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

[WackoWolf]

One can always find something at the Dollar store, all you have to do is look.

[Grimber]

Little good news.  Won two ebay auctions for ship models last night, both came in under my budget.  One was a ship in a bottle kit ( and I made sure it wasn't one of those with cut open plastic bottles).  So need to do some searching on some of that type of modeling.  I think it would be nice on the side as something to build as I wait on paint/glue to dry on my swift.  The second an old balsa solid hull kithttp://www.ebay.com/itm/IDEAL-MODELS-HISTORIC-SHIP-MODELS-SOVEREIGN-OF-THE-SEA-BALSA-/261633172710?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2047675.l2557&nma=true&si=taHgOEXsi6vQPz74dCToxLprrcY%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

 

give me the chance to try a solid hull ship.  Both were cheap (less than what I payed at BK for lunch today ) so if I muck them up I'm really not out much of anything.

 

would like to try a couple of them midwest kits but they seem to be popular to scarf up.

 

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

 

Section A.9  outside bulwork planking.

 

My planks are dry now so I remove them off my bending rig and test how well they bend to the bulwork curvature.

 

( the one on the ship isn't actualy bent that way, its just drooping from it's own weight)

 

I notice that the planks aren't long enough to run all the way from the end transom to the end of the bow.  Since there is a piece that goes on the bow over the planking (#34 Cut water reinforcement) I'll just overhang the transom and then fill in the bow with pieces later.

 

Have the issue of trying to straighten out the buckling on the bulwork so I went to lowes and got some 1/16"x1/2" aluminum strip, I also made sure to get some of that angle aluminum like Keith used for getting his bulkheads in straight, to use on my next ship.

 

Cut it down to 14 1/2" and using my table vise and my cut out deck curvature form I bent the aluminum to shape.

 

 

Before I start the planking I take a 1" wide paint brush and wet down only the outside of the bulwork.  give it 3 hits of brushed on water to soften the wood up enough so I can try and reform it.

 

 

Starting at the transom I glue down 4 rows of planks with thinned wood glue, line up my bent aluminum form along the inside of the bulwork, place a hobby stick/popsicle stick) vertical across the planking and clamp it down.  Working my way to the bow I make sure the planks stay aligned and against each other, adjust the aluminum bar as needed, craft stick and clamp.  Where the buckling is the worst I use those 'trigger' ratcheting clamps to get more pressure on the buckeled areas.  Be mindful where the clamp pads are on the inside of the bulwork too, you can easily snag the stringer and mash it or miss the aluminum bar and hit a painted part and crush the bulwork wood.

 

This took some juggling and a little cursing and re applying glue in spots as planks shifted around but it went in better than I expected.

 

 

 

 

Now to just let it sit and dry, then I can repeat it on the starboard side.

 

Time to go read on rigging I think.

Edited October 28, 2014 by Grimber

[themadchemist]

I probably take too many pictures of the clamping, but have found it useful to go back and see exactly how I did it. One must be inventive and the handmade tools and jigs are typically the best.

of all my boat stuff, clamps out number everything in the number of varieties. Getting the right pressure in exactly the right place is the fun part.

 

That would be an interesting thread - pic's of the craziest clamping methods

[Grimber]

I probably take too many pictures of the clamping, but have found it useful to go back and see exactly how I did it. One must be inventive and the handmade tools and jigs are typically the best.

 

of all my boat stuff, clamps out number everything in the number of varieties. Getting the right pressure in exactly the right place is the fun part.

 

That would be an interesting thread - pic's of the craziest clamping methods

actually that brings up an interesting point..  I've been looking at allot of pictures of the ship building process ( real ship building),  I don't recall seeing them using any clamps to hold the planks against the hull frames while they treenail them in place.  Have you? but you se 2 guys putting in the tree nails but no one holding the planks and no clamps.

[themadchemist]

treenails are the best clamps.

 

watch this time lapse and you'll see clamping.

 

the slower videos are much better though

[Grimber]

The video was cool.  Would be nice to have a garage or work shed and build one.   I like fishing but never owned a boat.  A little day sailer like that would be great to have.

 

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

 

Well I continued on with my bulkwork planking and straightening once the port side was dry.  Went ahead and wet down the starboard side, glued on 4 planks as I did on port side, put the aluminum bar on the inside surface and clamped.

