Are Deck Cutouts Necessary & Cannon Trucks Color

[drjeckl]

Two questions for my Lady Nelson (1803) build:

1. Are Deck Cutouts Actually Needed?

The LN is a single deck build.  Other than the hole for the mast, the deck layout has 4 x square cutouts; 3 x for hatches and 1 for a companionway.  Taking Vossiewulf's  suggestion on moving one of the hatches to make room to relocate a deck cannon training tackle eyebolt, and in fact move all of those eyebolts closer to the center of the deck, I extended that deck cutout without planning ahead on how to support the deck planks (8) that would extend over the portion of the cutout that I was abandoning (8mm).  And after thinking about it, my question is why can't I just plank over that entire enlarged cutout and in fact all of the cutouts, obviously except the hole for the mast?  What's to see though the hatch?  A black hole?  What actually is the purpose of cutouts in a single deck build?  If it's for a hatch, and there's a concern that one could see the deck through the hatch, I could paint that portion of the deck black.  Anybody got a good answer?

2. Cannon Trucks (Wheels) Color

The LN plans suggest red for interior bulwark planking and the cannon carriages.  The carriages with the wheels are one piece metal.  Other builds show the wheels painted the same red as the carriages.  I wouldn't mind painting the wheels a different color; black or brown and I will probably paint two units with those colors to see how they look.  Just wanted to get some opinions on this.

 

John

 

[garyshipwright]

John could you share a photo or two of you deck? It would be a big help to us to be able to help you? Gary

[Gregory]

If you look in this index of  logs, you will find about 20 for Lady Nelson.

 

https://modelshipworld.com/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=641465

 

Several of them are finished and should give you a lot of information to work with.

[VTHokiEE]

On 8/23/2020 at 2:04 PM, drjeckl said:

Cannon Trucks (Wheels) Color

I asked someone about this for my HM Alert build and the response I received was:

 

”I don’t think there was a strict protocol for truck colour, on my Pegasus build I left them natural, as they are on Victory today. On Alert with the shade of red I was using I just thought they looked better painted, nothing more involved than that.🙂

 

I also painted them red on my Cheerful cutter build, for the same reason.”

 

I personally painted mine black because I liked that look for this build. I think you can go with whatever catches your eye.

[drjeckl]

Here's a pix of Vossiewulf's finished deck: 

If you look at the middle hatch, he suggested moving it closer to the stern to allow the the eyebolts and rings to be moved closer to the center, stretching out the training tackle.  So that's what I am going to do.  Now go back and read my dilemma from above.

 

VTHokiEE:  Thanks for your comments; yeah I will paint one with black wheels.  I this it will look better than all red.

 

.John

 

[garyshipwright]

On 8/23/2020 at 11:04 AM, drjeckl said:

Two questions for my Lady Nelson (1803) build:

1. Are Deck Cutouts Actually Needed?

The LN is a single deck build.  Other than the hole for the mast, the deck layout has 4 x square cutouts; 3 x for hatches and 1 for a companionway.  Taking Vossiewulf's  suggestion on moving one of the hatches to make room to relocate a deck cannon training tackle eyebolt, and in fact move all of those eyebolts closer to the center of the deck, I extended that deck cutout without planning ahead on how to support the deck planks (8) that would extend over the portion of the cutout that I was abandoning (8mm).  And after thinking about it, my question is why can't I just plank over that entire enlarged cutout and in fact all of the cutouts, obviously except the hole for the mast?  What's to see though the hatch?  A black hole?  What actually is the purpose of cutouts in a single deck build?  If it's for a hatch, and there's a concern that one could see the deck through the hatch, I could paint that portion of the deck black.  Anybody got a good answer?

2. Cannon Trucks (Wheels) Color

The LN plans suggest red for interior bulwark planking and the cannon carriages.  The carriages with the wheels are one piece metal.  Other builds show the wheels painted the same red as the carriages.  I wouldn't mind painting the wheels a different color; black or brown and I will probably paint two units with those colors to see how they look.  Just wanted to get some opinions on this.

 

John

 

John to answer your question on are deck cutouts needed. The answer is it depends.  Is there some thing to see or is it a black hole underneith. What it comes down to is some times it's what the ship wright wants to do. Being that you are the shipwright of your vessel it is what every you want to do. It would be easier if you planked the subpanel and then cut out the holes if there isn't any thing to see and if there is then you might want to open it up.  It goes along with me building a tank and installing all of the parts in side of it and once all the parts have been installed on goes the cover and you then can't see anything that you installed, which is ok and covering it all up was always a toss up, Do I or don't I. Much like putting a B17 together and not seeing what's on the inside. Most of the time it's just what the builder wants  and nothing more.  Another saying is its the journey, not the finish line. Hope this of some help.  Gary

[drjeckl]

Gary,

This ask was relative to shifting a hatch location.  My thought was, in a single deck build, does it matter if you cut out the deck planks over the cutouts or just build the fittings over where they should go, with, if it's hatches going over the space, make sure to black paint the deck under them.  This affected how I built out the deck planking.  What I was concerned about was that deck planks would not be supported by the false deck because the false deck holes had expanded.  As I built it, I marked, with pin holes, where the cutouts were centered.  In fact, the only cutout I needed to make was obviously the hole for the mast.  The deck hatches and the companionway will sit on top of the deck, where I want them to go.

 

Thanks for your advice...John

[garyshipwright]

Your very welcome John. As far as cutting the holes out, I would of done the same thing.  Gary