SkiBee

If you have a problem with blotchy stain on basswood, try a stain conditioner (usually called a 'Pre-Stain Conditioner). I've used it a lot on pine wood working projects and it works great on any type of modeling wood. It evens out the stain absorption of the wood. Try it on a piece of scrap wood and see if it works for you.

CiscoH The nib ends were for ink, like an old fashion ink pen you had dip into a bottle of ink or fill from an ink bottle. By the time I came around we had what was called a LeRoy pen, a cartridge ink pen, but my father used the nib pens when he was a draftsman.

Now for a bit of nostalgia, how many under 40 modelers know what the picture is of? Nothing like a good set of K&E drafting instruments. Since I was going to get a engineering degree, I figured I would by a good set of instruments in my senior year of high school. But by the time I came back from the Navy and started school, my slide rule and drafting tools were becoming obsolete. Bought my first calculator a short time after I started back at school, an TI SR-10, 4 function calculator with scientific notation, It lasted about 18 months before I upgraded and then upgraded again 2 years later to an HP with everything and formula memorization.

Started to work on the Waterways, using the kit supplied walnut waterways. I whittled down the bulkhead stanchions using a xacto blade and a sanding stick. Focused on getting the bottom part of the station even with the sub-deck. I kept fitting the waterway to see how much more I needed to reduce, there were some I had to reduce more than others. Also, not sure how many stanchions I cracked, since I heard a crack but none of them came loose due to being glued to the planks. I then whittled and sanded down the outside of the waterway be able to get it tight up to the stanchions per the instructions. I wrote bottom on the bottom of the waterways to keep the orientation right, the port waterway went ok, On the starboard waterway I started off right but at some point of time I started to whittle down the inside of the waterway. I’m hoping that the deck planking will hide the scars from whittling. I then whittled and sanded the chafer on the top inside of the waterway to accommodate the cannons getting closer to the side of the ship. Used my old drafting divider to scribe the lines on the top and side. Had a problem with forgetting to whittle away from the grain so I dug some deeper gouges, fortunately the finish sanding smoothed out the gouges. I wish I had a sander that I could set the angle; it would make life so much easier. I think I might try to set my Dremel up to do that. As I dry fit the waterways, I found that the curve in the deck required some force to keep the waterway in touch with subdeck as well as the stanchions. I used wood glue since I could get the fit with only clamping the waterway.

I’m going to follow Robert E. Hunt’s practicum from Luck Street Shipyard recommendations for planking. At this time, I’m planning on doing the 2-layer planking with walnut as the second (outside) layer of planks. I glued in the Knightheads and Timberheads without really reading the details from the practicum, I just cut a channel in the fillers and glued in a piece of basswood. I didn’t angle them as the practicum instructed. I’ll see what difference it makes. Starting the planking on the Port side, drew the line down the middle of the ¼ in plank and chamfered and trimmed the end oof the plank to fit into the forward rabbit. I cleaned up and widened the rabbit for the plank to fit and to accommodate the second layer of walnut planking. Had to adjust the trimming of the plank and the rabbit so the plank fit in as snugly as I could get it. I pined the plank to the bulkhead sides until about bulkhead N. At this time, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out if the ¼ in. plank bent up to sharply or more smoothly to the line from where the wing transom and the filler piece. I finally decided to try and get a smooth bend up in the plank. I then wetted the plank so the bends would set and let it dry overnight. I used CA glue to ensure that the bends glued correctly and then glued the 1/8 in. plank above it using CA also. I don’t like using CA and much as yellow wood glue, it seems that the CA get all over in areas you don’t want it.

I’m finally starting back up with my AVS build, after life got in the way for the last 4 months. It’s taken me some time to refresh myself with the build and re-organize all my tools. Before I stopped working on the AVS, I noticed the mast and spar were not in the box. Also, I destroyed my aft deck when I was correcting the aft end. Model Expo was great and sent me the parts. I glued the aft sub-deck on, and it looks so much better after I reduced the stern part of the keel that is what the middle part of the aft sub-deck glues to. But as I start to form the wale plank, I think I sanded aft keel and top of the aft bulkheads to much. On my model the distance from the top of the aft sub-deck to the wale is less then the plans. Not sure what further adjustments I will have to make as I plank the hull. I’ve not glued it on yet, just wetted the plank and hoping it keeps some of the curve memory.

Really nice work

Spumoni, welcome to a site with great information and help. I recommend that you start a 'build log' as you start your King of Mississippi, it a great place to get help as you build your boat.

Great Navy Army game, since Navy won, you can see by avatar I'm a Navy man. I installed the window header and sill; you can see from the attached picture that I could not install a full 3/32” thick piece in any of them. This must be from the amount of the center keel that I had to remove to reduce the peak in the cabin deck. I think I had installed the two middle stern frames lower than they were supposed to be and by the time I faired them and keel, the window openings were too short. I started to fair the inside of the stations, but I kept breaking them so I think I will do what Cisco did and fair them after some of the outside planks are installed and before I add the waterway.

