Stuntflyer

The first layer hull planking is completed on one side with 2 more planks remaining on the other. I was hoping to finish both sides before my leaving on a week's vacation but rushing things is not an option. The completed side has been sanded with 120 grit to within 90% of where I want it. I still need to taper the planking at the stern to 1/8" where it meets the sternpost. Right now it's 1/16" too wide overall.
 
I have to say that the experience so far has been somewhat of an eye opener. I was hoping that my planking the Longboat would have made things a lot easier, but new challenges were presented. The biggest challenge was having to plank a more rounded bow using 1/16" x 1/8" basswood strips. If not careful, this wood is sure to crease, splinter, crush or lose an edge. Although it was too late to turn back at the time, Chuck mentioned that instead of using 1/8" planks in the lower hull I could have used 5/32" planks tapered to 1/8" near bulkhead "0". This would have avoided the use of stealers altogether.
 

● First planking layer (part 2): Before adding the garboard planks I did as Chuck advised and thinned the rabbet down to 1/16" in the area where the stern post will go.
 
The width across the rabbet is too wide where the planks twist and some additional sanding is needed.
 

 
The planks will be sanded down gradually to around 1/32" to blend in where the stern post will be located.
 

Marking the initial plank position with the bulwark template gave me a better idea of where the upper plank runs would be located. Some additional fairing of the hull was needed in order to get the planks running without dips and rises. Once one side of the hull was faired I made bulkhead profile templates from card stock. Holding the card templates up against a window I was able to trace the profiles onto the other side of the card stock. I used these tracings to match the bulkhead profiles from the faired side. Once both sides were symmetrical I checked the plank run once more to confirmed that all was good for attaching the 2 initial planks.
 
● Setting Initial planks: The bulwark template was used to mark the bulkheads for the location of the initial planks before they were glued into place. For these 2 planks I found it easier to form its shape by soaking in water for 5 minutes and clamping them to the hull. I used a hair dryer on its high setting to dry them.
 
The photos below show the plank run along the bulwark template and then with the template removed.
 

 

● Bulwark Stanchions Upper Deck: Upper Deck stanchions are now completed and the Bulwark template has been gradually thinned in this area as was done on the Poop Deck.
 

 
● Bulwark Stanchions Quarter Deck: Instructions say to cut a 1/16" thick waterway around the stanchions before the Quarter Deck is planked. To be honest, I didn't think that I would be able to get a tight fit around each stanchion. Some stanchions are at slightly different angles and they extend almost to the edge of the waterway which would make it very fragile. My solution was to split the stanchions at each location into two parts. One half below the false deck now and the other half on top of the waterway once the planking is completed. I had to start on the "After Cubbridge Head" in order to determine the length of each stanchion. The false beam, which was later removed, shows how I determined the length of each stanchion below the false deck.The correct spacing was maintained for the stanchions so they will match the location of the stanchions on top of the waterway.
 

The deck stanchions look great. Very nicely done details. Excellent work.
 
Russ

● Bulwark Stanchions Upper Deck: Upper Deck stanchions are now completed and the Bulwark template has been gradually thinned in this area as was done on the Poop Deck.
 

 
● Bulwark Stanchions Quarter Deck: Instructions say to cut a 1/16" thick waterway around the stanchions before the Quarter Deck is planked. To be honest, I didn't think that I would be able to get a tight fit around each stanchion. Some stanchions are at slightly different angles and they extend almost to the edge of the waterway which would make it very fragile. My solution was to split the stanchions at each location into two parts. One half below the false deck now and the other half on top of the waterway once the planking is completed. I had to start on the "After Cubbridge Head" in order to determine the length of each stanchion. The false beam, which was later removed, shows how I determined the length of each stanchion below the false deck.The correct spacing was maintained for the stanchions so they will match the location of the stanchions on top of the waterway.
 

● Beakhead Bulkhead and Deck Planking: I prefer to do the planking off the model, whenever possible, to avoid sanding into other parts. Here the deck planking is sanded and ready to be installed.
 

 
The planks were glued to the bulkhead and sanded. The doors were replaced with ladders like those that are now on the Mayflower replica. I used this simple jig to align the ladders. Ladders were glued with 5 minute epoxy applied with a pin. A rather slow process, but I think it's worth the wait.
 

 
The completed bulkhead and deck planking with no sanding necessary other than the outside curve and overall height of the bulkhead.
 