 

 

The buckeling wasn't so much on the starboard side so I used less water this time wetting it, should be done a bit faster than port side.

 

Didn't take out all the buckeling (didn't expect it to) but but it was enough I think.

 

 

I then went ahead and finished off the last strake of bulwork planking and then planked the transom.  For the thin areas instead of using a full plank I used left overs from the deck planking.  I'm painting this anyways so shouldn't matter visibly.

 

 

 

After light grit sanding I painted the bulworks and transom with 5 thinned (2 parts paint 1 water) coats of the cream latex paint.  (Also needed to do some touch ups on the inside of the bulworks from the aluminum bar and clamping).  With the thinned paint I got the results I was after, a good coating of the planks but the plank lines still show through.

 

 

End Section A.9

 

Section A.12  Stanchions and dressing 

 

I'm skipping the hull planking and Keel for now

 

I pre paint 3 of the sides of the mahogany strips ( I figure it will take 2 of the strips)  for the stanchions with the sea blue green.  Let that dry.  Set up a cutting form on my work board with a 15mm cut slot.  I'm not expecting all the stanchions to fit right with the issues of the stern end and warpage/buckling of the bulworks.  So i'll fix as needed as I go.

 

Going by the plans illustrations it is 12mm from the point of the bow to the center of the first stanchion and 14mm spacing between each stanchion.  Should total 21 on each side of the ship.

 

I mark off the 12mm start points of the bow first, cut two pieces, bevel one face of them so they will sit better on the stringers and using clear gel glue glue in place  then use my small mechanical straight edge to square them up to the stringer.

 

 

 

(note.  along the bow end the stanchions won't get exactly squared with the curvature of the decking.  You just have to check both sides and find the middle)

 

I then cut a 14mm piece from scrap and use that as a spacer to lay down the rest of my stanchions.

 

 

When you get to the poop-deck these last 2 are longer so you will have to measure and then cut them.

 

 

Repeat for the starboard side.

 

I'm about half ways through on the starboard side.  Once they are all installed and I do a little patching work on the short pieces, let that totally dry and then do paint touch ups. (cutting and handling the parts will cause some damage to the paint, so it's expected)

Edited October 31, 2014 by Grimber

[Grimber]

Not allot of progress the past 3 days.  Mostly waiting on glue to do its thing.

 

Finished with the stanchions then after they were dried had to sand them down flush to the top edge of the bulworks, not easy being mahogany.  Had to use the dremel tool on a couple of them.

 

Went and test fitted the stern battens and like other Swift build logs they didn't fit.  Not only that but they were of different sizes and the plywood was very old and brittle.  Would literally fall apart in my hands.

 

 

Decided I would make them work vs making new ones as all the left over material I have is in the same condition.  So I first coated them in thinned out glue and let dry.  Then cut them into pieces and trimmed cut and sanded till the pieces fit and were of equal sizes.  Then notched out the belaying pin rack and glued that in as well.   Couldn't get it to fit all the way back to the transom without cutting it into three separate pieces so I just left a small gap.

Once dried I finished these pieces just as I did the deck.

 

Looking over the gunwales next I noticed the bow piece has to sit flush over the Cut Water Reinforcements ( section A.17 part 34 ) so I skip ahead and install those after I miter cut the bow edge.  This took a while as these parts just do not want to bend.  Even after soaking 3+ hours I glued one on and had to put 2 bar clamps and the biggest spring clamp I had to get it to form to the curvature of the bow, then let sit 24 hours to dry.

 

Took the opportunity to finally goto the nearest Hobby Lobby about half hour drive.  Glad I spent the time to browse the entire store else I would have foolishly bought my wood from the individual sheets box vs finding the bulk packages in the wood working area.  Was hoping they would have had some cedar too.

 

Returned home to find a group of cut throat pirates had invaded my work area wanting a ship and booty.  Fortunately they were led by the yellow belly Captain Blarrg.

 

 

Even though they have a cannon I talked him into new clothes for him and his mates instead of booty.

 

Unclamp and repeat for the other piece, and another 24 hours I could then glue in the bow gunwale piece.  That was difficult to clamp down as well, nothing to get a clamp onto so I had to improvise.

 

 

Giving Capt. Blarrg a new coat, vest and hat the bow gunwale is now dried and I can move onto the rest of the gunwales.

 

 

 

Speaking of hats,  no luck on any new ships yet but did find a greek fisherman's hat I just couldn't pass on.

