Thukydides

All my experience with decals comes from plastic, but I suspect the principles will translate. The surface doesn't need to be perfectly even but it does need to be very smooth for a decal to stick. If you don't it will either peel off or have air bubbles which make it look like a piece of plastic (the goal is to make it look painted on). I would recommend the following steps if you want to attach the decal: Sand the surface down so it is as even as possible Sand it smooth with a fine grit sandpaper Trim your decal as close as you can get it. If you are using white decal paper this is extra important as you need to go right up to the lines. If you are using clear decal paper then you can paint in the white after you have applied the decal (unless you are planning on painting that whole area white). If you are planning on painting the are, now is the time to paint it whatever colour you want. Apply a layer of gloss varnish over the area you are planning on adding the decal two. Make sure that you do several thin layers. Allow this to fully dry. Fold some paper towel on a small plate and saturate it with water, place your decal face up on this. Apply some micro set (or equivalent) to the area you are going to apply the decal. Use a paintbrush to slide the decal into place (this is a very delicate process, especially with big decals such as this), this will be easier the flatter the surface you have for it. Gently manipulate it and pat it down with the paintbrush trying to smooth out any bubbles, then leave it to fully dry. Take some micro sol or equivalent and with a paintbrush gently paint it on from the center outwards, using it to conform the decal to any imperfections on the surface and to smooth out any ridges or air bubbles. You can also use a pin to pop any air bubbles that don't want to move and then smooth them down with micro sol. Once the decal is fully dry, apply matt varnish from a can or airbrush over the entire area until the edges disappear. Hope this helps, any questions feel free to reach out.

Log #10: Concerning Drop Planks With the wales done I proceeded to line off the hull for a second time. With the benefit of having done this once and realizing why it was not what I wanted, I was able to arrange much more pleasing lines. However, when I went to make my tick strips and mark the tapering at the bow I realized I had an issue. To fit the required number of strakes in the first band, I needed to taper them at the bow to around 2mm (on the diagonal so just under 2mm perpendicular to the plank). This is right at the edge of what is acceptable to me for tapering (half the width at midships). So I had three potential ways to solve this problem: Just accept the narrow tapering Adjust the tape lines to make them more “straight” running into the bow to create more room Add a drop plank right under the wales One was never really an option, I knew I would always be annoyed by how narrow they were. Two was not ideal because I really liked the lining off I had done and “straightening” the lines would risk the introduction of a “wiggle” in the planks near the bow (you can see this wiggle in my first planking). Three was by far the most difficult option, but in the end I figured that this whole thing is a learning process and I might as well gie it a shot. If they don’t turn out in a way I like, I can always decide to shift back to option one or two. All I will have lost is time. Also historically I believe that it was common practice for english shipwrights to put one drop plank right under the wales. So what followed was an evening of reading, measuring, cutting, then reading and measuring again to try and shape the drop planks correctly. For the benefit of any other new builders who might want to attempt a drop plank I am going to detail my thought process below. I am not sure this is the best way to approach it so feel free to chime in if you have thoughts on the process. I modeled the shape of the drop planks off of @chuck’s cheerful build log. However, that only gave me the rough length and shape, he never (that I could find) went into detail as to how he designs their measurements, so that part I was forced to improvise. Step 1 - Calculations I decided to use my lining off of the first band as the basis for my calculations. I knew I needed to fit seven planks in the band and that the drop plank needed to end at the 2nd bulkhead. This meant that at both the 1st and 2nd bulkheads, the width of the drop plank needed to be the equivalent of two strakes. At the bow instead of dividing the space into 7, I now divided it into 6 to reflect the new taper of having “removed” one of the strakes. This now gave me my drop plank widths at both ends and the midpoint of the drop plank. To calculate the width at the point where the drop plank splits into two planks I simply took the midpoint between the bulkhead 1 and 2 widths. Step 2 - Determining the Bend I pressed an old receipt against the bottom of the wales and ran my pencil along it to determine the shape of the curve. Using one of the ¼ inch strips I used for the wales I could get almost all the way there by marking out the curve. Ideally I would have used a piece of pearwood sheet, but I didn’t have one of those. Step 3 - Cutting Out the Drop Planks Using a sharp exacto knife I carefully cut outside the lines I had drawn. Then I used files and sandpaper to adjust until I was happy with the shape. When I had one plank done, I used it as a template to draw and cut out the other. I then sanded and filled both until they matched and I was happy with the shape. In my case my ¼ inch stock was also slightly thicker (1.2mm) than the 1mm pearwood that came with the kit. So I also had to sand/scrape this down a bit to get the thickness closer to the rest of the planking. All that was left then was to follow the normal process of attaching them to the model making small adjustments with sandpaper, filing and bending them round a pot to curve them. You can see below the finished product. I may not have as much time in the next few weeks to work on the model so I expect that progress on the 2nd planking will slow down now. I will post another update once I have finished the first section.

I have found you just need to constantly double check things are lining up. So every strake I lay I double check both the bow and stern are matching. If anything is off then I have time to adjust. I also found I had an easier time of it when I started doing the tick marks by sections. So once I lined off the hull I would only do the tick marks for the first section, plank that and then I could adjust again afterwards as needed. In any case I think it looks good.

