Le Chebec by Yvesvidal - CAF Model - 1/48

[yvesvidal]

If I told you that I have had an indigestion of frames, would you believe me?

 

Seriously, I just finished building 84 frames with just 4 more to go on the stern. The rear frames were by far the most difficult to remove from the plates, sand, adjust on the keel, fair and verify. Here are most of the tools I used to build these 84 frames:

 

 

The Dremel...? Indispensable. Oh and some sand paper to finish before oiling and waxing the wood.

 

Below is Number #74 to #79:

 

 

Then, #80 to #84+

 

 

Dry fitting:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course, not all frames are perfect. I do have some misalignments and I am hoping that once some planking is in place (inside and outside), things may recover nicely. Also,  there are four gun ports that I did not build yet and I will address these once the deck beams are in place and the hull a little bit sturdier.

 

Now is time to glue it all and "Commit" !!!

 

Yves

 

[Matt D]

It looks amazing, Yves!  I hope your gluing goes well.

[Kevin]

that all looks very nice and tidy

[yvesvidal]

All the frames have been glued and the keelson finalized:

 

 

 

That cradle is quite practical, and it allows me to store the ship away from my bench, quite easily:

 

 

It is a large model but nothing comparable to the humongous size of the HMS Bellona.

 

Happy Holidays to all.

Yves

 

[yvesvidal]

This is where we stand, at this moment. As mentioned before, the frames cannot be removed from the cradle until the deck beams and the inside of the hull have been built:

 

 

 

Yves

[James H]

That really does look excellent, and your work is so clean.

[yvesvidal]

On 12/27/2024 at 10:16 AM, James H said:

That really does look excellent, and your work is so clean.

Thank you James. Coming from you, it means a lot.

 

Yves

Edited December 28, 2024 by yvesvidal

[yvesvidal]

Moving on with tedious and extremely delicate tasks. I decided to tree nail the wood pieces. It helps bonding with the frames, as the holes go inside the frame. Not sure I will do that everywhere inside the hull, as it will be barely visible.

 

 

There is no way to hold the planks internally and you have to maintain them with your fingers, while the glue dries. Not exactly practical.

 

 

 

The tree nailing is very subtle, which I prefer a lot.

 

 

Yves

[yvesvidal]

I am starting to blend Session #1 and Session #2. Like most CAF Model kits, this ship comes in two sessions.

 

The first session is all about the cradle, the hull and frames, including the stern.

Session #2 is everything else.

 

I did not complete the stern as it would impede easy access into the hull, for installing, nailing and sanding the inner planking. I will return to the stern (end of Session #1) at a later date.

 

For now, I am trying to do the following:

 

 

As indicated before, it is very difficult as there is no room for clamps, since the hull is stuck in its cradle and cannot be removed, yet. The long timber pieces have to be formed by hand, soaking them in alcohol and them bending them by hand, until they have reached the approximate desired shape. Gluing is then done in sections, using CA glue, and maintained with your fingers while drying.

 

 

Below, you can see how the open stern helps with the internal access.

 

 

 

The tree nailing is done as much as possible like on a real ship. The holes are actually crossing all the way into the frames, and the toothpicks soaked with glue are actually connecting the parts. It adds a little bit of bonding into some areas which are not possible to glue easily.

 

 

Yves

Edited Thursday at 12:58 PM by yvesvidal

[Greg Davis]

This is beautiful work - I've often been tempted to try this model! 

 

Out of curiosity, how well does the glue - both Titebond and CA - hold on your oiled and waxed pieces of wood?

 

Greg

[yvesvidal]

Greg,

 

So far the parts are holding very well. Oiling and Waxing (combined in one product) are done mostly after gluing. However, some parts are oiled/waxed before gluing and to be on the safe side, I wait a day or two for the wood to suck all the chemicals before gluing. It seems to work fine and it is pretty strong. Thank you for the compliment.

 

Yves

[yvesvidal]

Working on the bases of the masts. First the main mast. If someone could explain to me what are these small yellow dots on the mast shims, I would appreciate it. The shims have not been sanded and I will finalize the base, when building the main mast.

 

 

 

The base is not glued yet:

 

 

Yves

Edited Thursday at 01:15 AM by yvesvidal

[hamilton]

Feel like I just took a short nap since last I checked in on your log, Yves - and now look! This is another huge one from CAF....looking really great so far!

hamilton