Jump to content
MSW Spring Donation Drive

Cornish_K

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    28

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Everything posted by Cornish_K

  1. Cornish_K
    Ahoy there! After some time away from the hobby I've decided to have another crack at it. Some lower back problems have interfered with hobbying for me in general, but I'm starting to put some real effort into tackling it - to be honest I've rather neglected my upper body strength over the years, so it's my own fault. Anyway, I was finding the process of soaking the planks and pinning each one in position to dry overnight rather longwinded, so I purchased myself a heated plank bender - I've already tested it and it's clear it's going to allow me to work much quicker in this regard. Although I do have patience, I don't have unlimited reserves, so this will suit me more I think. Once I've finished planking the other side of the hull, I'll fill & sand to get the right surface shape for the 2nd planking. I'm also going to laterally bend the planks correctly this time.
  2. Cornish_K
    Looking very good, Eamonn. I'll be referencing this log regularly when I reach the same stages of my Ballahoo. It's serving as a very nice guide for me! Unfortunately, I've had a bit of a niggly back these last few weeks and haven't been haunching over the hobby desk to work on mine much. Should be back on it very soon though.
  3. Cornish_K
    Oh, fiddly is fine. But it's when the fiddliness is unneeded and there is actually an easier method to simply get through something a little quicker, it helps the overall process I think. The truly fiddly stuff will come later with the rigging!
  4. Cornish_K
    Thanks guys. That's given me something to think about. I'll just finish off this first planking as it is for now, fill and sand it down. Then have a think about approaching the walnut 2nd planking a little differently. When the time comes, I'll practice the lateral bending on some of the leftover limewood first, before trying the walnut. I don't have any plank bending tools as such. I might knock up my own plank bending board, with hole's drilled for dowels, and weight the planks down when soaked. Actually, I could do with a plank bending board regardless. It gets a bit time consuming trying to shape each plank individually and get it to dry on the model itself. Very fiddly at times.
  5. Cornish_K
    Hi Steve, I'm on the lizard, quite a way further down than yourself! The planking directly under the gunport patten is certainly an interesting one on the Ballahoo. In theory, I'd like to be able to lay the plank all the way along, but the extreme lateral bending with the sharp rising bow produces an impossible amount of clinkering for me. Tapering the top of the plank at the bow (to half its width) is still nowhere near enough to allow a natural laying position. If I had much wider strips to work with I could cut some pre-curved planks which would obviously solve the problem. Since the plank would only be bending in one direction instead of two. I've read about some people pre-bending laterally with heat, then bending forwards again (while hot/wet) to shape the plank smoothly. Although I worry about the stresses on the plank doing all of that.
  6. Cornish_K
    Thanks for the compliment Eamonn, I'm finding the planking quite an interesting process - it's almost like trying to crack a puzzle. The 4mm strips in the kit can only be tapered so much, and solutions need to be found to avoid clinkering on the underside of each plank. I'm still not sure if my technique of letting the top few rise up to the gunport patten is strictly the correct way of doing it, but I'm happy enough with it so I'll just keep doing it that way!
  7. Cornish_K
    Nice to see the progress, Eamonn. The model's looking great. I'm also a first time wood builder tackling the Ballahoo! It's interesting to see how you go about things. I've already noticed the rather sparse instructions don't make any mention of rigging the carronades at all. Quite a few photos of finished Ballahoos show them 'clean'. But looking at yours I think I'll decide to fully rig them. It looks far better that way.
  8. Cornish_K
    I've also taken this opportunity, before the hull is completely enclosed, to do a final check fitting of my improvised 'mast holders'. I've drawn a circle in pencil on the masts just above the false deck, so when the time comes I'll know when they've made a snug fit all the way down. Also, the model is really starting to look better and better with the masts in.
  9. Cornish_K
    Update time! I have made good progress on the starboard side first planking, starting near the bulwarks. Note how I terminate the planks on the underside of the gunport pattens towards the bow, not at the actual front of the bow itself. From this point onwards, all the planks will be tapered from bow to stern. It's a slight departure from the instructions, but the instructions also tell you to let the planks lie naturally (which they are currently doing). But if I were to attempt to run the first plank all the way along the underside of the pattens, the clinkering would be extreme to the point of being impractical. It's possible with *massive* amounts of lateral bending I could do that, but this does seem a more straightforward method to me. It's such a sharp upwards curve on this model compared to some, I think it needs a slightly different planking solutions. Anyway, some photos:
  10. Cornish_K
    I have to say, I picked the Caldercraft Schooner Ballahoo for my first build and sometimes wished I'd gone for something simpler - despite the Ballahoo being a 'beginners' model! We all have moments of high confidence and excitement - when I bought the Ballahoo there was a part of me that was looking at the expensive HMS Pegasus and didn't want to 'waste my time' on a little model I had no great personal love for. But I'm now incredibly happy I went for the small/cheap option, since there is always light at the end of the tunnel. I can see the steps laid out in front of me which will result in a completed model. Plus, it's the technique and process of wooden ship building itself that is something you have to explore. For some people, it just doesn't click. And when that happens it's better if happens on a $100 model instead of a $500+ model...
  11. Cornish_K
    I don't know if this applies to multiple manufacturers, but I think Caldercraft/Jotika missed a trick with their Ballahoo schooner beginners model which I'm currently building. The instructions are not designed for a beginner - they are simply a list of things to do in a sequence with minimal detail on technique or process. It's quite possibly one of the reasons why I bounced off the hobby for several years after getting 2 or 3 planks into the first planking. Thankfully I found a way back into it by looking elsewhere for guidance (such as this site) and I now feel up to speed on how to approach the build. But the whole process of learning the hobby is way too obtuse in my opinion; it's totally different to any other kind of model making and there needs to be a lot more hand-holding for absolute beginners if you ask me. Also, it really is in the manufacturers best interests to grab hold of newbies and shower them with amazing instructions on beginner models (I'm not suggesting they include a complete paperback guide, just... something substantial). It means once they've finished they will go back and buy a more advanced model that takes their fancy.
