Virginia 1819 by Matt D - FINISHED - Artesania Latina - 1:41

[Matt D]

Hi, fellow model makers.  My name is Matt and this is my first wooden ship build.  I picked this model based mainly on research done on this site.  It has all of the elements I wanted to get to build - such as:

Double plank on bulkhead

Finished mahogany hull

Two masts

Nice looking rigging 

 

I started about a week ago.  Here are photos of my progress before the weekend.

 

Edited October 3, 2019 by Matt D
Marked as - FINISHED -

[nikbud]

Nice start to your build there Matt.

There are several build logs on this forum of the Virginia 1819 that may prove useful ( Wallace, SardonicMeow and mine to name just three), especially when it comes to the rudder...….

Good luck and keep at it, its a fun build!

[SardonicMeow]

Welcome to Model Ship World, Matt.  You've caught the attention of the three of us with the most recent completed build logs of the Virginia 1819 kit.  I'll be following along and would be happy to provide whatever help I can.

[Stevinne]

Welcome aboard. It looks like you are making a good start!

 

[Matt D]

Wallace, Peter, and Nikbud, I’ve read all of your Virginia build logs.  They were instrumental in my choice of this model for my first ship.  I know I will do a better job because of what I’ve learned from you and a few others on this site.  It made my day that you guys checked in on my log.

[Matt D]

Over the weekend, I made some progress on the hull planking.  I started out using the nails in the kit, but I couldn’t get the depth right consistently.  I’d either not get them in far enough and they’d pop back out, or I’d drive them all the way in, where I can’t cut the heads off easily.  So I decided to try some tee pins pushed in by hand.  Those along with some binder clips are working well.

Edited March 19, 2019 by Matt D
Added photos

[Matt D]

While I was waiting for planks to dry, I worked on some of the deck furniture.  I wasn’t very happy with the instructions on the cargo hatch.  They seem to indicate that the inside needs a ledge on all four sides.  That makes the cut precision very demanding on an item that is forever enclosed.  So instead, I only made ledges on the ends where they are needed to hold the covers up.  

 

For those building this kit who haven’t built the hatch yet, the width on the hatch is dictated by the side strips, which are called out to be 27mm.  The covers are each 9mm stock.  That makes for a tight fit - especially if your cut is a little shy of 27mm.  If I had to do it over, I’d aim for a solid 27.5 or 28mm. I had to sand the covers to take a tiny bit off.

 

There are a lot of cross-cuts to make in this model.  Since this is my first, I’m still coming up with methods.  I think this one is worth sharing:  I built a cross-cut sled for my scroll saw.  It works great.

[Matt D]

5 hours ago, Wallace said:

Ooooh, I will have to follow along on this one. Looking good so far mate, and I like the deck planking. I knew zip about the butt shift system when I was building my Virginia. It does make the deck look a lot better.  Will you be scraping or sanding it?

Thanks, Wallace!  Everything I know about deck planking, I learned in the build logs.  Otherwise I would surely have followed the directions and planked in full length strips.  I sanded mine because I’m not really sure how scraping is better.  I used a mechanical pencil to simulate the caulking.  I’m pretty happy with how it looks right now.

Edited March 19, 2019 by Matt D
Typo

[nikbud]

Nice work on the companionway - did you bend the kit piece for the roof? good job ifn you did - I found it practically impossible!

Edited March 19, 2019 by nikbud
Spelling optional at this time of the morning!

[Matt D]

5 hours ago, nikbud said:

Nice work on the companionway - did you bend the kit piece for the roof? good job ifn you did - I found it practically impossible!

Thanks.  Like everyone else, I'm critical of my own work and see all the mistakes.  But on the whole, I think it will look pretty good once it's finished and installed on the deck.  

 

I did bend the kit piece.  I did exactly what Wallace did - soaked it in hot water for half an hour and then rubber-banded it to my glue bottle overnight.  I worked like a champ, but I was prepared for a hard time based on your log.  If I recall correctly, yours had the grain running across the bend - or at least the majority of layers in the plywood.  Mine (and presumably Wallace's) were in the correct direction to bend pretty easily.  That might be pure conjecture, but it's the best I can figure.

