San Francisco II by sire_eris - Artesania Latina - scale 1:90

[sire_eris]

Hi fellows

 

Starting my first build log here for the first ship model I am building. I did some smaller projects before such as the SF2 cross section or a "posto combattimento" of Mantua Model - so lets see how the skills learned from there can be applied to a 'real' ship now 🙂

When I start this blog, I am already building the SF2 since some months (I progress slowly as there ist only time to work on the hobby occasionally during the week and on weekends...), so the blog starts with planking the hull.

 

Unfortunately its the old kit with single hull planking, at the moment I am struggling at the bow with bringing the planks flat down to the bulkheads. As you can see on the pictures below, especially in the bulhead 2, the planks are not lying flat and  a clinker effekt has already developed on the bow.  🙄 Until now I prebent the planks with a planking bender and then tapered them at the ends and trying to fit them as best possible into the next position.

 

The first 5 planks going fully to front of the bow are of normal width 5mm each. After these 5 planks I calculated 3 bands, each containing 6 planks, full width of them  at bulheads 4/5/6. At bow and stern the planks are tapered to 4 mm each. But already now the 5th plank of 1st band on portiside is standing off the bulkhead 1 and 2 and the 6th plank is not possible to fit nicely, even with clamps and pins. As I read and know that there should be no force used, there has to be another way to do this properly...

 

Do you have probably and hints how I get that planks lying smoother? And avoiding or at least reducing that clinker effect? I only have 5mm planks, so I cannot spile a plank out of a wider peace of mahagoni. Maximum I could order is 2x7mm...

 

Also I am wondering how wide the garboard pank should be and how far forward that should go to the front. As Bulkheads 1 and 2 are very much shorter than the others (the first is alrady almost full with the frist band...), I am wondering how many of the planks really go straight forward to the bow and how much of the space should be taken by the garboard plank.

 

Let me know if you have and good hints for the current 'battle' I'd be happy to learn from your experience 🙂

 

regards from Basel Switzerland

André

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Edited October 19, 2019 by sire_eris

[VTHokiEE]

I’ve yet to plank a model, but I’ve been started reading extensively about techniques and this guide might help you: 

 

http://modelshipworldforum.com/resources/Framing_and_Planking/plankingprojectbeginners.pdf

 

it describes that clinker effect and how to (hopefully) prevent it. I hope it helps!

 

Other articles are here for future reference: http://modelshipworldforum.com/ship-modeling-articles-and-downloads.php

Edited October 19, 2019 by VTHokiEE

[sire_eris]

Hi VTHokiEE. Thanks for the link - I also read quite a lot about the planking. The document you linked I studied about 3 times but still couldn't prevent that clinker effekt. Guess mostly because I cannot split special formed planked out of wider woodstripes.

[VTHokiEE]

Have you considered using stealers if you don’t have wider wood?

[vulcanbomber]

Hello and welcome to MSW.

 

 

 

The problem you are experiencing with the hull planking is due to not tapering the planks enough. As the bow of the ship is curved, the planks need to be tapered more to accommodate this. Unfortunately, the only way I can see of correcting the planking is to remove it and start again, or give it a good sanding down and then do a second planking with a thinner plank, usually 0.5mm. 

 

You also need to make sure the bulkheads are faired really well to help assist with the hull planking.

 

If you have a look at my build log of my San Francisco, you will see how I approached it. I know my version is double planked, but you can see how the first planking was done and then the second planking done in a slightly different way. (Click on the small arrow in the grey bar to go directly to the post)

 

 

But to avoid the clinker effect, they definitely need to be tapered at the bow.

 

Otherwise you are making a really good effort and the decks are looking great.

