HMS Winchelsea 1764 by Stuntflyer (Mike) - FINISHED - 1/4" scale

[Stuntflyer]

Planking below the wales is one of my favorite parts of the build. I have now completed the first belt on the starboard side. Working with boxwood is great though I have to work slowly if I want to get a nice result. On a good day I can complete one strake. I'm Just taking my time and treating each plank as a project in itself. Edge bending is my new friend and I'm finding, for the most part, it's all that is needed. The exception being where the plank sweeps upwards into the counter. There I use a dowel to form the shape. In all cases I use the hair dryer after wetting the wood for 10-15 seconds. Some preliminary cleanup sanding was done while leaving the last installed strake mostly untouched until more planks are added below it.

Mike

 

Edited September 17, 2019 by Stuntflyer

[Rustyj]

That's a really nice job on that first belt. You and Chuck are setting a very high standard!

[Stuntflyer]

Thanks, Rusty! I'm looking forward to seeing your progress on your "new" Winchelsea build.

 

Mike

Edited September 18, 2019 by Stuntflyer

[Beckmann]

That looks perfect!!!

Do you glue the planks just to the bulkheads or with each other as well?

Matthias

[Chuck]

Nicely done Mike 👌

[Stuntflyer]

10 hours ago, Beckmann said:

Do you glue the planks just to the bulkheads or with each other as well?

I glue each plank to the bulkheads and as well as the adjacent planks.

 

Mike

[bdgiantman2]

Mike, your model of the Winchelsea is coming along very nicely. I admire the work you and Chuck do on your ships. I evidently don't know what this belt term being mentioned for the area you are building is referring to. Have never heard of this belt in any of the books I use for my guidance.

 

Keep up the great work.

 

Brian

[Chuck]

That is a term used to signify a section of the lower hull for planking.   For example.....the hull has 25 strakes from the wales to the keel.  To make it more manageable, these were divided into four sections referred to as "belts" of planking.   It is far better to concentrate on each smaller belt as one task to do than an entire hull.   The winnie has for such belts of planking below the wales and each should be treated as its own small project.  The goal being to complete one belt at a time......something to be celebrated by a pint or a shot at the end of the day once you finish one.  

 

I am currently working on my second belt of planking on the starboard side of the hull......almost ready for that Rolling Rock!!!!!

[Stuntflyer]

This is how I hold the hull steady while planking below the wales. I can slide the Kleenex boxes left or right depending on what section of the hull I'm working on. The painters tape can be released and reapplied several times before losing adhesion.

I've been using this edge bending jig since my 18th Century Longboat build. Recently I adapted this variation on Chuck's center hold down.

Mike

[Chuck]

That center hold-down is good....just remember that everyone using yellow cedar....you will need to place a scrap on top of the strip when you clamp the ends.   The cedar is soft and will dent without some protection under the clamps.   Otherwise this is what I do using a travel iron for heat.

[Stuntflyer]

Work is now completed on the second belt. Not much to say other than more of the same. Just some cleanup sanding and as always I try to avoid sanding too much of the last few installed strakes. The knee is getting a bit grungy due to excessive handling, though not a problem to clean up later.

Mike

[Bill Brown]

Beautiful job Mike!    You are a true craftsman! 

 

 

[michael mott]

Mike , your planking looks superb! Very clean.

 

Michael

[shihawk]

Your certainly giving us something to aim for , If i can even come close i,ll be happy 

 

Boyd.

[John Cheevers]

Mike,  Thant's some dang fine planking!

[Stuntflyer]

Thank you all for the kind words and "Likes". Very much appreciated as always.

 

Mike

[Jorge Diaz O]

Gran trabajo...

[Thistle17]

Mike you set a high water mark in terms of execution! Always a treat to witness your progress. Above you reference a dowel use in the counter. Are you using it to contour the plank along its length in this are? Can you explain it a bit more please?

Joe

[Stuntflyer]

Yes, Joe, I use a 1 3/8" dowel or hard plastic container to curve the plank along its length. Just dampen, clamp and heat with a hair dryer. The curve can be finessed by hand afterwards.

