Seventynet

HI all, I said I would post a review after I got my Proxxon vice. I have only started using it today but I have a few things to say. Keep in mind I am a first time builder and most of my world for the last few months has been planking. So hopefully that qualifies my comments appropriately. I have been using my big 20 year old vice (first pic). It is heavy and must be bolted down when I need it. Not such a big deal except it uses up a lot of room and if I want to change the position I have to drill new bolt holes. The Proxxon vice is clamped on and is articulating (second pic). No assembly required out of the box. There's no plastic anywhere. The metal ball is firmly clamped and the vice mechanisms appear to be solid upon initial fastening. The jaws have a rubber insert that clamps my planks firmly without the need for as much pressure as the aluminum angle stock I use for my other vice. The insert width is 78 mm (~3 inches) which seems adequate for my plank planeing although I wouldn't mind a little wider. I could easily use my aluminum inserts to create that extra width if I find I need it. So I find this vice to be much more convenient than my old big one and I can see this being very useful going forward. $54 CDN delivered in 2 days free shipping. Best, Ian

That is really beautiful looking. Is it possible that the gaps are created by edge sanding or otherwise beveling the top edges of the planks or are the strakes actually laid with those gaps? Thanks, Ian

Aye aye Jazzchip. I should be able to file my report Monday.

I just ordered the Proxxon FMZ as it looks just perfect for my neverending planking job. I really like the way you can just clamp it on the bench wherever you want. My existing 20 pounder is bolted on and I'm forever moving it. Love this site! Ian

Thanks Arthur! Yes I've tried moistening the area to see if that would give any improvement but it does not. I'm going to quit fretting about it and continue until I can find some suitable wood to replace those planks or just copper the thing. But I'll continue trying to do the job as if it is the final surface. Best, Ian.

Thanks to your thoughts Boyd, upon closer examination I would say that almost all of the 1 by 5 walnut planking supplied with the kit is edge grain on the face whereas the 1 by 16 is typical face grain. I think this has caused the spiled planks to look quite different. I would guess that all of the planking should be face grain (I hope I am using that term correctly but you can probably guess what I am trying to get at) if it is to be a final surface. Ian

Thanks so much Heinz and Boyd for the kind words and realistic advice and others for the likes. I guess I didn't really want to hear it but knew it was right all along. However I'm afraid I can't peel the planks off (not sure if I'll be able to pry just those off or whether there'll be collateral damage) until I can find more suitable wood. I've actually spent quite a bit of time at our Calgary specialty wood stores trying to figure this out. I am most certainly out of luck picking up any European walnut which I believe must be that supplied with the kit. There only seems to be only west coast caro (sp?) and an eastern black walnut varieties available locally. In any case I'm still baffled because when I compare the 1 by 16 kit supplied walnut which I used for spiling to the non-spiled planks in place, there appears to be very little difference. The in-place spiled walnut looks more like black walnut. And before you question me, I am absolutely positive I did not mix up my black walnut. See picture. Boyd you must be right it must be a cross grain effect. In any case I need to figure this out. Heinz, I get what you mean about bending. That is why I spiled those planks (see picture). However I may not fully understand your technique. Would you have made your planks so slender that they were able to bend in 2 planes? I know I can get away with slight lateral bends and even greater bends when the plank is tapered but it does not always seem the right way to go to me. Also I know that the shorter planks of 85 mm which I am using provide more opportunities for lateral bends and those spiled planks are in fact longer than 85 mm (for a variety of reasons). Maybe I'm just not understanding your technique. Also, I have divided the hull up into 5 plank lateral battens but I only pencil in the individual planks one batten at a time because I have found that once I have completed one batten I am either a little fat or a little short and need to compensate in the next batten - if that makes sense. Anyway I've added a picture to hopefully show the battens more clearly. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Best, Ian

