dunnock

Another great model and really like the presentation. Thanks too for the clear and very helpful log David

Planking Continued I have completely run out of 4mm strip. Because I didn’t order more supplies in time, I’m running down my limited stock of 5mm and carefully trimming it to width. I used 4mm strip for the bow section and those strips beyond the middle line are joggled into the margin plank. I cut a little more out of the sub-deck at the bow to expose the end walls of the forward cabins. I made up one of the carronade beds and slide and used it to determine where the first continuous run of planks should be. At the stern I ran them inside line of the port and starboard rooms and then worked out the taper required to fill the remaining space. The taper of planks at the bow were worked out in the same way. Instead of my usual haphazard approach, I’ve worked out a layout of the outer planks by drawing them onto the back of a section of the discarded etched deck. So far planking is symmetrical so the same plan should work for both sides Hopefully this will translate into reasonable runs and no surprises with pointy planks like I suffered on Speedy. Thanks for looking in and likes and comments. David

Thanks for the compliment on the deck planking Maurice; much appreciated. And thanks for the warning about the potential for issues of thicker planking. I checked the carronades both for the width of the area to plank and for the height of the gun port sill which look fine but I didn't think to check the spirketting. Having just had a look, I think that I may need to trim 0.5mm off the spirketting which I hope won't be noticeable.

Planking the Gun Deck The tricky centre section between hatches is finished. I’m using mainly 3.5 and 4.0 x 1mm boxwood strip. I’ve already run out of 4mm strip so now I’m cutting down 5 and 6mm strip. I have also had to use some 5mm strip along the edges of the after hatches to make a fair run. The planks are all straight but I have begun to taper the last planks fitted at the stern. I used the etched deck as a pattern to mark the cut-outs and eye-bolt points. There are still some cut-outs to work on but this section is substantially finished. I now move on to the bow and stern sections before finishing with the runs up to the bulwarks, I will leave as much of the lower deck exposed as is feasible.

I've enjoyed following your build Richard and well done on your excellent Harpy From your comments, I hope that you're not closing the shipyard and have a plan for your next model. David

Good to see you again Jason and stunning work David

Thanks to all for the likes and encouraging comments. Preparation for Deck Planking I will not be using the supplied etched deck preferring the look of my own boxwood strip. Before I can begin there are a few things that need doing. First I add the inner counter and transom pieces. These required a fair bit of trimming and sanding to get them to meet closely and to fit between the two stern compartments. They were painted off model with Admiralty Paints Red Ochre. I made up the hatch coamings and gratings a while ago while I was waiting for some parts and managed to remember where I had put them. The kit pieces for the ledges are rounded. I soaked the gratings and shaped them to match the curve. The forward and main hatches will sit directly on the beams but the capstan and hatch forward of it are made to sit on the deck. I have cut a piece from 0.8mm fret and glued it to the base so that it will now sit on the beams and I can plank up to it. Others have commented (@Blue Ensign, @AON, and @Richard44) on the small forward hatch, which is either a steam grating or with cut-outs for the hawsers (or maybe both). To have the hawsers running tight against the riding bitts and immediately forward of the stove looks unusual and awkward so I have scratched another from 4x1mm pear for the coaming and some Caldercraft grating pieces. The hatches are aligned and glued in place using the etched deck. The margin planks are the first to be placed. I made them in three pieces. The forward two pieces are cut from boxwood sheet to cope with the curve at the bow and the third from 4mm stripwood. I can now move on to the main planking but I will need to order some more boxwood from Hobbymill before I can complete it. David

Coppering – Finishing Touches Thanks for the encouragement with likes and comments. Positively the final mention of coppering. I have added some boxwood trim around the waterline edge of the plates using 1mm square strip. I have thinned it back and rounded off the edges to make it less prominent and maybe I will darken it off with some stain to reduce the contrast with the pearwood. To finish the trim at that level I have also added pieces 111 and 112 between counter and tuck. A few coats of dilute matt varnish protects the wood and brings up the colour of the planking. Thanks for looking in David

