Arethusa by Elia - 1907 Knockabout Banks Fishing Schooner

[frenchguy]

Hi Elia,

Glad to see your blog back. I had printed some pages for studying the comments, I'm glad I still have them!

I will post again the pictures of Hesper one of these days.

Stephan

[Elia]

Hey Stephan,

 

Thanks for stopping by here.  I'm looking forward to seeing your Hesper log return.  She's a fine looking pilot boat.

 

Cheers,

 

Elia

[Padeen]

Hi Elia,

 

Nice to see your Arethusa back on. It strucks me every time I look at her: what fine lines! And I did not remember those deck items were such tiny parts  : you are a master.

I am eager to seeing more progress on her.

 

Cheers,

[Elia]

Hi Padeen,

 

Thank you for popping in and looking at Arethusa.  You are too kind.  Arethusa is a lovely ship in my eyes and I hope my efforts would make Thomas McManus proud.  While I sometimes feel the stuff I'm working on is small....there are folks here who work at 1/2 the scale I do and have the same level of detail.  How do they do it?!

 

Cheers,

 

Elia

[Elia]

Shipwrights

 

I’ve been puttering along, stealing a minute here and there to do small modeling tasks.  I painted the deck the darker gray, per the color previous investigated, fabricated some fish pens and dory skids, to be located athwartship the fore hatch, have worked on the rails, and am now in the process of painting the hull.  

 

I used some plans and photos of Arethusa to arrive at the fish pen and dory skid details and geometry.  I don’t have any handy photos of these, but will include them in the near future, once I begin adding deck furniture to the model.

I started on the rails, or more precisely, near the rails at the transom.  The fashion pieces on Arethusa have a peculiar shape to them.  I resorted to gluing extra wood pieces on and sanding them to shape.  It took me a couple of tries before I found them acceptable.  They are small, subtle details and I wanted them to be reasonably representative of those on the real ship.  Not exact, but close enough...

 

The main rail is composed of three strips of basswood on each side.  I learned of doing this from Charlie Cook, the Blue Jacket Shipcrafter’s on-call modeler (for customers).  When building Smuggler years ago I had many questions on modeling and he was quite helpful.  The thin strips allow for a nice continuous curve of the rail.  One of the nice benefits of using the three strips to build up the main rail is that placement of the chainplate holes through the rail is fairly easy, and they can be aligned with the cant of the chainplates readily without having to resort to drilling through the rail after it was complete.  

The transom rail (or taftrail), and stem seat, was shaped from a single piece of 1/16” thick basswood sheet.  For both the stem and transom rail seats I transferred the uppermost bulwark or transom plank edge onto heavy paper stock, then offset the desired amount to provide a slight overhang of the main rail and seats over the waist planks of the bulwark.  I then transferred those templates onto the sheet stock and cut them out.  After gluing them to the bulwark stanchions and planks, and then installing the main rail stripwood, I sanded them all flush to each other and in smooth, continuous curves.  A single edge razor was ground with a Dremel tool into the profile for the main and monkey rail inboard and outboard edges and used to finish the main rail off.  I’ve mentioned this before - I just struggle with this, both the grinding of the profile and getting a good edge on the receiving wood strip.  I’m in awe of modelers here, too many to mention, who do this regularly and whose drawn planks look like they’ve been milled by some miniature woodshop.  At times mine look like an angry beaver has just used my strip stock as a toothpick.

 

I then moved on to the Monkey Rail and Monkey Board.  The Monkey board is the vertical plank or boards (still formed into compound curvature in a plan view)which sits atop the main rail along the quarterdeck.  The Monkey Board around the transom was a challenge.  Instead of piecing it together with  three or more pieces that run along the rail periphery, as was traditionally done in Essex, MA, I made a three layer lamination of 1/16” thick basswood sheet.  I did this so that I could then cut and sand it to a profile while retaining some strength of the piece during handling.  Once the wood lamination was glued and dry I transferred the outboard transom seat edge to it, the scroll saw cut it to it plan view profile, leaving a little extra all around.  I then sanded it to its final shape, checking it constantly to the installed transom seat outer edge.  When that looked satisfactory I offset inner monkey board thickness and repeated the scroll sawing, then sanding, and check-check-checking.  When the monkey board profile was complete I sanded the lower surface of it to the transom seat, which had a slight curvature to it, fore-aft, by putting sanding paper on the seat surface and gently sanding the monkey board to it.  This allowed for a reasonably tight fit, and when glued it didn’t require a great force or preload to get it to bond to the transom seat.

