Keith Simmons

Thanks to all.I've picked up some maple. I'm going to partial plank it...treat it (maybe gun oil) and see what it looks like.

I normally go with holly with either "Natural" stain finish or wipe on poly.  Recently I saw a model using beech for decking.  It looked good...scale oak appearance.  .

Looks good to me. At least nothing a little care with some sandpaper and maybe a little filler can't take care of. She will look real sharp once you get her all cleaned up. Great job on your first planking experience!

I finished planking yesterday! I'm sure I must have taken 2 months! I'm not able to do anything else at the moment, but I can give you pictures. It's not perfect, but I'll play the newbie card this time !




That's it for now! Until next time!

Another day of masking, spraying and finally touch ups by brush and the exterior paintwork is largely finished. It's just some overstay on the red ochre and gunports to finish. I'm faily happy with the result.

Yep, me too! I still hanker after the good ole days when I used to sail my scale RC yachts. But, I can live those memories through the current RC build logs on MSW, eg this one, Jerry Todd's, Qwerty's (Lextin) Benside and others.
 
Count me in!
 
Cheers
 
Patrick

Current state of the build with more sanding to come.

After a month of work on my new project it's at the stage where I suspect it might turn into something worth continuing so here it is...
 

 

 
A Cruizer class brig in 1:36 scale which is (hopefully) destined to be a working RC square rigged sailer.
I've kicked this project off before finishing the rigging on my current Granado build after seeing a few build logs and being filled with inspiration and a reckless confidence to simply have a go. It's a good vessel to practice on as it's relatively simple with flush decks, only two masts and little decoration. I can experiment with the rc servos, ballast keel and sail operation once the hull and masts are done and if it works then move on to the nice to have items like head rails, carronades and deck fittings.
 
The cruizer was a possibility for my next scratch build originally planned at 1/64 but I'd helped my father build the 1:20 scale Valdivia schooner kit from Robbe a few years back and being so taken with sailing it that I wanted one of my own.
I'd love a 1:24 scale RC Surprise or cruizer from Steel Chapman and Hutchinson Ltd http://www.modelsailingships.com/ships/grasshopper.html
But it's out of my price range once freight etc is taken into account, hence an effort to scratch build, especially after seeing the very informative logs from Jerry Todd for his Macedonian, Constitution and others.
 
1:36 was chosen as it's large enough to look the part and have some sailing ability and be easily managed with a length of 84cm on the gun deck.
 
If successful with the brig the ultimate goal is a frigate and at 1:36 scale a large vessel like an Artois class frigate of 146 feet on the gun deck would be just manageable for transport and launch at roughly 120cm. But that's pretty optimistic at this stage and I've got a lot to learn yet.
 
The plans for this vessel are those included in EW Petrejus' fine book 'modelling the brig of war Irene' scaled up with bulkhead widths and deadwood for building purposes etc drawn in.
 

 
Using relatively cheap materials was a must for this project as there's still an element of doubt over if it will work. If it doesn't I don't want to feel like it's been a huge investment that fails.
As such the brig will be built from 9mm plywood for the framing with the keel and planking from matai - a New Zealand native timber which is moderately hard enough to hold detail at this scale while still easy to work and has a nice tone although the brig will be painted anyway.
The matai is in the form of old tongue and groove floorboards from a demolition yard that are going for about $6/metre for short lengths that are pretty much unusable for anything else. I can mill these on my table saw and with a home built thickness sander.
 
The hull will be built upside down on a building board for stability and will be cut loose once planked. A base line parallel to the keel a few cms above the max height of the sheer line was drawn on the plans to provide a point from which to measure from. All the bulkheads were drawn with this line as a top (or bottom once upside down on the board) square edge to ensure they would all sit at the correct height from the board and provide a level run for the keel to attach to.

 
A test run of bulkheads on the board.

 
To avoid installing deck beams later these were drawn onto the bulkheads using the camber indicated in Petrejus. The bulkheads were then cut down to ribbing size. In hindsight I should have left the bulwarks above deck ticker to account for the reduction from subsequent sanding but it's nothing major.

 
Most of the framing on the build board here. The keel and stem is matai ripped on a bandsaw and run through my drill powere thickness sander (thanks to MSW member Snowmans for his fine instructions on making one) down to 9mm. The stem was then cut in one piece on the bandsaw and gammoning and bob stay holes/slots drilled.

