Bill Hime

If you have the space, I personally think that bigger is better!
 
Space is a very real issue for many though. 

I'll let the cat out of the bag...once this is done then the rattlesnake POF in 1/24. And then ultimately the frigate USS United States in the same 1/24
 
Yes I fully understand I am rattle can nuts...but hey ya only live once.....go big...or go home.....lol
 
Pamela

Hi Pamela! 
 
  I love the idea of this model in the monstrous 1/24 scale!  My Battle Station is 1/24 and the potential for detailing his huge.  My ultimate plan is to scratch-build the "Hannah" in that scale.  I'll be following along.
 
As to wood, holly for decking, rosewood for hatch coamings and some deck furniture, boxwood or yellow heart and bloodwood for bulwark plankings all can work.  Cherry is a nice wood to work with also.  I can't wait to see how this one comes out.  Good luck and have fun!

Ocooch hardwoods they specialize in stuff for the scroll saw and laser cutting hobby. I ordered 5 planks 3/8"x10"x48" at 22.00 each in poplar and one piece 3/8"x6"x24" for 9.50 in Walnut so we'll see. I figure 5he quality has to be good for scroll saw work

Quite the night owl.  Haha..  Where did you end up sourcing the wood if you don't mind sharing?

I've got my chair.  28" sounds like a nice size.  But you need to get some sleep.  "Found the drawing tools at 6:21 PM last night, Placed an order for wood at 3:24 AM this morning and posted at 7:11 AM."  Worked all night, how do you do that?
 
Bob

Placed the order for the first pile of wood.

Ha.....found the tracing vellum AND my french curves......right where I had left them oddly enough.
 
Wink,
Pamela

I was pretty happy with how the walnut looked on my hull, and of course the keel & bow post are all walnut as well.  Another good wood I believe would be cherry, although I only used it for contrast on some deck furniture.
 
There are a couple of logs here done by DocBlake (Dave) in the kit section, here:
 
http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/10979-armed-virginia-sloop-patrick-henry-by-docblake-finished-lauck-street-shipyard-scale-132-pof-admiralty-style/
 
and here:
 
http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/6998-armed-virginia-sloop-by-docblake/?hl=%2Barmed+%2Bvirginia+%2Bsloop
 
Where he uses no paint, and only the wood for coloring, and his choices of woods were quite nice looking if you want to take a look at them.

Keel spine and bulk heads will be poplar....keel, stern post, bow post will be walnut. I do not want to paint anything so I am open to suggestions as to what will look good.
 
Pamela

Looking forward to this one Pamela.  I expect great things.  
 
Have you decided what kind of woods you are going to be using?

I enlarged and printed the pattern sheet today.....have a good idea where my tracing vellum is along with my drawing tools. This is exciting. ....this is going to be a REALLY big ship.
 
Onward,
 
Pamela

Good morning Everyone!
 
Grant, Well heck, that sounds way too easy, lol. I just asked my wife if our computer could do a "spreadsheet". She looked at me sideways and giggled. "Of course", she answered.
You would think with all my "higher education", I might have picked that skill up somewhere along the way, lol! 
 
So I'm getting a lesson on spreadsheets today!
thanks Grant
 
 
Sjors!!! Great to have you drop in my friend! Lol, it's in active production! Resizing plans when I can get into town this week for sure. I'm going to throw together a desk/work table for the new shipyard today
 
 
 
I have missed being here with good friends and new friends. You all give me a great deal of peace..
 
 
Bill

Good morning everyone!
 
This log is the evolution of what was a kit build, that out of frustration and disappointment, is now a full campaign into scratch building.
I bought Model Shipways "Pride of Baltimore II", 1:64th scale what now must be a couple years ago. I was beyond excited when it arrived. My wife and I spread the contents across the counter, separating, grouping every strip as we checked off the material list.
We counted cannons, pulleys and deadeyes...This is where my initial frustration was seeded. The cannons where so small, with little detail to enjoy. Nonetheless, I jumped in with enthusiasm. I built the bulkhead frame and fared it out for planking. I had planned all along to build this model as an embellished version replacing decking and planking with Redheart, Yellowheart, and Holly. I had also planned on eliminating some of the "modern" features on deck and making it more/less true to the original schooner.
 