The monkey board forward ends were also challenging due to the way the main mast chainplates were installed through the monkey rail and board on Arethusa.  On other schooners the chain plates pass through the monkey rail, just outboard of the monkey board, and typically the main rail outer edge is cut away to allow the chain plate to pass it.  On Arethusa the chainplates pass through the monkey board, through the main rail, and then exit on the outboard side of the bulwarks.  Here is a picture of Arethusa where the sun reflection and angle of the boat in the photo clearly show the main mast chainplates and how they pass through the monkey board and rail.  Eric Ronnberg Jr.’s model built for Thomas Hoyne also exhibit this detail, as do other photos of the ship.

After a little thought and contemplation on this I decided I would try to install the main mast chainplates in the proper manner for Arethusa. For the monkey board I chose to fabricate it from two strips of wood.  The outer one is 1/16” thick, whereas the inner one is 1/32” thick.  The 1/32” thick stuff is swiss pear I had purchased from the Hobby Mill years ago.  It was perfect for the task - really beautiful wood.  I transferred the chainplate holes in the main rail to the 1/16” monkey rail piece and used a square cross section fine file to “cut” the hole depth.  By doing this I was able to follow the orientation of each of the chainplates (from the plans I used).  I then glued the 1/32” thick piece onto the 1/16” thick piece and voile’ - a monkey board with internal passages for the main mast chainplates.  This ended up thicker than scale Monkey Board, but I’m satisfied that the extra thickness isn’t obvious, and it allowed a sound method of creating the slots for the main mast chainplates.  I’m sure there are other ways to do this, maybe easier, too.  It ‘appears’ to have worked out fine (yeah for small victories).  Time will tell...with the rigging of those chainplates and main mast shrouds.  

 

Here is a photo of the outer of the Monkey Board planks being glued in place atop the main rail.  One can see the thinner, darker Swiss Pear strip on the forward inboard side of the Monkey Board adjacent to the main mast chainplate locations.  I had glued those in place, locally, prior to gluing the Monkey board onto the main rail.

At the forward end of the main rail I’ve added some buffalo chocks and rail fillers at the location of the anchors - additional wooden fillers which were used to strengthen and protect the buffalo chock and main rail, and the thinner waist planks, from the anchor when raised, lowered, and stowed for passage.

I’ve also added small amidship waist plank reinforcements.  These were placed along the thinner bulwark planks in the region where the dories were onloaded and offloaded from the schooner.

Similarly I added strips just below the main rail just aft of the main mast chainplates...I assume to protect the main rail from damage during hauling fish and equipment up from the dories.

Once all of the rails and things were shaped and installed I applied a white sealer/filler, sanded the roughness smooth, and applied the white rail finish paint.  As noted earlier I’m now painting the hull - bulwark white is complete, the anti-fouling red/brown is on, the thin yellow cove has been initially painted, and following some masking, the hull black goes on.  Then she’ll really resemble a proper Gloucester fishing schooner and I’ll post more photos.

 

[folks - this method of weaving in pictures is new to me...it doesn't look right in the editor/preview...so my fingers are crossed that it looks OK posted]...{I've tried Padeen's suggestion and it appears to have been just the ticket - thank you Padeen}

Cheers!

Edited February 28, 2013 by Elia

[Elia]

Well....that doesn't look too 'integrated'.  I tried to copy/paste from an iMac document (I think called 'Notes') into the reply/post box, with interwoven text and photos, then tag the ? boxes to the uploaded images...the software didn't seem to like that.  Does anyone have a tip on how to interweave photos and text in a post?  I received a warning saying the forum didn't accept the document (I forget if that is the term used) or doc extension...and I was using jpegs.

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Elia

[Padeen]

Elia,

 

If you want to insert a picture in the text, you have to first upload the picture and then click on the "add to post" button under the uploaded picture: this adds a link to the picture in the text that you can then cut&past at the right place in the text (if the text cursor was not at the right place before clicking on the "add to post" button...). I always do this in the "More Reply Options" window but I don't know if it's necessary...

'hope this helps.

