Juana y José - 1:32 Cross Section - Spanish Fishing Boat - by JacquesCousteau

[JacquesCousteau]

This is a repost of the original build log, which was sadly lost along with the rest of ModelShipWorld. Although I do have a complete pdf of the original, it's not in a format that really facilitates copy-pasting, so this will necessarily be an abbreviated version. I am starting my repostings with this because it's the shortest of my lost build logs.

Although I've long had an interest in sailing ships and maritime history, I started modeling after visiting the Barcelona Maritime Museum (Museu Marítim de Barcelona), which has a fantastic collection of models, actual ships, and replicas. I was particularly struck by their small craft collection, and by the looks of the lateen-rigged fishing boats of the Spanish Mediterranean. One of my modeling goals was, and still remains (although I've been very sidetracked), to build a Plank-on-Frame (POF) model of a Catalonian palangrera. Looking for information, I found that a Spanish modeler, Alfonso del Valle, had drafted a full set of plans (including frame drawings) for a similar vessel from Málaga, the Juana y José, and had made them freely available. Although there are no build logs on this site, there were several build logs at the Spanish modeling forum Foro Modelismo Naval, and Javier Baron, who has posted a number of models on MSW and SOS, made a beautiful tiny model in 1:74 scale, viewable here.

Below, a detail from the plans for the Juana y José:


At the time, I was midway through my third build (a Canoa de Rancho from Lake Chapala, after having previously completed the Model Shipways Dory kit and a Trajinera from Xochimilco). Everything I had previously built had flat bottoms and sides. I thought that a cross-section of the Juana y José in 1:32 scale (the same as my other scratch builds) would allow me to gain experience with POF techniques, without being overly complicated, while also producing a very small and easily portable model, which was important as I was moving quite frequently then.

The Juana y José

There are a few particularities about the boat and the plans. As del Valle discussed on his website (now sadly defunct but still visible through the Internet Archive, see here), and also on Fore Modelismo Naval, the Juana y José was a real fishing boat that he came across on the beach in Algeciras, Spain. The owner allowed him to take its lines and photograph it, and told him about its history. The Juana y José was built in Málaga sometime in the early 1900s, later being sold to an Algeciras fisherman. It was broken up in a poor state of conservation in 2003. It was 15.6 feet / 4.75 meters long.

Below, a photo from del Valle's site linked to previously:


Interestingly, there are some differences between the plans and the actual boat. The owner told del Valle that it used to have a sail, but del Valle found no indications of a mast step or other provisions for a mast. They may have been removed at some point in the boat's long life, but del Valle was unsure. The real Juana y José was also an entirely open boat. Nonetheless, while del Valle accurately copied its lines and construction details, in his plans he decided to depict it as a traditional clam dragger (almejera) of the sort he remembered from his youth, which in any case were certainly quite similar vessels. So, he added a lateen sail, a partial deck, and a prominent windlass as was used for clam dragging.

I considered building the Juana y José as it really was, but ultimately decided to follow del Valle's plans because they produced the most visually interesting option, especially in a cross-section. If I were to redo the model today (particularly as a full build rather than a cross section), I would probably either build it as a pure rowboat, or would follow the owner's claims and only add the sail (although I would probably use a vertical mast stepped toward the bow instead of the fore-raked central mast, it's a pretty small boat and the foreward-stepped mast was often used on such vessels to increase the useable working space).

The Build

I decided to make the cross-section long enough to include two thwarts, thus hoping to provide some structural rigidity. I chose a six-frame section running from around amidships forward, including the mast step and windlass, producing a hull section just under two inches long at 1:32 scale. I started with the keel, which at scale was about 1/16-inch thick, making it from basswood. The rabbet was tricky to carve in such thin wood, and did not end up being very useful for building. If I were to build the full model at the same scale, I probably use a harder wood like cherry (which I did not have any access to at the time) and may consider using 3:32-inch thick wood as a tolerable divergence from the plans in the name of improved workability.


One challenge with the plans is that the frames are shown as single pieces, when the actual frames would have been made of separate floors and futtocks. I guessed at where they would be divided and began cutting the frames from 1/16-inch basswood.


One thing that I found interesting is that small workboat frames further north, such as in Catalonia, often were made of just three parts: a single floor that overlapped the futtocks. While for this vessel from the south, the frames seem to have been made of four parts: two floors and two futtocks, with one floor longer and overlapping the joint. I drew a simplified, not-to-scale image of the top-down view of these different frame designs, below. (In hindsight, it's possible that it's actually the same design, but the Juana y José's futtocks extend all the way down to the keel, but it's not very clear from the plans, and I feel like doing it that way would result in some weak cross-grain).


Pretty soon, I had my first frame ready! I used a printout of the frames to make sure it was glued in the right shape. (The plans' lack of division between futtocks and floors is clear). I also added a crossbeam to make sure it would withstand the rigors of fairing.


