Bounty Launch by KeithW - FINISHED - Model Shipways - SMALL - kitbashed

[Keith_W]

I can honestly say that if I was not a member of MSW, it would not have occurred to me to build this boat. After admiring usedtosail's build, I did a search and found a wealth of other builds on MSW. I have pored over them in detail, and I managed to gain an appreciation of the kit's idiosyncrasies even before I started. These are the other build logs on MSW:

 

Cap'n Rat Fink

Meredith

Tom Bombadillo

usedtosail

 

Many years ago, when I built the Artesania Bounty, I built a Launch as well. Here it is:

 

 

 

What I wish to do is build a larger model of this launch, with missing planking on the starboard side, showing off the frames, admiralty style. I also plan to ignore the paint scheme as suggested by the kit (which I find to be rather ugly) and finish the boat to my liking.

 

Along the way I will hopefully be guided by some reading material:

 

 

Anyway, on to the model and unboxing photos.

 

 

Photograph of the box.

 

 

Instruction manual and plans. The manual can be downloaded from MS' website here. Up to now, I have been building kits by Artesania, Amati, etc. and have come to expect poor quality instructions in poor English. I was blown away by the detail in these instructions for such a simple boat. They even specify what type of blade you should use to carve the rabbet! Unfortunately, everything is in Imperial units, so I have been keeping my metric converter busy.

 

 

The model is built on a jig. Pre-cut planking strakes are supplied.

 

 

Bulkheads for the construction jig. Note the planking guide and fairing guide. The instructions tell you to fair the bulkheads to the dotted line. Easy enough to do.

 

 

More parts. Note that the all builders of the Launch on the other logs complained about the laser lettering on the Transom, and here it is! Awful decision by the kit designer. I tried to sand the lettering off, but it goes down way too deep. Short of painting the transom (I wish to leave it stained and unpainted), some solution has to be found.

 

 

More pre-cut planks.

 

 

Finally, the sailcloth and various little accessories.

 

 

... and my pristine (for now) workplace with my new modelling lamp We're all ready, let's get started.

Edited June 22, 2014 by KeithW

[captainbob]

ah good, another launch to watch.

 

Bob

[Keith_W]

 

First step is to build the keel. There are 7 parts to this keel, and they need to be joined precisely. The instructions suggest to use the plans as a guide, with some plastic wrap for protection - so that's what I did.

 

 

The next step was to build my building board and assemble the construction jig. I bought the squares from a hardware store.

 

 

After the glue on the keel had dried, I cut out the rabbet. The kit designers made it easy by inscribing the rabbet line in laser. It was a simple matter of removing the material with a chisel. I bought this chisel for this project, and I was surprised by how sharp it was. It goes through wood like butter. Next to it is my Japanese carving knife, also incredibly sharp.

 

 

Rabbet completed.

 

 

I stained a scrap piece of wood with a selection of stains. Oak and Elm look too similar, and both are too dark. Maple is too red. Old Baltic was acceptable, but too brown. Golden Teak was close to the finish I wanted (a light honey wood), but it was too bright. I decided to mix Golden Teak and Old Baltic 50:50 (panel on the far right) to obtain the finish that I wanted.

 

 

Having decided on the finish, I then stained the planks prior to construction.

 

Edited March 20, 2014 by KeithW

[Keith_W]

While I am waiting for my planks to dry, I started bending the frames, using the construction jig as a guide. I know that all of us have our own way of bending frames, but I have never seen this method described on MSW or anywhere else, for that matter. It is far from my role to teach you experienced modellers how to suck eggs, but it may be useful for beginners. So here it is, step by step.

 

 

Soak the wood for 24 hours, then clamp one end on the frame.

 

 

Using a steam iron, press down on the plank for a few seconds. The wood will soften and bend easily.

 

 

Once the wood bends, clamp it down before attempting the next curve.

 

 

Almost there ...

 

 

Finished. Note how tight the plank is to the jig. Leave it to air dry for 24 hours, then remove the clamps.

