Richard44

Go for it Mugje, you've got the skills 👍🙂.

Thanks for the comment B.E. Yes, it was good modelling exercise alright - it took several attempts to get that last bit at the stern done. I also discovered after unclamping a glued plank at the stem, that it wasn't quite right and needed to be removed (using isopropyl alcohol as the glue was PVA, not CA). Inevitably, the adjoining plank was damaged and it too had to come off. So did the third one.... It all turned out well in the end though. Cheers

Thanks for the comment B.E., and yes, I did check the dimensions - several times in fact 🙂. So onto the wales and the second planking. The instructions say to completely cover the hull with the second planking, then overlay a third layer to represent the wales. I decided to install the wales first, then run the second planks above and below them. The planks for the second layer are 1x4mm, and this gives an apparent thickness of the wales, if the instructions are followed, of 2mm, and as three strakes are applied, a width of 12mm. In TFFM it shows that the wales consist of three strakes, the top one simple parallel planking, but the bottom two top-and-butt. Why not I thought. All three strakes are 2mm thick, the upper one is 3mm wide and the lower two have a combined width of 9mm. Total width therefore is 12mm, the same as the kit instructions and agreeing with that in TFFM. The position of the top of the wales was carefully marked, measuring down from the lower edge of the gunports as suggested. The actual positions at the stem and stern were a little tricky to get as there are a lot of decorations in these positions as shown on the plans. Tamiya masking tape was then used to show the run of the wales (the top edge). The hull was put aside for a while, then eyeballed again to see if the run was smooth. A very slight adjustment was made at the stem. The top strake was glued in place. The planks for the top-and-butt were shaped using a Dremel router table and a sanding drum. They were then cleaned up with a sanding block. The dimensions were taken from TFFM. The router table with a simple jig for the first pass, blanks on the right and some after the first pass A blank after the first pass. Ready for the second pass using another simple jig. The planks ready to be finished with a sanding block. At the stem, the first couple of planks were individually shaped to fit the rather complex curves there. Commencement of the first top-and-butt strake. The port wale complete. The last short plank of the lower strake was a little tricky to get right due to the compound curves there. The completed wale and the start of the second planking - one strake done above the wale and two below. Scale length planks were used. Unfortunately, the details of the top-and-butt are hidden by the paint (but I know they're there 😊). A drop plank can be seen at the bow, and there is a similar one at the stern. At the stem, the wales were thinned to 1mm, the same thickness as the second planks, as on the actual ship, the wales and the hull planks fitted into the same rabbet. This is mentioned in TFFM and also by Chuck in his instructions for the Winchelsea. At least one build log warns against allowing the wale to be too high at the stern, as if it is, the quarterlight won't fit. I remembered this warning after I had completed the wale, but as the photo shows, all seems good though a slight sanding may be required (just ignore the fact that I have actually put the quarterlight on upside down 😖). That's it for now, cheers.

That's looking really good Tim, well done.

Thanks for the likes everybody. Along with some others, I decided to make the stove (Blue Ensign and Alistair in particular inspired me). I followed the diagrams in TFFM and made it slowly over a period of several weeks. Although small, I used a wide variety of materials to make it - wood, bamboo, cardboard, paper, metal, plastic and thin cord. It was fiddly to make but not especially difficult. The basic body is wood, L-shaped styrene was glued along the edges and very small squares of styrene were used to represent the boltheads. The doors on the sides are thin cardboard and the hinges are a thin bamboo dowel glued to paper and then cut into strips. Holes were drilled into the sides and bamboo dowels were pushed through to represent the fire grate bars. The supports/spacers for these are simply thin cord wrapped around them in a figure of eight pattern. The spit is likewise bamboo. The pot holders and the supports for the spit are plastic. The two boiler covers are wood with brass wire handles. The two bars along the sides are wire, paper clips actually as these looked to be of the "right" diameter. The drip tray has a wooden base with a paper strip wrapped around it. The beginning and the finished stove. The hole in the top is to locate the chimney when I make it. It will be greater in diameter than that hole. The stove approximately in place on the deck. Cheers

Welcome back.

I have absolutely no idea of how long the sweeps would have been, but stowing them below would have been an interesting exercise in getting them through the hatch and onto the lower deck. Maybe they were lashed to the outside of the ship's sides. Or to the beams under the foredeck and quarterdeck. And you wouldn't be able to get much of a stroke when using them because the cannons would be in the way. Anyway, they are a bit of a pain on the model 🙂.

