monkeyman

Finished the outer planking and also did some reseach on gangway. On one side of it there's a hammock rail, but on the other side sometimes it's a wooden broadside and some - set of railings with net. On all modern photos there's a railing:
 

 
Here's a close up of it:
 

 
On old photos there's a broadside:
 

 
I've seen tons of photos and broadside stuff magically appears and disappears. I assume it is detachable. Kit tells you to build broadside, not railings, so be it.
 
Also, gangboard steps are white today and were striped before. Kit tells you to go with stripes and we obey.
 
Finally I've made 2 modifications to the outside planking (besides the copper bottom, which comes soon): sliglty bigger wales and a waist rail at the base of the gangway, which is somehow not present in the kit:
 

 
Don't mind the varnish coat. I've added it to see impurities better :-)
 
Note to future builders of this model
 
Don't worry, if your frame isn't perfect - you can easily fix it anytime. Mine was twisted a bit and I "untwisted" it with hair dryer. Just put it on one side, add some weight to the top (about 1 kilo is enough) and do a good warm up with hair dryer. Leave it for a while and your frame will become perfect after that. I'd recommend to do this after you finished with outer planking, because wrong planking can lead to more twist.

Yeah, looks like planking is the pain in most cases. But I was foolish enough to hope to reproduce real life clinker on the model. I kinda did so, but 1:35 scale appeared to be a little... small. Anyway, I love it somehow :-)

Yeah, looks like planking is the pain in most cases. But I was foolish enough to hope to reproduce real life clinker on the model. I kinda did so, but 1:35 scale appeared to be a little... small. Anyway, I love it somehow :-)

I've not just seen the clinker-built lifeboat puctures, I studied how they build them in real life. I'm just having some issues reproducing it on the model :-)

Thanx for the tip, pal. It appears we have DMC stuff in local stores. I'll visit one tomorrow and buy myself some threads.
 
Supprisingly, my other kit from China has pretty good non-hairy threads of black, brown and golden-white colors. Totaly love them comparing to standard Amati/OcCre/AL crap.

In case anybody interested in properly reproducing the clinker build, here's what awaits you after you finish the planking:
 

 
Bulkheads should be removed and ribs (timbers) installed. This is how they do it in real life: bulks only serve you at initial stages. Titanic's lifeboat had 38 ribs. Only their tips will be visible on this model, but I'll try to reproduce them in full anyway. Just for fun.
 
Might take some time and effort, but should look nice. This is why I'm shaping the hull right now - deck must perfectly fit itm before I start with the ribs.

Mucho gracias, amigo! This boat causes me pain, so I'll be happy, if my sorting will help others avoid painfull stuff :-)
 
I've finished with planking, by the way, and now shaping the hull to fit the deck. I'll draw a couple pictures next time and explain, how to do the shaping. It's pretty easy, just takes some time.
 
Meanwhile, I've made a water barrel for my boat. It doesn't come with the original model, but should be on any lifeboat as well as rations packages, which I'll add a little later. Here's my barrel:
 

 
It's far from perfect (stupid hairs on the rope didn't burn well!), but hey, it's my first barrel! So don't be picky :-)

Today I've finally finished with planking. Yay! It of course not perfect and has a bunch of flaws, but this was my first clinker anyway. Here's how it looks right now, not covered with any filler or paint:
 

 

 

 
More minor improvements
 
After planking I completely removed and restored the keel (yes, for the third time!), made it much more close to the original. The previous version was sanded down and instead of it I've built a new one from 3 x 3 x 4 basswod plank, adding extra parts above the deck inside the boat.
 
Also I've covered deck with planks as well. They make it look more authentic, but the main reason was to hide that stupid difference in direction of wood fibers on fore/aft and side deck parts: side - lengthwise, fore/aft - atwart. No idea, why Artisania Latina made them this way, but it looked bad even when woodstained.
 
