ca.shipwright

Another Decision
 
 
Time for another decision. As I plank the rest of the hull with the under layer, I have to decide whether or not to install the dummy canons before I close up the hull.
Since I plan to have the canons run out as shown in one of my earlier pictures of the gun ports, the canon do not go all the way in to their shoulders- they only go partially into the hole in the rear of the gun port.
 
I am thinking of using 5 minue epoxy. Taking the canon and puddling some epoxy on the shaft behind the barrel, placing the canon in the hole of the gun port, ( the holes I drilled are slightly under-sized for the canon end of the mounting pin to get them to be run out) stand the ship on its side so that the canon is facing up, and letting the epoxy flow down to the rear piece of the gun port and wait for it to set up. This will also give me enough time to adjust the barrels for evenness. I am toying with the idea of making a plug slightly smaller the the gunport opening with a hole the diameter of the canon to slip over the canon to hold it in place while the expoxy hardens. If this looks like it will work, I can go to 30 minute epoxy and jiggle to my heart's content. I am afraid that if I use CA, it will set up to fast to adjust the canon.
 
Comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

The starboard hull planking is finished except for the bow area. There were lots of challenges in planking the Victory’s hull. The first challenge is that the optics of the sheer of the planking colliding with the straight, parallel lines of the stripes gets very confusing. Even with the hull lined out and light stripes colored, it takes a huge amount of concentration to get what you are trying to accomplish. Am I doing a sheer plank or a split plank for the stripe, or both?
Ebonizing the boxwood with India Ink to simulate the ebony worked better than I hoped. The India Ink and wipe on poly were put on the strips that I milled after the milling and before installation. It does pay to put a dab of the ink on the end of the cut plank before you glue it.
 
First lesson: The sheer of the ship has to flatten out as you approach midship. No matter how you try, the planking wants to angle to level rather than curve into the bend. Not to worry; it all works out in the end.
 
Second lesson: My doing the 1/32” lip on the gun port leaves a lot to be desired. They vary too much and most are too wide. This is due to variation of the between ports strips being not exactly even. Trying to shave them down to make the 3 or 4 planks once they are glued is messy and not very effective. I have a solution for the port side. I will edge glue these planks and then trim them using either the True Sander or the Byrnes disc sander to get the exact length. Should give me a nice straight edge and my sought after 1/32” lip.
 
Third lesson: My use of the red Sharpie did not work well. It smeared when rubbed with the Wipe-on-Poly and looks terrible. I tried to redo the lips and inside of the port with bulworks red paint. This is another task that in next to impossible. I am going to have to live with this on the starboard side. I am going to sand off the Sharpe red on the port side and totally reline out the hull. Repaint with the bulworks red paint and go from there.
 
Fourth Lesson: A model has two sides to the hull. The first side you work on and finish is the practice side. You then take the lessons you learned and the skills you have developed with you to the other side. This side of the hull will come out great. This is the side which will be displayed. The practice side will wind up against the wall never to be seen again. This is the proof of the truism that Bob Hunt says not to go plank by plank on both sides. I can see it now. The reason is so simple. Not only are the sides not exact mirror images, you will make the same mistake twice.
 
The bow area is going to have some special requirements. Among them is a slight upward sweep of the stripes at the bow. The 1/16” strips can’t be bent. They will be laminated out of 2 1/32” strips, one glued on top of another. The anchor stock wales will have to custom fit because of the upward sweep. I will make a paper pattern to get the proper shape. They too will be laminated.
 
I am pleased to say the the black and white stripes are all dead-on width wise. In this last photo there appears to be some camera paralax toward the front of the ship. The stripes are even all the way down.
 
One another note. I am glad that I can accurately mill my own wood courtesy of Mr. Byrnes' fantastic machines. If I had to by strip lumber, this kit would cost a fortune to build.
 
On to planking the lower hull. This should go much faster. I am not looking forward to planking the bluff bow down the road. Just putting one foot in front of the other
 
Thanks for looking in. Comments and suggestions are always welcome.
 
Regards

The starboard hull planking is finished except for the bow area. There were lots of challenges in planking the Victory’s hull. The first challenge is that the optics of the sheer of the planking colliding with the straight, parallel lines of the stripes gets very confusing. Even with the hull lined out and light stripes colored, it takes a huge amount of concentration to get what you are trying to accomplish. Am I doing a sheer plank or a split plank for the stripe, or both?
Ebonizing the boxwood with India Ink to simulate the ebony worked better than I hoped. The India Ink and wipe on poly were put on the strips that I milled after the milling and before installation. It does pay to put a dab of the ink on the end of the cut plank before you glue it.
 
First lesson: The sheer of the ship has to flatten out as you approach midship. No matter how you try, the planking wants to angle to level rather than curve into the bend. Not to worry; it all works out in the end.
 
Second lesson: My doing the 1/32” lip on the gun port leaves a lot to be desired. They vary too much and most are too wide. This is due to variation of the between ports strips being not exactly even. Trying to shave them down to make the 3 or 4 planks once they are glued is messy and not very effective. I have a solution for the port side. I will edge glue these planks and then trim them using either the True Sander or the Byrnes disc sander to get the exact length. Should give me a nice straight edge and my sought after 1/32” lip.
 
