shauer

Spent a couple mornings over the weekend working on adjusting the run of the planking and fixing some low and high spots. Chuck, I did flip it over I was surprised at what each perspective on the hull was able to show. I found several spots that needed some touch-up on the fairing that were only visible from one angle, and also some areas that were an optical illusion as you stated. I had thought that simply inverting a photo would be sufficient, that was very wrong. The other hulls I have done were smaller vessels and 1:64 scale so I'm learning how to spot more subtle issues across a much larger hull area. Starting what is hopefully a final taping this evening. Frank, thanks for the comments on the corrections I made to the stern. I'm really happy with it now. Good suggestion on checking the frieze, I'll check that tonight. Steve

Thanks for the reply Rick, I appreciate the input and was hoping you were correct as that would be an easy adjustment. I double checked thinking maybe I got off by 1 strake at the bow since I was only running the tape every other strake. Unfortunately all looks about right unless I have fundamentally misplaced the template. The garboard strake comes up between bulkheads S and U which matches what I can see from the directions etc. I added a tape for the garboard as shown below. Anything look off? Going to sleep on this. Right now looking at it from a few different angles I still suspect that my blocking is a little too proud and rounded down low. Steve

Working on lining off the hull. Pretty happy with how the lines are running for the most part, except for the lower bow area. Looking for some opinions on what needs to be adjusted. Looks like I need to remove some more material from the bow blocking, especially in the lower portion of the bow. Any other opinions? And several other angles. I ran tape for every other strake. Hoping to finally get to planking this weekend.

Finally got back to work after about 3 weeks. Spent about 4 evenings getting my lower counter to bottom planking sorted out. As a reminder, here was the issue. I had made a mistake in the placement of the lower counter planking, aligning the bottom edge flush with the edge of the stern frames, instead of having the planking extend below this edge to accommodate the bottom plank thickness. I compounded this mistake by not stopping when the first bottom planks didn't align correctly and instead trying to force it to work. You can see where the lower counter planking is even with the framing, leaving no space for the bottom planks. The blocking behind the counter is also way too high and not close enough to the counter to support the ends of the bottom planks. I received a lot of thoughtful recommendations on correcting this. The first step was to remove the narrow lower planks on the counter and replace them with with full width planks and see if that would close the gap. Lower planks on the counter removed. The blocking behind the counter was also a mess, I removed it and also cut some notches into the lower stern frames to give me some more room to work with replacing the blocking. Not strictly necessary but made things a little easier to fit. The wide plank alone was not quite enough to fully take up all the gap that I had. I needed to pop the bottom planks off the aft bulkheads to fair things a little more to get the planks a little lower. I also lucked out on the port side that the plank lengths were correct for the new mounting position. Just needed to glue everything back in place. Not so lucky on the starboard side. I cracked the inboard lower plank when I tried to remove it from the aft bulkhead so I needed to replace it. The lower plank adjacent to the wales was a little to short to reach the counter in its new position and I misplaced my plank stretcher so I needed to remove and replace the aft portion of this outer plank as well. Starboard counter plank, blocking, and outboard lower plank all back where they belong. Finished result, I'm much happier with this now. Only 4-5 evenings to perform this rework once I settled on a plan. Hope this helps someone in seeing the steps I needed to take to rework an area like this. As I mentioned, I think the entire run of lower counter planking was about a plank width too high on my model. I extended it downward with the wider plank. I expect I may need to remove some width on the upper plank but will wait and see what happens when I add the upper counter. Now finally onto lining out and starting the remainder of the planking. Steve

Thanks everyone for the positive comments! I approached the inboard fairing with an expectation to do it to the same standards as the external fairing for the hull surface. I used a depth gauge to mark the bulwarks framing at the appropriate thickness and then carefully removed a large portion of the material using my rotary tool and sanding drums. Then went to work with 120 grit sanding sticks shaped into different curves and angles. (my knuckles are healing nicely). For the last bit of material removal at the point between the bulwark and the deck, I used my rotary tool again this time with a ball-shaped routing bit. You can see a small radius carved into the bulkheads in this area. I'm looking forward to redoing some of my previous work around the lower counter this weekend and then onto lining off and prepping for planking the hull. Steve