There is also the tutorial by Dan Vad: http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/540-how-to-add-pictures-in-your-posts-and-pms/

Edited February 26, 2013 by Padeen

[Elia]

Padeen,

 

Thank you!  I haven't visited many of the logs yet.  I don't think I have been to Danny's Swan build yet - I'll have to pop over and check it out.  On my next update I'll give this method of weaving in pictures and text a try.

 

Cheers,

 

Elia

[j21896]

Hi Elia,

 

Very clean and precise work!  Looking good.

 

And by the way, in looking back through your whole log, worthy of mention is your Smuggler build.  She's a real beauty!

 

Cheers,

Robert

[Elia]

Robert,

 

Thank you.  I look back on Smuggler fondly.  I learned a great deal building it.  It isn't on display (yet), residing on one of my shop work benches.  When Arethusa is complete I may try to display them together, though I'll need the Admiral's buy-in as they'll take up a nice piece of real estate.

 

Elia 

[Padeen]

Well, it looks much better  indeed and you are very welcome!

Your work and detail on the rail is really nice and your explaination regarding the reasons behind are very apreciated.

 

Happy painting!

[Elia]

I've spent the past few weeks preparing for, and painting, the rails and hull.  For the most part it was turned quite acceptable to me.  There is one glaring exception, and I'll focus on that later.

 

Once the Monkey Rails were completed I proceeded to apply a sealer/primer to the rails, perform a light sanding, and then apply two coats of my white mix.  The only masking done was to protect previously painted deck and bulwarks.

 

A while ago, when planking the hull, I built an inverted stand for Arethusa, one that located the hull by the two mast holes and a number of contact points on the deck.  The stand allowed the inverted hull to located such that the waterline as horizontal, parallel to the surface it was placed upon.  This stand, very crude compared to some of the tools and stand folks here build for their models, came in quite useful a number of times.

 

I used the stand to mark the waterline with a pencil, a light line, on the hull.  I then applied two coats of the anti-fouling red/brown lower hull paint.  I purposefully carried the red paint up above the waterline mark.

 

After painting all of the rails white and the hull red, and allowing a couple of days for full drying, I masked the edges of the rails where the hull black and rail white meet.  I also remarked the waterline with my handy dandy stand, and then masked the edge of the black paint at the waterline.

 

I had previously used a draw plate/template to form the very narrow cove along the edge of the waist plank.  In full scale the cove is something like 3/8” wide, so one can image how narrow it is for a 1/48 scale model.  I was able to carve a fairly narrow cove into the plank, but it wasn’t very even.  In the process of scraping it into the plank I felt it wander, almost catching on the wood grain as it went.  I’ve looked at this detail for quite some time and had mixed feelings about it.  I was proud of having made such a narrow cove, but unhappy that is wasn’t straight and perfectly parallel to the plank edge. Herein lies the problem I encountered.  I painted the yellow of the cove, two coats, extending the paint above and below the cove to ensure the cove was fully painted.  Once that paint had cured I applied masking tape to the cove.  I had found 1/64” wide masking tape from an on-line modeling supplier and purchased it.  This stuff is rather amazing in it’s narrowness.  When I tried to apply the tape to the cove I found it very difficult to get the tape to nest down into the cove - it wanted to wander about in the cove...reminiscent of when I scraped the cove some time ago.  

 

I applied tape edge sealing coats of each of the three paint colors - white along the edge of the rails, red/brown along waterline, and yellow at the cove.  This was done to seal the edge of the tape and not allow the over-coat color to bleed under the tape.

 

Once those had dried I was clear to apply the upper hull black paint.  Two coats were applied.  The white/black edge along the rails worked quite well, as did the red/black edge at the waterline.  There were one or two very minor bleed spots, but all in all I think a good success.

 

Now....back to that yellow cove.  Once the black paint had dried I peeled back that 1/64” tape...and....not good.  The thinness of the yellow was excellent.  But, the masked sections wandered along the wandering cove.  And there was appreciable black paint bleed beneath the tape.  I am very disappointed in this and am stewing over ways to correct it. 

 

Following are a few photos of the painted hull, without and with deck furniture.  The quarterdeck of these schooners had a unique deck planking run - the planks were set parallel to the cabin, as that was a large cutout in the deck (a strength issue), to provide as much continuous planking strength as possible.  Thus, there is some unique nibbing of the outboard planks along the margin plank/waterway.  

