Maine Peapod by JaquesCousteau - FINISHED - Midwest Products - 1:14

[JacquesCousteau]

Thank you all for your kind comments!

 

The kit calls for painting the hull exterior with an accent stripe under the walnut rub rail, with a buff interior. From what I can tell, white hulls were quite common on small fishing boats. White paint was cheap and readily available. That said, I have to admit that I'm not a huge fan of how it looks on a hull, as it's very bland. (This is one of the reasons I have no plans to make a Chesapeake skipjack or bugeye anytime soon--the traditional white hull with white deck with white hatches etc is very monotonous!) Moreover, white paint seems to highlight everything imperfection in the hull in a way that darker colors don't quite seem to. Finally, it also doesn't cover dark colors very well, and unfortunately, my wood filler is very dark.

 

So, although it may not be the most traditional, I've decided to paint this model with a dark green hull, set off by a white accent stripe under the rub rail. I've begun with the accent stripe, as it's the lightest color, painting an oversized patch of hull--the green should cover up the white pretty easily.

 

I gave it several coats and then sanded to somewhat smooth out the stripe, as can be seen below. I'm applying fairly thin acrylic coats, which thankfully dry pretty quickly.

 

My paints are about a year old by now and seem to be drying a bit in their bottles. This isn't a problem price-wise, as they were very cheap, but the paint is getting a little chunky and has some hard flakes that have marred the surface, needing to be picked off with an exacto knife.

 

And here we see it after several more coats, not quite ready. Many of the darker spots are shadows from slightly uneven planking.

 

After letting it sit overnight, I decided that the white stripe would be a bit too stark alongside the green. For the final coats, I mixed a tiny bit of brown in to get more of a cream color, which I think will work much better. After several coats, the stripe is now ready, and the next step on the exterior will be to tape over the stripe and paint the rest green.

 

I also started on the interior, mixing a bit more brown into the leftover cream paint to get more of a buff color. I needed more paint than I thought, and had to mix a bit more to cover at least under the riser. The color didn't quite match, but that's ok for the base layer. I'm going to need a lot more coats for the interior.

 

I'm still deciding whether to go for a buff interior, or whether I want it gray, which could also look sharp alongside the green.

[ccoyle]

Many traditional boat designs are still used today as pleasure craft, which means you can pretty much justifiably paint them any color you want.

[JacquesCousteau]

On 6/29/2024 at 4:16 PM, ccoyle said:

Many traditional boat designs are still used today as pleasure craft, which means you can pretty much justifiably paint them any color you want.

Excellent point!

 

I've made a bit more progress on the interior. First, a second coat of paint really helped to even things out. I think one or two more costs of paint will be enough.

 

However, before I get to that, I realized that I need to add the inwales. They've been cut to size and are drying into shape. I'm actually not clamping them now (although I will when I glue them), because the pressure from the breasthooks is enough to hold them in shape. After they're glued into place, I'll need to sand the ends of the breasthooks flush with them.

 

I also decided to color the seats and thwarts with stain. They aren't glued into place yet. They required a bit of shaping to fit properly--better that they're provided oversized and can be trimmed down than be provided in a size too small. Adding the thwarts really gives a sense of this model's large scale. Earlier, with the numerous frames and the use of thin strips for planking, the hull almost felt like it could be a smaller-scale model of a much larger vessel (by which I mean something around 30 feet in length), but that's not the case with the thwarts in place.

 

I also checked the fit of the knees, which I will also need to color. I'm debating whether to paint or stain them.

 

Once the interior is finished, I'll be able to fully paint the exterior. The end is in sight for this build, but I'm not there yet.

Edited July 2 by JacquesCousteau
Typo

[Paul Le Wol]

Jacques, the Peapod is looking great. And very nice colors too.

[JacquesCousteau]

On 7/3/2024 at 6:38 AM, Paul Le Wol said:

Jacques, the Peapod is looking great. And very nice colors too.

Thanks!

 

I shaped the edges of the breasthooks to run smoothly into the inwales, and then fully painted the interior. My first attempt wasa shade too light, but I was able to add a bit more brown to the mix and matched the previous coat pretty well.

 

I also decided to paint the knees. Once they dried, I glued all the thwarts etc into place. The interior is now nearly finished, except for oarlocks/oars/lobster trap/etc.

 

Next, to paint the exterior. A bit of the interior color had gotten onto the exterior white stripe, so I gave that a new coat. Then, I used tamiya masking tape to set off the stripe, and painted the rest of the hull a dark green.