And on the keel:


The model is pretty tiny. With a quarter for scale:

 

[JacquesCousteau]

I ended up redoing the first frame, because it was a little too thin for comfort in one part. I did a better job of cutting just outside the lines for future frames. This build was good practice at remembering to cut with the grain, so as to minimize the chances of the grain carrying the knife off the line and ruining the part. I also located the futtock-frame division a bit further inboard for subsequent frames in order to have a stronger joint.


I kept dry-fitting frames as I went:


It took about two weeks, working sporadically, to get all the frames made. At the time, I thought, "wow, two weeks of cutting frames! what a long time!" Now, still working on my POF Bateau de Lanvéoc build that took several months to be framed, I'm thinking "only two weeks? Dang, I should make some more cross-sections."


One thing I liked about the section chosen was that there is a definite change in the hull form over its length.


I should note here that everything was cut with an exacto knife, and slots were cleaned up a bit with some small files.

One final dry-fitting:


I made a very simple framing jig out of scrap basswood and balsa and card stock. The upright is glued in place, while the keel can be slid backward and forward through the jig. The backside is shown below:


If I were to remake this, basswood would be a lot sturdier and more useful than card. As it was, the jig held up just long enough to get the frames in place. Also, I would have added more horizontal lines to help ensure the frames were even--mine were too far apart to really be useful.




As can be seen, I added several rows of temporary bracing on the crosspieces to try to hold everything steady.

Finally, the hull was framed!

 

[JacquesCousteau]

Fairing was actually pretty challenging. I think that the notches weren't perfectly consistent, which threw things off near the keel, and the frames were so tiny that I was concerned about about much I could sand them. Below, you can see how things are off on the third frame from left--not, in hindsight, by a ton, but on a tiny model like this, small problems can be very big.


In any case, I kept fairing as best as I could. I decided to leave the hull partly unplanked to show off the framing, and so I wouldn't have to worry about getting a trouble spot perfectly fair. I also added the keelson fairly early on to help stabilize the frames.

When it came to planking, I found bobby pins to be really useful for clamping across the minimal curve over the section's length.


This was my first experience planking a curved hull, and I found it a fun experience.


As I progressed, I found that small paper clamps were useful for also pushing planks against each other.


I left the planks long fore and aft to trim properly later. I also did pretty minimal tapering for the first several strakes.


Finally, I used masking tape to work out the shape of the final plank:




Finally, the hull was fully planked (minus the section left deliberately open). This took me about 1.5 months of work (I started in late October 2023). At that point, I was able to remove the scaffolding from the top.


Fairing the interior was pretty quick and I then added part of the rail and trimmed the ends of the planks. At this point, it was really starting to come together in terms of looking like a boat (section).

 

[JacquesCousteau]

At this point, I wanted to experiment with some other woods for the internal parts of the hull. Which was a bit tricky, as I was traveling for the holidays (it was December 2023). In the local hobby shop, I was able to find a 1/16x3/16-inch cherry strip, and a 1/32-inch thick mahogany strip. This was my first time working with either wood. I immediately noticed that the cherry was much harder to cut than the basswood, but sanded and held an edge very nicely. The mahogany, as expected, had a pretty prominent grain, but I felt that this was a pretty stylized model anyway so I thought I may as well give it a go.

Before adding the internal parts, I did some painting. I was inspired by the actual Juana y José, but I didn't stick too closely to the color scheme--the boat had a long life, and undoubtedly changed over time, and I didn't particularly like the original colors all that much. I painted the interior a lighter shade of blue than on the actual vessel, as it seemed reasonably common on fishing boats and looked nicer to my eyes. I also painted the bulk of the hull white, with green topsides, and white gunwales. The clamps and thwarts were made from mahogany, while the cap rails were made from the cherry (which was too thick to be used for many parts). Below, the cap rails are awaiting installation.


After adding the cap rails, I began preparing for the deck, which is open in the center surrounded by a coaming. Many Mediterranean Spanish small boats don't use curved deck beams, but instead use basic thwarts with wedges added that prop the deck into the right camber.


The outermost deck plank needed to slot around the frames, so I used some card to work out the shape. Interestingly, I later learned that it's more usual, on vessels like palangreras (which are somewhat larger) for the outermost deck plank to actually be the cap rail and to extend out to the outer hull, with the gunwale built on top as a separate construction. So, the construction on this model is not particularly accurate.




After the first deck planks were in place, I drilled the scuppers. I did a poor job with these and had a lot of problems with tearout--I learned that it's much better to drill from both sides so as to limit tearout and avoid the drill wandering. They were also very uneven, although they looked better once I expanded them and cleaned them with files. I also marked the waterline.




You may have noticed that the line between the green and the white was pretty uneven. I hadn't been very concerned about it, because I knew I was going to add a rub rail afterward, using a tiny half-round strip I found in the hobby shop. It cleaned up the appearance quite nicely.


