Little wood Flattie build

Posted some stuff in the "Lindberg Jolly Roger float test" thread but didn't want to hijack that thread.

I'll post more stuff from the start of the build later. I got this kit from someone else, and it has a bit of history with it.

EJ

Looks great!

 p

From the beginning then -

This kit came from a friend of mine ( his widow) that had started the kit but passes away at age 90, before he finished it. I want to build it in his memory and do it justice. It is a fairly simple kit as wood kits go, but should be fun to build. This is what I got. This style of Flattie was built in the Chesapeake Bay / Pamlico Sound area, but they were used in the Virginia / North Carolina area too, for hauling vegetables and fishing oysters. A flat bottom and a retractable centerboard gave them a very shallow draft, plus they could be run aground without causing damage. They were also fairly cheap to build.

Page two of the plan sheet was missing, but I got a replacement from Midwest Prod.

He had the keel, bulkheads, main deck and transom assembled, and the mast stepping blocks and keel strips installed. Quite a ways to go yet, but this part was well done. An inventory proved that only one strip of basswood was missing from the parts list.

And some extras - I don't know what I'll ever do with the huge bronze propellers.

Should be a fun little boat to build.

While the glue set up, I soaked the Panels for the cabin sides then set them in a jig to dry in the appropriate curve.

I bent the chines to the notches in the bulkheads and glued them up. When the glue set, I cut the bow ends to fit and glued them in place.

Then spent some time with a sanding block and "faired in" the chines, stern board, bow stiffeners, ready for planking.

Next day, when the cabin walls were dry, I installed them, sanded them to fit and installed the cabin roof beam.

Then, the cabin roof.

More in the next post - time for lunch.

Flattie update

Added a piece at the stern as I didn't think there was enough glue area there.

With the new stern pice faired in, next was the two side hull panels, went on pretty well.

After a cup of coffee to let the glue kick, I faired in the panel edges at the stern, top edge and at the chines.

Now it's ready for bottom planking.

Faired the plank edges to the stern and side planks.

Installed the chafing planks to the bottom, fitted to the keel.

Made and installed the rough keel post.

Faired in the keel post, made and installed the stern post too.

The bench is getting cluttered.

The easy stuff is done. Some sanding sealer then ready for paint. Next the fiddly stuff, trim, deck items, d0 da's, sails and rigging. The work slows down a bit, but I'm pleased with the look so far.

The sticks for the mast, boom and gaff.

Tapered, drilled, stained and varnished.

Pre assembled parts - stained and varnished. Trim, toe rails, Samson post, rudder (made the tiller from walnut for looks), centerboard, companionway door and hatch, coaming trim.

More in next post.

third post

The boat and do - da's ready for fitting. Will add dressing, rope coils and other trappings of a working oyster boat. I boogered the deck stain yesterday by spilling a bit of clear gloss on it. Instead of waiting for it to dry, I tried to wipe it off, removing the clear matt, wiped stain down to the white undercoat. Crap! Tried to touch it up, but it still shows some, so I'll cover it with a rope coil or crate or something.

The build has been fun though, it takes me a year to do an aircraft carrier.

Here she is at present.

The original post is the current state of the build. Picked up some brass rod and tube to make the rudder "hinges" out of and am working on a stand for it so I can set it down after the centerboard is installed.

Excellent work!

Thank you.

This is a fine thread. I'm a big fan of Midwest kits. Decent plans, decent materials, fine subjects, and the best instructions in the business.

They're terrific kits for getting into the hobby. If you start with a Midwest kit, you'll have a fine-looking model on your mantle in a few weeks - and you'll learn a great detail about techniques, materials, and terminology that will serve you well when you tackle something more sophisticated and time-consuming.

Too many people start in the hobby by announcing, "I'm going to build a perfect Victory/Constitution/Soleil Royal/Cutty Sark. I know you other guys took years to learn how to build models, but I'm different." If more people would go the Midwest route...well, more people would enjoy the hobby more, and stay in it longer. I have, of course been preaching that sermon, and getting ignored, for several decades.

