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Hi Jeff, have you tried to make a template for the ankles, by doing so you are sure that they will all be the same
New Bedford Whaleboat - Model Shipways - 1/16 - by JeffT [COMPLETED BUILD]
Hi, Frank. I am uncertain what you mean by "ankles".
I haven't really used templates for consistency on this build. One of things emphasized in the accompanying booklet is that whaleboats were not built to exacting tolerances as they were only likely to survive a single whaling season and that perfect fits were not always achieved.
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I believe, and this is just a Google translation, that Francesco means the cutter (shaper) template. We made those templates from the old\dull # 11 Exacto knifes\chisels
I this case I only needed one piece, so I did not look at making a template. A template would be great if one was making all of the belaying pins for a ship.
This boat is reminiscent of my Galilee Boat. Did you have a lot of curves in the strakes of the hull?
The curves were not too severe with the boat and heat was not necessary to bend any of the stakes.
I mentioned in the first post that your Galilee Boat was my inspiration to publish a blog of my whaleboat. Thanks.
I missed your early commentary. I was too busy looking at the interesting pictures.
Time to paint the outsides and the insides of the boat. I started with a coat of grey primer. The preparation of the hull planks was important in that you can't sand very much after construction or you can spoil the overlapping presentation of the planks that were achieved during building the hull.
I selected a dark green for the lower part of the outer hull with black as the upper color. The rubbing strake was painted white as a contrasting color. The thwart risers and ceiling planks are a light grey. The inner surface of the hull and the centerboard case is a buff color. I didn't take a good series of pictures during the painting process, so the last picture includes the beginning of the placement of the thwarts which will be the topic of my next post.
I selected a dark green for the lower part of the outer hull with black as the upper color. The rubbing strake was painted white as a contrasting color. The thwart risers and ceiling planks are a light grey. The inner surface of the hull and the centerboard case is a buff color. I didn't take a good series of pictures during the painting process, so the last picture includes the beginning of the placement of the thwarts which will be the topic of my next post.
Excellent job for a starter kit. I can see you doing a slow, in depth job on any ship that you do.
I like the colors. Do the planks overlap? Like klinker?
Thanks, Jim. Your comment suggests an enhanced sense of patience; something that has long been a point of debate in the family!
As for a starter kit, I am not so certain I would recommend this as a starter kit. It is a fairly involved build with terms that are not usual to most boats/ships. Much of the instructions start with something like: "From a 1/16 x 1x18 fashion the XXX". There are fairly good pictures and drawings, but not so many laser cut pieces such as one might find in an OcCre kit.
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Saying it was a starter kit goes by what I have seen them say as they are sold. I have seen and worked some of the starter kits and found out they are no where near a starter kit.
Thank you for showing this. HaHa now I know what to do with the other half inch drill that I have.
Hi, Vic. According to the book included with the kit these boats used "batten seam construction" which leads to a smooth planking of the boat below the water line. A couple of the upper planks are overlapped. I am including a couple of out-takes from the manual to show the construction.
Were you able to approximate this in your construction? I was not able to discern from your photos whether you did or not. If so, you're a better man than I, Gunga Din!
Also, this must be why it looks like double planking in your construction.
I did my best to get the angles correct. If you look carefully at the first photo in post #29 you can see the "overlap" on the first/lowest strake where it meets the garboard plank and the overlap in the last two planks/strakes. The overlap is not as pronounced as for a clinker-built boat; its primarily in the shaping of the edges. There is no overlap where the planks lie on top of a batten.
Here's a photo of a portion of the hull where I exaggerated the side lighting to deepen shadows where the overlapping planks meet. You can see the overlap in the first and last planks.
Nicely done, Jeff. Thanks for the visual.