Bateau de Lanvéoc by JacquesCousteau - Scale 1:32 - From Ancre Plans

[JacquesCousteau]

Fairing continues to be a slow, tedious process. Having already finished the port side (more or less), I'm now about midway through fairing the starboard side, starting at the bow and moving aft. In general, I wish that I had cut the frames slightly closer to the lines, as I left a lot of meat on them which has made for a lot of sanding.

 

On the other hand, I've come across a frame that's too low in one spot. Frame 2's floor is a little too low compared with the other side, low enough that I can't simply sand down the other frames to meet it without throwing off the hull shape compared to the other side. I had noticed the divot when I was making the frames, but as it didn't go below the line, I thought I'd be able to fair it out. Ths spot is circled below.

 

As I see it, I have two options here. One is to remake the floor. This would give the nicest end result, but would also take a lot of work--debonding the floor not just from the futtocks, but from the keel, where it's held by a pin as well as glue, and then getting everything glued up properly without screwing up the existing fairing.

 

The second option would be to build the frame up slightly with some thin layers of planed alder, cut from the same thickness as the frame parts. 

 

I think two layers in the lowest part of the divot should be enough to bring it fair again. The repair will be covered from the exterior by the planking, although this will require me to plank up to at least that spot and not leave the lower hull open, something I was considering doing. The view from the interior will be blocked from above and ahead by the foredeck, but may be slightly visible viewing from aft. That said, I don't think it would be all that noticeable.

 

Any suggestions? I'm leaning toward trying the second option--if it works, it is the much easier repair, and if it doesn't, that piece will need to be replaced anyway.

[Bryan Woods]

Great job Jacques. I would build it up

🙂 I’ve done it on just about every model I’ve built:-)

Edited November 14 by Bryan Woods

[Keith Black]

Building it up is my vote, Jacques. 

[Thukydides]

If it was me it would depend on how visible you expect the frame to be. If you are planning to plank the area (or only plank one side of the hull, then you could choose to do so on that side), then I would just build it up. Otherwise I would probably try to remake it (though I am a bit of a perfectionist, one I know a problem exists I have trouble unseeing it).

 

That being said it is probably best to at least try option two first. You can then decide how much of a blemish it is and if you can live with it.

 

In any case the model is looking great. Looking forward to seeing you progress it.

[JacquesCousteau]

Thanks, all, for the comments and suggestions! I decided to try layering some thin alder shavings. After trimming and sanding, the repair is not very noticeable. The built-up frame is indicated below, it looks pretty much like the other frames. Some layering is visible right next to the keel, but that will be covered by the garboard.

 

From ahead, a very thin line from the layering is visible, but only barely.

 

And from aft, the only way it will be seen if I totally plank the hull, it's negligible.

 

I assume that the repair would be more visible if I applied an oil finish, due to the glue blocking absorption, but at the moment I'm thinking of finishing the hull interior in shellac. I'll have to test whether shellac over glued wood looks all that different from shellac over unglued wood.

[Keith Black]

 I see nothing! 

[Some Idea]

Reading your post reminded me of when I had the exact same problem but mine was on the transom.  I too had to build up a piece exactly as you have and at the time I felt as though it would stand out a mile.  In fact I even thought about rebuilding the transom completely to resolve the issue.  Now a couple of years later I was putting shellac on the transom and I had completely forgot about the repair and unless you knew about it - well it's invisible.  A very nice repair on your part. 

[JacquesCousteau]

Thanks, all! @Some Idea, I hadn’t remembered that from your build. Looking at it, your repair really is pretty much invisible. It's good to know that the shellac shouldn't give me any trouble on this section.

[JacquesCousteau]

Not a very exciting update. I was able to get a bit more fairing in today, and I think the hull is almost there. I think one more session focused on the starboard stern, and one last session for final fairing, should get me there.

