HMS Bounty Launch by PAnderson - Model Shipways

[PAnderson]

Hello again. After careful consideration I have decided my next build will be the HMS Bounty Launch by Model Shipways. This will be my third build overall, after the most recent, the 18th Century Long boat. That was a delightful kit and let me hone my skills, even if it was in a small way. This should get me through Christmas and into the new year. Then Maybe I will have the courage to try something more ambitious.

 

I pulled the Bounty Launch out yesterday after fondling my USF Confederacy all day Saturday. This kit has pre-made planks. This will let me see what a properly spiled and bent plank should look like and let me work it out and learn a few more things. I do understand there will be some conservative fitting and not just slap on a plank. I started the keel last night and got all of the parts laminated and ready to go. This kit, as good as the laser cutting seems to be, seems to laser cut with no room for sanding. I sanded the char off pertinent edges and when I went to fit the stem pieces they no longer fit the plans. Like I said, no room for sanding. I had read one other log and he stated the same issue.

 

So, question. Would it be a good idea to shim at the scarf joints to build the parts out to fit the plans? The instructions say to explicitly follow the plans. Very well drawn and thought out CAD plans. So, if the parts were cut to CAD data, I could see how this would happen. So, the whole kit seems to be like this and I will need to be very careful.

 

Question: How much of the char needs to come off to take glue properly? I sanded to just before totally bare wood.

 

I will start to post pics very soon and I look forward to your ideas. I really like the friendliness and willingness to help on this site. I just wish I could contribute more and give back a little.

 

OK, I am getting long winded. This is my official start, wish me luck.

 

Paul

[PAnderson]

Hello everyone. On the heels of my longboat build, I have started this little gem. So far I have gotten to the point of bending on the frames wet and letting them dry. Haven't done them yet, just pondering this next step. This seems like a big deal since it sets the stage for what comes next, planking.

 

Planking would be the biggest challenge but since the planks have already been shaped and ready to go. I have found that all of the laser cutting was done really close to size, if not fully to size, it doesn't leave much room for error. So here are the pics so far. I have been through Canutes' build and a couple of others so I hope I can do this justice.

 

Here the false keel is laid out and the bulkheads. There doesn't seem to be a lot of char. Some discoloration but no "burnt" edges. I'm impressed. So, I sand lightly and leave a hint of discoloration because, like I said, everything seems to be cut really close to finish and I an afraid that if I go to town, some things may not fit or line up later.

 

 

Here, the keel parts are finish stained, ready for gluing. It didn't seem like I sanded a lot off where the laser burn was but I had to shim the parts to bring them in line with the plans.

 

 

Next, the sheer tabs are on the bulkheads and they are glued in place to the false keel. Next, everything was strengthened with braces.

 

 

Next, the glued up keel is on the frame. The rabbet has NOT been cut yet, just to see how everything looks. So far so good.

 

 

Lastly for now, the rabbet has been cut. That seemed far easier than I thought it would be. The keel is attached to the frame. The keel tabs were only glued below the keel using CA. I liked this method better than pinning the keel through the tabs. Also, the transom is glued to the keel but not the horses. The first attempt left the transom tilted to one side, maybe from the clamps. I had to remove it using alcahol. I then reglued it using more clamps and placing some blocks under the transom on either side. I built up a set of machinist JO blocks so the transom would not tilt again.

 

 

So that is it for now. Next is to cut the frames to length and soak them in boiling water for a while and then start to fit them. I am hoping to get these to fit what was already faired. That seems like a huge task. Two at a time, port and starboard.

 

Did anyone end up refairing the frames after this step, even a tiny bit. Frames 1, 2 and 3 will be faired after the frames are glued as will the transom. I really wish there was a better way than just crossing my fingers.

 

Paul

Edited December 26, 2015 by PAnderson

[Canute]

Paul, I faired the bulkheads after gluing to the false keel. I took a batten and ran it bow to stern. Some didn't need much sanding; the bow and stern needed more work. Patience is vital.

[PAnderson]

Yeah, me too Ken. I roughed in bulkheads 1,2 and 3 before gluing. Thanks for the like. The fairing looked pretty good but take that with a grain of salt. I tested with a batten but never having faired a hull except for my longboat and one 25 years ago, I have very little idea how good it actually is. I will test again after the frames are on.

 

Did you have to fair the frames again?

 

 

Paul

[Canute]

Paul, I did, but it was a light sanding to knock the edges off a few frames. A wee bit of twisting, mostly. And I sanded those vertically, so I wouldn't knock any more off.

 

Line off the stem against the drawing to ensue you keep the strake ends lined up in the rabbet. I copied the plan onto some card and cut it up to get right in that the area. And I cut a card template to shape the stem, too.

 

Fun, huh?

