Albatros by vvvjames - OcCer - 1:100

[vvvjames]

      Hello all! I have been trying to get a lay of the land here for a few days before posting and think I am starting to get it (92 % sure I'm posting this in the correct place)!

I will post more about my story and why I got into modeling in a new member introduction post, but I wanted to get this build log started for the OcCre Albatros first. 

       I am a good way into the assembly of the hull, I made a few early mistakes that are pretty laughable and ai can't wait to show you. I am brand new to modeling in general, but still feel proud of where it's at, despite the flaws!

        Fair warning I venture off the instructions at one point to add a different type of wood from my dad's leftover model scraps, he passed last year and this is my way of honoring him, it feels very good (more on this will be posted in the introduction forum). 

ANYWAY let's get to the ship! I'll post everything I've done so far in this post, then start updating it regularly. Feedback and friends more than welcome, you all seem so nice. 

 Assembly of the hull structure

This was relatively straightforward, I will say at the time I wasn't super concerned with achieving a perfect 90° angle, BUT thankfully I used the deck piece to align the frames, and I believe that worked to get the angle. There are some mistakes I made early on in the build that are simply due to me not researching and understanding the process beforehand, I am better now(mostly). Deck planks were also glued with no mishaps woohoo! (Dad's urn in the back, it has Albatross birds engraved in the metal, very poetic)

 

 

Bulwarks

Ok, this is the biggest mistake I've made on this ship, it has caused a lot of other issues but solving them as they come up has been a big part of the fun:) Lot of creativity to be had with mistakes and it feels amazing. 

Ahhh I snapped a bulwark, and also glued them in place not completely flush with the deck slots. I don't have any pictures here because I wasn't very proud of this blunder. 

I, being ignorant to modeling in general, saw the bend at the bow and assumed,

"Well the instructions say to put it here, so surely the wood will survive the bend".

The wood said, "Don't call me Shirley" and broke. This was when I learned I was an idiot and should probably be researching more. 

Anyway I glued it the best I could and lined it over with planks, and it looked passable for now. I also lined the rest of the deck.

 

 

First Planking

Alright, on to the fun stuff, man did I brute force the planks, giving me tiny nails was a mistake. LUCKILY I did wet the wood, however I did NOT taper the ends and without the nails, glueing these would've been impossible. 

 

After seeing other builds here, this looks pretty rough, but I'm not going to lie to you, I'm still proud of it. It's flawed but I did it and took great satisfaction from the work. Will do better next time but THIS time, I'm enjoying the process and learning my lessons. 

 

 

Wood filler and sandpaper will be my salvation. 

I also lined the outside of the bulwarks and the stern of the ship, mostly covering the break in the port side bulwark but they are both still bent poorly. The one segment of off color wood in this next picture (towards the stern of the bulwark) is a piece from my dad's old kit scraps! It's off the book but still looks great there, a little piece of him. 

 

 

I used Minwax wood filler, and good lord this stuff stinks, got a headache and made my partner appropriately mad for making the whole house smell like chemical for a day. An appropriate penance for imperfection. I served my sentence stoically. 

Keel

After much sanding I planked the stern, again the bulwarks aren't completely flush and the link is imperfect. I decided to put in the keel early to help with aligning the second layer of planks

 

 

Oooh wouldn't you know it, the bulwark mistake haunting me again, when the keel is flush with the false keel (sorry if these are incorrect terms) it goes up too high on the bow, and covers the premade hole in the bulwarks meant for the foremast. Problem for later. 

Second planking

Alright, this is the real deal, no covering these with a third layer of planks. I was much more careful and even started tapering the ends, though I didn't do it as soon as I should've. Still, ended up looking pretty good and again, I'm happy with it for a first attempt. Perfect? No. But I love it. 

 

 

There's a little piece here, right behind the stern keel, that I put in straight, rather than bending the planks around to meet behind where the rudder will be attached. I have to ask, is this taboo? It made it easier to cover everything. Please let me know!

 

 

Aaaand my favorite part ... STAIN

I used a dark walnut stain after sanding the planks with a fine sandpaper. 

 

Dang doesn't that wood look amazing? I know I should focus on the flaws but agh I can't help but admire it. It feels so good to just stare at something YOU CREATED and look on it with admiration, I'm sure many of you enjoy this feeling with greater works. This hobby is so fun. I regret not getting into it sooner to discuss it with my dad, or to build one with him. He'd be proud of this one I think, he always was generous with his pride. 

