Chuck Seiler

Here is one I like alot.  It handles the really small micro bits and is VERY comfortable in the hand.
 
I got it from a local hobby shop (model train) but it is also available online.

All shipshape on the transom stern now.
 

Have you looked at the planking tutorials here on MSW?   They are located here:  https://modelshipworld.com/forum/98-planking-downloads-and-tutorials-and-videos/

@Javelin. Thank you for the kind words!  I look at the beautifully painted and coppered models and sometimes wonder if natural was the way to go.  I am glad she has an appeal in her unpainted state.

Brian,
 
    I am very jealous of your weather.  100 degrees for over a week here in Santee.  It is a little cooler where you used to live.
 
    Part of the answer to your question depends on whether you will paint the keel/keelson or not.  If the area in question will be painted, I don't see where it makes a difference if it is the same wood as the exposed part.  If unpainted, it should be the same wood (IMO).
 
    However, I do think you ar making a mistake by using AYC for the keel and frames.  In my opinion, too soft.  I would recommend cherry for the frames and (if painted) the keel.  Modeler's Sawmill has good cherry.

Excellent work on the carlings and ledges.  Practicing on the covered side is like practicing on the first layer of a double planked hull-your mistakes will not show.

Excellent work on the carlings and ledges.  Practicing on the covered side is like practicing on the first layer of a double planked hull-your mistakes will not show.

Trying to get the transom stern close to correct may be the most challenging project to date.  We'll give Chapelle and the Royal Navy the nod as far as what she should look like.

 
So we start with:

 
A little scaling with the copier...

 
Scroll saw and test fit...

 
Building out to plan...
 

 
Creative Clamping 101...
(Good thing the mooring bitts are serviceable!)

 
Et voila!

 

 
(I do realize the port gunport lid is too small.  If it wasn't for rework...)
 
Thanks for checking things out.  Doesn't seem to stick up quite as high as the plans and doesn't seem to be as thin, but it does seem to match the build style to date and is much closer than Constructo intended.  I am pleased - we'll see how she finishes with Danish Oil.
 
Steve
 

The Prince gets around.  San Diego for the monthly club meeting in this case.
 
I'll just leave these here 'cause the wood looks nice in the late afternoon sun!
 

 

 
Stay tuned for a big change to the transom stern as the decor gets added soon!

Installing ledges on the starboard (exposed) side went very smoothly today.   After all the practice I had on the soon-to-be-covered port side, marking and cutting the mortises was a quick job and there was much greater consistency in the result.
 
Marking  is tough for me with these tiny pieces, but I recently acquired a pair of Narex violin marking knives (with right and left hand bevels).   Besides being sharp, the angle is quite sharp, letting me get into tight areas.   They helped a lot marking the mortises.   I also tuned up my little 1.5mm flat chisel so that its edge was straight as well as sharp.   The chisels are from Micromark, and I can't say I think they're wonderful tools, but they are affordable and useful.
You can see in the finished result that the top/left side of the next photos is more uniform than the other.   And, after today's work, the look of all the deck support timbers is similar to the illustration from Witsen back in post #31.Today's work is on the left.
Tomorrow I'll be working on planking the port side and getting the frames up for the upper deck.
 
Thanks for looking,
Bob

This is something I put together quickly to demonstrate, so it could be refined somewhat.

 
I have this real hard melame/mdf stuff, but I'm thinking aluminum might be better.

I glued ( just tacked at each end with CA, so it could be easily removed later ) a strip the same thickness and length as my target,  to the MDF. The little vertical piece acts as a stopper.
Note one end is 5mm from the edge of the MDF.  The other end is 4mm.  At this point you could probably just lay your strip to be tapered against the template above and trim with Xacto blade or scalpel and follow with a little sanding .
 

I took another option and clamped the smaller piece of MDF onto the template and trimmed from there.  The target still has a tendency to move around, so you have to make sure it stays flat against the jig.
Make sure the business side of the two MDF  pieces are flush.
I also thought I might screw the jig together for a tighter fit.

After the blade, I did a little sanding.
 


4mm On one end.
 
 

5 On the other.
 
Let me know if I can explain any better.

Transtint

Here is the wooden template, as mentioned.  I have built it up to the second futtock and ran a support piece across to prevent from snapping.  The bottom of the support piece is even to where the bottom of the orlop deck-beam ledge will be.

Here, the template is temporarily attached to the partially complete hull (for demo purposes).  When I finally get around to adding second futt, I will use comb and dab of glue to hold template in place, and use micrometer to ensure bottom of ledge is even.

To actually answer your question...Only use Satin. Give the first coat at least 24 hours to dry, maybe longer, until it’s not tacky or gummy.  Lightly sand with 400 grit or steel wool and add at least a second coat. My Cheerful hull probably has 4-5, I’ve lost track. 
 
You can paint over it and or put it on over paint (at least with acrylics). 
 
It’s inexpensive, easy to use, and creates a great finish. I’ve never used a whole can, it may dry out before I get to the third or fourth model in which case I go to Home Depot and shell out $13 for a new can, then I have just the one can...ready to use... no other cans of other stuff laying around I have no use for.
 
 

Glenn,
Thanks for the input! On Syren’s serv-o-magic, which is cherry, I’ve applied 3 coats of satin WOP with 24 hours between coats, no sanding. The finish is baby bottom smooth (no doubt cause it’s a pretty hard wood). I’m impressed with the ease of using and the results of WOP.
 