 

The fish pens and dory skids are shown also.  The bait gurry isn't located quite properly, either.

 

Cheers,

[rlb]

Elia,

 

I see you took her outside for photos!  Nice even light.

 

I know nothing about model painting techniques, so I can't give you any advice about that yellow cove difficulty.   However, I think your colors are very, very good, and the grey you settled on for the deck looks perfect to me.  Really sets off the deck furniture beautifully.   Looks great.

 

 

Ron

Edited March 2, 2013 by rlb

[Timothy Wood]

I can hardly wait to see this completed!  What beautiful work!!!

 

Cheers,

 

Tim

[russ]

Elia:

The paintwork looks great to my eye. Nice work.

 

Russ

[rhcronan]

Hello Elia:

 

Just came on the forum, saw your new entries, 'ran' to your build log, then viewed your photos -while panting  !  Wonderful stuff!

Forgive me, but i 'stole' a picture, or two.  Maybe three or four.  Five!  Anyway, nice paintjob on the hull.  Regarding the tape you purchased,

I've been using 1/8th tape that I got from Micro Mark that has proved very effective in preventing leakage between different paint surfaces,

including the water-line on the hull.  In any event, just a suggestion -I've no personal interest in the Firm.

 

I'm preparing to photo Helen B Thomas as presently assembled; with the assistance of my son, an IT person who manages an IT school

in Reno (NV), I'll upload the photos and PM them, with comments, to you and within a reasonable time.

 

Terrific progress with Arethusa, and keep the photos coming.

 

Kindest regards

 

Dick

[Elia]

avsjerome2003, Ron, Tim, Russ, Dick,

 

Many thanks!  I am happy with the mixed colors.  I used Liquitex soft body acrylics, on the recommendation of Eric Ronnberg.  The paint has a lot of very fine pigment, and can be mixed to suit any color desired.  I think the only down side of the Liquitex paints are their thickness.  Even when thinned appreciably they seem thicker than many 'modeling' acrylics (except for Model Shipways paints, at least the ones I purchased years ago).  If the paints have another drawback it is they tend to dry glossy, or semi glossy.  That includes thinning them with Medium Matte.  I plan to spray the hull with Dullcote once the outside is all finished, with the ship's name, hail, etc., so that will resolve the glossy nature.

 

Ron, yes I did try the outdoor lighting - nice overcast (but somewhat chilly) day.  My home deck shows it is in need of a paint job too.  The light really helps to show the model clearly.

 

Dick, I look forward to seeing your Helen B Thomas.  I'm happy with you 'stealing' pictures.  I hope they are of help to you.  I look at lots of other models, either finished, or their in-process build photos, so as to get ideas for how to accomplish tasks along the way.  I am always trying to learn more about the art and craft of ship modeling (and MSW is an awesome place to learn  ).

 

Cheers,

 

Elia

Edited March 4, 2013 by Elia

[Elia]

Dick,

 

I've been using a blue plastic-like masking tape purchased from Tower Hobbies (if I recall correctly) for most of my paint / edge masking.  It works pretty well, without much under-seepage.  The cove is a unique problem, I think.  For those who aren't familiar with the little cove decoration on these fishing schooners it is a small 'gutter' cut next to the edge of the thicker waist plank above the deck and margin plank / waterway.  On the real boats the cove was less than 1" wide; if I recall correctly from Chapelle, it was more like 1/2" or 3/8" wide.  On the model my cove is less than 1/32" wide, maybe 1/32" at it's widest.  The masking tape I had purchased for it was 1/64" wide.  From a dimensional perspective the tape should have fit within the cove.  But the cove wandered around, and the 1/64" masking tape couldn't bend easily to fit within it.  I did try burnishing the tape, within the cove, to seal it's edge and for the most part it worked.  I think if the tape were on a smooth, continuous surface it would have prevented much of the bleed through that occured.  My current plan is to cut away the edge of the plank in which the cove resides and replace it with an 'uncoved' piece.  I'll then just paint the thin yellow stripe on that.  I've made a little tool to locate a #11 blade a specific distance off the edge of the plank in question - tonight I'll see if it works.

 

Cheers,

 

Elia

[gerty]

Nice Job !

[michael mott]

Elia that looks really great, I had not realized how complex the deck furniture was going to be.

