MikeB4

I didn't like the way my planking came out so I'm attempting to strip off some of the planks so I can start over. of course several frames have broken on me. I will attempt to fix what I broke and go from there.

I got the garboard strakes in place. I tried to get each plank as close to the position as in Chuck's pictures. of coarse his fit a lot nicer into the rabbet than mine do. It's close enough for rock n roll.

Thank you Gentlemen, That helps me quite a bit. the only other thing I can't tell is whether there needs to be a little bit of a curve on the inside edge at the fore most point facing the bow end against the keal or if the board is completely straight until it has to twist at the stern. I know the outside edge is curved.

I got the shear strake in place. It's not perfect but it will work. Next I'm going to plank the garboard strake. Does anyone know where the board should start at the bow? It's hard to see in the instructions where it starts and its shape at the fore.

What kind of wood are you using for the nails.

I picked up a glue stick and a board made of birch. I think that should be hard enough to mount and carve the blanks on.

My blanks have come in and I'm very excited about learning a new skill.

Steve,

So far not to bad. It was a bit of a challenge getting the transom on straight. There's no good way to clamp it. I ended up putting a tiny brass nail in to hold it in place along with wood glue. The nail will be hidden from view anyhow.

I've almost completed the fairing of the frames. everything is lined up much better with this build and it hasn't taken as long.

Mike,

It's probably much easier to get the center bulkheads separated if the wood strips are out of the way. The reason being is there are three points at which each removable bulkhead attaches to each frame. The procedure for removal is to cut the top two contact points at port and starboard, Then carefully snap the bottom contact point thus releasing the bulkhead. If the strips are still in place you would have a difficult time trying to snap free the bottom contact.

I finally got the frames glued in place. I also stabilized the frames by putting wood strips in between each bulkhead. I applied only a small amount of CA to one side of each strip. This will make it easier to remove them after the boat is planked. I wish I had done this for the long boat build. This not only makes it easier to fair, it will also keep the frames in their proper positions when I start planking the hull.

My condolences, Eric.

I'm going to attempt bending the planks. I had some success doing it that way with building the long boat. This boat will have different challenges because of the size difference. I'll see how it goes. 

Yes all the bulkhead-frames where marked. I went ahead and dry fitted them to the keel. all but two fit nice and firm and the twelfth one broke on me. Nothing that a little CA won't take care of. I'm also wondering if I should drill the holes for the brass pedestals before I glue the bulkheads on. 

I'm back in business. My missing parts sheet got delivered today. It took awhile but better late than never. I'm excited to continue on with my build log.

John Garcia responded to my latest email and said he will find out what happened and will get back to me.

I've sent another email to Model Expo to find out why I haven't received my missing part(s) yet. It's been a little over a month since they responded and said they would send me what I am missing.

Almost a month gone by and still no parts. I guess this model isn't going to get built.

I want to give a shout out to John Garcia of Model Expo for good customer service. I wish all companies where like this. My missing parts have been shipped.

The first thing I noticed with the sheet was that it was a little thicker than the other two and doesn't match up with the slots on the false keel. The numbers and letters don't match with the blue print. Everything on the sheet in question just doesn't match size wise either, the parts are to small. I have no doubt that it belongs to the Long Boat kit because I've already built that model and am very familiar with it.

This build has caught a snag. As I was starting to get ready to removing the bulkhead frames from their sheets, I noticed something wrong with one of the three sheets. Come to find out Model Expo accidentally put a sheet of bulkhead frames that belong to the eighteenth century long boat instead of the one that belongs to this boat. This leaves me short 36 parts that are on this sheet according to the list. I called Model Expo but they're closed this week. I hope they will send me the right sheet of parts even though I have had this model sitting in my closet for several years.

My progress is moving along. I've got the false keel beveled and I've glued on the stem and keel. Everything looks straight.

I've cleaned up most of the char. I put a 1/16th of an inch wide strip of masking tape down the bottom of the false keel, leaving 1/32nd on each side to become the depth of the rabbet.

I'm back to start a new project. This time I'm going to attempt to build the English Pinnace. This is in a larger scale than the eighteenth Century long boat that I built last, but is still going to be a challenge to plank. I'm going to attempt to bend the strakes with heat only and not use any water. This is the advice that Chuck gives in his video. I'll see how that goes for me.

Eric,

As far as working on this recently, yes I just finished the the last thing on this boat the weekend before. I found the time to take pictures on Saturday. If your asking me whether I worked on this consistently from beginning to end, the answer is no. especially in the last few months, I had very little time unfortunately to devote to this hobby. As far as whether I'll be building anything else, I will eventually since I do have seven boat and ship model kits in my closet. I'm in no hurry, I have limited space for displaying my models. It looks like your off to a good start on your next project, I'll be watching.

Mike