HMS Speedy by Theodosius - Vanguard Models - 1:64

[Theodosius]

Hello!

Well, what can I say more than this will be my first wooden ship model. So, I'm afraid, this will be more importend for me, to get any possible help, than for you with anything interesting new. Perhaps I can make some 'new' errors *g

 

Why Speedy?

 

I have another kit, but never started do build it. It is a collectible kit, and the more I get, the more I was dissapointed about it's quality, so never started it. But it was not only the quality of the parts, the more time I spend with it, the less appealing it was for me, because it don't look 'right' to me any more.  Spend lots of money for nothing. Lessen lerned: spend more time in research!

 

So I read more and more, and at last, I arrived at the Vanguard models. Not the cheapest, but I think here you become the most bang for the bugs, imo well worth every penny, even though I had to pay another 20% taxes for importing it.

Again, why Speedy? First, looking realy good. Then it's small, that is importend for a first timer, I think, to not run out of motivation when the problems accure, and I'm sure, they will come. And last, what I saw about this kit, it seems to me as it is well constructed, and that there is not a single place, where the 'red-pencil'(?) of saving many toked place. I like that, realy!

 

And then, here are a lot of stunning builds of this model, which provide a ton of additional information, that's why I created a new account here.

First: many thank's to Chris from Vanguard models for sending it so fast! I was very pleased about the speed, quality of the kit and the realy nice contact!

Started with Thomas Cochrane. Damn, this is a small boy! Reading about his life, I thought, he must be much bigger... 🙂

My respect to everyone who has achieved a good painting job on him.

 

Here's what I had done on him so far:

 

 

 

[Theodosius]

@SpyGlass: thank you very much for leaving a comment here :-).

Well, I think this is nither a competition nor a race ;-), only importent thing can be the joy of the building process itself, as you say! 🙂

First parts glued together, the stand:

 

Bulkheads prepared and set together:

 

Together with the decks:

 

 

Panorama view:

 

Funny to see, what skills I have to develop. I mean, it is not so easy to hold work the sanding tool of choice exactly square to the part. I see, I have a very long way to go...

 

So I'm still workin on the easy steps. Nothing glued jet, bar the stand, of course. Until here, it all fits nice together. The decks makes the bulkeads automatic square, but I will do some minir filing/sanding, so that the bulkeads are square to the keel even without the decks.

 

I read the whole instruction severel times now, and of course I have a question early in the modeling:

I understand why there nees to be a bevel on the bulkheads, and it also makes sense to me, that it is easier to get the bulk of it done before the first frames are includet, but how much?

In the other build-logs one can read: it's never enough, but be careful with the mdf.

When you are familar with this process, it is perhaps not difficult, and it is possible to repair everything, but the first time bilder I am, I'm afraid to damage something and do to much.

 

What would be great, would be a marking-line on the bulkheads, where it shows how far into the side one have to sand it down.

Perhaps that could be an idear for an beginner-improvement to the kit. I'm sure, the veterans are now loughing about me :-).

 

Thanks all for lookin in :-).

 

Edited February 23, 2021 by Theodosius
problems with the picture links...

[Rik Thistle]

Theodosius

Well done on a good start and good choice of kit.

 

I think some kits do come with a hairline indication where to sand down to. And I think at least one of the Vanguard models I have does have those markings, at least where the planking approaches the bow and stern. I'm not in the shipyard at the moment so can't check.

 

I wouldn't sand down exactly to those lines until I got to the planking stage...maybe leave 0.5+mm spare on the bulkheads so you have some meat to play with when fine tuning the contact between the planks and the bulkheads.

 

Richard

[Theodosius]

@Rik Thistle: thank's for your nice words :-)! Yes, the kit is great to build! I'm realy happy to buy a Vanguard kit and nothing else for my first time build.
Unfortunatly, there are no marks on the frames, but they would be of great help for me :-). 

 

Parts fit realy well, so it is a lot of fun to build.

But I think I'm the first here to manage breaking on of the longitudinal stringers:

 

 

Dos'nt matter in the end.

What I realy struggle with is this: beveling of the first frames without any hint how far this has to got!

I realy would appreciate a kind of marking line on the frames or the planes! Ok, perhaps only for the first time builder I am, but nevertheless :-).

