Lancha Chilota by JacquesCousteau – Scale 1:32 – Chilean Coasting Sloop

[KeithAug]

She is coming along very nicely.

[JacquesCousteau]

Thanks, Keith and Wefalck!

 

At this point, the model looks more like a boat than ever.

 

Gluing and pinning the port stanchions (and knightheads) was a much faster process than on the starboard side. Especially pinning them, I did a much better job this time of making sure the hole was sufficiently cleared before gluing in the pin.

 

Adding the bulwarks took a bit more time. I started at the bow.

 

I realized that the wood needed to take a bit of a curve upward in the middle of the hull to fit properly, so I dampened it and clamped overnight so it would take the proper shape.

 

I then worked my way back, cleaning up excess glue as I went. Finally, I added the corner pieces of the aft rail and trimmed off the excess bulwark length.

 

Next up, I need to paint the topsides and add the cap rails. Based on photos, some lanchas didn't have cap rails, but most did, plus they'll cover the brass pins in the stanchions. I wish I had copied the templates for the covering boards, that would make this much easier.

 

With hatch covers temporarily placed:

Edited Sunday at 11:39 PM by JacquesCousteau

[JacquesCousteau]

I’ve made some progress on the rudder. The plans show a multi-part, rather complex rudder, below, in which the rudder shaft is particularly thick at the top where the tiller is inserted.

 

However, not all lanchas had rudders constructed in such a way. The rudder below, for instance, shares the thicker top of the rudder shaft, but seems to be constructed entirely from a single piece of (very heavily worn) wood.

Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/luchinmardones/5312311416/

 

I decided to go for a single-piece rudder, created from basswood of the same thickness as the keel, but left thick at the top and narrowed slightly below. After drawing up a rudder shape and leaving it a little wide to allow for shaping, I used a fretsaw to cut it out of a basswood sheet.

 

 

So far, so good. The same day, I also made the rudder for my new Bateau de Lanvéoc build, which has a much narrower, more vertical profile. Perhaps influenced by this, I thought that the rudder I made for the lancha looked too long. So, while shaping it, I trimmed a bit off the end.

 

Although I think it looks good, there’s one problem: if you look at the photo above, or the one below, it’s very noticeable that many (although not all) lanchas tend to have rather large rudders, probably to help deal with the poor turning abilities that Vairo noted in his article. The rudder I made may now be a bit on the short side.

Source: https://www.carlosvairo.com/galeria-puerto-montt-lanchas-chilotas

 

I can leave it as it is, but there may be a work-around. One detail that stood out to me about the Quenita (the lancha that my plans are, in theory, based on) is that, as seen below, its rudder had an extension attached to the end. Possibly the rudder was damaged and repaired, or perhaps the owner decided that its turning abilities were lacking and so tacked on an extra strip of wood to try to correct it.

Source: http://lanchaschilotas.com/dscn7150-2/

 

This, then, might be another option. I’m a bit torn between liking the looks of the slimmer rudder, and liking the aspects of telling a story with the model by having an extended rudder.

 

Edited yesterday at 05:03 AM by JacquesCousteau

[Keith Black]

 Jacques, I like the rudder with the piece added in the last photo. If you keep the rudder with the added piece will you add the metal strapping? 

[Glen McGuire]

31 minutes ago, Keith Black said:

Jacques, I like the rudder with the piece added in the last photo.

I'm with Keith on this.

[JacquesCousteau]

Thanks, @Keith Black and @Glen McGuire! Yes, I would definitely include the metal straps.

 

Speaking of metal, I'm rapidly approaching the point where I'll need to start adding some metal parts for the rudder hinges and rigging. I'm trying to decide how to proceed with them. On one hand, I already blackened the turnbuckles back during my canoa build, and the blackening process itself is not difficult and seems to give good, even results (assuming I can buy any blackening fluid here). On the other hand, the blackening process entails working with some rather toxic chemicals that are hard to get rid of, which I don't love working with. So, I was considering just painting the metal, but to do that properly I'll need to pick up some metal primer and a better gunmetal paint than I can make by mixing the craft paints I have, and I'm not sure how well it will turn out compared to blackening (especially for the anchor chain--painting a chain seems difficult).

 

Besides this, I'm pretty slow at metalworking and suspect I'll need to learn how to solder, so visible progress on this build may slow down a bit.

[KeithAug]

6 hours ago, JacquesCousteau said:

So, I was considering just painting the metal,

I have never had much success with paint - particularly on brass. No matter how well I prepare the brass the paint seems to be easily damaged or subsequently flakes off. If you do try painting and have success I would be interested to know what you did and details of the paint etc etc. Good luck.

[JacquesCousteau]

@KeithAug I have only painted a few very small metal parts, but mostly just touch-up work or parts that were barely handled. I thought I remembered that Thukydides's Alert build made extensive use of painted brass, but upon double-checking, I see that he did a mix of painting and blackening because he wasn't wholly satisfied with the paint. Blackening may be the way to go, especially for parts like the anchor chain.

[Keith Black]

 I've had the best success painting brass by first applying a coat of poly and then painting with craft acrylic paint.

[wefalck]

Brass parts to be handled other than for assembly probably require an etching primer. My models are barely handled, so I am ok with painting directly on brass. However, I mainly spray-paint, which makes it easier.

 

Using a solvent-based varnish as primer might go a long way to facilitate brush-paining with acrylics, because bare brass has a slightly hydrophobic surface, regardless how well you clean it.

 

Other people actually use paper, cardboard or styrene for metal-bands, which is fine as long as there is no load on these parts.