[PAnderson]

"Line off the stem against the drawing to ensue you keep the strake ends lined up in the rabbet. I copied the plan onto some card and cut it up to get right in that the area. And I cut a card template to shape the stem, too."

 

Thanks Ken. Did you do this before or after the keel was attached to the false keel? I hope I'm not too late.

 

Paul

[Canute]

Paul, I did it after. It's easier if you do it before hand, but it's a recoverable boo-boo. It's a little easier if the stem wood is laying flat.

[PAnderson]

Hello again everyone. I have an update here. You know, some things you just have to work through and consider it a challenge.

 

I added the frames to the hull mold. But I ran into a little problem. I cut all of the frames to 4 1/2 inches. Then I soaked them in boiling water for a while. I bent and fit 2 frames in the middle of the hull to see how this all worked. I clipped one end under the keel and bent it around and clamped to the bulkhead above the sheer line and let them dry. I am glad I only test fit at this point because when they dried, they shrunk lengthwise and popped out of the keel. I don't remember reading about this on any other logs so I just chalk it up to inexperience and being naive about ship model building. I do remember seeing one log where the builder used frames that went port to starboard in one piece so I decided to do this instead. Rather than throw away the frames I already cut, I will use these for the in between frames. I had enough cherry frame parts to make 9 inch frames and that worked well.

So here is the mold with the frames attached.

 

 

 

[PAnderson]

Next came the planking. I actually thought having ready made planks was going to be a cakewalk. Yeah right! Smebody slap me now, LOL. One thing I am learning real fast is to slowwwwww down. I guess I am used to plastic parts fitting the first time. So, it all went well I guess except that I realized that there is no room for sanding the edges of the planks even though the instructions say there is. I sanded the garboard and that fit well. The next plank I sanded did not line up with the reference lines on the frames. I do understand no kit is going to just fall together despite the designers hard work. That and my inexperience added up to the planks continuously not lining up with the reference lines except at the bow and stern. In the middle of the hull they quit lining up. But I plugged along because the instructions said there was extra material on the shutter planks. Low and behold, I had to make new shutter planks because the kit planks were too small when I got to that point. Well, I needed the practice so I made new ones.

 

The planking is done! Despite my best efforts to sabotage myself. To get two, I had to make 5 attempts. Here is the finished hull before rough sanding. There are 2 or 3 gaps that will need filling. Not bad I guess. Also, I have no idea why I stained the keel since the outside of the hull is being painted.

 

I also want to add that I would have asked for a little more advice but I did not know what I needed to ask. Forgive me. I think I need to just plug along and learn a few things so that in the future I at least have an idea what kinds of questions to ask.

 

Please, if anyone has any critiques or ideas, feel free to chime in. Next will be sanding and then breaking this thing free from the mold. I have enough frames for the in between frames but had to order more cherry to replace ones I broke and make sure I have enough to finish this build.

 

Many thanks,

Paul

 

 

[Cathead]

When I built this last year, I ended up with a thin gap at the shutter plank. Rather than remake the plank, I just made a thin stealer to fit, as described in this post and shown in this image:

 

[PAnderson]

 

Nice work with your planking, I must say. From your photos, I'm guessing you did minimal sanding/spiling to get them to fit as neatly as that. I hope I can do as good a job as that when the time comes.

Thanks Brian. The planks I think were well cut and in a perfect world would fit perfectly with minimal sanding. Not knowing any better, I decided not to sand after the garboard and plank #2 except to take off the burn real lightly. I mean real lightly. As it turned out, they were off almost 2 MM. Oh well, this is how we learn. I think also I did not fair the bulkheads enough overall and then did not fair the cherry frames any more than I thought I should since the instructions said it wasn't really needed. That's a judgement call I guess.

 

Thanks again, Brian

 

Paul

[PAnderson]

When I built this last year, I ended up with a thin gap at the shutter plank. Rather than remake the plank, I just made a thin stealer to fit, as described in this post and shown in this image:

 

Thanks Cathead. You said in your log "Now we see the launch with gaps filled, seams chiseled, and the entire hull sanded down to 150 grit."

 

What do you mean by "seams chiseled". Did you actually go back and chisel out the seams between planks so it actually look liked a planked boat? If you did, how deep did you open the seams?

 

Paul

[Cathead]

No, although that could be a nice detail to experiment with. Instead, it means I used a chisel to gently smooth some of the rougher joints. From my log, just above the section you quoted:

 

However, it seems I was too liberal with the wood putty and it would have taken a week to sand it all off. Misfortune turned to opportunity, though, when I hit upon using a sharp, broad chisel to plane off much of the hardened putty. This worked beautifully for smoothing edges where planks had not sat quite properly against each other; again the pre-staining guided this marvelously. If I could run a broad chisel along a seam and not produce white wood on both sides, it needed more work. 

