SkiBee

Painted the upper exterior. Not satisfied with the way the walnut finished so I did use wood filler to somewhat smooth out the surface. I don’t know if I’m doing something wrong but the walnut splinters as you cut it.

Excellent work!

@BuckyBoo welcome. This is a great web site to learn about and ask for help on everything that is model ship building. Also, please update your build on your own build log, you get a lot of great help by doing that.

NOTE: I strongly recommend that if you don’t have a micrometer to buy one now. One of my biggest problems on this build was determining the thickness of the very thin planks. It was hard to use a rule to distinguish between 1/32-inch plank and 3/64-inch planks, as there is only 1/64 between them. Sometimes hard to distinguish even a 1/16 in plank from them. I’m afraid I used some 1/32 in the wrong place. Save yourself some trouble later on, buy one now. NOTE: I should have drilled a small pilot hole through the spirketting scuppers so you can align the black strake suppers to match the elevation of the spirketting scuppers. The scuppers pilot holes will also provide an upper alignment line for the wales plank. Installed the wales and black strake planks, after I filled the scuppers in the black strake. There was a about a 1/16-inch difference in some areas between the scuppers on the spirketting and black strake planks, I don’t think it will matter much unless someone looks real closely. Then painted the top of the black strake gold. Even though you normally paint dark colors after the lighter colors, I wish I would have painted the black first as it bled through the masking tape a little and now, I have to go back and fix that.

Installed the inner bulwark planks. When I trimmed the planks around the gunports, the walnut splinted a lot, should have cut them to fit better when installing them so I would just have to sand them around the gunport When I went to install the upper plank, noticed that on the port side there was a area mid-ship that was not covered by the plank. Not sure if I should cut the area out or add a sliver of plank to fill in the gap. But I’m going to wait until I install the upper external planks to see if there is a problem there. When you look at that area without the plank, you can see an upward bulge compared to the starboard side. Suggestions welcomed. Port Side Starboard Side

NOTE: you need to make sure you measure twice cut once. Also, the walnut is really hard to cut length wise with a knife and plane due to the strong grain wanting to drag you off line when your using your xacto, or end up with chunks. I wasted a fair amount of walnut planks with splitting, braking and such, to the point I had to use multiple pieces to get the length I wanted without wasting wood. I decided to do the internal planking before I did the Wales plank. Started to prep the Spirketting Plank, I picked the wrong walnut plank, to thick, to thin. Then I used the right planks and cut them down to 1/8” per the practicum. However, I found that doing that I ended up with a spirketting plank below the gun ports. The right height for my one plank was 3/16” or slightly under that and the other a little wider than the 1/8 inch. So, recommend checking the space between your final waterway and the bottom of your gun ports before you cut anything. I used a 3/16” round file to make the scuppers to the required dimension. The other problem I noticed was my bulkhead extensions were not the same thickness, especially by the waterway. So, I tried to reduce the thick ones and I’m not sure I’m going to need to shim the thin ones. This became very noticeable when I glued the spirketting plank in, it was at a slight angle instead of vertical. I painted the waterway flat black, and the spirketting plank a flat red. I painted a scrap piece of walnut with the kit’s bulkhead red and a Tamiya flat red to see which one I liked. The flat red was redder than the bulkhead red, but I decided to try the bulkhead red since I can topcoat with the flat red later. I did use white primer on both the waterway and spirketting plank which gave a truer color to the final coats of color. I installed the lower sills on the gunports, had to use a little putty to fill in some small gaps. Also, I noticed that some of the gunports have a gap between the gunport and bulwark extensions. This would leave a noticeable gap in the finished model. So, I’m going to have to fill them like the gunport sills.

I to use a Xacto and steel rule, but I do draw a line first witch gives a little indent, then I use the back edge of the Xacto to deepen the indent once or twice then cut. I'm going to try the sandpaper on the rule since it seems to slip a lot.

FINISHED with the first layer of exterior hull planking, filled and sanded smooth as needed. On to Ch 3 of R. Hunt’s practicum from Luck Street Shipyards and a whole lot of help from CiscoH build log.

Welcome, I enjoy both plastic and wood models as well. I started on the unarmed Long Boat; it was a great learning experience. However, halfway through I changed and started the Model Expo 3 boat shipwright series. I think this was a good idea for me as it gave me more knowledge before I returned to the Long Boat. Great start and hang in there during tough times.

