Der Alte Rentner

And, so it begins... Even though my experiment with making the long planks - exactly the right width, at exactly the right places, was a bit of a failure, it actually helps to have an inventory of tapered material to choose from in doing the shorter plank by plank construction. So far, I have not resorted to fabricating these 4-in or shorter segments on the mill. And once again, I'm working from a spreadsheet.

Some part of me is thinking those were the "good" old days. Much less work.. 😁 but perhaps not as satisfying in the end. 🙄

They look great. I'll be checking into this upgrade myself, when I get that far on my Conny - maybe next July, at current production rate. Welcome back.

Here here! I'll drink to that. Every once in awhile a Manhattan either finishes off a great day, or provides condolences for a crummy one.

I spent quite a number of hours adding support structure for The Spar deck. I noticed a few small areas where the bulkheads dipped substantially below the Waterway, so I did some adjusting and tweaking - basically laying down subfloor for the planking to come. I started measuring distances between the waterways at the bulkheads and will develop a spreadsheet of 10 zones with 5 or 6 planks per zone, similar to the one I used to plank the hull. And in case anyone is wondering how I got those fillers between bulkheads A and B?

He is the expert! By the way, I just revisited your own Conny build log. You left off at just the right spot to contemplate dealing with these very support structures for the spar deck planking you will eventually get to in Chapter 4 and 5, once you resume construction of the Constitution. Thanks

I got most of the deck now covered with supports. I may have to add a couple more between bulkheads A and B and possibly also at bulkheads J and G. Probably better to put them in and not need them, then need them and not have put them in. That can wait until my next session at the shipyard. Can't wait to get started on the deck planking. 🙄 50 rows with most likely seven 3 7/8" segments per row works out to 350 operations - assuming I take no shortcuts. (Though I may have a good idea for one..)

Thank for your encouraging words Geoff, and your ideas Mustafa. I am going to do exactly as you suggest. I remapped the plank plan, with the intent to use the 3 7/8" plank segments as specified by Hunt. Today, I am adding supports between the bulkheads in anticipation of the tick-mark exercise and to accommodate the plank butt joints. To any one reading this who is planning to start the MSW kit, I would seriously suggest you take a peek at XKen's build log and consider using a carrier sheet. If you choose that option, remember that you'll have to shave off of the top of the bulkheads, enough material to compensate for the thickness of the carrier sheet. Alternatively, I think you should probably just put support panels between the bulkheads right from the start, as I am doing after the fact now. Just fill the entire space and make your life easier going forward. I hope to remember to go back to an earlier part of my build log and throw this reminder in there as well.

Blast! Close, but no cigar. 24 planks from centerline to waterway, and I'm off by 15/64" (or 5.86 mm). Roughly .25 mm too narrow at the 3/32" end or too wide at the 1/16" end of the planks. Turns out 25 ea. 3/32" wide planks don't quite span the distance at the widest point. I'm going to have to rethink or refine the tapering fixture. Too bad I already glued in 11 rows of planks between the main hatch and bowsprit. Can I add three or 4 more planks and re-taper the existing 24 to net a perfect fit? Without losing my mind in the bargain? I suppose I could repeat the short-length-plank / tick-mark-across-the-bulkhead approach I employed in planking the hull. Working with 3 7/8" planks would be a pain, but I'm sure I could make it work. Of course that approach necessitates adding many supports between the bulkheads to accommodate the butt joints on the shorter planks. It may simply not be worth it to try to nail this tapering nonsense. Going home to pour myself a Manhattan while I pore over my options. (WWMD? What would Mustafa do?) Cheers.

