Mumin

First of all I have to thank Grant, Yves and Mark for their messages . .

Thursday, April 7, 2015

I started the building of the shields.
64 in total and luckily, thanks to Mr. Dusek, they are laser precut otherwise should be a great pain to make all of them so perfectly rounded and equal to each other.
The background color is golden yellow, while only the shield side facing the outside of the hull will receive a second color: I'm thinking to dark red.
To achieve this kind of task should be perfect the usage of a airbrush: I have it but it is in my main workshop, 350km far from me . . To facilitate this painting task, I fixed the shields of an adhesive "bed". In this way I'm working quietly and easily.
Regards, Jack.
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Next, it was time to taper down the bowsprit.  First, I defined the section before the flare:
 

 
The flare for the bowsprit is different from the others, as the base of the flare is actually narrower than the portion of the bowsprit that comes before it.  Soon after I began, I noticed that my whittling blade for my X-Acto was getting a bit dull, so I spun this dowel in my drill, tapering it with a coars grit sandpaper until I had the right shape.  I finished up with some fine sandpaper to give it a smooth finish.  Here is the result:
 

 
I like to check the shape of the finished dowels with the plans.  It was a perfect match:
 

 
Next, I had to drill what the plans described as a "2 mm hole" near the base of the bowsprit.  The bowsprit bitts have a crossmember that is made of a piece of square 2 mm x 2 mm dowel.  This dowel is meant to pass through the hole in the bowsprit, as a means of holding it onto the ship.  Unfortunately, I only had a 1 mm drill bit, so I used that in my pin vise:
 

 
Next, I use a needle file to enlarge the hole until it was large enough to just barely accomodate the dowel (this took almost an hour, but it turned out great):
 

 

 
Here is the completed bowsprit:
 

 
Finally, just for fun, I took a few pictures to show how the ship will look when I finally attach these pieces:
 

 

 
Today, I took some more measurements of the hull and marked the points on the bulkheads that would form my planking bands.  Using a piece of masking tape that I cut down to a narrow width with my X-Acto, I marked out the bands (I had to adjust the top band to make it a little narrower at the bow so that the lines looked a little more natural).  Here's what I came up with:
 

 

 

 

 
So, what do you guys think of the lines?  I'm going to mark the locations of the tweaked bands and apply them to the other side, adjusting them until they are symmetrical.  
 
Thus far, I have spent about 36 hours on this build.  I should be able to get the rest of the yards tapered down before my planking wood arrives.  I'll let you know how everything turns out!
 
On a very positive note, I had the pleasure of meeting up with another forum member (Bill Hime) this evening.  He sent me a message a few days ago, and it turns out that we live only about 20 minutes away from each other!  We are both very excited at the prospect of being able to enjoy this hobby together, in person, and I highly recommend that other members make an effort to meet fellow hobbyists in their area.  We are already making plans to get together next weekend to toss around some ideas for our builds, and we've even discussed sharing tools and perhaps each working on the same model side-by-side so that we can help each other out and learn together.  It should be a lot of fun!     

As expected, all of my efforts didn't produce much of a rabbet joint.  In hindsight, it was a very poor decision to try to cut the rabbet into the center keel before attaching the stem, keel piece, and sternpost.  By the time I was done beveling, the deadwood (and much of the edge of the center keel) was razor thin:
 

 
This made it incredibly difficult to properly attach the walnut stem, keel piece, and sternpost, as they don't have a wide, flat surface on which to sit.  I probably should have called it a night at this point and approached it with a fresh mind the next day, but I carried on...  That is one of the lessons I'm going to take away from this project -- when things get rough, take a break!  
 
The worst thing that happened was that the scarf joint between the stem and keel piece broke.  I was trying to get the stem to sit straight on the center keel, and my CA glue set up too quickly.  Once I got the stem on properly, I attached the keel piece and did my best to fill in the crack with wood glue, then sanded it down.  
 

