Continued on with the build, occupied with other things slowed down posting.
I added in the side cleats and the false stem.
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After installing the false stem, and seeing how poorly it looked, I realized I used the wrong piece of wood. I will be building this kit again, so won't make that mistake again. Just new ones.
Next up, I trimmed the cleats and false stem, and added the seat risers. I was a bit too zealous and trimmed the stem and false stem right down to the strakes.
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Next up were adding the bands, and sanding down the tops of the bands and the sheer strakes.
I trimmed down the frames to make way for the gunwales.
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I need a new ruler or new eyes. I trimmed down an 1/8" but it still seemed too much.
[I don't have a pic of the gunwales and breast hook being installed.]
Next up was a light sanding and priming for painting.
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Boy, did all of my sins get revealed. After sanding it looked good and felt good. After priming it was like a well established 5 o'clock shadow.
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More sanding. Even after using 220 on the hull the paint job still looked bad.
I ended up applying three coats, sanding lightly between coats.
First Coat
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Third Coat. Cap rails show their first coat.
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After three coats of paint, and fitting and trimming, the cap rails are installed. Beckets soon followed.
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I whittled and shaped a single oar. One seemed enough to be representative.
It was at this point I worked on the tholes. Instead of sanding, I drew the wood through a draw plate. I could only go so far before the wood was too thin and brittle to pass through the last hole that would have made them fully round. At this size one needs to get really close up to see that they are not 'fully' round.
I sanded the thwarts, and decided to use the ModelExpo Wood Conditioner before painting the oar and thwarts with the ModelExpo Natural Stain. Much to my dismay it was NOT stain, but paint to look like natural wood. After conditioning I lightly sanded. I applied a coat of Natural Stain, and lightly sanded again, followed by another coat of paint and sanding.
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All of my thwarts are a bit short. I probably had my frames too wide.
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The final finish of the boat is not too hideous. One one hand the hull looks like it has years paint added. On the other, it shows my insufficient sanding.
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Even though I am my own worst critic, I am happy with the outcome, as it is my first ever wood model.
I have purchased a second copy of the Dory, to make, and earn store credit for future purchases. Seeing where I made mistakes, and where I can improve, I expect the second version to be greatly improved over this one.
I will certainly go with the three piece bottom, beveling the longitudinal edges a bit, both sides, to make sure you can see the three planks, once painted. Right now the bottom looks like it was made with plywood.
I am planning on attaching the frame templates to a piece of foam board. I will then use pins to align the frame pieces with the templates, to ensure proper alignment, instead of eyeballing like I did this time.
The final big piece I need to improve on is sanding. Any tips out there would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers
