Grimber

hehe I don't know all that more than you, my first wood model ship as well. Only other wood 'model' I ever built was a small Deep V RC boat kit and that had like 25-30 parts and I painted it 5 or 6 coats of high gloss white enamel paint used on furniture. ( never did finish that boat either )

Should see how it works on lead miniatures. just the wash, rub off and then dry brush most of the paint work. finish with a little detail painting and then a spray fixative. I'd like to find some nice sailor minis for this ship but the web sites I searched didn't have anything looked like 1800's sailors in a 33mm ish size. more digging on that I guess.

nice. yeah get some blue and black into the cotton, between the area lit up orange/red and the outer white. Something like orange then black then a dark storm cloud blue around the edges of the white puffs. Some storm cloud pictures may help. maybe use a fabric dye or a watercolor, something that won't cause the cotton to clump and stiffen then you can still pull and tuck the cotton as need be to get the right look. for aging, dirt, grime, smoke staining/soot, small flak/bullet holes .... mess around with different mixture ratios of matte black, matte grey a little steel ( not silver) thinner ( and matte brown if doing dirt) . many of these get best results when dry brushing too. for paint scrapes showing metal underneath use the curved hobby blade and scrape the paint to the plastic and dry brush in aluminum enamel. have another brush with just clean thinner and paper towels to do fine clean up of the aluminum when you get more on then you want. Dry brush the thinner get more precession. Let dry and brush on a little clear gloss just on the aluminum to make it shine. for bends careful use of a mini blowtorch ( they use butane ) to soften the plastic then bend it over something with a hard edge (but not sharp) like the back side of a butter knife . practice on scrap first. took me a while to get use to heating the plastic without melting or burning it. alternative is to cut the part, bevel the edges and glue back together. paint scraping and aluminum as above at the 'outside' of the bend point. defiantly looks like your on your way with it. can't wait to see how you do the ship damage and handle tracer rounds from the planes strafing. ( don't forget explosions and bullet strikes in the water around the ship too. )

Darn florescent lighiting really messes with the color with some pictures. There is always room for improvement but at least I haven't lost all my touch, yet. We will skip to the next section here ( A.7 Bulworks ) then come back to A.6 to do the stringers.

Thanks. I knew I would break or loose some but not on the first day I had hoped the set would last at least on the first ship. Give me a few minutes and I'll post the results of the finish on the deck.

