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

[Paul Le Wol]

Jacques, your hardware fabbing  is looking great! 

[Glen McGuire]

7 hours ago, JacquesCousteau said:

there's a section that feels as smooth as the rest of the board, but looks white-ish, almost like a rough patch (but, again, it feels perfectly smooth).

It looks lie a small bit of chatter from a planer, but as Wefalck said, it's hard to diagnose from the picture.  What does the other side of the board look like?

[JacquesCousteau]

Thanks, all! We'll see how well it turns out on the spectrum between looking like a good representation of improvised parts, and looking like I have no clue what I'm doing.

 

@Glen McGuire, I think it is a bit of chatter. I don't really understand how it can be smooth to the touch and still appear rough, but when I used a slightly damp cloth to wipe dust off, I noticed that that area seemed to absorb more water and retain it for much longer. The other side has a bit of lengthwise chatter marks, and had the price and bar code stickers. Despite spraying alcohol, scraping, and sanding, there still seems to be a bit of sticker residue that I can't seem to get off, so I think this side it will be.

[JacquesCousteau]

Checking it in the light of day: yes I think there's a bit of chatter. I'll see if I can sand it out.

[JacquesCousteau]

I've made a bit of progress on the rigging, painting the shroud hooks and adding the traveler block, below. For the latter, I left the hook as unpainted annealed wire, as I needed to bend it shut around the horse. The color difference doesn't stand out too much, thankfully.

 

I also made more progress on the cherry base. After a bit more searching, I think the gouging I mentioned above may have been tear-out from where the grain direction shifted around the knot. After a lot of sanding didn't quite get rid if it, I tried to use a cabinet scraper. Despite following a lot of "how to" videos, I couldn't get a good burr on it, and it only ever produced dust instead of shavings. So, I kept sanding. Finally it seemed acceptable. At that point, I cut out the base, adding a point at each end, which I accidentally made sharper than I had planned--good reminder to measure twice, cut once! I also lightly beveled the edges with my mini plane.

 

I then cut out the 3/32-inch brass tube supports, using my razor saw. As I didn't quite get the holes drilled perfectly in the keel, I had to add some slight bends to get the supports right. Next, I drilled the holes for the supports in the base--this time triple-checking they were properly lined up and measured before drilling. Finally, I was able to dry fit the hull. I'm pleased with how the base has turned out, although I still need to decide how to finish it--I do have some linseed oil that I'm testing on some scrap, although it will take a long time to dry. I also need to slightly adjust the bends in the brass tubes, and to think about how I want to orient the model on the base.

 

 

Next up, I need to figure out the deck cargo and furnishings/fittings, and finish the rigging. On the latter, if I complete the build without sails, there's relatively little left to do--just add the mainsheet and its boom block, add the lifts and sheets, and add thimbles to the shrouds and forestay and tie them off. But, if I want sails, it will be much easier to fit them with the mast off the hull and add the mast at the very end. 

[wefalck]

On harder woods I use single-sides razorblades as scraper (the ones that have a reinforced back). However, getting things smooth around knots may indeed be difficult. What would help is to treat the surface with a sanding-sealer. That would harden the soft fibres around the knot, making sanding/scraping easier. Another good way to smooth the surface is the use of different grades of steel-wool in between coates of sanding-sealer.

 

However, there is no point then applying lineseed-oil, as it would not penetrate the wood treated with sanding-sealer. There may not need to be a need for further treatment, as the wood treated with e.g. cellulose-based sanding-sealer and rubbed down with fine steelwool takes on a nice satin shine.

 

[JacquesCousteau]

Thanks, @wefalck, I'll have to look into a nitrocellulose wood sealer. The sealer/varnish I have is water based, so I don't know if it would have the same effect.

 

I was able to make a little progress on the turnbuckles and shroud hooks. As seen in photos like those below, these were often held together (and to the shrouds and chainplates) with rather improvised-looking lashings of wire and/or rope. 

