barkeater

To bad the bulkheads have been glued otherwise you could cut another frame by tracing the existing onto plywood or wood. I would use the scrap filler to fully correct the bowing. Your fairing will be more difficult but you can shim were needed. Is it a double plank model? If so you have two layers to play with which would help. If you are going to use treenails and correct spacing for plank butts a single plank model might be a problem as your butts would be asymmetric however with a double plank this would not be a problem as you are gluing to the first planking and not the bulkheads. I do two plank bulkhead construction but add false frames for my second planking and just glue to the first plank.

Jamie, that is a puzzler. I don't see why or how you would fair bulkheads unless they were glued in place since they need to be faired in relationship to one another. Blocking you can either install before fairing or after fairing and the fair them in. I prefer putting the blocking in first and just fair once.

Good move to correct something you are not happy with early rather than waiting. Issues only compound themselves if left unresolved.

Looking good. Very inventive on your clamping.

Using wood strips for flats and hollows works well. If you have a smaller irregularity you want to correct, use wood putty and then sand with a fine grit. You do want to have as much wood to wood contact for gluing when you lay down your second planking as possible so don't go to overboard with filler. For wood to wood gluing use wood glue pva. Only use ca when you are bonding metal to wood and be careful as it stains the wood and is tough to sand out.

Looks good. I use bourbon however.

Pin vise works for me. I can get better looking holes than with a Dremel and I don't have a drill press. I would start small and work up which also prevents splitting and this also lets you adjust if your hole is slightly off kilter

If you are worried about sheen try Testors Dullcote on a piece of scrap wood. I find it does not give an appreciable sheen and can be used to dull down a sheen from a poly undercoat.

Getting back to your question on which edge to taper, I always taper that edge which will abut the existing plank. This way you know right away if the plank you tapered was done correctly and has a good angle to fit in smoothly with the existing plank and you always keep the opposite edge straight and true to lay your next plank against. Also concerning the placement of bands. Here, I am bit of a nonconformist. In the first planking I measure in millimeters the entire length of the run up the bulkheads where I need to plank instead of breaking this up into multiple bands. Then I divide this by the width of the planks I'm using. This lets me know how many runs of planking I need to do at each bulkhead and how much taper I need at each bulkhead over the entire hull. I can then start to do slight tapers before I need them rather than possiblly more severe taper at some areas which I would need to do using bands. As an example I can start to do a 1mm. taper on a plank before I need it rather than a more severe 2 or 3 mm taper if I wait. I do a few runs of planks and then remeasure all the bulkheads and readjust. This way I can do a hull without dropping a plank or adding a plank. I plank to scale on my second planking which for me at 1/48 is 5 inches in length. I draw on false bulkheads in between my existing bulkheads on the second planking which allows me to follow rules on plank lengths and number of planks between butts.

My two cents. First you say that the planks are laying flat on the bulkhead but in the pictures it really looks like they are laying flat on only one edge not across their breadth which would go along with your pictures. If they were laying flat across their entire breadth you would not get the step appearance which is seen in your pictures. Planks being of equal thickness, there would be no step. Your mistake in this case appears to be, as has been said, that you did not let the planks assume their natural curve. At the bow, the planks will progressively overlap one another so you have to taper them going forward or drop a plank. It looks like you did not taper but rather fit the plank in at the bow and then tried to bend the plank to match up to the other bulkheads. I would take them off and redo them. If you don't correct mistakes early in planking especially with a double planked hull it will only increase your problems later. I would look at the planking tutorial in the forum for more clarification. It is tough to asses the beveling or fairing of the bulkheads in your pictures given the problem with the run of the planks. If you do still have a problem with beveling, which I don't think you do, after you fix the tapering problem this would be easy to fix. You just glue on a strip or two of scrap planking along the edge of the bulkhead where you have taken off to much wood and bevel or fair it again.

For small piece work that you do with ship modelling I go with a scroll saw.

If I read this right, one could possibly be for the bumpkin shrouds and the other for the mainstay collar. A picture would help.

