Cathead

Yeah, Mike, if you'd just done a regular sloppy job planking you'd have been fine!

Thanks JL for your comments. I don't need holes in the keel for the stand but thank you for the suggestion. I am considering the lamination. I have stained the hull now and it took the colour much better than I expected, I will post some pictures later and I want to see how the ply stains first.
 
Brian, I just love the expression - not heard that one before but definitely right!! It was easy to get the strakes right in the middle. The destructions suggest scribing the strakes along the middle to aid the bending. I tried it on one and split the strake. The longitudinal bending was easy because the strakes are so thin but from edge to edge not so. This for me made getting the strakes to sit right prow and stern very difficult and as JL said earlier the guides on the end bulkheads are useless. The overlap was different for each strake.
 
It's funny really, we all spend ages trying very hard not to get a clinker effect on our boats and then when you are supposed to have one it's nearly impossible to get right !!

Thanks for the comments and the "likes".
 
Life and other things continues to take my shipyard time.....   
So.. some replies first, update next.
 
Eric,
I was tech writer for 25 years in a previous life (the one before I went into IT work)...  I still get caught on such stuff.
 
 
I did some manuals in my previous life for equipment used by the Brits.  I had to learn a whole new language for them.  I believe (and am probably wrong) that it was Winston Churchill who said "We're two countries, separated by a common language".  
 
 
After sorting out how the deck was planked by referencing other French frigates as much as I could, used the cross-section drawing as my baseline.  Licorne is definitely an oddball in this regard.  The references show the traditional planking that follows the waterway and tapers.  Some use nibbing at the bow, some use hook scarfs.  Others... nada.  Towards the stern... there's where I ran into headaches.  Some use drop planks, some don't.  Some have parquet floors in the great cabin.  Some don't.  
 
So.. decision time. I went with the spirit of the beast. No drop planks, no scarfs or nibbing at the bow,  There's two wide planks thicker than the rest at the waterway.. much like binding strakes.  Then theres 3 stakes of "normal planks", a very wide binding strake, and 5 "normal planks.  None of the works showed hook scarfs in the binding strakes like the English used.. So.. I'm going with what I have.
 
I began by doing a reference drawing (actually reworking what I had done already) with actual dimensions to account for errors in building with respect to width of the area to be planked and beam placement.  I then added tic marks along the centerline of each beam for the plankwidth starting at the 0 station line (dead flat, widest point) and scaled them to both the stern and the bow.  Next came drawing in the planks.   The cutting part was the easy part and am now installing the aft planking first.
 
The first picture shows the result of this work in the great cabin aft of the mizzen mast.  The drawings and cuttings were tweaked to account for the kerf of the laser.  Also, the planking that showing is actually the bottom side of the sheet.  Given the way the kerf is, this provided a natural beveling.  I lightly sanded the char but didn't remove all of it as a) there's little glue used on the edge of the plank and   it gives a nice (to my eye) simulation of caulking. There's also another plank laying on the beams ready for installation.
 

 
The second photo merely shows the planks cut and still held in place in the sheet stock.  These planks are from where the existing planking is to the waterway.  I left a bit of extra meat on the outside plank goes by the waterway for fitting.
 

 
I'm having a lot of fun with this once I figure out what needs to be done.  The "how" is just as important as the "what" in this case.  Frustrating at times, but very satisfying when it comes together.
 
As always, feel free to point out errors, misadventures, etc.  This is pretty much virgin territory for me...

I know this is not much of an update for you folks, but this took me a long time to complete. Here's the work after the snapping of 5 drill bits, 1 broken mast, and 3 productions of gaff jaws. The jaws are made from one piece of wood and could still be a little thinner, but I'm hoping it won't look out of scale on the model. Drilling the tiny holes has been a challenge throughout the project for me.
 
Ironwork and chainplates will be fabricated next. After that I will construct the display base before the rigging.
Steve

I have some of the lights added to the main deck.

T0 hide the wires I grove the 1/8" sub deck. 
 

 
 

The suggestions from Dicas make a lot of sense to me. I've used one-side files to great effect before.

Great photo, Len, certainly shows that you're right and Chaperon was laid out the way you showed. I was going to suggest that the doors on the corners were to avoid having to squeeze between the chimneys to get in, since the front cabin wall is so close there, but as the staircase from the main deck goes right there, and there appear to be two doors right in front as well (judging from the photos on M-E's site), I don't know.

