Canadian Canoe by halvoric - Midwest Products - 1:8

[yvesvidal]

Dan, David,

 

You guys are pushing the perfection to stratospheric heights, with these Indian canoes. This is fantastic.

 

Yves

[halvoric]

Gluing/clamping the first of the two decks (is this one fore or aft?  Won’t know until I install the seats I guess).  I actually had to make these two-piece, cambered and oak-veneered deck units twice.  The first ones somehow got just a bit too narrow, from not taking enough care when shaping.  
 

 

Had to fashion a couple of angle blocks to make a conventional clamp work (held in place with masking tape).  The second clamp is to compress the left side down flush with the side planking.  My pre-bending got the parts close to a perfect fit, but not quite.

 

 

The flat center section will get a tapered cherry “king plank” glued/nailed over it.

Edited February 4 by halvoric

[halvoric]

King plank, final shaped but not yet glued down:

 

Clamping set-up for the veneers (hanging on a plastic coat hanger):

[halvoric]

King plank, glued and shaped, markout for “nails” started:

 

Glued and clamped the second deck:

[halvoric]

The nails for the king plank are made from 24 gauge bare copper wire, half hard, from Craftwire.  I have some 22ga as well, may use that for bolts or screws if my Etsy-sourced brass brads are too big.

 

The pin vise bit is 1/32”, approximately a No. 69 size (about 30 thousandths).

 

I’m leaving the nails longer than they need to be as no one will see the ends.  Maybe will get obsessive about scale length on the next model 😂.

 

[halvoric]

The outwales are made from 3/16” x 1/8” x 24” basswood strips.  Looking at resource photos, the Mike Elliott book, and the archival Peterborough catalog, it’s clear that there is a particular shape to the outwales on the Model 44, the profile of which is best seen in the catalog at the top of the strip canoe page:

 

 

The Elliott book also shows a similar profile (“wide outwales”) found as well on canoes of other makers:

 

I first sanded the inside edge camber to match the top plank, then soaked and bent the two ends to match the curve of the stem end decks (neglected to take a photo).

 

Then sanded most of the top bevel into the strip before attaching, to minimize the amount of shaping needed once on the canoe (still had to do a lot of shaping).  For the other side I will also thin the ends in both taper (horizontal) and thickness dimensions before attaching.  
 

I glued it on with medium CA in 2-3 inch sections, taking care to keep the stock flush with top plank and matching the upturn curves on the deck ends.  The photos don’t show the shaping very well unfortunately.  I think the shape looks more accurate to the full-scale in person. 
 

[halvoric]

Next step will be adding the 6 screws (countersunk/pocketed I think) holding each to the decks on the ends.  Research examples:

 

I notice a fair amount of variation among the research canoes on the final shape and width of the outwales (many are restorations).  So I will try to hit a happy medium.

Edited Tuesday at 08:55 PM by halvoric
Typo fix

[king derelict]

Beautiful work Dan

alan

 

[halvoric]

Four of the six “screws” installed.  Countersunk pockets were darkened with Bitumen of Judea, then a first thin coat of shellac applied to see the effect.  These surfaces will probably get three more coats of shellac applied.

 

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