Wayne,
 
Thanks for the response, and assistance. A set of chisels I ordered and a flexible extension for my dremel arrived last week.
 
as stated earlier I have only carved a turkey and at times butchered that. I am going to practice on some cypress I have before I ruin a $ 70.00 piece of wood . I think I have it right the Waca could be up to 60' so .5:1 would be 30 inches Maybe??
 
I am playing now have to finish rigging my Victory when I am ready I will start a build log by displaying and un-boxing my stick.
 
thanks again

Am in the  50% stage of rigging my Victory and looking to begin ordering lumber for a Maori war canoe and a Polynesian double hull using the Holukea as a template.
 
That being said earlier GRSJAX responded to a post advising Polynesian canoes were constructed from Koa wood and gave me a lead on a vendor in Hawaii. Was going to paint like the Holukea but changed my mind and am going with Koa wood to stay in somewhat historical boundaries.
 
Dashi replied to an earlier post and got me interested in the Maori War Canoe and noted those were built from Totura wood. 
 
I will build the Maori canoe first noting the single hull and it has a large amount of decorative carving and will note be as easy as it looks, Since I have never carved anything but a turkey and butchered that on more then one occasion it ought to be interesting.
 
1. I have a good vendor for Koa thanks to GRYJSX in Hawaii.
 
2. Now to the gist of my ramblings I contacted Rod with Forest HoldingsTimber Mill in Tauranga New Zealand, and was quoted a price of $ 57.00 plus export and packing fees. Was this a fair price for a piece of Totura 2"x 4"x 36" am willing to to purchase to stay within historical context instead of using another wood and painting or staining. Totura seems fairly rare only grown in that area from my research and the price seems reasonable.
 
You good folks from that are please respond with advice or another vendor.  
 
Thanks John
 

Glad you take your time, Piet ... You don't want to mess it up at the end by simply hurrying things ... you don't want to drop something ...
 
Cheers

Hi Piet
 
Ok, I can be patient...no pressure of course!!!! I must admit that this suspense is not good for my nerves, especially when I know that your miniature marvel is already complete.
 
Looking forward to seeing a sneak peek of the diorama resting in your talented hands.
 
All the best!
 
Patrick

My sincerest thanks to Mark, Patrick, Rob, Carl, Denis and Daniel for visiting and your comments.  Also to all who clicked the like button, thank you.
 
Hey Mark, the incredible we do today and the impossible tomorrow. The funny thing is, now that you mentioned it, that the other day when I was rummaging through some stuff I came across the box with that 6 inch lamp I'm still planning to put a Dutch fishing boat or Staten Jacht in there just happen to be a 50 mm diameter lamp.  Hmmm, this stubborn old coot thought, would it not be nice to make a diorama with a full rigged model of one of Donald McKay's clippers, racing through the high seas with China tea?  Scale - - - - 1:4000.  Say what???  Just a fleeting thought - - - - - or not??  Can you dig it Rob?  No, it can't be put into that lamp, the neck is too small, it's a special purpose lamp.
 
Patrick, patience my friend, patience. Actually, as we speak, it's completed!  And no, you can't see it yet.  I still need to take pictures of it without the glass dome and then with the glass dome for the archive.  I had to quit adding "stuff" to it.  I really wanted to add some workers but at this scale a 5 foot 8 inch person would be 0.8 mm tall. 
 
Thank you Rob, I likewise love all yuns here on MSW, THE best ship modelers forum in the world.  All of you are contributing to the knowledge of ships and how to build lifelike looking representations of them.
 
Yeah Carl, it's small alright.  I can hold the diorama on the palm of my hand and there is still parts of my hand showing.  Maybe I'll do a Patrick and have Gwen make a picture of it in my hand    
 
You too Denis, patience my friend.  If you have seen my pencil sketch you should get at least some idea.
 
Yes Daniel, the planks are from copy paper and are not sandible.  It was really no problem cutting them in half though, using an extremely sharp #11.  I have two Execto blade holders and a 4000 grit stone ready on my other work bench.  I try keeping them both sharp.
 
There will not be an update till next week.  Tomorrow is my day of rest and Sunday is lawn mowing day and I'm cooking dinner for Gwen.  Roast beef, Brussels sprouts with cranberries, carrots with wild mushrooms and baked sweet potatoes and beef gravy.  Gwen wants gravy, so she'll get Piet's special gravy.  Hmmm, something for "what have you cooked today."
 
Cheers to all,

you got me speculating too much.......I gotta see where your going with this.   very interesting Piet!  

Hi Piet
 
Tiny, fiddly and challenging, but, oh, all so good.
 
I'm definitely looking forward to seeing the final product!
 
