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

Terrific model! Congrats on finishing! Nick

Three planks a side on now. Virtually no clinker effect, which I'm very happy with. Just a bit of unevenness here and there which some light sanding should take care of. I'm noticing that the change in contour is very subtle. All of a sudden, after 3 planks (and the third didn't really need it), edge-bending on the outer bulwark form gives too much curvature in the plank. I'm finding for now anyway that I can just "iron" the plank in as-is. Nick

I'm cooking with gas now on second planking. The system of edge bending and then dabbing some water on a section of plank and working that section with my travel iron, then going on to the next section, is working really well for me. I only have two planks glued on at this point, one each side, but two more just about ready. I'm doing two at a time to match them up either side. My steps (just what works for me): Nip the two planks to match the angle for the rabbet. Sand a bit on the rabbet end as needed. Mark one for the taper cut; double/line up with the other plank in the Dremel vice (metal jaws without the rubber covers). Then it's easy to plane both planks at the same time. The mini plane works great for this. Bevel the plank edges. Edge-bend the planks to the outer bulwark contour. I clamp the end of the plank (first pic in my earlier post) and then just wet the plank in sections and work along with the mini iron. Then, one plank at a time, dab a bit of water on the section of plank nearest the rabbet, but without getting water on the rabbet insert, get it just wet but not dripping so as not to drip water on other planks/model. Insert the rabbet end and lay the plank in place. Work the wetted section with the mini iron. The mini travel iron is working great, for the edge bending but also for this; I'm finding it heats up almost instantly versus the soldering-iron -type plank bender, and is way more manoeuverable and precise. It only takes a few seconds to work the particular section. Repeat 8 as needed. Continue along the plank in other sections to get the bow curve, same as 8-9. So far anyway, I don't need to work the middle section of the plank as the edge bending has done the job there. Work the stern section of the plank to bend and twist to fit. Here I'm using steam from a kettle and bending with pliers. After a final fit check and any adjustment/repeat, it's ready to glue. I'll have to adjust once I get further down towards the keel, but I think it will be much the same, with just garboard and it's neighbours a bit different. Nick

Planking, paint; all just stunning. Nick

Absolutely does feel good. The beginning of understanding and which fuels wanting to learn more. Nick

Thanks Chris for picture/text thing. Nick

Hey Robert, It's way less complex than I made it sound I think; I used Chuck Passaro's videos (link in my earlier): I also use the electric plank bender; just my take that edge bending is better to eliminate or reduce clinker effect at bow. Also have to use "regular" bending where needed. Cheers/Nick

I started not long after my last post with a view to second planking. I discovered it's a bit different from first planking because I'm way more fussed about gaps, clinker effect and so on. And also trying to figure out edge bending. I've been through about three iterations of edge bending. See the pics below; I still don't know how to intersperse pics with text. First iteration. I started with the description from Chuck's videos. That was good, but I wasn't being accurate enough. I'd get e.g. too much of a bend in one area, have to correct it etc. And I had a hard time getting in with either the mini travel iron I bought or the electric plank bender. I see now that if I'd persevered it probably would have been ok, but I'd moved on to the second iteration. The second was a peg with a notch in it to keep the plank flat. That was ok but accuracy was still a problem. Then I went to the third iteration just today, and so far that's working a charm. I cut out a template of the outer bulwark and glued it to a piece of junk pine. Then I was able to clamp it at the bow end and bend it to conform to the outer bulwark shape. I dabbed on some water over a section, and used the iron on it it, then went to the next section. I had no problems with the plank wanting to jump up. After a couple of passes, I had a good shape to match the outer bulwark; it's given me a nice compound curve all the way along. I still had to work on getting it flush at the bow without a clinker effect. I decided to try holding the plank in place, then dabbed it with water and worked the iron on it. That's forced it down flush with virtually no clinker effect. I think one or two more passes tomorrow will have it just right. The pic looks like there are gaps, but it's shadow. Nick

I've been trying to (re-)find a note I came across several months ago about the appropriate sizes of rope for rigging the 1:64-scale 3-Pounder guns that Sherbourne carries. I've been searching but with no luck. If anyone can point me to such info, it would be great. Thanks/Nick

IMHO it's not that noticeable in the pic; best might be to leave as is. Nick