Ed Ku20

Hello Fellow Snake Builders! I have a question. I'm getting ready to do the quarter deck & gundeck railings. I want to make sure I'm reading the plans correctly. It looks like the railing overhangs the outboard side, but is mostly flush with the bulwarks on the inboard side. I can see the outboard overhang on everyones pics, but on the inboard side it's hard to see. What did you all do? Thanks, Ed

Stage C Hull – Miscellaneous Pieces & Painting Step 31: Add Anchor rope holes & anchor bumper pads, Chesstree, Kevels & Sheaves to hull I gave some thought to the order of the steps for the various tasks and pieces that need to be added to the hull at this time. I ended up changing things around from my original spreadsheet. When I took into consideration how some of these pieces needed to fit in between the molding & covering strips, I made adjustments. The Chesstree will be installed after the railings and moldings are finished. The Kevels will be dropped down to when the deck is finished. These are on the inboard side of the bulwarks. Step 26: Drill holes for Mounting the ship – it is important to drill the holes for the brass mounting posts now. It is much more difficult to turn the ship over once other parts are installed. I drilled holes using the pin vise gradually increasing in size until I got the proper diameter hole. The hole size needs to be small enough to allow the threads on the screws to bite into the wood for a strong fit. Step 31a: Anchor Pad – use ¼” x 1/16” piece of stripwood. This piece fits between the focsl covering board & the wale. I had to soak and bend the bottom half of the board with the big curling iron to fit the curvature of the hull. I clamped it in place and allowed it to dry fit to the hull before gluing. After the dry fit, I was able to glue the board in position with just my fingers holding it in place for a short time. Step 31b: Anchor Rope holes – these are made from 2 overlapping pieces of stripwood 1/32” x 3/16”. This assembly sits above the Wale and butts against the stem. The longer/bottom board, by my measurement is about 9/16” long. The shorter/top board is 15/32” long. First, I shaped the rounded edges on the outboard side before gluing the 2 pieces on top of one another. Then I beveled the inboard side for a close fit up to the stem. In order to pre-fit the pieces to the bow curvature, I soaked the assembled wood pieces and rubber banded them to a glass jar that matched the curve of the bow. I let this dry overnight. The pieces were glued to the hull. The holes for the anchor rope were drilled with the pine vise parallel to the center line of the ship. The rope holes go thru both boards and the upper bulwark of the hull. NOTE: This hole needs to be outboard of the head rail that will attach just inboard from it. Step 31c: Sheaves – there are 8 sheaves positioned around the upper hull. They fit in holes drilled through the bulwarks. Rigging ropes pass through the wooden sheave and over a pulley inside the sheave. They are tied off on a cleat or belaying pin on the inboard side of the bulwark. I could not find any build log that showed how to make these. Dimitry Markov had some good pictures in his Snake log. But, no “how-to”. Therefore, I am going to post a “How-to” on how I made my sheaves. Hopefully someone will find it useful! I do not have any special knowledge and limited skill. But, I’m willing to share my experience with a first-time attempt at something new! FYI, this required a lot of trial, error and scrap generated! The tricky thing with the sheaves is they can have a lot of detail in a very tiny piece. It looks like most builders just drill a hole through a rectangular piece of wood. But I remember something Dave (CPDDET) told me. “In my opinion, I would sacrifice a bit on exact dimensions in order to produce better detail on the workpiece.” So, I made mine somewhat larger than the blueprints showed. I used a 1/8” x 1/8” square piece of stripwood and made them ¼” long. In hindsight, I could have used something a little wider to cover the width of the bulwark. Materials Used: 1/8” x 1/8” stripwood, 1/16” diameter brass tube, 1/32” brass rod I marked off the ¼” length on the end of the wood and 2 guide lines where I will drill out the center To make the sheave hole, I attached an old jig to the X-Y table on my drill press to hold the piece securely. This jig has a 1/8” space where I laid the strip into the gap. I drilled a couple of 1/16” holes side-by-side between the marks on the strip. The hole was cleaned up using the mini-files shown below Pencil marks were centered on the top and bottom and a pin vise was used to drill a hole for the rod. I found that I got a straighter, better aligned pair of holes if I flipped the piece over and drill at the mark on the other side, rather than drill straight through from the first side. The sheave is made using a short length of tubing. For accuracy, I cut the tube with a razor saw and miter box. This tube is tiny. Some filing was required to get the piece to fit into the sheave hole. The tube is slipped into the sheave opening and a piece of brass rod is used to hold it in place. I will cut off the ends later when I install the assembly into the bulwark. The assembled piece is cut off the strip when done The batch of 8 sheaves are ready to install on the ship’s bulwarks I photocopied the plans and cutout the part showing the location of the sheaves on the gundeck and quarter deck. I cut a hole in the paper to fit my sheave. I positioned the cutout on the bulwark and penciled in the location on the side of the ship. I started out by using a carving bit in the Dremel to make the initial cut through the bulwark. Next, mini-files were used to slowly expand the hole until the sheave fit snugly in place. Here is one of the holes after filing and sanding. Completed installation for the starboard side sheaves at the gun deck. Also, a close-up of the first sheave. Pics showing the sheaves on the starboard and port sides. I’m not happy with the forward port-side Q-Deck sheave. The space between the inboard and outboard bulwarks is hollow in the spot. The planks were wobbling as I was cutting and the hole ended up off size. I should have inserted a piece of wood filler to make it more solid. I’m hoping that a little filler around the edges will make it look less conspicuous! The starboard side turned out better, as I was cognizant of the problem by then. So, that's how I made the sheaves for my Rattlesnake! I welcome your feedback on the sheaves! The next step is installing the railings on the quarter & gun decks. I already carved the fancy scrollwork for the transitions to the gundeck. I purchased a couple of the Artesania-Latina Micro-Shapers for the molding strips. I’m also thinking about using them to put a curved edge on the railings. I’m going to do some experimenting with that. Thanks, Ed

Hi Dave, Thanks for your input! Did you purchase direct from Artesania or somewhere else? Which size or sizes did you get? Allan, I didn't mean an actual chisel! I've seen people put grooves in a used Exacto chisel blade. The one drawback I see to that is, you pretty much have to custom make one for different shapes & sizes of wood you are working on. Thanks for the tips!

Hi All, I am working on the railings and molding strips for my Rattlesnake build. I was going to make my own by using the Dremmel on a chisel blade. The Artesania scrappers look like an awesome tool. I have two questions: 1. Could these be used on wood that is in fractional dimensions? For example could you use 2 x 5 mm scrapper on a 1/16" x 3/16" piece of strip wood? Not a perfect fit, but could it work? 2. Or, if not, does anyone supply a similar product in english fractional dimensions? Thanks, Ed

Hi John, I started working on the cap railings. First off, I discovered I really stink at carving! I really like the way your scrollwork on the deck transitions turned out. What did you use to carve yours? I bought some micro-gouges, but cannot seem to get anything that looks satisfactory with such a small piece of wood. I'm also frustrated because I can't find the right size piece of stripwood. They don't make one that's 3/16" x 1/8". That's what I need to reach from the gundeck at the step-down that's forward of the quarter deck. Yours appears to be a bit taller, but could be the camera angle. Hope you don't mind me seeking some guidance from you on this topic! Thanks, Ed

So Kenneth, is your point that those beauty marks don't need to be sanded away completely. Leave some marks for character? Thanks, Ed

