Hello all:

Though as I mentioned elsewhere I have a few other kits in "progress", I'm creating this build log in anticipation of commencing on the Midwest San Francisco Scow Schooner once I finish the equally cute and straightforward Midwest Sakonnet Daysailer, which is currently at the sail/rigging stage. If I can clear my plate of some rather preoccupying work and domestic related things I hope to finish the daysailer this week.

The Scow Schooner kit represents a generic hull design/rig for a vessel that, by the information supplied with the kit, was a real workhorse/fixture of coastal and up-river shipping in the American West up to the early 20th century or even a bit later. I would categorise this as a kind of "nostalgia" kit in a way - not something that represents a specific historic ship, but that calls back to a particular time, place, state of society or the economy that called forth this kind of technology as a way of addressing specific conditions of trade and commerce. I like this sort of thing as it illustrates not the "impacts" of a technology on society, but the creation of a novel technological design based on specific social, economic and historical conditions. The vessel is both a manifestation of those conditions in the form of a technical solution to specific problems, and a technological expression of how a society relates to its geographical and economic contexts. In my professional life I'm a social historian of science and technology, with a specific interest in how certain design choices or directions of technological change emerge as a result of social or economic priorities and how this serves to stabilise certain social or economic formations over time. The scow schooner is a great illustration of exactly these principles.

Academic matters aside, anyone who has followed my logs over on MSW will know that even though I "do history" as my job, I model for pleasure - so since it's my "day off" I often gloss over historical inaccuracies in favour of the simple pleasures gained from a morning or afternoon at the workbench. A generic model like this one is very forgiving in that way, and I hope you all will be too, if I happen to hang my blocks upside down or belay a line in a way that's convenient or looks nice rather than being "functional". Feeling no pressure to consider the lives, safety and work processes of anyone on the vessel, I feel like I can forgive myself for shunting historical or functional accuracy to the side.

Here's a shot of the box to set things in motion. I hope to provide a proper update to this log sometime next week - in the meantime, happy modelling

hamilton

I've now completed the Midwest Sakonnet Daysailer and am ready to commence on the Scow Schooner.

The information supplied by Midwest for this kit tells me that the scow schooner was "the workhorse of the Pacific coast and inland waterways" during the latter part of the 19th century and well into the 20th, ranging from the Alaskan coast down to Mexico, and were to be seen shipping goods up the Columbia River and dotting the SF Bay and Puget Sound. The hull shape was a direct adaptation to the conditions in which it operated - riverways, coastlines, and the sheltered waters of the American Northwest. A versatile design, with broad beam, shallow draft and flat hull, it could navigate upriver while "maintaining superior sea-keeping and sailing" at least along the coast-lines. The design features no deadrise and plumb sides. Used primarily for shipping goods, they were rendered obsolete by increased transcontinental rail and trucking networks in the first part of the 20th century.

An example of the scow schooner, christened Alma, exists today as a working museum piece, operated by the US National Parks Services and launching out of the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park - details here. Originally built in 1891, she has a LOA of 80' and a "registered length" (which I assume refers to the length between perpendiculars) of 59'. Midwest gives 46' as the "average length" of these vessels with 34' and 87' listed as the extremes. Alma thus represents a more or less typical scow schooner of this period and location.

I had thought to build this kit as Alma since there is quite a bit of information and a number of contextual photographs of that vessel available online. But the Midwest kit is only 17" (LOA) with the hull being 12" - that is, 68' LOA and 48' between perpendiculars. So while I will certainly try to capture some of the details I'm able to pick up from documentation of Alma the significant discrepancy between the dimensions of that ship and the Midwest kit caution against too literal an interpretation (though I think I will follow the finishing of Alma in this build).

This kit takes a similar approach to hull planking as the Sakonnet Daysailer, with planks preformed as single strips to be laid across the hull sides and bottom. But while my version of the Daysailer used balsa for this application (which was very easy to work with) this kit uses laser cut basswood (1/32"). I know @palmerit had this same material in his Sakonnet Daysailer and noted that it was not the easiest to work with. I may replace this material with regular stripwood planking, but since this step is a way off I have some time to consider.

Other than that I will likely be building this one more or less "out of the box" - though who knows, I may try to bash it the further I get into it. While I built the Daysailer as more or less a casual and quick build, I think I might want to go a bit deeper with this one, but there's not much summer left for me and when Autumn comes I'd rather get back to working on one of the bigger builds and make some real progress....

