Chuck Seiler

Much progress made.  All the false frames have been installed and the interior planking also installed.  I was concerned with staining under the interior planking.  As you can see there are gaps between the strakes and you can see underneath.  The back side of the planks are not the same material as the front and do not take stain well.  One side I attempted to stain and the other I painted. 
 

    The interior planking took stain well.  I used 2 coats of Natural and 2 of Golden Pecan.  I will probably use the same for the exterior planking.  Should I apply Poly Wipe On or will it goober up the finish (the stain being oil based)?
 
    Center deck planking has been added and stained as well.  Hatch coaming added.
 
    I am now at the same point of construction as I am with Cardy Dog.

Progress Continues...
 

    Stern hull supports and false frames for aft strakes are in place.  Aft strakes in place.
 
    Vertical knee and support added to port side above-deck deck beam.  Blackened bamboo peg/trunnel is test fitted into knee.  This will serve to strengthen the knee and act as 'bolt'.
 

    Mast support in place.  I decided to add a little color by staining it "Sedona Red"  Whadya think?

Progress continues.  A number of false frames are installed in the stern area starboard side.  Once dried, the aft-most plank section of the upper strake is installed.  With all other strakes I started at the bow and worked back because it was critical that the plank placement on the stem be exact while the stern could be fudged.  With the finals strake I started at the stern because it will eventually end with a 'flying end'.

 
    I chose not to install all the false frames before installing the plank.  I found it works better for me.  I will add the remainder later...probably right after I post this.  My glue job is less than great.  This will be under the stern structure so will not be too visible.  I need to work on my technique.
 
    I added one false frame right at a location where there is a seem in the strake below.   This adds strength to that strake and also provides support so I can dry-fit the forward plank group.  I need to do this to be sure where the strake actually ends because that is where the above-deck deck beam will need to be located.  As currently cut, the hole can be expanded 1/16" fore or aft as needed.
 

    Hole cut and beam installed.  I had to install the forward section of the center row of deck planks because it tucks under the beam.  You can tell the diff between the stained and unstained planks.
 
    I left the remainder unplanked.  This allows me to pick up the model without having to touch the delicate edges.

Progress continues, but it is slow.  I keep popping the glue joints.  I am at a very delicate phase of the model.  The first strake above the main deck overlaps the one below by only 1MM along most of the hull and edge glued at bow and stern.  Supporting false frames and uprights are not added until later.  My sausage-fingered handling of the model often cause a seam to pop.
 

    Huzzah!!!!  Equilibrium!  The plan says to install the false bulkheads first, then the support structure fore and aft.  The false frames are spaced a quarter inch apart along the length of the hull and stick up until the top strake is added.  Sixty six vulnerable pieces waiting to be snapped off.
 
    I decided to do the fore and aft support structures first.  Added strength with only 2 breakables.

    "Safety caps" added. 

Some progress.  Much time waiting for stain to dry and I went to the beach.  Isn't it 75 degrees everywhere?
 
    I finished decking 6 of the 7 main deck panels.  According to the plans, at this point I should have completed the bow, stern and furthest outboard port and starboard panel.  Not sure why interior panels are not completed.  I wanted to stain and preserve the deck before I continued with hull planking and so to ensure consistent color, I decked all but center panel.  I was going to do all, but for some reason I remembered I should keep the center unplanked.

 
    Oh!  Now I remember why I wanted to leave the center unplanked.   My effort to be consistent went for naught.  Despite being stained at the same time, the two inner panels are slightly different...no doubt due to difference in wood.  NATURAL stain used.
 
    Hull planking continues. 

Practice complete and installation attempted.  Two out of the five (4 of 10) holes were encumbered by bulkheads, but I was able to work around (or thru) that.

 
    Installation of all under deck beams complete.  I still have one above deck beam, but that will come later.

 
    Not to bad, even close up.  When stained, you should not see any issues. 

 
   Putting the deck into place.  Before I forget, emplace support blocks for the pedestals.  I wish I had thought of this sooner...I would have placed the blocks below the 'lower deck'.

