Seventynet

You're going to be sorry to finish this labour of love Don. Thanks for posting these pictures of your beautiful work. Ian

Hi Michael, my approach has always been to leave most of the bulkhead intact, install fillers then shape the whole thing. Depending on how hard the filler wood is I can see one shaping both close to final dimensions. Don't use balsa wood in that location. ian

That looks really sweet Don! ian

Congratulations Bob, a fine piece of work and an inspiration! ian

Great to see you back at your fine build Robert. That looks like a very nice plank line. I used very thin battens to get the feel for how the planks would lie in choosing my band geometry. At least for the second side, which turned out better. I didn't think of using string and maybe that would have been easier. ian

Thanks Zoran, it did turn out to my liking. I can't wait to get at the top planks and wales so that I can move on to the decking. You have created a beautiful model. I am on the other side of the country for a while so unfortunately the shipyard work must wait. Ian

What a pleasure it is following your work Eric. Well done!! ian

Thanks a lot Zoltan, just keep up with the beautiful work on the Santa Maria! I get a lot of inspiration from your builds. Best, ian

Thanks for all the likes everyone and thank you for your comments Don. I am always grateful for your sage advice. I wonder whether the physics of bending and twisting a real plank and hence the need to spile or not is directly comparable to small scale models. I've always wondered whether it would be easier to bend and twist a real plank. Maybe it's the other way around? best, ian

Good Morning Shipmates, It has been a long voyage without significant discovery. Since I am about to embark on shore leave I present my latest progress on the Brazzera. I have finished both sides of the hull from the scupper plank down. All planks (essentially 4 per strake), except maybe one or two, have been spiled at the bow and stern giving me a more level look without planks riding up at the bow and stern. Obviously this necessitated different walnut stock (from MarisStella, Don and my own), hence the multi-coloured planks. Not that you don't get that from a single source too. For those interested in following this approach, the widest plank blanks would be about 35 mm with most being about 25 mm. Also keep in mind that in order to optimize the grain running lengthwise at the hook where the maximum bend will occur, you may want to have blank stock considerably wider than 35 mm. A consideration for doing this would be whether you decide to paint the hull which is obviously called for. Why go to all this trouble if you are going to paint? In the absence of spiling this hull poses severe edge bending challenges (I suppose less so depending on how you line out the geometry). Check out Zoran's log on the Brazerra/Trabakul to see the difference in his hull geometry. Just my two cents. I have no idea whether spiling like this this would be a sacrilegious trespass to traditional Brazzera shipwrights, but unless someone tells me that this definitely would not be done, I will use this same method for my Trabakul when I get around to it. I would appreciate it if people weighed in on this issue. It will not offend me if I am called on my approach. Some pictures are with mineral spirits so that I could spot excess glue. A couple of pictures show the notches in the planks at the bow before and after planking. There are actually two but they don't seem to both show up in the pictures. Best, Ian Thumbs.db

Nice job Derek! I look forward to your next build. Best, ian

Lovely work Nick. I'm learning all sorts of tricks here. I'm sorry that I hadn't cottoned on to this build until now. I hope there is space for me to squeeze in another chair. Best, ian

Looking very sweet Don. Clean and crisp. Thanks for showing us how you made the demizanas. Maybe you're hiding the rum in that? Ian

I use rubber bands and cut up eraser blocks instead of balsa blocks. You can apply all sorts of different pressure vectors that way. Love your work! Ian

I'm really liking your work Pierre. Keep the photos coming. Ian

Nice work on the Victory and welcome to the forum! Ian

Thanks for these tips Rob, they'll come in handy one day...Looking really good! Ian

I'm in the can't put them down camp for all the reasons Chris has mentioned. I think I got mine from Amazon.ca (Alvin brand) and they were around $100. Ian

Looking good Rob. Keep up the good work - on both fronts! Ian

This isn't to say that a fairlead in that position isn't a bit odd given the angle of the line, but that's what I seem to remember them calling for. A block on an eye would be more appropriate if you had one lying around from another kit. Ian

Hi Marcus, I'm sorry I'm not near the boat to examine it but I was able to dig up some pictures on my iPad. I attached a fairlead to the mast. I think I made it from scrap but I can't remember for sure.

Don, nice to see you back on this beautiful ship. I feel badly for your -23 degree C weather...so badly...smiley faces. In Maui, Ian

Thanks Don and others for pushing the like button. We're headed to Hawaii to get out of this ridiculously cold weather for a while. If you're not getting away I hope at least you enjoy skiing or some other winter related activity. Best, Ian

Beautiful! I'd like to see more! Ian

Perfect answer, thanks Heinz.