Hello Fellow Shipwrights, I've reached a major milestone on my build... planking on the lower hull has been completed. This step took me 100 hours and 72 calendar days. I found this hull to be difficult to plank! But, I learned a couple of things along the journey. I've already documented some of my difficulties! Here are a couple more lessons learned. Lesson #1. In my infinite wisdom (NOT!) I decided I didn't need to use battens to separate the hull into 3 sections, as per the instructions. In retrospect, I think that battens would have helped me avoid the issue I had with laying the planks in straighter lines and getting the same number of planks on both the port and starboard sides. I ended up with not enough space for the plank width at the bow and too much space at the stern. I solved this by custom carving and installing a jigsaw shaped piece to fill the leftover space on each side. And then inserting some narrow pointed planks at the bow, to have enough strakes to cover the stern. I think when the hull is painted and finished it will look fine. But, I took a shortcut that I will avoid on my next build. Someday I would love to build a ship without using paint. Just natural wood and varnish! Lesson #2. I think I should not have installed the extra filler block between bulkheads A & B. Or, at least they were not shaped properly. This caused me problems getting an even flow around that curve at the bow. I ended up with some "stairsteps" going on with my planking at the bow, because I could not get the planks to touch the entire surface of the block. That and I also had some severe edge bending due to the lack of a straight line caused by issue #1. This made it difficult to get the plank to lay flat against the hull on the "shorter" side (the edge facing the keel). At this point I've done some initial sanding to clean up the rough spots. I still need to do some filling and more sanding. I like to use Tamiya white putty to fill holes and smooth out the hull surface. It give a smoother surface than wood putty. After that, I need to repair damage I caused to two deck supports and the port side of the focsl covering board. Totally crushed that!! Here are some pics of the completed planking. Far from perfect, but I think I can work with this!

Dave, Damage is the reason! I just finished planking. Now I have to rebuild several deck supports plus the focsl railing. Not to mention breaking the stem off!! Lots of pushing and pressing against the hull in an upside down position. You'll be glad you did it first by the time you're done!

You are absolutely correct! I just broke another deck beam yesterday! I tell myself to be more careful, but you don't even realize you are putting pressure on a sensitive spot when the ship is upside down for planking. I even reinforced my beams early on. Oh well, I'm getting good at repairing the damage I cause!

Hi All, So, I've managed to put Humpty back together again! I could not find a suitable sized dowel to use for the repair. I ended up doing as Richard suggested. I used a long thin finishing nail (less than 1/16 (7/128) x 1 inch long). I put the stem piece on the drill press and drilled out a hole that was a snug fit for the nail. Due to the width and shape of the stem, I felt I could only safely put no more than one nail through it. I positioned the piece and started driving the nail a very short way into the keel just to start a hole there. Removed the stem piece and applied a coating of Weldbond on both sides. Then I repositioned the stem and drove the nail all the way into the keel. I had widened the hole slightly at the top so I could countersink the nail head. I did not cut off the nail head so it would hold securely without adding any glue into the hole. Below are a couple of pics. I still need to do some filling and sanding, but I think it turned out pretty well. It seems very secure. I just have to be much more careful not to press against the side of the stem. Just 4 more strakes left to finish the hull planking! Time to get back to work! Below you can see the countersunk nail head in the repaired part. Above the repaired section you can see one of the original nails I used. This held secure when I broke it! Guess I should have used 2 from the start? Answering Woodshipguy...I did do a slight taper on the stem all the way to the keel. I mostly just removed the squared off edges. Thank You Gregory and Richard for your support! It was much appreciated in my time of crisis!!

Gregory, I was able to delete the post without any issues! Thanks Your approach on the repair sounds like a good plan. I am going to work on it. I'll let you know how it turns out. Thanks, Ed

Hi Gregory, Thanks for the tip. I'm always afraid to click on those delete buttons. I've read you can wipe out your entire log with one wrong click! My one concern about using dowels is lining up the dowel in part A with the hole in part B. The alignment on this piece will need to be very precise. Any suggestions on a technique for doing that would be appreciated. Thank You! Ed

