SkerryAmp

Tim - I like your idea of using Styrene too. I think that should work nicely.
 
Thanks everyone for the likes.
 
I did complete the rudder, for now, and attached it to the hull. I am going to wait to install the rudder chains until later so I don't catch anything on them while I am working on the transom.
 
Here are a couple of tests for simulating the bolt heads in the pintles and gudgeons. I tried dots of black paint and dots of CA. I ended up going with the CA after all, as it really did have the look I was going after - subtle but there. The black was much too pronounced to me.
 

 

 
Here is the competed rudder with the pintles glued on and the simulated bolt heads added. I used medium CA to glue the pintles on and in a few of them I had to go back later and add more glue to get the ends to stay down. I found that I could use thin CA with a narrow tube on the bottle, and get just enough on the edge of the pintle to wick into the joint. I used metal binder clips as clamps for the pintles.
 

 

 
Then it was time to add the gudgeons.  I added these one at a time from the bottom up, since the bottom three where pretty much straight, not crazy bent like the top two. I used the rudder to get them at the right height and angle, but I had to make sure that I could get the pintle to fit over the gudgeon with both the rudder and gedgeon held at the same angle as on the ship, otherwise I would not be able to remove the rudder after gluing each one on. Getting the top two gudgeons to fit nicely took a while and they are not exactly right, but I can live with them. These were especially hard because there is no good way to clamp them, so I mostly just did each side separately and held them with some piece of wood by hand until the (medium) CA dried. You can see in the picture below that I used a thin strip of masking tape to mark the height and angle of the gudgeon before I glued it on so that when I applied the glue I could get it in roughly the right place and still have time to place the rudder in this gudgeon and the previously added gudgeons to get the final location. A couple of times I had to go back and reapply the glue because I didn't get the rudder in place in time.
 

 
And here is the final result, with the CA spots to simulate the bolt heads on the gudgeons and chain iron too. What is hard to see in these pictures is that I also added a piece of manila folder that I cut to fit over the rudder hole in the counter with a hole in it for the rudder post, to simulate a rudder coat. I slipped this over the rudder post before the rudder was installed and then slid it to the counter and glued it on with white glue, then painted it black. It covered the odd size rudder hole nicely. I tried other things to make the rudder coat out of, like foil and even Sculpey, but I liked the simple look of the folder material the best.
 

 

 

 
Now it is time to work on the transom, so framing the windows will be next.

Thanks everyone.
 
Well, I finished copper plating the starboard side, but something was not right. When I turned the hull over so it was right side up, it looked like the copper plates did not come up high enough in the second quarter of the hull.
 

 
So, I remeasured the top of the copper plate line from the bottom of the gun ports and sure enough it was low in that area. I marked the correct line with masking tape then removed plates down to the top row of the second gore. There were partial plates here that I removed and replaced with full plates, then put the three dressing rows back in those areas.
 

 

 
I turned the hull around and did the same on the other side
 

 
Then completed the plates around the stem and stern post.
 

 
I will copper plate the rudder tonight. I still have not decided how to represent the nail heads on the pintles and gudgeons. They look pretty small on the plans and I am not sure I could drill small enough holes through the brass strips to use real nails or wire. In the past I would just use small drops of CA to simulate the heads, but these were on P&Gs that were painted black. I want to leave these bright brass. I will be doing more experimentation before I decide, but any suggestions are welcome.
 
 

Yeah, George, my kit is only a few years old. I am not sure when they started adding the replacement parts.
 
After the pintles and gudgeons, I made the chain iron. I used a piece of brass tubing that I soldered two eye bolts in one end. I bent the eye bolts so they both fit side by side before soldering them. I cleaned up the excess solder then cut the tube to length and filed the end flat. I bent the same brass strip as I used for the P&Gs and then soldered it to the brass tube. Since this piece goes on the black part of the rudder, I cleaned it up a bit then put it into some Brass Black to see what would happen. The silver solder blackened nicely, as did the brass, so I was very happy.
 

