AndyMech

After much thought and work, I finally created the top rail and have glued it into place.  I struggled a lot trying to figure out how carve a curved piece that matched the tops of the stanchions all around the hull.
 
Here's what I finally came up with.  I took the lid off a plastic grocery container - the kind that nuts or candies are sold in.  These are rigid, clear pieces of plastic that I could place that on top of the stanchions, and mark the position of each one with a blue sharpie.
 

 
At each position, I drilled a hole in the plastic, large enough to push a pin through.  I would place the plastic on a sheet of white paper and create a small hole at each position by sticking a pin through.  This left a series of dots on the paper that matched the top of each stanchion.  I would then mark the width at each dot, and cut out the paper:
 

 
I placed the paper template on the piece of 1/2" by 1/32" wood, trace out the shape and then cut it out carefully using a hobby knife.  After sanding to get back to the proper width, making sure the stanchions were centered created the top rail pieces.
 
I did 3 pieces per side, each one as long as I could make it given the curve of the piece and the width of the wood.  I struggled with the scarf joints there the pieces come together.  One of them I had to patch with some scrap.
 
Here's the resulting rail:
 

 

 
The stern piece was created the same way, and I manually shaped the bow:
 

 

 
Next, I plan to plank the transom and then stain the lot with a Minwax mahogany stain.
 
Andy.

Thanks for all the comments - much appreciated.
 
I did some work on the transom yesterday - simple planking up to the newly-installed top rail.
 
Before, you can see a shim on the far right - I had to shim and otherwise adjust a number of the stanchions to level out the rail:
 

 
After:
 

 
Then I stained the upper transom and the top rail with Minwax's Mahogany Red:
 

 

 
Next up will be the planking of the bulwarks.  Question:  For anyone who's done this model before, here's the instructions on the bulwark planking:
 

 
The kit doesn't seem to come with a plank the size of 3/64" x 1/32".  I've checked the manifest of the plank sizes.  What did you do for this plank, and the inboard one as well?  Should I try to cut a larger plank down to this size?
 
Andy.
 
 

Thanks for all the comments - much appreciated.
 
I did some work on the transom yesterday - simple planking up to the newly-installed top rail.
 
Before, you can see a shim on the far right - I had to shim and otherwise adjust a number of the stanchions to level out the rail:
 

 
After:
 

 
Then I stained the upper transom and the top rail with Minwax's Mahogany Red:
 

 

 
Next up will be the planking of the bulwarks.  Question:  For anyone who's done this model before, here's the instructions on the bulwark planking:
 

 
The kit doesn't seem to come with a plank the size of 3/64" x 1/32".  I've checked the manifest of the plank sizes.  What did you do for this plank, and the inboard one as well?  Should I try to cut a larger plank down to this size?
 
Andy.
 
 

After much thought and work, I finally created the top rail and have glued it into place.  I struggled a lot trying to figure out how carve a curved piece that matched the tops of the stanchions all around the hull.
 
Here's what I finally came up with.  I took the lid off a plastic grocery container - the kind that nuts or candies are sold in.  These are rigid, clear pieces of plastic that I could place that on top of the stanchions, and mark the position of each one with a blue sharpie.
 

 
At each position, I drilled a hole in the plastic, large enough to push a pin through.  I would place the plastic on a sheet of white paper and create a small hole at each position by sticking a pin through.  This left a series of dots on the paper that matched the top of each stanchion.  I would then mark the width at each dot, and cut out the paper:
 

 
I placed the paper template on the piece of 1/2" by 1/32" wood, trace out the shape and then cut it out carefully using a hobby knife.  After sanding to get back to the proper width, making sure the stanchions were centered created the top rail pieces.
 
I did 3 pieces per side, each one as long as I could make it given the curve of the piece and the width of the wood.  I struggled with the scarf joints there the pieces come together.  One of them I had to patch with some scrap.
 
Here's the resulting rail:
 

 

 
The stern piece was created the same way, and I manually shaped the bow:
 

 

 
Next, I plan to plank the transom and then stain the lot with a Minwax mahogany stain.
 
Andy.

