Zarkon

Hi all! I am currently building Artesania Latina's L'Hermione kit. I have already replaced the deck planks with boxwood, and using Swiss Pearl for the wall planks that cover the gun ports on the inside of the ship. I am really not into painting the ship as I really like the look of natural wood instead. I plan on planking the hull above the wales with either boxwood or Alaskan ceder. I haven't decided yet. I hear both choices are excellent. My question concerns what to use for below the wales. I am split between either continuing with a light color (boxwood or Alaskan Ceder), or use a darker colored wood to give the ship a more of a 2 toned appearance. I cannot decide because I am not sure what kind of dark colored wood is good (and looks good) for hull planking. So, what dark colored wood species are good for hull planking? Also, where would a good place online to get some if I decide to go that route? I do not have the means to mill my own wood . Lastly, what are your thoughts of keeping the hull fully planked in a light colored wood (boxwood, Alaskan Ceder), or having a 2 tone top light, bottom dark color scheme? Thanks for your opinions!! Jeff

I finally finished one side! The gun ports are a little bigger than they should be... but I am okay with that! I think it turned out pretty well for my first time doing this. All this isnt in the kit so I am proud of myself for having it turn out so well! It does look really shiney, but the tung oil is still drying. It won't be this shiney after it dries. Now to compare to the first model attempt of this kit. I know it's not the best of pictures, but I think it's quite an improvement! I am not truly satisfied how it came out. I know I can get the joints to sit better. And I can make the planks sit together better too. But I know I am still learning, so the next side will turn out better! We shall see if this us true. I don't have the correct width strips for this. So I had to take my 4.5mm wide swiss pearl strips and cut them to be 3mm instead. So each plank took quite a while to make. I will make some adjustments to the gun ports on the other side so the planks can sit better. I will also do other small modifications to see if I can get a better result. Thanks everyone for the likes!! Jeff

Just a quick update. I decided to plank the inside of the hull first. I will make the knees later after I plank the hull. I decided this because I didn't want the knees to break off during the fairing and planking of the hull. Here is what I have done so far. Each piece usually takes me about 30 min to make. Since I have 1-2 hours I can dedicated to the ship, it's slow going. Thanks for the likes!!! Jeff

Thanks for the likes! I added the tree nails and sanded down the entire deck: Then, I added 1 application of Tung Oil Finish: WOW! What a difference! I like the finish a lot! Next up will be adding the 4 Walkways Knees on both sides to support the deck that sits above. Then, I will add the inside hull planks around the gunports. Jeff

This will be a very fun build! I'll pull up a seat! I hope there is room in the front row..

Hmm.. I can't edit out that last pic. It keeps putting it back in. Oh well!

I finally finished placing the planks on the second deck!!!! Whew!!! That took quite a while but I am happy with it. The following are pictures of the second deck without the treenials and without any sanding yet. The last pic compares my first attempt of the second deck with what I just finished. You might have to zoom in on the comparison photo to really see the difference. I personally like my current builder's second deck better! Thanks! Jeff

Thank you Messis! And thank everyone for the likes! I finished the waterways: I now need to finally finish planking the second deck. To do this, I realized after looking at the plans and how much space I have left to plank, I will need planks that are appropriately 4.5mm wide near the waterways. The boxwood strips I have are 3mm wide. The issue I had was, I don't have anyway to mill my own planks, and Syren Ship Model Company currently is out of boxwood strips. So it took me yesterday to come up with a solution that should have taken me 1 minute to realize. Just glue 2 strips together and sand off the access. Haha!! So here was my attempt to create my first plank ends that end at the waterways: I was surprised I was able to get the edge that touched the waterway correct. So I drilled the nail holes, and glued it in place. I then made the next row. I knew this row would be harder than the first: I hope you can see it, but those 2 rows ended up much better than I thought! I feel that I accomplished something that really in Isnt very easy (well, for me anyway!). So I am pretty happy with it! It got me wondering what it will look like when the guns are in place! I'm tired so I will finish up this side tomorrow and start on the other. Thanks! Jeff

Thanks for the likes! I finished cutting the frame tops The gunport supports kept the frame tops from breaking. That was my worst fear. I then started on the waterways on this deck. Luckily, I had 3mm x 3mm boxwood to which to form the waterways. It took me a while to figure out how to cut and sand them to the correct shape. Below is how I performed it with pictures. I made sure that the bottoms of the waterways was the same height as the deck planks. Now I have 1 more side to do. But that will have to wait till tomorrow! Thanks! Jeff

What a wonderful build!! She looks excellent! I can't wait to see your next build!!! Jeff

Great work!!! Your Hemeione is turning out brilliantly! Jeff

I finished putting in the gunports on the exposed second deck: Took a while , but I am pleased with it! There has been something that has urked me since I started to plank this deck. The frames 7 and 8 protrude into the middle deck WAY too much compared to the plans. Farther into the instructions, it shows to paint it, then put molding around all of it: This didn't look very good to me nor was it any sort of accurate to the the ship. So the reason I didn't plank the deck all the way yet, was so I could ( if I decided to) cut them too the shape of the actual frame of the ship. This way, I could plank the inside of the deck much more actually. I pondered over if I wanted to do this or not because this would be a big modificationfor me, but finally decided to do it. I know that the upper deck uses these frames to rest on, so I made sure to take the measurements before sawing away. I had to figure out how to cut the bottom evenly and accurately without messing up the already set deck planks, and the deck frame to which the deck planks sit on. I then noticed on this site how Chuck cut a small scroll saw blade to cut out some frames on the Confederacy. It then gave me the idea to go a little farther with it. I used this to cut the horizontal portion of the frame that is ontop of the deck. It kinda looks like something from a horror movie, but it worked! I wish the teeth were smaller, but it worked! I then filled/ sand it down. I had to place the gun ports first to strengthen the frames before I could do any cutting. The frame that is left after cutting is about 2mm wide which is about accurate to the actual frame width shown on the plans. Somehow, I didn't damage deck planks, nor gun port segments! 1 down. 3 more to go!! Jeff