 

 

While I'm happy with how the bow has turned out, I'm still not totally sure on the stern cant frames. I keep snapping battens trying to check. On the other hand, an already-bent bit of scrap seems to fit fairly well, and the plans do seem to show quite a curve there, so I think I'll just have to pre-bend the planking there.

 

In any case, it may be a while before I post updates. We'll be traveling for our honeymoon soon, then visiting family for Christmas. It may be January before I can finish fairing and finally start planking. In the meantime, I'll leave things off with the photo below, which I thought nicely showed the curve of the hull. 

(It's funny that it automatically adds that it's AI-generated in the corner of the photo. To disclose: I used an editing tool to erase something from my desk at the top of the photo, not to generate the model.)

[druxey]

Congratulations on getting to this stage of the model and on your marriage!

[Keith Black]

 Congratulations on your up coming marriage, Jacques. May you and your fiancee have years filled with love and a home filled with many beautiful models.

[cotrecerf]

Cordiales felicitaciones! 

[JacquesCousteau]

Thanks all! Just to be clear, we got married a while ago (legal paperwork a few years ago, ceremony and celebration this past summer), our honeymoon was just delayed quite a bit.

[Keith Black]

 *see Keith put the rice back in the cupboard 

[JacquesCousteau]

After returning from travel, I had a pretty quiet day unpacking and getting over jetlag today, and I found time to work a bit more on the Bateau. The hull is completely faired at this point. This took a lot of work, and I ended up building up a total of four frames that were just a bit too low. As earlier, I used multiple layers of wood shavings to build them up.

 

I then began to work on marking out the wales. I first marked out the location of the top of the wales as best as I could from the plan drawings. Rather than do this on every frame, I just marked several along the hull. I then glued a black thread along the line, adjusting its run as necessary to get it fair. I then added a second line for the bottom of the wales.

 

 

 

 

I'll let it sit overnight and come back to it with fresh eyes tomorrow. Photos can also help with picking up issues I don't notice when holding the model.

[JacquesCousteau]

I realized that I had placed the wales a little low, so I had to move them up a bit. It would have been much faster to do it right the first time! In any case, I'm happy with the run of the wales now.

 

I also began marking out the sheer line, following the same method with thread. Here there's a bit of an issue whether I should stick to the monograph drawings or follow the Pâris plans. As can be seen below, the monograph drawings give a nearly flat sheer, with limited rise aft and almost none at the bow.

 

In contrast, the Pâris plans (also included in the monograph) show a bit more sheer--nothing extreme, but it is noticeable in comparison. It's especially clear of you compare the sheer line on the section view drawings.

 

So, which to go with? I feel like the more pronounced sheer is a bit more pleasing to the eye, but I'm concerned about whether doing that will throw anything off with the hull, like the position of the wales. Below I marked out the sheer line with thread (a bit hard to see, sorry) following the monograph plans:

 

And below, I dropped the sheer line a bit amidships to create more of a curve:

 

I'm still deciding what to go with. The Ozanne drawings included in the monograph show fairly limited sheer in some vessels, but rather more in others.

 

 

 

Other things I'm thinking about with this build:

 

- I still don't really know what to do about the pump. None is shown in the plans. I guess it could be bailed by hand, but that hardly seems ideal when there's a large cargo load.

 

- Relatedly, I still need to add the limber holes before planking. If I decide to add them, that this--it would make sense to me to include them, but they aren't on the plans.

 

- I remain confused as to why the interior wouldn't be planked, as any passengers or cargo have to stand/be placed directly on the frames or on the inner side of the external planking.

 

- I won't get to the anchor for a while, but I wish I had a better sense of how it would be handled. The monograph includes an anchor drawing and says it would have weighed 200 lbs and that two would have been used. There is no anchor-handling equipment shown, and its not clear to me even where the anchor cable would be tied off. 200 pounds is way too big to just haul up directly by hand, so I assume they would have rigged some blocks to the mast or something, but I really have no clue how they would have gone about it.

[Waldemar]

 

Here is another image of a „traversier”, or rather two images in one. From around 1700. Hopefully you will find something useful in it.