Bounty launch by Cathead - FINISHED - Model Shipways - 1:16 - small

[Cathead]

Like so many before me, I am entering the world of wooden ship kits with the Model Shipways Bounty launch. This is not my first ship model, I have scratchbuilt 3 before this first attempt at an actual kit, but I am still mostly a beginner. Two questions have arisen right away that I am hoping to find advice on.

 

 

Here is my workspace, just getting started with the sheer tabs glued on and the keel pieces laminated together. You may notice I've already stained the keel; I want to do the whole model stained, not painted. It makes more sense to me to stain ahead of time, before assembly, but this leads to my first question:

 

(1) If I pre-stain the planks, will it be a problem for soaking and bending? Will the stain run or be otherwise affected by soaking and using a plank iron?

 

The image below illustrates my next question:

 

 

So it's quite annoying that MS laser-burns "trans" onto the outside of the transom, I guess just assuming that you'll paint over it. I thought I had sanded away the word before staining, but lo and behold, there is the little bugger. Guess I didn't look at the piece in the right light angle. So the question is, 

 

 

(2) Now what? I can't hardly sand this away, can I? Should I just turn the transom around and hope it isn't visible from the inside? See if I can find a piece of scrap basswood big enough to cut a duplicate?

 

Thanks for any advice, I hope this log is worth following even though the kit isn't very unique.

 

 

 

[Keith_W]

Hi cathead, welcome to the Bounty Launch club!!! I advise you to check out the other builds on MSW for lots of handy tips and tricks. 

 

What to do with the "TRANS" ... I planked over it. I can't remember if it is low enough so that the thwarts cover it when it is turned around, I will have to go and check. 

[jburchfield1@wowway.com]

As to your staining question, the only problem I've had with pre-staining (I do that myself to prevent glue spots) is that the hot water soak tends to "bleach" out the stain and make it more gray.

 

You may like that.  I didn't so I re-stained after gluing and it looks fine (at least to me)

[GuntherMT]

If you don't want to plank over the 'trans', why can't you just flip the piece over and make the word be on the inside, or is that visible as well on this model?

 

If it's visible on both sides, then I'd just plank or veneer over it as Keith suggested.

[Cathead]

Two (somewhat weak) arguments against flipping: TRANS may still be visible since it's an open boat, and the laser-scribed fairing lines on the outside of the transom would be hidden and I'd have to either transfer them to the opposite side or just eyeball it. Which could be done.

 

On planking it over, are the kit's planks long enough to accommodate the extra thickness of the transom in that case? It sounds like it would look better than a solid sheet of wood anyway, but I'd hate to do so and then find that the planks end exactly at the original piece?

 

Also, in that case, would I use the same width planks as the sides? And should they be trimmed as they go down to keep seams matching side & stern, or should they stay full width and have the seams not match up?

[jburchfield1@wowway.com]

Some of the few pics on my build show how I did it (not saying it's the right way but my way)

 

I layered 3 1/32" pieces (which I bought) - the center one solid and the outer two planked, this made it the same thickness as the original.

 

Then I used the same width stock as the planks and used a different pattern on the inside.  I didn't even worry about whether they matched the sides or not.

[Cathead]

Pops, thank you, I went and looked at your log after posting that last comment, should have done so before. I'm tempted to try that (building my own transom) as I like the look much better.

 

On to the forms and keel, which I decided to share photos of because I think I set these up a little differently than other logs I've seen.

 

 

As I do a fair amount of home carpentry and woodworking, I have a ton of clamps and squares and such around. Here the keel form is held vertical with a rafter tie (on the left side of the image) while the cross-form being glued is held perfectly square in all three directions with two solid corner squares.

 

 

Taking a page out of my experience building Guillow balsa-frame planes, I mounted the keel plan on a sheet of wood, covered it with tracing paper, then used sewing pins to hold the keel exactly in place while gluing. The instructions say to ensure that the inner curved surface is exactly in line with the plans, never mind if the rest of the joints or surfaces are slightly off, so that's what I did.

 

The joint surfaces themselves were slightly off, such that if you clamped them together the keel twisted slightly. So I used paint bottles to weigh down the assembly, and inserted more pins at shallow angles to hold down the pieces (since I couldn't get bottles right on top the joints with other pins sticking up there). Closeup insert at lower right shows this. I've since taken the keel off and it's perfectly flat/straight.

 

Next update may be a while, as I'll be slowly clamping and gluing one form at a time, and we all know what that looks like. Will be carving the rabbet in the meantime, and we all know what that looks like too unless I do something especially right or wrong.

