Stuntflyer

First two friezes finished. Used Krylon Workable Fixatif 1306 to protect them and 3M Super 77 Spray Adhesive. If you happen to get some of the adhesive on the out side there is a great product called UnStik (see below) that will easily remove any excess without harming the frieze or the planking. I used it for many years when I was in the picture frame business. You can even use it on glossy photos.
 


 
 

First two friezes finished. Used Krylon Workable Fixatif 1306 to protect them and 3M Super 77 Spray Adhesive. If you happen to get some of the adhesive on the out side there is a great product called UnStik (see below) that will easily remove any excess without harming the frieze or the planking. I used it for many years when I was in the picture frame business. You can even use it on glossy photos.
 


 
 

Got the cap rail sanded and shaped today. Average width is around 0.100 inch except where it flares slightly at the bow.
 

Got the cap rail sanded and shaped today. Average width is around 0.100 inch except where it flares slightly at the bow.
 

Decided to fix the shear plank by redoing the planking once more. I realize that I could have left things as they where but I need planking experience anyway. After sanding the hull with 400 sandpaper to a near sheen I applied the stain, 1 part Golden Oak to 3 Parts Natural and a coat of Wipe-On-Poly. After removing the bulkhead centers I thinned the bulkhead tops to 3/64". 3/64" + 1/32" plank + 1/64" overhang will give a 3/32" cap rail. I stained the hull inside as well. I then added the cap rail which is now ready for sanding.
 

Ryland, Thanks for the tip on the #11 saw blade. I just ordered a couple along with a few other small items. Looks like a super useful tool.

Mike, add one more "well done!" from me.
 
I did some tests with stain and found that lightly applying the stain onto the basswood using gauze, as suggested, works quite well. Before staining I finish sanded the wood with 400 TRI-MITE sandpaper. The trick to getting the stain on evenly (at least for me) was to candle the test pieces, making sure that the wood was sanded consistent in sheen thereby showing no low spots. Hope this helps. Mike

Having stained a few small test pieces(roughly sanded)I noticed that using a 50/50 mix of Minwax Golden Oak and Natural produced some patchy spots whether I used the Minwax Pre-Stain or not.  I decided to compare the 50/50 mix with a mix of 1 part Golden Oak to 3 Parts Natural like Ryland Craze did on his build. I Pre-Stained the sample and waited an hour before applying the stains. The picture shows the untreated(roughly sanded)wood of the same color tone above the stained sample. The 1 to 3 mix on the left and the 50/50 mix on the right. I appears that using a lighter stain on basswood gives a better result. However, what I found was sanding the wood very smooth with 400 sandpaper before applying the stain gives good results whether using a light or dark stain.
 

 

Hello everyone,
 
This is my very first model ship build and I am very happy to be posting it on MSW. I'm finding out that model ship builds are quite unique and challenging. You don't have to try it first to know that. Just reading the build logs on MSW is enough. There is a lot to learn for sure. I chose the Longboat because it seemed like a good place to start as a first build. I have read every build log for this boat and I just want to say what a great job everyone has done. I have learned a lot and I would appreciate any help or suggestions that you might have as I move ahead.
 
Using very thin plastic tape which goes around curves easily, I was able to sand away without going past the bearding line. A few strokes after removing the tape finishes the work. I used 1/4" tape but somehow I lost the package. See below for the same product but a different width.
 
         

 
A simple way to line up the bulkheads square to the false keel. The bulkhead tops were aligned by eye after the first one was squared in both directions. I found that using Elmers Carpenters Wood Glue gave me approximately 5 minutes to check things over both ways before the glue started to set. Since it is water based I sanded a tad more clearance between the bulkheads and false keel to allow for swelling.
 

 
I will use this sticky back sandpaper and a "T" sanding block made from 1/8" balsa to fair the hull. I Left the transom off for now.

 
I found that close pins worked fine here without any worry of creating dents.
 

 
Made this template from balsa to mark location of the shear line which turned out to be inaccurate. One strake ended up slightly lower than the other. At the time I went with it anyway.
 

 
Shear strakes in place.