This is, what I have done so far, I hope, I did'nt overdo this allready...

 

 

And an overwiev of the whole thing so far:

 

 

Thank's again for all your great support! 🙂

[Rik Thistle]

Theodosius,

 

Sorry if I mislead you about the markings. I was sure either my VM Flirt or Fifie had some indicator lines on them. Anyway, James' build of HMS Flirt ....

 (which is very similar to Speedy) has good pics of the amount of sanding required and where it is mainly needed - see his post #14.

 

Stringers - yeah, I think I broke one also but PVA'd it back together and it was fine.

 

All the best,

 

Richard

 

PS:  I've just had a read of the downloadable .pdf for my Flirt manual at   https://vanguardmodels.co.uk/product/hms-flirt-standard-edition/    ...and pg7, pic 13 says ...

" A small number of parts must now be bevelled before installation. These parts have engraving lines etched on them. Bevel bulkheads 2 and 3 that you previously removed from the MDF sheet, and also the two Bow Pattern Inner parts (17) and the two Bow Pattern Outer parts (18). These can be bevelled using either sandpaper, files or a rotary tool. For the prototype, we used a Dremel set on a safe 9000 rpm"

 

So some of the bulkhead parts do have thin engraving lines (guidelines) for bevelling on them, at least on Flirt.  And I've had a quick scan of the Speedy .pdf and it doesn't mention guidlines. Flirt was a released after Speedy so perhaps the guidlines were a new addition?

       

Edited February 28, 2021 by Rik Thistle

[Theodosius]

@Richard: you are right in every way! I read all the build-logs about Speedy and Flirt that I found, they are extremly usefull. But it is one thing to see something in a picture, and another to do it yourself. But I have to break some eggs, if I want some cookies 🙂

And what a phantastic idear to also look into the instructions of the sister-ship Flirt! The same build, but different pictures and explanations! Very helpfull! Thank's again for that very usefull hint!

@SpyGlass: Thank's for lookin in and leaving an comment! :). I read your log severly times, and it is for great help! Good idear with the black marker on the Bulkhead edges, I will do that before I start the final beleveling. Good tip with the blocks too! Need to get behind the 'Angst' and just do it 🙂

Build in the last bulkeads at the stern, sanding the top down, so that it is flush to the deck. Last, the four frames for the transom:

 

 

Pre-shaped ? between the last bulkeads. Dry fitted it and make some marks with a pencil:

 

 

The same at the bow:

 

 

I had a gab between the lower deck and the bulkhead nr. three, so I cut a smal strip of wood to stiffen this out. I'm sure, this was not neccessary, but because I have to do the bulk of the beleveling later, I wanted all the strength that I can get.

Of course I had not think about this enough, because part nr. 20 did'nt fit anymore, so I had to cut out there an edge for my trip.

 

 

Last, I glued the main deck in. To provide power in the middle of it, as suggested by the instructions, I placed some larger strips on it and clamp them down. You can see, that they are in the air at the edges, and have contact/pressure in the middle. Don't wanted to put nails in there:

 

 

 

Run out of the larger clamps, so I need to use the smaller ones at the stem and stern, should be ok, I hope:

 

 

Now, at least 24h to dry, and then I have to belevell all the frames. The first task, I have a little bit respect for, because this defines how the planking will go, wich I'm most afraid of...

 

Kind regards.

[Rik Thistle]

Theodosius,

 

For those of us who haven't built model ships before it can, at times, be a bit of a steep leaning curve. But if it was easy then it wouldn't be a challenge nor would the sense of achievement on completion be as great 😉

 

You'll soon be approaching 'the planking stage' ...and that's another whole set of new but interesting challenges...

 

The 1st planking layer provides a base (for the 2nd planking layer) that follows the contours of the hull determined by the bulkhead sizes and bevelling. You can get away with a lot of 'tweaking' on that 1st layer since it will eventually be covered by the 2nd layer. Some things to look out for on the 1st layer are...

 

- as you have noted the bulkheads (by sanding) determine the path the 1st layer planks take.

- some of those 1st layer planks will need bending and twisting to follow the bulkheads path . This is achieved by heating the planks so that they permanently take on the necessary shape/path. 

