Jaager

Ed,
 
Where is it being used?
If it is POB and filling cracks in a first layer of hull planking, my question is: Why bother? The outer layer of planking will cover the gaps anyway.
If it is to flesh out minor hollows in the planking run, then it should as well as it needs to.
If there are serious hollows, better it would be to use thin strips of wood, PVA bonded at the hollows and sand these scabs into a smooth run.
 
For places where a clear finished wood is on display,  wood flour of the same species mixed with white PVA usually does a fix that takes effort to notice.

If
If tooter has some serious tools, I can see that getting a 220 V. line into a unit could be expensive.
If he does not feel physically up to the task, a helper with some wood shop skills could be hired prn.
Or, skip the physical ownership of the tools work a deal.  Trade the whole kit to someone who would use it and get them to do the major tasks for him.
 
He does not say where he resides,  but if he is lucky, there may be other ship modelers that live close enough to to work a cooperative deal.
There is a woodworker guild here - with commercial cabinet makers involved ( I think) - another source for a possible deal. 
I suspect that the amount of money from a tool liquidation would be marginal when compared to the acquisition amount.

Micro-Mark is having a significant sale right now..
I am a 'use what works' in behavior,  so tool theory is not my focus.
My favorite is an old version of 21105.  It was by General and made before the Wharton School types took over manufacturing and lowered the quality of the materials and workmanship to crap levels. And that is universal, not just General or what passes for it today.
The quality of what you pick is a gamble from a gatherer and vendor like Micro-Mark.  There is a variety of pin vises there.    If a particular manufacturer has resisted the trend and stuck with quality over economy, in most cases it will be worth the extra - IF you intend to stick with this for the long term.  Most economy tools are aimed at tyros and dilettantes.
 
60531  Multitool is something that looks good, and may be a good fit for plastic or photo etch but for wooden sail - for me it is a tool looking for a job.
 
64216  Rogers drill stand is very handy - again if you are going to stick with this.
 
The same conditions apply to these two drill gauges:
10123  1-60
14521  61-80
 
They help with identifying stray drill bits and will work as a draw plate for Bamboo dowels (trunnels). But, at the small sizes, the Byrnes draw plate is at least 10 times better.  The gradations are slight enough that a two finger grip is enough to pull a sliver of Bamboo skewer thru it.
 
For any other of the many seductive tools,  sale or no sale, it is best to wait until a task comes up that is better done with a particular tool. Buy it when you need it.  Buying tools on spec will gain you a supply of tools that take up space and gather dust and never see use.  Alas, this is advice that I seldom follow, so I have storage boxes with drawers almost never opened.

I think, for model-making purposes, a straight taper is more practical. It is close enough and no-one can see any difference!

Jaager,
Shaping the narrowing  in several directions is a challenge to say the least.  I mark the thicknesses along the two outboard edges of the completed knee of the head all the way around then temporarily glue a block to one  side somewhere in the middle.  The block is big enough to be able to hold with several fingers and thumb.  Then I carefully sand it close to the lines on one side with my belt sander.  Once close, I remove the block and temporarily glue to the sanded side and repeat the sanding on the other side.
 
Once this is done I use a big sanding block to finish.   A plane maybe a great way to go to make the tapers, but based on TFFM, the taper is not a straight line as there is a slight curve for the first few feet in the area of the upper portion of the inboard most hawse piece.  This can be handled using the end of the belt sander and hand sanding, but a plane may prove difficult.   This initial taper ends at what I THINK would be below the hance as described in the 1719 Establishment (the 15" dimension you indicate.)  I don't know if this was something on all ships, particularly Centurion.  The balance of the taper going down would then be 15" to 13" at the foot. Chisels would work as well but my chisel skills leave something to be desired. 
 
If this description sounds complex, the actual execution in making the tapers is worse.
 
Allan

I agree, cheap and effective.
I wonder about heat and thin wall plastic,  I wonder how a thick wall cardboard mailing tube would do?  The kind that we get mail order plans rolled up in?
 
