Elia

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 87 – Middle Deck Inboard Planking continued
 
In the first picture the last strake of inboard planking on the port side is being installed – leaving the air strake above it.
 

 
Treenailing has begun on both sides.  The next picture shows some nails installed and holes drilled for the next group.
 

 
The treenails measure 1½” (.021”) in diameter and are drawn from long strips of Castelo.  The next picture shows the completed forward area above the middle deck.
 

 
The next picture shows a treenail strip being inserted into one of the aft deck beams – about to be clipped off.
 

 
The aft part of the middle deck is the first to be finished off so the beams of the cabin deck can be installed next.  The cabin deck is just a few feet above the middle deck.
 
 In the next picture the middle deck work in this area below the cabin deck is being given a coat of wax – below the clamps.
 

 
In the next picture the wax has sunk in and dried.
 

 
The aftermost cabin deck beam has been glued in.  The next picture shows another view of this.
 

 
The next step will be to fit the deck beams and their knees for the cabin deck framing.  Treenailing along the rest of the deck continues.
 
Ed
 

Well, about time for a photo update -
 
I've been working on the After Air Defense Station/FC Director & Base/After Main Battery Tower & after stack, as well as a few other areas forward over the last couple months. The following photos show the progress:
 



 
Once again, nothing is cemented at this time with the exception of the 03 Level after superstructure - everything on it up to the after stack is now in place.
 
As of last night I have begun demo work on the center 40mm amidships gun tub as prep to modify the entire 6 tubs into the Zuni Chaff Launchers (4) and Mk. 56 FC director platforms - this will require quite a bit of scratchbuilding.
 
I've recently purchased the Eduard PE Hull (Gusset) Plates and Rails sets and will decide later whether to use the Pontos or Equard railings on the model. Both are very well etched and very similar. I'm leaning at this point towards the Equard set but either could be used without any real noticeable difference.
 
Hank
 

Yup, once you've spiled planking the proper way, you'll never go back to the frustration of trying to edge-bend, curve and twist a piece of wood again! Looking very good so far, Rusty.

Hi All,
 
When starting the planking I wondered about the waste, or maybe better put, the amount of wood needed
to plank the hull in this manner. I started with a 2" x 18" piece of wood and I was able to cut all the spilied
planks for both sides and still had wood left over. I was very pleased with this.
 
Now onto my impression of this style of planking a hull. In the words of my sweet granddaughter
.......OMG........ though time consuming it was soooooo much easier to lay the planks. No twisting and
bending and forcing them into place.
 
Here are pictures of both side rough sanded. Once the entire hull has been planked I will progressively
sand it down to 400 grit and then seal with wipe on poly.
 

 

 
On to the second belts!

Hi Joe, Good to hear from you!
 
Sjors, Look as close as you would like. Just watch out for splinters.
 
Some planks had been placed, trashed and broken but progress has been made. At the bow I have fit and glued
the first 7 rows which is the first belt. I am working my way to the stern and will finish up the entire belt before
I move onward.
 

 
Here is a demonstration picture of marking off the plank to be cut. The tape is placed on the hull and then using a
pencil you mark the edge of the plank where it meets the existing plank. Then I marked the bulkheads. At each
bulkhead I then mark the height that was already placed on the bulkhead. The tape is taken off and placed on the
wood to be cut out and using a French curve the top marks are connected giving you the shape of the plank. Because
the pencil lines are hard to see on the camera I traced over them with a sharpie so you can see them better.
 

 
I won't use this piece as my tracing was a little to inaccurate.
 
For a much better description follow check's link above!

Hi All,
 
Well in case you didn't notice I've been AWOL for a while now. August and the first week of September is really busy at work. 80 hours work weeks with no days off blah, blah blah. Boy that was no fun. I used to be able to do it no problem but now it kicks my butt. So it was work, sleep, dream of working on the Winnie and then back to work.  Once that was over  it was another week or so to catch up around the house with all the things that needed my attention.
 
So I've now looked at MSW and found 11 unread pages in the Kit Build Logs and 4 pages in the Scratch Build Logs. Not to mention, oops I just did, all the other topics!
 
So to all my friends out there I'm sorry I missed posting to your logs for the past 6 weeks and it may take another 6 weeks just to catch up.
 
Now that I've got my whining out of the way here is where I'm at.
 
I have not completed marking all of the bulkheads with the plank locations. That was over 1400 little pencil marks. I'm seeing little dashes in my sleep know.
 