 
It was then time to get back to the copper sheathing, since all the paint had been applied, including the area around the rudder hole. I first marked out the top edge of the of the final line of plates using masking tape, which I made sure was absolutely straight. It showed that I had some areas that were more than 3 rows wide to complete. So, I took off the trimmed plates from the last two rows of plates in the previous section and left the full width plates. I left the plates at the back of the rows up so that I could slip the new plates under them. I then marked down from the final edge for each row of the dressing belt plates, which showed the gore line at the top edge of the previous belt. I filled in the rows with whole and partial plates to the new gore line.
 

 

 
I then completed the three dressing belt rows. I did start the bottom dressing belt at the stern post, instead of near the turn of the stern that the plans show, so I trimmed off some plates from the previous belt there. I also used smaller plates around the sharp turn at the stern to make the curve look better. As I added the plates in the final row, I matched them up with the edge of the masking tape, and pulled back the tape as I went along, to make sure no plates were over the edge of the tape and to check the edge for straightness. I was really pleased with how straight the edge came out.
 

 

 

 
I have since transferred the top edge of the plates to the starboard side and marked it with masking tape, but have not started removing and adding plates yet.

Thanks George and for all the likes.
 
While I have been painting the black down further on the hull, I started on the next task, which is the rudder. I want to make this now so that the cooper tape will oxidize the same as the tape on the hull. This is another little tip I learned on this site from a previous Connie builder, I think from Modeler12. I cleaned up the supplied rudder which comes as a laser cut piece. Actually, two rudders are supplied but we are told to not use one of them. I found this extra rudder to be very helpful as you will see. After I cleaned off the burn marks, I sanded the rudder post round and test fit it into the rudder hole, which of course was too small. Really, it was the wrong shape, as it was round in the plane of the counter but the rudder post fits in at about a 45 degree angle to that plane, so the hole really needs to be an ellipse, not a circle. I used some drill bits and a rat tail file to get the shape right until the rudder post fit in the hole. In the process I did a little damage to the counter, so I added some wood filler and sanded it down to the surface. I gave the rudder a good sanding and a coat of primer. I then painted the top portion of the rudder and the area around the rudder hole with a few coats of black paint. I also painted inside the cut outs for the pintles with black paint, as I am not sure I will put copper foil inside these areas.
 
In between coats of paint I made the pintles and gudgeons. To make the pintles, I used the spare rudder to bend the supplied copper strips. I bent these so the U shape was a little wider than the rudder, then gently squeezed the pintle on the rudder. This put a bend in the short side of the U that I could fit the pin into. I cut the pins from some brass rod and silver soldered them into the U part of the pintles. I have not had much success with silver soldering in the past, but I bought some new solder (Stay-Bright) that worked a treat. It comes with a bottle of liquid flux. I put the flux on both pieces and cut a small piece of solder which I placed inside the U. I held the rod in the U and heated the pieces with a micro torch until the solder melted. I did this on a piece of marble threshold that I had. In most cases the rod was not perfectly straight in the pintle, so I draped the pintle over the marble with the rod on the marble and reheated the joint, so the pintle would hang straight when the solder melted. I cut the rod to size and cleaned up the pintles with a file and sand paper. I am going to leave these bright on the rudder. I made the gudgeans by just bending the brass strip on the extra rudder, but these will get their final shape when I attach them to the hull.
 

 
Here are the pintles on the spare rudder:
 

 
I still need to cut the ends of the pintles to length, but I will do that when I attach them to the rudder. Once the black paint dries on the hull, I will be adding the last three rows of copper plates, the dressing belt. Then I will copper plate the rudder.

Thanks George, Rich, and Harvey. 
 
With all the snow this weekend I was able to get a lot of the coppering done. Here is the other side to the first gore line. I was able to keep the rows pretty even side to side, although the edges look wavy. 
 

 

 

 
I have to point out that I kept the copper tape at 1/4" instead of cutting it thinner, which I think makes this job easier, as they are easier to handle and I can control the overlap better.
 