[Cathead]

RABBETS AND FAIRING AND TRANSOMS, OH MY!

 

Onward with the launch...the forms are finished and I've begun fairing frames 1-3. The finished keel, rabbet cut and with a second coat of stain, sits proudly in front.

Speaking of rabbets, here's how I approached cutting them.

First I tested methods on scrap wood, by drawing a series of parallel lines the same width apart as the laser-engraved rabbet markings on the keel. I found that a combination of rough cut by knife, followed by a finishing pass with a square file, worked very well. If you look closely, hopefully you can see this sequence in the photo. At bottom, pencilled-in rabbet and bearding lines. Next two up, rough-carved with knife. Last two up, smoother finish using the square file. The other benefit to using a square file is that it produces a true rabbet, by gently filing an angled bearding line 90 degrees from the rabbet. It's harder to achieve this with just a knife, and the result works very nicely based on my test fits of a scrap plank.

Now here's a view of cutting the rabbet on the keel. Pre-staining the keel turns out to be very handy indeed, as the rabbet groove really stands out in fresh wood color and helps guide the work. Working from one frame gap to another, I first carefully traced a shallow vertical cut with the knife along the bearding line, which acts as a guide of sorts for the actual rabbet cut and keeps you from peeling off more keel than you intend. Next, I laid the knife gently on the wood, held with my right hand, and pushed the blade with my left hand in a gently slicing motion to the right, doing about 1/2 inch at a time. Letting the tip of the blade follow the first guiding groove, and watching the middle of the blade to keep it cutting right along the rabbet line, this produced a very accurate first cut. If I needed it deeper, such as at the bow, I cut a second groove along the bearding line, then repeated the process. Finally, I ran the square file along the finished groove, tilted at approximately the accurate rabbet angle, which gave me a very nice angled rabbet groove more accurate than I could have cut on my own, and smoother too. This image shows a first cut on the left, blending into a filed and finished rabbet on the right.

On to the transom, which I decided to rebuild. I found a piece of very thin scrap wood in my leftovers bin, which when combined with standard 1/16" planking, was exactly the original thickness of the transom piece. I traced the transom on this sheet, cut out the new piece, spread wood glue thinly all over, and laid a set of planks cross-ways upon it. Note that I laid the grain of the planks 90 degrees to the grain of the sheet, to minimize warping. Next I set the assembly under a large, heavy stack of appropriately nautical books, and let it dry before carving the planks to match the transom's shape. I've since filled any gaps and stained the result, though I don't have a photo of the result.

 

I've now moved on to fairing the rest of the forms, a process whose squeaking file & sandpaper echoes through our small house and is tolerated good-natured-ly by Mrs Cathead, even when she's trying to play dulcimer over it. This is going well, though I've  had to brace the aft-most frame (#15) to keep it from wiggling too much. I'm looking forward to the adventure of bending frames over the form, having read about a number of interesting results elsewhere.

[CaptainSteve]

Nice start there, Cathead !!

 

Take care with those frames. Some of us had no problems with bending them, whilst others (like myself) experienced (ahem) a few teething problems.

 

 

 

On planking it over, are the kit's planks long enough to accommodate the extra thickness of the transom in that case? It sounds like it would look better than a solid sheet of wood anyway, but I'd hate to do so and then find that the planks end exactly at the original piece?

 

 

Your question re: plank lengths is valid.

You're right. They're a close thing.

 

 

Oh. I just remembered ... you might wanna check the pintle/gudgeon cut-out on the stern-post against your plans.

With my kit, it was the same as one plan Sheet, but different compared to another.

Edited January 1, 2015 by CaptainSteve

[Cathead]

Starboard frames are done. Had trouble at first, changed my methods and all went smoothly.

 

Started by soaking in regular tap water for a few hours, then using my bending iron. Worked fine at bow & stern, broke five trying to wrap around the middle molds. Switched to boiling water as described in the instructions. Five minutes in boiling water, plus the plank iron worked like a charm. Redid the whole starboard side with nary a snap. The iron really does help snug the frames down over the tighter curves; I tried it without and they didn't conform as easily. This is the best practice based on the manual, as he says he did the prototype with boiling water, but also praises bending irons to high heaven. 

 

Now I have to wait until tomorrow to do the port side, as (1) I'm out of clamps and (2)I don't dare dislodge any of these mucking around with the model.

