glbarlow

I understand the decision, same one I made for this build. Difference is I'm stuck on copper plating. Just so boring and tedious I haven't been near my vanguard for more than a month. At his rate I'll be done in four years as well. I keep looking at my Pegasus for inspiration but it isn't forthcoming.

Great job Len, nice log ang excellent model. I'll watch for your next one.

Any thoughts on copper plates vs copper tape on hulls?  I'm finding copper plating my HMS Vanguard going very slowly and not especially exciting.  While I'm sure everyone would say the plates are more accurate and show better, I'm considering plating one side and taping the other.  It will be displayed in such a way only one side can be seen, so that's not an issue. 

Part of my question is how well the tape conforms to the curves and bends of the hull (without kinking), how well it adheres, and how easy and fast it goes on compared the the tedious work of the individaul plates? Does using a ponce wheel come help (the Vanguard plates are only  embossed, not actually engraved)?

I realize this is copping out to a large degree, but its not a part of the process I enjoy, I want to make it back to the wood and decks sometime before I get old

I broke the code, at least for me anyway.  My trick was to quickly "acknowledge" the change from straight on the keel to the upward and inward curve of the bow by laying in a short row trimed to allow for the taper.  I had done that the first time but one I waited to after the third row to adjust, and two I tried to match the trimming to the space and was not happy with the results (the perfectionist in me again).  The tiles are so thin its easy to overlap the tiles a little bit, the key there being to overlap the upper row over the lower which is trimmed to be larger than the space required - then you don't even see it and it looks like a good trim job.  Just takes some planning (Iused and index card and pencil to determine the natural flow of the lines, "stealer" length and width and curve) to get the trimming right.  I rebuilt the 5 rows (just the bow, not the whole ship, its all good 3-5 inches back from the stem) I tore off earlier today so I should be good to go from here.  I get a little nuts about these things, but in fairness, though 7 ships completed, this is only the second I coppered, the Pickle being the first and a long time ago and a lot smaller. 

Pictures to follow, I want to make some more progress.  Thanks for the encouragement and help.

No worries, I'll sort it all out.  I started today by tearing off 5 rows at the bow area.  It's going better already, just have to figure out the curves.  Now I have to hope the kit included plenty of extra plates, I've definitely wasted more than a few.

Thanks Rusty, it's the bow that's giving me fits.  Did you work from the keel up the whole way, or come from both bottom up and top down?  Yours looks great, it looks almost as though there were three distinct "belts:" the top 2 rows, a middle straight, and a bottom curved?  

Thanks Rusty.  I've started the coppering, I really don't like it.  I will take me a while.  I can't quite sort out how to account for the curve of the hull, not quite as simple as tapering planks.  I still may go for the aluminum foil route I joked about earlier, not I'm think it may not be such a bad idea.  This is my 8th model ship, but the only one I coppered was the little HM Pickle.  It would take 10 of them to equal the amount of copper needed for the Vanguard.

Oh well, one plate at a time...

Last update before the coppering – really I’m serious this time.  Unless I go off book again and build the ships boats….

Here is the completed stern including the galleys.  It takes a lot to get to this point.  I think the design and plans support the work, though glad I don’t need to rely on instructions anymore, they are pretty thin on description here.  Fortunately there is an extra booklet that comes with the Vanguard laying out the hull build.  It is far more valuable than the instructions.  For any new builders my advice is learn now how to use the plans and don’t depend solely on the written instructions, in the end its far less frustrating and more rewarding.  Also while I'm offering unsolicited advice, invest in good quality paint brushes.  I use Loew Cornell http://www.hofcraft.com/loew-cornell-3000-series-comfort-grip-brushes.html brushes, my multiple 18/0 and 10/0 spotters got a lot of work in the building of the stern and galley.  I like the spotters and shaders more than the round sizes for detail work.

Something I didn’t mention n the last post but is worth passing on.  As careful as I was with the gun port pattern alignments on both sides, they did not wind up even with the center keel and bulwark structure across the back.  They were even with each other, effectively that meant a slight curve of the stern.  This is reinforced by the multiple small pieces that make up the side galleys having a bit of angle to them.  That would be no problem for the walnut ply piece that makes up most of the stern, it bends easy enough, however the stern decoration is cast from a molded plastic, it has absolutely no bend at all.  I ended up having to fit a shim to bring the rear portion of the galleys near equal to the center point of the center keel portion of the stern so as not to break the plastic decoration, meaning flat across the back, not curved……….ok I did that after I broke the plastic decoration trying to get that slight bend.  Fortunately it was a clean break and I easily (if angrily) fixed it and touched it up to be invisible.

