18th Century Armed LongBoat by Dr PS - FINISHED - Model Shipways - Scale 1:24

[Arthur Wayne]

I think your boat is looking great! It was wise to rework the strake, one ill fitting strake at the beginning will result in a bunch of ill fitting strakes at the end! Strake #6 is the trickiest to get right, now that you have that tackled you shouldn't have any trouble at all with the rest.  

[Sea Hoss]

Hey DrPS, I think you're doing great so far, I have seen that you've been following Arthur Wayne's 18th Century ALB build. I recently received this model and I will be definitely be following his build log also along with yours. He seems to have spelled out the problems that we may encounter. So, using the instructions, plans and our own common sense, we should all produce a fine result.

Edited May 9, 2019 by Sea Hoss
Wrong name on build

[Dr PS - Paul Schulze]

I am having more trouble with plank #8 then I was expecting. The problem is at the stem. I assume the planks need to be flat against the bulkheads G and H. To do this, it is necessary to twist the planks. When positioned against plank #7, the joint between #7 and #8 is not “smooth.”  I suppose chamfering the joint would help but I’m not sure that it will do the trick. Am I on the right track?

[Arthur Wayne]

I don't know if this will solve the problem you describe, I noticed the planks want to form a straight line between bulkheads as viewed from the edge of the plank. This required me to pre-bend them so they maintained a curve from bulkhead to bulkhead. 

[Dr PS - Paul Schulze]

1 hour ago, Arthur Wayne said:

I don't know if this will solve the problem you describe, I noticed the planks want to form a straight line between bulkheads as viewed from the edge of the plank. This required me to pre-bend them so they maintained a curve from bulkhead to bulkhead. 

Arthur, was it necessary for you to sand the hull planks to achieve a smooth join between strakes or did they join up with no step? 

Edited May 10, 2019 by Dr PS

[Arthur Wayne]

I had to chamfer the edge of just about every single strake. What I did was chamfer only the inside of the top edge of the strake I was installing. I also noticed if you soak the strakes, they tend to bend at the bulkhead and not between bulkheads making the stair step much worse. Ideally the strakes should arc from bulkhead to bulkhead. I hope that makes sense!

[Dr PS - Paul Schulze]

Hello Arthur,

Yes it makes sense.  I have experienced this as well.  I think I have now completed plank #8 successfully on one side.

Edited May 11, 2019 by Dr PS

[Dr PS - Paul Schulze]

Nine planks on both sides down. No real serious surprises here but the reader should note the above comments since the last pictures. Well, ready to do the last four strakes.

 

The final three might have  to be spiled from a 1/16” thick basswood sheet or  1/16” X 1/2” stock. So far I have not had to do any spiling, therefore this will be new territory for me. 

Edited May 12, 2019 by Dr PS

[CPDDET]

Great job!

[Nirvana]

This build log is so interesting, twice the scale of the regular longboat.

From another perspective, I kit bashed my 1:48 scale longboat and added armament before this kit came out on the market.

[Dr PS - Paul Schulze]

I have laid down strake #10 and now need to spile #11, #12 and #13. Here is where I think I should depart from the instructions. At bulkhead 0, the gap is 3/4”. The gap at bulkhead F is narrower and at stern, more.

 

My plan is as follows: Use calipers to measure the width of the gap at each bulkhead and divide each into three equal parts, recording the numbers and putting tick marks on the bulkhead. Then, lay down wide tape (I am going to use 3” wide Patco 5560 wide Scotch Magic Tape on top since you cannot write on the Patco tape.  Petco tape will hold its shape quite well and is removable.)  I will then run a pencil along the edge of the strakes above the gap (away from keel) as well as marking the positions of each bulkhead. Next, at each bulkhead mark, mark down (towards keel) on the tape the recorded distance for one strake. Then use a French curve to draw a smooth cut line. Next, lay the tape onto a 1/16” thick sheet of basswood and cut out the strake leaving a small extra width for shaping. Repeat for each strake, stem and stern. 

 

I would appreciate comments, pro and con on this approach. 

[Nirvana]

That's the way to go, right approach. 

 

[Arthur Wayne]

That will work. I tried wide tape at first but found frosted scotch tape worked better for me and that what mattered most was transposing the shape of the installed strake onto the tape and then the wood.  As long as you mark where the bulkheads are you can transpose the width and connect via French curve as you have planned.  I found getting the tape to lay in the same plane as the plank you are creating helped a lot. Your planking looks excellent so far so I doubt you will run into trouble now. 

[Dr PS - Paul Schulze]

Well I think I have the hull nearly finished and I am almost ready to go to the next step. 

 

Before I post my results, consider a few steps I used in forming some of the strakes.  I have included this for readers who may be unfamiliar with this technique. 

