18th-Century Merchantman Half-Hull Planking Kit by Heronguy - NRG

[Heronguy]

I'm joining the fun of this "learning exercise". 

 

Started:

Using a foam core building board.  Rabbet cut.  (Without much thought I started cutting the rabbet on both sides of the keelson before I remembered that this was a half hull - oops)

[Heronguy]

Closer view of the rabbet in keel-keelson

 

and at the stem

[Heronguy]

Raising the ribs

 

And adding some spacers (the spacers in my kit were not actually squared - very slightly trapezoidal - so I cut new one from the waste part of the sheets)

 

[tlevine]

Looks good, Doug.

[Jim Lad]

Just picked this up.  That's looking good, Doug.

 

John

[Blue Pilot]

I think I will follow along with you.  My kit is in the mail.  Looks good so far.

[Heronguy]

10 hours ago, Blue Pilot said:

I think I will follow along with you.  My kit is in the mail.  Looks good so far.

I noticed your interest on Toni's build log and thought if there might be a group project going I should start my own build log.  So there will be at least 2 of us!  Arre you going to start right away?

[Heronguy]

The hull is shaping up

 

At the bow the slots are prepared for the bulkheads.  I used images from Toni's log to get the depth of the slots for bulkheads 5 and 5a.  (5 is just a press fit in this photo).  Cutting the stemson for 5a with blades and micro chisels was easy enough but did damage the foam core build board.  Of course it will all be out of site soon.

[Heronguy]

The errata sheet included with the kit indicates the correction to bulkhead 4a.

 

I used a a couple of strips off the basswood planking sheets to build up material on the curved section.  Then glued a small piece of scrap from the keel sheet to the bottom.  

 

 

Off to the sander to shape it and reduce to template dimensions.

Final adjustments will be accomplished during fairing the hull.

 

 

[Blue Pilot]

7 hours ago, Heronguy said:

I noticed your interest on Toni's build log and thought if there might be a group project going I should start my own build log.  So there will be at least 2 of us!  Arre you going to start right away?

Yes, I spoke with Toni if we get enough people with build logs going then they may make this into a group project, which I think would be great.  I will start as soon as I get the kit.  I work slow and do have other projects going but I think I will make this my primary project.

 

On a bit of a side note I have decided to fully plank my Smuggler kit.  I am hoping this will give me the know how and the confidence to attempt this.  I will be on my own planking the smuggler as its a solid hull kit so I don't have any written instructions to go by or detailed guide to plank her.

 

Yours is looking good, 

 

[tlevine]

Looks great.  Only the first run of kits have the bulkhead issue.  Please remember that I have never designed anything before and what looks correct on paper (or CAD) does not always translate perfectly when dealing with a laser cutter and different versions of the same software.  As soon as there are five builds started we will set up the group build.

[Duanelaker]

I just received my kit in the mail today...trying to finish up my other logs so I might be able to join you!  

[Heronguy]

 I found the final frame (H) was harder to position since it has very little glueing surface.

I decided to attach frame Gb 1st then use it to support frame H.

 

I'm hoping the position of the frame is close enough to correct.  I suppose the planking will prove that one way or another!

 

 

[tlevine]

Doug, any problems will be taken care of with the fairing.  Did you apply glue to the part of the frame that touches the plan?  That, along with gluing the mating surfaces of the wood, should hold it until you install the filler piece.

[Heronguy]

Thanks Toni.  I hoped fairing would correct any minor positioning.  I glued H to the plan as well as the deadwood and to frame Gb for good measure.  Filler is now in place between Ga and Gb.  I've started fairing.

[Heronguy]

I made a couple of errors - hopefully recovered.

 

Here's the current state.

 

I've had to do some shims on frame 1

and on G1

 

 

 

I didn't place the frame separators in convenient locations to allow the engineers square to mark the upper and lower positions of the wale. Thus the positioning is a bit crude.  I guess I'll find out if that creates problems in the planking!!!  I read ahead but didn't realize that the access from the plan marked wale would be blocked by the spacers.  I see from Toni's pics that she located her spacers nearer to the tops of the frames.

 

I used dividers to mark the top of the wales where I could only use the square to mark the bottom position.

 

 

[VTHokiEE]

Looking pretty good! Marking out the wale gave me trouble as well. My square was too large to get into the spaces and I simply eye’d it out. I think it worked reasonably well. 
 

One of the mistakes in my build was that my frames didn’t smoothly transition into the rabbet. I think I see some areas where this could occur to you as well (Frame A and Frame 4). You may want to consider building out the lower area of those frames to make the rabbet transition smooth. (At least I think this is a good idea, but I’ll be the first to admit that I’m the blind leading so take it with a grain of salt).

Edited January 28, 2020 by VTHokiEE

[Heronguy]

2 hours ago, VTHokiEE said:

One of the mistakes in my build was that my frames didn’t smoothly transition into the rabbet. I think I see some areas where this could occur to you as well (Frame A and Frame 4). You may want to consider building out the lower area of those frames to make the rabbet transition smooth.

I think you are quite right.  Some refinements are called for!