I also bent some mahogany for the curved sides of the high coaming, so that I could later figure out the right shape for the deck planks. I have to say, mahogany does not like bending.


I then finished the deck and added some floor planks. Again, these were mahogany. One challenge I faced is that, as the mahogany really does not like curving or twisting much, the forward end of one of the floor planks later came unglued and went back to being straight instead of twisting to follow the hull. I have yet to fix it, as my attempts with superglue failed.


In any case, I was pretty happy with the build by this point, and found the small size pretty fun (below, alongside a quarter).

 

[JacquesCousteau]

Next up, I added the carenotes or escues. These are beams that run parallel to the keel and that serve to keep the vessel upright when hauled on the beach. I also added the mast step and the pillars the support the thwarts, using cherry. I tried to shape the pillars a bit, although this was quite rough as they were about 1/16-inch square.






The windlass was a bit of a challenge. On actual small clam draggers in that part of Spain, they would drop anchor at one end of the fishing ground, sail to the other end while letting out the anchor cable, and take in sail there while putting the clam basket over the aft end to drag over the bottom. They would then use the windlass to haul the boat (and the clam basket) across the fishing grounds back to the anchor. Backbreaking work! I made the windlass barrel from a dowel with thinned bits of toothpick for the axle ends, and made the props out of mahogany. The windlass barrel looked like a tiny rolling pin.


Adding handles was a pretty simple endeavor.




I then added some "iron bands" from card, and a black circle (also card) to represent the ratchet wheel that kept the windlass from unwinding. I considered trying to add teach, but realized it was not happening at this scale with these materials, so I ended up just rubbing a pencil over the edge to better simulate metal.

The windlass itself is placed on two crossbeams that go between the thwarts.


Sketched figure for scale. It really is a tiny little boat.


At this stage, things were coming along nicely, and I considered leaving the mast unstepped, which would certainly make the model easier to transport.


I also painted the bottom red.


For the display stand, I made a simple 3x3-inch base with 1/4-inch thick basswood strips. I propped the model up on some thin dowels, with brass rod in the tip that slotted into holes in the keel. Drilling the holes was challenging given the keel's thinness.


I then added oarlock pads from painted basswood. At this point, I decided that I wanted to include the mast (but not the yard), so I began shaping that.


The masthead was a tricky thing to shape. The protuberance at the top is a separate piece that was glued into a shallow hole drilled in the top. The sheave is just simulated by drilling two holes, filing down between them, and painting black.


The last step was adding the metal loop that holds the mast to the thwart (which of course was painted card).

 

[JacquesCousteau]

And with that, the model was finished! It took me about 4 months of sporadic work, from late October 2023 to mid February 2024.










At the time, I finished up with the following thoughts:
"Overall this build was a lot of fun and a great learning experience. I would highly recommend a cross section to anyone who is looking for a rewarding project but perhaps doesn't have the space, skills, and/or tools for a more complex full build. It allows you to build skills with things like deck furnishings, plank-on-frame construction, and planking a round-bilged hull, without needing to do a full build. And it takes up very little space, as can be seen by the comparison with the mug at right in the photo below [note: photo not included in repost, the model on its stand is about the size of a mug with a pencil sticking out of the top]. I'm quite happy with this unique little build, and am looking forward to making more Spanish fishing boats like it in the future [note: although I haven't yet. Someday...]. Thanks to all those who followed along and offered support, too! [note: MSW users wefalck, KeithAug, Paul Le Wol, and Roger Pellett, among others, all offered helpful comments and valued support along the way.]"

My thoughts are still much the same. Although I've only done one cross-section so far, I found it to be a really rewarding project, and a valuable learning experience. Making a cross-section of a nearly open boat may seem like an odd choice, but it allowed me to really focus on developing new skills and experimenting with new (to me) techniques and materials without having the pressure or time committment of a major project. I'd highly recommend scratch-building a cross-section to anyone, and I'm kind of surprised that I don't see as many build logs for them as I would expect (although there are some spectacular ones out there--in particular, there was an interesting one on MSW of a Dutch fishing smack). Actually, looking ahead to future builds (once I finish the Muscongus Bay Sloop and Bateau de Lanvéoc), I'm strongly considering doing a cross-section or two based on some somewhat larger but still fairly simple vessels that are the subjects of monographs from Ancre and Seawatch.

Anyway, I'll have to see about reposting more of my MSW build logs here over the next weeks. It seems pretty doable for some of the shorter logs, like this one, but some of the longer logs would be a bit trickier--not just because they have more content, but they also had a lot of discussions with other users about build techniques and interpreting photos and the like, which would be hard to cover in a repost without adding a lot of work. Not to mention my main scratch-builds included a ton of photos with links, which were pretty central to the build but again would require a lot of time to remake. We'll see what happens!