I had the same issue with my first planking of my alert (though to a slightly lesser degree). You can see the wiggle below. The problem was caused by two main issues. First I didn't start tapering at the bow soon enough, I did one two many full sized planks (this appears to be part of your problem). This meant that the flow of the planks didn't sweep upward like it was meant to. Then I didn't line up my string on the lining off process correctly and so the planks were tapering two much at the second bulkhead and not enough at the bow (at times the taper at the second bulkhead was pretty much the same as the bow). The only way I can think to really correct this is to take off the planking up to where the wales will go and then line off your hull to make sure the sweep of the planks looks right. If you are not willing to do that then you will probably just have to live with the wiggle.

Looks really good, I don't think before I joined model ship world that I was aware you could make a paper model look that nice.

Minor update, I did most of the other side tonight (still have to attach the wales). This side went much better. I feel I have a much better handle on the bending process and how much glue to use. Everything is going on more accurately and much more quickly. @jpalmer1970 How do you hold them in place where you can't pin them since it is the second planking. One of the really nice things about CA is I just need to hold it in place for a sec and it grabs so I can slowly work my way down the plank.

When you start your ship, start a build log, that way you can get feedback as you go along.

You divide the hull into sections using tape or strung. Then you make a tick strip the width of the gap between the string on each bulkhead and place it on the planking fan such that it equally divides your strip into the appropriate amount of planks. It is just an easy way of getting getting equal widths for the planks you need to fit in that gap. He decided on his plank width at scale and then divided the bulkhead size at midships by that width to get how many planks he would need. This is something you just need to eyeball. At midships you line it up with the appropriate tick mark, but then you adjust the lines to make them look like they should. As the article suggests look at the run of planks on pictures of models to get the idea. See my first answer. If you are still confused you can check out my build log, I detail some of the process there. Maybe the best thing is to just re-articulate the steps for you. 1) Measure the bulkhead at midships to determine how much space you need to cover. 2) Determine the width of your planks. If you are using a kit this will be done for you already as you will use whatever you were provided with. For example on my alert build the limewood strips for the first planking were 4.9 mm wide. 3) Divide your midship bulkhead size by the width of your planks to determine the number of planks and divide it into equal sections (as many as you want to line off) 4) using tape or a string with a bit of glue on it determine the sections of your hull. Once you are happy mark on each bulkhead where the string crosses it. You can then mark this width for each bulkhead on a strip of paper. 5) use the planking fan to split each section on each bulkhead into the appropriate number of planks. Let's say for example you determined you need 20 planks at midships and you divide it into two sections using one string. Then each section on each bulkhead will need 10 planks. Move your strip of paper along the planking fan until the marks you made to denote the section widths line up with 10 planks. Then mark the planking fan lines in your strip and transfer them to the bulkhead. Repeat this for each bulkhead section on each bulkhead.

Log #9: Lining Up the Wales I have started the second planking. One thing I have found with the super glue is that it is very hard to make sure it doesn’t squirt out between the planks and stain the outside. The instructions call for me to glue the planks to the first layer as well as edge to edge and it is this latter requirement, while also working fast to attach the plank before the super glue dries that gives me the most trouble. Thankfully most of my mistakes with this occured between the first and second planks and so will get covered up by the rail that runs between them. What I can't cover up is I made the butt joints between the planks perpendicular to the planks instead of parallel to the bulkheads. On the bright side since I am doing this one side at a time, it will only be a problem on this one side above the wales. Hopefully it won't be too noticeable. I am going to attach the wales as one piece and then scribe the joints. Since I won't be needing the 3mm planks for the wales I used them as the lower layer of the wales. This way I could eyeball to make sure everything looked good. In order to save on sanding later, I stopped them short of the bow so the wales can slope into the rabet along with the rest of the planks. Then I carefully bent the ¼ inch plank I had for the wales. This process took a long time as it was very resistant to bending and and it needed to be bent in multiple directions and places. In the end I think it turned out ok. Next I have to repeat this process on the other side.

@PhillH I also got a wider 1/4 inch piece of pearwood strip that I am going to use for the wales. So because I don't need the 2 3mm ones I am going to use them on the first planking so I can visually see where the wales should be before I commit to placing the second layer of them.

So my plan is just to go three planks down (like in the Goodwin book) and then match the wales to the curve that generates. We will see how it looks once I get three planks down... On another note I just noticed the wide disparity in colour between the various pear planks. I am now sorting them by color so the ones that look off are limited to below the water line. @BobG thanks, glad to have you along for the ride. @jpalmer1970 Good to know, I guess I will proceed in that manner too.

Now you have me second guessing on how much I sanded away the garboard plank, given how much better your first planking turned out than mine I may go do another pass on trying to provide a rabbet for the next layer :).