I'll start at the bench on this one tomorrow so look to see some pics at that time. In the meantime happy modelling and bye for now

hamilton

Very fun model, I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes. One of my possible next builds is a scow sloop from northern Mexico. Something about the combination of the elegant masts and rigging with the slab-like hull is quite appealing in a build. These sorts of quotidian workboats are certainly interesting for thinking about how people lived through technological, economic, and social change.

It is definitely an interesting hull shape - the rig reminds me something of the St Roch which I've visited many times here in the Vancouver Maritime Museum, while the hull looks like a dramatically expanded version of the old 9' pram that my brother and I learned how to sail on when we were kids! I'm quite looking forward to this build - haven't built anything quite like this before and I am attracted to larger scale working vessels as subjects.

hamilton

Got started on the Scow Schooner this morning. I know I said I would be building this kit more or less out of the box, and I did start with what the instructions list as step 1 ("planking" the deck) but I've already started bashing it at stage 1.....

The instructions suggest simulating the planking by staining the laser cut 1/16" basswood deck piece and marking the 1/8" wide planks with a pencil - this all gets added later after the basic hull frame is complete. Having done this with the Daysailer, I decided that it would be nicer - if much more time consuming - to plank the deck. I ran the deck piece through my Byrnes thickness sander to shave off as close to 1/64" as I could. This was tricky since, as you'll see below, the deck piece had split aft along the grain, but in the end it worked out ok and I didn't do more damage to the part than was already there...

I have only a very limited supply of 1/8 x 1/64" planks left over from past builds and these were of different wood types and tones, so wouldn't have been serviceable. So I grabbed roughly 30 strips of 1/8" x 1/16" planking - of which I have a tonne left over from past builds - and milled these down to roughly 1/64". The planked deck will likely be a little bit thicker than 1/16" but hopefully it will remain within tolerances for the build....I guess we'll find out!

Milling the strips was not difficult, but it was finicky and the resulting strips needed quite a bit of cleaning up, which because the strips are so thin, led to some snapping here and there - not too much of a problem as the material will remain useful. I decided to stain the strips in advance with Minwax Golden Oak - in advance primarily because I'm using medium CA for the decking and though I am being very conservative in the application, I don't want to risk having any make it out to the surface, which would produce a lot of ugly blotchiness in the planking if I stained it afterwards. After staining I ran a pencil lead along one edge to simulate caulking.

A centreline was marked on the deck piece and I decided to lay a slightly wider (5/32") king plank along the centre - though I have no evidence of this being a feature of these vessels, I thought it would look nice. I laid this as a full length strip from fore to aft and then cut away those parts overhanging the cutaways for the cabin, hatch and masts. I then started laying planking along the starboard side - got 2 strakes done before getting called in for lunch....this is going to be a relatively long process, but I think it will pay off in terms of the look of the finished model.

Enjoy the photos and happy modelling

hamilton

Not much to report other than a bit more progress on the deck planking. A secondary positive effect of doing this is that the decking seals up the split in the sub-deck nicely! The unevenness in the stain is more to do with the glare of my lighting than anything. I think it will take a couple more sessions to complete this and then I can start assembling the framework.

Bye for now and happy modelling

hamilton

Step 1 is now complete - would have been done in a day if I'd followed the instructions, but I think the results are much nicer than they would have been if I had simulated the planking with a pencil. This has a couple of coats of Minwax Golden Oak and a couple of wipe-on poly and now will be set aside until a later stage. Next up is the framework. Until then....

hamilton

That's very nice looking planking, Hamilton. Well worth the trouble.

John

Thanks John - time-consuming, but worth it for sure.

hamilton

Before commencing on the framework, the instructions suggest soaking and shaping the caprails. Having seen how well this works when I was building the Sakonnet Daysailer, I used windex to soak two 13" strips of 1/6" x 3/16" basswood. I let these soak in a shallow baking pan overnight. I then lay a sheet of tracing paper over the plans and pinned the strips in line with the caprails as shown on the plan view. I dried these over one more night and then removed them from the jig, marked them port and starboard and set them aside with the deck until I need them quite a bit later on....

The framework is somewhat unusual in comparison with other models I've built. The main differences are that this is a flat-bottomed vessel so the bulkheads are angular rather than curved, with notches cut out for a sheer strip laid along deck level and a chine laid at the turn of the bilge. There are also nothces cut out at bottom centre to leave room for two strips that run fore and aft hard against the keel on each side. There are also only 4 main bulkhead frames - in addition to fore and aft transom pieces. The foremost two have upward extensions that define the fore and aft sides of the main hatch, while the aft two have taller upward extensions that define the fore and aft sides of the cabin.