I was impressed with how 30+ brass etched and ply parts come together so wel to form the galleys.  The alignment of parts all look right when its done.  I had to make two changes to the plans for it to work – which probably are my fault somehow and not that of the plans.  The wood trim below the “rails” is supposed to be 1x1mm like the other three.  I had to use 1/x2mm otherwise the lower columns would not have line up with the windows.  I also placed the three little decorative pieces differently, they wouldn’t fit where the plans call them.  That’s minor stuff – overall the designer did well with this subassembly.  Also, the soft cast metal pieces I didn’t use on the stern did come in handy as the two lowest trim pieces.  Wood trim wouldn’t have made the both front to back and top to bottom bending required to fit here.  

Off to do the coppering…unless I can figure out some way to avoid it once again.

Just one photo to show for this update; the work though in this one photo represents a whole lot of hours to get here.  I decided that since I’d have the ship in odd positions (e.g. the bow into a large cushion on the floor and the stern held between my knees), I’d go ahead and finish the stern before flipping it over to do the coppering, or maybe I was just delaying the tedious coppering a while longer.

I don’t know about everyone else but the stern has been a challenge for every ship I’ve built.  Somehow the clever plans from the designer don’t seem to quite work out exactly as drawn for me.  I’ve had to do a few modifications, design alterations and planning of my own to make the ship come together back here at the stern.  Not a lot, but enough to make it interesting.  As careful as I build the frames and keel and align gun port patterns, its here even a millimeter or two off shows up.  I’m making more of it than it is, but for those taking any guidance from this log I’ll just say this: Patience, thinking it through, and not worrying if the designer’s plans don’t quite make sense or work out as drawn, is required on your part. Because you can make your own adjustments to make it work and be just fine. 

First up in the “it’s my model I’ll do what I want” was following my own whimsy on the painting, I like Caldercraft’s French Blue so aside from yellow ochre it’s the primary color.  I’m sure there is much more detail I could have done to painting this; flesh tones, more colors, etc.  But frankly at some point I’ve had enough of 18/0 brushwork plus as Captain I decided the crew had better things to do that make my stern work too “fancy.” (Really though, I just used up my eyeball allotment for close-up work.)

I may have said this before, but I love Caldercraft paints.  I use an airbrush for the brass etchings but brush paint everything else, the black covers in one coat (though I always use two) and the yellow ochre, red ochre, French Blue or matt white never require more than two coats.  Plus I think the red and yellow ochre are so spot-on for the right shade for my tastes, and finally it covers so easily for the teeny tiny touch up work I invariably have to do.  I like it so much I order it from the UK since I haven’t found a US source for it.

As for ignoring the plans:  They call for using the cast metal, below the columns, below the name plate, and even attached to the top of the handrails, that looked so heavy and so out of scale to me I ignored it choosing to put 1x1mm trim below the columns, left over side-hull molding below the nameplate, and nothing on the hand rails, I like it much better than the cast metal, which also would have shown a seam had I used it since the provided pieces aren’t long enough.

I’m going to finish off the side galley’s next and then I’ll really be out of things to do before the coppering phase.  I realize I set myself up for possibly damaging some of this work while in the ship is upside down, but I was more concerned about damaging the copper.  My objective (we’ll see) is to put the model on its final stand once the coppering is done and finish the ship from there. 

So there you have it…

Sounds like you're making great progress.  I'm glad I pre-determined I wasn't doing masts this time around.  I look forward to seeing your photos. This one looks great, I know how hard it is to get them looking that good.

Been a while since my last update and while it doesn't look like a lot has changed, it sure has taken a while to get here.

I call this work "Copper Plate Avoidance" I'm doing everything I can to avoid turning the ship over and starting the copper plating.  Thing is I've now run out of those things so the next step is to start the plating process, a process I would gladly outsource if I could.  I wonder how it would look if I just got some aluminum foil out of the kitchen and...never mind.

Putting the name on the stern would seem to be a simple task, but it isn't.  It takes time and meticulous planning to get the letters on in a straight line and both equally and proportionately spaced all the while not putting down any excessive glue or messing up the yellow ochre painted brass etched letters.  Its worth the time I think to get it right. I used the strip of brass I removed the letter from for the spacing.  I used the attachment points on the strip and lined them up on the letter where it was detached from, it worked great as a guide, letter by letter, to keep them spaced properly.  It doesn't help with the straight-line aspect though.