 

Edited November 2, 2014 by Grimber

[Grimber]

Not too much construction progress.  Still more of the same, cut a piece, glue and wait but toss in also waiting on paint to dry.

 

Finished installing the gunwales.  The problems with those was like everything else, the pieces didn't match up in size and was so brittle would fall apart in your hands.  Even the port and starboard gunwales which came off the same sheet of plywood were of different thicknesses.  So that also means my false deck was thicker on one side (port side) then the other.

 

Glueing them down was relatively easy.  Glue, adjust the position and rubber band them down, minor tweaking of adjustment and wait.

 

I cut out the steering seats, sand, cut out the notches to go around the aft stanchions and bevel the end to rest against the curved surface that goes up to the transom.  Had to add glue on these as well being a brittle plywood.  Then after I figured out what wood strips were Bokapi and then the right sized ones of those I cut out and sand the two cleat stanchions that will get mounted port and starboard sides near the forward opening of the deck.

 

Installed the seats and cleat stanchions after the gunwales dried.

 

Painted the gunwales the sea blue green but then I didn't like the look of the aft end for some reason.  Didn't look right.  

 

So I painted the Stern belaying pin rack and stern battens as well as the steering seats and I think the aft end looks better for it.  So I also paint the cleat stanchions.

 

 

That finished up section A.12

 

 

I put two strips of the Bokapi on my bending rig for the upper bumpers to shape, meantime I make a rig to drill out the 2 holes for the masts.

 

Section A.16 Drill mast holes

 

Measured out the location of each mast from the plans onto the deck.  Drew a circle around it so I had a guide when drilling where the aproximate edges of the hole will be.  

 

I meassured the angle of the masts to the deck in the side cut away plans and cut a small block as a guide for that angle.  Repeat for the second mast.  Then I glue them to a straight piece of scrap wood after I line them up on my deck.  Put a piece of tape around my drill bit so I have the depth ( also keeps the bit from digging into my wood angle guide).  After drilling a starter pilot hole I then line up my guide and rest the drill bit in the corner of the angled board and the scrap straight board and ran the drill slowly in reverse until it dug into the surface, then followed up by drilling the hole like normal.

 

 

(running the drill in reverse at first can sometimes help keep the bit from skipping around the surface, sometimes)

 

Aft mast hole went in nice just needed a bit of filing, but the bow must have hit a hard or soft spot as it skewed off to the starboard side half ways into drilling it.  So I had to dig out the hole towards the port side to get it centered and then patch the big hole to the starboard side.  Stuck the mast in the hole and filled with wood filler and then made a patch for the planking.

 

 

After that dries I'll have to re finish that part.  Tiny notch to fix on the aft mast hole planking too but thats small.

 

Could not resist though and test fitted the masts.

 

Keep the angle guide as it will be useful when I goto actually install the masts later on.

 

End section A.16

 

 

 

 

 

So, where I am at is more painting, paint and put in the upper bumpers, fix and refinish the planking, cut in the scuppers, clean up good and then clear coat all this work done so far then I should be ready for the 2nd hull planking.

Edited November 5, 2014 by Grimber

[Grimber]

Since I was lax in documenting my previous work I thought I better do a better job on this next section

 

Section A.13 Scuppers

 

Of all the parts of this build this was the one I was not looking forward to.  To cut out 6 holes in the sides of the bulworks without any parts to be installed around them to mask or cover up any mistakes.  Include the fact if your planking in these areas didn't get glued down well enough they could rip themselves up when cutting the holes and filing them.

 

The three scuppers on each side are located between the stanchions right after the cleat stanchion.

 

I first start by using a pin vise and drill small holes in the corners where the stringers and stanchions meet.

 

Then I draw in lines on the outside of the bulworks to connect these dots,  this is my bottom line and not to cross it when drilling.

I also have to measure the hight of the scuppers for the relative top line but the plans are flat and my bulwork is angled so on a piece of paper i project out the lines of the top and bottoms of the scuppers on the drawing and draw in the bulwork surface angle that crosses those lines to get the actual hight on the bulwork surface.  Mine end up being 5mm so I mark that as well.

 

 

I then drill pilot holes staying inside the lines and check to make sure I didn't hit anything on the inside of the ship.  I drill more holes then to connect the dots.

