Hi TKAM,, what type of glue did you use o PE PARTS MAINLY THE DECORATIONS, THANKS Don
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Hi donfarr. I like to use quick dry crazy glue. The downside is that any slop tends to stand out proud and shiny but the upside is that it sticks and doesn't let go. I typically glue what I'm going to glue then clean up right away with a pick, wiping away any shiny spots.
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I didn't care for the practicum calling for square stock, then milling down in the middle to create the thwart supports. I instead used a round dowel clamped in my power drill and created what would have been created on a lathe for the actual boat. I used various mini files and sandpaper to do what a lathe would do full size.
Then I spotted each support under its thwart and glued using a pin both under the thwart and on the floorboards. On top of the thwart is a tiny little dot where my pin sticks out flush looking (I hope) like the iron nail that would be used to connect the seat with the support underneath.
Then I spotted each support under its thwart and glued using a pin both under the thwart and on the floorboards. On top of the thwart is a tiny little dot where my pin sticks out flush looking (I hope) like the iron nail that would be used to connect the seat with the support underneath.
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Thwart #4, also known as the mast support thwart, was done last. The white metal mast support is mounted to the thwart keeping the 7/16" dowel that is to become the mast as tightly to both the thwart and the mast support as possible. The cast mast support is very pliable so it's easy to bend it this way and that in order to get a nice look. A "nice look" is to have the metal straps symmetrical. Once it looks good you can carefully bend up the straps starting on the underside of the thwart and apply some gel type CA glue. After the underside is glued you can do the same for the topside straps. As always, after gluing down and while the glue is semi stiff you can clean up any shiny spots.
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The mast support to be mounted on the floorboards came as a laser cut piece...that is the easy part and that's the only easy part about this phase. It pops out of the laser cut sheet easily and sanding off the laser char and rounding off the four edges on top and four edges goes pretty easy.
The problem with this piece is multi-fold. First, the practicum asks the builder to use the brass nails provided and insert in each of the four holes that are pre-drilled in each corner. The problem is the holes are not big enough for the nails. OK, fair enough, easy enough to drill out the holes to insert the blackened nails. The big problem is that the holes are so close to the edges that any attempt to drill them out breaks right through the outside of the laser cut piece. I abandoned this part my first attempt to drill out the holes.
The pre cut holes for nails:
The problem with this piece is multi-fold. First, the practicum asks the builder to use the brass nails provided and insert in each of the four holes that are pre-drilled in each corner. The problem is the holes are not big enough for the nails. OK, fair enough, easy enough to drill out the holes to insert the blackened nails. The big problem is that the holes are so close to the edges that any attempt to drill them out breaks right through the outside of the laser cut piece. I abandoned this part my first attempt to drill out the holes.
The pre cut holes for nails:
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I figured I'd drill my own holes for the blackened nails but that still left the original holes. Putty would stand out proud and obvious after staining the piece. So Instead I decided to create something that probably didn't exist on the actual boat. What looks like an iron horse on each side of the piece filling in the holes and looking like something that might have belonged there. Maybe as an anchor point for rigging? I don't know, but I like the effect.
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Stern cockpit seats and stern locker installed, iron nails to go.
The practicum calls for the aft most thwart to butt up against the front edge of the cockpit seat. Part of this look has the builder install a support under that last thwart that also runs under the forward edge of the cockpit seat. It's a good look but either this way or the way I did it would still call for some kind of actual (real life) support for the forward edge of the cockpit seat.
I also wanted to show the forward edge of the cockpit seats complete with caulking in between the planks that make up the seats. So I cut the seats short and scratched up two more supports, one each for the forward portion of the cockpit seats.
I also added a handle for the stern locker.
Can you see my goof? I installed the stern locker backwards. A rather severe angle has to be cut so that lid will fit in between each side seat so once cut it was too late. I just made the seam where the hinges are deeper and hopefully nobody (except you) will notice.
The practicum calls for the aft most thwart to butt up against the front edge of the cockpit seat. Part of this look has the builder install a support under that last thwart that also runs under the forward edge of the cockpit seat. It's a good look but either this way or the way I did it would still call for some kind of actual (real life) support for the forward edge of the cockpit seat.
