Pen Duick by BobG - Artesania Latina - 1:28

[Nunnehi (Don)]

Bob,

 

She’s looking really nice! I’m impressed with your precision and planning with the deck layout and look forward to more. 

 

Don

[Justin P.]

Bob, she looks great.  I love that we've not seen very many of these builds and that your doing such a nice job of it.   

[BobG]

17 hours ago, VTHokiEE said:

This is really coming along very nicely! I like what you’ve done with the joggles. I see that you used a #11 blade, I wonder if chisels would work (I’m simply looking for an excuse to add a chisel set really).

Thanks VTHokiEE. I haven't tried a chisel. I'm having better luck making fine cuts with a scalpel rather than the #11 blade. It's still slow going since the mahogany king plank is glued down and it is also brittle and tough to cut through. The scalpel works slightly better for me. I'm hand holding and cradling the boat in my lap while I make the cuts so I have to be careful not to stab myself!

[BobG]

3 hours ago, nunnehi said:

She’s looking really nice! I’m impressed with your precision and planning with the deck layout and look forward to more. 

Thanks Don. I tried to make a template of the deck planking thinking that I could then transfer it to the false deck but it was much too complicated for me to try and draw precisely. I think someone could do it if they were skilled at CAD. So I just decided to start laying the planks down and cut the joggles where they planks overlaid the king plank. It's working out fairly well so far.

 

Are you back working on your Medway Longboat now that you finished the Calypso?

[BobG]

3 hours ago, Justin P. said:

Bob, she looks great.  I love that we've not seen very many of these builds and that your doing such a nice job of it.   

Thanks so much, Justin. I'm kind of surprised the Pen Duick isn't built more often. It's such a historic sailboat and I think it is just gorgeous as well.

[Nunnehi (Don)]

9 minutes ago, BobG said:

Thanks Don. I tried to make a template of the deck planking thinking that I could then transfer it to the false deck but it was much too complicated for me to try and draw precisely. I think someone could do it if they were skilled at CAD. So I just decided to start laying the planks down and cut the joggles where they planks overlaid the king plank. It's working out fairly well so far.

 

Are you back working on your Medway Longboat now that you finished the Calypso?

Bob,

 

Yes, am back on it and posted a couple of pics. 

 

Don

[BobG]

I continued with the deck planking today and was able to complete 5 planks on the opposite side of the deck. I've decided to continue joggling the planks the way I started doing it and am only going to cut the joggles in the king plank and not the hatches. I like the way that looks.

 

I've been using a scalpel mostly instead of a #11 blade since it is cutting the hard, brittle, mahogany king plank more precisely. I have to do a bit of physical gymnastics in order to hand hold the boat in my lap so I can turn it and hold it at different angles while cutting the joggles. I'm working slowly so that the mahogany doesn't tear out along the cut line and to prevent slashing my fingers with the scalpel!

 

The challenge today was trying to keep one side of the deck symmetrical with the other side. I measured and centered the king plank and the frames around the hatches before I started planking and everything was centered on the deck but I'm still getting some variation. I think that one of the reasons that I'm not getting perfect symmetry is that the ramin deck planks are not all uniformly 3 mm wide along their entire length. The ramin strips have not been milled precisely. Although the variances are quite small they add up as more planks are laid side by side and the differences between one side and the other gets magnified. It's not terribly noticeable but I'd rather not have it at all and I think it may become more noticeable as more planks are laid down. Oh well, I'll just do my best and see how it goes.

 

 

[egkb]

Hi Bob .. re symmetry, I had the exact same issue planking Ballahoo where the plank timber wasn't the same width (even 1 mm makes a difference when the plank is only 3 or 4 mm itself) I had to go through the pile and pair them all up as best I could (Port and Starboard) I was amazed at the variance.

Loving the Joggling btw !

 

All The Best

 

Eamonn

 

 

[Nunnehi (Don)]

That looks great - well done!

 

Don

[BobG]

6 hours ago, egkb said:

Hi Bob .. re symmetry, I had the exact same issue planking Ballahoo where the plank timber wasn't the same width (even 1 mm makes a difference when the plank is only 3 or 4 mm itself) I had to go through the pile and pair them all up as best I could (Port and Starboard) I was amazed at the variance.

Loving the Joggling btw !

 

All The Best

 

Eamonn

 

 

I already have about a 1 mm difference from one side to the other. That's a good idea about paired up the deck planks since they are uneven in places. I wish I had thought of that before but now I know. Thanks!

