Marie Jeanne 580 by Roach Boi - Billing Boats - 1:50

[Roach Boi]

Here we are, my first build log on this site! 

 

I received this kit at a Christmas gift and I've had my eye on it for awhile. Not sure what drew my attention to this boat but I find its design really interesting and I love the enormous tuna rods that come off the side. I'm an experienced modeler but relatively new to the wooden ship hobby so follow along if you're interested in how I try to tackle this beast of a kit. I'm going to be working on this alongside the lobstersmack which I have on hold for now but I want to make a log for this kit specifically because of the limited logs I've found of the billing boats version of this French tuna boat. 

 

 

I'm a bit ahead in the build already at the time of writing this but I've been taking some photos along the way. The first step was to build a base with some scrap wood to fit the helling (heeling?) for the keel. I used the bulbing board from my Model Shipways Dory along with some scrap pieces of wood I broke apart to afix the keel in place to help angle the ribs correctly. I squared this triangle helling with some machinists blocks and sandpaper before gluing it to the bulbing board, I did the same to the bottom of the keel to make sure everything sat nice and square to the board.

 

 

After this I began installing the ribs as shown. I used my two machinists blocks on either side of the rib to keep it square to the keel while gluing (I was a bit further along in this photo but wanted to show how I did it anyways). The trickiest part was getting the ribs to sit evenly from side to side (port to starboard?). As they were slightly loose to the keel so it allowed some play. I just eyeballed this knowing my blocks were the same height and that the rib should be equally high on both sides of the keel. After this I added the two support rails for the ribs. I presoaked these and fitted them before gluing.

 

 

I left the rails long in the back in anticipation of the transom, I figured they could add some extra structural integrity to the stern of the ship. Also, I was test fitting the false deck during the installation of these rails as to make sure the alignment was correct when I glued them in. 

 

The front support rail that spans the first 3 ribs at the bow needed some sanding to get it fitted. It protruded too far upwards into the deck than I liked and needed to take a few mm off the front and bottom of this piece to get it to sit right. Here's some more photos of the build at this stage:

 

 

 

 

Anyways let me know what you think! Hopefully I'm doing this build log post correctly. Its time for this sailor to retire to bed, more updates tomorrow!

 

[yvesvidal]

Billing Boats has plenty of beautiful and cute ships. I will be following your Build Log with a lot of interest.

 

Yves

[Roach Boi]

Alright next step in the build was the false deck. This was the first time I've installed a false deck so it took a bit of time for me (as with most of this hobby). I dry fitted the thing a handful of times and beveled the slots that the ribs went into, they needed to be angled with the ribs if that makes sense. I had to take a decent amount off the very front slot of the deck so it would sit flush against the keel. 

 

Here's what it looked like after I glued it down. I used pins on most of the deck to get the curvature from the top of the ribs. Not sure what this feature is called but I'm assuming its to keep the water flowing off to the sides of the deck.

 

 

I used a lot of clamps in the back to make sure it sat on the rails and ribs instead of pins.

 

 

After the deck was dry I noticed that some of the ribs were missing a few mm from either side of the deck (not protruding far enough out of the false deck). I added some scrap 1x5mm strips left over from another kit and wetted them and bent them to the sides. I figured they would get 'faired' out in the next step.

 

 

At this point I started fairing the hull which took some time. I had to run to the hardware store to get some 120grit sandpaper because all I had was 240 and was not doing the trick. This took me about a week before I felt like it was good enough for planking and honestly burnt me out a little bit. The bow took forever to sand down and the very first rib needed so much taken off. I also measured and drew out some lines on the keel where the planks should stop from the drawing. That also made me realize I needed to take more off the front rib. 

 

 

I started to dry fit the transom and noticed that I had to make a rabbet (yea?) in the last rib to get the thing to fit correctly. I also beveled the rails I left long to help keep the transom aligned and give it some more support. 

 

 

After the transom was installed I faired the hull a bit more with it included to help get the shape.