  12. Cornish_K
    I've spent more time fairing the starboard bulkheads than I did with the port side. Bulkhead 2 is in my opinion too narrow in this kit, so I widened it a bit. I also think BH6 is a smidgen too wide (regardless of the fairing), so I took a millimetre off it, so the batten can run smoothly with no flat spots. Fingers crossed the planking will be fine once it's on, the batten is looking smooth all the way up and down. The natural run of the planks at the bow is a bit unusual on this schooner due to the sharp rise, compared to some bigger ships, so some thought has to go into the best way to lay them. Dare I say, a bigger ship may in fact turn out to be more straightforward in terms of plank positioning. We shall see.
  13. Cornish_K
    Just some close ups of the tricky stern section. I had to use a few stealers (or dropper planks?) to keep a nice smooth run on the planking. I basically terminated the original plank around bulkhead 8 with an inverted triangle - and shaped 2 new planks to carry on to the stern. The second photo shows some of the sanding I've done by the keel to allow for the second planking to lay properly. I should have prepared it more before I began the planking, but it'll work out in the end.
  14. Cornish_K
    Thanks for the compliment Mike. I've actually been looking through your Pegasus build before today - it's a potential next model for me after I've finished this one (assuming it's a commitment I want to make!). I'll check out your Badger build later on. I've looked around and found a similar tungsten carbide set to yours from a UK site. I'll certainly need them before I start the next model, which will have much thicker bulkheads. I guess the heavy filing is mostly already finished on this one now, although my little cheap steel files are almost ruined as a result.
  15. Cornish_K
    I need to look into getting a dremel. Does anyone have any recommendations? I've already got a part I need to make from scratch, after I snapped the stern taffarel in half. I could really do with a precise way of cutting a replica piece from the leftover walnut ply. I may invest in some bigger, more durable files also. The little files I'm using just don't remove enough when shaping the bulkheads, takes an age - even for a small model like this.
  16. Cornish_K
    Well, I've completed my first ever attempt at planking (on the port side..). Overall, I'm really happy with how it turned out; there's one or two minor flat spots which will need to be filled and sanded again to get a perfectly smooth curve, plus a few of the planks dipped slightly between a couple of bulkheads (one of them in particular I probably should have ripped out and thrown away) and will need to be sorted. But that's relatively minor. The main shape is there and it's very pleasing to see the model starting to look like a ship. I got almost all the bulkheads faired at the right angles. Some very minor clinkering near the bow, which can be easily sanded down. The bow on the Ballahoo does require a tiny amount of lateral bending in some of the planks I think. I'll take a bit more time doing the starboard side and see if I can get every plank down perfectly next time. There really is no substitute for simply getting on with it and seeing how it turns out on a cheap model, and adapting your methods as you go.
  17. Cornish_K
    And that was basically where I'd got to 3 or 4 years ago. This last week I've been finishing the planking on the port side. I know the recommendation is to do a few planks each side as you go, but I just wanted to get one side done. And then approach the other side as a brand new attempt. Besides, my bulkhead supports will prevent the model from warping anyway. I'll post a photo in a few days hopefully of the completed planking.
  18. Cornish_K
    Planking on the top half of the hull was easier than the bottom half, due to the more straightforward curve (towards the keel the hull does all sorts of funny things!). The planks were going on nicely, with a little tapering at the bow. I superglued the very ends to keep a strong hold, but it was mostly all PVA.
  19. Cornish_K
    The gunport pattens were fiddly. Very fiddly. I soaked them in hot water for a while before shaping them. I've seen them mentioned elsewhere as being a difficult part of this build, due to the slightly odd bow on the Ballahoo. I managed it in the end, but it was a bit of a struggle at first. I'm not totally convinced bulkhead number 2 is correct on this model, but we'll discuss that more later. Started to lay some planks along the hull to get an idea on the shape.
  20. Cornish_K
    On to the deck, which fitted nicely, with very little sanding required. I added some more balsa filler underneath the deck for the gunport pattens.
  21. Cornish_K
    Generally speaking, I didn't do *quite* enough work on fairing the bearding line/rabbet/etc before gluing and starting the planking on the port side. Lesson learnt though.
  22. Cornish_K
    Next up, I added some balsa wood filler blocks fore and aft. I later discovered I faired my stern bulkheads a bit too much and had to fill it back out again, which also messed up the balsa blocks. But it was a useful learning process (at least that's what I told myself).
  23. Cornish_K
    Here's some photos of the bulkhead fairing and gluing of the keel. I also carved out a rabbet of sorts, although I later found it wasn't deep enough and had to do some more. I also made some mast supports inside the model, plus some strengthening supports for the bulkheads - having seen others do the same.
  24. Cornish_K
    A word on the instructions. They are my only real reservation with the kit to be honest, so might as well quickly get it out of the way. If you go to the Jotika website, there's a download link for the HMS Granado PDF instructions for comparison. Quite simply, they are a 100 times better than the very basic Ballahoo instructions - and for a kit aimed explicitly at beginners, it did feel like it was a missed opportunity to introduce new wooden ship builders in the best possible way. In particular, the bulkhead preparation and first planking instructions are basically one paragraph and are very vague - whereas the Granado instructions go into much detail. Fortunately I took advantage of this website to help me to learn how to do it. It's possible I'm just a bit of a slow starter - and others who tried it for a first build were perfectly happy with the instructions - but I can only say how I see it personally. Anyway, that criticism to one side, the plans themselves were generally good, if perhaps lacking a little in the bulkhead measurements. But they showed everything clearly and were nice and big.
  25. Cornish_K
    First up, a few photos of the packaging and contents. There were a few defective/missing parts, but Jotika (I forget the chap's name) was very kind in sending out replacements.

