Chuck

Exactly😀

Looking really good.

Lou....It was giving me a heart attack....literally, way too much stress and labor with zero benefit. Only about a dozen or so people bought them. You know, those few guys hung up on only building in 100% pear. It wasnt worth it. I couldnt justify buying so much pearwood to keep around the shop and have two kinds of blocks in stock. It takes too long to make them. 24 sizes and configurations of pear blocks..(1000's of pear blocks takes time and then they just sit there)...those few people were really asking a lot when they wanted me to keep making them. Some havent stopped holding a grudge about it either. They didnt care that I had to spend $1000 to buy a slab of pearwood that half was bad and thrown away, then I had to pay to have it milled, then I had make 24 variations so a few people could buy $50 worth of blocks every two years. As far as the special runs and custom jobs.... What I have learned over the last six years doing this is that those guys who ask for special orders and custom jobs with special wood. The ones that want you spend hours and $$$$ doing something on the side....those guys dont buy much in the end, if much at all. You know the guys.....everything asked for is preceded with "this shouldnt be too hard or take long for you to do". They spend peanuts yet they do the most asking and the most moaning. So for piece of mind and less stress I just stopped making the stuff and consolidated my inventory for the other 97% of my customers. Because they would literally spend $25 bucks a year and thought they were doing me the favor. It was just getting ridiculous and I was close to having a heart attack. Mix it up a bit and use the boxwood blocks. They also stain beautifully so it really doesnt matter. To really take your model to the next level....try dyeing them black or dark brown as David Antscherl does. You should have a look at his rigging on Comet or Resolution. Beautiful stuff. Chuck

I havent finished chapter two yet.....but soon. Nobody is that far in the project yet anyway. Remember that chapter two is planking the outboard hull. I am not even finished doing that yet. So for now, folks will need to use my log which is very detailed. It has all teh info needed which will basically be copied into the actual chapter. Lou its OK......because you can still buy them from me until that times comes. LOL... Chuck

Nope....unfortunately you have to make it without the column. Just make the back of it flat. I will be providing the columns as klaser cut pieces and they wont match otherwise. It will be hard to cut away the cnc column at that point.

When its time to retire......I will gladly show one and all how I do it.....with videos and everything....LOL

i could try....but block making is a trade secret. Dont want explain how I do that. Its my bread and butter. Chuck

Nice....remember to cut outside your lines and then sand up to them later. Especially at the bottoms and tops of those bulkheads. It does make a big difference.

I am not the best guy to do that. i would give you guys all sorts of bad habits. Dangerous habits. LOL Keep your fingers and maybe someone else can tackle that one.

Thanks guys. Its really weird to make these but if it is something that works for you guys I will try and do more when subjects lend themselves to video. I just dont know which ones would.

See here.....for black line. There are many different sizes and you should buy one roll of each and it will last a lifetime. https://www.ebay.com/itm/AMNESIA-MEMORY-FREE-FISHING-LINE-20-LB-BLACK-SS08420/120483332146?epid=1362639651&hash=item1c0d5dc032:g:kPcAAMXQqBxRGxq-

Nope. I never do that. i havent found a need to do that.

both. I will use a metal straight edge and a sharp #11 blade to cut most of it off close to my line. Do this with several passes of the blade. Dont try and cut th excess off in one pass. Then I sand the remaining bit off to my line carefully with a sanding stick or emory board. I use one of those wide nail files. They are 180 grit on one side and 100 grit on the other.

I took a stab at making some videos that show how I plank the bow of any ship model. Specifically how to taper and edge bend a strip so that it lays flat against the bulkheads. This is basically how I plank every hull at the bow. I shot these videos at 720 HD quality so rather than string together the four videos into one long 20 minute session, I kept them individual. They take forever to upload to you tube when they are 20 minutes long. Literally hours. So these are four short 5 minute videos instead. A lot easier to upload and process. I will edit this post and add the other 3 as I finish processing them for upload. Basically each part is split into an intro.....then tapering.....then edge bending.....and test fitting on the hull. Let me know if you have any questions. Keep in mind its weird making these when I am alone in my shop and basically talking to myself. I had to reach around the tripod i order to get to the model and I was hitting it and had to start over many times....not my cup of tea all this video stuff!!!! 😂 Let me know if you think its worth the time as it is a real pain in the biscuit . But I will continue if you guys get anything out of it. I also must have had the camera too close to the hull so the first two videos are not as crisp as the others. Live and learn.....next time it will be better but I tried to get as close to the hull as possible so you could see everything. The videos are posted here.....in the discussion about chapter two.