As you can tell I’ve elected to close most of the hatches.  My ship is under no current enemy threat and is buttoned up for making headway in heavy seas.  While I know the crew with hammocks on these lower decks would like the fresh air, it is very cold in the North Atlantic so its best to keep them closed.

So, 42 little boards cut for port hatches later along with 84 brass hinges and 84 eyelets first soaked in ‘Blacken It’ and 84 clove hitches tied on the eyelets and fitted into 84 hand drilled holes above the ports later – this is what it looks like.  As I said last entry, no more ships of the line for me, too much repetitive work.  However I must admit it looks pretty sharp.  Tedium or not I still have to deal with the perfectionist in me, it’s a constant struggle .  The silver line you see is the waterline marked, the last row of copper plates will cover the hull up to this point.

So my next post will be of a coppered ship and with the holidays and the time it will take to do it plate by plate, it will be a while…

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas everyone.

Well it was nice I must admit to get some replies.  Thanks guys.

Alistar:  In the case of the Vanguard kit, they are cast bronze trucks, so natural wasn't an option.  I did find research when building the Pegasus that they were painted, but I'm sure many were left natural as well.  Painting was largely the captain's choice and often depended on how personally wealthy he was since the admiralty provided little in that regard.  This captain likes the trucks black (I'm thinking its a good thing I didn't decide on blue).

Zyzut:  Thanks, the stern color choices just came to me as I did it, in fact there was more white and I decided it needed more red so I repainted the white.  The detail work with an 18/0 brush whiles a way the hours, I kind of enjoy it until I realize I'm obsessing over every tiny brush mark.  At some point, its "put the brush down and go to bed dummy."

Rusty:  Thanks man, I appreciate hearing from one of the world's best modelers.

Lou: I had very precise goals before; the Pegasus is as historically accurate as I could make it, the Fair American was built with exotic woods and not a single drop of paint, painting with wood I called it at the time.  Your right, this time its just for enjoyment.  No goals, while I'm naturally precise and detail oriented I'm not obsessing about it.  I did a model with scaled planks, but worked so hard on the finish I couldn't see them after I painted it.  Actually the Vanguard is scaled planks above the main wale. I did use an airbrush on the cannon using a jig I made for the barrels.  I had paint day and also air brushed all the etched pieces white, yellow, red, or black depending on where it goes later as well as the cannon.  However the hull, the stern decoration, and all wood parts are done by hand.  I think the hull and wood in general really needs the brush strokes to look good.

I wanted to build a ship of the line, but honestly this will be the last.  I like frigates, both the lines and from a scale perspective.  Frankly this is a cannon platform, not a ship.  Plus its really really big, I still don't know where I'm going to put it when its done.

An update for the 2 or 3 people that look at this log.  I guess I should give it up, there are better logs out there that go over each step of their build.  I've been trying to show something a little different in an effort to possibly help others as I've been helped so much by logs I've read before and continue to do now.  Oh well, I guess I'll keep posting updates.

Six of one, half dozen of the other so the expression goes.  The instructions say to copper then paint, I chose to first paint the hull before turning it over to copper the bottom.  Easier to touch up paint than it is to not mess up copper was my reasoning.  I always finish my paint work with a coat of Satin Water-Based Poly to protect it and harden it up.  That creates a bit of shine, but it is far less noticeable when I'm not shooting a photo with a bright flash attached.

I couldn’t get behind the Nelson Checker pattern of lining up the yellow stripes with the gun ports.  I wanted to, even started taping it that way, but it just didn’t look good to me so I chose to follow the wales with the gold and black paint.  Oh well, no museum quality historically accurate model for me this time I guess.  But I’ll like it better sitting wherever it winds up setting.

Tamiya masking tape is the best thing I ever discovered (by looking at logs on this site).  Far more than standard blue painter’s tape it allows clean crisp lines to be matched up with no over-run.  I have to do very little touch up work when I match up two colors like this, and where I do it is more likely my error than the tapes.  Good stuff.  You can get it on Amazon.

To break things up I also chose my colors for the stern decoration, again ignoring instructions. I’m the captain of this ship, Nelson has moved on to bigger things.