Kurt would have the best idea of Chaperon's interior, however on earlier boats the "rooms" were actually quite narrow and small; much of the interior was taken up by a wider parlor, wide enough for dining tables and the like. So your proposed interior hallway would be quite a bit too narrow. But again I don't know how Chaperon was set up.

I finished the square tuck, gave it a rough sanding (I've only done a preliminary sanding below the wales with 120 grit sandpaper so far), and applied another 4 thin coats of red paint to the counter.  The counter had gotten scuffed over the last couple of weeks.  Things turned out pretty well.  In the last photo, the uneven gun port frames jump out.  When I planked the transom I erred on the side of having the transom planking symmetrical, knowing the gun ports would be modeled closed.  The important thing to me was to have the gun port framing appear aligned correctly when viewed from the interior, since that will be visible.  Every time I look at a photo of the exterior of the transom though, that just annoys me, as do the dozens of other little imperfections that only the builder usually notices. 
 

 

 

 

 
Erik
 
 

OK, progress!!!
 
I am not sure how but somehow I seem to have achieved something like a hull ! I am not at all surprised if I confused folk with my top strake problem. I confused myself and tried three different approaches. To save boring everyone my last attempt involved re-soaking the upper strakes on the hull, using a lot of glue and more clamps than I thought I had and finally I got the top strake on top of the rest. A huge cheer has gone up in my workroom and I even made the effort to clean it up a bit so others could see.
 
I think the next thing I will try is staining it. There may simply be too much dried glue still lying around and if so I will paint it black as previously suggested.
 
One question, according to the destructions there are six different lengths of oars to do. Why? and does it matter if I make them all the same length ?
 
Anyway, some photos for you.
 
 

Thank you very much. I can't agree with you more. To be perfectly honest I think this particular kit is rubbish. I don't think all my problems have been my fault. I know some have been but it all started with a warped keel and has gone from bad to worse. Never have I been so close to calling it a day and binning the boat!! However my intention now is just to build something that looks vaguely like a Viking boat partly because I have already made a stand for the thing!!. That is the best I can manage.

OK, here it goes, I suppose it answers your question. Fell free to ask any questions, no problem.
 

 

 
I hope you are OK with metric, I tend to forget that you use imperial.
 
I am not trying to model the Oseberg. Neither did Amati, buy the way. Oseberg was a funeral ship. probably never sailed and it is black. Besides, the kit as only a vague ressemblance with the ship. They called it Oseberg as they might have called it anything else.
 
I am trying to reproduce a typical Viking ship, whatever that was. Vikings did not build their ships by plans, there were no two identical ships and if you look at the sailing examples nowadays, they are all different and with different layouts and dispositions.
 
I began building the Amati by fun but then I went to Oslo and Bergen and had the opportunity to visit the museums I decided to turn the kit in a more decent thing. Only the hull is from the kit, all the rest is scratch built. I changed a lot of things and I have no intention of using any of the supplied parts. So I am making the oars, the shields, the chests and all the parts of the model.
 
And if I was to begin it again I'd not use the hull either.  
 
Regards
 
JL

There also incandescent tiny bulbs available that look like kerosene and will run at low 6-12 volts. The train stores have them also in the MicroMark catalog.  

I used silkspan cut into scale 3 ft widths glued down with Artist's Acrylic Matt Medium.  The Matt Medium was painted on with a brush and the silkspan was laid down and pressed into place.  The next length was overlapped a scale 4-6 inches and continued the length of the roof.  When the adjacent strip was started I overlapped the first strip by 4-6 scale inches for the entire length and at each continuing strip.  I brushed a bit of the Matt Medium on the back side of each strip where it was to overlap the previous strip - didn't worry too much about any squeeze out as it looks like the tar that held the roofing material down.
It was very easy to do and many have commented on the authentic appearance of the roofs.
Kurt

Len, looking good and dirty there.
 
An idea for LED lights inside. Look for yellow-glo LEDs, looks like kerosene lights when lit. May have to go to a train shop that stocks Miniatronics products.
 
For tar paper, cut the strips in 3 or so foot widths. That was a typical size for that stuff. Could also paint some weathered black/charcoal gray paint and lay strips of tissue on the paint. Although, it may look like old canvas with the grain of the tissue. Experiment.

That's great Clarence, I will check out your logs. I was  thinking orange, 3mm 9V battery power. The battery was originally going to be buried in the hull, that got fill over so then it moved up to the main deck, that fell through, so the only place I could put it now is in the pilot house and disguise it as a bench. Haha had to start building and couldn't stop.
 