Thanks very much Andrew

Thank you Maurice. That's good of you to say so. David

Coppering Completed After10 days, I have finished coppering the hull. Diana it isn’t but even so there are over 800 plates to glue in place. The final row to the waterline involved a lot of small pieces which took some time. Any ragged edges will be covered by a boxwood strip. The final piece of this 3D jigsaw is the prow. I ran the side pieces first, continuing down from the keel to the waterline. I overlapped the plates by about 1mm onto the hull and then finished with the vertical plates down the cutwater, again overlapping onto the horizontal plates by 1mm each side. While looking over my work, I noticed that some plates had lifted at the corners so I have been checking and re-glueing those that weren’t firmly stuck down. Thanks for looking in, the likes and comments. David

Thanks Theodosius that's very kind of you. I've just looked in on your Speedy and your making a great job of it - don't believe it can be your first wooden model David

Coppering Continued Just an update on progress. I’m about 2/3 of the way along and beginning to reach the waterline and the need to cut plates. I mark the line with a pencil, score several times and then bend it until it breaks along the line. Minor adjustments and smoothing the edge is done with a fine file. I continue plating towards the stem. I'll get to the same stage on the other side before going back to finishing plating at the waterline. I also have some small pieces to add at the stern David

Thank you Jeff and Bob, that's very kind of you David

I like to finish the edge with stripwood (it covers a multitude of poor cutting). On previous builds I have edged with 1mm square section boxwood. I now also have some 1.5x1mm strip so I will decide when the coppering is complete which to use. David

Many thanks Ron and Mort for your very kind comments. It's much appreciated David

Coppering the Hull The waterline is marked up based on measurements taken from the plans at stem and stern post and from lower edge the wale directly below the centre of each gunport. To begin with I marked the edge using white pvc graphing tape but it’s not very sticky so I’ve redone it using masking tape. This is my set of tools for coppering. A scrap of dowel with Bluetac to hold and place the plates. Itried’Tacky Wax’ but couldn’t get on with it. Bluetac holds better and I’ve yet to replace it. A burnishing stick; again from scrap dowel, a tool for scoring plates and a cotton wool swab dipped in acetone for cleaning up excess CA. I’m using Rocket Odourless CA glue. The sheets of copper are easily split into individual plates by flexing. I found that the separated horizontal strips can be split into individual plates by flexing 3 strips at a time. Individual plates are cut to shape at the sternpost by scoring and then flexing to split it along the score line. I applied copper tape to the bottom of the keel and sternpost before staring to apply plates from the sternpost at the keel. It's probably overkill but I apply a spot of CA at each corner and a few spots across the rest of the surface to be sure of good adhesion. A rub with the burnishing stick and then every 3 or 4 plates I clean up excess CA with acetone. I have used nearly a complete sheet thus far. There are three sheets in the kit so should be some spares. David

A different presentation that adds new interest and I really like it. I think you may have begun a new trend . David

Thank you Daniel; the finish did look pretty shabby David

Thanks everyone for following and the likes Framing The Tuck I spent most of an afternoon scraping and sanding the hull until I was satisfied. I needed a bit of a think about how to frame the tuck. I had left the etched pattern slightly proud of the hull but some of the planks didn’t finish as tight up as I would have liked. I decided to remove the pattern entirely and try reuse it to fill the frame. With help from IPA and some careful work with a fine chisel, I managed to remove them, though each in a couple of pieces. I had made the frame pieces that follow the hull earlier and now completed framing with more 1mm fret. I made templates from stiff paper (1000g wallpaper lining paper works well) and used these to cut out the shapes from the original pear etch. The etching is quite deep so the pieces are delicate but with care I was able to make them fit. Only dry fitted at the moment. David