I also started on the cannon, the 12 pounders are done, the 9 pounders are still in progress, all sitting in my construction hanger, otherwise know as a cabinet. That's it for now.

I see there is a pinned posting from David Antscherl at the top of this forum.  I'm not him, he's the expert. I have and love his books on building the Swan.  Therefore I post this with some trepidation.  

My thoughts on 2^nd planking:  Spiling, or tapering, to fit a flat strip of wood on a surface that curves both front to back and top bottom is no small feat.  It defies the grain and natural tendency of the wood and is one of the more fascinating, though perhaps tedious, aspects of shipbuilding.  There are whole books written on this topic by modelers far more expert than me using precise methods that are far more exacting than what I do.  Nonetheless, I thought I’d share my process.  I did this for the lost log of the Pegasus and got some nice responses, so here it is again.  It's the result of the practice I've gained from completing 14 hull plankings (ok, 7 models twice planked:-)

First and foremost for the 2^nd planking to look work you have to have had a good first planking, more than structure and shape it is the surface for the 2^nd planking.  If it’s wrong you aren’t going to make up for it with the 2^nd planking.  The first planking doesn’t need to look pretty, but it has to be shaped and sanded to be the hull you want the 2^nd planking to become. 

The photo shows my pretty simple set of tools used for planking.

For a strip of planking to reach from the bow to the stern, the bow portion (and in some cases the stern) has to be splined or tapered.  In order to have the same number of strips at the wider waist as you have at the narrower bow.  The key is how to make the math work and how to achieve the double twist to accommodate both curves, deck to keel, bow to waist to stern.  I don’t do scarfing or lay battens, I’m too lazy for the first and don’t find a need for the second.

With most ships as with the Vanguard the planks closest to the deck will fit full width, the key is not to take too much advantage of this, you pay for it later by not being able to get the lower planks to work out right. I first set the planks for the main wale as full width (actually the base, the wale is achieved by doubling up on those planks after sanding the fully planked hull), below that I tapered, above it I went full width.  I chose to go up from the wale first and then down, but either way works.  I cut and overlap lengths above the wale to show the butt joints similar to the decking, but choose to go the full length of the ship below the wale, just my choice.

The second thing I do is the garboard, a full width plank along the keel.  I usually cheat a bit and put a second plank here, tapering the bow side only slightly.  The garboard is historically accurate, but in the case of modeling ensures you have a good base and a consistent point to measure from for tapering the planks below the wale

The color differences are due to variation in the planks provided with the kit, since I'm painting the hull it's just the one I picked up next.

Measure what?  I use a piece of paper and measure the distance from the bottom of the wale to the top of the garboard at the waist and divide by 5.  Since I’m using 5mm wide planks I then know me how many planks I’ll need to cover the ship.  So if the measurement is 100mm, then I need twenty 5mm planks to cover the waist.

I do that same measurement at the bow and divide that number by the number of planks above.  If the length was 60mm I know the plank width at the bow has to be 3 mm to get those same 20 planks to fit to the stem of the bow. 

Pretty simple.  All I have to do is use my Exacto knife with a really sharp blade (I change blades a lot) and cut the plank from 5 to 3 mm wide.  Here’s the trick though, where to start the cut to begin the taper.  I’m sure there are much more methodical and mathematical ways to do this, but I just let the plank tell me.  I cut the angle required at stem, bevel it, then matching the end of the plank to the bow, lay the plank along the length of the one above it.  It fits snug along the waist and for most of the length of the ship, where it crosses the plank above as it closes in on the bow stem is where I mark with a pencil to start the taper.  I mark a 3 mm width at the stem end, lay my heavy steel rule across the two marks I’ve now made, and cut the taper. 

If the taper start point is too close to the stem, it will be very hard to get the plank to lay flat, if it is two far from the stem a S-curve will begin to develop with the distance between the last laid plank not being proportionately equal at the waist and bow.  If this happens I can adjust by where I cut the next plank or if I see it happening soon enough, toss that plank and cut a new one.  As long as I carefully locate my marks it doesn’t happen, its just when I get rushed or bored.  I re-take the measurements every 5 planks or so to make sure I’m still on target, it doesn’t vary much but its worth checking to avoid very narrow stem plank widths as you reach the garboard.

