glbarlow

That would be very helpful.  I have the Cheerful starter package and all of the sheets of wood.  I just need to learn how to rip my own planks.  I have enjoyed your build log as well as the other Cheerful builders.  All of this information will help me when I start my Cheerful.

I think I’ll next try to write a post on what I’ve learned on ripping planks.
 
I have the micrometer but in this instance it’s no help. I’ll expand on this later but I set the cut depth either with some brass gauges I have or in this case with one plank already cut the proper width between the blade and the fence snugged up tight, but no so tight I can’t pull it through. 
 
Step one is having a great saw with the right blade - In my opinion the Byrnes saw has no peer. Though I’m new to ripping planks, I’ve had this saw for ten years and used it for countless things in building my models.

I think I’ll next try to write a post on what I’ve learned on ripping planks.
 
I have the micrometer but in this instance it’s no help. I’ll expand on this later but I set the cut depth either with some brass gauges I have or in this case with one plank already cut the proper width between the blade and the fence snugged up tight, but no so tight I can’t pull it through. 
 
Step one is having a great saw with the right blade - In my opinion the Byrnes saw has no peer. Though I’m new to ripping planks, I’ve had this saw for ten years and used it for countless things in building my models.

In my last post I said if my model had 3 sides the third side would be better.
 
Turns out I elected to prove that point. After finishing the port side I looked to finish the remaining 4 rows on starboard. I was already concerned because I had a thin spot where I had over-sanded. I looked, thought about it, looked some more, shook my head a few times, looked again, thought about it. Then ripped off the whole side (after doing two more rows, only two from being finished) all the way to the bottom of the wales, including those first two rows I’d put on multiple times already.
 

 
So I did the starboard side again, all 10 rows including the drop plank (which fortunately Chuck provides a couple of extra). I’m much happier with the result, I will not be seeing if I get better if my model had four sides. There are still imperfections, but I’m wrapping that up as character and the acceptance that as I am an imperfect person, so then should be my ship.
 

 
Here, at least for me, is what I found made the difference. It may seem small but in my work I found it to be important. First, as I mentioned at the beginning of the log I had no experience ripping planks prior to starting Cheerful. Now with the help of others and doing a lot of it I’ve gotten better. The key difference now is I can rip planks a consistent thickness. I’ll show what my steps are in a future post. It’s not that they were wildly different in fact all measured 3/64th with my digital caliper. But as I mentioned the difference in millimeters ran from about 1.18 - 1.32. Clearly that’s not much but it meant more sanding to get them evened up, hence the thin spot.
 

 
Secondly, I determined I was happiest with thicker planks. With plank bending the thickness wasn’t a problem - so I cut a batch of about 48 planks (enough for the remaining rows on the bottom too) at about 1.38. - almost 1/16th thick.  With them all being much closer to the same width and thicker I got better results with much less sanding. This is probably because I’m just an average modeler and certainly because in my life I’ve now single planked three sides of a ship, but it’s what worked.
 
This may all seem obvious to most, my discovery is that if I’d only measured it using imperial, they were all 3/64ths, perhaps my digital caliper may not be as precise in imperial as it should be. By cross checking that in millimeters, and the variance in thickness that showed, sent me on an unrecoverable need to start the starboard side over. And here I am. I’m really hoping I’ve solved this. It would be much more difficult to rip off the bottom rows, I don’t want to do that again. In case you’re wondering - it wasn’t fun.
 
Now I get to figure out why a square tuck is actually a triangle - this may take a while. Oh, and I’m going to need more 3/16ths wood for the deck…:-)

A small step forward. I set up the fixed block at the stem.
What I really like about this project is that each step represents a mini-project in itself.

I used a small strip of wood of the right width to be sure to stick the 2 elements at the right distance and well parallel.

The bolts are simulated and the block is put in place.

One last note: with this project, you don't have to worry too much, because Chuck was generous in the elements provided.
Any part which represents a certain difficulty is supplied in several copies. In case.

 

To dowmer - this time I used brass, which is then tinned, and tin foil, which is glued to the deck with double-sided adhesive tape.
To glbarlow - the maximum length I can do on a milling maschine is 28 cm, for longer plank I use "special jig" - see picture. I insert the plank into the groove in the jig, perform the milling of the first part, remove the plank and move it forward and continue milling.
 

 
I continue with breast hook, collar beam and bowsprit partner.
 

Only six guns? I envy you!

