Grimber

I have an AL Ketch model sitting on a shelf here, will probably be my next model but it needs parts too. I found on AL web site they sell the parts I need but I'm not sure the cost vs where you did your shopping. http://www.artesanialatina.net/

I like the build so far. Was thinking about your pencil problem as I have been thinking about 'planking nails' too. I've been so far leaning to the possability ... a hair brush. they have many different sized bristles and are made of nylon. should be able to find a cheap one with large enough bristles so they can fit and be easy to sand vs using a wire. Oh and I would mabey try an eraser bag, vs a straight rubber pink eraser.

Cool, I'll have to follow your work on this. All my experiance is in plastic models so my Swift is new to me with all the wood working. I'm tring to watch other swifts in progress and get ideas to help me along. A rebuild is always a great project too to test your skills.

I repeated the same steps for block #10 that attaches to the stern side of bulkhead 5. Don't think we need pictures of that as it is the same process as block #9. Now, this is where I made my mistake. After finishing with block #9 I went on to block #12 which goes on the stern of the ship attaching to bulkhead 8. I got it flush to the keel top, marked the difference what I had to take off to make it meet up with bulkhead 8, sanded it down, it fit good so I glued it in. Went on to block #11 which attaches to the bow on bulkhead 1. Repeated the process of sanding down to fit it flush to keel and bulkhead and noticed my mistake. The bow block I just shaped no longer would fill the entire space, ACK! So I had to add some material to the block again to make it fill out the area. I used some left over of the 'tree' which I punched out the bulkheads and false keel from, glued it on and then shaped it. Looks now to be enough to fill in the port bow area. ( I'm trying to learn my nautical terms as I go btw ) After I felt a bit better about the bow I suddenly had a bad though it my head, did I also mess up the port quarter? I took an aprehensive glance and.. ACK! it came up short too. A small amount but it was enough to make me want to smack myself. Now I could blame these mistakes on the dog, especially when he took a doody at the bottom of the steps of my deck and I stepped in it this morning, or I could blame it on the 2 liters of Mnt Dew I drank today, or the fact that I was glad the first 2 blocks went in so well I wasn't paying enough attention to what I was doing. It does remind me of when I went to the national modelers contest and this experienced older gentleman that was answering peoples questions said this about making mistakes: " Modelers do not make mistakes. They instinctively make alterations to the manufacturers design. " That has always stuck with me. but you can also take a quote from someone a bit more famous too: " ... you cannot escape your destiny " ~ Darth Vader You're going to mess up. The creative part is in the fix To finish off the port side of the hull blocks I take my handy dandy cheap paintbrush and using wood glue right out of the bottle ( not thinned out) and apply some along all my joints between bulkheads, blocks and keel. Just on this side so I can leave the entire thing laying flat to dry and the glue won't run. Want to give the glue plenty of time to dry before moving on to the starboard side tomorrow. (edited side note... best thing to do here is probably just glue the bow and stern blocks in as-is after sanding the glue side surfaces a bit)