I took a stab at making some videos that show how I plank the bow of any ship model. Specifically how to taper and edge bend a strip so that it lays flat against the bulkheads. This is basically how I plank every hull at the bow. I shot these videos at 720 HD quality so rather than string together the four videos into one long 20 minute session, I kept them individual. They take forever to upload to you tube when they are 20 minutes long. Literally hours. So these are four short 5 minute videos instead. A lot easier to upload and process. I will edit this post and add the other 3 as I finish processing them for upload. Basically each part is split into an intro.....then tapering.....then edge bending.....and test fitting on the hull. Let me know if you have any questions. Keep in mind its weird making these when I am alone in my shop and basically talking to myself. I had to reach around the tripod i order to get to the model and I was hitting it and had to start over many times....not my cup of tea all this video stuff!!!! 😂 Let me know if you think its worth the time as it is a real pain in the biscuit . But I will continue if you guys get anything out of it. I also must have had the camera too close to teh hull so the first two videos are not as crisp as the others. Live and learn.....next time it will be better but I tried to get as close to the hull as possible so you could see everything. Planking the bow of HMS Winchelsea....part one - Intro to tapering PART TWO.....Tapering your plank... PART THREE....Edge bending with heat PART FOUR.....Testing the plank on the model

let us know what you find out....

Welcome to the forum. It probably is Chinese....what brand of kit is it because we have a ban on some Chinese kits because they are pirated from legitimate manufacturers. A good place to start is here....click on this topic below. If you have any questions about it please contact me and I can tell you if it is in fact a banned or pirated kit. We do not allow these to be built on our site for obvious reasons. If its the one I am thinking of (huasong) which is only about 20" long then you will have hard time building it. The kit itself is not a copy BUT......Its an awful kit and although it is cheap, you will get very frustrated trying to build it. This particular company does have a pirated copy of two other smaller subjects....a Harvey kit and an albatross kit. And because of this they are banned from our site. These were copied from long standing MFGs. Better to start with a smaller and simpler subject from a quality MFG rather than a 3 decker 100 gun ship in a very small scale from cheap Chinese site. Not really recommended for a first time model builder. Chuck

Really nice...you are moving so quickly.... You are going to catch up to me and will be hanging around waiting on the next steps...LOL

That center hold-down is good....just remember that everyone using yellow cedar....you will need to place a scrap on top of the strip when you clamp the ends. The cedar is soft and will dent without some protection under the clamps. Otherwise this is what I do using a travel iron for heat.

Really looking great Bob......you have one clean and precise longboat there!!!!

That is a term used to signify a section of the lower hull for planking. For example.....the hull has 25 strakes from the wales to the keel. To make it more manageable, these were divided into four sections referred to as "belts" of planking. It is far better to concentrate on each smaller belt as one task to do than an entire hull. The winnie has for such belts of planking below the wales and each should be treated as its own small project. The goal being to complete one belt at a time......something to be celebrated by a pint or a shot at the end of the day once you finish one. I am currently working on my second belt of planking on the starboard side of the hull......almost ready for that Rolling Rock!!!!!

You wont find holly anywhere. Boxwood will be tough too. But Cherry is easy enough to find. You will find many places for Cherry in strip and sheet form. Anyway...this guy in Europe supposedly sells Boxwood and pear strips. But his website is kind of poor. Folks speak highly of them though. https://www.arkowood-lossburg.de/ Remember that the boxwood strips from model expo are NOT boxwood. They are cheap died soft wood veneer cut into strips. Its also bright yellow.

They all look very good. Which one are you going to use? I think the cherry version would look great. Chuck

How about some pictures?

Nicely done Mike 👌