Alternate way.
Your are not bending a full size plank so steam may be more than is necessary,  as well as taking longer, needing time to dry and have the bend firmed up, and leaving a surface on the wood ( swollen fibers/raised grain ) that will need dressing.
 
Heat alone will bend model thickness wood.  It will not affect the surface like water does - provided it is not hot enough to char.   When the wood gets hot enough to start to bend around the heated surface, the bend can be shaped using fingers and the new shape is set almost instantly.
Dry heat application:  the old Aeropiccola plank benders are no longer cheap, and I did not see any large diameter replacement tips for economy soldering irons,  but as others have recomended here,  a basic curling iron has a large enough barrel and I imagine a temp limit that is a lot lower than a soldering iron.  It may take bit bit longer to transfer enough heat, but you should be able to get fingers on the bend to shape it more quickly.  A dimmer switch may provide even more heat control.

It helps very much, thank you.
 
Allan,
 
That is exactly the information that I needed.
The 13"  I have from the Establishments.
The 21" I have from the Establishments.
It is 15" at the top of the wale.   {There are more than one 18th century models of this ship.  All feature the main wale as being 3 strakes.  The model that you show has the middle one as being thinner than the other two.  Most or all of the others have 3 three strakes as being the same thickness and all are black.   I have about decided to go with the majority and have 3 equal strakes - even though it means 50% more hook and butt.}
 
I do not know where the 19 " came from, but with it being 8" at the bottom of the figurehead, it tells me that the taper starts at the knight-head (- at the top).   All in all, a lot of tricky planing.   I may make up the whole stem from a single board and practice planing on it or them until I feel comfortable.   It would not be fun to mess up a complex of scarphed pieces that will be tricky to do to begin with.
 
The keel is 15" square, but tapers to 10.5" at the sternpost and 13" at the forefoot.  What is not said is where the reduction starts.   The keel was 5 pieces.   My plan is to divide the length of the keel by 5.  Have a separate piece for the stern assembly that is 1/5 long and start the aft taper in it.  Have another equal 1/5 piece at the bow and start the taper foreward in it.   The other 3/5 as a single piece.   I verified what I thought in Antscherl, the keel scarphs are a vertical line as seen from the side.   A current build showing the scarph as a lazy "Z" as seen from the side gave me pause for a minute.  I would think that the hogging force make a side lazy "Z" scarph vulnerable to separation?

It is HMS Centurion 1732  1:60 scale  a 60 gun fourth rate.  A really attractive ship. The as launched version.   I came across it in  Longitude.   I had no idea that it was so famous  until I started researching it for a build.   Before this, I had never paid any attention to 60 gun warships.  They are a sweet spot for size and elegance.  
 
I have no interest in doing the beat up version after its circumnavigation    My inner cynic  sees it accomplishing two major achievements with that mission.  One it saved the crown a lot of money by killing off all of the old retired marines in governnent rest homes.  Two, starting a rip roaring inflation by delivering the hijacked Spanish treasure in the annul; Manila to the crown.  Treasure that the Spanish had stolen from Asians. 

I agree, cheap and effective.
I wonder about heat and thin wall plastic,  I wonder how a thick wall cardboard mailing tube would do?  The kind that we get mail order plans rolled up in?
 
Alternate way.
Your are not bending a full size plank so steam may be more than is necessary,  as well as taking longer, needing time to dry and have the bend firmed up, and leaving a surface on the wood ( swollen fibers/raised grain ) that will need dressing.
 
Heat alone will bend model thickness wood.  It will not affect the surface like water does - provided it is not hot enough to char.   When the wood gets hot enough to start to bend around the heated surface, the bend can be shaped using fingers and the new shape is set almost instantly.
Dry heat application:  the old Aeropiccola plank benders are no longer cheap, and I did not see any large diameter replacement tips for economy soldering irons,  but as others have recomended here,  a basic curling iron has a large enough barrel and I imagine a temp limit that is a lot lower than a soldering iron.  It may take bit bit longer to transfer enough heat, but you should be able to get fingers on the bend to shape it more quickly.  A dimmer switch may provide even more heat control.

