fnkershner

Ray - I want to know how you painted the Captain. Very nice job! Also just an observation. but wouldn't you have trouble using both bow chasers? They will collide on recoil.

Pops, First off you are to be commended for sticking with it. You will be so pleased once you get over the hump. Sort of a personal triumph. Can I remind you of the guarantee? I am on my 3rd false keel and 2nd set of bulkheads and It has not cost me 1 additional penny. Also I have found that creating my own false keel out of my own wood. Is a non trivial task. To get the slots cut correctly may give you fits. I got my new false keel in 1 week.

Very nice job on the Q deck planking. I know that when I did this portion of planking on mine I was glad that most of it was covered by deck furniture.

Blackie - Welcome back. I think it is interesting that you are rigging and have no deck furniture. Comments?

Mike - Great explanation, and good photos. From your pictures I don't see much tapering. Your tick marks look the same.

Richard - Wonderful work! Can you give us more detail on how you prepared your stern decorations? They actually look pretty good. I have been worried they would always look like metal.

Michael - I strongly recommend the Longboat or Pinnace. I chose to build the Longboat for the same reasons as you. I want to finally overcome my planking issues. My club bought the Longboat for $32 each including shipping. It is a great platform to use to improve your skills. Having said all of this I would suggest that if you have already reached this stage with the Halifax you may not need the experience as much as I do. Also I am having lots of fun working with Boxwood. I am sure you will too when it arrives.

Ok Mike as usual you are doing an outstanding job. And generating questions. My first question is did you find that your bulkheads did not line up like mine did in the picture I posted? did you have to adjust the grooves to get them in alignment? Next is there a reason that you waited until the bulkheads were installed for the coat of Poly instead of doing it when they were in the laser cut sheet? By the way I like the shot of the faired bulkheads. It really helps.

Ok, so today I have had 1 step forward and 2 steps back. Attached are the pictures of a different putty I tried. I think I like the color. And I was trying to loosen the bulkheads that were glued to the false keel to get them in better alignment And... I broke both the false keel & the Boxwood stem. So I get to use the ME guarantee and practice making a better Scarf joint. This will be my 3rd false keel! You might think that after 3 tries my skill might get half as good as Chuck's. I wish! :(

I'm with you Sam. But one of the rules I learned early in the hobby is that if I redid everything I had finished I would never get to do something new.

Chuck - The 5 rows with putty hardly show at all. Unless you knew what to look for and where to look. I don't think anyone will see it. the 2 rows with just holes show well. I don't want chicken pox but I did want it to be visible. I also forgot to mention that there was another purpose for this test. I wanted to decide whether to caulk the planks or not. if you look closely you will see that there are 2 planks I didn't caulk and the rest I did. it is subtle but I like the look. I should also mention how much I love working with Boxwood. it sands so nicely with crisp sharp edges.

Chuck S - LOL you weren't the Chuck I was thinking of. But since you have the answer thank you. I will give it a try. Did you add any color?

Ok, I have slowed my build to stay in sync with my local club. Besides for those of you looking at my other builds you will see I am working on other challenges. I decided to do some experimenting. I think I have mentioned that I had several reason for doing this build: 1. Increase my planking skills. Since you see the inside of the hull there is no room for error. I also figured a small kit would be fun to try new things on. 2. I wanted to try a kit with all new wood from Jeff. (boy and I excited that I did!) 3. I wanted a small kit to try Chuck's drill and fill method of treenailing. 4. I wanted a simple kit that still required rigging. Here again if am going to use Chuck's materials for blocks & line. 5. I had to try another kit designed by Chuck So while I wait for the club meeting next weekend and it is raining this holiday weekend. I decided to take 1 strip of Boxwood planking and do some experimenting. You will see from the pictures below that I took a scrap of wood and planked it with Boxwood strips and drilled holes for the Treenails. You will also see the stuff I used for putty and the result after 1 layer of WOP. So Chuck - I have a question - I searched this site and I know you posted it. but right now I can't find it. What product did you use for your putty. It was by Elmer's but I can't remember any of the details. As you can see the contrast in my case is not quite enough. you really have to look hard. And of course the camera catches what the eye doesn't see. There are 5 rows drilled and filled 2 rows drilled only.

Pete - Thanks for the response. I hope you never stop modeling. And the offer still stands if you are in BC and dropping into Seattle give me a ring.

Pops, I think the longboat is a great platform for experimenting and learning. I am using it to improve my planking skills (lord knows they are in need of improvement). I am also using this kit to experiment with different wood and Chuck's method of treenailing. On your edge bending have you tried bending just a bit and letting dry and soak and bend some more? Like mentioned in out longboat logs I have a piece of Plexiglas that I lay the soaked plank on and bend with clamps. I also soak them for 30 min. On the subject of the Model Expo guarantee. My first completed kit was the MS Bluenose. I must have replaced most of the parts at least twice. I am sure they didn't make any money off of that purchase. But I have been a loyal customer since. I should also mention that I bought a kit off of eBay from someone else. when I found it was missing parts and the seller would not respond. I reached out to Model Expo (since they carried the kit) I offered to pay for the missing parts. they treated me like I had bought it from them!! They sent me the parts I needed for free.

Pete - can you give more details on how you made your railing? It look perfect!

I would suggest HobbyMill is well worth the wait. Maybe you work on cannons or deck furniture while you wait for you planking. I now wish I had on my Harvey the difference is amazing.

LOL, Does your wife really understand that often larger is actually easier? Well good luck and I will be following your progress.

Pete - I am so glad I found your repost of this log. PS my wife says that if she was married to you she would not have to spend as much time cleaning up after me.

Michael - I just found your log. I can't believe that you are jumping into a fully framed model with only 2 or 3 kits under your belt. And you are doing a wonderful job. I will continue to follow your build.

No I would not proceed. The distances should be equal. This is why I created a custom spacer that had the desired width.

Pops, I know I am late to the party. But are you aware of the Model Expo guarantee? I just received the replacement parts from them of the 2 sheets of laser cut parts that are 3/32" thick for free. PS I don't know how old your daughter is. My Son is 41 and I still grit my teeth.

Thank you!

Per - I don't know what to say. I agree with both you and mike about the difficulty of making a good false keel from Boxwood. I was lucky that mine didn't break. It looks like your bulkheads run fine. Do that fit the slots well? maybe just go with it. Crossing my fingers for you.

Mike I am impressed with your scarf joint. Can you share some more details about how you made it?