Picking up where I left off... I was working on attaching the bulkheads to the false keel using contact cement to just tack them in place. When I got t my last 2 bulkheads (4 and 8) I noticed my 6" blocks were too wide to fit between bulkhead 4 slot and the already installed number 5. I opted to turn the blocks on the sides but had to be a bit more careful to make sure the rubber band tension was even on both sides else the blocks being so narrow could 'fold' on me keeping me from getting that bulkhead in properly aligned and it could even fold up damaging my pieces. I already have a future plan for my blocks. To cut them down a little width wise, drill holes in them and insert bolts, washers and wing nuts to make them a more reusable clamp and they may even serve as an impromptu keel clamp when we get to needing one. So bolts and nuts go on my needs/wants list. Good idea starting out to keep such a list so when you go shopping you can pick up a few things at a time. If you look over the bulkheads now and notice a mistake or something got out of alignment, the contact cement will 'give' so you can just pull the piece off without doing any damage to the wood, take a knife and clean up the glue and reattach the bulkhead. Plus the cement will still let us have a little 'give' to the bulkheads so when we start the next step (A.2 of the instructions) of putting in hull supports, we can get a better fit to the parts. ( a side note on the contact cement. If I had waited until the 15 minute tack time of the cement before putting the pieces together I probably wouldn't get them apart. That's why I put them together a bit earlier. Putting contact cemented pieces together too early makes a much weaker bond) End of section A.1 Step A.2 Hull support installation and reinforcement: Here I lay out the blocks on the diagram so I know what will be going where, I also read over the steps closely before i start anything ( I still make my first big mistake here but I'll get to that later) I use some more scrap wood I have laying around so I can lay the hull on its side so I can work on all the blocks of one side and be sure they lay flat. Starting with block #9 and 10 (the one that will attach to bulkhead 2). I note that they aren't square but each dimention is a differnt size and no instruction on how they should lay so I make a choice how they will go in so they will be uniform on both sides. I take one block and I check it for square, the 2 squared sides will be my glueing/attachment sides for the keel and bulkhead 2, so I place and 'X' on the remaining sides so I don't get it put in wrong. I then test fit it. The top of the block needs to be flush with the keel and butt up against bulkhead 2. Don't worry it's not flush with the top of the bulkhead as the bulkhead curves, the flush to keel is what is important. We have a small gap at the bottom between the block and bulkhead, I measure this and place the measurement on the 'TOP' of the block and draw a guideline to the bottem corner of the block. Repeat this guideline on the keel side of the block too. This gives us how much to take off the block to get the bulkhead side of the block to sit flush when we have the block also flush with the top of the keel. I place my block in my 6" wood block clamps and lining up my guide lines to the edge of the 6" boards. ( i would rather have a metal clamp or table vise for this part, but another thing to add to my needs list). Ok your first test of shaping I attach some sandpaper to a dowl using double sided tape then starting from the 'shallow end' (where our guideline meets the corner of the block) I start sanding. I don't put any pressure to the sanding, let the sandpaper do all the work. The edges of our 6" boards just helps us to stay level as we sand. You shouldn't be taking hardly anything off the clamping blocks at all. Slowly work your way to the high end but work back and forth as you want to take it off in 'layers' or small amounts at a time, not gouge into it. Eventualy you will get the support block flush with the clamping blocks. Take it out of the clamp and test fit. You will most likely have to hit the side a little more to get it in good, but think of taking off a layer of paint, you don't want to take off more than a few scrapes at a time and then re test fit it. Once you get it where you like and it still is flush and lines up good we need to glue it. What we want is maximum contact of the surfaces when glueing and the glue to also 'anchor' into the porous wood. Most wood glues tend to be on the thick side for this, so I will add just a little water to my glue. Don't want it runny just want it to spread smoothly and soak into the wood pores. (added water but not mixed yet) With a cheap paint brush apply the glue to the 2 contact sides ( the only 2 without 'X's on them). When you put the block in place, you will notice that the piece will give a little 'floating' or 'slideing' feel just before it makes full surface to surface contact. Typically this is the point where your piece can slide off smearing glue all over and even you can loose control of it and break something on your model. So a firm but gental pressure straight down untill full surface contact. While holding it take your brush and wipe up any excess glue around the block and clamp to hold till it sets up. Don't worry about any small 'pinholes' or gaps. We aren't filling gaps at this point, we are welding surfaces together.

Yeah Gunther, it shows that even between glues, you can get different results from different manufacturers, So not all wood glues are the same, or superglues. Right now I am just stuck using the basics of what you find in the big retailer stores ( glues and tools ) but as I can budget money and do some shopping around I can fine tune my work materials and tools. I'm basically starting over on ground zero in this regard. Everything I had when I use to model is long since gone. But this can also be a good thing as it helps me relearn and maybe with a good log, help other new modelers a bit as they start out and also have limited things to work with. Jim, I got this and another Swift (the same model, but one made in 1982 the other 1985) from an auction on eBay. Both are sail-less models, the one with sails came along at a later date and I think I had seen some posts that there is more than one version of that as well. I intend to add sails though if I can get enough researched materials together to make them and properly rig them in place.

