jereremy

I'd check with Chris about that missing planking. If it is like the standalone kit, it should be a .6mm laser cut sheet that also contains the oars, rudder, and knees.

Beautiful work!

Great to hear! You managed to leapfrog me pretty quickly, so I'm sure I'll be referencing yours soon enough.

Planking continues... slowly. Mostly uneventful, except that I noticed a plank I’d previously installed hadn’t been milled squarely, and one edge was significantly thinner than the other (~.6mm instead of 1mm). I probably could have knocked down the surrounding planks enough to hide it, but decided it would be cleaner to replace. Here is a photo where I’ve started to cut out the offending plank. You can see the difference in thickness on the bottom edge, and this is after some scraping to knock down any high points, which is what brought it to my attention. After carefully cutting a portion out of the center of the plank, I was able to pry the two ends out without causing any damage. Remade the plank so it would fit snugly, and glued it into place. Otherwise happy with how it is coming along. Even though my assumption is that I will paint below the waterline, I’m continuing the shorter plank lengths just in case I end up preferring the look of the unpainted wood. I’m starting to transition to the darker pear strips now that I’ve passed the waterline at the stem and stern. I seem incapable of focusing on one thing at a time, so I have also been working on the coamings, gratings, and skylight. I like the detail of gratings having a camber, so I decided to add it to these. Don’t think I’ve seen anyone else add it to their Flirt or Speedy gratings, so perhaps it isn’t strictly accurate? Seems standard for ships of the era, so not sure why it shouldn't have had them. First I added some material to the fore and aft of the coamings as I didn’t want to thin them down too much when adding the camber. Soaked the gratings and let them dry clamped to the inside of a glass. Knocked down the new wood strips on the coaming as far as possible using a knife and then switch to files and sanding sticks. Here they are with the camber added. The top one lost a bit of the inside edge where I’d added new material, and you can see the bit of white where I applied filler to square it back up. It’ll be painted, so not concerned about the color. Also added the camber to the skylight. It looked a little flat and monolithic, so I added some trim around the muntins to give it a bit more detail. Note that I attached these .6mm pear strips AFTER adding the camber to the skylight as I didn't think they'd hold up to the soaking and bending. Will add some clear plastic to the back side to simulate glass once I’m closer to installing.

Looking nice! Are you planning on white below the waterline, or leaving the wood?

That windlass is lovely. Very clean.

Progress has been a bit slower than I’d hoped, but at least it is heading in the right direction. First step for the second layer of planking was to mark off the hull. Since I’ll be using realistic plank lengths, I marked the frames where I want the planks to butt using a laser level. The frames would be vertically perpendicular to the keel, so I propped up the stand to where the keel is level. The bow and stern took a couple tries to get correct. My first attempt matched the frames on the kit, but realized pretty quickly that the frames at the bow and stern would actually angle inward, as you can see in the plans for the Speedy (dark lines are mine to figure out where the ‘radius’ of the bow frames is). I also used the laser level to mark the waterline. This is to give me a sense of what portions of the planking will be visible after painting, assuming I go that direction. I then marked up hull with 3 bands and labeled the frames. Before getting into the planking, I’d noticed that the pear strips vary in color significantly, so I organized the strips to avoid too much of a patchwork appearance. My plan is to use the light strips for planking where it will be visible/unpainted. On top of the color variation, I’m also finding that the ‘4mm’ planks vary in width from around 3.8mm to 4.25mm. Quite a few of them also have some unfortunate grain where small portions of them transition to what is essentially end grain on the face. These areas are extremely fragile and will need to be careful to only use them in places that don’t require bending and will be hidden. Here is the first course in place, and you can see I’ve circled where the butt joints in my planks should land. I’m using pencil on the edges of the planks to simulate caulking. Was very torn about doing it, so hopefully I don’t regret that decision. Here is the first band done (this side only). As @TJM recommended, I am planning to attach the keel and stem before adding the garboard plank, but figured I’d get the first band done to minimize the chance of accidentally knocking them off while handling. I've found that planking with realistic lengths is actually easier than the first layer when it comes to bending, since I can focus on that one section instead of needing all the different bends down the entire length. Probably still taking a bit longer than full length planks would have though. I needed something else to keep me engaged while planking, so I decided to scratch build a binnacle. The updated Speedy kit includes one, but not the Flirt. Don't know if it is historically plausible, but decided to go with a two compass version with a lantern between (what would have been found on larger ships). Chris's version for the speedy is a much narrower cabinet, presumably with a single compass. My design was based on various references I ran across, but owes quite a bit to what @DavidEN created for his Diana, which is similar to what is currently on the Victory. Created primarily using styrene sheets and strip. Realized after taking these photos that the compasses aren’t facing the same direction. Good thing they have two! The chimney for the lantern was made from a toothpick, styrene turned on my dremel as a lathe, and shrink tubing. The drawer pulls are pins from the kit and used 28ga wire for the other details. Apparently I didn’t glue the lantern down well enough before gluing the cabinet shut, as it is now loose in there. Probably not worth trying to break it open to fix it given that you can barely see it anyway. Might be a while before my next update as I’ll probably wait until I’ve finishing the planking. Then again, who knows what other deck fittings I’ll get distracted by in the meantime.

Welcome to the Flirt club!

A brief aside regarding shrink tubing for metal bands. TLDR avoid "Adhesive lined" tubing, which seems to be the majority of what is available on Amazon. So far on this build I've been using black masking tape to simulate metal bands, as I'd experimented with shrink tubing and had results like this: Turns out shrink tubing sometimes comes with adhesive inside, which can ooze to and look terrible. This brand is also very thick (the packaging says "double walled"). I keep seeing others getting a cleaner look with it it, so earlier today I unearthed a different set of shrink tubing and found it gave much better results: Here are the 3 brands I tested. Left to right: NTE, Wirefy, and Pointool. NTE and Pointool both look acceptable, but the Pointool tubing has writing on nearly the entire length and I have a multicolor selection, so the black is only in a couple sizes. The NTE tubing has no writing on it. I don't have a large enough sample size to be sure, but in the future I'll be avoiding heat shrink tubing that is double walled or includes adhesive. I'm sure there are other good options out there, but I can personally recommend the NTE tubing. Amazon says I purchased it back in 2010, but seems to still be available (although not via prime). https://www.amazon.com/NTE-Electronics-HS-ASST-2-Shrink-Assorted/dp/B000FIJ7GA/ Note that it is more of a dark gray when compared to the others. I actually prefer that, but just something to consider.

Looking great! On my Flirt the plan is to omit the blue and keep that portion unpainted, but I'm really into the more muted color and now you have me reconsidering.

Thanks @No Idea and @mugje! I tend to only see the things I wish I'd done better, so it is nice to have people getting me out of my own head. Gave the hull one final sand to knock down a couple high spots and attached the first planks. The bulwarks have marks where the plank should sit, so placement should be hard to get too wrong. Did some minor bending, but didn't require much since the bulwarks are relatively vertical compared to the hull below. First tried PVA, but noticed a couple spots where they weren’t sitting flat, so I pulled them off and used CA gel instead. Worked my way from the bow to the stern a few inches at a time. The CA gel gave the perfect amount of time to properly position, but then only needing to it hold for a few seconds. Still debating if I should install the stem and keel now in order to properly place the garboard strake. The instructions wait until after planking, but I foresee either ending up with a gap or needing to cut material away to fit the keel. Leaning towards attaching now. My plan is to paint below the waterline, so I can always patch and fill, but I’d rather do it as cleanly as possible. Also considering using realistic plank lengths ala what @TJMhas done with his Flirt. Continued to chip away at deck fittings as well. Decided it would be fun to add some details to the capstan. Based on a bit of reading, it sounds like drop pawls wouldn’t have been used until 1800 or so, but I like the look even if not strictly accurate. Steps should be pretty self explanatory based on the photos. I used styrene rod to create the pawls and teeth, black masking tape for the metal band, and pins for the bolts. Then dry brushed the metal parts to pull out the details. The kit’s capstan is 7 sided, which resulted in an uneven placement of the pawls. Ended up adding 3, alternating every other side then with a gap of 2. In retrospect I should have just added the bolts and pawls independently of the sides of the capstan to space them evenly, but I’m happy enough with this. Added puddening to one of my anchors as a trial run. Used a bit of CA to hold the start, then diluted PVA as I went along to help it hold, finishing with a bit more CA at the end. Wasn’t nearly as frustrating as I was afraid of. When it did start to unwind sometimes, the PVA did a good job of keeping it mostly in place. I should probably stop procrastinating and get on with planking!

Work continues on the Flirt. Not breakneck pace, but moving forward. Sanded the first layer of planking smooth. Overall happy with the shape. These photos were taken before slowly narrowing the deadwood to ~1.75mm. The Stern post is 3mm and the final planking is 1mm on each side. So in theory the final planking will be sanded down by around 1/3 of a mm to end up flush with the stern post. After thinning the deadwood further as mentioned above, I started planking the stern. Taped on the stern post and used some card to center it in the upper counter gap. Beveled the edge of the first plank on the upper counter to sit a little closer to the planks on the lower counter. Also applied a slight bend to these planks to match the profile of the counter. At this point I made the executive decision to plank the stern board horizontally instead of vertically as suggested in the instructions. I noticed this was brought up in another build log, and that Chris has based this decision on contemporary models of similar ships. I personally just prefer the look of the horizontal planking. Feels more tidy to me. Tried my best to bend the planks to match the curve of the stern board. Started by adding a plank above and below the gun(?) ports, then adding planks above, below, and between. Wasn’t too concerned about consistent thicknesses plank to plank as 3 rails will break It up. Happy overall. Where the upper and lower counters meet looks a little uneven in the photos, but isn’t really noticeable in person. Could be a perspective thing, but should probably sand the right side a tad to even it out. Worst case I could apply a ‘rail’ at that joint. Looks like the 2023 speedy even includes laser cut pieces to put there. Hull could use one more sanding to get rid of a couple little bumps still present and then onto the second layer of planking. Meanwhile I have also been noodling with the anchors. I used blackened .8mm wire as bolts and for the ring. Just need to apply puddening. Already dry brushed some gray onto the black, but would like to go a bit further with the weathering. Just now noticing that perhaps the portion of the shank above the stock (where the ring attaches) would look better beveled or rounded. Anyone have some good historical reference? Also ordered some test rope from ropes of scale. Not that what comes with the kit is bad, but the real stuff does make a big difference. Onward!

Thanks for the kind words, @BobG. Finished up the first layer of planking. Very glad I spent the time practicing proper techniques here before the second layer where it really counts. Funny how some planks only took a couple bends to get perfect, and others I’d adjust a half dozen times and still feel like I’m forcing them into place. Was installing the very last plank, trying to pressure fit it into the gap, and heard an unpleasant sound... Uh oh. I wasn’t properly supporting it while applying too much pressure and managed to crack the stern board and separate it from the frames behind. Luckily it glued back together easily. Happy with how the planking is going. Seeing some slight issues with the bow, which could end up needing filling, but will sand it smooth before heading in that direction. The manual isn’t very specific about how much to thin the first layer of planking around the deadwood or stern where it meets the stern post, so my plan is to test fit with the keel and stern post throughout sanding to make sure the next layer of planks will transition smoothly into them. Also debating attaching the keel and stem before the second planking to make sure the garboard plank is positioned correctly. Perhaps temporarily attaching the keel while placing that one course would be a good way to go. Curious if others have wisdom to share? Might wait for some nice weather so I can sand the hull outside. I’ve been working on this in my home office, and would like to avoid too much dust getting everywhere. Unfortunately it is looking like highs in the 20s (around 0° to negative 6° for you non Americans) all next week, so perhaps I will go back to working on fittings for a few days.

