Section Deck Between Gunbays by mikiek - FINISHED - Panart - 1:23

[mikiek]

OK Bob - didn't know that about the limewood. In my Niagara build I have switched out all basswood for boxwood from Crown. Those strips are a joy to work with. I'll give it a go with the kit strips and see how they end up. If the frame that they sit on wasn't curved I would build the deck separately and glue it down when I finished.

 

One question for you guys that I could not discern from the plans. Should the deck butt up against the inner hull planks or should the hull planks sit on top of the deck planks? Does it matter?

[puckotred]

The plans show the deck butting up to the hull, but all the pics in the manual (and my build) have the hull planks on top of the deck planks. I would butt the deck planks up against the hull. Looks better imho...

Edited July 15, 2016 by puckotred

[cobra1951]

My Hull planks are also on top of the deck planks

[mikiek]

Another ding against the wood parts. When the original frame is assembled you have 3 hull "frame" pieces. Then you add a total of 4 more. So you end up with (R to L) original, added, added, original, added, added, original. Before gluing the additional pieces I tacked 2 hull planks across the 3 original frames so that when I slid the other in they would be aligned with the hull planks.

 

This worked out OK except that the additional pieces are not quite as wide as the original 3. So if I hold a plank up against the frame on the inside, the plank contacts the 3 pieces but not the additional 4. Hope that made sense. I guess I will be sanding down the 3 to fit the other 4.

[cobra1951]

You've lost me

[mikiek]

FOR FUTURE BUILDERS - before gluing the 3 frames together. Cut out the additional hull frame pieces (there are 4 of them) and hold them together with the other 3. The wide flat sides against each other and the exterior hull side aligned. Then check what will be the inner hull side. Is this side aligned and flush? If not sand them now. It will be much more difficult to sand once all these pieces are assembled.

[cobra1951]

Are you talking about the short 4mm square walnut pieces that fit in between the frames ?

 

EDIT: if you are then fit them level with the frames not the cross beams and you don't plank completely across them. Make up the gratings and fit them across the center frame and the inside 2 added beams and plank around the gratings. The added 2 outer beams are there to support the short planks around the gratings

check out post #27 of this build

http://forum.model-space.co.uk/default.aspx?g=posts&t=10874&p=2

Edited July 15, 2016 by Cobr@

[mikiek]

You've lost me

 

Bob - it's the edge pointed out in this pic - although you only see the outer piece in this angle. The convex side of the other hull frame pieces do not align. It will take some sanding (faring) to fix this.

 

 

When I took a plank strip and held it in place (what would be the lowest inner hull plank) it did not touch all the hull frame pieces. Sorry, I am out of town right now or I would take a pic of the hull plank against the frame.

[mikiek]

Paul - you are teaching me one thing for sure. I am not looking at the plans/instructions close enough. Or I am not deciphering what they are trying to tell me.

[puckotred]

Ok, I see what your problem is now. I didn't care too much about that. I hid the gap from the hull planking and the frames with the gunport framing. 

[cobra1951]

Ah I see now. As the added 4 inner frames are shorter then the middle and outer ones they sit on the added strip between the 3 frames. This meant I had to fit them slightly forward of the 3 main frames to make the planking sit on all of them. What you could do now is add a thin strip of wood to the extra 4 supports. Or do as Mr Puck did and leave the gaps as the planking hides it anyway once finished.

[cobra1951]

Paul - you are teaching me one thing for sure. I am not looking at the plans/instructions close enough. Or I am not deciphering what they are trying to tell me.

 

Deciphering what they are telling you is almost impossible with this kit as the plans say one thing and the booklet says another. The best thing you can do is a lot of test fitting first.

An example is when you come to do the table and benches, the plans show a table made of 4 planks width, the booklet shows you a picture of 5 planks width. Although 5 planks looks correct if you go with it then it doesn't leave much room around the guns. I went with the 4 plank option. Also neither the plans nor the booklet tell you how long to make the table or how high and the same with the benches. Paul and myself worked it out from the length of the gun barrels relative to the table in the photo's on the box.

So as you see deciphering it is almost impossible so it's not you

[mikiek]

So as you see deciphering it is almost impossible so it's not you

 That makes me feel a little better.

 

While out of town I was able to visit the gentleman that inspired me to try ship building. My Dad and he are in the same senior facility and he has several of his builds on display there. A lot of his builds were AL kits and he described the same problem - Italian on the plans. He said he even went as far as translating the notes. I could see the benefit of that. No telling what the notes could be saying.  Of course nothing helps when plans don't match instructions.

 

Thankfully I have you guys to keep me pointed in the right direction!

[mikiek]

I have been bouncing back and forth between this build and Niagara. This one is helping to keep my sanity while I debate with myself over part sizes for Niagara.

 

The gun deck planking is under way. I went with the kit supplied caulk strips stained dark (Minwax Provincial). Assembly is pretty easy once I got the routine down. It does however, seem to be just a few steps above building a ship in a bottle. I couldn't even begin to say how many times I have bumped the frames while working inside them.

 

While the caulk strips look OK the gaps they fill seem to collect a lot of dust when I began sanding. Even with a paint brush I could not get it all out. I suspect I will need a damp rag or something similar. The strips just don't completely fill the gap between plank edges. If I had it to do over I would probably take a different approach. Another thought would be to run the plank edges thru my table saw to square them up and smooth them off.

