Scottish Maid by mrangus - Artesania Latina - first build

[mrangus]

Well here's my in-progress version of the lifeboat, with motivation coming from Jesse's version. It's a slow patient process but coming along to my satisfaction. I'm using carving tools (the cheap ones work just fine) and good rasp files that take off wood cleanly and quickly.

 

The one issue I'm having is trying to find something to hold the boat while I carve out the inside - I had in my vice but I left some marks which I had to sand off. I'd like to avoid that again. I tried holding with a towel but it wans't tight enough. I'm thinking I have to build something that it can sit in. Ideas?

[mrangus]

Here's a new milestone, but I have lots of questions at this point. I've got the gunwales on and ready to start on the deck. But before I do that I think there are several tasks I need to perform.

 

The gunwales - do I take the edge off the corners with a little sanding?

Also on gunwales - the colors are quite different from the front pieces (laser cut) and the rear (bent). Could I stain them to even out the color some? I have little experience staining.

The timberheads and inner bulwarks - put a few coats of acrylic on?

 

I included one picture of my little helper. She's working on the popsicle stick house.

[GLakie]

Don't know what to say about the gunwales, but with the life-boat, you could use wood-glue, and glue a cradle you can clamp in the vise, to the hull. Then just un-glue it later with rubbing alcohol. 

[mrangus]

Basswood is amazing - very easy  to work with when getting details done. I added some detail to the lifeboat...

I think I will plagiarize Jesse's idea of using a comb to create the planking. His looked awesome after done...

[JesseLee]

On the lifeboat George's suggestion about the glue is good. You can also put scrap wood or some kind of hard rubber between the boat & the vice grips. That boat looks very good!

 

For the gunwales, mine was like that too. I tried a very light stain on the lighter pieces but they still looked a little different. I ended up leaving them as they were & it sort of blended in after some wipe on poly. I didn't really like it but didn't know what else to do. The pictures don't show it so it's not far off. I did hit the edges with a very fine sanding but not much.

[mrangus]

Here's a look at the lifeboat - it's complete from a carving perspective, getting the plank lines on was a little tricky and not super accurate but for the size I'm ok with the look. I'm trying to determine what color I want to have - I could stain, or try an oil... Any ideas on how to get an ash-grey/weathered wood color? Would that even be appropriate?

 

I've also started on the rudder. Still nervous about drilling to the boat! But I'll get over it....

 

 

 

[mrangus]

The rudder was pretty challenging lining up the hinges appropriately... I struggled with getting the brass pieces bent correctly, I just don't think I have the know-how and/or tools to get this right, but I'll live with what I've put on. Drilling the hole wasn't as bad as I thought. I started with a hand drill 1mm, and slowly expanded from there. When I got to the dremel, the drill went a little quicker than I had anticipated, and Fortunately - the drill came out on target....

 

the hole by the stern post is a little bigger than I had hoped, but not sure if I''ll be able to get in there to repair. tight spacing and I don't want to take the rudder off at this point.

 

On to the fun stuff on the deck!

[JesseLee]

You can stain the boat first then do watered down ( 50/50 or so ) grey paint washes to weather it.

[mrangus]

Thanks Jesse. I've read that basswood doesn't take stain too well. Any luck with staining?

[JesseLee]

I actually dry brushed mine with brown paint & smeared it sort of like staining then did the grey washes

[mrangus]

Problems...

I've run into a few issues. My rudder post hole was drilled too close to the stern waterway so I don't have room for the station to sit on the platform. I think my two options are a) pull the rudder off, re-drill the hole and cover the original hole with the stantion platform (more work) or put the rear stantion on the waterway (easier approach). Thoughts on this?

 

Also my ship's wheel is broken. One of the handles is broken off, so I looked into ordering a new one, and I'm not sure whether the measurements for the wheel are from the tip of the handles (20mm) or from the wheel itself (14mm). Since I'm going to order a new wheel, I've decided to get better belaying pins. The kit has cast metal ones that just don't look all that good. I'm also puzzled on the size I should order.

 

Any advice would be welcomed.

[mrangus]

I decided in the second option of putting the stantion platform on the waterway. I think it looks pretty good, I've mocked up what it looks like without glueing the second stantion. I also had to make my own stantions - I couldn't find the ones that were supposed to be prefabb'ed in the kit. wasn't sure how wide they were so I had to guess based on the pictures in the instructions booklet. Now I'm just waiting for my ship's wheel to arrive. I got a wooden one instead of the brass one that comes with the ship. I hope to add some detail to it to make it look a little more realistic. I assume they were painted?