Measuring in this way gives me a good looking bow, doesn’t require battens, is simple enough to do, and is made possible by using cyano, not PVA glue.  The cyano can be a bit messy, I may be a little over generous with its use, but this comes off easily with sanding and allows the process to move along more quickly.  I’d be more careful with the cyano to avoid staining if I was leaving the hull natural (as I did using cherry wood with the Pegasus) but since I’m painting, smooth is all that’s required.

This same process applies to the stern for some but generally not the majority of planks. Here is more important to let the plank follow its natural flow.  This will create triangular gaps that are filled with stealers.  Simply cut triangles cut to fit the length and width of those gaps unless you want to go all  out and scarp them in.  Again, I’m painting and scarping the hull, this would be wasted effort for me (unless you enjoy knowing and doing it then by all means).

I do all this knowing that no matter how careful I am, I have always had to fill in some area at the waist with partial and oddly cut planks that don’t reach stem to stern.  This fill is on the bottom and won’t be seen once its on the stand so I don’t worry about it, the perfectionist in me adjusts and accepts.

So that’s my two cents.  I’m sure as always there are better, more precise, and more expert ways to plank and several of those are included in this forum.  But this way works for me and the speed and pace I chose to work.  For what its worth I share it with you.

My thoughts on 2^nd planking:  Spiling, or tapering, to fit a flat strip of wood on a surface that curves both front to back and top bottom is no small feat.  It defies the grain and natural tendency of the wood and is one of the more fascinating, though perhaps tedious, aspects of shipbuilding.  There are whole books written on this topic by modelers far more expert than me using precise methods that are far more exacting than what I do.  Nonetheless, I thought I’d share my process.  I did this for the lost log of the Pegasus and got some nice responses, so here it is again.

First and foremost for the 2^nd planking to look work you have to have had a good first planking, more than structure and shape it is the surface for the 2^nd planking.  If it’s wrong you aren’t going to make up for it with the 2^nd planking.  The first planking doesn’t need to look pretty, but it has to be shaped and sanded to be the hull you want the 2^nd planking to become. 

The photo shows my pretty simple set of tools used for planking.

For a strip of planking to reach from the bow to the stern, the bow portion (and in some cases the stern) has to be splined or tapered.  In order to have the same number of strips at the wider waist as you have at the narrower bow.  The key is how to make the math work and how to achieve the double twist to accommodate both curves, deck to keel, bow to waist to stern.  I don’t do scarfing or lay battens, I’m too lazy for the first and don’t find a need for the second.

With most ships as with the Vanguard the planks closest to the deck will fit full width, the key is not to take too much advantage of this, you pay for it later by not being able to get the lower planks to work out right. I first set the planks for the main wale as full width (actually the base, the wale is achieved by doubling up on those planks after sanding the fully planked hull), below that I tapered, above it I went full width.  I chose to go up from the wale first and then down, but either way works.  I cut and overlap lengths above the wale to show the butt joints similar to the decking, but choose to go the full length of the ship below the wale, just my choice.

The second thing I do is the garboard, a full width plank along the keel.  I usually cheat a bit and put a second plank here, tapering the bow side only slightly.  The garboard is historically accurate, but in the case of modeling ensures you have a good base and a consistent point to measure from for tapering the planks below the wale

The color differences are due to variation in the planks provided with the kit, since I'm painting the hull it's just the one I picked up next.

Measure what?  I use a piece of paper and measure the distance from the bottom of the wale to the top of the garboard at the waist and divide by 5.  Since I’m using 5mm wide planks I then know me how many planks I’ll need to cover the ship.  So if the measurement is 100mm, then I need twenty 5mm planks to cover the waist.

I do that same measurement at the bow and divide that number by the number of planks above.  If the length was 60mm I know the plank width at the bow has to be 3 mm to get those same 20 planks to fit to the stem of the bow. 

Pretty simple.  All I have to do is use my Exacto knife with a really sharp blade (I change blades a lot) and cut the plank from 5 to 3 mm wide.  Here’s the trick though, where to start the cut to begin the taper.  I’m sure there are much more methodical and mathematical ways to do this, but I just let the plank tell me.  I cut the angle required at stem, bevel it, then matching the end of the plank to the bow, lay the plank along the length of the one above it.  It fits snug along the waist and for most of the length of the ship, where it crosses the plank above as it closes in on the bow stem is where I mark with a pencil to start the taper.  I mark a 3 mm width at the stem end, lay my heavy steel rule across the two marks I’ve now made, and cut the taper. 