Go Navy beat Army

I removed the Cabin Sub-deck, I first started with alcohol to soften the glue; but as I was trying to remove the deck it broke into a number of pieces. I ordered a new sub-deck from Model Expo, just waiting for delivery. I planed down the center rib (keel) and faired it and the stern frames. I laid an extra piece of decking material over the aft end and better matches the gentle curve of the forward frames. The two pictures below are the before and after. BEFORE AFTER

I formed the bow filler blocks by whittling and sanding so it fit the bow space and appropriate curve for planking and then glued them in. I did notch for the timber head and knight head all the way down the filler and then glued in the 4 pieces. Faired them in and had some gaps that I filled with putty. Also, there were some areas that left funny gaps when I dry fitted a plank so I filled them with putty and faired them, so the planking was smooth. Now I’ll use alcohol to soften the wood glue that is holding the back deck to the model so I can eliminate the peak, per last post.

Thanks to both of you. Alistair; what color of stain did you use on the deck and the cabin overhead?

I was trying to figure out how the aft end gets planked, the transom (stern frames) and the counter (curved arch below the transom). As I was laying out the planking it became apparent that center frames and keel piece were higher than the outer stern frames. This cause upper deck to be more of a peak instead of an arch at the aft end, see picture. What I’m afraid of is that the planks on the transom will not flow like a smooth arch. I don’t know if I should remove the last part of the deck and sand the stern frame and keel piece down about a 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch so the aft part of the deck is more of an arch. Or just leave it and make the top plank more of a peak with a taper to a point as it approaches the outer frames, like a roof truss. Any comments / suggestions.

40 years ago I started with a solid hull model and failed to get past step one. I've built a lot of plastic models but never went back to try a wood model, shaping a hull and the rigging intimidated me. A couple of years ago I decided to try my hand at wood models and saw an advertisement for Model Expo & Shipways models. I started with the Model Shipways 3 ship beginners set and they took me step by step and I learned a lot of skills and knowledge for a fair price. So much I tried my hand at a solid hull again and it's been successful so far. I highly recommend the Model Shipways Shipwright 3 Kit Series. By the time you finish the 3rd boat, the Muscongus Bay Lobster Smack, you will have the skills to take on anything. They might be small and appear to be simple, but that's what you want in the beginning and to learn the basic skills, then try the other models. Also, search "new to ..." there are many others that have asked the same question and there are a ton of great recommendations on this website.

I installed the Stern Frames using the windows as a spacer, then the Transom and Filler Block and tried to blend the transom and filler to flow into the bottom of Bulkhead R , and form the curved counter. Also sanded the top and aft end of the stern frame to ensure they all were even/curved the right amount for the aft deck and such. The sternpost got in the way of evening out everything. Glued in the aft deck. Added the stern frame filler blocks. When I was faired these blocks, I rounded them front to aft instead of continuing the line created by the outside edge of the last 4 bulkheads. After I realized that I should have continued the line from the bulkheads, I had to add some additional wood strips and sand them to correct this. You can see that I broke off most of the aft deck tabs between the bulkheads, glued them back in the best I could. Continued to break those tabs as I built the bow filler blocks and did the final fairing of the sides and top of the bulkheads. NOTE: I wish I had waited until all of this work was done to glue in the aft deck, I’m glad I did not glue in the main deck. Part of this is how I hold the boat by the bulkheads as I work on the boat. I also broke off a few stanchions too. I don’t think adding the deck would have prevented that, I think the block I added between the bulkheads added more stability than the deck would.

I’ve been fairing the Port side, putting in a few hours. I guess Hunt, in his Practicum, says that it should only take 15 minutes, I guess that is if the parts are cut perfectly and you glue them in right. You can see the bulkheads I had to significantly sand down vs the ones I didn’t. I shimmed the top of one bulkhead, and I might need to shim the ones that still show laser marks. I also need to address the ends of the bulkheads, there are bulkheads on each side of the bearding line.

As I faired the deck, I found that my bulkheads were all 90 deg top to bottom, fwd and aft. But I had a couple of bulkheads that were going to need shims and or a lot of sanding. I determined the cause was I did not pay attention to making sure that the bulkhead was level port to starboard as I was gluing in the first 8 bulkheads. There were two that were going to require a fair amount of shimming and sanding. I thought about dissolving the glue, yellow wood glue, and redoing them, but I was concerned that I might cause other problems of brakeage, so I left them and will glue and shim. In this pick the red circled bulkhead is that worst one, the starboard side was below the port side. You can see that I shimmed the top of the bulkhead so it would be even fore and aft with the other bulkheads and side to side of itself. The green is to show that the bulkheads are 90 degrees vertical, and the red is an example of level from port to starboard on the top.