 

I am very happy with the extra shaping allowed by the chisel, though I was a mite aggressive in a few places and left a few gouges. The instructions remind us that the launch was a working boat, and I will leave these to appear as various scars of a working life.

 

 In other words, I used a chisel as a plane, to gently plane down any rough spots or plank edges sticking up at a seam, moving the chisel blade parallel to the seams. This could be done with lots of sanding, but the chisel/plane goes much faster and produces a nice smooth surface. You can see a few of these rough spots in the original photo I posted here, especially between the planks below the stealer (toward the top of the boat), where their edges don't quite meet properly and leave a ridge.

 

From this build, I learned that wood filler absolves many sins!

[PAnderson]

I have an issue and need some help. I removed the boat from the mold today. Everything went fine, pics later. I had read on other logs about the the width of the boat being too wide for the thwarts and the boat had to be squeezed while the thwarts were added. I found out why this does this. I measured the width across stations 8 & 9 and the hull matched the plans within a half a MM.

 

I then added the tween frames, let them dry, then glued them into position. After this I measured across stations 8 & 9 again and saw that the width grew by about 4 MM or so. I am saying this for future members builds as much as for finding a solution right now. It seems that the stress of the bent between frames caused this. I think the between frames should be over bent a little to avoid this.

 

Do I wait until after the sheer clamps are in place and the thwarts are added to squeeze the hull into shape. Will the thwarts hold the hull shape permanently after doing this? I see what needs to be done, I just don't know how to go about doing this.

 

Paul

[Cathead]

Paul, go straight at it with carpentry clamps:

 

 

This issue scared me, too, until various nice folks on my log assured me that it was a common quirk and quite fixable. So I just tackled it head on and hoped for the best. I found that when the thwarts are glued in, they're enough to hold the hull in place without spreading, which made installing the gunwales easy as the hull was now stable and the proper shape.

[Altduck]

I like the tie you're wearing in the photo. A different time,for sure.

 

Richard

[PAnderson]

Hello again everyone. Progress is being made on my Bounty Launch. Sheer clamps are in as are the thwart risers and thee first, center floor board. Should I add the other floor boards before I have to squeeze the hull to add the thwarts? Will the floor boards make it more difficult to squeeze the hull? Of course, before all of that, I think I will stain the interior, prime the outside and then paint the outside. Unless there is a good reason to wait for painting? The outside of the hull has been lightly filled, all gaps were filled.. It has also been finish sanded.

 

Here she is as she sits right now.

 

Paul

 

[Cathead]

Looks nice Paul, good work!

 

As for your question, I installed the floor first, before adding the thwarts or squeezing the hull. It worked well and I had no trouble with the latter, as you're really only changing the shape of the upper-most portion of the hull. And installing the floor after the thwarts would be a real pain. I did, however, wait to install the quarterdeck until after I'd squeezed the hull, as it meets the hull much farther up the sides and I was concerned it would be affected by the reshaping.  So I didn't insert the second-to-last thwart (the one that covers part of the quarterdeck) until after I'd shaped the hull. It all worked out fine.

[PAnderson]

Here is my latest update. While battling a raging chest cold, I was not able to do a lot over the last two weeks but I am now better and have spent some time in the "wecco", as my admiral calls my shop. Spanish for "cave". After much hand wringing about squeezing the hull to accommodate the thwarts, I did it and all is well. I knew it would work since others had to do the same thing, it did not feel natural but hey, what do I know, I'm just a newbie. Also, the curve of the bow seemed too wide because thwart 1 and the bow grate seemed very loose but it was going to take a lot of force to bring that in so I left it alone. The 1st thwart and grate ended up fitting OK after all and test fitting the gunnels showed it will just fit. So, here she is after staining the insides with cherry stain and painting the outside of the hull. I am really liking the way she is turning out. Much more work to go though. The gunnel is made up but needs staining before install. I hope you all like her.

 

Paul

[PAnderson]

Thanks for the likes Gentlemen. The more I do to this boat, the more I like it. I started it because I dearly needed the experience for the bigger one to come, whatever that may be.

 

Paul

[Cathead]

Looks just right. Nice crisp paint job. It's a great little kit for practicing skills.

[PAnderson]

Thanks Cathead and Brian. Bryan?Do me a favor please, and yourself. Just an experiment. Measure your hull across the sheer planks between frames 8 &9 Before you pop the hull off the mold. Measure again after you pop it off. If the size does NOT change, then I think you should try overbending the tween frames so they sit proper before gluing. I think the stress of bending them into place forces the sides of the hull out. Could save you some work.

 

Oh, and Brian, you can catch up when I have to make my tools.

 

Paul

[CaptainSteve]

Lookin' real good, Paul.

I'm jealous !!

[PAnderson]

Thanks CaptainSteve. Jealous? Of this newbie? I've seen your work, beautiful stuff. I partly used your build log for this build. I'm the jealous one.

 

Paul