rvchima

Nautical Question
At the bow the keel has a ring of holes shaped like a U. What is this?

Filler

2 hours with Timbermate wood filler. It looks like my hull is made out of clay.

5 minutes with a random orbit sander - nearly smooth.

20 minutes with a sanding pad and Proxxon sander - ready to paint.

Sanding Done, Filler Needed
I did maybe 80% of my sanding with a random orbit sander, and much of the rest with a Proxxon pencil sander. It's mostly done but I had to order some new wood filler to match the color of the pear. It should come tomorrow. In the meantime I marked the waterline with a high-tech marking tool, and wet-bent the main wales to shape.

Second Planking Complete
I put in a marathon build yesterday and completed the second layer of planking. "Completed" as in "all the planks are glued down." I've done a little sanding but still have a lot of sanding and filling to do. The second layer of planks took about 28 hours for 29 planks on each side. So roughly 1/2 hour per plank.

Outer Bulwarks, Keel, Bow, Rudder Post, & Stern
The outer bulwarks are covered with 8 pieces of 0.8 mm pear with details burned in by the laser. The pieces fit almost perfectly but were tricky to attach. The manual says to coat the hull with dilute PVA and hold the pieces with a zillion clamps. The clamps just didn't fit very well, so when I unclamped the first piece there were several gaps along the bottom that had to be fixed carefully with CA. I attached the remaining 7 pieces by coating the hull with PVA over the center of each piece, and putting a bead of CA around the perimeter. Then I aligned the piece and held it in place for 20 seconds. No clamps necessary.
 
The keel, bow, and rudder post start as 3 mm MDF. After the first layer of planking they are covered with a 0.8 mm veneer of pear. This brilliant scheme leaves a perfect rabbet for the second layer of planking. The lower stern counter also gets a layer of veneer.


Second Layer of Planking
Before applying the second layer of planking I oiled the planks with Watco natural oil. That way if when I get CA on the planks they will already be oiled. That pear takes the stain beautifully.

My pedestals arrived so I attached a temporary stand. The second layer of planking takes a while to apply, but it is relatively easy with a solid hull underneath. The manual recommends splitting the planks so the front and rear joints can be fit easily.


There are some edges standing proud that will be sanded down later. The trim pieces on the bulwarks have some fuzzy grain on them , but the laser detail is too fine to sand. Don't know what I'll do about that.

 
 

First Layer of Planking Complete - 72 Hours, 50 days
 
A little bit of caulk and a little bit of paint,
Make a carpenter what he ain't.
 
At least that's what a painter told me, and it sure is true of the first layer of planking. I filled all the gaps with Famowood filler and did a lot of sanding. Foam sanding pads work beautifully. One thing that came in very handy was a remote controlled extension cord for my shop vacuum. As soon as the dust began to build I grabbed the hose, pressed the button, and had the dust cleaned up in no time.
 
Here are several photos of the first layer of planking.



The kit includes several braces to maintain the width of the hull during planking. Trouble is they are made of MDF, and I broke them off so many times that I had to reinforce them and tape them in place. But they did their job.

 
 

No, I Haven't Given Up
Actually I just returned from an 11 day trip to Maui with my wife, two sons, and their wives. Before I left I made an embarrassing mistake. Despite several warnings in the manual I started planking the hull with wet wood. When I got home there were some serious gaps between the planks. I've planked several hulls in my life and totally know better. I spent a couple of days filling and sanding, and it shouldn't cause a problem on the first layer of planking. I am now pinning wet strips to dry overnight, then gluing them the next day with PVA on the long edges and CA on the bulkheads. The photo shows the hull about half planked with wet planks and gaps, 3 rows with dry planks attached, and 3 more rows of wet planks pinned to dry overnight. This is all working out much better.
 
I prefer to mount my models on brass pedestals rather than using cradles. It makes them much easier to handle during construction and to move when finished. I just ordered two pedestals, and added some reinforcements along the keel to attach them to.
 

While waiting for planks to dry I built the stove. It comprises a surprising number of wood and photo etched brass parts.

 
 
 

Gun Ports, And A Piece That Just Didn't Fit Right

These little pieces get glued vertically to define the sides of the gun ports, like this.



Then thin plywood strips get painted red and glued to the insides of the gunwales. (Test fit before painting shown.) The fit was perfect, but after I had attached everything I discovered a gap between the gunwales and the horizontal notched strip.

And so, deconstruction. I removed the notched strip  and found that the gunwale pieces matched the notches in the MDF frames perfectly. I have no idea how the notched strip ended up so high, and on both sides. But I glued it back in the correct position. I also stained and attached the second deck with laser-marked planking.

The next step is to pre-soak thin ply panels for the outer gunwales. Before I glued these I discovered another gap between them and that same notched strip. There wasn't enough material on the MDF frames to fair the hull any more, so I filled the gaps with 1/16" square strips. It looks like this will all be covered with another deck and rails later.
 
So future Sphinx builders, keep an eye on that notched strip. Consider attaching the inner gunwale pieces first to make sure that strip sits right on top.

Just to make sure that I understand, around 1782 Sphinx had 6 12-pounder carronades added to her quarterdeck, and possibly 2 more to the forecastle, in addition to the 20 9-pounder carriage guns on the gun deck. Is that correct?

Nautical Question
At the bow the keel has a ring of holes shaped like a U. What is this?

Filler

2 hours with Timbermate wood filler. It looks like my hull is made out of clay.

5 minutes with a random orbit sander - nearly smooth.

20 minutes with a sanding pad and Proxxon sander - ready to paint.

First Layer of Planking Complete - 72 Hours, 50 days
 
A little bit of caulk and a little bit of paint,
Make a carpenter what he ain't.
 