As I mentioned earlier there is a dilemma that has to be overcome before I start on the deck finish (remember you need to always be thinking several steps ahead now for any possible issues you have to overcome). Part #19, the Deck Stringers. According to our directions this gets glued on the deck next and it will eventually be glued to part # 20 the Bulworks. The problem is this: The finish I will use on the deck planking, bulworks and deck stringer will be all different. The way I want to finish the stringer I cannot get any of the finish from the deck finish on it else it will turn out wrong. Same as with the finish of the bulwork will mess up doing the stringer finish. So that means I have to put the stringer in later, but will the glue hold to the finishes ( or will it react badly to the finishes) on the bulkwork and deck, or will I have to intentional leave part of the deck and bulwork clean of finish so I can glue in the stringer? Only way to find out is I had to use my deck practice finish tests and take some pieces of the same material as the stringer and bulwork, finish them and then try different glues and see if they would hold together. I needed to do all this testing before starting the deck finish, which took time to do the finishes and let them dry, then glue together and let them all dry again. Fortunately 2 out of the 6 glues I tried held strongly, so I can go ahead and do the stingers after the bulwork is put in. While I was at it, I also tested to see if the finish I plan to use on the cabins will also hold to the deck finish ( so some extra time there too ). Turned out then doing the treenails was worth it as I used the time doing the holes to wait on paints and glues to dry Onwards to the deck finish... Now, the way I am going to do this finish is probably not one you would do. It has allot of steps and time involved and once you start you cannot really stop till you get all the way through it, but I hope you think the results was worth it, I do. When I was modeling (plastic kits) and working with miniatures I noticed that these things had allot of nice details molded into them but most people would just cover them all up with thick layers of paint. They lost so much 'character' to what they were making. I wanted to take full advantage of what was already there and bring it out. What I came up with is from an common painting technique just modified. After sanding my deck with some fine sandpaper I make up 2 paint mixtures, these are 'washes'. Basically paint thinned down so they behave like a watercolor paint. One is a 1 part matte black enamel model paint and 3 parts paint thinner. The other is 1 part matte grey (battleship grey) enamel model paint, 2 parts thinner, one part linseed oil. I use an eye dropper to measure 'parts'. Mix both well, then I take 1 eye dropper of the grey and add it to the black. ( just and FYI I usually mix up a bunch of this and keep in 1-3 model paint bottles or a small jar. If doing miniatures add in half a part of 'steel' model enamel paint.) Put some painters tape on my ship so I don't slop past the deck area ( this stuff will bleed like crazy on any wood if even gets a drop on it) and with a sizable brush I QUICKLY coat the deck. ( I know, your going "OMG! he didn't just do that?!?!?! ) Use a paper towel and wipe down quickly then rub the paper towel over it to take off any left over wet black wash. Now sand with 150 grit sand paper ( miniatures no sanding, plastic models damp paper towel with thinner and rub lightly). TAKE your time sanding, remember these planks are only .5mm thick. sand by hand, no blocks or dowels or files. Sand following the direction of the strakes, not against them. ( will take a little while to work it down to this, work slow don't force the sandpaper let IT do the work) Take your hobby knife and put in the curved carving blade and then you will LIGHTLY scrape along all the planks to remove excess ( your judgement on how much). Especially around the areas of the plank joints and treenails. Here is a painting tip that will help you decide how much to scrape. When I started to learn oil painting my instructor said: "to bring out the light, get some darkness next to it. To bring out the dark get some light next to it." For the wood the details are in the darkness from the wash, so scrape away to bring out the light but not loose the dark. (before scrape) (after scrape) ( compare this with the pic of just after sanding) Now, we apply a wood stain. I'm going to use a Red Oak stain for this. Why... um well it's the only stain I got in the house. I could use an oil ( even vegetable oil will work, after all wood kitchen cutting boards are finished with vegetable oil) but i want to put some additional color into the planks. Could also take apart a marker or highlighter and stick the ink stick inside into some thinner to make a color watercolor wash to give the wood color but I like the idea of red oak. With a paper towel I wipe on some stain hitting all the wood let sit for about 30-60 seconds and quickly using a clean paper towel wipe the excess off then rub it to get any other excess off. I then sand it again. 150 grit lightly by hand then follow up with a fine grit sandpaper. Next I do what? Maybe you guessed it already... hobby knife and scrape again. After scraping I give every inch a good look over and make sure I'm happy with the final result and scrape anything I think needs a little more done. I let the ship stand a couple hours for the stain to dry. A once over quick with a fine sand paper then wipe clean with a clean rag or paper towel. Then I use a paper towel to rub on a generous amount clear Satin varnish then wipe off excess. Let dry 3-4 hours. Light quick sanding with very fine sandpaper. Repeat for a second coat and let dry again 3-4 hours. (btw, I will only be using semi gloss, satin or matte/flat finishes on this ship) And the results........

Continuing on with the deck planking, it went pretty easy for the rest of it. I estimate maybe 20 hours of cutting measuring filing and gluing but if I had been going for a tight fitting deck with consistent stagger it would have raised the amount of time for the extra attention to detail. (port side planked) (starboard side planked. Note on the very edge of the deck I had to take a plank and split it to fill in the very remaining edge. While there is a piece that will glue over this I added the planking anyways so when I add the next piece it won't give me a possible issue of not sitting on the deck right) After the glue is completely dried I then just use my hobby knife and cut off most of the overhanging pieces then sand it down until flush to the false deck. I'm about ready to start applying my finish to the deck planks, but I have to consider one possible detail to add or not. I have already left gaps between each plank so when my finish goes on I can give the suggestion of the calking but do I want to add the suggestion of treenails (a.k.a. trunnels) as well? (Materials and tools used for planking calking. Note the calking between the planks.) (Treenails or Trunnels are wood pegs driven into drilled holes and then a wedge is put in both ends. Then they are kept wet to keep the wood expanded and hold the timbers together) I seen several different ways people in their builds suggest treenails but I figured the method I will use in finishing the planks and suggesting calking would work on treenails too but do I want to drill all those holes and will it really turn out alright without being too distracting when looked at. I would want people to notice them but not to stand out so much that people are hypnotized by them and can't look at the rest of the model as their eyes are drawn to the treenails. I had been using some left over planking boards to set up some tests for my finish ( make up a few test strips exactly like how you are doing the planking. Same wood, same glue with staggers, gaps etc. So I used some tests with and some without treenail holes to decide. I opted for treenails, so off to drill a bunch of holes by hand with my micro drill bits and pin vise. I decided not to over do it and just place treenail holes at the stagger joints and a few planks where they ended against an edge like the deck openings and poop-deck. Don't ask how long it took as I didn't keep track but I would hazard a guess of 6 hours. I just got these micro drill bits and pin vise and this was the first time I used them. On the last hole I dropped the pin vise and broke off the drill bit. Spent an hour on my hands and knees searching the floor but never found the broke off end. Used next larger bit to finish the treenails and then ordered more bits. Time to start on the finish.....

