side of the sail, I soaked the line in diluted white glue, then clamped it down while pulled taught to dry.  The line stayed straight and was easily cut to the final length of 3/4 of an inch and were much easier to attach to the sail.

 

 

The mast hoops took a bit of time and patience to attach but was otherwise straight forward.  I did have to attach a couple of the rings twice because the small gap allowed to line to pass through. I would recommend welding or gluing the edges together to simplify the process. 

 

 

It was time to attach the sail to the gaff and the boom.  And the gaff broke again...

 

 

I fixed the gaff again and finished getting the main sail attached.  I wasn’t sure how much line to use so I estimated 3x the length of the head, which was just barely enough.  For the foot I used 4x the length of line and it was much easier to work with. I found it a bit annoying that beads can be added for realism, but aren't included with the kit.  It doesn't mention a size and the beads I bought were a little too big.

 

Edited January 26 by SiriusVoyager

[GGibson]

Very nice looking, Eric!  As I recall, I was able to find the right size parrel beads in either WalMart or Michaels. They come in a small plastic cylinder that (if you do comparable scale ships in the future) will last you forever! <shrug> 🤣👍 Carry on!  Almost finished!

[SiriusVoyager]

16 minutes ago, GGibson said:

Very nice looking, Eric!  As I recall, I was able to find the right size parrel beads in either WalMart or Michaels. They come in a small plastic cylinder that (if you do comparable scale ships in the future) will last you forever! <shrug> 🤣👍 Carry on!  Almost finished!

Thank!  I’m definitely learning a lot on this build and maybe more importantly, learned what I need to research for the next build. Hopefully that one will be vastly improved.  I do now have about 178,946 black beads that may never be used for anything else now haha!  

Edited January 26 by SiriusVoyager

[MajorChaos]

I did a 50% water 50% white Elmer’s glue mix, soaked it and then hung it off the edge of the table with a small bit of weight. This made nice straight ropes, I did try to draw them flat on a table but it didn’t do as good as hanging it off the side with a small clamp of weight.
 

Someplace I read the Elmer’s glue is an animal product and will get ruined as it ages. I have bees wax to try for the next rope festivities. 
 

Your sail looks great! 
 

 

Edited January 26 by MajorChaos

[SiriusVoyager]

7 hours ago, MajorChaos said:

I did a 50% water 50% white Elmer’s glue mix, soaked it and then hung it off the edge of the table with a small bit of weight. This made nice straight ropes, I did try to draw them flat on a table but it didn’t do as good as hanging it off the side with a small clamp of weight.
 

Someplace I read the Elmer’s glue is an animal product and will get ruined as it ages. I have bees wax to try for the next rope festivities. 
 

Your sail looks great! 
 

 

Thanks!  Hanging the lines off the edge of a table with weights is a pretty good idea.  I will keep that in mind for next time.

[cdrusn89]

On 12/4/2023 at 9:08 PM, SiriusVoyager said:

I started working on fairing the frames.  I realized I had another problem.  Some of the frames don't go all the way to the edge of the deck.  I am not exactly sure what happened here.  It isn't an issue of them being short on one side and protruding on the other side.  I think my best bet will be to add shims and wedges when I do the planking. 

I had exactly the opposite problem - I had bulkheads that stuck out beyond the deck edge. And like you it was not that the ones on the other side were too far in. I had three on one side and one on the other. Go figure.

 

It took a good bit of sanding to reduce the bulkheads to be level with the deck edge.

 

I have just started planking - garboard strake, so I may yet " pay the price" what whatever I did wrong.

[SiriusVoyager]

3 hours ago, cdrusn89 said:

I had exactly the opposite problem - I had bulkheads that stuck out beyond the deck edge. And like you it was not that the ones on the other side were too far in. I had three on one side and one on the other. Go figure.

 

It took a good bit of sanding to reduce the bulkheads to be level with the deck edge.

 

I have just started planking - garboard strake, so I may yet " pay the price" what whatever I did wrong.

I am pretty sure my problem ended up being that the spine wasn’t perfectly straight, and the bulkheads not perfectly square. I think as long as dry fit each strake to the previous one and adjust the fairing accordingly your planking will be good. 

[SiriusVoyager]

The mast is a bit easier to install than on the pram since there is internal structure to hold it upright and in place.  I started making the eyes for the fore stay and the bobstay turnbuckles after the lines were attached.  This wasn't an ideal method as it was difficult to control the tightness of the lines. 

 

 

Success!  Except that I tied the fore stay to the jib halyard eyelet rather than loop it over the stop cleats.  DOH!

 

For the remade fore stay and the back stays I clamped the lines down and made the eyes on my work mat.  Remaking the reef points earlier caused me to run out of .4mm line so I used some navy blue thread for the back stays.  This method of making the eye splices worked much better.  They were easier to make and the tightness could be controlled at the knot rather than by creating tension while creating the eyes.  Be careful not to glue the eye splice to the work mat.

 

Much better.

 

[GGibson]

Hi Eric - Looks really good.  Yes, as I recall, the rigging on the Lobster Smack was a bit easier, especially after having one under your belt. 👍

 

You mentioned initially having difficulty with the tight rigging lines, and see that you have similar clamps to what I have, as well.  My experience, probably like yours, was that the clamps weighed down the line too much.  I had great success in simply using some smaller alligator clips as I tugged on the line taut, and that worked well for me.

 

Looking sharp!  Very close to done! 

[SiriusVoyager]

Thanks @GGibson! 
 