I think I’ll next try to write a post on what I’ve learned on ripping planks.
 
I have the micrometer but in this instance it’s no help. I’ll expand on this later but I set the cut depth either with some brass gauges I have or in this case with one plank already cut the proper width between the blade and the fence snugged up tight, but no so tight I can’t pull it through. 
 
Step one is having a great saw with the right blade - In my opinion the Byrnes saw has no peer. Though I’m new to ripping planks, I’ve had this saw for ten years and used it for countless things in building my models.

Nope it's good to see that you suffer the same as the rest of us! 🤣
Seriously your explanations help others understand possible problems and a means of correcting or modifying the approach and achieving a great result.  
I'm all for your sharing and I'm envious you can explain it so well. Keep up the good work. Oh and please no 4 sided hulls!!!

It looks really, really nice! I’m a complete novice with table saws (I don’t own one yet) but does the micrometer stop help with the thickness consistency? I suppose I should first ask, do you have the Byrnes micrometer stop and is this what it is used for?
 
Ha when it comes to modeling I’m not certain there is such a thing. Heck, even non-ship modeling stuff needs to be heard by the right person 🙂.

Sometimes I worry I share too much...............

In my last post I said if my model had 3 sides the third side would be better.
 
Turns out I elected to prove that point. After finishing the port side I looked to finish the remaining 4 rows on starboard. I was already concerned because I had a thin spot where I had over-sanded. I looked, thought about it, looked some more, shook my head a few times, looked again, thought about it. Then ripped off the whole side (after doing two more rows, only two from being finished) all the way to the bottom of the wales, including those first two rows I’d put on multiple times already.
 

 
So I did the starboard side again, all 10 rows including the drop plank (which fortunately Chuck provides a couple of extra). I’m much happier with the result, I will not be seeing if I get better if my model had four sides. There are still imperfections, but I’m wrapping that up as character and the acceptance that as I am an imperfect person, so then should be my ship.
 

 
Here, at least for me, is what I found made the difference. It may seem small but in my work I found it to be important. First, as I mentioned at the beginning of the log I had no experience ripping planks prior to starting Cheerful. Now with the help of others and doing a lot of it I’ve gotten better. The key difference now is I can rip planks a consistent thickness. I’ll show what my steps are in a future post. It’s not that they were wildly different in fact all measured 3/64th with my digital caliper. But as I mentioned the difference in millimeters ran from about 1.18 - 1.32. Clearly that’s not much but it meant more sanding to get them evened up, hence the thin spot.
 

 
Secondly, I determined I was happiest with thicker planks. With plank bending the thickness wasn’t a problem - so I cut a batch of about 48 planks (enough for the remaining rows on the bottom too) at about 1.38. - almost 1/16th thick.  With them all being much closer to the same width and thicker I got better results with much less sanding. This is probably because I’m just an average modeler and certainly because in my life I’ve now single planked three sides of a ship, but it’s what worked.
 
This may all seem obvious to most, my discovery is that if I’d only measured it using imperial, they were all 3/64ths, perhaps my digital caliper may not be as precise in imperial as it should be. By cross checking that in millimeters, and the variance in thickness that showed, sent me on an unrecoverable need to start the starboard side over. And here I am. I’m really hoping I’ve solved this. It would be much more difficult to rip off the bottom rows, I don’t want to do that again. In case you’re wondering - it wasn’t fun.
 
Now I get to figure out why a square tuck is actually a triangle - this may take a while. Oh, and I’m going to need more 3/16ths wood for the deck…:-)

In my last post I said if my model had 3 sides the third side would be better.
 
Turns out I elected to prove that point. After finishing the port side I looked to finish the remaining 4 rows on starboard. I was already concerned because I had a thin spot where I had over-sanded. I looked, thought about it, looked some more, shook my head a few times, looked again, thought about it. Then ripped off the whole side (after doing two more rows, only two from being finished) all the way to the bottom of the wales, including those first two rows I’d put on multiple times already.
 

 
So I did the starboard side again, all 10 rows including the drop plank (which fortunately Chuck provides a couple of extra). I’m much happier with the result, I will not be seeing if I get better if my model had four sides. There are still imperfections, but I’m wrapping that up as character and the acceptance that as I am an imperfect person, so then should be my ship.
 

