Tim Moore

The bulk of the bounty up to the masts and rigging stage is now done, except for the launch and jolly boat which are to be stacked on the deck. Building the mini model of the launch. Only enough 1.5mm basswood in the kit for planking one side so I'm using 1mm material below the top plank, since there's lots of that left. The plans call for only planking one side of the launch, same as the bounty herself, but I'm not doing that. I placed the stem and keel first before planking, same as the ship, since I prefer that approach.

Bit of a holiday from the Bounty - just got back from the sublime South Pacific, specifically the Cook Islands where ironically this ship visited. They even had a 'Bounty Bookstore' on Rarotonga which I visited. The beachfront at our tropical paradise from the reef, we were living at the white dot in the centre. Ok I digress but you'd understand if you knew the Toronto winter we've been enduring. Back at it in the studio.....finished up the cannon and some assorted deck rigging...

Hello Tollyman hope life is good out there on the Island! Good questions, I think we all eventually do what works for us given our own patience, skill and available time. This is what I do: Plank gluing: CA is sometimes capricious for me. I used CA medium exclusively on a double planked mahogany runabout hull and works well if you are careful to use very sparingly and hold firmly for about 15 seconds. Doesn't always hold in practice in my experience. I actually prefer wood glue with a high initial tack for all applications wherever possible. Very reliable and forgiving. My best authentic work has been when I pre-drill using a 1/32 bit, apply wood glue and pin planks to the ribs or bulkheads using a very small pin hammer. Of course you'd probably only do this if you want to make nailing visible for authenticity. Plank bending: have tried various techniques, now just use a plywood shape which approximates a good general bend, use a small steamer and pre bend several planks at once and clamp to the plywood form. When dry, fit, trim and place on the hull. I've found most plank breaking during bending is due to angle of grain in the plank, so I use straight grain planks for critical bends. Plank cutting: I roughly trim overhanging planks with an ultra thin razor saw ($10 from lee valley), sand to within about 1/16 along the form of the stern using my dremel 8050, and then block sand using fine sandpaper to perfection. Keel gluing: I don't think it's critical one way or the other. Most models will be a full hull anyway. Yours can be done in two pieces which is easier to do given you can pin the half down firmly and flat on your worktable and plank away. If it's fixed down warpage shouldn't be an issue. If it was me, I would probably do some of the planking by halves, then glue and clamp the two parts together and finish off the more bendy planks to make sure the ends line up on the bow. Another related question is whether to install the finish keel and stem before or after planking. I do it before and then plank up to the finished keel and stem, because I find it easier to get a more perfect final fit. Hull filling: for under planking I use whatever works, it's just creating a form. On single or outer planking I have never used anything like compound. I try to fit the planks to the best of my ability (back sanding the edges before fitting planks etc), and use a tinted woodfiller for any less than perfect spots before block sanding. Deck planking: I always use the high initial tack wood glue for this. Its a great hobby. Tim

Hello Gren from cold and snowy Toronto , welcome to the wood ship model community. I'm currently building the AL Bounty and have a build summary going. I'm at 350 on the parts list, perhaps similar to where you are at. Happy to share any thoughts if I can be of any help. Tim

I've now been using the 8050 micro for about a month, replacing my old corded and flex shaft models. Haven't experienced any major problems with it as far as ship modelling uses. I'm now using it all the time - does everything and ive found it very light and agile to use. Battery seems to run forever. I also bought the 4486 chuck which lets you install anything from all their tooling bits to micro drills, much better than dealing with all those collet things for me. The only possible practical drawback I've found so far might be the size of the chuck when drilling in situ in tight spaces on the ship, as Wefalck pointed out.

Steady progress with the deck and hull apparatus - just the cannon, anchor and associated rigging to go and then I'll start the two launches. Have done a capital job of sanding the flesh off the ends of my thumb and two working fingers in the process. Think I need to look into a small hobby sized belt sander perhaps? Not sure what is available or if anyone has a favourite tool of this sort they could point me to. Temporarily evicted from the studio I share with my spouse while she has a pottery show going on. - should get back in there Friday.

My wife did a lot of oxy acetylene welding and had this, about 40 years old. Not sure of the chemistry but here is a shot of the label.

Making my way through all the deck apparatus, windlass, gratings, companionway covers, pinracks and such.....the plans are actually very good, a few mistakes on the AL parts list but generally easy to sort things out. The gun blue solution works really well on the small brass fittings - just a few seconds and the eye bolts and rings get a nice black patina.

Thanks Johnothan...just read through that archaeology link. Gives me an idea to perhaps copper the one full side of planking, to be representative of the actual ship, and leave the other open side planks exposed. Will have to source some copper strips and compatible nails at the correct scale though. Worth investigating. If you have any questions about any parts whenever you begin building I'd be happy to pass on anything I learn during my build.