 
Garboard planks installed
 

 
Lesson learned. . .never try and build when you are sick, coughing and medicated. After ten days and 75% of the planking completed I started to realize that the front end was not going to close up properly with the last plank. The first mistake was tapering the garboard plank too abruptly. Not only were all subsequent planks a nightmare to edge bend at such an extreme curve but doing so prevented each plank from going forward enough to fill in the bow area, I think. Also, Chuck pointed out that I tapered the second plank down from the shear line to nearly a point at 1/64" when I should have only removed 1/64" to produce a very slight taper instead. Really dumb as I misread the instructions.
 

 
Frustrated and wanting to kick myself, but not one to give up easily, I carefully removed all the planks as well as the keel and stem. The kit provides an extra set of these. To be honest I didn't know that I would be successful tearing everything down but it all worked out fine. I'm glad I used Elmers Carpenters glue and not CA.
 
Here you can see the new garboard plank with a much more gradual taper. As described in Bob F's log, http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/1465-18th-century-longboat-by-bobf-ms-148-tri-club/page-2, I transferred a tick mark to each bulkhead.


 
Shear strake and following strake installed. This time I tapered the second strake just a bit as per Chuck's instructions. Shot was taken at and angle giving a distorted few of the other side of the boat.
 

 
Thanks again to Bob F. and Chuck for all your help!
 
Finally! for what seemed like forever, the planking is finished and 95% sanded. Prior to sanding I used these. . http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/2020022/19046/Curved-Scraper-Set-of-4.aspx. . which I found very useful. They allow the removal of just the high spots thus saving as much plank thickness as possible. I suggest that anyone doing the Longboat should read Bob F's log. . . http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/1465-18th-century-longboat-by-bobf-ms-148-tri-club/?hl=%2018th%20%20century%20%20longboat. . . which contains very useful tips and how to's on planking the longboat from both his initial comments as well as his comments from the dialog he and I had on page 8. I did the planking with 11 strakes which worked out well. I had thought that I would have to taper the strakes at the stem to almost 1/16" but that turned out not to be the case. The most I had to reduce each plank by was no more than around .030. I found the last plank on each side to be the most difficult to make since it had to fit between 2 planks. I tried spiling them but the angles and curves made it difficult to do. Perhaps there is an article on MSW on the best way to do this.

Chuck, after tapering the shear plank, leaving room for the cap rail to fit on top and inline with the indent on the stem. I'm wondering if this will work?

Chuck, after tapering the shear plank, leaving room for the cap rail to fit on top and inline with the indent on the stem. I'm wondering if this will work?

Chuck, after tapering the shear plank, leaving room for the cap rail to fit on top and inline with the indent on the stem. I'm wondering if this will work?

Hello everyone,
 
This is my very first model ship build and I am very happy to be posting it on MSW. I'm finding out that model ship builds are quite unique and challenging. You don't have to try it first to know that. Just reading the build logs on MSW is enough. There is a lot to learn for sure. I chose the Longboat because it seemed like a good place to start as a first build. I have read every build log for this boat and I just want to say what a great job everyone has done. I have learned a lot and I would appreciate any help or suggestions that you might have as I move ahead.
 
Using very thin plastic tape which goes around curves easily, I was able to sand away without going past the bearding line. A few strokes after removing the tape finishes the work. I used 1/4" tape but somehow I lost the package. See below for the same product but a different width.
 
         

 
A simple way to line up the bulkheads square to the false keel. The bulkhead tops were aligned by eye after the first one was squared in both directions. I found that using Elmers Carpenters Wood Glue gave me approximately 5 minutes to check things over both ways before the glue started to set. Since it is water based I sanded a tad more clearance between the bulkheads and false keel to allow for swelling.
 

 
I will use this sticky back sandpaper and a "T" sanding block made from 1/8" balsa to fair the hull. I Left the transom off for now.

 
I found that close pins worked fine here without any worry of creating dents.
 

 
Made this template from balsa to mark location of the shear line which turned out to be inaccurate. One strake ended up slightly lower than the other. At the time I went with it anyway.
 

 
Shear strakes in place.

