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

[JacquesCousteau]

Nice work! I never would have thought of using that material a base, but it looks great, and from a distance gives the impression of a gray sea.

[Paul Le Wol]

5 minutes ago, JacquesCousteau said:

Nice work! I never would have thought of using that material a base, but it looks great, and from a distance gives the impression of a gray sea.

Thank you Jacques. They had sample pieces that looked like wood but said that they never get remnants of those. I guess wood kitchens have fallen from grace.

[Keith Black]

 Great post, Paul. The base looks terrific, nice snag. And the planking is looking fantastic. What wood species is the planking?

[Paul Le Wol]

31 minutes ago, Keith Black said:

 Great post, Paul. The base looks terrific, nice snag. And the planking is looking fantastic. What wood species is the planking?

Thank you Keith. The decks are planked with 1/32”x 5/64” Alaskan Yellow Cedar from Modeler’s Sawmill. They are individually washed with thinned Vallejo Model Colour Old Wood and then given a coat of Wipe on Poly tinted with Vallejo Dark Slate Grey pigment. Every plank has a mind of its own on how it wants to look. Then the backsides need a light sanding before gluing down. The W-O-P makes it easy to remove excess glue with a damp brush

[Jim Lad]

She's really coming together, Paul!

 

John

[Glen McGuire]

Agree with everyone on the base.  Very unique.  Well done!

[Paul Le Wol]

37 minutes ago, Jim Lad said:

She's really coming together, Paul!

 

John

 

28 minutes ago, Glen McGuire said:

Agree with everyone on the base.  Very unique.  Well done!

Gentlemen, thank you for your Comments. I always appreciate them very much!

[Paul Le Wol]

Hi Everyone, I hope you are all well. Thank you very much for your Comments and Likes. This update has a few smaller items, the first ones being a second set of bitts that had to be installed before the deck planking could continue. They were made with 1/8" dowel and 1/32" plywood. The  4mm diameter disks were made with the die punch. After gluing the disks to the dowels they were they were put in an electric drill and shaped.

 

 

 

 

After painting they were glued to the subdeck and the planking started again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I used three hooded planks and then changed over to nibbing the next three. While this was going on the cover panels for the steering gear was made and attached.

 

 

A 14mm dowel was made to support the funnel. It has a taper cut into one side that sits against a support bulkhead and is held with a 3/8" #4 wood screw.

 

 

 

 

Also at this time I received a custom order from Ropes of Scale. Ben made three different shades of grey  that I wanted to look like wire rope/ cable. I got some of each because they they all look so good. So far I've used the darkest shade for the steering cable that runs through the trough and up to the wheel house.

 

 

Next came the framing to support the boat deck above the forward cabins. Temporary strips of wood were glued in place to guide the fascia board as it is glued to the stanchions.

 

 

Another strip of wood was clamped to the tops of the stanchions to keep them in line

 

 

The fascia board was pushed up against the guide boards and glued to the stanchions starting at the aft end,

 

 

 

 

The temporary boards were removed and then frames were made to fit between the stanchions. All of the stanchions are not equally spaced between each other and are spaced differently port and starboard. So lots of measuring.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the funnel had to get a test fit

 

 

She is now ready to start the subdeck for the forward end of the boat deck. Hope to see you soon.

[Keith Black]

 A great way to make bits, I've tucked that away for future reference. The lines for the wire rope look terrific as does the rest of your updated work, Paul.   

[Paul Le Wol]

36 minutes ago, Keith Black said:

 A great way to make bits, I've tucked that away for future reference. The lines for the wire rope look terrific as does the rest of your updated work, Paul.   

Thank you very much Keith. Yes I am really happy with the way the rope looks.

[yvesvidal]

I love the sub-board that you are using to display the hull: very nice rendition of the water.

 

Yves

[wefalck]

Nice work, but weren't those bits not normally set on top of the deck-planking and the plates screwed down through it to some beams?

[Paul Le Wol]

43 minutes ago, yvesvidal said:

I love the sub-board that you are using to display the hull: very nice rendition of the water.

 

Yves

Thank you very much Yves, I enjoyed working with the solid surface material. Around here it isn’t that easy to find. Most places are dealing with quartz and granite. Would be nice if they had a better selection.

 

25 minutes ago, wefalck said:

Nice work, but weren't those bits not normally set on top of the deck-planking and the plates screwed down through it to some beams?

Thank you very much wefalck, my intent was to make it look like they are sitting on top of the planks but I didn’t want to get too involved with bolt heads and things because once the boat deck goes on most of this will be barely visible.

[steamschooner]

Paul, Wapama is looking really good. I have a question about the color of the cabins and upper hull. It might be my monitor or my old eyes but it looks like the cabins are painted the lt gray hull color. I know white will reflect surrounding colors. So are the cabins and upper hull painted white and I am just seeing the lt gray being picked up by the white surfaces.

Steve

[Paul Le Wol]

8 minutes ago, steamschooner said:

Paul, Wapama is looking really good. I have a question about the color of the cabins and upper hull. It might be my monitor or my old eyes but it looks like the cabins are painted the lt gray hull color. I know white will reflect surrounding colors. So are the cabins and upper hull painted white and I am just seeing the lt gray being picked up by the white surfaces.

Steve

Hey Steve, thank you very much. Everything but the lower hull is painted with Vallejo Grey White. Depending on the lighting every surface looks a different shade of white. There isn’t a big difference between the grey white and the USAF grey that I made a little darker but I didn’t want to paint it a bright white and a dark grey.

[Jim Lad]

More very nice progress, Paul. Reminds us of just how complex even a small ship is!

 

John

[Paul Le Wol]

6 minutes ago, Jim Lad said:

More very nice progress, Paul. Reminds us of just how complex even a small ship is!

 

John

Thank you John, I really appreciate it!

[steamschooner]

Paul, Was the grey ropes from Ropes of scale a special order? As I do not see it listed on their website.

Steve

[Paul Le Wol]

1 minute ago, steamschooner said:

Paul, Was the grey ropes from Ropes of scale a special order? As I do not see it listed on their website.

Steve

Yes it was a custom order. I emailed Ben and told him what I was looking for. He emailed me back a photo of the rope that he made to see if they were suitable. Very good to deal with.