Chuck Seiler

Clamps! Get lots of clamps!
 
Steven

I don't think that you can achieve the look of wood with a single colour of paint. I start with a suitable base-colour and then apply washes of burnt umber, other beiges/yellows and/or white; finally a couple of coats of satin varnish and for a deck final-final coat of matt varnish sprayed on (otherwise it does not become really matt).
 
Judging colours from pictures (on the Internet) or even what is printed onto the lables is notoriously misleading. The only way to find out is to paint a sample.
 
Here is a recent example from my own production: 

The following procedure was used: The piece of decking was given a base-coat of Vallejo Model Air 71075 ‘sand (ivory)’ using the airbrush. In a next step single planks were randomly given a light wash with Prince August 834 ‘natural wood transparent’ or Vallejo Model Air 71023 ‘hemp’ (which turned out to be a bit too dark actually). In a next step randomly selected planks, particularly those ‘hemp’ ones were given a very light wash with Vallejo Model Air 71288 ‘Portland stone’. Another very light wash with Vallejo Model Air 71041 ‘armour brown’, toned down with yet another very light wash using Vallejo Model Air 71132 ‘aged white’, pulled everything together.
 
 

The San Diego Ship Modelers Guild (SDSMG) is a chartered chapter of the NRG.  More info about the Guild can be found at:
https://thenrg.org/about/chapters/sdsmg
 
    As Brian mentioned, we meet aboard the SDMM ferry BERKELEY the second Tuesday of each month.  You are welcome to visit and chat.

The San Diego Ship Modelers Guild (SDSMG) is a chartered chapter of the NRG.  More info about the Guild can be found at:
https://thenrg.org/about/chapters/sdsmg
 
    As Brian mentioned, we meet aboard the SDMM ferry BERKELEY the second Tuesday of each month.  You are welcome to visit and chat.

The San Diego Ship Modelers Guild (SDSMG) is a chartered chapter of the NRG.  More info about the Guild can be found at:
https://thenrg.org/about/chapters/sdsmg
 
    As Brian mentioned, we meet aboard the SDMM ferry BERKELEY the second Tuesday of each month.  You are welcome to visit and chat.

The San Diego Ship Modelers Guild (SDSMG) is a chartered chapter of the NRG.  More info about the Guild can be found at:
https://thenrg.org/about/chapters/sdsmg
 
    As Brian mentioned, we meet aboard the SDMM ferry BERKELEY the second Tuesday of each month.  You are welcome to visit and chat.

I used to live in San Diego, I was in East Central San Diego -- the La Mesa and El Cajon areas.  An uncle lives in the Escondido area. While I was in San Diego I used to be with the San Diego Maritime Museum. the model shop was always my favorite part. The club at the San Diego Maritime Museum is good if you want to drive there, have meetings on Tuesday nights. Long Beach has a good model club if you want to drive up there also.

I am new here, and i guess this is a rite of passage. I am seventeen years old, from California, USA. I have been making model ships since the eighth grade, but still have a world to learn. My introductory model will be the 1/96 scale USS United States, by Revell. Wish me luck!
 
 

Post One Hundred and Seventeen.
 
Trouble with steps.
Not over keen with the block of wood steps provided in the kit I looked around for a more period  appropriate version.

The arrangement on the Amazon (5th Rate 1773) looks about right, and not that difficult to replicate.
It looks like John McKay used the same arrangement in his AotS book on Pandora, presumably taken from the contemporary Amazon model.
 
Firstly the QD front drift rails patterns need to be fitted, remembering to bevel the underside to match the camber.

6790
All that is needed to modify the steps is a piece of 3mm Pearwood, loads of it available in the used frets, and a knee between the bulwark and the Qtr deck breast beam.
These were fashioned from some 1.5mm fret.

6792
Too early to fit at this stage but the Newel post will be fitted at the same time as the QD rail.
I suspect I will have to fashion a new Newel post when the time comes.

6797
The platform was faced with Boxwood strip, but of a narrower width than the main planking.
 

6798
The inner face of the Gangway will tidied up when the Newel is fitted.
 
Back to Gunwales next.
 
B.E.
06/05/22

 

Hello from Virginia. I have built small ship and boat models.  Some for for a model ho layout. Would like to build larger but planking has been a bug.
Hope to learn how to trim to fit which is the biggest problem.
 
Robert

Agree with others, it isn’t a race. Planking a deck around hatches with a tight fit at bulwarks takes time. The best way to do it right is a plank at a time. I see more potential for problems than for a good outcome trying your suggested approach. 

Like Allen, I'm not clear why you're having difficulty getting glue onto the entire plank?
 
Also, from my experience I'd much rather fit individual pieces in place than try to make a whole assembly fit into place. It's much easier to correct mistakes as you go than all at once at the end. A full-taped-deck approach might work for something simple, but would seem very difficult for a complex vessel with hatchways and other details the planks have to fit around. Seems that you'd spend more time measuring and recreating the work than just doing it once in the first place. And I'd be concerned about even the slightest slippage of planks from the tape, which would leave unsightly gaps or otherwise have things out of place. But if you try it with success, let us know!

It takes time to do things neatly and accurately in this hobby of ours.  Why are you not able to get glue on the underside of the entire plank?  Maybe I am misinterpreting your problem. 
 