Rick

I had similar results with my hold, but for different reasons.  Test staining of structural pieces (frames) proved less than satisfactory.  I ended up using wood dye (brown in the lower areas and a mix of brown and golden yellow above deck).  The brown was darker than I wanted but the brown/golden yellow got me close to what I wanted.  I went with B/GY on the deck beams.  My planking stain will be Golden Pecan rather than Golden Oak.
 
    At the end of the day, the 'rustic' lower deck may work out well.  The various colored barrels give the cargo and lower deck a well used look.  ...although if you are looking for pristine, that may not be what you want.
 
    Why did you go with Miniwax Poly BEFORE you stained?  It seemed to me that would inhibit penetration.

It's been a long time since my last post, I'm afraid.  I've made it past an important milestone, and collected a few scars in the passing.    
 
First, here's my ship's cargo.    The barrels have different finishes, I know, so I'll probably save some for the next project.   The two leftmost are Chuck's work, which set the standard.   The third on the left is my best effort at matching Chuck's.   All of them are quite usable, though.   (I have one more, a wooden one from the Syren boxwood kit, but it's not quite done and didn't make it into the pic.)

Now's when it gets ugly.  My big effort was to stain the hold, and it didn't go very well.  I started with a light coat of polyurethane (Minwax polycrylic satin), sanded it very lightly, then brushed on stain (Minwax penetrating golden oak).   On the planking it did fine, but the blotchy result on the futtocks and knees was like a knife in my heart!
 

The obvious thing to do was sand it all down and try again, but a big complicating factor was the protruding bolts in the worst pieces.  Eventually I decided that I had to improve the bilge riders, but the futtocks would be much less visible and they could stay as they were.   So I dug the bolts out of those four big timbers and sanded the tops.
And then recoated with the poly and restained.

This resulted in something much closer to what I had hoped for.    Plus, with the passage of time, I have adjusted to the shocking transition from the original white basswood to the stained wood, which now shows so much texture (for good and ill).    
 
Now that the hold was stained, I could move on to installing the lower deck beams.   I'm intending to provide support for the deck planking, i.e. the carlings and ledges, in a way that's closer to the prototype.   For the carlings (the thin longitudinals that connect the heavy beams), I've cut in rabbets on the side that won't be planked, to simulate authentic joint.
 

In Dutch ships of this era,  there were long strengthening planks at the deck edge (nibbing strakes) and near the centerline (binding strakes).   I've cut rabbets in these 2mm planks which will later join with the 1mm regular deck planks.   I'm working now on the ledges,  but don't have any pictures of them yet.  
 
Thanks for looking.    I'll be more prompt with the next posting!
 
Bob

Yes, it can be done. To prove it I had to draw it, so here it is for everyone. Yes, I'm a terrible speller.
 
Cannonade 9 Pounder with Trunnions Full Size_1174_62mm.stl
 

 
 
 

The paper also mentions two other wrecks from about the same time - Magor Pills in Wales (archaeological report 1999) and Kalverev Syd (2022).Both are very fragmentary, as far as I've been able to make out, and both are smaller than this one. That being the case, they may be too small to be categorised as nefs - we just don't know,as we don't know for sure this one is a nef.
 
Part of that is in the definition - does it have to have castles to be a nef, or are we just talking about a double-ended clinker-built ship? And of course we don't even know for sure that it's double-ended - though the stempost has been found, the sternpost hasn't.
 
Steven

I just came across this paper, about a merchant ship from about 1250 AD.
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/mortar-wreck-a-midthirteenthcentury-ship-wrecked-off-studland-bay-dorset-carrying-a-cargo-of-purbeck-stone/3DCA5959D7C694C95EF788903A7BB383
 
Unfortunately, not much of it has survived, but they found the stempost and a floor timber and some clinker planking - enough to get a fair idea of its construction and its size and shape.
 
On board it had a cargo of 'Purbeck stone' - which was very commonly used in church building at the time. Imagine trying to transport all that stone over the roads of the time - no wonder it was being carried on a ship. A nice bit of evidence of the maritime trade of the period, as well as some pleasing confirmation of several of my decisions in my Winchelsea nef build.
 
Steven

I will second the motion on walnut being too coarse-grainy and dark.  I also find it too brittle.  I love cherry for frames/bulkheads and some furniture, but not consistent for planking.  For a model I hope to be a quality piece, I like boxwood for hull planking.  works wee, sands well, staims well.  A bit pricey these days, but...  Another favourite is Alaskan Yellow Cedar.  Not as hard as box.  A little harder than basswood, but works and finishes well (IMO).

I did too.  I was just wondering if somebody had come up with a way to 'lay to rest' my old models.

I was curious about the hull planting.

I will second the motion on walnut being too coarse-grainy and dark.  I also find it too brittle.  I love cherry for frames/bulkheads and some furniture, but not consistent for planking.  For a model I hope to be a quality piece, I like boxwood for hull planking.  works wee, sands well, staims well.  A bit pricey these days, but...  Another favourite is Alaskan Yellow Cedar.  Not as hard as box.  A little harder than basswood, but works and finishes well (IMO).

I did too.  I was just wondering if somebody had come up with a way to 'lay to rest' my old models.