 

 
Also, the top of the stem had broken during a test fitting.  I had to file down the inside of the piece that hangs over the bulwarks, but I was able to re-attach it in the proper orientation, and it ended up looking alright:
 

 
Here's a shot of my almost non-existent rabbet joint in the deadwood section:
 

 
And here are some shots of the ship after I did my best to sand the excess glue off of the walnut stem, keel piece, and sternpost:
 

 

 

 

 

 
I'm really kicking myself over what I consider to be a subpar job on this part of the build...  I really wanted this to come out perfect, and now I cant stop staring at that scarf joint.  I'm consoling myself with the fact that it will be painted over, but it's still a bummer.  I'm also pretty worried about that rabbet joint --  I'm going to have to scrape a lot of glue out of the joint, and even then, it's not deep enough to conceal the edge of even the first layer of planking.  I'm likely going to have to be very careful and bevel the edges of the planks just right so that when they meet the keel piece and stem, they simply appear to be sitting in the rabbet.  I suppose that was the intent, with this kit.
 
So, that's where I am now, after about 16 hours of work, in total.  What do you think, guys?

I used the false deck to check the alignment of the bulkheads, and everything looked good.
 

 

 
I marked a center line on the false deck to aid in planking the deck later (note that the holes for the bowsprit bitts are offset to the LEFT):
 

 
Interestingly, my false deck was slightly warped, but I was confident that this would work itself out when the false deck was glued to the tops of the bulkheads and false keel.
 

 
I used a combination of rubber bands and modified binder clips to hold the false deck down during gluing.  I made sure that the deck was centered, and that it followed the slight curve of the tops of the bulkheads (the deck curves downward on the port and starboard sides, which was done to allow water to drain from the deck at sea; it also curves upward toward the bow and stern):
 

 
The foremost hatch opening was too small for me to fit a binder clip into, so I ran a rubber band around the center keel and held it in place with toothpicks:
 

 
In this picture, you can see how the binder clips hold the deck down against the center keel, allowing it to take on the right curvature while the glue sets:
 

 
In these pictures we can see the false deck held in place, with the proper curvature:
 

 

 

 

 
And this is how I left it for tonight, to give the glue time to completely cure:
 

 
So far, I've spent 9 hours on this model.  Stay tuned for more!

Here are the bulkheads sitting in the center keel, with their bevels:
 

 

 
The bulkheads sat slightly low in the center keel, which I took care of later:
 

 
Here is one of the bow filler blocks, with its edge beveled:
 

 
Here it is during one of my test fits:
 

 
Here's the beveled stern block during a test fitting:
 

 
I applied some Titebond III and clamped the bow filler blocks to the center keel (I did this first to allow me to position the first bulkhead square in the slot).
 

 
To make the bulkheads sit flush with the top of the center keel, I cut a small piece of index card so that it could be glued into the top of the slot of each bulkhead.  This was the perfect thickness to get a flush fit.  In this photo, the card has not been trimmed down to match the width of the slot yet (I did this to make it easier to see in the photo):
 

 
Here are the bulkheads, sitting flush, during the gluing process:
 

 
I glued each bulkhead, checked for perfect alignment, then let it set up before moving to the next bulkhead.
 

 
The results were quite pleasing:
 

 

 

 

This log will document my progress as I build the Amati/Victory Models Lady Nelson.  I've always wanted to build a wooden ship model, but I've never had the time.  Now that I'm finally out of school, it's time to get started!  I've done a good amount of research before starting this build, but I'm sure I'll have some questions for the experienced and knowledgeable members of this forum as I make my way through the build.  Thank you in advance for your help!  
 
I'm going to do my best to take as many closeup photos of the process as I can.  Perhaps they will be helpful to other modelers in the future!  So, let's get started!
 
