Gretel by djford - Mamoli/Dusek - 1:54

[djford]

Well hello there.

 

This will be my 2nd build log, after completing OcCre's Palamos earlier this month. Suffice to say, I'm somewhat hooked. I come from a wargaming background, so I'm no stranger to scale models, but working with wood at this scale is a new experience - one I'm keen to explore more. 

 

So, here we go: Dusek's reboot of Mamoli's Gretel kit. I wanted to do a nice yacht, and I was torn between this and another, more modern vessel, but I think the Gretel won out just because it looked a bit more 'traditional'. 

 

The kit arrived very quickly, and comes in a snazzy yellow and black box:

 

And here are the bits on opening:

 

Cool. I was going to wait a bit before cracking on, but there's a national holiday on in the UK this weekend, so with some extra free time on my hands, I got to work. 

 

Unlike the OcCre kit I started with, the pieces from this kit fit together almost perfectly - the laser cutting seems to be very accurate. The ply this is cut from is a little thicker too. 

Here's everything dry-fit:

 

Now, here's my first deviation from the instructions. There will be lots of this throughout this build - mostly because the instructions provided for this kit are, frankly, shocking. More on that later - I take back everything I said about OcCre's instruction manual though. 

 

As directed, I assembled the keel, but I only glued it to itself - not the false keel. I did this so I could remove it later for sanding down the bulkheads prior to planking. Otherwise, I'm pretty sure that I'd end up damaging the very soft wood. Here's the keel being clamped in place whilst it dries:

 

And here's me fitting in the bulkheads. I only have so many small clamps, so I used a bunch of clothes pegs to hold the parts square. This worked well on my previous kit, and it's worked well here. Why work hard etc. 

This is incidentally where I messed up a little. I need to cut a rabbet into the keel here, and now I'm going to struggle. It wasn't as disastrous as I thought it would be in the end, but I'd much prefer to have not put the bulkheads in before cutting. Worth knowing for future attempts!

 

Because I couldn't lay it out flat, I ended up eyeballing most of the rabbet line. It's come out well enough (I think, having not yet started planking):

 

Here's the various parts laid out, prior to rabbet cutting. I'm going to deviate from the instructions again in a second, but first; a small rant. 

There are four main planking types provided for this build, pictured here. On the instructions, these are numbered and labelled as, variously, LG, LN or LM. 

 

Without the magic of the internet, I'd have had literally no idea which was which - the LN is 3mm, and one of the LGs is 1mm thick, but everything otherwise is 0.5x4mm. Luckily, someone else on ModelShipWorld had had a similar issue with a different Mamoli kit, and whilst I now can't find that thread again to link it, I can tell you what's what for future reference if you're building this kit and struggling like I was:

 

LN = Walnut. Darkest, 0.5x3mm

LM = Mahogany (I assume this is sapele mahogany), reddish-brown, 0.5x4mm. 

LG = Tanganika (A different type of mahogany, apparently), pale tan colour, 0.5x4mm. 

 

The thicker planking for the first layer of the planking is also labelled tanganika in the key, but it looks and feels like a different wood - I'd assume it's lime. 

 

 

With my confidence in what planks I was supposed to be using somewhat reinforced, I soldiered on. I decided, perhaps in my hubris, that I'd like a nice herringbone pattern in the decking. Here's my attempt at that process, using the tanganyika wood. I used a 4b pencil to darken the edges of the planks as I stuck them down, trying to simulate caulking. Pretty pleased with this, but a bit annoyed by the wonkiness down the centre line - one to practice. 

 

Here's that bit of decking in place. Note that this is another deviation from the instructions - you're supposed to plank the decks after the hull, which means gluing the deck blanks down first. That seems like a really frustrating exercise, so I'm planking these first:

 

Here's the seating planked with the mahogany and lined. I really like the woods provided with this kit - they come up super well with just a coat of Danish oil:

Also note I've glued on the blocks to the back here. I think I should actually have done this after the first layer of planking, but I don't think it will matter too much - if it does I guess I'll find out. As it is, I'd have struggled to get the rear decking on in the right place without these stuck on. 

 

At this point I have actually already cut the rabbet into the keel - I completely forgot to take any photos of this process. I'll try get one before I put the planks in. 

 

And here's the decking complete, all in the same pattern. Very pleased. 

 

The last bit I've completed up to this point is the roof, which is the same as the seating in the mahogany:

Again, the wood comes out so nicely with minimal finish - I may experiment a little with some other finishes too. 

 

That wraps up the build log for now - I expect to make a start on the hull planking next. 

