Nick 843

Many thanks both of you. I'll follow Nightdive's parts list; looks good on his photo. Palmerit: I was just going to paint these sternpost/rudder parts white as per the instructions and Nightdive's pic, and keep in brass for the rest. On the "rest", i.e. the depth markings and the horseshoes, I'm not sure if I'll try blacking them, or just paint. I've cleaned them first with alcohol; I wonder if that might make a difference with adhesion. I might experiment (ref Palmerit with primer/paint/clear; likewise prefer Tamiya to Vallejo) with dummy pieces from the fret and some pear leftovers. I also need to think/experiment about the glue. I was using medium CA for the second planking, which worked great. But I can see your point that it could be too thick for these parts. I might experiment with Tamiya extra-thin also. Thanks again. Nick

Darned if I can figure out the PE parts placement for the stem/rudder hinge parts. Others haven't mentioned it, I looked at 3 or 4 other build logs, and they obviously figured it out, so clearly I'm an idiot. So if anyone can help this idiot, much appreciated. The instructions pic below shows portside only. But even assuming the numbers match for starboard side, there's e.g. no PE22a and b. The PE fret below as well, also my lousy sketch of the parts portside per the instructions, along with my guesses so far what matches what starboard side. If anyone can straighten me out on this, much appreciated. Nick

Thanks Geordie. Nick

Thanks Chris.

Painted. Some own questioning going on as to whether or not I should rework any of it, but it's growing on me as probably done. There's some variance in the coverage, and I'll appreciate any comments as I mull it over for the next day or so, but I'm tending to the idea that it's not worth remedial work. And overall hafta say I like it. One thing that worked out well was the masking which gave me a clean line. I am going to re-do the stem; I guess I overlooked filling those gap lines. Nick

Thanks Chris. I'm hoping I can lay down the paint thinly enough that at least some of that detail will show through. I should be spraying some final primer on reworked areas today and maybe even a first layer of paint. Nick

A light coat of primer on now. Some attention needed in various areas. Nice to lay down some paint finally. Nick

Model and base look just stunning. If I understand correctly, you transferred the map/ink onto the mdf; really interesting. Did the map have to be on any particular kind of paper, ie an actual old map, or a reproduction in a book? And what is the rubbing part? Is that when you're removing the paper? What do you rub it with? Nick

Thanks both. But I've just realized that those pics show it way better than it is in reality because of the light I put on it. I'd aimed a light directly at it from model-level; amazing what light will do; I think it's the first time I've paid attention to the quality of any photograph LOL. I realized it this morning when I shifted the light to a different position and it shadowed some of the remaining gaps/unevenness etc. These show it more accurately I think. Nick

I opted for wood filler. The sanding is easy, and it's no fuss if I fill a spot/area with too much filler. This is after round 2; I want to get it as smooth/finished as possible before I do the first primer coat. Just about all of the gaps are now filled and there's more filler to come off what shows in the pics. But there will be spots/areas that will pop as needing attention when I put the primer coat on. I may get to a primer coat by tomorrow afternoon. Looking forward to that. I'm using gloves now. BTW I'm toying with the idea of using stain instead of paint so that I get some show-through of planks. I was thinking I might try an out-of-way test patch. Is there any reason I shouldn't use stain? Cheers/Nick

That's interesting, I'm going to think about that. It would certainly sand easier than my sawdust/glue mixture. I've found, and should have realized before, that it dries hard as a rock and is hard to sand, so I'd already been thinking about a substitute. Nick And thanks.

So I thought I'd do a few notes (a) in case they assist anyone, and (b) in case anyone would like to comment. My overall takeaway is that I need to learn plank layout techniques to get a better result, although I'm generally very pleased with the result. But here are some notes. Finger stains. It's amazing how planks get dirtied from your fingers, despite washing hands regularly LOL. Of course, the answer is to use surgical gloves, but I hate wearing them for any length of time. Most if not all stains will come off with sanding, and of course the hull will be painted, so I wasn't fussed about it. Ugly areas: Pic 3; the planking at the stern was a bit messy with some small gaps here and there. Some of those at least were definitely due to me rushing things and not ensuring that the planks were butted up. Pic 4; the same (rushing) produced a few gaps in the planking. Pic 5; Not-so-great calculation of planks/widths led to these remaining gaps at the end, which I filled in with a variety of filler pieces, so not as elegant as I would have liked. However the positive was that I'd planned for any of this to be under the turn of the bilge where they really won't be visible (and again painted anyway), and sanding should mitigate. And just a final note. You'll see that I chose to glue the outer bulwark in place prior to second planking. I couldn't bear the thought, having taken a long time to clamp them into correct position, to take them off, even if they would be put back on up against the first plank. I'm not fussed about paint bleed; I'll mask carefully, and anyway the wales will cover any minor bleed. Nick

I've finished the second planking; it was slower than I expected with some fiddling needed, and more variance in plank treatment (tapering, bending, twisting and so on) from one to the next. I'd get a couple that were basically the same, and then it could be quite different. Amazing what a slight difference in curvature can do. There are a few ugly areas; I'll add some notes later when I have time. Now on to sanding and filling, although there shouldn't be too much filling (hoping). I plan to try pear sawdust (I've collected a boxfull over time) mixed with white glue (since it dries clear). Nick

Just one more each side yesterday. Then some measuring to recalculate the remaining number of planks. With 8 on per side, I'm theoretically on +7 to complete, but laying out some scrap per the pic below shows that +7 leaves a gap at centreline of a bit under 2mm. The port side measures the same. So my initial thought was to adjust for +8 planks. But I'd have to narrow each plank and while it's do-able, it's a lot of fiddling to try to narrow each plank by .13 mm (which even if possible in reality, leaving aside the practicalities of measuring, marking and shaving each plank). I had a look at a couple of other build logs, and came across Nightdive's discussion of this at Before seeing this, I'd initially been against the idea of a filler piece, but Nightdive's looks absolutely fine. So thanks for mentioning it; that's what I'll do. Nick

Hi all, I'm back into this now, with generally cooler weather meaning less and less in way of outdoor activities. I've added three more planks to each side over the last 2-3 days. It's going well and I'm pleased with the system I've worked out, and imho the results are decent. The keelside planks are easier to glue on by working from the middle, marking the point and gluing a small section. Then I glue outward to the bow/stern; a thin popsicle stick is good to hold the plank away from the hull while I use a microbrush to put on the glue. I forgot to take a pic of that, so one of the below fakes it just to show how I'm doing it. I want to shoot to finish the second planking by say the middle of next week. There's no "schedule" of course, but at this point I am keen to get on to next steps. I just have to remind myself not to rush it and make silly mistakes. More soon. Nick