 
I've now started on the planking and here you see my first attempt at spiling a plank. You can see the curve compared to a piece of strip wood.
 

 
 
Well I've now started the planking and will let you know how it goes.

Thanks Ben and Sjors. Only two coats of paint and when viewed up close you can see the differences
in the coverage. Several more will be needed.
 
Well this is the start of Chapter 5, planking the hull below the wales.
 
Chuck describes how to plank the hull with no drop planks at the bow and no stealers at the stern.
This is something I have never been able to accomplish. The description is very detailed and I'm
hoping to duplicate it.
 
First a paper tick strip was to be made and divide it into 5/32” increments. To keep as many errors
out of this process as possible I made my tick strip from 5/32" graph paper printed on card stock
instead of using a ruler and  pencil and transferring the marks to card stock.
 
 

 

 
 
Next I positioned the strip along bulkheads “1” and “A” and marked the increments. There are a
total of 24 planks so there will be 4 "belts" of 7 planks each.
 
Chuck wrote;
 
I had some yellow pinstripe tape so I used that to mark off the hull belts. After applying the tape and
tweaking to get a smooth even run I sent these pictures to Chuck.
 

 

 

 
His sharp eye caught some runs that weren't the best and sent this back which I used to adjust
the belts run.
 

 
Now I'm off to do the starboard side.

OK I've been continuing my work on the wales and black strake. The first picture you
will see one coat of black paint applied.
 

 
I then went over the wales sanding some and taking care of a couple of joints that weren't
as tight as I thought they were. Just put a dab of glue on the crack and sanded it.
 

 
And here you see it with a second "wafer thin" coat of paint. So far that is it!
 

 
I'll be spending the next few days trying to lay out the run of the planks and not bugging
Chuck to much while doing it.   

Thank you very much Joe, Bob, Ben and Jim and to everyone who posted a like too!
 
Ben, I didn't mix up the wood types but I could have as it's going to be painted. All
throughout the wales I used some old pieces I had left over and cut them up. The
colors varied greatly from gray/brown to light brown and grainy looking. I figured it
was a good place to use up some "scrap" boxwood up.
 
Here is the anchor lining done. On this side you will noticed I took a lazy way out. The
top piece over the black strake was about a 1/64" too narrow and seeing again that it's
going to be painted I just left the gap and filled it.
 

 
Now the directions call for painting the wales now prior to planking the hull. My thought
is I'm a rough hull planker as I put in my lap, tip it upside down ect. I usually scratch the
paint all up and have to repaint it. So I'm just going to apply one thin coat just to see if
any imperfections show up and then fix them.
 
Then it's on to laying out the planking belts for the hull, mill the wood and then plank it.
 
That will be good for 2-3 months of cussing.  

Thank you Bob and Mark. Much appreciated.
 
Well I've commenced with adding the wales. The second layer is 1/16" x 5/32" just like
the first layer of planking. The black strake is 1/32" x 5/32". At the bow the black strake
is sanded down to 1/64" thick while the wales well be left slightly thicker than that.
 

 

 
The anchor lining was traced onto the wales and black strake. The lining over the wales is
1/32" thick while the portion over the black strake is 1/16".
 

 
Here all but the piece over the black strake have been added.
 

Well the starboard side has the first layer of planking has been completed, rough sanded and a
light coat of poly. The planking came out fairly well but I am disappointed both side do not mirror
each other exactly. There are some slight variation in how the planking hits the gun ports.
 

 
A little more sanding needed on both side and then I can start the wales planking.  

Hi Dave, Thanks and once released I'm sure you won't be disappointed.
 
I had a little more time in the shop thanks to some thunder storms! I've applied a light coat of
wipe on poly. This helps me determine high and low spots that need more sanding.
 

 

 
I will now clean up the highs and lows and then apply a last coat of poly. After that I will finish
the starboard side and then on to the second layer of planking for the wales.   

Hi All, I have been plugging away at the port side planking. I have completed most of the first l
ayer of planking and given it a quick sanding with some 120 grit sandpaper. Once it is finished I'll
sand it down to 400 grit and then add the second layer for the wales.
Then it's over to the starboard side!
 

 

 
It's always slow going this time of year but that's ok.

Hi Dave! Thanks for stopping by and I know you will love building this one!
 
Sorry there hasn't been much activity on the build log. There has a lot going on and
I've only been able to pop in once in a while. I had a bathroom renovation I had to
do as well as the other "normal" spring time duties that required my attention so
shop time suffered.
 