Next step is to cover the hull with white wood filler and varnish. Should look sexy :-)

I'm quite new on these forums and well... medium-new in ship building. After several unfinished projects I've decided to create something simple and complete it this time. I'd also want to train several technics, which will be used on my next model — Endeavour's Longboat from AL (it has some flaws, which require improvement).
 
So I bought RMS Titanic's Lifeboat to train these things:
planks overlaping (clinker); timbers imitation (sorry, if I named it wrong — English is not my native, so I may miss some terms); hull painting. But let's start with the package contents:


 
Nothing special here: a bunch of different planks, some threads, some metal stuff and buckets of two different sizes. Colourful manual included.

I have a couple questions before I start building.

1. Among cast things there're 4 life savers, which look pretty bad in metal:


 
How can I replace them and with what?
 
2. This kit contains several equipment items: life savers, set of oars, couple fakes (from threads) and a grappling hook. What else can be added? I saw rations box on some picture of Titanic's lifeboat, but not sure about it.
 
Will gladly accept any advices and corrections in terms. I know them in my native language, but it's a bit hard to traslate specific stuff.

In case anybody interested in properly reproducing the clinker build, here's what awaits you after you finish the planking:
 

 
Bulkheads should be removed and ribs (timbers) installed. This is how they do it in real life: bulks only serve you at initial stages. Titanic's lifeboat had 38 ribs. Only their tips will be visible on this model, but I'll try to reproduce them in full anyway. Just for fun.
 
Might take some time and effort, but should look nice. This is why I'm shaping the hull right now - deck must perfectly fit itm before I start with the ribs.

I've started with planking and this time the result is much better. It looks much more accurate, all planks and taperings are equal, I don't do too much sanding and glueing. I did learn some tricks and will post an advanced tutorial a bit later, as promised.
 
Just a quick peek on first planks:
 

 

Thank you, my friend! This is my first attempt on clinker and it looks not bad indeed in real life.
 
And, as promised, here's a little tutorial on clinker planking. I'll just describe steps I do myself.
 
Clinker build tutorial
 
1. Put planks in the water for a while or use any other soaking method you like. Planks just need to be more flexible.
 
2. Glue the first plank's middle part. Use a hair dryer for a minute - it'll dry the wet plank a bit and glue as well. Fix the middle with clamps or nails, if you want to. I didn't do fixing, because I built the deck first. But when you have only a skeleton, it's a good practice to fix planks to ribs.
 

 
3. Put a large amount of glue on one side of the plank, use hair dryer and fix with clamp. Do the same for the opposite end.
 

 
4. Cut the plank at the ends according to your needs (watch the keel).
 

 
5. Repeat the same for the plank on the opposite side of the boat. Do NOT continue with the same boardside or hull misshaping may occur.
 

 
6. Sand down the edges of the planks on both sides, so your next plank will fit properly.
 

 
This is how ot should look at the edges:
 

 
A few advices:
Manual tells you to use fast glue (one second glue or how do you call it in your country), but it's not necessary. I always use white (carpenter's) glue for wood, because it becomes transparent, when dried and easy to remove excesses. Don't be greedy and put a decemnt amount of glue, especially at the ends. You'll have your time to remove excesses. You can put your planks anyway you want, depending on your boat's blueprints and your own likings. For example, I have 7 mm planks and use overlapping method, leaving 5 mm at the middle and around 4 mm at the edges. Since the plank is wet, you may vary these measurements easily. Don't cut the first plank at the ends right away, wait for other one to follow. The best way is to do a raw work for both planks and then finish them simultaneously. You'll likely spoil your keel during planking. I simply ignored this and decided to restore the keel, when planking is finished (see further posts). I use this tool for sanding planks and find it very handy: 

Thank you, my friend, for kind words. In the country I came from we don't usually support each other, but more like critisize like "Oh, duck, you're such a wuss! Go clean the streets!". So any encouraging stuff from professionals like yourself is more than welcome and helps to improve. Really appreciate that.

