CaptainMac

Still planking the hull! Hard to tell much difference, but I've done a lot more. I'm not using a long strip all at once, but cutting segments, and staggering the joints from row to row, to look more realistic. Instead of painting, I'm planning on staining the hull to see the subtle woodgrain variations in the planks. The 1/8"×1/6" strips have slightly different widths and thicknesses. You're supposed to do 13 rows before switching to the 1/2" strips on the bottom. I've got 11 rows down both sides, maybe one less on the bow: I use ammonia, like the directions said, to bend the planks: -- Michael

Here are a few planking photos... First-two are the top row being put on: You can probably make out the slight deck camber that I added here, the original brown edges of the bulkheads still visible down the center: Current views of the hull: -- Michael

Hello, I'm a new member. First post. Various builds on this site have turned up countless times in my searches over the years, so I decided I should just get on-board. I am not familiar with actually using the site, and I have never tried a build log before, but I'll give it a shot. I have certainly benefited from seeing the process and progress of others. My main thing is steamboats, namely paddleboats, and especially sternwheelers. Here, I'll be working on the Chaperon. I didn't get this model because it was the Chaperon, but because it is the most realistic looking, typical packet boat kit I've run across. I might even change the name. I will certainly customize it, adding my own modifications and "improvements" along the way, to make it my version of the ideal steamboat. The first thing I came to that "needed fixing" was the flat-topped bulkheads of the hull. The main deck certainly needs to have some camber to it. And all the other decks, for that matter! This will, of course, complicate things for me later on [which I seem to be good at doing]. So, I scanned one of the middle bulkhead pieces, and traced it in CorelDraw on my computer, adding a camber line to the top. I printed out a bunch of these templates, rubber-cemented them to the front and back of sandwiched stacks of bulkheads, then sanded along the camber line, which is only between 1/32"-1/16" lower on the edges, but should be noticeable. [You can see one side done in the photo.] Well, I'd better stop here for now, to make sure this works...