Swift 1805 by Grimber - Artesania Lantina - Scale 1:50 - Virginia Pilot Boat - my first wood ship model build

[themadchemist]

If you haven't already Michael Motts Bristol cutter in 1:8 scale is a marvel of detail.

http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/74-bristol-pilot-cutter-by-michael-mott-18-scale-pof/?hl=mott

 

A must read. The Bristol Pilots have a really different hull shape then the American pilots. Michael was also a professional model maker previously and has some amazing techniques and skills. His 1:2 Yawl Marie is also a great build log.

[Grimber]

Little work update.  Progress seems slow but I've been doing allot of side stuff like researching for rigging, sails and related hardware.  Also my book collection is slowly growing so doing more reading.  While searching the internet I also get distracted finding other things I'm interested in or future needs such as making home made shop tools vs finding the bucks to buy them.  My SIB build wasn't much a distraction as that was more waiting on paint and glue to dry then time spent building it.

 

......

 

Since I had 1 coat of varnish on the bulwork paint job I scrapped much of the excess blue off pretty easy with a hobby knife chisel blade.  Repainted the cream color with touch ups on the inside bulworks as well.

 

 

Used my home made wood clamps and the mast dowels to get the ship off any surfaces so I can do touch ups on the red and blue of the hull.  Too much handling of it would start to mess up the paint job and resting it on a surface or a temp mount would also rub paint off.

 

 

 

Cutting painters tape with a straight edge and hobby knife into small strips to mask out parts of the blue areas to be repainted.  Don't need much of a masking, just enough so not to slop paint but to get a better edge then trying to do it by hand.

 

 

I'm a little further along than this with the painting, just no pictures yet.

 

Mean time I started planking the cabin doors and the cabin walls.

 

 

To simulate the slit of the doors I just straight edge cut a line down the middle then used a mini 'V' file to widen the cut a little.

 

 

On the cabin planking instead of cutting all the short planks then glueing them on I am just gluing the end of a full plank on then hold for a few moments till the glue holds it.

 

 

Then clamp it.

 

 

Wait about 15-20 minutes then trim it off with the hobby clipper.

 

 

I'm working 2 sides of each cabin at a time this way.  I figured if I pre cut them and ended up with short pieces it would be allot of waste.  This may be slower but no real waste and I'm not in a big hurry.

 

Also glued the doors on so I can then start planking that side of the cabins as well.

 

Edited November 26, 2014 by Grimber

[dgbot]

Fry colorful model. We're they all flashy or is this artistic license.

David B

[Grimber]

Fry colorful model. We're they all flashy or is this artistic license.

David B

 the color and sheen will tone down once I put a finish on it.  Between the latex satin paint and florescent lighting it makes it a bit shinny.

[Grimber]

new picture of the hull.  still working on the paint which I'm not rushing it.  Little bit then go do something else.  Every time I kept handling the model I would mess up the red paint so I just put a little clear coat on to protect it until I finish the paint work.

 

[Grimber]

One part I had struggled with was making a base for the ship since it didn't come with one and I was trying to avoid buying one.  With the constant issue of handling the ship now and messing up the paint job, thought now would be a good time to build a base.

 

After a browsing walk around home depot I found a cabinet drawer face plate on a clearance shelf that looked pretty good and about the right size.

Then digging through my junk hardware boxes I found 2 brass pieces that looked like pedestals to something else, but the slot openings were way too small for my ships keel.  And found 2 used drywall screws that looked to be about the right length and width.

 

Measured out centered drill points on the wood base and drilled holes.  Then spent like an hour filing down the openings in the pedestals until they fit the keel.

 

 

drilled counter sink holes on the bottom side.

 

 

 

Placed the pedestals base and screws on the ships keel, eye balled it to a spot I liked and worked the screws a bit to mark where I needed to drill pilot holes in the keel.

 

 

 

Took my time, ran the drill slow to keep making sure I was drilling perpendicular to the keel.

 

 

Sanded and then put a light coat of varnish on the base with a paper towel.  Thought the wood looked nice and didn't need any stain.  Took a wire brush in my rotary tool to clean off all the built up gunk and tarnish from the pedestals.

 

 

Put it all together and just used a regular screw driver to drive in the screws so i could watch closely to make sure the screw didn't bulge the wood or come out someplace.

 

 

Now I got something to hold onto while painting and can set it down without resting it on something.  I'll have to cover the base up with some rags while I work so I don't drip all over that.

[Grimber]

More work on the cabins...

