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Author Topic: Humber smack circa 1880- build log  (Read 81337 times)

Brian60

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Re: Humber smack circa 1880- build log
« Reply #125 on: June 03, 2014, 08:11:45 pm »

 In p120 I am showing an error in measurements that is impossible to correct. I took measurements below deck for the main sheet to enter/exit and attach to the sail servo, everything looked fine at the time and so the deck was fastened into place. Above deck the main sheet chock was glued into place and the sheet passed through it. Only when it came to placing the skylight on the deck did I realise the chock was too far to the stern by about 15mm. So the skylight is tight up to the mizzen mast without any room for adjustment due to the chock, it’s just something I will have to live with, but unless anyone very knowledgeable is viewing the finished model, it won’t be noticed.
 

Brian60

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Re: Humber smack circa 1880- build log
« Reply #126 on: June 03, 2014, 08:13:20 pm »

  So the last two pics for this update are p121 a shot along the length with most of the deck fittings now in place but with the decks still waiting to be weathered and still needing the outer hull to receive its final paint before the masts go in. Then p122 a shot of my personal boating lake, I spent the last week vacuuming clean ready for the influx of family and friends who seem to think we offer free holiday accommodation in the summer months!
 

hammer

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Re: Humber smack circa 1880- build log
« Reply #127 on: June 03, 2014, 10:08:27 pm »

Looking good Brian. A little information the edges of the companionway would have metal strips on the corners as protection.  As you know painted green.  You will need a bigger lake for the trawler.  {-)
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Brian60

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Re: Humber smack circa 1880- build log
« Reply #128 on: June 04, 2014, 07:17:36 am »

Yes Hammer, the metal strips seem to be on anything and everything that may have a rubbing action applied by the many ropes etc. At this scale its a law of diminishing returns. For the hinges at various points I have used brass shim at 15 thousands thickness, but it looks overscale and stands too proud from the surfaces, I may add them with white glue to see how much they stand out- being able to prise them off if I'm not happy with the look.

My personal boating lake may be too full of sunburned bodies by the time its finished :} Good job I have another one a bit further away, the farms around here all have what are known as casitas/deposito's, huge concrete stores of water for the crops. My nearest farmer has one about 50 metres square that is ideal :-))

Brian60

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Re: Humber smack circa 1880- build log
« Reply #129 on: June 04, 2014, 12:23:10 pm »

Because I am at final paint/finish stage for the deck and fittings I have been back to my reference books and realised how colourful some of these craft actually were!

Master Hand a Lowestoft smack and I think the boat that Hammer based his model on, had as a colour scheme the following:-

Bulwarks and sides of stanchions--Green
Rail and face of stanchions-- Mast colour*
Arch board--Blue
Stern frames--Green sides
Around helmport--Blue
Cavil rails--Mast colour*
Hatch covers--Blue
Iron work---Red
Other woodwork--Mast colour*
Windlass barrel--Blue/Woodwork-Mast colour*
Winch same as windlass
Transit rail carries name of boat in Gilt letters stamped into timber
Capstan-Green

I have starred the mast colour because nowhere in the two books I have does it actually mention what colour this was! I a assuming natural colour with some sort of oil to protect it from the elements.

So I have plenty to ponder-one thing for certain my transit rail won't have the name on it. No way am I going to even attempt lettering on something that is only 1mm in thickness!


Brian60

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Re: Humber smack circa 1880- build log
« Reply #130 on: June 15, 2014, 10:58:16 am »

 Picking up from where I left off we’ll move on to basic painting. In p123 you can see I have now added a weathering wash to the deck. A wash is a very thin (translucent) paint layer, it would be better to call it tinted thinners really. Brush it on and let it run into the grain of the wood and all the nooks and crannies, then after it has settled for a minute or two take a brush with clean thinners on it and brush away the excess. At this point I’ll mention a little about paint because it is crucial really. Any of the processes I have used here can be done with acrylics and enamels or as I do a mixture of both, but they do need handling correctly.
 