People who think small craft are boring haven't learned enough about them. Virtually every small boat type has an interesting history, and represents a different response to the demands of nature and practicality. A banks dory, for instance, has a simple, highly ingenious shape that's just as worthy of study as a clipper ship. Well, almost.

Seems like a long time since Miwest issued a new kit. How about a Chesapeake Bay deadrise oyster boat? Or a New Haven sharpie? There are dozens of good, relatively simple subjects out there

I think everyone who asks about what to get into wood models with, should get a link to this thread

I agree. I have done a Titanic lifeboat, Midwest Skiff, prospector canoe, and have a Lobster smack and the schooner "Elsie" waiting in the stash. I normally do U S Naval ships, mostly aircraft carriers and especially Essex class carriers with emphasis on the USS ESSEX, as I served aboard her in the early 60's. Carrier kit builds can take me a year or more to complete and I often slip into the "builder's doldrums" in the process. These little wood kits give me the opportunity to change the pace a bit, plus, having been a carpenter/builder most of my life, working with wood just seems to come naturally to me and having been a sailor myself, I enjoy anything that floats and the history that goes with it.  I've not contemplated doing a large sailing ship, and do not particularly like doing the rigging, but as you say, there is great history in smaller, working class boats that I find very interesting.

I've enjoyed this build, and hope I do justice to it for my deceased friend. I may wind up giving it to his family.

Thanks for your comments,

EJ

Thank you both for your comments.

My first model was the Revell USS ESSEX in her new angled deck configuration I built in about 1958. My son found a vintage kit that I will be doing in the future. I never built another kit until nearly 50 years later, a 1/700 Hasegawa WWII ESSEX picked up at a garage sale for $8.00. That was an Essex class ship, but definitely not the ESSEX herself, so needed a bunch of alterations. Modeling has changed much in 50 years so I joined a local club in 2008 to learn all the new techniques  and have been building ever since.

Plastic, wood, resin, even PE and paper, but usually something that floats, I have fun with them all.

EJ

E.J.

    You have done an admirable piece of work on the " Flattie ". If you apply this quality of work to everything , no wonders you are a true craftsman . Well Done and good voyages .  I have the Lobster boat  " Skipjack and a Midwest Life Boat . Haven't built them yet  .Now you make me want to .     Tanker - Builder

Thank you TB

EJ

Went browsing eBay after a rather pleasant trip about the Midwest site.

The Sharpie (and the Sharpie Schooners) seem to sell for circa $75.

Not sure if that increase or decreases my desire for one.

Negotiating a Willie Bennett Skipjack from the LHS for fair price.

Got my taxes done, now back to the bench. Some more stuff came this week

Lost my solder equipment  - want to make operating pivots for the rudder - so

solder, flux, heat sink clamps

Some cool looking toothpicks that look like mint hiking sticks, bamboo skewers for tool handles, ex nuts, a free paint mixer, teeny tubing and rod to make rudder hinges for the Little Wood Flattie

EJ

Back on the Flattie -

In the last week I've been looking for "prettier" woods to use for wood boat trim with limited success. Never seem to find exactly what I want and if I do it's usually out of stock. So, out to the workshop. In the "save this" bin, I found blocks of American black walnut, mahogany (not sure what kind), rosewood, clear western red cedar, various types of pine, clear redwood and a few I'm not sure of what they are. Spent about 3 hours building a fixture for the table saw to cut very narrow strips. The pics show what I was able to do. Able to get down to 1/16" X 1/16". pretty nice. I'm working on a fixture for the drill press to use as a thickness sander.

Next - went to work with the new soldering stuff. Making the Pintles and Gudgeons for the rudder. I call em hinges. I tried the lower melting point solder first, 275 degrees,  but had two joints fail, so then used the higher temp silver solder, 430 degrees, with great success. The low temp I think might work very well with PE railings and such, but the high temp seems to be better for joints that might get stressed. Anyway, they are done and ready to install.

Bent, fitted and soldered,

Cut off, pins fitted and cleaned up, ready for paint.

Next, the crib to set it on.

Finished up the crib. Now I can install the centerboard and set the model down without breaking it off.

