18th Century Longboat by SandyBay - Model Shipways - 1/48 - first build

[SandyBay]

5 hours ago, gsdpic said:

Are you sure about the location of the upper planks?  From the second and third picture above it appears to me that they are higher on the starboard side, especially toward the stern.  There appears to be less of the frames and edge of transom showing above the top plank on the starboard side.

 

Great progress, and well done to notice the possible issue and take a step back to figure out a plan.   We've all been there and those of us who rush ahead anyway (like me sometimes) regret it in the end.

Thanks Gary, Todays job is to carefully measure the positions of all the planks and then formulate a plan of action. I will probably take the pragmatic view that no one (apart from you lot on here) will ever see and inspect it from underneath so visually the top six or seven planks each side are more important.

I always knew this would be a learning experience and I’ve certainly learned that you can’t just stick a model boat together like you can a plastic kit.

[SandyBay]

5 hours ago, vossiewulf said:

Here is a pic of me using the post and thread to check symmetry. Your boat is small enough to use any thread, it won't stretch enough to cause a problem. On bigger scales one should use fly-tying thread as it has considerably less stretch.

Ahhh! That’s a brilliant idea Vossiwulf, thanks for the picture and I’ll definitely have a go with that method. 

[SandyBay]

Well I’ve taken on board all the helpful comments I’ve received here and immersed myself in learning about bent wood. 

Following on from what gsdpic suggested and using  Vossiwulf’s stylish method I’ve checked and rechecked my plank positions. 

Well the top two planks were different heights so I carefully removed one set and reglued them correctly. Then useing a planking fan I tick marked every second bulkhead. 

It still didn’t pan out so I measured and recorded the gaps on every bulkhead and found that I was considerably out on several positions. I was confident now about the top four planks which meant the inaccuracies had to be in the two keel planks each side.

They’d already been fitted and changed twice before and I was dubious about getting them off again and cleaning up the glue without breaking some of the frames free from the keel. I took the decision to simply sand those planks to even up the spaces between port and starboard. I don’t want to run the risk of losing heart and stopping because I’m not getting something as nice as I see on your build logs so I’m cracking on again and it seems to be going ok (ish).

I’ll tell you what guys, building boats isn’t like doing a jigsaw is it. 

Some pictures to follow but my iPad is denying any knowledge of them at the moment so I’ll have a stern word with it.

[SandyBay]

I’ve given the iPad a severe talking to and it’s coughed up the pictures.