Maine Peapod by JaquesCousteau - 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.