rcmdrvr

Work continues.  Thought I would post a few photos of the planking process.  The planking in this kit is laser cut on 1/32" sheet.  This really cuts down on the cutting, fitting and shaping.  Each strake (there are 10) consists of 3 pieces (fore, aft and center).  Generally the fore and aft pieces require soaking in water before fitting on the hull.  I used a 1" diameter PVC pipe, plugged at one end, tipped on end (vertical) and filled with water.   Just drop each planking piece into the tube to soak.  Worked well.  I soaked the fore and aft pieces for about 10 minutes before fitting and gluing to the hull.  I used CA for the adhesive.  I did have a bit of trouble with the some of the planking bowing between the frames.  I tried steaming or adding a reinforcing piece behind the bows.  This worked most of the time but there are still areas that are slightly bowed.  Hopefully this will not be too conspicuous.
 
The next step was to cover the planked hull with spackling paste and sand, sand, sand.  I used spackling paste because it is inexpensive and sands easily.  Next step, plank the inner bulwark.  This went very easily until I reached the stern where the curve is quite severe.  The provided pieces (again, 1/32" sheet) were soaked about 20 minutes and then carefully bent around the curve.  I did not use heat, just slow bending by pressing the pieces against the bulwark.  Some triming at each end was required.  I cemented these pieces by brushing alphic resin (wood glue) on the piece.
 
  The following photos are of the hull during the planking process, the first round of spacking and sanding and fitting of the inner bulwark planking:
 
 

I like the look of your coppered hull but I also like the look of the painted hull that is on the cover of the box.  I am not sure if I want to follow in your footsteps and copper the hull or paint........decisions, decisions, decisions.  I am following your build as you are doing a great job as a guide; keep up the good work!

I am currently building a Model Shipways kit.  It contains a fair number of metal parts (including cannons) which are cast in Britannia.  The castings are quite crude and I would like to eliminate the seams and other extrusions and get them ready for painting.  How do you go about this task.....files, sandpaper, grinding wheels.  Any advice would be appreciated.

Welcome.

Welcome.

Work continues.  Thought I would post a few photos of the planking process.  The planking in this kit is laser cut on 1/32" sheet.  This really cuts down on the cutting, fitting and shaping.  Each strake (there are 10) consists of 3 pieces (fore, aft and center).  Generally the fore and aft pieces require soaking in water before fitting on the hull.  I used a 1" diameter PVC pipe, plugged at one end, tipped on end (vertical) and filled with water.   Just drop each planking piece into the tube to soak.  Worked well.  I soaked the fore and aft pieces for about 10 minutes before fitting and gluing to the hull.  I used CA for the adhesive.  I did have a bit of trouble with the some of the planking bowing between the frames.  I tried steaming or adding a reinforcing piece behind the bows.  This worked most of the time but there are still areas that are slightly bowed.  Hopefully this will not be too conspicuous.
 
The next step was to cover the planked hull with spackling paste and sand, sand, sand.  I used spackling paste because it is inexpensive and sands easily.  Next step, plank the inner bulwark.  This went very easily until I reached the stern where the curve is quite severe.  The provided pieces (again, 1/32" sheet) were soaked about 20 minutes and then carefully bent around the curve.  I did not use heat, just slow bending by pressing the pieces against the bulwark.  Some triming at each end was required.  I cemented these pieces by brushing alphic resin (wood glue) on the piece.
 
  The following photos are of the hull during the planking process, the first round of spacking and sanding and fitting of the inner bulwark planking:
 
 

Work continues.  Thought I would post a few photos of the planking process.  The planking in this kit is laser cut on 1/32" sheet.  This really cuts down on the cutting, fitting and shaping.  Each strake (there are 10) consists of 3 pieces (fore, aft and center).  Generally the fore and aft pieces require soaking in water before fitting on the hull.  I used a 1" diameter PVC pipe, plugged at one end, tipped on end (vertical) and filled with water.   Just drop each planking piece into the tube to soak.  Worked well.  I soaked the fore and aft pieces for about 10 minutes before fitting and gluing to the hull.  I used CA for the adhesive.  I did have a bit of trouble with the some of the planking bowing between the frames.  I tried steaming or adding a reinforcing piece behind the bows.  This worked most of the time but there are still areas that are slightly bowed.  Hopefully this will not be too conspicuous.
 
