Theodosius

The small deck assemblys look like a ton of fun to build! 🙂

@VTHokieEE, @Bend, @SpyGlass: thank you three very much for your thumbs up, comes just the right way now @Rik Thistle: Richard, thank's for the now much needed motivation *lol*. Yes, I'm in a roll now, and I can see allready the next big steps @SpyGlass: thank you too! Yes, I realise the 'very thin' problem, and at the moment, I struggle a little bit with this :). But, how's you're second planking going? I fell like I'm a little bit exhaustet from the sanding! Not the sanding generally, because the sanding to smoothen the hull is quite satisfieing, but the sanding to just thin down the stern! I mean: the stern and deadwood(?) is 3mm wide. Add 2 times the planking stuff of each at 1.5mm. Thats 6mm. Now, sand it down to 1.5... ?? I know I know, thats just model building 🙂 Also, I'm not a native speaker, so it's very easy for me to not hit the right sound. And I don't want this to be a rant, I'm just a little bit tired of sanding the stern That's how it looks now (my broken planks are now quite prominent :-)): From keel to the point where it realy starts to get bulky, I ran from 1.9 to 2.5mm The problem is, that I don't want a dent after a cm or so, just to get the 1.5mm. I want the lines to come down in the lines of the hull down to the 1.5mm. That means, I need to sand more length of the planks than just only the last short part. The whole area need to be thinned out, and, as you can see in the pictures obove, I allready left symetry. I am to inexperienced to get that right if I need to remove so much stuff. Or, perhaps I'm just doin this the wrong way!? Just out of curiosity, and I started collecting the dust not from the start, and no ply-dust: Last picture shows a complete new plank. I needed 16 strakes and made the last of leftovers, because I thought this would be easier to adapt. So I have three spares. Because I did'nt collect all the sawdust, I can say, I sanded 4 complete planks to dust, and I'm still not finished jet. I know, I added additional strips because of my bulkhead-problem. I'm still enjoing to build the model, and I will add another sanding session sometime soon. Thank you all for lookin in!

Well yes, thanks, even though I feel a little bit tired of the sanding... 🙂

@AJohnson, @BenD: thank you both for your thumps up, much appreciated! 🙂 @Rik Thistle: thank you very much for your kind words! You are right, I was realy proud of my first planking, even though it has it's faults :-). I will keep in mind, that I need to sand it so much down! It's not only quite time consuming, but also very strenuous *lol* During the planking, I discovered, that I have a fairly big dent on one of the frames: You can see, that I don't sand that bulkhead to much, because there is still a lot of the lasering to see. It is also full in the slot of the keel. Otherwise I would have had problems to fit the deck. And you can see from the side, that the distance to the top of the keel is the same as there is on the bulkheads left and right. I think, that I manage to somehow get a twist in the whole structure during all my wett/dryfit processes of the forward gunport pattern. I had also some problems to fit the stern the right way. Nevertheless, when I saw that problem, the next planks become a strip of wood on that bulkhead. Of course it would have been much better to faire the hull better in the first place, but then I was not able to do a better job. Just a learning process, I hope: I stopped much to early with this, as I could see during the sanding: I applied a few more strips of wood. I did this also on the aft gunportpattern, where I thought it would be helpfull: And the same areas after some more sanding: The additional strips could have been a little bit longer, and there is some more sanding required, but I think this will work! 🙂 In fact, I'm realy pleased with the actual look (only one side in process): You see, I also needed to protect the stern with tape, as I alredy managed to sand it to much: Don't know jet how to fix that the best way, will look at this again, when all the sanding is finished. Thank's a lot for lookin in!

Read your whole log again! See it with different eyes, now that I'm also deep into my own build. You're log is like a reference for this! I use this as an extendet build manual :-).

Did I allready mentioned, how beautiful this one is? 🙂

@whitejamest: thank you very much for your thumbs up 🙂 @SpyGlass: I was thinking alot about your advice to look for a better fitting vessel to soak my planks :-). I came up with a thermos! Water is longer hot, and then I found out, that the time I need to bend a plank with the electrical plank bender was normaly quite short. At least much shorter than the soaking took place. So, after about 10min of soaking time, I put in another plank into the thermos. Than one was fully soaked, when I finishid the first one. Don't konw if anybody can understand what I'm saying here *lol*. At least, it speed(y)s up the process for me :-). And how's your second planking going? 🙂 Ok, I'm done with the first planking. In some aspekts it works better than I had hoped for, and in others it was worse than exprected. Classical newbi process, I think :-). You can find one plank, that I have broken two times. I found out, that I can bend the planks with the electrical blank bender even without any soaking of water, just with the heat alone. IF I am careful. Well, I was'nt carefull enough with that one, but from there on going, was very fast. And here are the pictures: Again, thank's a lot for lookin into this!

