Sakonnet Daysailer by palmerit - Midwest Products - 1:24

[palmerit]

I bought this Sakonnet Daysailer model during a 1/2 off sale at Model Expo months ago - not that it was expensive to begin with. This is based on an old Midwest model. I believe Model Expo / Model Shipways bought out their kits several years back and they have been gradually reissuing them under the Model Shipways banner. 

 

Olha Batchvarov used it for her first YouTube live stream build. I bought it because it was small, inexpensive, and because of Olha's video build log. I figured I could follow along on her build - fast forwarding over many of the sections - to see if there is anything I can learn by following along. This one is considered a "Skill Level 2" for Midwest kits.

 

I have four models underway now (the Phildelphia is packed away for a bit because it is a fairly large model). After planking the Lady Isabella and setting it aside to dry, shaping some planks on the Peabod and leaving it to dry, and doing a bit of painting on the Crabbing Skiff and Scow Scooner and leaving them to dry, I wanted something else to work on for a bit while waiting to pick up my younger son from the airport late tonight. I figured this Daysailer would be a relatively easy filler build from time to time, even if it takes a while before I finish it.

Edited November 15 by palmerit

[palmerit]

Here's Olha Batchvarov's playlist for building the Sakonnet Daysailer. This is her first live build.

 

[JacquesCousteau]

Looks like a fun little build! I'm curious, are the blocks wood or plastic? I know I've seen some mentions of plastic blocks on the older kits, I don't know if Model Expo updated that when they restarted production.

[palmerit]

49 minutes ago, JacquesCousteau said:

I'm curious, are the blocks wood or plastic?

I’ll need to check. They are plastic and oddly shaped on the Midwest Crabbing Skiff kit. I’m planning to replace those with Syren blocks for have. The Crabbing Skiff did come with descent wood cleats, not the garbage Britannia metal that often comes with Model Shipways kits. I’m definitely planning to replace the rope - with Syren, or left over Vanguard, or some I make myself if I get a rope walk. 
 

One reason for doing this kit is that Olha spends several episodes on the sails, doing them the right way. I’m planning to follow along. 
 

With other Midwest kits I’ve worked on, Model Shipways updated I think the laser cut planks, and had to re-source the material. The instructions are barely updated. In the kits I’ve built they reference a paint brand that hasn’t been around for years. They recommend using electrical tape to mask off while painting. And mostly use CA glue in the instructions - I generally use PVA. 

[Ronald-V]

Have fun with this one! I'm a person that not has the mental room to do more ship projects at once...to confusing haha, but it's nice to see that there are people who have multiple projects 👌

[palmerit]

7 hours ago, Ronald-V said:

I'm a person that not has the mental room to do more ship projects at once

I can't imagine building five Sphinx-scale models at once 😉

[palmerit]

Spoiled by Vanguard’s engineering. A bit of a challenge to make sure these “old school” frames are aligned properly. 

[palmerit]

23 hours ago, JacquesCousteau said:

I'm curious, are the blocks wood or plastic?

The cleats and blocks are pretty low quality plastic. I’ll be replacing them. 

[JacquesCousteau]

53 minutes ago, palmerit said:

The cleats and blocks are pretty low quality plastic. I’ll be replacing them. 

That's unfortunate. It's odd to me that they haven't updated to at least basic wooden ones, as model expo makes and sells those and includes them in model shipways kits. Why not simplify production? At least better replacements aren't too hard to find.

[palmerit]

Model Expo is certainly not at the cutting edge of model ship kits. I don’t know the last time they came out with a new kit. They’re re-issuing Midwest kits with few updates. I’ve heard that they’re planning to reissue something own kits.

 

It is a shame they don’t improve the quality a bit. They could channel some of their energy and money from ads and sales to kits. 

[palmerit]

Adding the deck. I had to sand down the tops of the bulkheads a bit so that the deck laid flush along its length - the instructions obviously point out that you need to sand down the transom, but you also need to sand down over the length of the boat. It will have a bit of a camber. 
 

You need to make sure the hole in the deck is lined up with the mast step, even though that means that things don’t line up quite right in the interior seating section. It would have driven me nuts except that I saw that Olha had the same issue in her build. This will take some repairing later. 
 

You need to do some creative clamping to hold the deck in place flush with the bulkheads to glue. A combination of clamps holding rubber bands that wrapped around the deck worked for me. 
 

After securing, I added some more glue underneath for extra strength - a trick I learned from Vanguard model instructions.