mikiek

That may have been the trick. I pieced together a few scraps until the height matched the saw platform and glued them together. I'm still using the 24T blade but the cut was a lot cleaner. Thinking about it, that was probably a bigger problem than the blade. If the sticks are flexing (not still) that would explain a lot. The 230T blade arrives Weds. Should get even better. Thanks everyone!

Michael - both good suggestions. I have a Proxxon chop/miter saw that came with a 24T blade. When I was cutting 6 sticks at a time it did pretty well. Now I am having to shape each stick so I am cutting just one at a time. I have had a few where the end got buggered up a bit. I have ordered the 230T blade but did not think about the support. The sticks are in a clamp and the blade comes down about 1/2" from that. But the area under the blade is concave so there is no support for about 2" until the sticks reach the edge of the recession. Something under those sticks would be helpful. Just not sure what would fit well.

I have started work on the Niagara decking with this approach. So far it is going very well. As a beginner I have found it easy to work with. It also gives great access to the underside of the deck. I've posted more details in my build log. It is a real confidence builder for me allowing freedom to move around and experience the decking process. I am using 5-7 short planks per strake instead of 1 long one. And if I happen to hose up the whole thing I can just toss it and start again. In hindsight now, yes, I probably could have decked the boat. But I'm glad I went this route and will probably continue to use this method if the boat structure allows.

A few days ago I began putting together the decking. I may have mentioned before that I am building the deck as a separate unit and drop it in on top of the bulkheads when complete. From another post, it was mentioned to be sure there is clearance to do this - tumblehome I believe it is called. Niagara is very generous in this regard, there is plenty of room for the deck to be laid in. I really like this method, especially being my first build. As you will see from the pix, I made a full size copy of the deck plan. The problem is the plan only shows 1/2 of the planking. To get around this I had the copier also make a mirror copy which essentially reverses the image, so I get copies of the starboard half and the port half. After that I taped them together right at the centerline, and then trimmed around the edge of the image. When completed, I had a complete copy of the planked deck. From there I marked where the bulkheads were and then glued some strips across the image about 1/16" behind the bulkhead lines. I glued some more strips about 1/8" in from the edge of the deck. So the strips give me a frame to lay the planking on. My deck image also shows all the deck structures. I have not yet decided if I am going to cut out areas on the deck to insert the structures or just glue the structures on top. In the event I decide to cut out, I laid more strips around the edges of the structures so the planking would have some support. Then I got around to some planking. To be honest, and this is just a personal preference, I don't care for the models I have seen where the builder uses a single long strip for a deck strake and then scribes the butt joints. Please don't take that personal if that's how you do your decks, like I said it's just a preference on my part. At any rate, I am cutting 3 3/4" strips (20 footers) and laying those individually. I am running a MarksALot down 1 long edge and 1 short edge of the plank for the caulking look. Using the guide on plank spacing in the MSW library, I am laying planks in a 1-3-5-2-4 pattern. So far I am really pleased with the outcome. The planks are not laid down perfectly and lengths may vary by 1/16" - 1/32", but frankly I think that adds to the realism. None of that stuff would have been CNC cut back then There has only been 1 foul up so far. I am using some boxwood strips, replacing the basswood in the kit. I kind of assumed that these would be perfectly planed and cut with near zero variance, so I just went on happily laying planks and not really checking closely how things were coming out. By about the 5th or 6th strake I realized that the planks were beginning to not lay perfectly. I few were slightly crooked. Checking around I finally discovered some of the strips were a tad wider than others. Of course this would make planks not lay completely straight as I put down a new strake. So lesson learned, even when using premium timber I still need to check every plank before it is laid. I suppose this would not have been a problem if I was laying a single long strip instead of the 20 footers. To save time I had taken 15 strips and cut them all to length and then threw them in a pile so it was quite likely I was not laying all the planks from the same strip in one strake. I do have a question regarding gluing the deck planks. On a suggestion in another post, I am using TiteBond Trim & Molding glue. I really like the stuff - it sets very quickly so I don't have to leave planks clamped for very long. I am putting a spot on the cross beams I mentioned earlier and also along one long edge. This edge will be pushed against the previous strake - any glue that squishes out I wipe off. Impatient son of a gun that I am, I wanted to see my deck work cleaned up and sanded down so every 3 or 4 strakes I do just that. What I am noticing, is I am seeing spots of dried glue - not in top but in between planks as I sand off the top. In my eye it is noticeable, so I am wondering if there is any way to clean that up?? Well, I started on the centerline and am working outwards. The first 10 strakes were pretty easy, full width no trimming or shaping. I am now about 1/3 of the way out and am having to narrow the ends quite a bit so progress has slowed. Every strake is it's own adventure. Here's how it is shaping up:

Richard - time will tell. My guess is that steel is pretty good. In the case of the rivets the tip of the punch has no sharp ends/edges to dull. I have seen a few reviews on the regular punch and the hex nut punch (nothing on the rivets) and people were pretty happy. Of course how much hard material and how much soft material they were going thru was not real clear. My tests so far were using brass at the high end of the recommended width - probably why it took several whacks with the hammer to get the rivet. I have some thinner brass on order so I'll be interested to see if that takes a few less blows. The biggest issue I am having is gluing the smaller rivets to a surface and then blackening them. I was using CA and even applying with a straight pin, the glue spot is too big and that spot doesn't blacken. This weekend I will punch a few, blacken them and then glue them to see if that is a realistic option. Several of the rivet sizes are smaller than a pinhead so I am skeptical about putting them thru the blackening first (and finding them afterwards), but we'll see.

I have most of the tools mentioned. However, I'll be cutting planks for the deck - not a single long one per strake but "20 footers" . That's a lot of cutting. I was hoping to avoid having to cut each one individually. Thinking back, my question may have been more of a gripe. It was taking 20-30 seconds to hand cut a plank. I'll probably give the power miter saw a spin. My impatience showing through

Man - you are quick at those things! Thanks Don.....

I just got some replacement planks for my kit. They are 1/16x3/32 boxwood - replacing basswood. I can't cut these guys with an Exacto - even with a new blade. Is there something else to hand cut or am I going to have to use a power saw?

I think I'll keep the pix for posterity. So shoulder is the term for the sharp edges of the square section? That's what I was calling the corner. I see how those edges extend out over the octagon. That's what I'm getting as well, except my square section is next to the round. For curiosities sake, if the taper went the other way and the square was the thinnest section instead of the fattest, would those edges still overhang? Thanks for taking the time Don. Sorry about the mess

Mark - the punches are 2 parts. The pin shaped part that pierces the material is probably some sort of steel. That fits into a cylinder, which is the part you strike, and that is aluminum. Grant - putting something on top of the punch is definitely a possibility Richard (rtropp) - here's the link. The RP Toolz products are about half way down the page Richard (Altduck) - pressing thru styrene would be easy. Personally I'm more interested in brass. It took about 5-6 whacks of the hammer to get thru a brass strip that is about 0,3 - 0,4 thick. I do have some thinner brass sheets on order. Pressing might be easier then.

Don - I'll take all the help I can get. Any pix would be great What I did for the mast: Tapered a square strip to meet dimensions on plan. Marked off the top section (square) Carved the rest of the strip to an octagon shape (still tapered) Marked off the bottom section (octagon) Sanded everything in between to round Where I'm stuck is: If you look at the mast from the top down and follow a flat side of the square, it looks great all the way to the bottom. The centerline of the square transitions flush into the round and even into the octagon. Now give the mast a 1/8 turn so you are looking down a corner of the square. Draw a line down that corner and when it gets to the round section you'll see that the corner is raised slightly above the round section. This is the same on each corner - at least I'm consistent. Maybe that's how it is supposed to be, but it looks odd to me.

I wondered about that Mark. Would I still get enough of a strike with the rubber insulating the blow. Also the size thing, the supplied hammer is about 3" long. I'll search around on the web and see if I can find something similar. For sure I am going to have to do something.

I have pretty much finished the foremast. Shaped and rounded except for one thing. How do you transition from the rounded section to the square section? The corners of the square extend beyond the circumference of the round section. That looks kind of funky. Oh yes, I did update my log tonight.

Time to check in. A lot has been going on. As I may have mentioned before, I am taking a break from the big boat and trying my hand at some of the other parts & pieces. I have started the yawl. The layers are glued and the hull has been shaped inside and out. I want to really detail this guy (and the other 2) so I'm looking at the frame pieces, floor boards, etc. I'm struggling with bending the frame pieces to fit inside the hull. Here is the discussion so far. Not sure where I will end up. A previous post shows a little of the work on the carronades. Those are fun to make, but just a few at a time. I got to thinking about the mast last week. I am afraid I will forget to add some bracing to the mast slots on the keel and end up decking her out. So the brought up a lot of questions regarding the mast foot, shaping the mast, etc. This discussion has set my off in the right direction. Another suggestion was to start with a square strip rather then the kit supplied dowel. Working off that, I cut a strip from some scrap birch, tapered that down then began carving and sanding. I've been using Tamiya sanding sponge for the last bit of rounding. I really like that product! It has come out pretty well (see pix below) but I am stuck on one thing. The base of the mast is octagonal, then round and finally square. I can't figure out the transition from round to square. The flat sides of the square are flush with the round surface but the corners of the square extend beyond the round surface. There's a couple of pix showing that. One of the things I have been itching to start is the deck. Following a Niagara practicum, I am going to build it separately and then drop it in once completed. The bulwarks on Niagara leave plenty of room to do this. I have to say after working the bulwarks I have not been overly impressed with the basswood planking from the kit. So I ended up ordering replacement planking and mast stock (boxwood) from Crown Timber. That all arrived today, so I can get to thinking about the deck now. I will say it is very nice stuff. I may get Jason to replace the entire stock of my next build.