 

 

[mrangus]

I realize after looking at the picture and comparing to others that I need to make the rudder block a little longer. That's an easy fix....

[JesseLee]

Sorry I missed that last question. Your solution looks fine. Yes, I would make the block a little longer. You're doing a good job!

[mrangus]

I've discovered the secret to threading those tiny little holes in the blocks. Beeswax!

[mrangus]

Well I had some free time today and I worked on the ship steering mechanism. My first foray into working with the rigging and I learned a lot...

 

First I had fits getting the rope through the block eyelet - until I discovered how much beeswax helps that process. Tying the blocks was similarly challenging until I did a little research on this site and discovered that holding the block with a clothespin does the trick. I also learned that you need to think through the steps in setting up rigging, I tried threading the block eyelet once tied onto the boat and that just wasn't going to happen. So more backtracking.

 

I thought I was getting real ingenious by using a small clothespin to hold the rope tight in the block, keeping tension across the wheel, which I had wrapped the rope around three times. I also managed to tie the rope to the steering block eye nice and tight, but didn't consider the slack that would be added when I released the small clothespin - so now my whole system looks a little droopy. I'm hoping that's realistic to how this setup looked. I need to look for a picture to validate.

 

One last minor point of frustration. I had intentionally set the two pins I placed in the stantions a little off center to get the line up correct, and when I put the glue on and was rushing because we know how fast that glue cures - well I got it wrong and now it looks a little off-line. I'm going to try to fix that when my ship's wheel arrives.

 

I took a few more pics than normal because I wanted to capture the steps for myself as well as others that might be trying this for the first time as well. Definitely educational for me and hopefully for others.

 

 

[GLakie]

Nice work Robb! It would seem to me that one side or the would have a little slack in the line anyway. Tight on one side would slacken the other side. In respect to planning ahead, I've been reading posts here on the site for over a year and a half, and if there's one thing to remember from that, it would be when you're planning steps, it's good to look ahead about 4 or 5 steps, or even on ahead to the next chapter, so what you're doing now, doesn't get in the way of what you need to do later. If that makes any sense. 

[mrangus]

Thanks George. Good advice... for the SM (as Jesse can vouch for) the "instructions" basically say: look at the pictures, it's easy from here on! So I've been tracking closely a few builds on how to accomplish the small pieces.

 

Right now I'm playing around with how to color the basswood components I've ordered as well as the boat I carved. I have a few things I'm going to try on dummy models: stain followed by paint, oil based paint, thinned in various tones. I ordered a wooden ship's wheel which has much more detail than the cast version that came in the ship, but in order to get looking more appropriate with the ship, I need to do something with it. I'm afraid to try to paint on too many details as I think I'll just mess it up.

 

I've also included my highly efficient workspace. I do know exactly where everything is. Just takes a while to find.

 

[mrangus]

Creating the pinrails. I found that the angle for the cut is NOT 45 degrees. I measured and it's 50 degrees, so I had to re-cut. Getting the pin holes drilled was tricky, I don't have a drill press and when doing by hand the holes are a little crooked. Hard to see by naked eye, so I kept as-is. Otherwise I'd have to order more wood as I;m out of the 6mm walnut strips.

 

Also the kit parts list said that the belay pins are boxwood, but they're actually a cheap metal! So I ordered some boxwood (and pear) pins from modelexpo and I like them, but I ordered 10mm and only saw the part after the fact that they are 8mm. so I need to get more....

Edited June 16, 2015 by Mr.Angus

[GLakie]

Those holes in the pin rails seem pretty equidistant and straight to my eye. For doing them free-hand, they turned out great.

[mrangus]

Thanks George. I would have re-done them but I'd have to wait a week to get new wood and I'm just not that patient

 

One question - the channels for the deadeyes - are they just grooves filed in? or actual holes drilled? I can't tell from the pics in the kit.

[GLakie]

Not sure about your ship Robb, but others I've seen are just notches cut into the channel with a strip molding over the edge to enclose them. Before cutting those notches though, you might want to get the masts stepped and raked first, so you can gauge where the shrouds need to be located for those dead-eyes. If that makes any sense.