 

Stay tuned, and thanks for reading!

 

 

[djford]

I'm back with a planking update!

 

This was a learning experience, and a pleasant one. On my previous OcCre Palamos build, I did all the plank bending with steam over a kettle. It worked, but it was quite fiddly. This time, I soaked the planks before applying them to the hull. Slower for sure, but far, far more pleasant. 

 

I tried using the tiny brass pins supplied, but honestly I just can't see how they're supposed to be useful. My pin pusher tends to bend them before they go into the plywood below the planking - any tips on this would be very appreciated.

 

Here's some pics. First, the rabbet as discussed in my previous post:

I was very pleased with this, as it was my first attempt at cutting one. I didn't go deep enough at the stern, and I should have shaved off more of each of the central bulkheads. Oh well - it's all a learning experience. 

 

Here's the first planks clamped in place after soaking:

You can see one of the brass pins sticking out at the back there. I ended up resorting to drawing pins later, as I could push those in without as much fear of bending them. 

 

Here's the first planks glued in place:

The soaking method was a far more pleasant experience overall - I'm yet to try using an iron for this process, but honestly for lack of overall faff a tray of water is by far the simplest way of doing this.

 

Now for tapering. Luckily, based on my measurements, I only needed to take 1mm off each plank to make them fit. In the end, I needed to take an extra mm off the last two planks, but I was pretty close! 

 

I created a slightly janky tapering jig out of some old floorboard - lock the plank in the join, shut it in a vice, run a chisel over it. Worked nearly perfectly:

I was able to very quickly mass-produce planks using this, so well worth the time to cut the boards. Safer than using a knife to taper the planks, and far more accurate.

 

Here's a few more planks glued on:

I love the shape of this hull - compared with the Palamos it's so much sleeker, and the transom at the rear makes terminating the planks a dream. 

 

Some further work:

You can see that some of my planking wasn't very accurate on one side here - I'm not entirely sure where it went wrong, but that gap plagued the rest of the hull. In hindsight, I should have taken the plank off and tried again, but nothing a bit of filler couldn't fix.

 

Here's the planking finished:

 

And here it is after some filling and sanding:

Not too bad, for a second-ever go, I think.

 

One more shot:

Perfect.

Sort of. 

 

I've already made a start on the second layer of planking, so you'll get an update on that in the next week or so. I'm a little concerned as Mamoli have not supplied many of the sapele strips - I might have to borrow a couple that were left over from my Palamos build. A bit annoying!

 

Stay tuned. 

[djford]

I'm back with the full second layer of planking complete!

 

Now, I started this out full of confidence. I left it somewhat jaded. See why below.

 

Here's the first couple planks on. Here's also my first mistake:

The planks by the keel are fine - that's sapele, the kind of wood I was supposed to use. The planks by the gunwales and down to the pencil line here should have been walnut. This is due to a combination of very poorly laid out instructions and my own ineptitude - I really should have checked again. However! Luckily I realised my mistake at this point. I took off a couple of the planks I'd already laid, as the glue was actually still wet in this photo, and left those at the top as the sapele. It's not as directed in the instructions, but I think it comes out well after the fact.

 

Here's a work in progress shot. I really struggled with the walnut strips provided. They're 3mm and have a very slick finish on them which seemed to resist either wood or superglue - I had to hold many of them down as the glue dried, which is the white residue on the planks in the photo below; a combination of my fingerprints and dried glue residue. Messy. Luckily, it sanded off. 

 

Frustratingly, I also really struggled to get a lot of the planks to lie fully flat, especially at the bow. You can see the gaps above, and my main solution here was a combination of quite aggressive sanding and some cautious insertion of superglue into the largest gaps before pressing down the looser sections. It's worked, but it's not perfect. I'm not sure how I could improve - I suspect more careful, considered bending of each plank would be in order. 

 

Here it is mostly complete, before inserting some stealers. You can see I've given it an initial rough sanding - I wanted to do this before applying the stealers as I didn't want to risk tearing them out. 

 

Here's the finished hull before a full sanding. I also need to add the planks to the stern. You can see the gaps I was talking about earlier from this angle, but they're not very obvious when the ship is the right way up, so I think I'm satisfied, if a bit annoyed with myself.

 

And after a good sanding, a coat of Danish oil and the stern planks in place:

 

Certainly a more pleasant planking job than the OcCre Palamos, but still a lesson in frustration. I'm not sure whether tapering to a point is considered correct, but two or three on each side are here, simply because the 'belly' of the ship is so much wider than the bow - do let me know if there's a better method than this. You can also see here I had to insert one very thin gap filler on the starboard side (top side in the photo above). This is actually because the plank below it snapped as it was already half glued down. I don't think it notices too badly, especially when the ship is the right way up. 