After taking a look through the kit and getting acquainted with the instructions (which are basic), I sat down at my workspace with the sheet containing the bulkheads:
 

 
First, I numbered all of the bulkheads, based on the plans.  Then, I cut them out using my X-Acto.  The cutting left some rough remnants of the tabs that held the pieces into their sheets:
 

 
So, I sanded these smooth with my sanding stick:
 

 

 
The final bulkhead/transom sits at an angle in the center keel:
 

 
This piece had to be beveled to match the angle of the center keel:
 

 

 
Here it is, sitting flush with the center keel:
 

 
Next came the fairing of the fore and aft bulkheads.  I did this before I glued anything in place, as it made the process easier.  I fit the bulkheads in the center keel and bent a plank around them to get a feel for the required curvature, then filed by hand:
 

 

 
Here is the second bulkhead fitted in the center keel, with its bevel on the forward edge:
 

 
Here is the foremost bulkhead, with its extreme bevel:
 

 

 
I test fit each bulkhead, marking each with the letters "F" and "A" to represent the fore side and aft sides, respectively:
 

Many thanks to all of you for the likes and positive appreciations of my work. Thanks again, Jack.
 
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
 
Having finished the hull, at least regarding the general appearance, I started the covering of the deck. Task without any particular difficulty, requiring only patience and precision.
 
Below the images of the model when I reached one half of the deck planking task. Enjoy them, Jack.
 
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Thursday, March 24, 2016
 
Today I finished the outside of the hull: sanding, individually made on each strake, followed by a coat of the same stain I used for the interior.
 
To highlight: although to a lesser extent, the same problem facing the inside emerged also here, due to the excesses of glue that I wasn't able to clean completely. Also because this glue excess was simply completely invisible before applying the stain. It worked, in this case, as a highlighter. 
 
So again one or two coats of matt transparent paint will be needed to obtain a uniform background.
 
Regards, Jack.
 
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Tuesday, March 22, 2016  
Today I have finished the shell and the ribs inside the hull. I rounded the tips of the ribs after having levelled them to the upper edge of the hull. At the end of the session I applied the "special" color prepared some time ago to simulate the tar finishing.   
The main fact to point out is that, despite having made many efforts to clean up the glue in excess during planking, it is still somewhere present and, there, the appearance of the stained wood is semi-gloss, while when the glue is absent it is rather opaque. This means than one or two coats of matt transparent will be, at the very end, mandatory to achieve an uniform finishing effect.
 
Now it is time to work outside the hull, to complete the refinement of the external side and apply the same painting scheme. Next steps . .
 
PS: I found serious difficulties to take pictures in which seeing something interesting in these very dark hull sides, result of the treatment with dye; for this reason I had to modify the original images with Adobe Photoshop to highlight details otherwise invisible. I humbly apologize for this manipulation.
 
See you soon, Jack.  
 
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Saturday, March 19, 2016  
Apart from changing the color of the carpet, from green to orange, there is nothing different from the pictures of my previous message unless the new (and third in the series) building board which will accompany me in the coming weeks (or months) until completion of this model.  
Taking advantage of the fact that the protruding sides of the hull keel are quite high, I thought at a solution of building board able to clamp firmly it. It is also much more light and easy to handle compared with the first version. 
 
Simple but effective, I believe that from now on it will be very useful and functional.
 
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Below the new pictures with the model clamped by the new building board.
 
Enjoy the show, Jack.
 
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Many thanks to all of your for the likes.  
As I wrote sometime ago this is a new, challenging experience in planking and I'm happy of the result, being it my first attempt. Here below some add'l pics of prow and poop details, were I made the bigger work.  
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Regards, Jack.
 
PS: At the time I purchased this kit I bought also another kit, the Viking Knarr, 1:35 scale, that isn't a warship but a merchant ship. But the planking is always clinker (or klingon as i named it) and i'll make use of this first experience.

Friday, March 18, 2016  
First I worked a little inside the boat: I added an element not present in the kit, but I found listed in the Nicolaysen monograph, the archaeologist who in 1882 discovered this ship. It is a reinforcement on the last strake which also implements a small gunwale. On the model it is, in practice some 1x3 strip clips inserted inside, between a frame and the other.
 
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Finally I filled with a mixture of glue and wood dust the inside of the bow and stern, in proximity of the keel, to provide a greater reinforcement to the strips bonding in this area. Then, to better hide this I applied an "ad hoc strip" of veneer that hides everything. .
 