 
Garboard planks installed
 

 
Lesson learned. . .never try and build when you are sick, coughing and medicated. After ten days and 75% of the planking completed I started to realize that the front end was not going to close up properly with the last plank. The first mistake was tapering the garboard plank too abruptly. Not only were all subsequent planks a nightmare to edge bend at such an extreme curve but doing so prevented each plank from going forward enough to fill in the bow area, I think. Also, Chuck pointed out that I tapered the second plank down from the shear line to nearly a point at 1/64" when I should have only removed 1/64" to produce a very slight taper instead. Really dumb as I misread the instructions.
 

 
Frustrated and wanting to kick myself, but not one to give up easily, I carefully removed all the planks as well as the keel and stem. The kit provides an extra set of these. To be honest I didn't know that I would be successful tearing everything down but it all worked out fine. I'm glad I used Elmers Carpenters glue and not CA.
 
Here you can see the new garboard plank with a much more gradual taper. As described in Bob F's log, http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/1465-18th-century-longboat-by-bobf-ms-148-tri-club/page-2, I transferred a tick mark to each bulkhead.


 
Shear strake and following strake installed. This time I tapered the second strake just a bit as per Chuck's instructions. Shot was taken at and angle giving a distorted few of the other side of the boat.
 

 
Thanks again to Bob F. and Chuck for all your help!
 
Finally! for what seemed like forever, the planking is finished and 95% sanded. Prior to sanding I used these. . http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/2020022/19046/Curved-Scraper-Set-of-4.aspx. . which I found very useful. They allow the removal of just the high spots thus saving as much plank thickness as possible. I suggest that anyone doing the Longboat should read Bob F's log. . . http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/1465-18th-century-longboat-by-bobf-ms-148-tri-club/?hl=%2018th%20%20century%20%20longboat. . . which contains very useful tips and how to's on planking the longboat from both his initial comments as well as his comments from the dialog he and I had on page 8. I did the planking with 11 strakes which worked out well. I had thought that I would have to taper the strakes at the stem to almost 1/16" but that turned out not to be the case. The most I had to reduce each plank by was no more than around .030. I found the last plank on each side to be the most difficult to make since it had to fit between 2 planks. I tried spiling them but the angles and curves made it difficult to do. Perhaps there is an article on MSW on the best way to do this.

Hello everyone,
 
This is my very first model ship build and I am very happy to be posting it on MSW. I'm finding out that model ship builds are quite unique and challenging. You don't have to try it first to know that. Just reading the build logs on MSW is enough. There is a lot to learn for sure. I chose the Longboat because it seemed like a good place to start as a first build. I have read every build log for this boat and I just want to say what a great job everyone has done. I have learned a lot and I would appreciate any help or suggestions that you might have as I move ahead.
 
Using very thin plastic tape which goes around curves easily, I was able to sand away without going past the bearding line. A few strokes after removing the tape finishes the work. I used 1/4" tape but somehow I lost the package. See below for the same product but a different width.
 
         

 
A simple way to line up the bulkheads square to the false keel. The bulkhead tops were aligned by eye after the first one was squared in both directions. I found that using Elmers Carpenters Wood Glue gave me approximately 5 minutes to check things over both ways before the glue started to set. Since it is water based I sanded a tad more clearance between the bulkheads and false keel to allow for swelling.
 

 
I will use this sticky back sandpaper and a "T" sanding block made from 1/8" balsa to fair the hull. I Left the transom off for now.

 
I found that close pins worked fine here without any worry of creating dents.
 

 
Made this template from balsa to mark location of the shear line which turned out to be inaccurate. One strake ended up slightly lower than the other. At the time I went with it anyway.
 

 
Shear strakes in place.

 
Garboard planks installed
 

 
Lesson learned. . .never try and build when you are sick, coughing and medicated. After ten days and 75% of the planking completed I started to realize that the front end was not going to close up properly with the last plank. The first mistake was tapering the garboard plank too abruptly. Not only were all subsequent planks a nightmare to edge bend at such an extreme curve but doing so prevented each plank from going forward enough to fill in the bow area, I think. Also, Chuck pointed out that I tapered the second plank down from the shear line to nearly a point at 1/64" when I should have only removed 1/64" to produce a very slight taper instead. Really dumb as I misread the instructions.
 

 
Frustrated and wanting to kick myself, but not one to give up easily, I carefully removed all the planks as well as the keel and stem. The kit provides an extra set of these. To be honest I didn't know that I would be successful tearing everything down but it all worked out fine. I'm glad I used Elmers Carpenters glue and not CA.
 
