Trajta by mikiek - FINISHED - Marisstella

[MarisStella.hr]

Wow Mr. Mike, bravo, this is a really good thing to see. Please, continue to be persistent ... Thanks to Don, the right explanation helped ...

[Don Quixote]

Mike, Getting back to twisting planks. When I twisted that boxwood, I put it between helping hands of 2 units so I had some distance. I then used my steamer until the wood was soaked. I then immediately gave it a slight twist, let it dry, soaked, twisted. Probably took me 6 hours to do that.

[mikiek]

How long does it take to "soak" the wood?

[mikiek]

Thank you Zoran - patience is a virtue I have very little of. A bad thing for a model ship builder. Don is good at spreading his patience around.

 

The lesson learned here was not so much about bending sticks. It was about slowing down. Every task is different. Even the same task on a different build.

[MarisStella.hr]

just to make You happy, I would add a note that my colleague needs less than 10 minutes to form a strip like this one, using a bit of water and an ordinary pairs of pliers with a blunt top ... The practicing is all about ...

Regards, Zoran

[mikiek]

Zoran - I would love to see a video or some photos of this process. Feel free to post them in this thread if you like.

Edited January 30, 2018 by mikiek

[mikiek]

Well my guardian angel was watching today. Turns out I have placed those upper frame pieces incorrectly. They need to terminate at the wale edge, not 2 or 3 planks down. There is a support that I am about to add and it needs them higher up. It's all there in the instructions - I just skipped right over it.

 

The pieces did come up and since they extended under the flooring pretty far, I will be able to slide them up as needed. But I'm going to do some sanding first. There is a lot of excess glue on the inner hull and since that is in plain sight I think it needs to go. Actually the inner hull will be a lot easier to sand with the frames gone.

 

Thanks to Don for pointing this out! I owe ya a cold one.

[mikiek]

Rework is finished All that so I could lay 1 stick. I know it is considered a support, but in the model it is practically useless. As a matter of fact it went in after the rail it is supposed to support See photo below.  Staying with the program.

 

As mentioned another rail is installed. I'm still learning the terminology differences. To me it would be considered more of a waterway than a rail as it is at deck level. Each side was 3 laser cut pieces and they fit together well.

 

 

 

A couple of coamings and a wide center plank went in next. I guess that means I am officially in deck planking mode. One observation/question on that - the pix in the manual show the deck laid with alternating strips of 2 different colors. It appears that only the darker colored sticks are supplied with the kit. Instructions don't mention the alternating color scheme. Maybe that's the Deluxe kit? I suppose I could cut some boxwood if I wanted. Not sure at this point.

 

Deck planking will be interesting. The sticks do not lay all the way out to the lower support rail. There is a gap all the way around. A quick look at the plans earlier, I believe showed the deck planks tapered as they near the bow & stern. At least there is a deck plank plan to go by.

 

 

 

[donrobinson]

Hey Mike how are things?  I took out all of what I previously wrote. It was too early and not enough coffee. I'll sit back and be quiet now. I was looking at something else. Good thing you are at work.

The planking looks a little challenging but I'm sure you will be just fine. I would be tempted to draw a line on the waterway to mark where the planking ends, to give myself something to work up to.

All looks good(

Edited February 2, 2018 by donrobinson

[MarisStella.hr]

Mr. Mike, welcome to the deck planking mode!  Different colours of the deck planking strips are the matter of the individual wishes and possibilities... This is not a part of the kit design... Please, just manage the pattern that You can get from the kit material... Organize the deck strip colors in the way You like ...

Regards, Zoran

[mikiek]

Don - I'll take a look when I get home. Horizontal is easy enough. I'm not sure if it sits on top of the ribs or not. I do remember a photo where the ribs went all the way up to the top edge of the wale. At least that's what it looked like. Then the rail sits on that. Either way I would probably glue the support piece to the underside of the rail. You can't really see up under there anyway.

 

The planks remind me of Niagara. The Niagara plans call for planks to be tapered at the stern. That was a bear - those suckers were maybe 1/16" wide at that point. The taper for Trajta is not as severe. I like the idea of marking or scribing a border around the waterway.

 

I need to decide if I want some sort of color pattern with the deck sticks. If so, I'll have to stain some darker or rip some boxwood to go lighter.

[mikiek]

Zoran - just curious do some of the real boats do the alternating color thing? The walnut deck strips are pretty uniform in color. If I was to do a pattern I would need to alter the color of some or use some strips of a different wood. Either one is OK. I will experiment this weekend.

