vaddoc

Chisels, including a 3 mm and a V shape, diamond stones, strop. You can probably do without but working with wood is an excellent excuse to get them.

Thanks Craig You are right but I should have done this earlier, when the interior was empty. I think now is a bit too late!

Dear friends One knows it's been a very long time since his last post, when he needs to search for his log! But here I am, so time for an update and a few photos as there is definitely progress made. Allow me to shout a word of caution: DO NOT USE BEECH FOR PLANKING! I did read on wood database that it has a lot of movement in service, but the reality is just ridiculous. Any more movement and the wood would grow feet and run out of the shipyard. First of all the planks shrunk. Initially there was no gap at all as I took pains to make them perfect. Then huge gaps appeared. I filled these in and then the planks shrunk more, with gaps opening once again. Then the boat kept changing shape, sometimes the two sides wanted to come together but others wanted to get away from each other. The biggest problem was that some planks pulled out of the ribs, as shown in the photo bellow. I had no idea how to fix it but in the end, the boat just changed shape again and the gaps closed. Magic! So, next I finished the floor boards and also the small deck aft. I replaced all the screws with treenails and then, it was time for the thwarts. I used the original drawings which kind of hint where the thwarts should go. The benches aft however took an awful lot of head scratching to understand how they could be arranged, without massive wood work. I used the internet and some common sense and I think I came up with a reasonable solution. I then made the legs, they came out alright I think. Then, I made the knees to hold the thwarts. This took a long time as each knee has each individual shape and then had to be drilled, sanded and get a coat of Tung oil. Then all were assembled, using 30 min Zpoxy which I am certain was the way it was done back in 1750. Now the boat is structurally solid and complete. Now however it is time to think about painting the hull. It really needs to be painted but with this cracks between the planks, it is not going to work. So they had to be filled. I used again Osmo filler which I really like. This is how the hull looked afterwards. The sanding that followed will be sang by bards for centuries. I went down to 320 grid, I really wanted 400 but I run out of sand paper. Now, I am sure the cracks will reopen but this is the best I can do! Now, this is a hull that absolutely must be sealed. I never liked shellac and I ve been using for years a water based sealer (Decoart Americana). A coat went on, then sanded to 320 grid. Again, I really wanted 400 but I could not find even a small piece in the shipyard. Then another coat went on, sanded to 600 grid (I found a sheet somewhere) The hull is as good as it will ever be. When I find time I ll put a coat of primer and paint the hull - Ivory and Prussian blue I think. A last photo, till next time Vaddoc

Excellent, nice to hear from you Hakan! I hope things have settled and previous issues are now behind you.

Use this water based sealer. Sand wood smooth to 400 grit. Slap it on with a brush with no care. Dries in 15 min. If you want put a second coat. When dry, sand once more with 400 grit or 0000 steel wool. The wood will be as smooth as baby bottom and sealed. Then spray a bit of primer and then paint on top. Self life of this is very long - years. Deco Art Americana Multi-Purpose Sealer-8oz, Other, Multicoloured, 236 ml (Pack of 1) : Amazon.co.uk: Home & Kitchen

All done! I actually find making tree nails very therapeutic, calms (or numbs) the mind down. No excuse now, back to the boat, although I feel like walking in the dark - not sure at all how these things were made. A final picture with the 4000+ nails - about 0.7 mm, very hard wood. If you ever go down this road, if you get a set up that works well just make as many as you can,

Looking at the photo of Victory's planking above, it is incredible how thick the planks are. Considering the thickness of the frames and the inner planking, the hull sides must have been 2+ ft thick - solid wood. And still a cannon ball could penetrate.

I googled it, there are 121 million oak trees in the UK, with 1 million in London alone. It needed 5000 oaks for Victory The tree starts producing acorns after 40 years! Oak trees - did you know? | Action Oak

The amount of wood in these boats is staggering. A floating forest. Thank you for the photos and the info, very interesting.

Ok, a quick update. At this time, I have no idea how to built the rest of the boat. Unfortunately it will not be historically accurate but at least I ll have fun building it! Now, today I sat to make a few thousand tree nails, I have to replace lots of screws and I ll need more as we go. It actually went very well, a short video follows showing how fast they can be made with the needle method. This tree nails are about 0.7-0.8 mm, maybe about 1 cm long. This wood is cherry - very hard. There must be about 1500 - 2000 nails there When the sleeves for my drum sander arrive, I ll sand the back and release the nails. But I will sit tomorrow and make more, my set up is working well and I should take advantage of it. Vaddoc

Many thanks to all for your likes and comments. @allanyed Allan, I simply can't remember how I set the distance between ribs. It my have been based on some data I had dug out or I may have just eyeballed it. But these boats had probably a hard life so they would have had ribs more closely spaced. But I do agree with you, it is easier to find accurate info for the pots in Victory's kitchen than construction info and plans for ships' boats.

