Dos Amigos by bigcreekdad

[bigcreekdad]

I'm replanking the ship after an abysmal attempt at tree nailing. I'm planking over the original, and will sand down quite a bit when complete. I'm still uncertain whether I will tree nail or not. I'll post a pic of the replanking when complete.

 

In the meantime, I'm toying with the idea of not mounting the swiveling cannon in the bow. Frankly, I think it looks a bit goofy....no offense to those who have built the ship with the cannon. Any ideas on some deck furniture to take the space?

Edited November 28, 2016 by bigcreekdad

[bigcreekdad]

New planking laid. Needs some sanding. Still no decision on whether to treenail. Leaning towards not.

[popeye the sailor]

I wasn't too familiar with this vessel....had to look it up     the cannon might not be a big deal,  as it may have been fitted alter the British captured her,  and renamed the Fair Rosamond.  further research might shed light,  but the picture I saw of her did not show it.   depending how large the model is,  tree nailing might not be a good option........hard to get the scale right.   deck pattern is important too,  mapping out the butt stagger.   this is a good ship design to work with.......the swift/Baltimore clipper hull type can be modified into many ships of this era.

 

depending how the bow cannon is positioned,  you could fill in the space by combining the windlass with a stanchion collar {chock} for the bow spirit.

[bigcreekdad]

Did a little sampling before I gave up the idea of tree nailing the deck. Looking left to right:

1) Just holes drilled and sealed over with minwax satin

 

2) Holes filled with Minwax Early American putty, then satin

 

3) (Darkest) Holes filled with Minwax red mahogany putty, then satin.

 

 

Comments?

Edited November 26, 2016 by bigcreekdad

[bigcreekdad]

Any thoughts on the treenailing options?

 

[Tigersteve]

I like the most subtle option. Try drilling holes, filling them with regular wood filler then sand and stain natural or satin. Take time drilling straight lines. This screwed me up with my build.

Steve

Edited November 27, 2016 by Tigersteve

[bigcreekdad]

Did a fairly simple tree nail pattern using Early American Minwax putty. Opinions?....still a little too dark?

 

Tried some bamboo (draw plating is no fun) on a piece of drilled wood and after you sanded it down it hardly showed at all.

 

Might sand this and wipe on some Tru Oil to see what this looks like.

 

I've kinda committed to the tree nailing now, so wish me luck..

 

BTW...I will likely replace the plank with the gap.

 

Thanks for your thoughts in advance.

[bigcreekdad]

No thoughts?

[mtaylor]

I'd go with the Early American putty.  Something that hints at the treenailling rather than jumping out at you.  

 

I've only treenailed one ship (my first one) and after that, came to the conclusion that anything 1:64 scale or smaller, treenails overpower things as even the tiniest are too big.  But that's me.  

[bigcreekdad]

Thanks Mtaylor......I am proceeding as you recommended.

[bigcreekdad]

Ok....not perfect, but WAY better than my first attempt. The wood I used is red oak....amazing the different color tones from the same piece of wood.

 

Time move on to the tricky bulwarks.

[popeye the sailor]

I think the same as Mark.......with larger models,  you can get away with pronounced tree nailing.  not only that.......did they use a single or double tree nail?

.....too much to think about with smaller builds,  although it CAN be pulled off.   you do have that one plank though,  where the butt is out in the middle of nowhere.   I see why.........and there is no reason to change it now.   should you do it,  remove the short one before it and do one complete length......the better of a bigger evil      personally,  I wouldn't do it.........when the deck is laid out,  it can be easily hidden by a rope coil or deck fitting.   it's a learning curve my friend........I check the widths on all planking I use for a deck.   this way you can be sure to use the same width for the entire length {row} and use the narrower ones for the outer rows {margin etc}.   there are tutorials that can give you ideas concerning the Butt stagger,  and how to plan out your deck.

      don't get me wrong.....I screw up like the next guy.  I like the color....you have some great wood grain there,  and your tree nailing is fine.   glad to see you pulled it off  

[bigcreekdad]

Thanks Popeye....I know it ain't perfect, but I wanted to at least give it a try. 

[bigcreekdad]

Work continues. Finished the deck planking (red oak), sanded and Tru Oiled (X3).

 

The bulwarks were a but cranky to install and line up properly, but finally was accomplished.