Well boys, I just had a major problem!! I snapped the stem off the bow while trying to bend a plank in place. I'm not sure how to fix this. I'm afraid just gluing it back on will not provide enough reinforcement. I thought about inserting some dowels (small nails or pegs of wood) in the stem piece and trying to align them up with the keel. Does anyone have any suggestions? I hope I haven't wrecked my entire model!! Here's a picture of the damage. I've had some concerns about how thin that line of wood is along the rabbet. It's hard to be aware of that when you are pressing against the ship trying to hold stuff in place! I would appreciate any ideas on how to repair this. Thanks, Ed

Kenneth, your Rattlesnake is looking awesome. Your rigging looks very neat & tidy. Looks like you are getting close to completion! Did you stain the masts at all or is that just the natural color of the wood?

Stage C Lower Hull – Planking Hull Planking & Painting Step 25: Planking the Lower Hull As requested by Dave_E, I am posting my current progress. According to my master plan, I am starting on Stage C. Step 25 is Planking the Lower Hull. I spent a lot of time struggling to wrap my brain around how this step is supposed to go! I studied the pictures posted on every Rattlesnake build log to see how the planks are supposed to lay over the bulkhead frames and especially the bow and stern blocks. I watched You Tube videos on planking. But I have to visualize things on my model. I wasn’t getting the visual I needed from looking at the build log pictures. The videos, were helpful with techniques. I found some useful info from Ken Bascom’s tutorials. My plan was to start with the Garboard Strake. Then move ‘down’ the hull installing Belt C. Then move to Belt A. Lastly, fill the middle space with Belt B. I planned on using 3 planks per strake on each side of the hull. I still wasn’t comfortable, but decided to just start working and see what happens! I decided not to install any battens to start out. Garboard Strakes – I used a 1/16 x ¼” wood strip. This Garboard is not supposed to be tapered or cut. Run it straight along the keel. Only sand it to match the shape at the bow without any upward turn. This installed without any problems. Below: Garboard strake on starboard side Looking down on both Garboard planks Plank 1 (next to garboard) – Like the garboard, this plank is not tapered. Run it straight across on top of the garboard and shape at the bow without turning upward. Use the standard stripwood, 1/16” x 3/16” (part #3622). I sanded the lower edge to get a flush fit with the garboard. No butt joints were used. Below: Plank #1 being added A Pause and New Plan! At this point I took a pause. I needed to figure out how I was going to proceed. From now on the plan was to divide each strake into 3 planks per side. I also needed to figure out how I was going to determine the amount of tapering to do on the rest of the planks. I measured the distance between Plank #1 and the Wale at each bulkhead, plus the bow and stern. I needed to figure out how many full width planks will be needed at BHD G, the widest point. I did not trust that the measurements off the plans would match my model! I had to visualize it on my ship! So, I cut short pieces of planking that would cover 3 bulkheads. Using some rubber bands around the hull, I laid down planks in the empty space between plank #1 and the Wale along either side of BHD G. I came up with 11 full width planks required. I made a spreadsheet and determined the plank width required at each bulkhead, the bow & stern. This revealed that tapering is only required at the bow. Most of the planks will work fine at full width. And the stern might need an extra stealer, because it could be wider than 11 planks. I decided I did not need to use battens. I drew lines on each bulkhead using my test planks to show where each one fits. My new plan is to alternate between the top and bottom of the hull laying down planks. I will check my measurements as I go and adjust the amount of tapering to match the remaining gap. Plank 2 – On the next strake I used 3 planks per side. The bow now had to be tapered. I love the Veritas block plane. It makes tapering a snap. Unfortunately, I made 3 mistakes at this point. a. I did not realize it at the time, but I extended the tapered length for this plank at the bow to be longer on the starboard side versus the port. I only now realized that this messed up my calculations and will leave this side a strake less at the starboard bow! More on the solution to this problem later. b. The butt joint at bhd K had all the edge bending tension and caused a bulge. I thought about how to fix this for a while and considered inserting a stealer. This seemed too scarry to attempt! So before installing strake #3, I drew a straight line connecting the smooth parts at the bottom of the strake on either side of the bulge. I cut the bulge out with an Exacto knife. This also reduced the amount of edge bending occurring at the stern for future strakes. I also decided to use only 2 planks per strake from now on. It’s too difficult to hold the plank flat and bend at a joint. c. But the worst problem I had was this...I was pushing on the plank to force it to stay in position and I snapped the deck side of the keel where the two keel clamps were holding the ship upside down!! I also crushed a couple of the deck supports in the process. I thought I was going to cry! I managed to glue Humpty back together again. But, I’m afraid to attach the keel clamp again for planking. I went back to my old school pre keel clamp. I cut up a wine bottle cardboard shipping insert to fit the Rattlesnake's shape and strapped it down. It’s actually working fine. Below: Installing Strake #2 Strake #12 & 11 – Next, I decided to jump “down” and work on the strake just below the wale. I wanted to see how the planks will run into the transom. OMG, the bend & twist around the stern filler block into the transom is a bear! I’m developing whole new techniques to soak and bend wood at a 90-degree angle with a curling iron!! Every plank must be cut, soaked, bent, soaked and bent some more, wet fit and clamped to the hull until dry. I messed up the first one, but I’ve made some good plank bends since. It takes me about 3 days to complete each strake (port & starboard). That brings you up to date. I’ve completed the Garboard and the 3 strakes next to it and 2 strakes under the wale. I’ll need to do some filling and sanding when done, but I hope you guys think it looks pretty good so far. Here are the last pictures taken today. Below: Dry-fitting strake #3 Current progress as of today: FYI, to solve the issue with the starboard side with plank #2 I decided to increase the tapering at the bow end to fit the missing plank. The planks from bhd D to the stern should not be affected. Hopefully, once everything is sanded and painted no one will know the difference. Thanks, Ed

