Annapolis Wherry by Landlubber Mike - FINISHED - Chesapeake Light Craft - 1:8

[Landlubber Mike]

In the fall of 2019, I went to a model boat show in the Eastern Shore of Maryland, which ended up turning into a family mini vacation.  At the show my wife decided to buy some raffle tickets and she ended up winning the Chesapeake Light Craft Annapolis Wherry kit.

It's an interesting kit with a really nice 102-page spiral bound instruction manual (with three build photos per page).  As an added bonus, CLC put out a 40 minute video on YouTube showing step by step construction.  The model is built very similarly to their full sized wherry kit which CLC sells.  Construction involves connecting the overlapping strakes with wire, which are then wrapped around the frames to form the shape (eventually, those wire ties are removed).

 

For more information, you can go to CLC's website here:

 

https://clcboats.com/shop/boats/scale-model-kits/annapolis-wherry-scale-model.html

 

I should mention that @jbelwood and @gsdpic posted their very nice builds on here.  Originally I wasn't going to post a build log, but I figured I might as well in case people are interested in seeing how this nice kit comes together.

Edited 15 hours ago by Landlubber Mike

[Landlubber Mike]

In the summer of 2020, I asked my young kids if they wanted to build it for their mother as a Christmas present.  They were all gung ho until the first step which involved using CA to create the long strakes.  Between the smell and sticky fingers, they quickly lost interest.  I ended up gluing the two pieces of each of the ten strakes together, and then the kit sat on the shelf ever since.

 

A couple of nights ago I decided to take the kit off the shelf to take a mental break from some of the other models I'm working on.  I thought I remembered reading somewhere that the kit takes about 20 hours to complete (which means it will take me 50+ given how slow I work), but I figured it's a good "palette-cleanser build" and a good time of year to build it with the weather turning nicer so that it can be painted outdoors.  Given the estimated time it would take, it would also help free up shelving given the size of the box.

 

First thing I did was clean up the CA between the joint in the strakes.  I haven't decided how I'm going to finish it, but I likely will stain and varnish the interior so I tried to make sure that there was no stray CA.  For this I used a hand sander to start, followed by some sanding by hand.

Edited March 12 by Landlubber Mike

[Landlubber Mike]

Here is where I am at the moment.  The kit has you stitch the first two pairs of strakes using included copper wire, then super glue the four frames in.  It's a little trickier than it sounds as the planks move around a little from the wire ties, and you want to keep the puzzle joint in perfect alignment as well as have the strakes slightly overlap one another as indicated by the indentations of the frames.  You naturally also want to have no gap between the first pair of strakes.  I found I had to pop off a couple of the frames to re-do things to have a tighter and more accurate fit, but I eventually got there.

 

Next I added the third pair of strakes, which are tied in via the copper wire but not yet glued.  Now that the frames are locked into proper position with the first two pairs of strakes, planks 3-5 should be a lot easier to install.

Thanks for looking in!

[JacquesCousteau]

Looks like an interesting build!

[Landlubber Mike]

3 minutes ago, JacquesCousteau said:

Looks like an interesting build!

Thanks!  It's something different.  CLC also offers three other light craft kits that seem to build up similarly in case people are interested.

[king derelict]

I’ll watch with great interest. It sounds like a nice looking model when finished with a rather different build method. Good luck, I’m sure it will come out well.

alan

[gsdpic]

Thanks for the call out.  Those interested can see the gallery of my build by following the link in my signature.  I did not do a build log.  Mine was something I ordered off the web during the pandemic and the color choices mostly came down to what rattle can paint I had on hand.

 

It was something a little different to build but came together well and fairly quickly.   As I recall, I just spent a few weekends working on it.

[DocRob]

Nice little craft in very large scale, Mike, this should be interesting and hopefully refreshing, as you wanted it to be. 

Cheers Rob

[Landlubber Mike]

41 minutes ago, king derelict said:

I’ll watch with great interest. It sounds like a nice looking model when finished with a rather different build method. Good luck, I’m sure it will come out well.

alan

Thanks Alan!  It's definitely something a little different to build.  Maybe it will get me back to building wooden ship models  

[Landlubber Mike]

16 minutes ago, gsdpic said:

Thanks for the call out.  Those interested can see the gallery of my build by following the link in my signature.  I did not do a build log.  Mine was something I ordered off the web during the pandemic and the color choices mostly came down to what rattle can paint I had on hand.

 

It was something a little different to build but came together well and fairly quickly.   As I recall, I just spent a few weekends working on it.