 

 

 

 

DON'T drag you drill bit across like it says in the instructions.  Too easy to loose control of it and cut outside your lines.  Poke holes instead then cut the them open with a file.

 

Using a mini square file I then file my way to the BOTTOM corners of each scupper until I get into the corners where the stringer and stanchions meet, then I remove the material along the stringer.  Avoid working the top half of the scupper for now, stick to the clearly defined boarders laid down with the stanchions and stringers.

 

 

 

I did this buy working my file from the outside but I watched it from the inside, occasionally checking the outside face.  Keep your hobby knife handy to clean up flakes and bits and pieces as you go so you can see the edges more clearly.

 

Recheck the measurements of my scuppers upper edge lines then using a square mini file I work my way along the stanchion surfaces till I cut out the upper corners (lots of checking the inside and outside as you do this).  Then work my way along the guideline to finish the rough filing out of the scupper openings.

 

 

 

Using a flat mini file I refine the top and bottom surfaces and a mini triangle file I get the smaller side edges.

 

For painting I decide to paint the inside surfaces of the scuppers the sea blue green.  I only have one coat so far and with all the filing will need touch ups as well.

 

 

End Section A.13 ( besides more painting)

 

I also pull out the pieces for the bulwork bumpers, file/sand those, pre bent them and now started on painting.

 

Edited November 6, 2014 by Grimber

[GuntherMT]

Those masts look really thick.  Do they stay that diameter?

[Grimber]

Those masts look really thick.  Do they stay that diameter?

they stay about that thickness ( 8.3 ish mm ) at the deck but taper to aprox 3mm diameter.  which should be fun to make that taper evenly but the lengths are about right.  in fact after measuring the mast lengths there is no margin for error.  my dowels are the same length as what is on the diagram.

Edited November 6, 2014 by Grimber

[Grimber]

Had to back up on the ships work.  After all the painting, glueing, handling, clamping the finish on the outside of the bulwork has taken a beating.

 

 

hard to see in the picture but not only was the paint shredding and peeling in spots it was getting a grainy rough texture to it.  Only one thing to do,  fix it by sanding the paint off and repainting.  Took a while as it had 5 coats on by this time as well as touch ups and who knows how much glue, oils from my hands  etc.

 

After repainting and 4 thin coats and is dry I put in the upper bumpers.  I pencil in just a few light guide marks so they stay relatively the same hight for symmetry, BUT an important point is the bottom edge of this board needs to be flush with the top edge of the scupper openings.

 

 

 

 

Now to let this dry.  Used the clear gel glue so won't be until tomorrow.  Then cut off the stern excess and finish painting/touchups.

[Grimber]

Veterans Day.

 

Got the upper bumpers done, did some touch ups and put one coat of satin varnish on the paint job just to try to protect it a bit.  I'm sure Ill be re-sanding and fixing it more after the hull gets on, but hopefully not so much.

 

 

 

Captain Blarrg isn't complaining, so far.

 

Sanded down the hull and started planking.  Decided to just not over think or overcomplicate things and just let it fall where it wants to (K.I.S.S.).

Started by working the first strike along the bulworks.  This needed the most work so far as the bulworks aren't straight.  Needed some carving and sanding to make it follow the bulwork line.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 'bent pins as clamps' works pretty good to hold the planks down till the wood glue sets up.  I used thinned wood glue for the majority of each plank with a little super glue to tack the bow and stern ends in place as it is harder to get pins in them filler blocks.  I made about 10 of the bent pins to start and just made more as I needed them.

 

Also started on the cabin walls.  Cut them out and sanded then used an angle aluminum piece keep them square to each other and just glued each corner.  Just note the 2 cabins are different sized so don't get the parts mixed up.

 

 

 

 

Time for a nap.

Edited November 11, 2014 by Grimber

[Grimber]

More work on the planking today.  Did another strake on the upper hull and the first on the lower hull in the first picture.  Alternating overlap of the planks at the bow instead of trying to miter them in.

 

 

 

 

 

by now my fingers are getting sore from handling the bent pin clamps.

 

Also added in the cabin frame supports then marked the center lines for the supports and the cabin roofs so I could center them correctly as the roofs have an overhang.  Tacked them with super glue down the center line then clamped them along the outside corners and sides and glued the seams with thinned wood glue.

 

 

 

Made a blueberry pie, so good time for a pie break.