Hi Dave, Just got back from a couple of weeks vacation and am catching up on your build log. I also purchased the 6 pounder cannons and the recommended carriages from Syren. They are bit taller then the Model Shipways, but not off by an large scale. I was able to adjust the height of the frames to compensate for the difference. I agree, the difference in the quality of the cannons is worth the extra effort to make them work. I only built one cannon for test fitting the frames, so far. I intend to deepen the grove the extensions on the sides of the cannons sit into on the carriages to help make them fit better too. I don't know if it's too late for you to try that. Good to see you are back in the shipyard! Ed

Hi Guys, I've got one more post to complete the steps on the upper deck, at least for now. I told you I had an idea how to get the laser-cut Focsl Covering Board to fit. Well I'm happy to report this worked! I soaked the 2 pieces for the covering board for a good 10 or 15 minutes. While that was preping, I turned the ship upside down on a piece of thin cardboard and traced the outline of the bow/focsl on the cardboard. I placed the cardboard on a piece of cork board. When the covering boards were pliable, I used pushpins to hold them in place inside of the outline I traced. I let this dry overnight. This afternoon I was able to glue them in place on top of the focsl with only minimal adjusting! I am very pleased with the end result! I still have a few steps left. Sanding and wood fill, install the railings, prime and paint the areas that will be red. I'm going to wait until the lower hull is planked before doing these steps. I don't want to damage anything while working on the ship upside down. I expect progress will slow down a bit while I'm planking. Here are a couple of pics of the focsl covering board. Thanks, Ed

Allan, it is hard to see even in this picture, but the carriage is definitely built to be wider in the back. There is an angle created by using a shorter axel in the front. Look at the additional space at the sides of the cannon where you can see the rear axel. The trucks (wheels) in the front are also larger then the back, as in your photo.

