Providence by Fentone - Artesania Latina - 1:25 - New England whaleboat

[Fentone]

3 out of 4 planks done

[Keithbrad80]

Looks great! Edge bending planks takes some practice but it looks like you got the hang of it, also your repair to that bottom plank looks good, you probably won’t be able to tell when the build is complete!

[Fentone]

Thanks Bradley! 👍

 

My problem is I've taken off too much on each end of all of them, they're meant to butt up against the end bulkheads. They get shorter when you bend them! But not enough off and they don't go in at all. I'm (heavily) banking on that bit not being visible at the end.

[Fentone]

I've just realised the obvious answer. Should bend them, THEN cut them. DOH!

[Fentone]

Step 2 complete. On this last plank I had to compensate for height difference with the opposite side of the boat by sanding it right down along its length. Also for some reason, the clamps decided to crush/fold the tips right over this time. Either because I made this plank thinner, or because I didn't soak it quite as long, not sure. Hopefully invisible later.

[Fentone]

Got this chunky guy in. Scalpel was best friend, over needle files, for cutting corner notches. Decided to try out the Contact Adhesive for this simple glueing. Didn't like it. Very stringy, so harder to deal with and stinky solvent vibes.

[Keithbrad80]

Contact cement can be tricky stuff, assuming you are talking about a different glue than CA glue. With contact cement it works best if you apply a little to both sides of your joint then letting them sit for a second and then joining the two pieces together. This should stop it from being stringy, a blow dryer works well with contact cement as well. The build is coming along very nice! With that bent plank, it could have been because your clamps were too strong for that application. Shouldn’t be a big deal though, you can probably hide it or fix it later. nice work!

 

Bradley

[Mike_In_RI]

Hi Fentone, congrats on starting your ship model. I used to make those Guillows kits as well... "back in the day."

 

You're really moving along well already and it's a smart move to be posting up on MSW. There is a "Tips & Techniques" section in the forum that is worth checking out just before starting something new, i.e. painting, planking, etc. For tools, I would recommend a pair of dividers and some cheap custom clothespin clamps:

You can work out your own design but by extending the arms on the clothespins with other clothespins, there is a lot less pressure on the basswood. The balsa tips will also help avoid marring the wood and let them reach around the hull when clamping the exterior planks. The dividers are almost a must to keep a handle on the spacing and symmetry of everything. For instance it looks like the thwarts on your whaleboat are going to sit directly on top of the uppermost inner planks and two or three of the thwarts are going to sit on top of the centerboard case. The dividers can help show any areas that need adjusting before gluing.

 

Keep up the good work.

Mike

 

 

 

 

[Fentone]

Thanks once again for such help and encouragement. I will look into the dividers, I can see the big problem with my build so far is symmetry. I've seen the point of CA now, it's useful for places where it's near impossible to clamp. It does build up and leave a solid bump though. Used it for these two floor planks today: 

[Fentone]

This cheeky guy...

[Fentone]

Goes here

[Fentone]

[Fentone]

Didn't like the gap on the right, added another clamp. Please don't buckle overnight. (That's me negotiating with a model boat.)  I think I need to follow Mike's advice and have some gentler clamps alongside these.

[Mike_In_RI]

I've read that you have tried different glues. What glue are you using for general use? Some wood glues set up pretty quickly by just applying finger pressure for a minute or so as long as the bends are mild. One can use the time to think about the next piece.

[Fentone]

[Fentone]

18 hours ago, Mike_In_RI said:

I've read that you have tried different glues. What glue are you using for general use? Some wood glues set up pretty quickly by just applying finger pressure for a minute or so as long as the bends are mild. One can use the time to think about the next piece.

Gorilla wood glue (PVA) where possible. For the interior planks I'm using Gorilla Contact Adhesive as the clamps don't reach that far.

[Fentone]

Two more in place. Gaps abound.

[Keithbrad80]

Nice work getting those planks in, it’s coming along nicely! 
 

Bradley

[Fentone]

Inner plankage done.

[Fentone]

I have issues. Started the side planks too high so now have these ugly holes. The Admiral says "That's alright, those are holes to drain the water". I don't like them. But can live with them if necessary. Any solution ideas? Putty of some kind? P.s. note to self in the future: could have easily prevented this at floor planking stage by some strips on the bulkheads to raise the floor.

[Keithbrad80]

Some times the effort that goes into fixing something is more than just remaking it. Personally I would try to recut these pieces from a fresh sheet of wood but if I can’t because it would cause damage then I just use a little wood filler. There are a lot of different wood fillers out there, just find one that dries hard and can be sanded and only apply what you need. Once it dries it can be sanded and shaped just like wood, so you may want to try that. Looks good so far! 
 

Bradley

[G.L.]

I don't know how far you'll go in making the boat inventory, but there is so many equipment to put in the boat and structural parts as the thwarts a.s.o. will fill the boat as far as those gaps will be completely covered.

[Keithbrad80]

Fentone,

 

just seeing how you are doing? Would hate to see this kit shelved! Hope all is alright.

 

Bradley

[Fentone]

Not shelved at all! The next step was sanding the sort of overall curve shape to the bulkheads. It took ages! I would pick it up, do a little sanding, put it down again. There was a lot of material to take off. And that every slow unfocused approach took basically two weeks. I'm about to apply the first two outer planks, and a little confused by the instructions. Will seek out some other build logs and return.

[Fentone]

So it seems from the other build log that the instructions fail to mention that you are supposed to remove the bottom of the keel. Also if I am following the other build, I should have gone even more to a point. So I have a lot more sanding to go. I will be back!

[Fentone]

And this is why not to use a rotary tool for this job.

[Fentone]

Finally got the ends sharp, and the keel flat. I think I'm ready to start external plankage now.

[Keithbrad80]

Your frames look great! I’m sure you have done this already, but taking a piece of scrap material and holding it to the frames you will see where the sanding has left pits and ridges. It looks to me like your ready For planking!

 

Bradley

[Fentone]

I had a setback. It was time to glue the first two external planks on. I couldn't find a clamp large enough for holding these two planks. They need to be clamped all the way through the depth of the entire boat, and sort of pushed together at the same time. So I decided to use contact adhesive for the quick drying properties and hold them with my fingers, not having enough hands I had to go through each bulkhead in turn and give it a squeeze. After 20 minutes of this I squeezed a little too tight and they fell right off, and I realised they had barely adhered at all. But now the glue had set into its feeble rubbery bond and needed reapplying. I went through the whole process again for the same thing to happen. So I had a look at modeller_massa's build log for inspiration. He used rubber bands for this step. I ordered a big bag from Amazon. The next day I sanded all the CA off both surfaces and tried again using my beloved Gorilla Wood Glue and the rubber bands. Great success! P.s. I wasn't sure whether these external planks needed bevelling. There is NO mention of doing so in the instructions, and as modeller_massa appeared not to, I didn't either.

[Mike_In_RI]

Hi Fentone, nice shaping work on the bulkheads. So your first exterior hull planking job is at hand. This whaleboat is a great project to plank... not to big and fixable if things go south. 

 

Maybe you have already done this but already but, if not, please read the planking literature and tips in this site before going any further. At the top of the forum web page see >> More >> Planking Techniques. There are time proven systems to do this to get great results and avoid a lot of frustration. i.e, the better we get at pre-bending the planks, the less we need to clamp. Essentially, all the bulkheads are marked out before any planks are installed. In the case of the clinker (your model), the mating surface between the last plank installed and the next plank should be smoothed out for a better joint. Also, the fore and aft planing may need to be treated differently... check the drawings.

 

Mike