DonnRW

Mobbsie, thank you for your supportive comments and the reminder...I do have a tendency to get ahead of myself, which can make a the task all that much harder when you discover the problem. 
 
Donn

Today I painted the areas around the barrel posts were the cannons will be mounted on the lower gun deck. Although very little of these areas will be visible (your will only see it when you look through the gun ports) the custom is to paint the area black. I painted more area than is probably necessary, but I wanted to be sure. With the painting done, it was time to mount the upper deck. As I understood the manual there are two options, 1) mount the deck as one piece and then overlay with 4mm planks or 2) cut the deck into two halves (longitudinal) and plank each half prior to installing.  My approach is going to be more of a hybrid. I tried to install the deck as a single piece, but the piece is large and thin, consequently, I was afraid it was going to snap. With this concern in mind, I elected to cut the deck in half. The next step will be to glue the halves in their respective locations and then apply the deck planks. I thought about applying the planks to each half before installing (as one of the options mentioned...the primary advantage being no obstructions to contend with), but I am not as confident that I can get everything aligned as well as the more "traditional" approach to planking. 
 

Another good day at the shipyard; I was able to install the bow deck and the upper deck camber beams. At this stage, it is easy to see lots of progress, but as you know in other stages you can spend hours on some very small components, which can make progress hard to see. Bill, Scott, and Hennie, thank you for your comments. Hennie, I read your Aggie building log, it is a thing of beauty, as is your current build (SOS)! 
 

Thank you for your interest in my project! At this point in the build, my go to tools have been the dremel sanding drum and the wood rasp. The bulkheads required a whole lot of "rasping" to get them to fit their respective slots...the best tool for this work turned out to be the rasp! This was also true for the lower gun deck, a lot of wood was removed to get it to slide into place. Placement of the dummy cannon barrels was a straight forward process, but then came planking the lower gun deck. Here is where my lack of experience begins to show. It was my intent to plank this area with a five-butt pattern shift, just to practice for the more critical upper decks. I thought I had the process figured out, but as it turned out, I didn't. Once it became obvious that my process wasn't working, I considered ripping it up, but given the fact that so very little of this area will be seen, I decided to leave well enough alone. An after the fact analysis of "what went wrong" I believe that the root of my problem began with the mistaken notion that the planks had to terminate on a bulkhead. Given the fact that the spacing between bulkheads on the Aggie is not even, that through my plan off. I have since looked more closely at the work of others it is apparent that the planks do not have to terminate on a bulkhead. I am determined to have this figured out by the time I get to the more critical upper decks.
 
Cheers!
 

 
 

In many respects I am a relative newcomer to the world of model shipbuilding. I recently completed, as my very first build,  the HMAV Bounty (Caldercraft) and I am reasonably pleased with the end result. That said, it took me about eight years to complete the project; however in fairness to myself, the actual time spent actively working on the ship was closer to two years.  Following retirement, most of my time has been devoted to building furniture, however, I recently sold my house and shop so woodworking had to be temporally suspended. Given the fact that I wanted to keep my hands busy, I dug the Bounty out of mothballs and began building. It took me awhile to get back into the rhythm of working in a smaller scale, but I soon rediscovered how much I enjoyed tinkering with these wonderful old ships. 
 
Given my limited experience as a modeler, the wisest course of action would have been to choose a much less ambitious project than the Agamemnon. I totally agree; but having found this website and after reading the building logs of such Master Builders as Sjors, Mobbsie and others, I knew that my next build would have to be the Aggie! ("Aggie" or "Aggy", I am not sure which is correct...but, since one of my degrees is from Texas A&M University, I'll go with Aggie).
 
So, it is with this background in mind that I start this log. No doubt it will take me a very long time to complete this project and I am very confident that I will be calling upon the collective wisdom of this folks associated with this site to help me along the way. 

As you can see, I have the box with all of the necessary inventory, and I have started the build! Since I have never posted pictures before, I will close for now to be sure I understand the mechanics of the uploading process before I get too far ahead of myself.
 
Thanks,
Donn

Today I painted the areas around the barrel posts were the cannons will be mounted on the lower gun deck. Although very little of these areas will be visible (your will only see it when you look through the gun ports) the custom is to paint the area black. I painted more area than is probably necessary, but I wanted to be sure. With the painting done, it was time to mount the upper deck. As I understood the manual there are two options, 1) mount the deck as one piece and then overlay with 4mm planks or 2) cut the deck into two halves (longitudinal) and plank each half prior to installing.  My approach is going to be more of a hybrid. I tried to install the deck as a single piece, but the piece is large and thin, consequently, I was afraid it was going to snap. With this concern in mind, I elected to cut the deck in half. The next step will be to glue the halves in their respective locations and then apply the deck planks. I thought about applying the planks to each half before installing (as one of the options mentioned...the primary advantage being no obstructions to contend with), but I am not as confident that I can get everything aligned as well as the more "traditional" approach to planking. 
 