Rubbing Strakes and Lining

Anyway, on to some finer details. I invested in some proper clamps, I only had one good one before now, here are some fun (delusional) clamping setups I had to do:

 

 

Laugh all you want they worked! 

Rubbing Strakes and rail (stained)-

And here is where I currently am! Rudder is next, I'm looking forward to it. Sorry for the extra long post but there was a lot to get through! I will post more updates as I continue work on this and I'm looking forward to hearing from you! Again advice and friends are welcome. 

Best, 

James

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 21 hours ago by vvvjames
Trying to remove extra pictures

[Keith Black]

 Great planking job for the fist go, James. She's looking right smart. 

[RVB]

Welcome

Your planking looks great. My son and are building a kit at the same time even being a continent away. He’s in Ca and I am in Mass. We do it by phone 5 AM his time and 8AM my time. It’s a shame you didn’t have the opportunity to do it with your dad. It’s a great bonding experience. It’s my son’s first boat build but he is learning fast. One thing to remember You learn more from your mistakes than your successes!!!

Your build looks great and your dad would be mighty proud of you. 
Best Rick (RVB)

Edited 19 hours ago by RVB

[vvvjames]

Hello all, thank you for the lovely responses and welcomes. I've been working on it throughout the day, though based off of what was accomplished you wouldn't have guessed that. I did the rudder!  I glued the bracings then nailed them in, clipping the nails short so they wouldn't go through. What a hassle. 

I yearn for a pin pusher, having to hammer dulled nails in took forever. I have an hour long time lapse of me trying to get ONE pin in. Doing something over and over expecting a different result.... I hope that's not a definition for anything. 

I put the hull braces on the pins, they seemed to stay in place alright so I was able to fix the rudder with them on it

And then I nailed! Mostly I didn't have to cut the nails short which was nice. I didn't put glue as I feel the nails did the job. Should I have?

I know the hole for the rudder is wonky, I'm not sure how to fix that, I'll think of something but if you have ideas let me know! 

Best,

James

Also I'm varnishing the hull right now and it's a bit chaotic wish me luck

 

[Keith Black]

 James, if you have a pin vise you could drill holes where the nails would fit in neatly without hammering. If you don't have a pin vise it is a simple and relatively inexpensive tool that you should have, IMHO. The bottom link is for micro drill bits and included is a pin vise that is absolutely worthless but the drill bits are the ones I buy.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Double-Detachable-Manual-Jewelry-Making/dp/B09NMGSR87/ref=sr_1_59?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.B22oabypIjH-iebkMfnzPJKL4a1vE532JIJK1jDQB5W2gooxlhfqH39wWAFNZeHkDeShVtejK1vwPqY57H38qn_-yZZTC4QhcHhvfAZ4zAOzZv61P6Hcp3o4WCbd77iPoYIju3j-aZe_R0-s-APT7HCH3_N5M8lGOFEn5ZNRe45zAkjM4VZQPcu7qaGB3-C1iuHI9fPgHLqlyNVNxHBKtBVJDokCexG8CAF4lcGnqKBrcJjFjEVSrGxuVGQXzZgLZHuJPmgdpY_og7DxQXAvar1YjQ8TRZOH9BrsKgr3wUo.vmcSnzUjNyKB76jttn8ZuITxbXpEFAo07LgWqqSykCA&dib_tag=se&hvadid=693388925260&hvdev=c&hvexpln=67&hvlocphy=9052573&hvnetw=g&hvocijid=12088025368565546822--&hvqmt=e&hvrand=12088025368565546822&hvtargid=kwd-436988750327&hydadcr=7499_13183988&keywords=pin+vise+amazon&mcid=6b07454c0cae36ef8775ed1eb0e4fe65&qid=1761378944&sr=8-59

 

https://www.amazon.com/Carburetor-Numbered-Jewelers-Mini-Pin-Plastic/dp/B0FKN8X949/ref=sr_1_13?crid=15GZPT3FXGCRK&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.tfi-QX1AoFqRxotiH0RCBQhs9jLI2An9Vwl8Tur4mOTurcnktlFWze0azTOjpCwiQmCXb-hR3HmCE0edGKX-mq8cxP-VMsBXMidh7pC76e1ZqVh8AArbYYk38se2VN868mxo8hv_pP2tV5fJmcjm0Q9wOOFRDYJZVudpnf76899vBqRCezuUeYw4qgs2CMl0z6Bc_Q2rz0HIpvv3pUq_1f1wuC2NEjPoAV-B4UhliMY.zW-Dt9aNDPFb74AtTli_s66MTrMCStxaT7gPjp36RcI&dib_tag=se&keywords=micro+drill+bits&qid=1761379202&sprefix=micro+drill+bits%2Caps%2C108&sr=8-13

