Bluenose by Scientific

1st off- thanks goes out to Don, Bill, GM and Tanker for your help on the bulwarks. I used a little of everything - straight pins, a styrofoam cut mold of deck, CA and white glue and vinegar & water.  Once again, the head dummy (yours truly), left one of my cut bulwarks out and our cat, Monster, helped out by chewing the end off. Had to cut and bend another piece, then (yours truly) went and cut the scuppers on the top of bulwark instead of bottom part. Three's a charm!!! %#@! Here's a pic of where I am at. No scuppers yet on rear bulwarks - and not glued down and I

know my scuppers are not accurate, but they'll have to do. The plans do not even mention them.

OK - Jan. 24th, 2017. Scuppers cut out and my bulwarks have been glued down. Just need to putty the seams and sand smooth.

Fright,

All of these comments goe to show that there are many ways to solve problems in modeling.  We have each developed techniques largely unique to ourselves, but we have also influenced each other by sharing ideas. I have grown to appreciate each of the contributors here.

Bill

Don Stauffer - thanks for this idea. I picked up a pack of straight pins - I'll try cutting small blocks of balsa wood and pin them to the deck. Then try rubberbanding bulwarks against them while they dry. I want to thank everyone for your help and ideas!!!  As for me, 'the light was on but no one was home!" 

Forgot to add, the first model ship I built was by Guillows, but then I built a number of the Scientific kits.   They were great bargains!  I could not afford Model Shipways in those days.  The European kits had apparently not yet arrived on these shores, but I wouldn't have been able to afford them either. I often replaced a lot of the fittings by ordering them from AJ Fisher, since the fittings of the Scientific kits often left a little to be desired.

What I frequently do for things like bulwarks is to clamp or pin blocks down to the deck, alternating block then space then another block, so about half the space along the strip is supported by blocks and half the space reveals the joint.  Then I glue the deck-bulwark joints that are exposed.  This usually supports the bulwark so that the blocks can be removed and you can glue the remaining areas without problems.

Hi " G "

 I applaud you .This is a good method .I do believe that using Basswood well soaked in Vinegar water   ( Warm )  Would work too .

  To Bend real boat planks I used my 40' steamer with a quart of vinegar in the method .Vinegar seems to help the wood soften .   T.B.

There's an easier way to make cap rails and waterway planks.

make your pattern for the outboard profile. Trace it onto a sheet of basswood, or mahogany. Mark the inner profile using dividers. Cut out.

Crackers - thanks for your info and pictures! I'm going to try making a Styrofoam deck template that will allow me to clamp and hold the bulwarks in place while glue sets up. I want  to thank everyone who responded for all of you help and tips! I'll try and get results up as soon as possible.

After a long hiatus, I have decided to resume construction of my scratch built HMS PELICAN. Even though my model is much smaller than the BLUE NOSE, the method to bend the bulwarks should be similar. In this case, it is for bending the cap rail on the starboard side of my model. First, a profile of the model deck is made on a scrap piece of wood  from a cardboard template. A pencil line is drawn on the outer outboard of the template. The the width of the cap rail is pencil drawn next to the first line. Holes for nails are drilled along the outside of the inner line and nails are inserted into these holes. Meanwhile, a streight piece of wood similar in length and with to the cap rail is soaked over night in a mild solution of bleach and hot water.

By the following day, the soaked cap rail is CAREFULLY bent along the aligned nails to fit the profile of the deck profile. Nails are inserted along the outer edge to prevent the soaked cap rail from springing back to its original streight shape.

Once the cap rail is completely dried, it is painted and glued into place as had been done on the port side of the model and will be done for the starboard side as well.

Hope this helps. Happy modeling.    Crackers   

Thank you Tanker for these tips. Totally different method of reading instructions & building techniques with a wooden kit compared to a plastic kit. I think I will add the vertical stays, drill the scupper holes and paint before glueing onto deck.

Hi ;

   What I do with Bulwarks like that , Either plastic or wood , is install all the framing and the top rail .Then use epoxy at the frame supports  Make sure to cut the freeing ports and scuppers first .

 Then using pins placed as guides put a dot of epoxy , on the bottom of each frame and set in place . Another way but more laborious is this .

Make a notch in the hull where each frame is supposed to be. Epoxy vertical pieces in the notches , sand smooth and then mount the Bulwark . Remember to set the frames the right thickness . T.B.    P.S. I am so sorry . I forgot to suggest this , Which I have used before . Make sure your deck is glued down and cut right . Now , Take a pencil and mark a line at the deck level , on the deck .1/64 in from the edge .Cut this away .This leaves a little notch you can glue the bottom of the Bulwarks to .

This is what I've done so far with this kit. The deck was already glued on by previous owner and cut uneven. I will use a small wood strip to cover this up. I cut out and installed the two pieces of keel and glued them to the bottom of one piece hull. I used Elmer's Balsa wood color putty to fill in seams and cracks on hull. Sanded and used white primer; sanded againn. Stained deck with Cabot's water-based Autumn Glow finish. (I know this is not an accurate color but I had this laying around). Cut out the rudder and it fits snuggly to hull (taped in place). I plan to use strips of copper for hinges on rudder/hull instead of pieces of tape as suggested.

Bill - thanks for the fast reply. I've got lots of clamps/clothspins but nothing to anchor them to. I guess I'm on my way to a craft store to pick up straight pins! Once I can get the bulwarks glued in place, I plan on adding upright stays along them - either with wood or styrene strips. I imagine I would then drill in scupper holes. I'm a bit lost at reading the diagram provided with this kit. They also seem to skip over many of the part list descriptions. Thanks again for pointing me in the right direction! 

Hello!

First thing would be to bend the bulwarks to shape as close as it gets. Apart of water you can use some heat while bending. As for clamps/pins - drops of CA glue can take over this work. White glue works quite well with CA as combo - where you put white glue on the whole surface to be glued and small drops of CA work as nails to hold the part in place until the white glue dries. Hope it helps, good luck with your builds

Paweł

One method I used to use on those kits was to use straight pins inserted into the deck as braces for the single piece bulwark, then tape the bulwark down until the glue dried.  You could also use white "Tacky Glue" instead of plain white glue.  Good luck!

Bill