Thunder

Planking from wale to bulwark capping rail completed. Next to divide the lower hull into sections. This has been done with the use of Ribbands. These are laid at the widest part of the hull at exact distances to match full plank widths. Ribband laid round to bow and stern as naturally a possible. The top ribband shows that the planks will be too narrow at the bow. Some drop planks will be needed in this area. The lower section at the stern indicates a few stealers will be required where as the top section will have tapered planks. I am going to have to do some calculations to see if this is practical. One think these ribbands did highlight is that bulkhead 8 is slightly too small. You couldn't see it when doing the first planking but obvious now. You can see this by looking at the ribbands to the far right of the above photograph. A good learning here. The brass screw head you can see is a BA thread pin that is through a nut set into the bulkhead under the planking for final stand mounting.

Hi Jason, The two top planks that give the position of the main wale are untampered as are the planks fitted above the wale. As the wale planks are 3mm instead of 4mm I decided to start my tapering with the plank fitted directly beneath the two fitted at the position of the wale. where the planks are not broken by gun ports or to be hidden by the wales I have started to use scale length planks of approx. 140mm. I will be fitting the garboard plank next and then dividing up the rest of the hull into sections before planking each section. I tend to use Aliphatic resin as my glue of choice. It is very similar to PVA but dries more quickly, is waterproof and can be mixed with wood dust to make a filler. I have cut a rabbet and have tapered the stern down to 3mm so that once planked it should be the same thickness as the stern post. The second planking has been easy so far as the planks readily bend. So much so that I didn't pre-shape them. My concern now is that when I cut the bulkheads away above the deck level they will spring back to shape as there is nothing holding the gun port strips to the prow. I was considering wetting them and drying with my plank iron so that they readily take the shape of the hull before cutting the tabs away. As a trial I put a plank in place last night without glue, wet it, and then run the hot iron over it till it was dry. This morning it does appear to have taken on a degree of the bend. I suppose I will not really know till I cut them tabs away.

Second planking started. I first used the darkest and poorest quality planks for the wale position as these will be covered. For the planking above the wales I first sorted any planks that were uniform in colour through out their length. I then chose from these the lightest for this section. When I reached the line of gun ports I followed kit instructions which was to use small sections between the gun ports. I was concerned about doing this and my thoughts were confirmed. The small sections tended to go on as small straight sections which lost the shape of the hull. Continued on both sides as whole lengths. I now have a huge concern. These planks were so easy to shape that I never soaked and pre-shaped them. My concern is that the stresses imposed will make the planks spring out once the bulkhead tabs are removed. I am now considering soaking them in situ and then letting them dry before removing the tabs. Would appreciate your thoughts.

Photo below shows the little drill that I have used to predrill all holes before screwing in the planking clamps. This has proved great for the intended job but is lacking power for much more. I started the first planking with my usual pin vise but found the ply to be so dense I was really struggling. This little drill made the task so much easier.

Hi B.E., I have started the second planking now which has highlighted the deficiencies at the bow. There is too much room between the walnut stem and the bow planking termination piece. This has led to a small sliver of the lighter pine showing. I thought I would get away with it but wished I had packed it out now. I created a Rabbet for the bow planking which has made it worse. Another thing evident after the first planking was the lack of bulkheads, it could have done with extras between the 4th and 5th, 5th and 6th,and 7th and 8th. There is nothing at the stern. Kit instructions say to start second planking at the top of the ply gun port strips. However, I always prefer to start at the main wale as I don't like to see planks passing under it. It does make planking harder as you cannot start the tapering process so early but we will see. Always find the wale planks difficult. It would probably be easier to lay them in the anchor stock style but I was feeling too impatient for that. Anyway they will be covered later by the second wale layer. Another reason for not starting at the top is that my ply gun port strips are slightly off. i.e. the Larboard is a tiny fraction higher. hopefully I can correct this later. It must be my vision though as I have done the same with the first wale plank. perhaps due to my right eye being weak due to previous injuries. The planking clamps are simple nylon 'L' shaped pieces cut from the label guides of a Krones high speed labelling machine, with screws normally used for laying model railway track. In awkward places, on the first planking, these screws are small enough to be put straight through the plank. They are identical to the ones used set into the commercially available thumb screw clamps. I also had the aid of a great little USB chargeable battery drill that I had for Christmas. I sent the first back due to the collets being the same size. Wish I kept it as the second one will not hold its charge.

Hi, there were other reviews that he did that did not appear in the books but were published in the Model Boats magazine. You used to be able to view them on their website.

Once I got her ready for the first planking I put her aside. I new we were going away for Christmas. Just my wife, myself and our two border collies in a little cottage in Norfolk. We stopped near to a beach which has the biggest seal colony in the UK with 2050 seal pups born between Christmas and November. I new it would be quite with just the beaches and a pub within a minutes walk so took the kit with me. So below is the first planking complete.

