Stuntflyer

I spent several hours lining out the hull. I marked all the bulkheads aft of the first four with a tick mark for 3/16" strakes. The result was that most of the bulkheads have strakes that will be 3/16" for the next eight. The first four bulkheads at the bow will require tapering of each plank. I was hoping that all of the bulkheads aft of those four would not need any tapering. It turns out that the two last bulkheads will require some plank tapering. The arrows show that the lining out misses the tick mark by a 1/16". The bulkhead before it by less than 1/32" I'm really hoping that I didn't do something wrong. It seems odd that these two tick marks didn't line up with the tape where all the others aft of the first four bulkheads did. The result was almost identical for both sides.

Wow, That looks fantastic!

Mike

Bob - I ran into the same problem or at least I think so. By "plumb" I think you mean that the risers are not vertical. I was able to get the windlass close enough to the riser so that the pin was hardly noticeable. Not that your going to do that now, just found your dilemma interesting. Whether your solution is right or wrong, I wouldn't know. I just like the way you are able think outside the box.

Mike

With those last two planks installed, I could see where I over sanded a few of the bulkheads in the fairing process. I found five areas that needed a 1/64± shim. I ripped them from some laser cut soft ply I had lying around. Once glued, I sanded them to the proper curve.

Maury, Jason, thanks!

Ian - I actually did read the instructions. I was just over thinking the process.

Bob - Ha ha! we'll see who ends up being the follower.

Mike

After applying seven coats of black onto the wales, possibly more still needed, I'm finally ready to move onto the next chapter. The first two belts of planking below the wales are completed. My tendency to complicate things got in the way of my progress. I first tried making the drop planks from 1/4" stock only to find out that it was not wide enough. In the end I just followed the instructions. I made them from a small piece of 1/16" sheet reduced to 3/64" using the thickness sander. That worked out just fine.

Bob - Everything looks great! I did the area between the ports like you did, using built up planking. Works great as long as the pieces are pre-bent where necessary. I'm looking forward to your getting ahead of me. It will help me as I plod along while learning from you.

Mike

Maury - I see what you mean. I've applied three thinned coats so far, each one looking better than the one before. It still needs more.

Hello Erik,

I just came across your Longboat build. It's looking very nice so far. It's a fun build. Enjoy!

Mike

Before adding the second layer of wales I applied a coat of Wipe-on poly to the planking. The wales were gradually reduced in thickness about 1" from the stem until they were almost paper thin. Trying to paint the upper wales edges while on the ship is not something I would be comfortable doing. With that in mind I prepainted the edge that would be close to the planking and stem. When gluing the wales, I tried to use as little glue as possible as I wanted to avoid any glue seepage past the painted edge. There was some seepage, though very little, and I was able to remove it easily using a moistened Q-tip. Now I just need to finish painting the wales before starting on the remaining hull planking.

Bob, Jay, thanks! I really do appreciate all the comments and "likes".

I'm getting ready to do the second layer of the wales. I hoping to get them done on the first try this time. My difficulty in making the fashion pieces was enough to make me rethink my approach to the various tasks ahead. Anyway, I should have something to show this week if all goes well.

Mike

After four previous attempts I can say that I'm now happy with the way these fashion pieces look.

The first photo shows were the counter has more curve at the bottom compared to the template. I was trying to shape the fashion pieces to follow the curve of the counter. This resulted in the pieces being too wide and misshaped. It might not look like much but trying to cover this area of the counter with the fashion pieces changes everything.

The solution was to shape the fashion piece correctly and sand the counter, if necessary, to blend into the shape of the fashion piece. To be honest, very little sanding was necessary which really surprised me. In addition, it wasn't necessary to force the bottom of the fashion piece to a more pronounced curve like I had to before. Once installed they were sanded down to roughly 3/64" in thickness. Now the pieces have a gentle curve and a more delicate shape overall.

I wish I could say that I'm done making these fashion pieces but I can't. Gonna give it another try as I think I can do better. Hat's off to those who manage to get it right the first time.

I decided today to re-do the fashion piece. Too much taper at the bottom and the slightly widening section at the top really bothered me. The piece was easy to remove since I used PVA to adhere it. I made another and more accurate card stock template of the shape. This time I traced the shape onto the hull so I could see what the piece would look like once installed. I glued the piece to the hull with the tracing just showing outside the fashion piece. When the fashion piece was dry I removed the pencil marks with some alcohol on a Q-tip. At the bottom of the fashion piece the curve is quite pronounced and it is important to get a tight fit between the fashion piece and the first layer wales. I was able to finesse the curve a bit more by using a cloths iron. I adhered this area with CA. Although it might be hard to see in the photos (as the fashion piece angles inward at the bottom) the result seems closer to what the plans call for, I think.

Just wanted to post a small update that took a lot of trial and error to get halfway right. The result, seen here, is the first of the two fashion pieces.

Bob, it was nice meeting you too. I will be following your Cheerful log which is looking great,btw!

While planking the counter and transom, I ran into a few issues that had to be resolved. The back of the stern frames had to be shimmed an additional 1/32" so that the counter planking would sit 1/8" above the square tuck filler piece. This is important because the square tuck is 1/8" thick and should be close to flush with the counter planking before sanding. While planking the transom I noticed that the last 3/16" plank would not cover the remaining stern frames, so I went with a wider 1/4" plank. If I had gone with a 3/16" plank, I would not have been able to achieve the proper curve at the top of the transom. I didn't think of it at the time but I could have used a tick strip to determine the proper width for the four planks.

Looks great Bob!

I'm looking forward to your future posts. I'm sure that you will be ahead of me in no time.

Mike

Planking of the port side above the wales is now completed. Both sides have had an initial sanding with 180 grit.

In preparation for the stern planking the outside stern frames were thinned to 1/16" in thickness. I'm looking forward to getting started on the planking so I can tighten up this area which is still somewhat fragile.

Very nice as usual Chuck! When do you thin down those stern frames?

Mike

Planking above the wales has proven to be a rather time consuming process as a lot of time was spent getting a good fit between the gun ports. At one point I realized that I had the wrong curve, aft of the last gun port, which required a more upward sweep. Rather than replacing the whole plank I just added a filler piece after the curve was corrected. The filler piece is small and will eventually be covered by the fashion piece.

Photo showing one side completed above the wales and the small filler piece at the stern.

Hi Ken,

I just got through reading your log. As you know I saw your model at the last NJ meeting and you are doing a great job on her. I didn't realize how nice looking a ship Rattlesnake was. Some of the parts you made are quite small and they look great too. You must be a very patient guy. Btw; I share your thoughts regarding Jason's wood, really high quality stuff. Anyway, count me in on the watch list.

Mike 

I'm now onto the hull planking starting with the first of the two wale layers. I made sure that each plank fit nicely into the stem to avoid as much sanding as possible. I don't have the clamp and glue technique sorted out yet so I just worked my way aft by hand and glued two or three bulkheads at a time. Although the wale location was previously marked, I did make some tiny adjustments as I went along. This was especially true where I had to ensure that both wales end up at the same location where the break of the counter and square tuck meet.

I was able to complete the port painting after applying about 15 thinned coats of red over a dark pink base. The temporary battens marking the bottom edge of the wales were pinned evenly on both sides of the hull. For the most part the batten runs matched the reference lines along the bulkheads very closely.

Before moving too far into chapter three, here is a photo showing the final sanding of the square tuck

Chuck,

What would be a good color for the red paint? I have tried Winsor and Newton and they seem to work well. I see that you used Crimson on the Winchelsea