Usgecko

Hi David, Thanks for the response - I was thinking of cutting the holly into planks and attaching each sperately. That would mean I could stain them individually and add a pencil line round the edge to simulate caulking between the planks. I could also simulate joggling at the stern and aft. My concern though is that I do not know how the planks would be sized (length and width, and also whether or not all lines of planks were the same width. I cannot really find any clear guidance on the internet despite searching - any thoughts on: Cutting the holly into planks - is it feasible/sensible The questions of plank size and layout. Thanks, Stuart

Ok some pictures of my limited process so far. Cannons: The cannons really did need a lot of clean up. The plastic appears to me slightly soft in consistency which made the clean up a little more difficult. The have not been primed or painted yet. The wheels on the gun carriages were often pretty poor. The easist way for me to tidy them up was sand the "axle" off completely getting the wheel more flat, then I drilled a hole and used plastic rod for an axle. The smaller carriages for the spar deck were especially poor and I ended up scratch building axles and wheels for all of them. Here is the gun deck with the 3 parts joined togather: As I mentioned in my first post - looking for suggestions on planking. The two halves of the hull didn't match too closely along the keel (big gap). I am hoping that by keeping the parts in tension like in this picture will make the eventual gluing of the parts easier with less stress on the join:

Hello! I have built a variety of things over the years - starting off with aircraft, tanks etc. I have however been bitten by the ship bug! I have a part completed model of the Titanic (Minicraft 1/350 scale) to which I have added LED and fiber optic lighting, a lot of scratch building of smaller vents etc and photoetch - it's a work in progress at present. Following the receipt of a shiny new Revell Constitution I have been bitten by the bug. I have started owrk as follows (and I'll get pictures posted up soon): Gluing and cleaning up all the cannons - this did take a long while! Cleaning up gun carriages (correct terminology? - if not please enlighten me). Some of the wheels on these were rather poor and almost all had mold lines, or mold mismatch to a greater or lesses extent. I decided to sam the outside of the wheels flat and replace the "axle" in the center of the wheel with plastic rod. Gun deck - joined the three parts together using plastic on the underside, unsuring upper surface at joins is level across the joins. At this stage I have some questions which I would love some thoughts on: Decks - I have sanded the surface of the decks smooth and and contemplating what is the best way to replicate the deck. The alternatives I have in mind are as follows: 1. Scribing lines for the planks. 2. Wood veneer (holly perhaps?) cut into planks 3. Thin plastic sheet appropriately pained in slightly different shades cut into planks My inclination is towards the third option and I will maybe experiment with this and see what it looks like but I would really like the thoughs/suggestions of others on here. I am also curious on where I could put my hands on a plan of planking on the deck, any areas where planking was wider etc, Also what the width of planks on the decks was. Planning on retaining the plastic masts only where they can be reinforced internally with metal to avoid future bending. Smaller masts etc I plan on replacing with either brass tubing (sizes can be had which can be slid inside each other to represent taper - I Used this approach to replicate the masts on the Titanic), or alternatively with wood. If wood - any suggestions on the best product to use, and where it could be purchased? One of my general questions is where can I get a better understandign of sail ship terminology, especially as it relates to masts and rigging? I have reviewed a lot of the builds I can see on here and I will be shamelessly applying some of their good works - imitation is the sicerest fom of flattery after all. I especially like the approach take by force9 to his build. I'll try to get some pictures of work do far pposted shortly. Thanks for looking and for any comments of the questions I have above. Stuart