Brian60

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Re: Humber smack circa 1880- build log
« Reply #131 on: June 15, 2014, 10:59:44 am »

 If using acrylics once a layer has been added its best to seal them in with a matt varnish, as with everything there are exceptions- If you want to blend in two or more  colours do it while the paints are wet or semi dry and use a wet brush, water for acrylics or thinners for enamels. Once your desired finish is achieved seal it with the varnish before moving on. In p124 you can see a shot along the deck with typical worn paint on the various pieces.
Now this is artistic license here, in other words covering another mistake! I’m not sure about other fishing communities but in Hull and around the Humber ports it was considered unlucky for fisherfolk or boats to wear or be painted green. I don’t know how far this superstition goes back so I’m using that as my excuse for painting the deck fittings and inner bulwarks green.
 

Brian60

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Re: Humber smack circa 1880- build log
« Reply #132 on: June 15, 2014, 11:03:49 am »

Now on to the outer hull, p125 shows my initial paint layer, this has been sealed as already mentioned. Then a brush dipped in water was dabbed in various places and rock salt was sprinkled on, this is a process known as salt weathering in the plastic modelling world. 

Brian60

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Re: Humber smack circa 1880- build log
« Reply #133 on: June 15, 2014, 11:08:12 am »

Moving to p126 you can see the final coat going on, it is black because Hull boats were usually finished with a layer of bitumen over what was known as red lead paint. I should say that at this point I am spraying (airbrushing) Humbrol enamel but any of the acrylics will do, I used AK acrylics and also artists supply Windsor and Newton on the boat so far.

Brian60

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Re: Humber smack circa 1880- build log
« Reply #134 on: June 15, 2014, 11:11:28 am »

This technique can be done with a brush but it’s awkward to keep the salt in place, you would be better off using hairspray if you wanted to brush paint. Hairspray does a similar job and dissoves with water to remove, the finish is a lot finer than salt.
 P127 shows the paint dried and p128 shows my initial removal of the salt. Give it a dry brush to remove loose particles and then a wet brush to dissolve the underlying salt

Brian60

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Re: Humber smack circa 1880- build log
« Reply #135 on: June 15, 2014, 11:15:16 am »

 This gives the end result seen in p129, eventually it will look like the boat has done several fishing seasons in the harsh weather conditions offered by the North Sea. The paint worn away on the underneath from being ‘on the hard’ this is a term used when a boat is beached for unloading purposes. Usually herring fishing was a catch and return when full, the boats operated independently using many hook and lines. Unlike fishing as part of a fleet, when using trawl nets the catch would be transferred to fast cutters which would deliver the catch to port allowing the smacks to continue trawling.

Smacks would run for the nearest harbour to unload, frequently along the east Yorkshire coast the harbours could be full. So the smackmen would run the boat up the beach as far as possible, as the tide receded the boat would ‘sit down and heel over’ at which point horses and carts were driven out for the herring catch. The boat would refloat and set sail on the next tide.
 

Brian60

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Re: Humber smack circa 1880- build log
« Reply #136 on: June 15, 2014, 11:26:02 am »

The next photo p130 I have never come across before, it’s a masking tape with 150mm wide polythene sheet already attached, perfect for masking up over the blue pin striping tape seen in p125. The pinstriping tape available from car accesory shops is ideal for marking water lines, it is low tack made of stretchy plastic so can follow compound cures very easily. This way I can mask up to the waterline and then put the masking tape/polythene over the top.

Brian60

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Re: Humber smack circa 1880- build log
« Reply #137 on: June 15, 2014, 11:30:29 am »

So on to the next photo's p131 and p132, the salt has been removed from the whole hull and the next stage of weathering has begun. This can be seen as streaks from the washports and chainlinks etc. Surprise surprise, this technique is known as grime streaking. Because I have used enamels here there is no need to have a varnish layer, if you had used acrylics for the hull paint the layer should be sealed with varnish to stop the already mentioned bleeding of paint.