Spent yesterday and today continuing to apply the first layer of planking. Not getting too obsessive over it since it will be sanded down and covered, but still trying to make it a somewhat realistic practice for what is to come with the second layer. It is very satisfying when you get the bends just right and the plank pushes straight into place without needing to be forced against the previous plank. Definitely getting more intuitive about how I need to bend each plank to make that happen. Found the most efficient way of transferring the markings from the bulkheads to the plank is using calipers. Not worrying about what the measurement actually is, but just using it to mark the plank. Then I just connect the marks with a ruler and knife. The garboard strake was tough to figure out exactly how far to continue into the bow and what the profile should be, but am pretty happy with where it ended up. Continued on from there. Getting close! Hopefully I can get those final 8 planks sorted in an evening of work. On the anchor front, I used some black masking tape to simulate the metal bands on the stocks. Also planning to add ‘bolts’ going through them, but am still figuring out what to use. Tried some options on a bit of scrap. First thought was just a mark with a pencil would do, but that didn't work at all. Next idea was to blacken the pins that came with the kit (1mm heads), but I decided they felt a little too big for the relatively thin stocks. Last test was using .8mm wire, which when blackened, seems like the way to go. I like the amount the non blackened wire is protruding to give some dimensionality. I pushed the blackened one in just a little too far, and is essentially flush with the wood.

Thanks! As far as I can tell the bottom of the bulwarks and the first plank are pretty well lined up... At least nothing a little sanding won't fix.

Snowy day up here in Vermont. Good excuse to spend the day inside working on the Flirt. I’ve been doing a bunch of reading about planking techniques, but at a certain point need to just dive in and get the experience. Although of course the first planking will be covered, my plan is to spend some time on it to get a feel for what the final planking will involve. Taped off 3 belts which will use 5 planks for the top and bottom, and 6 planks in the middle. By my measurements, I should only need to taper the planks at the bow, and the stern should work out to the correct spacing (without reaching the very bottom of the deadwood as that will be sanded down anyway). Could be totally off on that, but as I said, this first layer will be all about learning! Used strips of card and a planking fan to subdivide the belts in the bow where they taper and marked. Still figuring out how exactly they will be tapered as they reach the garboard plank. Thinking I should make the garboard and that will give me a better visual of how everything else will need to work. Looks to me like the tip of the garboard should hit the stem post right about at the bottom of the lowest slot. My plan is to start with the upper belt, followed by the lower belt, then fill in between them. Put together a bending rig using some scraps and clamps ala Chuck and others. My wife was not excited when I commandeered her fancy/expensive iron, so I've got a cheap travel iron from amazon heading this way. …and got to it! Used PVA and pins. Starting to get the hang of the bending, but there definitely is a learning curve (no pun intended) and figuring out where the apex of the bend should be and how much to bend isn’t easy. With these first two the pins ended up needing to hold more than I would have liked, but I’m going to keep going and expect it will get easier and better as my mind wraps around it. Note that the 2nd plank at the 3rd bulkhead has an uneven edge in the photo above. I think it got gummed up when being clamped in my bending jig, which has since been cleaned up with a couple scrapes of my knife, but a good reminder to be careful with how I’m clamping them. While I was fighting with the bulwarks and waiting for them to soak and dry multiple times, I started working on some of the deck details. Can’t say I love removing char, but I do enjoy tackling little mini projects when I’m frustrated by something else. Started with the capstan. In general I’m trying to smooth out the pear wood grain as much as possible. To my eye, nothing kills scale like overly pronounced wood grain, especially on painted parts. This may have bit me on the capstan though, as after sanding the surfaces, there were gaps in the joints. Since this is painted, I used wood filler to close up the gaps. While working on this, I got to thinking that it might be fun to rig the capstan with the messenger cable and bars as if it is mid pulling up the anchor. Plenty of time to ponder that before I’ll need to make any decisions. Moved on to the anchors. Glad I double checked the fit of the shank through the stock, as the slot in the stock needed to be significantly deeper than the laser had cut. Adjusted a little at a time with my knife until it was a snug fit. Decided to taper the stocks as well, since it seems like the would have come to more of a square profile at the ends (photo above was mid process, and ended up tapering more) After seeing the above photo, I decided to bevel the edges of the MDF anchors as they looked wrong with the perfectly sharp corners. Not the easiest thing to do with the MDF since the texture makes it very hard to see what you’re doing, but I think it’ll be an improvement to the look once painted. There were some gaps where the flukes meet the arms which I used wood filler to smooth out. Next I cleaned up and assembled the ladders. That pen in the foreground of the photo above should give you a sense of their actual size. Note that the ‘sawtooth’ parts where the treads slot into are quite fragile at their thinnest points. Managed to break one of them while sanding the char, but luckily was easy to glue back together when inserting the treads. These will not be painted, so I did my best to remove all the visible char and not simply smooth them. Also note that a small portion of the sides of the treads will be visible, so removing that char before assembly would be easier than the very careful sanding I did after the fact. Part of me wants to ‘cup’ the steps as if they’ve been worn down from years of use. My tendency is to want to make things that feel lived in, but it seems the more common approach in ship modeling is to go for a perfect, brand new appearance. We’re not talking WWII tanks covered in mud here, but I do like the idea of representing a ‘used’ ship. Could see weathering and staining quickly looking messy and like mistakes, so I’m a little wary to even try it. Something for me to think about. Should probably go shovel some snow, and then back in to continue planking!

