US Brig Niagara by Laxet - FINISHED - Model Shipways

[Laxet]

This always happens. One of these went together like a dream. The other like a nightmare. Still haven't finished the second one. Installed the thwart rails & fitted a bumper rail while waiting for the glue to dry on #2 for the 20th time.

 

These boats are really slow going for me. I'll be glad when they're done & I can get back to the ship. I still have to build the channels. That should be the last woodworking I have to do on this ship.

[Laxet]

I was thinking that there were way too many ribs (frames) in these boats & they looked cluttered, but it's by the print. Since then I've found some pictures of these boats, & you know what? They look just like this. They have just as many ribs as mine does, so now I don't feel so bad. It still looks cluttered, but it"s accurate clutter. Whoo hoo. That's one for the good guys.

[Laxet]

Finished the gratings & true to form, it fought me the whole way. I'm waiting for it to disassemble itself tonight while I sleep. I also installed the bumper rails on the cutters. Now I have to build the top rails. That should be a snap (famous last words). I have to think about painting before I install those, though.

Edited October 15, 2014 by Laxet

[Laxet]

Started on the forward grates. Also started on the top rails.

[Laxet]

Here are the more or less completed forward grates. They still need a little sanding.

[Laxet]

This shows the the roughing out of the top rails for the cutters. A Dremel sure makes quick work of this task.

[rfolsom]

Your boats look great;  Not cluttered at all... The kit's "bread and butter" method is very tedious, and inaccurate, if you are a stickler for scale.   A POF approach, while very, very, time consuming is more rewarding, but I think you've captured the effect quite nicely.

 

Don't sweat the small stuff...

 

If you stick with the scale, these boats' hulls can be about as thin as an eggshell...

Edited October 18, 2014 by rfolsom

[Laxet]

Yeah, I can't even imagine doing these boats PoF. I'll stick with this as it actually seems to be coming out a little better the I thought it would. Here is the latest progress picture. Inside painted, outside painted, internal parts fitted (but not painted (well the gratings are painted)). Used Krylon to paint the white, but it's too shiny. Will have to coat with some Dullcoat or something. I think I have some Krylon acrylic dull finish.

 

You can see the yawl in the background getting fitted with curved parts.

 

Here's another note to self: DO NOT THIN MODEL EXPO'S MODEL SHIPWAYS PAINTS WITH RUBBING ALCOHOL. It turns everything into a gelatinous mess. It actually worked in the airbrush jar, but when I poured it back into the main jar, (I know, that was REALLY stupid & I never do that) it turned everything to poo poo. I hope I can salvage this because I still have to paint the yawl.

[Laxet]

These boats are just so time consuming, mostly because I don't know what I'm doing. Progress is really slow. Here they are so far. I have to figure out how to plank the yawl now.

[GuntherMT]

They look great Dale.

[Guest Tim I.]

Dale,

 

Just catching back up on your log. I think your boats look great! 

 

- Tim

[milosmail]

Dale, the ships boats are really looking great. 

[Laxet]

Thanks guys. I appreciate it. Today I made some corrections to the bow sheers which made them look a lot better. It took out that steep slant. I also attached the top rails & got into such a hurry that I painted one before attaching the oar lock boardy thingys on top. (You like that terminology? Them's technical words!) There is a light at the end of the tunnel finally. I'm just hoping the buff paint is usable enough to paint the yawl, else I'll have to buy another jar for just one boat.

[Guest Tim I.]

Dale,

 

I pulled out my Niagara plans today, as the boat option that came with my Prince de Neufchatel kit leaves a bit to be desired. I may not get to them for another week, but I am going to attempt to use the plans for the Niagara boats to fabricate some PoB boats for the Prince. I will let you know how it goes.

 

- Tim

[Laxet]

Looking forward to it.

[Laxet]

Okay kiddies. Here they are again. All they need now is (are) some knees & breast hooks & they'll be done-arino. I still have to make a (ahem) boatload of oars & other accoutrements. I've been building these things for over a month. Aaaarrrrgggghhhh! Have I mentioned how much I dislike building these things?

[captgino]

Great built!

[Guest Tim I.]

Your boats look great! What will you be using for fabricating oars? I am stymied on what to use for the shafts of the oars for my Prince de Neufchatel build.

 

Thanks,

 

Tim

[Laxet]

Believe it or not, I was contemplating carving them in one piece from strip wood. I don't know if it is feasible or not, or even the best way, but I thought I'd give it a try once & evaluate the result. One way or another, I'll know something this week.

[Laxet]

Here is what I am NOT going to do:

 

1. build knees - every time I try, the wood splits. This is beyond my skill.

2. build breasthooks - same reason.

3. lapstrake my yawl - I just can't figure out how to do it using these bread & butter hulls. Most of the builds I see did not do it either & it looks okay. It would look really good if I could do it, but again, it is beyond my skill level.

 

So based on the previous statements, I am considering the cutters finished. Still working on the yawl. Here are a couple of pictures. You can see the raw top rail beside it in the first picture.

 

Have not attempted the oars yet.

[Laxet]

Except for some minor touch up stuff, I'm calling these done. Moving on to the channels & hammock thingies.

[Laxet]

The prints call out .016" for material to make the chain plates. I have plenty of this, but it looks really small. Does anybody have an opinion as to what size wire to use?

[Laxet]

BTW, I managed to take a clump of the buff paint, thin it with distilled water & squeeze enough juice out of it to paint the inside of the yawl. I was worried, but I did it. I will just have to throw the rest away because it's all but unusable.

 

Just in case you were wondering.

[Guest Tim I.]

The prints call out .016" for material to make the chain plates. I have plenty of this, but it looks really small. Does anybody have an opinion as to what size wire to use?

 

Not sure, I use 28 gauge for a lot of things, but I think that might still be too small.

 

- Tim

[Laxet]

According to my chart, 28 gauge wire is .0126" , which is smaller than my .016".

[Guest Tim I.]

I have had a hard time locating spools of wire locally where I live, to augment what comes in kits. It seems that often the wire / rigging is never enough.

 

- Tim

[GuntherMT]

I have had a hard time locating spools of wire locally where I live, to augment what comes in kits. It seems that often the wire / rigging is never enough.

 

- Tim

 

Tim - for just a few dollars a spool, I just got one spool of every size from 18 guage to 30 guage from here:

 

http://www.firemountaingems.com/shop/kw1cmbm09c626lt-zebra-wire--blacks-search?itemsperpage=20&sortby=bestmatch

 

I figure I'll never need to search for black wire again except for specific uses that require something harder possibly.

[Laxet]

Brian,

 

I had a look at that web site. I think I will order a bunch from them myself. I like that the wire is already black.

[Laxet]

Here is a proof of concept picture that I can indeed carve oars from a single strip of wood, in this case 3/64 x 1/8. I know this one is broken, but if I refine my technique, this will work out well. Also, in the background, you can see my channels. I happen to have some .025 wire, & ME supplied some (a very small amount of) .020 wire. I think somewhere in between these two sizes is the right size for chain plates, closer to the .020 size. The .025 looks too large.

[GuntherMT]

Brian,

 

I had a look at that web site. I think I will order a bunch from them myself. I like that the wire is already black.

 

I certainly can't promise the same service, since I only have the single point of reference, but when I ordered my wire I just ordered it with whatever the standard shipping was.  They shipped it the next morning, and I had it 2 days after I placed the order.