Stuntflyer

I've finished up the starboard hull planking and I must say that I'm quite happy with it. So far it's been sanded with some 180 grit sticky back sandpaper attached to soft sanders. You can find them here, just search for "soft sanders" https://www.woodcraft.com/ I prefer the coarser grit as it allows me to even out the undulations in the wood more easily than if I went with a finer grit. I'll finish up with some 320-400 in order to remove any scratches that can be seen.

I still need to add the hance piece at the quarterdeck. Once that is in I will final shape the shear of that last filler plank.

Mike

I've finished up the starboard hull planking and I must say that I'm quite happy with it. So far it's been sanded with some 180 grit sticky back sandpaper attached to soft sanders. You can find them here, just search for "soft sanders" https://www.woodcraft.com/ I prefer the coarser grit as it allows me to even out the undulations in the wood more easily than if I went with a finer grit. I'll finish up with some 320-400 in order to remove any scratches that can be seen.

I still need to add the hance piece at the quarterdeck. Once that is in I will final shape the shear of that last filler plank.

Mike

Thanks, Rick!
Good question. I don't plan on adding treenails to the planking. However, I might do the frames. Still deciding on that.

Catheads...
 
I usually hold off on making the catheads, but it just makes sense to get them done now.  It will make it easier to finish off the inboard bulwarks which will be next up.   With the catheads all done I can get the waterways in on the f'castle deck along with the pissdale and other details.
 
All the pieces are laser cut for the catheads.  Below.  I have cleaned all the char off of these pieces and they are ready to assemble.
 

The sides with the carved panels were glued on first.  First the outside cover to establish the raised panel look and then the inboard piece.  These are 1/64" thick and are sanded down even thinner afterwards.
 

Then the carved front piece and sheaves were added.  These are a hair larger than needed so you can sand them all nice and flush.
 

Then the cathead was glue to the cat tail...no worries about the seam because that will be completely covered.
 

 
Using the templates that we used to establish the hawse holes,  the position for the catheads were marked outboard.  Then the bulwarks were notched out carefully.  I used a razor saw.  The notch was made narrower than needed and not as deep as ultimately needed.  Once the basic notch was cut out, I used a good file to slowly open it up to its final size and shape.
 
You will also notice I painted the inboard cat tail red in advance.  I painted up to the seam line.  Note the chamfered edges inboard.
 

When test fit and in the final position, the inboard side of the cat tail is flush with the top of the cap rail.   But the angle of the cathead rises and so it will be above the cap rail height on the outboard side.  You can see this in the picture.  This is what you are shooting for.  The cat tail is also left longer on the inboard side so you can shorten it accordingly.  It should sit flat on the deck.  You will soon see some inboard pics.

Above the cathead there is a cat block.  Usually this is an open cat block but on the contemporary model it is closed.  So I will follow suit.  This is laser cut and 3/16" wide. ...but is currently a straight cat block.  You need to sand a slight curve into this when viewed from above.  It needs to conform to the rounded shape of the cap rail when viewed from above.  See the plans.  This is easy enough to do.  It is a very slight curve.
 
Then a sheave is added and a slot is created on the bottom.  This slot will accommodate the top of the cathead.   It will sit right on top of it and thus this slot must be angled to match the upward slope of the cathead.  Again this is not hard to do.  I just used a small flat file.  But yes you can carve it with a chisel also.   The catblock was painted black.
 

 
A final pic of the catheads in position and the cat blocks too.  There is still a bunch of paint touch up to get done.
 


Now as you know there are many ways to build and position these.  For example,  if you wanted to,  you can add the inboard cat tail separately without gluing them together first.  Maybe that will be easier for some.  Cut it to length and paint it red.  Glue it to the inboard bulwarks and partially in the notch.  Then add the cathead by placing it into the notch up against the cat tail.
 
Its up to you.  I just thought it might be easier this way to make them look like one piece if they were glued together first.  But its not the only way to do it. And remember, the seam between the two parts will be completely covered by the cat block.  So it doesnt have to be perfect.