 

 

 

since the planking is so small I been working 3 at a time on each side, would alternate the 3 on one side  then the other, didn't take long to get the roofs of the cabins planked.  Maybe an hour for each.  Used clear gel glue like I did the deck planking so it set up in about 15 minutes and could unclamp, trim off the overhang and plank  again.

 

Found my fore cabin was a bit twisted, so I wet it down a bit and rubber banded it down over night.  Straightened it right out.

 

 

Went on to work on the hatches.  The slide rail pieces were a mess on the ends.  All frayed out, also the upper slides didn't fit in the notches, not anywhere close and they were all cut to different thicknesses.

 

 

Cleaned them up, used measurements of the side illustrations from the plans to get the angle the lower slides were to be cut for the slope.  Just marked them and put in my home made wood clamps and shaved and sanded them down.

 

 

Tested fitted them to the roof of the cabin....

 

 

Great, not even close to being flush to the top of the doors.  If I cut the doors down then I don't think they would look right even after redoing the planking. They would look short.  Re-measured the door height on the plans and from the parts list.  They were right and I didn't cut anything off the slides to make them loose height, just angle them. So time to fudge.

 

 

The upper slides put on top the lower slides vs in them gave me the correct height so I went with it and glued the slides in this way.

Test fit the cover top to see how it will look.

 

 

I'll live with it.  Painted the slide parts the cream color.

 

Marked a center line on the cover as a guide for glueing the cover on and for planking and glued it down.

 

 

Rubber banded it down as the the overall thickness of the cabin would make the clamps have too much tension.

 

 

After set up I planked the cover and trimmed and shaped the handle and glued that on as well.

 

 

Little more sanding and scraping and a clean up and it will be ready for finishing.  I'm up to the hatch cover work on the fore cabin as well.

 

Plugging along on the hull paint work.  Tell you one thing, I'm NEVER using a household latex paint on a wood model again..

Edited November 29, 2014 by Grimber

[Grimber]

After cleaning the cabins up put on the first coat of varnish.

 

 

Then first aging pass.

 

 

Second aging pass and 2nd coat of varnish ( varnish is still wet in these pics)

 

 

 

Basiclly done except for final aging.  I'll do that with the hull at the same time as I should be done with the hull paint work by tonight or tomorrow.  I don't like the hinges so I'll skip those, too big and gaudy. 

Edited November 30, 2014 by Grimber

[Grimber]

stupid camera, keeps adding brightness and contrast to the pictures.  Dug up my old Snapp camera got of ebay for $5 simple to use and doesn't do any of that auto adjustment stuff.

 

 

 

color is right, but the camera is always out of focus with things up close

[HIPEXEC]

Nice build.

[Grimber]

Nice build.

Thanks   I just hope to get the rigging right and make a nice set of sails as I expect that will be the big piece of this build.

 

............

 

Well I'm calling it on the paint job.  I can keep nit picking at it and make it worse.  My high school art teacher told me when I was learning oil painting that every artists has to come to a point and say its done, else you keep picking at it and will eventually go to far and screw it up.

( or course in my case I usually hit the screwed up part well before the done part )

 

 

 

Put a coat of varnish on it and now its time to start aging it.  Didn't mention before how I was doing this in the last post. After a clear coat is dried I put on an oil based antiquing.  Can find it at ceramic supply places, comes in a jar or powder and you can an get acrylic or oil based, I use oil as you got more time to work with it but it takes longer to dry too of course.  

 

I tried to get pictures of doing this but really is no time.  Have to use both hands and cannot stop once started.  Its just brush it on and wipe it off right after you put it on and have to work quickly at it.  The brush on is fast but you do ALLOT of wiping over and over again.  Did sneak in a picture just after I got the antiquing on the send time around.

 

 

 

About an hour - 1 1/2 later and Tons of wipeing and mabey 20 paper towels...

 

 

   

 

 

need to let it dry ( its wet in these pics) and then 2nd varnish coat.  Then I can do the last aging ( different then the above).

 

Mean time between drying times I started on the rudder.  Rudder hinges needed straightened out before I can assemble them.

Also need to notch out the rudder for the hinges, so I mark them from the plans and then also draw a center line around the rudder as a guide when I have to shape it later.

 

                 

 

Cut the notches with a hobby saw then goto use a chisel to cut out the chunk of wood ad...  

 

 

Bah...  A little wood glue, couple drops of super glue and a clamp and in a few minutes I'm back at it.

 

Filed them down and sanded to get the right size.  Used the thickness of the rudder as a form to bend the hinges to fit ( mostly just get them untwisted and then squeeze them down to the right width)

 

         

 

Instructions say super glue the brass pin to the brass hinges and I seen other build logs people 'trying' to solder them.  Since it's is brass parts I opt to at least tack them together with superglue for now.  Brass needs allot more heat for solder to stick then an iron from wally mart can put out.  Need a higher wattage iron or mini torch.      