Excellent, thanks.  If I am not mistaken, the Almere wreck is early 15th century; slightly later than my cog, but in the same ballpark.
 
The stropping appears to start off exterior to the block on the bottom side, then transitions to internal about 2/3 of the way up, then out though the top.  Am I seeing that correctly?

That is how I read it as well.  It seems to be more difficult than it needs to be, but I guess they did it that way for a reason.

Excellent, thanks.  If I am not mistaken, the Almere wreck is early 15th century; slightly later than my cog, but in the same ballpark.
 
The stropping appears to start off exterior to the block on the bottom side, then transitions to internal about 2/3 of the way up, then out though the top.  Am I seeing that correctly?

Excellent, thanks.  If I am not mistaken, the Almere wreck is early 15th century; slightly later than my cog, but in the same ballpark.
 
The stropping appears to start off exterior to the block on the bottom side, then transitions to internal about 2/3 of the way up, then out though the top.  Am I seeing that correctly?

Hmmm.  Hadn't thought of that.  I was thinking the kit supplied blocks didn't look quite right.  Perhaps it is because I am so used to seeing 18th century blocks.  I guess I need to look at some of Louie da Fly's olde tyme cog paintings and re-evaluate.

Clare,
 
    They came with the same built-up/laminated blocks as the card version except wood.  I am swapping out with SYREN blocks.

Nice to see the progress! Regarding inspiration for blocks, here is a block from the Almere wijk 13 cog

I agree spiling is not a problem on the Philadelphia.    But as I have mentioned earlier, past models have shown to me that I am the "World's Worst Spiler"  (if that is a word).    Fortunately wood filler, paint, and  a lot of sanding makes hides even the world's worst "spiling" job.   
 
Having said that, there is some minor bending/twisting of wood on the Philadelphia.   I do like Chuck's method of bending wood as very few clamps are required to make the plank lie flat to the bulkheads.    My previous planking jobs usually have ended up with more clamps than wood try to get the wood to do unnatural acts to lie flat.
 
Looking forward to my next ship that has thinner planks and more curve/twist to them to see if I will loose my title as "World's Worst Spiler"

Good luck.  I will continue to watch.

Good luck.  I will continue to watch.

Before I take on spiling I thought it best if I give Chuck Passaro's planking Videos one more review.   I have seen them before and they looked interesting, but I never really attempted his process.   Having gone back over the videos, I now realize this is the way to do planking - for me anyway.
 
I made a very small version of the bending station suggested by Chuck.    In Chuck's case it looks like he uses a 2 x 12 board over a couple of saw horses.  That seemed a really good setup, but I just did not have that kind of room.   Below is my smaller version of a bending station.   With the Philadelphia there are not too many planks to bend and each plank is much wider than the planks on most models.    This process worked great for me even with the wider planks.  I say "even with the wider planks" as the wider planks are much harder to bend.  Narrower planks would be much easier to bend.   I am looking foreword to trying this process on a future boat with narrower planks, but for now this worked great for me.
 
In the event you are interested, here are the links to Chuck's videos
    
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCWooJ1o3cM&t=7s     Part 1
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9T5C9rW2JkU                 Part 2
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atXqH0GWLL8                Part 3
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uhwsf4lW6Sc                  Part 4
 

 

 
As I was waiting for planking to dry I wanted to experiment with blacking brass.   Just as many theories on spiling as there are modelers,  there are any number of ways to blacken brass - some successful other not so successful.
 
In my case I wanted to try "Novacan Black Patina / for Solder - Lead".   I had heard this works pretty well so I wanted to give it a try.    
Below is the result.    I need to keep fiddling with it.   In the example below I did not pre-clean them with acetone.    Just took the brass and stuck it into the Novacan Black Patina.   I was hoping for a more even black.  Instead I got a very rusty look.    So it defiantly aged the items - like they have been sitting on the bottom of the sea for some time - and that is a look if that is what you are after.     Tomorrow I will try with a pre-wash of acetone to see if  I get a more even look - We will see,,,,
 
 

 
As you can see the above blackening process left the pieces looking pretty rustic.   If that is the look you want then OK.  In my case I wanted a more even blackening.   I attempted diluting the Novacan to 1/2 strength (with water) and ended up with a pretty even blackening with nothing rubbing off.    Based on the dilution process, I am really impressed with Novacan for blackening brass.   Below are some additional Philadelphia brass etching pieces blackened with Novacan at 1/2 strength.
 