Just jumping in to say what a lovely build this is. Currently tackling the Flirt as my first model, and it is inspiring to see what you've been able to achieve with your first. Reading through your trails and tribulations with the plywood bulwarks sounded very familiar. Not to derail the conversation, but waaaaay back in the first couple posts there was a discussion about how useful it would be for the bulkheads to have etched lines showing how far to pre bevel them before assembling, and it was mentioned that the Flirt would have that detail. My Flirt kit does not have any additional lines on the bulkheads, even though the manual does make mention of them. I've run across a couple other minor inconsistencies between the manual and the parts, so perhaps some changes were made to the kit over the years? Edit: Oh, and the photos in your latest post look normal to me on a desktop browser.

@BobG absolutely get it. I also find it easy to lose motivation when I feel like something isn't at the quality I'm capable of. If you're still at the stage where you can mess with it, I'd suggest trying wetting the bulwark in the wavy areas and applying heat with an iron (or soldering iron as I did it, just be prepared for scorch marks).

Onward! Faired the bulkheads to be as smooth as possible. A plank seems to flow over them without gaps. Since these photos I thinned out the deadwood a bit more and fixed the slight asymmetry in the stern. Attached the inner stem post. And here is where I ran into some trouble. Same challenge with the bulwark patterns DelF ran into with his Speedy build. Per the manual I soaked the plywood bulwarks in hot water and clamped them into place while they dried. I could see major gaps at the bottom so I tried pinning to those bulkheads. Pins weren’t able to hold the lower edge in place, so I ended up re soaking the parts and clamping them into place with rubber bands and some MDF scraps to focus the pressure. This got the overall shape closer, but with lots of wavy spots caused by trying to distort a 2D shape into a compound curve. Glued into place, you can see the wavy bulwarks. To fix the problematic areas I wet them and used the fat part of my soldering iron to form the bulwarks back into the correct shape. Going to find my wife’s iron was probably the correct answer, but I used what was within reach. Not pretty, but close enough that with some sanding after the first planking it should work just fine. Due to the ordeal of trying to get the compound curve sorted out, the starboard bow bulwark at bulkhead 3 and 4 ended up about 1mm lower than the port side. Part of me wants to pull it off and adjust, but I’m going to just live with it for the sake of forward progress and my original goal of trying to NOT get overly obsessive and burning myself out. I’m also assuming it will be less noticeable when the bulkhead tabs aren’t there. Guess that means I’ll need to figure out how to plank this thing! Time to brush up on the ‘Chuck’ method.

Such a beautiful build. Love the elegant simplicity of the warm wood tone contrasted with the inky black.

