Landlubber Mike

Really great work Jason, coming along very nicely. Can I ask you how you did your filler blocks? I'm thinking about doing them on my Pegasus (and will definitely need them for my Lyme). I've seen different approaches like marking out the outlines between the two bulkheads on thinner strips of wood, and then sandwiching them all together for the final product. I'm not sure I want to spend the effort to do all that, but was hoping to maybe just got basswood blocks down to size, and then sand them down to shape - hard to tell if that's what you did or not, but that would be my preferred approach

Thank you very much Chris! Martin, are you sure you are using redheart and not bloodwood? My understanding is that redheart loses its "redness" and turns more of an orangy-brown. Bloodwood looks like it turns very dark brown over time though - take a look here, which shows both woods (midway down the page is redheart, immediately followed by bloodwood): http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/_color%20change/index.htm I'm glad I went with redheart over bloodwood after looking at these pictures. Frankly, even if the redheart loses some of its color, I'll still at least have some contrast against the other woods - I'll just have to take lots of pictures upon completion and keep the model in the dark You might be right that a better approach if you want long-term red is to stain something like boxwood or pear. Does boxwood take stain well? The pear seems to, but I've heard mixed things about boxwood. It also seems like finishes with UV protection only delay the inevitable. The guy at Woodcraft said the UV protectant breaks down as the UV hits it, which seems consistent with what the guy in the link was experiencing. Even 10 coats of UV-blocking polyurethane didn't have much effect on box elder. I have the rip taper jig on my Byrnes saw also. That's probably the absolutely precise way to cut these planks. Since the maple was only 0.5mm, aside from it going under the fence, I found it at times tents up a bit making it critical to hold the piece down on the saw. At 0.5mm, it's super easy to cut by hand so just went with that approach. Happy holidays to you and your family. My twins are just under two and don't fully get Santa yet, but my eldest at almost five gets it a little too well. It's definitely a fun time of year. If you have kids, hope you're enjoying this time with them

Thanks Joe! I've been taking notes on how you did the tiller assembly and rails on your Granado. I might have to shamelessly steal some ideas from you Merry Christmas and a happy 2015 to you and your family!

Hey Martin, Last night I tried out some old matt varnish that I had leftover from my Badger build on some scrap redheart. The darkening effect on the end grain is much much less than what I was getting with tung oil. So, that could be an option if you have end-grain pieces that are exposed. When I cut out the extensions for bulkheads 4 and 8, I wasn't thinking about the end grain issues and cut the extensions so that the grain runs parallel to the deck - so, the part of the extensions facing the midline of the ship are all end grain and highly visible. I could probably get away with oiling them in that the effect might come across as more of a shading effect from the forecastle and quarterdeck, but I might just varnish those sides and oil the remaining sides as the redheart looks much nicer oiled on the non-end grain sides. I'll have to see if the contrast of the finishes will be acceptable or not. I thought about maybe cutting out new extensions, but given that I already locked in the current extensions and the upper deck is on, the new ones would have less contact area with the main body of the bulkheads and I fear would be less stable. So, I think I'm nixing that idea and hopefully the varnish would work. Even though it came with my Badger kit, I never used the varnish before. The results were very encouraging, but the varnish seemed a little old and milky. So, I ordered matt varnish from Humbrol and Vallejo to test out. I'll probably also test out Wipe-on Poly. Stay tuned

Thank you B.E. and Nils, happy holidays and a 2015 to you and your families! I was just messaging a member that this hobby is so great in that it lets you meet so many nice people from around the world I've been calling it anchor stock planking, but top and butt planking is probably more accurate, thanks B.E. You guys should try it - while a lot more time consuming than merely laying straight planks, it wasn't all that difficult to execute. If you think about it, it all comes down to the properties of triangles. Once you have the three lengths, you can only make the triangle one way. So, I cut them slightly bigger, then used a sanding block to slowly work them back until they fit well. I cheated a bit in some cases where I bent the plank laterally to close the gap with the plank above it, but that ended up leaving me with a curved side on the other end of the plank, causing me issues with the next run of planks where I needed to custom sand to fill that curve. So, stick with the straight planks as much as possible and you should be ok. I just found a good picture of the difference between "anchor stock planking" and "top and butt planking" - always nice to get my terminology right, thanks B.E.!