It's been slow going for the past month but finally wrapped up all the work in chapter 2 above the wales and now it's time to start work on correcting my issues at the tuck and lining out the lower hull. Here are a series of pictures showing the work above the wales and the fairing of the bulwarks. Close up of anchor lining. Looks like I need to fair that edge of the bow fairing cap just a little more. Pictures always pick up these things. Close up of fitting the fairing cap at the stern I dry fit the false deck sheets to ensure I got the bulwarks fairing correct down close to the deck. That tight corner between the deck and the bulwarks was the most difficult to fair. I'm pretty happy with the way this has turned out. The use of the fairing caps was a big help, I would have left the bulwarks too wide without them. I also used some gauge sticks to measure the depth of the bulwarks framing, and the depth of the gun ports. Steve

You get additional credit for the higher difficulty level Frank. I need to take some current pictures, progress was made this last weekend, completed all the chapter 2 fabrication above the wales and presently converting large portions of the bulwarks into sawdust. I figure I'm about 3/4 done with the internal fairing at this point. Several days of sanding in 1 hour shifts. One picture from about 2 weeks ago when I was masking off the wales for painting. I burnished all the tape edges with a scrap piece of wood prior to brush painting the wales. I also applied a coat of poly prior to taping and painting to allow me the option of scraping away any paint that got under the tape. This was prior to the black plank and fairing caps being installed. Should be able to post some new pictures in a few days to show current progress. Real life is taking priority this week. Steve

Thanks for the reply and references Frank, I found my answer this morning after going through the materials list again. I have the Hance fairing caps all installed which were included in the laser cut parts. My question was more basic, I was looking for the proper material from my pre-cut wood strips kit to cut the long curved fairing caps for the remainder of the bow forward of the hances. I was looking for wider 1/16 thick strips (like maybe 3/8 or 1/2 inch wide to cut out the curve in 2 or 3 pieces and could not find what I was expecting I would use in the pre-cut wood package I ordered. Just realized this morning the pre-cut wood package comes with a 4 inch wide sheet of 1/16 thick stock I assumed was needed for something larger. Going through the materials list again shows this sheet is what was intended for use on the bow firing caps. A little embarrassing to admit, didn't think the supplied stock would be so generous as to allow the full bow curve to be cut in one single piece. May still cut it in 2 or 3 pieces to keep the grain running correctly around the curve. Now back to making sawdust. Progress has been slow the past couple weeks, trying to get going over the long holiday weekend here in the U.S. Steve

Question for the group: How did others create the 3/16 wide fairing cap at the bow? I've looked through several build logs and don't see any real discussion about it, it just sort of shows up in everyone's build without much mention. The chapter 2 build instructions imply the bow fairing cap was laser cut, but it is not part of the chapter 2 parts that were sent to me. I can obviously piece it together using multiple pieces of wider strip stock but wanted to ask in case I'm missing something obvious? This is the last work I need to complete prior to getting into the planking of the lower hull. Steve

Thanks for the insight, I am planning on redoing the scrap blocking at the aft end as you mentioned. I realized when I started the two outer strakes of bottom planking just how far off I was. Will be doing this as part of the lining off process. Changing the lower counter plank is a nice compromise solution. If I make that plank the same width as the others it would close that gap. Decided to wait until I get to the remainder of the bottom planking before making final decisions. I appreciate the the ideas and other options. More to think about. Steve

