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

[captgino]

I decided to use a piece of poplar I had. Since it will be painted in black it should not be anecessary issue.

[captgino]

Started to plank the ship. Slow and steady.

[DocBlake]

Good start on the planking!

[GuntherMT]

Looks like a very good start.  You are correct that your wood choice on the fashion piece shouldn't matter at all if you are going to paint it black.

[captgino]

This morning, I was able to get about one hour of freedom with the kids and completed the other side.

The symmetry is not perfect but I think it will be ok in the long run. Fingers crossed!

Edited July 17, 2016 by captgino

[captgino]

New storage and cleaning up the workspace.

Edited July 18, 2016 by captgino

[GuntherMT]

The thin walnut goes over this layer anyway, so symmetry really isn't that big of a deal, other than the practice.  What matters is a good smooth layer without dips and bumps for that 2nd layer to go over.

 

Looking good!

[captgino]

Thank you for the likes and comments!

[captgino]

Started the planking of the lower part if the hull.

So far so good. Some mistakes but I am not too worriedaboutit since this is the first layout.

This is definitely a learning curve!!

[DocBlake]

The planking is looking good so far!

[captgino]

So I pushed forward and continue planking. Tough job!!

I have a lot to learn. I am not super pleased with the result so far. Wood filler will have to help a bit.

[captgino]

Nothing has been sanded this far. I think I can correct some of my mistakes.

[GuntherMT]

Based on that last photo (and I could be wrong it could be lighting angle and shadows), it looks like you might be learning the lesson on how important proper fairing of the bulkheads is.  In the photo it sort of looks like your planks aren't landing smoothly across the entire face of each bulkhead, and that is causing your planking to be less than perfect.

 

Regardless, I think you are correct and since this is the first layer of a double planking, you should be able to fill & sand to give yourself a nice clean smooth hull to put the 2nd planking layer on.  If you use scale length planks on the 2nd layer that might also help you to get each plank to fit better, since you aren't fighting the entire hull length on every plank.

 

Overall the lines look pretty good, so as long as you take your time with the preparation after finishing this layer, I think you'll be good.

[captgino]

Hi Brian

 

There is some truth to your comments. I think it is a combination of fairing and knowing how to cut and bend the planks properly.

For fairing I know I did too much of it at the bow of the ship. I should have done like that you did on your build and use some fillers blocks.

I also tried to follow the practicum to divide the hull in belts and find how many planks to use with some medium success. This resulted into poor execution of the cutting and preparation of the planks. :/

Novice mistakes.

Edited August 8, 2016 by captgino

[GrantGoodale]

Never underestimate the power of wood filler and sanding 

[captgino]

Thanks for the encouragement words.

[captgino]

Speaking of wood filler what are you guys using and recommending?

[captgino]

I used Elmer's natural wood filler.

 

Zoltan

thanks Monsieur Z.

[captgino]

Well, it is FAR from perfect but....

 Aside from a few gaps here and there, the hull is completed and closed up. What a ride and learning curse!!!
Lessons:

1. fairing is important, too much messed your planking

2. Laying out the wales perfectly (critical step). I went too high on the stern of the ship which resulted in difficulty with dividing and laying the first few planks

3. Blending and using stealer properly. On this one, I think it will come with experience.

 

The below pictures are without any sanding, wood filler. Just raw 'Kindergartener' work.

The starboard side is going to need some loving.

[dgbot]

I wish I had a photo of my first underplanking job.  It would give you nightmares.  That was when I put in filler blocks inbetween the bulkheads to give me an evand surface.  I also started to learn spiling and laying out the lines.  With each hull your planking will get better.  It takes time and practice.

David B

[DocBlake]

Nice job.  With filler and sanding, a nice solid base for the second layer.

[captgino]

Sanded the hull nice and smooth last night after applying some wood filler.

It turned out ok at least good to receive the second planking. 

 

Next was the installation of fillers around the gun port and preparation for the sweep port. Plan for the weekend and beginning of next week appears to be something like this:

• wale installation
• scupper construction (outside and inside pieces)
• pre-drilling the hull for scupper 
• planking inside wall
• finishing drilling sweep port and scupper

Well, this is the plan. I will see if my thinking is sound as I start implementation.

[GuntherMT]

I didn't trust myself to get the placement right on the sweep ports (or anything else) so I filled the entire area between the bulkhead extensions from deck to the top.  MS gives you plenty of basswood, and it doesn't take a lot of time since it's not precision work (it will all be covered), and it also served to give me a solid foundation for the interior bulkhead planking.

[captgino]

I was not able to do anything last weekend. Instead I was tasked to renovate one of my girls bedroom (painting, ceiling scraping, retexturing, baseboard...)

After a crazy week at work, I was able to work on my ship last night. I was able to procure some boxwood and I decided to use it for my wales and scupper.

What a difference this kind of wood makes !!!!

I Now understand what all the fuss was about when reading other builders logs.

[Elijah]

Nice job Jean-Philippe! You have progressed very far!

[captgino]

Small update.

 

I started to work on the inner bulwark planking.

I ran into an issue with the spirketing plank not been even with the gun port. Due to the gap size in some case and the impossibility to trim on the top with the risk to be too obvious,  I trimmed the spirketing plank a little bit. 

The example below is the only case where it was by a large amount. Once everything is sanded and squarred. It will look ok. Finger crossed!!
 

[captgino]

After many mistakes, restarts, here is the build as it is now.

 

It is still due for a big sanding job and fixing any imperfections to obvious.

 

Oh and I also used black ink to stain the black section on the transom. I will use the same technic for the wales and scupper.

[GuntherMT]

Be *very* careful (and do some experiments on scrap) before using black ink.  It soaks into the wood and bleeds, and never stops bleeding when you apply other stuff over it (like if you plan to use a wipe on poly), and then bleeds off onto other pieces of wood.

 

I used ink on my wales and then spent a huge number of hours later trying to get them to stop bleeding black into everything near them, and then trying to seal them so that the ink wouldn't wipe off onto the rag and then color up the surrounding wood when I cleaned the hull.

 

I'll never use ink on wood again without a lot of experimentation on mock-ups first.

[captgino]

Thank you for the heads-up. I did some testing but i was not reproduce this so far. What kind of wood were you using?

[DocBlake]

Guys:  The bleeding problem from inks (like Sharpie ink) is mostly a function of what you coat it with.  If you stain the wale black, glue it in place and then finish it in poly, the poly will redissolve the Sharpie ink, and bleeding will occur.  A trick to prevent this is to use a solvent for that first finish coat that can't redissolve the ink :  Water!  Use a coat of water-based polyurethane as your first finish coat.  It will seal the wood, and conventional poly can be used after that coat with no bleeding.  In general I try to avoid water-based polys for furniture work because I think they make the wood look "cold".  They work in this context, though!  Minwax makes a water-based poly that comes in small cans.