Glad you are feeling better Hakan, hopefully no more bumpy roads. You are building a might nice model but indeed, enjoy yourself and leave things for later on. As Mark says, both the wood and us will be waiting patiently. All the best Vaddoc

Dear friends Time for another post, some progress but also some unfortunate findings. Lets start. So, there is an urgent need for the boat to have some structural support but it needs to be built from the bottom up. So, the floor needs to be installed. I had previously cut the floor supports but I found some were off and needed adjustments or replacement. Finally they were epoxied in place and coated with Tung oil - for no reason at all really! However, It was then that I noticed a rather big issue. The planks have pulled away from the ribs, the glue in the tree nails failed - but also the pressure from the planks must have been pretty substantial. I do not think this can be fixed without disassembling the boat and in the end of the day, it does not bother me much. So on we go. Next, I did some work at the gunwales and attached the stringer and the breast hook. So far everything is screwed, later on will be replaced with tree nails. Next, it was time for the false stem to be installed. Again I had to make adjustments but I got a good fit. I used thickened epoxy and it came out pretty good. Especially the joint with the planking, which in the past had caused me headache, came out also fine. Ok, so far so good. Next it was the floor boards. This took a bit of work and some head scratching but actually came out better than I hoped. I am not sure if it is historically accurate but we do need a floor to walk on - so here it is. And with some Tung oil on All the screws need to be replaced with tree nails, so time to make a few hundred. I will be using the last of the cherry wood I saved from the fire wood pile 10 years ago. Cutting one more slice was difficult, this wood is very hard This wood is very dry and needs to get some moisture before we can drill the nails out. The slices are now submerged in water. Till next time Vaddoc

Acrylic paint is easily damaged. Enamel paint is much harder but also can get damaged. I think the only part of the boat you should seriously think protecting is the hull. It will certainly get scratched during the rest of the build or during its life after. I use varnish, either water based or enamel. Water based is easier to use but enamel is overall harder and better - I think I ll go back to enamels for the boats I am currently building. I ve tried the Valejo polyurethane varnish previously, water based, seemed to be ok. Humbrol enamel varnishes are also very good, or at least this has been my experience. Couple of things to consider 1. Spray cans can be temperamental and spray inconsistent or thick coats. Be careful 2. Satin finishes need good stirring to evenly distribute the media within. Matt varnishes are more difficult, they need some care to avoid inconsistent results. 3. Basically practice and test your finish on scrap wood, NOT the model! Seriously, you do not want to be sanding the hull down if something goes wrong. I d definitely put something over the hull.

I d say just buy the thinner, same brand as your paint. The cost is insignificant all things considered and you know you get the correct product. If the paint job goes wrong it is usually a much bigger job to fix things. Certainly for brush painting with Valejo, I feel it is a must to buy their thinners and retarders.

Some progress and at last, a couple of nice photos to post! I finished the pieces for the deck screwed things together, replaced with wooden nails, add reinforcing pieces underneath, glued everything together and sanded to 400 grit. Then I had to decide whether to have black or light caulking. Admiral said black, so black it is! I masked the pieces, mixed black acrylic paint with Osmo filler and splashed it on. Then removed tape and sanded everything smooth. The filler becomes light grey but with Tung oil will go ack to black. Then I secured the grating with epoxy thickened with gypsum. I also made a leg to support the deck using a drill sanding against the disc sander - very fast results. It does not look too bad! When I have time I ll glue everything together and move on Regards Vaddoc

It would be very worthwhile but British homes are tiny and the admiral would not have it... Hakan, I ended up feeling I simply had not enough brain cells for the task! So glad finally it is done. Good to be back Gary. The mould has disappeared now that the garage has been heating up. The shape incident is interesting. I think initially the ribs were pushing the planks outwards but as slowly they started accepting their new shape, the inward pressure from the planks overwhelmed everything. So thwarts are there really to push the planking outwards - had not realised till now. I reworked the deck to make it look more proportioned and nice - photo bellow. Still needs work though Regards Vaddoc