I use wire for eye bolts, ring bolts and hooks. I use sterling silver half hard wire as I like the strength. I solder rather than twist for the eye bolts. My eye bolts are 26 guage and I go up in size for the ring in ring bolts. The silver can also be hammered to make other fixtures such as door handles. I work in 1/48 scale. All my lines standing and running are thread.

Nice looking shot. As far as I know these odd shot types were stored below decks in the shot locker. They would have been used by larger vessels at least frigate size and brought up on deck when needed. I hate to bring it up but I seriously doubt that chain or bar shot was used in the battle of Valcour Island.

Welcome aboard. I grew up in Gloversville making model airplanes.

If you are going to spend the time doing a scratch build might I recommend perusing the National Maritime Museums ships plans on their web site. They have lots of original plans on a variety of vessels which you can purchase. Even if you don't find something that catches your eye, it's just fun to look.

Stay away from CA. Always use the PVA except when gluing metal to wood. It seeps into the wood and makes a stain very hard to sand out. Use PVA {wood glue}. If you have gaps mix PVA with some sawdust of the wood you are planking with and use as a wood putty. If you just want to add strength just wipe on PVA with your finger tip, clean off any excess and sand.

If your like me and need there to be canons on board might I suggest something like HMS Sherbourne cutter by Caldercraft. It's 1/64 scale and the are plenty of build logs on it. In addition to the excuses above, you can tell your wife that you wanted to start with a small ship before you did a larger. We modelers are good at excuses. You will be building for months if not more so you want to build something you like.

I would pull them. If you ran a single continuous plank the entire run of the hull then you can just cut out the bad section. If it is a double planked model and this is the first planking you might be able to get away with gluing and sanding but you have to ask yourself, why did they snap and are more going to snap? Did you fare your bulkheads so that the planks meet the bulkheads over their entire ends? If not this could be your culprit. Also did you add some scrap wood at the bow to help attachment to the keel? What kind of plank bender did you use? I use an electric steam bender and if I'm going to snap one, it happens when I'm bending and not overnight. I would strongly recommend steam bending if you are not doing it. There are some "plank benders" out there that don't do the job. Having said this, welcome to the wonderful world of ship building. We all have problems and we all learn from solving them.

Thanks very much for the kind comment but I have to clarify that the variation in thickness I was referring to was meant for the sheets as the thickness of your sheet becomes the width of your plank after ripping. I acquired some ebony sheets a few years ago and ripped them to do the wale on my current build Unity. I put in three planking rows before I realized that the sheets varied in thickness from about 3.6mm to 2.5 mm. It was an "Oh crap" moment for me. The thickness of the sheet becomes the width of the plank so in spots I was now up to 3 mm off and nothing was uniform. It took a lot of extra work to even everything up as the wale was only 7 rows wide. Since then I have gotten some red heart from a different supplier which had variation but less severe. I realized this before hand and was actually able to use it to my advantage. It is just something you have to be aware of.

As noted above, pre-cut wood strips 1mm or even .5 mm thick are available from multiple sources. Also ripping planks on a mini table saw to 1mm or less is not a problem with several types of wood including but not limited to walnut which is commonly used in planking. Good luck in your build. If you decide to rip planks from wood sheets make sure that the pieces you get have a uniform thickness. I have seen variation in thickness which can be a problem if you don't notice it and allow for the variation.

Agree with all above. Simpler is better for your first build. If you, like me, need guns on the deck then a cutter would be a good choice. You get to do a bit of everything.

I had the same problem with Badger 1777. I decide on trying dried driftwood. I found a piece which sort of branched and had the right contour to match the angle I needed and was stable in this position. There were two areas where it would be in contact with the model. I then cut a channel to match the keel in each of these two areas. When I was happy with it, I put a very small screw up through the driftwood and into keel. ( See Badger model folder in Scratch build gallery if interested although the solitary picture of it only partially shows the pedestal.)

Thanks, pretty interesting. I never knew they did a post mortem (autopsy) exam on him. I do know they put him in a cask of brandy for preservation until they could reach England.

Also try Modelers Central in Australia. They ship worldwide and cost is not bad. The lengths are 39 inches and quality is good.