 

As can be seen, despite the filling and sanding the hull is still not very smooth. However, that will mostly be out of sight on the bottom, so I'm not too worried.

 

After allowing it to dry and removing the tape, I can see I'll have a little touch-up to do at the stem. But otherwise, the hull is nearly complete. Next I'll add a walnut trim strip as a wale around the edge.

 

[woodartist]

Looks really good! Well done.

[JacquesCousteau]

On 7/5/2024 at 5:50 PM, woodartist said:

Looks really good! Well done.

Thanks!

 

The walnut rub rail has now been attached. While the instructions say to just use super glue to hold the strip to the necessary curve, as with the rest of this build I soaked the walnut strips in hot water, clamped them to dry to shape, and used white glue to attach them. First, though, I scraped and carefully sanded some of the paint away from the area to be glued. Then, as the walnut strip was a bit splintery, I lightly sanded the exterior side of each strip and slightly rounded the exterior edges.

 

After soaking and allowing the strips to dry to shape, I glued them in place. I found it easiest to glue half a strip at a time, clamping as I went, as shown below. I should note that, as I couldn't clamp right at the tip, I just held the strip in place by hand for 15 minutes or so until it was sturdy enough to stay in place.

 

Beveling the tips to fit against the stems was a bit more complicated than the instructions suggested, as the stem didn't always form such a perfect angle with the hull planking. In a couple joints, I was able to bevel it more or less as given in the instructions:

 

At other joints, though, I had to trial-and-error a fit as there wasn't really a defined angle. I allowed the strip to run a little long to allow final shaping afterward.

 

Once both strips were on, I did the final shaping. I taped off the stems to protect them while sanding.

 

I then trimmed and sanded the rub rails to make them smoothly run into the stems. I then used green paint to touch up where needed (and to touch up a couple spots on the border of the white strip).

 

With that, the hull is complete except for the oarlocks.

 

As can be seen, the rub rails run smoothly into the stems.

 

Next, I think it's time to make a stand.

[Jay 1]

Nice work on fitting the rub rails—she looks great!

 

Cheers,

Jay

[Rick310]

Well done!!

Rick

[JacquesCousteau]

Thanks, all! 

 

I next made the oarlocks. While the instructions/inventory say the kit is supposed to include a piece of wood specifically for these parts, I couldn't find it, and instead used the leftover strip from the rub rail, which was the same size. I should note that, while I've been writing that these parts are walnut, the instructions actually say that they're mahogany! I'm not sure how I got it in my head that they're walnut. They look much grayer than the mahogany that I've seen and used in the past (like on the Juana y José), though, with a very different grain pattern, and also seem less reddish compared with photos of other build logs. So I'm not sure if they're actually mahogany or something else, or if the company changed the material.

 

In any case, the oarlock blocks were not difficult to shape.

 

I then attached them and drilled out the holes for the oarlocks themselves, which are cast in a silvery metal. I'm not sure whether to try painting them or blackening them, or if I should just leave them as-is--I don't think the silvery color looks bad.

 

Next, I made a simple stand. I still have to decide whether to stain it, paint it, or leave it as-is.

 

 

 

At this stage, the main things left to build are the accoutrements--oars, lobster trap, and other fishing gear. I have to say that this is quite an enjoyable kit.

[JacquesCousteau]

It's been a long time since my last post, but this build hasn't been forgotten. It just got placed on the backburner with the move. I'm looking to start up some new projects soon, but I don't want to have a lot of unfinished builds hanging around, so I'm looking to finish this one. After some thought, I decided against kitbashing this model, except to modify the lobster trap design a bit. Partly because I wasn't able to find all that many photos of old fishing peapods to use as sources, partly because I think an out-of-the-box build looks quite nice, and partly because I'd like to finish soon.

 

First up, the oars. These were pretty straightforward to make. I used my mini-plane to help with the taper. In hindsight, I wish that I had tapered the handles (which are made from 1/8‐inch dowels) a bit more, but it turned out all right. I painted them white to match the stripe on the side, but found it looked very stark until I added a dash of red on the blade and some leather wraps around the handles, which I made out of leftover coffee filter paper from my Canoa de Rancho sail experiment and painted brown. I spaced the oar wraps to correspond to where the oarlocks would be, but I think they look a little close to the handle when not in the oarlocks. 

 

 

 

They'll be displayed in the model like so:

 

All that's left, then, is the lobster trap!