Oh dear! It has been 5 months since my last post. The cause has been twofold: Too much work but also serious difficulties with the boat. I returned to the shipyard and found two major issues. One was mould developing on the model. The garage where I do my modelling has not been heated for months with temperatures as low as -8 C. Thankfully it was like fine dust, easy to remove. But when mould starts growing on your model, it certainly is a subtle sign you 've gone into hibernation! The other was that the boat had dramatically changed its shape. Initially, the beam wanted to spread so I had to make braces to hold the sides. However, now this was reversed. The planks appeared to push the sides inwards and the beam was drastically reduced, pushing the stem and sternpost outwards. I started pushing the planking outwards with bits of wood, gradually increasing the beam, using the braces as guide - so happy I had taken this precaution. It took a few weeks to get the boat back into the proper shape. However, the sheer was now a bit wavy so I fixed a couple of very thick strips on the inner aspect - this did the job well. I also heavily reinforced the flimsy braces. Now, with the boat back in shape, I was able to proceed with the build. I am essentially making it up as I go as I do not have any detailed plans but I do not think I am actually far off. Now, I would like to have a deck at the bow. This proved a fantastically difficult task. I tried all sorts of jigs to mark the planking so that I could install stringers to support the deck. In the end, I started screwing little pieces of wood, and using flat sheets finally got it close enough. This took weeks and months - very difficult. Then I screwed the stringers which had to be soaked in boiling water as the curve was quite severe. The small wood pieces were then removed Then, I started making a frame with beams to support the deck. I forgot to take pictures though but again, was not easy. In the next photo the frame is ready, waiting for the epoxy to cure. Next, I slowly started adding the various pieces for the actual deck. It slowly is coming together now. I hope things will speed up a bit now. Till next time Vaddoc

For hand held (rotary) tools in sub milimeter sizes, I am using Heller drills or Proxon drills. I have the small Proxon drill press which is wonderful. Small footprint, easy to use, just great. Combined with carbide drill is a great tool, can drill through anything with accuracy. Would be the thing to take to a deserted island, along with my disc sander. Carbide drills cannot be used with hand held drills, they ll break inside your piece and cause issues. Similarly, be careful using black hardened steel drills with hand held drills- they are also fragile although very sharp. To avoid breaking bits, go for the fastest speed without burning the wood, though some woods respond poorly and will start smoking when drilled.

Indeed Bob!😁 I was referring to methylated spirits.

It works wonderfully. It is not a primer, it is a sanding sealer. Water based so no toxic fumes. Dries in 10-15 min. Sands beautifully. Leaves smooth sealed wood. I have no need to use anything else. Usually slap a coat on sanded wood with no real care, wait 15min, slap another coat with or without a quick 400 grit sand, wait another 15 min, then do final 320 or 400 grit or whatever and wood is sealed and smooth. Completely colourless. Job done!

Good advice above, however I personally never liked Shellac or PVA for sealing wood. I ve been using Decoart wood sealer for years. Water based, dries in 10 min. Absolutely wonderful stuff. A bottle will last years and years - shelf life it seems indefinite. Deco Art Americana Multi-Purpose Sealer-8oz, Other, Multicoloured, 236 ml (Pack of 1) : Amazon.co.uk: Home & Kitchen

What a lovely boat Hakan! Life has kept me away from MSW and my shipyard but I went through your entire log today though - very enjoyable! Lovely scale. Great news regarding your health, I am so happy for you! Re: equipment: just get what you want! I d go for the largest disc sander you can afford, if you do not already have one. I am very interested to see how your planking with no spilling will go. Have you done any planning how the planks will run or just plank along? Do you taper the ends at the stem? Also, are you bevelling the edges of the planks? An advantage of CAD vs 2D is that all frame bevels are defined, inside and out and cut before hand so very little fairing is needed, if any. On another note, I think I have a few hundred (could be thousands - I do not know) treenails about 0.8 mm sitting around. I need to check but if still where I last left them and you could use them I could post over. Save you draw plate time. Regards Vaddoc

Now this is very interesting. @Waldemar very elegant way of developing the plank overlap and frame notches. The biggest problem is indeed finding the run of the planks. I fiddled with it recently but could not make it work. Of course, CAD programs can unroll a curved surface so the shape of all spilled planks can be created. @tabycz your planks look fantastic. How do you draft the run of the planks on CAD?

Wood data base suggests it would be the perfect substitute for boxwood so it must be great for modelling, suitable for pretty much all uses. Lancewood | The Wood Database (Hardwood) (wood-database.com)