Steam Schooner Wapama 1915 by Paul Le Wol - Scale 1/72 = From Plans Drawn By Don Birkholtz Sr.

[FriedClams]

Very nice progress, Paul!  Like all your work, everything is meticulously thought out and executed.  Good call on the brass pattern for the scuppers - that's going in my notes folder. The planking around the stern looks great. 

 

Oh, and I'm having pangs of clamp envy.

 

Gary

[Paul Le Wol]

Hi Gary, thank you very much for your comments. I can’t walk by a clamp without buying it. Might have to have an intervention! 😀

[Glen McGuire]

41 minutes ago, FriedClams said:

Oh, and I'm having pangs of clamp envy.

I'm right there with you, Gary!

[Paul Le Wol]

Hi Glen, I’ll let you know if I ever come across any nano clamps for your SIBs

[Paul Le Wol]

Hi Everyone, I hope all is good. Thank you for the great Comments and Likes. Just have a bit of a planking update today. I worked my way up to the rails and added support for the forecastle subdeck which will be 1/32" plywood.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The model had to be removed from the build board and turned over to finish the fairing and planking down to the water line. Once that was done I started to focus on the counter. The first two strakes on Port and Starboard needed tapering, bending and twisting. A combination of CA and white PVA was used to keep them in place. My 2 year old Starbond CA was not up for the job so I picked up some Bob Smith CA. Read a lot of good reviews about Bob Smith and I completely agree with them. Support made from 1/8" basswood sheet has been added at the water line.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The rest of the counter planks have a slight taper and run off the stern so back to using just white PVA. Next post I hope to be finished the hull planking. See you soon.

[Keith Black]

 Nice tidy work, Paul. Everything is so clean. 

[Paul Le Wol]

28 minutes ago, Keith Black said:

 Nice tidy work, Paul. Everything is so clean. 

Thank you Keith, been doing ten minutes of sanding every day so that it isn’t such a big job at the end 

[JacquesCousteau]

Very nice work, those photos of the entire hull show how it's really coming together! Given that it's a waterline model, will you be leaving the bottom open or covering it in?

[Paul Le Wol]

12 minutes ago, JacquesCousteau said:

Very nice work, those photos of the entire hull show how it's really coming together! Given that it's a waterline model, will you be leaving the bottom open or covering it in?

Thank you Jacques, the plan at the moment is to add support behind the planks at the water line. Either a vertical or horizontal piece of 1/8” basswood between the frames to keep the planks from flexing. Other than that I think the rest will be left open. But you know how plans change 😀

[Jim Lad]

Very nicely done, Paul.

 

John

[Paul Le Wol]

48 minutes ago, Jim Lad said:

Very nicely done, Paul.

 

John

‘Thank you John, I appreciate your comment very much!

[Rick310]

Very interesting build!

Rick

[Paul Le Wol]

12 hours ago, Rick310 said:

Very interesting build!

Rick

Hi Rick, thank you very much for your comment!

[FriedClams]

Coming along nicely, Paul.  That straight on view of the bow shows how well the P/S planks are lining up to each other at the stem.  Nice.

 

Gary

[Paul Le Wol]

40 minutes ago, FriedClams said:

Coming along nicely, Paul.  That straight on view of the bow shows how well the P/S planks are lining up to each other at the stem.  Nice.

 

Gary

Thank you Gary, I was a tad surprised when I saw that photo. Usually my builds aren’t all that symmetrical.

[Paul Le Wol]

Hi Everyone, hope you are all doing well. Thank you very much for the Comments and Likes! The hull planking is finished. As the planks ran off the bulkheads and below the waterline, 1/8" blocks of basswood were added to define the waterline and add to the structural integrity of the hull. They were glued into place after the planking was installed to make it easier for clamping.

 

 

 

Once the blocks had been installed the planks were planed down so that they were 1/16" proud of the blocks. The process started at the stern and moved forward.

 

 

 

 

I had some Cleco type side grip clamps that had been used for metal work. They have a strong grip but didn't mark the AYC. They were good for the straight lengths. I got them from Aircraft Spruce. They are about 6.00 CAD each plus you need the pliers to put them on and take them off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I started making the tabs that are glued to the back of the planks longer so that they extended from both sides. This made them interlock with the previous plank's tabs.

 

 

 

After the planking was completed they were sanded back to the waterline and the hull was mounted back onto the build board.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I went over it with 120 grit paper but it still needs more sanding. Once the sanding is finished the rub rails can be attached. Hope to see you when the dust settles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 23 hours ago by Paul Le Wol

[Jim Lad]

Looking good, Paul!

 

John

[JacquesCousteau]

Very nice work! That stern looks a bit tricky to plank but it turned out well.

[Glen McGuire]

Excellent job on the planking, Paul.  That's as good as I've seen.

[Paul Le Wol]

49 minutes ago, Jim Lad said:

Looking good, Paul!

 

John

 

16 minutes ago, JacquesCousteau said:

Very nice work! That stern looks a bit tricky to plank but it turned out well.

 

13 minutes ago, Glen McGuire said:

Excellent job on the planking, Paul.  That's as good as I've seen.

Gentlemen, thank you very much for your kind comments! Although the planking was fun I’m glad that I didn’t have to do below the waterline 

[Keith Black]

 The hull looks really spiffy, Paul. Very impressive. 

[Paul Le Wol]

25 minutes ago, Keith Black said:

 The hull looks really spiffy, Paul. Very impressive. 

Keith, thank you very much for your support!

[Mirabell61]

Very nice work Paul !

Your buildlog is very interesting to follow, well done

 

Nils

[Paul Le Wol]

3 hours ago, Mirabell61 said:

Very nice work Paul !

Your buildlog is very interesting to follow, well done

 

Nils

Thank you very much Nils. Its good to hear from you.