If the taper start point is too close to the stem, it will be very hard to get the plank to lay flat, if it is two far from the stem a S-curve will begin to develop with the distance between the last laid plank not being proportionately equal at the waist and bow.  If this happens I can adjust by where I cut the next plank or if I see it happening soon enough, toss that plank and cut a new one.  As long as I carefully locate my marks it doesn’t happen, its just when I get rushed or bored.  I re-take the measurements every 5 planks or so to make sure I’m still on target, it doesn’t vary much but its worth checking to avoid very narrow stem plank widths as you reach the garboard.

Measuring in this way gives me a good looking bow, doesn’t require battens, is simple enough to do, and is made possible by using cyano, not PVA glue.  The cyano can be a bit messy, I may be a little over generous with its use, but this comes off easily with sanding and allows the process to move along more quickly.  I’d be more careful with the cyano to avoid staining if I was leaving the hull natural (as I did using cherry wood with the Pegasus) but since I’m painting, smooth is all that’s required.

This same process applies to the stern for some but generally not the majority of planks. Here is more important to let the plank follow its natural flow.  This will create triangular gaps that are filled with stealers.  Simply cut triangles cut to fit the length and width of those gaps unless you want to go all  out and scarp them in.  Again, I’m painting and scarping the hull, this would be wasted effort for me (unless you enjoy knowing and doing it then by all means).

I do all this knowing that no matter how careful I am, I have always had to fill in some area at the waist with partial and oddly cut planks that don’t reach stem to stern.  This fill is on the bottom and won’t be seen once its on the stand so I don’t worry about it, the perfectionist in me adjusts and accepts.

So that’s my two cents.  I’m sure as always there are better, more precise, and more expert ways to plank.  But this way works for me and for what its worth I share it with you.

Not very exciting photos, but an update on my slow progress.  This is the sausage being made, only rough initial sanding at this point.

I elected to complete and install the quarter galleries and then later determined I also needed to install the bow bulkhead in order to get a tight fit on the 2^nd planking.  The quarter galleries were pretty straight forward, but as stated in the directions it did take some beveling and sanding to get all the pieces aligned and neat.  I put a light stick painter’s tape to protect the windows, the rest of the decoration will be added much later.

The stern of every model I’ve built has proven to be an adventure.  This model is no different, but frankly has been easier than most.  I make sure all the pieces fit and adjustments are made at this point.  I don’t want to be doing that when the instructions suggest and after the model is in a much more delicate stage with decoration and small parts fitted.   In my case I had to trim the rear and top most portion of the gun port patterns down about 3mm,  trim/sand the angle on the back side of the galleries, and make some adjustments of the stern planking to get the proper fit of the transom (not installed in the photos but was temporarily nailed to check fit.

So that I could overlap the planking on the side, I first completed the stern planking.  This is a trade off, it would be easier to fit the lower stern planks as they curved up from the side, but this is not a visible area and I preferred not to have the edges show from the side view, I’m confident I can make it fit as I lay the planks.

First order of business for 2^nd planking is to establish and lay the wales (not really, this is the first layer it will be built up later, but this is where the build up will go).  The full size plan is not exactly a match to the actual gun port patterns.  There is a difference between the top of the pattern and the wale position and from the main deck gun ports and that same wale position, mostly from about gun port 8 on back.  I elected to go with the gun ports as it didn’t require quite as much an unnatural bend at the stern.

The instructions don’t mention it, but I always install a garboard plank along the keel as a full sized, un-tapered plank.  In this case I cheated a bit and added a second one.  This gives a clear and easy measure point for determining tapering widths and prevents having a oddly shaped plank at the keel.

From here the option is to start up or down from the wales.  Up, no tapering needed, but lots of ports to cut out (I’ve really gone through some blades), down, no gun ports, but lots of tapering and bending.  Doesn’t really matter, so I went up first.

I will own up to a change in plans.  Originally I was going to not follow the authentic paint scheme and instead use some exotic woods. For a number of reasons I elected to not do that, so Nelson Checker painted it will be.

This ship has a lot of gun ports to cut out and make square, there must be at least 74 of them…

Thanks - While I understand the jig's construction, I'm still a little unclear on how to consistently get the 1mm set in from the hull.  But I appreciate your's and Gil's help.

can you share a photo of the jig and process used for your gunports?  At that point now on the Vanguard.  Thanks.

Great work Len.  I'll call mine done when I get to this stage.  