[mikiek]

Home now and had a chance to review the plans. I think I'm all right. Guess I've been going more by the pictures in the manual than the plans. It's a little confusing as the stick in question is in some of the plan insets but not in others. I can see where you were coming from Don. P12 shows what you were describing, P11 shows how I did it.

 

Didn't sleep last nite so I was pretty tanked up on coffee myself this morning. Death Wish brand.

 

Need to work on a process for shaping those deck planks. Fortunately there is a deck plan and it's 1:1 so anything I make I can test first.

[mikiek]

Out of one frying pan and into another. I've been yacking about the deck planks needing tapering. Well the first stick is already down - the big wide one in the middle - and it needs shaping as well. So it was torn out worked down to size and reinstalled.

 

I used a thumb planer for this. It worked pretty well. Shaving off little by little. Some sanding at the end. It's under clamps now or else I would have a photo to show. I'm going to stick with the planer until something better comes along. It's a little slow (or maybe the user is slow) but it worked. I used it exclusively to shape the hull planks.

 

If I had that angle fence attachment, I suppose the Byrnes saw might work too.

 

I am wondering one thing. As I work out from the center, should I shape by scraping both edges of the plank or just one side. The plank pattern seems to bend inwards toward the center stick. Will probably just have to try both and see what looks best.

[MarisStella.hr]

Hi Mr. Mike... the boats in reality have many different deck plank color patterns, this depends on the moment of creating the deck ... The builders used what they had in that moment... The most common is the simple, one colour plank pattern...

This is, at the models, up to the modeller and his imagination...

The planks need tapering at one edge, but working it at both edges makes no mistake...

Regards, Zoran

 

[ross]

Its coming along very nicely, am watching with great interest, nice model boats from marristella, looking at STILAC for my next build, could do to see a build log,to see what its like, but for now will follow yours,keep up the good work.

[mikiek]

Hello Ross - welcome aboard. It's never too late to pull up a chair.

 

I have cut a few of the stern planks - starting at the middle up against the big center plank. I think I am going to try to get all the pieces cut before gluing. I have been able to select a few of the walnut sticks with a subtle color difference so I am planning on a look somewhat like the pix in the manual. Alternating lite/dark. Also, I am not planning on staining any of the parts above the hull. Actually I will use the Natural stain but that doesn't add any color. The some matte varnish on top.

 

As I mentioned previously the deck does not extend all the way to the waterway. There's about a 1/8" gap all the way around so as my pieces begin to get closer to the edge I'll have to shape them to fit.

 

With the open cargo area there are really 2 decks to plank. You have the bow deck then the open area, then the stern deck. Per the plans, I am using a full stick rather than cutting smaller planks. This means I do not have to worry about a a butt pattern. Both sides of the cargo area have a coaming that extends starboard to port and is raised up slightly so they sit a little higher than the deck and rails. These coamings are what you butt one end of the deck planks up against. The planks are full width at the coamings, then get narrower as they run towards the bow or stern.

 

Thus far, shaping the middle planks has been fairly easy. I think it is going to get a little hairy as I cut the outer ones. This is because the planks are full width where they contact the coaming but as they run out to the bow or stern they get narrower. And as Zoran has commented, the tapering should be done only on 1 edge of the plank. So as you lay them down edge to edge the narrower end is going to need some force to squeeze the edges together. This will add a little bit of curve to the planks at the narrow end. Getting the right amount or curve will be the challenge.

 

 

Planks shown here are still loose.

[ross]

Think those curves might be a bit of a challenge,but its looking good Mike,keep up the good work.

[mikiek]

Ross - I don't know if this is what Marisstella had in mind but with my approach I think the curves will almost take care of themselves as long as I get the taper right.

 

Think about it - with the sticks  laid out and all the fat ends edged up to each other there will be gaps between the sticks at the skinny ends. So, say I glue the leftmost stick. The one that butts to the big center plank. When I glue the adjacent stick I'll have to push the skinny end to the left so the edge can butt up to the stick to its left. There's the start of a curve right there. Not much of one, but a little bit. Doing the third stick just like the second there will be slightly more of the curve. Each successive stick will make the curve a little more obvious. And the curve is slight. Maybe more just angled toward the center.

 

Keep in mind when I get to the last few outer sticks, the curve there is NOT supposed to match the curve in the waterway. It will be less. There is a filler piece that will cover the remaining opening. I'll know if I did the job right if my filler piece goes in about the same place as the one on the plans.

