Muscongus Bay Lobster Smack by Desertanimal - FINISHED - Model Shipways - 1:24 moderately bashed

[Desertanimal]

I’m starting this build log with the model 99% completed. The reason for that is I knew I was going to be making some modifications to the kit, but I wasn’t exactly sure what I was going to do. Also if it didn’t work out I wouldn’t have to admit it!

This is my third build and they were the three Models Shipways boats. The Dory, the Pram and now the Smack. I got a lot of inspiration from build logs I found on here. I remember ones by Dee Dee, and Piet in particular that were the most bashed. I’ll probably drag the log out for a week or so. I’ve got many pictures. So here we go…

 

So we start out pretty normally putting together the spine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 28 by Desertanimal

[JacquesCousteau]

Very curious to see how you kit-bashed this one!

[Desertanimal]

Ok, I think I have my photo issues sorted. So let's continue.

 

Here I'm still just working with the bulkheads. Most important here is I'm making the roof higher.

 

 

I decided I would be planking the floor and the deck. So here I'm starting the floor in the cockpit.

 

 

Getting the seating area done.

 

 

You might be thinking that the size of the boars is a little large for scale and you would be correct. I had a bunch of them on hand though and I'm trying to learn new techniques. Here I'm continuing on with planking...

 

 

I relocated the live well holes because I wanted to leave one open so you could see inside and if I remember they are right on top of a bulkhead. So I moved them forward and framed them and the hatch in mahogany. You can also see I cut away the bulkhead behind the hatch. I was thinking I was going to leave the door open so you could see inside but ultimately decided against it.

 

 

So we'll leave it there for now.

 

Oh you can see where I miscut the location of the one hole and had to move it over.  Math is hard... I'll say it was late at night and I was tired. I see they also look to be different sizes. That's an illusion, they match.

 

Let me know what you think!!

 

Chris

 

[druxey]

Well, that is ambitious kit-bashing! Looks very good. You'll soon be ready to scratch-build.

[Ronald-V]

That is some nice tight planking there!  

[Bryan Woods]

It’s looking Great! 

[Desertanimal]

Thank you all for the likes and encouraging words. They are much appreciated.

 

So now I start the planking. I was really trying hard to take my time and get the boards to fit well. You can see I painted the inside of the live tanks black.

 

 

 

So I still had some issues getting the planks fitting tightly in the stem rabbet. You can also see where the garboard has a little gap, pretty sure that was the result of poor fairing in that area. That entire bulkhead should have been sanded a little more.

 

 

 

 

 

I think my joints got a little better as they went up...

 

Sanded and filled...

 

 

 

Now I need to tend to some issues with my bashing. Because I raised the roof I will need taller coaming, so I traced around the original and added the extra height. Since it was curved I made several tic marks and tried to connect them with a smooth curve.

 

 

 

I bent the coaming in place after a good soak in water. No boiling, no hot, no ammonia or other things I've heard; just a tall Post Malone cup from Cane's full of water. Almost couldn't reach the middle of the piece when flipping it over, Haha.

 

 

Then I decided it would be a good idea to paint the coaming before installation. Here you see it painted and installed. I also put in some additional pieces of wood near the stem where I was going to have some joints for the deck planking. Those needed to cut to accept the coaming also.

 

 

 

 

I think I have overloaded you all with pictures now. Let me know your thoughts!

 

Thanks!

Chris

 

 

 

 

Edited October 23 by Desertanimal

[Dan Poirier]

This looks great. And it sounds like you're having a lot of fun with it, also great.

[Desertanimal]

Thank you for all the likes and comments!

 

Now it's time to tackle the deck planking. I decided early on I wouldn't be using the supplied deck piece and I would be planking it. I didn't really have much of plan, just planned on going by the seat of my pants.

I knew I wanted some decorative joints up near the front so I browsed the web for pictures of sloop decks. I didn't really know what I was doing and cut the joints by memory. The angles are probably not correct, and they vary HAHA, but my main goal was to try to make tight joints, no matter what the joint looked like. I figure if I can make a wonky cut fit well, then "correctly" shaped joints would be easy.

