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

[Jim Lad]

Very nice work, Paul.

 

John

[Paul Le Wol]

7 hours ago, Jim Lad said:

Very nice work, Paul.

 

John

Hi John, thank you very much!

[Javelin]

Not exactly my subject of choice, but I recognise a professional at work!

I'll simply follow along with great admiration because of your professional approach, workmanship and tricks. 

Great and very sharp construction! 

Edited May 31 by Javelin

[Paul Le Wol]

1 hour ago, Javelin said:

Not exactly my subject of choice, but I recognise a professional at work!

I'll simply follow along with great admiration because of your professional approach, workmanship and tricks. 

Great and very sharp construction! 

Roel, thank you for your generous words. They make the effort all the more worthwhile.

[yvesvidal]

On 5/31/2025 at 9:00 AM, Javelin said:

Not exactly my subject of choice, but I recognise a professional at work!

It is probably lacking some pipes to be your preferred subjects, Javelin ☺️

 

Yves

Edited June 1 by yvesvidal

[Keith Black]

1 hour ago, yvesvidal said:

It is probably lacking some pipes to be your preferred subjects, Javelin ☺️

 I let out a howl when I read that. Too funny, Yves. 

[Paul Le Wol]

Hey Everyone, Hope you are all well. Thank you very much for your Comments and Likes.  The main deck house is close to completion. The house sits on top of the side stringer which sits on top of the main stringer so these stringers are being faked by using built-up planks. the main stringer is 3/32" thick and the side stringer is 1/16" thick. The siding is 1/32" thick. The window frames were made and put in place when the siding reached the bottom of the rough openings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once the siding reached the top of the windows the section of wall that extends out to the pillars had to be added. A length of 1/8 x 1/8" was clamped in place to get the proper sheer for this extension.

 

 

 

 

Some sanding was done to get the window frames flush with the siding.

 

 

 

 

The sliding doors and some of the siding was was applied to the forward end of the house because it is easier to do it now.

 

 

 

Then everything is dry fitted

 

 

The stanchions that support the boat deck were made from 3/32" x 3/32" cherry. They needed to have 1/32" removed from the lower end where they overlap the side stringer. A 1/8" thick clear plastic 6 inch ruler was used to help file the wood to the proper thickness. You can file on these rulers all day and they just keep hanging in there.

 

 

 

These stanchions will be pinned in place and then removed before the house is permanently mounted.

 

This is her now. Next I think the main deck house will be glued together, sanded, painted and mounted so that the stringers can be installed.

 

 

[Keith Black]

Paul, this is such a tidy build, everything is put together spot on. You sure you wanna paint this beauty? She'd look sharp al natural, just sayin'. 

[Paul Le Wol]

5 minutes ago, Keith Black said:

Paul, this is such a tidy build, everything is put together spot on. You sure you wanna paint this beauty? She'd look sharp al natural, just sayin'. 

Thank you Keith. Its funny you say that because whenever I look at it I think the same thing

[Keith Black]

6 minutes ago, Paul Le Wol said:

Its funny you say that because whenever I look at it I think the same thing

 I don't even know about oiling her? She needs some sort of protection but I tell ya, that last photo sends me, just like she is!

[yvesvidal]

It all depends how the finished model will be presented. Since it is a waterline model, it may fit in a sea diorama and as such, will need to be painted to look more realistic. Otherwise, it could stay as bare wood.

 

Since the wood seems to be basswood, I would at least do some Wipe on Poly applications, to protect it.

 

Yves

[Paul Le Wol]

19 minutes ago, Keith Black said:

 I don't even know about oiling her? She needs some sort of protection but I tell ya, that last photo sends me, just like she is!

 

10 minutes ago, yvesvidal said:

It all depends how the finished model will be presented. Since it is a waterline model, it may fit in a sea diorama and as such, will need to be painted to look more realistic. Otherwise, it could stay as bare wood.

 

Since the wood seems to be basswood, I would at least do some Wipe on Poly applications, to protect it.

 

Yves

Gentlemen, thank you very much for your comments! The hull planking and the siding are AYC. I’ve found that a coat of clear shellac followed by painting turns out pretty nicely on the cedar. The biggest issue I think would be having glue blotches after applying a  coat of WOP. And I have already bought the paint for it😀

[Glen McGuire]

Fabulous work, Paul.  The lines are so clean.  Very pleasing to look at.

[Paul Le Wol]

52 minutes ago, Glen McGuire said:

Fabulous work, Paul.  The lines are so clean.  Very pleasing to look at.

Hi Glen, thanks very much for your support!

[JacquesCousteau]

Very precise work, the deckhouse looks incredible!

[Paul Le Wol]

8 minutes ago, JacquesCousteau said:

Very precise work, the deckhouse looks incredible!

Thank you Jacques, I appreciate your input very much.

[Jim Lad]

Delightful progress, Paul.

 

John

[Dr PR]

Paul,

 

Maybe it is because I have walked the Wapama's decks and am very fond of this ship, I would vote for painting the model. The fully detailed and realistically painted model is as close as we can get to visiting the ship now.

[Paul Le Wol]

9 hours ago, Jim Lad said:

Delightful progress, Paul.

 

John

Hi John, thank you very much!

 

5 hours ago, Dr PR said:

Paul,

 

Maybe it is because I have walked the Wapama's decks and am very fond of this ship, I would vote for painting the model. The fully detailed and realistically painted model is as close as we can get to visiting the ship now.

Hi Phil, thank you for expressing your thoughts and feelings. You must have great memories of Wapama. Thinking back, would you say that the color of the decks in your photos is close to the original?

[Dr PR]

Paul,

 

It is hard to say how close the deck color in the photos is to reality. These were old color slides and there was some slight greenish color shift. That was corrected in the edited version I posted. It had rained (or heavy fog) the day I took the photos so the deck was damp, and that can cause the wood to appear a darker color.

 

But it is clear that the decks had not been scrubbed or holystoned and bleached in a LONG time - if ever. It was a working ship and a lot of dirt and tree bark must have been ground in to the wood over the years. Scrubbing the decks to satisfy some admiral probably was never done!

 

Also, I don't know if the museum had applied any type of coating to preserve the wood.

 

On the other hand, since we will never know what the actual color was, using the color in the photos is a step better than a wild guess!

[Paul Le Wol]

16 minutes ago, Dr PR said:

Paul,

 

It is hard to say how close the deck color in the photos is to reality. These were old color slides and there was some slight greenish color shift. That was corrected in the edited version I posted. It had rained (or heavy fog) the day I took the photos so the deck was damp, and that can cause the wood to appear a darker color.

 

But it is clear that the decks had not been scrubbed or holystoned and bleached in a LONG time - if ever. It was a working ship and a lot of dirt and tree bark must have been ground in to the wood over the years. Scrubbing the decks to satisfy some admiral probably was never done!

 

Also, I don't know if the museum had applied any type of coating to preserve the wood.

 

On the other hand, since we will never know what the actual color was, using the color in the photos is a step better than a wild guess!

Thank you for the reply Phil. I think I will experiment with some different colors and try to get something close.