catopower

Shaping the Hull
 
 
With the lifts cut, getting the final shape was pretty easy, and a relatively small amount of wood had to be removed. 
 
It’s important to note that the lines on these plans are drawn to the inside of the planking. If I was going to make this a straight solid hull model, I would have had to redraw all the lines of the plans. Fortunately for me, I like the looks of planks and I plank my solid hull models. So, this worked out really well.
 
Using the profile templates I made earlier, I regularly checked my work and started on the hull by carving away most of the extra wood. Carving saved myself a lot of extra sanding, but required a bit of care so as not to cut away too much, which is very easy to do. Of course, that’s what wood filler is for, so a mistake here isn’t the end of the world.
 
The hardest areas to carve are the concave areas of the hull up under the stern. Since the hull lifts were held together with screws, it was possible to separate them, and this made it easier to access those hollows.
 
Also, if you look at my photos, you might note that the upper most lift has been omitted. I didn’t add this piece in until the rest of the hull was pretty much cut to shape. The main reason was to allow easier shaping of the hollow under the stern.
 
You may also notice from the photos that the ends of the hull look squared off. I’ve found that it’s much easier to keep lifts properly aligned, getting a good straight line for the keel and stern and stem posts, if I made all the lifts the same length. So, the shape of each lift was extended. Once all the other shaping was done, I used another profile template to shape the stern and stem posts.
 
The last thing I did was to measure the shear of the deck and mark the upper most lift to the height of the centerline of the deck, minus the planking – Since I planned to use 1/32” thick deck planks, I made sure to allow for that. 
 
A bench top belt sander made quick work of the deck shear, but it’s important to slow down when getting anywhere close to the shear line so as not to cut away too much. Once the deck shear is cut, the deck camber can be added. I added this by simply drawing the height of the deck at the edge on both sides of the hull. Then, I cut a curved piece of wood the shape of the camber as a guide and sanded the deck carefully to match the guide.
 
With that, the basic hull shape was essentially done and pretty much what you would get if you went out and purchased a solid hull ship model kit (minus all the plans and fittings, of course).
 
 
Clare
   
 

Some of the station profile templates I made

Shaping the Hull
 
 
With the lifts cut, getting the final shape was pretty easy, and a relatively small amount of wood had to be removed. 
 
It’s important to note that the lines on these plans are drawn to the inside of the planking. If I was going to make this a straight solid hull model, I would have had to redraw all the lines of the plans. Fortunately for me, I like the looks of planks and I plank my solid hull models. So, this worked out really well.
 
Using the profile templates I made earlier, I regularly checked my work and started on the hull by carving away most of the extra wood. Carving saved myself a lot of extra sanding, but required a bit of care so as not to cut away too much, which is very easy to do. Of course, that’s what wood filler is for, so a mistake here isn’t the end of the world.
 
The hardest areas to carve are the concave areas of the hull up under the stern. Since the hull lifts were held together with screws, it was possible to separate them, and this made it easier to access those hollows.
 
Also, if you look at my photos, you might note that the upper most lift has been omitted. I didn’t add this piece in until the rest of the hull was pretty much cut to shape. The main reason was to allow easier shaping of the hollow under the stern.
 
You may also notice from the photos that the ends of the hull look squared off. I’ve found that it’s much easier to keep lifts properly aligned, getting a good straight line for the keel and stern and stem posts, if I made all the lifts the same length. So, the shape of each lift was extended. Once all the other shaping was done, I used another profile template to shape the stern and stem posts.
 
The last thing I did was to measure the shear of the deck and mark the upper most lift to the height of the centerline of the deck, minus the planking – Since I planned to use 1/32” thick deck planks, I made sure to allow for that. 
 
A bench top belt sander made quick work of the deck shear, but it’s important to slow down when getting anywhere close to the shear line so as not to cut away too much. Once the deck shear is cut, the deck camber can be added. I added this by simply drawing the height of the deck at the edge on both sides of the hull. Then, I cut a curved piece of wood the shape of the camber as a guide and sanded the deck carefully to match the guide.
 
With that, the basic hull shape was essentially done and pretty much what you would get if you went out and purchased a solid hull ship model kit (minus all the plans and fittings, of course).
 