 

Stern piece was a real task. If I had taken a (much) closer look at the plan photos, I would have seen the deck planking at the stern extending a bit over the false deck. This was supposed to accommodate the severe angle of the stern piece. Way too late to redo the rear planks, so i sanded quite a bit to reduce the angle. Not technically correct for the real ship, but it was the best option in my mind, and looks OK. Anyway, I'm not really concerned about building exactly to a specific vessel. More interested in how it turns out. Maybe heresy for some, and thats fine.

 

I've laid the two (I'll call them guide) planks on each side and will then proceed with the rest of the planking.

 

I'm deviating from the plans by mounting the stem before any more planking. I think fitting the planks that touch ii will be much easier, and likely look better than adding the stem after the planking. Any contrary thoughts on this are welcome.

 

Also need to plank the inner bulwarks....any thoughts on doing this before the hull planking?

 

The kit wood (and the written part of the plans) is IMO low quality. I will likely use something else (maybe pear?) at least in the upper hull. Not sure about the lower hull but I'm thinking of coppering it.

 

As always....love to hear anyone's thoughts.

 

[bigcreekdad]

Why doesn't my post show under "New ContentT?

[popeye the sailor]

outer hull {bulwark} walls.......yea,  they can be a pain.  really stiff and hard to deal with   ya did good though!    if your referring to bulwark posts....sure,  you can do them now.......it won't interfere with the hull planking {except for the drying time}.   I've not planked the inner bulwarks.......from the looks of this vessel,  it might be a bugger trimming out all those scuppers.  without knowing what the plans say or look like,  it's hard to tell you what's a good thing to do.

 

I see you've 'banded' the hull.  some folks will do that when planking the hull,  to mark off a quadrant of the hull.   they will work their way to the line and remove it to fill in the next one.   done correctly,  you will achieve a nice looking planking job.   I tend to let the plank tell me what to do.   working the plank line so it's fairly straight,  i'll work downward until you see the planks want to ride over one another..........this means you want to taper the plank {but only to 1/2 of the plank's width}.   start from where it begins to encroach the preceding plank,  and trim the excess off until it fits,  with no gaps in between.   there are tutorials on how to correctly plank a hull.  I'm no expert.   your doing a good job so far.......just plan your planking,  and you'll be fine.  you may want to look at scale planking,  rather than whole strip.......there are many ways to accomplish it.

[BIGMAC]

Hi there Big, and good luck with your project.....Is this a scratch or a kit? what scale? ...and if it is a kit, which one please? Thanks!!!!

[bigcreekdad]

Been awhile since I posted any kind of update on this build. Been filling a lot of trout fly orders....as there are deadlines on these, my ship work took a backseat for awhile. With deck planking complete, I moved onto hull planking. The first planking using the kinda cheap kit wood went ok. I then filled and sanded. After planking the wales(same cheap kit wood...but to be painted), I planked above the wails with the kit supplied "better" wood. Below the wales, I debated but decided to go with the kit wood (Ramin or Sappeli..don't remember which but the darker one). I kinda liked the look of it, and I thought it would look quite good with a couple coats of gun oil. However, after 3 planks, I found it unusable unless you were content with a lot of stealers and pointy planks. The strips are near paper thin, and cannot be bent if you want to use the planking method used by Chuck as shown in his Cheerful build. So...tear off the planks below the wales, sand again and start again. I decided to go with Cherry. Also, I was going to, for the first time, try Chuck's planking method. I've got the Cheerful built as far as the framing, but wanted some practice on his planking method before I work more on that build. I used the tick marks on the hull at different intervals, and then tapered the planks accordingly. I then bent the planks to take on the upward curve of the hull...again, using Chuck's method (look for his planking videos). I just mounted the first plank, and..voila!!....it fit perfectly.

 

I'll post more after a bit more planking.

[donrobinson]

Cherry is nice wood to work with, what thickness are you using? I find edge bending the .5 mm planking is almost impossible.

[bigcreekdad]

Don...I'm using 1/16" x 3/16" planks...seem to bend OK

[bigcreekdad]

Hard to believe it's been 7 months since I last posted. Many reasons, but the biggest was the fishing season. From April til late October I'm up at my cabin as much as possible, or in Canada. Not that I don't do some modeling, but way less. In any case, last I posted I was working on the second planking. I used cherry, as explained above below the wales. I really was not happy with how it was turning out (lots of evidence if you could see close up), and replanked several areas. When I  was finished I actually decided to copper it, but the more I thought about the time I put in, I just decided to live with it. Above the wales, I used the kit supplied wood, but, frankly, just didn't think it was very attractive. I took it off and used some swiss pear I had...what a difference! 

