Zarkon

Thanks everyone for the likes! Its been a little while, but I have been busy on the ship. I am starting to get used to using the table saw as both a saw and a planer. The first few times trying to get usable 7/32" strips yielded 4-5 strips since I have to plane the 1/4" sheets down first. But slowly as I was getting more comfortable; this week, I was able to produce 15 strips at one time! That really made me feel I'm starting to get used to the table saw. I have enough 7/32" strips to finish the first layer of the wales and black strakes. I am currently working on the black strake. Sorry for the bad lighting. I need to get more light in my room. Making the 1/4" strikes will be MUCH easier because I won't have to plane them before making the strips. So I am excited about that. Thanks!!! Jeff

Thanks everyone for the likes and tips! I started getting used to my new table saw. Since I have not used a table saw before, it has taken me about 3 weeks, and very helpful tips and advice from G, Ben, and Chuck. Like Ben said, I had to reduce the height of the sheets by a small amount. I had to create some jigs to support the sheet as it goes through the saw. Making the first strips was tough for me. I have about 10 or so unusable strips. But I learned more and more as I went on. I had chipped, burnt, too wide, not wide enough.. you name it! Advice from G, Ben, and Chuck really helped. But, being safe, after 3 weeks of trial and error, I finally was able to make the first 3 usable strips!!!! I would have made more, but I didn't have enough time. I know it might sound like a small thing, but it is a big deal for me! So, a few days later, I placed the the first part of the first plank on the hull. I really didn't understand what the 'S' shape of the plank meant at the bow until I placed this first plank on. I then finally saw it. Here is a small 2 pics of it. I hope it looks alright! I am proud of it because I made that strip, and I realized how much work went into getting this far. Its really hard to see the S curve at the bow, but I know its there cause I had to bend it! Thanks everyone for your help and support! I hope to plank more this week. Jeff

Thanks G!! I am going to re read your advice as I start to make the strips! I have planked the lower counter and added the support strip to help with the lower planking. I still need to do a little sanding on it. I received my wood sheets! They look very nice but there is one problem. I asked for them to make some 7/32" but they are all 1/4" or slightly thicker. It wouldn't be a problem if I had a planer, but I do not. So I am not quite sure of what to do. I also need to take a little break from the ship. Only because my wife and I need to decide where to put the table saw. I also will need to get a sturdy table and a small shop vac to connect to the table saw. This might take a few weeks or longer to do since we will need to clean some rooms out in our basement and need to save up for the table and shop vac. Thanks everyone foe the likes! Jeff

Thanks G for the advice! Also, thanks to everyone for your likes! I was able to complete the other bollard timber and the spacer between. Making the bollard timbers was actually one of the most fun parts of the build so far! Other than some small adjustments, I have finished chapter one! Wow what a journey. I have learned quite a lot from this chapter. It has taken me 5 months to get this far. I have really enjoyed the build so far and will continue that enthusiasm into Chapter 2. Sorry for the bad lighting. I do not have too much room! My cherry wood sheets were shipped a few days ago. So hopefully I will receive them this week and start making the strips needed for the hull planking. It will be my first time doing this. So I will be nervous and excited at the same time haha! I'm actually going to read through chapter 2 a few times before starting! Thanks everyone! Jeff

Thanks everyone for the likes! I ordered some sheets with the correct width so I hope to receive them soon. Small update. Been working on sanding down the stem and bulwarks near the bow to thin it down to allow the bollard timbers to fit correctly. Here is a pic of my first attempt of making a bollard timber. The top piece, the 1/64" strip, needs to be sanded down but I will do that tomorrow. I also beveled the outer and inner sides. Its a little hard to capture in a picture but I tried to match the curve that the planks will follow. I will try to start working on the matching pair tomorrow. Thanks! Jeff

Thanks everyone for the likes!! Haha! It will take me quite a while to catch up to you Chuck! I have finished adding the strips of wood above the quarter deck along with the hance and forward hance pieces. Now onto the bollard timbers! It says to reduce the stem and bulwarks inboard so they are all 5/32". I marked what needed to be removed. Is this correct? I just shaded the inboard sections that need to be removed to thin it down to 5/32". What is the best way to do this? Put some adhesive sandpaper on some scratch wood strips and sand down manually? I'm going to read and re-read how to make the bollard timbers before starting that. Lastly, I received my new Byrnes table saw! I definitely won't be keeping it up here. I will move it somewhere else when I start using it. Correct me if I'm wrong, but to mill the wood I nead, I should get some wood sheets slightly thicker than what I need the strips to be. Then use a plainer to make the sheet the correct height. Then rip the strips from that? I will need to also get a plainer then!