Thanks Phill. Yes that is another issue which I have been considering, whether or not to terminate part 76 above the wales or make the wales but against it as in the ATOS book. I haven't yet decided what to do on that one, but I have to make a decision soon as the wales is next on the list. A further thing that is a bit unclear to me regarding part 76 is how wide it is. If I follow the instructions I complete the second planking before attaching part 76. But this means that it will stick out from the wales as part 76 is twice as thick as the pearwood strips (I drew a small diagram below in paint). From the pictures, it seems more natural to me that it should have the same thickness as the wales whether or not I follow the the plans as written or the AOTS plans. However, if I add it before the second planking so it lines up then it won't line up with the width of part 75 which is meant to but up against it at the edge of the stern transom pattern. Any thoughts that anyone has on how to resolve this would be appreciated.

Thought I would mention that I went to download the manual to check a part number for a post I was going to make on my build log and I noticed that the link is broken. It just takes you to the main page (the manual is still online, i found the link in my browser history, just the button doesn't take you there). Likely got messed up when you fixed the $0 problem :).

Log #8: The Stern Bulkhead and Counter The first planking is now done. Things I learned from this first planking: 1) You can never double check your measurements enough, especially with the first strakes. 2) When you think you are done faring, check it again and fare some more (especially at the bow). 3) If it doesn’t lie perfectly after edge bending don’t force it. Adjust the bend until it fits easily. After attaching the uppermost 1.5x4mm limewood strake I embarked on the process of adding filler then sanding then adding filler again then sanding again and so on. With this done I was feeling much better about my first layer of planking. I attached the keel and stern post at this point as well. At this point the instructions call for me to fit the counter, but as Blue Ensign articulated in his build log, it doesn’t look quite right to fit it in as instructed. So following a similar process (you can see his original work here), I used part 76 to mark off the proper run of the counter and sanded it down to a curve to match. I then planked the stern bulkhead and after soaking and pre-bending the counter I attached it also. Next up, the second planking.

That first planking looks really good. Looks like you had less filling and sanding to do than I did .

Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately I already planked that area (see the first picture in my last post). However I suppose it doesn't really matter, just will result in more sanding :).

I am hoping so, it is the little things that you don't know are important until it is too late that trip me up :). I am optimistic that with a lot of filler and sanding it will be smooth by the time I am done.

Log #7: Fixing More Errors Work on the first planking continues and I am starting to feel much more comfortable with the process. I am certainly more pleased with the last few strakes I laid as opposed to the first. However, I decided that I wanted to correct the issue I alluded to in the previous log. When I attached my first planks I thought I would be clever and use a piece of plank to mark how far down to place the plank. However to do this I used one of the limewood planks for the first planking, not the 4mm ones in another bag. As a consequence the first plank is about 1mm lower than it should be. Additionally, I did a poor job of lining the first plank up and the amount it is off by changes depending on the point you look at. As a side note, part of my problems with getting the strakes to look right stems from this issue of the first ones not being in the right place. I considered two options to correct the problem. The first was to simply use a 5mm plank instead of the kit suggested 4mm ones for the top strake tapering it as necessary. Then a thin piece of scrap would be used at the bow to raise it to the correct angle. This was my initial plan until I considered that getting the bow right would be very difficult. So I went with the second option. I once again removed the front part of the top strake and using the 4mm plank as a spacer, I correctly positioned it 4mm below the ends of each frame. Now with the run of the plank corrected I used thin pieces of limewood that I had trimmed off while planking to fill the gap. It doesn’t look pretty, but once it is sanded and filler added, I am hoping it should serve as an adequate base for the 2nd planking.

That is the problem, I feel like I could do a much better job now knowing what I know. Hopefully we remember what we learned on the 2nd planking :).

I am finding that usually when I am having trouble getting the plank to bend round the bulkheads properly it either means I didn't fare the bulkhead enough or didn't edge bend enough. What i never appreciated until trying this was that sometimes you need the bend centered on two different points. Good job, it looks great

Quick update, the first planking is progressing and I am now more than half way there. I had some issues at the bow (mostly related to how I didn't fare enough/tapered/positioned the first few planks, but I have managed to push through. There are a few gaps I will need to fill. I see a lot of sanding in my future.

Log #6: Lining Off the Hull I decided to add an additional strake bringing me down to just below the wales before beginning the lining off process. I tapered both ends to two thirds of the original planks width. I also discovered another earlier error. When I attached my first planks I thought I would be clever and use a piece of plank to mark how far down to place the plank. However to do this I used one of the limewood planks for the first planking not the 4mm ones in another bag. As a consequence the first plank is about 1mm lower than it should be. I have a plan to try and account for this, but first I need to finish the planking. Lesson Learned: The first plank is really important for positioning everything. Next time I need to take more care with it. But before I got to lining off the hull I got distracted by the idea of scribing the keel. In retrospect if I was going to do this it would have been a much better idea to do this before the keel was attached to the hull. In any case I think it turned out ok. Certainly it looks fine from 3 feet away and once it is painted some of the minor imperfections will hopefully not be visible. Finally, on to lining off the hull. I attempted to follow Chuck's lining guide and for the most part I think it worked. My main problem is I had trouble telling if the string was in the right place or not. I guess it doesn't matter too much since this is the first planking. The lining off took a lot of time so I didn't have time to do any more planking.

Looking forward to seeing this

I also like the pear. Maybe it is because it looks a bit more aged.