 
Here, at least for me, is what I found made the difference. It may seem small but in my work I found it to be important. First, as I mentioned at the beginning of the log I had no experience ripping planks prior to starting Cheerful. Now with the help of others and doing a lot of it I’ve gotten better. The key difference now is I can rip planks a consistent thickness. I’ll show what my steps are in a future post. It’s not that they were wildly different in fact all measured 3/64th with my digital caliper. But as I mentioned the difference in millimeters ran from about 1.18 - 1.32. Clearly that’s not much but it meant more sanding to get them evened up, hence the thin spot.
 

 
Secondly, I determined I was happiest with thicker planks. With plank bending the thickness wasn’t a problem - so I cut a batch of about 48 planks (enough for the remaining rows on the bottom too) at about 1.38. - almost 1/16th thick.  With them all being much closer to the same width and thicker I got better results with much less sanding. This is probably because I’m just an average modeler and certainly because in my life I’ve now single planked three sides of a ship, but it’s what worked.
 
This may all seem obvious to most, my discovery is that if I’d only measured it using imperial, they were all 3/64ths, perhaps my digital caliper may not be as precise in imperial as it should be. By cross checking that in millimeters, and the variance in thickness that showed, sent me on an unrecoverable need to start the starboard side over. And here I am. I’m really hoping I’ve solved this. It would be much more difficult to rip off the bottom rows, I don’t want to do that again. In case you’re wondering - it wasn’t fun.
 
Now I get to figure out why a square tuck is actually a triangle - this may take a while. Oh, and I’m going to need more 3/16ths wood for the deck…:-)

In my last post I said if my model had 3 sides the third side would be better.
 
Turns out I elected to prove that point. After finishing the port side I looked to finish the remaining 4 rows on starboard. I was already concerned because I had a thin spot where I had over-sanded. I looked, thought about it, looked some more, shook my head a few times, looked again, thought about it. Then ripped off the whole side (after doing two more rows, only two from being finished) all the way to the bottom of the wales, including those first two rows I’d put on multiple times already.
 

 
So I did the starboard side again, all 10 rows including the drop plank (which fortunately Chuck provides a couple of extra). I’m much happier with the result, I will not be seeing if I get better if my model had four sides. There are still imperfections, but I’m wrapping that up as character and the acceptance that as I am an imperfect person, so then should be my ship.
 

 
Here, at least for me, is what I found made the difference. It may seem small but in my work I found it to be important. First, as I mentioned at the beginning of the log I had no experience ripping planks prior to starting Cheerful. Now with the help of others and doing a lot of it I’ve gotten better. The key difference now is I can rip planks a consistent thickness. I’ll show what my steps are in a future post. It’s not that they were wildly different in fact all measured 3/64th with my digital caliper. But as I mentioned the difference in millimeters ran from about 1.18 - 1.32. Clearly that’s not much but it meant more sanding to get them evened up, hence the thin spot.
 

 
Secondly, I determined I was happiest with thicker planks. With plank bending the thickness wasn’t a problem - so I cut a batch of about 48 planks (enough for the remaining rows on the bottom too) at about 1.38. - almost 1/16th thick.  With them all being much closer to the same width and thicker I got better results with much less sanding. This is probably because I’m just an average modeler and certainly because in my life I’ve now single planked three sides of a ship, but it’s what worked.
 
This may all seem obvious to most, my discovery is that if I’d only measured it using imperial, they were all 3/64ths, perhaps my digital caliper may not be as precise in imperial as it should be. By cross checking that in millimeters, and the variance in thickness that showed, sent me on an unrecoverable need to start the starboard side over. And here I am. I’m really hoping I’ve solved this. It would be much more difficult to rip off the bottom rows, I don’t want to do that again. In case you’re wondering - it wasn’t fun.
 
Now I get to figure out why a square tuck is actually a triangle - this may take a while. Oh, and I’m going to need more 3/16ths wood for the deck…:-)

In my last post I said if my model had 3 sides the third side would be better.
 
Turns out I elected to prove that point. After finishing the port side I looked to finish the remaining 4 rows on starboard. I was already concerned because I had a thin spot where I had over-sanded. I looked, thought about it, looked some more, shook my head a few times, looked again, thought about it. Then ripped off the whole side (after doing two more rows, only two from being finished) all the way to the bottom of the wales, including those first two rows I’d put on multiple times already.
 

 
So I did the starboard side again, all 10 rows including the drop plank (which fortunately Chuck provides a couple of extra). I’m much happier with the result, I will not be seeing if I get better if my model had four sides. There are still imperfections, but I’m wrapping that up as character and the acceptance that as I am an imperfect person, so then should be my ship.
 