Yours came out really nice Gary - I went back to your gallery to see if I was inspired enough to build the kit, and sure enough, I was.

 

It doesn't seem to be too long of a build.  Once I've buttoned up the stern and bow, it should be pretty quick I think (famous last words).

[Landlubber Mike]

16 minutes ago, DocRob said:

Nice little craft in very large scale, Mike, this should be interesting and hopefully refreshing, as you wanted it to be. 

Cheers Rob

Thanks Rob!  

 

For some reason, I tend to lose interest in builds as I get near the finishing point.  Part of it I think comes down to hitting a point where I feel like I want to figure out how to approach something I've never done before - so rather than hit build paralysis, I just pick up something else.  Part of it might also be avoiding finishing the build, as it seems anticlimactic, if not depressing, as it is like saying goodbye to an old friend.  

 

A more recent development for me is that my mother-in-law passed away a couple of years ago, so my father-in-law is living with us in a spare bedroom in our basement.  My power tools and airbrush are down there, so it's difficult to put much work into models in late evenings like I used to as he tends to go to bed early.  It's much easier for me to do early construction parts of builds upstairs, so that's a big reason why I have a number of kits in various stages of completion.  

 

Along those lines, I started a Planet Models 1/72 Gamma a week and a half ago.  It's a quick build, and I'm already at the painting stage.  Given the size, I can run downstairs in the early evening to throw some paint on, then work on other things in the later evening.  That was originally my palette-cleanser build, but got stuck with the painting.  I probably won't put a build log on here or LSM as it's not particularly topical or likely interesting for folks, but I have a project log on Scalemates going so that I can remember what I've done on builds -- or re-live some of the painful moments  

Edited March 12 by Landlubber Mike

[AJohnson]

Hi Mike, I really enjoy following your  builds and now understand you not being able to finish some of them.  Respect to you. Family before all else. Happy to follow along to whatever time you can steal for yourself and share with us. 😀

[Landlubber Mike]

1 hour ago, AJohnson said:

Hi Mike, I really enjoy following your  builds and now understand you not being able to finish some of them.  Respect to you. Family before all else. Happy to follow along to whatever time you can steal for yourself and share with us. 😀

Andrew, many thanks for your kind words.  I’ve enjoyed your builds as well - am really liking your Sparkler!  
 

Hope you are feeling better these days!  Warmer days are around the corner (hopefully) so would love to see you continue work on her!

[DocRob]

13 hours ago, Landlubber Mike said:

For some reason, I tend to lose interest in builds as I get near the finishing point.  Part of it I think comes down to hitting a point where I feel like I want to figure out how to approach something I've never done before - so rather than hit build paralysis, I just pick up something else.  Part of it might also be avoiding finishing the build, as it seems anticlimactic, if not depressing, as it is like saying goodbye to an old friend.  

 

A more recent development for me is that my mother-in-law passed away a couple of years ago, so my father-in-law is living with us in a spare bedroom in our basement.  My power tools and airbrush are down there, so it's difficult to put much work into models in late evenings like I used to as he tends to go to bed early.  It's much easier for me to do early construction parts of builds upstairs, so that's a big reason why I have a number of kits in various stages of completion.  

 

Along those lines, I started a Planet Models 1/72 Gamma a week and a half ago.  It's a quick build, and I'm already at the painting stage.  Given the size, I can run downstairs in the early evening to throw some paint on, then work on other things in the later evening.  That was originally my palette-cleanser build, but got stuck with the painting.  I probably won't put a build log on here or LSM as it's not particularly topical or likely interesting for folks, but I have a project log on Scalemates going so that I can remember what I've done on builds -- or re-live some of the painful moments  

I know that anticlimactic feeling as well Mike, happens to me all the time. During a build, I like to build up a certain grade of tension, which keeps me on the heels and drives me through obstacles during the ride. Crossing the finish line is rewarding, but I can only enjoy it, when I have an interesting follow up project in mind. It´s the same with good books to me. I don´t like to end one, without some other decent stuff in vicinity.
One thing, which usually keeps me in a build is my dislike for the SOD idea. I hate to shelf projects, as I rate it as a kind of failure. I have a finished model´s picture in my head, when I start  a project and I want to fulfill that image with all my abilities. I felt very bad about shelfing my 1/32 Arado 234 twice and was very relieved when I finished it two years ago. Same with the Duchess of Kingston, which I built like in great flow, hurdling all the obstacles, which were new to me, only to shy away from the rigging phase. That´s like an open wound and I have to close it soon.
A hobby like modelling is about passion to me and that leads to various states of minds during a project and I try to keep each project on a demanding but satisfactory level. As I have no competition around in my isolated place, I´m always my fiercest competitor myself.