The main deck has a compound curve: bow to stern then also starboard to port so the false deck has to be bent both ways at once to fit. It's that way on both your newer version and my older version of the swift.

Same thing happened to me on my bulkheads, even after I tried to make sure they were centered port to starboard I still had one get off. Had to shim that one to get the fairing right. Also ended up with a bulkhead that was just cut smaller then it should have been ( #4 ) that needed shimming as well. Ended up being a very early lesson learned to check the bulkhead sizes before installing to see if they were cut evenly and take good measurements while installing and be ready to correct factory mistakes.

Not much sleep last night so I worked on the planking a bit more. Finished planking the poop-deck and I am done with 8 'strakes' of the main deck. (note the small overhanging pieces off the main deck. They would not do this on a ship, but I am not going for realistic or historical accuracy) I'm actually enjoying this part more. The planking offset doesn't match between the two deck openings compaired to the rest of the planking due to how I started the planking. But i like how it breaks up the pattern and gives a sense of they had been replaced since the ship was built and they didn't have the right materials to match the planking pattern. Now if you DID want to keep the offset pattern consistent you would want to draw out the planking pattern on the false deck ahead of time. You can use the bulkheads as a guide to draw guidelines port to starboard ( as the bulkheads are 7cm apart) so you have them as a guide to where the stagger cut offs would be. But also then if you wanted historic accuracy you would not have any staggered planks between the cabins or aft of the cabins or on the poop-deck. Also you would be putting in a Nibbling Strake around the outside of the deck before putting down your planking (which this kit doesn't even have one so would have to manufacture that part). Next post, complete planking, finishing the deck planks and our first dilemma on what should be done next in what order.

Section A.6 Planking the deck Our first piece that will not only be visible on the finished model it will be a big part of its overall look. Even though it's our first ( do you remember your first? ) model we want it to be something we can be proud of and show it off. 'chest puffed up' "I made this." "Dude no way!" "yep" "cool, does this part move?" SNAP! "ARRRRRG!" "cool, it's a pirate ship too? Arrrrg, where's the ale?" I'm doing the deck planking to be weathered and unfinished. Most all the ships I looked into did it this way as a varnished or glossy painted deck would be very slippery at sea when all wet, very unsafe. So the wood work we do here will defiantly show. A little gap between planks and even a little unevenness to the joints between planks would just add to the aged/worn look. Just not too much. So I set up a little rig to set my ship on so it won't move around while working on it ( made of just scrap wood and cardboard ) glued down to my work board. The instructions say to make our planks about 70mm or 7cm long so I make a simple rig on my work board out of left over scrap from the hull decking with a cut out spot 7cm from the end of the rig to make my planks. First I give my false deck a sanding, then I redraw my center line down the false deck so I can keep my planks in line from bow to stern. Now, before I handle any of my planks I make sure to clean my hands. I don;t want any dirt or oily greasy stuff to get on my planks. I also note that just like my hull planks my deck planks are not of the same widths. While this is not as a big of a deal it will matter if your doing one run of planks down the deck and have to grab another plank to cut up. Make sure the one you use is the same size as the one you were using on a run. Actually I think the correct term is 'strake'? for a row or line of planking. Someone correct me if I'm wrong on that. Also note these planks are very thin and flexible ( and brittle) but they should be fine without bending since we are working with short pieces. I keep a damp coth to the side for cleaning up any excess glue on the deck and off my hands as you will get gluey on this. Using my plank cutting rig I cut a 7cm plank. On these I am using Aleene's Clear Gel Tacky Glue. It's clear, dries clear and starts setting up in a few minutes. Sand the ends a little with an emory board then I apply a little glue to the plank, using my paint brush I spread the glue around the entire plank surface. Should be a thin coating enough to glue the plank but not really glob out the sides when we apply it to the false deck. I place my first deck plank lined up on my center line to the bow side of the first deck opening. Hold in place until the glue sets. This stuff will set in a couple minutes so you won;t hold it too long. It can still be moved after this but if you have to move it more then just a minor adjustment you may want to pull it up, clean the surfaces and re-glue it. I'll add a second plank long this 'strake' which will hang over the bow. Then I will work backwards on this same strake towards the stern. I will have to fill short pieces in between the 2 openings and the aft end of the main deck. ( mark off how much I need to fill in this part. I will give it a little extra for overhang) ( I flip the piece over then glue as I don't want a pencil mark in my finished planking ) I will work the next strake along the other side of the center line, but now we want an offset to our planking so the joints between planks don't match up. So I add another cut off point on my cutting rig at half ways ( 3.5cm ) and cut a half plank. Then go ahead and glued this i after a little sanding of the edges. Now it is just a matter of repeating the pattern with full planks and fill the shorter gaps. I want you to note I am leaving a hair line thin gap between planks ( hard to see in the pictures ) both lengthwise as well as between planks in each strake. This will play into my aging the deck later. If you don't want an aged deck or you intend to paint then butt them up tight. On the poop-deck it would normally be planked with single planks per strake, but I wanted a little more character so I am using shorter planks for a stagger. I added a 3rd cut off to my plank cutting rig at 1/4 length of a normal plank and use those to make the offset. I ended my work tonight here. Remember, from now on everything we do is going to be visible. Take MORE time on everything. More control on your glueing, cutting, alignment,... everything. I want my ship to reflect part of a cadence we sang in the army when marching " ... standing tall and looking good. Aught to be in Hollywood."

