jbford
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Replacing Ply Bulwarks
jbford replied to jbford's topic in Building, Framing, Planking and plating a ships hull and deck
thanks for the replies! i am certainly not ready to scratch build, but substituting some sheet for the ply like was done by builder of that old AL Swift looks to be in my future. -
I'm currently building the Mantua Albatros. It has plywood bulwarks (UGH!) The ply is hard to bend, prone to splitting after soaking, hard to cut, and hard to get the cannon ports to the right heights. Have a couple of Latina kits waiting to be built and they have the same design. Thankfully, several manufacturers employ built-up bulwarks where the construction is the same from keel to top-rail. Other than avoiding kits that are not designed the way one likes, is it common to replace the ply with bass sheet or even completely do away with the sheet wood and go completely to strip-wood construction?
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Corel from Italy make a few kits of small sail fishing boats that are around 1:25 scale. these are readily available inthe UK. Cornwall Boats is so good that many of us here in the colonies order from them. i just got one of these Corel kits and it really looks fine. it would be advisable to study a few books on the subject prior to trying a build. the diagrams are excellent, but the written instructions are typical of what you will see from most of the European kits (they tell you what to do but may not explain how to do it) building my first planked model has been quite a harsh learning experience, but also very rewarding.
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Has anyone researched both of these kits? Both are probably very good, but are there features of one that might make it "the one". I am not considering cost. Recently came across about $400 from selling more RC plane stuff. My skill level is beginner, and this one would go on the shelf until the Albatros and Bluenose II are done.
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I just looked at the Euromodel manual that is available to download It looks super! with that and the English translation of the basic instructions, they go high on my list of who to buy that "expensive" model from if my skills ever improve.
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Having seen instructions from some other European models (Corel, Mamoli, Mantua) they are about the same as the AL kits. AL have some decent and somewhat unique beginner kits like the Sanson tug. I hate the plywood bulwarks! There are a great number of AL kits available for a good price. A lot of folks buy the kits, open then, and put them in the closet. Model ships are a lot like RC plane kits, a lot of the necessary knowledge is not included with the kit. This site, Mastini's book, and Hubert's Dummies site take away a lot of the fear for the newcomer like me.
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I have also had good luck with this material. Thanks for doing some controlled studies!
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Amati makes one that has an add-on tube available for small nails. They also have some very fine nails available. You will still need to predrill at least part way, and also give it a final tap with a hammer to set it. So far, I am liking this device (Obtained the nailer and fine nails (pins) from Cornwall Model Boats. Shipping is very reasonable for small packets.)
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