 

I believe that this method has quite a few advantages over other plank bending methods:

 

- you already own the equipment (you do own a steam iron, don't you?),

- pressing the plank between the iron and the jig lessens the risk of breaking the plank,

- very tight bends, and very precise fit can be achieved

- the iron is not as hot as a soldering iron, so it won't scorch the wood

 

When I removed the clamps, the plank was curved so tightly to the jig that I had to gently pry it off. Anyway, this is where I am up to. Will continue the build log as the model progresses.

Edited March 20, 2014 by KeithW

[dcicero]

I've always been attracted to this boat. The story of HMS Bounty is one I never tire of.  I learned about the mutiny reading Nordhoff and Hall's Mutiny on the Bounty (actually, the whole trilogy:  Mutiny on the Bounty, Men Against the Sea and Pitcairn's Island) as a teenager.  I enjoyed Caroline Alexander's book a great deal and have John McKay's Anatomy of the Ship volume The Armed Transport Bounty.  There are others out there that I enjoyed to a lesser extent, but still worth the time:  The Eventful History of the Mutiny and Piratical Seizure of HMS Bounty:  its Causes and Consequences by Sir John Barrow (1831) and Captain Bligh and Mr. Christian:  The Men and the Mutiny by Richard Alexander Hough (2000).

 

That Model Shipways kit looks great and I'll be following your build with great interest!

 

 

 

Dan

[usedtosail]

Keith,

 

You are off to a great start. That bending method you came up with is pretty neat. I am looking forward to following your build.

[DCooper]

Great start and some interesting pointers on how to build this kit.  Looking forward to your progress and wondering if this might be a a good second kit for me.  I will be watching intently to see how you go.  Thanks for taking the time to ducument your build.

 

 

Dan 

[Jeff-E]

HI Kieth,

 

Looks like a very nice and detailed kit of Bounty's launch, I do like your method of bending the frames and I will keep it in mind for the future altough it may not work in all situation

 

You are off to a great start and I will follow progress with interest

[ScottRC]

Great tutorial.

[Keith_W]

Thanks Cap'n Bob, Dan, Tom, Jeff, and Scott. I have had the whole week off for Christmas, Boxing day, and New Years - no prizes for guessing what I have been doing

 

 

I pre-stained the planks prior to installation. As you can see from the photo, the wood is porous enough to let the stain seep through from the other side. I deliberately stained some planks more aggressively than others to give some variation in colour between the planks when it is assembled. I am very happy with the colour of the stain - it is exactly what I wanted.

 

 

After 24 hours to allow the stain to dry, I soaked the planks and steam bent them, again using the frame as a jig. It took me a whole day to bend all the planks, and then I waited 24 hours for the planks to dry. In previous models I have attempted to install planks which have not been thoroughly dried. Bad mistake to make - wet planks expand. When they dry, they contract - leaving unsightly gaps in the planking. Given this is a single planked boat, I did not want this to happen.

 

 

Planking begins! The picture shows the garboard plank fitting snugly in the rabbet.

 

 

 

 

 

Since I am planning to treenail this boat, I thought I would make a treenail marking jig. I used some spare grating material from another kit. The pictures are self explanatory.

 

 

Planking continues. I was have read the other Bounty Launch build logs thoroughly and was very careful to follow the planking marks. The instructions suggest you can either alternate between planking from the garboard up and sheer down, or plank from the sheer down. I decided to alternate - so: 1, 10, 2, 9, 3, 8 ... etc.

 

 

 

I note that usedtosail had a problem with his shutter plank (see here). Well, I encountered the same problem. It appears as if the shutter plank is not the same size as depicted on the plans. Unlike Tom, I do not have any spare basswood in order to cut myself a new plank.

 

I will have to install a stealer. I am quite annoyed that I have to install a stealer on a kit which features laser cut strakes, but then none of the other modellers reported a problem - so perhaps it is my own fault. I'm not quite sure where I went wrong, but a word of warning for anybody planning to build this launch. Watch out for this - if it appears that you need to trim wood at the stern, DON'T. At least not until you get to test fit the shutter plank.