 

 

 

As I started working around the sides, not having a plan started to nibble at my behind... I noticed there is a step in the bulkheads right near the cockpit. Not sure what I was gonna do there. Figured I would just keep going and see what starts to take shape. You can see below I was going to make some decorative joints there but that idea was abandoned.

 

 

I ended up making a step of sorts out of mahogany...

 

 

I continued to work towards the stern. I also carved a tiller out of Cocobolo, simply because I had some.

 

 

 

This is the design I came up with. You can see I was going to make a hatch to service the tiller, but that was abandoned.

 

 

So this is where we are so far. Let me know what you think of my "seat of the pants" design!!

 

Chris

 

 

 

 

 

[Bryan Woods]

Nice work, I love the deck!

[druxey]

Fanciest skipjack I've ever seen!

[Desertanimal]

Continuing on I taped up the middle so that I could sand and work on the deck without getting the inside fill of dust. Then added the toerails and rub rails. Those are pretty straightforward. Made some measurements along the side down from the deck and used that line for the rub rails.

 

 

Now it was time to start getting some paint her. I had posted about best practices when painting colors right up against other colors regarding taping, not taping. As always every one was very helpful. I ended up deciding to freehand it all. What worked best for me was good light, 2x optivisor and most importantly, hand and arm support. I taped up and old sunglasses box and used that to rest my hands on while doing the critical painting areas. I of course still had to go back and touch up some of the lines but overall I was quite happy with my lines.

 

 

I scratch built a hatch cover and rails from mahogany. These were roughly modeled after some I saw on the web. I didn't spend a lot of time researching scale size. I just did what looked about right from photos. Again this was more about can I make a hatch that looks OK? Vs exact to scale. I even carved a tiny  handle. Yeah, should have glued that handle on wayyyy later than now, but I got a little excited. I was surprised how long it lasted before I snapped it off. I put it aside to reattach later. Oh, it was also the second handle as the first one entered earth's orbit during sanding. I just heard "ting" and the tweezers were empty!!

 

 

Ha! There's that box!

Here you can also see my DIY wetpalate for acrylic paint.

 

 

This is my attempt at painting the fairleads by hand...

This is my first attempt at something like this. (I picked up some printed miniatures to practice my painting skills on)

And now there's a bowsprit, that tiny thing was tough to get marked out but I was happy with the result. 

 

 

At this point I started working on all the little fittings that I was going to need for the rigging. I shaped up the blocks and the white metal parts. I painted the blocks with couple dark washes. Are they too dark? Don't think I see them this dark on other builds. I then wrapped the copper wire and painted it. (Also not sure of period correctness, but they turned out like what I was thinking). The paint did have some adhesion problems during rigging. Any tips for that?

Tried making the cleats and turnbuckles look like brass. I didn't think they would be shiny brass but look older and weathered. In pictures I've seen both. What is more correct? Are boat owners constantly polishing their brass fittings? I'm sure keeping them clean is best for routine maintenance, but how shiny are these parts on any given day?
I also used a method posted here by DeeDee and made mast hoops from dollar bills soaked in CA after blackening with permanent marker. Finished size was 1.5mm tall.

 

 

A giant "Thank You" to all that have posted and liked and to all that are just following along. I hope someone finds this log helpful!

 

Chris

 

 

 

 

 

[hamilton]

Nice work! Really like the blend of woods on deck and superstructures - brings lots of life to the model!

hamilton

[Paul Le Wol]

Hi Chris, everything is looking great. The bowsprit turned out very nice!

[SiriusVoyager]

The custom deck planking and hatch look great!  (as does everything else).  You definitely have some natural talent with this.

[Desertanimal]

On 10/26/2024 at 10:50 AM, hamilton said:

Nice work! Really like the blend of woods on deck and superstructures - brings lots of life to the model!

hamilton

Thank you Hamilton!

