Der Alte Rentner

Nice work, I wish I'd done a better job on mine. But looking at mine without magnifying glass on my nose, I can live with it. ... and I have to ask, what's your plan for the spar deck planking? Tapering as you work aft? Scribed butt joints or short planks?

I hope those red flecks aren't drops of blood! 😁

I have tried this, but if I'm going to thin the paint and apply multiple coats, especially at the waterway and bulwarks (assuming I'm going to paint at all - the decision point rapidly drawing near 🙁), I'd rather mask and spray. So, I'll be checking into that Iwata RG-3L mini gun. Thanks again Peter

Thanks for the notes on the airbrush and techniques. I've been perusing your build intently today in my research preparatory to planking the spar deck any further. On the matter of tapering the planks, I think I can safely conclude that you were not in that camp. However, how did you manage your butt joint plan? Did you go the Hunt route and scribe these in after the fact? Also, it's hard to tell from this picture, but did you put support pieces under the areas where the planks butted up against one another? Thanks again, Best Peter

Mustafa, I'm beginning the process of planking the spar deck, and am researching how other builders have tackled this. I took note of your methodology on planking the gun deck, where you cut planks short instead of cutting long strips and scribing in butt joints. (I saw the reference marks on your carrier deck for the butt joints.) However, I did notice that you did not taper the planks there. What's your plan for the spar deck? Will you be tapering the planks as you work your way aft? Thanks in advance. Peter

Little progress today. Part of the reason for this is that, once again, I didn't look far enough ahead a year ago. This business of adding filler pieces between the bulkheads to have some material below the plank butt joints is driving me batty. Looking back at XKen's build, he employed a "deck carrier" to facilitate planking the spar deck off the hull. Now, as I recall, he didn't mention that he had to shave a 64th off the top of the bulkheads to account for the additional thickness of the deck carrier until later in the build when someone else asked him about it. But with the benefit of 2020 hindsight, and multiple passes of studying his build, I think that was the right way to approach this deck planking. Especially if you want to stick with some kind of planking scheme where you're not faking butt joints. For what it's worth now, I think I'll be embracing this false butt joint approach to get me past this stage. By the way, I thought planking the hull was tedious. If I stick with Hunt's notion of tapering the planks, this will be much worse than the work on the hull. Having taken a close look at the deck of the Niagara build that's been featured in the two most recent issues of Nautical Research Journal, I may opt out of this tapering the entire plank strategy, choosing instead to keep the planks parallel and have a few sharper tapers where the plank butts meet the waterways. I did take Cookster's approach and assembled small sections of the planking off the hull. When edge gluing the planks, I do so on top of a piece of wax paper so that the squeeze out doesn't stick to my fixture. It remains to be seen if this process will be helpful on longer sections. I suspect it will be useless if employing the tapered plank approach. Again, not much to show for four hours at the shipyard today, but such is life. Funny thing about this particular section of planking.. It's the section between the forward hatch and the galley stack hatch. The reason I chose to do this off the hull is that I thought it would be easier to locate and cut out the whole for the foremast. Guess what I forgot to do before I glued the section in? I'll never tell. 🤐 Note the filler blocks between bulkheads C and D. If you look closely, you'll see the butt joints just aft of the foremast that would otherwise be hanging over empty space. Once again, my trusty Proxxon mill proved indispensable in carving out the notch for the galley stack hatch.

Looking good. Keep up the good work.

Mine too. 😁

Filler blocks made to span the gap from bulkhead A to the waterway at the bow. They are actually tall enough that they're glued onto the bow filler blocks a little more than an inch below. I tapered the top faces to facilitate the rise from bulkhead A to the waterway. Then I began planking. In my case, given the number of planks between the edges of the bowsprit and forward hatches, the pattern between butt joints will be symmetrical about the centerline of the deck. The most useful tool in my arsenal is the Proxxon mill. Using two vices, I had no problem dialing in the exact depth of the cutouts on the planks that wrap around the hatches. To Jon's point earlier, I don't know how anyone can do this kind of fabrication well without the proper tools and techniques. I have noticed that the spacing according to the plans will result in my having to put more filler pieces into the framework to provide real estate for planks and hatches to find a home. That will be next on the list. Hey hey! Studying Cookster's build log because he had some really detailed process on planking the spar deck. And, what do you know, he too used filler blocks at the bow to accommodate deck planks. Drat, I should have jotted down is post number.. I think this came from page 5 of his Constitution build.

I was going to refer you to XKen's build, where I believe he made his galley stack from scratch. But then I caught the limiter in your comment - "with my skill and tools". That man had a lot of specialized skills and tools.