Gunther, your right on that point of the bulkheads can also 'slop' side to side since the notching seems to be much wider than it needs to be. Onwards ... I went ahead and lined up my blocks on the false keel, i found spring clamps would have too much tension on the spring when putting it on the blocks ( I didn't want to pinch or crush the wood of the keel piece with too much pressure) so I went with rubber bands. 1 on each end to hold it togeather and a 2nd to 'clamp' it down tighter once I got them lined up on my guide marks. Make sure you test fit the bulkhead pieces when lining up the blocks so everything squares up and no gaps. the bulkheads should lay flush on the blocks. As Gunther said, lining up the bulkheads so they are centered left and right as well is important. I did this by finding the 'center line' of the bulkheads. Also if you notice, the 'nubbies' on the tops of the bulkheads are also at the center point. We can use a center line and the 'nubbies' to make sure we are centered left and right and the bulkheads aren't twisted or rotated. (I used a pen here vs a pencil so you could see the lines clearer, so I messed up and smeared a little ink. Since this will never be seen I'm not worried but otherwise I would not use an ink pen on wood that would be visible) with guidelines and 'nubbies' we can adjust the builkhead into being straight and aligned as best we can. A word on glues... I would think most people would start out with the idea to only use wood glue and super glue for their construction. To be honest you shouldn't. Glue is a tool in your tool kit. Like any tool kit it grows and expands and gets all over the workbench, floor and any place you happen to lay things down at. Glues should not be limited either. Each type has strengths and weaknesses and used right, can make some things easier (and other things a real nightmare). Superglue while provides a fast tacking bond ( sometimes) it can be very bad. On porous wood it will soak in and bleed through, plus it can ruin a finish as it changes how the paint/stain varnish reacts to that part of the wood compared to a non saturated part. Wood glue, great for wood of course but dries slow and needs to be clamped for a long time, runs, can 'glob up' if it runs and when it dries it shrinks so you can literally loose that glued connection on parts if they have a big enough gap. So explore your glues as you also look for more tools for your modeling. Wood glue is also water based, too much and it can 'wet' your wood causing the wood to expand and then after the glue dries the wood can contract. The expansion and contraction can cause parts to misalign, warp and even pull itself apart from its contacted surfaces. In this instance I think both superglue and wood glue won't due for me. I don't want the superglue to get to the wood blocks and then make a big problem for me trying to cut them free and I don't have clamps to hold the bulkheads in place while wood glue dries. I decide on using a wood formulated contact cement to 'tack' the bulkheads. Sets up in about 15 minutes and will dry almost instantly after that. So I use a cheap hobby brush and spread some on the center line of the bulkhead and a light touch along the inside edge of the notch in the false keel opposite of my blocks. I wait 10 minutes and put the bulkhead in place and adjust it to center before the 15 minute 'tack' time of the glue. I brush a little more into that seem where the keel and bulkhead meet. Just enough to tack, I will fill wood glue in later after I remove the blocks. Once I am happy with the alignment of the 2 bulkheads I just hold it like this for a few minutes. The glue should tack up and hold the bulkheads in no less than 20 minutes after you start the glueing and you won't need to clamp them. Notes: don't use the brush that is in the cap of the bottle, too gloppy. Get the cover back on the glue as soon as you can. Contact cement evaportes super fast when exposed to air. Have a bottle with some mineral spirits or turpentine or such to toss your brush in right away. Once its set, I remove a rubber band from each side of the blocks to loosen them so I can slide them down to the next bulkhead slot and line them up, then replaced the 2nd rubber bands to clamp them again. Now it should be a 'rinse and repeat' until all the bulkheads are in place. As you work be sure to take care around the bulkheads, not just that you might nock them loose but if you look at the direction of the wood grains, they go straight up and down parallel to the keel. you can easily hit one and snap the wood off along that grain. Well, enough for this post. I'm a night owl so sleep in the day. Be back when I work on the boat more.

