mikiek

Hi guys - thanks for stopping by. I have yet to do any looking to see what might have been on Constructo's mind regarding the guns. I have a book on schooners of the period and another on general naval armaments. I'm hoping one of those might shed some light. If there is any valid justification for the kit guns I will go with those. However, personal preference would lead me towards Syren's. As you alluded to Sam, I believe the carriage needs to be raised somehow. It doesn't fit in the port with a level barrel. Slightly larger trucks? Drop the axles a bit? And in that photo the quion was not really coming into play. All this and planking too. What more could one ask for? Honestly, I am finding this to be a very enjoyable part of the build. The 2nd layer planks are going down nicely, a few at a time. And there is a lot of deck work to be done. I really like being able to switch between tasks.

I'm glad to hear Jason has things rolling again. It seemed like things were kinda rocky for a while. He does offer a good product and has always been very helpful when I have needed assistance. Even in the U.S. Cornwall can't be beat on many products. I get all my European kits thru them. The turnaround is fantastic - store to door is usually 4-5 days. Some kits are literally hundreds less than anyone over here.

The Syren guns arrived. It turns out I had the right barrel size just the wrong carriage size. Funny what a difference 1/32" can make. So the line up is the kit gun, the larger Syren gun (still not the biggest available) and the small Syren gun (just for comparison-not really in the running). The kit gun is big & beefy but still a little strange looking. The larger Syren gun is more traditional - not sure whether I would paint, stain or leave it as is. I don't mind big & beefy. With all the delicate detail we put into our builds, IMO big guns with big tackles are an offset to that. I'm leaning towards the Syren gun, but I would like to know why Constructo decided to produce the carriage that they did. I think I will try to research the style of the kit gun. Maybe it was something specific to smaller boats? Would like to know if it is supposed to be a carronade or long gun.

I'm still debating what guns to use. The kit supplied version has a rather odd looking carriage. The barrel also looks more like a carronade. I went ahead and finished one out just to get an idea how they look. I'm not crazy about them but still could use them. You might notice they seem a little low in the port. I had to glue a shim under the front end just to get the barrel level. With the barrels completely elevated they do fit but that looks pretty strange. Note to future builders - consider lowering the ports a bit or make them slightly larger. There will be some fit issues. Another debate is whether to leave the barrels brass or paint them. I think brass is probably historically incorrect, but they are shown in the kit pix that way and I have to say it doesn't look all that bad. My alternative would be to use Syren's barrels & carriages. I had a few on hand but they looked a little small. I ordered some of the larger sizes but I'm too lazy to go to the mailbox and get them today. Maybe later.

I have finished "catching up" with the ports and planking. My problem was with the 0,5mm sticks used for 2nd planking I'm concerned about tapering the ends consistently for both sides. I don't know that my dividers will help and I want to keep the symmetry at the bow and stern. What I am expecting to have to do is shape the stick for one side, then "trace" it out on another stick for the other side. I don't know the wisdom in doing this but that's the plan for now. And not a moment too soon. The 2nd planks laid so far have no shaping and you can see in the pix that the 1st layer does. Hope I'm not too late. Now I will have to come up with a width and count for the plank bands. Not to beat a dead horse, but I'm still questioning the need for the 2nd layer. So far, I guess it looks a little better although I suspect when I have to start shaping them that will change. Then they will have to bend edgewise a little and I imagine quite a few will break while doing that. I'm having a problem with the 0,5 sticks in the kit. Looks like they were cut from a piece with a knot in the grain. Not only does it look a little funky but the sticks are VERY weak at that point - several have broken. I'd say maybe 25%-30% of the sticks are affected. Too many to just toss them. I'm trying to place them so the knots are laid at some place on the hull that doesn't curve much. EDIT: If you are like me you sand those planks a lot as you are laying them. Strake by strake sometimes. RESIST! I have already sanded the 0,5 sticks down to 0,25 and I've barely started. The problem is you need the edge of the previous strake to butt the next strake up against. 0,25 doesn't give you much of an edge.

The hull is another thing that will get beat to death before you finish the build. Plan on painting it one last time near the end. It looks good. I like that you left the wood showing thru.

And I completely forgot to mention the Cheerful kit. I knew that was there, have looked at it many times. What I didn't know was all the mini kits available for the various structures on that boat. There's even a cedar version of the build now. I even went as far as adding all that (plus the boat kit) into a cart. "Just to see how much it all would cost".

Ya know how one thing leads to another, and another? Bingo! Been working the other ports - getting them cut & lined. I've been having this feeling in the back of my mind about the guns. The ports are cut pretty high above the deck, maybe that explains the funky kit carriages. Already decided I don't care for what comes with the kit - what else is new? Ordered some from Chuck but they are proving to be too small, so now I've ordered the larger sizes. Of course I finally luck out and get on the site when the Royal Barge kit is available. So there's another couple hundred in addition to the gun order. Will he ever learn ?