 

 

Anyways that's about where I'm at right now. I've also been having fun doing some research about these type of Dundee fishing boats and I've been finding a lot of info on one called 'Le Biche'. I guess its the last working tuna boat of this style from the period, this is a good article on it:

 

https://www.classicboat.co.uk/articles/restoration/biche-back-from-the-brink/

 

Included was this nice photo that helped me fair the hull a bit and get a better understanding of what shape it should take:

 

 

That's all for now, I'm currently struggling to put on the deck rails so more to come.

 

o7

 

Edited January 11 by Roach Boi
Spelling!

[Mirabell61]

nice work Roach,

I built her myself many years ago, and I wish you the same fun and success with the ongoing project....

 

Nils

 

[Roach Boi]

Hello All, 

Another update on the build! Its been going along nicely, its been a slow process but I've been finding doing small amounts each day has kept it progressing. I've installed the cap rails and started planking. Ill start with the rails:

 

For these rails I had some issues getting the front angle where it meets up with the keel right. Having drawn some planking lines from the build plans helped me trim the front rail to match up. I presoaked both rails and fitted them to the hull, letting them dry overnight to help with gluing the next day. 

 

 

I found the trickiest part for these rails was getting the curve from the ribs, the rails curl up over the hull and are not exactly straight up and down when looking at the hull from the front or back. Its tricky to explain. So when I glued them I needed clamps at the tips of each rib and at the bottom towards the deck. 

 

 

Getting these glued took some extra clamps to make sure the bottom of these rails met up with the edge of the false deck, as well as some rewetting and holding some areas down by hand. After all the rails were installed I wetted them again to get them to spring back into shape, they had lots of clamping marks and flat spots but it turned out great I think. 

 

I sanded down the inside and outsides of these rails for the raised grain from them getting damp, and then used a stiff sanding stick to sand down the ribs protruding from the rails. Also, forgot to mention, I left a tiny but of the transom protruding from the tops of these rails at the stern. This allowed me to sand it down to match the rails and create a flat spot for gluing another rail on it later. Referring to the build plans gave me a good idea of how everything should overlap. It was nice to start to see things finally taking shape. 

 

 

I started pinning down the first 2 planks for the hull. I'm currently trying to figure out how to approach the rest of the planking. I'm not sure I want to go as far as using a planking fan for this build as I am going to use paint and wood filler on the hull, But I will have to figure out where I'm gonna need to make some wedges and stealer planks down the line. Ill get some planking photos up later this week! Very excited to be planking my first carvel type hull. 

 

 

 

[TOM G]

Study the how-to planking articles on this site first................. This may take awhile, but you have to learn it..................And you'll be glad you did.🙂

[Roach Boi]

Alright a little midweek update,

 

Hoping to get a snow day off work to make some more progress on this vessel but I'm going to have to keep hoping. I'm at somewhat of a standstill on how I want to proceed with the planking. I got 2 planks on and I cant decide on if I want to continue without tapering or go all out and try tapering each plank going forward. Looking through some other build logs it seems that for this ship some people sort of 'freehanded' the planking while others went about using a planking fan etc. The shape of this hull is a bit tricky in terms of using the planking fan method. The longest rib is going to be almost all the way in the stern, meaning there would be a massive amount of thin planks towards the bow of the ship. I know there will have to be stealers down by the deadwood area near the rudder but I'm still grasping where I should put the break in the planks to do this. My current plan is to add a few more planks from top down and then start from the garboard and work my way upwards. I'm confident in my plank bending skills as well as angling their edges as to line up with the plank above. Also have been really enjoying my pin pusher from model shipways!

 

 

A few regrets for the build so far (for the next shipwright):

 

I probably should have rabbeted the keel right after I got it off the frame, its going to bee too tricky now that the ribs are installed on the ship. 

 

I definitely should have drilled the rudder posts hole in the keel before I built up the deck, its been a huge pain trying to get the hole just right.

 

I'm considering installing the second transom and faring the bottom part of it, so that when the planking is finished we will get a transom looking like Le Biche:

 

That's all for now. Let me know what you guys think of the progress and if you have any ideas on how I should proceed. In the meantime, I will be scouring all the planking logs I can find and deciding on a plan!