 
Here, at least for me, is what I found made the difference. It may seem small but in my work I found it to be important. First, as I mentioned at the beginning of the log I had no experience ripping planks prior to starting Cheerful. Now with the help of others and doing a lot of it I’ve gotten better. The key difference now is I can rip planks a consistent thickness. I’ll show what my steps are in a future post. It’s not that they were wildly different in fact all measured 3/64th with my digital caliper. But as I mentioned the difference in millimeters ran from about 1.18 - 1.32. Clearly that’s not much but it meant more sanding to get them evened up, hence the thin spot.
 

 
Secondly, I determined I was happiest with thicker planks. With plank bending the thickness wasn’t a problem - so I cut a batch of about 48 planks (enough for the remaining rows on the bottom too) at about 1.38. - almost 1/16th thick.  With them all being much closer to the same width and thicker I got better results with much less sanding. This is probably because I’m just an average modeler and certainly because in my life I’ve now single planked three sides of a ship, but it’s what worked.
 
This may all seem obvious to most, my discovery is that if I’d only measured it using imperial, they were all 3/64ths, perhaps my digital caliper may not be as precise in imperial as it should be. By cross checking that in millimeters, and the variance in thickness that showed, sent me on an unrecoverable need to start the starboard side over. And here I am. I’m really hoping I’ve solved this. It would be much more difficult to rip off the bottom rows, I don’t want to do that again. In case you’re wondering - it wasn’t fun.
 
Now I get to figure out why a square tuck is actually a triangle - this may take a while. Oh, and I’m going to need more 3/16ths wood for the deck…:-)

In my last post I said if my model had 3 sides the third side would be better.
 
Turns out I elected to prove that point. After finishing the port side I looked to finish the remaining 4 rows on starboard. I was already concerned because I had a thin spot where I had over-sanded. I looked, thought about it, looked some more, shook my head a few times, looked again, thought about it. Then ripped off the whole side (after doing two more rows, only two from being finished) all the way to the bottom of the wales, including those first two rows I’d put on multiple times already.
 

 
So I did the starboard side again, all 10 rows including the drop plank (which fortunately Chuck provides a couple of extra). I’m much happier with the result, I will not be seeing if I get better if my model had four sides. There are still imperfections, but I’m wrapping that up as character and the acceptance that as I am an imperfect person, so then should be my ship.
 

 
Here, at least for me, is what I found made the difference. It may seem small but in my work I found it to be important. First, as I mentioned at the beginning of the log I had no experience ripping planks prior to starting Cheerful. Now with the help of others and doing a lot of it I’ve gotten better. The key difference now is I can rip planks a consistent thickness. I’ll show what my steps are in a future post. It’s not that they were wildly different in fact all measured 3/64th with my digital caliper. But as I mentioned the difference in millimeters ran from about 1.18 - 1.32. Clearly that’s not much but it meant more sanding to get them evened up, hence the thin spot.
 

 
Secondly, I determined I was happiest with thicker planks. With plank bending the thickness wasn’t a problem - so I cut a batch of about 48 planks (enough for the remaining rows on the bottom too) at about 1.38. - almost 1/16th thick.  With them all being much closer to the same width and thicker I got better results with much less sanding. This is probably because I’m just an average modeler and certainly because in my life I’ve now single planked three sides of a ship, but it’s what worked.
 
This may all seem obvious to most, my discovery is that if I’d only measured it using imperial, they were all 3/64ths, perhaps my digital caliper may not be as precise in imperial as it should be. By cross checking that in millimeters, and the variance in thickness that showed, sent me on an unrecoverable need to start the starboard side over. And here I am. I’m really hoping I’ve solved this. It would be much more difficult to rip off the bottom rows, I don’t want to do that again. In case you’re wondering - it wasn’t fun.
 
Now I get to figure out why a square tuck is actually a triangle - this may take a while. Oh, and I’m going to need more 3/16ths wood for the deck…:-)

In my last post I said if my model had 3 sides the third side would be better.
 
Turns out I elected to prove that point. After finishing the port side I looked to finish the remaining 4 rows on starboard. I was already concerned because I had a thin spot where I had over-sanded. I looked, thought about it, looked some more, shook my head a few times, looked again, thought about it. Then ripped off the whole side (after doing two more rows, only two from being finished) all the way to the bottom of the wales, including those first two rows I’d put on multiple times already.
 

