Der Alte Rentner

I don't think that's the issue Gregg. Furthermore, as I dive deeper into the details in the Practicum on this, I'm discovering more issues associated with the galleries. Hunt crafted his windows out of styrene because the slant on the window frame of the laser cut pieces was different than that of the stern transom. That prompted me to check the angle of my stern transom. Sure enough, the transom is 9-degrees steeper than the window. Funny. Hunt's advice is to not make the galleries to fit the windows, rather make the windows fit the gallery. Comparing Hunt's photos to the plans, I think the reason his measurement is greater is because he may have left out two components to the gallery roof - the "roof cap" and the "flat". These are the two 1/16" thick panels above and below the "roof block". Were that not in the plan, then sliding my wooden gauge up would account for the difference (more or less). I've learned that haste is waste. I'm going to follow the plan, and not Hunt's practicum on the gallery build. And I think I will try to make a 9-degree shim to place on top of the side piece so that the laser cut windows can indeed be used. Really? Build 6 ea. styrene windows? I think not! Thanks for chiming in Gregg.

The Practicum makes a big deal out of "the height from the top of the side piece we already installed to the bottom of the roof piece." According to Hunt, if I measure this space on the kit plans, it's supposed to measure 25/32". That's not what I see in my copy of the plans, either on page 4 or the quarter Gallery details on page 5. The distance that I measure is 3/64" less than the 25/32" that Hunt says it should be. Does it matter?

Um, where would one acquire a clothes wringer these days? Any suggestions for an alternative device to press the copper against the form you constructed?

I know this comment comes 8 years after rwiederrich's post, but had to throw in my two cent's worth. My bandsaw is equipped with a 1 1/4" resaw blade, and I can easily make veneer as thin as I please out of just about any wood. Had I known about this concept before planking my Model Shipway's version of the USS Constitution, I would have considered a rapid first planking followed by a second planking using the material provided in the Constructo kit I opted out of building. I might also have made a carrier for the deck planking, which would have been fist loads easier than putting filler blocks between all the bulkheads. Live and learn! BTW, I came here to see about rwiederrich's cloths wringer technique for the copper plating, which begins at post #51.

Thank you Gregg, Jon and Mustafa. I'm very happy with the result and am looking forward to doing something (anything!) else. Galleries? Cannons? For now, I'll treat myself to a double ration of grog. 😁

At last!

Mustafa has years of experience and the right tools for the job. That you could accomplish the same, given the ad hoc setup you had, is a testament to your tenacity. Nice job!

On the home stretch.

I'm sooooooo ready to be done with planking.. By the way, I'm not tapering planks forward of the main hatch. That is helping (slightly) to speed things along - and is in keeping with the Hunt practicum.

The switch to boxwood made carving out the three aft hatches quite difficult. I broke several Xacto blades in the effort, and I was disappointed to see the planking fore of the companionway/skylight hatch splinter. I hope that an application of wood putty later will hide the worst of it. Oh well, from here on in, it's all planking, all the time, until the deck is covered. In restospect, it would have been easier, and cleaner, to plank around those hatches; or to shave a sixteenth off the bottom of those hatches and, when the time comes, to simply glue the them on top of the planking. I have been able to take the short cut if not needing to fabricate three to four short segments per row of planking aft of the main hatch. That saved some time, as did being able to quickly make tapered planks with my fixture. I also stopped messing with wood glue along the lengths of these planks. Instead, I used small drops of CA glue roughly every quarter inch. And, I glued the long planks in two steps working to the rear from the main hatch. I glued half the plank in step one, and bent the remaining part of the plank to place glue on the substrate to finish the job. Calling it a day

I have the process down. I make five planks at a time using my tapering fixture, which turns out pretty consistent results. I made the planks long enough to fit the entire span between the main hatch and the transom, with a smidge to spare. These are then cut into segments to fit the plan. For each new pair of zones (5 planks per zone), I redo the measurements and recalculate the widths at the butt joint intersections. So far, no fine tuning with sand paper has been required. I'm set for the next 10 planks, but ran out of shop time today. Off to church..

Center 11 rows done. After the next two go in, I'll carve out the openings for the three hatches aft of the main hatch. Slow going, and I have to remeasure to update the spreadsheet for the next 10 rows.

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.