 

I am also annoyed that the stealer will be above the waterline. I was planning to paint the kit at the waterline, and stain everything above it. The stealer will unfortunately be quite visible!

 

In any case, I don't want to deal with it tonight. That will have to be a job for tomorrow. I'm off to bed now.

Edited March 20, 2014 by KeithW

[Keith_W]

Thanks Brian. Had another productive day modelling.

 

The gap in planking noted yesterday:

 

 

... has now been fixed. Once it is nicely sanded the damage shouldn't be too bad:

 

 

Now that I have finished planking, time to pop the glue joints and see if I stuck the boat to the jig. To my immense relief, it came off the jig with no drama!

 

 

 

The above two pictures show the port and starboard side. As mentioned earlier, it was my intention to build an "admiralty" style model. Yes, I know that admiralty style models usually leave the planking off on the port side instead of the starboard side, but Artesania's HMAV Bounty has the planking left off on the starboard side. Since it is my intention to display this model next to that one, I copied the planking. I left off planks 5, 6, 7 to achieve this effect.

 

 

I popped off the guide tags and mounted the hull back on the jig to provide a nice sturdy surface for sanding.

 

After reading several build logs on MSW, I decided I would try scraping the hull with a Stanley knife blade instead of sandpaper. It works really well! I did switch to sandpaper later to achieve a smoother finish though.

 

 

After successively finer grits of sandpaper (down to 1200 grit) ... the hull was as smooth as a baby's bottom! Note the stealer frame, it seems to blend in pretty well. I managed to do all this without having to resort to a single drop of wood filler.

 

I didn't take a picture, but I veneered over the transom to hide those exposed planks.

 

 

 

Right now I am installing the tween and cant frames. After this, drill holes for treenails and then stain the hull again.

Edited March 20, 2014 by KeithW

[Jeff-E]

Hi Keith,

 

Very nice planking, you are doing a great job with it. The stealer has blended in well with the rest of the hull  and is hardly noticeable. It should look really nice treenailed looking forward to seeing it

Edited December 28, 2013 by Jeff-E

[Keith_W]

Thanks Jeff-E

 

Anyway, I managed to do more work yesterday and today.

 

 

After installing the cant frames, I noted that there is a gap between frames 2-3, and 3-4 as per the plans. I then checked with McKay's AOTS Bounty and saw that the boat as depicted by MS differed from McKay. I am not sure which is more correct, but it sure looks strange - especially since the frames are visible on my build.

 

 

... I therefore bent a couple more ribs and taped them in place. They look MUCH better in my opinion. I therefore glued them in place.

 

 

 

 

After the hull was sanded down, I drilled dozens of little holes and started plugging them with treenails. I thought I would hate putting treenails in, but it's actually quite fun. Unfortunately, I ran out of walnut dowel to make treenails, so I had to substitute. This meant studying the plans to see which treenails were going to be visible. Anything below the waterline was not critical - I planned to paint it. That left the internal treenails. I made some more treenails with bamboo, and thought I would simulate treenails with woodfiller.

 

 

 

I was concerned that the treenails would look different, so I only used bamboo and woodfiller treenails on areas that would be painted over. Here is the hull after drying, about to start sanding.

 

 

 

Sanding is complete, and I stained the wood again. Once stained, it is quite difficult to tell the difference between bamboo and walnut, but I can tell you that it is MUCH easier to draw walnut through a drawplate than bamboo! It is just a more pleasant wood to work with.

 

 

This photo shows the difference between the walnut treenails and the simulated treenails using woodfiller. It doesn't really do justice - the real treenails look MUCH better in real life - it just looks more defined and sharper.

Edited March 20, 2014 by KeithW

[esion]

Looks good my friend.  I am on the last steps of this build and can't wait to start my next build in the new year.

 

I had the same problem with the shutter plank, I almost wish they wouldn't have pre-cut the plank strips.  I ended up having to get balsa wood and making a custom fitted piece which slowed down my build.