I've finished up the starboard hull planking and I must say that I'm quite happy with it. So far it's been sanded with some 180 grit sticky back sandpaper attached to soft sanders. You can find them here, just search for "soft sanders" https://www.woodcraft.com/ I prefer the coarser grit as it allows me to even out the undulations in the wood more easily than if I went with a finer grit. I'll finish up with some 320-400 in order to remove any scratches that can be seen.

I still need to add the hance piece at the quarterdeck. Once that is in I will final shape the shear of that last filler plank.

Mike

I've finished up the starboard hull planking and I must say that I'm quite happy with it. So far it's been sanded with some 180 grit sticky back sandpaper attached to soft sanders. You can find them here, just search for "soft sanders" https://www.woodcraft.com/ I prefer the coarser grit as it allows me to even out the undulations in the wood more easily than if I went with a finer grit. I'll finish up with some 320-400 in order to remove any scratches that can be seen.

I still need to add the hance piece at the quarterdeck. Once that is in I will final shape the shear of that last filler plank.

Mike

I've finished up the starboard hull planking and I must say that I'm quite happy with it. So far it's been sanded with some 180 grit sticky back sandpaper attached to soft sanders. You can find them here, just search for "soft sanders" https://www.woodcraft.com/ I prefer the coarser grit as it allows me to even out the undulations in the wood more easily than if I went with a finer grit. I'll finish up with some 320-400 in order to remove any scratches that can be seen.

I still need to add the hance piece at the quarterdeck. Once that is in I will final shape the shear of that last filler plank.

Mike

I've finished up the starboard hull planking and I must say that I'm quite happy with it. So far it's been sanded with some 180 grit sticky back sandpaper attached to soft sanders. You can find them here, just search for "soft sanders" https://www.woodcraft.com/ I prefer the coarser grit as it allows me to even out the undulations in the wood more easily than if I went with a finer grit. I'll finish up with some 320-400 in order to remove any scratches that can be seen.

I still need to add the hance piece at the quarterdeck. Once that is in I will final shape the shear of that last filler plank.

Mike

Beautiful work, Mike!  

I've finished up the starboard hull planking and I must say that I'm quite happy with it. So far it's been sanded with some 180 grit sticky back sandpaper attached to soft sanders. You can find them here, just search for "soft sanders" https://www.woodcraft.com/ I prefer the coarser grit as it allows me to even out the undulations in the wood more easily than if I went with a finer grit. I'll finish up with some 320-400 in order to remove any scratches that can be seen.

I still need to add the hance piece at the quarterdeck. Once that is in I will final shape the shear of that last filler plank.

Mike

I've finished up the starboard hull planking and I must say that I'm quite happy with it. So far it's been sanded with some 180 grit sticky back sandpaper attached to soft sanders. You can find them here, just search for "soft sanders" https://www.woodcraft.com/ I prefer the coarser grit as it allows me to even out the undulations in the wood more easily than if I went with a finer grit. I'll finish up with some 320-400 in order to remove any scratches that can be seen.

I still need to add the hance piece at the quarterdeck. Once that is in I will final shape the shear of that last filler plank.

Mike

I've finished up the starboard hull planking and I must say that I'm quite happy with it. So far it's been sanded with some 180 grit sticky back sandpaper attached to soft sanders. You can find them here, just search for "soft sanders" https://www.woodcraft.com/ I prefer the coarser grit as it allows me to even out the undulations in the wood more easily than if I went with a finer grit. I'll finish up with some 320-400 in order to remove any scratches that can be seen.

I still need to add the hance piece at the quarterdeck. Once that is in I will final shape the shear of that last filler plank.

Mike

I've finished up the starboard hull planking and I must say that I'm quite happy with it. So far it's been sanded with some 180 grit sticky back sandpaper attached to soft sanders. You can find them here, just search for "soft sanders" https://www.woodcraft.com/ I prefer the coarser grit as it allows me to even out the undulations in the wood more easily than if I went with a finer grit. I'll finish up with some 320-400 in order to remove any scratches that can be seen.

I still need to add the hance piece at the quarterdeck. Once that is in I will final shape the shear of that last filler plank.

