FriedClams

Charlie, I am really impressed. Neet to see a kit I am quite familiar with, and the work you are doing with it. Very cool!

I don't use any finish on my holly decks and the wood may tone down a bit over the years but still looks like holly.
 
I only apply "caulking" to one side of my planks as doing both makes it a bit too prominent to my eyes. Test out a gang of short planks side by side, one with ink applied to only one side and one with it applied to both sides. See which one pleases your eye the best.

Two more quick updates. Ive started looking into construction of the deck furniture. Made measurements on a plan (altered from the bluejacket kit), then put a prototype cabin in place. I may make the real one with the laser to be more precise not sure. But not bad and the cannon pic shows scale (need to find alacart caronnades) pew pew!

So enough of that. Next up was an attempt at deck caulking. I tried pencil (didn't work too well for me), then charcoal (messy got everywhere), then paint (kinda the same). I also tried the black paper thing but with these veneer strips they are just too thin and the tiny 1/8" strips by 3/128" thickness just seemed silly at that scale. I used wood glue, welding cement and both made a horrible squishy mess. What worked best for me was the archival ink pens, which don't bleed and does the job. Will I change my mind? Maybe but for now this looks like the best way to go.

Glad you decided on the wood for the deck. What are you using for the hull planking? Sorry if you've answered this already.
Steve

This chart on basswood shows a breakdown of some common stains. After natural, there is golden oak, fruit wood, early American and cherry. Basswood may varnish and oil lousy but it shows stain really well and serves as a good neutral. I tried some stain on the other woods but unless I want something deliberately tarnished (like simulating tarring on wood to which early American on cherry wood could look nice), generally fancier woods really just need polish or oil. The strips on the piece are pear, cherry, and various holly strips. The darker parts are oil or stain while the lighter parts are poly. The strip cherry is lighter than that scrap I used and there are 3 holly variations all offwhite but I circled the section that will represent the deck of the revenue cutter if I choose to use those dark holly strips. Also you can see the 3 strips change a bit when I use the flash.
 
I think this process overall taught me that what I thought I knew about the color of wood needed to be thrown out the window. Holly finished has a yellowish brown look similar to basswood at it's darkest. Cherry can vary sometimes much darker than pear.

First we have Tung oil. This stuff really is an oil and seeps through anything thin like a veneer strip. It was fascinating watching each type of wood transform. Oil does nothing for basswood but cherry gets all this lovely figure. Pear is pinkish, boxwood and holly is yellowish.

Good afternoon! Well rather than panic about the various shades of holly I decided this would be a good chance to start the process of using the wood finishes I have accumulated and understand wood colorings a bit better. Since this is all new to me I decided to have fun and test everything on scrap. So here we go!

Rob,
As I watch this build the more I want to put the GR into a bottle. The Eagle turned out really nice. Nice job on the railing!
Once the Preussen is done Lord willing the GR will be next on the blocks.
 
Jeff

Nice looking figurehead. Well done.
 
Russ

Wider view

Mounted

Thanks everyone for all the likes and comments.  I finished up the figurehead.  Carved from dowel.
 
Example of real figurehead and my attempt.
 
Rob

Lovely work Rob!

Thanks Omega...that aft rail was a booger.  I had to laminate several pieces together while I was forming the curve(Off ship), then secure it to the stanchions while making adjustments before it dried......
 
Figurehead we come......
 
Rob

I finished up the railing today...now I am going to carve the eagle head figurhead(that'll be fun)
 
Rob

Well, Nils, I'm still not even half way with my Dutch VOC ship Surabaya and am planning a 1:3000 sacle Young America and a recently acquired styrene model of the Dutch submarine O16.  Just been too busy with "stuff." 
In the meantime I just come and visit all my friends here.  Your ship is coming along real nice.
 
Cheers,

Thanks for the likes and the comments.    I'm getting close to an update.
 
Vossiewulf,
 
The blackwood is ebony. I'm not using any paint.  I'm am probably at some point toss the ebony (not far but out of the shipyard) and start using Minwax Ebony Stain.  The dust from ebony is a real pain and it wears out sawblades real fast.  I'll do the sheer rails as I have them ready (strip wood) and after that, I see what I want to do.  
 
As for color selection.. I look to the masters of the art and see what they've done, what looks good to my eye and meets my needs.  Here's the post where I made my choices...   http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/5339-licorne-by-mtaylor-pof-316-french-frigate-hahn-version-20/?p=269711 In Licorne's case.. my only real mental battle was whether to plank her in cherry or swiss pear.  The pear won out as the cherry just gets too dark with age.
 
BTW, I thought model shipbuilding in general was a "disorder"...  ???

...figuring out how to do the same thing in styrene and carbon fiber
 
I have to agree on your assessment of the planking job, it appears to be flawless, except for that one spot only Mark can see that still irritates him. But it has to be extremely close to the ideal curves in both axes with a finish that's just as good.
 
Mark, one question since unfortunately I don't have the time Martin needed to read >119< pages of build log, but what are you doing the black finish with? I'm new of course, and knowledgeable in woodworking and wood finishes but not ship modeling. Are you doing the black with a thinned paint, a pigment-based stain, or dye? 
 
This might be too big a question, but when it comes to the semi-natural wood finish category like this, how do you decide what is painted, what isn't, and what you want to do with different species of wood, and how do you choose which species and what bits are dark and what are light? In short, are there some basic rules about designing this kind of finish you could quickly explain? If there aren't some simple rules that would be a really lengthy answer and I'll do some reading. I am still much more likely to do full painted finishes, but I'd like to know how to approach the problem if I decide to do a finish like this.
 
I think these finishes are gorgeous when well done and also makes the result cross over much more as a pure objet d/art,  but I will have a hard time spending all that time on making the physical object as realistic as humanly possible only to not continue with the finish in the same mode. Which is more or less saying "my disorder is more severe than yours, pray for me" but hey ;-)

Hi Mark!
I'm late to your log, but I'm happy I took the time to read the whole build log from the start. This has been a masterclass for me, since I had no idea of the complexity of a plank on frame model. I wish I could do something like this... I really enjoy your detail-oriented spirit. She's just beautiful, no other words suffice. Congrats!!! I'll keep following in the back of the room, just taking notes to myself...

Beautiful, precise craftsmanship John - so crisp and clean. Very nice.
 
Gary 

She's coming along sooooooo beautifully Nils.  Your build is a pleasure to follow and learn from.
 
Gary

Well it doesn't look "pretty rough" to me Patrick - it looks pretty darn nice.  So tiny, intricate and crisp.  I'm curious  - are you using a mix of materials?  Some card stock, some styrene?  Keep the photos coming.
 
Gary

Hello Mark,
 
Good call on the cradle. Your planking is drop dead beautiful - really accentuates the graceful hull lines. Very nice.
 
Gary

you've tied the bow railings in very well.........bow spirit and boom look great     the top railing is gonna take some bending......but it will definitely define the aft deck layout     well done Rob !