I know the accepted rule is to do matching planks - one for starboard one for port. Needless to say I don't follow that one very often. This will be different. I'm not sure if I will still be able to use the dividers to help shape the strake ends. That's a shame because it gave me consistency from side to side. I think now I will have to just wing it to get a strake for one side and then copy that for the other side. Otherwise the symmetry is going to be way out of whack. I had already started the 2nd layer on starboard where I had finished the ports. Looks like I need to stop that and do the ports on the port side, then catch up with the planking. This could have turned into a real mess otherwise.

OK, so you've seen the ports. now I started with a little bit of the 2nd planking just to get a feel for it. Another bad surprise. The 2nd layer sticks are 5mm wide not 6mm. So none of the shaping done on the the 1st layer carries over. And I am still going to have to figure out how to taper them down at the ends. On the bright side they do seem a little stiffer than I would have expected. The ends can be sanded without them splintering. I guess it's gonna be another case of draw & plank the bands, tapering the sticks to fit within. It'll all have to be done with one width of stick. This may well be the last time I double plank anything. It's such a waste of time to repeat everything.

While the planking debate rages, work goes on. It's not that bad really, and I suppose there is a plan to be followed. I'm going to do the ports first as any planking should butt up against that. Same story for the wales. I think that's all so then would come the 2nd planks. Other items that wind up on top of the hull surface will be done last. Starboard ports are done: I couldn't find the correct stick for the port liners so I used basswood instead. Was thinking of going with a lite color (basswood or boxwood) for some contrast, but didn't care for either next to the sapelli. So I broke out & tried most of my stains. IMO boxwood doesn't stain well - it doesn't absorb much. That left basswood and as I realized a darker color would be the best choice I ended up with English Chestnut. Honestly, I probably coulda/shoulda just painted the pieces dark brown. It would have given me a more consistent coverage. It's all hindsight now. I do like the dark contrast to the reddish sapelli.

What dark splashes are you referring to?

Congrats Ron - one big task getting close to complete. Just my opinion, but don't get too wrapped up in your finishing. Wood is wood and there's grain, knots, warppage, gaps, etc. That's the beauty. It's not a show car.

Hey Cap'n - you may have found the same rasps as I recently got. Very small but not quite micro sized. They're great for removing material in tight places. Would recommend to everyone. I'm doing a few tests on port liners and various stains. I'm leaning towards something pretty dark. I'll post some pix when I have decided.

Regarding the 2nd planking my thought process keeps going from one extreme to the other. At first I thought it would be best to do the entire 2nd planking before doing anything else. Since items like pintles, channels, etc. go on top of the hull there's no chance to plank after installing any of that. In an effort to stay busy, I began the gun ports and liners. In this area it seems like the stuff should go on first and then the planks because the planks will have to be cut to size. Making things more interesting, I'm seeing that a lot of the 6mm x 0,5mm sticks are wider than the 6mm x 2mm sticks from the first layer. ERrrrrrrrrgh! While cutting the openings for the ports I began to look at the kit supplied guns and carriages. The latter looking like a very strange morphism between a carronade sled and cannon carriage. Not sure if those are legitimate or not. Quite unattractive to say the least. So replacements from Syren are on the way. I'll be going with the standard carriage. Here's hoping they're tall enough, those ports are rather high in the bulwarks. I will say having to drill out the port openings and file them to size brings an appreciation for the laser cut alternative.

Those ribs were a bear, even with the sandwich style approach. I could not get anything to bend that sharp at the keel. Of course one option is to make each rib from several pieces, letting the ends butt into the keel. Another thing to think about is how much stuff are you going to put in the boat? If you are going to make floor boards then the ribs don't really have to extend all the way to the keel. The floor boards will cover that part up. Then you have the thwarts, benches and rail which will cover even more. You can hold your nose while you make them and go with a sheet of styrene cut into proper sized strips. The sheets come in many thicknesses, bend great, they cut & file nicely and they take paint well. Some people just don't want a non-wood product on their build. I used styrene and have no regrets. There's some pix somewhere in the first 1/3 of my log. Rigging came out well. On that 3 way block thing - were those on every yard or just the course? That's a cool looking piece wired into your hull sheaves.

Interesting idea grxjax. I think the biggest concern is that I was using 7mm wide sticks for the stealers in the first layer, effectively allowing me to cover a 14mm wide space. These 2nd layer sticks are only 6mm wide so I don't think copying the pattern is going to work unless I find a way to wedge in a 3rd stick.

I suspect I already know the answer to this but I'll ask anyway. Working on Constructo Enterprise. 1st hull plank layer was done using 2mmx6mm sticks. There were quite a few stealers at the stern in the deadwood area. I used 2mmx7mm for most of those. It's all done and came out OK, now it's time for the 2nd layer. I'm supposed to use 0,5mmx6mm sticks for those. Ridiculously thin for any kind of planking. What I'm wondering is what to do for tapering & shaping? With the first sticks I could whittle down the ends with a knife or even better my thumb planer. None of that is possible with a 0,5 stick. All I can think of is laying a stick down flat and trying to cut with a straight edge. Anyone one of you got better ideas? Also on the stealers, I was using the 2mmx7mm sticks to squeak out a little extra width. They were about full width at one end and tapered down to about 1/2 width at the other end, where they joined up with a 2mmx6mm. So essentially I was making 2 sticks fit into 1 stick. This is going to be made even more difficult given the fact that I don't have any 7mm sticks for the 2nd layer. Only the 6's. So I may need to try a 3 into one.