Thanks Morten, glad it is of some help.

Yes, the shape is correct and the gun port patterns are all on correctly, I just didn't like the cutting and splicing I had to do to fill the open spots in order to accommodate my lack of proper splining.  Must have been a motivation issue knowing there'd not only be a second planking but copper on top of that.  There are no dents to speak of, the stern is correctly aligned and level, and the big bow belly of a 74 looks as its supposed to.

Sometimes I just try to entertain a bit and hopefully help someone along the way.  I'm glad the Pegasus log was helpful to you and others.  Wish I had access to it myself right now. There were a few good lessons learned in there I'd like to remind myself by reading again.

btw: the source of my trials and tribulations was waiting too long to start splining (don't believe the instructions, start tapering right away) and not tapering far enough back on plank (should start closer to frame 5 not between 3 & 4).  Just because you can force a wet plank to bend tto fit doesn't mean you won't pay for doing that 3-4 planks later... 

also btw:  that is the camera flash bouncing off the bow, not a 45 degree turn, a trick of the light, its actually a smooth turn.

There is nothing glamorous or exciting about first planking.  It’s just what you do to build a model ship.  It’s the foundation for the real job of the second planking.  I wondered the first time I built a model why do you do two planking jobs, isn’t one enough.  Fact is no it isn’t.  A real ship, and advanced plank on frame models, have frames very close together.  Not the case on a plank of bulkhead type model.  The first planking really establishes the curves and feel of the hull, the second makes it look like a real ship.

As such, and even so, I can’t say I enjoyed this job.  It really was an ordeal to get “all the space filled.”  A lot of this is because I have to admit to taking a half-assed approach to it knowing I’d get wood all over the model and fit it close enough.  I knew I could sand it into the smooth surface it needed to be for the 2^nd planking (not to mention copper plating) and I accomplished that goal.  The hull is fine, it’s the right shape, its even and mostly smooth thanks to 80 grit sandpaper followed by 220 grit paper, my Black & Decker Sanding Mouse, and my elbows.  But it was ugly, probably the worst I’ve ever done, and I didn’t enjoy it. 

I was committed to getting it done quickily and have it look right in the end, which it does.  But it probably would have been easier to take the time to plan and map out the plank splining, do a better job beveling the back frames and including balsa between frames 3 and 4 and not think I had to do it in a few days.

I elect to finish this stage with a couple of coats of waterbased polly with light sanding between coats with 220 grit and a light but coarser 150 grit final finish.  I’ve found this not only helps even further smooth the hull, it also keeps moisture and humitiy from upsetting anything.  Just serves to seal it up.

Again, it looks fine as far as a smooth surface goes, but there are awkwardly fit planks (that will soon never again see the light of day so its not that big a deal) that assault the senses of the perfectionist in me.  

I added an edit at the bottom of entry 2 of this log about my lessons learned from first planking on this model.  I'll add pictures later as I'm not quite finished, but hoping this log will help someone someday I wanted to do the update.  Short version, a British 74 doesn't have the sleek bow lines of a frigate of the same time period - who knew 

Mark,

Thank you, this is the info I was looking for.  There are so many different sizes and types of blades it's hard to know where to start. As I said in the original post, I'll be cutting frames from boxwood as the first job (although I'll practice on less expensive scrap wood first of course).  I have learned what blade works best for my Byrnes saw, I don't want to waste a lot of wood or time figuring out what is best for a scroll saw.  

There are a lot of experienced scroll saw users on this forum and I want to take advantage of their knowledge. I had gone to the sawbirds page earlier, it lists 10 different types each in 3-10 different sizes, although they have a recommended page I was thinking all modeler's do many much the same thing - cutting .5 - 5mm wood into various ship parts, there must be at least a short list of type and size to use that prevents splintering, cuts the wood in small intricate shapes, and minimizes waste. 

Thanks, but still interested in knowing more specifically what blade to use for what purpose.

I'm moving to scratch building with the Echo cross section and buying a scroll saw to cut frames. Lots of choices there but my question is what blade (size, type, model - not manufacturer) for what purpose. Specifically what blade to use to cut frames from boxwood for the Echo, which one to use for small pieces of wood and very precise cuts without splintering, how to augment my Byrnes saw with precise cuts, curves, 90 degree turns etc.

I've never owned a scroll saw. I'm sure it's a different experience than all the othe model and big boy power tools I have.