English Pinnace by MikeB4 - FINISHED - Model Shipways - 1:24

[MikeB4]

Steve,

 

So far not to bad. It was a bit of a challenge getting the transom on straight. There's no good way to clamp it. I ended up putting a tiny brass nail in to hold it in place along with wood glue. The nail will be hidden from view anyhow.

Edited November 5, 2016 by MikeB4

[MikeB4]

I got the shear strake in place. It's not perfect but it will work. Next I'm going to plank the garboard strake. Does anyone know where the board should start at the bow? It's hard to see in the instructions where it starts and its shape at the fore.

[Chuck]

Thats looking great....the garboard ends just a hair past the scarf joint.  I hope this picture helps.

 

 

 

 

[mikiek]

Mike - a cool tip I picked up regarding garboard placement.

 

1. Shape the front end of the garboard - usually rounded on the bottom and somewhat pointed on top.

2. Pin the plank in it's approximate location.

3. Lay another plank on the garboard edge above the garboard with the leading end behind the garboard leading edge.

4. Slowly slide the upper plank forward to where it would normally lay.

5. If the plank stays horizontal you are good.

6. If the plank end wants to go up at all slide the garboard backwards just a bit and repeat.

 

The idea is you don't want the garboard to force the next plank upwards in the bow area because that upwards turn will get worse with each successive plank.

[MikeB4]

Thank you Gentlemen, That helps me quite a bit. the only other thing I can't tell is whether there needs to be a little bit of a curve on the inside edge at the fore most point facing the bow end against the keal or if the board is completely straight until it has to twist at the stern. I know the outside edge is curved.

[Chuck]

Make a card template or paper version first.  Then after it fits....trace it onto a strip or sheet and cut it out. 

[mikiek]

Mike - one thing I have found. We bend planks long ways and edgewise.  For Niagara's stern, I twisted planks. Soak them as usual, put one end in a vise. Twist the other end and stick that in another vise. Let it dry. If you play around with that you can get some bizarre shaped planks that fit perfectly on a frame with curves.

[Tigersteve]

Mike,

I think if you follow Chuck's photos you should be fine.

Steve

[MikeB4]

I got the garboard strakes in place. I tried to get each plank as close to the position as in Chuck's pictures. of coarse his fit a lot nicer into the rabbet than mine do. It's close enough for rock n roll.

[Chuck]

It looks pretty good.  But dont forget to bevel the edges of each strake so they fit really snug up against the strakes already on the hull.  You can just knock of the corner of the back edge for the most part.

[MikeB4]

I didn't like the way my planking came out so I'm attempting to strip off some of the planks so I can start over. of course several frames have broken on me. I will attempt to fix what I broke and go from there.

Edited November 16, 2016 by MikeB4

[mikiek]

Just curious Mike - did you use CA or PVA?

[MikeB4]

I used CA

[MikeB4]

I went out and bought 5 sheets of basswood 4" x 24". I'm going to attempt to spile the rest of the planks. 

[Tigersteve]

Have you been using water to help bend the planks? I remember you said you wanted to try without using water.

Steve

[MikeB4]

Yes, I did soak the planks before bending them. The curve around the bow is where I ran into trouble.I couldn't get the bottom of the planks to angle inward towards the frame properly, so when I sanded, it was uneven, creating the mess you see in the picture above.

Edited November 16, 2016 by MikeB4

[MikeB4]

I fixed all the broken frames and sanded the excess glue. Now it,s time to start over.

[Tigersteve]

Seems to be the name of the game. I'm on attempt 3 of making the longboat platforms. So frustrating!

[MikeB4]

I'm using tick marks to guide my shaping and sizing each of the remaining planks.

[MikeB4]

Although it's very slow going, spiling the planks definitely gives me a better fit. It'll be well worth it if the end result is to my satisfaction.

[mikiek]

Hey Mike - any hints on your spiling technique?

[MikeB4]

Mike,

As i show in a previous picture I measured up the remaining space between the planks on each frame. Five more planks on each side will fit right. I then took a strip of painter's tape and covered the length of the sheer plank. With a pencil I traced out the bottom contour of the shear plank from stem to stern. This tracing will be the contour of the top of the next plank and so on. once I had it traced out I pulled the tape off of the plank and stuck it to a piece of card stock. I cut the the card stock to the size and shape of the plank, I took the paper plank and made sure it fit on the boat. Once it was right using a spray adhesive stuck the paper plank to the sheet of wood and cut the actual plank using that template. I do suggest cutting the width a little wider than it will finally be in the end. This allows you to shape it into place because there will be imperfections in the cut.The only bending I needed to do was at the bow. I hope this helps. 

Edited November 22, 2016 by MikeB4

[mikiek]

Great description! Thank you. I'm going to try twisting a plank one more time and if not successful I may have to follow your footsteps.

[MikeB4]

Finally got the hull planked to my satisfaction. It's not perfect by any means but it's the best I'm going to do at this time. This little boat has been quite a challenge for me. My next boat is going to be the 1/16th scale New Bedford Whale Boat which is a very large model. I hope this will be easier to plank.

[Tigersteve]

Nice job, Mike! That will sand out nicely. What finish are you going for? Color of stain, etc. I've been happy with a thorough sanding, pre stain, and natural stain. Then WOP. How was she to plank compared to the longboat? Same or a bit easier? Not looking forward to it myself.

 

Glad you have your eyes on the whaleboat. That looks like a niice project.

Steve

Edited September 21, 2017 by Tigersteve

[mikiek]

I concur, planking this guy is a real bear. Good thing there's not many

[MikeB4]

Steve,

As far as the finish goes I've got a couple jars of Testors acrylic wash I'm going to consider using first. I'll have to test that out on some scrap wood first before committing to that. I'm going to use wipe on poly to seal the wood and I'm going to paint a water line probably white acrylic. Between the longboat and this one, I seem to have had a more difficult time planking this one for some reason I thought this boat would be easier because it's a little larger, I was wrong. They are both very difficult, I guess that's why they are considered advanced builds. This will be the last small build I'm going to do for a while.I'm looking forward to doing a much larger model which will have it's own challenges I'm sure.

[Brucealanevans]

Mike

The New Bedford whaleboat (Model Shipways) was the first wood model I built (and unfortunately looked it!). The planks are pre-cut for the clinker build over a removable form. Definitely easier as far as the planking itself goes because of that, although careful glue application is necessary if the moment of truth when the hull is removed from the form is not to be traumatic.

A great model at a scale that allows a lot of fantastic detailing. You'll enjoy it.

Edited November 29, 2016 by Bruce Evans

[FriedClams]

Hello Mike,

 

Your perseverance on the hull has really paid off - it looks great.

 

Gary

[MikeB4]

Thanks Gary,

 

It can be challenging at times.  But by working through it, I always learn something and get a little bit better at this. 

 

Mike