cdrusn89

I think I got the transom this time and both sides look pretty good in the photos.

Filler is still wet so I need to review again in a few hours after I am sure it is dry.

Transom is proving to be more difficult than I had hoped.

I think the tapered ends of the hull planking are making getting a smooth finish a challenge.

Nothing more filling and sanding can't solve but it may take a few more "rounds".

I got one side of the Launch finished - the planking part anyway.

After about 7 strakes were complete I gave up any pretense on finishing using stealers and dropped planks. Just too hard (for me) to do that with such small planks. And the pictures in the manual whuch are suoppposed to illustrate where the plank taper was done are next to useless.

So I finished off with three rows of planks pointed on both ends. I will finish the other side in a similar manner.

Filler/putty can cover a variety of sins.

Thanks Eric - my bending jig worked just fine although they were none to generous in length for the toe rail. I think there is less than an .5 inches to spare.

What I hope will be the final round of fill and sand.

The starboard side looks "okay" while there are a few spots on the port side and at the stern that hopefully some thin filler and 600 grit sandpaper will take care of.

The toe rail will be next whether or not I finish paint the hull now or wait.

Instructions say use steam to bend the 3/32" square stock for the toe rail. but I think water alone will work so I laid the hull on a piece of 1 X 4 and traced the deck edge (could have used the deck carrier sheet as well) and then put some nails along the line and clamped the wet stock to the nails. I used the masking tape to make sure the nails do not rust overnight although even if they did the toe rail is painted so maybe the masking tape is overkill.

Here is the hull after the second coat of the primer/filler but no sanding (yet).

I am considering leaving the transom "as is" because I do not want to "run out of plank" trying to remove all of the "border around the transom. I know there was plenty of plank overhanging the transom but given the very acute angles involved I do not to get to the end of the transom and then have the planking lose its grip and all the filling and sanding would start over again.

I will not try and remove the several "edges" that you can see on the sides. Again I do not want to sand through the planking (again) especially where any repairs will be highly visible.

I am considering painting the hull now rather than follow the instructions and wait until all of the "other" work on the deck, cabin, etc. is done. My plan is to paint the entire hull a flat red then mark the waterline and paint the upper hull flat dark blue. Then add a couple of coats of clear flat and cover the hull with delicate surface masking tape (the purple stuff). Hopefully this will keep the hull from damage and save a bunch of masking in the future. It also allows the rub rail to be a different color from the hull without having to mask off a 1/16" wide strip along the side.

Here are the other sides of the hull as it stands now - one more round of at least sanding then a coat of gray primer (no filler) then the finish coats.

Sanding the problem spots with 400 grit paper.

Don't ask me how I know but it really is possible to sand all the way through the planking even with 400 grit paper

Round 3 of the filler/sand repeat as necessary.

This round is 400 grit paper. The next and hopefully last round is 600 grit or maybe 800 depending on how much filler is requiured after this round.

The beauty of the filler/primer is it dries in less than an hour so you can get half a dozen runs in a Saturday and still have time for a few odd jobs in between.

Hopefully one more pass will do the job here.

Hull in the paint booth with the paint.

When I realized that I had skipped the "fair the hull" step and was half a dozen rows into planking on the pinnance I quit that effort and ordered a new kit from Vanguard - in fact I ordered a kit for all three boats such is my confidence it getting them all built successfully. I built the Model Shipways 18th Century Long boat to go on my Winchelsea model and it took two kits before I got a usable version. So...

Here is the launch with five rows of planking on the sheer and the garboard strake drying in position.

I started tapering the planks at both ends after the first three and that may have been a plank late but filler can cover many planking sins.

I also started putting a drop of medium CA on all the keel/bulkhead joints as I had the keel come off the bulkheads once on the pinnance. It was quite an effort getting everything back together so I want to prevent a repeat. Even if the CA does show on the inside that area should be covered by the floorboards.

Also since this kit has a great deal of PE Brass does anyone have a recommendation for how to prep the brass before painting and the type/brand of paint to use?

Sanddown of first pass with filler complete. Not bad (if I do say so myself).

I marked the areas where further attention is required with a pencil and will apply more filler in those areas than do a sandown with 320 grit.

After that comes the primer with filler and more sanding.

And yes Bryan I also find the sanding quite relaxing. That is why I use the finer grit sandpaper - anything harsher and I would sand through the planking - it is after all less than .030" thick.

One thing I noticed is that adding water to the filler seems to retard the drying time. I let the first pass sit overnight and plan on the same for pass 2.

I completed the planking and have applied (liberally) thinned "Goodfilla" wood grain filler thinned with a little water (like 10 drops of water in .5 cu in of filler - enough so you can spread it thinly with a finger or piece of planking).

I essentially covered the entire hull with filler. The plan is to remove the filler with 220 grit sandpaper and then rinse and repeat until I get it smooth (more or less). I bought a can of spray primer with filler at an auto parts store which I used successfully (more or less) on the hull of the 1/35th scale Endeavour Americans Cup challenger. This hull is about 1/8 the area of that one where I think I ran through 5 cans. I know where the store is if I need more 😃

I added some scrap wood to get the stem up to the level of the deck. It will be trimmed back as part of the filler "sanddown".

So here is what the hull looks like now:

Eric,

I considered that approach but decided to use the tools at hand.

There will be of putty shortly.

Thanks Greg - I built the Model Shipways Bluenose a few (maybe more than a few) years ago. It was a "fun" kit in that many of the parts you have to fabricate from stick wood - like hatch coamings as I remember it now.

Here it is in the "place of honor" in the living room. That is the "shipyard" through the door with a drawing on the easel.