I like the crows feet. I think it's not so easy to have each leach with the same tension on it!

@SpyGlass: hell yes, my bath! a fresh load of boiling water and I can easely double the price of that model... *g But you are right, if that *censored* corona-lock-down will dissapear, I will by me a sufficient vessel for this. A pipe might be a good idear 🙂 Halfway through the first planking, more ore less. Until now, there are no new problems. But I have to fight with some bad preparation, mostly, bad beveling(?) of the bulkheads. I can see that in the lines. Then, I can realy manage to not bend a smoth curve into the plank but to have some kinks in there. Ok, with the sanding, that should be to manage, but, the less afterwork is needed, the better it is, is'nt it? I'm still not unhapy with my first attemps in planking, but it shows realy how importend the preperation of the bulkheads is. Of course, I checked the lines with a plank during that process, but, obviously, that was'nt good enough. Also I understand now, why you want to lay out your boat for planking. And it makes perfekt sense to me, that you better start with a more sientific approach and mark the numnber of planks to every bulkhead to get more exact data about how much taper a plank need at what point of its length. Here, I did it all by eye, and the outcome is some kind of wavy lines of the planks and I will not encounter the kiel with parallel planks. But, as a form of self-deception, I say to me, that most of this will be covered by copper plates. And of course, first it will be coverd by the second planking. But if that don't sit well enough, well, then it will be very prominent, that this was a first time builder's work... Ok, enough ramblings, pictures of my now 14 planks: I will start sanding first, when the planking is complete. Funny fact: there is already a chocolate-side, even when I switched inbetween the side to start, the chocolate-side remains the same *lol Thank's for lookin in and kind regards

A superb build! 🙂

Great idear, hope your admiral is fine with this... 🙂

I'm also at the same place! So thank's a lot for the lot of pictures, a great help for me 🙂

@SpyGlass and @whitejames: thank's a lot for your thumbs up! 🙂 Just in case I will sand the ply to much because of my waves, I glued some wood strips behind them. And you can see, that the nail in the first bulkhead hat split the mdf. So he could not hold the ply in it's position and there is a small gap to the bulkhead. But the planking stuff should be thick enough: Then I prepared my very first plank with taper and twisting as per the instructions: Glued in place. You can see from the shadows, how uneven my ply is: The aft part is slightly better: In fact, I was realy pleased how this worked out! And to see, if it was only by accident, and because I don't want to bore you with a single plank, I installed five for this post: Not as good as I had wished, but after sanding, it should be ok. The macros showes the reality: All in all, until now, I have fun with the planking process. Ok, the difficult places are still to come, but nevertheless there is a lot of motivation back :-). I use to much glue, practice will help, and it takes realy a lot of time. Not so much the bending and shaping, but the soak process. 30 min by the instruction, and because I did'nt have a big enough vessel for the whole plank, I need 2x30 min for the front and the aft part. To fasten this up, the last plank had a reduced time of only 20min per side, and that also works for me :-). Next post will take some time, I will at least half the hull or even more finished, before I post again. Unless, there are new problems, of course *lol Thanks for lookin into this and kind regards.

That looks realy good, even more for a first time build! And I must know, I'm also just into my very first planking! Like your idear with the red 'thing' to bend the planks!

Very promising! And just phantastic to see this project from the start onto the build of a master shipwright! 🙂

Finaly, the gunport-patterns are all installed! Not as good as I hoped, but they should work. There is a slightly cure at the end of the bulwarks, but that should be ok, when the frames are out, and the planks came in. In retrospective, I should have sanded the upper transom a little bit more, so that they would have come a little bit more inwards at the top, then there would be no curve on the upper side of the bulwarks. What I'm realy happy about is, that the aft ply follow the curve of the bulkheads. There is still too much respect for about everything, to make something wrong or to damage somethin. This should go away, the more I build and work with wood. Some pictures: Kind regards!