That looks good Starlight - well done.

Thanks for the like BE. In an earlier post, I mentioned that I was thinking of planking the inner bulwarks before doing the second planking, in spite of the instructions telling you to do the reverse. The reason for this was because I planned on drilling the gunport pattern (before fixing) with the holes needed for the cannon eyebolts that are fixed into the inner bulwarks. After planking the bulwarks, I could then drill through them, using the gunport pattern as a guide. Doing it this way seemed to me to be far easier than trying to locate and drill the holes from inside the hull after the second planking was finished. There was no chance either of drilling right through the outer planking. And that’s what I did. It needs to be mentioned that if you do plank the bulwarks this way, you cannot quite finish as the beam (Part 38) has to be in place first. This slides into place, and cannot do so if the planking is complete. This part is also somewhat fragile and can be broken if forced into place. In spite of SpyGlass’s warning, that’s exactly what happened. Not serious, but annoying. And installing the beam at this point, before doing the second planking, would be extremely risky. The first plank across a gunport was trimmed to open the port. A modified razor saw was used. This gave a gap and subsequent planks were easily trimmed again using the razor saw. The final gap was tidied up using a sanding stick. The sweep ports were an exercise in patience. I very, very carefully drilled a hole through the covering plank, opened this with needle files then completed opening the port using the smallest sanding stick I have ever had. The modified saw and the two sanding sticks are shown in the photo. While I was happily drilling holes, I also decided to drill four more to allow the cleats (Part 226) to be pinned through the bulwark rather than just being glued to it. The cleats were drilled themselves and thin bamboo dowels glued in. The two cleats have not been glued in and the dowels are yet to be trimmed. Cheers.

Wow BE, just magnificent.

You'll be right Rob, keep treading water and enjoy what you're doing - after all, it is just a hobby. 🙂🙂 Cheers

It's looking really good Eugenio.

Again, thanks for the comments and the likes. Not much progress this time, in fact it was one step forward and two back at one point. I glued the lower counter (Part 146) in place at the stern, then decided to plank this to reflect the actual ship. The instructions call for the upper counter to be planked (there is no false counter) but they are rather vague, and the only diagram showing the upper counter is in the instruction book, not on the plans, and is not to scale. The rearmost edge of the gunport pattern was not cut especially cleanly which hampered efforts to accurately locate the upper counter. After some head scratching, sanding to clean the edge of the pattern to better match the plans and measurements, both counters were planked, the lower using 1x4mm walnut strip, and the upper using 1x3mm. The instructions actually call for the latter to be 1x4mm as well, but three strips of 3mm fitted neatly. The following day, I looked at what I had done and became more and more unhappy, in particular with the lower counter. The supplied ply counter plus the planking made the whole thing too thick and it was very obvious that the second planking was not going to finish against this neatly. I offered up some 1x4mm strips (the size of the second planks) to the counter, and it looked terrible. So out with the isopropyl alcohol and off with both counters. Two steps back. I should mention here that I have only used PVA glue on the hull, the only CA I have used so far was in constructing the capstan. This time, I just planked the lower counter as well as the upper. The walnut strips, again 1x4mm for the lower and 1x3mm for the upper, were edge bent using Chuck’s method before fitting. A second plank offered up to the counter looked good this time. Both counters will be painted, the lower black, the upper blue. There will also be decorative strips between the second planking/lower counter/upper counter and stern window fascia. That’s it for now. Cheers.

I agree wholeheartedly. BE's log is a constant source of ideas - though all errors are of course mine 😕 Cheers

Nice job on the planking.

If it took you as long as it did me to sand the hull, then you had plenty of time to enjoy the plenty of sawdust 😄😄. It's looking good Tim.

It all looks really good. If you did half cut from the outside the three bulkhead extensions, you shouldn't need a flush-cutting saw to remove them. A simple twist with pliers and they should snap off quite cleanly. A sanding stick smooths the broken tops, then you finish your deck planking over them.