● Waterway, Bulwark Stanchions and pre-planking the Forecastle Deck: The wood strip for the waterway was made uniform by running it through the thickness sander prior to being installed onto the deck. The stanchions and pre-planking strips were given a thin coat of Wipe-on Poly where needed in order to protect the wood from becoming blotchy when glued. Four different spacers had to be created to keep the stanchions parallel and equidistant from each other. The deck is slightly smaller than the one shown on the plan and further adjustments had to be made to account for this. The stanchions were initially held in place using a tiny amount of PVA. Once the glue was set, the excess was cleared away using a #11 blade and CA was applied near the top of the stanchion. Installing each stanchion proved to be very tedious work. The pre-planking was boiled and shaped to the appropriate curve prior to being glued in place.
 
After the remaining parts are installed I will give everything a final coat of Wipe-on Poly. To Say  that I was happy when this part of the build was completed would be a bit of an understatement.
 

Mike, Thomas, thank You!
 
● Waterway, Bulwark Stanchions and pre-planking the Poop Deck: The Waterway was done the same way as the Forecastle deck. The stanchions were protected with a coat of Wipe-on Poly prior to gluing. Rather than using PVA to tack glue the stanchions like those on the Forecastle deck, all of these were glued using only CA. The glue was applied with the point of a nail that was grooved using a Dremel cut-off wheel. A quick swipe with a Q-tip removed any excess CA, leaving the wood unblemished. In order to complete the pre-planking, the transom had to be raised another 1/16" or so. Otherwise things went smoothly. In preparation for the final layer of planking I started thinning the Bulwark Template. The photo shows where I thinned the bulwark template leaving the overall Bulwark thickness at 1/32".
 

Mike, Thomas, thank You!
 
● Waterway, Bulwark Stanchions and pre-planking the Poop Deck: The Waterway was done the same way as the Forecastle deck. The stanchions were protected with a coat of Wipe-on Poly prior to gluing. Rather than using PVA to tack glue the stanchions like those on the Forecastle deck, all of these were glued using only CA. The glue was applied with the point of a nail that was grooved using a Dremel cut-off wheel. A quick swipe with a Q-tip removed any excess CA, leaving the wood unblemished. In order to complete the pre-planking, the transom had to be raised another 1/16" or so. Otherwise things went smoothly. In preparation for the final layer of planking I started thinning the Bulwark Template. The photo shows where I thinned the bulwark template leaving the overall Bulwark thickness at 1/32".
 

Mike, Thomas, thank You!
 
● Waterway, Bulwark Stanchions and pre-planking the Poop Deck: The Waterway was done the same way as the Forecastle deck. The stanchions were protected with a coat of Wipe-on Poly prior to gluing. Rather than using PVA to tack glue the stanchions like those on the Forecastle deck, all of these were glued using only CA. The glue was applied with the point of a nail that was grooved using a Dremel cut-off wheel. A quick swipe with a Q-tip removed any excess CA, leaving the wood unblemished. In order to complete the pre-planking, the transom had to be raised another 1/16" or so. Otherwise things went smoothly. In preparation for the final layer of planking I started thinning the Bulwark Template. The photo shows where I thinned the bulwark template leaving the overall Bulwark thickness at 1/32".
 

● Finishing The Stern: I scanned the stern windows from the plans and imported the file into CorelDraw. I made a drawing of the windows using the scanned image as a guide. The file was then printed and trimmed to fit on the stern. I closed the 3 holes in bulkhead YY with some scrap balsa and adhered the windows using 3M Super 77 spray adhesive. The remainder of the stern was completed as per the instructions. The four laser cut knees were replaced with boxwood. These were made by hand from a single piece of wood. Laser cut knees were glued to each end and used as a guide for shaping. 1/16" wide pieces were ripped using the table saw.
 
Photo of window drawing

 

 

● Beakhead Bulkhead and Deck Planking: I prefer to do the planking off the model, whenever possible, to avoid sanding into other parts. Here the deck planking is sanded and ready to be installed.
 

 
The planks were glued to the bulkhead and sanded. The doors were replaced with ladders like those that are now on the Mayflower replica. I used this simple jig to align the ladders. Ladders were glued with 5 minute epoxy applied with a pin. A rather slow process, but I think it's worth the wait.
 