Thx for your offer too help, I will decide today whether to light her up and regret my decision from that point on.
 
Cheers Len

Hi Mike,
              Tnat is also my concern, I went round to see my son's build which he lit up and he had to do some sealing, you could even see the light through the wood surface.
That said, I would put lights outside the walls about half way along on the main deck and one light over the boilers and one in the pilot house, that would be it. I'm leaning more toward not lighting it right now.
 
...........and thx for the comments on my dirty ol' duck.

I have put lights into my last three models, and it really makes a difference, but I think you have to plan from the very beginning. If you are going to use battery you probably still to it, but if you are going to use house power then you have to get a line out the bottom of the hull or some place not to noticeable.   The two site below are my two build logs.
 
I used 3mm and 5mm 12v leds Very cheap if ordereed on ebay from china . Anything I can do to help let me know.
 
 
http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/12537-mississippi-riverboat-by-chborgm-mantua-scale-150/http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/12537-mississippi-riverboat-by-chborgm-mantua-scale-150/
 
http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/10758-portland-by-chborgm-bluejacket/
 
Clarence

One thing I didn't consider/notice until it was too late on my Corel Ranger, was that the kit doesn't allow for any drainage from the deck through the bulwarks (can't think of the right term). As built, it would swamp in no time. But it went over my head, and now I can't easily fix it. Oh well. Since you're not that far yet, sure seems worth considering how to add proper drainage.
 
On the carronades, one thing I'd suggest it thinking through how long you want the elevation screw to be. The one Corel provides (shown in the plans) doesn't seem long enough to allow the full range of elevation/depression that you'd want. They also designed the carriage poorly, so that the screw can't be vertical while fitting into its socket on the slide and through the carronade itself. Sloppy.

Great looking walls Len, really bad and grotty ! I thought long and hard about lighting mine but I think it was Kurt that pointed out that even with subdued lighting it would show up every crack and crevice even those you can't see. Maybe you still have the chance to seal everything but I left it too late.

THe walls of the boiler deck are now 95% complete, I just have to blend all the joints together so they look continuous and may be trim the bottom edge to eliminate gaps to the deck. I have glued them together but not glued to the deck yet.
 
Stuff I have to go back on:-
Main deck details, I think I am only fitting 3 or 4 levels of bars on the gate/fence railing,the kit provides 5 rows, purely to provide better visibility of the boiler area. I'll do these details as when the mood takes me.
 
The boiler deck has been rubbed down a little more and I coated all of it with a wash of my vinegar formula, (which is well aged now and working very well). I'll glue the walls up and maybe add the rails, still got the stairs to do and the detailing.
 
I'm still not decided on lighting, it's now or never, before the next deck gets mounted.
 
The other issue is the tar paper finish for the upper decks. I purchased some textured card from Michael's Art Supply, looks quite good, I experimented with a small piece and it takes pastels really well, the pastels dulled it down a little and added some color variation which I liked, subtle.
The other option is the fine grit sand paper, I looked in other peoples logs and I really liked the look of it, still to be decided, I'll rub some pastel stick into it see if it can be coated at all.
 
Here's a couple of pics, some more later today or tomorrow.
 
Thx for following, thx for the likes, thx for the comments and thx for the company.
 
Len

I think that's the idea more of less yes. This bulwark was probably no more than a foot high it definitely served no defensive purpose and likely only a few inches thick. But similar to what pilot schooners had back in the day I dont like the way Als Dallas does it (too short in my opinion) but its fun working this stuff out

You could have a 'log rail' which basically keeps you from sliding overboard, but probably isn't more than a 4X4.  You might see it called a 'toe rail' on a modern recreational vessel.

You could go with a short bulwark with railing, but the no bulwark and railing was not uncommon, I believe.  They wanted to keep the weight down, especially higher up.  It's a pretty small vessel, the effect of topside weight would be exaggerated.  Even a short bulwark would hold water as well, producing more weight when you least want it, in a storm.

Then you have option II which is the ship having a design more akin to a Baltimore Clipper (ship image is the Pride of Baltimore II). This is featured in the Lively model by Lumbreyard, the Krick and Mamoli kits as well with the stanchion posts not on the waterway but bulwark railing itself. Generally speaking I like this look a lot better and is how I am making my model look however I wouldn't mind some thoughts and how such a ship could have been set up why some models may have chosen one approach over the other there is still time before I am fully committed.