Thank you all for the welcomes and encouragement! Smooth sailing so far. The MDF ribs snapped together with very little play. Test fit followed by gluing into place. The 2mm birch plywood has significant charring, which I attempted to remove to minimize the seam down the center. The charring dust behaved essentially as charcoal, getting black smudges anywhere it touched. You can see in the image above the dark smudges on the bulkheads simply from sliding the deck into place (those plywood edges had not been sanded). Haven’t experienced this with any other parts in the kit, so perhaps there was a temperature issue with the laser? Fit of the deck was perfect, although by sanding down the middle joint, the holes for the masts became slightly too small, so I was sure to adjust the shape before losing access to them. Middle seam in the lower deck is still very visible, and the piece of plywood also has some splotchy areas. Almost looks like water damage, but more likely just an ugly piece of ply. Luckily it will be essentially invisible once assembled, so I’m just being picky at this point. The rest of the wood has looked fine. A couple ribs are being test fit in the above photo, but will be removed and shaped before being glued. Had some Tung Oil handy, so tried that on the lower deck to see how it looked. Assuming I'll use WOP for the rest of it (see end of post). Continued adding framing and beams. Fit is excellent and engineered in such a way that there aren’t any obvious weak spots. You could probably assemble most of this without any glue, and it would hold together pretty well (not that I’d recommend it). Some Speedy builds mention that the stern frames were extremely delicate MDF pieces. These have been switched to plywood in the Flirt (perhaps the revised as well Speedy?), and I had no concerns about breaking them. These frames will be visible, so I spent some time cleaning up the char to at least look acceptable after being painted. Forgot to take any photos of the main sub deck being added, but it went on smoothly. Required forcing to the point that I was starting to get concerned, and then popped into place. Soaked the stern counter in hot water and then formed it over a glass of a similar (a bit smaller) curve. Didn’t take after my first try, so on my second attempt I soaked it longer and used a heat gun to (carefully) dry it out. This worked perfectly. The clamps in the above images are only holding it in place while the glue dries, not forcing the bend. Glued on the stern board. The manual mentions “there is little curve in this part”, which to me suggests there should actually be a very slight curve to it (otherwise it would have said "there is no curve in this part). My stern frames were perfectly aligned with no curve at all, so I didn’t try to force any into it. Have others applied a curve to this part? Regarding finishes, it seems like lots of folks here are fans of Wipe On Poly. Expecting to try it out on this build. Is my understanding correct that it can both be used as a final finish for bare wood as well as sanding sealer before painting (acrylics)? I think I even saw some people taking about applying it over paint. Thoughts?

Looking great! Nice to have someone else currently working on this kit to compare notes. Although now it feels like I’m cheating with my English manual and sheets. Happy to send some photos of the rigging sheets in English, if that would help.

Hello! This will be my Vanguard HMS Flirt log. Hopefully you’re not too sick of Flirt/Speedy builds. A little about myself. I’ve been lurking here for quite a while, enjoying all your amazing creations. This is both my first post and my first major build. I enjoyed plastic model kits as a kid, and at one point attempted a wooden cross section kit of a USS Constitution from their museum in Boston. Being maybe 11 or 12 at the time, I didn’t actually have the patience to finish it. Fast forward 25 years, and I have the itch again. Not sure what sparked it, but during the pandemic something must have caught my eye, and I purchased the Vanguard 28ft Pinnace. At the time I was in a small apartment without the room to tackle much else, and figured it would be a fun little re introduction to modeling. Being so small and fiddly, it was also a test of my precision to see if I would actually enjoy the process and be pleased with what I’m capable of. Had a great time with it and was very pleased with the end result, although in taking these photos I noticed that one of the orelocks seems to have jumped ship in the couple years since I made it. The only area I’m not happy with is the finish on the wood. Ended up going with a weathered look using acrylic washes, which looks fine in the photos, but in person is a little blotchy and lost the beauty of the natural wood. Finishing is one of the holes in my knowledge, so that may be a recurring theme in this log. After seeing a number of great looking Speedys and Flirts on here, they seemed like a doable next step. I debated trying to get my hands on the Master Shipwright Edition since every other log has raved about how much nicer the boxwood is to work with, but figured I should get one proper ship under my belt before obsessing over such things. Speaking of obsessing, I have a tendency to do that. (I’m sure no one here can relate.) Unfortunately, for me it is often to the point that I psych myself out and don’t manage to finish the thing because I get myself too far into the weeds. My goal for this build is to actually finish the model and not get so bogged down in the details. Of course I want to end up with something I’m proud of, but would rather finish this at 80% of the quality I’m capable of instead of giving up half way through trying to achieve perfection. My hope is that this log (and all of you reading it) will also help hold me to it. Here it is! Was a bit concerned when the shipping box arrived with a large puncture in the side, and my heart sank when I realized it had gone into the Flirt box as well. Opened it up and luckily there was enough packing material that it doesn’t appear to have damaged any parts. Took a quick look through the contents, and can't wait to dive into it! Framing here we come.