Armed Virginia Sloop by captgino - FINISHED - Model Shipways - 1/48

[captgino]

After a lot of back and forth between the Fair American and this kit, I decided to go for the AVS.

It seems to be a fun and exciting build. I think it would be a great opportunity to get some additional skills for the next build on my shelf: Fair American, HMS Unicorn, ...

Let's begin!

[Elijah]

Looks great! I look forward to seeing your ship grow!

[DocBlake]

Good luck. It's a fun build, and it taught me a lot about building model ships. I'll watch this log closely. Have fun!

[alde]

I am looking forward to watching this progress. I am working up the nerve to start mine too.

[GuntherMT]

Always good to see another AVS on the bench.  Feel free to ask any questions and you'll find plenty of help here.

[captgino]

Thank you guys!

I will for sure have a ton of questions. I bookmarked and looked at a bunch of building log for the AVS. Definitely some great advises and visual helps.

[aliluke]

I'll add to that chorus - it is a really great kit and you'll learn a lot for any future build. Ask away but my memory will fail me in some instances. Although it will it will have some detractors - Bob Hunt's AVS practicum is really good in my opinion - I followed it for my model and it taught me heaps.

[captgino]

Thank you Alistair! I will certainly reach out. Your log has been bookmarked along with Brian's, Zoltan's and Dave's.

[captgino]

So it began! 

Freed the bulkheads and removed some of the laser burn marks. First challenge, the keel is warped, I will need to make it straight again.

[Elijah]

Good luck!

[DocBlake]

I had a little warp too! Build slowly and make sure each bulkhead is square to the center keel. I glued small blocks between the bulkheads and keel to straighten any warp and reinforce this. Be alert as to the block placement. Don't glue them where something else (like the mast) must go!

[captgino]

Thanks for the advice Dave !
I am using the first chapter (free teaser) as support. I cannot get myself to broke the bank for the full guide. There is other tools I would prefer to invest  in instead.
 
Some drama with a bulkhead, which broke in 2 when doing the dry fitting. I guess this is learning experience #1: bulkhead = fragile.
I was able to get it fixed.
I traced the bearding line in preparation to start on the rabbet line. The direction for this step are rather cryptic and requires some head scratching. Any suggestions?

 

JP

[GuntherMT]

You can contact Model Expo and tell them which bulkhead you broke, and they will send you a replacement.  In my experience if you use their online parts replacement form, you won't get any response, but 7-10 days later you will have a package on your door with a new part (they'll ship the entire parts sheet that the bulkhead is part of).

 

As far as the bearding line, make yourself a small piece of test planking - glue a short piece of the first planking layer (basswood) together with a piece of the final planking (the thin walnut).  This is the 'depth' that your rabbet needs to be.  Starting at the bearding line, cut towards the keel, so that where the false keel meets the keel the depth will make your test planking flush with the outside edge of the keel.

 

For how to do this, I used a combination of things - Exacto blades (#22 and #11), chisels, and sanding.  Work very carefully on this, taking off very small amounts, especially as you near the keel, as the false keel will only be about 1/3 of the starting thickness when you are done.  In my case I worked it down to about 1/2 the final depth, then attached the keel, and then finished the rabbet with the keel in place so that I could use my test planking piece to get the depth right.

 

I didn't really take any good pictures of this in progress, since it was my first time, but some of the photo's in this post - http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/8085-armed-virginia-sloop-by-gunthermt-model-shipways-scale-148-complete/?p=242580 

will sort of let you see my rabbet in progress and maybe get something out of it.

[captgino]

Thank you Brian. I will look into this replacement program.

As for your recommendations for using the planking as a thickness meter, I like it and will likely implement it.

[gsprings]

Glad to see someone else taking on the AVS at the same time that I am! I'm a little ahead of your build, but am looking forward to watching your progress. Good luck!

[captgino]

Worked on the rabbet and bearding line

[GuntherMT]

It's always difficult to tell from a photo, but it looks like you may have your rabbet much to 'angled' along the bottom and the stem.  At the stem the planks come in at a quite sharp angle, and the rabbet is more of a squared off "U" shape than an angle.  This holds true for the bottom along the keel for the widest portion of the hull as well, as the garboard plank is at a steep angle away from the keel to flow into the bulkheads.

 

Luckily, it probably doesn't matter, as you can get the flow along the bulkheads and build in fillers between the bulkheads if needed in order to get the planks to drop into the rabbet, so it doesn't really need to provide any support on the bulkhead side.

 

Edit: Based on what I can see, it looks like you've done a very nice job with the difficult part of flowing it into the stern along a large area.

Edited June 5, 2016 by GuntherMT

[captgino]

Hi Brian,

There is a few sections where my rabbet might be a little too deep. Overall, I think as you mentioned i should be able with fillers to get the planking in a nice and proper angle.

Edited June 5, 2016 by captgino

[captgino]

Bulkheads on.

[GuntherMT]

Those aft-most few bulkheads on the main deck section look like they are sitting a bit high.  The bulkheads need to line up with the top of the false-keel, and you can then shim or sand as needed to get the lower edge to align with the bearding line/rabbet.  If they are too high it will be next to impossible to get a good flow of planks, and you'll have to sand a lot of material off the top before being able to do the deck.

 

Can you give a shot directly from the side of that area?  Would be easier to see how the bottom edge looks, and also would show how the extensions at the top line up.

[captgino]

It looks like you are correct. I have a few of them higher than the other ones. It looks like I'm going to have to sand them down and add some fillers.