[sticker]

Hi bob dont worry about the symmetry , only you will spot it!    the sails and the various colours and patterns on the deck will distract from it  ,  it looks fine from here ( yorkshire)   🙂 

[BobG]

Hello sticker, my wife always tells me that I'm the only one who will see the flaws that I see in my models too. Thanks for stopping by.

[sticker]

 

Youre welcome bob  ,now (as we say over here ) crack on!

[hof00]

Hi Chap,

Nice progress, looking good!! 😃

 

Cheers....HOF.

[Fright]

That is some beautiful work on the decking! 

[BobG]

Thanks Robert! It's not been easy but it's satisfying work. As usual, there are things about it that I wish I had done better but, generally speaking, I'm the only one that will notice those flaws the most!

[BobG]

I finished the deck planking today and I'm satisfied with it. I used CA exclusively and that worked well for me. The brittleness of the mahogany king plank made cutting the joggles tenuous and, along with my efforts to keep one side symmetrical to the other, it was slow going but worth it. I'm happy with the deck pattern that I decided on too. My wife is an excellent pastel artist and she has a keen eye for patterns and shape. I discussed a couple of variations of deck patterns with her that I could do and she thought that keeping the pattern simple and clean would look the best. I agreed and decided to only joggle the first section of the king plank near the bow and the last section near the stern. It is simply an artistic choice and I'm happy with it. 

 

There were some inevitable flaws that occurred especially with tear out on the edges of the joggles when I was cutting them with a scalpel. It was hard to avoid no matter how carefully I was trying to be. I was able to make some adequate repairs by gluing slivers of mahogany into the gaps that occurred and patching some of the ramin deck planks with a slurry of ramin sawdust mixed with yellow glue. Finally I sanded the deck up to 220 and, once I had a very nice, smooth surface, I applied a coat of Satin Wipe-on-Poly.

 

Overall, I'm pleased with the deck and now I will get ready to dive into planking the hull. I'm apprehensive about the hull planking since I'm not very experienced at doing it. However, it won't have to be perfect since the hull will be painted.

 

In the close up photos below you can see how I made some repairs and they really stand out and look awful in the photos but, to the naked eye at a normal viewing distance, you don't really notice those them all that much unless you are using magnifying glass! Maybe I should stop posting the extreme close-ups!!

 

Thanks to everyone for the likes and thanks also for stopping by.

 

Cheers!

 

 

[Cabbie]

Morning Bob

Looks top notch to me, there always seems to be a few little flaws, that's the trouble with these models, we are looking at

them too close. Stand back a bit and they look fine as yours does. The contrast between the timber colors probably doesn't help

but on your model it makes it very good to look at.

In regards to the glue for the hull planks, on my Endeavour i used contact glue, which is frowned on a bit around here.

It certainly helped that I have used it most of my working life it wasn't hard to use, but it goes on and stays on.

The other main glue I use is a quick drying pva, sets off in a minute or 2 enough to hold the wood, just need to keep an eye

on things to make sure they stay in place.

Hooroo Chris

[BobG]

Thanks Cabbie. I'm my own worst critic so the compliments are much appreciated.

 

I was working under my magnifier when cutting the joggles and for tapering the planks. I was trying to keep the planking symmetrical primarily by measuring. I was surprised when, after so much careful measurement, I would sometimes still end up with an error. I found that not only did I need to measure accurately but I also needed to simply eyeball the joggles before cutting them. As it turned out, eyeballing before cutting alerted me to an error that I wasn't seeing under the magnifier.  Getting away from the magnifier and eyeballing things before cutting was important.

 

I use CA a lot even though many modelers swear against it. I find, that if I work the piece so that it will fit almost perfectly in a dry test, I can then carefully use CA to quickly glue the piece in place. Like you, I use a quick drying PVA (Titebond Thick & Quick) when I feel like I may need a little more time for adjustment before the glue sets.

 

 

[Nunnehi (Don)]

That’s beautiful, Bob!

 

Don

[BobG]

Thank you, Don!

[hof00]

Hi Chap,

Ditto as per previous comment by Don. 😀

(Pretty damn symmetrical!!)

 

Cheers....HOF.

[BobG]

Thanks Harry. 

 

Did you follow the AL instructions for planking the hull? They recommend starting at the bulwarks and place 4 to 7 planks on each side down towards the center. Then place a plank in the center and plank down to the keel. Finally, close the gap at the center between the top and bottom planks.

