SardonicMeow

At last it's time for the hull planking. The instructions call for first marking the start of the planking 5mm under the line of the deck, then planking from that point down by securing each plank in place with the kit-supplied pins. It wants you to insert the pins part way, then clip off the heads and sand down the pins when the first layer of planking is complete. As an experiment, I tried doing this with one strake. Multiple issues were immediately evident. First, there is little flexibility to the planks. Second, if the pins are not driven all the way in, there is not enough friction to keep the plank from sliding back up the pin. Third, the sheer of the deck will be difficult to match, as that requires the plank to bend up. I removed the test plank and tried another experiment. I soaked a plank in hot water, then clamped it in place and let it dry. This helped establish the curve at the bow. However, I don't see how I can bend the plank up at the stern. I think I may have to let the first strake below the deck lie where it naturally wants to and add some filler above it at the stern. However, I noticed another potential problem. The bulwark pieces are supposed to sit on the first strake below the deck. Viewed from above, in the area near the bow, the plank does not come out far enough to provide a ledge for the bulwark piece to stand on. I don't know yet how I'll correct this. So I figured it may be easier to start at the garboard plank and carefully adjust the thickness of the planks as I work upward. Furthermore, since I didn't like the idea of attaching the planks with pins, I decided to try attaching the planks with CA glue. I hoped the strength of the CA glue would be sufficient to hold the planks in place in spite of the necessary bends and twists. Generally this has worked out, but in hindsight I should have been more patient. For the garboard plank, I should have soaked it, clamped it in place, and let it dry, then glued it instead of gluing it while fighting its resistance to bend. Here I am doing what I should have done from the start: letting a wet plank dry into the proper shape unglued. Then I will glue it later.

Hi, Dave. I started working on the same kit just a few days ago. Like you, I'm a beginner when it comes to ship modeling, but perhaps we can help each other with the peculiarities of this kit. Welcome to MSW.

Thanks, rony. I think I have read through your build log for this model a dozen times already.

With the subdeck glued in place and the glue given a day to dry, the ship is now strong enough to tolerate some rough handling. It's time to file the edges of the bulkheads down to shape. I was somewhat anxious about this step. The kit-supplied filler blocks at the bow made it a little easier to work in that area. After that, I worked from bow to stern. The middle bulkheads, as expected, required very little attention. I did sand off the layer of laser-burned wood, as I remember reading that glue will not stick well to the burned surface. The stern area was the hardest. It was difficult to figure out exactly what the right shape should be. I used a strip of planking as a batten to test how the planks would lay on the bulkheads, but I'm still not completely confident about the correct shape in the stern. Even though the deadwood area is rather small, I spent some time creating a taper. The instructions call for the deck planking to be laid down next. However, I anticipate a lot of rough handling during the hull planking, so I think I'm going to work on the hull planking first.

Thanks, aviaamator. I'll give it some thought.

Thank you all for the warm welcome.

Very short log entry today. I glued the subdeck onto the bulkheads. Initially I was concerned about how I would get it lined up, but once I put the dowels for the masts in place, it was very close and only required a small adjustment to get perfectly centered.

I see. As far as I can tell, the kit is intentionally designed with the top of the bulkheads being flat, not curved. Also, there is no step in the instructions to cut out scuppers. I think this was a deliberate decision of the designers to simplify the kit. At my skill level, I don't know if I can handle making this kind of change. It would require bending the subdeck in two directions, into a saddle shape. I think that would be very difficult. I guess another option would be to lay gradually thinner deck planks on to the subdeck. However, the kit-supplied deck planks are already very thin (.5 mm) so I don't see that working without acquiring some additional wood.

The directions were very unclear about the precise shape of the combined pieces which will go at the stern under the transom. The directions say to file / sand a curve into the piece. In the insert on the picture below, you can see the piece as it appears on the 1:1 plans. The flat edge to the right, above the curve, measures 10mm. You can see how I tried to shape my piece to match. However, while test-fitting it, I could see that the upper part of the sternpost would not fit properly. I checked through several build logs for pictures of the same piece, and they confirmed my suspicions that it wasn't right. I needed to remove more material, making a shallower curve that would allow room for the top of the sternpost. After test-fitting it, it looked a lot better. Next I cut out and test-fitted the knighthead pieces. It was clear the these would be trimmed during the fairing of the hull, so I preemptively sanded off a little material. The knighthead pieces were glued into place. And the pieces under the transom were glued into place as well. And everything is square and ready to accept the subdeck. I am debating whether or not to add some filler blocks at the stern to help establish the form of the hull in that area. I'm quite anxious about the fairing and planking of the hull, so I want to do whatever I can to make that go as well as possible.