I am also working on the Vanguard HMS Sphinx (working on the ship's boats at the moment which the lobster smack is occupying the primary work space) and many (if not most) of the parts are either prefabricated or a series of parts that are essentially assembled into the capstan for instance. The Sphinx has like 15-20 sheets of laser cut parts and several sheets of photo-etched brass. And it was not cheap.

Thanks Bryan.

I got strake 9 on the starboard side. Then realized that my measurement of the space to be filled by the sheer strake was a bit off. There were two small areas one at the bow and one just aft of amidships where the sheer strake was going to be just below the deck. Not good.

I considered several alternative solutions - putty, some very small (almost slivers) pieces glued to the sheer strake, or create a new sheer strake a bit wider where required.

Putty probably would not hold in place during the rest of the puttying and sandin g that is about to begin. The small pieces would probably not stand up well to that either so I decided to make a new sheer strake.

Actually I covered the remaining area with two strakes. They were originally 1/16" X 1/4 inch basswood (from some long forgotten project) which I reduced to .0290" (which is the thickness of the material supplied in the kit) with the thickness sander.

I adjusted the width to fit the profile and to more or less evenly distribute the remaining area.

Here is the starboard side with the first strip installed.

And here with the final strip although it has not been trimmed to be even with the deck yet. I will follow the instructions and trim to the deck after the filler stage is complete.

On to the port side where I expect the same problem and solution.

Strakes 6,7 and 8 have been added.

I dispensed with the soaking, bending and drying starting with strake 6 as the wood was pliable enough without these efforts.

I checked and while it will be close in a few places the sheer will clear the top of the deck everywhere if my measurement are accurate.

Pinnance with 3 rows at the sheer and two at the keel.

I will admit to using thin CA in a few places, principally at the bow to get the planks to "stick" before running them the rest of the way aft.

And here is the skeleton for the 24' Launch ready to start the planking process.

I have 6 planks in the "bending jig" to cover the first three rows.

Greg - I meant a three masted ship with the masts, yards and rigging. If we count Winchelsea than Confederacy would count as well. 😄

I am starting the Sphinx as my first model of a three masted ship with masts, yards and rigging. I completed the brig Niagara several years ago but since then have only built fore and aft rigged vessels or Admiralty models and want to get a three master done before my eyesight and hand eye coordination make that impossible.

Because I am working on another small model in the main work area I will start by building the three ship's boats.

This is the 28 ft pinnance with the first row of planking. It is quite a challenge (for me) to get these very tiny strips to lay where they are supposed to in spite of have between pre-bent and thoroughly dried. The two clamps at the bow are to hold the stem in place - pressure from the rubber bands makes it want to shift to one side or the other.

And now with two rows.

I use the clamps to push the rubber bands to slightly inside the planking so they will hold the planks both against the ribs and the plank below.

I use thinned PVA applied with a brush to the rib contact area and to the seam between the planks.

Strake 5 in place.

Now that the strakes with the angled aft end are done it is back to starting at the bow.

I cut a filler piece to go in the hole for the rudder to make sure I do not get any filler in there as this area is one where probably the most filler will be required.

And here is the hull from each side. I put tape over the centerboard to try and keep the damage to a minimum.

Note the void on the port side aft where the strake did not come off the carrier cleanly and the bulge at the bow (subsequently "fixed"). The hull has developed a dip between bulkheads 1 and 2 which will need filler to resolve. I guess I could have done a better fairing job at the bow.

Strake 3 has a notch at the aft end which I suppose should fit around the stern post.

Putting strake 3 where it seems designed to go will leave a gap between it and strake 2.

I like deal with the gap later and put strake 3 where it appears it should go.

However, locating strake 3 here causes a problem at the bow

The stake is too long but cutting it to fit with a Xacto #17 (square end) solves that roblem.

And now the strake 3s are in place to dry until halftime in the 49/Lions game when I will put the soaked strake 4s on the model to dry overnight.

Strake 2 in place.

I had to modify a couple of the bulkheads to get a smoother run near the stern. Also, the planks continue to run longer than required which is a good thing.

One trick I saw somewhere is to use PVA/Carpenter's glue between the strakes and a drop of medium CA on the bulkheads. You can use the CA to hold the strake while the PVA sets up.

Strake 2 in position for drying.

The two "extra" clips on the starboard side are to align the edges of strake 2 with strake 1. That was not a problem on the port side.

Strake 1 installed on both sides. Waiting for starboard side to dry then on to strake 2.

On the garboard strake the instructions say to start from the stern which is correct since we know where that has to end (stern post). On strake 1 I started at the bow (since the start point there was defined by where the garboard strake ended) and found that the strake supplied is .25" or so too long (sorry that is hidden by the clamp in the photo).

So it appears that all the rest of the strakes should be fitted from bow to stern,+

While waiting for the other side to set up I thinned out some Goodfilla wood filler enough so I could use a brush to apply it and brushed on filler at the joint between the graboard strake and strake 1. I plan on doing that for each strake (but will wait until the entire hull is planked) as a starting point for finishing the hull. Hopefully i will not have to resort to covering the entire hull in filler although I have seen that movie and while messy it will yield a reasonable looking hull.

Eric,

I have to agree since we experienced opposite effects so there must be something in our assembly techniques AND the limitations of building the structural components of the hull from a very soft wood. In addition there is a very weak point in the spine at bulkhead 9 that could cause issues with the transom. A small change in that area could cause the transom to be either too high or too low.

In my next project the structural components are made from MDF which is considerably stronger that the basswood/limewood here.