At least that's what a painter told me, and it sure is true of the first layer of planking. I filled all the gaps with Famowood filler and did a lot of sanding. Foam sanding pads work beautifully. One thing that came in very handy was a remote controlled extension cord for my shop vacuum. As soon as the dust began to build I grabbed the hose, pressed the button, and had the dust cleaned up in no time.
 
Here are several photos of the first layer of planking.



The kit includes several braces to maintain the width of the hull during planking. Trouble is they are made of MDF, and I broke them off so many times that I had to reinforce them and tape them in place. But they did their job.

 
 

Sanding Done, Filler Needed
I did maybe 80% of my sanding with a random orbit sander, and much of the rest with a Proxxon pencil sander. It's mostly done but I had to order some new wood filler to match the color of the pear. It should come tomorrow. In the meantime I marked the waterline with a high-tech marking tool, and wet-bent the main wales to shape.

Looking at the Speedy instructions, the horseshoe and fish plates are omitted and the rudder hinges go over the copper plating. So that's what I would do (and will when I'll do the Sphinx 😉 )
 
(Edit... I noticed that on the Indy, the plates and and hinges all go on top of the copper plating, so I guess it's any way you want...)

Just as a note, if you are displaying her as coppered (like she was in 1781) then you should know that at that time she was also given carronades around the same times as many of her sister ships were.
 
She appears on a 1782 list saying she was armed with 6 12pdrs on her quarterdeck, but then later in a 1793 she is not on a list of carronade armed ships. Sometime before 1799 her bulwarks were built up on the quarterdeck and forecastle (likely when she received the corresponding armament, but it is impossible to know for sure).
 
So given your time period I would guess the most correct armament would be just the 6 12pdr carronades on the quarter deck, with correspondingly built up bulwarks, but you could probably also make an argument for adding the 2 to the forecastle as well.
 
EDIT: I should add both the 1779 and the 1794 establishment lists say that 20 gun ships should be equipped with 8 12pdr carronades, 2 on the fore castle and 6 on the quarterdeck, though in reality many ships did not adhere to the establishments.

That's what I will do. I wondered about having iron and copper in contact, but ship builders didn't understand Galvanic corrosion at the time.
 
😬 Yikes! I was afraid that other changes would show up in six years. Since the coppered hull is much more obvious than gun barrels to the casual observer (like me), I think I will copper the hull and ignore a few years of historical inaccuracy. But thank you kindly for the information.

Spoiler Alert - I am about to copper the hull. The Sphinx was coppered in 1781. Would the copper go under, over, or around the iron reinforcement plates? Same question for the rudder hinges.

That's what I will do. I wondered about having iron and copper in contact, but ship builders didn't understand Galvanic corrosion at the time.
 
😬 Yikes! I was afraid that other changes would show up in six years. Since the coppered hull is much more obvious than gun barrels to the casual observer (like me), I think I will copper the hull and ignore a few years of historical inaccuracy. But thank you kindly for the information.

Spoiler Alert - I am about to copper the hull. The Sphinx was coppered in 1781. Would the copper go under, over, or around the iron reinforcement plates? Same question for the rudder hinges.

Coppering Complete!
 
I was dreading this, but I've got to say it wasn't too bad.  Just didn't try any marathon sessions to get too burned out at one sitting.  Finished up being about 1200-1300 tiles.  Whew!  Couple of coats of shellac to seal some edges and corners to help keep them from peeling.  Now it's on to guns and other deck paraphernalia.
 

 

Copper Plating
 
I seriously considered painting the lower hull with Model Masters Oxidizing Copper Paint.  This stuff has actual copper flake in it and is supposed to patina naturally over time.  Or you can buy an accelerator to make green or blue patina immediately.  I bought a bottle of the paint and painted some samples.  I considered getting the accelerator, but by then I'd decided I didn't think I'd like the way it looked and that I would bite the bullet and go with the copper plating tape in the kit.  
 
I also experimented with this tool.  It's from Artesania Latina.  It comes in kit form, you have to put it together.   It looks promising because it combines fine edge divots, coarser mid plate ones in an alternating pattern, and seam markers.   Theory is you just roll this thing down the tape and make all your marks in one quick pass.  Much Time Saved!   It works, but my main issue with it is that it's VERY hard to keep it going in a straight line keeping things properly aligned.  Really no good way to run it in a guide or straightedge to guide it, that I could come up with at least.  Plus it's got so many sharp points hitting the copper all at once it wants to pull the tape away from the backing and wrap around the wheels.  Maybe this has promise, and someone will figure a better way to use it.  But I'm putting it in a drawer for now and going back to a bit more old school, but tedious method.  
 

 
I made a simple card stock and tape jig, that I can use to produce 9 tiles at a time. Using the straight edge to guide a fine pounce wheel (sewing tool, Excel brand) for one edge and one side of each tile.  Only marking one side and end because the tiles will be overlap jointed.  I made a little wood jig to poke the mid-plate lines.  That part is a bit tedious, but it's fast.  Could probably be made quicker by making a multi-pin stamp, but I've tried making one and can never seem to get all the pins straight and the same length.   Once all the divots are poked, just take a knife and cut each joint, careful to cut just the copper and not the backing.  This gives a really easy to use strip of plates that peel off easily.
 

 
And so it begins.  About 100 plates laid - only about 900 more to go 
 

Thank you James! That seems obvious in retrospect.

Filler

2 hours with Timbermate wood filler. It looks like my hull is made out of clay.

5 minutes with a random orbit sander - nearly smooth.

20 minutes with a sanding pad and Proxxon sander - ready to paint.

Nautical Question
At the bow the keel has a ring of holes shaped like a U. What is this?

Nautical Question
At the bow the keel has a ring of holes shaped like a U. What is this?