I have to admit, at the time of purchase, I settled for this kit. The budget was not there for me to purchase the ship I wanted, "HMS Surprise", 1:48 scale by A L. I was concerned with the scale of 1:64th from the beginning in that it wouldn't give me the room to be creative with exotic woods, building a "jewelry box" display piece.
So it sat, staring at me. I found myself avoiding this forum, not wanting to answer to having no updates..silly, I know. Over time the "Pride" found it's way back into the box preached on a high shelf.  The shipyard was silent, tools hung motionless and frustration became loss.
Finally, life took back over, as it always does. I wondered in and out of MSW for some time there after. I logged back in this past March I think, only to find I had loss a good friend, Augie Bruno.
Augie's passing hit me hard. I had planned on telling him I retired from healthcare. I had mentioned how I hate how time and the busy-ness of life steals from us the things we love most.
 
We spent the last winter and spring renovating our new property. I turned a cabin next to house into my cabinet/furniture shop. I made a separate space within for the shipyard. Business took off with a bang but lately, my benches are idle without any work on the books.
So what life has afforded me is time to be here with good friends and a shared passion. Winter will reach Wisconsin soon enough.
 
Now to the build; I'm resizing the plans from 1:64 to 1:48 scale. 
 
Materials featured: Hard Maple and Basswood for frame and structure. Redheart for planking, Yellowheart for decking, Holly, Ebony and brass and copper for details. treenails will be copper and brass pins.
 
I look forward to any input or thoughts as this project moves along! I'll be spending time this weekend readying the shipyard for this build and start resizing my materials list with an online scale calculator.
 
 
Sincere Regards to All,
 
Bill

If you want scale oak use beech wood. Bends well, holds an edge, does not oxidize. I use alder for a deck with a mellow tan look. Do not  put a finish on the decking!!

Cherry and holly.  Oil or poly for a finish.

I was very happy with the results on my AVS using Holly and Minwax satin wipe-on poly.

I normally go with holly with either "Natural" stain finish or wipe on poly.  Recently I saw a model using beech for decking.  It looked good...scale oak appearance.  .

Thanks to all.I've picked up some maple. I'm going to partial plank it...treat it (maybe gun oil) and see what it looks like.

Tough question....  holly, boxwood, pear, silver maple (I've not tried other species of maple) look good depending on the effect you're looking for.  As for finishes... Wipe-on-poly, varnish.. there's a bunch.   I'm a Wipe-on-Poly guy but other finishes look excellent from what I've seen on MSW.

I use tanganyika on all mine, it looks great after a single coat of poly.  But it is very brittle so make sure you have extra. 

John,   Holly is a difficult wood to season.  The piece you have has probably been infected with Blue Mold.  It is grey or blue and it discolors the wood. 
The good aspect is that it only discolors, it does not rot. You can use it with no worry.  I was working Holly logs into billets and as the band saw blade approached the end it was pushing water ahead of it,  so communication inside the wood is easy.  Most who want Holly are after the snow white effect.  To preserve that, Holly must be harvested in Winter and rushed to a kiln to stay ahead of the Blue Mold.  For most of our uses,  it does not matter.  In your case, it makes for a more realistic decking color.  Holly takes well to wood dyes and makes for an easier to use Ebony when dyed black and the mold does not matter  It bends like a champ,so is good for hull planking, it just looks better dyed or painted.  The scale effect of the grain is about as good as it gets.
 
BCD,  
Open pore species- such as Oak, Ash, Hickory, Black Walnut - do not scale well, so are maybe not among the better choices. 
 
Basswood in pre-scribed sheets is what kits used to provide for decks.  The wood scales well and will work as individual planks.  It is just too
soft and ready to fuzz for my taste.
Yellow Poplar is light weight and easy to work and stays crisp.  You have to be picky about the planks unless you want a greenish deck.
Soft Maple might get you some grey effect in areas of a board, but mostly it is close to white.  It is soft, and can fuzz or be brittle.  As a horticultural specimen  Soft (Water) Maple is a weed.
 
Hard Maple will make for a good deck if you want something that looks like Rupp Arena.
Sycamore ( American ) is brittle and has a pattern that is too busy ( an alternate name is Lacewood ).
What the English call Sycamore is a species of Maple that is close but not quite as hard as Hard Maple.

Thanks Bill thats kind of you to say!

My POB II will be Yellowheart  Stay tuned
 
Bill

One needs to be careful using bituminous compounds: they never completely 'set'. The alligator-skin cracked surface one sees in old varnish is caused by bitumen: it slowly 'crawls' over time. Some old paintings have the same problem where bitumen brown was used by the artist.