Edited November 12, 2014 by Grimber

[Grimber]

Some more work done today.  I know I didn't follow any planking method on this, I'm painting the hull and I'd rather spend the focused hull work time on a hull that I will just stain or varnish when all the wood work will be visible.  So with this one its more about getting a smooth hull.

 

 

 

Basically the work was the same as the first planking except I tried to get less pieces and more full strakes in.  That and these planks were much nicer to work with as they didn't need any pre-bending.  Surprised that being nearly 30 years old they were very flexible.  Did one sanding and some filing around the stern to get the transom planking to start blending to the hull planks.  

 

Except for more sanding ( which will be an on going part) that should end section A.10 

 

Afraid the planks were more flexible than me.  The accident that everyone usually has once every model, where you catch your breath for that split second and...

 

 

....hope it didn't cut anything off on its way down.

 

Section A.11

 

After picking the knife back up, getting a soda and a smoke ( or two) continued on by sanding down the planks along the bottom edge of the false keel.  Instructions say to plane towards the point but that would put an edge on it like the bow and a big stick for the keel won't fit on the keel right.  instead I planed, filed and sanded it flush.  

 

Then took the bow stem, sized it which mine didn't need any cutting shorter, just notch out for the Cut water reinforcements then V channeled the inner surface and a few filing and sanding tweaks to get it to fit.  I decided to V notch it instead of planing the bow.

 

 

I sand down the Keel piece file the surface that will butt up against the Bow Stem, then glue and clamp/rubber band it all down.  I'll put in the stern post after this has thoroughly dried.

 

(want that bow stem to fit on good)

 

Also did a little more on the cabins.  While the side walls and the roof top will be planked, the side and bottom surfaces of the roof are bare.  So decided to paint them the cream color.  With just varnishing the planking, that should help the wood finish stand out more.  Also started on the door planking.

 

Edited November 14, 2014 by Grimber

[Grimber]

This morning I shaped and put in the stern post.  With all the planking on the transom area had to cut a notch in it to fit vs trying to sand down all them thick planks and making the transom weak.

 

you can see I marked the keel where I would cut it off to make it flush with the stern post.

 

 

You can also see that it's just this stern corner of the keel and stern post where the planking doesn't fit right to the keel.  The rest of the keel it fits rather nicely.

 

 

Is a small gap at the top of the stern post which I will fix with a little filler.

 

This work has been doing a number on the finish and paint of the bulworks and gunwails, again, even with some varnish on it.  So while I'm sanding the planking and keel, the gunwails and bulworks will get sanded for refinishing again as well.

 

The bow is another matter,  looks like over the night the rubber band tension must have been enough to make it 'slide' just enough to leave a small gap in between the bow stem and keel.  Also made the distance from the gunwail down to the bow stem less that I need ( to have room for the bowsprit), so I'll have to fill the gap and trim the top of the bow stem.  Also will have to do some trimming and shaping of the bottom of the bow stem to fall in line with the rest of the keel line.

 

 

After filing and sanding I take some angle measurements off the plans for the bowsprit and compare that to the top of the bow stem so I don't get too much of an angle on the bowsprit when it gets installed later.  Just ended up needing some minor filing to get it to a good angle.

 

 

Also started on pre-bending the bottom fenders.

 

 

Like the hull planking, I think for the most part the keel is done except more refinement on filing and sanding and then fixing where the planking meets the corner of the keel and stern post, so I'm calling this section done.

 

End Section A.11

 

Only have a few construction parts left for Section A.  Drill out holes for the Rudder, Bowsprit put in channel supports and bottom bumper and then install the rudder.

The rest should be sanding filing and then finish work.  May be a good idea to drill out the holes for the for the anchor ropes ( C.1.4) while I'm drilling other holes to get them out of the way as well.

Edited November 15, 2014 by Grimber

[Grimber]

Making a mess of things and drilling holes today.

 

Really banging up the bulwork and gunwail finish but that's ok, going to strip them now anyways.

 

First I mounted the bottom bumpers.  Needed to superglue them in as nothing to get a clamp on to hold them down, so just had to glue a bit and hold and then progress down each piece that way.  I had already bent them so it made it easier.  They had to follow the seam between the bulworks and the 2nd planking.