At least, I had some success 🙂 @SpyGlass: thank you! That's great, so I also glued the ply on the top, to get the 'pipe'-form around the bulkheads. This wil last until the first layer of planks is done, so I think this will be plenty of time 🙂 Sure, the aft-parts of the gunport-patterns do'nt need to be as much bend as the forward parts, but there is still the 'pipe', because of the bulwarks-form. In fact, at the last frames it is quite a curve, that is needed. So I thought, this time, I will not only try to bend it on the framework with just nails and clamps, instead I try to apply the pipe-form with a heat-bending-tool, before I clamp and nail the parts: Only clamped and nailed, not glued, to let it dry in the needet position: I'm realy happy, that this turned out so well 🙂 Thank you all for your help and kind regards!

Some progress and many thanks to all your patience with me! @Richard: thank's again for your great tips and advices! Well, yes, the ply is not against the deck, you are right! Id does'nt hold this position without nails or clamps, and yes, in this picture the Stem Post is not fully snapped to the slot. The bulwarks press it out a little bit, because it is not glued in the picture. I hope, that I have a 'ok' fit now, but both sides are not identical, I have seen now, after it was glued (of course...), perhaps I still shoud add some wood again, but I describe later in the post :). Yeah, a break is always a good idear, that's so right! I also need to know what I want to try next, otherwise it will not work out anyway, but it is good, that you remind me of that :-). It should be fun an joy, otherwise something went wrong... 🙂 @SpyGlass: thank's alot for the pictures! As you said, I concentrated now on the top curve, and the bottom will be sanded out, that seems to be the way for me to get it sorted out I think that I'm in the slot kompletly with the stem-post, but I might be wrong. On starboard it seems to be spot on: Port sid, I might have already put away to much material: I formed the gunport-strips more with my fingers, broke one on one gunport-opening and, last, glued it to the frames. If I can't get it to work, I can still ripp it apart again, can't I? Funny thing: the perhaps half a mm misaligned broken bulkhead helps a lot to let the ply run more smoth on the upper side: Slot at the Stem: as high as possible, still a very smal gap, but I think that's fine: Underside, of course, still very warped: And perhaps I should have added some wood to get it flush with the stem, but the stem is now glued in, and it's a bad position to sand. Talking about that, because I need to file the waves away, and later on, I'm sure the planking will require also a lot on sanding, I'm thinking about to rip the stem just under the gunport-strips apar, to better sand in that area. But still don't know jet, if that is nessecary. To ilustrate what I mean: Ok, now the port-side is glued, buuut (I wait for my first post without a 'but', lol), because I was not able to bend the 'pipe' into that ply to follow the bulkheads, I have a small gab between the upper-side of the ply and all the frames: At least, the curve following the hull is somewhat ok now... Okay, I can glue the upperside of the ply to the bulwarks, in replace I get again some waves on the upper side. But my question is this: Will the ply not anyway snap again in the flat position, when I have to remove the bulkheads from the inside? I'm sure, the ply would hold the 'pipe' if I had to apply one additional layer of planks to th outside, but that does'nt happen as per the instructions. There will be only planks up to the marks of the main wale, and this is not higer than the deck, so will be of no help. Or will the ply hold also the 'pipe'-form around the bulwarks, if they are only long enough glued in this position? If so, I'm sure will glue the pattern the whole way up to all the bulwarks! Best part of it is, the upper-curve now is acceptable: Kind regards