I guess there's a reason we always say read thru the manual before starting. I'm working on the stem & stern post, the logical next steps in the build. But after that the manual would have you adding wales, rudder with pintles & gudgeons, etc. Lot's of stuff on the hull. One big problem, I only have the first planking on the hull. NOWHERE does it mention the second one. So I suppose right after the stem & stern post I should look into doing the second layer. What an oversight!!! That's inexcusable!!! Guess I'll have to come up with a plan for that. I'm still shaking my head over that one.........

Well, if I'm asking for help, I suppose it would be useful to be able to see what I am talking about. Door is not glued in yet.

Both bulwarks are complete now. I've been sanding off & on for a few days. I realized with the 2 layer process the 1st layer must be smooth but really does not require filler. I am still concerned about having only 6mm sticks (if you can call them that) for the 2nd layer. What I did for the 1st layer at the stern cannot be copied because most of that was with 7mm sticks. You know if I don't hose this up, Enterprise could be a gorgeous build. In my eye, there's something about the schooner hull - short, fat, rounded - that really get's my attention. This hull seems to do the same: And then there's the stern. I really messed up the filler blocks,but the more I see of them and the instructions the more I realize they are almost useless in this build. As you can see I rounded mine off, where the instructions show 2 flat sides. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter because it's all recessed. The big stern plate thing doesn't even come into contact with the blocks. It just rests on the ends of the hull strakes. I did do my first replacement (bash) of a part. The pewter door to the lower deck left a lot to be desired. So I made one from scratch. It looks decent enough (I forgot to snap a photo) but I need to add a door latch. It's too small to do anything in brass, so I was thinking the card stock trick although that would be pretty small as well. I just need a sort of rectangular piece at the most maybe 1/3" long and 1/8" wide painted black. I guess maybe I could try it with a piece of wood? You guys have any ideas?

That's kind of you to say Steve. Thanks.

So Tom - are those residential structures turned into rentals? Nice abode for that painting to show up in. There's a lot to Google for John Harvey. Looks like he did quite a few similar pieces. He seemed to like the galleons, and I would say that's what is in yours. Sounds like he did a few artist renderings of real subjects, but also a lot of made up scenes too. In scanning around I did not see your exact picture - there's 3 boats there. Another piece looks almost identical to yours but only 2 boats. That's what 2 minutes turned up.

That place is almost as bad as Lowes. There's always something you didn't know you needed

The bulwarks are the next big feature. I don't know if all Constructo kits do them this way, but for Enterprise the method was different than any bulwark I have assembled. Look back a few posts and you will notice there are no timberheads extending out from the hull frames. They also did not do the thing where they give you a laser cut strip of plywood that is the entire bulkhead. The method here is a lot simpler and seems to work OK. Had I been in one of those head down, stay focused and keep working moods I probably could have done it all in about 90 minutes. What they do is glue a stick edge to edge on top of the upper most hull strake. Going back to hull planking for a sec, the instructions were fairly adamant about the first strake being positioned slightly below the deck substrate. Now I see why. There will be an inner and outer "wall" of sticks making up the bulwark. The first stick glued will be for the outer wall. It is placed edge to edge with the first hull strake and it sort of leans against - and is glued to - the deck edge. So the placement of that first hull strake is important as you should be able to see in the pic it leaves a notch or groove in which you place the first bulwark strake. How deep that groove is will determine how much of the first strake extends above the deck and that is very important at the end of all this. The strakes are 6mm wide, and you want to end up with 2mm of the stick running above the deck. And that first strake requires you to cut some scuppers. The next strake is an inner one. It is laid edge on with the waterway and rests against the outer strake we just put down. You have to cut matching scupper notches for that as well. So here's the first inner strake. Same strake from the outside. You should be able to see the groove on the outside where the next outer strake will be placed. And so it goes. In that groove you lay the next outer strake. This leaves a groove on the inside for the next inside strake. The offset between the last inner or outer strake makes the groove for the next stick. Other than cutting the scupper notches, no shaping or tapering of the stick was required. Very simple and I must say very sturdy as well. The biggest challenge was what to do at the stern - the instructions seem to completely gloss over that. If I ran both the inner and outer strakes all the way to the transom it added a lot of material at the edge of the poop deck. So I ended up cutting the inner sticks about 3" before the transom. Another vagueness with the instructions was in describing how to end the bulwarks. It said 4 inner strakes and a 2mmx2mm cap. I think I got lucky here. I believe what they meant was 4 inner sticks, then the next outer stick. Magically this leaves the groove on the inner side which perfectly accepts a 2x2 to fill the groove and make it all flush. And there you have it. I'm still finishing one side and I'll post some completed pix when it's done. The thing I don't like about this method is someone (read you) will have to position and cut the gunports by hand. The instructions say make an outline in the bulwark by drilling holes. Then cut and file/sand them square. I'm still thinking on how to make certain they end up square. But square to what? Stay tuned.