JohnWW

Sorry, forgot the pics.

Good afternoon everyone. Well, the time has come to start planking. I've done a few extra little things so far like planking the deck but now ready to plank the hull. I decided to go with Mark's (No Idea) method to line off every strake. His work is a testimony to the excellence of this method. Will take longer but the end result should be better, and I stress should. Before I get too far into this I have a few questions and observations to make. The first thing I did was measure each bulkhead and record that on a sheet I drew up. I then transferred that measurement to a tick strip. Let's say for the sake of this exercise it was bulkhead 7 and it measured 65mm. By the way, the planks a 5mm wide. I then divided 65 by 5 and came up with 13, clever things these calculators. I then took the tick strip to the planking fan and lined it with the 13th row. I then marked the tick strip with those 13 divisions and took it back to bulkhead 7 and transferred the tick marks on the strip to the bulkhead. Now, is this the correct way to do this? The reason I ask is because when I started to put the strings ( used string in lieu of tape, and I have enough tape to wrap up Sydney Harbour Bridge, because the tape kept falling off) it all looked uniform no tapering anywhere, except at the bow. According to AL's instructions, read diagrams, there is no tapering. Even at the bow the plank virtuall runs staight across that the gap fill with shorter planks, still no tapering. I put the first plank on before I did any of this because the edge on the deck didn't look right so I put on the plank and took all my measurements from there. It was my first attempt at edge bending and I am happy with the result. So is it possible that this model, AL's Santa Maria, requires no tapering of planks at all because of the shape of the hull? I think I'll just continue on this way. But will someone please confirm my use of tick strips and fan. Because this is a double planked model, I think I'll plank the other side of the ship as per AL's diagrams and see what the difference looks like at the end. Thanks everyone, I look forward to your advice and opinions. John

Next report. Things are moving along quite nicely, albeit slowly. I took vossiewulf's advice and blocked the hull between the bulkheads, and I placed them back a bit from the edge to make room for clamps when planking. If I hadn't put these blocks in, as vossiewulf suggested, the bulkhead would have twanged like banjo strings when I was fairing, well, he didn't quite say that, but that's what he meant. Now there's just a mellow hum like a cello. 🙂 I've planked the deck, if that's how you put it, and it went well. Very happy with the way things are going at the moment although I haven't reached any of the challenging bits yet.

Thanks Steven, As I said, just a slip of the tongue/fingers. The Santa Anna does look very complicated. I'll leave that to the more experienced modelers. I'll get over this one (hopefully) before I consider tackling something else. I'm still on the easy stuff with this one. The hard yards are yet to come. Looking forward to it though. John

Bulkheads installed. Everything is squared and levelled. Now, as vossiewulf suggested, going to measure the bulkheads to fit blocks to brace up a bit.

Hi Steven, Sorry mate, you're absolutely correct. I did put Santa Anna but meant Santa Maria. I'll try to be more careful in the future. Anything I write from here on is in reference to Santa Maria. :-)) John

Hi Phil & Steven, Thanks for your comments and offers of advice. I selected the Santa Maria because it was a choice in the next build after the beginner model. I've no doubt whatsoever that I'll be calling on you and members of the site for assistance. I've started a build log this time so I hope some members will keep an eye out. The planking and rigging is a bit scary, but as Phil said, it's not as complicated as some of the models. Being an aussie, before I had started anything, I thought I'd have a crack at the HMS Supply, one of Cook's ships. When I had a closer look at it I quickly dismissed those ideas. Anyway, I've started the Santa Maria now and I'm determined to get it finished. I've learned already that patience is as asset in this game. I'm in no hurry. John

Thanks vossiewulf. That's something I hadn't thought of.

Thanks Bob, looking forward to it. John

Well kids, the journey has started. This my first "real" ship. My first was just a small boat to get a feel for things. I learned that near enough is not good enough, it has to be exactly right, and if it's exactly right, then that's near enough. The first thing I noticed when opening the box was a distinct lack of instructions. I suppose they can't include precise instructions because of the many different way of doing things. I'm sure I'll be relying heavily on the very knowledgeable members of this forum. Firstly, I dry fitted the bulkheads to the keel. There were a few that were too low so I had to build them up a bit. There were a couple that were too high and needed to be sanded back a poofteenth, but it has to be right. Today I glued in the first bulkhead, squared it up with aluminium angles. Looks good so far. I have a question regarding strengthening the bulkheads. I read here that a member had trouble when he put blocks in to strengthen everything he pulled the keel out of alignment. Another member had a problem with the blocks when he was planking. Presumably the blocks got in the way of the planking clamps. Is it necessary to strengthen the bulkheads? They are only 3mm thick. Thanks everyone, I'm really looking forward to this.

Hi Phil, Thanks for the info. That must have been a nightmare building the Sata Maria without any instructions, or worse still no guidance available from the internet. I had a look, very nice job you've done. I already have a similar tool as the small iron. I have one used for covering model aircraft. I also made one using a soldering iron. I used a bit of 20mm copper rod, cut 15 mm off the end, braised a 7mm copper rod to the end of it, the 7mm copper rod fits down the inside of a soldering iron I have and there's a plank bender. I also made one that doesn't use heat. A bit of water and pressure and plank bent. I haven't tried it yet of course bit I hope it works. Not sure if I got the idea here or somewhere else on the net. So hopefully I've got enough plank benders to get the job done.

Hi Everyone, I've had a look at the plank widths of the model and the first layer of planks are 5mm and the second layer of planks are 4mm so I should be right to line off the first layer. Looking at the quality of Mark's work it's very obvious that lining off is essential if you want the job done correctly. Absolutely fabulous work. Easier said than done in my case but worth the effort to try it. Am I correct in saying that with Mark's example, he lines off every strake? I'm a bit off starting to plank yet but looking forward to getting to that stage. When I first started reading about planking I have to admit it was frightening, now it's only scary. Thanks again everyone.

Hi Mark, Could I line off the first layer for practice? I'm not in any rush and it might help with the final layer. What do you think. Thanks. John

Double Planked. Unpainted. The outer planks are redish type wood.

Sorry, this might be easier.