That's absolutely... stunning. Victory's one of my favorite ships and your model of it is just marvelous! Hope someday I'll be able to complete something like this :-)

Finished the outer planking and also did some reseach on gangway. On one side of it there's a hammock rail, but on the other side sometimes it's a wooden broadside and some - set of railings with net. On all modern photos there's a railing:
 

 
Here's a close up of it:
 

 
On old photos there's a broadside:
 

 
I've seen tons of photos and broadside stuff magically appears and disappears. I assume it is detachable. Kit tells you to build broadside, not railings, so be it.
 
Also, gangboard steps are white today and were striped before. Kit tells you to go with stripes and we obey.
 
Finally I've made 2 modifications to the outside planking (besides the copper bottom, which comes soon): sliglty bigger wales and a waist rail at the base of the gangway, which is somehow not present in the kit:
 

 
Don't mind the varnish coat. I've added it to see impurities better :-)
 
Note to future builders of this model
 
Don't worry, if your frame isn't perfect - you can easily fix it anytime. Mine was twisted a bit and I "untwisted" it with hair dryer. Just put it on one side, add some weight to the top (about 1 kilo is enough) and do a good warm up with hair dryer. Leave it for a while and your frame will become perfect after that. I'd recommend to do this after you finished with outer planking, because wrong planking can lead to more twist.

I've started with planking. Kit is pretty acurate in this, but I still found one issue with wales (a thick part). I've followed a kit from the start:
 

 
But that's not right. Kit tells you to glue 4 planks, but actually it should be 5. Here's a plan from Anatomy book:
 

 
When you put this on the model, it looks too thin. Guess, I'll add extra plank or two. Here's a photo of real ship:
 

 
As you can see, the original wales are much bigger, than kit's (lower border is where the copper plates start).
 
I've also completely replaced the mast stamp with the one closer to original:
 

There're few blogs about this model, but I'm going to make mine a bit unique. Let's start with a little background story...
 
I consider myself a newbie in a model ship world, however I had build my first model at school (will celebrate my 41th birthday this year). I've made several attempts during the course of life to become a better builder, but all failed due to... well, some lack fo patience, maybe. This time I'm serious and digging stuff as deep as possible.
 
I'm kinda curious guy and at some point decided to try every manufacturer on the market to see, which one's best for me. I already knew OcCre, Artesania Latina and Amati - they all seemed the same. I also saw a bunch of models from Model Shipways (never built one tho) and totaly loved'em. Since MS models are very expensive here, I've decided to try cheaper kits and found out Chinese ones. This is how I got USS Constitution from ShiCheng Model god-knows-who-they-are.
 
Did some research and found out, that this is a rip-off from Mamoli's model, but in larger scale. Remember, I'm a curious guy? That's right. I've decide "What the heck!" and bought a Mamoli's model as well, which appeared to be CHEAPER, than stupid Chinese product! Now I have TWO USS Constitution sections at hand: one from some Chinese "manustibutor" (1:75), one from Mamoli (1:93).
 
Creating another generic blog about this model might seem a bit dull, so I've decided to build BOTH models. I'll build my blog aroud Mamoli's model, since Chinese manufacturers are banned here, but will compare it with a Chinese rip-off from time to time. If there's a Mamoli's representative on this site or anyone related to this company, please, follow me. There's a room for improvement. You can even rip-off a rip-offers for they did better at some points!
 
Tomorrow I'll present some kind of "comparison chart" of two kits and start building. Stay tuned!
 
Here's a little teaser (note the unassembled Mamoli's bulkheads to the right):
 

Thank you, my friend, for kind words. In the country I came from we don't usually support each other, but more like critisize like "Oh, duck, you're such a wuss! Go clean the streets!". So any encouraging stuff from professionals like yourself is more than welcome and helps to improve. Really appreciate that.

Thanx, pal! Really enjoying your work, so your compliments are very valuable to me.
 
* * *
 
I know, that most visitors love pictures from actual modellin and less theory, but I can't help myself, sorry :-)
Did a little research on mast step, and it looks like, kit ofers pretty outdated vesion of it.
 