Before we go on to the next section we need to bring up the topic of finishing. We are at the point of this build where from here on out to the end we have to think about finish work. For a beginner modeler the word 'finish' can be misleading in that you 'might' assume it is what you do at the end to finish the model. In fact finishing refers to applying or using a finish to a part, assembly or section of your model during the building process. While you could do finishing after all the construction it can make the process very difficult. Deciding how you want your finished model to look is something you need to work out very early on. Sometimes even before you glue the first piece. You don't have to plan out specifics but a general overall concept helps considerably. Inventorying your parts, maybe even when you pick the box up off the shelf in the hobby store. I put finishing into 2 categories: Surface finishing and Detailing Surface finishing is as it sounds. Using a stain, paint varnish or even leaving it untouched is a surface finish. You could even go outside the normal mold and use markers, colored pencils and stickers or what ever you can think of with your imagination. ( no Im not joking here either you should see how wood looks when ran over with different colored highlighter markers). When should you finish a part? That ends up in your corner to decide as each model is different and each type of finish is different and each modelers personality and likes/dislikes are different. You will have to be always thinking 10 steps ahead of the build to envision when what and where is the best spots during the build to do finishes. "This goes here, that glues to those These sit under that so I need to paint this then do that then varnish, this glues to those and stain the other things but only after paint on this other thing dries first" Just remember a few basics: Glue does not stick to most finishes Some finishes can react badly to some glues. A finished surface glued to another finished surface the glue does not adhere the surfaces, it adheres the finishes ( or not if it doesn't stick to that finish) Paints usually need a primer applied to a wood surface before painting. Stains and oils can 'bleed' through wood to other woods it is in contact with. Some finishes leave a waxy film that will repel other finishes. This can be bad or if used right can be very useful. Some finishes can take a LONG time to dry and even longer if it needs multiple coats. So many times you may only et one thing done then need to walk away from your model. If working with a finish that the wood underneath will show, you need to take the extra, extra, extra time to make sure the wood work is done correctly LONG before you get to the finishing stage of that part. And even more so if you are going for a natural look of just the bare wood because that finish method its all about the wood. Not just the craftsmanship but the physical properties of the wood itself. Grain direction, coloration. imperfections etc. You could toss allot of wood pieces to the side to get just the right one for the right spot. Details. This is about the small things that normally aren't in a model kit that is added by the builder to add 'life' to the model. Small parts, carved surfaces, re engineering model parts to be more authentic and so on. While they can add to the model it is also easy to over do it. Also a poorly done detail added to a model can make a good model look bad. Overall finishing is about achieving a look and to do that it takes time ( and lots of it ), patience and planning. That being said, I mentioned all the way back at the beginning I had a basic plan for finishing my ship. I don't have details but I got enough to go on so when I get to particular points I can work finishes and not get held up in the overall build and of course I could change any of this as I go. Forgive the really bad drawing but it's just for my reference. ( get any idea how bad my first painting was yet? ) Note I don't get into details, just the overall scheme of what I want to achieve. Details I will hammer out where I want to go several steps ahead on the build but I can give you a general idea of detail work I would like. With this model I see rigging type work is where the details should lay. Sails, more rigging ( the models rigging are simple to an actual ship of this type), details to rigging such as rope coils on deck and draped in appropriate locations. Properly rigged ensign (flag) Adding other items to the deck area would not only clutter it it would be un-sensible on a real ship ( they don't pile allot of stuff all over a deck if it's not needed to actually sail the ship). I considered a small dingy as well as many ships of this size now days have one, but in the end I think it would just be clutter. I may also do a little detail work into the cabins just to take away from the plain surfaces. Onwards...

