Don Quixote

Which ones the poop deck? I won't worry if that looks like $***.

Rear deck done. Thinking of waiting to xmas before planking the hull. Maybe work on deck pcs or spars... Should have that hide-wood to experiment with.

I didn't pay attention to my start at planking and didn't follow the pattern I wanted. I think I recovered in time. I think one has to actually look TO see if it's done right to notice. -Ahem. Again, I think/hope my ooops's and &*%$@#'s around the edges will be hidden.

So I drew an outline around the upper front deck and am experimenting with a couple small pcs of planking to see if there's any way to make what I have fit. I have no choice but to try to bend planks laterally. You'd think a half mm would be nothing, but it adds up. I have 1 plank that's actually a subtle "S". One bends a full .09" at about 1/3 down the plank.

Got it. Good stuff, thanks, y'all. I don't believe I'll have enough planking to finish the front top deck! So much was warped latterly that I tossed... I got as much out of any strips I could but there's no fix for warped planks.

That does look good. Much better than charcoal:)

Cog, not to be a smart-a** but now does one affix the wood on wood? I'm missing something.

Wood glue? I get everything all over my fingers. And I use a needle. I don't seem to be able to apply little enough.

What's "mark-a-lot?

I'll keep hardwood in mind for the next build. If I'm not mistaken this planking is supposed to be walnut? VERY rough!

What's the logic behind waiting until deck fixtures are in place before varnish?

Front and back.

I think I'll plank the fake deck off ship and prey the gaps will be minimal.

MANY of my planks are warped laterally. Making this a serious challenge. I have some medium charcoal pencils, I've been running one edge and one end of each board against but I never like the look of it. Too messy. Probably far more real, but doesn't look clean against all those fresh painted parts. Something to decide on for future builds.

What about finishing? What's the general consensus on finishing these days? I hope I'm doing a good enough job on the upper deck planking to justify a satin finish varnish or something.

After weights for 2 days, my upper rear deck is still warped, but not as bad...

Question: Can I plank that and lay it down after it's planked? Seems like that'd be easier.

I'm waiting for my disk/belt sander for xmas before starting on the filler blocks.

Do you mean between the lower and upper deck, or just below the lower deck?

As a matter of fact, I have a mini disk/belt sander on order for Xmas. Love the way you can share lists with friends on Amazon. Prime to boot? Prime is going to take on a brand new meaning, you mark my words, right here and now.

Google is a noun and a verb. Is Prime?

I have a couple blocks of bass wood just for that and the stern. Last time I used balsa wood and it was not bad but once or twice I wished that I could put a needle or a nail in it, but balsa is of course too soft.

Added the hide glue to my xmas wish list on Amazon. Should have it here by the 25th.

Question. Is the pre-fabed stuff going to be a lot different than mixing it myself? Wife already wonders what I do out here all day, she'll think I'm cooking meth or something.

I've destroyed the deck, so I am thinking of painting it. The lower part only. Probably a buff color.

I'm thinking I don't really have to run the planking all the way out to the edges either. It all gets hidden and covered so as long as the wheels of the cannons all set on decking that is level all the canons should face the same height.

Grand daughter doesn't seem interested. It can't be done from a text, it ain't getting done.

Looking for experiences with hide glue for deck planking? I've been using CA glue to lay the deck planks but you get one chance, and one chance only. This looks like it may provide a little time to move things around?

Whataya think, white? White washed?

What's that? I figured out I have some CA glue.

Also Mike, in my measuring and marking out where the cannons go, I see that the plans are smoking something good. There are no frames blocking the ports. The measurements on the plans don't add up. Though I'm worried about all the detail around cannon 1 between frame 1 and 2.

I'm prepared to do just that. However, my support seems to have dont the trick. I measured out where each canon goes and I see no where that any warping would cause a problem. At this point I don't see any warping but if I come across it I'll lay one some wood filler.

Know how many times I looked at that and never saw the ports?

I got lucky with this one. There's still a bit of a slope from center out one a couple places but not as bad as it was. Maybe 1.5 mm TOPS.

Now, Regarding the cannons on the plans. I want to know where each cannon goes so I can determine on the ship itself if any location of the deck needs adjusting for cannon.

Looking at the right side of the ship plans it looks like the bulwark planking is going to cover half the cannon port. Also the cannon to the left looks like the bulwark was notched out for the wheel.

The plans don't show where the rest of the bulk heads are either.

GreatGallions recommended this ship as being a good one to cut my teeth on rigging on. Niagara has a LOT more rigging from what I can see. Perhaps because it's a larger scale? Definitely appreciating the quality of the instructions and plans of a Model Expo ship.

I bought some 1.5"X.25"X24" strips of bass wood and insterted them as seen. They go almost all the way back to the keel.

Now, before I layed the false deck I used strips of wood kinda like battens and faring and it all looked good. I think the issue was that the deck was a little warped AND the bulk heads were off. Faring would not have picked up on that. I don't think:)

The rest of the board that the deck came from is a little warbly as well. I have that under weights.

This support seems to have helped a lot and make me feel better about mounting things to the deck later.

At this point, my concern is that a couple places are still too much of a bow from the keel to the outer deck. I'm prepared to use filler before planking but I thing I need only be concerned with a couple locations. Those being the locations of a couple cannons. Some would point down instead of a straight line.

Logical thing to me is to locate the cannons and see which ones need filler to raise them.

I'm having a hard time seeing where the cannon should go though.

A little sanding, a little Carpel Tunnel and I have a long way to go yet.

Good point Carl. Little sugar and I'd have frosted shredded mini sheets.

I was just thinking about doing that to the upper decks.

Definitely warped, but you have to be at the right angle to see it. There's only one spot I;m really worried about. I'm heading into the hobby store this afternoon to see what I can use to make blocks in between the bulk heads. Coulda, shoulda, woulda in the 1st place.

I thought about it but didn't want to make the hour round trip to the hobby shop. Shame on me!

I'm prepared to shim if needed.

Which ship will you build next, Mike?

Always look forward to your visits Cog.

I'm open to suggestions on how to get that deck to lay flatter. My idea is not working.

I think I should have soaked the deck in water and laid it out on a flat surface with weights. Teach me to be observant, huh?

It looks like the deck issue will be mostly hidden, but a close look will show the warping where the upper decks don't hide it.