 

It looks like you are going into more detail on the hull than I went into on mine.  I ended up painting the hull to match the box pictures.  I never knew if the real launch was painted or not, I found research saying both way for launches of that time period.

 

If you have any more issues feel free to PM me.

[Q A's Revenge]

What an excellent build log, thanks for posting this!

[Keith_W]

Thanks for the comments guys. Esion, if you could post a build log of your boat that would be helpful.

 

The hull is now completed, and I am about to start installing the floorboards, etc. I have been poring over the other Bounty Launch build logs on MSW with a microscope, and I note that Mario (Cap'n Rat Fink) repositioned the masts on his boat (see here). Did he make the right decision?

 

 

Photo 1: Model Shipways. This is an image from the Bounty instructions (the plans are too big to fit in my scanner). I have numbered the frames 1-15 as per the convention in the manual, but if you count the tween frames there should be 26. However, as noted in an earlier post I added two frames, so I have 28. Note the position of the mainmast relative to the windlass holder.

 

 

Photo 2: National Maritime Museum. This is an image of the plans of the Bounty Launch from the National Maritime Museum. The positions of the foremast and mainmast are not indicated on these plans.

 

 

Photo 3: AOTS: Bounty. These are the plans from Mackay's AOTS: Bounty. I have numbered the frames for convenience.

 

 

Comparing the three plans, a number of observations can be made:

 

1. The number of frames in each set of plans is radically different. MS has 26, NMM has 16, and AOTS:Bounty has 18. Also, the frames on the bow are canted on the MS kit, whereas they are straight on NMM and AOTS:Bounty.

 

2. The position of the windlass (expressed as a ratio to the length of the ship - larger number means the windlass is closer to the bow) is 0.55:1 on the MS kit, 0.56:1 on the NMM plans, and 0.55:1 on Mackay - all three sources agree.

 

3. The position on the mainmast, again using the same convention, is 0.38:1 on the MS kit, and 0.49:1 on Mackay. You can see the difference just eyeballing the photos.

 

4. Mackay depicts a bowsprit - this is not included in the MS kit. I have to decide whether or not to create one. Mario decided that the Launch is too small to include a bowsprit, but I will probably go with Mackay's plans.

 

5. The MS kit does not include a crane, or a windlass (but they do include plans, but not material for fabricating one if you wish). The booklet says that the crane and windlass were probably left on the Bounty when Bligh was set adrift - so these items were not included. Do I make my own? Decisions, decisions ...

 

6. Mackay depicts six thwarts and six oars per side. The oarlocks on Mackay are simply cutouts on the sheer plank. The NMM plans do not depict any oars or oarlocks, but does depict six thwarts. However - MS includes five thwarts and five pairs of oars. The oarlocks on Mackay are dowels insert in the gunwale. Interesting decision by MS - it is not too late in my build to severely kitbash and try to get my Launch to look more like Mackay's, but the very thought of fabricating a new gunwale takes the wind out of my sails. I will probably stick with MS - the gunwale they included looks nice.

 

I now have to decide whether to paint the inside of the Launch or not. My original idea was to stain the planks and floorboards, thwarts, etc. different coloured stains to make them stand out, but I am not sure if I should introduce another colour (perhaps red). Nobody knows how the interior of the Launch was painted, so I suppose that gives me considerable artistic license! It will probably end up as an aesthetic decision, more than anything else!

 

Now after all that, did Mario make the correct decision? Take a look at his boat:

 

 

Now take a look at what it would look like if built to the instructions provided by MS:

 

 

I think there is no question that the mast should be closer to the windlass. It even looks more correct. Unfortunately, repositioning the mainmast means that all sorts of things have to be fabricated or shifted - new thwarts have to be made, holes filled and moved, etc. My homework for tonight is to study the plans and see if I have enough material to do it.