Well, I fixed the orientation of the stanchions.  As should have been obvious, they flair outboard:
 

 

 
I also spent a fair amount of time creating and installing the hawse timbers.  I created them out of 3/16" square stock from the kit.  First, making the lower piece, then the upper.  Since it wasn't tall enough, I added a third little "cap" on top to make the height good for the top rail:
 

 
I scraped off the paint at the bow where they'll go:
 

 
And, finally glued them in place.  I'll wait for the glue to fully dry before attempting to drill the hawse pipes.
 

 

 
Andy.

After much thought and work, I finally created the top rail and have glued it into place.  I struggled a lot trying to figure out how carve a curved piece that matched the tops of the stanchions all around the hull.
 
Here's what I finally came up with.  I took the lid off a plastic grocery container - the kind that nuts or candies are sold in.  These are rigid, clear pieces of plastic that I could place that on top of the stanchions, and mark the position of each one with a blue sharpie.
 

 
At each position, I drilled a hole in the plastic, large enough to push a pin through.  I would place the plastic on a sheet of white paper and create a small hole at each position by sticking a pin through.  This left a series of dots on the paper that matched the top of each stanchion.  I would then mark the width at each dot, and cut out the paper:
 

 
I placed the paper template on the piece of 1/2" by 1/32" wood, trace out the shape and then cut it out carefully using a hobby knife.  After sanding to get back to the proper width, making sure the stanchions were centered created the top rail pieces.
 
I did 3 pieces per side, each one as long as I could make it given the curve of the piece and the width of the wood.  I struggled with the scarf joints there the pieces come together.  One of them I had to patch with some scrap.
 
Here's the resulting rail:
 

 

 
The stern piece was created the same way, and I manually shaped the bow:
 

 

 
Next, I plan to plank the transom and then stain the lot with a Minwax mahogany stain.
 
Andy.

Well, I fixed the orientation of the stanchions.  As should have been obvious, they flair outboard:
 

 

 
I also spent a fair amount of time creating and installing the hawse timbers.  I created them out of 3/16" square stock from the kit.  First, making the lower piece, then the upper.  Since it wasn't tall enough, I added a third little "cap" on top to make the height good for the top rail:
 

 
I scraped off the paint at the bow where they'll go:
 

 
And, finally glued them in place.  I'll wait for the glue to fully dry before attempting to drill the hawse pipes.
 

 

 
Andy.

After much thought and work, I finally created the top rail and have glued it into place.  I struggled a lot trying to figure out how carve a curved piece that matched the tops of the stanchions all around the hull.
 
Here's what I finally came up with.  I took the lid off a plastic grocery container - the kind that nuts or candies are sold in.  These are rigid, clear pieces of plastic that I could place that on top of the stanchions, and mark the position of each one with a blue sharpie.
 

 
At each position, I drilled a hole in the plastic, large enough to push a pin through.  I would place the plastic on a sheet of white paper and create a small hole at each position by sticking a pin through.  This left a series of dots on the paper that matched the top of each stanchion.  I would then mark the width at each dot, and cut out the paper:
 

 
I placed the paper template on the piece of 1/2" by 1/32" wood, trace out the shape and then cut it out carefully using a hobby knife.  After sanding to get back to the proper width, making sure the stanchions were centered created the top rail pieces.
 
I did 3 pieces per side, each one as long as I could make it given the curve of the piece and the width of the wood.  I struggled with the scarf joints there the pieces come together.  One of them I had to patch with some scrap.
 
Here's the resulting rail:
 

 

 
The stern piece was created the same way, and I manually shaped the bow:
 

 

 
Next, I plan to plank the transom and then stain the lot with a Minwax mahogany stain.
 
Andy.

After much thought and work, I finally created the top rail and have glued it into place.  I struggled a lot trying to figure out how carve a curved piece that matched the tops of the stanchions all around the hull.
 
Here's what I finally came up with.  I took the lid off a plastic grocery container - the kind that nuts or candies are sold in.  These are rigid, clear pieces of plastic that I could place that on top of the stanchions, and mark the position of each one with a blue sharpie.
 