[Matt D]

19 hours ago, Stevinne said:

Welcome aboard. It looks like you are making a good start!

 

Thanks, Stevinne.  I’m glad to have found this forum to share with.

[Matt D]

1 hour ago, Wallace said:

I did notice that you are getting some "clinkering" on the starboard side hull planking. 

Thank you for pointing that out to me.  I was able to pop them free where the clinkering was and glue them down better.

[Matt D]

I spent a little more time reviewing other Virginia builds for planking and decided I needed to back up a little bit and taper mine at the bow.  You can see in the photo from my last post that there wasn't any tapering at all.  I thought that would be OK because it was looking a lot like the pictures in the instructions.  But I changed my mind when I started looking at the quality of other people's builds.  The thought I kept having is that you can't build a good house on a bad foundation.  It was painful pulling off the glue joints where I needed to cut the tapers.  The first cracking sounds made me question my judgement, but I think this is the right thing to do if I want my model to come out good enough to display.  From here, I'm going to spend a lot more time shaping the planks the rest of the way.

[nikbud]

I think that is a very good idea Matt. Have you checked out the planking tutorials in the articles database (at the top of the page)?

I remember that I tried to do the first layer of planking as if it were the final layer. You will have to taper etc the final layer so you may as well get in some practise with the first layer! I got myself into the mindset of taking my time and working on each plank until I was satisfied with each one, there were days when I only managed one plank one each side per day. 

 

I know what it's like to pull apart something you have already made, but it will be worth it!

Good luck n happy planking!😁

[Matt D]

I’m taking it one strake per day with neatly cut tapers and getting them a lot tighter.  So I started working on the blocks for the cannon and I don’t like the thin wire in the instructions.  Instead, I’m using the 0.25mm brown line to tie the blocks to the eyes.  My method is to tie a two half hitches knot and back it up with a drop of CA.  But I was wondering if I’m likely to run out of that line.  Is the amount of line provided with the kit generous or do I need to use it sparingly?

[BLACK VIKING]

Having built this kit you get quite a lot of line to finish the rigging as long as you don't go to mad with rigging the blocks. Martyn 

[SardonicMeow]

1 hour ago, Matt D said:

Is the amount of line provided with the kit generous or do I need to use it sparingly?

I ran out of the lighter line very close to the end.  I don't think I made any big mistakes that wasted it.  There was definitely plenty of the darker line.

 

 

[Matt D]

Thanks for the line info, Martyn and Peter.  I checked and found that my favorite local hobby shop has the correct AL lines for this kit.  So I won’t worry too much about running out.

[Matt D]

I’m still progressing on the first layer of planking.  I have four strakes per side to go.

I’m also working on the caronnade rigging.  I think I’m going to need a needle threader to get the line through the tiny holes in the blocks.

Edited March 22, 2019 by Matt D
Added content

[nikbud]

Personally I wouldn't bother with a needle threader, you end up having to pull twice the thickness of thread through the hole. Just put some CA on the end of the thread - about 1cm - let it dry and cut the tip to a point.

Are you using the correct thread for the blocks? It looks a little thick- more like the thread meant for the standing rigging.

Edited March 22, 2019 by nikbud
My phone can not spell

[Matt D]

Thanks for that tip, Nikbud.

 

I’m still going slow and steady on the first layer planking.  I lost my modeling time to taxes yesterday.  Somehow, I don’t enjoy that as much as ship building.  Here are a couple of shots of my progress today. I’m hoping to get one more piece on each side later today.  Then I might get the last two on tomorrow.

[Matt D]

Mark, thank you for pointing that out.  I thought I had faired it enough with the work I did at the bow.  I didn’t go over each bulkhead with a block and instead sanded through all of the laser burning.  I thought that would suffice, but I still have a lot to learn.  I’m not going back and I think it will be ok because I have a decent contour now.  If I had it to do over, I would have blocked the bow and stern to give me more wood to glue to in those areas.

[russ]

Matt:

You are off and running. I agree that the fairing process is not complete, but it is not a bad thing. We have all been there before I assure you. 

