Building a Monterey Salmon Fishing Boat, c. 1916 – Part 2

First off, you may note that I changed the title of this project to reflect an updated date. The original photo was said to be taken after 1916. So, I changed the title from saying “c.1910” to “c.1916”, though the boat could be from a little bit later. I got a little wrapped up recently in the layout of the little deck house, which clearly shows a ventilator cowl, but also seems to show a little exhaust pipe peek out from behind it. It’s a bit hard to see in the photo, so I’m posting a close-up of the photo below.

Close up of the original image shows the ventilator cowling on the left and what looks like an exhaust pipe on the right.

Now, there’s a possibility that this is just a piece of paper in the hand of the man standing on deck. Bill of sale, maybe? But, it’s awfully straight and seems to be perfectly perpendicular to the deck house roof. Plus, at the beach like that, it’s hard to imagine a paper not curling in the breeze. So, I’m tending to believe it’s a pipe. Either an exhaust pipe or a stove pipe.

Building a Monterey Salmon Fishing Boat, c. 1916 – Part 1

If you read my ship model projects update last year, you probably already read about this project. It began with a request from Tim Thomas, the curator of a small museum in the lower floor of the Japanese American Citizen League Heritage Hall in Monterey. He wanted a model of a small, fishing boat that was used by Japanese immigrant fishermen in Monterey to fish for salmon. There was a particular boat he had in mind, a boat called the Olympus.

I originally didn’t want to take on the project, as my record on commissioned work isn’t very good. it just becomes work and something that feels like a weight around my neck. So, I asked ship modeler Paul Reck from the Hyde Street Pier Model Shipwrights if he would be willing to take it on. He agreed. But, when I asked him about it later, he said he’d work on it if I would work on it too. So, I initially got kind of dragged into the project.

Amati Gunboat “Arrow” Build – Final

With the completion of the rigging, followed by the creation of a new flag (see Making an American Flag Using Adobe Illustrator), I went on to add the finishing touch to my American galley gunboat model, which are the oars. It is a “galley” gunboat after all. The model is now complete, and I’m quite happy with the way it turned out, especially given that it took me years to finally get around to completing the model.

As a reminder, this was built from the American Gunboat Arrow kit produced by Amati Model of Italy. It is a roughly 1/55-scale wooden ship model measuring just under 19″ long. I bought the kit from Ages of Sail many years ago (2014!), partially built the hull, worked on it off and on, then set it aside until early 2021. Even with all my other projects in the works, I decided to make an effort to finish up this model before the end of this year, 2022.

Building HMS Wolf – Shipyard’s 1/72 Scale Laser-Cut Card Kit – Part 8

After taking something of a pause on this project while deciding on the color scheme on deck, I did manage to do a bit of work on some various sub-assemblies. But, as far as the color scheme goes, I’ve decided on red gun carriages and wheels, as well as red hatch coamings. The kit instructions call for just about everything else on deck to be painted red, including the ship’s wheel, but I’ll make a final decision on that and on the binnacle when I get to their construction.

Riding bitts and hatches temporarily fit into place, but showing my final paint scheme.

Making an American Flag using Adobe Illustrator

I’ve been taking a little time off of work since I’ve been actually pretty productive with ship modeling and other personal tasks. So, today, I finally decided to tackle the issue to making a flag for the American Gunboat model that I’ve been working on.

My Amati American gunboat model, nearly finished, but in need of a flag

Amati Gunboat “Arrow” Build – The Sails Again

It’s been a while since I posted about the Amati American gunboat “Arrow”. As you can see in the photo below, I have the model mounted on a cherry wood base that I cut and routed the edge.This photo is from a ship model meeting back in March of this year, and shows the sails installed with the final rigging lines going in.

 

Unfortunately, I am not one to leave well enough alone. The kit plans show two reef bands on each sail. Also, the sails turned out a bit small for the lateen yards. Finally, I didn’t like the run of the brails, the ropes used to haul the edge of the sail in and up into the lateen yard.

Building HMS Wolf – Shipyard’s 1/72 Scale Laser-Cut Card Kit – Part 7

As I mentioned before, apparent progress on the HMS Wolf model has slowed significantly, due to the fact that everything I’m doing now is essentially off the model. I’m now working on various sub-assemblies, and some of these I’m starting to do out of order.

The next parts that actually need to go on the ship are the sweep port covers and the four deck hatches. I painted and then assembled the sweep port cover, which simply requires adding some very thin black paper parts for the hinges. This was rather slow going, as the hinges are very tiny and very delicate. One has to be extremely careful not to lose parts, as there are no spares provided in the kit. I apply Aleene’s Tacky Glue to the sweep port cover with a thin brush, then use the tip of the brush to grab the hinge and to set it in place on the  it on the port cover.

Building HMS Wolf – Shipyard’s 1/72 Scale Laser-Cut Card Kit – Part 6

Shipyard’s HMS Wolf laser-cut card kit is moving along, but progress seems slower. The details take time to add and they’re not as obvious from photo to photo. However, I’ve completed the rudder and just need to add it to the model. Also, if you look closely at the photo here, you can see the most obvious addition are all the timberheads at the forecastle rail as well as the posts for the swivel guns. Lastly, did you spot the channels at the sides of the hulls?

Building HMS Wolf – Shipyard’s 1/72 Scale Laser-Cut Card Kit – Part 5

The Shipyard 1/72-scale laser-cut card HMS Wolf build continues with details and lots and lots of little parts and a couple issues trying to follow instructions. Apparent progress has slowed somewhat, since hull construction is complete and I entered a phase of hull detailing. Still things are really flying along in comparison to wooden model ship building, and I managed to add the stern gallery with it’s decorative columns and windows.

Building HMS Wolf – Shipyard’s 1/72 Scale Laser-Cut Card Kit – Part 4

This HMS Wolf kit is moving along so quickly that I’ve hardly had a chance to stop and get caught up with the build log. I’m so far beyond what you’re seeing here, so I’m going to minimize my writing and try to close the gap between build log and current model a bit.

The third layer of the hull is pretty much actual, individual hull planks. There are two sheets of thin, laser-cut card stock, one for each side of the hull.