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| English Longboat - Model Shipways kit | ||
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| catopower |
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 Registered Member #247 Joined: Tue Aug 25 2009, 01:57amPosts: 213 | I didn't really intend to make a full-on build log for this, but at least wanted to find a place to share some thoughts on the English Longboat kit I picked up from Model Shipways when it was first released. I posted here in the General Build Logs section because, while it's really a plank-on-frame kit, it's also a small boat – A very small boat at 1/4" scale. I believe it was around Christmas of last year when I got this kit. It made a nice project to work on over the holidays last year. Since then, I've worked on it a little bit here and there in between other projects. It was put away on the shelf for a while. Then, last week, I brought it out again. I needed a little bit of a distraction as I've been tying ratlines on a 3-masted ship-of-the-line rigging project I took on a couple months back. The latest step was to add a decorative strip along the gunwales and a piece on the transom. The artwork consists of very colorful printed designs that you are supposed to cut and glue to the model. The problem that people have been running into is that the artwork was made too big for the model. I suspect that many builders have been cutting into the artwork itself and gluing on this clipped design. However, the designer, Chuck Passaro, has made the original artwork available. Turns out that this original artwork is still too big, but at least you can scale it down when you print it on your printer. I think the corrected size worked out to be about 95 to 98% of the original in order to fit correctly. The problem was that the color on plain paper is very dull on my printer (a Canon photo quality printer none-the-less). I had to experiment a lot with adjusting the color on the images, but it was difficult because the art file was a pdf file and I couldn't adjust the color in any of my pdf programs. However, I finally found that I could open the files with Photoshop, where I not only adjust the size, but also the color. Unfortunately, the colors were still not very vibrant on plain paper, even good quality plain paper. I tried using photo paper, which worked well, but it was way too thick to use on the model. Finally, I remembered I had some ink-jet decal paper and that did the trick. Good color and decals are very thin, so all is well now. Clare    [ Edited Mon Dec 10 2012, 08:57am ] | ||
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| catopower |
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| Registered Member #247 Joined: Tue Aug 25 2009, 01:57amPosts: 213 | Going backward a bit, I'm posting the earliest pics I have from working on the model. Overall, things have come out pretty well, but working on a hull and tapering and bending 1/32" thick basswood strips is a challenge. It's really hard to get it to come out nicely, but that may just be the limitations of my own skills. The kit certainly includes lots of spare wood and many spare laser cut parts too, allowing you lots of room to deal with mistakes. My biggest complaint is that the model depicted in box cover art and the plans is not the model you're going to build from your kit. It's possible to get very close in appearance, but the model depicted is the prototype which was made from boxwood. Though I'm sure it's not the intention of Model Expo, I find it misleading. As for value, I originally thought the list price of $119 was way too high. I bought it on sale for about $50 and that seemed reasonable. Looking at it now, though, the instructions, intricacy of the model details and such, and comparing to other kits, $119 is not so bad. Still a bit high, but not so bad given the quality of the model you can produce. The sale price for the kit is usually around $60 and I would say it's a real bargain then. As for who this kit is for, I certainly would not let the small size or lower price fool you. It's darned hard to taper and bend that thin basswood nicely. My work required a lot of sanding to fix and as a result, the hull is so thin that you can see light through it. I would not suggest it for a beginner. Best as a kit for an intermediate or advanced modeler who wants to work on a small project for a change or to learn and gain some experience building small boats. And then there is the artwork issue I mentioned in my last post, but that's solvable. I'm certainly a ways from being finished, but I'm really happy with how the model is turning out. Now, I just have to manage to keep from screwing it up! Clare     | ||
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| Mike 41 |
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  Registered Member #702 Joined: Fri Feb 05 2010, 10:37pmPosts: 1238 | Hi Clare, The decorations look great! That is some very nice workmanship on the boat also. I agree 1/32” basswood are difficult to work with boxwood is a lot easier Mike. | ||
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| catopower |
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| Registered Member #247 Joined: Tue Aug 25 2009, 01:57amPosts: 213 | Thanks Mike, As you can see from the photos, that third plank up from the garboard gave me a bit of trouble. But, it seems that the basswood is not so bad now that I can look back and have had a chance to forget most the frustration :0) I'm not going to do much on the kit until the Christmas holiday – I'm in the midst of tying ratlines on a San Felipe kit that I'm rigging and I need to keep plugging away at it. Clare | ||
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| aew |
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aew  Registered Member #1929 Joined: Wed Nov 30 2011, 03:05pmPosts: 2603 | Nice work on your longboat. That picture with the pen alongside it shows how delicate it is; you can see through the planks! | ||
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| catopower |
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| Registered Member #247 Joined: Tue Aug 25 2009, 01:57amPosts: 213 | Thanks Arthur. Yeah, I put that photo in there just to show how thin my planking got at the bow. I had to do a lot of sanding to make up for the problems I had with edge bending the thin basswood. It's a good thing I was happy enough with the surface at that point as there was no more wood left to sand. I guess I could have used some boxwood or holly, but it's been a long time since I built straight from a kit and I kind of wanted to see if I could get through it without bashing. Clare | ||
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| aew |
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| aew Registered Member #1929 Joined: Wed Nov 30 2011, 03:05pmPosts: 2603 | Clare: I've several ships boats to build for Vanguard at some stage so I guess I've got that challenge to come! I built a couple of ships boats for Gulnara using 1mm planks. That's not quite as thin as your 1/32nd planks and I made them clinker built just to see how they'd turn out. Surprisingly, they were extremely strong. Using that method of construction, sanding is not an option.  | ||
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| catopower |
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| Registered Member #247 Joined: Tue Aug 25 2009, 01:57amPosts: 213 | Hi Arthur, I've seen your Vanguard build and I'm very envious of your work. I have the plans and am hoping to try building her from scratch one day. Luckily, you have a nice build log to follow! Funny you should mention clinker building... With my plank bending issues, my longboat was actually looking very much like it was clinker built for a while. But, luckily, I have no photos of that stage of the boat to show how bad my work was looking at that stage :0) Clare [ Edited Fri Dec 14 2012, 11:41pm ] | ||
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| catopower |
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| Registered Member #247 Joined: Tue Aug 25 2009, 01:57amPosts: 213 | Well, I made a little more progress on the longboat kit. I prepared wood for the thwarts and risers and scribed moldings near the edges as described in the instructions. I'll be darned, the technique actually worked quite nicely and I'm very happy with the results. Basically, the instructions say to lay down a steel straightedge and use run a scribing tool along it lightly to create a groove in the thin basswood. Work so well, I'm going to have to add that to my bag of tricks. So, basically, just added the floor boards and made the platforms at the bow and stern of the boat. Nothing special, but actually got this done, which is a step towards completion. Clare   | ||
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| catopower |
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| Registered Member #247 Joined: Tue Aug 25 2009, 01:57amPosts: 213 | Before anyone starts wondering where I am on this project, I wanted to mention that this is a project I've just been pulling off the shelf periodically when I'm on break, like for the Holidays. So, I'm setting this aside while I get back into high gear on my main projects. Next anticipated break I'm expecting to be around the end of February. There's a possibility I may be finishing it up at that time. Clare | ||
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