 

As you can see, the false keel needs work, The kit supplied wood for this is very soft and anytime I got close to it would chip. Not sure yet what I will do, and thought maybe this board can offer some ideas....ie paint, varnish, thin cherry planking etc.

 

I often thought I would just shelve this build, but I love the lines of the ship. Far from a masterful planking job, but I'm glad I stuck it out.

[Jim Rogers]

Your hull looks good. I always paint or copper my bottom hulls. You could apply a paper thin strip of cherry and feather it in , varnish it and it would look great. On a real ship keels were always nicked and dented so don’t worry about that.

[bigcreekdad]

Thanks Jim...I'll try the thin cherry.

 

John

[bigcreekdad]

Finally finished with the hull and deck. Thinned done cherry to cover the unsightly false keel....a result of lousy kit wood and damage that I caused. Now ready for deck work. Did the cabin using the kit wood, but, again, didn't like it, so I will build that from scratch.

 

With fishing season over, my progress should go much better.

 

Edited November 24, 2017 by bigcreekdad
mispelling

[popeye the sailor]

the hull and deck came out look'in pretty sweet B.C.D.

[bigcreekdad]

thanks Popeye

[bigcreekdad]

More progress. Much of the deck work finished. Aside from the hatch cross slats, the bell, the barrel, and a few parts of the pump are from kit supplied. Know I've said it before, but the wood in this kit, especially the laser pieces are, frankly, crap. Oh well, sometimes it's fun and accomplishing to make pieces yourself. 

 

I remade the rails for the belaying pins as the laser cut piece broke off on the first piece i was drilling an opening for the deadeyes in. I made new ones slightly thicker to add some strength. Great idea, and worked well, and then I dry fitted a kit supplied belaying pin and found it too short (8mm) . Ended up ordering some 12mm walnut pins from model expo (fast service I might add). 

 

The side rails for the chainplates and deadeyes were typical of the wood. It was quite thin, and after drilling the required openings I felt was got to be weak having much purchase on the planking with only glue. What was really needed was a few pins to go into the hull to add to the glue for purchase. However, the kit supplied laser parts were too thin. I made new ones, adding about 50% to the thickness out of cherry. This allowed me to drill holes and add some pins, which worked well. 

 

When I started on the chain plates and deadeyes, again, I found the kit material not to my liking.The wire to fasten around the deadeyes and attaching to the strops was pretty cheap, and the plates themselves I just didn't like (why am I so picky?). I went toYou Tube and found a vid of a guy using black 24 gauge annealed wired for enclosing the deadeyes, and chain used by jewelry makers. Looked interesting. A quick trip to Michaels Crafts and I had the wire and the chain. I had to make the rail opening a bit bigger, but I kinda like this approach. I've attached some pics and would appreciate any comments on them...good or bad.

 

Finally, after mounting deadeyes on my first rail, it dawned on me that they looked kinda small for this model. It likely doesn't matter much, but I do have larger deadeyes....I've attached a pic of three deadeyes....the smaller is the kit supplied that I mounted. Any thoughts on these?

 

While this build has been frustrating due to wood and parts quality, and mediocre instructions, it's been fun nonetheless. 

Edited January 2, 2018 by bigcreekdad

[popeye the sailor]

in your instructions,  do they give the size of the dead eyes?  as a rule,  larger dead eyes are for the shrouds,  smaller ones can be used for back stays,  and mast tops {the second step of the mast(s)}  if you have a rigging diagram,  it should tell you as well.   you've made some really great progress    if you stay with this size though make sure you have enough.....2 per shroud line.

[bigcreekdad]

Thanks for the kind words Popeye.

 

Went to the rigging plans and the kit deadeyes are accurate compared to the kit supplied ones. I'll stick with them. 

 

I really appreciate your thoughts. I am well aware the majority of builders on this site are beyond my skills ( I ain't whining BTW...I can likely out fish most of them...oops...hope that doesn't come back to haunt me). What I'm saying is that it's good to just get some advice, critical or otherwise, for many of us.

 

[Landlubber Mike]

Looks really good BCD, very nice job.