18th Century Armed Longboat Bearding Line Question

[SeaDoc]

Hi Folks - I don't know if this is the right forum for this question, but here goes. I just received my Model Shipways 1:24 scale 18th Century Armed Longboat, and eagerly opened it up with the intention of diving right into the build. That notion was quickly abandoned though when I examined the false and true keels. I cut them out carefully, and dry-fitted them together as advised. I was all ready to whittle/sand down the false keel pieces when I noticed that the "bearding line" on the "aft" piece was on the starboard side surface while the bearding line on the "fore" piece was on its port side surface.  Is that the way it's supposed to be? And, if I continue the bearding lines on each side to the other piece, should the cut/sanded surface be at a right angle to the flat port and starboard surfaces or rounded? And I thought I could just get a clean start! Thanks for any help. As you can tell, I don't think I'm ready yet to start a build log.   

[Ryland Craze]

Hi SeaDoc,

 

I have moved your question to a different forum and edited the title to reflect your question. 

 

The keel on this model is two parts and the laser cutter etched the bearding line on one side of the wooden sheet that held these parts.  The way the parts were laid out, it was etched on the port side of one piece of the keel and the starboard side of the other piece of the keel.  What you need to do is trace the bearding line of each piece on a sheet of paper and transfer this line to the opposite side of the two keel parts.  This is explained on page 6 of the instructions.

 

I hope you start a build log as we would like to follow your progress.  It is also a good place to ask questions about your build.  This kit builds into a very nice model.  Good luck on your build.

[SeaDoc]

Thanks Ryland. I did see the instructions on page 6, but wasn't sure how to effect the transfer to the opposite side of the keel pieces. I'll look into how to start a build log after I figure out the transfer and cutting instructions. Thanks again for your help. Tom

[Ryland Craze]

I would take a piece of notebook paper and trace the curved bearding line onto it.  You could then cut this curve out of the paper and use it as a pattern of the bearding line.  With the pattern, draw the curve on the opposite side of the false keel.  Once you have drawn these lines, you want to gradually taper the false keel from the line to the edge of the false keel.  You can use a sanding stick to do this if you do not have a chisel.  The goal is to gradually take off enough wood so that you are thinning down the edges of the false keel to be 1/16" wide which will require you to take off 1/16" off of each side of the 3/16" keel.  When the stem and keel are attached to the false keel, you will have a 1/16" rabbet for the planks to be inserted into.  Take your time on this and you will get it just right.  This will make for a good planking job.

[SeaDoc]

Thanks Ryland! I did the sanding of the false keel after figuring out how to transfer from side to opposite side with tracing paper. I think it turned out reasonably well, though it might be a little less than needed. I may be able to chamfer the  plank edges to fit. 

 

I'd like to start a build log for this build. How do I accomplish that?

 

Thanks again Ryland - Tom

[mtaylor]

SeaDoc,

In  each build log area (by era), there's a number of pinned posts at the top of the first page.   Here's an example of the instructions:  

 

Also, if you haven't seen this, there's a number of pinned posts also pertaining logs.

https://modelshipworld.com/forum/47-using-the-msw-forum/

 

 

[SeaDoc]

Thanks again my friend! I'm off to the build-log forum - Tom