I also wanted to show the forward edge of the cockpit seats complete with caulking in between the planks that make up the seats. So I cut the seats short and scratched up two more supports, one each for the forward portion of the cockpit seats.
I also added a handle for the stern locker.
Can you see my goof? I installed the stern locker backwards. A rather severe angle has to be cut so that lid will fit in between each side seat so once cut it was too late. I just made the seam where the hinges are deeper and hopefully nobody (except you) will notice.
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Working on the cap rail today. I'm not sure whether I should cry or just chalk it up to a bad design. OK....the thing is the practicum calls for creating a cardboard cutout of the shape of the rails including the bow stem, easy enough. I used really thin sheet basswood, same thing. But, and this is a big butt, the 1/8" inch thick sheet basswood included in the kit isn't long enough to trace out the entire length of the cap rail. The practicum instead calls for the builder to split up the cap rail into two sections so that the tracings of the (four) pieces fits on the included sheet.
I read another build log for this kit and the builder indicated he used a longer sheet of 1/8" basswood he purchased on his own so I knew what I was up against but I thought I'd give it a try anyway per the practicum.
I spent a good 5-6 hours today doing the pattern cutout, tracing, and fabrication of the cap rail. I glued up the two pieces per side, sanded, filled in the minor gap that existed at the seam and painted several coats of red. Real beautiful. After letting the instant set CA glue for an hour or so I dry fitted to see how it would look. "SNAP" went the piece right at the seam as I was hoping against. The dip at the mid section of the boat it extreme if I haven't mentioned it before.
OK, so glued it up again and added a support under the cap rail that should be hardly noticeable. I'll try again tomorrow and if it goes SNAP again I'll march off to Michael's despite the shelter in place and get a sheet long enough to accommodate the entire cap rail stem to stern.
Model Shipways has to fix this. They need to ship these kits with a box long enough to accommodate sheet basswood and 1/6" x 1/4" strips long enough to run the whole way. This splitting up mid-ship is just plain dumb. Fix the practicum too.
I read another build log for this kit and the builder indicated he used a longer sheet of 1/8" basswood he purchased on his own so I knew what I was up against but I thought I'd give it a try anyway per the practicum.
I spent a good 5-6 hours today doing the pattern cutout, tracing, and fabrication of the cap rail. I glued up the two pieces per side, sanded, filled in the minor gap that existed at the seam and painted several coats of red. Real beautiful. After letting the instant set CA glue for an hour or so I dry fitted to see how it would look. "SNAP" went the piece right at the seam as I was hoping against. The dip at the mid section of the boat it extreme if I haven't mentioned it before.
OK, so glued it up again and added a support under the cap rail that should be hardly noticeable. I'll try again tomorrow and if it goes SNAP again I'll march off to Michael's despite the shelter in place and get a sheet long enough to accommodate the entire cap rail stem to stern.
Model Shipways has to fix this. They need to ship these kits with a box long enough to accommodate sheet basswood and 1/6" x 1/4" strips long enough to run the whole way. This splitting up mid-ship is just plain dumb. Fix the practicum too.
before you put yourself in danger, email JOHN GARCIA AT MODEL- EXPO, AS HELPFUL AS ANY ONE IN THE BUISNESS, it may take a little longer then before due to extreme conditions but he will be there. Don
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Same for the MS 18th Century Longboat in 1:48 scale, but even smaller measurements to contend with. I pondered why they would do this on one side only and the only reason I can come up with is that they force us to extend our skills by doing 'extra'.
With your previous experience, TKAM, that might just be extra work doing stuff you already know, but as this is my first kit build (while my scratch build is on hold) I think being forced to think about how to do every step will help me.
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While waiting for my extra long basswood sheets to arrive I decided to move ahead with a couple of items. First I painted the hull below the waterline. The automotive pin striping tape did an excellent job of sticking and providing a nice clean [water]line. Only a couple of small spots you can see here where the white spray paint oversprayed which I've already cleaned up. I'll fix a couple of spots here and there where the paint didn't reach and that'll be that. I was super anxious about spraying away but after one coat of primer and 5 coats of white I think it's just fine.
