So, I was just wondering if anyone has any experience with the Model Shipways Ship's Boat kits. I bought the 4" version way back and am finally getting around to using it for my current project.

The instructions seem to be generic instructions for their "5-Inch Typical Ship's Boat", with a note included on how you can downsize the plans on a photocopier for other size boats.

However, if you follow the directions, it'll screw you up because the measurements given are specifically for the 5" version.

Also, while they provide the wood strip stock, it's not scaled down to the size boat your building. So, the 1/16" square wood for the framing is the same regardless of the size of boat your building. Seems really ridiculous to me. So, I'm scaling things down a little and using my own wood.

The other thing I noticed is that the parts that are laser cut for you don't fit together the way the instructions say they do. Specifically the bow and transom hull formers and the first jig form. These all seem either too small or the keel was mis-designed. Or maybe I'm just not doing something right.

Anyway, I'm just wondering what others have experienced with these kits and if they had the same issues and how they resolved them.

Clare

I had the 4" and the 3" boat kits. They both had the same size materials with the exception of the laser cut sheet. I attempted to build the 4" kit, but found the materials to be too heavy to work with comfortably. After much frustration, I gave up, relegating the kits to my scrap wood supply. I felt that without a lot of resizing of the stock and some reshaping of the molds, it would be impossible for me to do an acceptable job. For that amount of effort, I thought I would have better luck scratchbuilding off a set of actual ship's boat lines, and end up with something that looked a little more like a ship's boat.

Mike

Clare

Like Mike, I took a shot at one and found it a bit of a challenge. The results can be seen on the deck of the Prince de Neufchatel in my gallery. It wasn't easy or, to my eye, entirely successful, but for my first wooden ship, perhaps acceptable. The parts were in fact a bit thick and the detail clunky but perhaps if sanded down and bashed a bit, a good boat could be built up with the kit.

When presented with a similar challenge in the Benjaman Latham kit, that is building her seine boat with similar MS parts, I thought better of it. Fortunately the Latham comes with a fine set of Ronnberg plans for the seine boat and I was able to build a fairly successful replacement (see "building small" in my gallery).

Hope some of this helps. In any case, if you have questions, I seem to be getting a lot of practice with little boats and thin materials. I'd be more than happy to discuss boat building.

Regards

Jim

Jim,

At least you finished your ship's boat! And it looks pretty good, too.

The seine boat is spectacular-- great job, and nicely detailed. You certainly seem to have mastered building small.

Mike

Thanks Mike and Jim,

You know, interestingly enough, I just looked at the ship's boat that comes with the Prince de Neufchatel kit and it's different, and not just in it's size.

Neufchatel's boat is a 5" ship's boat and it's apparently not from the same design as the other MS ship's boat kits. The molds are different shaped and I looked at the bow and stern formers, and they actually fit correctly without any weird gaps.

Well, I need a 4" ship's boat, so I'll try to figure out how to make this work. Either that or it'll end up in a scrap heap and I'll have to figure out what else to try. So far, it's not there yet.

Clare :coffee:

I'm building the Model Shipways Prince of Neufchatel, and I ran into the same problems with the boat kit. The formers did not fit properly and trying to bend the 1/16 inch basswood around the formers was next to impossible no matter how long you soaked or steamed. I finally just gave it up. Also my plans and instructions were for two different sizes, which also screwed me up at first. I just carved a nice boat from balsa, planked it, added keel, stem and rudder, and I will either mount it upside down or cover it with a tarp right side up. Far less trouble!

I just got a copy of The Construction of Model Open Boats by Ewart C. Freeson (more info on this book can be found here (http://www.modelshipworld.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1959) --scroll down to last post). In it, Freeson demonstrates a method of small boat construction where he carves a solid hull from a block comprised of a keel piece sandwiched between two blocks. The pieces are pinned together so that they may be separated when the hull exterior is carved. When the pieces are separated, the keel piece is cut to the profile of the keel, stem, deadwood, and stern if the boat is double ended. The two blocks are then carefully hollowed with rotary files leaving a shell as thin as possible (Freeson claims to be able to achieve a wall thickness of .002"). The two shell halves are then glued to the keel piece. If the boat is clinker built, it is then planked inside and out with cardstock planks, and then the frames, clamps, thwarts, etc. are added. If the boat is carvel planked, the shell is left as is, and the interior details are added.

It seems like a lot of work, but the results are quite striking.

Mike

Well, it sat around for a long time, but I finally decided to see what I could do with the Model Shipways' Ship's Boat kit. I ended up having to ignore parts of the included instructions in order for the shape to work out correctly. This was basically just at the transom.

While the material for this 4" boat was the same as that for the 5" and 3-something" boats, the planks were okay. I haven't dealt with the internal details. That's yet to come and might completely negate any positive feelings that eventually developed in the hull construction.

The wood definitely needed soaking and the use of an electric plank bender, and even then resulted in kinked or buckled planks. But, I managed.

The oddest issue (aside from the transom) was that it's impossible for the planks to even TOUCH the bow former - it's just too small. So, right now, it's kind of floating, just attached to the keel/stem piece, but not the planking.

The other thing that I think helped a LOT was to not use the basswood pieces included for the initial frames or for that first sheer strake. I ended up using some tiny strips of denser, bendable wood for that - either degame (lemonwood) or maricaibo boxwood I had left over from a previous project. That, I think, helped out a lot.

Then, somehow, I manage to not glue the whole thing directly to the molds and was able to pry it off pretty easily. That also might be attributed to the use of the harder wood frames, as the CA glue didn't just wick right through from the planking and into the molds. I think basswood would have just done that.

Anyway, I'm posting some pics :coffee:

You did much better than I was able to do, Clare, it looks pretty good! I had the same problem with the the bow former, and ended up shimming it as best I could. But couldn't get the planking to bend without buckling or cracking :=(( . Perhaps if I had sanded it thinner, it would have worked, but I lost patience with the process and gave up. I've since learned to stick with things longer and do them over until I get the results I'm looking for. After all, modeling is about the process, not how fast it gets done.

Mike

Thanks Mike. Definitely, the only way I got the wood to bend nicely was with heat, and that was only with the planking. The ribs would just buckle when I tried to bend them, even with heat. And I double checked the material I used and it WAS degame (lemonwood), and the extra ribs I added bent VERY nicely, VERY easily.

Well, it was certainly NOT possible to build the kit without ignoring all the measurements given and some of the included instructions.

I've attached the latest photos of the kit. At least it's looking okay. No thwarts in place. But, I built up the gunwale at that bow and stern to make it look more like a British boat.

More later!

Clare

Well, the thwarts are in place and the hull painting is all basically done.

I still needed oar locks or something and looking at boats of the 1800s, decided that I use HMS Victories boats to model from. So, I modified the gunwales a bit and cut notches for the oars.

I had a hard time with the thwarts at the aft as I didn't really plan this out all that well. So, I just ended up with a simple one at the aft instead of the U-shaped one. I suppose at some point, I might rip that one out and redo it. But for now, it is what it is.

The paint started off with Model Shipways acrylics, but they're grainy. So, I finished up with artist acrylics. However, the MS Hull Yellow was the color that fit the gunwales best. So, I stuck with that color.

Everything was too bright then, so I gave it all a thin wash of gray to tone down the value. That helped a lot, but might need one more going over.

Rudder, Oars, Cradle are next, then I think this mini-project is done!

Clare