Cheers Rob

[Landlubber Mike]

3 hours ago, DocRob said:

I know that anticlimactic feeling as well Mike, happens to me all the time. During a build, I like to build up a certain grade of tension, which keeps me on the heels and drives me through obstacles during the ride. Crossing the finish line is rewarding, but I can only enjoy it, when I have an interesting follow up project in mind. It´s the same with good books to me. I don´t like to end one, without some other decent stuff in vicinity.
One thing, which usually keeps me in a build is my dislike for the SOD idea. I hate to shelf projects, as I rate it as a kind of failure. I have a finished model´s picture in my head, when I start  a project and I want to fulfill that image with all my abilities. I felt very bad about shelfing my 1/32 Arado 234 twice and was very relieved when I finished it two years ago. Same with the Duchess of Kingston, which I built like in great flow, hurdling all the obstacles, which were new to me, only to shy away from the rigging phase. That´s like an open wound and I have to close it soon.
A hobby like modelling is about passion to me and that leads to various states of minds during a project and I try to keep each project on a demanding but satisfactory level. As I have no competition around in my isolated place, I´m always my fiercest competitor myself.

Cheers Rob

Thanks for your thoughts Rob.  I agree with a lot of what you said and feel on modeling.  I'm less interested in the destination and more interested in the journey.  I should try rating myself as a failure for not finishing kits and maybe I won't have as many 50-75% completed builds floating around   I do plan to circle back to them when the mojo strikes - someday....  It's funny, I got into plastic modeling in part for quick palette cleansing builds after some of the grinds in wooden ship modeling, but then got into AM, trying to improve accuracy, dioramas, etc. and those turned out to be much longer builds than I would have originally expected.

 

I thought participating in group builds would push me to start and finish more models rather than jump around.  That really hasn't been the case though.  On LSP, I was moving along pretty quickly on the Walrus for the "wet" build but sorta hit a standstill when it came to figuring out how to do the rigging.  I ended up finishing my JRS-1 but only after an extra two months was added and many late nights before the deadline (not fun but did push me to finish).  For the sandbox build I probably bit off more than I could chew with two separate dioramas and missed the deadline as well.

 

I too am only competitive with myself, and I figure as long as I'm enjoying and challenging myself, who cares if I finish a build.

[Landlubber Mike]

I made some good progress last night, installing the last two pairs of strakes on the wherry.  It actually looks like a boat now  

The next stage involves gluing the stem and stern transom in.  With the copper wire ties, it's a little tricky getting the planks to line up properly.  The stem is in fairly good shape and will probably just need a little work to get the planks to line up.  The transom is quite a bit more difficult, and I'll probably have to slowly glue each plank individually as the ties make it a bit awkward to get the transom in the right orientation when the strakes are overlapping. Hopefully it's just a matter of loosening some ties and tightening others to get it to sit right.

 

Thanks for looking in! 

 

[Landlubber Mike]

I had some time this weekend for a change, and managed to get some good progress in on the wherry:

• glued the stem and transom in,
• installed the breasthook and quarter knees, and
• glued all the strakes together and removed the brass staples

The stem and transom were fairly tricky to glue, as the staples didn't necessarily orient the strakes in the right position.  For the stem, I found I had to glue them in pairs starting from the keel up to get the stem lined up correctly.  Thankfully there seems to be enough material on either side to sand back to get a straight stem.  

 

The transom on the other hand gave me fits, as I couldn't seem to get it to sit square with the center line.  I found I had to loosen the staples on one side, and hold the transom in position and glue the other side in, then slowly glue  each plank on the loosened side in place.  I even had to pop the top strake off third bulkhead to make the strake sit better along the hull.  Eventually things fell in line, and I was able to proceed with the third step and run a thin bead of CA along the planks from the exterior to lock everything in place.

 

At this point, there's not much more to add to the wherry besides the skeg, seats, and outwales, followed by the sliding seat assembly and the oars.  I think I might do a few things out of order from the instruction manual - namely, fill the holes, sand down the exterior and interior of the hull to remove extra CA and have a nice smooth surface for eventually painting (outside) and staining (inside), and then attach those other items.  I've tried to be fairly careful with the CA, especially on the visible interior areas, but i'm not exactly looking forward to all that sanding work so i might as well get most of it done in one shot.