I have done many plastic models but I have never attempted to work on a wood model ship before. I was inspired by reading other peoples logs to get started on something I have wanted to do for many years. I hope I can do a well enough beginner build log to help other beginners like me, so I may get a little bit step by step detail-ish along the way. Should help me as well to think about what I'm doing, right and wrong. So, this should be interesting. (btw people can use my first name if they like, Tony, vs the forum name.) My first step was to clean out my basement ( at least one corner of it) so I could have some work space. My time modeling in my teens to twenties taught me a few key things: Lots of light. Lots of table work space to spread out on and be able to leave things sit for days weeks months at a time where things won't get disturbed accidently or intentionally. A work surface that you can work at both sitting and standing as you will do both frequently. http://s26.postimg.org/5cld19yp5/SAM_0148.jpg My neighbor was rehabbing his home and tossed out kitchen cabinets and counter tops, so a few 2x4s, screws and a little cutting and drilling, got a hobby work space for a few bucks. (BTW the light on the arm is from a dentist office has a large magnifying lens in the middle, they are awesome for working on detail work but buggy on the eyes after a while). Next after reading over suggestions on basic tools (NRG has a nice PDF on this as well as forum posts on what to think about when having to get started) I dug through all my tools and layed out what I thought best for modeling so I could keep them from mixing back in with the other tools. Also gives me an idea what I may need to go get right away and what I can work towards getting. http://s26.postimg.org/96etafg15/SAM_0144.jpg If you are new to modeling, you should take note: you will never know what you can use AS a tool when it comes to modeling. You not only have to be creative when making the model but also HOW you make the model. The most unlikely of things can be helpful and takes imaginative thinking. Now on to the model: Important to not only inventory but inspect parts for anything you may have to fix or replace. Even a new sealed kit can be a mess, Read the directions and follow along checking out each part at each step without taking anything apart or out of packages unless you have to. http://s26.postimg.org/tj5nn9gix/SAM_0166.jpghttp://s26.postimg.org/n7vut3pwp/SAM_0150.jpg After doing lots of reading, and more reading, and even more reading, I did some reading. You can never learn enough but eventually you have to take the plunge and dive in. Now, while I have built more plastic model kits, dioramas, and painted miniatures then I could ever possibly try and remember, I was still worried I was going to mess up on the first knife cut to remove the wood pieces from the sheets as I have never done one in wood. My experience with wood working ( construction ) is you can take away but can't put back without making a mess of things. After looking over the model you should have an idea where you want to go with it. Paint, colors, little extras that give the model life. I have my plans but I'll cover that in a post later on. So to begin the work, the Hull: Section A.1 False keel and frames. The two parts I needed here are all on one sheet, the false keel and the bulkhead frames. Using a scrap piece of 1x board to work on (so I don't cut up my work surface I always use a board to cut on/into), I begin by cutting away the wood holding the parts to the sheet. I don't cut near the piece but instead cut near the sheet side this way I won't damage the part accidently cutting into it while cutting it loose. http://s26.postimg.org/ml64v27s9/SAM_0167.jpg http://s26.postimg.org/9d6r24a95/SAM_0168.jpg I will use my knife to trim down the 'nubbies' but I won't cut them all the way down to flush yet, just enough to take the excess off. I now will practice fit each part, to see how they fit, if any trimming is needed to get it to fit in place and if they don't fit right. I also look to see if there are any problems with the parts. From the reading getting these frames to go on JUST right is the first important step, else it will cause headaches for the rest of your hull work. I think it can be summed up in 3 points: 1. Frames must be Perpendicular(90 degrees) with the false keel. Perpendicular both to the sides as well as up and down. 2. Frames must not be canted or tilted left or right. 3. Top of the frame pieces must be flush with the top of the false keel where the pieces meet. So test fitting I see that many pieces fit in so loose they are 'floppy', and the keel is also not straight ( can't do anything about it yet, but must keep and close eye on it as we progress to get it straight). http://s26.postimg.org/pobgc6c4p/SAM_0170.jpghttp://s26.postimg.org/ke6hkvrvt/SAM_0171.jpg I know they make some nice 'jigs' out there to make this easy to attach, but I don't have any and probably don't want to spend the money one one yet. So time to break out the creativity and come up with a solution. I don't have spare balsa laying around but after some digging I found a piece of 1x2 that the edges were square. So I cut it up into four 6" length pieces and ran a sander over them ( sanded my cutting board at the time too ). http://s26.postimg.org/6pharrh7t/SAM_0172.jpg Since the slots the bulkhead frames fit in on the false keel are perpendicular to the bottom of the keel, I used my cutting board, which was squared, as a guide, trimmed down the 'nubbies' along the bottom of the keel till flush, and used a small square lined up on the bulkhead frame slots and drew 'guide' lines on the keel with a mechanical pencil. These lines will help me place my 6" 1x2 boards on the keel as supports and guides for placement of my bulkhead frames. I put the guide lines on both sides of the keel. http://s26.postimg.org/src6fjr3d/SAM_0174.jpg Well, I hit my 10 picture max on this post, so I'll continue in the next with putting the blocks on the keel and glueing.