I decided to make the two remaining planks about even in width as I could. I used the larger ¼ in plank for the fwd half and the smaller 3/16 in plank for the aft end on both planks. Otherwise, I would have used one full length plank for the one run and the second plank would not have been a full run. Glued the last two planks on the Port side. A few gaps, bumps and depressions to fill and sand out, along with smoothing out the first layer of planks.

Welcome! I restarted my wood ship building with the Trio also. I learned a lot and good practice for bigger challenges in the future. Make sure you start a build log for each ship you build; you will get a lot of help. Also, ask questions, I always get great info and advice. Have Fun

Down to the last 2 planks, started on the starboard side, you can see that I have a couple of wavy edges to deal with, especially at he aft. I used a larger ¼ in plank for the aft part and a 3/16 “ plank for the fwd part of the plank. I determined that this would provide allow me not to have to use 3 planks or cut down one to very thin in places, I split the remaining space into two and this was the result. As I added the last plank, I made a slight miss cut under the fwd gun port, resulting in a small gap between planks but putty will take care of that. Also, you can see at the aft there was one plank I had pressed to hard on and it set up as a depression of that plank. I couldn’t make up the space without taking the plank off and installing a new plank. Again, putty is my friend and will fill this divot and the small depression gap just fwd of it. Next the port side.

Welcome CDR, it is hard to retire after a good career, I know, I was a 40-year mustang. You are a braver man than I to start with the constitution, I started a lot slower, for me I think it worked better. BLUF: If you aren't enjoying your build, take some time off. 1. The key recommendation is to take your time and enjoy, even if you have to walk away from time to time. 2. Only you will be able to identify any mistake you make, everyone else will think it looks great (putty solves many problems). 3. Build logs do contain a lot of information and helpful recommendations. 4. Don't be afraid to ask a question in your log or message someone with a question. I am currently building the Armed Virgina Sloop, I have found one build log that really helps me, and I ask the author a lot of questions. 5. I also found that the practicums from Luck Street Shipyards ( https://syrenshipmodelcompany.com ) extremely helpful, a bit pricy but worth it. Fair Winds and Following Seas

Completed the install of the 4 planks at the bottom of the hull. The double bends in the planks, both fwd and aft were a little difficult but soaking them for a couple of hours helped. The other challenging thing was getting the right amount of taper and where a mid-ship to start the taper. You can see that when I was done, the port and starboard sides were not symmetrical. I can make up the difference as I finish planking.

I finished the first five roles of planks under the wale plank. Some gaps, weird bends and cracks at the counter bend, nothing that filler and sanding won’t take care of. I’m ok with the product, more importantly I learned a lot. Also, redid the port finish arch piece to make it a little longer to better match the starboard one. I wasn’t paying attention to the how well the plank was adhering to the curve of the counter filler, did not pay attention to the two bends of the plank at the bend: the bend up to the transom but also a twist curve at the bend. Once I noticed it, I glued it down better at the curve.

NOTE: I would consider sanding a little more taper in the counter piece, (green line vs the red line) to allow less bend in the planks that bend up the counter. If I would have read the practicum and CiscoH’s post on the aft end bend of the planks, I would have known about sanding the counter filler more to lessen the sharpness of the bend. Also, one of the comments that @mikiek made to CiscoH's post was to lessen the sharpness of the bend. Not only would this reduce the cracking at the bend but make the center side of the plank easier to glue down to the filler.

The adjustments I made to the top aft planks worked fairly well, I did not glue the top plank on since I was worried that I would break them due to my handling of the boat while I did other work. I know I will have to do some last-minute adjustments to the top plank when I glue it on to get an even height between the port and starboard side. Now starting on the first ¼ in plank below the wale plank and my first try at spilling a plank. Started on the port side. I followed the Luck Street practicum on spilling the plank. It went ok for the first one, but was never confident as I was doing it, when finished it fit fairly good without too much upward force to butt up to the wale plank. Bending the aft end of the plank up and around the counter was a challenge for two reasons. First, I did not get it soaked enough, and it did crack a little at the bend, putty will fix that. The second challenge was as I bent it around, I found that the I had to trim the plank a little to compensate for the wale plank not matching the top of the counter filler plank as I pointed out a few comments ago. The starboard wale is even higher from the joint. So, I had the plank match the end of the transom planks which left a gap between the wale and the plank, which I just filled in with a filler wedge