 
So I did the starboard side again, all 10 rows including the drop plank (which fortunately Chuck provides a couple of extra). I’m much happier with the result, I will not be seeing if I get better if my model had four sides. There are still imperfections, but I’m wrapping that up as character and the acceptance that as I am an imperfect person, so then should be my ship.
 

 
Here, at least for me, is what I found made the difference. It may seem small but in my work I found it to be important. First, as I mentioned at the beginning of the log I had no experience ripping planks prior to starting Cheerful. Now with the help of others and doing a lot of it I’ve gotten better. The key difference now is I can rip planks a consistent thickness. I’ll show what my steps are in a future post. It’s not that they were wildly different in fact all measured 3/64th with my digital caliper. But as I mentioned the difference in millimeters ran from about 1.18 - 1.32. Clearly that’s not much but it meant more sanding to get them evened up, hence the thin spot.
 

 
Secondly, I determined I was happiest with thicker planks. With plank bending the thickness wasn’t a problem - so I cut a batch of about 48 planks (enough for the remaining rows on the bottom too) at about 1.38. - almost 1/16th thick.  With them all being much closer to the same width and thicker I got better results with much less sanding. This is probably because I’m just an average modeler and certainly because in my life I’ve now single planked three sides of a ship, but it’s what worked.
 
This may all seem obvious to most, my discovery is that if I’d only measured it using imperial, they were all 3/64ths, perhaps my digital caliper may not be as precise in imperial as it should be. By cross checking that in millimeters, and the variance in thickness that showed, sent me on an unrecoverable need to start the starboard side over. And here I am. I’m really hoping I’ve solved this. It would be much more difficult to rip off the bottom rows, I don’t want to do that again. In case you’re wondering - it wasn’t fun.
 
Now I get to figure out why a square tuck is actually a triangle - this may take a while. Oh, and I’m going to need more 3/16ths wood for the deck…:-)

Glenn - just seen this, if you're still interested...

That is the best philosophy ever.   

It is hard to work out the times involved, because I do this from home, so am always thinking about the designs and tweaking. Sometimes at 2 or 3 in the morning when I think of a solution to a problem that's been bugging me all day! I think perhaps one full week for the very small kits, with a lot more hours tweaking  aspects of the initial designs. The more complex the design the longer it takes, but to the modeller,  they wouldn't know as most of the hard parts are 'ironed out' before ever being kitted - although there's always something that slips through, no matter how much time I spend checking stuff...
 
I would very much like to do an ancient vessel one day, I think perhaps one of Hatshepsut's vessels, complete with a scale figure of her would be pretty cool...

Which is why they have so many new designs since you left, as in none. Whatever happened to HMS Surprise for example. 
 
I liked Caldercraft,...until their factory operative left 😂🤣

.7mm 😊 I think the planking fan Chuck provides must take that into account somehow. It was surprising to me it comes out as well as it does. It isn’t perfect, I’m not that perfect in transferring them, but it’s close.

Which is why they have so many new designs since you left, as in none. Whatever happened to HMS Surprise for example. 
 
I liked Caldercraft,...until their factory operative left 😂🤣

Thank you, it is one of my best results and took a couple of years to build (working almost every day), just the frames took 6-8 months. It was a semi-kit, I got the basics from Bob Hunt of Lauck Shipyards, but bashed it heavily with woods from Jeff of Hobbymill (I miss that guy) and other parts here and there.  Unfortunately he sort of went under (he still sells practicums) and none of his ship models are still in production. Actually he sold the rights to some plastic modeling company then they never did anything with them. The cannon were my true test of no paint and no blackening, because that's kinda paint. I debated a while before leaving them just as they were.
 
I appreciate your looking - and compliments from someone of your skill are appreciated.

Thank you, it is one of my best results and took a couple of years to build (working almost every day), just the frames took 6-8 months. It was a semi-kit, I got the basics from Bob Hunt of Lauck Shipyards, but bashed it heavily with woods from Jeff of Hobbymill (I miss that guy) and other parts here and there.  Unfortunately he sort of went under (he still sells practicums) and none of his ship models are still in production. Actually he sold the rights to some plastic modeling company then they never did anything with them. The cannon were my true test of no paint and no blackening, because that's kinda paint. I debated a while before leaving them just as they were.
 
I appreciate your looking - and compliments from someone of your skill are appreciated.