rlwhitt

Hi mugje, in regards to the Amati (actually, is it the Art Lat one?) plank bender - I've seen it an often assumed it might make crimp marks even on the outside of the plank. Looking at your results it certainly doesn't seem so - or have you sanded them out? How thick a plank can you bend with it? Thanks and looking good!

Thanks Bob, Dave and Chuck, and all the Likes along the way. Your encouragement is much appreciated!

Very cleanly done - nice!

Thanks guys! One comment about paint colors. As I started sifting through all the pics online of this ship one thing is obvious. It has had many color schemes over the years. I think every time it needed a refresh or renovation, they've changed it up some. Right now the entire ship is painted some kind of yellow occre shade with generally muted panels (brown, etc) between some of the moldings. In the past most of the outer planking was left natural/stained more like I have it here. And the waterline treatment has been several different configurations as well. I've mostly followed the instructions colors which is supposed to be close to the 1956 launch scheme, with the exception of the blue panel under the main rail, which I think looks better. That was done later though not precisely the same shade. As others have said, in real life Mayflower was an unremarkable merchant ship and most likely would not have shown any fancy colors at all, so all this is probably just sort of artificial glitz to make it look interesting.

Molding Strips and Painting Tedious step here, painting and applying all the various strips, with stripes on some. It’s tricky trying to get them aligned and even and I have not gotten it 100‰ right. One issue IMO is that the upper window seems to be just a tad high, forcing the strips that border the top and bottom of it to be also a bit too high. I’d suggest anyone building it to consider lowering it a bit, maybe 1/16” or so. But overall I’m satisfied with the way it’s turned out.

Well since we are working on kits from different brands and there are quite a few differences there might not be much help to be had, but maybe in the rigging plans I have there could be something.

Thanks Dave! What kind of issues are you running into?

Thanks for that video - that's quite interesting. What model # is this machine?

Baker and mugje, thanks for the nice comments!

Outer planking, Gun port lids, Wales Now it's time to move outboard and get all the hull planking done. The first thing to do is to make a starter plank with the top edge aligned exactly with the bottom of the bulwark template. This is a very important step as all the rest of the planking's correct positioning depends on it. From there we start planking up the sides. Here you can barely see some pencil marks I made on the bulwark templates to indicate where to put the planking joins: One side upper planking complete, before final sanding: The bottom strake of the upper planking (the first plank you put on), will become the upper wale. The wales in this case are nothing more than another 1/32" x 1/8" strip just like the rest of the planking, so the wales are just doubled planks. Next we add 5 strakes below the upper wale. The bottom strake of that set will be doubled to become the lower wale. Here we have that done, with margins left around the gun ports: OK, now comes a key choice in the build. The 2nd layer of planking below the main wale is not technically required, so you are given a choice. Supposedly there is enough of the 1/32" planking to do the rest of the hull down to the keel, but not in my case - there's not enough even if I wanted to do it. Maybe I was a bit wasteful in its use so far but I really don't think so. Everything below the wale will be painted so small imperfections can be filled/sanded. So if you are content with the shape of things down here, no real need for the 2nd layer. Mine's not perfect, but I don't think I'd improve things much or at all with a second layer, so mine's going to the paint shop as-is. How you treat the gun ports is another choice. You can put in the dummy cannon barrel tips and show the lids open, or you can show them closed. My choice is closed, since I don't think in real life you would have typically seen a common merchant ship like this with guns run out. I believe the real Mayflower would have actually carry them stowed, "just in case" (Pirates!). Someone who's seen it in person correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think Mayflower II ever had them, except for maybe 1 sample one at the stern, just going by the pictures online. Anyway, mine are going to be done closed. I started by making some blanks out of 4 planks penciled and glued up like the example below. Then I cut port lids out of it trying to align the plank joints as best as the inconstant width planking supplied would allow. Moving for a moment to the back, I went ahead and did the stern part of the main (lower) wale. Not much is said about this in the manual, the pictures there show it pretty much straight across and intersecting the stern post somewhat. Looking at pics of the real thing, it's got quite a pronounced curve, like I've done here. I used the thicker 1/16" planking stock instead of the thin stuff and used the edge bending jig to get the curve: Finally, here we have both wales on this side complete. Next up will be the decorative trim strips and bunch of painting.

Hi Bill, I have this too and really like it. I bought the one that included the little drill press widget, but I find that to be nearly useless. I would not recommend the extra $$ on that one. I find that the speed is relatively low and useful, though of course I'm comparing to the only other hand drill I've had which is a Dremel, that's way too fast. Do you find that you have a tiny little wobble at the bit end? I have to assume it's in the collet and wonder if I might need to replace that.

Thanks Dave!

$500 gift cert? And here I was thinking you were just rolling in the royalties in perpetuity! Yeah, I kid, but seriously that's almost insulting.

Half Deck and Finishing the Bulwarks/Stanchions Before I continued with the stanchions I decided to change up the order of things. Instructions sequence has you doing all the stanchions, and after the 2nd layer of planking coming back and finishing out the half-deck. Didn't make a lot of sense to me as I wanted to be done with all the major inboard stuff before moving to finish the outside. Plus, if you put the long stanchions in the half deck section on first and then put the deck in, you have to notch the false deck and the planking around them. Sure, this is how the real ship is built, but I figured I can make a lot neater looking job if I split them, thus putting the upper part of the stanchions on the waterway like is done throughout the rest of the model. Hopefully the following pictures will illustrate what I mean. First we need a partial bulkhead, made of 2 sides, planked. Those go behind the 2nd of a pair of full height stanchions. In this picture you can see them installed, and behind them are stanchions that will come up to just under the false deck, installed next. Added to both bulkheads here are some deck beams, appropriately arched to match the part of the half deck that was originally installed during framing . You can also see the capstan peeking out there a bit. I scratched that from some leftover bits from my Essex build, instead of using the Britannia metal one provided. Here the false decking is placed on the beams and a few pieces added to dress up the open bulkhead. Put on the deck hatches first, before planking around them Finally, a couple of pictures of all the decking, bulwarks and stanchions complete. Next we will go on to finish the 2nd planking and other outside details.

Stanchions I have started the stanchions and upper bulwark pieces, which pretty much cover the entire length of the ship. Basically, they will all proceed the same. Put down waterway/base strips, then place the uprights, cut extra long. Then a couple of strips to form a top rail, and finally trim and round the tops of the stanchions. Here’s the start and finish of the forecastle, followed by the halfway done poop deck. Some will find this tedious - but I’m enjoying this part!