 

Steve, I remember reading that discussion. My plans have the same discrepancy. I've decided to ignore it, as (1) the more detailed plan matches the keel, (2) it makes sense to have extra room for unshipping the rudder, and (3) it doesn't change the look of the final model, at least by the standards I've set for this first attempt. Appreciate you bringing it up, though, as it's well worth considering.

 

Also, since I decided to rebuild the transom from scratch, I made it the same thickness, so there's no worry about plank length.

Edited January 3, 2015 by Cathead

[jburchfield1@wowway.com]

I found more trouble doing the tween frames on the inside.  Had a lot of buckling.  Best Wishes

[Cathead]

I'm hoping the bending iron helps with those inside frames as it's good at massaging interior curves into place.

[Cathead]

Like Bligh before me, I discovered a problem in my supplies, and overcame it through patience and analysis. Namely, my intended source of planking clips did not manifest itself as I had expected.

 

I have seen reference in numerous places to the practice of using binder clips (as they are called in the US) for holding planks firmly to bulkheads and frames. In every reference, one simply removes a handle, inserts it in a second clip, and one has a three-dimensional planking clip.

 

That did not work for me. The handles of my large clips are not long enough to fit entirely through their clips; after multiple attempts at squeezing them in there sent sharp metal objects pinging off my glasses, I opted not to finish the launch as a one-eyed pirate and considered other options. Clearly I needed to try other sizes of clips, but as I live in a rural area without shops, this would have to wait until my next trip into town. 

 

This eventually achieved, I present the Cathead Index of Usable Binder Clips:

On the far right, you see the initial binder clip with handy scale (I'm sure the rest of you can convert to metric if you really want to). You can see that the handle simply doesn't extend far enough to allow the wide part through the clip.

 

I purchased two smaller sizes to experiment with. The smallest one was too small, having exactly the same problem as the biggest one. The medium one worked as it is supposed to. I know that Jack Aubrey is referred to as Goldilocks from time to time, but I did not expect the Goldilocks solution to apply so neatly to this nautical dilemma.

 

On the left side of the Index, you see my other discovery. In general, you can insert the handle from a larger clip into the clip of a smaller clip, and achieve a proper result. From right to left (apparently this is a Hebrew Index), big handle in medium clip, medium handle in medium clip, medium handle in small clip. Now I have three sizes and strengths of clip to use. The other benefit here is that the medium clip handles are coated in something soft, possibly limiting any damage to planks.

 

Forgive me if wrong, but I have not seen this salient point presented elsewhere. Or do non-American binder clips come in subtly different length-to-clip ratios?  Regardless, I am pleased to have worked out this discovery on my own and can proceed with planking. The launch is getting lonely.

 

Oh yes, one other item of note: I seem to have fallen into the same trap as Captain Steve. I intended to use candle wax between my frames and forms, but found it too hard. After some cogitation, I struck upon the use of an old tin of Mrs Cathead's natural beeswax lip balm. The consistency is perfect. However.

 

The poor launch now smells of the type of store frequented by ladies with names such as Dandelion and Beatrice. Model Shipways really ought to develop a modelling wax that smelt of tar, sweat, and salt. I must simply hope it recedes over time.

[jburchfield1@wowway.com]

I guess I got lucky, my candle worked perfectly.  I had to purchase one (bachelor's don't really use candles) so I bought it unscented.  The launch lifted right off the form with no problem at all.  

[Cathead]

Planking progresses; here I share a few struggles and a solution to one of them.

 

 

Here is the current status. I have had difficulty getting the hood ends to hold in the stem rabbet after soaking and during drying, and then again during gluing. Clamping as shown in the instructions does not hold. Finally I hit upon cutting out the remnant wood from around the stem, which holds the same curve as the rabbett, and clamping it exactly on the rabbet line such that the planks fit in under that extra wood and hold their place & shape. This has worked very well, but I will have to  use wood filler on the first few planks which pulled away from the stem slightly during drying.

 

 

I have also had trouble with several planks pulling away from their neighbors during gluing. My small clamps just do not hold well enough, despite the instructions saying to use the smallest clamp size. The planks just push them up. So I will have to use some wood filler here as well. Right now I assume it will end up looking like a caulked seam and be acceptable for my intended level of perfection on this first kit.

 

While I like the pre-stained planks overall, it does make it more difficult to see pencil marks, especially on the dark cherry frames. Bright light and care takes care of this.