Edited October 19, 2019 by vulcanbomber

[sire_eris]

I had quite some time in december 2019, so I was alot busy with planking the hull (the years' goal to finish the hull was completed on 31.12.! 😅)

 

As I experienced the clincer effect on portside (although tapering the planks from 5mm to 4mm on bow) I used the very practical method of Chuck  Passaro, shown on Youtube (and expecially follow up vid Part 3):

 

Thank you Chuck for this great advise! 🙂 I also built a small jig and bend the planks with an iron accross the broadside after tapering them, then with a plank bender the long side (the easy bending direction). Planks ended up like this:

 

[sire_eris]

The result can clearly be seen, the starboard side planks are lying way flatter around the bow:

[sire_eris]

The hull beforde inserting the garboard plank:

Garboard plank inserted:

Edited January 5, 2020 by sire_eris

[sire_eris]

I had to give up the idea and plan that all planks will touch the steven at the bow. This was just not possible to taper and bend the planks that massively. Also I had to insert one drop plank at the bow.

With the result I'm quite happy, its my first full ship and with single plank layer only. Final sanding is still outstanding.

Edited January 5, 2020 by sire_eris

[vulcanbomber]

That's a very good attempt at planking for the first time. Well done!

[sire_eris]

After sanding and varnishing. Quite happy with the result 🙂

[vulcanbomber]

Looking good.

[sire_eris]

Greeting from the prototype cannon lensig out of the gunport for test purpose:

[sire_eris]

The canons in the kit of Artesania Latina are very basic and made of metal. Thy look quite poor.

So I decided to do some own and started the fabrication. Not really made from scratch but out of a kit. 26mm canon lenght. The sanding is an awful lot of work with all those really tiny pieces...

 

Edited May 10, 2020 by sire_eris

[sire_eris]

A good side of the coronavirus (April/March 2020) is that it gives you a lot of time working at home on your model ship... 🙂

Although I painted all the gunport lids given in the kit, they didn't look nice on the ship. Nothing shipshape with these metal cast pieces:

Si

So I made some lids from scratch with 3mm copper for the hinges and spare planks. Quite happy with the result 🙂

 

Looking way better on the ship:

 

 

After probably a 6 weeks process of buildung all the parts needed and mounting them:

 

 

 

Edited May 10, 2020 by sire_eris

[sire_eris]

Built a solid construction stand for the ship, so all the details being in production can be mounted later more easily:

 

 

Edited May 10, 2020 by sire_eris

[S.Coleman]

I love the fact that you managed to keep on with those bow planks. Looks really good now. And the gun port lids look great. Nice scratch building. 

[Spellapeaka]

Looking great! I currently have this kit in waiting until I finish the AL Harvey I'm working on. Same situation with the planks. Single hull, thick planks, really tough to bend. It took me a long time. It was fustrating and irritating to say the least. The only caveat was the fact that the planks are so thick, you can sand them down a serious amount and the end result actually looks quite good. I am going to try some more professional methods of planking when I get around to the SF2. Like splining as mentioned up above. For now, I am happy with the result. I will be watching your build with great interest! I might have to steal a few ideas from you too! 🙂

[sire_eris]

On 5/10/2020 at 5:54 PM, Spellapeaka said:

Looking great! I currently have this kit in waiting until I finish the AL Harvey I'm working on. Same situation with the planks. Single hull, thick planks, really tough to bend. It took me a long time. It was fustrating and irritating to say the least. The only caveat was the fact that the planks are so thick, you can sand them down a serious amount and the end result actually looks quite good. I am going to try some more professional methods of planking when I get around to the SF2. Like splining as mentioned up above. For now, I am happy with the result. I will be watching your build with great interest! I might have to steal a few ideas from you too! 🙂

Thanks mate 🙂 Good that you have this nice and already old kit in stock - probably it gets rarity value as AL went out of business 😉 Well I guess taking some inspiration from other builders is very kind "stealing"... There are some good logs here for SF2, I also took some inspiration like from DesertWolf who also did own gunport lids and a crazy effort for planking, which ended but veeeeery nice. Be prepared for a big fight with the planks, almost all of them needed extensive treatement before mounting. Luckily there was enough wood for that in the box, so producing quite some broken ones didnt end up in big problems. And as you write there is good possibility to sand them down somewhat to shipshape. Let me tell when you start with your SF2 please!

 

[Spellapeaka]

Yes, Dessert Wolf put on a clinic with his SF2 build! Excellent work. I am actually kind of considering another build for my next. It's either going to be this, or the Golden Hind Kit from Occre. Both slick looking Galleons. I am really liking the Golden Hind for it's historical significance though. Either way it will probably be next year when I start my next build. The Harvey is taking a while.

