Jackson7
-
Posts
125 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Gallery
Events
Everything posted by Jackson7
-
At last! The final plank has been bent onto the ship! It's far from perfect, but like most parts of the Greyhound, it's good enough to look mostly right from a distance. After the glue has a chance to dry a little overnight, it should be all good. Here's the result. In the background, you can see I have glued together and stained my stand.
-
Putting on the port railing was a doozy. I'm not sure how much that was because I'm making it hard for myself versus the nature of the work. Here's the process. First, I put the 1x4mm walnut piece in boiling water for about two hours. I then bent it sideways to the shape of the edge overnight. After that, I cut the railing supports. Rather than just gluing them to the side and the railings, I cut the bottom of them into wood joints that inserted into corresponding holes I carved into the rail. I put each of them 12 mm apart, after I figured out that was about how much rail I had. The final part of the process was cutting them top a smooth height on top so the railing could naturally curve downward. I had to measure and recut many times on each one. The trick was to only slice a tiny bit off at once. The result wasn't quite what I expected, but there's solid contact between each post, the bottom rail, and the top rail. If anyone else wants to take this approach, I advise them to measure everything multiple times. If the starboard side goes just as well, I will be very pleased.
-
This step went on less horribly than I first imagined. The bow railing of the Greyhound consists of five 1mm strips, all bent to shape and glued side by side to form what will appear to be one plank. 1mm wood bends sideways much easier than 4mm wood, thankfully. I used the same jig I used for the rest of the hull and bent all five pieces to shape at once. After a good 2 hours of boiling, a bend on the jig, and 24 hours to learn its new shape, the wood went on perfectly. After the glue has several hours and I sand the wood a little for smoothness, it should make a nice, clean railing.
-
Welcome! I'm in North Georgia as well and working on an HMS Greyhound with awful instructions too. I'd be glad to talk with you sometime!
-
I got on the last main deck railing, as well as the bulwark lining. A word to all those doing something like this in the future: It's good to make sure the surface you're gluing the railing to is absolutely flat before making a start of it. I had to cut it smooth at the last minute. The lining went on well, but bending a piece of wood against the grain like that just doesn't work well. I certainly won't use the same method on the final bow railing.
-
Thanks for posting this! I'm building the Greyhound, and given the dubious instructions this will prove inestimably helpful!
-
The deck framings are all done, except for the one on the bow, which I will have to shape out of scrap wood. While I'm on a bending long pieces spree, I put on the starboard railing. The trick to cutting a straight piece of wood to an irregularly curved surface was actually fairly simple. First, I measured the distance by bending some scrap wood into the same general area. Then, I cut the finishing plank to length by taking a tiny bit off at a time, then seeing if it fit. If you are very cautious, this method can get you a near-perfect fit. I held it in place while the glue dried by hand and with a set of clips. It worked in the end. I'm very thankful for podcasts and movies that can keep my mind occupied while trying to hold finnicky pieces in place. I don't know what I would do without them...
-
I've saved these last pics for a bit, just because the next few steps have been so simple. These are all the framings for the deck, and they've been going on fairly easily. I have one more long piece to cover the port gunwale line, and one more to cover the gunwale line on the quarterdeck. The one big complication was that Corel didn't give me enough wood, and I had to cut scrap wood to shape on some of the pieces. Bonus points to you if you can guess which.
-
Done with the deck planking. Now, I just need to do the structural details on the deck. If there was one lesson I learned from this step, it was to measure the deck and draw a line down its center before attaching it to the ship. It would have been far easier to get a clean center line that way. As it is though, I'm only 1 mm off at worst.
-
The main deck is now finished, and I've started on the poop deck. In fact, I'm slightly ahead of the pictures at present. This is probably one of the more monotomous parts of the process, but nevertheless has a degree of satisfaction. Soon there won't be a scrap of plywood showing on the model.