Today I painted the areas around the barrel posts were the cannons will be mounted on the lower gun deck. Although very little of these areas will be visible (your will only see it when you look through the gun ports) the custom is to paint the area black. I painted more area than is probably necessary, but I wanted to be sure. With the painting done, it was time to mount the upper deck. As I understood the manual there are two options, 1) mount the deck as one piece and then overlay with 4mm planks or 2) cut the deck into two halves (longitudinal) and plank each half prior to installing.  My approach is going to be more of a hybrid. I tried to install the deck as a single piece, but the piece is large and thin, consequently, I was afraid it was going to snap. With this concern in mind, I elected to cut the deck in half. The next step will be to glue the halves in their respective locations and then apply the deck planks. I thought about applying the planks to each half before installing (as one of the options mentioned...the primary advantage being no obstructions to contend with), but I am not as confident that I can get everything aligned as well as the more "traditional" approach to planking. 
 

Today I painted the areas around the barrel posts were the cannons will be mounted on the lower gun deck. Although very little of these areas will be visible (your will only see it when you look through the gun ports) the custom is to paint the area black. I painted more area than is probably necessary, but I wanted to be sure. With the painting done, it was time to mount the upper deck. As I understood the manual there are two options, 1) mount the deck as one piece and then overlay with 4mm planks or 2) cut the deck into two halves (longitudinal) and plank each half prior to installing.  My approach is going to be more of a hybrid. I tried to install the deck as a single piece, but the piece is large and thin, consequently, I was afraid it was going to snap. With this concern in mind, I elected to cut the deck in half. The next step will be to glue the halves in their respective locations and then apply the deck planks. I thought about applying the planks to each half before installing (as one of the options mentioned...the primary advantage being no obstructions to contend with), but I am not as confident that I can get everything aligned as well as the more "traditional" approach to planking. 
 

Today I painted the areas around the barrel posts were the cannons will be mounted on the lower gun deck. Although very little of these areas will be visible (your will only see it when you look through the gun ports) the custom is to paint the area black. I painted more area than is probably necessary, but I wanted to be sure. With the painting done, it was time to mount the upper deck. As I understood the manual there are two options, 1) mount the deck as one piece and then overlay with 4mm planks or 2) cut the deck into two halves (longitudinal) and plank each half prior to installing.  My approach is going to be more of a hybrid. I tried to install the deck as a single piece, but the piece is large and thin, consequently, I was afraid it was going to snap. With this concern in mind, I elected to cut the deck in half. The next step will be to glue the halves in their respective locations and then apply the deck planks. I thought about applying the planks to each half before installing (as one of the options mentioned...the primary advantage being no obstructions to contend with), but I am not as confident that I can get everything aligned as well as the more "traditional" approach to planking. 
 

Another good day at the shipyard; I was able to install the bow deck and the upper deck camber beams. At this stage, it is easy to see lots of progress, but as you know in other stages you can spend hours on some very small components, which can make progress hard to see. Bill, Scott, and Hennie, thank you for your comments. Hennie, I read your Aggie building log, it is a thing of beauty, as is your current build (SOS)! 
 

Another good day at the shipyard; I was able to install the bow deck and the upper deck camber beams. At this stage, it is easy to see lots of progress, but as you know in other stages you can spend hours on some very small components, which can make progress hard to see. Bill, Scott, and Hennie, thank you for your comments. Hennie, I read your Aggie building log, it is a thing of beauty, as is your current build (SOS)! 
 

Thank you for your interest in my project! At this point in the build, my go to tools have been the dremel sanding drum and the wood rasp. The bulkheads required a whole lot of "rasping" to get them to fit their respective slots...the best tool for this work turned out to be the rasp! This was also true for the lower gun deck, a lot of wood was removed to get it to slide into place. Placement of the dummy cannon barrels was a straight forward process, but then came planking the lower gun deck. Here is where my lack of experience begins to show. It was my intent to plank this area with a five-butt pattern shift, just to practice for the more critical upper decks. I thought I had the process figured out, but as it turned out, I didn't. Once it became obvious that my process wasn't working, I considered ripping it up, but given the fact that so very little of this area will be seen, I decided to leave well enough alone. An after the fact analysis of "what went wrong" I believe that the root of my problem began with the mistaken notion that the planks had to terminate on a bulkhead. Given the fact that the spacing between bulkheads on the Aggie is not even, that through my plan off. I have since looked more closely at the work of others it is apparent that the planks do not have to terminate on a bulkhead. I am determined to have this figured out by the time I get to the more critical upper decks.
 
Cheers!
 

 
 

In many respects I am a relative newcomer to the world of model shipbuilding. I recently completed, as my very first build,  the HMAV Bounty (Caldercraft) and I am reasonably pleased with the end result. That said, it took me about eight years to complete the project; however in fairness to myself, the actual time spent actively working on the ship was closer to two years.  Following retirement, most of my time has been devoted to building furniture, however, I recently sold my house and shop so woodworking had to be temporally suspended. Given the fact that I wanted to keep my hands busy, I dug the Bounty out of mothballs and began building. It took me awhile to get back into the rhythm of working in a smaller scale, but I soon rediscovered how much I enjoyed tinkering with these wonderful old ships. 
 
Given my limited experience as a modeler, the wisest course of action would have been to choose a much less ambitious project than the Agamemnon. I totally agree; but having found this website and after reading the building logs of such Master Builders as Sjors, Mobbsie and others, I knew that my next build would have to be the Aggie! ("Aggie" or "Aggy", I am not sure which is correct...but, since one of my degrees is from Texas A&M University, I'll go with Aggie).
 
So, it is with this background in mind that I start this log. No doubt it will take me a very long time to complete this project and I am very confident that I will be calling upon the collective wisdom of this folks associated with this site to help me along the way. 

As you can see, I have the box with all of the necessary inventory, and I have started the build! Since I have never posted pictures before, I will close for now to be sure I understand the mechanics of the uploading process before I get too far ahead of myself.
 
Thanks,
Donn

Thank you for your interest in my project! At this point in the build, my go to tools have been the dremel sanding drum and the wood rasp. The bulkheads required a whole lot of "rasping" to get them to fit their respective slots...the best tool for this work turned out to be the rasp! This was also true for the lower gun deck, a lot of wood was removed to get it to slide into place. Placement of the dummy cannon barrels was a straight forward process, but then came planking the lower gun deck. Here is where my lack of experience begins to show. It was my intent to plank this area with a five-butt pattern shift, just to practice for the more critical upper decks. I thought I had the process figured out, but as it turned out, I didn't. Once it became obvious that my process wasn't working, I considered ripping it up, but given the fact that so very little of this area will be seen, I decided to leave well enough alone. An after the fact analysis of "what went wrong" I believe that the root of my problem began with the mistaken notion that the planks had to terminate on a bulkhead. Given the fact that the spacing between bulkheads on the Aggie is not even, that through my plan off. I have since looked more closely at the work of others it is apparent that the planks do not have to terminate on a bulkhead. I am determined to have this figured out by the time I get to the more critical upper decks.
 
Cheers!
 

 
 

Another good day at the shipyard; I was able to install the bow deck and the upper deck camber beams. At this stage, it is easy to see lots of progress, but as you know in other stages you can spend hours on some very small components, which can make progress hard to see. Bill, Scott, and Hennie, thank you for your comments. Hennie, I read your Aggie building log, it is a thing of beauty, as is your current build (SOS)! 
 

Another good day at the shipyard; I was able to install the bow deck and the upper deck camber beams. At this stage, it is easy to see lots of progress, but as you know in other stages you can spend hours on some very small components, which can make progress hard to see. Bill, Scott, and Hennie, thank you for your comments. Hennie, I read your Aggie building log, it is a thing of beauty, as is your current build (SOS)! 
 

Another good day at the shipyard; I was able to install the bow deck and the upper deck camber beams. At this stage, it is easy to see lots of progress, but as you know in other stages you can spend hours on some very small components, which can make progress hard to see. Bill, Scott, and Hennie, thank you for your comments. Hennie, I read your Aggie building log, it is a thing of beauty, as is your current build (SOS)! 
 

Thank you for your interest in my project! At this point in the build, my go to tools have been the dremel sanding drum and the wood rasp. The bulkheads required a whole lot of "rasping" to get them to fit their respective slots...the best tool for this work turned out to be the rasp! This was also true for the lower gun deck, a lot of wood was removed to get it to slide into place. Placement of the dummy cannon barrels was a straight forward process, but then came planking the lower gun deck. Here is where my lack of experience begins to show. It was my intent to plank this area with a five-butt pattern shift, just to practice for the more critical upper decks. I thought I had the process figured out, but as it turned out, I didn't. Once it became obvious that my process wasn't working, I considered ripping it up, but given the fact that so very little of this area will be seen, I decided to leave well enough alone. An after the fact analysis of "what went wrong" I believe that the root of my problem began with the mistaken notion that the planks had to terminate on a bulkhead. Given the fact that the spacing between bulkheads on the Aggie is not even, that through my plan off. I have since looked more closely at the work of others it is apparent that the planks do not have to terminate on a bulkhead. I am determined to have this figured out by the time I get to the more critical upper decks.
 
Cheers!
 

 
 

In many respects I am a relative newcomer to the world of model shipbuilding. I recently completed, as my very first build,  the HMAV Bounty (Caldercraft) and I am reasonably pleased with the end result. That said, it took me about eight years to complete the project; however in fairness to myself, the actual time spent actively working on the ship was closer to two years.  Following retirement, most of my time has been devoted to building furniture, however, I recently sold my house and shop so woodworking had to be temporally suspended. Given the fact that I wanted to keep my hands busy, I dug the Bounty out of mothballs and began building. It took me awhile to get back into the rhythm of working in a smaller scale, but I soon rediscovered how much I enjoyed tinkering with these wonderful old ships. 
 
Given my limited experience as a modeler, the wisest course of action would have been to choose a much less ambitious project than the Agamemnon. I totally agree; but having found this website and after reading the building logs of such Master Builders as Sjors, Mobbsie and others, I knew that my next build would have to be the Aggie! ("Aggie" or "Aggy", I am not sure which is correct...but, since one of my degrees is from Texas A&M University, I'll go with Aggie).
 
So, it is with this background in mind that I start this log. No doubt it will take me a very long time to complete this project and I am very confident that I will be calling upon the collective wisdom of this folks associated with this site to help me along the way. 

As you can see, I have the box with all of the necessary inventory, and I have started the build! Since I have never posted pictures before, I will close for now to be sure I understand the mechanics of the uploading process before I get too far ahead of myself.
 
Thanks,
Donn

Thank you for your interest in my project! At this point in the build, my go to tools have been the dremel sanding drum and the wood rasp. The bulkheads required a whole lot of "rasping" to get them to fit their respective slots...the best tool for this work turned out to be the rasp! This was also true for the lower gun deck, a lot of wood was removed to get it to slide into place. Placement of the dummy cannon barrels was a straight forward process, but then came planking the lower gun deck. Here is where my lack of experience begins to show. It was my intent to plank this area with a five-butt pattern shift, just to practice for the more critical upper decks. I thought I had the process figured out, but as it turned out, I didn't. Once it became obvious that my process wasn't working, I considered ripping it up, but given the fact that so very little of this area will be seen, I decided to leave well enough alone. An after the fact analysis of "what went wrong" I believe that the root of my problem began with the mistaken notion that the planks had to terminate on a bulkhead. Given the fact that the spacing between bulkheads on the Aggie is not even, that through my plan off. I have since looked more closely at the work of others it is apparent that the planks do not have to terminate on a bulkhead. I am determined to have this figured out by the time I get to the more critical upper decks.
 
Cheers!
 

 
 

Thank you for your interest in my project! At this point in the build, my go to tools have been the dremel sanding drum and the wood rasp. The bulkheads required a whole lot of "rasping" to get them to fit their respective slots...the best tool for this work turned out to be the rasp! This was also true for the lower gun deck, a lot of wood was removed to get it to slide into place. Placement of the dummy cannon barrels was a straight forward process, but then came planking the lower gun deck. Here is where my lack of experience begins to show. It was my intent to plank this area with a five-butt pattern shift, just to practice for the more critical upper decks. I thought I had the process figured out, but as it turned out, I didn't. Once it became obvious that my process wasn't working, I considered ripping it up, but given the fact that so very little of this area will be seen, I decided to leave well enough alone. An after the fact analysis of "what went wrong" I believe that the root of my problem began with the mistaken notion that the planks had to terminate on a bulkhead. Given the fact that the spacing between bulkheads on the Aggie is not even, that through my plan off. I have since looked more closely at the work of others it is apparent that the planks do not have to terminate on a bulkhead. I am determined to have this figured out by the time I get to the more critical upper decks.
 
Cheers!
 

 
 

Thank you for your interest in my project! At this point in the build, my go to tools have been the dremel sanding drum and the wood rasp. The bulkheads required a whole lot of "rasping" to get them to fit their respective slots...the best tool for this work turned out to be the rasp! This was also true for the lower gun deck, a lot of wood was removed to get it to slide into place. Placement of the dummy cannon barrels was a straight forward process, but then came planking the lower gun deck. Here is where my lack of experience begins to show. It was my intent to plank this area with a five-butt pattern shift, just to practice for the more critical upper decks. I thought I had the process figured out, but as it turned out, I didn't. Once it became obvious that my process wasn't working, I considered ripping it up, but given the fact that so very little of this area will be seen, I decided to leave well enough alone. An after the fact analysis of "what went wrong" I believe that the root of my problem began with the mistaken notion that the planks had to terminate on a bulkhead. Given the fact that the spacing between bulkheads on the Aggie is not even, that through my plan off. I have since looked more closely at the work of others it is apparent that the planks do not have to terminate on a bulkhead. I am determined to have this figured out by the time I get to the more critical upper decks.
 
Cheers!
 

 
 

Thank you for your interest in my project! At this point in the build, my go to tools have been the dremel sanding drum and the wood rasp. The bulkheads required a whole lot of "rasping" to get them to fit their respective slots...the best tool for this work turned out to be the rasp! This was also true for the lower gun deck, a lot of wood was removed to get it to slide into place. Placement of the dummy cannon barrels was a straight forward process, but then came planking the lower gun deck. Here is where my lack of experience begins to show. It was my intent to plank this area with a five-butt pattern shift, just to practice for the more critical upper decks. I thought I had the process figured out, but as it turned out, I didn't. Once it became obvious that my process wasn't working, I considered ripping it up, but given the fact that so very little of this area will be seen, I decided to leave well enough alone. An after the fact analysis of "what went wrong" I believe that the root of my problem began with the mistaken notion that the planks had to terminate on a bulkhead. Given the fact that the spacing between bulkheads on the Aggie is not even, that through my plan off. I have since looked more closely at the work of others it is apparent that the planks do not have to terminate on a bulkhead. I am determined to have this figured out by the time I get to the more critical upper decks.
 
Cheers!
 

 
 

In many respects I am a relative newcomer to the world of model shipbuilding. I recently completed, as my very first build,  the HMAV Bounty (Caldercraft) and I am reasonably pleased with the end result. That said, it took me about eight years to complete the project; however in fairness to myself, the actual time spent actively working on the ship was closer to two years.  Following retirement, most of my time has been devoted to building furniture, however, I recently sold my house and shop so woodworking had to be temporally suspended. Given the fact that I wanted to keep my hands busy, I dug the Bounty out of mothballs and began building. It took me awhile to get back into the rhythm of working in a smaller scale, but I soon rediscovered how much I enjoyed tinkering with these wonderful old ships. 
 
Given my limited experience as a modeler, the wisest course of action would have been to choose a much less ambitious project than the Agamemnon. I totally agree; but having found this website and after reading the building logs of such Master Builders as Sjors, Mobbsie and others, I knew that my next build would have to be the Aggie! ("Aggie" or "Aggy", I am not sure which is correct...but, since one of my degrees is from Texas A&M University, I'll go with Aggie).
 
So, it is with this background in mind that I start this log. No doubt it will take me a very long time to complete this project and I am very confident that I will be calling upon the collective wisdom of this folks associated with this site to help me along the way. 

As you can see, I have the box with all of the necessary inventory, and I have started the build! Since I have never posted pictures before, I will close for now to be sure I understand the mechanics of the uploading process before I get too far ahead of myself.
 
Thanks,
Donn

In many respects I am a relative newcomer to the world of model shipbuilding. I recently completed, as my very first build,  the HMAV Bounty (Caldercraft) and I am reasonably pleased with the end result. That said, it took me about eight years to complete the project; however in fairness to myself, the actual time spent actively working on the ship was closer to two years.  Following retirement, most of my time has been devoted to building furniture, however, I recently sold my house and shop so woodworking had to be temporally suspended. Given the fact that I wanted to keep my hands busy, I dug the Bounty out of mothballs and began building. It took me awhile to get back into the rhythm of working in a smaller scale, but I soon rediscovered how much I enjoyed tinkering with these wonderful old ships. 
 
Given my limited experience as a modeler, the wisest course of action would have been to choose a much less ambitious project than the Agamemnon. I totally agree; but having found this website and after reading the building logs of such Master Builders as Sjors, Mobbsie and others, I knew that my next build would have to be the Aggie! ("Aggie" or "Aggy", I am not sure which is correct...but, since one of my degrees is from Texas A&M University, I'll go with Aggie).
 
So, it is with this background in mind that I start this log. No doubt it will take me a very long time to complete this project and I am very confident that I will be calling upon the collective wisdom of this folks associated with this site to help me along the way. 

As you can see, I have the box with all of the necessary inventory, and I have started the build! Since I have never posted pictures before, I will close for now to be sure I understand the mechanics of the uploading process before I get too far ahead of myself.
 
Thanks,
Donn