Pratt's Cove

[Larry C]

Through my years of modeling, seriously for about the last ten, I have admired seaside scenes where water meets rails but I felt I didn't have the skills required. After thinking about what I wanted my next diorama to be I thought I would do some research on the subject.

The first order of business was to figure out how to make a convincing looking boat hull or the idea would have to be scrapped. I started looking through some of Rob Goslin's threads, since he scratch builds great looking boats, to see the best way to go about the task. I also researched the internet for fishing boat dimensions; more like a lobster boat size.

Grabbing my drafting equipment from my High School/College days I set to work:



Lobster boats ranged from 22-40 ft in length; although some of the newer varieties are as long as 46 ft. At the widest part they ranged from 11-15 feet respectively. I also knew I wanted the aft of the boat to be at 8 ft.

Taking a sheet of 110# paper I made the point for the front of the boat. Then I made a rectangle being 22 ft long, 11 ft at the widest point, and 8 ft across the back. Taking my French curve I lined up all 3 points on each side before drawing the lines. When finished I used a sharp #11 blade with my curve and cut out the template. Next I tack glued the template to a scrap piece of 1/2 inch green foam. Using my curve and a sharp utility knife blade I proceeded to make my cuts. Sadly the first one looked horrible with the sides anything but smooth. Then I did the same process again using my razor saw this time. I ended up with 2 usable hull sections I glued together to get scale 4 ft high sides. Once dried I wrapped the hull with 110# paper strips for a smooth surface to glue the wood to.

Here's the results of my labor:





The rubber bands were applied while the glue dried to hold everything tight. Having a favorable result I can continue with planning my new diorama.

Welcome to the beginnings of Pratt's Cove!!

For this diorama I'll be referring to Dave Revelia's boat repair for inspiration; although this time I'll be using my own design for about 95% of the diorama. It'll be set in the 1950's somewhere along the eastern seaboard in New England and I hope to make the structures to resemble that area. I'm very much looking forward to this new project and I hope y'all will follow along on my journey.

[Jerry]

Aye Aye Matey!! Your off to a good start.
I'll be looking in on this new build.

Jerry

[KentuckySouthern]

Step 1, CHECK...

may poke my nose in at times, have fun.

[Larry C]

Aye Aye Matey!! Your off to a good start.
I'll be looking in on this new build.

Jerry

Thanks for following along.

Step 1, CHECK...

may poke my nose in at times, have fun.

Karl stop by anytime and yes this will be fun.

[PRR Modeler]

I'll definitely be following along Larry.

[Rick]

Larry, you can't do much better than learning from Rob on how to build a boat.
You're off to a good start.

[Larry C]

I'll definitely be following along Larry.

Curt nice to have you on board.

Larry, you can't do much better than learning from Rob on how to build a boat.
You're off to a good start.

Rick thanks. That's exactly what I thought; he does an awesome job scratch
building boats.

[Philip]

No skinny dipping!

Besides Rob who is a great artist check Troel Kirks youtube page.



https://www.youtube.com/@troelskirk/featured

[robert goslin]

Hi Larry.  Welcome to the world of waterfront modelling.  Thanks for the mention.
Looking forward to seeing how you go with this.

Here is one of my 1/48 scale Maine lobster boats.  9" long x 3" at its widest point, so scales to 36'x 12'.  The very back of my lobster boat is 1 3/4", so 7'.

[Larry C]

Hi Larry.  Welcome to the world of waterfront modelling.  Thanks for the mention.
Looking forward to seeing how you go with this.

Here is one of my 1/48 scale Maine lobster boats.  9" long x 3" at its widest point, so scales to 36'x 12'.  The very back of my lobster boat is 1 3/4", so 7'.

Rob you're welcome for the mention; your boats are amazing. It would be great having you following along on this one. The hull was a "proof of concept" to be sure I could pull it off. Thanks for your dimensions on yours, I may redo mine as the proportions seem a bit off to me. Thanks for the pics; those will give me something to refer to.

[friscomike]

Larry, congrats on another fun project. It looks like you are off to a great start.  Have fun, mike

[Larry C]

Larry, congrats on another fun project. It looks like you are off to a great start.  Have fun, mike

Mike thanks; this will be an interesting project.

[Larry C]

Before I start putting together the diorama I wanted to build a small storage building since this will be the anchor, pun intended, with the rest of the diorama being built around it.

The building measures 12ft x 14ft two stories high with a steep metal roof following the New England tradition. The framework consists of 6x6's built off a piece of 1/4 graph paper. Each side has to be sided twice; the first is a horizontal subsiding with the second being vertical wood shingles.



This is the front with an opening on the 2nd floor for storage such as barrels and fish crates. Just before I "plant" the building I have a rope and hook done to go around the pulley to lift things up and down from/to the 2nd floor. I added 4x4's along the roofline and a small horizontal piece across the peak for a N.E. look. The door is a grand line I had on hand spray painted white then weathered with brown chalks. Also added acetate (window), blacked out the opening, and added a dirty window shade .



Here's the left sidewall. After framing out the wall I made a 5ft door, same as the opening, that slides open and shut.The door was constructed from 4x4's for the frame and 1x6's for the panels. After the subsiding was applied I used a few vertical strips of 1x10's, same as the shingles, so the shingles would look right. Before adding shingles I glued the two walls together so the shingles could be applied from corner to corner. The rail is a piece of 6x6 painted metal then weathered with some rust. The brackets for the door is Tyvek painted black. you'll notice the lefthand edge hasn't been shingled yet not until the other end wall is glued in place.

So far it's been slow going with the construction due to having to double side each wall; Jerry I feel your pain with the shingles. Next will be to build the other end and side walls then glue the rest of the building together then finish the shingles. Even though the process is taking considerable time I think the end result will be worth the effort. Thanks for following along and all your great comments and/or suggestions.

[PRR Modeler]

Nice start on the building. The first thing I thought when I saw the wall was "that's not a boat!"

[robert goslin]

Great start to the structure Larry.  Very New England looking with the shingle cladding.