 

 

They were suppose to fit up along the bottom edge of the cut water reinforcements but that didn't work out so well, guess you are suppose to install the bottom fender and the reinforcements at the same time so you can adjust for proper fit without gaps but since I bounced around I had a big gap that I'll have to fill.

 

End Section A.17

 

Section A.15 Bowsprit hole

 

Marked the drill spot and dug out a notch in the bow so the drill bit doesn't slip out of place.  Wrapped the drill bit in tape so it won't dig into the bow stem as I drill.

 

(can see how much I had to fill with wood filler between the bottom fender and cut water reinforcement)

 

 

Drilled a pilot hole then followed that up with a 5mm diameter drill bit.  Finished the hole with a round mini file, kept test fitting the bowsprit till i got it to fit.  The bow sprite should sit flush along the top of the bow stem.    Didn't want to make too big of a hole but enough it could go in straight and have a little wiggle room for adjustments when put in place later on.  Trimmed the excess around the hole inside and out with a hobby knife.

 

 

 

 

End Section A.15

 

Section A.14 Rudder Hole

 

Marked the center point to drill the rudder hole.  Important point is you have to compensate for the gap that will be made by the rudder hinges so the rudder hole cannot be flush to the rudder post when you are done.

 

 

Pre started the hole with my hobby knife then using a small drill bit for a pilot hole.  Needed to use a drill bit extension else the rudder post gets in the way of drill and you can't maintain being parallel to it.

 

Before you widen the hole I recommend you check the diameter of the brass ferrule that goes in the hole.  Mine was only 6mm diameter so an 8mm hole as the instructions say to make would be too big.  I used a mini round file, keeping parallel to the rudder post and filed the hole bigger until the ferrule fit.

 

 

 

should end up with a gap of 1mm to 1.5 mm between the rudder post and ferrule. (but with the way this has been going probably still won't fit)

Not going to glue the ferrule in until after I do the finish work. 

 

End Section A.14

 

Jump to C.1.4  Anchor eye hole protectors.

 

The directions and illustrations aren't very clear on measurements to where these get placed.  So with a little extrapolating from the illustrations and the box cover I mark some guide lines on the cut water reinforcement.  From these it 'looks' to me like they fall along the line from the top fender to the top of the bow stem and the outside of the hole lines up with the beginning of the curvature in the cut water reinforcement.

 

 

They look about right to me, so I drill pilot holes, making sure I stay perpendicular to the surface of the reinforcement.

 

 

Then I file them out and keep test fitting the eye-hole piece.  

 

 

( not pushed all the way in, don't want to fight getting it back out)

 

All this drilling and filing in the bow even when careful has cause the brittle plywood of the bulworks to come apart on the inside,  so that will have to be fixed as well.

 

 

This should leave me at installing the channel supports.  Then work on sanding and all the finishing/refinish then the rudder.

Edited November 15, 2014 by Grimber

[Grimber]

A.18 Channel Supports

 

Be sure to get these lined up on your masts.  If your mast holes are in the right location and your stanchions are too, your fore Channel supports should line up on the aft direction side 4th stanchion making a line across the deck which should cross the top of the mast hole.

 

The aft Channel Supports should end up flush to the opening of the last scupper, also forming a line across the deck meeting at the front of the mast hole.

 

File the back sides of these to fit the curvature of the bulwork and they should butt up against the bottom edge of the top fender.

 

 

End A.18

 

Sand sand sand till smooth.  Clean off with a brush, can of air then wipe down with a lightly damp rag to take remaining dust off the hull.

 

Marking the water line.  

 

Since how I'll be painting the hull with thin coats I will need the waterline marked now as below the waterline will be painted red and above will be the bluegreen, I can't let too much of the bluegreen on the lower half.  Red washes does not cover well.

 

I use my ship in a bottle stand to clamp a pencil, measure the hight needed off the plans and compair that to marks I'll put on the bow and stern for the waterline.

 

 

Set my ship level and run my pencil marker along the hull.  Take time at this as the pencil can get out of line and the curvature of the hull can make marking some spots more difficult.

 

 

mark both sides and check for symmetry.  Adjust the lines as needed.

 

 

I'll tape off below the waterline first to paint the top half bluegreen.  Then mix up some paint  1 to 1 paint water.  It will be runny.

 

 

Brushing AWAY from the tape I just want to get some on the surfaces, not worried about coverage or the surface showing through.  Think of like putting on a stain.  Don't want it to run or pool up, just enough to get on all the surfaces.  This will soak into the wood to give me a base coat and also basicly prime it for painting.