Mike

I've finished up the starboard hull planking and I must say that I'm quite happy with it. So far it's been sanded with some 180 grit sticky back sandpaper attached to soft sanders. You can find them here, just search for "soft sanders" https://www.woodcraft.com/ I prefer the coarser grit as it allows me to even out the undulations in the wood more easily than if I went with a finer grit. I'll finish up with some 320-400 in order to remove any scratches that can be seen.

I still need to add the hance piece at the quarterdeck. Once that is in I will final shape the shear of that last filler plank.

Mike

I've finished up the starboard hull planking and I must say that I'm quite happy with it. So far it's been sanded with some 180 grit sticky back sandpaper attached to soft sanders. You can find them here, just search for "soft sanders" https://www.woodcraft.com/ I prefer the coarser grit as it allows me to even out the undulations in the wood more easily than if I went with a finer grit. I'll finish up with some 320-400 in order to remove any scratches that can be seen.

I still need to add the hance piece at the quarterdeck. Once that is in I will final shape the shear of that last filler plank.

Mike

I've finished up the starboard hull planking and I must say that I'm quite happy with it. So far it's been sanded with some 180 grit sticky back sandpaper attached to soft sanders. You can find them here, just search for "soft sanders" https://www.woodcraft.com/ I prefer the coarser grit as it allows me to even out the undulations in the wood more easily than if I went with a finer grit. I'll finish up with some 320-400 in order to remove any scratches that can be seen.

I still need to add the hance piece at the quarterdeck. Once that is in I will final shape the shear of that last filler plank.

Mike

I've finished up the starboard hull planking and I must say that I'm quite happy with it. So far it's been sanded with some 180 grit sticky back sandpaper attached to soft sanders. You can find them here, just search for "soft sanders" https://www.woodcraft.com/ I prefer the coarser grit as it allows me to even out the undulations in the wood more easily than if I went with a finer grit. I'll finish up with some 320-400 in order to remove any scratches that can be seen.

I still need to add the hance piece at the quarterdeck. Once that is in I will final shape the shear of that last filler plank.

Mike

Hull Planking, cont. .
It seems like forever since my last post. I had some personal matters to attend to amongst a few other things. Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting things back up to speed.
 
I'm working on a tricky part of the hull planking, those cutouts around the gun ports and sweep port lids. I really had to take my time here in order to avoid re-dos. The reveal around the gun ports is somewhere between 1/64"-1/32". A pillar file comes in really handy. It only cuts on one edge thus allowing for clean corner cuts. https://contenti.com/grobet-extra-narrow-pillar-files I use either a "0" and "2" cut.
 
I haven't done any sanding on the planking and as you can see it's a bit of a mess. The red color is Winsor & Newton "Crimson". In the past I would add a bit of Burnt Umber in order to darken the color. The two colors would often separate which I found to be a pain, so I decided to keep it simple this time around.

Mike

Mast steps
Over the weekend I completed the two mast steps. The location of these is very important and the plans really helped me out here.
 
Mizzen step: The first thing I did was to tack glue the three sections together with a spot or two of school glue. Then I milled the notch which goes over the keelson. After breaking the pieces apart, I milled the notch into the top of the middle piece and glued the aft and middle sections together permanently. Next, I angled the bottom edge about 5° to account for the upward sweep of the keelson. I worked the two sections until everything was sitting flush with the limber strakes and keelson. The fore section was then positioned over the keelson, against the first two pieces, and shaped accordingly.
 
You might be asking, why didn't I  just glue all three pieces together from the start? It wasn't long before I realized that the shape of the fore and aft pieces were not Identical. The aft piece had a slightly different angle at the foot than the fore piece. This is due to the twist in the limber strake, I think. Doing this in stages allowed me to get each piece angled correctly without the hassle of trying to work the whole piece at once.
 
According to the plan, the center of the mizzen step sits .151" (approx 5/32") in front of the aft edge of frame 11F. I glued the step into position using a cross piece and shim to account for that distance. This also helped to get the step perpendicular to the keel.

