egkb

Hi Eamonn,
Yes l put a coat of varnish on my Ballahoo too, as far as l can see it makes no visible difference at all, just adds protection. The primer l used made it more difficult to get an even finish, but only with the yellow ochre, other than that it was fine.
Best wishes as always, 
The Lazy Saint. 

Loaded up these photos earlier in week but didn't seem to take!
 
All re-tensioned and PVA applied... many thanks.  Much better result.
 
 
 
 

Hi all,
A painting day for me today. I had a real struggle marking the waterline on my Ballahoo, this time it was a breeze using my water line marker. This is another tool l would recommend and it comes in kit form, another building job, ha ha.
Using primer has helped in the preparation phase, but is not without problems. Every time l scratch or knock the model the white shows through which entails re coating that area. Ok, to be honest, perhaps the answer is that l should be a bit more careful, and indeed l will from now on.
Apart from that, all has gone well and,  to protect the paint work from future clumsiness, l shall apply  a coat of clear varnish.
Best wishes as always, 
The Lazy Saint. 

15   The concentricity of two groups of metal parts can not meet the requirement, they are all changed to wooden parts. After simple testing, the design is feasible. Now the changes are presented to you.

Plans are finished for the most part though there's a couple of "gotchas" that came across which I'll work on addressing.   Lite Ply has been ordered for the false keel, the ribs structures and the deck underlayment though I may not end up using it.  I'l be picking up some basswood blocks for use in locking the structures in place.  Hopefully, I can start building later in the week once the wood arrives.

Hi Nils, I’m curious about how I’ll master it too😀I note that on the NMM model of the Hawke 1777 flat nail heads are visible along the lap lines.
@ Steve,  the first strakes above the Garboard have to follow a tight curve around to the stem. Hopefully it will look better when a few more strakes are added, and I’ve smoothed out the clinker towards the bow.
 
B.E.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Post 17
 More clinkering
For the next few planks up from the Garboard it looks like I will need to spile each one individually.

1912
I have used tick strips to mark down the hull at the bulkheads and used those to gauge the taper required towards the bow.
The tick strip spacing is of the net 4mm width of the lapped plank.

1910
I can then measure down from the lap edge to where the taper marks will come, and shape what is the upper edge of the plank.
Once satisfied with the shape and fit the 2mm lap line can then be drawn in for the following plank.

1913
The tapering at the bow begins at the third plank from the Garboard, but before fitting it is used as a template for the corresponding plank on the opposite side.

1917
The clinker at the stern.
Where the strakes approach the stern post the clinker will eventually be pared down.

1914
I will be adding a thin veneer Boxwood to the stern post which will act as a rabbet for the strake ends.

1918
In the midships area the clinker will remain more pronounced before being fayed down towards the bow.

1916(2)
This is a much more involved business than straightforward carvel planking; four strakes fitted but I still don’t really know how it will turn out.
Still it is an interesting exercise to have a go at.
 
B.E.
24/08/2019
 

Hi all,
First colours applied, red and yellow ochre. Several coats are required to give depth to the colour, probably because it's water based paint. Best to apply several thin coats rather than one thick coat. 
Best wishes as always, 
The Lazy Saint. 

I am so thrilled with this camera....anyway, it enables me to accurately reflect the color of the yellow cedar.  So now I can finally explain what is going on with my model.
 

You may have noticed in the many images of this log that stem appears slightly different in color than the hull planking.   It is a very subtle difference. This is no accident.   The Yellow cedar is not the best wood for your typical stain applications.   The brighter and lighter hull planking is what the Cedar looks like with just some wipe on poly.  About three coats of that above the wales.   I like the natural look of the cedar very much as shown on the hull planking.  I think its beautiful and I could live with it just fine.
 
But because some folks prefer a darker medium tone, I started experimenting on some scrap wood when I built my longboat.   I bought probably  $500 worth of various stains.   I tested them vigorously.   Most failed the test miserably.   All "penetrating" stains.....every last one of them, failed.  Just like when you stain basswood,   it was dark and blotchy and just awful.   I tried 4 brands.   DO NOT USE A PENETRATING STAIN ON YELLOW CEDAR!!!
 
Then I tried about 4 brands of gel stain.   I bought 3 or 4 colors to test from each brand.   Once again, every last test was a dismal failure.  But then I tried this one color......from one specific brand of gel stain which is non-penetrating.   It is
 
Old Masters - fruitwood gel stain.

After about six tests with this particular color and only from this brand.....I tried other brands and other Old Masters colors....it was horrible.   But there was something very different with this particular color.
 