 

Also, I finally added galleries of three previous scratchbuild attempts, my first shots at building wooden ships. These may be of interest as they are unusual prototypes of inland American river vessels.

[mattsayers148]

Hey Cathead,

 

Great start for a fun build!

 

I was able to overcome the shrinking, moving nightmare by using thin CA. I'm no pro and I love my gorilla glue, but the CA solved the problem for me, you just have to be really careful. When I looked at a lot of other build before I started this one, there seemed to be issues with gaps at the last plank. Knowing this I beveled every plank for a tighter fit. Then I put in a 3/16 piece(straight then bent) and scribed in the last plank to it. I stained without sanding, and like Pops said, it leaves a bleached, aged look, but that's what I was after.

 

For the tween frames I reused the jig like I was makeing another boat. That way I avoided the bending frames inside, and they fit real well, as long as you don't mix them up.

 

You're doing great and I'll enjoy watching your build. Good luck!

 

Matt

[Cathead]

I have read about using CA, but it scares me. It takes me long enough to fiddle around with the plank getting it just so, and if it starts to set too soon, seems like a real bother to fix. The CA I have is also a bit runny, not good news.

 

I started beveling edges on the bow curves, but suspect you are right to do so along the entire frame and accept the inevitability of a stealer.

 

One other thing I have noticed, around the tightest curve of the bilge, there is just no way for a flat plank to sit against that curve. Is it possible to bend a curve into the plank, longitudinally, or does one just accept that the edges will not quite match up to the frame? None of my clamps will hold a plank so tight as to put that curve into it.

[Cap'n Rat Fink]

Cathead,

  I had the same problems at the stem and in the middle of the hull. As for the planks pulling away, it was not great problem for me. the one thing I did different was I waited to stain the planks after I placed them. that way if I got a little sloppy with the gluing it was no big deal.

   If I remember right. I got a bit of white glue and ran it along the plank. I let it set up a little bit before placing it. once I had in place I used these little aligator clamps I got from Harbor Freight. You can see them on my build log. I also got a scrap piece of wood and made like a little pole with a damp piece of cloth attach. so I could get in between the frames and clean the excess glue.

 

mario

[usedtosail]

Hi Cathead, Nice build so far. Bending the planks laterally would be really hard, I think, but they are thick enough that you can sand the curve into them when sanding the hull. In your case, you would have to touch up the stain on those sanded planks.

[Cathead]

Rat Fink,

 

Interesting, I saw staining the other way around: that staining later meant any spilled glue would show up that much more, since wood glue doesn't take stain the same way as wood. I figured that staining first would meant I already had a color base under any spilled glue. We'll see how that turns out.

 

Tom,

 

Given that it's an open boat, wouldn't sanding the curve into the planks be really noticeable from the inside as a long trough in each plank? Or did you mean to sand a curve into just a cross-wise band the exact width and location of each frame? That sounds difficult to get right.

[CaptainSteve]

I think what Tom is saying (and what I did with my Launch) is that you would bevel the edges of the planks to make them fit together as best you can. This will still leave a bit of an edge around areas such as the turn of the bilge. However, this edge can then easily be scraped/sanded back to produce a smooth external hull.

Edited January 16, 2015 by CaptainSteve

[CaptainSteve]

MY TECHNIQUE ...

Before you scrape/sand back, smear the hull with watered-down PVA (80% glue/20% water).
Wipe away the excess glue before you begin with a disposable cloth (non-fluffy), or your finger (Arrr ...)
Allow glue to partially dry.
Once "tacky" to touch, begin to scrape/sand back your planked hull ...
You may/will clog up initial pieces of sand-paper with glue.
However, soon, the sawdust will begin to collect in any grooves and will fill the gaps at least as good as, if not better than, any wood-filler possibly could.

Edited January 16, 2015 by CaptainSteve

[usedtosail]

Yes, Captain Steve has what I meant to say. Just sand in the curve after everything is glued up.

[Cathead]

Oh, okay, that is similar to what I intended to do anyway. I thought you meant to sand a curve longitudinally into the inside of the plank so that it fit perfectly against the bulkhead. This sounded problematic. Thank you both.

[Cathead]

 

Hull planking has been finished in good time. Both sides came out quite similar, requiring only a thin stealer between planks 6 & 7. This is shown above being test-fitted; I subsequently pre-stained it before gluing. One mistake: I stained only the outside of the stealers, not the inside, which meant an annoyingly fiddly job of staining the narrow inside band without too much spillover onto other planks. There are some gaps between planks that need filling, but overall this came together more cleanly than I expected. 