 

 

[mikiek]

Have not progressed as far as I would have hoped so far. Had some other things that HAD to be done. Then someone told me there was a football game on this afternoon. Bahh. One of those Who Cares Bowls.

 

Planking is coming along pretty much as expected. The tapered pattern is beginning to show. It's not as much of a curve as I would have expected, but the sticks are turning in. I was wondering where to start the taper on the fat end. I ended up starting about 1" in from the fat end. That little thumb planer is really turning out to be the perfect tool for this job.

 

 

 

 

 

I decided I better stop and figure out the hole for the mast while I can still access the step glued to the keel. So that's the next step.

 

 

Edited February 5, 2018 by mikiek

[mikiek]

Lucky Break!!!  Was almost ready to drill a hole in the deck for the mast. Went to the plans to see if there was some measurement I could transfer. The plan had no hole where I had intended to drill. It was forward a full frame meaning the step glued to the keel was in the wrong place. So that had to be moved. I could still reach under the deck still but those big dowels used to hold the frames together kept me from getting fingers all the way to the step. I did get the step up with some hemo's .  Used them to reposition the step also. Sure enough on the keel where the step is supposed to sit there was a notch so placing it was pretty easy. Hate to think what might have happened if I had completely planked the deck before drilling that hole.

 

As best I can tell this mast is set straight up & down. No angle.

[Don Quixote]

Side stepped that one.

[MarisStella.hr]

Hi Mr. Mike ...There is a groove for the mast step 1.1 at the keel … You just cannot miss !!

Zoran

[mikiek]

You are right about that Zoran. Although somehow I did miss the first time. The groove did make it easy to center the step, even using hemostats.

 

Sometimes I wonder where my head is....

 

Hey, I'm curious - where does the taper for the deck planks start? I started it about 1" in from one end and continued to the other end.

[mikiek]

Deck planking continues. I've been digging thru the pile of sticks trying to separate lighter colored ones from darker so that I can make a pattern similar to the pix in the manual. That shows alternating lite/dark sticks. I'm afraid there will not be enough lite ones for both front & back so I will continue on with the pattern on the stern deck since I can get 2 planks from 1 stick. I will need to determine how many shades of dark are left and figure out how to arrange them on the bow deck. Don't read this the wrong way. There are plenty of sticks to plank the decks. It's just that there are a lot more dark colored ones than lite colored

 

The tapered planks are laying well and a slight overall curve is beginning to show itself. I think the sticks are going to end up very similar to the planking plan.

 

 

 

 

I did (or at least have been) working on the hole for the mast. However the drill keeps wigging out - runs for a couple seconds and then stops. So that is still in progress.

 

I think I've done a reasonable job keeping a gap between the plank tips and the waterways. This is done so the planks don't cover up the scupper openings on the rail.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Be

Exterior scupper opening.

 

I have the start of a paint plan in my head. I'm thinking the bottom 2/3 of the hull being a dark forest green. From the wale down to the paint edge I will stain with the same dark stain used in the cargo hold. Decks and everything above the wale will be stained with Minwax Natural. And then a matte varnish all over.

 

[AntonyUK]

Hi Mike.

Nice work on the deck planking. I like the neatness of the scuppers. 

Yea it's Worth checking everything before doing it.

Keep up the good work. 

 

Regards Antony.

[mikiek]

Hello Antony - thanks for stopping by. I've never done scuppers where you have to chisel a notch in the waterway. Usually we just put some holes in the bulwark and call it done. This was a bit of a challenge - scraping away enough material to make them functional but not going thru the waterway. Looking at the photos I see I probably could have made the notches a little deeper, but I think I'll leave them be.

[mikiek]

Deck planking is complete although the finishing process is still in the works. At milestones like this I always try to to just leave things be and move on to the next task. The temptation is to paint/stain/finish whatever it is I have been working on. I think we all want to see how it will look close to being finished so we tease ourselves.   I couldn't resist either so while the foredeck is still being sanded I did put stain on the rear deck.

 

So it's walnut sticks, Minwax Pre-stain and Minwax Natural stain. Like I said earlier, everything above the wale will receive this same coloration which really doesn't stain like we are used to seeing. If you've ever wiped a damp rag over raw wood, that's about what the Natural stain does. Personally, I really like this stain.

 

I ended up being off by one plank on each side of the fore and after decks. I used 1 less. But I am OK with the result.

 

So have a peek.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ross]

Looking good mike, like the finish, remember SLOW AND STEADY WINS THE RACE.

[donrobinson]

The finish really brings out the grain, looks great