-
I have roughly 6 mm on either side left to go. Of course, cutting the planks to a nice irregular curve will be a challenge. Otherwise though, things have mostly gone well.
-
Despite the fact that I no longer have to go to the lengths of boiling and bending planks, I still find my max pace per day is about two uncut planks worth of wood. It looks like things are going in the right direction, however. I have finished the center, and it is maybe 1 mm off toward the stern. But I don't think it's a big deal because it's not that visible.
-
The advance slowly continues. As of now, the plan is to plank along the middle, then build outward from the sides and deal with all the fiddly bits that have to fit the ship's curves last. By doing it this way, I should leave myself a solid base to build out from. Of course, given that the ship supplies pieces that frame the deck against the sides, I most likely don't need to be too worried about getting the space between the two absolutely perfect. With luck, I should be able to plank all the way to the cabin doors in three or four days. After that, I think I'll build to the sides of the main deck.
-
Good news! I've put planks over the entire beginning of the ship, and it's perfectly centered for certain. Now I just need to countinue going down toward the stern.
-
After careful measurement, I've started blanking the main deck. I've done my best to get the first four planks straight as possible. I think I've succeeded as best as I can for doing things by hand. These first four are important because they will serve as the cornerstone by which I will measure the rest of the ship.
-
After a few interruptions for important events, I'm back to work. Tonight I finished the foredeck. The lines between the boards comes from a colored pencil. The whole process with these deck planks is extremely straightforward. Although I can see now that the planks must've been slightly off center.
-
Today I've dyed the deck boards. All I had to do was soak steel wool in vinegar for two days, then brush the mixture onto the boards. After I use a colored pencil on the sides, they should be ready to go onto the deck.
-
Just finished the second coat of red paint. I like how it looks a little weathered, and I don't think a third will do that much good. Once it dries, I'll get working on the deck.
-
Much has transpired since the last update. I glued on the doors for the bow, primed the inner gunwales black, and painted them red. After it dries, I'll make the decision on whether it needs a second coat or if a more worn look is best.
-
Seeing that the next step before putting on the rail is painting the gun ports red, I need to buy brushes. In the meantime, I realized a pair of doors for the forecastle would look nice. Here's what I've made. And done. Just a little carving and they become a lot better.
-
Judging from the posts of some others on the forum, it's better to finish all my gluing first before putting on wood oil. That said, I'll now keep going on the rest of the ship.
-
I decided to go with the 1mm scrap walnut. Yellow just didn't quite feel right. Overall, it went well. Just simple jigsaw puzzling and a little bit of sanding. It may not be perfectly historically accurate, but it looks good to me, so I'm keeping it. The knee of the head is one perfectly smooth line with the keel. It might be a few days until I reach the next step. Work is busy, I need to consider where to buy a clear oil or varnish of some sort, and make a final determination on whether I want to scratch build a rear transom and side windows. Right now, I know I don't have the scrap wood to do it, but I'm still leaning toward buying more and going for it.
-
Everything has been going well. The knee of the head is almost done. But I just ran out of .5mm walnut. This one's on Corel too. This setback gives me two options. The first is to plank up the rest of the knee of the head with leftover yellow scrapwood. I should have just enough. The second is to glue on my 1mm walnut and adjust it to shape with a knife. That shouldn't be a big deal. For now, I'll think it over.
-
I've started planking up the knee of the head. So far, it's one of the easiest steps yet, albeit slightly on the slower side. I tapered it very slightly before planking, taking off maybe half a mm off each side. It may not be as much as I should, but I'd rather have it be thicker and more resilient than thinner and more breakable. I already don't trust it.
-
I'm sure now that this strategy is working. The front feels a little stiffer than it used to. I realized I measured wrong on the open spot for the figurehead, so I cut away more wood. Furthermore, I plan to put a last 1mm x 4mm piece covering the last uncovered section toward the bow. I think more is better for this method.
Our Emblem ®
