Glen McGuire
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Everything posted by Glen McGuire
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At this point I decided to take a break from the body of the ship and work on some smaller things. The kit just called for gluing the rudder in place but I saw some other model ships with really cool strap hinges where the rudder could actually move back and forth. So I created some hinges out of the excess photo-etched framework around the chain plates. For the skylight glass, I used 4 layers of wax paper to give it an opaque, smoked-glass look.
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Next step was the deck. I borrowed a tip from somewhere to use a carpenter pencil and rub it over the edge of each deck plank to give it a dark accent between the strips to simulate caulking. I thought it worked quite well. However, as you can see, as I glued the planks on the 1-piece deckboard, the whole thing began to bow upwards. So when I went to glue the whole thing onto the boat, I needed some weight to hold it in place hence the assortment of every small, heavy thing I could find in my garage.
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The second layer of planking was applied to the upper half of the hull starting slightly above the water line using darker wood. The color does not matter since it is painted black later. It was quite a chore for me to get all the pieces fitted smoothly (sort of) around the stern. I really struggled with the angles and curves and transitions. Copper plates go below the second planking layer down to the keel.
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First layer of planking done and sanded. It went ok but was incredibly tedious taking a couple of weeks of repetitive work. There are probably better ways to bend/mold the planks. I soaked them in warm water, clamped them in place, let them dry, then glued 'em up. Rinse, repeat, rinse repeat... I also used some wood filler to cover some of my bad technique since it would be covered later with another layer of planking as well as copper plates.
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@gsdpic Thanks for the welcome note! Your comment is actually one of the reasons I wanted to post this build - I found several logs of the plastic Revell Alabama but none of the Mamoli wood kit. Figured someone might benefit from my experience even though I'm a rookie. Regarding the planking and bulkheads, yes the distance was a challenge. But being new to this, I assumed they were all like that. You will see in some later pictures that it is double planked just above the water line and copper plated below. So I figured I didn't have to be perfect with the base layer of planking (thank goodness!).
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Planking steps. Whoever came up with the idea of using binder clips to hold the planks in place is a genius! Not sure if I really planked it correctly though. I started at the water line and went up. Then from the keel up. The gap got smaller and smaller and I ended up having to get creative with how to hold those last few planks in place. Rubber bands and pieces of clothes pins.
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Then things started to get interesting. The shackle for the prop needed a frame with a routed groove so it could slide up and down. No part in the kit for that, so I used spare wood pieces from the framework to carve it out. The kit instructions said to just glue the prop in place but I thought the prop should be able to spin. So I drilled out the middle between the 2 blades, added the little pipe you can see to the right of the prop, and then inserted a tiny finishing nail as an axle. It spins when you thump it! And now I was starting to get an idea of what I had gotten myself into.
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Easiest part of the build - gluing the frames on the keel. I figured I'd be done with everything in a couple of weeks at this point.
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Unfortunately I did not discover this fantastic community until I was almost finished with my CSS Alabama build (wow, there's some incredible talent out here). I am done now with my build but thought I'd post my pictures and comments from the 8 months of harrowing work. This was my first attempt at a wooden ship model. Not sure why I thought I could do this since the only other models I've ever attempted were Revell plastic car models when I was a kid 50 years ago. But how hard could it be, right? It's just a kit, right? All you gotta do is follow the instructions and glue the parts together, right? Right, noob (as my son would say). Even though I'm done now, I would appreciate any comments/tips/advice on what I could have done better as I'll be doing another one of these things soon.
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