Here are the ends after I added the cap plates along the stem and stern post:
 

 

 
I then measured and marked the second gore line. I thought this would be easier than the first, but it also took a number of trys to get it to look right. I was having a hard time envisioning the plates at the stern, but then I noticed the AOS book sitting on a table in the workshop, which has a really nice picture on the cover. It is not done exactly like the MS plans, but it gives a real good idea of how far up the stern post the plates go. Here is the port side plates up to the second gore line:
 

 

 
I started the starboard side at lunch today (another work at home day due to the snow), and may be able to finish that up tonight (except that I have to snow blow the driveway tonight). Then it looks like I need to put more black paint further down the middle of the hull, after which I can add the three dressing belts of planks. Getting the top edge of the top dressing row of planks to be really straight is going to be a challenge. I have a few ideas in mind that may help. More to come on that later.

I got to spend about five hours in the workshop today. I first marked off the first gore line on one side. I cut out the two portions of the plans that showed the plates on the bow and stern. I cut these right at the gore line, then lined them up with the keel to mark the location of the line. I then connected the two lines across the middle of the hull. This took a few tries until it looked right to me, especially in the middle of the hull.
 

 
I marked the line on one side, then used a tick strip to mark it on the other, so they would both be the same. I then started filling in the copper plates to the line. In the bow, the plates are trimmed to fit against the line. I did not need to add any filler rows at the bow.
 

 
At the stern, I did add a filler row.
 

 
And here is that side filled to the gore line.
 

 

 

 
Next I will add the plates on the other side to the gore line. I am hoping that I can keep the rows similar on both sides.

I have started the copper plating. I probably won't be adding too many updates as it is pretty repetitive. I will show how I am making the gore lines, however, when I get to that point, and once I figure out where they are and how to do it. I stared at the plans for about half an hour last night and I think I understand it now, but we will see.
 
I started on the keel and I can add about six rows before I have to deal with the curve of the hull:
 

 

 

 

 
I am liking how the simulated nail heads are coming out. I think if I tried to use the full nail pattern it would be too much.
 
I was going to use my Keel Klamper to hold the ship after the hull is coppered, but the more I thought about it the less I liked the idea of holding it at only two points so low. and also that the clamps might damage the copper plates. So, I added some supports to a lazy susan I made so that I can hold the model and rotate it as I need to. I will also use some closed cell foam to cushion the hull in the supports.
 

 

 
Only a few more thousand or so plates to go.

Thanks again Patrick. Are you a Browns fan? That is a tough division for them.
 
Well, I ended up giving the hull one more coat of black paint:
 

 
I decided to stop here, so off came the masking tape. Here is how it looked right after I removed the tape:
 

 
There were just a few small bleeds of the black into the white stripe, which I was able to touch up with some white paint. The areas around the tops and bottoms of the gun ports needed some touch up with black paint. Here is how it looks now after that:
 

 
Maybe a little more touch ups inside the gun ports yet, but it is getting close. I also still need to touch up the black inside the stern.

Here is the process I used to build the stanchions for the gun deck. I calculated the size of the center section and made the end sections a bit long, so I can trim them down at each beam as I install them. I am using a small Proxxon lathe for shaping these, with a couple of small turning chisels and sand paper.
 

 
Getting them consistent took a few tries but after the first two it went easier.
 

 
This one looks a little lop sided but I made a bunch and will choose the best ones, or hide some of the worst ones in the back.
 

 
I was going to stain these with oak stain, but the trial didn't look very good (right). I then tried some burnt sienna paint with an overcoat of yellow and it is getting closer (left). I will most likely end up with a mixture of burnt sienna and yellow for the final color.
 

Painting the outer hull continues. I masked off the area for the white stripe between the gun deck gun ports:
 

 
I burnished the edges of the masking tape to hopefully avoid any running of the black paint, but we won't know how successful I was for a while. I then have been painting many coats of thin black paint. I decided to take pictures between each coat so you can see how the painting progresses.
 
First coat:
 

 
Second:
 

 
Third:
 

 
Fourth:
 

 
It is getting close but not there yet. Probably one or two more. I have also been painting the transom. In order to be able to use clear acetate for the windows, I painted inside the hull framing at the stern black, so this wood would not show through the windows:
 

 
The view from the stern:
 

 
Still needs some touch up inside the window frames.
 
In between coats of paint, I have been building the stanchions for the gun deck. I show this in the next post.
 
Oh, and by the way - GO PATRIOTS!
 

Snow day today so got to work at home. A quick update...
 
I finished priming the top sides of the hull.
 

 
and gave the stripe areas three coats of white paint.
 

 
In between coats of primer, I have been making the two chain pump housings for the gun deck. Tim I, I found your build log from the cross section and you had a nice sequence for making the chain pumps, so I used it along with the plans in the AOS book.
 

 

 

 
I will paint these brown and make up the wire handles, then put them aside until I can install them.
 
Tonight I will mask off the white stripe and start painting the topsides black. I have already marked off the top of the copper plate line, which I will overlap some with the black, to get a good line at the top of the copper plates.

I gave the hull a few coats of gesso as a primer. I masked off the gun port openings and tried airbrushing this on, but was having too much trouble getting the right consistency, so I brushed on three coats of thinned gesso, sanded the hull down with fine sandpaper, then filled in a few more spots that showed up with the primer. I cleaned up the hull and gave it one more coat of the thinned gesso.
 

 

 
The thinned coats smoothed out nicely, so I am pleased with the brushing. I did order a new airbrush that should handle larger areas better, so I will try that with the black paint for the top sides. I am also going to get some nicer brushes. I have a few large ones but they are not as high quality as the smaller brushes I have. I already know I will have to do some brush painting on the topsides, especially around the gun ports, so if I end up doing it all by brush, that will be OK too.
 
I started experimenting with the copper tape for the copper plates. I have used this before, but I always put it on smooth. For this model, I wanted to add nail heads, so I had a cheap ponce wheel which I tried running down the edge of some left over copper tape from the back side. The nail heads looked just OK, but were not too pronounced. I modified the ponce wheel by using a cutter disk on the Dremel and cutting into each slot, then used a triangular file to sharpen the teeth.
 

 
The nail heads are now much more pronounced as you can see in these images.
 

 
I then made a jig to hold the copper tape while I make these nail heads and also when I score the individual plates from the tape, which I do with an X-Acto knife from the front side. There are two long pieces of wood on a base that are set to the width of the copper tape, which in this case is 1/4".
 

 

 
I then marked 5/8" lengths on the bottom side of the jig and ran the jig through the table saw to make the slots at 5/8" intervals. I can now place the tape in the jig upside down and score the nail heads for the ends of the plates. For the sides, I can place a 3/16" piece of wood in the slot and run the ponce wheel along it to get a nice straight line of nail heads. I can then turn the tape right side up, offset it a little bit and score the individual plates using the knife in the slots to get straight ends.
 

 
We will see how this works out when I get to the coppering.
 
 
 

To finish up from yesterday's post, here is the completed cradle, just not with any finish yet. I'll wait to do that later. There are two brass rods in each support, going from the legs through the small support base pieces and into the large base board. I used CA to glue in the brass rods and wood glue under the feet and base boards. Everything is nice and tight so should be good without any additional support, I think. I can always add support bars between the supports, but I would rather not. I had bought that base board for a previous model but didn't use it. It made a good base for the cradle. I'll probably add some felt to the arms where they contact the hull, too.
 

 
And here it is supporting the hull. I once had thoughts of carving the ends with the same billet head scroll as on the model, but the walnut seems too brittle to carve well. I may try adding some scrolls on the sides of the walnut, but we'll see.
 

 

 
I gave the hull a final sanding in preparation for priming it. There is one last step to do before that though which is to add the boards that will cover the gap between the outer planking and inner planking across the open bulwarks section. These are sort of vestiges on the existing ship, as shown on the plans. They have a groove in the outer edges so to make that I ground a profile into an old razor blade with a Dremel cutting disk.
 

 

 
The new profile is the deep one on the right. You can see some old ones that I used for other models with very unsatisfactory results. This one I made very deep so the tool won't wonder as I pull it across the edge, which was the problem with the old profiles.
 
And here is the result. This strip is just laying in the opening. I need to prime and paint it before gluing it in, as it is right up against the green plank sheer on the inside. I am really happy with how the groove came out, especially since this is basswood which doesn't like to hold a nice edge. I used a very small file to increase the bevel on the inside edges of the groove and also to clean up the bottom of it. I rounded the outside edges with some sandpaper.
 

 

 
I will start masking the hull tonight in preparation for spraying the primer. I am going to prime all the way down to the keel because I think it makes a good base for the adhesive copper tape. I have not had any problems with adhesion on previous models when I have primed the hull first. Plus, it will show areas that may still need some filler and/or sanding.

Thanks Patrick, Tim, and George, and for the likes.
 
I finished painting the inner bulwarks. This is five coats of thinned blue/green paint. After these pictures were taken, I touched up the black paint in the spar deck gun ports and the off white paint on the gun deck bulwarks where I slipped with the brush slightly when painting the green. The simulated rivet heads just show under the paint, which I like.
 

 

 
Between painting sessions, I made up the rest of the tackles for the gun deck cannons. I also figured it was a good time to make the cradle so I could test the supports before the copper plating was installed. I used a contour gauge to get the shape of the hull at two points, then transferred those shapes to paper and scanned it into a drawing program. I developed the shape of the supports in the drawing program, doing one side then flipping it over to get the other side, so they would be symmetrical. I printed them out on paper and cut them out to test fit on the hull, thinking I might need to make some adjustments. But, they fit really well, so I tacked the shapes to a piece of 1/4" thick walnut and cut them out roughly on the scroll saw.
 

 
I then used the 1" belt sander and the drill press with a Dremel sanding drum to get down to the final shapes:
 

 

 
I then hand sanded the edges and the faces. the walnut tended to have chips along the edges, so I used the Dremel tool with a sanding drum to sand a bevel into the edges to remove the chips.
 

 
I clamped the supports between two wood strips on the workbench to test fit the supports to the hull:
 

 
I'll have more pictures of the assembled cradle later. I am now going to make the wood strips that fit across the outside of the hull across the open waist.

I got to spend some time in the shipyard this weekend, so was able to fix up the area around the bowsprit hole.  The outer hull planking was pretty straight forward and I cut the plank sections to fit around the bowsprit. Here they are before sanding:
 

 
And here is the bow after sanding:
 

 
On the inside, I decided to take the bowsprit out and plank over the edges of the hole, then file the hole out later. Here are the four planks that are cut by the bowsprit:
 

 
The next plank up is partially cut by the bowsprit, so I added it as a full plank to be filed later. None of these planks are glued in yet, as I still have to add the rivet heads to them after they are bent:
 

 
I added the rivet heads and glued these planks in, then used a rat tail file to enlarge the hole, filing slowly and easily so as not to dislodge the plank ends. I then bent the top plank which is a narrow plank, added the rivet heads, glued it in, then sanded it down to make it flush with the rest of the bulkhead:
 

 
And here is the inner bow with the bowsprit dry fit:
 

 
And the outer bow with the bowsprit:
 

 

 
I will add a little filler around the outer hole when the bowsprit is permanently added much later. You may also see a small piece of wood on the stem, which is there to fill a gap between the bowsprit and the stem.
 
I sanded out the sides of the two openings to the head, then gave all the spar deck gun ports a final sanding with a square sanding stick and some fine sandpaper. I used a tack cloth to clean out the gun ports, than painted the insides of them black. I also touched up the black paint around the gun deck gun ports, especially the insides of the rabbets. I will now mix up the green paint for the inner bulwarks. I mixed up a batch last night but it looked too green this morning. 
 

I finished cleaning up all the spar deck gun ports:
 

 
I then drilled the hole for the bowsprit in the bow. I got a little carried away though 
 

 
The outer plank ends were a bit splintered so, I took them off and will replank there to plank around the bowsprit. I cut the tenon into the end of the dowel that will become the bowsprit so it is centered correctly and I can take it in and out and get it back to the same place. I took the inside planks off because they were not bent enough in the center and the bulwark was too thick at the bow. I will bend new plank sections there, again cut around the bowsprit, then add the rivet heads before gluing them in. it will be a little slow because I can only do one plank at a time on each side.
 
In the mean time, I want to clean up the spar deck waterways and sheer plank a bit, as they are rough in spots, especially around the curve of the bow. Then I will paint the insides of the spar deck gun ports black, then mix up some green paint for the inside bulwarks and paint them. Luckily I have a few days off from work, so maybe this will all get done by early next week.
 