Hi again folks, I wanted to show you a problem I ran into which of course would not be a problem if I had any other intention than coppering the hull. But there you have it. I had the temerity as a first time builder to think I could do a good enough job to show the hull off in walnut. First the stern - I think looks pretty good... Then midships, things are fitting together fairly well... Finally, the mess of different colour woods at the bow. The lighter coloured wood is the 1 by 16 mm walnut gun port planking used to spile the bow section planks so that I could achieve a horizontal lie (that I want to emulate). Obviously this kit supplied walnut was sourced from a different stock (not to confuse with the walnut I also bought locally and milled). I honestly didn't notice how different the wood looked until I gave it a light sand and moistened it. Dread. So unless I can figure out how to get this stuff to look more like the other planking, or rip it out and find some other wood (seems very difficult to do), I am going to have to accept that coppering is in my future. Anyone have any advice/encouragement/pity for me?? Best, Ian

Keep it up Heinz! Very inspirational. Ian

Hi Bob, Welcome to the first time club! My most useful planking tools are: Sanding sticks - get a tin of contact cement and various grades of sandpaper Clamps, you can never have enough - but my most used clamps are elastic bands and cut up eraser blocks Mini plane - I have a Veritas plane - probably my most used tool Proportional divider if you can afford it - makes dividing up planking battens easy and accurate A micrometer is a must. Lots of small paintbrushes to apply PVA Best of luck, Ian

Beautiful job Mike.

Very methodical. I find your step by step approach a nice addition. I too am a first model ship builder and so appreciate the time you're taking to illustrate your approach. Best, Ian

My pleasure. I am only at my second planking around the middle and lower wales. I find great inspiration in your and other Victory builds as I labour, endlessly, on this massive project. Ian

Hello Heinz, I think the transom and your lettering looks magnificent and adds to the uniqueness of your build. Keep it up! Ian

Hi Mike, I decided to put in basswood fillers because I didn't trust myself to make smooth curves between those tortuous areas. The instructions are silent on this issue. I also thought that if I had to join planks in those areas that I would be spending time building in wider attachment points on the bulkheads anyway. If one terminates or begins a plank in an area like this without filler blocks you have to be very careful that the bend is uniform because the bend before or after the joint is influenced. Let me know if that is not clear. Although I spent what I know is an inordinate amount of time shaping the blocks, I feel it paid off. Balsa wood in those areas is too soft to take a pin or screw clamp which I found necessary. I think balsa is fine in other non- curvey areas as small fillers and I used them between bulkheads 13 and 16 adjacent to the keel where I had to start stealers. Not much stress in those areas and I had the balsa fillers glued and shaped in no time. Words of a novice and subject to correction by more experienced builders. Best of luck with your build and I am happy to discuss things with you if you decide to go ahead with the build. Best, Ian

Hi folks, I have been moving along at the pace of a snail and I don't have very much to report. Just two things. First is my jig for cutting second planking (I'm using 85 mm planks). I used an aluminum mitre box, that I don't really find useful for anything else, with a strip of oak for a base and saw cuts through the box to mark 85 mm. Once I use my chop saw I place strips on either end so that I can sand the planks down to about the same width. I get 45 planks each go. Second, just an observation. I had a piece of walnut that I bought a month ago to mill into strips that I could use for spiling at the bow. As it turns out the strip in the picture is going to have to be used for my wales (at 2mm) and gun port linings as the contrast would be ok I think - and I will use the gun port lining strips (1x16mm) supplied with the kit for the spiling instead. Reason is that the walnut I bought (I assume black walnut) is not the same colour as the planking. In fact the walnut I bought is much closer in colour to the transom fascia and keel than the planking. I have always felt that the planking walnut looks more like mahogany than walnut, but I guess I'm used to North American walnut. Now many of you might be saying who cares, you're going to copper the hull anyway. And I'd probably agree. Best, Ian

Hi Heinz, Thank you again for your detailed explanation. I spent the morning milling some 2 by 20mm and 1 by 20 mm walnut strips so that I can skip double planking for the wales and so that I have some stock (1 by 20) to use for spiling the hull planking at the bow. I am not sure I'll use the anchor stock planking approach for the wales that you have (it looks beautiful by the way) but now I have wide enough strips to use if I do decide to go that way. I'm not sure I have the skill to do that. I have to say that if you consider yourself a beginner that would make me at the level of pond scum . And I have followed Alexandru's Victory build for many months now. From my view he is the Michelangelo of shipbuilding. Amazing work. Ian