Thanks Jason - good points

Thanks very much Timmo, glad to hear that it gave some inspiration. Beautiful work on your Granado by the way. Best wishes to you and your family this Christmas and 2015!

Thanks very much Frank. Merry Christmas and Happy 2015 to you and your loved ones as well!

Hi Martin, thanks very much for the kind words. For the straight planks, I used my Byrnes saw to rip planks of consistent width. It's been a little tricky as my maple sheets are only 0.5mm thick, so the sheet has a tendency to slide under the fence even using the Grr-Ripper. So, for the anchor stocks, what I did was cross-cut the maple sheet to a little longer than the longest anchor plank. From there, I marked out the width of the plank, then marked out the two angled lengths adding about 1mm on either end to account for the eventual sanding. For what it's worth, I marked out the angled cuts on the same side where I cut the width of the plank - in other words, the apex of the anchor stock would be on the same side as the side I marked to cut for the full width of the plank. Not sure it mattered - I just thought that if the other side was sanded to a nice smooth straight finish, then I could screw up the cut on the other side and it wouldn't make much difference as long as the width to the apex was correct. Next I used that straight edge tool and an X-acto to first cut the plank from the sheet, then I cut the two angled cuts. If you look at the anchor stock plank runs, they go in pairs. The straight edge of the first run goes against the prior row of planks, and then the second row's planks are essentially flipped upside down so that they fit into the first row, and then the second row gives you a straight edge to start the third row: -- the first row is pretty easy. All you have to do is make sure that the ends and apex line up onto your pre-marked frame lines, and that the ends are the same width. Adding the extra 1-2mm helps to give you wiggle room as sometimes I found I cut the apex slightly to one side or the other. -- the second row is where things get a little more tricky as the apex has to sit neatly into the open triangle area of the first row. So, some sanding/cutting to get the apex just right, and of course, you need to get the ends to match up to each other and to the frame lines. I found giving yourself a little extra room on either end was critical here. The second run definitely required a lot more work than the first. All in all, while time consuming, it was a lot easier to execute than it looks. As long as you properly measure the lengths and widths of the plank, the apex/triangles should fit pretty neatly together even without much sanding. I was worried that I would go through a lot of scrap as I was down to the second of three sheets (and still needed to do the quarterdeck and forecastle), but I only messed up one plank in the whole process. So thankfully I should have plenty to finish - a reason for pushing forward on the deck at this time was to make sure I didn't need to order anything else from Jeff before the end of the year. It's always tricky to explain stuff like this, but hope that this was clear and that it helps.

Sorry to bump this - I came across this thread and was wondering about which ships may have been painted black between the wales and waterline and why. I'm working on the Pegasus at the moment and was considering taking that approach - Realworkingsailor's Pegasus was painted this way, which I really love. For what it's worth, the Pegasus was a 14-gun sloop of the Swan class launched in 1776. If ships of that class and time period would not have been painted that way, I'd likely not do it. Thanks!

I bought my Dewalt 588 off of Craigslist as well. Guy who had a full workshop to make furniture had bought it on a whim, turned it on once at home to see if it worked, bought a bunch of blades, and never used it. Paid a very low amount for it. I see lots of scroll saws on sites like Craigslist. A lot of scroll saws are used for one project like building a kid's science project and then are never used again.

I agree with Alistair. There's a lot more surface area connected with the anchor stock planks which probably is a bit more rigid than just straight runs.

