Speeljacht by ccoyle - FINISHED - Seahorse - 1/50 - CARD - 17th-Century Dutch Pleasure Boat

[0Seahorse]

1 hour ago, ccoyle said:

 

I give the parts sheets a once-over with matte acrylic spray. It stiffens the paper slightly and gives a measure of protection against small spills.

A more advanced method is to protect the sheets with a glossy acrylic varnish and then lightly spray the finished model with a matte finish.
An additional advantage of gloss varnish is the easy removal of fresh traces of paint used to retouch edges. I use acrylic paints and if I accidentally smear something, I can safely remove the fresh paint with mu finger, the paint will not penetrate the paper. With matte varnish, the paint will not penetrate the paper, but it is more difficult to remove it from a rough, matte surface.
Applying a bit of matte varnish on the finished model, in addition to eliminating the gloss of the previous varnish, unifies the "structure" of the surface of various materials (shiny traces of cyanoacrylate glue, shiny metal (wire), painted parts, etc.)

 

Tomek

[Marcel1981]

2 hours ago, 0Seahorse said:

A more advanced method is to protect the sheets with a glossy acrylic varnish and then lightly spray the finished model with a matte finish.
An additional advantage of gloss varnish is the easy removal of fresh traces of paint used to retouch edges. I use acrylic paints and if I accidentally smear something, I can safely remove the fresh paint with mu finger, the paint will not penetrate the paper. With matte varnish, the paint will not penetrate the paper, but it is more difficult to remove it from a rough, matte surface.
Applying a bit of matte varnish on the finished model, in addition to eliminating the gloss of the previous varnish, unifies the "structure" of the surface of various materials (shiny traces of cyanoacrylate glue, shiny metal (wire), painted parts, etc.)

 

Tomek

Hi Tomek, great tip! Can you tell which brand of gloss varnish you use? Is it rattle-can or airbrush paint?

[0Seahorse]

20 hours ago, Marcel1981 said:

Hi Tomek, great tip! Can you tell which brand of gloss varnish you use? Is it rattle-can or airbrush paint?

For an average effect, rattle-cans are enough. These are the ones I use and I'm satisfied. Previously, all ambitious cardboard modellers in Poland used a varnish called "Kapon" (nitrocellulose primer for wood, contains xylene (a mixture of isomers) and ethyl acetate), but this was withdrawn for ecological reasons. It was applied with a brush or roller 1-3 times, which turned the paper almost into thin plastic. After building the model, of course, one layer of matte varnish was applied.
I don't use an air brush, but apparently it works great, especially with professional modeling chemicals like Tamiya. This method is more precise than with rattle-can.

[ccoyle]

I'm working on the first layer of hull plating.

 

This is why I normally build waterline models. 😂

 

 

The bulkheads are very thin, so there is very little room for error creep. Ask me how I know this. I'm not entirely happy with my work, but I'm not sure that I could have done any better. The grey, splotchy area is where I soaked in some thin CA as a test to see if that adds any significant strength to the structure -- it's actually fairly stiff without it. We'll see how it goes when I start sanding.

 

No amount of fiddling could get the aft-most sheath to lay on its forward bulkhead, some some surgery was needed. I simply cut out a short length of scrap pulp board to widen the bulkhead a bit. 

 

 

This did the trick. The sheath is on now, though I don't have a pic of it in place. Moving along now to the forward sheathing.

[ccoyle]

So, here's the finished first layer of plating. I decided to stiffen the whole thing with thin CA. Then I gave the whole thing a light sanding to take down some of the bumpier parts.

 

 

Then on to some stern elements.

 

[ccoyle]

Next we come to the inner bulwarks and their associated frame extensions. Lessee now, there's 48 frame extensions, times 5 parts per extension, that makes 240 parts for the frame extensions alone. 😬😳😢

 

This might take awhile.

 

[Marcel1981]

9 hours ago, ccoyle said:

Next we come to the inner bulwarks and their associated frame extensions. Lessee now, there's 48 frame extensions, times 5 parts per extension, that makes 240 parts for the frame extensions alone. 😬😳😢

 

This might take awhile.

 

Fortunately, I'm already well past that fase! Small warning, just wait until you get to the decorations . It's a lot of work, but the end result is very worth it!

[ccoyle]

I have now completed 58% of the frame extensions. I can only do about eight of these in one session before my brain dies and I no longer remember who I am, where I am, or why I am. 😯😬😵‍💫😵

 

[Baker]

Your name is Chris Coyle and you do a great job on this model.
This is information about who you are and what your hobbies are.

😇

 

[Marcel1981]

Well, mine is finished! It's doable Chris.

[Michael Mash]

Hello Chris.  Just stumbled across your "Speeljacht" project.  Excellent. 

Now that I know you are building one of these, I'll have to keep checking in on your progress.

Mike

[ccoyle]

Glad to have you along, Michael. I've nearly got the inner bulwarks and frame extensions complete - will post an update when I get those done.

[ccoyle]

Well, I finally got the inner bulwarks completed.