About us

Modelshipworld - Advancing Ship Modeling through Research

SSL Secured

Your security is important for us so this Website is SSL-Secured

NRG Mailing Address

Nautical Research Guild
237 South Lincoln Street
Westmont IL, 60559-1917

Model Ship World ® and the MSW logo are Registered Trademarks, and belong to the Nautical Research Guild (United States Patent and Trademark Office: No. 6,929,264 & No. 6,929,274, registered Dec. 20, 2022)

Helpful Links

About the NRG

If you enjoy building ship models that are historically accurate as well as beautiful, then The Nautical Research Guild (NRG) is just right for you.

The Guild is a non-profit educational organization whose mission is to “Advance Ship Modeling Through Research”. We provide support to our members in their efforts to raise the quality of their model ships.

The Nautical Research Guild has published our world-renowned quarterly magazine, The Nautical Research Journal, since 1955. The pages of the Journal are full of articles by accomplished ship modelers who show you how they create those exquisite details on their models, and by maritime historians who show you the correct details to build. The Journal is available in both print and digital editions. Go to the NRG web site (www.thenrg.org) to download a complimentary digital copy of the Journal. The NRG also publishes plan sets, books and compilations of back issues of the Journal and the former Ships in Scale and Model Ship Builder magazines.

Our Emblem ®

Modelshipworld - Advancing Ship Modeling through Research

Nautical Research Guild ® and the NRG logo are Registered Trademarks, and belong to the Nautical Research Guild (United States Patent and Trademark Office: No. 6,999,236 & No. 6,999,237, registered March 14, 2023)

×
×
  • Create New...