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usedtosail

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Everything posted by usedtosail

  1. usedtosail
    I have been working on sanding the hull planking and filling in cracks and dips with wood filler. I am not completely happy with it yet but for now I am going to move on to planking the decks and bulwarks. I will come back to the hull later to finish it off. I removed the bulwark extensions on the main deck for a couple of reasons. Firstly I want to be able to plank the deck without having to work around them, and secondly I want them higher so I can attach the rail to them. I am going to add many more extensions for the rail and the plywood extensions didn't look as nice as solid wood extensions will. I removed them by carefully cutting them near the false deck using a cutting disk in the Dremel tool. I then used a sanding disk in the Dremel to sand them down closer to the deck then I used a riffler file to file them flat to the deck. Here you can see them removed on one side. I will add about 10 new ones on each side, keeping the curve of the old ones and gluing the hull planks to them. When I added these hull planks I only glued them to each other, not to the old extensions, which made it much easier to remove them.
  2. usedtosail
    It was cool to see my Chris Craft model on the MSW Facebook page the other day. With so many great models on this site I figured they had a lot of others to choose from. I was thrilled. On the Half Moon I sanded the filler pieces into the stern post. I still have some more sanding to do but I will wait a bit on that. I wanted to cover the plywood edge along the keel and also to make the keel a bit deeper, so I glued a strip of wood onto the keel, which I will taper into the plywood after it dries. I didn't have a good way to clamp it so I brushed wood glue along the keel, leaving areas that I put medium CA on. These acted like a clamp to hold the strip down while the wood glue dried.
  3. usedtosail
    This is a cool technique and the ship is looking great.
  4. usedtosail
    I have been sanding the planks on both sides of the hull, adding wood filler in spots as I go. I trimmed the plank ends at the transom using a sanding disk in a Dremel tool first, then finishing with sanding blocks. In doing this I opened up a hole at the transition of the planks on the deadwood and those on the transom, as you can see here. I really should have cut a rabbet on the deadwood as a continuation of the transom and ended the planks there, but I didn't. You can see in the photo above that I have tapered the planks on the deadwood so they are much thinner at the stern post. I could have added planks above these on the stern post, but I came up with a different solution. I cut two filler pieces from a thick piece of basswood sheet and fit them to each side of the stern post. I tapered them from the front to the back and from the bottom to the top and glued them on. I will use some wood filler and give them a final sanding after the glue dries to blend them in better. I still have a ways to go sanding the hull planks, but it is getting there.
  5. usedtosail
    I worked on the port side planks for about half an hour this morning and this is what it looks like now. I did have to add some wood filler in a dip by the bow but so far I am pretty happy with the results. I used a sanding block with some course sandpaper, which as a rounded end so I could get into the curves more easily. I still have more to do on this side and the starboard side.
  6. usedtosail
    Another milestone reached - the lower hull is totally planked. I filled the remaining gaps and added two stealer planks at the stern. You can see how I used partial spieled planks at the bow to get the curve on the undersize to look half way decent. Now I have to scrape and sand the hull, with some wood filler in places, to try to get it to look good. At least the weather is right that I can do most of the sanding outside. I do have to clean up the workshop too as you can also see. I will leave the rest of the upper planking above the main rail until later, once I plank the main deck and bulkheads.
  7. usedtosail
    I am planking from both sides of the existing gap between the keel and the chine. I have been able to bend the planks near the keel but I have been spieling the planks along the chine. Here you can see the gap I left for one of the stealers that I will be adding at the transom. I am also planking up from the main rail along the aft section of the hull.
  8. usedtosail
    I have been working on the planking from the chine to the keel. I have been spieling planks to fit at the bow and even removed bow sections of previous planks and replaced them with spieled sections. I am going to have to add some extra plank sections at the transom but for now I am just adding full width planks from these bow sections.
  9. usedtosail
    Thanks Popeye and Steven. Popeye, this kit has the laser cut parts and the basswood planking so I don't think it is too old. Its the first Billings kit I have done though so I am getting used to their assembly instructions. I am glad this is not my first model. A milestone of sorts - the planking is completed on both sides from the main rail to the chine. It is still pretty ugly but with lots of sanding and scraping it should be OK. This planking has been very different than other hulls I've done but I think I can move on to planking from the chine to the keel now.
  10. usedtosail
    More planking being done but the weather here has turned fantastic so less time in the shop. I added a spieled plank to partially fill the gap and resoaked the rail plank to get a better fit.
  11. usedtosail
    Ah perfect. Thank you very much
  12. usedtosail
    Thanks Patrick. I do plan to make a hole myself. I have been searching through photos of the replica but none of them show that area clearly. They all seem to be dark in that area. Maybe time to dust off my image processing skills and see if I can enhance one of those photos to see it.
  13. usedtosail