Source: https://www.bibliotecanacionaldigital.gob.cl/bnd/629/w3-article-644834.html

 

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

 

While two of my turnbuckles are directly attached to the hooks, the other two are lashed in this fashion. I used 0.25mm black rope from Ropes of Scale to represent a wire lashing, and tried to get an improvised look, with the "wire" tied off in different ways. I think the lashings turned out all right (although up close the limits of my pre-made "turnbuckles" are pretty apparent--I think that making better ones would require soldering, which is a skill I don't have). I plan on using similar wire lashings to attach these turnbuckle assemblages to the chainplates, then rope lashings to attach the tops of these snugly to the shrouds.

 

As can be seen, there's some variation in height, which I was going for.

 

Finally, I temporarily tied the turnbuckles to the chainplates with flt-fishig thread, slotted the mast in place, and did another test rigging. This was useful to check how the turnbuckle assemblies looked in place, as well as to practice the rigging steps--I've learned that I need to pay attention to the order in which I run the gaff halyards through the double blocks, as it impacts which side they need to be belayed on. It also helps me get a sense of how the model will look on the stand if I go without sails. I had been considering some sort of angled stand to show it as though it was beached on its guardaplayas, but I ultimately think I like the look on a brass stand better.

 

[JacquesCousteau]

I'm inching toward the finishing line here. Next on my list: attaching the thimbles I made earlier to the shrouds and forestay. This would have been much easier with the mast off the model, but I couldn't do that because I needed everything in place to work out where on the lines the thimbles needed to be located. As everything had to be done in the air, I really couldn't take any photos mid-work. My process, after a bit of trial and error, was to figure out the approximate height, use locking tweezers to hold a small loop in the line, and then loosely tie a bit of fly-tying thread around it. Then, put a drop of superglue on the thimble, place it in the loop, and move the thread knot close to the thimble and tighten, adding a few more knots while wrapping it a bit around the line and securing with a drop of superglue. After trimming the excess, add another knot with fly-tying thread further up, and trim the excess.

 

The forestay thimble, the first I did, is shown below.

 

And, below, a shroud thimble before trimming the excess thread.

 

By now, I've added all the thimbles. Next, I'll need to unstep the mast, add the final sheet block to the boom, add a parrel in the gaff jaws, and set up the mast again, this time using the correct rope for all running rigging. The end of the rigging is nearly in sight!

[Glen McGuire]

Nice work, JC!

[Keith Black]

Nice on ship thimble rigging, Jacques. My arms tire too easily to do that on ship business, I have to do as much off ship as possible. 

[Paul Le Wol]

Very good looking thimbles Jacques!

[JacquesCousteau]

Thanks, all! Adding those with the mast stepped was definitely a challenge. Fortunately the rest will be done off-model until the final rigging.

[JacquesCousteau]

As I advance on the build, I'm also looking at finishing the base. I was very curious to see what linseed oil would look like on the cherry, as I really like how it turned out on my Half-Hull model. I also tried a bit of my very basic water-based sealer/varnish, testing both on sone scraps.

 

Below, you can see the results compared against the still unfinished board. I was surprised. The linseed oil (at top) significantly darkened the cherry in a way that I don't love. The sealer, in contrast, at right, slightly darkened it and brought out the grain patterns a bit more.

As a result, I've decided to go with the sealer/varnish on the base, allowing it to naturally darken a bit with time.

 

[wefalck]

The darker colour shows that the linesee oil penetrates deeper, while the water-based sealer stays more on the surface.

The oil penetrates into the pores and acts as a kind light conduit deeper into the wood, similar to fibre optics, so less light is reflected and hence the wood appears darker.

Water-based sealers do not penetrate so well, as wood is naturally somewhat hydrophobic, even wood that does not contain much resin, like cherry.

That's why I am still using solvent-based sealers ... as long as one can get them.