The next step was to cover the planked hull with spackling paste and sand, sand, sand.  I used spackling paste because it is inexpensive and sands easily.  Next step, plank the inner bulwark.  This went very easily until I reached the stern where the curve is quite severe.  The provided pieces (again, 1/32" sheet) were soaked about 20 minutes and then carefully bent around the curve.  I did not use heat, just slow bending by pressing the pieces against the bulwark.  Some triming at each end was required.  I cemented these pieces by brushing alphic resin (wood glue) on the piece.
 
  The following photos are of the hull during the planking process, the first round of spacking and sanding and fitting of the inner bulwark planking:
 
 

Work continues.  Thought I would post a few photos of the planking process.  The planking in this kit is laser cut on 1/32" sheet.  This really cuts down on the cutting, fitting and shaping.  Each strake (there are 10) consists of 3 pieces (fore, aft and center).  Generally the fore and aft pieces require soaking in water before fitting on the hull.  I used a 1" diameter PVC pipe, plugged at one end, tipped on end (vertical) and filled with water.   Just drop each planking piece into the tube to soak.  Worked well.  I soaked the fore and aft pieces for about 10 minutes before fitting and gluing to the hull.  I used CA for the adhesive.  I did have a bit of trouble with the some of the planking bowing between the frames.  I tried steaming or adding a reinforcing piece behind the bows.  This worked most of the time but there are still areas that are slightly bowed.  Hopefully this will not be too conspicuous.
 
The next step was to cover the planked hull with spackling paste and sand, sand, sand.  I used spackling paste because it is inexpensive and sands easily.  Next step, plank the inner bulwark.  This went very easily until I reached the stern where the curve is quite severe.  The provided pieces (again, 1/32" sheet) were soaked about 20 minutes and then carefully bent around the curve.  I did not use heat, just slow bending by pressing the pieces against the bulwark.  Some triming at each end was required.  I cemented these pieces by brushing alphic resin (wood glue) on the piece.
 
  The following photos are of the hull during the planking process, the first round of spacking and sanding and fitting of the inner bulwark planking:
 
 

I like the look of your coppered hull but I also like the look of the painted hull that is on the cover of the box.  I am not sure if I want to follow in your footsteps and copper the hull or paint........decisions, decisions, decisions.  I am following your build as you are doing a great job as a guide; keep up the good work!

I like the look of your coppered hull but I also like the look of the painted hull that is on the cover of the box.  I am not sure if I want to follow in your footsteps and copper the hull or paint........decisions, decisions, decisions.  I am following your build as you are doing a great job as a guide; keep up the good work!

Paddle box lower sections:
The lower paddle box sections are made up of two forming pieces separated by a spacer.  Assembling these pieces is pretty straight forward, you just need to pay close attention to their correct orientation.
 
Spacer glued in place.

 
Glued the second forming piece to the spacer.  Only thing I had to keep them lined up and vertical was my mini miter box.

 
The wrapping pieces were centered and glued to the front of the paddle boxes.  After the glue dried I used my wife's 'plank bender' to steam and bend the pieces to fit around the sides of the paddle boxes. 

Wrapping pieces were then glued to the sides of the paddle boxes and held in place with rubber bands.

 
Sponson deck sections:
While I was working on the paddle boxes sections I also glued the two sponson decks together.  I wasn't quite sure which square holes to use to align these pieces as called for in the instructions because none of them seemed to line up properly.  What I used was the small round hole at the end of the pieces that seemed to position the pieces in their correct orientation relative to each other.  Used a drill bit for the alignment pin.

 
 
 

Having completed the hull bulkhead and spine assembly, the bulwark and bulwark fill was the next step.  Again, the instructions were pretty clear and most of the provided wood was adequate.  You first wrap the bow and sides of the hull with 1/32 inch strips that are about 1/2 inch in width.  I soaked the port and starboard bow strips for about 5 minutes in water and then used CA to attach to the hull.  No problems.
 
The port and starboard aft pieces did not require any soaking.  Again, CA glue was used.
 
The bass sheeting that wraps around the stern presented a bit more of a problem.  I soaked the wood pieces provided and then used a curling iron to set a basic bend in the pieces.  It looked pretty good until it dried.  The pieces shrunk and twisted and looked horrible.  I was tempted to remove them and start over until I realized that a second piece was wrapped around the curve on the inside.   Again I soaked the inner pieces in water and then carefully bent them (by hand, no curling iron).  I left the original two outer pieces glued to the hull but split them with a knife so that they could be lengthened as I carefully glued the new inner pieces in place.  I did not use CA during this process.  I relied on good ole white glue.  Well, the stern is not perfect but I deemed it acceptable.
 