The bulkheads were glued in, making sure they were square to the false keel. Next are the two pieces which form the area at the stern under the transom. The first is the final bulkhead piece which will sit at an angle when attached, unlike the other bulkhead pieces that are vertical. I marked a line at the point where the deck will sit on this piece. Then I filed a bevel into this piece so that the deck can lay flat on it. The next piece is to be glued to the first and will be shaped with a curve below. It was not immediately clear how the two pieces should be glued together. The deck needs to touch both pieces, so it looked like the second piece would also need to be filed down. However, if the two pieces are glued together with their side contours matching up, the second piece will sit too low to touch the deck. I checked other build logs of this ship, and it looks like the correct action is to glue the piece a little higher so that it will fully touch the deck. Even though the outer curves of the pieces will not match, I think they will get smoothed together during the fairing step. Here are the two pieces glued together. And a shot of everything waiting for the glue to dry.

Thanks, Bob. I was careful to check that the tops of the bulkheads were flush with the top of the false keel before gluing them in. As for nomenclature, I definitely have a lot to learn, and I hope everyone will be tolerant of any mistakes I make. To add to the confusion, I wonder if the English translations of the ship parts in the kit manual are not always accurate. For example, there are parts identified in the manual as "rubbing strakes", but I thought the correct term is "wales". Or maybe I'm the one who's mistaken. Or maybe both are correct. As I said, I have a lot to learn, but that's part of the fun, isn't it?

aviaamator, what specifically should I be looking out for? The deck does have a curve, but it's not a strong curve.

False keel and bulkheads are cut out. I did a quick test fit to see what it would look like, including the masts. I noticed that the forward-most bulkhead extends below the false keel, which I thought might be a problem. Later, looking at it again, I realized that the back of the bulkhead just touches the edge of the false keel and that the front part that sticks out will be filed off when fairing the bulkheads. So it isn't a problem after all, as far as I can tell. The planking tutorials I've read make much of carving out the deadwood area in the stern. However, for this model the deadwood area is really small. Even so, I think I will make the effort. If I don't, the thickness of the false keel plus the two planks on either side will be quite a bit larger than the thickness of the keel and sternpost. Next I'll make sure the bulkheads fit in squarely and glue them in.

Here we go. The Virginia 1819 from Artesania Latina. I chose this one because it seemed like a good kit for a beginner. This first post is just a little overview and my first impressions of the kit. Here are a few shots of the components. I like how the small wood and metal pieces come in a nice plastic box, rather than in bags. The planks are... not exactly what I expected. The planks for the first planking are thicker than what I was expecting, while the planks for the second layer are really thin. It seems like bending the first layer of planks will be a challenge, and I think I'll have lots of questions when I get to that point. I already spotted a few minor typos in the instructions, but the most noticeable problem is this messed up rigging diagram in the fold-out plans. Fortunately, I found that the copy of this sheet available for download from Artesania Latina's website doesn't have this issue. I checked through the parts list and most everything was clear, with the exception of the apple wood and mahogany wood pieces. These came in several strips with very slightly different dimensions between them. It took a little while to sort out which was which. I made some labels so I would be able to identify them later. That's it for now. I hope to get the actual building started tomorrow.

Hi, Peter here. Some 30 years ago, I completed the only ship model I have ever built: the yacht America from Scientific models. It has been displayed over the fireplace in every place I've lived. Recently, while shifting the model aside to make room for holiday decorations, I mentioned to my wife that I've always wanted thought about building another ship model. She wisely pointed out that, as an adult who can do what I like, there is nothing stopping me. So here I am. I've been reading lots of tutorials and build logs, but I'm sure I will still have lots of questions. I plan to start work on my new kit this weekend, the Virginia 1819 from Artesania Latina.