The Honryousen model is done and been sent to its new owner in Washington state.

The blocks at the ends of the hull turned out to be somewhat challenging to make due to a combination of the way they fit notches cut into the hull planks, plus the angle of the tateita, or the bow and stern planks. Also, the blocks have a peak in the center that look best if they are roughly level with the waterline. That’s not always the case in these types of boats as I’ve seen in photos.

The small deck at the stern wasn’t too much of a problem. I began by making a funabari, or beam, which I notched into the hull planking. As there are no fasteners used, the shallow notch I cut was helpful in holding the beam in place. The inward pressure of the hull planks also help to hold it in place. I used a small amount of carpenter’s glue to help secure it, just for good measure.

For the deck itself, I cut a piece of card stock to fit into place, then used it as a pattern for the deck boards. The deck boards were glued together, though on the actual boat, these boards are removable, and even have a small thumb-hole to make removal easy. As the model has little structure to help hold it’s hull shape, I decided it was best to just glue them into place, at least on this model.

Looking back, I’m sure I could have left those boards removable, and it wouldn’t have caused any problems. And it would have been a neat feature to be able to pull the boards up. Maybe net time.

Final detail was the kai, or paddle, and on that I cheated completely. I had made one for the bekabune model a couple years ago, so I just used that one with this model instead. For those who are curious, here are a few construction photos of the kai.

Of course, now I’ll need to make another for the bekabune. But, I should really make a small batch of these anyway. They’re used on a lot of traditional Japanese boats.

The model sits on a simple cherry board for a base. Most of my models at this scale don’t actually have their own bases, but for a customer, it needed something. The base doesn’t show up all that well in these photos because of the color of the workbench. But, it’s there.

I hope to hear through channels if the recipeint likes the model. It is a very simple boat, but it has a nice shape. And, as you have read in previous posts, the long, narrow shape, and overall lack of beams, it was a bit of a challenge to build.

I do have a second one that I’ve been building in tandem with this one. It’s mostly done, except the details described on this page. But, there’s no rush to finish it. I have other projects that are more pressing now. Ω