Thanks Chuck! I am happy with the result! I finished the quarter gallery framing and sanded the outside smooth with the hull. I did have an uh-oh moment because one of the tops of bulckhead 28 was cracked near the gun port frame. I was actually not surprised because the top of frame 28 was super warped. So when I tried to cut off the part of bulkhead 28, this happened. I was actually glad it did that because that meant I could straighten up that part of the bulkhead using an extra bit of stop included with the chapter 1 package like so Not only is it straighter, but it released a lot of tension between the top of the bulkhead 28 and the small top of the gun port sill. (The top of the bulkhead was warped in 2 dimensions) This is a pic with that side completed And the other side When placing those frame pieces,l made sure that they laid down on the frames without pushing on them. It was mentioned to be careful not to change the stern frame angle. The last things to do for chapter 1 are to add the strip pieces to the tops of the quarter gallery framing, adding the hance pieces, and the bollard timbers! I am excited that I am close to completing chapter one! My new table saw for milling the strips for chapter 2 arrives tomorrow and so I am super excited about that! Thanks all! Jeff

Thanks Ben! I will definitely be using this for the rest of the build! Thank you for sharing! Thanks again to Chuck for mailing me one set of stern frames. That was a life saver! I got them in position and here is how it looks: I will be doing some tweeking. But I think this placement is better than what it was before. I still need to finish gluing and sanding down the stern, but that will be saved for later this week. If anyone has comments on their layout, please feel free to let me know! Thanks everyone! Jeff

So I had to remove the stern frames ST-A and ST-B since all four of them were unusable after removing the window sill pieces. Luckily, the outer stern pieces look alright. So I haven't removed them for now. Removing these frame pieces was much easier than I thought. I took some rubbing alcohol and applied it using a straw to the joins to help disolve the glue. I then waited and was able to pry them off with Hobbie knife without widening the slots. I have to give a huge thank you to Chuck, who was able to send me a replacement set of laser cut stern frames! This was very generous of him and recieving them honestly made my week a lot better! I was able to glue on the new replacement stern frames and will be taking my sweet time making sure I place the sills in the correct spots. Here is a pic of where I am now. I will not be gluing anything until I am happy with the position of all the top window sill pieces. If anything seems off, please let me know so I can correct it! Jeff

G, that's a great idea! After I replace the stern frames, I will keep this in mind when I put the sills on again. Your model looks fantastic! Jeff

I was able to remove the outermost sills, but then realized the sills 2 and 4 were too low as well. Lastly, came to the realization that they all were a little too low and not positioned correctly. So I took them all out. After taking them out, I put in the spacers again and realized I over sanded the stern pieces (especially where the windows will be). If I keep the stern section pieces in, then the windows will look warped and jagged on the left and right sides of the window sills. Ugh! What a disaster! I might have to dissolve the glue on the stern pieces and replace them. Thats 2 weeks of work that I will have to redo. If anyone has ideas on how I might fix this, I would be very grateful. Jeff

Thank you Chuck, I definitely placed sills 1 and 5 too low. I will have to take them off and redo them. I did use the spacers but since the windows are too low, I will just need to start over with 1 and 5. I will need to check 2 and 4 as well after I take 1 and 5 off. Thanks for your help Chuck! Luckily, you provided another set of sill for just such an occasion. I wouldn't be surprised if this will be the first of many boo boos I make! Haha! Jeff

Thank you very much! This is exactly what I was looking for! Jeff

Lastly, forgot to mention, I do not have a small table saw to make my own strips. But the past 5 months, I have been talking it over with the Admiral, and she agreed that I can order a Byrnes table saw next month! I am very excited about it! Will I also need a planer as well? I think Chuck made a guide on how to make planks but I can't seem to find it. Thanks! Jeff

Thanks Chuck and everyone for the likes! I have glued and sanded the stern window sills. I have also sanded the fore and aft sides as well. I also sanded "bulkhead" 29 to match the the other frames and placed a plank against it to check the curve if the hull. And I sanded down the sides of the stern frames as described on the plans. Wow. Thats a lot of sanding! I saw in Chuck's log that it's important to make sure that the tops of the sills are about 3/32" thick. I was able achieve 3.5/32". I hope thats good enough. I do have a question about the laser cut stern frames. Do I need to remove ALL the char from these pieces? Or just the char that's next to the window sills? I know I didn't sand the tops of the sills, nor all the char below the window sills. Lastly, inboard, do I need to sand off all the char from the stern laser cut pieces as well? Thanks all! I hope all of you are safe and healthy! Jeff