 

 

Also not worried about my cream color as I sanded that too and will get repainted, just don't want any runny or pooling paint.   Keep it light.

Edited November 15, 2014 by Grimber

[Grimber]

Painting continues.  Paint is the same ratio mix of 1 to 1.  Same as before a fast thin coat on all the surfaces I want bluegreen but don't want any runnys or pooling.

 

2nd coat.

 

 

3rd coat.

 

 

I'll let that sit and dry before a 4th coat and mabey a 5th.

 

Should get results that give a nice covering but yet let the wood come through.  So it was important to get all that sanding and filling done.

 

 

( curve on the transom will be cream, so only needed the 1st coat on there for now to prime it)

 

 

shouldn't need any sanding since working thin, unless you didn't get the surfaces clean of dust ( damp rag), your not cleaning your brush as you paint ( keep water and a wet rag handy), your over working the paint causing the surface to shred, paint on the surface of your paint bottle/can/tray or in your brush is starting to dry and then it shreds to tiny bits all over your pant job, or your paint is old and will no longer mix properly.  

 

(mine is old so I get tiny artifacts in the paint.  wipe off right then and there and clean the brush then continue on.

Edited November 16, 2014 by Grimber

[Grimber]

4th coat

 

 

5th coat.

 

 

 

work on the cream color next.

[dgbot]

The Swift makes into a nice looking model.  You can modify it as well.

David B

[giantdog]

loving this log, lovely job.

[Grimber]

Decided today to work on the red below the waterline instead of the cream of the bulworks.  Buworks will take allot longer and I want to get this hull covered.

 

Took the painters tape off, only had a couple small bleeds so overall it went well.

 

 

Going to be using a red geranium latex for the below waterline hull.  Its got a nice earthy red to it which goes in line with the normal red shades used on ships.

 

Start by putting some painters tape around the hull about 1/4" to 1/2" from the water line.

 

 

Now I'm going to use electrical tape to follow the water line made by the bluegreen paint.  I will use a single piece down each side as using multiple pieces will leave more gaps that can cause paint bleeding.  I'd rather use auto detailing tape here but I'll go cheap with the electrical.  The painters tape will help give it something to stick to but not leave so much sticky residue to the model.  The electrical tape is very flexible so can bend it easy around curves and has a sharper edge then the painters tape.

 

 

 

Filed and sanded the bluegreen bleeds then wiped the hull down with a damp rag to get any sanding dust off it.

 

You will notice when you put 5-6-8 coats of paint on something it will have a thickness.  IF I had painted all the hull blue then masked to do the red, the red paint layers would create a lip or raised edge above the blue paint.  by doing it this way I 'should' be able to get 'most' of the red and blue paint to be flush to each other along the seam of the 2 colors.  Won't be exact or perfect but should eliminate most of that paint lip.

 

Mixed the paint the same here 1 to 1 and painted the same way.  Away from the tape, thin not letting paint to pool up or get runnies.

 

1st Coat

 

 

 

As you can see red does not 'cover' well.  Light colors like white, red, yellow, pink, light green and so on don't cover well.  Meaning any colors ( even wood) shows through coats.  So it generally takes more coats.  You can reduce the number of coats by starting with an intermediary color, grey or medium green shade.  I have a green but it's too light a shade, would not have helped.

 

2nd Coat

 

 

One problem with masking is tape on inside corners...

 

 

Masking tends to peel away.  So you have to stay on it pushing it back down,  Paint away from the tape, don't let paint pool along the tape edge hold the model so paint doesn't flow towards the tape edge while you are painting, and then set the model so when the coat dries no paint will flow towards the tape masking.

 

 

I still expect a little bleed along that inside corner, but I'll do what I can to keep it to a minimum.

 

3rd Coat

 

 

Starting to get coverage now.  Don't get tempted to work thicker on the paint if its slow to cover.  It will eventualy.  Watch the coverage rate between coats.  When you see less coverage effect on a coat then you know your about done.

 

Another tip.  when you brush paint, keep the same length of strokes on every stroke.  Along the edges you may make short strokes but then you get on them long 'straight away' areas so you tend to want to take long strokes, but don't.  You make the paint coats in those areas thinner then the rest making an uneven coat.