As I just learned in my experimentation on the Constitution. I simulated afixing channels onto a sample board that had been prepped with four coats of polycrylic. I also attached one of those eyebrows that goes over the gun ports. The channel popped off without much encouragement. Ironically, the eyebrow hung on tenaciously. No polycrylic for me until at least the channels have been properly secured. Thanks

I hope that's what I just did by updating my post 14, Jon. So as to avoid sending you back there to see what I'm referring to, I'll recap here. I just started planking the spar deck and immediately became aware of several missteps early on in the build, that have compounded to give me grief now. When I constructed the bow framing, way back in Hunt's Chapter 2, I did not understand that spar deck planking needed to rest on the spar deck framing piece. Compounding that with my error in not constructing the waterway to plan, I am now faced with the need to construct a pair of filler blocks to make up for both the height difference and the loss of deck planking real estate at the bow. In retrospect, I think the spar deck frame pieces should have been made differently, sparing me the rework now. These photos should make clear the hole I dug for myself: 1. The problem today, showing the misshapen waterway, which resulted in the lost ledge to support the spar deck planks. 2. Clear 20/20 hindsight illustrated. Photo P 2.4.1-10 3. Photo 4.4.1-1 from Hunt's Chapter 4. 4. How maybe the spar deck frame could have been constructed to avoid the whole issue? Plan A (in red) gives you much more real estate for planking and to glue on the bowsprit hatch. Plan B (black dots) would probably have been sufficient, but perhaps there's something I don't know now about why Hunt added the undocumented framing pieces that magically appear in Chapter 4.

Not being familiar with this particular model, I must ask, what is a pole holder? I'll pour myself a Manhattan while I await your reply. Cheers!

So yes. he mixed his own Jon, you are the MAN. Thank you.

In reviewing XKen's build log, I read that he used "black glue" to simulate caulking between deck planks on the spar deck. I can't believe he would have used CA glue, which is all I can find online on a search. Does anyone know of a regular wood glue in black? Or did he just add black dye to something like Elmer's glue or Titebond? Thoughts?

i would not want to get stain on the spar deck planking. Even the gel stain, which can be applied very accurately with a brush, needs to be wiped off. I'm not sure this can be done with enough care to avoid smearing. I'll add that to my list of experiments after 😁. Thanks.

That post was 8 years ago. If you're still checking in, what happened? Once I stumbled on your build log, I became enamored and would love to see you finish the San Francisco.

Today I started work on planking the spar deck. As usual, reality didn't quite jive with the Hunt practicum. I double and triple checked the width of the bowsprit hatch and, just to make sure I wasn't hallucinating, I tried a little Photoshop experiment to see if I could spot the root cause of my problem. (Hunt hatch on left and superimposed over mine on the right. Nothing obvious. What is the problem, you ask? I used the 1/16” x 3/32” stock, as specified on page 50 of the practicum and confirmed by the plans. Yet, there seems to be a difference in the number of planks spanning the width of my hatches vs Hunt's. Seven planks (precisely cut by Modeller's Sawmill) don't quite span the width. I suspect that Hunt's stock may have been of the ilk as the typically off-sized material that came with my kit. (Yes, Mustafa, I learned my lesson! Next time I'll build from scratch.) Solution? It might simply be to shave a small fraction from the sides of hatches so the bordering planks sit flush. Whittling down matching carve-outs from the bordering planks would seem to be a waste of time. I'll go one thought further. I'm asking myself, Self, why not plank first and cut out openings for hatches and masts afterwards? (Actually, I may have an answer to that question. It might be easier to position the cutouts for the masts by planking to them vs. trying to find the exact locations to drill(?) holes to accommodate them later.) Another thought. Should I stain, at the very least, the bulwarks and waterways before doing ANY planking? I suppose I can postpone that decision a while longer, because the first round of planking won't approach the waterways anyway. By the way, I opted to use the side of a pencil lead to mimic the caulking used between the planks. I could probably even skip that if I used Titebond no. 2 or 3. This leaves behind a brownish seam which may suffice. I'll experiment with that the next time I'm in the shipyard, which won't be tomorrow, since I'll be having a crown fitted over the root canal I had done on Tuesday. Fun times.. 😁 (note the perfect teeth..)

In my experimentation with Acrylic paint, even un-thinned paint does not cover well in a single coat. When thinned to minimize brush marks when dry, no less than three coats were required to get a clean, smooth and uniform finish. When you mention surface prep, are you talking about readying the surface for gluing on additional pieces? or for the initial coat of paint? I'm concerned with the former, given the numerous features that will be affixed to the hull after painting. Thoughts? Advice?