 
Clare
   
 

Some of the station profile templates I made

I built 3 AL kits early on and enjoyed building them all. The thing I like about their kits is that they're fairly easy to build and they build into nice "decorative" models. That is, they may not be the most accurate kits on the market, but they make neat "classic" ship models for your living room or den. In general, I've found that they're designed to go together pretty easily and their design seems to work – At least it did for me.
 
Of course, if you start to kit bash and upgrade, adding details and all, the amount of time it takes to build one of these will increase along with the difficulty level. So, you may not see much benefit in building their kits at that point and might find a more sophisticated manufacturer/kit.
 
With the experience I have with ship modeling now, I probably wouldn't pick one of their kits for my own build today. But, I enjoyed them and I think they're perfectly good kits. It just depends on what you're looking for.
 
Clare

1) End mill will do it no problem
2) Any rotary burr will work
3) you can often buy used dental drills (mini end mills sorta) on Ebay a bag at a time for cheap
 
3) My preferred method would just drill a hole at the end of each prospective slot and use a jeweler's saw to connect it into a slot

My gorgeous Byrnes Table Saw arrived this afternoon and after locating where it will reside in the shop and reading through the instructions I noted that Jim suggests applying a coat of good car wax to the table top. After searching for a can of Carnauba Car Wax I thought I had, with no luck, I pulled a can of Briwax 2000 natural which contains Beeswax and Carnauba out of the locker and applied that. Think it should be OK but maybe I should have waited until Monday when I plan on e-mailing Donna with a question about the zero-clearance inserts. I’m getting a twist in my knickers thinking about running a slitter blade through each insert and wondering if I will ruin the blade?
 
Anyway, looking forward to tomorrow for my familiarization and shake-down cruise. I know the first project I want to try and will need to have the .040 kerf slitter blade installed.
 
What a beautiful piece of equipment! Thank you Donna and Jim.     

Charlie:
Welcome aboard.
 
Spiling is not mandatory. It simply follows, to some degree, how ships were actually planked. Ship's planking was actually spiled on one edge and tapered on the other. The extent to which this was done would depend on the kind of hull being planked. Some hull's required different methods depending on its shape.
 
In most kits, the supplied planking strips are not wide enough to allow for proper spiling and tapering so modelers have developed alternative methods for hull planking. It gets the job done and can be made to look very neat.
 
How one planks a model hull is up to the modeler. Some will want to spile and taper their planking and others will prefer to use other methods.
 
Russ

Added the friezes.  Still have the trim piece to install below the frieze and the hull will be complete.  I used the friezes downloaded from this forum.  The smallest one fit my hull perfectly.  The ones supplied in the kit were way too large.
 
   Bob R.

If you're doing a French ship from the 1700's this book is a "must have".  Even if you're not building a French ship, his techniques are worth the price.  It's available in several languages.  I have no connection to ANCRE other than being a happy customer.
 
From the ANCRE website:
DESCRIPTION Bernard Frölich has always been a builder of ship's models. As a geographical engineer, he discovered Jean Boudriot's books and monographs in the late 70s. He fell in love with the beauty of sailing ships of the classic period and since then has dedicated all his free time to building historical navy models.
This practical experience made him a genuine authority in that field. He has published numerous articles on that subject over the past years. At our request, he has gathered, edited and significantly enriched these articles in order to produce his book.
L'ART DU MODELISME describes the author's experience and methods in 300 pages abundantly illustrated with numerous drawings, sketchs and more than 600 commentated photos. In this book, Frölich describes in detail all the crafts that a shipmodeler must master : he must be in turn a shipwright; a carpenter; a cabinetmaker; a marqueter; a blacksmith; a ropemaker and a sailmaker. He shows that any beginner, if he is industrious and persevering, can master this art. This fact becomes all the more evident since we can see the tremendous progress made by the author himself through the use of photographs of his own work. This book itself is a tremendous learning experience. In the first twenty pages Frölich describes his studio, his tools and equipment and his library. He then devotes about one hundred pages to the timbers of a 1730 merchant vessel , the Mercure, and to M.de Tourville 's three-decker vessel of 1680, L'Ambitieux. In the next one hundred twenty pages, the author discusses the equipment, fittings, guns, decoration and sculptures, ship's boats and rigging. The final sixty pages offer a description of Frölich's own models (all at 1:48 scale ) : the schooner Jacinthe; the lugger Coureur; the brig Cyclope; the bomb ketch Salamandre; the 12-pdr frigate Belle Poule; the merchant vessel Mercure and the xebec Requin. The unfinished model of L'Ambitieux - the Chevalier de Tourville's three-decker vessel - is abundantly described in the chapter on framework.
Although the author denies it, this book is a genuine treatise on historical naval shipmodeling. The photographs included show that the skills of today 's shipmodelers match the talent of the creators of the period model pieces preserved and displayed in our museums.