Edited November 17, 2014 by Grimber

[Grimber]

Clean brush and remix paint between every coat.  Don't want to get that dried paint flakes in the paint job

 

4th Coat

 

 

5th Coat

 

 

The different woods making it harder to cover, especially the keel, bow stem and rudder post all of which don't match shade wise.  The keel being the worst being so dark.  But it is getting there.

 

6th Coat

 

 

7th Coat

 

 

Didn't see much difference on the covering between 6th and 7th.  Looks like It's there but I'll put one more on to be sure and for S&G.

 

8th Coat

 

 

Nope no noticeable covering improvement, so it's there and the basic wood work is still visible enough under the paint to show its a wood ship hull.

 

 

 

With the coats very thin, and I let each dry about hour to an hour and half between coats the paint is very well set up.  NOT completely dry but its now stable and not tacky.  Paint can take 24-48 hours to dry properly and some oil paints can take as long as a week to fully dry.  I'll give it a few hours to fully set up that last coat before removing the tape masking.  I don't want 100% dry when removing latex/acrylic paint masking as you can end up pealing large sections of your paint off.  Want to remove it while it has a LITTLE wetness/pliability to it. 

[Grimber]

Time to remove the tape mask.

 

 

 

 

 

 

couple of very minor touch up spots.  Mostly in those inside corner of the bow stem where I expected trouble at, but it didn't get bad.  Also a few tiny ones here and there but hard to see without a close look.  Tape did take a few tiny spots of blue off around the fenders but that will all be a work in progress with the work on the bulwork cream anyways.

 

Overall I'm pleased with the results.  Especially being done with old paint brushs and old latex interior house paint.

[GuntherMT]

It's bright!

 

Bit too late to matter on this build, but I don't think that red paint was used below the waterline in the 1800's.  Red anti-fouling paint wasn't actually invented until the early 1900's, and prior to copper hull plating I think the white/cream color bottom paint was the most common.

 

I could be entirely wrong, but in my short time reading up on ship building since I started this, that's what I've seen.  On the other hand, it looks nice, so if that's what you did this for, regardless of 'accuracy', then more power to ya!

[Grimber]

Thanks  the photos under the florecent lights make it brighter than it really is.  I'll have to try to get a natural light photo of it.

 

Actually red and copper hulls had been used this early,  and red earlier.  Dividing the hull waterline by paint/color sets the 'Plimsoll Line' or load limit line and that practice is known to go back to at least 2500 ish BC.  Black, red and white are common colors for paint as they are the cheapest to produce.  The blue would have been a luxury.  So it wasn't used for the anti fungal protection,  as you pointed out that didn't come around till 1900s

 

Popjack found a photo of a pilot ship that had a copper hull done around early 1800. Popjacks Swift build so he copper plated his Swifts hull

[Grimber]

just a couple pictures,  first one of the ship in direct sunlight ( sun was in the window when I took that picture so was allot of light) , the last 2 under normal 60 watt lightbulb light.

 

 

 

 

had to keep messing with my camera settings as it kept wanting to add more contrast and brightness to the pictures in auto mode, finally had to take it off auto and set all the settings manually,

[themadchemist]

looks like you got really good symmetry on the waterline. Have you considered using pin stripe tape as a border stripe along the water line?

 

So are you going to distress it or weather it in anyway? If you haven't seen Franks build it even has barnacles,

http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/133-hmat-supply-by-riverboat-jotikacaldercraft-164th-scale/page-2?hl=barnacles#entry2414

[Grimber]

Thanks for the link,  his ship looks VERY nice.

 

I thought about distressing but I figured for my first build I'll skip it.  I been out of doing finish work and models for a long time and I have to re-learn things I once knew, but I will do distressing on a future build.  May even order a cheap plastic kit or 2 to just practice on.

 

You should look at Mike Ashey's web site.  Professional modeler for years and hes made most of his published books available for free on his site.

 

http://mikeashey.com/

 

Never met him but I've seen his work several times and it was really something to look at every time.

 

I'm still considering a pin strip.  probably do it with auto detailing tape as its the easiest to work with and can give sharp crisp lines without it being thick and standing out.  Picking the right color will be the hardest part of doing that  Of course another possibly is a thin plank on the waterline which isn't uncommon.

 

still looking and researching rigging.  May want to look at this site.  http://bcpcoa.com/cutters.html not much info but lots of good reference pictures.