Dinghy by burgoofj - Midwest Products - SMALL

[burgoofj]

Hi, I'm Frank.

 

I'm going to build the Dinghy from Midwest Products, a rowboat, perhaps the simplest model in the genre.

 

 

 

 

[burgoofj]

Well that was easy, posting the picture.

 

Let me tell you a story. A couple weeks ago I saw an ad for the Starz series "Black Sails." Looked intriguing. Got me thinking about modeling sailing ships. I've modeled other stuff, model railroad mostly. I think my dad tried to model ships many many many many many years ago. Anyway I found this forum, one thing leads to another and now I'm spending time meticulously cutting, sanding and gluing wood.

 

The glamour shot, contents of the box. Ahh, good old inspectors 58 and 69. The plans, the wood. You can't see the wood too well, sorry. The two dark pieces are supposed to be both walnut, but the color is vastly different, hmm.

 

 

 

 

[burgoofj]

OK, one more. I couldn't figure out how to put text between the pictures, oh well.

 

I only got to cut out and sand the frames. there's three pairs, two pairs are really similar. Figured I'd number them so I don't get confused.

 

 

[GuntherMT]

Welcome aboard Frank.

 

You can put any text you like between photo's by simply typing the text you want, placing the cursor where you want the picture to be, and then clicking the "Add to Post" for the photo.  Then with your cursor after the newly inserted image (it will be text saying 'attachment: name' enclosed in square brackets), keep typing whatever you want after the image.  Repeat as needed.  You can add as many photo's in a single post as you like (or at least I've never hit a limit), but you can only upload 10 of them with a single click.

 

Have fun with the dinghy, I'd like to try some of these little Midwest kits in the future, they look like fun.

[Bobstrake]

Welcome Frank,

 

I built the Midwest Skiff. I broke some frames and an inwale, as well as splitting a side plank. I also glued a finger to the transom and left some blood when the skin was torn off, but the finished boat came out nice. I'm sure you will do better. I'm looking forward to your build.

 

Bob

[burgoofj]

Heh, yeah I think there's blood on every wooden model I've done.

[burgoofj]

Took about an hour putting together the frames, marking the bottom and adding those couple strips of wood. Still got a bit of shaping on the frames, two of them need a beveled bottom and I'm having trouble making them flat.

 

 

The frames are made of two sides that were precut and a piece of stripwood connecting them. That leaves for significant variation. I used the plan to position my frames, but they don't match up with the boat bottom that well. Two are larger than the bottom and one is smaller. I guess I've got a bit of carving and sanding to do.

[burgoofj]

Here's some progress on the dinghy. 

 

 

I mentioned before that the frames and the boat bottom didn't match up perfectly. I made a half-hearted attempt at ungluing the wide frame. I used ca to glue them and tried to unglue with nail polish remover. I tried applying the remover to the part with a q-tip, got it pretty wet but the bond wasn't budging. Perhaps if I was to soak it in remover it might work, but I wasn't sure what that might to to the wood. So I figured I'd just use them as they are and carve and sand.

 

Turns out the carving and sanding wasn't as tough as I thought it would be. Basswood is really soft. I really just started fitting the frames to the bottom, got quite a bit of carving and sanding before I can move on.

 

A lesson learned tonight, applying the transom it ended up a little crooked, enough to see. Having no idea how to unglue I decided to leave it as is, crooked for all eternity.

 

At first I thought I would use wood glue. But it appears that using ca you don't need elaborate clamping, and can make more progress at one sitting. On the other hand I seem to be screwed making a mistake. I'm gonna have to think about this.

 

 

[burgoofj]

Hi all,

 

Thanks for stopping by. Well I've been humbled this week, first by noticing how little time I seem to have to myself, and second I realize that this project is quite a bit more difficult than I thought it would be.

 

The dinghy has a curved bottom. You must put the curve into the bottom, the kit includes three blocks of wood to help.

 

 

I first did what the instructions said, soaked it with alcohol, pinned it up, let it dry. Next day, took out the pins and it went right back to flat. At the same time I realized that I would need way more carving and sanding.

 

Another issue, the two outside frames need a bevel on the bottom so that when it's curved those frames are plumb. The instructions tell you to bevel the frames and glue them up before curving, but it seems impossible to really figure out what the bevel should be at that time. Perhaps it might have been better to curve the bottom first then bevel and glue the frames. It's tough to see in the picture but my frames lean to the front and back of the boat.

 

So now I hopefully got the boat faired up and ready to put on the planks. This model has three wide planks that are pre-shaped. So I start trying to put it together, I try applying a little CA onto the frames and putting the plank on. This just don't work, not enough glue. OK, let's try wood glue. Again I think I just can't get enough glue in there to hold well. Maybe need more shaping and sanding. I'm pretty frustrated at this point.

 

OK, well I'm just gonna punt here. I clamp the thing up and just flood the joints with CA. I think it's gonna hold. But now I've got all this glue all over the inside of my boat. I'm assuming that will mess with any finish I attempt. More things to ponder.

 

Here's all the excess glue:

 

The current state of the project:

 

Frank

 

[burgoofj]

Here's a progress report on the dinghy.

 

Put two more planks on each side, that's it for this boat. Sanding, lining things up, clamps, glue. Takes a bit of time.

 

Here's a really useful tool

 

All the planks attached

 

Trimmed all the planking and started adding some internal detalis. Here's how the model stands right now.

 

Thanks for looking, liking and well, just being you.

Frank

 

 

[russ]

Frank:

Excellent work so far. I am a big fan of these Midwest kits and this one looks really nice. You are doing well.

 

Russ

[Bobstrake]

Frank,

Even using a lot of CA glue, your boat is looking very clean. I found that I had to dry the side being glued, after wetting, or only my fingers would stick. Also, I found the glue accelerator spray to be a Godsend. Beatiful work.

[burgoofj]

A few more bits and bobs added on

 

 

Just a tad more trimming and sanding, then I guess I have to finish it. I think I'll paint it since it's got glue marks all over it.

 

Thanks for looking,

Frank

 

[russ]

Frank:

It looks very good. A nice paint job will be good to finish it off.

 

Russ

[DBorgens]

Frank,

It looks very good in the photos. These kits are a good way to decide if you want to do something more ambitious. It will clean up well with a few coats of paint.

BTW soaking wood in ammonia will will keep its shape after it dries. Works pretty well with basswood. It does break down the wood fiber a bit but for some applications it will work out okay.

 

Dave B

[yvesvidal]

Frank,

 

It is okay to paint this dinghy inside and outside. Most were painted anyway to protect them from water and rain.

 

Yves

[burgoofj]

Here she is.

 

 

 

 

 

Here's what's left of the kit. There's three seats and two oars. The two dark pieces are the stand. In the bag are two oar locks and a brass cotter pin to make a hook on the front. There's also two sizes of rope. The instructions say some of these used a rope around the outside as a bumper.

 

 

So what's left? Installing the seats, the oarlocks and the front hook. I'll decide how much of the ropes to use and I should make a display.

 

Thanks for looking,

Frank

 

[russ]

The paint job looks very good. Nice work.

 

Russ

[etubino]

Beatifull! Very nice work in the painting