davyboy

Finished the 18 ft cutter. My rings came in so I can get back to the hull tomorrow.
 
 

Today's job was the 22 ft ships boat
 

Post 23
The first band.
I had already marked the stations on the hull and the next task is lining off.

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I have lined off at a point I hope takes me just below the waterline which results in seven strakes at midships Bulkhead 10 and the tape reflects this.
I am never entirely happy with my lining off I can never quite decide if I’ve got the optimum line, so it inevitably involves tweaking as I go along.

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Each strake involves tapering, edge bending, and bevelling. I make one for each side before I fit either.

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At this point, four strakes below the Drop plank have been fitted. I can detect a hint of snying creeping in which I will need to attend to as it only gets worse and is never a good look on a model.

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I have maintained full width planks at the stern for this band but I can see as planking progresses wider planks or stealers will be required. There is an element of drag on this hull, which can be seen from the waterline level.

0115
I am using individual lengths of planks of around 140mm, with a minimum length of around 60mm.
Apart from anything else this makes the fitting of planks easier, particularly when using ca.
I’m not working to a specific pattern as I would with deck planking, but I am careful not to have butts meeting or too close to those on adjacent strakes.

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In the next plank to be fitted I will tweak the sny out of it.
 
Onwards,
 
B.E.
23/01/2025
 

Hello all,
 
I have decided to build the HMS Cruiser 1:64 by Caldercraft as my first build. I have a feeling that I will be asking a lot of questions here.
 

Your technique and methods are always a joy to follow, well done!

Thanks John, only two strakes down to me, it gets a bit more tricky from this point on.
 
Post 22
Planking continues.
Two strakes including a drop plank at the bow have been fitted below the wale.
This should help reduce any crowding at the bow as planking proceeds.
I now attend to the Garboard Plank.

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I have decided to use a 6mm board.
 
This is followed by a 5mm plank which takes care of the planking at the bottom end of the prow.

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Where I can I do prefer to use pva rather than ca.
For this second plank I find use of drawing pins is a good method to secure the plank during glue set.
I start a drill hole in the lime planking to avoid too much pressure on the first planking.

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I now have a set space equating to (14) 4mm planks at midships plus an additional 1mm.
This is of little relevance at this point as the spacings will be re-drawn several times before the planking is completed.

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I am intending to plank a first band down to just below the waterline around (6) planks depth fore and aft.
For these I will reserve the best of the colour matched planks.

Onto lining off.
 
B.E.
21/01/2025
 

A very small update today - I'm back to work on Monday after a very nice week off
 
Firstly the moulding below the stern timbers was made and fitted.  This was my second attempt as the first one moved slightly whilst drying and left a small gap between it and the vault planking.  Now I could have bodged / disguised / turned a bling eye to this but it just needed ripping off and another being made to replace it.
 

What was left of the original moulding - I'm sure that I can make something else from it so it will go into my offcuts box.

Now I'm not sure what this part of a ship is called but moving upwards I needed to make the stern timbers.  The part which has the windows in?
These planks are curved and I wanted to make them off of the model so that I can cut the window holes on the mill.  So what I did was first was to just roughly edge bend some planks on a really simple jig.  I use foil underneath as if the wet Castello touches steel which is the base it turns the wood black.

I then made some vice jaws which matched the curvature on the drawings

I then put all of the planks into a really simple jig and squeezed them all together with glue.


I have ended up with what will hopefully be the planks that I will shape and use.  If not I'll just make another one now that I have the jig.

Thanks for all of the comments and questions - Mark

Hi guys!
Well, filing on those covering boards had me thinking of another project that I've put up for too long time. So, I got a bit sidetracked from the Atlantica build and went all in.
A drill press table. 
Some might argue that it is too pretty. But knowimg how I function, I know that the first quick-and-dirty ugly solution that I slap together will usually last a long time. So, doing it properly the item of focus will probably last me a lifetime. Hence, why not also make it pretty?
One litttle hickup about the finish of the fence though. The table had two coats of floor lack, very durable, but the fence I thought would look nice with the Osmo oil. Well, it does look nice, however the oil refused to harden. You see, the wood used in the fence is some quite oily species from central Africa (Zaire). My parents brought it back from their stay there a long time ago in the form of some crude looking furniture. So I planed it down to save some later project, and here we are. Anyway, I wiped the surface with acetone and that seems to take away the ickiness. All good.
I made the top table easy detachable with machine screws so I can switch it out for some other, unbuilt, auxillary item in the future. The sub support is from solid oak (sourced from old 60s church benches that also was given to me a long time ago).