I don't if this will help Jaager.  It is a combination of scantlings from the 1719 Establishment and the bow photo of Centurion from RMG. Hopefully someone more familiar will have better information specific to Centurion 1732. There is a lot of detail on this area in TFFM Volume I but I don't know if ratios would be apropos for a 4th rate of 1732.   At the top, the width of the stem is 21" and the knee of the head is slightly thinner (19"?) at the top where it fays to the stem.  The taper to 8 inches  at the foremost part of the knee of the head was found using the photo itself.   The taper going down is using width of the foot of the knee of the head matching  the width of the keel forward, which the 1719 Establishment shows to be 13"  for a 60 gun ship.  
Allan

I have the stock thickness at the knighthead, hawse level, and forefoot.  It tapers,  which will be a joy to shape.
My question is:  Is it the same thickness along its whole depth?  Does it knife edge taper to the edge where it meets the water?
If it does, does it loose about half of its thickness?  If it tapers forward, does it stop at the LWL?  Does the wide part under the head rails on to the figurehead also taper.
 
It would please me if it is slab sided all the way.  It would look sleeker if it had a knife-like entry.
 
Was this all a 19th century obsession with speed characteristic?
 

The old General version had an end that was a tad larger, smoother edges and had less resistance to rotation.
The bean counters who made the design less expensive to manufacture were morons.

The old General version had an end that was a tad larger, smoother edges and had less resistance to rotation.
The bean counters who made the design less expensive to manufacture were morons.

Micro-Mark is having a significant sale right now..
I am a 'use what works' in behavior,  so tool theory is not my focus.
My favorite is an old version of 21105.  It was by General and made before the Wharton School types took over manufacturing and lowered the quality of the materials and workmanship to crap levels. And that is universal, not just General or what passes for it today.
The quality of what you pick is a gamble from a gatherer and vendor like Micro-Mark.  There is a variety of pin vises there.    If a particular manufacturer has resisted the trend and stuck with quality over economy, in most cases it will be worth the extra - IF you intend to stick with this for the long term.  Most economy tools are aimed at tyros and dilettantes.
 
60531  Multitool is something that looks good, and may be a good fit for plastic or photo etch but for wooden sail - for me it is a tool looking for a job.
 
64216  Rogers drill stand is very handy - again if you are going to stick with this.
 
The same conditions apply to these two drill gauges:
10123  1-60
14521  61-80
 
They help with identifying stray drill bits and will work as a draw plate for Bamboo dowels (trunnels). But, at the small sizes, the Byrnes draw plate is at least 10 times better.  The gradations are slight enough that a two finger grip is enough to pull a sliver of Bamboo skewer thru it.
 
For any other of the many seductive tools,  sale or no sale, it is best to wait until a task comes up that is better done with a particular tool. Buy it when you need it.  Buying tools on spec will gain you a supply of tools that take up space and gather dust and never see use.  Alas, this is advice that I seldom follow, so I have storage boxes with drawers almost never opened.

The old General version had an end that was a tad larger, smoother edges and had less resistance to rotation.
The bean counters who made the design less expensive to manufacture were morons.

That looks like one of the ones I have.  If you'll pull the inserts out, you should see different size openings on each end.   Pretty neat way to give you 4 sizes with only two inserts.   Anyway,  match the bit to the proper hole, it should be good fit, not loose.  

Micro-Mark is having a significant sale right now..
I am a 'use what works' in behavior,  so tool theory is not my focus.
My favorite is an old version of 21105.  It was by General and made before the Wharton School types took over manufacturing and lowered the quality of the materials and workmanship to crap levels. And that is universal, not just General or what passes for it today.
The quality of what you pick is a gamble from a gatherer and vendor like Micro-Mark.  There is a variety of pin vises there.    If a particular manufacturer has resisted the trend and stuck with quality over economy, in most cases it will be worth the extra - IF you intend to stick with this for the long term.  Most economy tools are aimed at tyros and dilettantes.
 