Here you can see the new garboard plank with a much more gradual taper. As described in Bob F's log, http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/1465-18th-century-longboat-by-bobf-ms-148-tri-club/page-2, I transferred a tick mark to each bulkhead.


 
Shear strake and following strake installed. This time I tapered the second strake just a bit as per Chuck's instructions. Shot was taken at and angle giving a distorted few of the other side of the boat.
 

 
Thanks again to Bob F. and Chuck for all your help!
 
Finally! for what seemed like forever, the planking is finished and 95% sanded. Prior to sanding I used these. . http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/2020022/19046/Curved-Scraper-Set-of-4.aspx. . which I found very useful. They allow the removal of just the high spots thus saving as much plank thickness as possible. I suggest that anyone doing the Longboat should read Bob F's log. . . http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/1465-18th-century-longboat-by-bobf-ms-148-tri-club/?hl=%2018th%20%20century%20%20longboat. . . which contains very useful tips and how to's on planking the longboat from both his initial comments as well as his comments from the dialog he and I had on page 8. I did the planking with 11 strakes which worked out well. I had thought that I would have to taper the strakes at the stem to almost 1/16" but that turned out not to be the case. The most I had to reduce each plank by was no more than around .030. I found the last plank on each side to be the most difficult to make since it had to fit between 2 planks. I tried spiling them but the angles and curves made it difficult to do. Perhaps there is an article on MSW on the best way to do this.

Hello everyone,
 
This is my very first model ship build and I am very happy to be posting it on MSW. I'm finding out that model ship builds are quite unique and challenging. You don't have to try it first to know that. Just reading the build logs on MSW is enough. There is a lot to learn for sure. I chose the Longboat because it seemed like a good place to start as a first build. I have read every build log for this boat and I just want to say what a great job everyone has done. I have learned a lot and I would appreciate any help or suggestions that you might have as I move ahead.
 
Using very thin plastic tape which goes around curves easily, I was able to sand away without going past the bearding line. A few strokes after removing the tape finishes the work. I used 1/4" tape but somehow I lost the package. See below for the same product but a different width.
 
         

 
A simple way to line up the bulkheads square to the false keel. The bulkhead tops were aligned by eye after the first one was squared in both directions. I found that using Elmers Carpenters Wood Glue gave me approximately 5 minutes to check things over both ways before the glue started to set. Since it is water based I sanded a tad more clearance between the bulkheads and false keel to allow for swelling.
 

 
I will use this sticky back sandpaper and a "T" sanding block made from 1/8" balsa to fair the hull. I Left the transom off for now.

 
I found that close pins worked fine here without any worry of creating dents.
 

 
Made this template from balsa to mark location of the shear line which turned out to be inaccurate. One strake ended up slightly lower than the other. At the time I went with it anyway.
 

 
Shear strakes in place.

 
Garboard planks installed
 

 
Lesson learned. . .never try and build when you are sick, coughing and medicated. After ten days and 75% of the planking completed I started to realize that the front end was not going to close up properly with the last plank. The first mistake was tapering the garboard plank too abruptly. Not only were all subsequent planks a nightmare to edge bend at such an extreme curve but doing so prevented each plank from going forward enough to fill in the bow area, I think. Also, Chuck pointed out that I tapered the second plank down from the shear line to nearly a point at 1/64" when I should have only removed 1/64" to produce a very slight taper instead. Really dumb as I misread the instructions.
 

 
Frustrated and wanting to kick myself, but not one to give up easily, I carefully removed all the planks as well as the keel and stem. The kit provides an extra set of these. To be honest I didn't know that I would be successful tearing everything down but it all worked out fine. I'm glad I used Elmers Carpenters glue and not CA.
 
Here you can see the new garboard plank with a much more gradual taper. As described in Bob F's log, http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/1465-18th-century-longboat-by-bobf-ms-148-tri-club/page-2, I transferred a tick mark to each bulkhead.


 
Shear strake and following strake installed. This time I tapered the second strake just a bit as per Chuck's instructions. Shot was taken at and angle giving a distorted few of the other side of the boat.
 

 
Thanks again to Bob F. and Chuck for all your help!
 
