GLakie

Ken, thanks for the link - will look into it. Also the explanation on heat sinks.

George, here is a link you should save for tools , etc. but this is the soldering boards that I use rather than a tile.
 
Jack the need for heat sinks is based upon the proximity of other joints to be protected and so far I have really not had a need for them. When I think there might be an issue I may use a lower temperature solder like 50/50.
 
The site below you may wish to explore for tools as well.  
 
http://www.ottofrei.com/Solderite-Soldering-Board-Hard-Compound.html

A huge improvement, Mark, but I think I agree with Dan that there's still a little to go.
 
John

Tom,
Those are the planks,  not battens.. just not 100% fitted and sanded.  The darker one was still wet.   As for tapering, only at the bow are they tapered as such.  The French planking is a bit different for frigates of this era than the British or Americans used.  They used use 8-12 strakes of thick and wide planking and then went to "normal" (for some value of "normal") planking.   The hull is very smooth and unbroken without the obvious wales of the Engish/American ships.   Footnote.. the wales are 1 foot wide, for 9 strakes on the 8-pdr frigate.  The "normal" planks are 8" wide.
 
 
Thanks Dan.  You're probably right.  I've pulled off the three planks landing on the tuck and will sand a bit more.  While I agree about the eddys I'm not sure they apply on this ship (I could be wrong) as the waterline is between the lowest full transom and that small transom above the filler block. 
 
 
 
Hmm... she drew 17 feet with the lowest gun port sitting 4 feet out of the water.  The stern windows lower end is at the top of the aft most gunport.   They really did play on perception to make this ship look bigger than she really was.    I note that the British did a similar deception with the Roebuck by putting an upper row of dummy stern windows on a 44 gun frigate to make it appear to be a 64 or 74 from astern.

Hi Mark - 
 
Yes, 100% better, but not quite there yet, to my eye.  Go back to the photos of the model that Druxey sent you and compare the turn of the planks there to yours.  I believe that the curve is less acute.  
 
You can see the sense in having a shallow curve for two reasons.  First, a sharp curve here will create an eddy behind itself which increases drag. Those old shipwrights may not have had the mathematics to describe the exact drag force, but they sure could observe the effect and take it into account. Those old shipyard workers would also have been much happier with less of a struggle to bend 3 or 4 inch thick planks around a tight curve.
 
Don't worry about removing too much wood since you will be planking over your frames.  You can even put in a filler piece if you need to.  Getting the curve right on this model will guide you on the next one where you could leave the frames exposed.
 
But you are clearly headed in the right direction on the learning curve and on the model.  Well done.
 
Dan

Coming on very nicely, Popeye.  By the way, just to be pedantic, the lifeboat 'cradles' are officially called 'chocks'.
 
John

Thank you one and all for the encouragement.  Hopefully it won't take so long for the next update.
 
John

Good on you, Dave.  I think you'll be happy you did replank.

Wonderful work, John. The deck has look that I really like.  Hard to describe, but I like it.

Hi Ken, I have your book also - no prior soldering experience unless you count soldering a couple wires to an N-scale model RR track - been reading it over. Had same question as George about heat sinks.
 
Love your cannons and carronades - really nice results.

Gotcha! I asked because there was a discussion about it here a while back, and I wondered if you had used them before. Do you think a ceramic tile would be good enough to use as a base for soldering small parts? 

George, yes as long as it is a high fired glaze, not a Terra Cotta one. Micro Mark offers a soldering surface that you can even pin into.

George, the closest I have come is using yellow ochre to prevent solder flow; but it also works to a limited degree as a heat sink. Sometimes parts will be clamped together for soldering and clamps also function as heat sinks. But in general I have not set out to use a heat sink or heat sink putty.

Looks great Ken! I especially like those seizings.  In the process of going over your book. I've made it up to the small parts fab section.  I noticed there's no discussion about using a heat-sink yet, and was wondering if you've used them for any of your work? 

Here is the first carronade rigged build using the same fixture as the long gun. I added a U.S. penny for scale.

Here it is rigged in place on the deck.

A side by side with the long gun.

 
Now to continue on with the rest of the carronades.
 

The Yakatabune has a walkway platform on either side of the deck house, allowing the boatmen to travel more easily between the bow and stern ends of the boat. 
 
In building this, I'm noticing the use of parts which aren't laser cut and aren't simply cut strips of wood. There is a strip, Part 19, that has an L-shaped cross section. So, this is a milled piece of wood. In fact, as I look through this kit, there are several parts that are milled so that they are notched or slotted. This is kind of a carry-over from the older Woody Joe kits, before they had laser cut parts. But, it's kind of nice.
 
On a Western kit, I think one would be expected to make an L-shaped cross section by gluing together to strips to for the L. Slotted pieces I expect would have to be built up similarly. But, not only are there these parts, but also a fair number of pre-cut parts as well.
 
I also notice some parts are simply pre-cut, again not by laser. It doesn't affect the build in any way, but it's just interesting to see, since we don't often see this in American or European kits.
 

Some milled parts.
 

Pre-cut parts
 

And more pre-cut parts
 
 
Actually, looking back, I realize the parts for the stand were milled and machine cut too. But, the parts are perfectly cut parts, clearly it's not like the old days of die-cutting. I'm guessing they are actually CNC milled. Woody Joe does make some other wood products including castle and temple and small structure kits, plus Japanese flower holder kits and I don't know how much other stuff. 
 
Clare
 
 
 

Hello Sjors! 
 
Take time, it's not business, it's fun. Well done!
 
kindly Hartmut

Big like !!!

John:
That deck looks great. Wonderful job.
 
Russ

I'm enjoying your build Popeye. I've never seen a plastic model with such detail and build quality.

Look'n good Denis.

Change of plans....
I decided to press on with completing the re-planking of the starboard side and be done with it.
 
Also decided to pass on this technique I'm using to cut the shape of the bow planks.
I found that the use of tracing paper to mark the shape proved to be very tricky because the paper tends to move around and doesn't like to lay flat for marking the edge.
 
This wide painters masking tape works great!

Note the markings on the hull indicating the measured width of the planks at several points along the strake.

Mid hull markings indicate the full width of each plank for the twenty strakes.
 
The marked masking tape is carefully trimmed along the traced line and then transferred to the paper planking material.

The marked planking strip is carefully trimmed along the traced edge (top)....
Then, after marking the exact width points, use a curve template to create the smooth contour of the outside edge (bottom).
Finally, cut the plank along the outside edge marking.

Perfect fit....

yea.......sorry Sam........I really don't want it to glow like a ghost ship......    but that would really send out an eerie message now,  wouldn't it 
 
the fascia problem is solved.......I just hope those parts I used were truly extra pieces.   I finally cemented the first pair of cranes in place.......glued in the fascia in place as well.
 

 

 
then all of the life boat cradles were painted white,  on the boat deck.   later I'll go back and touch them up.
 

 
the stern section got the mizzen mast rigging glued in ahead of time
 

 
I started to work on the boat deck structures at this point.  still need to cement in the rigging for the funnels,  and then the A deck and boat deck can be cemented together.  duct work was painted flat white..........the grating grids were then dry brushed with the paint I mixed for the hull........just to soot things up a bit.
 

 
these four ducts are located at the first and second funnel
 

 
finally I got back to the bow section,  and cemented in the fore castle railing
 

 

 
so now it's the boat deck....there's a lot to do here 
 
 

she cleaned up quite nicely...........looking sweet!