Here's a picture of fine mast step from Tuffarts, which follows mostly a kit's version:
 

 
Here're plans from Anatomy book (100 - is a mast step):
 

 

 
And here's how it should look like on the model (taken from Model Ship Builder site):
 

 
I'm going to follow the original (from Anatomy book), so this is mostly for those, who would want the same.

I've spent quite some time to create bulkhead joints imitation. First time I took plywood, but oversanded it and dark layer became visible. So I decided to replace it with vineer sheets and got myself 6 meters of natural 0.6 mm beechwood. It was too thin, so I glued 2 layers of it crossing fibers to make it more firm. Then I cut it using scissors, glued to the frame, sanded the edges and carved the joints with the razor. Here's a resulf:
 

 
It's of course not perfect, but should look much better, when stained and varnished.
 
I also found a good replacement for that sexy bandages from Mamoli's kit:
 

 
Got it from local drapery. This is not tulle, but a fabric called "net". We have tons of them in different colors and cell sizes. Should look nice on the model

Just to make things clear, which deck is missing from the kit:
 

 
The lowest (orlop) deck is absent. I'll try to reproduce it, for it seems, there's enough space for that. Hold will be smaller, but that's OK. Nothing but a bunch of stupid rocks and barrels out there anyway.

Yeah, I read your blog and saw all the changes. Looks great, especially pumps! Will borrow a couple things from you, if you don't mind :-)
 

This is actually a frame from Chinese kit. It has much better scheme of building bulkheads: you have to assemble them from 6 parts. And cross-section cut looks more authentic due to extra pieces of different wood and visible joints. I plan to make Mamoli's even better and closer to original. Something like this:
 

 
Do you have Anatomy of the Ship book for USS Constitution? It shows pretty clear, how bulkheads were built.
 

Wow! Really? Where did you learn that?

I've started with planking. Kit is pretty acurate in this, but I still found one issue with wales (a thick part). I've followed a kit from the start:
 

 
But that's not right. Kit tells you to glue 4 planks, but actually it should be 5. Here's a plan from Anatomy book:
 

 
When you put this on the model, it looks too thin. Guess, I'll add extra plank or two. Here's a photo of real ship:
 

 
As you can see, the original wales are much bigger, than kit's (lower border is where the copper plates start).
 
I've also completely replaced the mast stamp with the one closer to original:
 

Thanx, pal! Really enjoying your work, so your compliments are very valuable to me.
 
* * *
 
I know, that most visitors love pictures from actual modellin and less theory, but I can't help myself, sorry :-)
Did a little research on mast step, and it looks like, kit ofers pretty outdated vesion of it.
 
Here's a picture of fine mast step from Tuffarts, which follows mostly a kit's version:
 

 
Here're plans from Anatomy book (100 - is a mast step):
 

 

 
And here's how it should look like on the model (taken from Model Ship Builder site):
 

 
I'm going to follow the original (from Anatomy book), so this is mostly for those, who would want the same.

Finished the outer planking and also did some reseach on gangway. On one side of it there's a hammock rail, but on the other side sometimes it's a wooden broadside and some - set of railings with net. On all modern photos there's a railing:
 

 
Here's a close up of it:
 

 
On old photos there's a broadside:
 

 
I've seen tons of photos and broadside stuff magically appears and disappears. I assume it is detachable. Kit tells you to build broadside, not railings, so be it.
 
Also, gangboard steps are white today and were striped before. Kit tells you to go with stripes and we obey.
 
Finally I've made 2 modifications to the outside planking (besides the copper bottom, which comes soon): sliglty bigger wales and a waist rail at the base of the gangway, which is somehow not present in the kit:
 

 
Don't mind the varnish coat. I've added it to see impurities better :-)
 
Note to future builders of this model
 
Don't worry, if your frame isn't perfect - you can easily fix it anytime. Mine was twisted a bit and I "untwisted" it with hair dryer. Just put it on one side, add some weight to the top (about 1 kilo is enough) and do a good warm up with hair dryer. Leave it for a while and your frame will become perfect after that. I'd recommend to do this after you finished with outer planking, because wrong planking can lead to more twist.