Mayflower by Stuntflyer (Mike) - Model Shipways - 5/32" Scale

[Chuck]

Looks great...JUST MAKE SURE...That you lined up those templates port and starboard at the stern.  This is crucial.   The moldongs wrap around the stern and if the templates arent lined up you will have serious problems later on.

[Stuntflyer]

I just checked the measurements. They are the same port and starboard. I didn't think to check this before installing them. I guess I just got lucky.

Edited February 8, 2015 by Stuntflyer

[Stuntflyer]

● Beakhead Bulkhead and Deck Planking: I prefer to do the planking off the model, whenever possible, to avoid sanding into other parts. Here the deck planking is sanded and ready to be installed.

 

 

The planks were glued to the bulkhead and sanded. The doors were replaced with ladders like those that are now on the Mayflower replica. I used this simple jig to align the ladders. Ladders were glued with 5 minute epoxy applied with a pin. A rather slow process, but I think it's worth the wait.

 

 

The completed bulkhead and deck planking with no sanding necessary other than the outside curve and overall height of the bulkhead.

 

Edited February 11, 2015 by Stuntflyer

[rschissler]

That's impressive that you were able to keep them so straight and uniform.

 

--Randy

[Stuntflyer]

Once the first ladder is set parallel, it's really a matter of being patient with the others. It took me three hours to set them all. A lot of time was spent waiting for the glue to set. You don't want to remove the shim too early before starting the next ladder. What I found interesting was how easy it was to remove any excess glue using a #11 blade without leaving a residue.

Edited February 13, 2015 by Stuntflyer

[Stuntflyer]

● Finishing The Stern: I scanned the stern windows from the plans and imported the file into CorelDraw. I made a drawing of the windows using the scanned image as a guide. The file was then printed and trimmed to fit on the stern. I closed the 3 holes in bulkhead YY with some scrap balsa and adhered the windows using 3M Super 77 spray adhesive. The remainder of the stern was completed as per the instructions. The four laser cut knees were replaced with boxwood. These were made by hand from a single piece of wood. Laser cut knees were glued to each end and used as a guide for shaping. 1/16" wide pieces were ripped using the table saw.

 

Photo of window drawing

 

 

Edited February 16, 2015 by Stuntflyer

[russ]

Great work on the windows. They look very good.

 

Russ

[Jimz66]

Very nice. Very nice. I too like the windows. I think its a great idea as you wouldn't see much inside at that scale anyhow. Nice idea. 

[Lucius Molchany]

Very clean build!

[Stuntflyer]

● Waterway, Bulwark Stanchions and pre-planking the Forecastle Deck: The wood strip for the waterway was made uniform by running it through the thickness sander prior to being installed onto the deck. The stanchions and pre-planking strips were given a thin coat of Wipe-on Poly where needed in order to protect the wood from becoming blotchy when glued. Four different spacers had to be created to keep the stanchions parallel and equidistant from each other. The deck is slightly smaller than the one shown on the plan and further adjustments had to be made to account for this. The stanchions were initially held in place using a tiny amount of PVA. Once the glue was set, the excess was cleared away using a #11 blade and CA was applied near the top of the stanchion. Installing each stanchion proved to be very tedious work. The pre-planking was boiled and shaped to the appropriate curve prior to being glued in place.

 

After the remaining parts are installed I will give everything a final coat of Wipe-on Poly. To Say  that I was happy when this part of the build was completed would be a bit of an understatement.

 

Edited February 22, 2015 by Stuntflyer

[Mike Y]

The build is sooooo clean and accurate! Bravo! Learning from you.

[Gahm]

Beautiful work! Very clean and precise build!

 

Thomas

[Stuntflyer]

Mike, Thomas, thank You!

 

● Waterway, Bulwark Stanchions and pre-planking the Poop Deck: The Waterway was done the same way as the Forecastle deck. The stanchions were protected with a coat of Wipe-on Poly prior to gluing. Rather than using PVA to tack glue the stanchions like those on the Forecastle deck, all of these were glued using only CA. The glue was applied with the point of a nail that was grooved using a Dremel cut-off wheel. A quick swipe with a Q-tip removed any excess CA, leaving the wood unblemished. In order to complete the pre-planking, the transom had to be raised another 1/16" or so. Otherwise things went smoothly. In preparation for the final layer of planking I started thinning the Bulwark Template. The photo shows where I thinned the bulwark template leaving the overall Bulwark thickness at 1/32".

 

Edited March 13, 2015 by Stuntflyer

[Stuntflyer]

● Bulwark Stanchions Upper Deck: Upper Deck stanchions are now completed and the Bulwark template has been gradually thinned in this area as was done on the Poop Deck.

 

 

● Bulwark Stanchions Quarter Deck: Instructions say to cut a 1/16" thick waterway around the stanchions before the Quarter Deck is planked. To be honest, I didn't think that I would be able to get a tight fit around each stanchion. Some stanchions are at slightly different angles and they extend almost to the edge of the waterway which would make it very fragile. My solution was to split the stanchions at each location into two parts. One half below the false deck now and the other half on top of the waterway once the planking is completed. I had to start on the "After Cubbridge Head" in order to determine the length of each stanchion. The false beam, which was later removed, shows how I determined the length of each stanchion below the false deck.The correct spacing was maintained for the stanchions so they will match the location of the stanchions on top of the waterway.