Thanks everyone who replied or messaged me about my question of redoing the bottom planks of the tuck. The consensus is to keep it as-is and cover it up with the molding. I'm maybe 80% of the way to accepting that advice. The perfectionist in me is fighting it, but I'm working on it. I definitely need to redo the blocking and fairing of the remainder of this area before proceeding further, but am waiting until I line-off the lower hull to do this work. Managed to get the outer strakes of the wales mounted and faired this weekend. Should be painting the wales in the next few days assuming I can get out of work on time this week. View of the stern with the wales installed. Just pretend that ugly gap in the lower planks is covered with a molding strip for now... As mentioned above, the fairing back here needs attention before proceeding with the remainder of the planking. A little difficult to see, the wales are tapered into the stem. Looking at Chuck's instructions, I may increase this taper a little more. Currently the planks are about 1/3 to 1/2 thickness at the stem. Steve

Frank, thank you for taking the time to put together such a well thought-out reply. I will definitely follow your advice on maintaining the correct angles on the second wale plank. I was typing up my response when I saw Glenn's reply which answered my last question that this area will not be directly visible on the final model. Thanks Glenn! Based on this feedback is sounds like I can continue as I am with the exposed end grain of the bottom planks and it will not be visible? Is this correct? Of course the other option is to remove the aft portions of the 2 strakes of bottom planking on each side and possibly the lower planks for the counter and replace all of those while correcting the joint to hide the bottom plank's end grain. I feel this would be necessary only if the results of this correction would be visible. Thanks again for the support, I really appreciate it. Any other opinions on how I should proceed? (keep going as-is, or redo it?) Steve

After sleeping on it and briefly looking at my model this morning, the way the bottom planks meet the lower counter on my model is bugging me more. I will likely rip up those 4 planks and try it again along with doing a better job of fairing the run of the planks into the tuck. Frank - I was looking at your build log which I have been referring to several times. There is a picture of this area at the beginning of page 8 of your build log that shows me what I may need to do. I was attempting to get the bottom surface of the plank even with the very bottom aft corner of the Wales. Doing this makes it impossible for the plank to also be in position to be flush with the bottom of the lower counter. From the picture of your project below, I highlighted what looks like the bottom plank being slightly recessed into the lower counter relative to the Wales. Looks like the bottom aft corner of the Wales is proud of the first plank (green line). Doing this would resolve my problem. Can you confirm this is what you did? Marked image from Frank's build: Steve

Progress was a little slower than I expected this week. I got the two strakes below the Wales completed after wrestling with a drop plank and getting the planks to meet at the lower counter neatly. I didn't achieve the perfect seam I have seen on some projects but I think it will work out alright once the 1/8 inch molding is applied. I also received my order of the next few chapters plus the resin castings. Thanks Chuck! After my first couple attempts at getting the taper correct, I resorted to popping loose the end of the drop plank so that I had some minimal adjustment to get a tight joint both above and below the tapered plank. I struggled with the first strake below the Wales where it joins the lower counter. I could not get a nice neat mitered joint that also lined up neatly with the corner between the lower counter and the lowest plank of the Wales. So I resorted to just letting the hull planks lap the lower counter. I figure I can hide this under the 1/8 inch wide molding that is placed along this seam. Anyone have other thoughts on this? This is only rough sanded, it will clean up a little more with a final finish sand. And of course I just had to get the figurehead placed on the bow to see what it looks like. I'm working today on edge-painting the planks that will be used for the top and bottom strakes of the Wales and will start installing them this week. Steve

Thank you Glenn, I cannot say that I enjoyed planking around the gun ports, but it is very satisfying to be done with that task. I cannot imagine doing three decks of gun ports. Completed the port side above the Wales. And a couple other views. Faired the planking down to 320 grit and then a thin coat of poly. Figure I need another session of sanding with finer grit on both sides before I consider this portion complete. Started with dry fitting the drop planks last night. Used a small amount of water and my hand iron to get the planks to relax into the bulkheads. It looks like only some minor adjustment of the laser cut planks will be needed. Just a little gap between the lower edge of the planks and the first bulkhead. Looking to complete the first two strakes below the Wales this week and start on the Wales and black plank maybe this weekend. Steve