Yes, your build log reflects someone that has and is continually researching the subject and an excellent example of just what you can do with dedicating extra time at each step. When I seen those kits that have been started I sometimes feel bad that they had the serious interest to buy it and want to build it but for what ever reason they couldn't keep that interest long enough to carry on. I've seen many build logs already just like that where the member was motivated to continue on past the issues they struggle where I think if they didn't have such a community as this, would have gave up and added their half started model to eBay or the dumpster. From working other hobbies I can safely say once you get your first attempt under your belt that is a BIG motivator, "yes I can do it, now can I do it better on the next?" to carry on and really want to delve more into reading, research, patience and asking lots of questions. My first oil painting I know if Picaso had seen it when I was done would have said 'what the h--- is that?'. But that one done I went on to do many more. In fact I intend to pick it back up again this winter. I want an ocean scene painting with a tall ship for the living room where the ships I make will go. Oh and Im out of Dew and Cookies. FInished them off today so have to make a store run tomorrow. I'm stuck with grape soda or cocoa but I may make a blueberry pie to off set for the cookies.

others may have better sources but AL has it for 3.5 euro 4.50 US bundles of 20-25 depending on length http://www.artesanialatina.net/EN/accessories-and-equipment/wood/

Hey Keith. No, no offense, all your points are very valid. About the only way you would offend me is take away my Mnt Dew and chocolate chip cookies, then you better run for your life I know I didn't explain why I did it the way I did it, I just briefly said I was doing it this way right or wrong. Maybe I should have been more clear on it but it was for a reason other than what most would consider, I think. My second planking won't be anything like this at all. As you know there is allot more research and study into ships, ship building and basically anything to do with ships for this hobby. Searching photos, websites, blueprints, videos, buying books ( I have 3 books just on rigging I ordered all for $.01 each), downloading pdfs on and on and on... I've gone read through and even 'dry' practiced 5 different planking methods. When doing this I suddenly stopped and had a thought in my head that rang clear. While you or I or many people really interested in the hobby would take the time to do this research in the beginning, there are just as many first timers that would not invest so much time into it when on their first model ( building or research). Typically the invested time with many people comes down the road ( I spent allot of time in the army training people, believe me the average person has no patience to do in-depth learning, read a book or manual). Hence why it is so easy to find half started model ships, they get to some point on the hull work and give up. Since my log is geared with the beginner in mind I not only have to think about my learning and results on my ship but the average learning curve of the reader that may come along . So I fall back on one of the MANY acronyms used in the army. K.I.S.S. for Keep It Simple, Stupid. So for the first planking I opted for a more obvious method any beginner would do. Plop down planks and fill in, I just tried to make it a more step by step process. By this point even a beginner will see results vs giving up. Sorry I am so use to getting people to learn things they normally wouldn't invest a ton of time into learning on their own. I have done allot of tutorials and lessons on many other subjects before. I just view my log as one more. Believe me, builds after this one the logs won't be so long For plank bending I used the method I showed back when I was working on shaping the hull. That is a mistake on my part that I didn't mention that in the log in the planking section. Ill have to go back and fix that point. I found you can get a plank to twist and even curl by simply angling your dowel vs going perpendicular to the plank and you can get tighter bend if you remove the clamp and rub back and forth in the area you want to bend more. Flip the plank over and you can do the same to un bend it. Only down side, the pressure compresses your plank so it gets a bit thinner and wider depending on the pressure you use. For my ship, the pictures don't do the first hull justice. The divots and gaps you see are actually dried glue. If I was going to straight out paint the hull I would not do a 2nd planking because this one is solid. 2-3 coats of paint and it would be all good.