Finally! for what seemed like forever, the planking is finished and 95% sanded. Prior to sanding I used these. . http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/2020022/19046/Curved-Scraper-Set-of-4.aspx. . which I found very useful. They allow the removal of just the high spots thus saving as much plank thickness as possible. I suggest that anyone doing the Longboat should read Bob F's log. . . http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/1465-18th-century-longboat-by-bobf-ms-148-tri-club/?hl=%2018th%20%20century%20%20longboat. . . which contains very useful tips and how to's on planking the longboat from both his initial comments as well as his comments from the dialog he and I had on page 8. I did the planking with 11 strakes which worked out well. I had thought that I would have to taper the strakes at the stem to almost 1/16" but that turned out not to be the case. The most I had to reduce each plank by was no more than around .030. I found the last plank on each side to be the most difficult to make since it had to fit between 2 planks. I tried spiling them but the angles and curves made it difficult to do. Perhaps there is an article on MSW on the best way to do this.

Found it here. . .
 
http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=32639&cat=1,310,41069&ap=1

Hello everyone,
 
This is my very first model ship build and I am very happy to be posting it on MSW. I'm finding out that model ship builds are quite unique and challenging. You don't have to try it first to know that. Just reading the build logs on MSW is enough. There is a lot to learn for sure. I chose the Longboat because it seemed like a good place to start as a first build. I have read every build log for this boat and I just want to say what a great job everyone has done. I have learned a lot and I would appreciate any help or suggestions that you might have as I move ahead.
 
Using very thin plastic tape which goes around curves easily, I was able to sand away without going past the bearding line. A few strokes after removing the tape finishes the work. I used 1/4" tape but somehow I lost the package. See below for the same product but a different width.
 
         

 
A simple way to line up the bulkheads square to the false keel. The bulkhead tops were aligned by eye after the first one was squared in both directions. I found that using Elmers Carpenters Wood Glue gave me approximately 5 minutes to check things over both ways before the glue started to set. Since it is water based I sanded a tad more clearance between the bulkheads and false keel to allow for swelling.
 

 
I will use this sticky back sandpaper and a "T" sanding block made from 1/8" balsa to fair the hull. I Left the transom off for now.

 
I found that close pins worked fine here without any worry of creating dents.
 

 
Made this template from balsa to mark location of the shear line which turned out to be inaccurate. One strake ended up slightly lower than the other. At the time I went with it anyway.
 

 
Shear strakes in place.

 
Garboard planks installed
 

 
Lesson learned. . .never try and build when you are sick, coughing and medicated. After ten days and 75% of the planking completed I started to realize that the front end was not going to close up properly with the last plank. The first mistake was tapering the garboard plank too abruptly. Not only were all subsequent planks a nightmare to edge bend at such an extreme curve but doing so prevented each plank from going forward enough to fill in the bow area, I think. Also, Chuck pointed out that I tapered the second plank down from the shear line to nearly a point at 1/64" when I should have only removed 1/64" to produce a very slight taper instead. Really dumb as I misread the instructions.
 

 
Frustrated and wanting to kick myself, but not one to give up easily, I carefully removed all the planks as well as the keel and stem. The kit provides an extra set of these. To be honest I didn't know that I would be successful tearing everything down but it all worked out fine. I'm glad I used Elmers Carpenters glue and not CA.
 
Here you can see the new garboard plank with a much more gradual taper. As described in Bob F's log, http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/1465-18th-century-longboat-by-bobf-ms-148-tri-club/page-2, I transferred a tick mark to each bulkhead.


 
Shear strake and following strake installed. This time I tapered the second strake just a bit as per Chuck's instructions. Shot was taken at and angle giving a distorted few of the other side of the boat.
 

 
Thanks again to Bob F. and Chuck for all your help!
 