Treated the bulkheads and centre keel former in the usual fashion - lightly sanding off the laser char, marking the centre lines on the bulkheads & tracing the bulkhead slots on the keel piece down to the bottom edge. The bulkheads are labelled F-3 to F-6. F-3, F-4 and F-5 rest at the bottom edge of the keel. F-3 needed to be shimmed both on the bulkhead centreline and p/s on the keel former - I used some of the 1/8 x 1/64" bass I made for the decking for this. F-4 and F-5 were too snug so a bit of filing was necessary. F-6 does not fall in line with the bottom edge of the keel, but rests higher to define the run aft. I have not yet treated or fit this part.

The instructions suggest using CA to attach the bulkheads, as was the case with the Daysailer, but I decided to apply patience instead and used PVA, lightly brushed into the seams. Bulkheads F-3, F-4 and F-5 are now installed. Next up bulkhead F-6 and the transoms....

Enjoy the photos and happy modelling

hamilton

Bulkhead F-6 and the two transoms require a bit of patience and close attention. the bulkhead added yesterday all rest in line with the bottom of the keel, so a flat surface can be used to stabilise them. F-6 sits up from the base of the keel as do the two transoms, fore and aft, so they have to be very carefully squared along 3 dimensions - athwartships, as well as along the vertical axis and in line with the keel.

Both transoms need holes drilled through before installation. The forward transom has two 3/32" holes drilled through for the hawse ports, while the aft transom has two on each side through which lines will pass from the rudder to the tiller rigging. I used a pin vice for the latter and a 3/32" bit in my drill press for the former.

When installing each of these parts, I clamped the keel in my bench vice and squared them by "rack of eye"....with the bulkheads and transoms now installed, the sheer and chine battens can now be added - that's next.......bye for now

hamilton

The next stage in the construction of the framework is the addition of three sets of fore & aft battens - the keel batten (which runs through notches in the lower edges of the bulkheads and transoms against the keel former), the chines (which run on notches in the lower outboard edges of the bulkheads and transom and define the turn of the bilge) and the sheer battens (which run on notches in the upper edges of the bulkheads and transoms and that provide a landing place for deck).

This stage was accompanied by a number of problems. First was that the kit did not include the 7 12" lengths of 3/32" x 3/32" basswood, 6 of which are to be used for this application.....a major oversight on the manufacturer's part. Fortunately, I had a number of 24" lengths of 1/8 x 1/8", which I milled down to 3/32" x 3/32" - not complicated, but definitely annoying - like most of us, I like getting what I paid for.....

The second issue is a general one - and unavoidable. That is, the framework is very light and delicate at this stage, but all of the notches needed to be filed out to one degree or another to get the 3/32" strips to fit properly. This took quite a bit of time with the needle files as I needed to be very careful not to break the framework - particularly the transoms, which are only glued in a very small section at the centre - I actually broke one of them off during this process, but it was not too difficult to reattach - just led to some more delays as I waited for the glue to cure.

So in general the rule here was to go slow. I soaked 6 12" lengths of 3/32" bass in a shallow tray of Windex, which made them very pliable. Starting with the keel battens, I first brushed a thin layer of PVA onto the face and then placed a drop of CA into the appropriate notches in bulkheads 2, 3 and 4 - the keel battens run straight in this section and flush with the bottom edge of the keel. I then added another drop of CA into the notch on the forward transom and carefully bent the strip down into it, adjusting the piece so that it was flush with the keel along the curve of the stem. This was repeated for B/H 5 and the stern transom and then the whole process repeated on the other side.

I took the same approach to adding the chines, which were more or less straightforward. The only issue was an optical one - when I had installed the chine on the starboard side, I noticed that it skewed the framework a bit, but this was resolved/corrected when I added the port side chine.

I had thought also to do the sheer battens today, but by the time I installed the chines it was lunch, and then back to a bit of work, so this will have to wait.

Enjoy the photos and happy modelling

hamilton

I've never even heard of this Midwest kit, and I thought I knew all of them.

The deck planking makes a world of difference! Good work!

@Griphos - this is a collab with Model Shipways....I don't think I ever came across this until it was promoted on the Model Expo site this past Spring - it seemed like a strange and unique subject so thought I'd go for it - and so far it's been very fun. Enough challenge and detail to keep it interesting. Would recommend, though since there was a major omission from the wood package (as noted above - the 7 strips of 3/32" x 3/32" basswood were not included) I would caution anyone buying this kit to make sure the contents are all there. Fortunately I've built enough model ships to have a wealth of unused wood sheets and strips of all kinds left over and the capacity to mill my own wood if need be, as I have already a couple of times for this model!

hamilton

The framework is now complete with the addition of two final elements - the sheer batten and the mast steps. The former is, as described above, another 3/32" x 3/32" strip that runs along the sheer line outboard on both port and starboard sides. The latter come as laser cut pieces of different shapes and sizes as suited to the different parts of the framework onto which they're installed.