Don, jct - thanks for the encouragement and welcome aboard. Don - that pitting was my overindulgence with the blackening juice, but I also like that look. jct - I realized a few weeks back that while working on the starboard bulwark, I have broken every timberhead on the port side. Some more than once. All fixed with the runny CA glue. I'm not looking forward to sanding those!

I broke down and ordered the RP Toolz rivet punch set. It arrived today. VERY COOL! Just like most punch sets but these cut out a half domed shape piece. Looks a lot like a carriage bolt head. I don't know if something like that is accurate for the period but it looks a lot better than my first idea - hex nuts. The set is well made - albeit pricey. Only down side I have seen is the hammer beats up the contact end of the punch (aluminum) a little bit. They say max material size is 0,3 - styrene, brass or aluminum. The smallest piece in the pic is the 0,9. The largest is 2,0. As you may be able to see the smallest possible piece is 0,6 which would be darn near impossible to pick up. I will try to blacken a few in the next day or so. I can see lots of possibilities. I think it was a good pick-up.

Clinker it will be!

As druxey suggested - I tapered the square stick first. Got that shape matched up to the foremast on the plans. As a newbie, I'm not ready for chiseling yet, so much of the work was sanded. It probably took a lot longer than if I had done some carving first. I'm using a piece of birch I had lying around. My intention was for this to be a practice attempt. I have some boxwood on the way from Crown Timber that I was going to use for the real masts. Seems a shame not to use the birch piece but I suppose getting the practice out of it makes the effort worthwile. I'll post some pix in my log this evening.

jbshan - I'll give the 1/32 squares a try. A general question - laying a bent frame piece just about worked in the center of the yawl - the bottom was fairly flat there. However, the bottom fore and aft has a pretty sharp angle. I don't think bending would work. Maybe 2 pieces, one for each side and glued at the bottom (keel)? I do need to remember I will be trying to add a few flooring strips, which would partially cover most of the the frame pieces Am I getting to complicated? As far as planking, I am in agreement. Clinker would look nice but at that size would be tough to install. Oddly, the other 2 ships boats do have Carvel planking.

Thanks Druxey - Thats what I was looking for. So simple and I always try to make it so hard.

Frankie - good points in both of your replies. I believe my sig now has a link to the log. Will find out when I post this. I have already resigned myself to the fact that I will be using non-wood materials for the ships boats. For the inner frames, I cannot get a plank to bend enough to fit snuggly so I am going to try styrene. For your suggestion on paper - what type do you suggest?

Hey George - I have had a build log for about 2 months and get almost zero responses there. The few I do get say to go to the specific forums for specific questions. Frankly, given the activity I see in the Build Log forum, I have been surprised and a little disappointed at the lack of response to my log. Maybe everyone is tired of Niagara builds. But I digress. At any rate, I get more responses here.

I can't find anywhere in the MS Niagara plans that tells me the size of stick to use for planking the 3 ships boats - 1:64. The 2 cutters are Carvel planked. The yawl is lapstraked. I'm wondering if I am supposed to use the same size planking for all three or if the lapstrake requires a wider plank. Given the nature of lapstrake, I assume one must start at the keel and work up? From what I can see it is going to require shaping of every plank to get a decent fit. Also, I suppose the planks stop at the transom? Do you just cut a clean edge flush with the transom?

I'm a little confused about the steps involved with shaping the various mast pieces. I've decided to start with square stock rather than the kit supplied dowel. Using the main as an example - the entire piece is tapered. The bottom 2" need to be octagonal. The top 3" are square and in between is round. If not for the tapering, I get it. Just do the various shaping per measurements and done. With tapering - do you taper the entire piece first then do the shapes? Just taper the round section? I'm looking for some help on the order of steps in this process.

Grant - I hear that mentioned a lot. For some reason styrofoam is the picture that always comes to mind. I'll check it out.