 

I hope I don't mess it up!

[hof00]

Hi Chap,

Now your really testing the Memory.... 😀

 

Yup, Full Width Plank from Bow tp stern, bottom of the Plank level with the base of the False Deck.

 

You get the enjoyment of carefully tapering the Bulwark from Stem to Stern, carefully of course, leaving the full width of the Bulwarks at the Bow. (This will become apparent fitting the Bowsprit, Etc.)

(I wouldn't attempt to taper this initial plank (Bulwark), until you have a couple of strakes attached below this from a structural point of view.)

 

The Planking, (All Planking Strakes), needs to extend beyond the False keel at the Bow, where Port and starboard Planks meet, at a juncture a few mm beyond the false Keel, you will need to cut a Taper on the inside edge of each Strake where the Planks meet. (A Knife Edge, sharp bevel.) Start with one side first, let it set, offer up the other side and the angle will become apparent, use you # 11 skills and you'll be alright!!

 

(There is no Keel added so the Knife Edge forward of the False Keel. so the sharp Keel is your own....)

Don't overthink too much, if the "Knife Edge" is not perfect, it doesn't matter too much, there's more than enough thickness in the Planking Strakes to sand and obtain the profile, (Knife Edge), necessary. 🙂

 

The False Deck Bulwark Level will also give you the guide for all subsequent Planking Strakes.

If you choose to Plank four from the top, that's fine and thereafter from the bottom up, that's also fine....

(I Went from top to bottom filling in the gaps. 🙂)

 

I was not too precious about it as I was aware that Filler would do the minor Plank "Gap" thing and I had already planned to smooth with Automotive Spray Putty prior to painting. (This was awesome to achieve a silky smooth finish and so easy to sand!!)

 

Sorry I'm not closer to assist you in your endeavour and hope that you can "Visualise" my descriptions....

 

Cheer and Regards,

 

Harry. (HOF.)

.

[BobG]

Thanks, Harry, that's very helpful. 

 

I was thinking about trying Chuck's method of planking by lining off the hull after determining the number of planks needed using tick marks, but I'm not sure how that would work on this hull shape since some of the planks run the full length of the hull and cover all of the bulkheads and some near the bottom do not. 

 

After you added the bulwarks and a few planks below them, did you then sand down the top of the bulwarks to achieve the taper from the stern to the bow? It seems like that would be hard to do. Can the bulwark taper be cut prior to gluing them on?  I'm not quite sure how the bulwark taper is supposed to look when it's done so I'll study the plans more and see if I can figure it out. I wish the instructions were more clear. I'll take my time and try not to mess it up.

 

Cheers! 

[hof00]

Hi Chap,

Just a thought with the Bulwark Strake, what do the A/L instructions indicate?

Thinking about the position, from memory, I think that this Strake is also attached a coupe of mm below the Deck but level with the Deck if that makes sense. affixed to the Bulkheads also?

 

(I don't want to put you wrong and all my "Archived" Plans, Etc are in storage.)

 

I'll haver a look at my photos....

[hof00]

Had a look at the photo of the instructions that you posted in Page 1 of this log.

 

the first Full Planking Strake is 2 - 3 mm below the Deck.

So put some "Tick" marks below the bottom of the False Deck, this will ensure that the Planking will be level with the Deck.

(The photo "Jogged" my memory.... 🙂)

 

The Bulwarks attach to both the Deck and Bulkheads.

 

Sanding the Bulwark Taper is not too difficult, you just require a Sanding Block to span the Deck so you can taper Port/Starboard Bulwarks at the same time.

 

Any help?

 

Cheers....HOF.

 

[BobG]

Maybe this will help, Harry:

 

[BobG]

30 minutes ago, hof00 said:

Any help?

Yes, this helps to think it through!

[Cabbie]

Good Morning Bob

For myself the question I would be asking "what is the proper way that a real boat like this would be planked?"

I have never liked that idea of tapering a a long join like that on a boat plank,

should the middle ones be reduced in width so that they all go through to the bow/stern?

This is a good time to practice your planking, it will be painted over later.

Perhaps ask on this forum to see how it should be done.

https://modelshipworld.com/forum/14-building-framing-planking-and-plating-a-ships-hull-and-deck/

As I said the above would be for me, throw this post out the door if you like!

Hooroo Chris