 

Mike

[Stuntflyer]

The second planking belt, now completed, has proven to be the most difficult one to do so far. I'm told that the last two belts will be much easier to complete which is good news.

 

After seeing Chuck's taped off molding bands that run both through and above the gun ports, I was very curious as to how this would look on my ship. I wanted to know if the gun ports, fixed blocks and sheer were correct. Using measurements taken off the plan drawing I transferred the lower molding position onto the hull (turns out that the lower molding runs parallel to the wales). 1/8" tape was placed onto the hull to simulate the lower molding that runs through the gun ports. After eyeing the run from several positions I could see that some very slight tweaking was needed in order to establish a smooth run. Once satisfied, I added the simulated 3/32" upper molding which runs parallel to the lower molding. I was happy to see that both sides of the hull are almost identical with regard to gun port placement as well as sheer height and shape.

Mike

Edited November 16, 2019 by Stuntflyer

[Chuck]

Beautifully executed!!!   That is exactly how it should look at this time.   Almost there!!!!

[Rustyj]

That really looks great Mike!

[Jim Rogers]

Beautiful work Mike.

[Dowmer]

Mike, one of the questions I always had was, “Do the mouldings sit on top of the planking or do they sit on the frames like the planking?”  I’ve seen various contemporary cross sections and they either don’t specify or show them sitting on the frames.

 

thanks

Edited November 16, 2019 by Dowmer

[Stuntflyer]

Yes, the molding sits on top of the planking.

 

Mike

[Thistle17]

Mike your work is inspirational and I have to say you set a high bar.

 

When you get to form the moldings can you give some "how to information" to those of us who could use some coaching. I tried it for my Cheerful by filing some 1/16 brass sheet with a bevel on one side so as to form a knife edge. I wasn't too happy about the result: (1) the boxwood profile shape was not crisp no matter at what angle I held the scrapper at at and (2) when applied to the 1/16 wide stock it had a tendency to wander off the center line. As a result the hull has yet to be dressed out. I anticipate the same result on the Winne without some guidance.

Joe

[Dowmer]

Joe, one of the things I’ve found that helps me with “cutting” moldings is if you are scraping a 1/16” molding to cut a 1/16” slot into the scraper first.  That will channel the strip consistently, then cut the profile into the bottom of the slot.  The depth of the slot you cut obviously controls the depth of the profile.  I hope that helps.

 

I typically use an Exacto blade for the scraper.  I can then fit it into a handle to use.  For cutting I use a thin abrasive cutting wheel in the Dremel then finish with fine Swiss files if needed. There are many ways of accomplishing the task, this is the one that works for me.

 

Here’s a pic of one I used many years ago.

 

 

 

[Beckmann]

Hello Mike, your Winni Looks fantastic. Are you going to nail all the planks or not?

Matthias

[Thistle17]

Thank you Mike I am going to give Cheerful (and Winchelsea when the time comes) another try using your approach.

Joe

[Stuntflyer]

Hello and a Happy New year to everyone!

 

I've been making some progress on the hull planking. The last two belts on the starboard side minus one strake are done. As tempting as it was to add the last strake I knew that I would still need a clamping area to adhere to when I start again on the port side. Clamping against the keel doesn't work since the angle of the clamp would pull the plank up and away from the bulkhead. Moving the clamp down five strakes changes the angle of the clamp just enough to hold the plank tight against the bulkhead.

I've added a few photos showing the planking detail both fore and aft.

 

All of the sanding so far has been done with Soft Sanders. They are hard foam shapes that you wrap with adhesive backed sandpaper which is supplied by the company. The sandpaper lasts forever it seems. I am using 180 and 320 grit. http://www.softsanders.com/products/wood. I find that these two shapes work well. I cut them into 3" to 5" lengths. They conform to the hull shape allowing for a smooth transition when sanding.

Mike

 

Edited December 31, 2019 by Stuntflyer