Captain John Smith’s shallop 1608 by Pitan - Ships of Pavel Nikitin - 1:32

[Pitan]

Having finished a 15c model boat last weekend, I've embarked on a similar, though larger kit, a shallop by Pavel Nikitin.

This kit, or more specifically, Olha Batchvarov's build here is what drew me to this aspect of the hobby.

This will be my second wooden model boat build.
Please do correct any errors in terminology, one build isn't enough to learn the language.

Looking at other builds on this forum, most seem to have stalled with the skeleton. The exception is Ms Batchvarov's (shipphotographer.com) build

{edit 13 Dec 2023} Richard44 has a build that is fully planked, and may be finished soon.{/edit}

 

Edited December 13, 2023 by Pitan

[Pitan]

This build so far:

Started with the main frames.

Frame 3

Also made up was the skeleton jig and keel.

The floor supports were glued to the jig's base, but the outer frame supports were left unglued.
Initially, this was dry fitting.  Later I decided the fit of the frames and, especially, the keel is so tight, that removal later may be easier with the frame left dry.

The current state of the build


Frames dry fitted to the keel, awaiting glue. 


Aside:
The kit contains jigs for the cant frames (2 at the stern, three at the bow).

I found these elegant, but useless in practice.  In common with several other builders, I feel it is much easier to build the end frames in the skeleton jig.

[Chuck Seiler]

Wow!  Looks really good.  You seem to have mastered those pesky cant frames.  The idea of disassembling the jig to remove the completed framed hull is interesting.

[Pitan]

On 11/30/2023 at 6:07 PM, Chuck Seiler said:

The idea of disassembling the jig to remove the completed framed hull is interesting.

It helped, some of those frames were delicate.


Indeed, four frames broke through overzealous handling.  Some of the repairs can be seen above.

The planking jig has been built, though the boat spends little time in it (on it?)

 

Above, attaching the garboard.  A lot of the frame teeth need fettling before planks are added, which can be something of an endurance sport when done by hand.

I've moved on to attaching the top plank and wale (is it a wale on a boat?).  As mentioned in @Richard44's build, these are carvel planks, not clinker as the rest of the boat (thanks for that Richard).

As seen from the bow, without clips

 

That photo tells us that a bit of filling needed there.

As I write, the stern planks are yet to be glued.

 

This will give me a chance to fit the planks to the boat.


Other work:

 

The shallop has a barrel (water? beer?), which has been started.  Seen here with a GB 5p piece.

[Richard44]

Hi Robert,

 

You're doing well, it's looking good. You'll catch me shortly 🙂. 

 

Cheers

[Pitan]

On 12/13/2023 at 9:18 PM, Richard44 said:

You'll catch me shortly 🙂.

Unlikely.
I've been quiet over the Christmas period.  Quiet, but not a complete stand still.


I acquired some better clamps, these would have made a huge difference at earlier stages in this build.

The planking is (more or less) complete:




More or less complete, but it is in need of some filler





It is a little early yet, but I'm thinking about the rigging the spirit on this kit.
Somehow, I feel it extends too far in front of the mast.



I think that both the Chesapeake Bay shallop and the Elizabeth Tilley (? Plymouth/Mayflower shallop) have/had similar spirits, but wouldn't it interfere with the foresail/stay sail?
 

[Richard44]

12 hours ago, Pitan said:

Unlikely.
I've been quiet over the Christmas period.  Quiet, but not a complete stand still.

Hi Robert,

 

You’re making good progress, but no, you won't catch me now 😁, I've finished, see post 🙂.

 

As for the rigging of the yard, I've gone with the details on the plan sheets. I have no idea how the sails would be worked when the boat is tacked, maybe there's someone here who could tell us.

 

Your illustration - have you colourised it? My plans are black and white.

 

Cheers

[Pitan]

Thanks @Richard44, saw you'd finished your build.

You overcame some hurdles there that I'd not expected.

Think I'll have to take my question about the spirit to the Masting, rigging and sails section.

Yes, I did colourise the image.  There are errors in that picture; the main sail by the mast is missing colour. 