[JacquesCousteau]

More slight progress as I cross items off the build's to-do list. First up, I needed to add the parrel rope that holds the gaff to the mast. The clearest photo I could find is below. As can be seen, instead of using parrel beads, the rope itself is doubled up and twisted around itself.

Source: https://www.bibliotecanacionaldigital.gob.cl/bnd/629/w3-article-644834.html

 

 

So, I tried to replicate this with .45mm rope.

 

Unfortunately, after adding it, I realized that I hadn’t quite left enough space in the parrel to let the gaff rest horizontally when lowered--due to the angled jaws and the taper of the mast, when fully lowered it wanted to point up a bit. So, with the gaff still attached to the mast, I carefully filed and cut the inside of the gaff jaws (and repainted it) until it lay better.

 

After doing that, though, I took another look at the photo of a real lancha, and decided that my parrel rope was a lot lumpier than it should be. So, I redid it in .35mm rope. This time, instead of just looping the rope around, I tied a series of simple knots to better hold things. Below, the new parrel, with the original held above it. I'm not sure if it really looks all that much better, but I think I can accept the result.

 

Besides the parrel, I also stropped the sheet block to the boom (the final block on this model).

 

And I added sealer/varnish to the base, sanded with 600-grit sandpaper, added a second layer, sanded again, and rubbed it down with a cloth (I'm not sure if that last step really did much). I'm happy with how the base turned out, it's very smooth to the touch and the very slight darkening effect of the sealer/varnish is exactly what I was looking for.

 

Finally, I've begun experimenting with adding a small load of lumber to the deck. Although there are a few photos of lanchas under sail with decks crowded with lumber, it seems to have been more common to keep things in the hold and only bring them out for display upon arriving in the port to sell the wood. See below, for instance.

Source: https://ceph-puerto-montt.blogspot.com/2009/02/album-del-recuerdo-imagenes-de-nuestra_22.html?m=1

 

For now I've chopped up a few coffee stir sticks to try to represent fresh-cut lumber, although I'm not sure how well they represent what I'm going for.

[Paul Le Wol]

“ So, I tried to replicate this with .45mm rope.”

 

Jacques, by adding all of these details, you have indeed turned this model into a replica.

[JacquesCousteau]

Thanks, @Paul Le Wol!

 

I mentioned in my previous post that I was trying to add a bit of lumber to the deck as part of a cargo, but that I wasn't totally convinced by the chopped-up coffee stir sticks I was using. I decided that they were a bit too bright in comparison with the rest of the build, which is rather weathered. Figuring out how to handle this was tricky--after all, recently-cut lumber should of course look much cleaner than a weathered old hull! But it also just looked off. Ultimately, I added a very thin dark wash, just to slightly tone it down a bit. I also made the lumber "stack" a bit uneven and irregular, after my wife (who has a very good eye) suggested that an earlier attempt looked too regularly-structured in comparison with photos of actual lanchas. Finally, I added some rope ties made from scrap rope. As you can see below, it looks a bit less bright than the unfinished original coffee stir sticks.

 

I think the result looks much better on the model, fitting with its visual "language" instead of looking out-of-place while still, I hope, looking like a shipment of lumber.

 

I think it especially looks better in contrast with the unfinished coffee stir stick color (I should briefly note at some point that these are much thicker and more irregular stir sticks than the ones I used for the deck).

 

As can be seen below, I'm definitely erring on the side of caution with deck cargo. I could totally cover the deck and technically be accurate, but I'd prefer to use these details and accoutrements to hint at real practices and purposes without overwhelming the rest of the model.

Source: https://losbarcosdejuanvasquez.wordpress.com/2011/06/14/la-lancha-velera-que-transportaba-lena-y-maderas/

 

While I'm happy with the bundle of milled lumber cargo, the photos above and below show that it was also common to transport rough-cut firewood.

