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

[FriedClams]

Excellent progress, J.C.  That bowsprit looks great and your light hand on the weathering is very realistic.

 

Gary

[JacquesCousteau]

3 hours ago, FriedClams said:

Excellent progress, J.C.  That bowsprit looks great and your light hand on the weathering is very realistic.

 

Gary

Thanks, Gary!

 

I've also finished painting the rudder, except for the hinges, which I haven't added yet. I made the metal straps that support the rudder extension out of card. Photos of the Quenita show that the rudder metalwork was almost more rust than metal.

Source: https://lanchaschilotas.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/DSCN71501.jpg

 

I'm not planning on weathering my model as much as the Quenita, but it does make sense to me that the rudder would be a bit more weathered than the upper works. It would have been totally submerged when sailing, but lanchas--which were operated by small farmers rather than specialized traders--were regularly hauled out of the water when not in use, which was often, and thus were subjected to a lot of wear. So, I used a little more rust coloration here:

 

As for the other metalwork, a lot of it--rudder hinges, chainplates, block hooks--will need to be made of actual metal due to the pressure on them. Hopefully I'll be able to similarly weather them.

 

[wefalck]

Actually, you did a pretty realistic painting and weathering job, I think 👍🏻

 

I discovered 'dry-brushing' (as it is called now) for myself some 50+ years ago in my teenage plastic-model building days and it is a very useful technique. Also, using lead- or coloured (mainly white) pencils are very useful to  put highlights onto edges or raised parts, enhancing their three-dimensionality.

 

[JacquesCousteau]

Thanks, @wefalck! Dry brushing certainly seems to give a lot of bang for the buck--easier to figure out (at least the basics) than I expected and a little can add a lot of character.

 

After more consideration, I decided to just go for mounting the chainplates outside the rubbing strakes. I painted the rubbing strakes off the hull and glued them on 1/3 at a time, starting at the bow and working my way back. Rubber bands were helpful around the center, but not further forward or back, due to the pronounced curve of the hull.

 

I also attached the bowsprit and was able to attach the cross-piece rail that goes across it.

 

I realized that I should have waited to weather the gammon iron and surroundings until I extended the white stripe of the rub rails around the stem. The area was quite tricky to tape off.

 

Despite my best efforts to burnish the tape and seal it with clear varnish before painting, a good bit of paint still managed to escape on the port side (my apologies for the poor picture quality!). 

 

It took a good bit of patient scraping and repainting the area, but I was able to get it looking right, especially after adding the dry-brushed rust and some dark washes.

 

At the transom, meanwhile, I used Tamiya masking tape for curves for the white stripe.

 

Besides the rust, I also wanted to weather the hull a bit. I scraped and sanded some edges, especially on the rubbing strake and cap rail around where the shrouds/chainplates will be located and at the bow where the anchor would hang*, and around the keel, stem, and guardaplayas. I then used a dark wash to tone down some of the exposed bare wood (drawing on Gary's example in his dragger build). The effect is subtle.

 

*Some photos show lanchas with a hawse hole through the cap rail for the anchor, but many lanchas simply ran the anchor cable over the rail, as I've decided to go with on my build.

 

I also dry-brushed a very little bit of white in some places to suggest salt deposits. The hull could maybe do with a dash more color variation (maybe a brown wash?) to suggest more weathering, but I don't want to over-do it. (Not to mention that there will be rust around the chainplates and rudder hinges when those are added.)

 

In any event, the hull is basically complete now! I still do need to shape the masthead. I'm happy with how the build is turning out, thank you all for your advice and comments.

 

 

 

Edited 18 hours ago by JacquesCousteau

[Thukydides]

It is looking really good. I really like the weathered look you have gone for. It suits the subject.

 

On dry brushing, the key thing is to get almost all of the paint off of the brush (I find dollar store makeup brushes work super well). Also it works best when there is lots of 3d detail. If you try to drybrush on a flat surface you just end up with a streaky look. You can also do the drybrushing in stages where you use a darker colour and heavily drybrush followed by a lighter colour with a light drybrush to just pick up the very edges.

[Landlubber Mike]

Looks really great!  Love the colors you are using.

[FriedClams]

This model is looking really sweet, J.C.  Very nice.

 

4 hours ago, JacquesCousteau said:

(maybe a brown wash?) to suggest more weathering, but I don't want to over-do it.

 

Whenever I'm unsure, I always wait until I am sure because it can be so difficult to undue. After the chainplates and rudder hinges are on, the decision may be easier.

 

Gary

[Keith Black]

Lovely build, Jacques.