KeithAug

Thanks Andy. I make a bed every morning but according to the wife if I practice long enough I will eventually get it right. I know this sounds like a funny story but her comment just happens to be true. Andy, Tom, Druxey, Gary - thank you all for your supportive comments.

Ships wheels are always fun to see. So many approaches to take and all with their challenges. How do you propose to separate it from the block?

The build continues to fascinate. Your workmate looks in much better condition than mine. I have the original with a cast aluminium frame. Probably 45 years old now. Is the sub in the case a Holland?

Valeriy. I assume you spray painted the hull. The waterline (white) band seems very wide. I assume it is to scale so is there a reason for it being so wide? The pedestals are of an interesting design.

Seconded.

Good to see you back at it Jerry. The bulb looks massive, I guess it is rather weighty?

Yes - that would seem to be the way to go Eric.

Brian, I concur with the majority view, yes display the drives and hide the mirror edges.

Lovely model, beautifully executed.

You clearly love pipes. 🙂

A heartwarming little project. Must look out the book.

I would have never thought of that answer!🤔

John - It is quite difficult to see the extent of damage but my inclination would be to use a round file to make the holes circular then plug with a matching wood and sand back flat to the deck before drawing on the caulking. I'm a bit adverse to filler.🙁

As is the case with very many MSW models. Fortunately age is gradually deskilling many of us. Soon authentic representations will become more common.

Coming along very nicely.

Yes that struck me as odd Veszett / Nils. It would be good to understand why.

I enjoyed the history lesson Eberhard. As for the figures I need to find my magnifier!

Yes, and it's older than I am, in better working order and more useful. My father's and maybe even my grandfathers. Mark - that may be because I am doing the easy bit first.🙂 John, Ian, Pat, Veszett, Rick. It is still early days for the planking. Plenty of opportunity to make a mess. Thank you to everyone for the likes.

John, Roger, Ian, Veszett and Druxey thank you for commenting. Just a brief update:- I got to the 3rd row of planks before the planks began to run out at the stern. This necessitated a wedge being inserted. Just visible between the second and third planks in the next photo. I did however continue with parallel planks. In the boiler room area I needed to start aligning the plank edges using stainless steel clothes pegs where alignment proved to be unsatisfactory. Having included the wedge between the 2nd and 3rd planks the 4th plank went on as a parallel plank without a further wedge. I am now on layer 7 and probably near the end of parallel planking. At maximum beam I am going to have to start adding more width (which in practice means narrowing the planks at stem and stern). I am checking the symmetry of the planks (with callipers) on an ongoing basis. The green lines also help me judge the symmetry. As yet everything is looking good.

Druxey - thank you for the tip. it only tends to be a problem where the curvature is quite pronounced and I haven't bothered to try and pre bend using heat / steam. That said your suggestion could be very useful for the deckhouses.

Keith. The legs had woodworm - that is the table not the wife! That said she is looking a bit grubby today. Eberhard. The only downside is it tends to be quite brittle when cut into thin strips. Otherwise it is lovely to work with. Veszett. Yes you are correct - I sand a bevel on one edge of each plank to get a tight fit against the adjacent plank.

Those clamps look like they have seen a lot of service Nils. I will be interested to see how you finish the potholes.

It is funny what our brain does with what our eyes see. It took me about 3 minutes to see the sheet of perspex - I was looking for something a lot smaller! The hull is looking real smart Mark.

Thank you Druxey, John, Pat and Nils for your supportive comments and thanks, as ever, to all of you who have left likes or just paid a visit. And so on with the planking. I started off by drawing a series of parallel lines on the hull. These act as a guide for judging the symmetry of planking on both sides of the hull. The previous two builds consumed a whole leaf of my antique mahogany table so I dug out the second leaf from the back of the garage. I calculate that this second leaf plus the centre section will amply suffice for the remainder of my modelling career. I cut it into 3" inch planks on my full size table saw before moving on to the Byrnes saw to cut it down further to .700" x .220" strips. I chose .220" as the nominal width of the planks because .250" seemed a little wide and .200" seemed a little narrow - very scientific! I then cut a supply of planks sufficient to get a good start. I decided to make the planks nominally 1/16" thick (thin enough to bend easily while thick enough to give me a reasonable sanding margin). I ripped them over thickness and sanded them to thickness using my improvised drum sander. My worry about hull sanding allowance made me stay cautiously a little above the 0.625" target plank thickness. The table isn't wide enough to allow continuous planking runs so each rise takes 2 planks per side. I am gluing the planks with waterproof PVA glue on both the back side and on the edges. The planks are pinned in place with cork notice board pins. These are "nailed" into pre drilled holes in the frames - quite a laborious task. The first plank above (or is that below?) the previously installed plywood strake is parallel. I plan to install a number of parallel planks and then start shaping planks as I progress. Using my usual "suck it and see" approach. I have managed to get the first 2 runs completed on both sides - 8 planks in total. Obviously I have to give the glue time to dry before removing the pins so this makes the process a 2 planks per side per day job. At least I have plenty of time for tea breaks. That's all for now folks.

Skip - you make me jealous with your CAD skills. This looks like a great project and I look forward to seeing her come to life.