[ccoyle]

4 minutes ago, JacquesCousteau said:

partly because I'd like to finish soon

 

Yeah, this happens with a lot of my projects, too!

[JacquesCousteau]

32 minutes ago, ccoyle said:

 

Yeah, this happens with a lot of my projects, too!

Yep. Sometimes it's nice to have a build going for a long time and to do all you can with it... and sometimes it's nice to say "you know what? This one's done." 

[JacquesCousteau]

I've decided to slightly change up the design of the lobster trap. Unlike the ones I made for the dory or as a Christmas ornament (which is discussed somewhere in the Canoa de Rancho log), this one will be open on the side instead of the front, and have a few other differences as well. I am not following the plans in the kit, which seem a bit inaccurate. I started with the base:

 

I then added the loops. So far, so good.

 

I decided to color the trap with a very light black wash. I decided against really weathering this build, so I don't want the trap as heavily weathered as the others I've made, but completely bare wood didn't look right. Unfortunately, applying the wash made the loops fall off, as they were not very securely glued, and some broke when I tried to bend them back into shape. I should have seen this coming, as I had a similar problem with the dory's trap.

 

In any case, I made new loops, this time applying the wash and letting it dry before I curved it around a varnish bottle with hot water:

 

I also began pre-washing the slats:

 

I'm planning on having the top of the trap open, because the kit includes a delightful tiny cast metal lobster (which I forgot to photograph until I was in the middle of painting) that I want to place inside.

 

As can be seen, some details are a bit lacking--some of the legs are just a lump, and that's after I attacked it with files to try to add definintion. Unfortunately my figure painting skills are woefully lacking, and the mottled coloration of real lobsters was hard for me to capture. After a lot of effort with mixing paints, my results are... not great, I guess it doesn't NOT look like a lobster.

 

It looks better from farther away, and after getting a slightly glossy sealer coat.

 

Finally, the kit also includes a cast metal buoy with excessive faux wood grain.

 

I'm not sure why it doesn't have you just make a wooden buoy, but the casting doesn't seem heavy enough to serve as a useful weight, so I think I'll use it anyway. There's a hole running through the center of the casting, and I'm supposed to shove a 1/8‐inch square stick of basswood through there. The hole is round, so the basswood will only fit if the edges get cut down, which I don't think would look right. I'll fiddle around with this and decide on what to do.

Edited October 18 by JacquesCousteau
Typo

[Thukydides]

I love the miniature lobster trap.

 

On the lobster itself have you ever tried drybrushing. That is a really easy way to pick out detail and generate contrast. Then you could coat it with a few washes of various shades of black and brown to darken the recesses.

[Desertanimal]

For the buoy, can you use two separate pieces of basswood? One in each end that’s square but rounded enough to glue in the hole. 
Chris

[JacquesCousteau]

4 minutes ago, Thukydides said:

I love the miniature lobster trap.

 

On the lobster itself have you ever tried drybrushing. That is a really easy way to pick out detail and generate contrast. Then you could coat it with a few washes of various shades of black and brown to darken the recesses.

Thanks! I haven't ever done drybrushing, but I think that would be the way to go about it. I've certainly enjoyed seeing how you approached painting on the Alert.

[JacquesCousteau]

Just now, Desertanimal said:

For the buoy, can you use two separate pieces of basswood? One in each end that’s square but rounded enough to glue in the hole. 
Chris

That would certainly be a good way to do it, but I also saw that most lobster trap buoys seem to only have a "tail" coming out of the thicker end, without a protruding part at the front (narrower end) that the kit proposes. So I may just fully fill in the front end.

[Desertanimal]

Oh yeah, I see that looking at them on the web. Just the line goes through the bottom. I saw a couple with sticks with holes for the line but very few. 😉

Carry on…👍

[robert952]

A couple of items on the buoys.  Lobster buoys have unique color schemes created by the owners to differntiate their buoys and traps. Today, the traps have to be marked with permit number of the owner.

 

I found this article on lobster buoys an interesting read from "Lobsters Anywhere" website.  Several references listed at the end of the article. 

 

The 1981 patent (in above article) indicates metal rods for the center. But wood (spruce and cedar) had been used until the use of plastic and stryofoam. (At least per my notes.  I'll have to verify sources.) I am sure wooden buoys were used for a long time before those other materials came along.   