The surface of the cedar was sanded with 320 grit sandpaper.   Three coats of wipe on poly was applied.  This was allowed to fully dry overnight and its very important that you give it a day.   That will look like the untreated planking above the wales....very beautiful.   But then with a soft lint free cloth, apply some fruitwood gel stain.   The longer you let it sit on the wood the darker it will get.  I wiped it off and buffed it clean after only about 1 minute.   It is not penetrating so you will be able to wipe it all off which tones the wood just a bit to your liking.   I do about a six inch area and wipe it off.  Then do the adjacent area.   The two areas blend together well without worrying that the overlap will be darker.  
 
I let this dry overnight....and applied another coat of wipe on poly.   The result is a slightly darker wood that actually resembles boxwood a lot closer.  I like the color a lot.  Not Costello boxwood but it looks like the real English stuff.  The color of many contemporary models.  It evens out the color and looks great.   So yes, if you dont like the really light....more yellow color of Cedar,   You can change it to look like the swatch/mock-up in the photos.   My stem was also treated like this and its why it appears different than the color of the planking.   I have also sanded it and reapplied on the stem many times and it came out very even and you cant see where I did that touch up.  
 
But remember.....I tested so many brands and colors.  This is literally the only one that worked with really really good results.   I also simulated some treenails on that mock-up.  So once I get the planking all completed and add the treenails, I will coat the external planking to match the stem.    All things considered, I think this was a very successful although expensive experiment.   I wanted to save you guys that time and money.   Also save you the chance of ruining your model.   So make a mock-up and test with this Brand and color of gel stain and decide for yourself.
 
 
Compare with the contemporary model of Minerva in the Rogers collection below.
 

 
 

Just trying out my new camera guys.  Really crisp photos now I just have to get the color and settings correct.  
 




 
 

Hi mugje,
 
I expect solid walnut at that sort of size would have been too fragile as it would split along the grain... plywood walnut is a better material for the task, but it does bring with it the challenge of tidying it.up to look neat. The alternative would be a harder finer grained wood such as european boxwood, but it's very expensive compared to walnut. 
 
Well done with those carronades! They look fantastic... much neater than my effort... Pickle was my first wooden model too. Keep up the great work.
 
Rob

It's needing some paintwork when it's finished but it looks already good now. It's really small! Almost to small for my trembling fingers haha.
And i find it a bit weird that Caldercraft didn't use solid pieces of walnut, but a kind of plywood idea with two small layers of walnut and something cheaper in between.
A bit of a compromise.

Thanks Vane. I think you overestimate my skills  
 
After a fairly long break over the summer, with Prince of Wales finished, it's time to un-stall this project and get it moving again. 
 
Things that need doing:
Finish the channels on the port side (dead-eyes, strops, chain plates, etc.. ) (Starboard is complete) Work out how to create the open rail on the quarterdeck. Move on with the beakhead rails. These have all proved to be head-scratchers for me, hence the tentative progress. But I think yesterday I made real progress.
 
Rails:
 
Before I went away I glued a 1.5mm square strip of walnut down the centre of the top of the quarterdeck rail. I cut sections out of this for the gunports and to 3mm of each side. The uprights will sit here. Now, I glued a 1.5mm square strip of walnut down the outside (pre-painted to avoid a nightmare cutting in later). 4mm maple was used for the uprights, which was cut to size using the attached diagram.
 
Openrails.pdf (an A3 diagram)
 

Progress so far is encouraging. 

The top rail is only dry-fitted to get an idea of the height and how I might add this part. (probably a variation of how I did it at the bottom).
 

 
The channels are also coming on. Not much to show here as the process is exactly the same as for the starboard side.
 

Hi all,
I have now completed the planking of the inner bulwarks and cut again the Gun and Oar ports. I am quite happy with the job so far and tomorrow I hope to fill any nooks and crannies followed by a final sanding.
Once that is completed l shall prepare for painting. 

Post 16
Planking below the wale.
So time to get to it.
For the clinker planking the hull will need to be inverted during the whole process.

1860
First a new support base is cobbled together to hold the hull in position.
 
Referring to the Alert book there is a mid ship section drawing showing the clinker boards, conveniently at 1:64 scale.

1886(2)
I am using 0.7mm thick Boxwood strip and I start with an 8mm wide (midpoint) Garboard plank. Marked on this is a 2mm overlap for the next strake up.
 
The first task is to re-mark the bulkhead positions on the hull and fix the Garboard plank.

1885
I don't use ca for second layer planking preferring to continue with a good quality pva.

1887(2)
In the case of the Garboard plank the upper edge is held down using the heads of the provided steel pins.
 

1890

1888
Moving onto the adjacent plank to the Garboard the first thing I discover is that the 0.7mm strip at 6mm width is not conducive  to an edge bend at the degree required at the bow. It is too thin and buckles rather than bends.