 

             

 

         

 

Instead of solder I'm going to mix up a little JB weld and put a little dab on the inside parts of the hinge pieces.  But right now it's time for a break

Edited November 30, 2014 by Grimber

[dgbot]

Smart move.  I have never ought of using the stuff  for modeling.

David B

[Grimber]

Smart move.  I have never ought of using the stuff  for modeling.

David B

 

I'll probably use it on the foresail bracer for the loop around the deadeye as well.  Its just another wire.  but I'm also considering tossing it and make my own.  I've seen them used in other swift builds and even painted looked like a wire.

[Grimber]

Little more work done.

 

Put some JB weld on the joints of the rudder hinges and let that dry.  Had to be sure I was using the right JB weld as I have for metal ( red tube) and plastic ( yellow tube).  I messed that up last time I had to glue a laptop case back together.

 

 

Then started to shape the rudder, rounded out the hinge side.

 

 

Then used my lines to bevel out the taper ends on the bottom and back sides of the rudder.

 

 

Then just connect the dots between the curved hinge notches down to the beveled ends.

 

 

Rounded out the top of the rudder until ferrule fit, but only work from the back side not the hinge side.

 

 

After that it's just fine tune the sanding and test fit to the ship.  Found the rudder was too long so I trimmed a little off the bottom.  The top of the rudder is too long too but I'll trim that down once I get the ferrule in.  The hole will need some fine tuning to make everything line up before that.

 

After the JB weld was dried I started on the paint.  Sanded the hinges to get a clean contact and painted them black.  Painted the rudder red.

 

 

little more painting to do before I can put this together.

 

Mean time, the hull.  Had to work on the last coat of finish.  I hit it with a mixture of 1 to 1 satin varnish to matte varnish ( had to shop around to find some of this without spending too much) to cut down on the sheen.  Put a coat on the hull and the cabins.  Then while still wet and to speed up the aging of the varnish I put them under a couple florescent plant growing lights.  ( lots of UV put out by these )  

 

 

(rotated the parts occasionally.  BTW this really messed with my eyes so had to put them in a back corner so I wouldn't look directly in the lights)

 

After 2 days in the lights...

 

 

 

Just enough antiquing left on the seems, joints and in the grains that show through the paint to make them stand out.

And no  I didn't mess with my camera settings, let it n auto and full lights on my work bench.  Defiantly took allot of the shine and brightness out of it.

 

Set the cabins on the ship just to see how they look on the deck.

 

 

got a couple tiny spots that stand out need a touch of clear coat and then back to the lights for couple more days.

Edited December 2, 2014 by Grimber

[captgino]

Nice Work!!

[Grimber]

Thanks, it's slow and maybe not as well done as it could be but I'm not displeased with it considering some of the troubles it's given me through out the build so far and I'm not as good at this as I use to be.

 

.....

 

not much more done today, I'm doing more reading than anything.

 

Installed the rudder, glued down the hinges and trimmed off the top of the rudder post.  After doing all the work on this rudder I think it would have been easier to just glued the rudder on after shaping and then faked in the hinges as they don't actually move anyways.

 

 

still have the pin nails to put in the hinges.

 

Then I shaped the tiller.  Wasn't too bad doing this but the piece gets pretty thin fast.  Just glad its a harder wood.

 

 

Instead of drilling out a hole, I just cut out the back end and I'll glue it on this way.   Easier to then adjust for the angle of the tiller.

 

 

Painted it red also and put on some finish,

 

 

Need to age the tiller and rudder yet.

Edited December 6, 2014 by Grimber

[Grimber]

While I am still doing some research on rigging one thing I do know I want is a Bobstay.  It is a chain that runs from the prow and attached (directly or by tackle) to the end of the bowsprit. 

 

Instead of buying a chain I'm going to make one.  This may not be to scale but I think it will be close enough.

Making chain is pretty easy, I was a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism SCA (they put on the medieval and renaissance fairs world wide) and I made chain armor.  The principle is the same when making pieces for armor.

 

Things you will need.

 

Soldering iron

Solder and flux paste or liquid ( not plumber solder or flux)

damp piece of sponge

2 needle nose pliers

wire cutter

file

hobby knife

wire to a gauge your satisfied with for the chain.  preferably something with a bit of stiffness to it

something hard and round or oval ( depending on the shape you want the chain links) that has an inside diameter you want for your chain links.

 

finally something to clamp your iron to to hold it steady to leave your hands free.