 
 
 

Ahoy Mick
 
This is what I would do.
 
Get some enamel thinner and a small brush and strip them back down to the metal.
 
Use a file and or sandpaper to clean them up. Use thick CA (super glue) to fill any voids.
 
Clean them with soap (must not have any hand softener, check ingredients for lanolin, Ajax dishwashing soap is my choice)
 
Let dry.
 
Cut the end off a round toothpick and using thick CA tack the flat side (cut) to the under side of the parts. You will want to snap the toothpick off when you are done so don't go crazy with the glue. This will allow you to paint them without touching them. Just put it somewhere that you will not see. Get something to stick the toothpicks into. A piece of heavy cardboard or foam works well.
 
Prime them. The guys are right, Tamiya is very good, better is Mr. Hobby, but really many other products will work. Just make sure it is a primer for metal. Testors is another excellent choice and so is Krylon if you want to spray. If you do spray, shake the can for no less then 10 minutes placing it in a container of warm water before using. (Not hot)
 
Check them and repair anything that shows up now (last chance), wet sand and re-prime any repairs. Let dry for 24 hours.
 
If you used enamel thinner to strip them, I would use enamel paint. It is more durable and does not have to have a clear coat. Acrylics should be protected with a clear coat.
 
Thin the paint. I would take the paint out of the jar. Drying inside the jar contaminates the paint leading to lumps and other undesirable effects. Use a straw, your stirring stick (did I mention to stir the paint really good. Do not shake, stir) and pull out a few drops. Use a tile, Aluminum foil, glass but not a paper product to put your paint on. Only bring out enough paint for a few minutes of painting. Add thinner. The paint should be slightly translucent but not so thin it runs all over. When you paint, you should see the brush strokes dissolve into the paint right after your stroke. Practice if you need it but not on your work. Start with the hard to reach areas, do the big area staring you in the face last. Try not to go over your fresh paint either, work away from the fresh paint. Plan the job. If you cannot get it now, get it on the next coat first. If you beefcake something let it go and move on. Once the paint dries wet sand it out. (wait 24 hours to fix mistakes) Plan to do no less the two coats, more is better. The paint needs to dry between coats.  If the paint covers in one coat, it is too thick and you will lose details. When you do a second coat over your first, the medium in the paint will reactivate the first coat. Do not work the paint (back and forth strokes). One stroke and move on, remember it is faster to come back with another coat then to do a repair.
 
When done put them in a box or somewhere where they are covered. I use a second shelf. This is the hardest part. “Leave them alone”. Once dry (48 hours) snap off toothpicks.
 
The furniture is a perfect choice to start with. Do not rush. You will be much happier later with the results if it takes a few days then rushing to get it done.
 
Good luck and have fun.  

Starting the Hull
 
With the drawing done, I did some copy and paste work in Photoshop to make a full-hull waterlines plan. I made enough copies of this to cut patterns for each of the waterlines needed. I did the same thing with the body plan, making templates to check progress and accuracy when shaping the hull.
 
At 1/8” scale, the waterlines came out exactly 1/4” apart, so I bought some 1/4” basswood to use for the lifts that would make up the hull. 
 
From past experience, I found that it was handy to be able to pull the lifts apart when shaping the hull, so I drilled holes in the lifts before shaping them and held them together with wood screws. Another set of holes allowed my to screw the whole assembly down onto a building board marked with station lines.
 
The building board was extremely useful and allowed me to hold the hull very steady while carving and sanding, gave me a solid surface with clearly marked station lines for the proper alignment of the hull templates, and also made the whole thing easier to store. 
 
After the hull is shaped, drilling a couple holes in the bottom of the hull allows the hull to sit upright securely so I can more easily shape the deck.
 
 
 
Clare
 
One of my favorite aspects of solid hull modeling is to be able to sit outside and carve wood. Very relaxing.     Shaping the lifts
  More shaping of lifts
  Now attached right-side-up so I can shape the deck