Sanding and filling. I will start with a light sanding over the entire hull with a 60 grit sandpaper. Instead of a sanding block or dowels I will just use my fingers to guide the sandpaper over the contours of the hull. I want to go with the line of the planks as well as against them so I can get the surface from plank to plank evened out. Don't apply too much pressure as the planks are thin and with 60 grit you can easily sand right through. Let the sand paper do the work. Also don't 'dig' into the planks if you have a significant hight difference between planks ( one plank is thinner than the adjacent planks). We are trying to get a smooth transition of the curves across the entire hull, 'diging' will just cause a dip in that curvature line. (first sanding) Since this is the first planking layer we are only out to achieve that even transition of the curvature lines. So we don't need to fill every small tiny gap just the gaps that disrupt that curvature. So you need to rotate your hull around so you can follow the curvature to look for these disruptions. Run your fingers over the hull too, remember they can show you things your eyes miss. Also, we are FILLING gaps, not building up surfaces. If you have to build up a surface you should consider if you should add additional wood vs using a filler. For filler I use Elmer's Carpenters wood filler. Comes in several wood colors so match up the color you need. It's also sand-able in about 15-20 minutes where other wood fillers can take 12-24 hours before you can sand again. To fill, skip the putty knife. Put some along where you need to fill ( the one I use is in a squeeze bottle) then get a LITTLE moisture on your finger tip and run it along the area to fill to spread and smooth the filler. Don't leave excess and only use enough to fill. (after filling only the spots that really need any filling. Filler is still wet so its a little darker in the pictures) Then we sand again using a 150 grit sand paper. To sand out the filler and smooth out the rest of the hull more. Follow that by another sanding with a sandpaper around 300 grit to smooth the hull down. Remember this is all so far been about building the shape of the hull, not the look. From the false keel being straight to the bulkheads being squared, making the ship symmetrical, to shaping the filler blocks and bulkheads and putting on planking sanding and filling. It's all about that smooth transition to the hull curvature. It's all been construction and building that foundation of the hull. All we have done is build. After this point we move into the combination of building, crafting and artistry as what we work on from here on out will be outwardly visible on the finished model. End of Section A.5

Today I continued on with the planking of the stern section The steps I did here were not any different than what I have been doing. place, mark, cut, sand, test fit, sand more, glue in and clamp. The only differance was I was using small pieces vs entire plank strips. Ultimately I got the planks in to the stern to where I am happy with the results. At this point I now mixed up some thinned out wood glue and with a bigger bush coated the entire planking then used a paper towel to wipe off excess. This should be thin enough to get into the gaps between planks to glue it all together. I'm not trying to fill the gaps just get glue into them to make the hull more solid. I give it lots of time to dry completly before I will sand it.

Thanks. I'm trying to force myself to take my time on it but also falling victim to the 'first build' itch of being anxious and wanting to see it when it's done. The log is helping me remember what I have done every day and if I can share some of the day by day work on the ship with others that may be struggling with an issue they can maybe get some ideas and also see other beginners have struggling points as well. No my work area isn't all that neat and clean, at least not when I am working on the ship: but i try to make a point of cleaning up at the end of every day. helps to keep your work straight, not loose or damage parts and gives you plenty of room to spread out for the next days part of your work. If not enough room in the garage to partition out a small hobby room you can insulate a garage fairly inexpensively with sheets of styrofoam, corrugated cardboard and sheet plastic. Same things used on insulating basements. After that a small radiant heater will heat a 1 stall or small 2 stall garage easily. ( don't use forced air space heaters, big electric drain there) The kit is almost 30 years old (1985) so I expect issues with the wood. I have a kit that is older ( i think mid 70s or maybe even a bit earlier) but that will be for a later build after I can get myself a scroll saw. The parts on the plywood sheets aren't pre cut.

Continuing on with the first hull planking..... I follow the same steps up to plank 4 on the upper and lower hull sections... (On plank 4 for the upper hull it needed to be tapered to the aft besides taper to the bow. I'll show my 'basic' steps to do the taper below) Plank 5 on the upper hull decided to cross the road with it's natural lay. The pieces along the upper and lower hull now continue to taper to both ends. So the basic steps I did to taper the ends. I fit the piece to be cut against the previous plank. Place my alignment marks so I keep things straight where it will go back in at. I then mark where the plank rubs against the already installed plank, just like we did previously with the bow section. I also then mark on the opposite side of the plank from my previous mark where the tapering gap will end, I mark do the same marks on the other half of the plank. Then using a straight edge connect the marks on both sides of the plank, then cut along the lines and sand the cut edges. Test fit and sand/file as needed until you are happy with the fit. Then glue it in and clamp. Bow and mid section done with the first layer of planking. Have to finish doing the stern section then start sanding and filling where needed. Start on that tomorrow if I have time.

the shape is good and you will even out that little bit of bulkhead sticking out when you taper the hull for the prep for planking.