[JesseLee]

I grooved mine. It was impossible to tell on the instructions.

[mrangus]

Feeling a little frustrated...

 

I have come to realize that some of the pre-cut walnut sheets are missing in my kit. The windlass and winch pieces are both missing. The curved piece on the winch also missing which looks like a custom piece. (The stantions for the steering were also missing but I made my own.) I've used most of my scrap for various things so I'm low on options here. I may need to either find how I can buy a walnut sheet, or try to see if I can order from AL replacement pieces (which will take a while I would think.) Ugh.

 

I added color to my carved rowboat - not thrilled with how it came out. I liked the practice run.... maybe have to figure out how to tone it down - it just looks dirty now.

 

Also I've been looking at the chain plates and want to try to make real chain plates (not the black thread that the model instructions suggest). But I'm stumped on the size and type of wire I should use. Brass would look nice.... but what size for the ship and where might I get this?

 

current todo:

Figure out how to do chain plates for lower deadeyes

Figure out what to do with the rowboat

Figure out how to build deck items that don't have parts

Build rest of deck items

Edited June 17, 2015 by Mr.Angus

[JesseLee]

You're right about the chain plates. The kit's way would too bad & cheap like a toy. I made my own out of blackened wire I already had.

 

On the lifeboat you can try wiping it with thinner or brush cleaner or something like that to tone it down some. If it takes more off than you want you can always stain it back again.

 

You can probably order replacement parts but I don't know how AL's customer service is- I've never contacted them. 

[mrangus]

Slow progress, working on deck items.

 

Regarding the todo:

- I ordered some brass wire of different sizes. I've seen some chain plates done in brass and they look pretty snazzy so I'll give it a shot.

- Contacted AL to inquire about replacement parts. Haven't heard a thing, so I ordered a walnut sheet to build myself.

- Played around with the boat, tried Jesse's suggestion of wiping down, but still not right. I'm going to have to fiddle with it some more.

 

the deck items, while easy, take quite a bit of time. At least for me

[mrangus]

Another typical Saturday night down in the basement working late into the evening. I got a lot accomplished even though there's not much to show.

 

My new brass wire came in. I ordered samples from a place that sells jewelry brass wire, and it's perfect. I was looking at the different sizes and seeing what would work for the various items (railing, chain plates, winch handle, stove pipe, et. al.) One conclusion I came up with and wanted to get folks' opinion. I was thinking of using a thinner (#20) wire for wrapping the deadeyes, and a thicker wire (#18) for the actual chainplates. it would be easier because the thinner wire is much easier to work with. Then I can also solder the larger wire, and tie the thinner wire to the chainplate with rope. Thoughts?

 

I used some of the new brass to replace the steering rod. it wasn't very straight, and a little thinner than I liked. The 16 gauge was perfect. Everything much sturdier now as well. All glued down now.

 

I also got a few more deck items done. Still waiting on my walnut sheet to scratch build the pieces that I'm missing.

 

A few pics:

 

[UpstateNY]

Hi Robb,

 

I think you had a pretty productive evening...there's a lot to show as these details take a lot of time.

 

Looks great and I just hope I can make my metal work look half as good.

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel.

[GLakie]

The brass fittings make a nice contrast to the darker wood. Looks great! 

[mrangus]

Figuring Some Things Out

 

Thanks Nigel and George, appreciate the opinion and compliments. We are our own worst critics.

 

I'm moving along on some of the items. In the end I've decided to create the chain plates in a manner quite similar to Jesse's build. It's simple, doesn't require soldering (which I tried over the weekend and failed miserably) and I think will look pretty nice with the brass wire. I will need to order some more. I'm thinking of making a template on a large piece of wood using nails so I can bend the wire quickly and (hopefully) easily. Anyone try doing that? I have a sample of what I hope it looks like, though in measuring the chain plate is too long and will be shortened slightly.

 

I also received 8mm belay pins today. I'm comparing to the 10mm pins I received a few weeks back. What do you think? 8 or 10?

 

I also build the deck house tonight. I like it... took a while, used tung oil on dark wood, then acrylic on light wood.

 

Lastly... ModelExpo let me know that they cancelled the backorder of my walnut sheet, which I need badly to build the remaining deck items. Anywhere else that  can get 3/32 or 1/16?

 

Thanks