 

I would suggest removing the planks and doing some more sanding and checking before you begin again. That might sound drastic, but you can get extra planking strips from a local hobby or craft store if you need to. A small block of wood with some sanding paper wrapped around it or even rubber cemented to it will do the job of fairing. You can use a strip to check against the hull as you go. Sand a little and check, and then sand a little and check again. It will take long before you have a nice smooth hull to plank. 

 

Of course, the main thing is to have fun and satisfy your own creative desires. Good luck with your model. 

 

Russ

 

 

[Matt D]

I decided to strip off the bottom three planks on each side because that seems like the area I have the biggest problem.  I’m sanding that some more and then I’ll work my way down from the top the way that Robert Vaglio did in his build.  Thanks for giving me your honest opinions.  It won’t be any fun if it turns out like crap.

 

Oh look: I’ve made it to page two!

Edited March 24, 2019 by Matt D
Gloating about quantities.

[Stevinne]

Matt, I really can't tell from looking at your photos - so you're probably the best judge of how it looks IRL. I believe the Virginia is double planked, which also hides a multitude of sins, and allows for liberal use of sandpaper and wood filler before you put down layer No. 2. I for one always worry about tearing things apart, since I always wind up taking more wood off pieces I don't want to damage than I intend.

One thing I always do when talking to folks who are working on their first build is recommend they track down a copy of "Ship Modeling Simplified" by Frank Mastini. I see you can pick it up used on Amazon for less than $3 plus shipping. It was the book that convinced me I could build a wooden model ship and proved invaluable when I was building Constructo's "Enterprise," which was a nice-looking build with really, really bad instructions. Mastini does a great job of guiding you through the building process, explaining things, illustrating things and generally giving you the information and confidence you need to build a nice model.

 https://www.amazon.com/Ship-Modeling-Simplified-Techniques-Construction/dp/0071558675/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3EIIXUN6HJA2H&keywords=ship+modeling+simplified&qid=1553395033&s=gateway&sprefix=Ship+modeling+s%2Caps%2C339&sr=8-1

One thing not to do is to get discouraged. Someone here has a signature that says something along the lines of "the ship modeler is slow, but the wood is patient," which I always took to mean that there is nothing that can't eventually be made to look good. I personally think your model is looking good.

[Matt D]

Thanks, Stevinne.  I have that book and I’ve read most of it.  But I had mostly been going by the AL instructions and many build logs. I had not connected the dots on figuring out the plank tapers early on, but now see some really good examples in other Virginia build logs.

 

I’m not stripping off the upper section, but I did pull off the three stakes at the keel.  Looking more carefully at other people’s first layer, I didn’t think what I had would mate up well with the keel extension.  I then faired the bulkheads as advised.  Then I went a little further and did a little bit of sanding on the remaining planks.  I think they look pretty good, but I didn’t take any photos yet.  

 

Constructo Enterprise is one I’d like to build some day.

[Matt D]

Here’s a picture of my work as of this morning.  I hope to get some time to work on it some more this evening.

[SardonicMeow]

19 minutes ago, Wallace said:

Now that is looking nice and clean Matt, good job sir.

Agreed.  The new planks are looking good.

 

[nikbud]

I agree with them two 👆, its looking much better, keep at it!

 

Good to see you kept the six bands on the barrels too, not reduced them to four like some people...…. 🤔

[Matt D]

I’m not quite done with the barrels.  I started by making stave joints with a pencil.  I tried backing them up by cutting into them with an exacto knife, but I couldn’t really get much effect, so I left them like you see the lines.  Then I stained them with Minwax Gunstock stain.  I was planning on using golden oak, but really liked the gunstock color when I was at the store.  I also found some 6mm wide Tamiya masking tape, which looked really skinny when I bought it, but is actually closer to a mile wide when compared to the masking needed for the barrels.  But it cuts nicely with an exacto knife with a straight edge.  Masking was tedious because of the shape of the barrel.  I used black acrylic paint with a fine brush.  After it dried, I pealed the tape only to find that half the bands were too narrow.  So I had to tape them up again and paint some more.  I still wasn’t happy, so I tried filling in with a sharpie marker and that’s when I learned that I should have skipped the tape and paint and just used a sharpie.  I still have a little more touching up, but I have to be in the right place mentally so I don’t mess them up with an errant mark.