Anteo by rvchima - FINISHED - Panart - 1:30 - Harbour Tug

[rvchima]

Another Very Different Model (for me, anyway)

 

 

My wife gave me another ship model this Christmas. Of course I gave her strong hints what I wanted. What I wanted was a working vessel with clean lines, a planked hull, and no rigging. After a long search I found the Anteo harbour tug by Panart, which seems to be a part of Mantua models in Italy. Please let me know if I am wrong about this. I ordered the kit from Cornwall Model Boats in the UK. Even with shipping to the US their price was significantly cheaper than anyone else. I ordered the kit on a Sunday and had it in my hands the following Thursday. Amazing service. I gave the box to my wife and opened it on Christmas morning.

 

What's In The Box.

First of all, the box measures 37x11x4 inches and weighs a whopping 12.5 pounds! It is packed with quality parts.

 

There are two packages of fittings including funnels, the wheel, tires, the prop, line, portholes, lights, and the anchor.

 

Planking for a double-planked hull , heavy PVC stack.

 

Vacuformed lifeboat shells, rubber bumper material, brass prop shaft.

 

6 sheets of 1/4" laser-cut ply.

 

4 sheets of thin veneer ply.

 

A large sheet of photo-etched brass.

 

Instructions in 4 languages plus 2 catalogues. The English instructions are short and pretty rough.

 

4 pages of plans, 2-sided, 27x39 inches.

[rvchima]

First Construction Photos

 

The laser-cut parts popped out of the sheet easily and the 3-piece keel when right together.

 

Here's the keel with all the bulkheads in position. But here's also where I found a problem with the kit. One of the 6 pieces of 1/4 inch ply has a warp built in, and 5 bulkheads are seriously warped. I soaked them in hot water and clamped them to flat boards. I hope they straighten out before I glue them to the keel. Once the planking is attached they should be fine.

[patrickmil]

That's a very nice looking kit! I'll definitely follow along with you on this build. Are you planning on fitting this out as an RC model?

[chevygrunt]

That's a nice looking Tug! How big is the completed model?

Will follow your build with interest!

Cheers, Scott.

[augie]

Looks like a fun project.  I had a ball with my Ulises tug a number of years back.  I love your funnel ...... mine came with something like a tube from a roll of toilet paper  .  As someone already asked, what's her LOA?

[rvchima]

The completed model will be 35 inches (890 mm) long. I will build it for display only, not RC.

[rvchima]

Bulkheads and Subdecks Installed

Two subdecks have been temporarily nailed into place to keep the bulkheads aligned while the planking is applied. This will also eliminate any residual warping in the bulkheads.

 

At this point the model totally reminds me of Steze Zissou's ship, the Belafonte, from Wes Anderson's "The Life Aquatic."

 

Edited February 2, 2015 by rvchima

[patrickmil]

Those part are amazingly well cut and that's very nice looking plywood.

[rvchima]

Stand and Prop Shaft Housing

 

Here I made a temporary stand that is a tight fit on the keel.

 

The prop shaft housing was made of two rectangular blocks. I taped them to a 3/16" square stick with double sided tape, chucked them in the drill press, and sanded them at high RPM. THen I pulled the tape apart and glued the half-cylinders to the keel over a slot for the prop shaft.

[rvchima]

First Rows of Planking

 

The planking is 7 mm limewood. It's very flexible when it's wet. I glued the first few rows entirely with medium viscosity CA.

 

Maybe that wasn't such a good idea. Now where's my acetone?

[rvchima]

More Planking

 

We're having a major blizzard today so it's a great day to stay indoors and attach planks.

 

I added a plank down the centerline of the bulkheads. Then I measured the remaining height above the centerline along each bulkhead. The longest segment is about 13 planks high. I divided each segment by 13 to get the height of the plank at that bulkhead. Then I tapered a bunch of planks and let them soak.

 

I am now using white PVA glue along the plank edges and dots of CA at the bulkheads. If I do two bulkheads the CA makes instant pins to hold the plank while the white glue dries. There is much less CA oozing out and my fingers are clean. So far so good.

[popeye the sailor]

one look at your fingers,  and it gave me instant shivers!    I use only white or carpenter's glue.  I wonder why this kit calls for double planking.   your doing such a nice job of it........is there a possibility that you might be able to get away with single planking?   doesn't look like too much sanding may be involved,   and you have the photo etch panels to go on afterwards......or is there just enough to do around the bulwarks?

 

looks like a very nice kit.......love the brass goodies    

[rvchima]

I've never done a double planked hull before, and I am pretty happy with the single planked hull so far. A little putty in the cracks might be enough. Everything gets painted eventually anyway. We'll see.

[rvchima]

First Layer of Planking Completed. 58 hours, 39 days

I completed the first layer of planking the other day. This boat is BIG! I don't know where I'm going to put it when it's done.