 

I saw the 'square peg - round hole' problem when I started my build. An interesting obervation: there's obviously an evolution of the kit. My buoy is not cast but preshaped basswood. (This pic also shows the 'shiny' lobster - from my build log.) 

 

 

 

[JacquesCousteau]

@robert952, thank you very much for sharing! That's very interesting information about the buoys. Clearly there's more variety to buoy construction than I was aware of. I have some reading to do before proceeding. Also, although I've read over your log a few times, I hadn't picked up on the buoy being wood in earlier versions of the kit. I have to say that the metal version seems like a bit of a step down to me, although maybe it will look better with paint.

[JacquesCousteau]

A bit more progress on the lobster trap. Based on my earlier experiences, I've been trying some new techniques. This is especially the case with the net funnels, which have always been a serious challenge because the tulle is tricky to work with--hard to glue because it's mostly gaps, and hard to sew because it's very light.

 

On my earlier lobster traps, I made the ring by gluing a loop of thread, and I attached it to the net funnel just with superglue. This time, I wanted to give more structure to the net, so I experimented with making the ring out of wire and threading it through the tulle. This actually worked fairly well, and I think is the way to go for this process. As for completing the net funnel, I knew that sewing it could be a challenge because the tulle tends to just follow the thread. To give it more structure, this time I tied the fore end of the funnel, finding that it helped hold things in shape. After that, I sewed the funnel together.

 

Trimming the loose overlapping ends finished off the funnel itself:

 

Next, I had to attach the funnel to the trap frame. Although a brown or tan thread would be more accurate, I personally like the look with black thread, especially as this is already a bit of a stylized model. Unlike in the past, where I just sewed it directly in place and had a very hard time keeping the funnel aligned, this time I tied the funnel to the frame in three places (corner and top) so it would stay in place. I highly recommend doing this if you're making your own model lobster trap.

 

I was then able to sew the net in place.

 

As can be seen, I left most of the slats off for sewing the internal funnel, so that I would have more room to manuever. I just had to make sure the thread was properly spaced to fit between the slats. I've now begun adding the rest of the slats (leaving space for the opening on top), as the front-end funnel will be easier to sew in place with the slats on.

[SiriusVoyager]

The lobster trap looks great!

[JacquesCousteau]

Thanks, all. This build is finished!

 

(For some reason it gave me trouble when I tried to upload all the pictures, so I'm splitting this post in two.)

 

First up, I finished the lobster trap. The open door was a fun addition. I used the leftover broken hoops to make the curved frame parts.

 

I then glued the door in the open position. I also added some extra framing parts for the hinges, and three small pivoting "buttons" used to secure the door. Finally, I made the front net funnel using the same method as the previous one.

 

 

As for the buoy, I followed @Desertanimal's suggestion and rounded off part of the wood to fit in the round hole. I decided to simply fill in the front, and drill two joles later for the rope loop.

 

The buoy looks better painted, although the molded-on grain is still a bit excessive (and made it a little tricky to tape off and paint the red stripe). In any case, the buoy will be partly hidden under a thwart, so it's not a problem.

 

I then glued the lobster in place. While it struck me as pretty cheesy when I first got the kit, I have to admit that I warmed up to it.

 

Finally, I attached the ropes to connect the trap to the buoy, using the kit-provided thread.

[JacquesCousteau]

And here's the completed build:

 

 

 

 

 

Although it took a while to build this when measured from start date to end date, that's mostly because I was quite busy with work/other builds/an international move while making it. Overall, I thought this was an excellent kit. It was a lot of fun to put together, and I think it turned out pretty well. The instructions are generally very good, although they could be clearer on the planking. I found the strip planking system to be pretty easy to do, but it was a challenge smoothing out the interior of the hull. The wood was generally good, while the castings were decent (although I still think a wooden buoy would have worked out better). I do think the suggested lobster trap is very oversimplified and oddly-proportioned, but it's not all that hard to scratch-build something better with the parts. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this kit.

 

 

 

[ccoyle]

Handsomely done!

[Paul Le Wol]

Jacques, congratulations on finishing the Peapod. The lobster trap is amazing!

[Glen McGuire]

Fantastic job!  I love the poor lobster in the trap!!

[JacquesCousteau]

Thanks, all! The lobster trap was a lot of fun, making it open was a nice change of pace from the others I've done. Poor lobster indeed, Glen! And poor fishermen, rowing all that way for one measly lobster. Hope he's got some other traps set.

[Knocklouder]

Nicely done!!!     

Bob  M.