60531  Multitool is something that looks good, and may be a good fit for plastic or photo etch but for wooden sail - for me it is a tool looking for a job.
 
64216  Rogers drill stand is very handy - again if you are going to stick with this.
 
The same conditions apply to these two drill gauges:
10123  1-60
14521  61-80
 
They help with identifying stray drill bits and will work as a draw plate for Bamboo dowels (trunnels). But, at the small sizes, the Byrnes draw plate is at least 10 times better.  The gradations are slight enough that a two finger grip is enough to pull a sliver of Bamboo skewer thru it.
 
For any other of the many seductive tools,  sale or no sale, it is best to wait until a task comes up that is better done with a particular tool. Buy it when you need it.  Buying tools on spec will gain you a supply of tools that take up space and gather dust and never see use.  Alas, this is advice that I seldom follow, so I have storage boxes with drawers almost never opened.

When I obtained ship's boats plans in the National Archives - from the no longer Maryland Silver Co.   There were plans for mounting a howitzer at the bow of a launch.   This could be a way for a shore party to extend the use of a howitzer farther inland.  But a single wheel, a heavy load on sand?  Not me.

When I obtained ship's boats plans in the National Archives - from the no longer Maryland Silver Co.   There were plans for mounting a howitzer at the bow of a launch.   This could be a way for a shore party to extend the use of a howitzer farther inland.  But a single wheel, a heavy load on sand?  Not me.

When I obtained ship's boats plans in the National Archives - from the no longer Maryland Silver Co.   There were plans for mounting a howitzer at the bow of a launch.   This could be a way for a shore party to extend the use of a howitzer farther inland.  But a single wheel, a heavy load on sand?  Not me.

When I obtained ship's boats plans in the National Archives - from the no longer Maryland Silver Co.   There were plans for mounting a howitzer at the bow of a launch.   This could be a way for a shore party to extend the use of a howitzer farther inland.  But a single wheel, a heavy load on sand?  Not me.

One tool not often listed is a piece of scrap leather and a stick of green or gold or rouge polishing compound. For knives and chisels, frequent stropping intervals can keep a sharp edge, and reduce the need for honing on a "stone".

Vaddoc,
 
There is Maple and then there is Maple.  I am guessing that you can source Sycamore Maple - which is J-1000 and Soft Maple (awful stuff) J-700.
Hard Maple is J-1450  but Beech is also J-1450  which makes it pointless for you to pay the extra for Hard Maple.  Over here, it is the opposite.  Hard Maple is reasonable in cost and available in quantity, but Beech is a premium cost and requires effort of find.  Hard Maple also has what may be a distinct characteristic:  a variety of grain presentation.  Fiddleback, flame, birdseye, fleck, clear - all can be had from the same log.  I depends on where along the log, and the orientation of the grain where the slice is taken.  For frame timbers,  getting pieces with compass grain is all but impossible, so a timber at the turn of the bilge gets into end grain and the color gets darker.
 
Mike,
A literal reply to your question would make this a sort of contest with one winner.  There is no "best" wood for exterior planking.  There are excellent species.  Many of them.  There are good enough species,  depending on how finished.  Paint - stain (bad) - dye - natural (paint with wood).   The species supplied with mass market kits all look to me as being not suitable, looked at objectively: inappropriate.  They are however low cost, have a reliable supplier and are available in quantity and are soft enough not to tax the edges of their cutting tools.  The colors are appealing to those whose prior exposure to wood is furniture.  You just have it ignore the course grain, open pores, rolling fibers. and brittle tendency.
( The boutique kit makers, most based here, tend to use excellent wood for their kits. ) 

Sand off the paint that is not right.  Buy a can of shellac (clear or garnet) and one of shellac thinner (likely ethanol).  Make a mixture of thinner and shellac 1:1.  Use a piece of an old T-shirt  to pad it on - just wet no build up.  When dry, dress it with a Scotch Brite pad and tack rag it.  Give a thought to doing another coat of full strength shellac.  A better base for follow-on paint would be difficult to find.  It dries fairly quickly and is not messy.