Chuck Seiler

BobF, You answered my question perfectly. Patience is the watchword, I suppose. I am too far along to pull the old planks and try again, but I may decide to build a second one (or try the pinnace).

Bob, Did you bend that downward curve in your broadstrake or did you cut it from a double wide piece of wood?

Bob, I am watching your progress with great anticipation. As indicated in my log, I have problems with planking between the garboard strake and wale....specifically at the bow. I understand what you are doing with the tick strips and 'diminishing grid'. I have fond, however, to allow for the proper lay of the plank in the bow while it is curving in, up and twisting, the plank has to have more of a curved taper rather than straight. I sit riveted.

I went to see the HUNLEY several years ago. It was still in a tank of water and they were still excavating the interior. At the time, they had a "Confederate honor guard" posted at a location in the exhibit that talked about the crew. I thought it was a touristy thing that they were doing...a novelty sort of thing. I found out that it was an actual honor guard (I'm not sure of how official it was) to 'guard' the remains of the crew that were being kept at that location until they could be formally interred later that year. Very interesting site. Highly recommended if you are going. Patriot's Point is also a good location.

Completed planking and a low tech waterline marker. Another view of the exterior planking and waterline marker. The trunnels are easier to see in this pic. I originally planned to use bamboo trunnels, but later decided just to fill the holes using wood filler (based on other peoples experiences). Rather than the prescribed 2 trunnels per frame, I went with alternating 1-2-1-2 pattern.

I’m back. I have been out of service due to an eye malady. Interestingly, it is easier to drive with one eye than it is to build ship (or boat) models. Planking is complete but the results are not as good as I would like. Despite rework, the few strakes above the garboard on either side gave me problems. I used wood filler to make it look adequate. Once painted, you should not be able to tell the difference. Rather than just cover it up, I wanted to show what can be done when your work is less than great. ...or I could have just made it an admiralty model. :-)

I was going to use a brass pedestal, but after looking at your arrangement I may have to rethink. A pedestal may be overly big.

Hi Bob. You say this s your first post to MSW but I suspect this is not your first model. I might even know you. (I think I sat next to you at the last SMA conference in Newport Beach a few years ago.) I look forward to your progress and processes.

Hopeful David, Great work. I get to see all the things I SHOULD have done when I started my build. I got the kit a few years ago and began by bashing it heavily. So far the only thing I have used from the kit are the plans and quarterbadges. <No offense Model Expo>. I did not do a build log and it would be too hard to re-create at this point. There was certainly a lot of soul searching on how to do this, that or the other thing. I am not sure if it is worthwhile at this point to start a log just to show construction to date (stepping masts and rigging). I see you found pictures of the replica. I was able to find a bunch of 'during construction' and 'underway detail' shots to help with deck details. Since the plans for the model were derived from the NMM plans, which were also used to develop the plans for the replica, he model is REAL close to the replica (except no propeller....unless you want to add one). One thing I found, for instance, is that all the deck planks are single planks....no butt joints...because they are all short enough not to need them. Anywho, I look forward to watching your progress. At the rate I am going you may pass me.

Thanks Doug.

There is a lot of good info here. I just wanted to add my 2 pesos worth. I use boxwood and other harder woods a lot. I tend to soak them 10-20 minutes based on thickness. That works well on simple and slight bends even in two dimensions. For more complex bends up in the bow (where it can bend inward, upward and twist) I will soak awhile, then attempt to hand manipulate into approximate shape. That is the only ay I have found to get the twist. When I get close, I will then clamp and allow to dry. I have done the "glue while wet" before and that usually results in gaps due to plank shrinkage. One guy in our club routinely uses ebony. He says he soaks it for days. As with all things wood, I recommend trying different methods, finding what works for you and go with it.

Thanks Bob. I have not decided if I want to mount it on posts like you did or go with the traditional pedestals. How far did you get in the discussion regarding cases during the last meeting? I think that would be good info for this group as well.

Bob, Looks great. Did you drill a hole in the keel for the brass tubes or did you slot the tubes? CHuck

From my discussions with Jim many years ago at an NRG conference, I got the impression he was a machinist that was also a modeler. He found a niche and filled it. ...and he understands our needs.

Thanks Robert. I will look at the Skil (I think I said SkilCraft before) and Craftsman with that flaw in mind. I was told that vibration may be an issue-more so with the low end ones than the higher end.

The only other option I can see is to run a trunnel or two through the length of the stem piece. I like to use bamboo because it can be real strong even in small diameters. However, once broken off you might as well wait.

Any thoughts on the lower end saws? The scroll saw I used to have access to is no longer available, so I am looking at geting one of my own. I would not use it much, only to cut out frames/bulkheads and the like, and I don;t have much room in condo. Most work is done in the garage on a folding table, although a more robust table is availabe on the back porch. I have seen some discussion involving Ryobi. I have also been looking at Skilcraft and Craftsman. Has anybody had any experience with these?

Has anyody used spiral blades? It seems that they would cut the tight angles better.

Mike, I like the 'sanding mallet' for the interior of the frames. I look forward to trying the concept.

Bob, Progress looks great. Where do you get your Badger paint, locally or online?

Mike, Welcome back! Looks great.

Bob, Welcome back. Conny is looking good as well.

Jason, Welcome to the build and welcome to woodmodeling. You will find that wood has it's challenges and it's rewards. The rewards far outway the challenges. ...plus, when you REALLY get frustrated and throw the whole danged thing into the fireplace, it burns cleaner. Great work so far and great progress. You might be new to wood models, but it is obvious you are a skilled modeler.

Chuck, This is great!!! I see that it appears to follow the kit instructions but this way I can expand a particular picture and get a better look. This is a big help.

Before attaching the stempiece and keel, I cut the rabbet. There are probably alot of ways to do this but if it involves hand measuring and marking, count me out. Instead, I set the fence on my mini table saw so that I could cut the appropriate size notch on either side of the false keel. Rabbet Be careful when handling the model at this point. The top of the stem is very fragile and can break of easily. I ended up breaking it off twice before I decided to hold off fixing it until later. My intent is to run a few holes down the length of the stem and reinforce it with a bamboo treenail/dowel. I will cover this later. If yours pops off, just set it aside someplace where you won't lose it. The next thing I did was make a jig to allow me to square the bulkheads/frames along three different axes, axises, dimensions...whatever. A note on terminology. During this part of the build, I will refer to the athwartship structural pieces as "bulkheads". Once the centerpiece is removed, I will refer to them as "frames". At this point, I put the centerpiece in the buildboard and started inserting the bulkheads. As I said before, precision is important. In addition to using the jig, I marked the top dead center of each bulkhead as another reference. I then dry fitted eachbulkhead to see how the whole thing looked. That's my story and I'm ticking to it.... Buildboard with assembly jig