[sire_eris]

Hi fellows. A small update since a long time - didn't work that much on the ship during summer 2020.

Had to make the channels from scratch, the one at the foremast was quite tricky as it hat to fit around some other parts:

 

 

 

[sire_eris]

Also the grating for the bow had to be scratch built. The AL instructions says "these parts are supplied in cast metal" but there was noting in the box - and if it would, it would have looked ugly anyway...

 

Getting all the angles and the bending for the bow right was quite some effort. Then, when almost done with the part I almost destroyed it when trying to do some minor sanding with the sanding machine. Not a good idea... Luckily only a small damage at the bottom side occured which is gladly hidden on the photos and the mounted part on the ship ;-)

 

 

 

 

[sire_eris]

Worked alot on the 10x cannons (+ 1 reserve). That took me 19.6 hours until they were all varnished. Still need to do the ropework for mounting them.

I think the effort was worth the time if you compare the result to the simple iron cast carriages provided in the kit (shown on last of the three pictures):

 

 

 

[Bossman]

Nice work Sir. She is looking great. Outstanding for a first build!

[sire_eris]

Stern is almost done:

 

[sire_eris]

Cannon with many other deck parts are now mounted. Still need to finish the jollyboat and lash it to the installed stand. So far everything worked well 🙂 Next chapter with mast and rigging is coming up - I guess that will be the biggest challenge not messing anything up...

 

 

 

[Barr1]

On 9/27/2020 at 11:18 AM, sire_eris said:

Also the grating for the bow had to be scratch built. The AL instructions says "these parts are supplied in cast metal" but there was noting in the box - and if it would, it would have looked ugly anyway...

 

Getting all the angles and the bending for the bow right was quite some effort. Then, when almost done with the part I almost destroyed it when trying to do some minor sanding with the sanding machine. Not a good idea... Luckily only a small damage at the bottom side occured which is gladly hidden on the photos and the mounted part on the ship 😉

 

 

 

 

 

[Barr1]

Nice work on your San Francisco.  I got this kit about 10 years ago and started it, but have not touched it for about 8 years.  I have the planking done, which was a little frustrating at times, but I learned a lot from making mistakes.  I am now working on the bow grating.  I have a metal one with my kit, but it is not going to be used.  I have been looking for a way to make the bow grate and your pictures are helping a lot.  Thanks for posting them.  A question I have is on your deck.  How did you get the lines between the deck board and the dots for where nails are?  I have not done that and I like the look.  Another quesiton is the bow sprit stanchion.  How high should it be?  My instructions leave a lot to be desired.  Thanks.

[sire_eris]

On 1/6/2021 at 5:15 PM, Barr1 said:

Nice work on your San Francisco.  I got this kit about 10 years ago and started it, but have not touched it for about 8 years.  I have the planking done, which was a little frustrating at times, but I learned a lot from making mistakes.  I am now working on the bow grating.  I have a metal one with my kit, but it is not going to be used.  I have been looking for a way to make the bow grate and your pictures are helping a lot.  Thanks for posting them.  A question I have is on your deck.  How did you get the lines between the deck board and the dots for where nails are?  I have not done that and I like the look.  Another quesiton is the bow sprit stanchion.  How high should it be?  My instructions leave a lot to be desired.  Thanks.

Hi Barr1. Sorry just saw your message, so answer a bit late... Cool, nice to hear that pictures can be useful 🙂 I guess that casted bow grating in the kit looks quite ugly?

 

The lines on the deck (joint of the planks) are made by slightly engraving the planks with a saw and blackening the groove with a pencil. The "nail holes" are made by hammering a not too pointy pencil into the planks. Both done before gluing the plank stripes onto the deck.

 

Which part do you exactly mean with "bow sprit stanchion". And from what view? My mother language is German. So it is quite difficult and tricky for me to get all the names of the ship's parts in English. Crazy anyway how many technical terms there are in the world of old ships... X-)

Edited January 24, 2021 by sire_eris

[sire_eris]

The included die cast jollyboat in the kit was not really nice and also way too big for the deck I think. So i made an own one from a separate kit with upgrading it: