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Another hands-free jig - I like!

I shudder to think what my skills would deliver!

Brilliant work. I love viewing people's work who pay a great amount of attention to detail - now I must just do the same  

Welcome and enjoy the plenty new info 

Thanks Dan

Vossiewulf, your postings will be the end of me 

I've just blown the budget on an order and here he goes and posts more quality tools to use!

11 hours ago, Chuck Seiler said:

    I'm not sure "most" do use full length planks.  Looking at build logs, I see many new modelers using the full length planks on the double plank kits, but I see more seasoned modelers going the "scale length" route.

 

    Personally, I will use a full length plank at least once on either side, BUT will score it to make artificial butt ends.  This gives me a good, continuous, even run along the entire length of the model and allows all the following strakes to set up properly.

That makes sense Chuck - thanks for the feedback!

Welcome to MSW

Plenty of very useful info here to make you enjoy your stay

Thanks Gregory

I too am a natural man  - love the look of natural wood

Something tells me that the darker wood for a hull is the way to go. The lighter wood tends to show imperfections too easily

My current build has the hull painted which I am not to keen on [its my build ]

I am really in 2 minds as to the path I want to follow on my current build

On the one side, the use of "scale" planks appeals to me and on the other, wanting to make the model look good

Pete - I did use the "scale" length planks on the deck - its now the hull I need to do and hence the quandry. And thanks for the guide on butts!

As the subject says

100ft planks were not available (and still aren't  ) when the models that most of us build were actually produced in real life

Here's my question to the hardcore builders and those with oodles of knowledge. 

Why do most use builders full length planks (as supplied by kit for example) to plank their hulls and not shorter more "scale lenghts"? - (and obviously shown the tree nails etc)

This may have been discussed before but I could find no particular reference

Would be interesting to hear the opinions/advice

Welcome Cédric - enjoy MSW!

Just as a side note, my surname [last name] is Rochefort so it is intrigueing to see it mentioned. I am Anglo Saxon should anyone ask 

Thanks guys

It was what my brain was telling me - just trying to avoid unnecessary pitfalls 

Many thanks for the links vossiewulf - certainly some cool pieces on those links.

Much appreciated - now to start the budget towards an order

I can attest to "out-of-control tool collection" - I have the same problem 

Thanks all - I have found them

Will have to order though - South Africa is a tad far from the States  - some days I wish I could take some lotto earnings and visit all these nice shops and suppliers in the States

You guys are spoilt for choice

vossiewulf - I am intrigued as to where you got this ruler from.

For what I want, it looks perfect. Love the holes and slots for marking

As the subject says - at what point to folks generally start to seal [paint stain varnish or whatever is to used etc] their models?

To be clearer, at which point in the construction/build?

Input appreciated

Just a quick update - have finished the bulkheads. Jeez, nothing lined up, spacing was out and most of the heights were wrong

Dont laugh at my build jig - it works for me till I can make a better - MDF is pricey here in ZA

And then, things can go wrong or an incorrect placement. Time for the doctor to step in

Got the deck on after remarking all the cutouts to get a decent fit

Finally manged to get some sense of order for the cutouts

And then starting with the deck planking. I will see what the finish is like but am considering replacing the wood

Still deciding whether I will put in tree nails or not - yeah. I know the general opinion of many

8 hours ago, allanyed said:

Welcome Jeremy,

 

Can't say that I fully appreciate your frustrations but I do feel for you.  I did have the pleasure to spend some time off of a freighter at Cape Town, Durban, East London, et al in '66 and was one of the best voyages I experienced.  I am told by acquaintances who have been to S.A. recently that it is nothing like it was 50 years ago, but I do hope to make the trek again and spend time in the interior.   Again, welcome to MSW and enjoy the ride.

 

Allan

Thanks for the welcomes.

Alan, cant say at the present moment we as South Africans are feeling great about our country - too much political issues making a unstable economy. Its great for visitors, but sucks for us since our exchange rate is crappy and makes purchasing overseas expensive.But lets leave the politics aside. 

It is a beautiful country - no doubt. And very popular as a tourist destination because of our weak exchange rate meaning their holiday cottage changes from a cottage to a 4 star hotel . Any time you are planning to come to my neck of the woods, give me a shout

Always exciting to start a new build

Good luck for the build!

Hi Glen - thanks for stopping by my build log

Old story of the instructions not matching the plan - I found a 8mm discrepancy as previously mentioned on the thread

Since discovering a few anomolies, I am now using the plan exclusively with just reference to the instructions

Not being the resident expert, I can chime in and say for this build, I would forego making it for RC.

I come out of the RC world and have a fair idea of what to do in that department. However, with a first build like this, I would concentrate more on honing my skills than considering RC.

As a point of interest. have you ever looked at the planking guides here on MSW? There is a wealth of info available

Good on you for sticking it out!

Once the keel and bulkhead parts were shaped and cleaned, it was tine to look at the keel and get it ready for setting in the jig I use 

Alas, thats where I discovered the first mistake - the manual calls for a 400mm section of the keel - only to check on the plan to see its actually 392mm. This worries me a bit since the plans were printed presumably from a computer - am wondering if the printed plan has it's scale slightly off?

Anyhow I decided to go with the measurement from the plans [since I will be referring back to it on a regular basis]

Corrected according to the plan

Quite a bit of cutting to - some of the bulkheads were supplied cut by lazer/CNC cut - I see no burn marks from the lazer so it would be natural to assume it was CNC cut.

The wood is soft so cutting was a breeze to get the required parts - plenty of filing and sanding to do:

So the exploration mood quickly changed to a work mood

I decided to gather all the necessary bits for completing the keel and bulkheads - some of the bulkheads were lazer cut/routed and a few which had to be cut from the ply supplied. 3A ands 2A are used to keep the model on your build board [according to the manual]

And on that point, its safe to say the manual sucks a bit - not much info there [and some errors which I will discuss later]

Let the cutting commence

Hello all

Here we go

Welcome to my META 484 by Billing build 

Please feel free to comment or add suggestions

There is just not much information available out there for the Meta that I can find - I found some photographs of completed models but nothing as far as build logs are concerned. If somebody has a possible source for any detail etc I could check it would be appreciated.

Here are some which I have found: Meta Images and Meta images 2

For the time being, I have put the La Toullanaise on hold until I receive the planks and wood I ordered. I was just frustrating myself trying to do something and achieving nothing.

So for now - I have decided to start the META 484 from Billing. This is an old kit [would love to know exactly how old] which I bought from a friend a good while ago and its been sitting on my shelf for the best part of 2 years - time to do something about that . Fortunately, the kit appears to be complete along with its accessories as well so that's a plus. And if needs be, I can pilfer wood from the La Toullanaise kit until my stock arrives - woods are similar between the two kits - and looks like they are from the same manufacturing era.

First inspection of the kit revealed everything foreseeable to be present - most importantly, the PLAN!

Opening the box. The wood appears to be VERY dry so I will have to watch that

All the wood seems to be in the box