Main step: This was made basically the same way as the mizzen step. It sits over frame Ba. Unlike the mizzen step, I didn't need to taper the foot. The distance between the centers of the two steps is approx 9-5/32".

For the pins I turned down a 1/16" dowel using the Dremel tool. They are press fitted without the need for glue.

I've had so much fun making these that I almost forgot that I need to finish up the outer hull planking.😏
 
Mike

Hull Planking, cont. .
It seems like forever since my last post. I had some personal matters to attend to amongst a few other things. Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting things back up to speed.
 
I'm working on a tricky part of the hull planking, those cutouts around the gun ports and sweep port lids. I really had to take my time here in order to avoid re-dos. The reveal around the gun ports is somewhere between 1/64"-1/32". A pillar file comes in really handy. It only cuts on one edge thus allowing for clean corner cuts. https://contenti.com/grobet-extra-narrow-pillar-files I use either a "0" and "2" cut.
 
I haven't done any sanding on the planking and as you can see it's a bit of a mess. The red color is Winsor & Newton "Crimson". In the past I would add a bit of Burnt Umber in order to darken the color. The two colors would often separate which I found to be a pain, so I decided to keep it simple this time around.

Mike

Mast steps
Over the weekend I completed the two mast steps. The location of these is very important and the plans really helped me out here.
 
Mizzen step: The first thing I did was to tack glue the three sections together with a spot or two of school glue. Then I milled the notch which goes over the keelson. After breaking the pieces apart, I milled the notch into the top of the middle piece and glued the aft and middle sections together permanently. Next, I angled the bottom edge about 5° to account for the upward sweep of the keelson. I worked the two sections until everything was sitting flush with the limber strakes and keelson. The fore section was then positioned over the keelson, against the first two pieces, and shaped accordingly.
 
You might be asking, why didn't I  just glue all three pieces together from the start? It wasn't long before I realized that the shape of the fore and aft pieces were not Identical. The aft piece had a slightly different angle at the foot than the fore piece. This is due to the twist in the limber strake, I think. Doing this in stages allowed me to get each piece angled correctly without the hassle of trying to work the whole piece at once.
 
According to the plan, the center of the mizzen step sits .151" (approx 5/32") in front of the aft edge of frame 11F. I glued the step into position using a cross piece and shim to account for that distance. This also helped to get the step perpendicular to the keel.

Main step: This was made basically the same way as the mizzen step. It sits over frame Ba. Unlike the mizzen step, I didn't need to taper the foot. The distance between the centers of the two steps is approx 9-5/32".

For the pins I turned down a 1/16" dowel using the Dremel tool. They are press fitted without the need for glue.

I've had so much fun making these that I almost forgot that I need to finish up the outer hull planking.😏
 
Mike

Hi all,
 
I've just finished sanding the char off both sides of the billets holding the frame pieces. After that was done I applied a light coat of wipe on poly to both sides before removing any pieces. For me it seems to help keep the sides cleaner when removing the char from the rest of the frames. I'll be taking the frame pieces out one at a time, clean them up and put them in Individually marked storage bags until I'm ready to assemble them.
This will take a bit of time as there are a lot of frames to do.😀

Agree wholeheartedly.  
 
cheers
 
Pat

You and Mike do some of the cleanest plank work on the net.

Over the weekend I added the 1/64" x 3/16"  boxwood  strips to the top edge of the transom. This hides the seam created by the transom fillers and the transom template. The arrow shows the area where I filed away about 1/64" from the top edge of the transom before adding the strip. This helps to maintain the same profile after the strip was added.

A while back I did a google search looking for a way to remove laser char and found that GOJO is a product that is often used. On larger wood pieces where the char layer is thicker, I found that a very light scraping or sanding before using the cleaner with a pipe brush gives a good result. With some trepidation, I tried using it on a gallery window for the Winnie. Using a soft tooth brush, I just kept massaging the wood gently for a few minutes. The windows was then rinsed in cold water and placed between layers of paper towel on a flat surface and weighted until dry. The result isn't perfect, but overall certainly better than before. I would imagine that those building with softer wood products like Yellow Cedar wouln't need to go though the process of removing char at all.


Mike