Edited March 20, 2014 by KeithW

[Keith_W]

Finally, before I go to bed ... a couple of pictures of the boat as it is right now. As you can see, the treenails go all the way through the planks and into the frames. The accuracy of some of my drilling leaves much to be desired, but fortunately most of the mistakes will be hidden under floorboards and thwarts.

 

 

 

With the last pic, you can really see the difference between the simulated treenails and the real treenails made of walnut dowel. You can also see that the two added cant frames makes the bow of the boat look more pleasing. Yes, there is a lot of glue at the transom - this area will be hidden anyway. I am thinking of adding more glue as insurance!

Edited March 20, 2014 by KeithW

[esion]

Amfibius, I would post a log but I am on the last mast rigging and sail steps (I should be done today or tomorrow) and didn't take any "along the way" pictures, so it probably wouldn't be much help.

 

I also used Mario's build log as a guide but he took it upon himself to do things how he felt were "right" and didnt follow the basic instructions.  His build log is pretty amazing when you look at the little details he did (especially the tools in the tool chest).

 

I personally went with the painted version just so I could compare it to the pictures on the box and instructions.  I think the choice of painted versus stained is a matter of preference and what you want in your collection.  In the end it won't matter because you will be displaying it for you, not others.  So I would do what you think looks the best.

[Keith_W]

That's fine esion, if you are almost finished i'll wait for your completed model

 

Before I went for my NYE party yesterday I managed to mask off the bottom of the boat and apply 3 layers of white paint. When I came home (blind drunk, at 3AM) I managed to add another layer, miraculously without spilling paint all over myself, the floor, or the boat. I left the paint to dry, had a shower, then went to sleep.

 

I woke up at close to noon with a nasty hangover but that didn't stop me from trudging down into my modelling room to do more work. Wasn't such a good idea, given how many mistakes I made today. The reason why I am going so slow is because I have gone treenail crazy and i'm treenailing everything:

 

 

The sheer clamps and windlass holder have been treenailed and installed. Note that the wood has been stained, yet the treenail sits flush and crisp against the plank. How to get a crisp finish - stain the wood and allow to thoroughly dry. Drill the hole for the treenail, then dip the treenail in slightly diluted PVA glue (I use 9:1 PVA to water). Push the treenail through and allow it to sit slightly proud, about 0.1mm. You will note that simply by pushing the wet treenail through stained wood, the surface of the treenail will be slightly stained! When the PVA glue is dry, chisel off the proud area, then lightly sand with 800 grit sandpaper - this will leave you a crisp treenail.

 

 

The center floorboard was likewise treenailed.

 

 

 

I made a little jig to help space the planks evenly. The pictures are self explanatory.

 

 

 

This is where I am up to right now. Note that I have moved the mainmast closer to the windlass.

 

Tomorrow after work - i'll complete the floorboards, sand back the painted area and give it another coat of paint.

Edited January 1, 2014 by Amfibius

[usedtosail]

Those treenails are sweet. I like the color differences of the wood on the interior, too.

[Jeff-E]

Hi Keith,

 

Excellent work on the treenails and the flooring they look great.

 

Glad to hear you had a happy and festive New Years,

[Keith_W]

Thanks Tom and Jeff. I managed to do more work tonight - sober this time, and not hung over

 

 

 

In my previous post I described how to get a nice, crisp finish on a treenail. The first photo shows the treenail pushed through a plank. Note the top of the treenail is rather dull and has some stain. The second photo shows the proud area chiselled off - it now looks brighter.

 

 

 

 

After 5 coats of paint, I removed the masking tape. Not bad, but there are some errors which need to be cleaned up. I have also installed the thwart risers.

 

I did not show a picture, but I also dry fit the thwarts at this stage. All the other build logs have noted that either the thwarts are not wide enough, or the boat became more wide after removal from the jig. Well, I have the same problem! I measured the boat at 2mm wider than it should be - enough for the thwarts to fall off. 2mm isn't such a bad error, I could correct it simply by squeezing the boat together.

 

I will have to fabricate some new thwarts anyway to accomodate the repositioned mainmast. Thankfully there is enough spare material in the kit to do so. But - I think I will squeeze the boat when installing the thwarts. There should be enough glue power in the thwarts to hold the boat together.