Next I'll work on the rudder and mast/gaff/boom. Those items can be done anytime.
Next I'll work on the rudder and mast/gaff/boom. Those items can be done anytime.
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A bit more filling and another coat of paint. The second picture looks damning with one side of the hull nice and clean and the other side a tad bit messy. I made the absolutely huge mistake of laying on the spray too thick and globby. Then I compounded my mistake by trying to clean it up right away rather than waiting a day for it to dry then sanding down. I'm stuck with it. The good news is that with the hull right side up the globby part is invisible in any kind of light. Moving on.
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Still waiting on my basswood sheets. Moving on with the rudder and masting. The rudder is currently drying out in the garage after 3 coats of white paint, looking good. It's rounded where it meets the transom and tapers to a 1/16" knife edge at the aft edge.
Here is the mast. Tapered, conditioned and stained. Tomorrow I'll paint red at the top 3 3/4" and the bottom 3" plus create the three sheaves in the upper part of the mast, as well as the ball truck on top complete with a sheave on either side.
Note: The instructions call for the builder to taper the mast according to the size of the opening of three white metal iron bands provided with the kit. The two castings that go at the top of the mast (inside that red area) are sized correctly. The one that will be mounted 3" from the bottom of the mast it way way way too big. The dowel provided in the kit is 5/16" in diameter which is the proper size at the bottom where mounted inside the mast foot and given just a little tapering to the point 3" higher. The iron band provided is almost 1/8" too large. I used pliers to squeeze the ring to a narrower diameter. No big deal really but the directions saying "taper the dowel according to the size of the iron band" is silly given the iron band provided is 1/8" larger than the largest dowel provided in the kit. Easily fixable but kinda stupid directions.
Here is the mast. Tapered, conditioned and stained. Tomorrow I'll paint red at the top 3 3/4" and the bottom 3" plus create the three sheaves in the upper part of the mast, as well as the ball truck on top complete with a sheave on either side.
Note: The instructions call for the builder to taper the mast according to the size of the opening of three white metal iron bands provided with the kit. The two castings that go at the top of the mast (inside that red area) are sized correctly. The one that will be mounted 3" from the bottom of the mast it way way way too big. The dowel provided in the kit is 5/16" in diameter which is the proper size at the bottom where mounted inside the mast foot and given just a little tapering to the point 3" higher. The iron band provided is almost 1/8" too large. I used pliers to squeeze the ring to a narrower diameter. No big deal really but the directions saying "taper the dowel according to the size of the iron band" is silly given the iron band provided is 1/8" larger than the largest dowel provided in the kit. Easily fixable but kinda stupid directions.
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Still waiting on the basswood sheets, until they are available I can't finish the cap rails.
The hull is back upright as the white paint has fully dried. So I went ahead and painted the white portion of the rudder once... accidentally touched it when wet so let it dry and sanded down...and did it again! I simply cannot believe how stupid I was, and I hadn't even taken a drink yet after all it's not 6:00pm yet right? So anyway I'll let it set for another day to fully dry then sand down and paint again. Damn.
The hull is back upright as the white paint has fully dried. So I went ahead and painted the white portion of the rudder once... accidentally touched it when wet so let it dry and sanded down...and did it again! I simply cannot believe how stupid I was, and I hadn't even taken a drink yet after all it's not 6:00pm yet right? So anyway I'll let it set for another day to fully dry then sand down and paint again. Damn.
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Finished the tiller. It's pretty straight forward as long as one proceeds with care. Just take it one little cut with Mr. #11 blade at a time and sand and use various files to get the shape you like. Who cares if it matches exactly what the plans call for, what looks pleasing to you is the way to go.
It starts off with soaking and bending a piece of square stock and letting THAT sit for a day or two so the bend stays put. Then using the plans as a general guide cut and sand and file to get something you like.
general guide cut and sand and file to get something you like.
It starts off with soaking and bending a piece of square stock and letting THAT sit for a day or two so the bend stays put. Then using the plans as a general guide cut and sand and file to get something you like.
general guide cut and sand and file to get something you like.