I bought some alligator clips and forgot I had them. They probably would have worked well.  I will have to remember that for next time. 

[SiriusVoyager]

The last step was installing the jib and adding the last few lines and tidying up a few loose lines.  The jib was easy to hoist.  The instructions mention that if the rings are too difficult to attach to the fore stay and the jib that it can be tied on.  I found the rings to be one of the easier aspects of building this model.  Simply open with small pliers or tweezers and they can be pinched closed with finger pressure. 

 

 

After that it was simply finishing the rigging and tidying up the lines which is fairly clear from the instructions.  The only issue I had was that the jib halyard wouldn't fit over the cleat so I tied it down on the samson post.  I did find that I ran out of .7mm line for some reason and didn't have enough for the topping lift.  Fortunately there was plenty of extra line leftover from the pram. 

And there is the finished model, with all of its flaws, frustrations and lessons learned.  I don't think anyone will confuse it for an airplane so I am satisfied.  Thanks to everyone who gave advice and encouragement!

[ccoyle]

Congratulations on completing the set!

[GGibson]

It looks sharp, Eric! Congrats! All three boats look outstanding together. 👍🏆

 

No rest for the weary, which one is next?!? 😁

[SiriusVoyager]

Thank you Chris and Greg!

 

1 hour ago, GGibson said:

…

 

No rest for the weary, which one is next?!? 😁

I am going to take 2-3 weeks off to work on some projects around the house. In the mean time I think I will make some decking to practice some finishing and weathering. The next boat will be the Occre Palamos. I snagged it on clearance for $60 and it seems like a good next step. 

[MajorChaos]

The set looks nice! Great job. 

[SiriusVoyager]

56 minutes ago, MajorChaos said:

The set looks nice! Great job. 

Thank you! 

[JacquesCousteau]

Congratulations, really great job! I'll definitely be revisiting this log once I get around to my own lobster smack.

[Bryan Woods]

All three look Great! Well done Eric.

[SiriusVoyager]

Thanks @Bryan Woods and @JacquesCousteau!

[druxey]

A very nice trio indeed! Well done, Eric.

[robert952]

I'll add my congrats and good job!  (I enjoyed your comment that they won't be confused for airplanes. That's one of my criteria for success - that it at least looks like what I intended to build.)

 

Now that you have completed these three (which make up the Model Shipways series for beginners), and if you don't mind answering. 

(If you prefer not to answer, no problem.  I find it interesting to hear/read what people think.).

 

What advise would you pass along from the experience? 

What's your 'final thoughts' on the series?  (I am trying to talk my Dad into starting the series.  I gave him the dory only so I don't overwhelm him but have all three if he decides to get into this hobby.)

What were the biggest 'take-aways' from the experience of building these three? 

And, what's the next for in your shipyard? (Purely just nosey curiosity.)

 

 

[SiriusVoyager]

Thank you @druxey!

 

Thank you @robert952!  I am more than happy to answer some questions.

 

 

12 hours ago, robert952 said:

....

What advise would you pass along from the experience? 

What's your 'final thoughts' on the series?  (I am trying to talk my Dad into starting the series.  I gave him the dory only so I don't overwhelm him but have all three if he decides to get into this hobby.)

What were the biggest 'take-aways' from the experience of building these three? 

And, what's the next for in your shipyard? (Purely just nosey curiosity.)

 

I think that the best advice I could give would be to take your time and do additional research, particularly on this model set specifically.  There are a small number instances where the instructions and blue prints aren't clear or don't match what the actual kit pieces are.  For a novice, this was frustrating and I am glad I found resources here and elsewhere to turn those few frustrations into a learning experience that I could move past. 

 

Overall I would say I am pretty satisfied with the kit.  I would give it an 8 out of 10.  The instructions were usually pretty clear in explaining new terms and specific techniques for ship modeling, the models were fun to build and the price was very reasonable considering you get three builds out of it.  My main concerns were the fact that there are some inaccuracies in the instructions (particularly for a kit marketed for beginners) and a few quality assurance issues.  I can get into details if someone wants to hear them, but I don't want it to sound overly negative since I do have a mostly positive opinion of the kit. 

 

My biggest takeaways:  Take your time, it is a journey not a destination.  Look at other build logs.  Embrace the frustration, but do step back and return later when you are a better mindset.  Enjoy learning something new.

 

Next up will be the Occre Palamos.  I need to work on my planking and I am not ready to sink a few hundred dollars into a kit I where I may not bet happy with the results.  I managed to snag the Palamos for $70ish on clearance so it should be a good next boat.  I have noticed that there are no finished build logs for that model yet and I do intend on changing that.

Edited January 31 by SiriusVoyager

[robert952]

5 hours ago, SiriusVoyager said:

 

(PARTIAL PASTE FROM ABOVE - no need to duplicate the text IMO)

 

Next up will be the Occre Palamos.  I need to work on my planking and I am not ready to sink a few hundred dollars into a kit I where I may not bet happy with the results.  I managed to snag the Palamos for $70ish on clearance so it should be a good next boat.  I have noticed that there are no finished build logs for that model yet and I do intend on changing that.

Thanks for the detailed answer. I appreciate your candor and think others will, too.  

 

I look forward to your next build. 

[cdrusn89]

Eric,

 

Did you notice that there was a difference in the placement of the eyebolts on the mast between the drawing and where the holes were on the provided mast?

 

I ca't tell for sure but it appears that your mast has holes in the same places as mine (dah) so apparently those are the correct locations but i thought it worth the question.

Edited February 16 by cdrusn89