 

 

while your iron is heating up, take your wire and make wraps around the form for your chain links.  I'm using a nail here.

 

slide your wrapped wire off the form and then you will use a wire cutter to nip off each wrap of the wire.  try and stay in a straight line when cutting them all off so they stay uniform.

 

 

once cut I separate my pile of links setting aside 1/3 of them.

 

 

 

using the 2 needle nose pliers I then take rings from the smaller 1/3 pile and close the cut opening to make a completed ring

 

 

making sure my iron is hot, cleaned and tined, i then lay the joint of the ring against my iron to heat it up

 

 

keep touching the end of the solder to the join, NOT the iron until the solder melts and flows into the joint.  might have to put a tiny bit of flux on it to help it flow once the solder will melt.  You want the solder to be a shinny silver, not a dull silver.  If it is dull, a little flux and then touch to the heat to re-melt it typically does the trick. 

 

 

shinny silver  good solder joint, dull silver its a bad joint and won't hold.

 

I repeat the process with the rest of the links in the small pile.

 

Once done I take my file and clean up any burrs on the finished links once they have cooled.

 

I take a link from the other pile now and open it up wide enough so I can slip 2 closed links on it.

 

 

 

Then close that link.

 

 

I then solder that link closed.

 

Repeat the process until you have used up all your closed links. If your one short, just make one.

File any burrs down on the cooled links.

 

Taking another link from the pile, I will open this one, pick up one 3 ring cluster, grab a link on an end and slip it onto the open link.

 

 

Add a second 3 ring set 

 

 

close and solder that link and file if needed. 

 

Open a new link, take the end of that chain put it on the link and add another 3 ring set.

 

 

Solder and file.  repeat.

 

Now your chain is started.

 

 

I continue on repeating the whole process and build another short chain piece  then I just use an open link and join the short sections together.

 

 

basics for chain armor its the same begging steps, just weld the rings vs solder and once you have many chains made you would then 'knit' the chains together to make panels that would be then be knitted together to make, what ever your making.

Edited December 8, 2014 by Grimber

[Grimber]

Last post and this post the image hosting site I have been using has been down.  So I am uploading my pictures to the forum.  If people are having a problem seeing pictures in the old posts let me know and I'll re upload them here.

 

----------------------

 

Worked on the pin nail heads for the rudder hinges.  Little bit challenging to work with only the top 1/16th or so of a tiny nail

 

 

But it makes the hinges look nice.  So worth the work.

 

 

Getting a good layout plan for my rigging hammered out so I can go ahead and move on to installing the masts.

I'm not going to use the flared out stops as show on the plans for the masts, instead I'll make some cheeks and bolsters.

 

I will taper it with a household drill since a lathe isn't in my tool set yet.

 

 

I mark the start point where the mast will start to taper and I sand to the tip, then start sanding another pass an inch down the length of the mast  from the previous point I started to the tip again.  keep progressing down the mast this way gives a nice start to shaping the taper.

 

Occasionally checking the mast vs the illustrations so I stay on track.

 

 

Once I get close I switch to a finer sand paper to finish it off.

 

Repeat the same steps for the main mast and the bowsprit

 

 

gave them a test fit on the ship

 

 

Strapped down the angle jig and glued and clamped in the fore and main masts.

 

 

Bowsprit will go in later after I build the knightshead and the aft end of the bowsprit needs to be squared off yet.

 

 

[dgbot]

I have never glued masts.  i allow the rigging to hold it in.  I  do make the holes a little on the larger size and fill with chocks for getting the proper angle and then double check it when I do the shrouds and deadeyes.  The chocks will be covered by a simulated piece of canvas to act as a mast cover. The reason is because accidents do happen and if a repair needs to be done on the mast heaven forbid and it has to be replaced or removed it is easier. Your way of positioning the angles is perfect. Just fill in the hole until you gt the right angle. Then rig your shrouds port the starboard alternating each time you then use the shrouds to locate the position of the chainplates .   

[Grimber]

I have never glued masts.  i allow the rigging to hold it in.  I  do make the holes a little on the larger size and fill with chocks for getting the proper angle and then double check it when I do the shrouds and deadeyes.  The chocks will be covered by a simulated piece of canvas to act as a mast cover. The reason is because accidents do happen and if a repair needs to be done on the mast heaven forbid and it has to be replaced or removed it is easier. Your way of positioning the angles is perfect. Just fill in the hole until you gt the right angle. Then rig your shrouds port the starboard alternating each time you then use the shrouds to locate the position of the chainplates .   