Finally! for what seemed like forever, the planking is finished and 95% sanded. Prior to sanding I used these. . http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/2020022/19046/Curved-Scraper-Set-of-4.aspx. . which I found very useful. They allow the removal of just the high spots thus saving as much plank thickness as possible. I suggest that anyone doing the Longboat should read Bob F's log. . . http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/1465-18th-century-longboat-by-bobf-ms-148-tri-club/?hl=%2018th%20%20century%20%20longboat. . . which contains very useful tips and how to's on planking the longboat from both his initial comments as well as his comments from the dialog he and I had on page 8. I did the planking with 11 strakes which worked out well. I had thought that I would have to taper the strakes at the stem to almost 1/16" but that turned out not to be the case. The most I had to reduce each plank by was no more than around .030. I found the last plank on each side to be the most difficult to make since it had to fit between 2 planks. I tried spiling them but the angles and curves made it difficult to do. Perhaps there is an article on MSW on the best way to do this.

Hello everyone,
 
This is my very first model ship build and I am very happy to be posting it on MSW. I'm finding out that model ship builds are quite unique and challenging. You don't have to try it first to know that. Just reading the build logs on MSW is enough. There is a lot to learn for sure. I chose the Longboat because it seemed like a good place to start as a first build. I have read every build log for this boat and I just want to say what a great job everyone has done. I have learned a lot and I would appreciate any help or suggestions that you might have as I move ahead.
 
Using very thin plastic tape which goes around curves easily, I was able to sand away without going past the bearding line. A few strokes after removing the tape finishes the work. I used 1/4" tape but somehow I lost the package. See below for the same product but a different width.
 
         

 
A simple way to line up the bulkheads square to the false keel. The bulkhead tops were aligned by eye after the first one was squared in both directions. I found that using Elmers Carpenters Wood Glue gave me approximately 5 minutes to check things over both ways before the glue started to set. Since it is water based I sanded a tad more clearance between the bulkheads and false keel to allow for swelling.
 

 
I will use this sticky back sandpaper and a "T" sanding block made from 1/8" balsa to fair the hull. I Left the transom off for now.

 
I found that close pins worked fine here without any worry of creating dents.
 

 
Made this template from balsa to mark location of the shear line which turned out to be inaccurate. One strake ended up slightly lower than the other. At the time I went with it anyway.
 

 
Shear strakes in place.

 
Garboard planks installed
 

 
Lesson learned. . .never try and build when you are sick, coughing and medicated. After ten days and 75% of the planking completed I started to realize that the front end was not going to close up properly with the last plank. The first mistake was tapering the garboard plank too abruptly. Not only were all subsequent planks a nightmare to edge bend at such an extreme curve but doing so prevented each plank from going forward enough to fill in the bow area, I think. Also, Chuck pointed out that I tapered the second plank down from the shear line to nearly a point at 1/64" when I should have only removed 1/64" to produce a very slight taper instead. Really dumb as I misread the instructions.
 

 
Frustrated and wanting to kick myself, but not one to give up easily, I carefully removed all the planks as well as the keel and stem. The kit provides an extra set of these. To be honest I didn't know that I would be successful tearing everything down but it all worked out fine. I'm glad I used Elmers Carpenters glue and not CA.
 
Here you can see the new garboard plank with a much more gradual taper. As described in Bob F's log, http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/1465-18th-century-longboat-by-bobf-ms-148-tri-club/page-2, I transferred a tick mark to each bulkhead.


 
Shear strake and following strake installed. This time I tapered the second strake just a bit as per Chuck's instructions. Shot was taken at and angle giving a distorted few of the other side of the boat.
 

 
Thanks again to Bob F. and Chuck for all your help!
 
Finally! for what seemed like forever, the planking is finished and 95% sanded. Prior to sanding I used these. . http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/2020022/19046/Curved-Scraper-Set-of-4.aspx. . which I found very useful. They allow the removal of just the high spots thus saving as much plank thickness as possible. I suggest that anyone doing the Longboat should read Bob F's log. . . http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/1465-18th-century-longboat-by-bobf-ms-148-tri-club/?hl=%2018th%20%20century%20%20longboat. . . which contains very useful tips and how to's on planking the longboat from both his initial comments as well as his comments from the dialog he and I had on page 8. I did the planking with 11 strakes which worked out well. I had thought that I would have to taper the strakes at the stem to almost 1/16" but that turned out not to be the case. The most I had to reduce each plank by was no more than around .030. I found the last plank on each side to be the most difficult to make since it had to fit between 2 planks. I tried spiling them but the angles and curves made it difficult to do. Perhaps there is an article on MSW on the best way to do this.