    I experimented with spieling the plank that goes above the one in the picture in the previous post and was able to get a good fit around the bow. The rest of it is pretty straight but does change width a lot due to the edge bending of the planks above it. I have also been trying to figure out where the bow sprit goes into the hull. Most of the pictures I can find are of the Corel kit which shows the bow sprit going through the little front deck, but the angle on the stem of this kit has it going through the front bulkhead, which is what the only other Billings kit pictures I can find did. There is just so much of this kit that has no instruction or plans, like the bow sprit installation and the rudder. There is a piece of wood on top of the rudder that goes into the hull but does it go through a slot or a round hole? Questions like that are keeping me up at night.
  14. usedtosail
    Thanks Halfdan. More bulkheads would be nice. Well I had to put on the brakes yesterday and reassess this planking job. The planks at the bow were not laying flat as l planked down and the edge bending was becoming way too severe. I removed two planks on the starboard side then just bent a plank with the bow curve and clamped it where it wanted to lay flat. I will have to plank around this one with some drop and added planks and maybe some spieled ones too. I am going to work on just the starboard side for now to see if I can get it planked without crazy plank bends. This morning I added another plank on the starboard side again letting it go where it wanted to. I guess this is the Zen method of planking. I am happier with these two planks and I think filling in between them will be a lot better. We shall see...
  15. usedtosail
    Agreed, stunning!
  16. usedtosail
    That is looking really good.
  17. usedtosail
    Planking continues. I have added planks down from the rail and up from the chine. The bow area is still the most difficult to get right with some edge bending required to keep the clinkering effect down. So far I am pleased with the results. There are two planks above the main deck level that wrap around the bow. Since there are no supports in the bow for these I soaked two full width planks and wrapped them around the planks at the main deck level to shape them. After they dried I glued them to those planks. They fit really well so I am happy. The second plank will be slightly less in height so I need to rip some plank stock for them.
  18. usedtosail
    Well said Vane. That has been exactly my experience.
  19. usedtosail
    I have been adding more planks on each side down from the main deck. After adding five planks on each side I bent the planks that run along the chine. I did this to see how these planks would fit and also to remeasure the remaining space for the planks between. They line up nicely at the bow and the stern. After gluing these on I will redo the planking plan for the gap and probably plank both up and down to fill the gap.
  20. usedtosail
    I finished planking the transom and sanded the ends flush with the transom piece. The hull planks will overlap and hide these ends. I decided to add some filler blocks between the stem and the first bulkhead to help with shaping the planks where they bend severely and to give me a larger gluing surface. I used some chunks of basswood for the fillers. They look ugly in the picture but they are faired. I then soaked and bent the first plank along the main deck on the port side. It is clamped onto the bulkheads to dry. I then did the same on the starboard side. I have 12 planks to add on each side down to the chine, then 9 planks from the chine to the keel, so this will take a while.
  21. usedtosail
    I have mostly been adding the planks on the transom and I am almost finished. I faired the upper decks and some of the transom and have prepared the first hull plank.
  22. usedtosail
    I started adding the planks on the upper transom. Before I did though I wanted to do something about the loose plank ends at the curve of the transom. I cut two edges and glued them in behind the plank ends, then used the laser sheet as a template to cut two more supports for the upper transom. I then started adding the rest of the transom planks. It was at this point I realized I had glued one of the deck pieces on backwards. The slots for the bukwark extensions happen to be right in the middle of this piece so it fits either way. I was able to carefully remove it with alcohol and remove the end plank which was now on the wrong side. I had to make a new longer end piece but luckily the saw was still set up for it. I glued it back in the right way and added the end plank so it's all good now. After I finish the transom planking I will start the hull planking.
  23. usedtosail
    Thanks Patrick. I finished the diagonal planking on the lower transom and have it a preliminary sanding and scraping. I also faired the lower sections of the aft bulkheads. I have also been planning the planking along the keel in the bow which has been a bit puzzling. I have a plan now so I am feeling better about it. You can see the garboard plank that I have been experimenting with. It curves up pretty sharply at the bow. I need to fair the fore bulkheads now.
  24. usedtosail
    I finished adding all the support pieces then glued the rest of the deck pieces in. I also pinned a strip of wood to the main deck so I can hold the hull upside down in the Keel Klamper later when I plank the hull. I really don't like the wood supplied for planking the decks as it is less than 1mm thick. I know I would have trouble planking with that so I am going to use 3/32" x 1/16" basswood strips instead. This will add more support to the decks and will be easier to sand without worrying about sanding through the planks. I cut a 1/32" rabbet into a strip of 3/32" x 3/16" basswood on the table saw, then glued pieces of this onto the ends of the two overhanging decks. These will make sure the ends of the decks are flat and also hide the edges of the plywood deck pieces. I put the hull into the Keel Klamper and started adding the transom support pieces, getting ready to plank the transom. The planks provided for this are thick enough that I feel OK using them.
  25. usedtosail
    Thanks Steven and Jeff. Those pieces weren't as bad as that out of the box but in trying to flatten them they got worse, mainly because I soaked them first. I like the new pieces better because they are a little thicker and provide more stability to the frames. I have started adding support pieces on the bulkheads to better support all the deck pieces.

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