Cheers
 
Patrick

Incredible, Piet.   Just incredible.

Thanks again everyone fr visiting my micro miniature shipyard and for all the likes, it's really much appreciated.
 
Today's post is about details for the landscape and saw mill.  Some time ago I mentioned that I was cutting planking, well here are a few pics of the logs and how I made the ship's hull and deck planks.
I plan to place the logs near the future saw mill and stacks of planks near  bare-bones schooner.
 
For the logs i used wooden toothpicks and the planking from regular copy paper.  The copy paper I first soaked in the wood hardener liquid and after it had dried cut it into 1 mm strips. I left the strips for the deck planking white but painted the strips for the hull planking with Van Dijk brown.  It kinda matched the maple  of the semi finished schooner.
 
At this point I was still thinking about how to make the hull frames for the bare-bones schooner and came up with an idea to try.  I'll explain in a future post.
 
I need to remind everyone that these posts are all after the fact, with other words, the work was done many weeks ago. 
 

Here we have a bunch of logs ready be cut into beams for the frames and planking.
 

This shows the material for deck planking and hull planking.  I had to keep these wider then the scale width for the planks because cutting them with a pair of scissors or or office cutter was near impossible to get a  looking strip.  I figures that once I cut the planks to scale length I'd split them in half with the #11 blade
 

These are the rough cut hull planks.  Same story here
 

 

These are the planks for the decks.  They will be cut in half lengthwise for scale.
 

These are the hull planks cut to scale length and also to be cut in half length for scale.
 
Cheers,

John,   Holly is a difficult wood to season.  The piece you have has probably been infected with Blue Mold.  It is grey or blue and it discolors the wood. 
The good aspect is that it only discolors, it does not rot. You can use it with no worry.  I was working Holly logs into billets and as the band saw blade approached the end it was pushing water ahead of it,  so communication inside the wood is easy.  Most who want Holly are after the snow white effect.  To preserve that, Holly must be harvested in Winter and rushed to a kiln to stay ahead of the Blue Mold.  For most of our uses,  it does not matter.  In your case, it makes for a more realistic decking color.  Holly takes well to wood dyes and makes for an easier to use Ebony when dyed black and the mold does not matter  It bends like a champ,so is good for hull planking, it just looks better dyed or painted.  The scale effect of the grain is about as good as it gets.
 
BCD,  
Open pore species- such as Oak, Ash, Hickory, Black Walnut - do not scale well, so are maybe not among the better choices. 
 
Basswood in pre-scribed sheets is what kits used to provide for decks.  The wood scales well and will work as individual planks.  It is just too
soft and ready to fuzz for my taste.
Yellow Poplar is light weight and easy to work and stays crisp.  You have to be picky about the planks unless you want a greenish deck.
Soft Maple might get you some grey effect in areas of a board, but mostly it is close to white.  It is soft, and can fuzz or be brittle.  As a horticultural specimen  Soft (Water) Maple is a weed.
 
Hard Maple will make for a good deck if you want something that looks like Rupp Arena.
Sycamore ( American ) is brittle and has a pattern that is too busy ( an alternate name is Lacewood ).
What the English call Sycamore is a species of Maple that is close but not quite as hard as Hard Maple.

Tough question....  holly, boxwood, pear, silver maple (I've not tried other species of maple) look good depending on the effect you're looking for.  As for finishes... Wipe-on-poly, varnish.. there's a bunch.   I'm a Wipe-on-Poly guy but other finishes look excellent from what I've seen on MSW.

Beautiful work, Keith.  Patrick is right, she is a work of art.

I am a big fan of using Maple as decking , with the large scale of my models I can get away with the grain patterns. I have also used Mahogany, Bubinga and Brazilian cherry. So I agree with Gaetan, ( your taste , your choice )
 
Good luck with whichever decking you decide on,
 
                                                                                Keith

Ahoy Patrick
 
Thanks for the comment, she was a bit of a beast but came out pretty close to what I saw in my head.....
 
Now onto the next one,
 
                                     Keith

Finally have the Ketch to the final detail stage.  Stairs sails and deck furniture etc....
 
 
   Thanks for looking in,   Keith

Ahoy Patrick
 
Thanks for the comment, she was a bit of a beast but came out pretty close to what I saw in my head.....
 
Now onto the next one,
 
                                     Keith

Ahoy Patrick
 
Thanks for the comment, she was a bit of a beast but came out pretty close to what I saw in my head.....
 
Now onto the next one,
 
                                     Keith