Step 22: Plank the Outboard Bulwarks above the Wale Step 23: Plank the Inboard Bulwark with “Ceiling Planks” Hello Everyone, It’s taken me some time to get to the point where I’m ready to post some progress. Doing the planking above the Wale has been a slow process. I’ve been moving slowly and spending a lot of time trying to understand the blueprint plans and how everything fits together. Taking my time and trying to do it right! The instruction manual outlines several rules for planking. For the most part I followed these rules. Before starting to plank I made a diagram showing the way I wanted to stagger the butt joints for each strake. I broke the strakes into 3 planks each. Pic of the “Planking Rules” and the bundle of 1/32” x 3/32” stripwood from the kit (WP-3603) I worked on the outboard and inboard planking simultaneously. I started on the hull side, beginning at the wale and working up to the rails. I alternated adding a full strake on the port side and then the same on the starboard. This is recommended to make sure things don’t get out of alignment. For the outboard planks at the bow, I measured the length of plank required for that position and soaked it in a glass jar for about 5 to 8 minutes. Then I used a curling iron I “borrowed” from my wife to bend the plank to fit the curve of the bow. Be sure to apply glue to the top of the entire lower plank below to hold the bottom edge of the new plank above it. Here is my process. Soaking a plank in a jar of water for bending to fit the bow Bending the front end of the plank with the curling iron Clamping the damp plank in place to dry fit it to the shape of the bow Applying glue to the top of the last plank before setting the next one in place Plank clamped while the glue sets The completed plank after glue is set and clamps removed First 3 strakes on starboard side at the quarter deck area 4 strakes completed; view at midship area. Another plank on the starboard side with glue setting After planking halfway up the outboard side, as measured at the midship gundeck area, I switched to the inboard ceiling planks. I thought this would make it easier to get my fingers inside the deck area and allow me to see what I’m doing. Before starting on the ceiling planks, I sanded down the inboard side of the bulkheads to 1/16” as called for on the plans. This was done for the gundeck and focsl. It did not appear to be required on the quarter deck. I just sanded to even them out. I alternated back and forth between inboard and outboard once I got to the gunports & oar ports. I used full length pieces of stripwood on the inside. I planked over the holes both in & outside. I cut the holes out on each side after completing each strake of planks. I used an Exacto knife equipped with a saw blade to do the cutting. When finished, the edges were cleaned up with jewelry files. Ceiling planks on the port side showing the cutout gun & oar port holes The last strake at the top of the gundeck was done in 2 sections instead of 3 I have a number of spots where my clamps pushed the plank too tightly and formed a “sunken” spot. These 1/32” boards are very pliable. I will fix these later with sanding and filler, where needed. I found it helpful to glue some extra 1/16” thick supports between the bulkheads in various spots as I approached the top of the hull. This was especially necessary for the top couple of strakes where the bulkhead extensions were like short nubs! These provided more surface area for gluing. The final (top) strake that runs the full length of the hull will get a molding strip installed over the top of it. This will be done later after sanding and installing the railings. Pic showing extra supports along the bulwarks, between the BHD extensions The next step is the quarter deck planking. The next plank is the first one that stops at the end of the q-deck. Actually, it goes a about an inch farther to form a step to the gundeck rail. Next there is a plank that gets the “Covering Board” strip installed over the top of it. Finally, there are 5 more planks to reach the top of the quarter deck. My plan here is to glue the gunport lids directly to the hull. Therefore, no holes in q-deck area. Pic showing 3 planks installed on the outboard quarter deck & ceiling planks being installed Top strake that gets the molding strip and also the step-down plank from the quarter deck I left some over-lap at the front and back of the quarter deck planks for trimming and sanding later The last step for this subject is the last couple of planks at the focsl. I added a couple of extra supports for gluing. I soaked these planks and used the curling iron for the curve at the bow. Here are some pics of the completed work. I still have to do some sanding and filling before painting anything. Pics of completed planking at the focsl, port & starboard sides Most current pics of completed planking around the ship I’m a little worried about the next step. I am going to install the laser-cut covering boards on the Focsl. Dry fitting shows that they do not fit too well! I have an idea for how to make them fit. I’ll let you know if it works!! Thanks, Ed

Exactly Right! I too had difficulty making sense of the blueprint plans for this area! He does not provide any view of this part of the railing showing the beam, waterway and railing in place, much less the qtr deck planks! I did cut the beam back. I will find out how I did when I get to planking the deck! That's still a ways off. Hopefully we help one another minimize the number of mistakes we need to cover up!! I'm finally ready to post my upper hull & ceiling planking. Should be posted soon Thanks John!