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Then I worked to refine the exterior of the keel area, particularly at the bow and at the stern, where I made a little mess during the planking. Here too I used veneer that allowed me to settle for good the areas subject to the treatment. Don't care about different types of timber used because you will not see any difference when it will be dyed. .
 
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It may seem little thing, but it took me four 1.5-2 hours working sessions each to come here.  
I also planned and I am now preparing a further building slip, more practical of the first I built, for the continuing of this  build. But this is not yet finished.
 
A friendly greeting, Jack.Aubrey.
 

Friday, March 11, 2016

I finally finished the planking laid down with the "Klingon" method.

I have to admit it was a really great experience, from which I learned many things: first to proceed slowly. From the three-four strakes per side that typically I can apply during a working session with the "carvel method"", with the "clinker" it was a success when I was able to apply one strake per side every two days. Probably, if a strake should be made with a single strip rather than by two probably I would have needed half the time I spent. A possible idea for an improvement to the author of this kit.
However it was a considerable good exercise for my patience, property I think to own a lot.
In addition, as I proceeded away from the keel, the initial errors grew, so I had to spend time and efforts to fix some things . . if you watch closely the attached images you will see some frames where I had to insert some wood to get a proper curvature, without "valleys or hills".

Now that the laying of the planks is over, a phase of arrangement of the whole complex begins, starting from the two hull ends but also from the reconstruction of the modified frames where I had to add wood. But all these tasks worries me much less than what I have done until now. However the shape of this boat is spectacular . .

Now that I came out from the "Klingon planking" tunnel I plan to keep my diary updated regularly. See you next time, Jack.
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Monday, February 29, 2016
 
As I already mentioned in a previous post, before continuing with the installation of the last three planks it was necessary to start some new, but preliminary activities.
 
In the days between my last post and now, I proceeded to perform these following tasks:
 
1) - Clean up the upper end of the frames from some waste material produced during the task of detaching the hull from its board: the removal had occurred using a mini-drill power tool with a cutting blade; the finishing, instead, was done with abrasive pads.
 
2) - Installation of new segments on many frames in order to continue with the necessary framing structure for the next planks; in particular this activity, apparently simple, needed to adapt these new parts to shape the correct bevel angle, otherwise they couldn't be applied as suggested by assembly instructions.
 
3) - Finally, with more in mind the objective to test the goodness of my approach with the colour scheme than for a real need at this stage, I proceeded to stain the interior of the planking and the visible part of the frames. This to make sure that the dye was properly distributing on the wood, also when there are some glue residuals, due to the non-easy task of removing the glue in excess during the planking. To achieve this goal, I modified the dye, prepared some time ago, by adding a good amount of alcohol to the mordant: this trick has meant that the soaking ability is now higher and, above all, it also worked in the presence of underlying glue. From the proposed pictures below, it seems to work perfectly . . .
 
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Obviously this mordant fluid, that should primarily simulate the caulking that was run all over the hull by the Vikings by using tar, is no doubt dark, but it was so made, so it's right . .
 
One last point: this really dark colour helps very much in hiding any defect of construction. I believe that once I'll apply some coats of transparent paint, rigidly opaque, everything will seem perfect and also the gloss and opaque areas that can now be observed, especially in the last picture shown, will disappear completely. Although I'm wondering if the realism rules would suggest to keep partially gloss/opaque as I don't think tar produces an nice and clean effect . . probably the opposite . .
 
At this point I should be able to continue with the installation of the last planks . .
Regards, Jack.

Yep, sounds like what we call "contact cement" here in the US.

With butapren you apply the glue to both surfaces, then wait about 15-20min until the glue dries. Only then you put the parts together and the glue bonds immediately. So there is no squeeze out. As the glue is water resistant, you cannot remove it with water. The excess glue can be removed with acetone or benzine (petroleum ether), but only before it cures. Solid glue can be removed by scraping. You cannot use the sandpaper, as the glue is elastic.

