hamilton

Yikes!! I didn't realise there was demand....don't you have enough to occupy you with your Berlin, Ferit? But I promise I won't leave you waiting for long....I'm waiting to resolve a question around the finishing of the hull and then I will reveal the results....In the meantime, keel planking plus deck planking will keep me occupied....photos soon I promise hamilton

Oh happy day! The hull planking is complete! Feeling good about it - no pictures to show yet - still have the keel, stem & sternpost to plank up and the finishing to do before I update....but the hard part is over....and it's looking.....well, not bad...phew! hamilton

Hello there: I should probably know the answer to this question - so sorry in advance for block-headedness....but.... I posted a question here earlier about how to prevent bleeding between the above-waterline section of the hull on my HMS Blandford (stained) and the below waterlne section (painted tallow). I got a great description of a process from Randy (RNBrook). There he suggested that I first apply stain, then coat with a few coats of polyurethane, allowing this to dry thoroughly. Then sand with 320 grit paper. Then apply paint. Sounds good to me and this is the way I would like to go. Here's my question - the paints I use are Golden artist paints (acrylic), while the stain is (obviously) oil based....so - do I use an acrylic or an oil-based poly? I'm assuming acrylic (for the sake of the paint) but will this have any adverse effects on the finish of the stained sections? Again, I feel myself getting dumber even thinking about this question, but if anyone could set me straight I promise to be more thoughtful in the future! Thanks, hamilton

Looking great, Augie - I like the natural wood finish on the spars - a nice choice, which I might imitate myself when I get to the Syren (in about a year's time!)... hamilton

Hello Ferit: The stern looks excellent! Someone (I'm sorry but I forget who it was) complimented you on the addition of the port lid rigging - looking at your stern, I almost feel that if I gave a little tug to the line, the gun port would open, and I would find a fully rigged canon behind it! Even if it's not really there, the detail you provide certainly provokes the imagination! hamilton

Thanks Randy and Nigel - looks like the consensus is in! And thanks Nigel for the detailed description of your process....very helpful! I'll post a photo of the results in my log once it's all done hamilton

Hi there: I'm currently working on Corel's HMS Greyhound, which I'm building as HMS Blandford, following the basic external configuration, fittings & rig outlined in Goodwin's Anatomy of the Ship Blandford. On this build, the hull will be painted below the waterline and finished with Golden Oak stain (apart from the wales, which are black) above the waterline. Second planking began with the double wales and filling strake, then above the wales and now the lower hull. The waterline runs immediately below the wales at mid-ships, but there are sections of "exposed" planking at both bow and stern, where the planks rise above the waterline. I want to finish these areas with a clean line, obviously, but I'm not sure which of the following methods will reduce the chance of bleeding (or whether it matters at all): 1. Mask the waterline (below) and stain the portions of planking at bow and stern and then re-mask and paint the lower hull 2. Mast at the waterline (above) and paint the lower hull, then remask and stain the exposed portions... Maybe this doesn't matter at all and I'm overthinking....Any help at all will be much appreciated! Thanks in advance! hamilton

Alright, then - I thought I'd just give a brief update on the (rather slim) progress on the second planking. I spent a quiet afternoon yesterday touching up the paint on the gunport linings, sweep ports and wales. Not a lot done. Today I lined off the lower hull and managed to get "Band A" on the starboard side planked - using 1mm x 3mm lime. Eventually, this will be painted white below the waterline and stained at bow & stern where the planking rises above the waterline. Band "A" required 2 dropped planks - not the most sightly, nor perhaps strictly speaking correct. But so far so good. Here are a couple of shots to whet the appetite. I will probably hold off on further updates until the lower planking is completed and finished up...Until then.... hamilton

Thanks Mark - for the compliment and the links! hamilton

Of course you're right!! I had forgotten....It's been a year - long enough for me to bury that particular trauma quite deep - thanks for dredging it up again!! And thanks for the kind words. hamilton

I guess it's one of those expressions that never entirely caught on in the colonies (at least not here in the frigid north - or at least not in my day). Didn't I read it in a Rudyard Kipling novel? It means go slow and carefully and achieve your ends....not my strong suit I'm afraid! hamilton

Beautiful work! hamilton

Beautiful work! The scratched gun port lids are a great addition - I'm amazed at the detail you were able to add here. hamilton

PS - your kevels are a marked improvement over the metal ones supplied with the kit! hamilton

Ferit: Please - I'm blushing!! If there is any "incompetence" in your build, you've done an expert's work at covering it up! All I can see is nice, clean and well-detailed craftsmanship! hamilton

Hi Richard Wonderful work - I love the detail you've added - it really brings the model to life! hamilton

Very nice work on a really beautiful ship! I feel like your pics sell this kit much more than the promo shots I've seen from Corel! hamilton