 
At each position, I drilled a hole in the plastic, large enough to push a pin through.  I would place the plastic on a sheet of white paper and create a small hole at each position by sticking a pin through.  This left a series of dots on the paper that matched the top of each stanchion.  I would then mark the width at each dot, and cut out the paper:
 

 
I placed the paper template on the piece of 1/2" by 1/32" wood, trace out the shape and then cut it out carefully using a hobby knife.  After sanding to get back to the proper width, making sure the stanchions were centered created the top rail pieces.
 
I did 3 pieces per side, each one as long as I could make it given the curve of the piece and the width of the wood.  I struggled with the scarf joints there the pieces come together.  One of them I had to patch with some scrap.
 
Here's the resulting rail:
 

 

 
The stern piece was created the same way, and I manually shaped the bow:
 

 

 
Next, I plan to plank the transom and then stain the lot with a Minwax mahogany stain.
 
Andy.

Well, I fixed the orientation of the stanchions.  As should have been obvious, they flair outboard:
 

 

 
I also spent a fair amount of time creating and installing the hawse timbers.  I created them out of 3/16" square stock from the kit.  First, making the lower piece, then the upper.  Since it wasn't tall enough, I added a third little "cap" on top to make the height good for the top rail:
 

 
I scraped off the paint at the bow where they'll go:
 

 
And, finally glued them in place.  I'll wait for the glue to fully dry before attempting to drill the hawse pipes.
 

 

 
Andy.

Well, I fixed the orientation of the stanchions.  As should have been obvious, they flair outboard:
 

 

 
I also spent a fair amount of time creating and installing the hawse timbers.  I created them out of 3/16" square stock from the kit.  First, making the lower piece, then the upper.  Since it wasn't tall enough, I added a third little "cap" on top to make the height good for the top rail:
 

 
I scraped off the paint at the bow where they'll go:
 

 
And, finally glued them in place.  I'll wait for the glue to fully dry before attempting to drill the hawse pipes.
 

 

 
Andy.

Well, I fixed the orientation of the stanchions.  As should have been obvious, they flair outboard:
 

 

 
I also spent a fair amount of time creating and installing the hawse timbers.  I created them out of 3/16" square stock from the kit.  First, making the lower piece, then the upper.  Since it wasn't tall enough, I added a third little "cap" on top to make the height good for the top rail:
 

 
I scraped off the paint at the bow where they'll go:
 

 
And, finally glued them in place.  I'll wait for the glue to fully dry before attempting to drill the hawse pipes.
 

 

 
Andy.

Well, I fixed the orientation of the stanchions.  As should have been obvious, they flair outboard:
 

 

 
I also spent a fair amount of time creating and installing the hawse timbers.  I created them out of 3/16" square stock from the kit.  First, making the lower piece, then the upper.  Since it wasn't tall enough, I added a third little "cap" on top to make the height good for the top rail:
 

 
I scraped off the paint at the bow where they'll go:
 

 
And, finally glued them in place.  I'll wait for the glue to fully dry before attempting to drill the hawse pipes.
 

 

 
Andy.

Well, I fixed the orientation of the stanchions.  As should have been obvious, they flair outboard:
 

 

 
I also spent a fair amount of time creating and installing the hawse timbers.  I created them out of 3/16" square stock from the kit.  First, making the lower piece, then the upper.  Since it wasn't tall enough, I added a third little "cap" on top to make the height good for the top rail:
 

 
I scraped off the paint at the bow where they'll go:
 

 
And, finally glued them in place.  I'll wait for the glue to fully dry before attempting to drill the hawse pipes.
 

 

 
Andy.

Thanks for the feedback.  I got a couple of small things accomplished recently.
 
First, I blackened 4 of the small brass eyebolts.  I had used blackening on my previous build with pretty terrible results and I ended up painting the metal black.  This time, it worked so much better.  I used a 2-part water, 1 part Novacan black patina.  Since I was doing only 4 eyebolts, I used 2ml water, 1ml solution.  Before dropping the bolts into the blackening solution, I soaked them in white vinegar and brushed them clean with a toothbrush.
 
The results were great.  The brass blacken to nice dark black in 45 seconds or so.
 