 

After a lot of sanding, I filled the wood with a coat of Behlen water-based grain filler (available from Woodcraft.com). This stuff has the consistency of yoghurt, it dries quickly, and it sands off easily. I was amazed at how many cracks and depressions it found! You can see all the white areas in the photo. The stern is still pretty rough, especially around the prop shaft.

 

Looking ahead in the plans I realized that all of the interior bulkheads will be removed down to the deck level, leaving a thin layer of planking to the side rails. A single layer of planking would definitely not be strong enough, so I'll have to bite the bullet and add a second layer. But I think I'll set that aside for a while and work on some of the superstructure. 

[popeye the sailor]

that's some seriously sweet planking you've done there Rod.   here is something to think about........you need to remove all of the bulwark posts.  if you want to get out of doing a second planking....you could simply plank the inside bulwarks,  and finish the outer hull for paint and such.  this would hide the mating of the deck platforms and the bulwarks.

[augie]

VERY nice, Rod.  What type of wood did they provide for the second planking?

[rvchima]

Windlass

 

The parts for the windlass were mostly turned brass and were incredibly detailed. With a little work and a real motor you could probably make it operate. The brass was so pretty it was a shame to paint it.

Edited March 31, 2015 by rvchima

[rvchima]

Bridge House - 86 hours over 57 days

 

The bridge house is framed up in laser cut plywood, and then planked with limewood (basswood) strips. The instructions said to build the whole structure before doing the planking. As soon as I started planking I realized that it would have been MUCH easier to plank the deck before adding the curved rail, and to plank the cabin before gluing it in place. From now on I'll try to read ahead a little.

 

My wife and I are in Florida for a while. She is an author and only needs her computer to work. I tried to bring enough of the Anteo kit, tools, and supplies to keep me busy. But I forgot my drills, and I brought all the wrong paints. So I'm jumping around in the instructions and building what I can. I'll try to sort it all out when I get home.

 

[riverboat]

Nice build Rod....... that PanArt kit looks like really nice quality...... while you are in Florida you mine as well look for a docking place for her when you finish building her........ she's huge!!!

 

Frank

[popeye the sailor]

windlass looks super.......never seen one with so much detail to it    I wouldn't feel bad about the planking.......you have the chance to paint first    very nice progress......your having fun!

[rvchima]

A Major Digression

Sorry for the long delay between posts, but I stopped working on the tugboat model long enough to build a sofa table for my son and his wife. The table was based loosely on a design that I found online, but I modified it so that it could be completely disassembled to fit in the back of a Toyota Prius. The table is now safely in North Carolina and I am back to work on the tug.

[rvchima]

Second Layer of Planking

One reason that I chose this model that I wanted to build a double-planked hull. Now I wonder "What was I thinking?"

 

On the first layer I tapered all the planks so that the same number of planks would cover all the bulkheads. That worked out well, but it was a lot of work. On the second layer I started at the top and worked down, with full width planks almost everywhere. I did use a couple of cheaters here and there to keep everything straight. I am now about half way down the hull, and this layer looks much nicer than the first. Eventually the planks will stop way short of the bow, but I think they will be OK. We'll see.

[augie]

Nice looking work ---- on both projects!

[popeye the sailor]

your second planking is coming along nicely.........really smooth looking      sofa table look great as well.......very nice!

[riverboat]

It's going to be a winner  Rod........ 2nd planking is looking good and so is the table!!

 

Frank

[Gundorph]

Looks Fantastic... Sweet "little" Tug...

[TurkSailor]

Great work! 

 

That is an awesome Sofa table, I've been looking for one just like that.... 

 

Cheers!

Eyup 

[rvchima]

Second Layer of Planking Completed - 120 hours, 122 days

 

I FINALLY finished planking the hull and will soon be moving on to more interesting things. For the first layer I tapered most of the planks, and it took 58 hours. For the second layer I left most the planks straight. It only took 20 hours and it looks much better. In the photo you can see a crescent-shaped area left at the bottom where I had to trim the planks to fit.

 

Helpful Hint - When basswood planks are wet you can cut them with scissors. I wish I had realized that that 4 months ago.

 

[rvchima]

Temporary Decks Removed

 

Two temporary decks made of heavy plywood were used to keep all the bulkheads in alignment during planking. They were held in place with small nails and were easily removed. This is the fist time I've seen the inside of the ship since January.

 

Sub Deck Installed, Bulkheads Trimmed

 

And now the inside is hidden again. A sub deck made of very thin laser-cut plywood was installed near the top of the bulkheads, and then the bulkheads were all trimmed to deck level. I thought that would be difficult, but not with this flexible Japanese cut-off saw. I sliced the bottoms of the bulkheads flush with the sub deck, then gently rocked each piece back and forth with pliers to break the glue joint.

 

I know the insides of the side rails look terrible right now, but after I sand them and add a third layer of finish planking on the inside they'll be fine.

[popeye the sailor]

good to see your back at the table Rod.   I haven't had to do trimmings like that......but tugs weren't known for having high bulwarks.  all in good necromantic fun........Hee.....Hee.....Heee