On 10/26/2024 at 11:15 AM, Paul Le Wol said:

Hi Chris, everything is looking great. The bowsprit turned out very nice!

Thanks! It definitely took some planning and careful work. I'm quite happy with it.

On 10/26/2024 at 5:11 PM, SiriusVoyager said:

The custom deck planking and hatch look great!  (as does everything else).  You definitely have some natural talent with this.

Really appreciate that!

 

 

Now it's time for rigging. Both the instructions and many build logs don't include a lot of details here. Not to say I'm going to, but I'm always looking to see how anyone has brought any particular section up a notch. So like I said, not a lot of added on details here. I did get some small black beads for the parrels. I painted them with mat water based poly later.

 

I taped the fabric down on a large cutting mat. Painted it with glue/water mix. I will note that I used Elmer's school glue instead of Titebond I have used everywhere else. Titebond has a yellow color to it and can show on a sail. (Ahem, foreshadowing...) Marked and glued the strips. After thoroughly drying I punched 1mm holes where needed. Put on the mast hoops and tied up the threads.Then started glueing on the tiny strings. Those were a real pain to get to stay on. I used PVA, then CA and I kept knocking them off. I had already cut them so threading them through with a knot on each side wasn't an option. At one point I reglued a few on with Titebond... see above. Gotta keep your wits about ya!

 

 

I had to move the topmost eyelet up a bit for the rigging to work. The top block was hitting the middle block.

 

Finally got to use my Ultimation slicer when I made some covers for the live wells. Made them out of mahogany. Instead of one wide piece I cut them up and then randomized the planks because a piece that wide wouldn't exist. Bent some tiny brass for handles. Stain then mat poly.

I also made a linear style sander with some linear bearings and some MDF scrap. Works pretty well, it does have a tendency to try to rotate the work piece on the back stroke. As long as you're careful it works well. It was great to sand these square.

 

 

Are these not the freaking cutest? I glued it on askew to cover that mistake on the deck. Color is odd because it's through glass.

 

I made some rope coils then did some paint touch ups. Are ropes coiled like this? Looks backwards to me. Here are final pics and some extras that just didn't fit in the log.

 

 

 

After making a stand for the Pram and the Lobster smack, we are calling it FINISHED.

 

Here we are with the completed fleet, under an old fish tank I had. It's about 1/2" short for the Pram so I'll put some sort of frame around the base.

 

 

 

 

Next on the bench...

 

 

Thank you all for the continued support, encouragement and for the continuing education!

 

Chris

 

 

 

 

[Paul Le Wol]

Chris, congratulations on finishing the Lobster Smack and the “Fleet”. The group shot is perfect. Beautifully done!

[hamilton]

Beautiful work! Alert should be a breeze!!

hamilton

[JacquesCousteau]

Fantastic job, I really like how you personalized the model. Your additions really paid off, it looks sharp. The whole flotilla looks great too.

[Glen McGuire]

That's a beautiful model, Chris!  I particularly love the contrasting light and dark planks of wood at the stern.  Congratulations on a fine build!

[Desertanimal]

On 10/28/2024 at 12:25 PM, Paul Le Wol said:

Chris, congratulations on finishing the Lobster Smack and the “Fleet”. The group shot is perfect. Beautifully done!

Thank you very much!

 

On 10/28/2024 at 12:27 PM, hamilton said:

Beautiful work! Alert should be a breeze!!

hamilton

Thank you!

 

23 hours ago, JacquesCousteau said:

Fantastic job, I really like how you personalized the model. Your additions really paid off, it looks sharp. The whole flotilla looks great too.

 

Much appreciated!

 

23 hours ago, Glen McGuire said:

That's a beautiful model, Chris!  I particularly love the contrasting light and dark planks of wood at the stern.  Congratulations on a fine build!

Thank you!

[SiriusVoyager]

The final product looks great, as does the display with all three.  Looking forward to your next build!

[druxey]

Well done, Chris. A lovely trio. Now you are ready for Alert!