Thanks to Ron Andrew and Daniel for their kind comments and for others' likes and encouragement. Completion of the Second Planking I’ve been away for a few days in Northumberland but I did manage to finish the planking before leaving on Monday, just didn’t have time to write the log. All is straightforward to the end of the square tuck at the sternpost with a whole number of planks completing that section. As planking moves towards the keel, stealers or ever widening planks are required at the stern. It is very useful that there is plenty of raw material in the form of 1mm pear fret in this kit. I could say that it was an exercise in the two forms of planking that I have used a stealer on the port side and only spiled planks on the starboard. In reality there was a difference in the degree of flare required and I thought an 8mm wide plank at the stern looked too much so I added a stealer. Maybe I could have made a more gradual increase on the port side but as I am going to be coppering the hull, it won’t be seen. Nevertheless it’s is an annoyance to not have both sides looking the same. Marking and cutting for the portside stealer. In the end a half stealer was enough. I never know which way to cut the angle of the stealer and you may notice that I changed it in the final piece. As planking progressed towards the keel it was obvious (in fact I suspected that I would have to do something like this from first measurements) that I would need either a very thin plank amidships to finish or a slightly wider plank. I opted for the latter. And a few shots of the finished planking Now if the weather holds and we don’t get the forecast thunderstorms, I will be outside scraping and sanding the hull to get a suitable base for coppering. Thanks for looking in David

Thanks Ron

Planking the First Band The first 6 strakes have been added below the drop plank to complete the first band of planks. Tapering and edge-bending from the bow to bulkhead 7 is necessary and then planks are full width back to the stern. The only difficulty has been where the following strake runs above the join between two planks and I have been finding the transition is not smooth enough and leaves a small gap between strakes. I have improved the joint by scraping the top edges of the two planks into a smoother curve to but I must pay more attention to this area. I have scraped this first band to get an impression of the finished appearance but further work will be required once all is finished. I haven't yet measured off the next band of planks in case it needed some adjustment but so far it all looks in line and I casn continue to mark off the plank widths at each bulkhead. David

Thanks very much for the likes Planking Below the Wale I began with a drop plank at the bow, running forward from bulkhead 5 tapering to 3mm at the rabbet. I gave the drop plank a quick dip in water and then formed the curve around a jar to make fitting easier. I am making my plank length around 140mm although I will not be using a strict 4 plank shift, I will make sure that there is separation between joints. I’m using CA gel to glue planks. After installing the first two strakes, I moved to fitting the garboard plank. I made the garboard 50% wider than the rest of the planks at 6mm. The garboard meets the rabbet at slightly beyond bulkhead 3. I followed this with a 5mm plank which runs forward to midway between bulkheads 3 and 2. I lined off the hull in three sections: two of 6 strakes and one of 4 but I expect that some adjustments will be need as planking progresses. Tick strips are used to mark the width of the plank at each bulkhead. I’ve now added four strakes below the wale on each side and so far, so good. Onwards... David

The Wales I marked up the bottom line of the wales and intended to fit and trim two runs of pear planks to the line. In the end I tapered the fore and aft ends of the planks to the the line of the lower edge of the wales but left the midsection, where I thought it would be easier to trim back the planks. The forward end of each wale was sanded back as far as I dared to appear that it tapered into the rabbet at the prow when glued in place. To achieve the required curve at the bow, the patterns were soaked and clamped to the hull and left to dry overnight. I used CA gel to fix both the under-planking and the wales, applying a few sections at time. In this way the need for awkward clamping was largely avoided. I had to redo the centre section on both sides where it misaligned with the etching on the bulwark pattern. Once I was happy with the fit, it was time to cut back the excess planking. I was nervous of cutting into the wales as I went, so as some protection from accidental damage, I used a length of fret that formed the top line of wales held in place with rubber bands and clamps and worked my way slowly along. Completed without mishap, I finished off by scraping along the line and a light sand. A bit of staining on the prow which needs some attention. Thanks for the likes and on to the pear layer of planking David