Thanks for the likes and the comments. The capstan on the upper deck. I’ve been making this on and off over several weeks, and though I didn’t document the actual making of it, I decided to give this description with a few photos of how I did it. The dowel for the central column (the barrel) was cut long enough so that it reached up to the quarter deck, as I intend to make the two capstans look as if they are joined. I wasn’t satisfied with the kit supplied whelps, as they were too thin according to TFFM. I tried gluing two together to get a more reasonable thickness, but messed up a couple. I wasn’t happy with the appearance of the plywood edges either, so made a new set of whelps from walnut. A suitable number of blanks were cut to length, then sandwiched together with kit whelps on each end to be templates. Small amounts of PVA were used to hold everything together while the blanks were shaped using files and sandpaper. Once formed, the glue was dissolved with isopropyl alcohol. This method is basically the same as I used when making wing ribs for model aircraft way back when. It is also the way Mugje made his top and butt planks for the deck of his Pegasus (here). The next step was to glue the whelps (five according to TFFM) equally spaced around the barrel. The TFFM very nicely provided me with a diagram allowing me to do this easily. But before I could do this, I had to get a spacer onto the bottom of the barrel as it goes through the deck slightly, and the whelps have to be at deck level. One of the kit provided parts proved to be just what was needed. The blue marks on the diagram allowed me to center the barrel and it was held in place with a piece of double-sided tape. The whelps were then carefully glued to the barrel using gel CA. Once all the whelps were in place, I made the chocks (not supplied at all in the kit). One of the sanding drums I have for my Dremel was the same diameter as the barrel and was used to put a shallow rounded notch in a strip of walnut. The required width of the inside edge of the chock was measured using dividers and this was marked on the strip. The width of the outer edge was similarly marked, allowing for the approximate 3mm between inner and outer edges. The strip was then cut to give a wedge shaped chock that was kept deliberately over-length to allow for its outer edge to be shaped later. The thicker lower chocks and the thinner upper ones were all made this way and glued using gel CA. Some gentle sanding was often required to give a good fit. Once the glue had thoroughly dried, I used a second, larger diameter sanding drum to give the lower chocks their concave outer edge. The convex outer edge of the upper chocks was done using a sanding stick. The trundle head was assembled using kit-supplied parts and glued in place. A simulated iron reinforcing ring was made and glued on top of this. The scratch built whelps with the kit ones at each end. The diagram from TFFM. The blue marks allowed me to center the barrel. The barrel with its spacer, held on the diagram by double-sided tape. Two whelps are in place, not glued in this example but again held by tape. Measuring the width of the inner edge of the chock. The wood strip (limewood in this example, not walnut as actually used) with the rounded notch and the shape of the chock marked. A sharp pointed pencil was used, not the fine point felt pen as shown. A chock after marking and cutting, and well overlength. Finally, the completed capstan on the deck. Cheers.

Nothing wrong with that Tim. Cheers

That looks very good Starlight. Like you, Tim and many others, I had to trim a few mm off the front of the patterns and redo the hole for the bowsprit. And like Tim, I slightly cut the outside edge of the bulkheads that have to be removed before gluing the patterns in place. Cheers

Very well done with the margin plank. I'm glad my suggestion worked for you. Cheers

Thanks for the comments and the likes. The first planking has been completed. The photos show the result. There are some minor gaps between planks which I haven't bothered to fill. The only filler (putty) I used was in two small patches at the stern. Note that the counter was only held in place by two strips of masking tape and moved while the photos were being taken. Cheers

It's coming along nicely. Cheers

Hi Tim, Just to add a couple of things to what Spyglass has said. I've nearly finished my first planking, and I've done what you are planning to do. One difference is that I fastened the garbord strake (the one against the keel) and the one immediately under the gunport patterns in place first. Then I measured and subdivided and used tick strips, several of them. The garbord strake needs a good deal of twisting and definitely needs soaking. Do not let this rise too much at the bow otherwise you will have problems later with the subsequent planks. I added strakes from top and bottom and after every couple or so, I remeasured and adjusted the amount of taper if necessary. I over tapered the planks towards the bow and I'll need to insert a triangular stealer. Stealers are common at the stern so don't worry when your strakes won't fit neatly against one another - let them run smoothly. Spyglass doesn't use one, but I use an Amati hand crimper to put the curve into planks, though I also soak and clamp if I think this will be better. One thing to note is that the limewood strips (mine anyway) are a whisker wider than 5mm. It's not much but it's cumulative. Cheers

Hi Glenn, Yes I know I'll be doing a fair bit of tapering, but there will be more planks at the stern than amidships, simply because of the greater area there. There will be several stealers, simple triangular ones as this is only the first planking. After I lay two strakes, one up from the keel the other down from the gunport pattern, I remeasure the gap and vary, if necessary, the amount of taper. It's all good fun. 😄 Cheers