 

 

But now I'm afraid I may have created a bit of a pickle for myself, and I'm hoping that @0Seahorse and @Marcel1981 can advise me on how best to proceed. The problem hinges on the fact that I did not get the outboard edges of the cockpit benches flush and level with the tops of the bulkheads in that area, nor did I get the hull skins flush with the bulkhead tops, either. Thus, that outboard edge is neither straight nor at the correct height all along its edge, creating a gap, as you can see in this test fit of the inner bulkhead:

This is something for future builders to be aware of. In hindsight, I should have added some stringers made from scrap pulp board at bench height between the cockpit bulkheads; this would have ensured a proper seam between the outboard bench edge and the bulkheads themselves. In fact, I have even mulled over buying a second kit and starting over just to add this step. 😬

 

There are small notches in the bulwark piece that fit the covering boards on the decks at either end, so I can tell that the bulwark is at the correct height.

 

So one option for fitting the piece is to force the bulwark down until it contacts the cockpit bench edge (not the best option, IMO). The other option is to glue the bulwark in at the height shown in the photo and then add a little filler material to the gap along the bottom edge. You can see in Marcel's photo that this entire joint will be covered over by a piece of planking on the inboard side, so I'm not really worried about cosmetic damage at this juncture.

 

Thoughts, gentlemen?

 

[Keith Black]

 Filling the void would be my suggestion. Forcing wood is bad enough, forcing paper makes me cringe at the thought of it.  

[Marcel1981]

Hi Chris, I think you we'll be fine. What I did was first gluing the 2nd layer of planks until I had something to fix the bulwarks onto .

 

Then with a little adjustment you can fix the bulwarks.

 

And in the end the backrests of the benches will cover all of you're mistakes 😀.

[0Seahorse]

Hi Chris, I think it's not a big problem. As you rightly noticed, this entire area will be invisible both from the outside and inside. Even if not all the posts were glued to the benches, the whole thing would still be reinforced with planks on both sides. I glued these parts in pairs (two per side 29-33 and 34-35), which makes it easier to match.

 

I think Marcel's suggestion is ok to add another plank and then glue/adjust the bulwarks to it. Or you can glue the bulwarks only where possible, and the whole thing will be gradually reinforced with external and internal planks. Just make sure that the stern part of the bulwark does not rise. There should be approximately 18.20 mm from the outer corner of part 25 to the top edge of part 36a, as below (isometric view, not side view).

Tomek

 

[ccoyle]

2 hours ago, 0Seahorse said:

Hi Chris, I think it's not a big problem.

 

Thanks, Tomek. I think I will proceed with Marcel's suggestion and add the second layer of planking up to the level of the cockpit benches, which should provide more gluing area for the inner bulwarks.

 

Cheers!

[0Seahorse]

2 hours ago, ccoyle said:

 

Thanks, Tomek. I think I will proceed with Marcel's suggestion and add the second layer of planking up to the level of the cockpit benches, which should provide more gluing area for the inner bulwarks.

 

Cheers!

The sequence you propose also has the advantage that when gluing the hull planks, you will not damage the bulwarks, which are very unstable if they are not reinforced with planks.

 

Tomek

[ccoyle]

I have the first layer of planking on up to the aft cockpit deck. I followed the directions that said to only glue the planks at each bulkhead station, to help prevent some of the dreaded "starving cow" effect, but I nevertheless achieved some in spite of my efforts. I'm thinking about whether I should attempt some filling and sanding, or just accept that the finished hull will have some noticeable kinks.

 

[Keith Black]

 Chris, the hull looks fine. I don't see no stinkin' starving cows. 

[ccoyle]

2 hours ago, Keith Black said:

I don't see no stinkin' starving cows. 

 

Moo!! 😅

 

[druxey]

Just needs a light moo-ssaging - sorry - massaging there.

[Keith Black]

 Maybe undernourished. 

 

 Chris, how hard is it to fill and sand on a card model?

[ccoyle]

7 hours ago, Keith Black said:

Chris, how hard is it to fill and sand on a card model?

 

Dunno -- never tried before. 🤔

[Jsk]

Just out of curiosity, did you fair the bulkheads?

 

One thing I've noticed about Tomek's designs is that they are very precise. Just a slight bit of imprecise gluing or extra material can throw things off. Not fairing the bulkheads certainly came back to haunt me in the Revenue Cutter. Just that extra bit of material cascaded to the point where my final skinning strakes were a bit too short.

 

In your picture it looks like the bulkhead might be a hair too wide and causing a bit of a bend in the skin rather than a nice smooth curve. But given that you've got another layer to go it might not be at all visible later on.

[ccoyle]

I don't have a picture for this, but I did try out some filler on the spot circled in the image above. The wet filler did not grab the coated card stock very well, but I'm pleased to report that it stuck fast once dried. I sanded the spot down, and the treatment seems to have worked well. I think I will repeat this for some of the other more obvious imperfections, but not for the entire hull.

[Marcel1981]

Thats goor news Chris! What kind of filler works the best on paper/card?

[ccoyle]

36 minutes ago, Marcel1981 said:

What kind of filler works the best on paper/card?

 

Whatever the stuff is that I have on hand. I'm chained to my desk at work at the moment, but I think it's DAP DryDex color-changing wall compound.

[Marcel1981]

Thanks for the reply, but I don't think we have that kind of stuff over here.

[catopower]

Enjoying following your build Chris!

 

I was just looking over the Kolderstok Speeljaght kit, and then lo-and-behold, you're building this Seahorse kit of the same scale!  Then, a fellow modeler in our local club just got the Kolderstok kit.

 

Now, I have to see how your project goes, so I can figure out which version I should work on...