1892
The answer is to take a pattern and cut it out of some thin Boxwood sheet. Hopefully this is an issue where only severe bends are required.

1899
These second planks are attached using fine brass pins along the bottom edge, and the heads of the steel pins to secure the top edge. (The hull is inverted remember)

1905

1903
I have not cut a rebate or a chamfer on the plank edges to  accommodate the lap, they are too thin for that. The laps will be fined down to suit later.
 
So that's the start of the clinkering business.
With the first two planks in place I can now try to work out the run of the following strakes. Between the wale and the overlap on the Garboard plank, there is 72mm at mid point.
Using 6mm planking with a net 2mm overlap results in 18 strakes of net 4mm planks.
 
B.E.
22/08/2019

I finally got things organized enough to stain the port sides and cills.
 
This stain at the edges and top will be overlapped by planking, so it was not essential to keep a neat edge. But I thought that I might be staring at this for some time to come, since I am so slow in construction, and so I decided it would help my morale if it looked neat at this point.
 
I therefore masked the edges with Tamiyo tape, leaving a little beyond the 3" that will be revealed by the planks. I also blocked out with paper, just in case I got messy.

And then I used my normal red stain, wiping on with a cloth. Messing around with this dislodged my thread planking lines, making this look all ahoo. I need to clean this up before FINALLY beginning planking...
 

Mark
 
 

13

10

Hi all,    I had a good bash at the pearl today first I got on the table just enough items needed,  but also including my magnifier/light, first job was to blow away a few layers of dust  (suppose it would have looked quite good being a dead ship with some dust)   anyway I was kind of feeling a bit lost  and took a while to get back into my stride and work out the best place to pick up from  - I decided to continue with the main-upper shroud deadeyes, so same procedure as before - cut some thread, rubbed some watered pva into the thread to smooth out some of the fraying, then I ran my hand drill through the dead eye holes,   next off was to lash the three deadeyes to the shroud ropes and secure with a smear of ca, then I lashed the two ends of the deadeyes together.
 
So main upper shrouds attached  - awaiting blackening  and ratlines.
 
Its good to be back.
 
OC.

Hi all,
The deck planking plan went ok today. I finished with a light sanding, which caused some of the plank ends to disappear under a coating of very fine sawdust. Not a problem, when l finish sanding this evening l will brush it out.
I practiced planking using Jörgan's method of wood glue plus little drops of super glue to hold instead of pins. I managed quite well towards the end.
Thanks Jörgan. 
Best wishes as always, 
The Lazy Saint. 

Post 15
Laying the deck.
Before fitting the false deck I had marked the deck beams and planking layout in pencil. It is far easier to do this before the deck is glued into place.
Because I like the option to leave covers off I install carlings below the deck to give the impression of depth if the gratings are left off.
 
The waterway has already been installed so the decking can begin.
 
I am using Boxwood, not the provided stuff, but 0.7mm thick strips which I can get in varying widths.
I will be using nominally 4.5mm wide planks which equate to 11.3"

1821
The first two strips either side of the centre line are run full length down the deck, marking the cut out positions for the hatches etc;
The planking then continues using the butt joint plan.

1856(2)
I don't sand decks , I prefer to scrape them. For this I use an old  plane blade.

1852(2)

1851(2)
Once I am happy with the deck smoothness I will seal with a water based varnish, using Caldercraft Flat Matt Varnish.
 
I now turn my attention to the lower hull planking.
 
B.E.
20/08/2019
 
 

had no idea Mark...........came in to catch up.......man,  I am so sorry to hear   know that I care and am pull'in for you my friend.  just one more thing that I'm bummed about..........

I was driving home from Chuck's on Saturday when I noticed that sunlight coming through the car window exposed a few misses in my initial sanding of the upper planks. So, I was anxious to correct this asap. Once that was taken care of I added the forecastle fairing cap, port side. This was made from boxwood sheet as described in Chuck's Cheerful instructions. Also, I was able to check out Chuck's fancy molding and volutes over the weekend and they are really nice. Turns out that they will completely cover any gaps around the area of the hance fairing caps. Just one more thing I was worried about for nothing.

Mike
 

Hi all,
I have spent this evening pondering over my deck planking. It is probably not correct in terms scale or, indeed, practicality but it is evenly spaced, without awkward/inconveniently placed joints and, to my mind, pleasing on the eye. After several attempts and rubbing's out l found a plank length of 140mm and a drop of 35mm was the best combination.
I managed ok on my Ballahoo deck but then of course l did use the SWAG method.
Best wishes as always. 
The Lazy Saint. 
 
PS A good tip l picked up on another build log was trace out the false deck before the start of construction, this makes it much easier at this planning stage.