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond so comprehensively. I will definitely take your advice with the black filler. Your explanation makes perfect sense. I think what you describe for shaping the planks at the bow is what I called spiling and there is likely no google translation for that technical term. But you have verified to me that this is what you did. What thickness did you have the walnut planking milled to? The kit supplies 1 mm thickness but I may go a little thicker say 1.5 mm if that makes it easier. I've had some success in milling my own planks and I have a nice piece of walnut that I could use. I am not sure I am brave enough to attempt the anchor stock planking you did for the whales but it sure looks good. I do have a good saw and taper jig if I do decide to go that way. I would be honored if you would comment critically on my build as I progress to this next stage. Thanks, Ian Edit: oh and by the way your English is excellent! As Jerry has pointed out.

Hello Heinz, beautiful workthroughout! I wonder if I may ask you some questions. I am just about to install whales and start my second planking on my Victory. I so admire your second planking and want to [try] to do something similar. My questions are would you see any benefit in applying any kind of dark coating to your first planking so that cracks between the walnut planking would not be so visible? From your pictures it doesn't look like you did and I could see how that might interfere with any lines to guide the second planking - but I thought this idea might have some merit? Second, I am anticipating that I will need to spile planks at the bow from thicker stock. Did you spile your planks at the bow - your planking line at the bow is exactly what I aspire to! If you did spile from thicker stock, did you use the 1*16 mm walnut supplied in the kit? In other words is there enough to line the gunports and do spiling? And finally, did you settle on a preferred method for tapering and cutting the planks? I know how easy the limewood was to work with and see right away how brittle and crack prone the walnut is. I apologize for the long post and know that English is not your first language. Thank you in anticipation. Ian

Good day, I have lined the entry ports. I see it will be quite a learning experience working with walnut. Chips and cracks galore. Anyway a couple of pictures. I'm onto wales and second planking now. Best, Ian

Good Day, I finished planking the middle gun deck. Now I guess I need to find something to seal it with. Anyway, a few pictures... The first pics (I hope) show the clamping I devised to cut the planks to length without chipping the edges to death on my chop saw. As you can see they came out pretty well and allowed me to get a little assembly line going. I then sorted the planks according to width based on eyeballing how they looked standing on edge relative to each other. After the first half of planking I used the micrometer on each plank and resorted them. I found this helped in closing some of the gaps that were showing up. I set up a temporary centre plank to get started with a straight line. I got a much better pattern going with the different shades of wood on the port side - methinks. On to the entry port linings. I keep reading on how to apply glue to the ends before cutting the walnut strips to size. So I will have to figure that out next. Best, Ian

Gorgeous detail Nick. I shall return to your build many times as I slowly make way on my Victory. Best, Ian

Nick thanks for looking in and encouraging me. I've started planking the middle deck. It's going well so far except I realized too late that I paid scant attention to randomizing the different colour planks (I'm doing the 4 butt shift with 85 mm lengths). I know it doesn't matter for this deck but it is great practice for the more visible decks. Ian

Hi again, Thanks for the views and likes. I've added the q-g braces and counters. You may notice that I put the lower stern counter on backwards . After I soaked it and preformed it, I figured I would run into issues if I tried to bend it the opposite way. So on she went. I've made pin pricks where the corners of the two windows are supposed to be on the counter facing outward by transferring scotch tape tracing from the correct side. Something to figure out later. Oh and I did in fact break a fascia tab off! I'm not sure where I'm going next. I know I can leave the rest until I finish second planking but there is also no good reason why I shouldn't finish the quarter gallery now - other than I want to move onto another surface. Ian

Hi folks, Here we go. First picture is showing the stern post fit. I spent some time sanding and chiselling out a channel for the post. I thought I might otherwise run into problems doing that once the fascia is on. Next pictures shows a few dry fits and then gluing the inner patterns and fascia. The fascia patiently waits for me to catch the edges on my sweater so that I can join that august club . Best, Ian