 

 

I did a first round of shaping & sanding before filling gaps, in order to better approximate the final hull shape. The image above shows:

 

1) Bow before (left) and after (right) first sanding. The pre-staining is especially useful here, as the dark/light contrast really helps guide where sanding is needed and how the shaping is coming along. As in previous steps, I find it a very useful guide for the work.

2) Bow after both sides are sanded.

3) Bow after wood filler has been liberally applied to gaps.

 

 

Here are the tools I find useful for hull shaping. The colored blocks are foam-cored sanding blocks of specific grit (150 & 320 in this case) that I found at a hardware store. They are delightful for sanding curves and other odd shapes as the block wraps beautifully around the material. Otherwise I have multiple grades of sandpaper wrapped around scrap cedar, and several files. The pointed file in particular is helpful for working in tight quarters along the stem & rabbet.

 

Not shown is a chisel, because I had no intention of using one. However, it seems I was too liberal with the wood putty and it would have taken a week to sand it all off. Misfortune turned to opportunity, though, when I hit upon using a sharp, broad chisel to plane off much of the hardened putty. This worked beautifully for smoothing edges where planks had not sat quite properly against each other; again the pre-staining guided this marvelously. If I could run a broad chisel along a seam and not produce white wood on both sides, it needed more work. 

 

I am very happy with the extra shaping allowed by the chisel, though I was a mite aggressive in a few places and left a few gouges. The instructions remind us that the launch was a working boat, and I will leave these to appear as various scars of a working life.

 

 

Now we see the launch with gaps filled, seams chiseled, and the entire hull sanded down to 150 grit. I am trying to decide whether, upon further staining, the "streakiness" of the remaining first stain will come out as an odd appearance or whether it will all blend in. In other words, do I need to sand the whole hull to a uniform finish or let the current variation show through gently for more texture? I am using the Model Shipways brand of stain, which is quite thick in the bottle and requires thinning. So I must decide how much to thin for the final coat and how to apply it most evenly.

 

 

And here she is off the forms and proper side up, having popped out just as advertised with no bother. I had actually tested the removal earlier, but placed the hull back on the forms for sanding as it provides a very solid base for the handling and pressure of sanding. I may put it back on the forms for a final fine sanding and staining before proceeding with further additions.

 

I was taken aback by how light and fragile she feels once off the forms; I had gotten used to this solid, heavy shape under my hands and I am reminded of what delicate things are boats. I find myself holding and handling her for no particular reason, other than that the results so far fascinate me. I have built other wooden maritime models so far, but nothing like this ethereal space defined by the thinnest of shaped planks. To this point it looks better than I expected I could achieve, and I am most inspired to finish her off. 

 

This really is a well-thought-out kit, and I will have a hard time wanting to buy anyone else's after the positive experience I have had with Model Shipways so far.

Edited January 19, 2015 by Cathead

[GuntherMT]

Very nice looking project so far Cathead.  I've had very good experience with MS as well, and have actually got 3 more MS kits on the shelf already waiting for my attention.  There are so many interesting looking kits out there though, I'd really love to get some of the Midwest small kits, and maybe a Dusek run-about, but I keep forcing myself to not become one of those people with 20 years worth of kits in a stack in the closet!

 

Love the job you've done on this style of planking, and look forward to watching your progress!

[mattsayers148]

Hey Cathead,

 

Looking great so far. As to your question regarding staining over partial stains. If you put a light coat on, you will most likely see light and dark areas. Personally that's how I like it because it gives depth to the wood. In a project like this one I've scraped and stained several times through the stages. Heavy grit, darker look, fine grit, much lighter appearance. Scraping will achieve lighter still. Many different colors can be achieved by useing different grits and/or scraping. Good luck.

 

Matt

[Cathead]

Matt.

 

I am tempted to experiment with sanding/scraping/staining each plank individually, so that the variable finish looks like individual planks rather than amorphous patterns. But would that end up looking like a zebra?

[mattsayers148]

Hey Cathead,

 

I think this may be leap of faith point. If you do each plank individually you might be done by summertime. If you do the multiple steps when staining, you will begin to see each and every plank with distinctive grains. If you do a one time heavy stain, then you'll most likely blend everything together. Any seams that have filler in them will define each plank as well. No matter how you chose, doing a quick on/off with the stain will give you more control of the look. It will also help you see any areas that need further sanding.

 

Matt

[jburchfield1@wowway.com]

What Matt said!