[Chuck Seiler]

My recollection is that Olah's maritime archeologist husband Khorum (sp?) mentioned the yard in his review of the kit. 

 

 

[Pitan]

28 minutes ago, Chuck Seiler said:

My recollection is that Olah's maritime archeologist husband Khorum (sp?) mentioned the yard in his review of the kit.

Thank-you, yes.  He questions "What happens? How do you tack the [fore]sail over the sprit?"

[Richard44]

9 hours ago, Pitan said:

Yes, I did colourise the image

Well done!

[Richard44]

6 hours ago, Chuck Seiler said:

My recollection is that Olah's maritime archeologist husband Khorum (sp?) mentioned the yard in his review of the kit.

Hi Chuck, 

 

Interesting video and yes, he does mention the yard. But says that he will leave it up to us to figure out how to work the sails!

 

Cheers

[Pitan]

Following discussion in the Masting, rigging and sails section, we have an outline plan for the sprit sail on this build.

 

 

This, kind of, follows Dutch practice later in the 17c, as depicted by various artists, notably Willem van de Velde (1633–1707).
You can see his work on the National Gallery site, (e.g. Small Dutch Vessels in a Breeze https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/studio-of-willem-van-de-velde-small-dutch-vessels-in-a-breeze, but scroll down to see other images).
The green and green-blue lines have a lot of additional length.  Either or both could be let out when working on the sprit.

Thank you to @allanyed and @wefalck for their guidance; any errors here are my own.

Talking of errors:
The wooden retaining loop in the middle of the yard should go ... it is one of a pair that are included in the kit, but not shown in (near) contemporary paintings.
{edit}The kit's mast slot is for the line to the main sail throat, not for the sprit.{/edit}
Corrected image uploaded

 

Edited January 6 by Pitan

[Pitan]

I've been quiet here, but not unproductive.

The main mast has been rounded off.

 

Since that photo was taken, a sheave (? pulley) has been inserted into the slot.
The tip of the mast kept breaking.  There are some holes up there that weakened the wood, but have no obvious purpose.  These have been replaced by a small button.

The rigging thread has been replaced.  The line supplied in the kit is a polymer that unravels at the slightest provocation - this was from twisting the cord tighter, and releasing:


I believe @Richard44 had a similar issue with his build.

The supplied thread has been replaced with Mantua thread (the UK importers are my local model shop).

The standing rigging, made from hemp thread painted brown with acrylic paint thinned with IPA.

The fore stay on the left was spliced, while the two side stays were, more conventionally, seized.

The hull has been painted and, thwarts were added, along with sheaves (? pulleys) for the lee boards.

 

Other detail work included the anchor and some of the boat's equipment.

 

The blocks now have straps (?) and are ready for the mast.

[Chuck Seiler]

It is coming along nicely.  I am about at that stage mow and am studying the plans before I start rigging in earnest.  There is at least 1 block assembly that needs to be placed on the mast before the shrouds and forestay are rigged.  I don't recall if the rigging plan mentions that.

 

Will you be mounting the sails?  I don't plan on sails, myself, and I am trying to figure out how to handle the lines that would normally be attached to the sails...like the one running thru the slot on the mast.

[Pitan]

2 hours ago, Chuck Seiler said:

There is at least 1 block assembly that needs to be placed on the mast before the shrouds and forestay are rigged.

If you follow the plans, yes.  I will use the scheme in post #13 (6 Jan).

Will I be mounting sails?
A mainsail, maybe.  I have some teabag paper for the purpose (can't get SilkSpan over here).
No foresail though. They rarely appear in the Willem van de Velde paintings, there'd be more space for peering round the boat, and it'd add a talking point.

Trouble is, I'd need to 'recruit' a crew in an uncommon scale (1/32).

[Pitan]

More progress to report, the anchor and

 

... lee boards have been added to the shallop.


These are supposed to be attached by a short chain, built up from supplied PE.  Each link is about 1 ¹/₂ mm long, with no spares for modeller error.
Well, inevitably, the first link I cut disappeared into the ether, never to be seen again.

