28' Ranger-type Yacht by Mark Pearse - FINISHED - 1:12

[Jim Lad]

She's starting to look complete with the deck on!

 

John

[druxey]

Looking good!

[Mark Pearse]

thanks guys, it's been fun & gets more & more interesting

[Mark Pearse]

I've started doing the timber work details, initially in the cockpit area & probably move on to the deck & the topsides timber work last. I'm using some Queensland Maple for most of it, ripped into strips of various thicknesses. The finish will be shellac, it's versatile, quick & the finish is good when it's finally rubbed with some steel wool. I've noticed that a full gloss finish is glossier when you are close to it than when you are further away, so I reason that to "scale" a gloss level, it should be reduced from full gloss to match the scale of the distance. So, there won't be full gloss on the model even though the varnish would be full gloss in reality.

 

Not having done this before, I'm being cautious & will make as many parts as I can without installing them, to do the shellac finishing separately & then glue them in after paintwork has been done. For the timber to be glued in & then finished insitu, I'll be as careful as I can & let the paint go over any shellac on the wrong areas. The seat backrests, hatch panels, winch bases are just sitting there loose.

 

 

 

The removable hatches have a few coats of shellac to see the colour, they are not glued in yet. The finish has a light sanding.

 

Detail of the seat backrest corner.

 

Winch mounting block underway, the sides will be tapered upwards.

 

thanks for looking, bye for now

MP

 

[Jim Lad]

Nice to see an update, Mark.  She's really looking first class.

 

John

[druxey]

Very nice, Mark.

[Omega1234]

Hi Mark

 

She's really coming together beautifully..

Cheers

 

Patrick

[Mark Pearse]

Yet another hiatus from the model, this time it was to rebuild a 1:1 hatch into a ventilating one. It's no lightweight, but neither is the boat. 

 

 

I've been working on the capping pieces that trim off the topsides besides the cockpit. Visually incredibly important for this boat, so it's nice to have completed one side.

 

Some of the timber has some shellac on it, & the raised deck step has some more pieces done or underway - storm boards & the vertical frames either side. 

 

 

 

 

 

thanks, Mark

[michael mott]

Very nice looking cap Mark

 

Michael

[Jim Lad]

A very professional looking new hatch, Mark - and the capping pieces really look the goods.

 

John

[Mark Pearse]

thanks all

[Mark Pearse]

Most of the finished raised deck cockpit parts have been installed. I'm happy with the shellac finish on the timber, about 8 coats well sanded, the final one with steel wool; & finally a thin coat of clear polyurethane finish was wiped on with a cloth to give satin finish, slightly glossy.

 

The deck in the cockpit area has been painted with the final colour, a matt cream colour. The edge of the seating footwell will be trimmed in timber, where the colour changes from cream to white.

 

The side rectangular panels are removable in the design, hence their beaded edging. The storm boards are simple, true to the intention that the boat was used mainly for the harbour & some short coastal trips. I've left the top part over-height to be trimmed down later. The 2 main deck hatches are started, I'll stain the timber a colour to replicate teak. The hatch details will be simple, a lot of boats here of that time had fairly poor hatches - I suppose that if it doesn't get too cold then it doesn't matter so much if it leaks air.

 

The capping pieces are not glued on yet, I may wait until after the topsides are repainted first, to be decided.

 

 

 

 

 

 

thanks

[michael mott]

Mark, the cockpit looks exquisite.

 

Michael

[Jim Lad]

Absolutely first class, Mark.  It's always a joy to see an update of your lovely little yacht.

 

John

[Omega1234]

Hi Mark

 

Wow. That's some seriously nice work, there. Pretty darn hard to find fault with anything that you've done.

 

Nice!!!

 

Cheers

 

Patrick

[Mark Pearse]

thanks all, it's very encouraging.

 

Mark

[Mark Pearse]

The hatches have progressed & are almost complete. They are just sitting in place & no finish as yet. I'd like to show a more teak colour than the other timber is, so I'll try putting a touch of black ink into the shellac - or perhaps a light watercolour wash on the timber before the shellac. 

 

 

 

The companionway hatch is a simplified version of a simple mechanism & not much detail is shown, it is intended to be a very simple system anyway, similar to some that I have seen. I may show a brass flat bar on the top of the timber rails, but my metalwork has yet to be tested so we'll have to see about that. The decision will partly depend on the balance of detail on the model -

 

The curved beading at the ends was heated with a heat gun while I gently bent them with my fingers. A few cracked beads & lightly smoking fingertips, but when it worked they took only a few minutes. The timber is fairly brittle.

 

 

 

The main hatch might get some lights set into it, I'll decide that later, but fixed round lights would be a nice touch.

 

 

 

The fore hatch is ventilating, it's not quite completed, I will probably put a simple beading to the edge, similar to the others but probably a bit finer to suit the smaller size. The implied dovetails are just cut square & not bevelled, I felt that in this case showing some construction detail was important to give a sense of how the timberwork would be put together.

 

 

 

thanks,

 

good wishes for the Christmas season everyone.

[Jim Lad]

She's really coming together, Mark.  You'd better get a move on or she won't be ready to go to Hobart!  

 

John

[michael mott]

She looks really sharp Mark.

 

Michael

[druxey]

Lovely work, Mark. When bending the beading with heat, did you try dampening the wood first? That might solve the brittleness issue.

[Mark Pearse]

thanks

 

Hi Druxey

 

I didn't try that; thanks I will for the next ones.

[Mark Pearse]

Back to the work bench again, lots of boating fun over summer...

 

I've started the rudder blade, as below. My understanding is that the designer put a sloping transom on this boat because he didn't like the fine edge of the rudder blade getting damaged by a dinghy, so the concave part of the curve near to the waterline might be altered to fulfil this intention.

 

 

The careful work of setting out the sponsons is underway; it's possibly the most challenging visual thing to get right on the design; the gunwales line give one curve, & the sponson line is in balance with that. The setout was done by wrapping the hull in about 6 large rubber bands & sliding the sponson strips underneath the bands. When I was happy I put a pencil line on the hull topsides. To help with accurate installation, I made some small studs that temporarily sat in drilled holes in the back of the sponsor strips. The positions were marked by pressing against the hull; the studs were replaced with brass rod that will help hold the strips in a stable position while the glue goes off.

 

studs

 

drilled holes in hull, repainting underway

 

sponsons with rods; also the 'teak' colour of the hatches went ok

 

 

[Jim Lad]

A good idea for getting the correct line around the hull, Mark.

 

John

[Mark Pearse]

The sponson have been glued on, plus the transom fashion piece that completes the timberwork of the sponsons around the stern. The hatches also located, there's some more deck timberwork - some spray rails, toe rails etc,

 

Looking like a boat now.

 

thanks, Mark

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jim Lad]

A very professional looking job, Mark.

 

John

[dvm27]

Lovely work, Mark. Your bright work is especially pleasing.

[michael mott]

She is looking absolutely beautiful Mark.

 

Michael

[Bedford]

Some of those pics look like the real thing, beautifully made!

[Mark Pearse]

thank you for the comments & views, I'm enjoying building this very much

[Omega1234]

Hi Mark

 

Seeing your beautiful boat - think I now know what happens when creativity, craftsmanship, skills and art all come together.  

 

Lovely, lovely, lovely.

 

Cbeers

 

Patrick