Now most of you know, and I've done it before, when your busy with activities other
than modeling you should not try to steal time to work when you can't devote your
full attention. Rushing in the shop and grabbing a few minutes here and there seemed
like a good idea butttt..... Now I'm sure you can feel the "oh crap what have I done"
story coming here!
 
I started laying the first five rows of planking. The first plank on the model is the first
strake below the wales and then the next four rows are the base for the wales. Sooooo
after placing these first planks I notice that my planking wasn't running the same as Chucks.
Now that's not too unusual as I can't come close to planking as well as he does. But after
going back and looking at Chucks pictures and the plans I notice the rise of my planks at
the bow was too sharp. I don't know how I messed it up. (Did the same on the Confederacy! Duh!)
 
I pouted for a day and then sucked it up and set about correcting my boneheaded mistake.  
 
Not the first and certainly not the last!
 
So to correct this I went back to around the 7th bulkhead where the run was true, ripped
the planks off and reran the planking. Although not perfect it is much closer to where it
needs to be. Thank goodness that the second planking of the wales will cover the cut line
or I would have had to rip the full run off. Of course I had to do this to both the port and
starboard sides as they matched.
 
Here are some pictures of the planking in it's rough state as she sits right now.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
Also to get the curve correct for the hull planking I took the plans and cut the shape of
the hull out of a scrap piece of wood and was able to bend two planks at a time. There
was a little "spring back" but for the most part they fit very well.
 

 
Ok the plan now it to keep my head out of my butt and proceed with as few errors as possible!
 
* Please note that censors severely edited the language in this post to maintain a "G" rating *  
 
 
 
 
 
 

Hey Remco and Sjors, the work is not scary but some of us are! 

Thanks Bob. Ah the planking. That is going to be one of love hate relationships I'm afraid.
 
Hi Pete, Thanks for stopping by and it's always nice to hear from you.
 
Well I'm sure you can tell I've been away for a few days and also busy now that spring has
finally decided to show up. I was cleaning the workshop in preparation of starting the planking  
when I sucked a bit up. So I figured it was a good time to see how my experiment was going.
Back on MSW 1.0 Elia mentioned that he had a Oneida Systems Dust Deputy  hooked up to his
vacuum and it worked well separating the dust and wood pieces and keeping them from clogging
the vacuums filter.
 

 

 
So this past Christmas the Admiral got the Dust Deputy for me and I hooked it up in early January.
Usually after a month's worth of heavy cutting and sanding I have to clean my filter as I start losing
suction.  It's now been 4 full months and no loss of suction. I took it apart and measured a little over
7 inches of saw dust and debris in the bucket. I opened the shop vac and there was almost nothing
in it. I took the filter off and there was just a thin layer of dust on it that I blew off and it was as good
as new.
 

 

 
 Now I have no interest in this company but if you have clogging issues like I did I recommend giving it a try. http://www.oneida-air.com
 
Ok the shop is clean and it's supposed to rain Thursday and Friday so hopefully I'll get some shop time!

Thanks all for the likes.
 
Hi Floyd, Chuck is making me look good not the other way around. Any kit that has Chucks plans and instructions
(Syren & Confederacy) could become a scratch build. They are that good. I'm sure that if someone has a couple of
models under their belt they could build the Winnie too!
 
Hi Augie, That is the same red I used for the Confederacy. It is Red Ochre from Admiralty Paints.
 
Thanks again all!

Now it is time to add the fixed blocks to the outside of the hull. These blocks are simulated
and do not pass all the way through the hull. A small hole was drilled at each end and then
the center cut out to make the sheave slot. A small piece of wood was then fit into the slot
with a groove cut into it to simulate the sheave. The blocks are then placed against the hull,
the sheave hole position was marked and then the hole was drilled through the hull. This will
ensure proper alignment when placing the inner block later on.
 

 
The gun port opening have their first coat of paint applied and you can also see the batten strip
attached to the hull marking the location of the first row of planking.
 

Thanks Dirk.
 
Hi Ben, Yep I'll probably be able to start laying some planks after I get back from the CT conference.
 
The first step in chapter 4 is to plank the lower counter. I used boxwood strips for this.
The method Chuck describes has the planks wet in water for about 15-20 seconds and
then edge bent and clamped. I probably soaked them for about 45 seconds. A hair dyer
was purloined from the admiral and using the hottest setting the planks were dried. Once
they cooled they were removed from the clamps and there was little spring back.
 

 
Here is the counter planked. The outer edges still need to be faired.
 