Hi John, Thanks for your answer to my question. So, your order was - plank upper bulwarks, install the railings (except on the Focs'l), then paint, then plank the lower hull. I will post my work on the upper hull planking very soon. I spent some time studying the pictures of your railings. I'm having trouble wrapping my head around the first few planks at the quarter deck. The ones just above the strake that gets the "molding strip". I think I made my beam too wide. It seems like it will be in the way of the short vertical rail that drops down from the Q-Deck to the gundeck. I have a picture of this below. I cut it to fit to the outside of the bulkhead extension. Should I cut the beam back on each side? I think I need to cut it back to where ceiling planks will sit on the red waterway. The vertical piece of railing needs to be at least as wide as the planked bulkhead, correct? Then stop the next outside plank so it's even with the forward edge of that BHD extension and continue planking the same way all the way up. I'm afraid to cut that beam! How did you get that short piece of rail to curve with the BHD extension? Thanks! Ed BTW, your Rattlesnake is looking really awesome! Looks like you will keep the upper bulwarks on the quarter deck yellow ochre. I've seen some guys paint it black and others ochre. Still deciding for mine!

Quick question for the Rattlesnake team. When do you recommend installing the Q-Deck and Gun Deck railings? Before or after completing the lower hull planking? I'm almost done with the upper bulwark planking both outboard & inboard. The Focs'l stanchions and railings are definitely going in after as they are much more fragile! Thanks! Ed