Above: Wide Patco tape overlayed with Scotch tape marked with #4 pencil.  This step is typical  

Above: Tape on basswood sheet. 

Above: Blade used to mark wood prior to cutting. Tape removed in case a second cut is needed. 

Above:  Plank ready for trimming to fit. Used sanding sticks for final shaping. 

 

Results so far:

Above: Some “tar” lines more pronounced than others.* Also, butt joints are slightly different than plans.  

 

*The dark lines are not gaps rather they are pencil lines added after strakes were in place as much of the original pencil lines came off during sanding.  I have decided not to try and make every line uniformly the same as I cannot imagine real boats as having everything done in perfection.

The hull is not completely smooth from some strakes to others, but I feel rather  good about the outcome. Sanding might improve the smoothness but I don’t want to risk sanding too far. 

Above:  Dark area is wood filler which I think will be completely below the water line paint. 

 

Edited May 18, 2019 by Dr PS

[Sea Hoss]

Looks nice and tight, will clean up well I think...good work!

[Arthur Wayne]

Your boat looks terrific! At this pace you're going to pass me by in another 2 weeks!!

[CPDDET]

Looks great!

Edited May 18, 2019 by CPDDET
change

[Dr PS - Paul Schulze]

3 hours ago, Arthur Wayne said:

Your boat looks terrific! At this pace you're going to pass me by in another 2 weeks!!

I seriously doubt I will  catch you in two weeks.  I am splitting my time between this project and work on my N-Gauge model railroad. BTW, now we have a growing group of builders of this boat called the ALB group.  I guess we are really a subgroup - Ha.  

 

Thanks all for the encouragement. 

 

You know, looking back a quick couple of weeks ago or so, I would tell my younger self to do a better job at fairing. That is one area I really need to learn more about before I ever start another plank-on-bulkhead project.  This time through it was just guess work. Good fairing would have made for a much smoother finished project. As they say, hindsight is better than foresight.  Sigh 😔 

Edited May 18, 2019 by Dr PS

[Nirvana]

N-gauge..... hmm how I would like to get back to R/R modeling. Back in late 70's in Sweden I had (for me) a huge H0 Märklin landscape. The landscape along with rail covered only 3 x 4 meters. Good enough for several setups.
Today I would be happy with an 4'x6' N-scale yard of some kind.
However, ship modeling is equally fun and stimulating. Besides I have my good share of ships to build.

 

Dr. PS I like you build …… I didn't remove the false stanchions from the bulkheads. I found them very useful when shaping and installing the remaining "glue-on" stanchions. 

 

[Dr PS - Paul Schulze]

Angled balsa blocks make for easy hull marking. Simply slide pencil to desired height and tape down for waterline marking. 

[Dr PS - Paul Schulze]

Old athletic socks make good wipes. 

[CPDDET]

Really nice work

[Dr PS - Paul Schulze]

Sanding the interior was done with Squadron sanding sticks and 3M sanding blocks cut into strips and rolled into a curve. 

 

The boat shown below is ready to have the frames faired. 

 

[Sea Hoss]

Looks great! Very tight planking, definitely on the right track...By the way, you were right about the starting point of my garboard strake. I didn't do the math right. Started running out of space on the stem real fast! Since I will be painting the whole hull anyway, it shouldn't be too bad, we'll see.

[Dr PS - Paul Schulze]

Fairing completed. Yay 😀 I decided to carve away instead of sanding. After reading Arthur Wayne’s great blog, hours and hours of sanding did not seem like fun. Carving became easier after the first couple of frames. I believe the key to successful carving is to use only sharp #11 blades.  I used up to 5 or 6 #11 surgical and hobby blades per frame as they are relatively inexpensive. Surgical blades can be deformed for cutting in difficult areas. Hobby blades are rather stiff and more difficult to deform. 

Edited May 24, 2019 by Dr PS

[CPDDET]

A great tip to keep in mind 

[Arthur Wayne]

Looking great Paul, and I'm still positive you will finish before me. Where did you buy the surgical blades?

[Dr PS - Paul Schulze]

Arthur,

Nicpro 120 PCS  Utility Excel Blades #11, and, Stainless Steel Sterilized Scalpel Blades (100 PC.)

Both  can be found at Amazon.  For the scalpel blades, I actually bought Viamed #11 Scalpel Blades (100 PC.) but for the life of me I cannot remember where.  Any of the blades listed should be essentially the same.  They come individually wrapped in easy open wrappers and fit #1 X-acto handles.

 

 

Edited May 24, 2019 by Dr PS

[Dr PS - Paul Schulze]

Ready for step two. 

[CPDDET]

Looks great!