Made sure that the top of the bulkhead was even with the center keel by sanding the top of the slot a little more. Then sanded the top of the slots where I added the shim until even with the center keel. Started to glue in the bulkheads, back to front. I’m going to just glue in the 4 aft bulkheads first and sand the top of them even, for the aft sub-deck. This way the I will have less of chance of breaking any of the fwd bulkhead stanchions. I’m not sure but it seems like the Starboard side of the bulkhead is a little lower than the Port. Once the glue dries completely, I’ll check it out. I measured from a ground reference point to the top of the aft bulkheads, the starboard side is slightly lower than the port. But I don’t think it will be enough to make a difference in the final product. Placing a metal rule on the bulkhead tops, there was very little height discrepancies from fwd to aft bulkheads. So I proceeded to sand them even from fwd to aft, not a lot of sanding was required, but I wonder if I should sand more since only the fwd half of each bulkhead has a flat slant. I then proceeded to add in a small block between the bulkheads to provide some strength during the remainder of the build. I also continued to glue in the remaining bulkheads

I used a curve blade and a sanding stick to get the Stem taper per the drawing. It appeared the I should leave about a 1/16th of the stem edge as is. I did have trouble at the cutting the tapper at the curve due to the grain of the wood, I gouged the stem a little. I did an initial fill with wood putty; I’ll refine the tapper smoothness after planking. I sanded all the bulkhead slots so they would slide on the center keel with some resistance. Also sanded and scraped all the edges of the bulkheads to remove the char, which took a while. Fitting all the bulkheads to the Center Keel, a few stuck up a little over the top edge of the Center Keel, so I sanded the top and bottom of the slots until they did not stick up over the top edge. There were 3 bulkheads that I will have to add a thin shim to get it even with the edge. I did another trial fit of a piece of plank to see if the rabbet was deep enough. I decided to deepen the rabbit using a curved blade, #22, and sand smooth. Looks better butt the superglue left more of a bead that I could not sand off or cut off without deepening of the rabbet. I’m going to leave it as is and look at tapering the edge of the plank to fit. I decided to trim the aft 3 bulkheads and fwd 3 bulkheads per the drawings now. I used a curve blade to cut the transom curve of bulkhead R and part of the angle of bulkhead P & Q, then sanded them to smooth out the cuts but not to the final angle. The rest of the bulkheads I’ll get the proper angle by fairing them after installation, at that time I’ll check the thickness of the bulkhead extensions. I will wait to trim the inside of the bulkhead extensions until after the planking is done to provide more stability & strength to them.

CiscoH As you know I recently started the AVS myself. I just wanted everyone to know I get more information, how to and problem solutions then the included instructions or even the Luck instructions.

I traced the bearding line on the center keel. I cut the rabbit using mostly a curved blade since it worked better for me. I used a compas to draw my cut line on the bottom edge of the center keel. I checked the depth of the cut with a piece of the base wood plank by itself since I decided to use a single plank layer. I did sand the rabbit a little to smooth it out and make as even as I could. Then I glued the Stem and keel to the Center Kell. Since the Center Keel and the Stem and Keel are the same thickness, I laid both down on some was paper and flattened them both out. All the pieces were flat with no noticeable curve. Then I spread some wood glue on the stem and held the pieces together just using my fingers. Then I decided to use super glue on the keel and used a couple of adjustable clamps to hold the two pieces together. I had to adjust the clamp so I would not get an angled joint. I decided not to glue the stern post on at this time, it was a recommendation in one of the instructions I had read. I checked to see if the rabbit was deep enough by using a piece of planking. There is a little edge above the keel, so I'll try and sand the rabbit down a little later, but I wanted to see how the rabbit lined up with the bottom of the bulkheads. But I found that the bulkheads would not readily fit into the center keel slots. I broke bulkhead C in half when I was trying to take it out, to tight of a fit. So, I'm using a sanding stick to open up the slots until the bulkheads fit with some resistance. I am making sure that the bottom of the slot is square, so the bulkheads seat all the way to the bottom of the slot.

I'm taking a break from building the New York Pilot Boat Phantom and going to start building the Armed Virginia Sloop by Model Shipways. I chose this model because there are some great sources of information beside the kit instructions, there is a Practicum by Robert E. Hunt via Lauck Street Shipyard, and some great Ship Logs, especially CiscoH's. Here is the normal start picture of the box, I started by removing the laser char from the center keel, keel, sternpost and stem. I might have removed to much from the sternpost notch, but I think I can work around that. I'm going ahead and using the included walnut for the keel, sternpost and stem. I'm trying to decide now if I only put one level of planking or do the two levels per the instructions. I don't think I want to use the walnut since I plan to paint the haul but would like to keep the definition of the planks. I would have to buy some additional planks if I went with two layers. Not sure what wood is available and pre-cut for planking, especially at the thickness of the walnut planks, 0.02 inch. Plus, I don't have a way to cut planks to width and thickness. Any recommendations would be appreciated.

It's been a year since I've done any work on the Phantom. I tried to get back into it but just can't get interested, so I decided to take a sidestep and start the Armed Virginia Sloop by Model Shipways. So follow me at a new build site for the AVS. I will come back and finish this ship since I do like its lines. My best Jim

Great job, keep up the good work and unless you plan on staining the hull, wood putty fixes most mistakes.