Hi All!
Back in November 2017 I started building the Brig Corsair kit by OcCre. I've been documenting the progress on my Facebook page, but I thought I'd add it here too. I have been enjoying this forum for a while and thought I would contribute to.
This has been a long ongoing project. Most of the kit has been reworked extensively as I was not particularly happy with the quality of the included wood. Having access to a sawmill designed to specifically cut miniature wood, it was easy to replace it. The material used is basswood and black walnut. I also replaced a lot of the plywood laser cut parts with new parts laser cut from black walnut. Having laser cutters at my disposal has been a benefit (and a bit of a curse as well..) All the rigging and blocks in the kit have been replaced with high quality items from Syren Ship Company. Enjoy!
Product shot of the kit. This is the second wood ship kit I've built, the last being The Bluenose, about 35 years ago, so it's been a while... I chose this as it seemed manageable and was not built on any specific ship, so I'd have some flexibility to learn without worrying about not maintaining accuracy to an original ship.
Not happy with the odd species of wood included in the kit for decking, I laser cut my own using 1/32" basswood. Added treenailing holes with the laser.
Wood included with the kit. It wasn't too bad, but since I can easily make my own I decided to replace it. Mostly from Black Walnut and Basswood.
A short video showing how the Black Walnut strips were cut. (I own a company that produces scale lumber for model railroaders, the tools are ideal for a project like this...)
Starting the decking. Edges of the planks were blackened with a charcoal pencil to simulate caulking. Messy going in, but the results looked pretty good.
Planing the deck level with a micro plane from Lee Valley Tools.
Sanded and stained. It really isn't this yellow. The phone image is over-saturated
Varnished deck.
Pretty happy with the results.
In preparation for fairing the hull I made up a bunch of laser cut sanding blocks with different grits of paper.
Getting those gunwales added was VERY difficult. From researching other peoples work with this kit I noticed that everyone had the problem of the sides splitting when formed around the deck. I took lots of care there and reinforced it so it wouldn't crack.
Success! You can see I glued on a piece of material to keep it from cracking while being glued in place.
I made some laser cut frames for the gunwales
Glueing and clamping the stern in place
Hull assembled with decks in place. Starting to "fair" the strakes.
First few basswood planks nailed and glued in place. This is the first layer of planking, to be covered with black walnut later. Basswood seems ideal for this, soft and pliable.
Installing the first critical planks...
Fitting and filling in the planks.
I used lots of heat to warp the planks in place.
Crude cast windows and doors included with the kit. These will be replaced with higher quality laser cut versions.
Once the first planking is complete, the brass nails will be removed. Considering trying to do this using wood toothpicks on my next build. Then they can be easily sanded off.
Working my way down...
Back in November 2017 I started building the Brig Corsair kit by OcCre. I've been documenting the progress on my Facebook page, but I thought I'd add it here too. I have been enjoying this forum for a while and thought I would contribute to.
This has been a long ongoing project. Most of the kit has been reworked extensively as I was not particularly happy with the quality of the included wood. Having access to a sawmill designed to specifically cut miniature wood, it was easy to replace it. The material used is basswood and black walnut. I also replaced a lot of the plywood laser cut parts with new parts laser cut from black walnut. Having laser cutters at my disposal has been a benefit (and a bit of a curse as well..) All the rigging and blocks in the kit have been replaced with high quality items from Syren Ship Company. Enjoy!
Product shot of the kit. This is the second wood ship kit I've built, the last being The Bluenose, about 35 years ago, so it's been a while... I chose this as it seemed manageable and was not built on any specific ship, so I'd have some flexibility to learn without worrying about not maintaining accuracy to an original ship.
Not happy with the odd species of wood included in the kit for decking, I laser cut my own using 1/32" basswood. Added treenailing holes with the laser.
Wood included with the kit. It wasn't too bad, but since I can easily make my own I decided to replace it. Mostly from Black Walnut and Basswood.
Starting the decking. Edges of the planks were blackened with a charcoal pencil to simulate caulking. Messy going in, but the results looked pretty good.
Planing the deck level with a micro plane from Lee Valley Tools.
Sanded and stained. It really isn't this yellow. The phone image is over-saturated
Varnished deck.
Pretty happy with the results.
In preparation for fairing the hull I made up a bunch of laser cut sanding blocks with different grits of paper.
Getting those gunwales added was VERY difficult. From researching other peoples work with this kit I noticed that everyone had the problem of the sides splitting when formed around the deck. I took lots of care there and reinforced it so it wouldn't crack.
Success! You can see I glued on a piece of material to keep it from cracking while being glued in place.
I made some laser cut frames for the gunwales
Glueing and clamping the stern in place
Hull assembled with decks in place. Starting to "fair" the strakes.
First few basswood planks nailed and glued in place. This is the first layer of planking, to be covered with black walnut later. Basswood seems ideal for this, soft and pliable.
Installing the first critical planks...
Fitting and filling in the planks.
I used lots of heat to warp the planks in place.
Crude cast windows and doors included with the kit. These will be replaced with higher quality laser cut versions.
Once the first planking is complete, the brass nails will be removed. Considering trying to do this using wood toothpicks on my next build. Then they can be easily sanded off.
Working my way down...
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s in place. At this point I took about a year off from the project. Was pretty hard to look over and not see my little dog next to me while I worked...