I used CA to glue 2 to the inner knees and 2 to the inside of the outer ones (thanks to jcoby for the tip - these bolts aren't referenced until later in the built, but installing them now is easy since the knees are not yet planked.
 

 

 
Finally, I made some progress in the gluing the railing stanchions.  I cut stiff paper guide, put a pencil mark at 11/32 height (the height of the 5 planks, plus an under-rail plank), and used that to align the stanchions.  I'll do a few at a time, let the glue dry and if I need to adjust, I can inject a little water in there to soften the glue.
 

 
Andy

Thanks for the feedback.  I got a couple of small things accomplished recently.
 
First, I blackened 4 of the small brass eyebolts.  I had used blackening on my previous build with pretty terrible results and I ended up painting the metal black.  This time, it worked so much better.  I used a 2-part water, 1 part Novacan black patina.  Since I was doing only 4 eyebolts, I used 2ml water, 1ml solution.  Before dropping the bolts into the blackening solution, I soaked them in white vinegar and brushed them clean with a toothbrush.
 
The results were great.  The brass blacken to nice dark black in 45 seconds or so.
 
I used CA to glue 2 to the inner knees and 2 to the inside of the outer ones (thanks to jcoby for the tip - these bolts aren't referenced until later in the built, but installing them now is easy since the knees are not yet planked.
 

 

 
Finally, I made some progress in the gluing the railing stanchions.  I cut stiff paper guide, put a pencil mark at 11/32 height (the height of the 5 planks, plus an under-rail plank), and used that to align the stanchions.  I'll do a few at a time, let the glue dry and if I need to adjust, I can inject a little water in there to soften the glue.
 

 
Andy

Ok, next up in the build will be the bulwarks and the top rail.  The first step in that is to, I think, install the stanchions.
 
I labeled and dry-fitted the starboard stanchions to see what I was up against.  You can see in the photos that they all fit loosely into their slots in the waterways.
 

 

 
My question for folks who have done this successfully, is there a proven technique for setting all these (and there are 29 per side) straight and level?
 
Straight so the bulwarks planking has a nice even run.  Level so the top rail touches each stanchion correctly?  The instructions give a little advice (very little), but I don't trust myself to just eyeball it and get it right.
 
Help!
 
Andy.

Ok, the deck has been stained - 2 applications of Ipswitch Pine and one of wipe-on poly.  I used a small paintbrush to get into all the small areas and tried to keep the stain off the paint, mostly succeeding.
 

 


You can see in the last picture a contrast between the unfinished hull and the stained/finished deck.  I am seriously thinking of not painting the hull and staining instead.  I know it's a break from the real ship, but it's a temptation after seeing how the deck turned out.  I'll decide later.
 
Andy.

Making more progress on the nibbing of planks:
 

 
And this is how the ship stands now - planking proceeding:
 

 
Andy

A quick update on my nibbing technique and results.
 
First, I bought a set 4 diamond files from Trend.  Not as expensive as the jewelers files in the previous post, but not cheap either.  It took a week for them to arrive, so in the meantime I've been planking the inner planks between the coamings.  Not photo yet of that.
 

 
This morning, I nibbed the starboard side - here's a photo comparing the two.  I think the improvement is mostly due to practice, but confidence in the needle file can't hurt.
 

 
Planking will continue - I'll show a more complete photo of the planking in progress after the rest of today's work.
 
Andy.

I completed the center planks.  There are two wider center planks that go right down the keel, and the section near the bow are painted red.
 

 

 
I then started the regular deck planking.  I had to thin these first two planks a bit to maintain symmetry, but I think these are only ones on the whole deck that will need it.  I'll see when I get to other sections, but since I put the coamings in already, I'm planking around them.
 
My plan is to use a 3-butt shift for the planks, but since I'm going around the coamings, some of the butt ends are not possible as they lay inside the coamings.  I think I can maintain the rest of them with some careful planning.  The first butt ends are on the 4th bulwark down, so the first few planks are simpler.  I'm simulating caulking by using a pencil marking on one of the planks, as it's laid.  I do not plan on doing trenails.
 
I'm also nibbing the ends of the planks as they join the nibbling plank.  The first attempt here is poor - I don't have good files, so getting a clean angle in there is difficult.  I'll be looking on-line for a good set of needle files.  Any recommendations would be welcome. 
 