Thank you all for the likes. I see that you are all "liking" it as much as I am!
 
aliluke, It is a great adventure into scratch building. The Cheerful looks like a wonderful
project too and that will be a build waaaaay down the road for me too.
 
Hi Bob, and I always look forward to your posts my friend.
 
Hi Grant yes it is such a shame that I have to toil away at this day after boring day.
 
Alright then. On to the hance pieces. These were cut from boxwood and are oversized
width wise. Once glued in place they were faired to match the hull lines. I have only
faired the outboard portion of the hull at this point.
 

 

 
To give you an idea of the length of the practicum this completes the third chapter.
In the forth chapter I will be planking the hull from the wales upward.
 

Hi Chuck, Not gonna happen. The planking of the hull will take a loooooong long time if
I hope to come even close to your work..
 
Thanks Augie. They are so much fun aren't they!
 
Thanks Mike and Ben.
 
Thank you Al D. The practicum and plans are outstanding. You will love it.
 
Hi Bob, The pleasure is all mine.
 
Ok I've squirreled myself away most of the last few days and have made a good deal of progress.  
 
Here is a picture of the plans depicting the stern framing.
 

 
There are eight stern frame sections  that fit into the slotted bulkhead section.
 

 

 

 
The next step was to add the sills for the stern lights and the lintel filler pieces above
them. I used both the plans and the transom cut out to alien everything.
 

 

 
In case you can't tell I'm having a ball here!
 
Once it all dried the stern was sanded smooth. I then added framing the quarter
gallery entrance and the aft-most gun port.
 

 

Hi All,
 
The framing of the gun ports is moving along nicely and one pleasant thing I learned was that
there are no sweep ports to worry about.
 
A batten strip was pinned to the bulwarks at the previously marked reference lines and a smooth
run was established. I then marked the bulkheads for the final placement of the sills. The sill and
lintels were cut from boxwood.
 

 
At the bow the bridle port fell over a bulkhead and the bulkhead had to be cut away prior to framing it.
 

 

 
To add the lintels a piece was cut at the correct height and long enough to sit on both sills this
gave a consistent height and eliminated the need to measure each one.
 

 
I have done the preliminary sanding to the out board side.
 

 

 
On to the transom soon!

Hi Ben, Unfortunately it's a long haul for me and I won't be able to attend.
Sorry it should be a great time. I hope you get to go.
 
Ok I've been moving along just haven't been able to find time to post.
 
The hull is faired fairly close to its final shape. I still have a little work to do on
the tops of the bulkheads but I'll wait until I frame the gun ports to finish it up.
I didn't need to use any cross bracing either. The plywood was good and solid
and I was careful too.
 
I next  planked the two platforms of the lower deck with pau marfim.
 

 
After that it was time to add the bow fillers and bollard timbers. Two of the fillers
needed to be a total of 7/32" thick. While the third timber needed to be 3/16" thick.
Chuck used two pieces to obtain the 7/32" thickness, (1 x 3/16" & 1 x 1/32"), I used
my thickness sander to thin down a piece of 1/4" wood I had to the 7/16". Same result
I just used one piece.
 

 
After that it was time to make the bollard timbers. these are not the traditional way to
make them but seeing there are bulkheads and not frames only the tops will be seen.
As you can see from the plans there are different angles, thicknesses and a hole it was
a bit of a challenge. At least every piece was made twice and some three time before
an acceptable one was obtained.
 

 

 

 
 
The bollard timbers are just set in place for now. Next up it is time to start framing in the gun ports.

Hi All,
 
Not much to report on. I have started sanding/fairing the lower portion of the hull. When I do that
I set the hull upside down on a small homemade down draft table to help contain the dust. I place
some wood blocks on the table that are thick enough to keep the tops of the bulwarks from hitting
the table and hopefully protecting them. Then it's just a matter of sanding, checking with some
planking strips, sand some more, etc etc etc.
 

Hi Chuck S.
I'm no chemist but I don't believe the stuff I use is water based. It's Elmer's Craft Bond
Rubber Cement . It also has a warning that it is flammable and has a smell like contact
cement. Like any liquid that you put on paper it could cause distortion.  When I place
the paper on the wood I try to lay it as gently as possible and not to pull or stretch it.
If I have doubts I'll closely compare it to the plans. So far no issues for me doing it this way.
 
Well all of the bulkheads and braces have been glued in place, and it is very solid. I won't
have to worry while fairing the main part of the hull. As I move up to the tops of the
bulkheads especially the longer ones I may use some bracing on them. I'll have to see
what's what when I get there.