I remember doing that with masts on the revel constitution plastic kit I did years ago, now that you mention it.

 

I like the idea of the canvas too, I'll have to see if it will work once i get that far.

 

Also to this point in the build I'm finding, as Keith said, the instructions are a big problem with this kit, especially in this last section.  It really looks like they did it in a rush just to hurry up and finish it.  First two parts were more step by step and now its like 10+ steps under each heading.  Wonder if they had a page limit with the printers for the instruction sheets.

 

..............

 

Image hosting site is working again.  Just easy to upload there, auto resize and pick the images in the order I want to post them.

 

Everything today is little bits of work here and there.  Masts were dried so removed the angle jig and tossed it back in my scrape wood pile.

 

Put the knights head together.  Like allot of parts none of these matched size wise so had to do allot of filing and sanding to get similar widths, lengths etc.  nor were the pre cut notches done very well and had to do allot of filing them out.

 

 

Tacked it down to a craft stick for painting.  This blue paint is about had it and ready for the trash.  Opened the can this morning and it had a big, well...., 'poo' sized glob of mold growing on the top of the paint.

 

 

Even with the mold it has a nice color to it though.

 

Glued the knightshead in place along with the cabins.  Cabins needed some extra clamping. 

 

 

once knightshead was set up glued in the bowsprit

 

 

I'll do some reinforcement glueing on all this tomorrow after this dries.

 

Mean time the main mast boom was bent all out of shape.  it had 3 major bends in it it looked bad so I soaked it 3 hours in ho water and clamped it down into a aluminum angle iron piece ( thanks to keith again for recommending these).  

 

 

have to see how it turns out tomorrow.   hope it works or gets me close so another soak and clamp gets it straight as I rather use this piece vs replacing it, I like how this wood looks after finishing.

 

Also started on the anchors.  Another example of poor instructions as there is almost none for the anchors assembly or installation.  All I could find was one sentence in the last paragraph of the instructions. 

 

So i glue the 'top' pieces to the anchor body with some JB weld.

 

 

After dried I cleaned up all the molding seams with a hobby knife and files, glued on a ring on the top of each for tying the line to also with JB weld and then put some brown paint on the 'wood' parts of the top piece cross members.

 

 

After the glue dries I'll straighten the rings out and finish painting these, so more to come on the anchors.  Has to wait until the cabins dry as I used my black paint bottles to hold down the cabins

Edited December 11, 2014 by Grimber

[Tomeleck]

I just wanted to tell you that I've spent all mornng reading your fascinating posts regarding the Swift Virginia pilot boat, and I am simply amazed. Your posts are incredibly detailed. They are filled with quite a bit of humor as well as many helpful hints and downright essential bits of model shipbuilding lore. Before I began reading, I thught foolishly that I knew a lot about model shipbuilding. I was wrong. I learned an awful lot about ship construction from your posts. You are a great teacher, and I will certainly take away a great deal of information to use on my future modelling efforts. Thank you, thank you for all your patience and hard work. Please continue, or my own Swift boat will never be finished. --Tom

[Grimber]

thanks, I been skipping the instructions lately though.  But be sure you check out themadchemist (Keith) log  as he knows allot more about this than I do.

 

also do a search on the forums for other swift builds,  took me a while but i read them all very early on.  lots of information there.  I'm only half ways though Keith's log being it's at 104 pages now

 

I've made plenty of mistakes in my build and things haven't gone so well with the paint job.

Right now I'm working on the scuttle, bucket, bildge pump, anchors plus a side project I need to finish before starting rigging.

[Gabek]

Hello Grimber,

Just found your Swift log and have really enjoyed reading it over. Nice paint scheme. I've started a Baltimore clipper and plan on painting it and this log has gven me lots of ideas. Thanks!

 

I also had lots of chuckles throughout this log (Bugs and Elmer included!) mostly through the same issues you and almost every other Swift builder has faced with this kit.

 

Excellent work!

 

Regards,

Gabe

[Grimber]

Have not done anything on my Swift since my last post last December.  Have been drawn away from it with many real world things.  My daughter got married, have had 2 short term construction jobs ( rough carpentry framing and concrete work), brother ended up in the hospital with some rare bone issue and had to have hip replacement surgery, took a trip to South Korea to visit in-laws and a bit of sight seeing (more on that in a later post as I got a chance to go to Admiral Yi's museum), and I made arrangements' to go back to collage this coming spring semester.

 

I intend to get back to work on my Swift in the next week or two after I finish yard work and winterizing the house and clean up my work area as it has become a dumping ground for all sorts of stuff.

[captgino]

Welcome back!

Looking forward to see updates to your built log.