 

I finished replacing the inner bulwark planking with the glue drop riveted planks. I sanded the spar deck gun ports on the starboard side so they were square. I used a sanding stick for the sides, but this time I did not sand all the way to the bottom of the gun ports. I cleaned up the bottom of the sides with a riffler file that did not have teeth on the sides, so I didn't sand into the sill like I did the first time. I then finished the interior of the gun ports with a smooth emery stick. I also used the sanding stick to get the tops of the bulwarks flat. I still have to do this on the port side, but that will have to wait a few days. Here is how they came out:
 

 

 

 
While planking the bulwarks, I had some time waiting for the glue to dry, so I made up some of the gun tackles for the gun deck cannons. I had cleaned up the blocks and made some hooks, so I wanted to put them together to see how they would look and to gauge the size against the gun carriages. Here is a shot of the tackles:
 

 
I used this picture from the present Constitution as a guide:
 

 
At first I thought the hooks might be too big, but they are about the same length as the small blocks, which is about right. Also, they are about as small as I can make them. The length should be OK too, as long as I put the eyebolts in the bulwarks in the middle between the gun ports, as the current Conny has them.
 
Have a very merry Christmas everyone.

Here I go redoing things again. First of all I did make up a rectangular sanding stick with some medium sand paper and cleaned up the bottoms of the spar deck gun ports somewhat, so they are looking better.
 
Yesterday, I came across a Constitution build log on this site by galf, where he used WHITE GLUE for the rivet heads on the inner bulwarks. Now, if you remember my first thought was to use CA for these which I tried with no success. All the time I was doing that experiment, the white glue was sitting right next to the CA glue bottles, and I never thought to try it! Doh! Last night I took a wood strip and added dots of white glue to it using a toothpick. They looked nice and round and did not stick up too much from the plank, which was just what I had envisioned when thinking of using the CA. When the glue dried, though, the dots disappeared since they turned clear, but after giving the strip a quick coat of paint, there they were in all there round glory. So here I got crazy and pried off half of the wire riveted strips on the port bulwark sections, then I made up two long strips using the white glue method. I did add some grey paint to the white glue before I did this, so that the rivet heads would be visible after they dried, so I could line up the pattern when installing the strips. I cut sections from the long strips and replanked the bulwark sections that I removed, and I really like the results better than the wired method.
 
Here you can see a comparison of the old strip (above) with the new (In the jig) and the greyed white glue and toothpick that I used.
 

 
And a closer view of the strips:
 

 
And here is a comparison on the model, with the new strips on the left section and the old on the right sections:
 

 
It took a little while to get the hang of this and get the dots somewhat consistent. After a while, the glue got too tacky and was not sticking to the strip well, so I made up a new batch of grey glue, which made more consistent dots. Another nice feature of this method is that I can add or touch up dots on the planks after they are installed, like I did for a few that were too small.
 
After I took these pictures, I pried off the rest of the old planks on the port side and replaced them with these new planks. It went very quickly the second time, as did making the strips. Next week I replace the strips on the transom and starboard sides.

Thanks Patrick, although it is an idea that came from watching others on this site like EdT, with much less precision than his approach. And thanks for the likes too.
 
Well, I am pretty happy with the repairs to the starboard gun ports and plank sheer. Here are the results from the outside and the inside:
 

 

 
I am not totally happy with the squareness of the bottoms of the gun ports, so I will square them up a bit more with a rectangular sanding stick.
 
I continue planking the inner bulwarks on the port side. Just a few more sections to plank then I have to clean up the gun ports on this side. I will be doing that much more carefully so I don't have to repair them too.