 

Here she is with the two strake planks glued in place. I think honestly the planking has come together a lot better than I initially feared - especially from the normal viewing angle. I'm not 100% pleased, but I am somewhat satisfied.

One extra note for those attempting to build the Gretel in future; the instructions call for you to glue the three 1mm x 1mm strips for the handrail around the main deck together, then bend that construction using pins to hold it in place, then attach it to the ship. Don't bother with all that - I just soaked the wood for 15 mins in some warm water, cut it to length and glued the pieces on one by one. Much easier. 

 

Cheers for following along - detailing next!

[tartane]

 

It amazes me to see how here a kit is put together. This isn't the right place, is it?

Constant

 

[ccoyle]

44 minutes ago, tartane said:

It amazes me to see how here a kit is put together. This isn't the right place, is it?

Constant

 

I think something got lost in translation here. 🤔

[djford]

Another week, another update to my build!

 

I'll start this one out with the door and windows. I stuck some paper to the inside and painted it black, as I didn't want to scratch build an interior. Maybe a challenge for a different build!

The photo-etch brass for these was a little fiddly, but I found the best way of manipulating these was to let a pair of tweezers open up inside one of the gaps, as opposed to pinching an edge. Not too much trouble.

 

Here's the build with windows on and the roof attached:

I'm a real fan of the wood types provided with this kit.

 

Here's some of the deck superstructure:

The instructions show some lovely tapers on the top of each of the blocks here. I'm not that skilled. I found a nice approximation of it was to lightly tap a chisel round the top, leaving a little indent. I think it passes muster, but I'd love to get some tips on how to improve that.

 

Here's the roof of the companionway, and you can also see I've started putting on the small posts round the handrail. I've also improvised a handrail on the rear decking - there wasn't anything in the instructions to do this, but I felt it needed something.

 

Next was the rudder and tiller. The photo-etch hinges were a lovely change of pace to my OcCre kit, where I had to fashion the brass myself - I annealed the first hinge but honestly don't think it was even necessary here.

 

The kit comes with this rather naff-looking cast metal tiller. I decided to carve my own out of a bit of spare lime I had lying about. It's a bit chunky, but with a coat of french polish I think it fits in with the rest of the ship.

 

Here's some photos of the ship at this stage - mostly complete with a few final details to add.

 

There's an important point to make here - Gretel comes with a number of cast metal parts, including a decorative plate to put over the transom, and some plaques that sit on each side of the stern. I think they look terrible, and would require some serious painting to improve, so I've left them off. I planked over the transom instead. I might come back to this down the line, but I'm really not keen on this part of the kit. Not historically accurate, but I'm not sure how much it matters at this point.

 

I also haven't attached the figurehead for similar reasons, but I'm much more tempted to stick that on - I may simply apply a dark oil wash or similar to give some life to the metal.

 

Here's the spars and masts shaped and ready:

To taper these, I used the same method as with the Palamos, locking them into the chuck of a drill as a makeshift lathe. I think an actual lathe might have to be a purchase at some point, but I'm really not sure what to look for from a hobbyist's perspective - surely a full woodworking lathe would be way too big?

 

Another note - I think the kit was short one 4mm dowel rod. One of those spars was until yesterday supporting an orchid in a flower pot. You'd never know!

 

Test fitting the mast and bowsprit:

Also note I covered the hatch in the foredeck with an improvised cover. The instructions call for this to be open with steps leading down, but without an interior I thought that looked stupid, so I've closed it off.

 

And the first rigging in place:

 

The rigging is quite overwhelming to look at, much aggravated by the awful layout of the instructions, which I know I keep harping on about. Incidentally, I found a key to the wood types (which I complained about in the first post) in the middle of the rigging section. No idea how I missed it before, but there you go - I take that criticism back.

 

Nonetheless, I found some success with the first blocks:

And whilst my knots might not be historically accurate or ship-ready, at least she's looking neat.

 

I'll come back in a few days with a (hopefully) complete rigging update... before we tackle (pun indended) the sails.

 

Cheers for reading!

 

[Ronald-V]

What a lovely little ship! You are doing a great job with it. Nice clean wood work  

[djford]

1 hour ago, Ronald-V said:

What a lovely little ship! You are doing a great job with it. Nice clean wood work  

Thank you very much!