How do I know which angle I need to try to reproduce on the bulkhead? Should I look at the figure on the sheet number 2?

Edited June 6, 2016 by captgino

[GuntherMT]

If you used wood glue, just use water and/or alcohol to soak the joint, and it will soften the glue and you can pull them out, then you just need to file/sand either the false keel, or the notch in the bulkhead a bit at a time until they drop down to where they are flush at the top.  That will be a lot easier than trying to sand and shim both top and bottom, and I'm not sure how that would come out to be honest.

 

If you do decide to shim the bottom, the basswood supplied for the decking is the perfect width, and will bend nicely around the curve of the bulkheads.  If you look at my AVS build log index you should be able to find the spot where I showed shimming the bottom of some bulkheads, but that was after getting the tops even.  

 

The alignment of these bulkheads is really one of, if not the most important parts of the build, since everything you do from here on out relies on how these are all aligned.  It's worth the time to unglue them and get them right.  All of the bulkheads should align as close to perfectly as possible with the false keel at the tops.

 

Good luck!

 

Edit: It also looks like you will probably need to shim the next bulkhead forward along the bottom, as the gap between the bottom of the bulkhead and the top of the keel appears too large.  The gap should be just wide enough to accept the planking (the basswood first layer plus the walnut layer) into it.  This also is the width that should define your rabbet thickness where the planks come in near vertical to the keel.

 

Edit 2: It also looks like your first bulkhead forward of the mast slot is not at a 90 degree angle to the keel.  You can probably fix that with reinforcement blocks between the bulkheads like I did on mine, but if you do that you'll probably want to put them in from one end or the other all the way through so that the tension from the block on that bulkhead isn't being solely supported by the next bulkhead without any other support.  Hopefully that makes sense - I documented that pretty well in my build log, and there should be an index link in the first post to get you pretty close to it in the log.

Edited June 6, 2016 by GuntherMT

[captgino]

If you used wood glue, just use water and/or alcohol to soak the joint, and it will soften the glue and you can pull them out, then you just need to file/sand either the false keel, or the notch in the bulkhead a bit at a time until they drop down to where they are flush at the top.  That will be a lot easier than trying to sand and shim both top and bottom, and I'm not sure how that would come out to be honest.

 

If you do decide to shim the bottom, the basswood supplied for the decking is the perfect width, and will bend nicely around the curve of the bulkheads.  If you look at my AVS build log index you should be able to find the spot where I showed shimming the bottom of some bulkheads, but that was after getting the tops even.  

 

The alignment of these bulkheads is really one of, if not the most important parts of the build, since everything you do from here on out relies on how these are all aligned.  It's worth the time to unglue them and get them right.  All of the bulkheads should align as close to perfectly as possible with the false keel at the tops.

 

Good luck!

 

Edit: It also looks like you will probably need to shim the next bulkhead forward along the bottom, as the gap between the bottom of the bulkhead and the top of the keel appears too large.  The gap should be just wide enough to accept the planking (the basswood first layer plus the walnut layer) into it.  This also is the width that should define your rabbet thickness where the planks come in near vertical to the keel.

 

Edit 2: It also looks like your first bulkhead forward of the mast slot is not at a 90 degree angle to the keel.  You can probably fix that with reinforcement blocks between the bulkheads like I did on mine, but if you do that you'll probably want to put them in from one end or the other all the way through so that the tension from the block on that bulkhead isn't being solely supported by the next bulkhead without any other support.  Hopefully that makes sense - I documented that pretty well in my build log, and there should be an index link in the first post to get you pretty close to it in the log.

Thanks Brian!

These are some great advises!!Thankfully,  I did not use CA but Wood glue. That said,  Titebond II is a pretty solid glue so ...I am hoping get the 3-4 bulkheads detached without any damages.

I also reviewed your build on a computer this time and saw what you were referring to about fillers and rabbet. I will very likely rework some of that as well. Thank you so much for the great pictures.

 

It is so difficult when doing your first true ship with bulkheads to understand these initial and critical steps based on the directions and the plans. I am so thankful for this site and its members' experience and kindness to get me some assistance.

[captgino]

I used a few times a CA debonder to remove some parts,just in case if you used CA and have to remove those bulkheads.

 

Zoltan

 

image.jpeg

Never used this. But I will definitely add to the shopping card. Does it work on any CA or just the CA for the same brand?

[GuntherMT]

The solution is to never use CA.

 

I just use regular Tite Bond or in some cases where I am concerned about the dry glue showing, white glue.

 

The only time I use CA is for joining dissimilar material like wood to metal.

Edited June 6, 2016 by GuntherMT

[captgino]

Well... I was very nervous but it worked out pretty well. I was able to pull all three without any breakage. Here's a technique that I've used not too orthodox but it worked. Brian, thank you very much for the suggestion that soaking with water.

[captgino]

Bulkheads back on. Much better

[GuntherMT]

Very much better.  Still think it looks like you'll need to shim the bottom of a couple bulkheads just like I did, but the tops look right on now.

[captgino]

Medium update.

 

- added reinforcement between each bulkheads

- Worked on fairing the bulkheads

- glued the sub desks

- added the filler block at the bow of the ship

- carved out the section to receive the knight heads

 

Fun fun fun

 

[captgino]

The plan and directions are calling for tapering the walnut bow section. 

How low do I need to get?

 

Any suggestions on which tool to use ?

Edited June 29, 2016 by captgino