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

 

This strikes me as a good deal harder to represent. Just grabbing a few sticks seems like it would look out-of-scale. I could use some of the rough-cut mango branch wood that I have on hand, and could stain it a redder color to better match the photo above, but I don't really know how to represent the bark that was clearly still left on the firewood. I considered paint, but I feel like thick blotches of acrylic won't look right. If anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears!

[wefalck]

I have used saw-dust: put some white glue on the sticks in blotches snd then roll in saw dust. When dry paint to the bark colour.

[JacquesCousteau]

@wefalck, thanks for the suggestion! I cut some lengths of more-or-less round pieces of mango wood, and applied a bit of minwax cherry stain from a stain pen to try to give it a redder color like in the photos. For whatever reason, the stain didn't really take, forming a slightly darker, slightly gummy outer layer rather than really tinting the wood.

 

I then applied some glue and rolled the stick through sawdust. At first, as seen below, the result looks very fuzzy.

 

After leaving the glue to fully dry, and then shaking off excess sawdust, I then applied somewhat watered-down acrylic paint. The painting process and water led to some clumps of sawdust coming off. It looked odd at first, but once dry, I think the result looked pretty convincing as a roughly cut thin log with the bark still on intended as firewood. I'm considering trying another with the "bark" only on one side meant to look like a split log.

 

I also made an anchor. While earlier chilote vessels used a distinctive type of anchor made by lashing lumber around a heavy stone, metal anchors were common on lanchas, as shown below. Actually, given the overhanging stern, the vessel below is not a lancha but a somewhat larger vessel--perhaps one of the small coasting schooners or sloops that have appeared in the background of other photos I've shared--but it provides an exceptionally clear view of the anchor, and other photos show similar anchors on lanchas proper.

Source: https://www.bibliotecanacionaldigital.gob.cl/bnd/629/w3-article-320807.html

 

In the past, I used wire and thread to make the anchor for the Cargo Canoa, while I went with an aftermarket part for the Canoa de Rancho's anchor. This time, I wanted to try making one out of wood, specifically cherry as I needed a fairly hard wood to properly shape the small pieces. I cut the parts from 1/16‐inch thick cherry strip and shaped them with mini-files, glued them together, and drilled the holes for the anchor ring and stock. The wood split when I started drilling the anchor ring hole, but I was able to glue and clamp it back into place and then successfully drill.

 

I then added flukes, made of card soaked in superglue, and a stock of brass rod. 

 

Finally, I painted the anchor, dry-brushed on some rust, and added a protective clear coat and an anchor ring.

 

That said, I then double-checked photos and realized that the anchor ring should really be round. Thankfully it was an easy fix.

 

Overall I'm happy with how the anchor turned out. The arms aren't quite even, but I think it's acceptable. I now feel confident making my own anchors from wood rather than having to buy aftermarket ones.

Edited Friday at 03:55 PM by JacquesCousteau
Added image/link

[Thukydides]

Great job on the anchor. It does look like rusty metal.

[wefalck]

I am pleased to see that my suggestion worked 😇

 

Looking at the anchor in the photograph, it looks quite 'shop-made' by someone, who did not really understand, how these anchors work, just roughly copying their shape. In theory, the stock is a bit thicker on one side of the shaft and secured from slipping through the hole in the shaft by a removable pin. When the pin is removed, the stock can be pulled through and rests flat against the shaft for storing, which is why it is bent 90° at the end. The stock also has a sort of ball at the end, preventing it from being completely pulled out.

 

Your anchor is a very good representation of this home-brew version!

[JacquesCousteau]

Also, a brief note. While images from about the 1960s onward (including the photos by Carlos Vairo from the 1980s that I've repeatedly linked to) are very clear that lanchas were using internally-stropped blocks by then, I had gone with rope-stropped blocks on my build. This wasn't just because they are easier to make and stropping is a skill I wanted to learn (although those both did shape my decision), but also because I had seen rope-stropped blocks in earlier photos. However, I've been a bit nervous lately as I couldn't find the photos showing that, leaving me wondering if I had misremembered things and would have to redo all the blocks. Fortunately, I re-found it, and now can confirm that my rope-stropped blocks are accurate. While I've been bookmarking all of the useful images I came across with keywords, I hadn't thought to include "blocks" as a keyword, which has now been remedied.