Happy holidays to everyone! Bounty progress: hull now finished with two coats helmsman satin spar varnish, may do one more final finish coat later on. Finished the rudder, stern and bow trims. I'm turning most of the brass to iron colour using either a gun blue solution or a gunmetal paint. Not sure whether to paint any of the trim the yellow ochre - may leave it as a black/oiled wood colour scheme.

Just to reaffirm what others have said on this topic - I recently replaced my flex shaft dremel with the dremel 8050 N/18 micro and a 4486 keyless chuck on Amazon. Far better, smoother and more controllable than the awkward flex shaft and other older corded unit I have. The 4486 is a really useful add on to me as it holds anything from micro drills to all the other tool bits.

I just renovated my 18 x 20 workshop and redid the lighting. It's now far better than anything I previously had. I have 8 - 7w LED in a track configuration for general overhead illumination. Lights the room efficiently. Directly over my work areas, on a separate switch, I have 3 sets of 2- 32w 4100k fluorescent task lights. tim

And amazingly the missing nails just arrived in the post - so now I can get cracking on this - go back and nail all the remaining planks, block sand and put the final finish on the hull. I'll post a pic when I have that all done and am ready to proceed with the deck furniture and other superstructure.

Wood conditioner is advertised to even out the absorption properties of wood before you apply a stain. You brush it on, wait about 15 min and then apply stain. Basswood is very soft so can look blotchy (aka pretty horrible) when stained. The challenge I had in this case was to make three types of wood (walnut, sapelia and basswood) look somewhat consistent under an ebony stain. I managed to get it to where I wanted it to look by brushing on another coat of stain, waiting 15 minutes and then gently rubbing it down with a rag with semi dry stain on it. That worked for me. Ill probably use the conditioner again now that I have the tin anyway, since it may have a marginal benefit. One thing I noticed in my case is it seems effective on some planks but not so well on others where there was a stronger or unusual grain pattern. Which is what I thought the point of it was.

Brick red interior with ebony stain on the woodwork. Hasn't yet got its final finish, which will darken everything a bit more. Used a minwax wood conditioner before staining the upper basswood portions. Made bugger all difference that I could see, as compared to the raw test strips I did. Up close, stain has a kind of rough hewn appearance as compared to say black paint that I like. Couple of the illustrations I'm using as a general guide to what the Bounty coloration may have been like.

Hi - I'm sure there are many different finishes that work well. On my most recent model I got a little obsessed about getting the finish just right, because it was a major part of the type of boat I was building (a mahogany runabout). I followed the advice from the genius builder/owner at legend model boats and used helmsman spar varnish in satin for the final finish. About 4 coats with 400 sandpaper between coats, and then a final buffing. I was pleased with the result and will probably use again. Not sure anything repels dust though!

Thanks Glenn. Yes it is actually a lot of boat given the cost of the kit. Lot of potential for customizing the interior too if you're so inclined. Its a single plank on open frame.

Side strakes etc all finished, just pondering the paint job again. Always a bit hesitant to cover up nice woodwork with paint, but I think I'll give it a go.

Bob - I picked up the babe bot glue dispenser at Lee Valley tools in Toronto.

Hey thanks - I could really use that icraruler and will pick one up next trip to lee valley, and I'll check out the veritas as well while I'm there. I haven't really found good clamps yet and could really use some better ones. I have lots of the plastic spring loaded jobs and a couple of others, but if anybody has a proven favourite for precision holds I'd be interested to hear. Tim

4 basic tools that I've found to be the most valuable in my model boat building. From left to right: 1. Ultra thin razor saw 2. Razor blade holder used for cutting fur - cuts like a laser, perfect for cutting thread and fine wood trimming. 3. Wood glue dispenser with micro nozzles. never clogs, reliably dispenses tiny controlled drops 4. small files of various sorts

Beautiful work Peter. Museum quality craftsmanship.

Installation of the stern timbers and waterway isn't illustrated very well on the plans but is explained somewhat in the text. I drilled the base of the timbers and inserted a small chunk of dowel to act as a tenon to fix them into the deck, and then reinforced with the waterway both sides and between. This should give them enough rigidity to build up the upper planking at the proper angle while staying true. Found three separate historical paintings of the bounty that appear pretty consistent, so I'm going to proceed according to those in terms of my colour scheme.

Thanks Wallace... the rowboat from Spain with the missing nails must be running into trouble, so I've decided to just get on with it using krazy glue instead of my preferred white glue and nail method. finished the planking, did a little more planking on the 'open' side than the plans suggests, because it looked a little arbitrary and unfinished to me. The frames are painted white for contrast to make the interior structure a little more visible. Just finishing the wales, which I've stained ebony. When the nails eventually arrive (he says, hopefully) I'll go back and install them and sand and finish the hull. In the meantime I'll proceed with the bulwarks etc. Pondering what to do for painting, I'm presently leaning towards leaving the natural walnut below as it's pretty dark when varnished, ebony stained trim, natural basswood or light stain on the upper with red interior bulwarks perhaps. Going to be a decent sized model.

Got it through Amazon...."smart living steam jr."