Success! I widened the groove in the fixture to snugly hold 6 planks face to face. I used two sided tape to secure a 1/32" shim at one end of and another 1/64" shim at the center of the top of the fixture. The fixture was in turn flipped upside down and taped to a perfectly parallel backing board, and the whole shebang was run through my drum thickness sander until I removed 1/32" from bottom side of the fixture. I used some pencil marks to get me close, then checked to the dimensions with a verneer caliper. Next, I removed the fixture from the backing board and ran it, topside up, through the sander again until the fixture was perfectly parallel. I squeezed 6 planks in beforehand to kill two birds with one stone. The end result is a tapered channel in the fixture that is 1/16" deep at one end and 3/32" deep at the other. As long as I don't touch the settings on the drum sander, I can crank out tapered planks all day long. Of course, I'll stop when I have enough for the job. I led off with the finished product because I forgot to take photos of the fixture before I added the shims. The groove at the bottom of the fixture is the newly made tapered one. On top of the fixture are the 6 tapered planks. Earlier on: check width at both ends to make sure difference is 1/32". (One hash mark is 1/64".) Maybe not the easiest thing to see, but the 1/32" gap is on the right side. Fixture removed from backing board and being made parallel. Proof that the fixture is parallel, and trust me on this, the channel is spot on. Unfortunately, as good as these strips are, that I got from modelers sawmill, they do vary in thickness a little bit. So to get a snug fit at the channel, I've got to pick and choose the strips from the batch. Ultimately no big deal. These last two photo shows the fixture potentially ready to deal with the next six strips. Again, I'll have to sift through the material to find six that will fit snugly. Okay, I'm off to tackle some honey do chores. Back in a few days..

Actually, there is. I've been putting together word documents with details and photos from a number of build logs I consult for the step I'm currently working on. It beats the heck out of trying to hunt this information down every time I forget who did what or how they did it. e.g.

Of course you are Jon! And what a go-to guy you are. 😁 Thanks as always for your input.

Oooh, I'll bet Jon will chime in on that. That would be great to know.

I may be on the right track, but some modifications to that fixture are necessary. I learned that the quarter inch Groove isn't snug enough to firmly hold four planks in place, resulting in some movement under the drum sander. I'll have to throw it back on my router table and widen that groove just enough so that five planks can ride side by side but very snugly in that space. I may also have to fine-tune those little shims. I did get my planking plan together so that I know where the butt joints should be. If I get ambitious and try to work with 3-in long plank segments, I'll have to put supports under a number of places between the bulkheads to accommodate the butt joints. If not, I know where to scribe the marks on the planks as I work with long ones. I better get home now before I suffer grief from the Mrs for missing too much Independence Day family time. The butt joint plan. Problem with plank cutting fixture. (Look closely between the 15 and 16 inch marks on the scale). I'm out of here now. Once again happy Independence Day.

Okay, I think I've solved the problem of tapering the Spar deck planks. Made a little fixture with a groove one quarter inch wide and 3/32" in deep. I put spacers in at different points to hold the planks more or less in place at the right depth at various points along the way. I set the thickness sander to the thickness of the board with the slot side down. Flipped the fixture over, mounted the planks and ran the fixture through the sander. Proof of concept photos follow. My problem is, the boxwood material I got came in 15" lengths. What I need to do now is figure out a butt joint spacing plan, and how make it all work with these shorter planks. Anyway, just sharing the concept at this point. More head scratching, stalling, analysis in store for me in the short run. It's warming up in the shipyard, so I'm out of here.. Happy Independence Day tomorrow.

Having just completed 80 strakes (with four to five planks per strake) of tapering on the hull, I really would rather not do more of it for the deck, if I don't have to.. I'll decide after I've completed planking the center section stem to stern around coamings and hatches.