I have had some great deals on ebay but occasionally been totally ripped off. On the whole, if you do your home work, most sellers are good and if you encounter a problem are helpful. But I have had some that have lied to questions and sold kits knowing they have missing parts. I have also sold a lot of items and in my experience buyers are far worse. This includes time wasters, buyers that do so just for fun of not paying or complaining, removing parts and then returning and even one that has made threats because I wouldn't send an item even though he didn't pay. This one even left me negative and it didn't get sorted to another seller took out a legal injunction against him. Latest was someone buying furniture who then didn't want it because she was homeless! With the ebay fees it is often not worth the hassle.

Hi, was wondering if the straight edge, which should be curved, had any char from the laser? If not it is likely that the timber was too small or not placed on the datums correctly and the laser ran over the edge. You have a small section on the RHS missing.

The windlass would have the anchor cable directly wrapped two turns round it. on larger vessels the capstan did this function where the rope around the capstan was the messenger. This was an endless rope that was tied to the anchor cables by young boys. the action was called nipping and the boys 'nippers'. The anchor rope was too large to go directly round the capstan. You would bring either into use for heavy tasks if needed.

I also remember having a book about the Mary Celeste which had a plan in it but unfortunately leant it to someone and it never got returned. I can't remember the author, unfortunately. There was also a tv program which showed the design.

Hi, Spotted this by accident when searching for something else and remembered your post.

Hi, have read all the Alexander Kate and Dudley Pope but much prefer the Richard Woodman's series of books on nautical of the same era.

From what I can see the Dusek Golden Hind looks more like the Mayflower where as the Mamoli Golden hind is more comparable to a three masted Revenge. Which is right I do not know.

Some Constructo kits sold at Cornwall Model Boats but not the Pandora.

yes, but if you look at it differently, if she hadn't of sank we wouldn't have her at all. She would of been broken up or rotted away.

Unless there is a specific reason I would of expected the Fore mast to mirror the main. The Mizzen is a different story due to the crossjack and some of the rigging will lead forward rather than aft. If you know what specific items of rig they are I might be able to see in the anatomy of the ship book.

I know that all of Cook's ships were originally colliery brigs but Adventure and Resolution were converted to have a full head (similarly to Bounty) replacing the Cat type bow. It may be that this model represents Endeavour anyway.

I think Spyglass means that where the two parts of the gun port strips join is further back than on other builds. I am not sure as not built this but it seems crazy that this would not be designed to occur at a bulkhead position. His reference to the bows is in regard to the fact that if the joint was further forward then it would affect the termination of the gun port strip at the bow. However, your termination of the strips at the bow looks perfect. This means either: The gun port strips are some how too long Design of kit is poor and that join of the strips does not occur at a bulkhead position. Your forward bulkheads have been sanded too much giving a much sharper run in to the bow and hence less length of gun port strip required. However, doubt this as you would of noticed when fitting the false deck. Looking at your work, I would think number 2 above but anyway it is looking great so I would just carry on as you are.

I have attached the stern Facia followed by the stern counter. Facia has been sanded down to match ply gun port strips. The triangular corners have been filled and shaped. Done so first planking can terminate up against the filler and second go over it.

Hi, thanks Jason, Joe, I seem at least to have the same issues as others. I wondered if I was supposed to shape the rear bulkheads more but his would mean taking more of the stern facia and it would be getting very near to the edge of the chase ports. I noticed you have had to pack out the second from last bulkhead. I have just done that as well. These are simple things that they could of put right years ago after all it is a programmed c.n.c. machine that cuts these sheets. It also shows how useless or biased the kit reviews are. This can be damaging to the hobby as a new starter would of took this as an ideal kit judging by the Keith Julier review only to give it up as a bad job. I have the Diana on my shelf so thanks for the heads up.

Now I have a real issue that I hope someone can help me with. I have cut out the bulwark capping strips to check the bulwark shape before gluing on the stern section. The stern fascia does not match the plans in shape or size. The bulwark capping do not match the shape and seem to have an strange inward curve just after the last gun port. I could take measurements for the same dimension off two drawings, however, there is 10mm difference between the two. This is the same issue as found on other Caldercraft models - very frustrating. I am not sure whether to bend in the gun port strips, try to bend the capping strip or replace the rear of it with a new section. Capping strips, and subsequently stern fachia dimension measured from plan. Supposed same dimension measured from rear. Stern Fascia and counter on drawing. Stern counter in reality giving two awkward small triangles that will require filling to give a landing for the planking.

Bulwark / gun port ply strips in place. I took numerous measurements for this as the instructions say to place at top of bulkhead tabs but mine are at different heights. The lines show gun port mid position and deck height. I had real issues with getting a good curve, I soaked the strips for two hours but they still bent more easily at the gun port positions, I am hoping I can sort this out or they will have to come off again. Before clamping in position I double checked the gun port height by making up one cannon with strips of deck material under the wheels.

Final photographs, I used the dimensions for masts and yards from the anatomy of the ship alert and a combination of kit rigging plans and from the book. This shows the extreme height of the masts when built to the book which compares more with my more recent speedy. The top mast looks strange set behind rather than in front of the mast but this is how shown in Alert.

Finished deck details