 

Michael

[Alfons]

Elia.

 

For some strange reason I have not seen you log of the Arethusa before.

 

Its a beautiful ship you have built and I am very much looking forward to following your progress. Hopefully I will learn a lot that can be applied to my Schooner.

 

Keep up the good work.

/Alfons

[Elia]

Gerty, Michael, Alfons,

 

Thank you all.  I appreicate your checking in on my adventure here.

 

Michael,

 

I plan to add a little more deck furniture than most kits have to help illustrate how crowded the decks of these schooners were.  The fish pens just forward of the grub (great) beam are part of that.  I'll have the two stacks of dories (10 or 12), There will be main and secondary rope hawser coiled piles.  I've added the checker board supports on the cabin, the bait gurry, and main hatch, and once I get the opposing supports located on the main and monkey rails, I'll add the checker boards too, along with barrels and tubs of fishing lines.  Lots of fun little stuff. 

 

Right now I'm mid-process of (trying to) correct my cove boo-boo. Once I see the light at the end of the tunnel I'll post some pictures.  Cutting and tearing into a model for a repair is sometimes a little unnerving, but after the first cut it full speed ahead.

 

Cheers,

 

Elia

[Elia]

I noted previously that I was dissatisfied with my execution of the thin yellow cove on my.  I'm attaching a photo of the aft port side of the ship showing that wandering yellow cove.  I think many will understand why I need to fix this.  The second photo is of the plan I've embarked upon to remove and repair that wood region.  I'll add another update to show the progress in the near future.

 

Cheers,

 

Elia

[captainbob]

Elia,

 

If you haven't cut out the cove area yet, is it possible to fill the cove and paint over it?  It wound be easier.  But knowing me I'd probably cut it out and replace the wood.  I have to admit the method you show will be interesting to watch.  I would have been tempted to remove the whole board and replace it.

 

Besides all that the Arethusa is lovely.  The deck seems crowded but well laid out.  Have fun with the dories.

 

Bob

[Elia]

Bob,

 

I'm afraid that once this shipbuilding crew here gets their mind set on something - there is no stopping them.  Attached is a current picture of the progress.  The horror of it all!!  I had intended to take pictures in-process but became engrossed in seeing the remediation through.  The old cove section has been cut out of each waist/side.  A new un-coved strip of wood has been glued in its place.  The wood was taller (stood proud of the adjacent loft surface) than required and was subsequently chiseled and sanded near flush.  Putty/filler was applied to fill the inevitable gaps and gouged damage which resulted during the extraction/removal process (ham fisted shipwright in action).  Then it was all sanded flush.  A few touch-ups with the sand paper, a cleaning of the surface, and I'll apply some primer/sealer.  Then on with the yellow striping.

 

My decision to remove the cove, and not fill it with putty/filler, was due to a concern that the cove was so small that putty/filler wouldn't get a good bite or grip, and during the painting (and masking tape removal) process it would peel or break out.  With the new strip of wood the yellow strip will only be painted over solid wood.  I think the masking tape will be able to be burnished well on the wood, will seal well (fingers crossed), and a decent yellow stripe the result (again fingers crossed).  I haven't yet taken a photo of the little cutting tool I made but can do so if anyone is interested in seeing it.  It pretty much looks like the sketch.

 

With a little modeling time I think I'll be able to proceed ahead again soon.

 

Cheers,

 

Elia

[rlb]

Wow, Elia.   I thought the hack job on my Oneida wale was a little scary, but this looks far more delicate!   I can see why you wanted to fix it--everything else looks so good.

 

I hope plan B for the yellow stripe works out well. 

 

Ron 

[Alfons]

Good save Elia, I am looking forward to see the "before and after" pictures.

 

/Alfons

[j21896]

Hi Elia,

 

A terrifying bit of "excavation" work to be sure!  But I know the new cove will be well worth it.

 

Cheers,

Robert

[Elia]

Bob,

 

One last thought - I had considered removal of the entire strake in which the cove was cut, but chose against that course of action due to all of the quarterdeck scuppers being cut into it.  I would have had to really finesse cutting those in without damaging the stanchions, and I'm certain damage would have resulted, both to the stanchions and the waterway/covering board.

 

Elia

[Anja]

Hello Elia,

 

Happy birthday!

 

 

Enjoy and have a wonderful day,

 

Anja