richardhd

Hi everyone! I wanted to hold off on posting until I’d fully finished the first layer of planking, but MAN this takes a lot of sanding and I’m excited with the progress so here’s a quick update. She’s got her first layer of planking mostly done (barring some sanding)! First layer of planking is glued/nailed down and I have to say it truly is a science with how precise all the fitting and tapering has to be. I’m satisfied with my decision to take on a double planked model because I did a pretty rough job of it and I’m going to be happy to cover it up because it’s not pretty. However, the shape is established and I was able to successfully sand over the nails and it’s very satisfying to feel a (semi) smooth hull forming. I also glued in the bow blocks and those are taking a while to shave down, but I’m in no rush. Also I’m fairly satisfied with how the modifications to the stern turned out. Earlier in the build, when I had to commit to leaving it as is or reshaping the bulkheads I was feeling pretty anxious over the decision, but from referencing Matthew Betts’ build I think it looks alright. Anyway, now that I’ve established that I can at least take some laser-precise, pre-cut wood and make it vaguely ship-shaped, I’m looking forward to the rest of the build and have some questions. First up, did the real Terror have a studded anchor chain? Been trying to find out online and I’m having trouble. I did see that studded anchor chains were patented in 1819 so I suppose it’s possible she got a new studded chain when she was fitted for arctic voyages, but I don’t know for sure. Also any suggestions on the places to get reference information/images of the ship? I feel myself slipping down the rabbit hole…

I appreciate your advice, and I did ask! That being said I took Keith’s advice on the next few planks and soaked much longer, the curve of the bow is a lot nicer and I’m going to forge ahead as now there’s just a small area that will need some filler and will be covered with the second layer of planking. thank you anyway though!

Keith, Makes sense! I’ll be sure to soak them for much longer next time. Thanks!

Hi everyone! Planking is coming along, learning lots of interesting lessons and I’m not even halfway through planking! Very excited that I’m starting to see the hull though. I’m having trouble softening the entire length of the planks and it’s making the process somewhat more difficult than I’d like. I have a 3 gallon tub and a sous vide machine so I’m thinking that for the next time I sit down to plank I’m gonna toss them in there and get the water as hot as I can, hopefully that should allow them to flex along their entire length. Concerns: definitely didn’t fair the bow well enough and there’s a slight kink in the planking. It looks close enough in person that I should be able to correct the shape with sanding. Thoughts here? Should I tear the planking off and go back to sanding? Things I’m excited about: I—after several weeks of shaping the bulkheads—have the stern modified to mirror Matt Bett’s Terror with the “tuck” and dry-fittings seem to show the planks should lay nicely on it.

Hi all! The build had to take a brief hiatus as I needed replacement bulwark pieces from OcCre (who were amazing and got them to me super fast and without any headache on my end!), but I’m back at it with some updates. Bulwark pieces are glued on and I learned that fairing the bulkheads is an incredibly time consuming process—I spent weeks on it! To be frank, I’m not 100% sure I got it right, but it’s as good as I can get it and I figure since this is a double planked hull sanding and filling will be my friends before moving on to the outer planking layer. I also added on the top planks on either side as well as the lowest planks by the keel (the garboard planks?) and will move forward with the rest of the planking soon.

Hi Keith, thanks for the welcome message and the advice! I’m still of two minds about the masts. I’d like to add the more accurately sized masts, but I think I trust myself to narrow the end of a dowel to slot into the kit rather than enlarge a hole in the deck/keel—so my decision is being put on hold until I’m farther into the build. This is has become a theme for me, even this early into the build (lights or no lights, enlarge holes or not) as I try to strike a balance between keeping the build detailed/historically accurate and realistically in line with my current skill set. As my end product I’m aiming for a build that is more historically accurate than the base kit, but I’m also willing to slightly deviate on some details for the sake of personal aesthetics and aversion to going down too many rabbit holes of research. I want to build more ships in the future and don’t want to set the precedent of blowing the budget with too many extra (albeit more accurate) replacement and additional fittings. See, for example that I built a master Korabel lifeboat (more accurate than base kit) but gave it a different paint job to match the eventual scheme of the Terror herself (less accurate, but in my opinion looks neat). Apologies for the novel, been very excited to get building and my wife (bless her patience) is getting tired of hearing me ramble about the ship.

Hi all! I’m starting a build log here of the Occre HMS Terror kit after spending many weeks greatly enjoying the other Terror builders’ logs, the incredible amount of research that went into making each of your models more accurate than the base kit, and the general supportive and collaborative spirit I’ve seen here on the forum. So far I’ve built up the keel and bulkheads and finished the deck with the Preston Patent Illuminators, now moving into fairing the bulkheads and hoping to begin the first layer of planking this week. Looking forward there are certainly a lot of enhancements many of the other builders have added to their Terrors that I intend on including in my build, but for now here are some pictures of the build to date.