 Looking for a fast way to do something usually is not a good idea.  I see no advantage in taping planks together then gluing them down all at once, but I see a lot of potential problems.     Maybe someone has done as you are suggesting though, it will be interesting to see.   Never too late to learn something new.
Allan

This from BBC:
 
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220426-battle-of-the-aegates-the-shipwrecks-rewriting-roman-history
 
It's quite a story of the discovery of the site of this battle and recovered artifacts.

Three points:
 
(1) My understanding is that the Ontario kit is brand-new, which naturally raises its price because the designer and manufacturer have yet to reap any benefits from sales or economy of scale. For example, setting up the casting of any metal parts costs money up front but once manufacturing is flowing it gets ever cheaper to reproduce those castings. Eventually the price will come down as the initial investment is paid off. Also, I believe that kit used a bunch of fairly new/innovative 3D design techniques to produce some of the trickier parts, which raises the potential quality of the kit but also its price, compared with an older kit using poorly cast metal and/or just providing you with raw materials to make the part yourself (think detailed windows). Finally, if it's made in Europe, it's probably especially expensive to ship over to the US right now given how messed up shipping and supply chains are. 
 
(2) As others have said, use sensible buying practices. I just looked, and this kit is currently marked down to $699 from $969 on Model Expo. So you just "saved" ~$270 by looking again.
 
(3) A touchy point for me is people complaining about the price of kits (this is not aimed at the original poster here, but a more general comment). Designing and producing kits is a very time- and labor-intensive process, and kit-makers are businesses that have to earn a living. Cheap kits are generally cheap for a reason; either they're low-quality or they've been around long enough that their makers have long since recouped initial costs (and this often means their quality and design is out of date, as is the case for some Model Shipways kits). Or in a few cases they're pseudo-kits that expect you to do a lot more scratch work than the average kit, thus keeping costs down (e.g., Syren).
 
There's no inherent "right" to afford whatever model kit you want. We aren't all made of money (I certainly watch my budget) but a good life lesson is that sometimes we can't afford things we want, or need to make hard choices to get things we want. Personally, even $1000 works out to a pretty good return on investment for something that would take the average people a couple years to build; that's ~$50-$100 a month, the price of cable TV and with far less toxic effects no matter what glue you use! 
 
EDIT: Meant to add, for anyone interested in the Ontario, check out the book Legend of the Lake, which tells her story in good detail with extensive drawings, along with images of the wreck and the story of its discovery.  

So I decided to go round 2 with planking and start over. The blanks were glued on using white glue so they were removed fairly easily with 90% alcohol and some Q tips. I was maybe a little to overconfident with the Bulwarks and really went all out with the wood glue so those were a little more tricky. Still was able to get them off with rubbing alcohol, q tips  and an xacto knife without too much trauma. 

Afterwards I created little tick strips to better mark out were to place the Bulwarks and put a little shim in the hole in the front to act as a stop. I also pinned it this time but used white glue just incase 3rd time is the charm. Next steps is going to be plotting my attempt at planking/procrastinating out of fear! 

Isopropyl alcohol is the way to go.  Some use 90ish% whereas I prefer the 70ish %.  I soak the joint by applying the alcohol with a Q tip or cottonball, depending on how much area that needs to be removed.  Once well soaked and allowed to soften, I use an exacto blade (attached to the handle, of course) to gently separate the plank from the frames.  Resoak and let soften as needed.  Slow, gentle deconstruction takes time and patience, but is well worth the effort.

Good point. I'll certainly have all the anchor bits n' buoys mounted, including the possibility of adding an anchor lining. I thought about this possible addition as I was rigging the deadeyes...I did add a centre-deck spanshackle, so the crutches make more sense. How do you plan to handle the masts? Stubs with broken wood?  Angled tops? A fellow artist/builder would like to know! Cheers!

Timely narrative, as I tried to make a first-time purchase from GPM yesterday and ran into similar issues. I'm going to have to try hunting harder for the PayPal link.
 
Part of the difficulty in ordering card models or after-market parts is that the publishers rarely ever reprint stuff, so when it's gone, it's gone. In my case, GPM has some laser-cut frames for some older Kartonowa Kolekcja kits I have, so that's who I have to order from.

Issue fixed.  American CC company released the pymnt after they sent me a fraud alert, but it was blocked long enough that the Polish company marked it as rejected and couldn't unmark it.
 
I went back in and actually found the obscurely buried link to PayPal, and everything has gone through as of today at Noon.

I’m sorry Chuck I don’t know the answer to your question, but it’s certainly available to those members of the Tffm club.
 
B.E.

Thanks all for the advice and encouragement! I am having the hardest time conceptualizing how to bend and taper the planks. I watched Chucks amazing video on planking and went over Allan Tylers guide among others but is there an even more basic set of instructions (or is that even possible?) 

Since I don't know what your problems are, I can only add a suggestion which may or may not be relevant.
 
    I used to have all sorts of problems ordering/paying for items using PAYPAL.    By changing browsers from FIREFOX to Microsoft EDGE (for those transaction) I no longer have problems.  Could that be the problem with GPM third party?

Is information available on that method for those of us that don't own that fine book?

Isopropyl alcohol is the way to go.  Some use 90ish% whereas I prefer the 70ish %.  I soak the joint by applying the alcohol with a Q tip or cottonball, depending on how much area that needs to be removed.  Once well soaked and allowed to soften, I use an exacto blade (attached to the handle, of course) to gently separate the plank from the frames.  Resoak and let soften as needed.  Slow, gentle deconstruction takes time and patience, but is well worth the effort.