 
The completed bulkhead and deck planking with no sanding necessary other than the outside curve and overall height of the bulkhead.
 

Thanks to all for looking in.  
 
Managed to make some progress.  The inner bulwark planking on the quarterdeck has been completed.
 

 

 
Now we'll concentrate on getting the rails on all around.
 
Hope everyone is ready for the (long awaited) change of seasons. Here, in the Northern Hemisphere, it means a decrease in shop time as the great outdoors beckons.  But I hope you all have had a healthy and productive winter 'building season'.

Very nice Thomas! Your attention to detail is excellent as usual.
 
Mike

Very nice Thomas! Your attention to detail is excellent as usual.
 
Mike

I finally started with the “mass fabrication” of my carronade carriages. The prototype was already published a few months ago. The trick now is to find a process to build 16 identical carriages based on this prototype. Image 1 shows the wooden parts provided in the Syren kit cleaned up, painted and with ring bolts mounted. For ring bolts I use the Dafi photo etched versions. Image 2 shows the different metal fittings for the 2 carriage parts. They consist of the photo etched hardware provided with the Syren kit, holes drilled with a pin vise and #80 drill, polished and blackened, as well as 0.4 diameter nails from Scale Hardware, some custom parts such as the carriage bolt (made from a small brass nail) and the breech rope rings. The 3 mm hooks are from the same Dafi photo etch plate as the ring bolts.
 
Images 3 and 4 show the fabrication process of the wheels. 32 brass strips were roughly cut to the correct length (image 3a) and mounted on a piece of (pear) wood with 2 precisely parallel horizontal planes (image 3b). The whole assembly was then fixed in a Sherline vise on a tilting angle table (image 3c). This arrangement allowed milling all wheel carriage sides at the same time in an identical fashion (images 4d, e, f). After some clean up, fine shape adjustments, and blackening (image 5a) the wheels were assembled (image 5b). For bolts I used the 0.4 and 0.7 nails from Scale Hardware, and the roles were cut to the correct length from a brass tube with the right dimensions.
 
The first carronade “production” type is shown in images 5c and d. It obviously will take some time to have all carriages finished (36 parts per carriage – not counting the hooks), but this is now just a matter of patience and getting the job done  .
 
Thomas
 

Image 1
 
 

Image 2
 
 

Image 3
 
 

Image 4
 
 

Image 5
 
 
 
 

J & Jack,
 
Thanks for the kind words.  It feels good to be contributing to MSW again.
 
BobF

Hello all,
 
Pulled the longboat out of mothballs, and started working on it again.  Although all the thwarts are finished, I'm going to leave those off that are on either side of the windlass until after the windlass is installed.

I noticed that the cockpit seats on NMM longboats have scribing all the way around their inner edge, so I thought I'd try it.

This caused the thwart at the forward end of the cockpit to have a rather strange shape, which took a while to configure.

The scribed lines didn't line up perfectly, but I really didn't want to do them over again.

I decided to embellish the support straps that hold the mast bracket in place.  I drilled three #80 holes in each strap, and inserted pieces of brass wire to simulate mounting bolts.  Since they are so small, I decided to leave them bright, so they could be seen.

I still need to mount the belaying pins, so this thwart has not been glued in place.

I wouldn't bother with the four jaw at all - make a thin walled tube from brass that will just take the rectangular pieces within itself.  Cut longitudinally through the tube wall in one place (use a hacksaw and files as you need to be able to close the tube slightly).  Put the tube in the three jaw (or, preferably, a collet) and tighten up.  The pieces will be held dead centre every time.
 
That is how clockmakers hold square or rectangular stock for machining.
 
Another trick is to get some plastic tubing (unused fuel tube or windscreen washer tube for motor cars) and cut 1" lengths of them.  Slice a strip out of them longitudinally so they can "close up" and use them in the three jaw to hold round timber for masts and spars.  Result is a secure hold and no marks at all on the timber.

Everything below the wale,   I did include the garboard......... I actually have a second planking draft that is slightly different and shows 21....this one is just more clear  to post,  not to confuse the situation.  There are also two deck plans.  All original but with slight differences.   The important thing to note however is that they are identical in showing no steelers and the one drop plank.
 
When I started planking,  I had two versions of my own plans ready to go....I found that after doing the math,  the 20 strake scheme was a perfect match to fit 3/16" wide planks mid ship in two belts.   Once the hull was lined off and I divided into two belts, below.   Each ten plank belt divided up into perfect 3/16" wide strakes at the center bulkhead.
 

