jdbondy

Oh, I also created apertures in the foredeck for the foremast and the foc's'le hatch.

As I suggested in my last post, maybe I need to make more frequent posts, even if there is a little less content in each one. The planking of the port side after deck is completed; it ends abruptly at the frame reveal at the deck level. Now the port side foredeck planking is complete, again ending in the end of the deck framing reveal. This is the starboard side, where the planking forward and aft are coming together and the accuracy of the linearity of the planking will be determined. Of course, where the two came together, there was about ½ plank width difference in the location of the planks. As it turns out, there is appreciable angle difference between the layout of the forward and aft planks, which is difficult to appreciate on a fore-and-aft photo. This photo was even taken with maximum depth of field, and it is difficult to get all the planking in focus. So, the next step was to compensate for the step-off between the fore and aft planking, as well as for the angle difference between them. Fortunately, when viewed from abeam, I think it is difficult to tell that anything is off. Here is how things look after merging the fore planking with the aft planking. There is one plank that demonstrates a somewhat hourglass shape, wider at either end and narrower in the center. But overall things seem to be pretty well concealed. In addition, some very subtle bending of planking was necessary due to the change in angulation. But again, hard to find if you don’t know it’s there. So now the planking is almost finished. The final plank had to be very specifically tapered, of course. The final plank in place. Next task: the margin plank is flush with the covering board, but where the remainder of the deck planking meets the margin plank, there is a small amount of step-off. Directing the lighting in the proper direction really accentuates the step-off. Under the microscope, I used various shapes of X-Acto blades to bring the edge of the deck planking flush with the margin plank. This also helped to eliminate areas of glue squeeze-out where the fore-and-aft planking met the margin plank. Much better. Next issue is deck camber. Making corrections at the hull-deck joint led to changes in the shapes of the deck beams, with overly steep deck camber at the edge of the deck. The index card shown above has proper deck camber cut along its edge. The card sat appropriately against the planking where it meets the cabintop, but there was as much as 1/32” dropoff where the planking meets the margin plank. Additional cards with deck camber were set up along this area of the deck. These two cards show triangles of light where the bottom edge of the card meets the deck planking edge. A close-up shows how much of a gap there is. This great palm plane from Lee Valley has been waiting for jobs for which it is well-suited. Turns out it works very well for working down the surface of the deck planking to the appropriate camber. That is what I am working on now. After that, attention will turn to finishing of the deck as well as the hull surface. Plus the bulwarks planking needs to be installed.

How are you parting the discs off of the brass rod? Is that a wire of some kind I am seeing in that image? Thanks in advance.

Wow, what a beautifully executed fine detail of the rigging! Just another piece of the puzzle that is adding up to a fantastic masterpiece.

It has been entirely too long since the last post. Life just seems to get in the way of progress on the model. The Mary Day’s deck is planked in teak, with fore and aft planks and one margin plank. To match the teak color, I used Swiss pear from my collection of wood obtained from Gilmer Wood in the Pacific NW. I parted off sheets from a block, then ran them through the Byrnes thickness sander to reach a consistent thickness of 3/64” (0.047”) that would determine the width of each plank. That way I wouldn’t end up with wandering plank lines (at least I am hoping). Then I used the table saw to part off individual deck planks that were initially too thick (about 0.05-0.06”), but then sanded down to the necessary thickness of 0.047”, again using the Byrnes sander. This surface would be the showing surface of the deck, which would ultimately be scraped smooth anyway. The first task was to install margin planking all the way around the inboard edges of the covering boards. It’s a very satisfying appearance seeing the Swiss pear wood adjacent to the gray covering board, and it exactly duplicates the appearance in real life. In order to simulate deck caulking, each plank edge was rubbed with a pencil, which burnished the upper corners of the plank, narrowing it very slightly at deck level. The graphite of the pencil effectively simulates the dark deck caulking. This process required some trial and error. Initially I was only rubbing one edge of a deck plank with the pencil, but I wasn’t happy with how the deck seams looked. So in this picture I am cutting out some of the planking that then got redone in the manner described above. I started the process of deck planking in the area of the aft deck. In this area, there is a king plank that is 1.5 times the width of the adjacent planks. It is 4.5” wide, while the rest of the planks are 3” in width. Determining the centerline is a bit tricky and involved running a string (fly tying line) from the center of the stem in the bow through to the area of the transom. Pin pricks were then used to mark the centerline, then subsequent prick marks to determine preset distances from the centerline. A helpful feature about planking the stern deck is that the aft ends of the planks could terminate arbitrarily, as visible above, because their ends will be covered by the lazarette. And the forward edges will be covered by the edge of the cabintop. Carrying the planking forward from the aft deck is tricky, because ideally the planking will follow a symmetric pattern as the planks articulate with the deckhouse and with the margin plank. One forgiving feature of my model is that there will be an unplanked area of deck on the port side at midships, in the same approximate area as the frame reveal in the hull. So in that area, there won’t be any issues of symmetry to worry about. Next, planking was laid out in the bow, again being careful about determining the centerline. In the bow, there is no king plank as there is on the aft deck. The planking as shown here covers openings for the foc’sle berth and the mast partners. Those areas will be cut away when the time comes. From here, I will finish planking the forward deck, then work the planking aft to gradually merge up with the planking that has already been laid in the stern. I am hoping that everything will meet up straight and true! You can see that I have planking laid out on the work surface that is of diminishing length, as the next pieces to go into the bow. Thanks to everyone I met while cruising on the Mary Day 2 weeks ago for inspiring me to get back to work and perhaps to posting a little more frequently! I hope some of you navigate your way to this build log and find it interesting.

I would be interested in seeing more details on how you did the FC stanchions and rail, because that looks to me like a complicated process to get the stanchions vertical while accurately cutting the holes in the rail to accept them.

Lovely appearance! I love those Veritas chisels.

I had the pleasure of spending this past week on board the Mary Day with friends! There were a total of 19 passengers. I quickly became known as the guy who was measuring every single detail. Hopefully this will inspire renewed and rapid work on my model!

Your polyurethane topcoat, is it oil based or water based? I just used some water based polyurethane on a non-ship model project, and the question arose in my mind.

And don't forget about rigging from inside to out...

There hasn't been any time for working on the model this summer, as I have been working a lot so that others can have summer vacation time. But once summer is over, I am joining some friends in September for a week-long coastal cruise on the Mary Day! I am billing the trip as "research". Of course, I am submitting the bills to me, so not much benefit there. But the trip should result in lots of good documentation on things like the running rigging in actual use, as well as the yawl boat and its associated stern davits.

"While ensconced"...love it!

This could be a game changer for me! Ordinarily I hate soldering because...well, I guess I just am not good at it. But the process has always felt so coarse. This is much finer!

You gotta love seeing the "Byrnes Bench"!!

Just as a reminder of what we are ultimately headed for on this project, here is a photo of the Mary Day at anchor from last summer. Now working on painting the deck support structure, which will be followed by deck planking. And I need to start planning on painting the hull itself!