You are of course, correct! Altering anything from the kit's design will affect things down the road. I thought of that when I decided to make the alterations to the gun port locations. I look at this as more of a fun challenge than a problem. After placing the gun ports for this middle deck, I will analyze the build to see what other modifications I will need to do. I will then create an custom parts by hand to replace any prefab parts (when the time comes), using the actual plans from the book as a guide. Jeff

@Dutchman Yes! It's a very thorough book. Many plans and explanations!! It already pointed out to me that the gun placement wasn't quite correct for the kit. Thank you everyone for the comments and likes!!! Slow but steady progress. My son has been quite the huge handful this past week, so my wife and I have been pretty tired by the end of the day. But, nonetheless, I have made some progress. I stopped planking the second deck so I could make the gunports for that deck. This has taken me almost a week to do because I wasn't sure which way I wanted to do it. But, here are some pictures of my results so far. I was pretty proud of myself because If you notice in some of the pics, you see 2 I-beams I made myself from extra wood that corresponds to the correct height of the gunports. I used these 2 I-Beams to make sure the cross beams were at the correct separation. Plus I think they look kinda cool! Haha!! I set my goal to complete 3 gunports a night. So far, I am on target with 6 ports done in 2 nights. So after the gun ports are completed, I am thinking of removing a part of the frame tops for the second deck because they stick out way too far into the middle deck which, according to the plans, isnt accurate at all. When I refer to "the plans", I am actually referring to the plans I bought online. NOT the "plans" included with the kit. The kit plans are just pictures of the finished model, which is quite a bummer, but I am very happy with the plans I bought, so I will going by those instead. Thanks for reading!! Jeff

I finally had some time to work on her tonight! Got more of the deck planking done. After looking through quite a few build logs, I really liked how Chuck made his gun ports on the Cheerful. So I decided to try and make them like he did. I cut out the gun port placement paper guide and placed them on her. The paper of course, didn't match the frames as well as I would have liked. And that got me thinking if the gun ports were correctly placed, so I scowered the internet for some plans. I came across this: It was pretty expensive, (about as much as the kit), but my wife got it for me for Father's Day. I won't place pics of the plans here cause of copywrite, but WOW! Very detailed! It comes with the history if the Hermione, as well as 1:48 plans. After looking at the plans and comparing the gun ports to the kit, it seems the gun ports are s little off on the kit. I also glued on the top of frame 6 as well as some boxwood denoting the bottom of the gun ports. After the gun ports are done, I will continue to plank the deck. Thanks for the likes!! Jeff

Excellent work!!!

Slow progress because not much time to spare, but I'm able to find time everyday. It takes me approximately 30 min per deck row, so I am able to plank 2 rows per day. I also have been drilling the nail holes too. I haven't finished drilling the holes near the middle of the deck because I want to make the hatches and things to see where they will be placed. I haven't done any sanding/ scraping yet. When I am done, i will compare the first model's attempt with this one. Thanks fur the likes!! Jeff

Very nice job planking the decks! It looks great! It looks like those decks were laser etched with where the planks would go. It would have been nice if they eched where the tops of the bulkheads would be. I totally would have done exactly the same thing and planked the entire deck. Glad you figured it out! Your build looks great! Jeff

Hello all!! Thanks for the likes! Just a small update. Slow but steady, I am still planking the second deck. I think it's turning out pretty well for me! I'm taking my time with each piece. Each piece is taking me about 5 to 10 min from cutting to gluing. I haven't finished with drilling the nail holes. I wanted to get a few of the full length rows done before drilling the middle section. I will be filing the holes with dark colored filler. I have not done any sanding yet, and I won't until it's all placed. I am going to use the 4 butt shift system for the plank nails. Thanks! Jeff

I am not sure yet if I will copper or not. I have to say, I really like how yours is looking with the copper! Jeff

I am not sure yet if I will copper or not. I have to say, I really like how yours is looking with the copper! Jeff

Very nice work! Your copper plates look excellent! Jeff

So I have been making slow but steady progress. I have glued the frames and the inserts for the masts. I have to say, making and using this building board is very helpful! I made some squares using some spare wood: These actually did help a lot to make sure the frames were square against the false keel. I also fitted and glued the second deck ply pieces too. I then started to plank the deck with boxwood instead of the supplied deck planning wood. I know the wood is thicker, but I will adjust the gun ports add needed. I actually have more time tomorrow to plank the deck, so I hope to give am update tomorrow. Thanks! Jeff

Dry fit the false keel with the frames. Nothing is glued yet. Jeff

So, I decided to try my hand at making a building board for the ship to help make sure I can place the frames correctly and square. Super simple, but just has 1 job. The false keel isn't quite as straight as I would like, but I think this will help some while i place the frames, second deck, and the other supports. I like how the kit splits the false keel into 2 pieces instead of one. This helps to have a better chance of getting a straight false keel. I also made some squares to square off the frames when placing/gluing them. Once the glue dries on the boarding build supports, I'll take a pic of the false keel on it. Thanks! Jeff