Hy all! Finally an update! My family and I are all at home, so I have little time to work on her. But, I was able to finish the gun port sills as well as finish sanding them. Lastly, I glued the stern frames. I hope the lines look alright for the gun ports. Thanks everyone! Wow. I need to clean up the sawdust! Jeff

Sorry about that. I ment Titebond. I use either Titebond II or Titebond III. Whatever I can find at the store. 3 takes longer to dry than 2. Both are great wood glues and you wouldn't have any problems using either. Jeff

Hiya! I do not know where to get the instructions online. I looked too and couldn't find them. As for tools, I would suggest a mini manual miter saw set and get a saw for it with a high tooth count. Like this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001G9NP7O/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_i_CylIEbQYRE5BK Also, different grits if sand paper 80, 100, 220, 400. Also get some sanding blocks. I have small and medium sized ones. Also what I found very helpful was http://www.fourmostproducts.com/our-products/construction-tools/ look for the miter sander. I use this for precise angle sanding. I use adhesive sandpaper for this so it's easier to change. I would not recommend their miter saw from this site because it can cause wood to crack along the edges. Use the Amazon link above for a miter saw. I use Titanbond wood glue for most of the glueing. Lastly, get some hobby knifes and heavy duty blades. Light and medium blades might break and that would be bad. This is just a basic list and I might be leaving something out. As for building the kit, i would highly recommend building a build board to hold your model while you are working in it. There are many references to how to build one on this site. I hope you enjoy your model and have fun!!! Jeff

Looking great!

Hey Chuck, it was hard for me to figure out how to ask! But after mulling it over in my head i figured it out. Sometimes it just takes a nights sleep to clear the head! Jeff

Whew! Finally an update! I finished placing all the lower gun ports sills and have started working on the top sills. I realized that the first pre cut sill at the bow was a little too short. So I added some small cherry wood to extend it. I followed what Chuck said about placing the bottom sills between each bulkhead. I realized this wasn't really a recommendation as it was mandatory. At least for my ship. Since my bulkheads were somewhat warped, I had to add the sills in between each to square them off. I made sure to start at the bow and move to the stern. This made sure the bulkheads were as square as they could get. I am happy with the result! I will continue to place the top port sills this week. I do have a question though. For in between a few of the ports, there is a spacer that is taller than the port sills. Is this made by putting 2 or so of the port sill strips together (from the chapter 1 package)? Thanks everyone!! Jeff

Its sure taken me a while, but I finally finished fairing the hull! I started cutting and gluing on the bottom gun ports. I agree with Chuck that you really need to put supports between every bulkhead. It has started to straighten them out! Thanks everyone for the likes! Jeff

Thank you everyone for the likes!! Well some good news bad news. The bad news is, I'm sick with a virus so I had to stay home today. The good news, is I was feeling well "enough" to fair more of the hull. I was able to complete more today than in the past few weeks! So I am close to finishing the first side and I was able to complete most of the other. The last section not done yet is the bow. I hope to get to it later this week when I'm feeling better. This hull is huge! And does require a lot of removing material. I feel that if I can fair a hull this size and this number of bulkheads, it is an accomplishment in and of itself! Its tedious, but super important to get right. The many bulkheads actually make for a great guide to how much to fair. My round sanding blocks really do help, and are just long enough to span 3 bulkheads at once to help form the shape correctly. Jeff

Its been a while, but it's time for an update! I am currently fairing the hull. This hull is huge!!! I don't have too much time right now to do this work, but slow and steady. I am about 80% done with one side. Then only one more side to go! I noticed that the glued frame sections were starting to give too much and almost break. So I added supports on both sides to strengthen the joint. I hope to get some time this weekend to do some more fairing, but my soon to be 5 year old demands a lot of attention!! Jeff

Thank you everyone for the likes! Today, I finally finished gluing on the bulkheads! For the filler pieces at the stem, two of them were pretty warped. So I had to douse them with water and clamp them to my building table to straighten them out. After they dried, I glued them on one at a time. Only unclamping each piece when I was ready to glue them on. That seemed to work and the filler blocks are now glued into position! I did my best to straighten the tops of the frames. They are somewhat better positioned, but not perfect. That's okay though, because the bulkheads themselves are straight. You will see what I mean with the pictures. As you can see though, on the last pic, the back part of the frame is twisted. I will do what I can to straighten it out before the end of chapter 1. Onto fairing the hull! After looking through other logs here ar MSW, I know this will take a while. But its VERY important to get right or planking the hull will get more difficult. I hope to start fairing this weekend!! Thanks all! Jeff