 

 

 

I followed usedtosail's method of making the quarterdecks. First, I fit all the beams. Then, I laid down the center planks (along with spacers, as you can see). I then removed the quarter deck and transferred it to the plans, where I pinned it down. From there it was easy to trim the planks to fit as I went along. It would have been extremely fiddly to build it on the boat!

 

I should note that MS specified 1/4" planks for the quarterdeck, but they didn't supply any! Instead, they supplied 3/16" planks. Also, despite promising to supply "enough" square cherry dowels, I had just enough to install the frames with none left over. Fortunately I had spare square dowel from another kit. I went ahead and built the quarterdeck with the 3/16 planks. If I am not happy with the result, I will ask MS to send me 1/4" planks.

 

Tomorrow - I will treenail the quarterdeck.

Edited January 2, 2014 by Amfibius

[Keith_W]

Finished early today. Rushed home, ripped my tie off, and within seconds was changed from an urban work drone and into my dingy modelling clothes

 

Today, I fabricated new thwarts for positions #1 and #4, and completed much work done yesterday.

 

 

This is the fore thwart (position #1). The reason why I need a new one is because I did not read the instructions properly! It says to position the foremast stay in relation to the fore thwart to achieve the correct rake. Well, I positioned my foremast stay according to the plans. When I came to test fit the fore thwart, the mast raked forwards!

 

As you can see, my new fore thwart is much wider than the one provided in the kit. It doesn't need to be that wide - in reality I probably need a couple of mm less. I will trim it when I come to fit the fore thwart so that it sits snug against the grating.

 

You should probably note that the thwart provided in the kit is too large for the mainmast - see the gaps around the dowel in the picture? The diameter of the fore thwart fits the mainmast perfectly though.

 

 

On the other hand, the thwart for the mainmast fits perfectly. This is pictured with my new #4 thwart.

 

And finally, here are some pictures of the boat as of right now. I painted on a blue stripe to match my Bounty. The planks look slightly shiny because they have just been given a coating of Tung Oil. I have to wait for the oil to cure before proceeding, so that's all for tonight.

 

Hmm, maybe I have time to start tapering the dowels for the masts ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

The instructions remind you that this is a working boat, and should not be finished "like a yacht". Well, it's MY boat, so i'll finish it like a yacht if I want to

Edited January 3, 2014 by Amfibius

[dcicero]

Your Bounty Launch is really making me want to build one myself.  You're doing a tremendous job on this model.

 

 

Dan

[Keith_W]

Thanks, Dan! Yes, you should go do it!!

 

I have a question for those who are more knowledgeable than me. This is a drawing of the Bounty Launch from Mackay's AOTS: Bounty:

 

 

I have circled the shroud stays. No matter how much I squint at the picture, I have no idea what they are supposed to look like.

 

Are they meant to look like this:

 

 

Or this:

 

 

(These images were taken from Chuck Passaro's 18th Century Longboat thread here)

 

Any opinions?

Edited January 3, 2014 by Amfibius

[Keith_W]

Oh well, looks like nobody could answer my question Anyway, I took a look at the Occre kit, and I noticed that they had deadeyes in the shrouds. So deadeyes it is.

 

 

Unfortunately, my soldering skills leave much to be desired. The iron doesn't get hot enough, and when the solder melts, it forms a little ball and refuses to go into the metal. I then read Russell Barnes' silver soldering tutorial then remembered I had some silver solder coil (not paste!) in my toolbox. After quite a lot of rummaging, I found it.

 

I then spent a few hours experimenting with different methods to make these damned things without burning the deadeyes. I came up with this:

 

 

I wrapped the deadeye in some tissue paper, then saturated it with water. The water cools down the wire around the deadeye, preventing it from burning. It worked a treat.

 

 

I have decided to make a bowsprit. McKay's plans include a bowsprit holder (whatever you call it). I fabricated one by forming a ring with brass plate, soldering it shut, then soldering a brass rod onto it.