Well, another major milestone, but not a good one. A major foul up, and when I say foul I mean something else. I was so happy to finish the inner bulwark planking on one side that I had to sand the sides flush with the gun port sides. They looked great from the inside. But then I had to go and turn the ship around. While sanding the sides of the planks I had also managed to sand some of the planking below the corners of the gun ports. Oh, I thought, I'll just sand these out if I can. Well, they sanded out but then when I looked back inside the bulwarks, I had sanded the plank sheer down under some of the gun ports, one so much it was half gone. At first I thought I would have to replace the plank sheer, but that would have been too disruptive. So on the worst one I cut out only the portion of the plank sheer under the gun port and replaced it with a new piece of the same wood I used to make the original plank sheer. I will fill in the joints with wood filler, so this should look OK when painted. Here you can see the damage under the gun port on the left and the cut out plank sheer under the gun port on the right:
 

 
I then realized I would still need to add a thin strip on the bottom of the gun port to make up the other material that was sanded away, which I did. Then I realized that I could just file the other damaged plank sheer sections square, and add a wider strip of wood over the bottom of the gun port and the plank sheer, which is what I did for the rest. Here you can see the two types of repairs:
 

 

 
They are all drying now so the next steps will be to sand these down (much more carefully) and fill the cracks with wood filler to try to make everything look like one piece. We shall see how this turns out.

Well, here are the results. I planked a few sections of the inner bulwarks with the riveted planks. I still need to trim the ends to be flush with the gun ports. Not as precise as I have seen other modellers create these rivets, but I think the overall effect is what I was after. It will be a while before they are painted, so I am curious to see what they will look like then.
 

 

 
 

Thanks all. After a fine Thanksgiving break I am back to work. I am excited to have the hull planking finished, at least for now. I did some more work on the wales to get them as smooth as the rest of the hull, so here it is after a medium and fine sanding of the whole hull.
 

 
Scott - I hope I didn't make it too smooth. I know when I prime it, I will find that I have more blemishes to fill and sand out.
 
Now it is on to more interesting work. Planking the inside bulwarks is the next task, with all those rivets to show. My original thought was to try using small drops of CA glue to simulate the rivets, like I have done on pintels and gudgeons in the past. This works fine on metal, but on wood the CA just soaked into the wood. OK, I thought, how about if I put some wipe on poly on the wood first. This slowed the soaking down, but eventually I had the same result. Time to come up with a new method.
 
I had seen other builds where they bought individual rivets from a model railroad company, but when I priced these out they seemed a bit expensive. So, I came up with my own way to make rivets. I drilled some holes in a strip of wood, dipped the end of a wire into CA, then pushed it into the hole. I cut the wire off and repeated in the next hole. The wire was sticking up a bit, so I trimmed it flusher to the wood, then used a ball peen hammer to gently tap the ends down, which also mushroomed the wire just enough. I was happy with the look and the process wasn't too bad, so I made up a jig to help. Here is the story in pictures:
 
First, here are the tools I used for this. That cutter does a good job but does not cut the wire completely flush, which worked out to be a good thing. You can see the jig I made up, which is just two strips of wood with offset markings to show where to drill the holes for the rivets. I am drilling two rows per strip, offset by half the distance between rivets, which is the pattern on the current ship. I am not yet sure if I can fit two rivets at the end of each strip, but I may try that. Most of the strips go between the gun ports, so they will be short.
 

 
Here I have a planking strip in the jig and am drilling the holes. On my first attempt, I glued the wire into the holes with the strip still on the jig, but when I pulled the strip off a few of the wires stayed glued into the jig. I now drill the holes then take the strip out of the jig before gluing in the wires.
 

 
I dip the end of the wire in a small puddle of medium CA. You can see my patented CA glue holder using small cups from my daughters contact lenses. I have a lifetime supply of these.
 

 
Then I push the wire into a hole and cut it off with the cutters.
 

 
I can get into a pretty good rhythm this way. After I fill a bunch of holes, I go back and trim the wires again to get them closer to the wood and here is how they look at this stage.
 

 
I then use the file shown to gently file them down a little bit more and brighten the ends.
 

 

 
At first I was going to use them like this, but after sleeping on it, I decided they were too sharp and still too high, so the next day I found this ball peen hammer and tried tapping them to see if they would flatten out a bit. I used this jewelers block that I had to keep the wires from pushing through the back of the strip.
 

 
And here you can see the final result on the right, the wires on the left have not been tapped down yet.
 

 
I was a bit worried that the tapping would flatten the wood out too much, but you can see from the side that the wood is still in pretty good shape. I will cut out a few strips and see how they look on the bulwarks tonight, but I think they will look good. Its a bit of work but not too bad, relative to all the other work that still needs to be done. This is such a prominent detail that I don't mind taking the time to make these strips.
 
