mtaylor

Hi Gaetan, Yes, black is black. Put a finish on your test pieces and think you'll be very pleased. The black will come alive.

Michael, There should be a club for this. I'm rather fond of trimming the ratline and snipping the shroud at the same time...

Very clean and precise. Beautiful work, Giorgos.

Juergen, Instead of paint which hides the details, think about using an ebony stain. You get the black without hiding the grain, treenails, etc.

Daniel, We know Augie's been an influence... but now he's good one? :D Your Mercury is a seriously good-looking ship. I can't wait to see more.

Daniel, Are you planning or adding all this detail to your Victory build? Or is this a great exercise in how-to? Fascinating work even if you don't add it to the build.

Thanks for looking and your nice comments everyone. At this point, MkIV is looking better and better to my eyes (or maybe to my impatience?) and will probably be left in place. When I started this, I knew it was going to be a learning ship and this deck definitely was a learning experience. The new wood will not be showing up for at least a month due to the supplier's health issues so depending on where in the Licorne I head next, it may or may not be an option to rework. B.E. I don't know if the French used top and butt planking. I'm a former kit hacker/basher meself... Caroline, The MkIV is a kit-bashers hack since kits don't normally supply extra timber in extra-width stock. The appearnce now is that the waterway is laid ontop of the planking which was seldom done in real life. Bob, You, sir, are a master of understatement as anyone who has seen your builds can attest. Ben, I hope all goes well for you and yours and you can get back to the workshop and the good life. When I get home tonite, I'll be posting my latest sanding tool... a rotary deck sander that I think I got the bugs worked out on.

Pete, There's lots of ways of fairing just as there are lots of builders. Many of us make our own sanding tools. I use a combination of round tubes, stiff plastic sheeting, even wood strips and blocks, all with sandpaper rubber cemented to them. It its easier to fair the inside before installing the fore and aft cant frames. I'd suggest crusing the various scratch logs, and not necessarily just the Hahn logs, as there's an abundance of good info on this.

Nice work, Bob. Correction, make that excellent work.

Have you checked the planking tutorials here; http://modelshipworldforum.com/ship-model-framing-and-planking-articles.php They should give a clear picture.

Jay, Since we're in agreement about Hahn... I have several AOTS books and their sizes don't always match up (drawing wise) for a give type gun. If you know or think you know which ship you want the cannon for, it may very well have to be a ship by ship search... or maybe it's shipyard or armory. I'm stil puzzled by this sort of thing. Standard, yet, non-standard seems to be the rule.

Jay, In his book "Ships of the American Revolution", in the text, Hahn gave the caliber length which he referenced from an article by Brewington in American Neptune. The reference was 15:1 as "standard". Yet for Alfred, the 32 pounders was 16.5:1, 18 pounders was19:1; 9 pounders on the qdeck was 20.25 :1, and 9 pounders on the foredeck were 23.25:1. Yep.. as Russ said... all over the place, they are.

Jim, Looking good. "Meat" is a relative term. Some builders leave that whisper of wood, other leave a half a forest.

Robbyn, Takes time to get over the effects of CA. Nasty stuff that as it reacts to water and thus moisture in the nose, sinuses and lungs. Antihistimines only work on things that have "histamines".. CA isn't one of them. If you find you're short of breath, dizzy, maybe even your color is off.. think bluish, get yourself to the ER immediately. Meantime, I'll keep my fingers crossed that you're only have an allergic reaction.

JP, You're doing great. Your persistence is paying off. Yes, planking is a bear but it looks like you're one of the masters.

I guess if she were based out of St. Louis, the only beer available would be Budwieser..

Time for an update... been much going on in real life and in the shipyard. Janet's healing nicely and is ahead of therapy. She hopes to be back in the pool in about 2 weeks. Work is still a four-letter word. The gundeck is finally and completely planked. At least for now the planking is version MkIV there may be a MkV. Per the picture, the yard crew is sanding and holystoning the deck. The left side is in progress. The right awaits them and their implements of smoothness. Version MkI was an attempt at planking where the planks follow the run of the hull. The planks have a curve to them. I started by full-width at mid-ships and planned to taper at bow and stern. After about 50% planked, I found that I needed to do some drop planks so off I went.. However, at 1/8" (approx. 3mm) wide planks, I soon realized I was making mess and ripped out the planks. Which lead to MkII. Nibbed!!! I put in a margin plank and started nibbing. Again, the width of the planks became an issue along with, as I found out, the French at that point time didn't use nibbing. Yep... ripped it out. The, MkIII...hooked scarfs. Yes.!!!.. Hmm... er.. no. Needed wider planks. Nothing in stock. Rip out the few planks installed and back to the drawing board. So we come to MkIV. I've ordered sufficient stock of silver maple in boards of sufficient dimensions to permit hook scarfs. But decided not to wait. Figured since about 75% of the gundeck won't be seen ("uh-oh", the crowd mummers) I'd figure out a method. Got out the dremel and put a groove into the lower part of the waterway where it meets the beams thinking I could slide the deck planks into the groove and give the appearance of the waterway on top of the planks. That works. When the wood gets here, I'll make another executive decision on ripping it out and doing it right, or letting it go and do the forecastle and the quarterdeck "properly". The decision will be based upon how does it look with a ship's boat, guns, etc in place. Once the sanding is done, and I've made some cardboard cutouts to see exactly what's visable and what isn't, I'll decide. Before I get hit with "that's not the way the real ones were done"... I know. I'm taking similar liberties at this point much like H. Hahn. No knees for the deck beams, etc. His pictures show planking much like what I have done, but admittedly.. I'm no H. Hahn.

Excellent work on the wales. So, I'm assuming the agony was worth it?

Robbyn, Don't use the CA if you can help it. Fabric glue, PVA or clear varnish will work to hold the serving without making the line brittle and your lung clogged.

Danny, Lovely just doesn't do this justice, IMO... Fantastic and amazing is closer to what I feel. Thanks for the education on the rudder.

Dan, Silkspan is usually readily available at hobby shops that cater to the RC crowd. For nonskid... paint with finish color. While the paint is wet, sprinkle with baby powder and blow off excess before it dries. Then paint over it. I use to do this with Tamiya armor models.

Steve, It's not moved... always been here in the scratch area. Some call it the Twilight Zone, most of us call it the Darkside. but here it's been and here it stays.

JP, I quite agree with the others. That is one fantastic planking job. Go with what the others have said for the tallowed look. Oh...and lighten up on yourself. It's a known condition around here that we are our own worst critics.

Sweet, Popeye. Nice job on the sails.

Andy, Peggy is looking great! I find that power tools don't always make it better... sometimes faster. And then there's the times where it takes longer to set things up than do it by hand. But tools are fun.