 
 

@Chuck Seiler thank you for the tips! I've learned a lot of the videos of how square sailed ships sail, most videos I've seen before was multimasted ones.
 
Tonight I imported the ship plan into cad and made the hull. I tried to stay as close as possible, but had to stray in some areas, and that is the same areas as I strayed in my other build when I used much more lowtech ways of doing my drawings of the frames.
 
I did a quick check to see that no strakes would be forced into strange shapes.
 

Red curves are my new sections.
 

It depends on the wood used to fabricate the blocks. Basswood won't do. But any hardwood should be ok. Using a pin vise and a #78 drill should work all right. I'm guessing on the drill size, but #75-80 should do it for your needs at 1:64. 
Tom 

Just how small is 'really really small?  I often use blocks 2mm long and have never had to drill out holes larger, although it sometimes helps to run a drill through the hole to clear it out.  If you clue the end of the line and wipe it so that the glue isn't making the line larger you should be OK.
 
John

Use a new, sharp drill bit in a pin vise and don't force it. No powered drilling. Let the bit cut the wood. Expect to lose a few in any event due to weak grain in the wrong place.

Thank you gentlemen for the kind word.
Maybe because I hadn't tied the rigging for the last six months, it felt like I was doing it in the dark. I have been building models of sailing ships for 15 years and then suddenly at every step something went wrong, I still had to correct something. As the rigging was going smoothly with many of the previous models, this time I started to get frustrated because what I presented today I should have achieved without hurry a month ago.
But most importantly, standing rigging is complete. Maybe with the sails I will get back to the right track :-))
 
Regards
Tomek

Hi everyone
 
Unfortunately, as I was afraid, the waistcloths were a huge problem, took a long time and the effect is poor. I have tried to shape these hanging canvases of various type of silkspan, paper tissue, paper towels, fine fabric, dry or wet and no attempt hes been succsessful. But in the end I had to make up my mind and the choice fell on one of the silkspan. It looks "average", good modelers will make it better than me. I can always declare that it is only a "test model":-)


 
I am still not sure what exactly such solutions looked like, and perhaps an additional difficulty is the fact that there could be just different solutions for different vessels. In the paintings from those years, waistcloths look as if they "lay", but again on some plans and studies you can see frames on which these canvases "hang" rather than "lie".


 
In any case, this stage is over and it is time to put up the masts.
I tried to make standing rigging in a way that is probably typical for small Dutch ships. I used the Heemskerck and Zeehaen plans.
I had a few problems, because I used old cyanoacrylate glue which turned snow white when dry. So all shrouds had to be painted black. A bit of laziness, and a bit "because it is a test model" :-))), fore shrouds and a fore stay are the same thickness as main shrouds and a main stay, which of course caused further problems, because there is "too tight" at the top of the foremast. And I still have to push the other ropes from the running rigging there.

Blocks and deadeyes are made of pressboard.





 
Greetings
Tomek

Hmmm.  Hadn't thought of that.  I was thinking the kit supplied blocks didn't look quite right.  Perhaps it is because I am so used to seeing 18th century blocks.  I guess I need to look at some of Louie da Fly's olde tyme cog paintings and re-evaluate.

It's great that they make the blocks and deadeyes in wood. The card blocks are actually very nice, but I just had to make sure to shoot them with thin CA to harden them up – the innards are otherwise too squishy and close up the holes, so I can't push the rigging line through them.
 
I'm surprised you mention using Syren blocks, since they're an 18th century style blocks and the cog is 14th century. Do you think they're more fitting than the kit stuff? I'm not sure what 14th century blocks are supposed to look like, but these kit block certainly have an "old-style" look to them.