This particular one will be partially hidden by the bowsprit later, and I filled it with sawdust and glue, which should be ok once the glue dries.  But, I like to show places I'm not super happy with, to contrast with areas I think look better.  Still learning!
 

 

Well, I'm posting this on December 24 - the holiday break has allowed me the time to complete the hull planking on my Pride of Baltimore.  A Christmas gift to myself.
 
This is my first planking job for a complete hull.  I had done the hull of the Constitution cross-section, but there was no bending involved, no stern, no bow to plank.  I'm slow, the planking took me about 4 months of work (not counting the few months not working at all).  I think I sped up near the end, and improved my technique as well.
 
No sanding of any consequence has been done yet.
 
Photos:
 

 

 

 

 
Next up, I think, will be to sand the hull, then plank the counter and stern.  Honestly, I've not looked at the instructions much beyond this planking task.
 
Thanks to everyone who commented, offered advice and "liked" my work thus far.  Much appreciated.
 
Andy.

Ok, next up in the build will be the bulwarks and the top rail.  The first step in that is to, I think, install the stanchions.
 
I labeled and dry-fitted the starboard stanchions to see what I was up against.  You can see in the photos that they all fit loosely into their slots in the waterways.
 

 

 
My question for folks who have done this successfully, is there a proven technique for setting all these (and there are 29 per side) straight and level?
 
Straight so the bulwarks planking has a nice even run.  Level so the top rail touches each stanchion correctly?  The instructions give a little advice (very little), but I don't trust myself to just eyeball it and get it right.
 
Help!
 
Andy.

Final pinrails:
 

 
Next up are the ship's boats -- I've assembled and painted them as well as the 34 oars that come with the kit. The instructions say to distribute the oars among the boats -- there are 2 jolly boats, 1 cutter (Captain's cutter?) and 4 boats which are lashed to the deck. Any ideas/suggestions on typical oar distribution? Also, would it look weird to just glue the oars in place or should I attempt to lash them to the boats? 
 




 
 

The last two weekends have been spent on the outside hull - painting and coppering.
 
First: painting.  I prepped the hull with 3 coats of wipe-on-poly (WOP) sanding in between each coat with 400 grit sandpaper.  The first two coats must have soaked into the wood, as the poly was evident, but not very thick. The last coat provided the base that I expected - it was a very different feel to the wood after that one.
 
I used acrylic paint - ModelMaster Acryl (left over from my Revell Constitution), and I thinned it down quite a bit with plain water.  The plan was to put on as many thin coats as needed to get good coverage while still hoping the wood grain would show through a bit.  I did the black first, then masked it off with Tamiya tape and then painted the white.
 
Here are the results.
 

 

 
Next was the bottom of the hull - copper.  The kit provided a bunch of wood pieces that are a mottled green -  I think they are going for the weathered patina that copper will eventually take.  I wanted to practice coppering with copper tape instead.
 
First, I found some nice 3/16" wide (about 4mm) tape with adhesive backing from a local stained glass hobby shop.
 

 
I cut a whole lot of 15mm long strips from the roll and put them on one-by-one, overlapping from stern to bow, up keel to deck.  This took a lot longer than I thought it would - both the cutting and placing.  I used a pencil erasure to rub them onto the wood (at first I used a hobby knife handle, but that left a lot of creases on the tape - which are still evident on some plates near the keel).
 
After it was all done, I gave it a cleaning using lemon juice and salt - that worked really really well - removed all fingerprints and tarnish that had already started to appear and I didn't have to go out and buy a commercial polish or use acetone (which is nasty smelling).
 
(This first photo is prior to cleaning with lemon juice):

 
(This is interesting - how I secured the hull for the coppering process.  I had already installed the hammock netting, so couldn't rest the hull on the table top.  I inserted the main mast into the hull, and clamped it upside down using my keel clamp.  Worked very well - I could still rotate the hull toward me to get the angles I needed to get the tape on.)

 

 
Next up is finishing the ballast in the lower hull - painting barrels, adding rocks, etc.  Then, I think, starting on the mast and spars.
 
Andy.