Step 19: Plank the Counter Step 20: Install the Wale Strake Step 21: Install Focsl & Qtr Deck Breast Beams In my previous post I showed the work on the Wale in conjunction with my struggles to taper these planks using the cheap block plane I purchased at a big box store. Finally got that solved with help from Jonathan (wool32) & John (javajohn). I completed a few more steps, so I want to circle back and submit a post on the process for my steps 19, 20 & 21. The Wale is made from a 1/16” x 3/16” stripwood plank (part #3622). The bulwark planks above it are 1/32” x 3/32” stripwood planks (3603). The measurements from the kit blueprint plan matched up to the side of my model to indicate that the top edge of the Wale should fall about even with the bottom edge of the Waterway. I tried to make a “tick strip” with a piece of the stiff card stock to mark on the bulkheads. (This didn’t work very well. It ended up being significantly longer than the available space on my ship!) I finally just eye-balled the position with the waterway and marked the bhd’s with a pencil. I decided to make the wale out of a single piece of stripwood to ensure that it is straight and level along this line. Here are the construction steps I used. Step 19: Plank the Counter – The first thing I did was plank the Counter block at the stern with 1/32” x 3/32” stripwood. I squared off the outer edges with a sanding stick. Planks above the wale run straight across the outside of the counter. Eventually I will sand the 2 edges into a miter-like cut. Counter Planking Step 21: Install Focsl & Qtr Deck Breast Beams While I was waiting for my new block plane, I installed the Focsl & Qtr Deck Breast Beams 1. 3/32” x 3/16” pieces of stripwood are required. The focsl beam is supposed to sit on a pair of support beams between bulkheads C & D. My gunport frames are higher than normal because of the replacement cannons, so I ended up setting the beam right on top of the frames. 2. Sand the open edge of each beam to make a rounded edge 3. The beam needs to be bent to match the curve of the focsl deck camber. I remember reading in other logs that you should keep the laser cutouts from the bhd’s. I’m glad I did! I soaked the beams; rubber banded them to the top of their respective cutouts (C & I) and let them dry out overnight to the correct camber. 4. Glued them in position the next day Focsl Deck Breast Beam behind Bulkhead C Quarter Deck Breast Beam in front of Bulkhead I Step 20: Install the Wale Strake 1. Once I received my new block plane, I tapered both wale planks (see pics in above post #69) 2. Dry fit the wales on the ship. Word of caution on two points: a. I assumed that the full width of the wale plank would match the plans around bhd’s G & H. The plank on the plan is 1/32” narrower than 3/16” full size of the actual kit wood. Either a different size of wood was used back then or they tapered the entire plank. I saw no reason not to use the full width and adjusted the tapers at the bow & stern to be a consistent percentage of the difference. b. I made a bend in the bow end of the wale so that it followed the upward curve of the waterway. After I installed the wales on both sides, I did not like the way this was looking. So, I unglued this area and dropped it down to make a gentler curve. I hope this wasn’t a mistake, but it seemed that’s what the wood was telling me to do! A little less edge bending. 3. Steps for Installing the Wale a. These planks are quite a bit heavier than the planks I used on Bluenose (which were the same as the Snake’s deck planks). I needed to soak them longer (about 15 minutes) to get them pliable enough to bend to the curve at the bow. I use a 2-foot-long PVC pipe that is capped at the bottom for soaking a full-length plank. b. I took Dave_E’s advice and “borrowed” a thick diameter curling iron from my wife to make the curve. Dave, it worked great!! Clamped them in position until they dried to the proper shape. c. Remove the clamps; apply PVA (I use Gorilla Glue); re-clamp in position until dry Wale installed on the port side of the ship 4. Glue in the Timberheads and Knightheads – I made the cutouts in the filler block and the timber pieces earlier. To glue or not to glue them now, that was a question. I test fit the laser-cut covering board. It looks like I will need to edge bend the aft ends of the covering boards into the ship to make them fit on the focsl deck beams correctly. I decided I needed to glue the timberheads & knightheads in position now. I used the covering boards to align them underneath. I am going to wait until I’m done with the upper hull planking before finally gluing in the covering boards. This will make it easier to adjust the 1/32” overhang. I already started planking the bulwark above the wale. I will save that for my next post.

Hey John and Jonathan, I wanted to let you know that I received my Veritas miniature block plane from Lee Valley late yesterday. Spent some time working today to get the Wale strake installed on the starboard side. The Veritas plane was amazing! I cut two planks to length and clamped them together in my hobby vise. That little plane cut through the two boards together like a sharp knife through butter! I was surprised how small it was. But it is perfect for tapering planks. Here are a couple of pictures to let you see how I did. I'm going to make a full posting of this entire step once I'm finished with it. Thanks for the recommendation. I'm looking forward to planking now!!! Ed Here's my newest tool in the arsenal. You can see how small it is compared to a penny! Small but mighty! No problem tapering these 2 Wale planks simultaneously Glue is drying on the starboard wale strake. Yes, I did install one continuous plank to help align everything else above and below it more easily. Tomorrow the port side goes in.

Hi Bill, go real slow with the sanding. You can always take more off later, but it's a real problem if you overdo it and need to put it back on! Be careful using the Dremel. It's a great tool, but will chew off a lot of wood in a hurry if you are not careful. Everyone tries to do their best to make the model to match the plans, but you have to be quite expert to do this 100%. You may have to make minor (hopefully) adjustments to work on your version of the ship as you move along. Also, all of us have broken pieces. Wood glue and reinforcing with scrap wood is the solution when making repairs. Look ahead at what others post to make sure you are planning appropriately for a future step, as you are working on something in the present. There can be bad ripple affects if you don't. Also, listen to Old Salt (Jim). He gives good advice! Regards, Ed