Brian60

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Re: Humber smack circa 1880- build log
« Reply #138 on: June 15, 2014, 11:36:33 am »

You take a thinned colour, I used black and mid brown. It has to be quite thin for this to look right and not like a painted line! With a fine tipped brush run fine lines downward from, as here the chainlinks and one or two of the bulwark stanchions, basically anywhere that dirty water may exit the boat p132. After letting it sit a short while, acrylics will dry faster than enamels, take wide fat brush dipped into water (acrylics) or thinners, dab it dry on a cloth or paper towel and dragging the  brush downwards lightly blend the line out until it’s barely visible.

Brian60

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Re: Humber smack circa 1880- build log
« Reply #139 on: June 15, 2014, 11:40:59 am »

It will look like p133 when complete. One very heavily weathered boat hull, almost ready for use. This will be left overnight to set up, then taken out into sunlight to see how the weathering looks, too heavy and some can be removed, or left or more added. Once happy it will then be sealed in with several layers of finishing varnish and then the hull protected with felt so that the rest of the build can continue, I did notice viewing the photo's I have several small areas of paint to remove where it has crept under the masking tape in places, these will also need to be cleaned up before final varnishing.
Now painting like this may not be everyones cup of tea. However any craft at sea will not be pristine with the action of wind and salt water, so why not depict them as such?- Oh one last thing, when painting the hull I noticed that I have left off the bow trawling roller/fairlead, I’ll have to add this in the next episode also, then back to boat buliding with the addition of the masts and maybe even get around to starting the rigging?

Brian60

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Re: Humber smack circa 1880- build log
« Reply #140 on: June 23, 2014, 10:33:20 am »

Back to some building then but first just a couple of photo’s of the hull at present. In p133 you see a shot of the starboard side showing the finished weathering, then on to p134 showing the port side, this is complete with its registration number. A little bit about the number, I didn’t want to use a number that had been on the register of that period because I was building a generic of my naming and not a specific vessel.
However this was harder than I first thought. Consulting the Maritime Museum in Hull (
http://www.hullcc.gov.uk/museumcollections ) it seems just about all records for this period were lost in the bombings of the city in WW2 so couldn’t help. I turned to another website ( http://hulltrawler.net/ ) that has as much if not more information than the museums! Even so there is not a great deal from the turn of the century, I went through the registration list for the late 1800’s and then chose a number that was not listed. 

Brian60

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Re: Humber smack circa 1880- build log
« Reply #141 on: June 23, 2014, 10:35:37 am »

A view along the deck is shown in p135, I have now added the bow trawl roller that I mentioned was missing in the last post. I still have a few niggly little parts to add to the deck but as they will be delicate fittings I’d rather leave them until very late in the build so they are not disturbed.  P136 just shows a shot of the portside weathering around the bow and midships depicting where the trawl line and the nets would be hauled.

Brian60

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Re: Humber smack circa 1880- build log
« Reply #142 on: June 23, 2014, 10:38:39 am »

Ok back to building. In p138 is my solution to the mast hoops. I searched around for something about the right diameter that I could press into use after my disaster with making them up with timber shavings. I came up with 15mm copper pipe! I cut it into 1.5mm thick slices on the bqndsaw which gave me what you see on the right of the photo. In the forceps is a thicker band that was the beginning of the gooseneck, I had to cut a slice out of it to reduce the diameter down to that of the mast, p139, so it became 12mm diameter not 15mm. I made up a second piece in brass to hold the gooseneck itself and then soldered them together across the cut in the pipe p140, it just needs some work with a file and it is ready for paint.