 

Edited March 21, 2015 by Stuntflyer

[russ]

The deck stanchions look great. Very nicely done details. Excellent work.

 

Russ

[Stuntflyer]

● After Cubbridge Head: The After Cubbridge Head and false deck were completed with stanchions below the false deck in place. The false deck has a strip of boxwood glued to its forward edge to maintain uniformity.

 

 

Edited March 15, 2015 by Stuntflyer

[Mirabell61]

Very nice build Mike,

 

its going to be a beautiful ship

 

Nils

[Stuntflyer]

Russ, Nils, thanks for your comments and all the likes!

 

I just started using Chuck's method of applying Wipe-on Poly. He uses the Satin finish and it's applied with a soft, lint-free cloth and immediately buffed before it dries. Since I haven't been wiping it off immediately it has a bit too much gloss. I've been using Dullcote Spray Lacquer on top of it to flatten the finish. Problem is that it prevents you from applying more W-O-P if needed. However, I can see places where using Dullcote would still be useful.

Edited March 15, 2015 by Stuntflyer

[Stuntflyer]

All of the deck planking, waterways, stanchions and pre-planking are now finished.

 

It was more time consuming doing the upper deck this way. 1/32" edge joints are fragile. The only real advantage being that it's easier to sand the planking off the ship. Just something I wanted to try.

 

 

The deck planking glued to the false deck

 

 

The last 2 planks and those in front of the grating were installed and covered by the waterway.

 

 

Upper deck with stanchions, grating, hatch and pre-planking installed. The bulwark template has been thinned down gradually exposing the inboard planking at its top edge. This will make the bulwark 1/16" thick after the second layer planking is completed.

 

Edited March 23, 2015 by Stuntflyer

[jml1083]

Hi Mike,

 

It was great meeting you last night at the Ship Model Society of New Jersey meeting. Your work on the Mayflower is meticulous. Using boxwood in place of basswood where the wood will be seen really adds to the overall impression of it being a quality build. You have a real eye for detail. I look forward to seeing you at future meetings and watching your Mayflower evolve.

[KenW]

After seeing your model last night, I was happy to discover your build log. 

So, I will be following along.

Cheers.

[Stuntflyer]

Jim, Ken, thanks so much. I'm looking forward to next months meeting and hope to bring some of my girlfriends "healthy" cup cakes along. 

 

Mike

Edited March 26, 2015 by Stuntflyer

[Stuntflyer]

● Stem, Keel and Stern Post: I used both boxwood and basswood to make these parts. I'm hoping that this wasn't a mistake. Everything looks good right now but I'm now wondering if the transition point between the boxwood and basswood will look the same once painted. I think that it would be a good idea to harden the basswood in order to protect its edge and fill the grain with primer. Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

The kit supplied laser cut stem post was used as a template for cutting the boxwood and then used on the bottom to complete the part. 

 

 

The stern post was done in boxwood since a small portion at the top will be unpainted. It has a slight taper as per the plans.

 

Edited March 27, 2015 by Stuntflyer

[russ]

It looks very good so far.

 

Once painted they should be fine. If you seal the grain on the basswood, someone would have to look far too closely to tell the difference.

 

Russ

[Stuntflyer]

Russ, thanks!

 

I'm sure that you are right so I will do what you have suggested. Unfortunately, the 1/8" square boxwood strips I received were either undersized or not square. Since I didn't have any 1/8" boxwood sheet stock to cut one, I went with the kit supplied basswood strips. I figured that as long as the keel was going to be in basswood it would be all right to do the lower stem post in basswood too. We'll see!

Edited March 28, 2015 by Stuntflyer

[Gahm]

Your Mayflower turns out beautifully! It is a pleasure to watch the progress.

Where the "hardening" of the basswood is concerned I noticed that I ended up with a pretty smooth and hard surface when I prepared the Syren hull with sanding sealer before I applied the copper plates. Now how well such a surface can be painted afterwards I have no idea and probably would need a little experimenting 

 

Thomas

[Stuntflyer]

Thomas, thanks! I never thought of using a sanding sealer. Can you recommend a brand that I can try out. Maybe primer could be used over the sealer to prep for paint.

Edited March 31, 2015 by Stuntflyer

[Gahm]

I used MinWax sanding sealer "Professional formula" (whatever that means  ).

 

Thomas

[Stuntflyer]

Hello everyone! It has been a while since my last update so hopefully others will come more frequently in the future. Below is a photo showing all the planking completed on one side. Unfortunately I'm having to cope with wood strips that don't have square edges as delivered from the source. This makes things very tedious and slows down the process tremendously. The gun ports were originally done with no pencil edge and were very hard to see. After carefully removing them I made new ones using pencil edging. The last strake has been gradually tapered down to 1/64" and the wale will sit directly below it. The lighter planks at the top will eventually be painted and should give some uniformity to the hull overall.

 

Edited September 8, 2015 by Stuntflyer

[SawdustDave]

Two of my favorite scratch builds.... Mayflower and Cheerful.

 

Beautiful job sir.

 

Dave