Happy holidays to all my friends here. Best wishes to you all this holiday season and upcoming 2015 It's been a while since I last posted, but I wanted to wait until I had some good progress to report. Plus, i ran out of stains to test I mentioned that I was going to attempt to plank the upper deck according to the plan in TFFM. I decided against adding curved planks given my skill level, the fact that I had limited sheets of maple, and probably most importantly, the fact that really the only visible planking will be at the waist, which is pretty much straight runs, while the ends will be hidden by the forecastle and quarterdeck. So, I cheated a bit at the ends of the ship as you can see below (particularly at the stern, which will be hidden completely I think), but I did manage to add the four rows of anchor stock planking from TFFM. I'm pretty excited as to how the upper deck is coming out. The anchor stock planking was cut and sanded by hand, with some of the trickier ones taking a good hour or two each to create and fit. Despite the labor, all in all, they weren't as hard to do as I feared (it certainly helped that I was doing them as straight runs). I like the look of the anchor stock planks, and will probably use anchor stock planks for the wales if that ends up being historically accurate on this ship. Some of the darker lines I think/hope are from the edges of one plank sitting higher than the adjacent planks from the deck camber. I think after sanding the deck down, everything should look a lot more uniform. I'm at the point where I'm going to switch gears and work on the gunport patterns. The extensions for bulkheads 5 through 7 end up getting removed, and so I'll probably mark out on card the patterns for the two remaining anchor stocks remaining margin planks wait to install them until after the bulkhead extensions are removed. Thanks for looking in!

Gorgeous work Augie. Hope you and your family have a wonderful holiday and 2015

Thanks BE. I have to thank Alistair for the butt planking for the hatches - don't think I would have come up with that on my own It certainly takes longer than the standard technique, but it seems well worth it. I'm leaning towards the darker blue as well. I'm also happy to share the results of the stain and wood tests. The stains seem to be a very nice alternative to paints if you want to avoid the thickness and uniformity of using paint, but don't mind highlighting the wood grain. I'm encouraged so far, but we'll see how this experiment plays out on the model though when I get to that point

Thanks guys. The General Finishes stains are very easy to use, clean up nicely, and have no smell to them. I haven't decided on the full color scheme yet. For the friezes, the fallback would be black. For the friezes, the darker might be more accurate as I think the frieze background was usually a grayish blue. But the light blue could work too. I stained the gratings with an oil-based Minwax stain a few months ago, and they still stink. I bought replacement gratings so am going to redo them using GF stain.

Here are some pictures of my stain tests using tung oil. In the picture below, you can see the hatches are in natural pear, the top piece is natural pear with a tung oil finish, and the three below are different General Finishes stains with a tung oil finish (the "Colonial Pine" is actually called "Country Pine." Still not sure which I'll go with. I think i'll be staining black the wales and upper deck hull planking between the wales and the copper line, so it might be better to go with a lighter brown. But, the Antique Oak still looks pretty good with black. The next pictures show General Finishes Blue Stain applied to both maple and pear (no tung oil applied). The stain on the maple comes out a nice french blue, while the stain on the pear comes out as a darker blue/green/gray - a color very similar to the blue on the back jacket cover of TFFM 2. Finally, here is a picture of my experiments with redheart. The first picture is the wood without the finish, and the next two include tung oil finishes. The tung oil finish on the second picture really makes the wood come alive, but it's quite dark when applied to end grain sections.

Thanks Frank - historical accuracy aside, butting the planks is a nice, easy way of ensuring clean lines. I'm glad I followed Alistair's approach to do the planking that way.