Back to Atlantica.
 
Cheers!

Nils, I am posting my plans for a workboat and a lifeboat. Perhaps they will be useful to you.
 
 

Lifeboats are custom-made using a 3D printer.

Thanks, Greg!
These models are ordered by owners of private collections. I have not yet interacted with museums, but I know that they tend to acquire simpler and cheaper models.

Spent a bit of time preparing the beams. First scraping the majority of the char with a scalpel then sanding
 
 
 
 

 
 
As I painted the lower bulwarks, I decided also to paint the beams, similar to the Indy.
 
 
 

Then inserting them into place
 

Post 21
Pearwood Planking
I begin with making a Drop plank to fit directly below the wale at the bow.
Above and running into the drop plank is a plank that runs the remainder of the way along the hull also directly below the wale.

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This plank I fit first, it terminates at the third bulkhead with a tapered width of 3mm. It then runs at full width to the stern.

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A temporary plank is run beneath to gauge the bottom line of the Drop plank.

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With this in place a pattern can be made for the Drop plank. This also tapers to 3mm at the stem, butts against the plank above it on its topside, and runs beneath it with a tail to bulkhead four.

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The patterns are cut out of some spare Pear fret.

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Dry fitting the drop.

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After a lot of tweaking and dry fitting they are glued into place.

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My next job will be to check the remaining strake numbers required and size up the Garboard Strake.
 
B.E.
18/01/2025
 
 

Good decision, John. Sometimes a do-over is the best option.
Console yourself with the thought that you haven't added the standing rigging.
Attached is a photo of my current commission to restore a vintage model with several broken masts and spars that need dramatic repairs (prior to sorting-out the rigging mess); a family cat jumped on my client's glass case, collapsing the top panel onto the ship.
 
I show you my challenge to perk you up, accentuate the positive! It could be worse.
Ron


 
 
 

Hi 😊

Thanks SaltyScot - My height gauge has become probably one of my most important bits of kit.  All builds need a datum and mine is the very bottom of the keel.  So I use this tool to check pretty much everything.  They can be bought for less than $90 now but they don't have to be digital.  I just wish that I had owned it at the beginning of the build.
Hi Justin P - I'm fortunate that this is sometimes a team build.  I have a book by Adrian Sorolla that explains the entire build of this little ship.  I also have G. Delacroix who actually owns the monograph who is a member on here.  He answers so many questions for me regarding this build which I would otherwise struggle with.  I also have the 1000's of members of this forum that often put me right -  so don't quit go build a ship  
 
Now I said that I was going to build a heavy duty keel clamp so I did - this is not going to be everyone's cup of tea but here's some pictures.  Cheers to Toolmaker who encouraged me to share this.  I've built in some room for growth as my next ship will be a little longer - all I can say is that it's completely over engineered and extremely strong
 




Mark
 
 

Hello,
because I started with my Tiger in Dec 2017, and I should carve there the quarter pices now, to which I'm at the moment not in the mood. And at least I would like to build a ship or model readdy.
 
During the summer I bought the book from Werner Dammann about the Gokstad Ship, because these Viking ships interested me since my youth. To my birthday the book by Vibeke Bishoff about the Oseberg ship came along to that.

 
I started some time befor with the keel and then the plug for planking. Now the first two rows of planks are laid. I build in castello, the planks are 0,5 mm thick.











 

Base made, hull all planked, need to work out channels an additional windows/gun ports in quarter deck.