thus my reluctance to paint my Conny at all.. I'm about to embark on planking the spar deck but have been stalling while I consider finishing options. Hunt applies multiple coats of clear polyacrylic before he then covers that with multiple coats of paint, which he thins and applies with a brush. I experimented with stains, gel stains, and dyes as well as paint. After seeing how nicely black gel stain covered bare basswood, I had hoped I could use this over stained wood - the idea being, I would try some variant of brown stain on the hull and if I didn't like the result, I would cover the mess with black stain. Sadly, once the wood has taken a couple of coats of stain, the black gel doesn't cover well. So, if I decide I don't like the look of the brown stain, I will likely resort to - ugh! paint.. I have received advice to go with pinstripe tape masking and to use an air brush to get a better outcome with paint. Having seen so many spectacular close ups of brushed-on paint jobs, if I do paint, I'll be investing in yet another tool and accessories. Fun times ahead. 🤣 By the way, I still haven't tried gluing stuff to the experimental tiles I've prepared with poly and stain finishes. There are many items that need to be tacked on to the hull. How well does Super Glue stick to Hunt's 6 to 8 coat poly/paint finish on the hull? Upon further review: I was also asked why I don't cover the basswood hull planking with a different second layer, as if the norm for European kits. I do have the planking material from the Constructo kit, and I might achieve the natural wood finish I desire, but I'm not sure I'm up to the rigors of a second round of planking. 😒 Though, this would cover some of the flubs made on the first round. 🤔 Stalling, stalling, stalling... 😁 Nice work Gregg. As for the close up photos, I suspect that most viewers of your completed Bluenose won't be looking at her with magnifiers. It's amazing how little detail one's Mach 1 eyeballs pick up.

I'll add to the list of constructive criticism for the practicum. It would really be nice to see photographs of Hunt's completed Constitution. Or even an uncompleted version with masts and bowsprit attached. If these exist, they are absent from my copy of the practicum. Has anyone got photos of the finished product?

I chime in with Gregg in recommending Modeler's Sawmill. I just received my third batch of wood from him, and I'm very pleased with the quality of the milling. Dimensions are spot on. As mentioned in my own build log, I wish I'd known (or even had an inkling) about replacing the subpar materials supplied with the kit when I started. Coulda, woulda, shoulda..

What went fairly smoothly on Wednesday, was a PITA today. I did knock off the two remaining mast partners, and cut the tenons at the bottom of the main and mizzen masts. This time, I took a short cut. Rather than place the mast partners where Hunt said to put them, I glued a piece of scrap wood to the underside of the framework between the bulkheads and more or less tacked it in position to nail the rake angle. Once that was done, I glued the cross members to the fore and aft framing. The masts now fit like a glove, and all sit at their correct respective angles/rakes. Then things went south. In keeping with the process I used to on the fore mast, I built a jig for the main mast, cut the fore and aft faces at the top to precisely 5/16", rotated the mast, and milled the sides. I have no idea how this happened, but these two faces ended up being 9/32" instead of the required 5/16". To boot, I lost track of where the shelf between the round portion of the mast met the squared off section needed to be, resulting in a 3/16" gouge on the starboard side of the mast. To fix this, I glued some scrap basswood to that side of the mast, trimmed away the excess and recut the offending face to net the correct thickness. Long winded way of saying, two steps forward, one step back? I did learn that I didn't need the jig to square off the top 1/4" of the mast. The vices with the Proxxon mill are short enough that I could simply clamp the square section down and mill away. I am quickly learning to convert fractions to metric in my head. And again, by going through this process now, I'm a leg up on Chapter 1 of Rigging the Constitution, when I finally get there.. Fore mast still needs a slight adjustment where the round part meets the square section to allow for the 3 degree rake. But the main mast is done. I just received the boxwood planking from Modeler's Sawmill. So to get a sense of where the next steps are heading, I staged the hull.. When I see the contrast between the boxwood and basswood, I really regret that I didn't know at the start to buy better materials.

Would it be less work to use a Dremel tool (flat grinder?) to simply shorten the offending hinges, while they're still affixed. A little touchup paint and you should be golden? Nice work so far. Keep it up. 🙂

Since, I'm waiting for box wood for the deck planking to arrive from Modeler's Sawmill, I took a small diversion to prove the concept outlined above by finishing the top of the fore mast. a. I marked the relevant dimensions on the face of my jig and mounted it to the table of my Proxxon mill. b. Then lowered the mill to be flush with the surface of the jig. c. Proved to myself that the math and the setup was correct. d. Milled the front and back face of the fore mast to net parallel sides 9/32" thick. I had to place a shim under the cut out section of the mast before milling the opposite side. The dowel material warped a bit with the first cut, so I had to prop that up. e. To get the other two faces milled, I rotated the mast 90 degrees and secured it in place with shims. Again, on the second pass, I had to place a shim under the previously trimmed side to support the mast while cutting the last face. I repeated the steps above to shave 1/32" off all four sides to net the 7/32" square notch for the mast caps. Some tweaking with a chisel was required afterwards to attain the 3 degree angled shelf for the mast caps to rest on. I did not glue these in place. f. The finished product. g. Test fitted the mast on Conny. Looking good, I think. a I'll probably repeat this process for the main and mizzen masts when dealing with their respective mast partners. I'll be a leg up when I get to Chapter 1 of Hunt's Rigging the Constitution - (next June?).