Loracs

Deck: The deck is finally completed. The kit supplies little to build the floor-doors. I designed it a little differently. First, the frame is built using T-shaped strips (2x2 mm strips glued over a 3.25mm strips). This creates the little space around the doors that I was looking to achieve, as well as a recessed layout. Metal RAM: the copper is starting to oxidize slowly, which is a little bit more realistic. That's all for this week.

Bow: I finally completed the bow. Added some copper to simulate metal. Very shiny now but will tarnish brown/greenish soon enough. That's pretty much it. CA stain gave me quite some problems here, a reminder to be more careful while planking. Worse to fix than to use sparingly.

The caulking is just perfect like this... well done. With the length of time it takes to complete a ship, it often almost irresistible to have a peak at the final result. I time, I even finish a section if I know there is no more work to be done. Fantastic deck, well worth the time. New tools!!! come on... I don't have those, please stop teasing!! Hehe 🤩

Hull: closing the gap, a little more, done! I really like the mix and match color pattern. A beauty in its own right. Dozens of color variations. This is the advantage of planking at 15-20' length or 10-12 cm/plank. Stern: only a few words can truly summarize the experience: Holy @#$@@ #$#$#@@@!! Special mention: the Ultimation slicer is really worth it. Accurate and reproducible cuts. The blade is so sharp... and stays sharp. I'm really liking it. For me, it was worth the price if you are planning on multiple ships. Who among us is not!

I thought that this build (a planned gift to my father) would be a quick but interesting one. Still quite fun to do BUT it is indeed nothing close to a quick build. If you are not careful the nice lines can turn awful very fast. It is indeed a tricky planking exercise, with the drawback that you have virtually no documentation or any guides from the kit itself. Not much repetition... it always keeps you on your toes. A lot of planks spilling, curving (with and again the grains) and shaping.

Seats: reading about the greek bireme and trireme, I noted a mention that the seats were likely covered with leather to minimize blisters. That makes sense to me and went ahead and added small leather patches to the interior seats. Stern: side curving of 3mm strips only brings you so far. As you plank inwards the curvature increases and there is no way to keep up. I had to come up with a plan B. I started spilling the planks. Being smaller in width, it can be curved more aggressively. General planking: The difficulty of this build is the sharp edges in many areas. In other words, how to get clean results at the junction. To address this, I always start a new area by "framing" it. Then you have a guide for the remainder.

a thousand thanks @Ronald-V, I greatly appreciate the extra time you took to put together this great tutorial. It is of great help and illustrate very well the process. Having seen the results in your blog motivate me to move forward. A great skill to acquire. Fantastic how-to outline, very clear.

very nice... I love the look of it. It all worth the stress of the redo. In fact, I like it so much that I want to incorporate the technique is my next build. Question: In practice, how do you carve the donor and receiving strips, so that it aligns so well at the join. Just want to learn from the expert ;_)

Planking the bow, stern, starboard and port: I started with the bow and stern since they are by far the hardest area. There is no trick here, just careful shaping of the strips and some re-adjustment (sanding) of the balsa underneath. Speed of planking in those areas crawls down to an average of 2 planks a day... ouch! Stern still needs more love, but shaping those strips is... not fun. Starboard and port side, on the other end, allow me to do some relaxing planking. However, there is a little twist. The bulkhead-ends are a little too narrow to support a full 3 strips. In addition, the underside was a little short, while the upper part a little too long for smooth planking. Solution, I sanded the ends of the bulkheads at a slight inward angle (see picture) - likely a 10-degree angle.

Does it??? Not with planking this model. hehe. Stress relief update.

Does it??? Not with planking this model. hehe. Stress relief update.

@Ian_Grant, greetings. Indeed, this set of metal French curves (a tad thicker than 1mm) are quite useful. I use it all the time for side bending.

Stern: The underside of the stern will be planked as the top side - in a triangular shape. I just like this style, which provides a clean edge. The initial step is to frame the area to be planked (see pictures). This will ease planking of the internal area. Side areas - underneath: additional planks are added below deck - both at the bow and stern side. It only covers a small area - 2 and 3 bulkheads. I then proceeded with the remaining planks and finished by sanding. You can then flip around and complete the deck planking. Note: I sand the tope edge a little to create a "groove between the planks - just for a little depth (zooming in and lighting exaggerate the effect). Top sanding fills the small gap with dust that can be remove later. Note 2: you can see a filler plank that I forgot to do - the 3d effect get lost. They underside edge is not sanded too - so when you flip around the effect is lost too. Planning to do that only for the side and upper deck. Stern side: This will require quite an extreme side bending of the planks to follow the stern. Strips are immersed in water for 30 minutes, the shape using a guide as back support. Don't try to do the full bending in one go - it will break. Do an initial curve, then let dry for several hours. Wet again and go a little further. 3-4 times should do it. It is a lengthy process. Start one... and do something else. In a couple of weeks, you should have sets available.

I second the Vanda-lay system. Very stable, very well build. Highly configurable. In addition, if you have a Foredom flex-shaft, you can get an additional adaptor for it. For me, the Foredom and the vanda-lay system are great combo. However, for small hole 0.5mm or less a manual option (Pin Vise Hand Drill) is likely the best.

Thank you @Ronald-V, appreciate. I forgot to mention a small trick I read somewhere in furniture building. Working with wood will almost always create small gaps around some areas, such as around the vertical bulkheads here. One way to correct this at the end is to fill the small gap with wood glue, remove the excess rapidly and pour on top plenty of saw dust (a piece of strip wood that you sand to create dust of the same color). After that I use a strip to push down on top... et voila! wood putty of exactly the same color. HOWEVER, gap still need to be very small to start with.