Third lesson: My use of the red Sharpie did not work well. It smeared when rubbed with the Wipe-on-Poly and looks terrible. I tried to redo the lips and inside of the port with bulworks red paint. This is another task that in next to impossible. I am going to have to live with this on the starboard side. I am going to sand off the Sharpe red on the port side and totally reline out the hull. Repaint with the bulworks red paint and go from there.
 
Fourth Lesson: A model has two sides to the hull. The first side you work on and finish is the practice side. You then take the lessons you learned and the skills you have developed with you to the other side. This side of the hull will come out great. This is the side which will be displayed. The practice side will wind up against the wall never to be seen again. This is the proof of the truism that Bob Hunt says not to go plank by plank on both sides. I can see it now. The reason is so simple. Not only are the sides not exact mirror images, you will make the same mistake twice.
 
The bow area is going to have some special requirements. Among them is a slight upward sweep of the stripes at the bow. The 1/16” strips can’t be bent. They will be laminated out of 2 1/32” strips, one glued on top of another. The anchor stock wales will have to custom fit because of the upward sweep. I will make a paper pattern to get the proper shape. They too will be laminated.
 
I am pleased to say the the black and white stripes are all dead-on width wise. In this last photo there appears to be some camera paralax toward the front of the ship. The stripes are even all the way down.
 
One another note. I am glad that I can accurately mill my own wood courtesy of Mr. Byrnes' fantastic machines. If I had to by strip lumber, this kit would cost a fortune to build.
 
On to planking the lower hull. This should go much faster. I am not looking forward to planking the bluff bow down the road. Just putting one foot in front of the other
 
Thanks for looking in. Comments and suggestions are always welcome.
 
Regards

If you use a number 2 pencil, as I do, Make sure you do not color only the top edge corner of the plank. Color the entire side edge. If you don't, when it comes time to finish sanding the deck, you may sand all the color off and wind up with no caulking. Please don't as me how I know this.
 
Regards
 

If you use a number 2 pencil, as I do, Make sure you do not color only the top edge corner of the plank. Color the entire side edge. If you don't, when it comes time to finish sanding the deck, you may sand all the color off and wind up with no caulking. Please don't as me how I know this.
 
Regards
 

OK
How do we remove the formatting in a copy and paste post.
 
Thanks

If you use a number 2 pencil, as I do, Make sure you do not color only the top edge corner of the plank. Color the entire side edge. If you don't, when it comes time to finish sanding the deck, you may sand all the color off and wind up with no caulking. Please don't as me how I know this.
 
Regards
 

E J
Looking good so far, sand and sand again.
Take a look at my posts under STORY STICKs. This may give you some added help.
 
Regards

If you use a number 2 pencil, as I do, Make sure you do not color only the top edge corner of the plank. Color the entire side edge. If you don't, when it comes time to finish sanding the deck, you may sand all the color off and wind up with no caulking. Please don't as me how I know this.
 
Regards
 

If you use a number 2 pencil, as I do, Make sure you do not color only the top edge corner of the plank. Color the entire side edge. If you don't, when it comes time to finish sanding the deck, you may sand all the color off and wind up with no caulking. Please don't as me how I know this.
 
Regards
 

If you use a number 2 pencil, as I do, Make sure you do not color only the top edge corner of the plank. Color the entire side edge. If you don't, when it comes time to finish sanding the deck, you may sand all the color off and wind up with no caulking. Please don't as me how I know this.
 
Regards
 

Jesse,
What a great idea for making the knees. This goes into my tips and tricks file. Thanks for sharing.
 
Regards

Jesse,
What a great idea for making the knees. This goes into my tips and tricks file. Thanks for sharing.
 
Regards

Jesse,
What a great idea for making the knees. This goes into my tips and tricks file. Thanks for sharing.
 
Regards

Your ship's boats are some of the best I've seen in 20 years of modeling.

An easy way is:
 
scale you have/scale you want
 
64/72 = 0.88 
 
Set the copier to 88% and away you go.
 
As a mental check, when going smaller, the copy number is less than one. When going larger the copy number is greater than one.
 
Hope this helps

An easy way is:
 
scale you have/scale you want
 
64/72 = 0.88 
 
Set the copier to 88% and away you go.
 
As a mental check, when going smaller, the copy number is less than one. When going larger the copy number is greater than one.
 
Hope this helps

Your ship's boats are some of the best I've seen in 20 years of modeling.

If you use a number 2 pencil, as I do, Make sure you do not color only the top edge corner of the plank. Color the entire side edge. If you don't, when it comes time to finish sanding the deck, you may sand all the color off and wind up with no caulking. Please don't as me how I know this.
 
Regards
 

Found the book through Clare Hess, a Model Ship World member. Isn't life grand!!!!!!!

Found the book through Clare Hess, a Model Ship World member. Isn't life grand!!!!!!!

Found the book through Clare Hess, a Model Ship World member. Isn't life grand!!!!!!!

Found the book through Clare Hess, a Model Ship World member. Isn't life grand!!!!!!!

Found the book through Clare Hess, a Model Ship World member. Isn't life grand!!!!!!!

Found the book through Clare Hess, a Model Ship World member. Isn't life grand!!!!!!!