Brian60

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Re: Humber smack circa 1880- build log
« Reply #143 on: June 23, 2014, 10:40:40 am »

On to p141 and my pile of mast hoops, that should be the first 12 hoops, more are needed for the mizzen, for now I am concentrating on the main mast because I can’t get on with the trestletrees and other upper paraphernalia until these are slid onto the mast.The piece of marble is just something I picked up in the garden (its full of it) flat enough to sit on the bench and act as a heat barrier while soft soldering, silver soldering I do outside.

Brian60

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Re: Humber smack circa 1880- build log
« Reply #144 on: June 23, 2014, 10:46:25 am »

 P142 shows the first part of, I have to get technical now, seizing (whipping) a length of halyard to the hoop. The next photo p143 shows how I formed a loop in the halyard and then seized the other side. Into the loop I placed a tiny brass eyelet, this is to attach the sail cringles to. Sails appear to have been attached to the hoops in various ways, the way I have shown here through an eye using a rope. Lashed direct to the hoop itself and with a steel shackle direct to the hoop.

 

Brian60

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Re: Humber smack circa 1880- build log
« Reply #145 on: June 23, 2014, 10:49:45 am »

 Photo p144 are the first 12 hoops complete and in a base coat of brown paint and p145 on the mast, again with the beginnings of the main boom, this already has the gooseneck in place but still needs work. P146 the same hoops but with a weathering coat on them, the hoops are quite labour intensive taking about 30 minutes per hoop to complete so 6-7 hours in total just on these 12.
 

Brian60

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Re: Humber smack circa 1880- build log
« Reply #146 on: June 23, 2014, 10:52:53 am »

  The last couple of pics are of the other end of the main boom, p 147, a top view of the 4 shieves for the reefing pendants, the shieves are 2mm and available from Modelling Timbers. The shackle for the main sheet block is in the centre, this should be held in place by two timber bands but I have used brass as it will be painted. Then at the tip in p148 is the fitting to take the clew shackle and topping lift. This still needs one or two items adding to it and a lot of careful sanding particularly around the reefing shieves, but for now it is going to one side to allow me to carry on with the top of the main mast, so hopefully that will be the next  instalment.
 

Brian60

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Re: Humber smack circa 1880- build log
« Reply #147 on: June 23, 2014, 11:51:50 am »

Oh one last thing before I go. Anyone spot the difference in the picture of the two x-acto blades?

Brian60

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Re: Humber smack circa 1880- build log
« Reply #148 on: June 23, 2014, 11:57:58 am »

Yep the bottom one has the point missing.

SAFETY ALERT!!!!!!

WHEN USING KNIVES OR SCALPELS  ALWAYS  MAKE SURE THE COVER IS BACK ON!

I had placed the knife down and it had leant against a piece of timber on the worktop, forgetting it was there some minutes later I reached over to get a clip. It embedded itself in the upper part of the base of my thumb causing quite immense pain. Pulling it out I was surprised at how little blood there was but also how I could not move my thumb properly.

A trip to the local medical centre and one expensive consultation plus xray later. I now know I have a piece of blade stuck in the bone! of my thumb with nasty nerve damage. The doc says the nerve will heal and my thumb will be back to normal after a couple of weeks. Don't worry about the blade tip it will calcify over.

So take heed, my thumb still feels funny, touching it the feeling is like it is numb sort of like your mouth is after cocaine at the dentist, but I am getting movement back.

Brian60

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Re: Humber smack circa 1880- build log
« Reply #149 on: July 02, 2014, 11:51:06 am »

 Since the last post I have been getting on with the main mast top or trestletrees/yoke. After studying the drawing in the book by Edgar March it was obvious that this consisted of several pieces that in model form could be omitted. I began with the cheeks shown already mounted on the mast in p150, simply cut from some sheet oak and shaped. The book describes the mast as transitioning from round to square at this level before returning to round, I opted to do just the two faces that the cheeks were rebated into. The cheeks themselves as can been seen sit in the mast at their bases, over the length of the cheek the thickness is tapered also.
 
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