 

[vvvjames]

1 hour ago, Keith Black said:

 James, if you have a pin vise you could drill holes where the nails would fit in neatly without hammering. If you don't have a pin vise it is a simple and relatively inexpensive tool that you should have, IMHO. The bottom link is for micro drill bits and included is a pin vise that is absolutely worthless but the drill bits are the ones I buy.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Double-Detachable-Manual-Jewelry-Making/dp/B09NMGSR87/ref=sr_1_59?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.B22oabypIjH-iebkMfnzPJKL4a1vE532JIJK1jDQB5W2gooxlhfqH39wWAFNZeHkDeShVtejK1vwPqY57H38qn_-yZZTC4QhcHhvfAZ4zAOzZv61P6Hcp3o4WCbd77iPoYIju3j-aZe_R0-s-APT7HCH3_N5M8lGOFEn5ZNRe45zAkjM4VZQPcu7qaGB3-C1iuHI9fPgHLqlyNVNxHBKtBVJDokCexG8CAF4lcGnqKBrcJjFjEVSrGxuVGQXzZgLZHuJPmgdpY_og7DxQXAvar1YjQ8TRZOH9BrsKgr3wUo.vmcSnzUjNyKB76jttn8ZuITxbXpEFAo07LgWqqSykCA&dib_tag=se&hvadid=693388925260&hvdev=c&hvexpln=67&hvlocphy=9052573&hvnetw=g&hvocijid=12088025368565546822--&hvqmt=e&hvrand=12088025368565546822&hvtargid=kwd-436988750327&hydadcr=7499_13183988&keywords=pin+vise+amazon&mcid=6b07454c0cae36ef8775ed1eb0e4fe65&qid=1761378944&sr=8-59

 

https://www.amazon.com/Carburetor-Numbered-Jewelers-Mini-Pin-Plastic/dp/B0FKN8X949/ref=sr_1_13?crid=15GZPT3FXGCRK&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.tfi-QX1AoFqRxotiH0RCBQhs9jLI2An9Vwl8Tur4mOTurcnktlFWze0azTOjpCwiQmCXb-hR3HmCE0edGKX-mq8cxP-VMsBXMidh7pC76e1ZqVh8AArbYYk38se2VN868mxo8hv_pP2tV5fJmcjm0Q9wOOFRDYJZVudpnf76899vBqRCezuUeYw4qgs2CMl0z6Bc_Q2rz0HIpvv3pUq_1f1wuC2NEjPoAV-B4UhliMY.zW-Dt9aNDPFb74AtTli_s66MTrMCStxaT7gPjp36RcI&dib_tag=se&keywords=micro+drill+bits&qid=1761379202&sprefix=micro+drill+bits%2Caps%2C108&sr=8-13

 

Ahhh this is perfect, would've made life a lot easier today! I have a bunch of tiny holes to drill coming up too, great timing. Thank you!

[Keith Black]

28 minutes ago, vvvjames said:

Ahhh this is perfect, would've made life a lot easier today! I have a bunch of tiny holes to drill coming up too, great timing. Thank you!

 You're more than welcome, James. The double ended pin vise is the best option, IMHO. They allow one to get closer if necessary. And yes, it definitely would have made it a lot easier.

 

 When drilling holes for nails you can drill a undersize hole, tap in the nail hoping pressure will keep the nail in place. Personally I like to drill slightly oversize, easily insert the nail with a bit of CA (super glue) on the shake to keep it in place. This is because wood dries out and shrinks and the nail could come loose. Using CA kinda insures the nail won't come out.  

[Baker]

Also possible for drilling smal holes.

An X acto knife

With the blade

With a 1mm drill

[Keith Black]

2 hours ago, Baker said:

Also possible for drilling smal holes.

An X acto knife

With the blade

 Sounds a bit sketchy to me, Patrick. It seems counterintuitive that you'd be able to apply pressure and drill a straight hole? A pin vise is an inexpensive tool designed for the sole purpose of drilling holes.