With butapren you apply the glue to both surfaces, then wait about 15-20min until the glue dries. Only then you put the parts together and the glue bonds immediately. So there is no squeeze out. As the glue is water resistant, you cannot remove it with water. The excess glue can be removed with acetone or benzine (petroleum ether), but only before it cures. Solid glue can be removed by scraping. You cannot use the sandpaper, as the glue is elastic.

CRG,
 
Copy the URL and paste it into Google Translate.  It should translate the whole page.   Most browsers now allow a plug-in for Google Translate so a right-click and pick "translate page" is available.

There is also Polish manufacturer Bojer (family owned, the main person is Jerzy Borwiński, the name of the company is a bit misleading, meaning "sand/ice yachting"). They have four models up to date, all lasercut in 1:40 scale. The quality (what I have read on forums) is above average comparing to European biggies (AL, Occre, Amati).

There is also Polish manufacturer Bojer (family owned, the main person is Jerzy Borwiński, the name of the company is a bit misleading, meaning "sand/ice yachting"). They have four models up to date, all lasercut in 1:40 scale. The quality (what I have read on forums) is above average comparing to European biggies (AL, Occre, Amati).

There is also Polish manufacturer Bojer (family owned, the main person is Jerzy Borwiński, the name of the company is a bit misleading, meaning "sand/ice yachting"). They have four models up to date, all lasercut in 1:40 scale. The quality (what I have read on forums) is above average comparing to European biggies (AL, Occre, Amati).

There is also Polish manufacturer Bojer (family owned, the main person is Jerzy Borwiński, the name of the company is a bit misleading, meaning "sand/ice yachting"). They have four models up to date, all lasercut in 1:40 scale. The quality (what I have read on forums) is above average comparing to European biggies (AL, Occre, Amati).

There is also Polish manufacturer Bojer (family owned, the main person is Jerzy Borwiński, the name of the company is a bit misleading, meaning "sand/ice yachting"). They have four models up to date, all lasercut in 1:40 scale. The quality (what I have read on forums) is above average comparing to European biggies (AL, Occre, Amati).

Monday, February 22nd, 2016
 
After twenty days from my latest update, I'm publishing, more due to desperation than anything else, the photos of this Viking ship model, stressing the fact that during this time I have not made much progresses. The reasons were many, but certainly one is mainly related to the greater complexity of the planking with the clinker system. Now I nicknamed it as "Klingon" system, named after the alien race in the Star Trek saga, so much hard and "time consuming" this system is: between the installation of a half plank and the remaining half (remember that a strake is made of two pieces, one of about 2/3 the total length and the other the remaining 1/3) it's necessary to wait that the glue will dry very well before to proceed further. Due to this fact I'm more or less forced to work with short sessions of one hour or less at a time and it may happen I can not always apply an entire course per side during one day. Hence the long lead times which certainly do not stimulate the wish to continue.
 
At the time, I reached the point illustrated by the pictures below: three courses per side are still needed to finish the planking, but before their installation it's necessary to clean the top of the frames, over which there is some waste material coming from the removal of the hull from the overturned building board, and apply new elements to complement the existing frames.
 
Let's begin with a vertical overview image, where you can see that the hull curve trend is pretty straightforward, with some few exceptions still remediable: with the "Klingon" system some advantages also exists and one of them is that if a course does not fit perfectly or has a bad curve trend, you can easily mask it with the next course, provided it is correctly installed.
 
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A detailed view of the bow area . . here I have not yet fully completed the installation of the last course: it remains to glue the plank on the last three frames and on the stem, but because of the curve that takes up rather strongly, I prefer separate the work in two steps.
 
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An overturned hull view of the midship area . .
 
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Overal view of three-quarters and detail of the stem, where you can watch the significant mess I made with the length of the individual strips; and this happens also at the stern. An issue I'll pursuit when the planking is off . .
 
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Finally, the stern area, definitely resulting better than the bow . . here the curve trend of the strakes is much better and did'nt create any problem . . instead the bow was, in my case, very different !!
 
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To the next step, Jack.

Hello everyone,
Here are some new photos of Santisima Trinidad after painting the hull.
Best regards
Daniel