Found on youtube some video reports on one of the voyages of the Virginia ( a re created pilot boat of the original Virginia ) where they would take teenagers out on a working voyage. Really cool to see the boat and the work it takes to sail her and get an idea what it's like out at sea on one of these ships.

I next continue by working on placing the first planks to follow the keel line. Since the keel line is beveled I sand that side of my plank so it meets this bevel ( or try to anyways ). Then while test fitting it I follow the natural curvature of the plank towards the bow till it curves over the center line of the keel and I make sure it has enough overhang so the entire end of the plank is past that center line. I glue it in place from bulkheads 3-5. Holding the bow end down I miter cut the end of the plank to the center line and glue that down. Hard to clamp this part so had to hold it in place. ( note I don't work the stern half yet) I repeat this on the other side. Once they are set, and with some moisture on the stern half of both planks I SLOWLY twist the planks about 90 degrees to follow the curvature of bulkhead 6 until the planks lay flat against the false keel. They should lay about flush with the keel line, depending on how your planks fit against the keel along bulkheads 2-5. ( i.e if they are a little above the keel line at 2-5 then so should it be at the end (stern end of the keel ). Glue and clamp, I needed a big clamp at the end of the keel and smaller ones just to hold the plank against the keel. Now for my first planking problem. I had started on the second row of planks here, glued it all down and clamped. Set it down to let the glue set up and turned away for just a moment and ....'SNAP!' Looked back and one of the planks had broke right after bulkhead 6. I could not get a clamp in there to hold it together and just ended up using my fingers. I had to work fast as the glue was setting up. I couldn't afford to just take it out and do over as I don't think I have enough planks from the kit to afford loosing one. Being under so much tension of twisting, maybe not wet enough and this was one of the planks that the grains didn't follow its length I was then not surprised it snapped, just a bad place to do it. Lesson here is if you need to do a stressful bend, check the grains of the plank first and pick one that can take the stress. ( the break after I got the 3rd row in to help support the weakened plank) Key with this twist is it has to 'flow' smoothly, not too tight and radical. a few more pics by the time I got the 3rd row in along the keel..... Started on a 3rd plank row on the deck side/upper hull then got tired so going to bed after this post. ( using thumb tacks to hold in the edge of the next plank as it is thin and can't get a clamp in. Note this wood is hard to push a tack into it so had to tap it in with a hammer) Also I don't put the tack into the plank, that can cause it to split. instead i use the pins edge as a 'stop' to hold it against the previous plank and then push the tack down and let the plastic handle part push the plank down against the surface I'm gluing it to.

Now for the stern end of the plank. With either some moisture or using heat added to the plank i will SLOWLY twist it to line up with the stern end of the first plank. You may have to twist a small amount then wait as the plank gets use to the new shape then twist a little more. you may also have to add more moisture or heat as you go. One your happy with how it sits, apply glue to bulkheads 7 -8 and the block on the stern to its end and clamp the plank in place. you may have to use additional clamps near the bulkheads if they don't sit all the way down ( especially if you didn't get the transition from one bulkhead to the next right when you were shaping the hull in the last section) For the bow section, we slowly push 'down' on the plank letting it follow its natural curve until it rubs or binds against the previous plank. ( you will feel it and it will sound like the creek sound timber rubbing together makes like a ship at sea). Note the spot on the plank where they come together when this happens. release the pressure on the plank then you will file, sand, plane that edge from just before the mark to the end of the plank. Keep repeating the process as you go. DON'T force the plank to follow the previous plank that will cause the plank to buckle and not sit naturally and will cause problems with laying down all the following planks. Once you have worked this plank all the way past the previous plank, apply glue and hold it in place until it sets up. you can do the prow 2 ways. miter cut, which you cut the end of this plank off so the end of it follows the line of the point of the prow which can be difficult if the plank is wet as it will tend to mash up vs cut. Or you can cut the end of the plank off so the cut end is flush to the curvature of the opposite side of the bow, then the plank from the opposite side (IF you get it lined up ) will wrap over the edge of this plank and you cut that off flush to this plank. Don't forget to trim the top of these 2 planks to follow the 3mm below the top of the bulkhead line. More pics of the first 2 rows of planks .. continued in the next post.