Thanks very much Martin. I still need to sand down the deck and add a finish to it (likely tung oil). I'm very happy with how it's looking. Maple is a pleasure to work with - there are different types though with different colors and characteristics (hard vs. soft, silver, more mottled grains, etc.). Relative to holly, it's very light in color but with more darker waves of grain - at least this is comparing Jeff's maple with his holly. I actually prefer the waves as I'm not looking for that painted look but want wood characteristics to come out. It was a lot cheaper than holly also. I spent some time last night with my stains and tung oil to see how the end product after the stained pear was oiled. I'll try and post pictures tonight. The brownish stains that I used on the pear look absolutely gorgeous when oiled - much nicer than had I gone with walnut I think. I'm very excited by the results, and will have a hard time picking which one to ultimately go with. I also tried the blue stain on scrap maple and pear for interesting results as well. As can be expected, the maple, being a lighter wood, came out a very nice french blue. It didn't have that painted look, but did look like wood. The pear on the other hand came out a sorta darker bluish-greenish-grey, similar to the blue on some of the models here (I think Alistair's Fly is relatively close) and the Pegasus blue on the back of the TFFM jacket (volume 2 I believe, not sure if the others have the color scheme). Interesting options for sure. I also oiled some scrap redheart. With the grain, the redheart takes on a very nice color and tone. The end grain turned very dark, almost black though I wish I had experimented on the redheart earlier, as I might have to take a look at how the grain is running on the visible portions of the bulkhead extensions and other redheart areas and see if I might need to replace some of the pieces. I'm going to test to see if wipe-on poly or varnish or shellac minimize this darkening effect. I found some good links on redheart below in case you are interested: Color changes in wood: http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/_color%20change/index.htm Preventing color changes in exotic woods: http://www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/preventing-color-changes-in-exotic-woods/ Finishing exotic and tropical hardwoods: http://www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/finishing-exotic-tropical-hardwoods/

Hi Ian, thanks very much. I think my Badger has a few parts Red Ochre to it, along with a few parts Landlubber Mike I should have mentioned that I made a couple of basic mistakes that probably significantly contributed to the blade skipping over the straight edge and a couple of times almost cutting off the tip of my finger. First, I used a very thin beam ruler, so the blade didn't have far to jump. I also found that I was using a dull blade - another big no-no. Live and learn I suppose - just glad I didn't do significant damage. I like the Maun safety rule and Swann Morton - they seem like a very worthwhile investment. I better find Santa soon and ask for them - unless he was planning on giving me the usual lump of coal.

Thanks very much Jason. I'm actually thinking that I'll stain the pear a darker color (like a walnut color) as I want the model to take on a darker hue like the Le Cyclope below. I'm going to match the hatch coamings, ladders, deck items, etc. to the upper hull planking I think. I'm also considering using black stain for the wales and the part of the hull planking between the wales and the coppered section - I like the look on the Le Cyclope, and Realworkingsailor did it to good effect on his Pegasus as well:

I've made some more progress on the deck planking. I'm planking the upper deck according to the TFFM plans, with the exception that I'm not curving the plank runs fore and aft. I figured that might be too much for my skill level at this time, plus, really the only planks that will be seen are the ones at the waist which are generally straight. Another big factor is that I'm down to two sheets of maple from Jeff and still need some for the quarterdeck and forecastle planking, as well as the gangways. Hopefully I should have enough. Also, since the planks under the the quarterdeck and forecastle won't be seen, I haven't been as concerned about getting pristine planking. Next up is to add four rows of anchor stock planking and the margin planks. I'll probably also add the gunport patterns soon so that I can more easily finish the upper deck planking. I made a mistake when first gluing the stern extensions as you can see in the pictures below in that I glued them perpendicular to the last bulkhead. When I dry fitted the quarterdeck template, I realized the outer extensions needed to curve inwards, so that change was made - thankfully without much issue. For the planking, just wanted to show a couple of tools that I've found very helpful. The first picture is of these thin red headed pins I found at Hobbylinc.com - they are very sharp and thin, so I was able to push them through the deck ply template, and use them to keep the planks pressed up against one another, as well as down onto the template when glued. The second picture is a handy straight edge that keeps your fingers well away from the x-acto blade when manually cutting your planks. This can be found at Micromark. After gashing my fingers a couple of times when the x-acto blade skipped over the edge of a thin ruler, this has been a finger saver.

Let me add my welcome to the Swan club. Looking forward to your build log

I hope this doesn't derail the thread too much, but I was wondering if someone could explain to me why a mini drill press is needed if you have a Sherline Mill? I have a Sherline mill, and was hoping to use it instead of my Dremel drill press. That's really nice work Danny. This may be a dumb question, but how did you support the pieces as they approached the blade? I've seen examples of this kind of work and always wondered how people accomplished it as I worry about my fingers being anywhere the blade.

Pristine work Kester. Very nice job! Precise rigging really makes for a nice model