 

 

After much shaping, this is what it looks like. I have yet to finish fine sanding and blackening - that will come later.

 

 

This is what it looks like attached to the bowsprit.

 

 

Unfortunately, my metal blackener leaves much to be desired. As the picture shows, it is the "Krick" brand. This picture shows some brass pieces which have been cleaned in methylated spirits, then detergent, then left in the blackener for one hour! As you can see it is nowhere near black. Only the copper has oxidized a little. Silver solder does not change colour at all, and "ordinary" solder turns grey, not black. About the only thing that turns black is wood!

 

Real waste of money. I wonder if anyone else uses Krick and whether they have had good results?

Edited January 5, 2014 by Amfibius

[Keith_W]

I have also done more work on the hull.

 

 

These are the rear seats. The kit would have the side seats resting on top of the thwarts. I preferred the look of all the seats on the same level, so that's what I did.

 

 

This is the grating as supplied in the kit. It looks rather cheesy, and I can not find any reference to the grating in AOTS: Bounty or any other source I have on hand.

 

 

I therefore cut up some spare wood and fabricated myself a replacement. This hasn't yet been glued in, it was a rough fit for the photo!

 

 

I added a wale, then masked it off and painted it yellow.

 

 

Gunwales added! All the other build logs seem to use the same method to clamp down the gunwales while waiting for the glue to dry. I had plenty of chopsticks on hand, so that's what I used.

 

 

The masts have been completed (L-R): maintmast, foremast, bowsprit. The bowsprit has been finished as per McKay. I calculated it at 82% the length of the foremast. In this kit, the foremast is 32cm, so the bowsprit works out to be 26.2cm.

 

 

Everyone seems to have a different method for aligning the gunwales. Mario (Cap'n Rat Fink) assembled his on the plans, then lofted the entire thing on the model. I didn't like that idea, so I came up with this. After I glued in the gunwales, I masked off the gunwales and levelled off the bow gunwale cheeks. After a good sanding, these were re-stained. They are now beautifully flush.

 

 

A number of build logs on MSW have also commented that the rear gunwale cheeks are too short. Not mine - mine dropped in perfectly after I shaved off half a mm. This is the completed rear of the boat, with the rear thwart, the backrest, and the completed gunwales.

[Keith_W]

Small update for those following.

 

The hull is now almost complete. I mounted the thwarts and chose the angle of the masts today. This is how I did it:

 

 

The most horizontal part of the ship is the middle floor plank, so I put a spirit level there and adjusted the height of the stand until it was level.

 

 

I was then able to align the masts, using the door frame (not in the picture) as my vertical reference.

 

 

I mounted the rudder with the pintles and gudgeons. I know of the problems others have been having with it (Meredith burnt a cake because she found it exceptionally fiddly), but I had no problems. It might be because my kit includes different pintles and gudgeons ... other build logs mention having to fabricate it out of brass strip. Not so here, mine came pre-bent and pre-drilled. However, the pre-drilled holes were a little off so I ended up fabricating my own anyway.

 

For trouble-free mounting, try what I did - mount the gudgeons to the rudder and the keel. Make sure they are aligned properly. Then mount the pintles onto the gudgeons, then slide the rudder into place. Once in place, pin the pintles securely.

 

 

These are the shrouds I made using my really poor soldering skills. At least I didn't blacken the deadeyes by burning them!

 

 

This is how I align the deadeyes prior to rigging. Pin the deadeye to the hull, then thread some rope through the deadeye. Pull the rope tight against the point where the shroud attaches to the mast, then CA the deadeye in place.

 

 

 

Ready to begin standing rigging tomorrow.

[captainbob]

I would not call your soldering skills poor. Your metal work only adds to your skill with wood.

 

Bob

[DCooper]

Great work so far and timely advise re the deadeyes for me.  Such a clean and precise build style you have.  I look forward to how you handle the rigging of you build.

 

Thanks for taking the time and effort to clearly show how you build.

 

Dan