OK on to section A.5 Hull Planking This is the first of 2 layers to planking for this ship model. The first layer isn't seen, unless your ship contour is off ( dips and humps will be visible in the 2nd planking) so while the planks themselves won't be seen, the overall end job will. While reading a couple books, pdf documents and lots of other build logs I got the general idea down so thought I would go ahead and try it without worrying about too much precision at this point. Other build logs all seem to make the same comments about the planks. Not of uniform width or thickness and the grain of the wood doesn't always run the length of the plank. Plus older kits like this one the wood tends to have been dried out making it more brittle. *note* this may not be the best way to do this, it's just how I started on the 1st planking, for good or ill So I start by sorting out my planks ( after i figure out which bundle of sticks is which). Using a caliper I measure the width of each plank about 3-4 times down its length and separate them into stacks by width, I end up with 6 different sizes 4.6 - 5.2 mm I also noticed a few warped ones and a couple that don't have the same width from end to end but taper. I sorted these so that when I lay down a plank on one side of the hull, I can then match one of the same width plank on the other side of the hull. This should help keep the planks to match up where they will meet at the bow along the prow line As per the directions I measure down 3mm from the deck plate on each bulkhead and place a mark. Our first plank has to stay below this line. When you attach a plank you have to let it follow its natural curve. Meaning don't try to force it left or right but let it wrap around a surface on its own. **Edited note** I forgot to mention how I pre-bent the planks here. Forcing the plank to bend around the curvature of the ship hull when attaching it is not generally a good idea. More often then not you will break it and you have to fight to hold onto when you go to clamp it. Also forcing a bend can cause the hull to bend by being pulled towards that side from all the force of the plank trying to 'spring' back. You should bend your planks by a variety of different methods such as: soaking in hot water and then bend it on a 'form' untill it dries. using heat like an iron while your bending the plank to the hull. heat will loosen up the fibers to allow it to bend, steaming your plank. hot water vapor will also soften the planks fibers but not saturate it like soaking, allowing you to bend it. crimping. there are tools that will put small cuts in your planks allowing it to bend easier. heated 'spinning' bender tools. I don't know the proper names of these but its like a dremal tool with a metal wheel on the end that heats. Running this heated metal wheel along the plank will cause it to bend. usually used with a 'form' to get it to bend to the shape desired. rubbing. I showed back in the section when carving/shaping the hull how rubbing with applied pressure on a plank with a round object can make a plank to bend. This is the method I used during the 1st hull planking. I'm sure there are other methods too, but this is all I can remember off the top of my head for now. **end edit** I lay down a plank, giving it some room to hang over the edge of the stern and then let the plank 'curve' around the bow naturally. This will let the plank sit flat against the bow and bulkhead surfaces for the best contact when gluing. Then using my calipers ( or use a small flexible ruler with metric and with measurements of mm to .5) I measure out 3mm and mark the overhanging plank. I then cut this off. Be Sure when you cut it off, file and sand the cut you keep the edge you cut off following the edge of the plank as we will have another part later on that will attach to this plank edge. Repeat this process on the other side of the hull. You want to alternate port to starboard to port.... as you lay down planks because as the glue dries and if you wet your planks as they dry they will shrink and 'pull' on that side of the ship possibly bending your keel line. By alternating you keep the glue and planks drying equally on both sides. Also you may want to put the ship in a clamp to keep the keel straight until the last moment when you have to plank that part of the hull. To lay the next plank I first get my stern overhang then hold the plank in place along bulkheads 4-6 ( these are the widest points of our hull so the planks will curve away for and aft) and I place marks on this plank at bulkheads 4 and 6 showing me which side is to the outside and which which edge I am butting up against the previous plank. Now I'll take this plank and sand it. since we are following an 'outside' curvature of the hull if we just butt the planks together like in the picture above we get a get a small gap between planks because the corner edges of each plank against the bulkhead touch first keeping us from getting a tighter fit. So we will sand down the 'inside' edge the length of the plank. Then test fit. If fit is good I put a drop of superglue on the edge of bulkheads 4-6 and set the plank in place and hold the plank to stay against the first plank and press down near bulkheads 3 and 7 so we get the proper curvature while the glue sets up.

OK After doing a whole lot of reading on how to do this planking I figured only way I can REALLY learn it is by doing it. First plank and I have a question .... now everything i read is to allow the plank to follow its 'natural curve' or which way it will 'flow' when you bend it around a curve. So when placing my first plank that is 3mm below the top of each bulkhead, as it then goes out past bulkhead 1 to the prow it will bend 'upwards' naturaly. So am I right in assuming that you would glue this down as it lays and then trim it off to follow that 3mm below the deck line?