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Then it was back to planking. The last planks gave me some trouble. They had some twist, due to the hull appearing to have flare at bow, and tumblehome amidships, so i used quick-setting epoxy glue, for strength. After the allotted time for curing, I removed the clamps to clean up the excess glue, only to find later on, that over the next few hours, the glue had yielded to the stress in the plank, and allowed it to move out, losing the tumblehome. Then, of course, taking the plank off damaged the one below, so it was one pace forward, two back. They went on in the end, by trying harder. The planks needed steaming, with more clamps to pull them into shape. I used Spanish windlasses to pull the tumble home in, tho' it was probably overkill. I do like them, though, - they are powerful, easily adjustable, and cost nothing! The next 2 full-length planks, in a contrasting colour, went on well enough, but were not exactly on top of each other where they form the guardrails ( bulwarks?) of the maindeck. I was too heavy-handed fairing them, so they ended up far too thin, and easily damaged. Another one forward, two back moment! This photo is out of sequence, but it shows the only place where the bulkheads supplied gave an 'unfair' line to the hull, shown by the trial plank plank on the stern castle. I had to choose between builing up one frame, or trimming the one beside it, and decided that trimming was easier.

The instructions said to plank the deck at this point, probably because it would be more difficult when the planks rise above the deck. The plans show a simple two-butt shift, but advice was to use at least a three-butt shift, with a realistic scaled-up length of 5.5 metres for the longest planks ( 75mm on the model). The centre planks went on in one piece, because the hatchways that go there will break them into shorter lengths to the eye. The first time I made the pattern in the planking, I was disappointed not to see it at all, and to find that I had to blacken the edges of the planks, in imitation of caulking, before this was possible. The books gave a choice of ways to do this, such as using a soft pencil, or a permanent marker pen, or even running a piece of thread down the seam. I tried the first two. The penciled edges were too faint, and the marker sometimes ran, especially on end grains. I ended up running a pencil down the seams, and drawing the plank ends with the help of a ruler. The effect was OK, but if I´d known that I was going to do that, I could have laid all the planks full length, and saved a lot of effort.

Hola, Juan. I´m impressed with the details on your model, but I can´t place it. Is it from a previous age? It isn´t like the fishing boats on the coast near Huelva, where I live. I have the plans of one of those, with the high flaring bows, and I hope to build it, when I have finished the Mayflower kit by Constructo that is keeping me busy at the moment.

My build log went off into interspace in the Great Crash of ´13, but I have the photos, so I will try to resurrect it. It is my first build, so I have nothing to teach anyonewho knows what they are doing, but perhaps someone starting can learn from my mistakes. I had put the first plank on before I discovered Model Ship World, and learned how little I knew, and how it should have been done. So, acting on its advice, I took the plank off, and made the bow solid, with a ‘sandwich’ of thin pine planks, then put the plank back, as below. To be continued

Now I can see why I have to spend so much time cleaning up excess glue! It looks like you put just the right amount on, whereas I slap it on, for fear of not getting enough in the right place. I try to clean it up before it hardens, but the clamps squeeze some out when they are tightened, and then make access for cleaning difficult. I assume the the white residue you get when surplus glue hardens will look bad when the varnish goes on, so I try to remove it.