The final steps in this process was to glue 1/32 bulwark inner strips around the entire hull and "plane" the bulkheads flush with these inner strips.  Except for breaking a few bulkheads during the planing process, this went pretty well.  Now I am ready to begin plank the rest of the hull.  Wish me luck.

A beautiful model.  I really like the amount of "natural" wood you left in the model.  Gives a "light" appearance overall.

A beautiful model.  I really like the amount of "natural" wood you left in the model.  Gives a "light" appearance overall.

A beautiful model.  I really like the amount of "natural" wood you left in the model.  Gives a "light" appearance overall.

I am impressed.....with your courage.

Completed deck and added inner bulwarks. 
 

 

Thanks rcmdrvr.  I find that the adhesive on the back of the tape is sufficient to hold it in place and don't use any additional glue.  I use a wallpaper seam rolled to press the tape down after it's set in place.  I personally have not sealed the copper plating on any of my ships and it seems to hold up well.  I know other people who do, so I think it's a matter of personal taste to seal or not to seal.  One thing you do have to be careful of is to not touch the copper with your bare fingers, fingerprints are very noticeable.  I always use latex gloves while putting the copper on and then try not to touch the bottom of the hull while doing other parts of the ship.

Are you using any other adhesive other than the backing on the copper tape?  Will you put anything over the copper to seal?  Your copper taping is quite striking.  

Finishing up the copper plating:
Complete except for the dressing belt.

 
Dressing belt added.
 

Rudder finished

 
Dry fitting the rudder

 
 
 

I have completed my Moncongus Bay Lobster Smack and my Harriet Lane kit has arrived.  I guess it is time to get started on a new build.  The Harriet Lane has been a model I have eyed for quite awhile.  Model Shipways had a small solid hull model of the Harriet years ago but it somehow disappeared before I could acquire it.  The period when ships were evolving from wood and sail to metal and steam power has always intrigued me; so this should be an interesting build.  I do not plan to provide tons of photos and detailed descriptions of my build.  I will leave that for the more expert modellers and photographers.  I will try to provide photos of my progress and comments regarding the build as it relates to a modeller of my skill level.  This is advertised as an "advanced" kit and I am not an "advanced" builder; so I expect I will make a few (if not a lot) of screw-ups along the way.  Hopefully, I will learn a few things and maybe alert other modellers of pitfalls.
 
The kit came in a the familiar blue box and contained what looks to be a comprehensive instruction booklet and several plan sheets.  All the wood was in good condition and there were no obvious warps, cracks or other defects.  The laser cutting looks excellent.  Of course the model begins with building the hull skeleton by gluing bulkheads to a center spine.  The instructions do an excellent job of guiding the builder through this process.  I dry fitted everything as I progressed.  Only a little sanding was required to get tight fits.  When positioning a bulkhead for gluing; I used lego blocks.  They work great to help you align your parts.  I tacked parts in place with CA and then went back over the structure with wood glue.  All-in-all a couple of very enjoyable evenings with this model.
 
A few more parts and I will begin the process of fairing the bulkheads.....a task I find intimidating.
 
 

Having completed the hull bulkhead and spine assembly, the bulwark and bulwark fill was the next step.  Again, the instructions were pretty clear and most of the provided wood was adequate.  You first wrap the bow and sides of the hull with 1/32 inch strips that are about 1/2 inch in width.  I soaked the port and starboard bow strips for about 5 minutes in water and then used CA to attach to the hull.  No problems.
 
The port and starboard aft pieces did not require any soaking.  Again, CA glue was used.
 
The bass sheeting that wraps around the stern presented a bit more of a problem.  I soaked the wood pieces provided and then used a curling iron to set a basic bend in the pieces.  It looked pretty good until it dried.  The pieces shrunk and twisted and looked horrible.  I was tempted to remove them and start over until I realized that a second piece was wrapped around the curve on the inside.   Again I soaked the inner pieces in water and then carefully bent them (by hand, no curling iron).  I left the original two outer pieces glued to the hull but split them with a knife so that they could be lengthened as I carefully glued the new inner pieces in place.  I did not use CA during this process.  I relied on good ole white glue.  Well, the stern is not perfect but I deemed it acceptable.
 
The final steps in this process was to glue 1/32 bulwark inner strips around the entire hull and "plane" the bulkheads flush with these inner strips.  Except for breaking a few bulkheads during the planing process, this went pretty well.  Now I am ready to begin plank the rest of the hull.  Wish me luck.