I decided to use ready-made chain instead (18 links per inch).
This did involve a bit of fettling, but works in 'prototype' fashion:

Starboard view, lee board retracted:

 

 

Port view, lee board deployed:


The concern here is the slack rope, where that board is supposed to be heavy.
Has anybody any suggestions for showing that with suitable tension? (Or slack under gravity.)

[Richard44]

Your boat's looking very good.

 

I've pulled ropes until the slack is taken out then applied PVA to the rope to stiffen it. This usually works. CA will certainly stiffen the rope, but also hardens it and I've had thin lines break because of that. 

 

Cheers

[Richard44]

1 hour ago, Pitan said:

Well, inevitably, the first link I cut disappeared into the ether, never to be seen again.

Welcome to the club! 🙂🙂

[Pitan]

Thanks Richard, I'll try the PVA.

 

1 hour ago, Richard44 said:

Welcome to the club! 🙂🙂

Yeah, seeing the pinging PE in your build was my prompt to have some ready-made chain on hand.

[Pitan]

A new sprit has been made, and I've started thinking about a crew.
 

The sprit (yard) has taken a bit of time and a new piece of kit - a mini bench-top disk sander & belt (this one).
From a task that was failing after a week of effort, the sprit was made in a couple of days - including setting up and learning the new equipment.

 

If, as I plan, I'll put a sail on this boat, it will need a crew.
It took me a while, but I remembered that I have some Historex figures in my spares box.
Historex figures are 54mm soldiers, mostly French Napoleonic.

These fellows volunteered for the job:

I feel that there is a better sense of scale with these two on board.
 

The guy at the back (tiller) started like this:

 

And now looks like this

 

A little more animated, if 'armless.

The man standing up will take a bit more thought - maybe something like this would work?


For clothing and 'fashion' inspiration, I'll use David Teniers the elder's paintings.

Another Dutch artist, Teniers was about 25 at the time of John Smith's expedition.

[Pitan]

Sixteen days later ...

Before I finalise the poses of the crew, I'll need some idea where the boat's lines and tiller will go.
This means rigging the vessel.

First I made some sails.  Lots of sails.

Some that wouldn't be used ...

The sails could be wetted and folded, as seen in the bow here.

And a couple that are now on the shallop.  Seen here with major rigging lines.


Each sail is two layers of teabag paper, 'glued' with airbrush acrylic paint (so very fluid paint).
The paper has a rough side, and a smooth, almost polished side.  In this case, I went rough side out; in smaller scales, I'd consider smooth side out.

(I know I said there wouldn't be a foresail, but, maybe.)


Standing rigging and sails are attached, together with some running lines.

[Pitan]

All, bar one, of the rigging lines are now in place, and the foresail has been lowered.

I wanted the foresail lowered, so I gave it a brief soaking under the bathroom tap.
This made the paper flexible and workable, but loosened the glue (generic white PVA) I'd used for the sail's seams and ropes.

The one thread that wasn't affected was the string wound around the forestay.  This made life difficult by not wanting to adapt to the folds I was adding to the sail.
That was replaced with wire rings (bronze in this case, brass or copper would work as well), followed by another trip to the bathroom.

This time I attached the edge ropes after folding the sail into place; a slow process.

 

Most of the rigging lines are in place, the loose ends need tidying:

 

[Richard44]

That’s looking very nice indeed.

[Pitan]

Thanks @Richard44

[Pitan]

A couple of updates for the shallop.

The rigging lines have been tidied up; the different number of loops reflect how much of the line is in use.


Off-topic, I gather that belaying pins are unlikely at this stage (early 1600's); it is far too late to do anything about that now.

And I've made progress with posing the crew; the guy at the back (stern) controls the tiller:

 

He has developed a paunch, and wants for some period clothing.

[Pitan]

A bit of catch-up.
I've done some more work on the figures - they now have clothes and hats made from Milliput.

 

They have been painted, and can take their place on the boat:

 

 

 

[Mirabell61]

Hi Robert,

very well done boat. Those self-configurated figures are great looking.

 

Nils