Diana is a beutiful ship, and IMO you do her justice! I like this log! 🙂

frustration and demotivation raises dramatically! @Richard: thank's again for giving me good suggestions! I let the ply always dry completly in the clamped position, and then, the waves did not fade away if I snaped them in the stem-peace and clamp them only on the down-side, so that there is no force at the upper side. Perhaps it can work to wet the upperside again, when it is glued to get the waves out. I read that in one of the Speedy/Flirt-Manuals here. @SpyGlass: snap it in doe'snt help, it's a pitty, so I'm still at the wet-clamp-let-dry-again proccess. And when it is dry, and this is fascinating to see: the bulwark stay even in the most funny curvings :). The problem is easy discribed: clamp the wet wood exactly in the form you will need it... 1. Now I also managed to break one bulkhead above the deck becaus of all the ever again clamping, pressing and tugging to get a usabl fit. And as I can see now in the macro, the position is to much inwards 2. Read all your nice blogs again, and also the instruction manuals. In the picture there, there are only clamps at every second frame. I thought, I try that also, perhaps then I bekome a smothe courve at the upperside: And again nails on the underside: As you can see, where I did'nt drive the nail completly into the bulkhead, I have a gab, because there is so much pressure needet. But, all in all, this, now fifths, attempt was not better than my others before: Now the wafes at the top are even worse, and I'm not sure if I ever get the top-rail(?) fittet as intendet, with this line of my plywood: What I can aim, at the moment, is this: I can get a workable fit at the upperside of the bly OR at the underside, but not on both because of the curves of the bulheads. Unfortunatly I came to the same conclusion again: these plywood sheets are just to wide to get them confortable to the curve of the hull AND the curve of the bulkheads. Well, at least for my actual nowlegde of wood-working Kind regards!

Hello Richard, yeah, the watered down PVA might do the trick. The ropes in this scale are just to light to fall naturaly in the right direction. I'm sure you will solve that. Nevertheless, in my opinion it is worth all the work this is! Buuut lets wait to what conclusion I come to myself, when I'm at this point... lol

Hello RMC, very informative build, thank's a lot for shairing! I'm still at the process to get the gunport-patters to a good fit. I'm realy struggling here. Funny, I also was thinking about to cut some lines into it, where there are waves. But then I don't have those phantastic clips to hold the underside down. Perhaps that is my biggest problem at the moment: just the lack of good enough tools to hold the upper- and downside equalliy to the bulwarks while bending. But then your log is also very good example of the fact, that it can be done. Give again some more motivation to my own build! 🙂

@Richard, hello, thank's so much! Read your log again, and that gave me enough motivation to try it again But I'm still not happy with that building step. For my taste the gunport-patterns are just to high. If they were just a little bit less high, it would not be neccessary to bend them round down the bulkheads. I know that this is done, so it is strong enough to let you rip out the bulkheads above the deck without the chance to rip the strip out again. @SpyGlass: thank you too! I had made another try to bend it further. Problem: once it is wet again, the old bend is all gone. But I used your hint with that additional strip to get a smother curve. More details together with the fitting pictures 🙂 @Delf: Also many thanks! So I decidet to just ignore the waves and just take them 🙂 Well, I could bend the gunport-strips in some fancy way: But because of the distance to the bulkheads, and also, the curve of the top is not nice, I decided to bend them again. I could read in all your logs, that it is ok, to make more rounds until it is fine. Problem: The moment I put one of the strips into the hot water, all old curve was gone emidiatly, and they were all flat again. Sh*t! But now, in the water, the old bending gone, I need to go forward: Nailed the down-side to the bulkheads, even though there were smal waves, as you said, that does'nt matter at all On the upper-side, I added a stript of wood, to get a smoother curve: Worked not out as intendet, there is still not a smoth curve on the upper side: Now it is all dry again, I removed all clamps and the tape in the front: Now I'm tempted to yust glue it in place as it is now, because I'm afraid that, if I remove the nails, perhaps after that it won't fit that close again? So, were it ok, to just aply glue now? Or did I need to pull it away to aplay glue more inbetween the joints? But then I rely don't like how the curve at the top works out and I don't know how to fix that. I read, perhaps, after it is glued and dried, wet it again, so that it can bend more naturaly, when I don't clamp it then. I can ignore it now, but I'm sure, that the rail on top will not fit that way! What do you think? I'm a little bit frustrated, because when I read all your nice blogs again, nobody seems to had that much difficulty with that part. If the gun-pattern were just not that high, so that they did not need that curvatur when the bulkheads started to became realy round, it would be so much easier. At last for me, lol Before the last wet-bending attemt, I looked in my workshop and searched for wood strips, I nearly had started to just plank that area with normals trips instead of the plywood-patterns. But that does'nt feel 'right' 😞 Again, thank's alot for your help, this is much appreciated! Kind regards

Can't say anything about your question, but your Diana is allready a very beautiful model! 🙂

Hello Richard, the guns fully loadet and ready for battle with al the blocks and ropes are gorgious! Can't wait to see the whole battery 🙂 Kind regards!