 

On a more fun note, I ordered some spray paints for the model.  The manual suggested gloss white for the exterior and a varnish on the interior, and semi-gloss black for the sliding seat.  I decided to go a little differently, rather than a shiny white accented by a stark black.  So, I'm going with an heirloom white (more of an off-white) for the hull, and a charcoal gray for the sliding seat.  I have some stains I'll test on the interior, and then will probably go with a semi-gloss finish.

 

Thanks for looking in!

[ccoyle]

I would love to build the 1:1 version of this boat, but I have no place to store one, and of course I'd have to trailer it and have no room for a trailer, either. Oh, well. Have you seen this video of a CLC wherry being rowed? I love the part where the guy overtakes a group of kayakers with ease.

[Landlubber Mike]

1 hour ago, ccoyle said:

I would love to build the 1:1 version of this boat, but I have no place to store one, and of course I'd have to trailer it and have no room for a trailer, either. Oh, well. Have you seen this video of a CLC wherry being rowed? I love the part where the guy overtakes a group of kayakers with ease.

That sliding rowing seat contraption looks pretty cool - he's moving across the water fairly quickly!

[Glen McGuire]

I am on board and caught up on all the posts.  This looks like an interesting and fun project, Mike!  

[king derelict]

You are making a beautiful model Mike. It looks fiddle but the results are great.

alan

[Landlubber Mike]

9 hours ago, Glen McGuire said:

I am on board and caught up on all the posts.  This looks like an interesting and fun project, Mike!  

 

6 hours ago, king derelict said:

You are making a beautiful model Mike. It looks fiddle but the results are great.

alan

Thanks guys!  It's been an interesting project, especially with the copper wire tie construction method.  Learned something new on this one.

[Landlubber Mike]

Finished!  

 

Somewhere I think I read that this kit takes about 20 hours to build.  It probably took me 40-50.  I had to backtrack a bit and rebuild the hull because the stem and stern settled off kilter.  With the super glue method of construction, it was fairly easy to pop off the planks, sand off the glue, and re-glue.  For paints and stains, I used the following:

 

Unpainted sections:  I used a combination of Minwax Golden Oak for most of the interior, and Minwax Gunstock for the rails, seats, frames, etc.  These were sealed with Minwax Polycrylic clear semi-gloss.

 

Painted sections:  I primed all painted sections with Rust-Oleum Flat Gray.  The white was done using Rust-Oleum Heirloom White, which I liked because it was a softer, almost cream white instead of a stark white.  I originally used Rust-Oleum Charcoal Gray for the black sections, but I thought it was too light for what was supposed to be carbon fiber.  So, I ended up spraying with a 2:1 mixture of Tamiya Nato Gray/Tamiya Flat Black.  I then cleared with Rust-Oleum Clear Semi-Gloss.

 

All in all, this was a really fun kit that used different construction methods than we typically use in wooden model ship building - so, I certainly learned a lot.  I would definitely recommend it (or the other CLC kits) if you're looking for a quick palette-cleanser.

 

It's a fairly long model, so my apologies for the poor pictures - best I could do!

 

Thanks for looking in!

 

 

[gsdpic]

Looks great!  Such an elegant little craft.  And yea I remember also having trouble taking pictures of it due to the extreme proportions.

 

[JacquesCousteau]

Excellent job, the finish looks great! And good call on the color for the carbon fiber sections.

[vossiewulf]

Having grown up in Annapolis and sailing the Severn River and the Bay, I approve. Nice job Mike

 

[AJohnson]

What a beautiful model you have made  Mike!  

[madtatt]

Wow, what an elegant, beautifully designed boat.
I'm not a wooden boat builder, but I think you did a really good job. 👍

[Ronald-V]

Very nice finished boat! Well done, love the colors also

 

[Landlubber Mike]

Thanks guys!  Really appreciate the kind words!

 

One point I forgot to mention earlier.  I think someone had mentioned problems with super glue causing wood areas not to pick up stain.  I was very careful with my glue applications and sanding to make sure that I didn't have any stray CA on the stained areas.  I did have a couple of small areas that didn't pick up stain very well, despite plenty of sanding.  I think this might have been due to the fact that the kit wood is plywood.  So, it's possible that I had sanded down the top layer to the adhesive between the first and second layer, which would probably cause the same issue of the stain not completely penetrating.  Just a thought and probably worth remembering should I work with plywood in the future.