These are not "steps" in the conventional sense, as they only seem to serve as lateral stabilisers and not seats for the masts as is usually the case (at least in my understanding). They were not at all difficult to work with and install, though I did open up the "half-moon" cutaways to ensure that the 1/4" masts will fit nicely through them.

With the framework complete, I can now install the deck which has been waiting patiently for the last week and a half. I tried dry-fitting this today and was happy to see that it fit quite well - it will need a bit of adjustment on the fore and aft edges to account for the angles of the transoms, but this should not be too difficult. My main concern is always the alignment of these parts on the model as-built. But in this case the deck openings were very nicely aligned with the bulkhead extensions for the cabin and the main hatch, as well as for the mast openings. So far I'm very pleased with this kit, simple as it is in comparison with much of the work being done on this forum! I'm now mostly concerned that I can finish this model (while still giving it the time needed for a good result) by the start of the school year (as a prof, I still keep calendar time as if I'm a student, so my year always feels like it ends in August and begins in September.....). At that time, I'll turn back either to my Corel Bellona or the Model Shipways Flying Fish for the winter.

Enjoy the photos and bye for now!

hamilton

This morning, I managed to eke out a few minutes to install the deck. The part needed some bevelling fore and aft to fit the angles of the transom. In the process of sanding these bevels in, I reopened the split in the sub-deck - the 1/64" basswood decking was not quite robust enough to hold it. I added a 1/16" x 3/16" batten on the underside of the deck to seal this up - you can't see this, but it's there!

As I mentioned above, the deck fit quite well, though it does extend outboard of the sheer battens on both sides and will need to be sanded flush prior to adding the hull planking. I am considering another adaptation to both the side and bottom planking. The kit supplies 1/16" laser cut pieces for both side and bottom planking, but I think I will plank it using individual strakes, as is usually done. The information I've found on the scow schooner Alma (and scow schooners generally) notes that the bottom planking was laid athwartships, which is how I will do it - have to figure out dimensions of the planking if I can based on whatever historical information is available.

The side planking presents another issue. Photos of Alma clearly show no inboard stanchions along the bulwarks. It's unclear whether this is because the frames were planked over inboard as well as outboard or whether some other approach was taken. I can't imagine that the frames did not extend up to the sheer line, but I cannot find any information on this part of the ship's design. I will have to give some thought as to how to approach this if I'm using individual planking strakes rather than the single side planking parts supplied in the kit.....

In any case, here are some shots of the deck. Bye for now

hamilton

Oops! I think I've somehow missed some of your posts.

She's coming along beautifully. i love your deck!

John

Thanks John - yes it turned out quite nicely! I'm pretty please so far. Started planking the hull bottom today - I have a decent supply of 1/32" x 3/16" basswood strips that I'm using - a little bit broad for the scale, but they will mostly be invisible, so I'm approaching it more in the way of "modeller's ease" than accuracy.....Not much point posting any pics til its done and I'm now about 1/5 of the way through....it'll be slow going, but ultimately I prefer this to trying to fit a single piece - given what @palmerit shared elsewhere regarding his experience of working with this sort of material.....

In any case, going to go quiet here for a bit while I finish the bottom planking.

hamilton

The bottom planking is now complete. As noted, instead of installing the two large laser-cut strips that come with the kit for the bottom planking, I went with the more historically accurate athwartships planking, using 1/32" x 3/16" strips. This was a slow-going but not difficult process. The only thing to note is that a 3/32" space had to be left along the centreline at the bottom of the hull - this leaves room for the addition, quite soon, of the stem and false centreboard.

I think the planking strakes are probably too wide - I think going with 1/8" strips would have been better but since I already milled down a lot of my 1/8" stock to 1/64 for the deck planking, I wanted to reserve that for the hull sides, where the planking strakes will be much more visible and where scale accuracy will be more important to maintain.

I gave a good sanding to the hull bottom and at the sides with a sanding block to get them flush with the chine battens. The deck overhangs the sheer battens on both sides and I have to consider how to get that flush - the overhang is too much in places to leave to a sanding block, so I may use my mini belt sander for this....going to do a test run tomorrow to see how risky a procedure this is....

In any case, here are a few photos - enjoy and happy modelling

hamilton

More lovely planking, Hamilton.

John