I don't yet know how to handle the curved planks at the bow. I think I will have to bend them to shape before adding the rivets, then add the rivets before gluing them to the bow. I think trying to bend the plank with all those holes would just break it.
 
I am also in the process of designing a cradle for the model but that is a story for another day. I did measure the contour of the hull in the two places that the cradle will support, since this seemed like a good time for that before I start coppering the hull.
 

Thanks Tim, George, Scott, and Warren, and the likes.
 
Scott - thanks for that reminder to not sand too much. I have had this problem in the past, especially where I had bad clinkering going on. I think filling the low spots with wood filler helps in this regard, as I can see how much is coming off as I sand it out, without trying to remove all the surrounding wood.
 
I spent a couple of hours last night getting the rough sanding done. I had a ridge along both sides where the hull planking met the bottom of the wales, but after some serious attention with the sanding block I was able to get this area to flow together. Here are some shots of the hull at this point, ready for the medium and fine sanding, which will have to wait until Sunday, after the holiday.
 

 

 

 

 

 
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you who celebrate it, and a nice weekend to the rest of you.
 
PS - after looking at the pictures in the preview pane, I think there may be a few spots that still need some filler, which I will address as I do the rest of the sanding.
 

Thanks again guys. The encouragement is really appreciated.
 
Well, after 11 months of working on the hull, a major milestone has been reached - all of the outer hull planking is on. I spent this weekend sanding and scraping the hull, adding wood filler where needed, and sanding and scraping some more. I am still only using rough sand paper, so there is still a lot of work to be done. Here is a picture of the various tools I am using to get the planks smoothed down.
 

 
The curved end of the large sanding block has really come in handy on the curved parts of the hull, especially in the stern. The handle with the straight razor blade I use as a scraper. That little block plane come in handy with planks that are raised from the rest.
 
Here are some shots of the rough planking before I started sanding:
 

 

 
And here are some shots during the sanding process:
 

 

 

 

 
These two shots are after some sanding but before any wood filler was added. You can see some of the gaps that have to be filled.
 

 

 
I am not sure how long it is going to take me to get to the point where I can start sanding with finer paper, but probably later this week. It always amazes me how much better this looks after some wood filler and a preliminary sanding. But, then it seems to take just as long or longer to get to a  finished hull, if there is such a thing. As I said before, I always find areas that could use more work and I don't expect this hull to be any different.

Thanks again guys for the encouragement. I am feeling a bit better about the state of the planking now that it is almost done. I am down to one plank section per side, which I should be able to finish up tonight. Those screw in planking clamps have worked really well on these small gaps. I bought a bunch of them a few years ago when Micro Mark had them on sale, so I didn't run out once on this build. They were a bit expensive even on sale, but they sure came in handy. There were even a few planks where I did not have a gap left that I just screwed the post through the plank to hold it, which I will fill the hole with putty now. I first tried straight pins, but they would not hold the planks flat to the filler blocks.
 

 

 

 

 
I am seeing some wavy-ness when looking down the hull, but I think that will be sanded out when I complete the sanding. That is going to be the next big task, one in which I always have a hard time. I think that I am getting close to being done, then look at the hull with light from a different angle and see all sorts of anomalies. And this hull is bigger by a lot than any previous planking that I have done. So, I just need to get at it and take my time and be generous with the wood putty (although most of it will get sanded off).
 
Since I am down to working one plank per side at a time, I have had some time to make all the quoins for the gun deck cannons. I also made all the ring bolts for them, which I have blackened along with the eye bolts for them. I have started making the hooks for the gun tackles, as well. I can do about 10 per night before my eyes give out, and I need about 90 of them. I started out trying to use a pair of pliers with round ends for the loops, but ended up using tweezers instead, which resulted in smaller loops. The hook part is made by bending around the end of a needle nose pliers. I do this all with the wire still on the roll, then cut off the hook and file the end somewhat pointy, although not as pointy as I would like yet. It is really hard to hold them still while filing, since they are so small.
 

 
I will post pictures of the sanding as it progresses.