 

Given the limited space inside the frame I think I am going to hold off on planking the hull and main deck for as long as I can. I think quite a bit of the assembly can be done before the planking, although it will be out of order from the instructions.

 

I'm also thinking it will be wise to go ahead and stain and finish the deck now while nothing is in the way.

 

I'm to the point where I need to build and install the grating before I can complete the gun deck planking. Here's a few pix

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cobra1951]

Looking good Mike. I built the gratings then positioned them with double sided tape then planked around them and then removed the grating out of the way to stain the deck

[puckotred]

Looking good as Bob said. I never thought much of the gap between the planks. I sanded them before I glued them down... Did the gratings the same way as Bob. Still have not glued them in place.

[mikiek]

Have finally gotten around to finishing the gun deck planking. It went smoothly overall. I am somewhat disappointed with the caulking strips. The pix don't show it (for once) but they look a little raggedy and rough. If I had it to do again I would not take that approach.

 

 

 

 

It appears the next steps are to plank the hull frame. I am debating whether to do that now or wait. It seems like this will further limit my access inside the gun area. I think there is quite a bit of stuff I could do before the planking.

 

I'm curious to hear what you other builders of this kit did.

 

 

[cobra1951]

I did the hull planking inside and out next, no problem with access to the gun deck

[puckotred]

What Bob said 

[mikiek]

OK - to the hulls we go...

[Nirvana]

I wouldn't worry to much about rugginess and roughness, use a light touch with steelwool on top .... not to much and you will have a surface that will with time look amazing.

This looks real good!

[mikiek]

Thanks Nirvana - I keep forgetting about steel wool. I have been sanding it a lot and it just doesn't seem to be getting any better. A new sanding medium may be just the ticket.

[mikiek]

BTW the bottom and top rail are NOT walnut but are replaced with laser cut you have to stain / shape.( NO mentioned but look at laser diagrams for part no's

 

Good luck.

 

Paul - I'm out of town again and don't have the kit in front of me. I started on the external last nite and seem to recall that both plan and instr. called for 1 3x15 walnut plank at the bottom, then the thicker laser cut piece 5B on top of that. Then finish out with normal walnut. Hope I haven't misread them again.

 

You also have me thinking it's probably smarter to plank the interior first.

[cobra1951]

Hi Mike

             Yes 3 x 15 bottom plank then i laid part 5b over the top of the 3 x 15 second plank. I don't think it matters if you do the inner or outer hull lining first.

I also made my gun port openings different sizes to the instructions because they say to line the gun ports with little 3mm wide strips laid side by side all the way around the opening. Personally i didn't like this idea so i bought some 2 x 15 Walnut and used that, and i adjusted the opening sizes to allow for the thicker linings. This was a personal choice which way you do it is your choice obviously

[mikiek]

OK Bob - I'll take a close look when I get back in town. I'm kicking myself for not bringing it with me. Of course that rings of ship-o-holic.

[mikiek]

A couple of questions if I may. At the ports It looks like both Bob and Paul notched the 3rd exterior plank up for the sill of the ports. A couple of pics in the instr show a full plank - in fact they seem to show both full and notched. And of course the interior will be different - looks like probably notched.

 

I have probably missed it again but I don't see anywhere that states the measurement of how high up the ports begin.

 

Also the 2nd exterior plank  - or really laser cut part 5B.  Bob did you glue yours on top of a regular walnut plank? I don't see that in the specs.

[puckotred]

Second question:

That would be the whale. I glued mine to the frames. It seemed too thick to glue on top of a plank.

 

 

Edited July 30, 2016 by puckotred

[mikiek]

Thanks Mr Pucko - got that down. I like your color scheme too. Was just building one of the guns so I could get the ports situated around the barrel. The box cover had the carriage and wheels stained. Don't like trying to do that on laser parts.

 

However, the box cover appears to show an even different planking scheme. From bottom up, 3x15, part 5B, 3x15, then a thinner strip, then short 3x15's at the ports.

 

Mr Pucko, it looks like you have some thin plank strips on your interior?

 

I get the feeling I should just put a completed gun (at a reasonable attitude) up to the hull and then figure a 30x30 port around that.

[puckotred]

Picture 30 in the manual says to use 3x3mm on the interior. I regret doing that as it shows too much. My strips are darker than the planks... 

 

For me two planks + 5B made the gunport at right height on the outside of the hull.

Edited July 31, 2016 by puckotred

[cobra1951]

I laid part 5b over the top of the 2nd plank up on the outer hull. Mr Pucko replaced the 2nd plank up with part 5b, neither is wrong it's a matter of personal choice.

My 3rd plank up does have a cut away in it to make the port bigger the reason being the port should be square and the width is already determined by the distance between the 2 inner frames so i recessed the plank to make the height the same as the width. The outer had the bottom of the port recessed and the inner had the top of the port recessed. This kept the angle more even for me .This does make the port bigger than needed but i lined the port with 15mm x 3mm wide planking rather than the 0.5mm x 3mm the instructions say to use. The resulting port size was not critical for the gun port lids for mine as i made my own because IMHO the kit designed ones are way to thick.

 

As for the 3mm x 3mm strips i laid two at the bottom and the other at the top of the inner hull lining this made them less obvious (see photo)