Not much accomplished this week. Installed the brass traveler bar at the rudder. Started to prep parts for the rigging. 8 blocks were supplied (3mm), so I started wrapping them with brass wire for loops, but lost 2 and never found them, broke 4 more wrapping the wire. Tried to make a couple but gave up on that.  Ordered a couple packs of them from the LHS and got some smaller brass wire. I'll try annealing it before installation, if not, I have some small soft copper strands from wire clipping in the workshop scrap bucket, from 28 ga to 12 ga. Something's got to work. Also, the eyebolts supplied are actually small brass cotter pins. The eye portion is kinda tear-drop shaped which I didn't like the look of, so, I tried to close the eye and round it off by inserting a round plier tip in the eye and squeezing the shank to round out and "smallerize" the hole. Broke one leg off 4 of those, so picked up a pack of them as well. I think I'll wind up making my own eye bolts from an appropriately gauged brass wire.

The new blocks will be in on Tuesday.

EJ

I don't know if you are trying to rig hooks to your blocks, but if you are you should check these out.

http://www.syrenshipmodelcompany.com/miniature-rope.php#!/3mm-Black-hooks-for-rigging-your-ship-model/p/39516229/category=11571018

I wish Chuck had had these when I was rigging all those carronades on the spar deck of my Connie. I split, cracked and lost a ton of blocks trying to use wire myself. 

Click on the 'view detailed images' link to the right under the checkout bag link for a better idea. 

I've got some of those Syren hooks. They're beautiful. I hope Mr. Passaro does more of those laser-cut acrylic fittings. I'm thinking of such things as jib hanks - and alphabets.

Supposed to look like this

or this

The blocks are 3mm wood, and the wrapping is .8mm brass wire that was supplied. The cotter pin is supposed to represent an eye bolt I guess. I'll be making my own eyes cause I don't like the look of these. The other problem is, in earlier instructions the holes were pre-drilled in the masts and spars for the cotter pin/eyes so they are too large for my hand made eyes. I'll need to fill the hole maybe, or just start over and make new mast and spars.

Hmmm....have you tried twist ties? You can get them at the super market. I burn off the paper or plastic coating, then use the wire. It's usually black underneath. Very pliable...maybe too pliable? Wrap around an appropriate sized needle for first loop, then the block, then the needle again for final loop. As for the mast holes, maybe putty and redrill?

I've been on plenty of cat boats over the years. Here out west our travelers are a loose piece of line that forms a V, with a sort of double swivel block. Big money sailboats have a rail on the deck with a carriage.

Looking at the Mystic Seaport boat collection book, brass rail travelers or "horses" seem to be the norm out east.

Those have a big ring on the bottom of the block, maybe as big as the block is wide, and I would bet its a swivel. Having a traveler bind during a come about is a pain.

As far as making holes smaller, well in wood shop that's usually a failure. In this case, try epoxy.

More I look at it, they should have made that cotter pin a big ring. You want the sheet coming forward out of the block into the cockpit. So that double ring set up makes sense. Put a 3" diameter ring through the bottom eye and you are good to go.

It's been too long since I had a copy of H.I.Chappell's "American Boat" to remember the details of horse versus traveler (shoot, now I find I cannot remember HIC's preference--and he had a preference for just about everything under sail).

For modeling purposes, a ring about twice the diameter of the traveler bar, to which you would then strop the sheet block upon.   Which actually looks better than trying to strop two model blocks together and using a traveler line.

Well we sunset sailors know what looks good and what doesn't thank you very much.

But you are right, that's the way to rig this dude, and I am not sure you'd need that eye on top of the block either, but that's a one way or the other deal.

Gosh it's refreshing to talk about boat models at the level of some reality about modeling... working parts.

Breaking out America really soon to finish her.

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I can't wait for the new blocks to arrive. Found some 22 ga (.64mm) soft brass wire for $2.99. A bit thinner and hopefully softer. Gonna make the eyes bolts of .80mm brass wire and the rings from the same. I like the ring suggestion for the traveler. I picked up a spool of "antique brass" color wire too, just to see what it would look like.

Come onnnn, blocks. I'm a waitin.

EJ