After seeing Glenn -UK's paint job of the lower deck, I decided to do the same. As I had already glued things, had do do a lot of taping before spraying. Unfortunately slight seepage requiring some scraping and sanding. Also recived the door handles and hinges from Syren and installed them.
 

Post 20
Pear wood planking
I sorted the planks by colour, keeping even tones for planking below the wales to the waterline.
A few were rejected by reason of poor grain match altho’ these could be used for the lower hull particularly if it is to be coppered.
 
I always knock up a temporary support base to hold the hull inverted for planking and coppering. I find it helps a lot to keep the hull steady.

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The hull will spend a lot of time inverted.
In this shot I have applied two strakes below the Gunport pattern, tapering to 3mm at the bow and leaving full width at the stern.

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The hull has been coated with sanding sealer which I think gives a better surface for ca to grip. I also dampen the back of the planks before applying ca, again I think it helps rapid grab.
 
I have taken a different approach to the planking on this model.
In reality, and on PoF model building, wales are fitted directly to the frames. I thought I would have a play around and plank down to just below the lower edge of the wale, fit the wales and trim back to the lower edge. The top line of the wale is marked on the Topsides veneer already fitted.

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Part of the Pear planking can be seen below the wale, this will be removed.
This will allow the planking proper to begin below the wale and run naturally rather than the wale covering the plank below in a random manner.
It also allows for the fitting of a drop plank should the mood take me as I know exactly where the wale line is.
I initially soaked and pinned the wales to retain the Bow form. At the stern the wale should run under the round of the hull a little, this area was also soaked and pinned.

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Getting the wales to fit close is a clamp heavy exercise, and I modify cheap clothes pegs to suit. I used pva to glue the wales.
 
With the wales firmly fixed the planks protruding below are removed, a fairly easy exercise but care had to be taken not to  run off line when scoring the plank line for removal. This could prove unfortunate for the wale patterns.
I used a new Number11 scalpel blade for the purpose on each side.

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The white area is where planking was removed. This will be lightly sanded and sealer applied.

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I can now work out my planking approach.
 
B.E.
17/01/2025

Hi Maurice,
 
She's looking good. These fashion pieces look much better than that shown on the prototype build.  The Speedwell has exactly the same arrangement on the lower counter,I suspect that would be fairly common construction practice back in the day on small ships still using the older style square tuck . I'm currently chipping away at the boxwood carved figures of the two ladies ornamenting Speedwell's tafferel,then there are other smaller pieces to be done. Heigh Ho,get there eventually I guess.
 
Dave 
 

Thanks for all your help guys- re-make it is then!

Some more done
 
Before I started the planking I just did a quick check to make sure it was all square as I didn't want a wonky stern 🤣  I did this because I fitted it a long time ago when my measuring skills and equipment wasn't as good as today.  It was only 1mm out on the port side so I squared it up with a rasp.
 

All of the planks are curved so I pre-bent them all just using Chucks edge bending technique and then got to work fitting them.

The last plank was the hardest as it's a moulding which makes the transition from the counter timbers to the overlap of the stern planking.  I made a scraper and shaped it on the bench.

It was tricky to fit and I lost some of its detail but all in all I think it looks ok.



I like the side detail where the first 2 planks sit flush with the outer planking but the rest sit behind.  Its also the only place where you can actually see the shiplap joints too.

So I'm going to continue working on the outer of the stern working my way upwards for now.  More mouldings to make and more planks to pre-bend for the construction of it.
 
Mark

Been a couple of weeks, but I've been away at a conference for a week and last Monday I was working happily away when I accidentally (stupidly) cut straight through the jib stay, so most of the day was spent simply getting back to where things were when I came in! 🤢
 
Meanwhile, other work has been going on at home. Here is the foresail complete and rigged on its yard. It won't go onto the model for a while, but I plan on making and rigging all the square sails here at home and then taking them into the museum to fit on the model as required.
 
John
 

I've got 100s of other pictures documenting the build, but I'll close with pictures of how she sits now.  Following 3 years on the road in our RV, we finally bought a home in Loveland Colorado.  A corner of the basement is my "Navy Bar", where the finished model finally landed.