I have been stalling on The Spar deck planking, in part so I could decide whether I'm going to paint or not. Obviously painting or staining the waterways first would make the most sense. So I've been experimenting with sample pieces of scrap Basswood. Turns out the paint does not adhere well to basswood that has been finished with polyacrylic, as would be the hunt practicum procedure. The photo on the left shows the results of applying some of that Bulwark Green over polycrylic, followed by a little sanding to get rid of the brush marks. On that particular sample I did some light preparatory sanding on the patch on the right. Even that area did not hold the paint well. A sample tile on the right was a piece of Unfinished Basswood. The wood absorbed the paint, so sanding did what it needed to - removed the brush marks without much loss of color. I was doing this experiment to decide whether I could paint over a stained hull or bulwarks if I wasn't satisfied with the look afterwards. Given the results of this test, I'm of the opinion that I would need to prime over the stained area to get decent coverage with acrylic paint. And I'm not forgetting the adhesion issue in gluing critical items to the hull and bulwarks. Best for those pieces to be glued onto bare wood. So the obvious move would be to paint without first finishing with clear poly acrylic. And to do that after the bulk of the critical parts have been affixed to unfinished wood. Bottom line? I believe I'm suffering from analysis paralysis .

Jon, I did not separate the grating from the laser cut pieces. What you see is what you get with the model shipways kit. What I learned not to do, was to do any sanding on the detail laser etching.

It is indeed, but it's there - from roughly bulkhead G fore and aft. Clearly discernable on the plans (page 4). Look closely at the planking detail next to the bowsprit coaming. Also look at the planks close to the centerline from the fife rail aft. And the coup de gras is on page 20 of the instruction manual. "Deck planks taper for and aft and usually follow the curve of the bulwarks. Consequently, Mark the top of the bulkheads beforehand for the planking runs." So, It's not really a question of are they tapered? Rather, one of, do I want to do so? Among the premier build blogs at this site, there is no real consensus. Some of the best, including yourself, have done it, others have not. Thanks Jon

The plans that came with the model shipways kit shows that the planks get narrower as they approach the stern. Look at xken's build. He put tick marks all along his carrier deck to aid him in tapering the planks. I think it's similar to the way you plank the sides of the hull. I've looked at five different builds here at model ship world, and of the five I've checked, three have done the tapering and two have not. Do you have another image of The Spar deck taken from perhaps midships to the stern? Preferably from above?

I never for one moment thought that you would put this project to rest. I remember that you took a break last summer as well. Enjoy your summer and stay cool.

Exactly why I feel that you could produce a superior product by compiling all of your photos and experience into the Matson practicum. I repeat, I'd be a buyer! I have only the vaguest recollection of rigging the Revell kit 50 years ago, but I think you are correct in the order you described. Basically Standing rigging first, running rigging last. And of course, bottom up and inside out. I do remember taking a lot of shortcuts, and making much use of CA glue instead of tying knots. Thanks for confirming that you tapered your planks. I still haven't decided if I'm going to do that myself. First I have to come up with a butt joint plan and locate all of the places between the bulkheads that need support pieces added. In the end though, I don't think I'm going to let historical accuracy drive my model build. To be sure, I will not be adding 4,000 rivets to the bulwarks! That is a very interesting photo Thanks again for all, Peter

Wow, that's an interesting approach. I was wondering why you went to so much detail on the gun deck if most of it would be hidden by the spar deck. Now I understand. You're going to Showcase your work on the gun deck, and I can't wait to see that. Thanks

Geoff, First, I'll say this again. I wish you had posted the early work on the Constitution. I just love the detail you've put into everything I've seen here. The photos below are the only ones I found providing a decent view of your spar deck planking. I'm trying to decide whether to taper the planks ala Hunt practicum, or not. Did you taper? and did you scribe the butt joints? If not, how did you manager the the plank ends that hovered over empty space between bulkheads? As an aside: As I study the half dozen or so other builds I consult for tips and direction, I can't help but be impressed by the subtle differences in approaches. Paint the coamings and hatches? Stain them? Leave them alone? Likewise the decisions on how to tackle the deck. Rivets on the bulwarks? .. to name a few. Lastly, If you ever compile your notes on masts and rigging and publish them, I'm a buyer of the Matson practicum! I'm at least a year from having to deal with any of that, so you've got time. If not, I'll be visiting this build log day and night when I get to that point. Thanks for posting your outstanding build. Peter

red sweat? oh my!