Having completed the hull bulkhead and spine assembly, the bulwark and bulwark fill was the next step.  Again, the instructions were pretty clear and most of the provided wood was adequate.  You first wrap the bow and sides of the hull with 1/32 inch strips that are about 1/2 inch in width.  I soaked the port and starboard bow strips for about 5 minutes in water and then used CA to attach to the hull.  No problems.
 
The port and starboard aft pieces did not require any soaking.  Again, CA glue was used.
 
The bass sheeting that wraps around the stern presented a bit more of a problem.  I soaked the wood pieces provided and then used a curling iron to set a basic bend in the pieces.  It looked pretty good until it dried.  The pieces shrunk and twisted and looked horrible.  I was tempted to remove them and start over until I realized that a second piece was wrapped around the curve on the inside.   Again I soaked the inner pieces in water and then carefully bent them (by hand, no curling iron).  I left the original two outer pieces glued to the hull but split them with a knife so that they could be lengthened as I carefully glued the new inner pieces in place.  I did not use CA during this process.  I relied on good ole white glue.  Well, the stern is not perfect but I deemed it acceptable.
 
The final steps in this process was to glue 1/32 bulwark inner strips around the entire hull and "plane" the bulkheads flush with these inner strips.  Except for breaking a few bulkheads during the planing process, this went pretty well.  Now I am ready to begin plank the rest of the hull.  Wish me luck.

Having completed the hull bulkhead and spine assembly, the bulwark and bulwark fill was the next step.  Again, the instructions were pretty clear and most of the provided wood was adequate.  You first wrap the bow and sides of the hull with 1/32 inch strips that are about 1/2 inch in width.  I soaked the port and starboard bow strips for about 5 minutes in water and then used CA to attach to the hull.  No problems.
 
The port and starboard aft pieces did not require any soaking.  Again, CA glue was used.
 
The bass sheeting that wraps around the stern presented a bit more of a problem.  I soaked the wood pieces provided and then used a curling iron to set a basic bend in the pieces.  It looked pretty good until it dried.  The pieces shrunk and twisted and looked horrible.  I was tempted to remove them and start over until I realized that a second piece was wrapped around the curve on the inside.   Again I soaked the inner pieces in water and then carefully bent them (by hand, no curling iron).  I left the original two outer pieces glued to the hull but split them with a knife so that they could be lengthened as I carefully glued the new inner pieces in place.  I did not use CA during this process.  I relied on good ole white glue.  Well, the stern is not perfect but I deemed it acceptable.
 
The final steps in this process was to glue 1/32 bulwark inner strips around the entire hull and "plane" the bulkheads flush with these inner strips.  Except for breaking a few bulkheads during the planing process, this went pretty well.  Now I am ready to begin plank the rest of the hull.  Wish me luck.

I have completed my Moncongus Bay Lobster Smack and my Harriet Lane kit has arrived.  I guess it is time to get started on a new build.  The Harriet Lane has been a model I have eyed for quite awhile.  Model Shipways had a small solid hull model of the Harriet years ago but it somehow disappeared before I could acquire it.  The period when ships were evolving from wood and sail to metal and steam power has always intrigued me; so this should be an interesting build.  I do not plan to provide tons of photos and detailed descriptions of my build.  I will leave that for the more expert modellers and photographers.  I will try to provide photos of my progress and comments regarding the build as it relates to a modeller of my skill level.  This is advertised as an "advanced" kit and I am not an "advanced" builder; so I expect I will make a few (if not a lot) of screw-ups along the way.  Hopefully, I will learn a few things and maybe alert other modellers of pitfalls.
 
The kit came in a the familiar blue box and contained what looks to be a comprehensive instruction booklet and several plan sheets.  All the wood was in good condition and there were no obvious warps, cracks or other defects.  The laser cutting looks excellent.  Of course the model begins with building the hull skeleton by gluing bulkheads to a center spine.  The instructions do an excellent job of guiding the builder through this process.  I dry fitted everything as I progressed.  Only a little sanding was required to get tight fits.  When positioning a bulkhead for gluing; I used lego blocks.  They work great to help you align your parts.  I tacked parts in place with CA and then went back over the structure with wood glue.  All-in-all a couple of very enjoyable evenings with this model.
 
A few more parts and I will begin the process of fairing the bulkheads.....a task I find intimidating.