Beautiful planking! hamilton

Thank you Ferit - this is high praise coming from a master such as yourself! If my results are even half as clean as what you've done with the Berlin, I will be more than satisfied! hamilton

Good to hear from you Harlequin! We should arrange a side-by-side photo-log of our two builds once mine's done - it would be interesting to see how they stand up - we'll have to make up a list of perspectives so we can each replicate similar shots for comparison - not a quality comparison, clearly, since I cannot hope to match your beautiful work on the Greyhound! hamilton

Thanks BE - again, I wish I had both the time and the patience to follow through on your earlier suggestion! But I will live with these results. I was trying to picture her with the lower hull planked and the channels & chainplates on - this will soften some of that high contrast - as will the rails and mouldings once they're on....next time I'll wait a bit longer to read all the responses before moving on! hamilton

Nice work Harlequin - I still can't believe you're already into the planking! Very gratifying to watch this build take shape. hamilton

Hello Augie, J and BE Thanks for your words of encouragement and advice! BE - I just read your response now after spending the day re-doing my bulwark planking (see photos below). In retrospect, this solution makes sense....I had a feeling very early on that I may have been positioning the sweep ports too low....but I didn't listen to myself then, as I should have.... I could certainly have stripped the wales and re-positioned them - and probably this would have been the best solution - either re-positioning and cutting the the sweep ports or omitting this detail....I had considered this, but went for what was "easiest" rather than what may have been "best". I installed a plank along the bottom edge of the gun ports to establish the run of the strakes and then planked up and down from there, spiling the last two planks to fit along the wales-as-fitted.....others may disagree, but I can live with the results.... Anyway, thanks all once again! Here are some photos of the results (I've only completed the starboard side....). I re-planked, up to the top of the gun ports in the waist and then down to the wales. I then stained this section of bulwark planking with Golden Oak. After it had dried, I touched up along the wales and then planked the remaining upper section of the bulwarks, masked it off and painted it blue at quarterdeck and forecastle. These blue sections will be further segmented with 1mm x 1mm extensions from the rails (later).... Anyway - enjoy! hamilton The patchy look of the paint at stern in the last photo is a function of the glare of sunlight - it doesn't really look that bad!

Hello.... Did you ever have one of those days when you probably should never have sat down at the workbench? I had one tonight! I'd been looking forward all day to starting in on the bulwark planking, though as I mentioned in my last update I thought I might have difficulties here - that is an understatement!! I completed the wales last night and as I mentioned previously, I'd tried to keep a distinctive sweep to the run of the wales without edge bending them beyond recognition. When I was laying on the wales I noticed an error that I'm not sure how I could have avoided making.....The sweep ports are about 3-5 mm too low.....Thus, the wales are too low. The upper wale should meet the same point as the top of the counter at the stern - to make it rest even half way up the counter (and thus not have the wales bending under it) I had to put quite a sweep into it - and thus into the wales overall. This sweep doesn't look too exaggerated in the photos, and it isn't really. But you can see that it puts the run of the wales off from the lower edge of the gunports (they should be not exactly parallel, but very close, judging by Goodwin's book). This would not have been an issue if the sweeps were a little bit higher up the hull....As it is, however, they are not, and it is impossible for me to correct them at this point. So having the sweeps too low means having the wales to low and having them make a much more dramatic run then they otherwise would (or should). But this also means that the bulwark planking will be especially tricky, and it certainly proved to be so today when I came to it after putting our son to bed.... I thought of three possibilities for attacking the job: 1. Just lay the bulwark strakes along the same trajectory as the wales - however, this would have resulted in some bizarre edge bending and would have looked very weird. 2. Start by laying the strake that runs immediately below the gun ports, so as to define the run of the strakes according to the gentle curve of the bottom edges of the ports. Then plank downwards and spile the last couple of strakes to conform to the sweep of the wales - this is what I SHOULD have done, though not, as it turns out, what I did....though I will be doing this tomorrow 3. Spile a short plank to fit against the upper wales and then just fill upwards like filling a bowl with water. This is what I did tonight, with grievous results. After I had laid 4 strakes (and finally got out of the well created by the wales) things looked good at the bow, but at the stern I noticed that the planks were actually tending downward and not sweeping upward as they should be....This was the result of a cumulative error in my spiling of the planks at stern which led to a miscalculation of the length of these lower strakes at that point.....fortunately I just did the starboard side.... So, long and short? Seeing how horrible it looked, I ripped the planks off (leaving the starboard side rather scarred) and will smooth it out and start again tomorrow.....Here are a few photos - a couple of the completed double wales (which I'm very happy with) and a couple of the scarred outboard bulwarks.... Tired and morose hamiton

Thanks Augie. I used a very soft old t-shirt to lightly wipe it on. Hopefully the bulwarks will look as nice when they're done....but that is the matter of my next post.... hamilton