 

The photo below, by Ignacio Hochhäusler, is from between 1949 and 1960 (the date is variously given as that range or 1949). It shows a few lanchas in port and, closer to the camera, a couple children in a smaller open vessel (not a chalupa, as it has a transom stern). There's a lot of good detail in the photo showing bowsprit rigging on the lanchas and quite a few large woven baskets in the smaller vessel. If you're interested in seeing more, you can follow the link and click the blue "Visualizar" link (with the eye image) to the top left of the image to see a much higher-quality scan.

Source: https://www.bibliotecanacionaldigital.gob.cl/bnd/629/w3-article-164722.html

 

If we zoom in at the top of the image, on the furthest lancha we can see what is unmistakably a rope-stropped block dangling from the boom.

 

So, I'm on firm ground with my decision to include rope-stropped blocks, and don't have to redo them. My goal with this build is to represent a midcentury lancha. It has some features that would have been relatively recent innovations at the time, such as the longer and higher-peaked gaff, but also is still using rope-stropped blocks, and uses ordinary rope instead of the brightly-colored synthetics that we can see in the 1980s Vairo photos I've linked to before.

[JacquesCousteau]

Thanks, all! Yes, a lot of the metalwork was probably made by non-specialists. Lancha owners and crew were not full-time sailors, but most often farmers who needed to get around the archipelago and bring their goods to market. While sources are clear that overall vessel construction was done by more specialized boat builders, most of the metalwork would have probably been done by local blacksmiths and the like who had to be "good enough" at making and repairing a wide range of items.

 

Actually, the 1949 image in my recent post shows a different stock design which is straight (more or less), surprisingly thick, and not quite perpendicular to the arms. I had a range of options when it came to designing my model's anchor, and decided on the bent-stock design for the added visual interest it offers.

Edited Friday at 04:27 PM by JacquesCousteau

[JacquesCousteau]

I'm making good progress with the furnishings and equipment, although I still have a few things to do.

 

First up, I finally got around to making a fore hatch prop in the form of a forked stick. I did this by first bending two toothpicks (one of which had been sanded down to a slimmer thickness).

 

I then drilled a small divot into the thicker one, glued in the thinner one, and then cut to size. I also slightly whittled the edges to give it less of a uniform look, and added a bit of stain and a dark acrylic wash.

 

I then glued it in place, propping open the forward hatch. I wasn't quite pleased with it, though. I decided that it looked a bit thick.

 

So, I carefully removed it, whittled the stick down a bit, and re-stained and colored it before reattaching it. It's a subtle difference, but worth it.

 

While working on that, I also got started on attaching the anchor. Although some photos show chains, others show cables instead, so I went with that to save myself the hassle of blackening a chain. I would have expected the anchor cable to be the thickest rope on the lancha, but looking at photos, in most cases it looked to be about the thickness of the rigging ropes. I'll be using 0.6mm rope for the mainsheet, so I decided to use that rope for the cable, as well. Photos show it was knotted and looped around the bowsprit, so I went with something fairly simple and then loosely rolled the rope on deck. Getting it to sit right took a lot of watered-down glue and some very small but dense weights. I found that nails worked well.

 

I then tied it off to the anchor, which I rested upside down hanging off the rail (one of many ways the anchor was placed, according to photos--I thought this looked better than simply resting on deck). Getting the rope into a nice curve took some creative, light "clamping." 

 

With that dry, here's the current state of the deck, with the boards and firewood not jet glued as I may fiddle with placement. I ultimately decided against adding a "split log" to the firewood, as I don't want the deck to be excessively busy, and there are still a few more things to add.

[Keith Black]

 Great attention to detail, Jacques.