 

 
The break at the square tuck divided the hull perfectly with ten strakes in each belt.   Whereas the one that showed 21 strakes would need a funky smaller fraction.    Its a lot easier to rip 3/16" wide planks and its a standard wood thickness to buy,  so I went with that one.
 
As a side note....I added the drop plank and the first two strakes in the first belt before I lined off the hull.  It just made it easier to do the lining off.  Thats why you can see them in the picture while I lined out the hull.

Jan wrote:
 
has nothing to do with actual "real world" planking techniques. In the real world there are no planks wide enough to allow for the amount of spiling required in his method.
 
Of course, Chucks models look absolutely great, but in my eyes more than perfect, where at least my - beginners - strife is for real world authenticity, I mean, whats the point of making everything above the waterline look absolutely real up to the smallest detail, while the other half the ship (the under water section) is a fiction?
 
 
Jan...Not fiction at all.     
 
But I know folks say that steelers and drop planks are just fine and were used historically.   That is true....but the huge number of them you see on model ships and explained as the proper way to do it in many books and instruction manuals and practicums.   Its just a crutch.    So whatever the method.....a hull that looks like this is not something I find attractive or even historically accurate.  So I prefer to go for fewer and replicate the way its done on a similar contemporary model or shown in a contemporary draft from the same era.  Its just my preference.  
 
I have no intention on picking on the fellow who planked this hull below.   But its extreme steelers gone wild and if this is the way he (or you) wants to go its OK.  But I find many people using them and only because they find an example where one or two were used historically, and  it is just a short rationalization further to go ahead and use  5 or six  or even more at the bow and as many at the stern.  I disagree entirely.  Its just an easy fix and a crutch.    I just dont think its accurate or aesthetically pleasing.  This is in terms of what we were discussing earlier.  I will say this.   To plank the hull like this fellow did would probably take longer and be more frustrating than it would to just give lining out a hull a chance.  Cutting all of those weird shapes randomly etc.
 

 
One drop plank at the bow at most...and no stealers at the stern.   That is what I will always shoot for.    I think its more accurate and looks better.  Not that you wouldnt be able to scour the web for an example or two that is contrary to my opinion.   I just think its an excuse to continue to use them willy nilly and in huge numbers rather than learn how to spile and plan a hull's planking.   Again,  just my opinion.  And its Ok.   If folks are happy with that, fine,  But I just dont buy the argument that this image above is accurate in any way...even if you could find one example that might look a bit like it.
 
I would rather not get into a lengthy debate about it either because its one of those circular debates.  Its just a matter of choosing what you are willing to live with on your project...without trying to force the idea that it must be accurate because one image exists showing something maybe a little similar so...... Then they feel better about using them and wont bother trying to figure it out beyond that.   I have had countless discussions on the matter actually.  Its more complex than this because it depends on the country of origin,  the year,  the shape of the bow and hull etc.   There is no one size fits all, what kind of ship.........  An apple bowed whaler will certainly be planked differently than a sharper cutter or frigate built 75 years earlier and from different countries.   Dutch practice vs. English practice.  There is just too much to consider for a simple answer..
 
But I am so lucky because I have this below.   Its the planking expansion...just a portion of it so I dont violate any copyright rules...and its for the Cheerful.  So I am very comfortable saying its reasonably accurate and the actual ship was closely replicated.    Its not fiction at all.  The draft shows exactly 20 strakes below the wales.   One drop plank only,  no steelers.  I have no idea how they would have done this in actual practice but there are plenty modeling techniques that can achieve this result.   That is if its something you would have fun learning how to do.
 

Wonderful Chuck! Even though the videos were in front of you it all makes perfect sense to me. You explained things very well. I am definitely going to try and make the next SMSNJ meeting. It looks like you have a great bunch of guys going there too.
 
Mike

Wonderful Chuck! Even though the videos were in front of you it all makes perfect sense to me. You explained things very well. I am definitely going to try and make the next SMSNJ meeting. It looks like you have a great bunch of guys going there too.
 
Mike

Wonderful Chuck! Even though the videos were in front of you it all makes perfect sense to me. You explained things very well. I am definitely going to try and make the next SMSNJ meeting. It looks like you have a great bunch of guys going there too.
 
Mike