On the port side, I did not have to remove a lot from a plank so that the plank was parallel to the aft deck, see circled area of next picture. The plank marked green is the top of the 3-gun port planks and the red is the stem to stern plank that did not require any adjustment. The starboard side required more of an adjustment to get the top planks parallel to the aft deck as can be seen by the blue circled planks on the next picture. I had to remove all of the aft part of the top gun port plank, marked with the red line, and a significant amount from the middle gun port plank. I glad I read CiscoH’s build log or I would have missed this, saved by CiscoH again.

Please send picture of what you are talking about.

I did use just two pieces of left over basswood strips to provide a glue surface for the bow planks. It worked well for the first plank on each side, but I need to work on removing any gaps between planks on the curved pieces. Finished adding the 3 aft planks that provide the aft gun port side. I can see what CiscoH was talking about getting the aft planks parallel to the edge of the aft compartment overhead. CiscoH appreciate the heads up.

In the Lauck Street practicum by Rober Hunt, it recommends putting a piece of wood in the bow of the boat to have something to glue the planks too at the stem. He recommends taking a piece of ¼ in square basswood and splitting it in half to form a triangle, which I did, pic below. However, my piece really did not give a surface for the plank to glue to, unless I made one with more of 60-degree angle than 45 cut. So, I tried just sticking two pieces of left over basswood between the subdeck and the existing planks at the bow. I think this provides more of a surface for the upper planks to adhere to. Your thoughts and recommendation are requested.

Installed the starboard fashion pieces. I measured the termination of the counter fashion piece from the port side and the drawings, looked at numerous pictures of the starboard counter piece to determine the end of the curved piece. I finally decided to measure from the top of the aft sub-deck to the bottom of the port curved fashion piece and marked it on the starboard side. I did my best to see how that lined up with the top of where the wale would be. Getting the right angle between the two fashion pieces was a challenge, I tried sanding to get the final angle, but I just kept rounding the end. So, I kept using my miter saw and used it to trim the end until they matched, had to start a second curved section since I kept sawing to much off. It turned out that I made the starboard piece longer than the port side curved fashion piece, see the two pictures below. I thought about removing one to make a piece that watched the other side, but I didn’t know which one was correct. So, I decided to wait until I add the hull planks above the wale and one or two below the wale and to determine which one was right. It's hard to see the difference in the pictures, but in real time it's obvious.

CiscoH Thanks, you have been very helpful during this build

I trimmed the top off of the top most walnut plank to match the basswood plank that extended up above the aft deck surface. I looked through a lot of build logs and it seemed like the right height. Started building the port side Fashion Pices, it was a little tricky to do the bottom curved piece at the counter. Experimented with angles and such, ended up following the Luck Street instructions. The starboard fashion pieces will be more of a challenge since my wale plank is to height (look at pictures a few frames back), but I’ll figure it out.

Glue the remaining transom walnut planks until the top of the windows. Next, I glued the walnut planks on the counter, ended just little past the first layer of planks, will leave it like it is until I start the lower hull planks that bend up to the counter planks, and then figure out what to do, trim or leave them as is. Had to give a little thought to the walnut planks above the window, where I wanted the top of the last plank to be in reference to the aft sub-deck. I looked at pictures in both instructions, drawings and other build logs. I chose to put two planks above the windows and then decided how far back to cut the topmost plank. The first plank I carefully cut out a little notch out for the windows by laying the plank on top of the last plank and windows to determine width and depth. Took a little at a time then trial fit and then a little more sanding and cutting, I ended up sanding some of the width of the plank off due to a few mistakes cutting the notches rather than start a new plank. Actually, I think that will be better since I’m sure the topmost plank will end up being shaved down as I but the top piece on. Sanded the transom planks down a little using medium fine sandpaper to clean up the edges. I might have to fill in some small gaps between the planks with walnut colored wood filler. Next, I will clean up the gold on the windows, not sure if I’ll put on some Polly-Ur now or later. {NOTE: The Key is to TAKE YOUR TIME getting the windows in the right place and then planking, trial and error is ok. I'm good with the results but should still have taken a little more time to prevent gaps around the windows and between the planks.}