- the 1st layer planks need thinning at their bow and stern ends, Otherwise the thickness of the 1st and 2nd layer planks, when added together, is much greater than the keel thickness. Basically you want both layers of planking to blend in smoothly to the keel.

- Some of the 1st layer planking will not only need bending, but also tapering at the bow and stern ends otherwise the accumulative width of the planks will add up to more than the depth of the hull at the ends. You might also find that even with maximum bending and tapering you still have visible gaps between planks - these gaps can be filled in with mini planks cut to fill in those gaps (I think they are called Stealers).

 - Then you glue the planks on. I'm still juggling ideas as to the best way to keep the planks in place whilst the glue dries. I believe the optimal solution is to make sure the planks are perfectly bent to their path so that they sit unaided in the correct position allowing PVA glue and 30 seconds of finger pressure to achieve a perfect fixing....I've a little ways to go on that one 😉

- Finally, the 2nd layer, which is usually quite a bit thinner than the 1st layer (so easier to twist and bend) is added and can be given a smooth sanded finish and even a coat of paint.

 

That was just a brief planking heads-up. Feel free to post questions...there are many others on here that understand 'planking' far better than I do and will jump in.

 

Regards,

 

Richard

 

 

Edited February 28, 2021 by Rik Thistle

[Theodosius]

@SpyGlass: thank's for the hint about the transom frames. I was cearful enough to not break them :-).
And thank you for your planking-advices, they're much appreciated 🙂

 

@Richard: thank you too so much for your very helpfull and informatife planking-tips! I'm sure, they will be of great help for me!
Yeah, it's not the easy way, but, atleast until now, very satisfactory :-). I don't know jet how to comment more to your great advices, because, I just have no idear, but time will tell, I'm sure of :).

Let the transom soak water for 30min, as by the instructions, and clamp it on a bottle of paint:

 

 

It could dry out for the night, but that was not sufficient.

Again, 30min hot water, and then it was again completly flat!??  Nevertheless,  now I put it on a glass with smaller diameter:

 

 

That worked better. Infact, it was slightly more bend now, than was needed:

 

 

I clamped the sternpost to the false keel and glue that pice in place:

 

 

 

PROBLEM: I realy managed to put it slightly out of its needed place. Perhapw 1/10 of an mm 😞

 

 

 

 

 

 

So the overall shape of the two-part-transom is not perfect, as is the hole for the sternpost and the rudder. I hope, that filing/sanding can solve this. I need to make the hole on side a little bit wider. Should not be a problem, because the planking is still left.

 

Can I fix it this way?

 

Thank you all for your great help!

 

Kind regards

[Rik Thistle]

Theodosius,

 

Yes, the transom needs to be bent around something with a smaller radius to get the required curve, as you did on the 2nd go.

 

PROBLEM: I realy managed to put it slightly out of its needed place. Perhapw 1/10 of an mm

I wouldn't think 0.1mm is an issue at all.

 

The rudder hole is a little off centre but I don't think that is too much of a worry. You can slightly sand it out to make it more central. Main thing is to make sure that the other items in that area (rudder etc) can pass through the hole OK. Once the ship is finished no one will notice a slight imperfection.

 

Just to be clear, I'm no expert myself...still a noobie 😉 ....and I make loads of mistakes as I work my way through a build. Part of ship building 'fun' is solving the puzzles of how to correct my mistakes so that no one can tell they happened.

 

One way of judging the effect of a mistake is to read further through the manual to see what happens in the area of the mistake ...it may be that another part is fitted over the mistake so no worries, or the other part can be sanded to compensate.

 

Richard

 

[Theodosius]

@Rick Thistle: Hello Richard, thank's so much for your support! Yeah, as my old coach alsways sayed: make **** a hit :-).
I read the manual, a lot. In fact, both of them, as you suggested to do, but that's not enough. Experience is importend, to become a feeling, for what is better to fix, and what can be just made unseen with later steps :-). So I like all the advices from you all more experienced builders 🙂

 

@SpyGlass: Thanks for your hints! And I just give it a try to redo it :-).

 

I wanted to try to rip it apart, and glue them again in a better position.

It's still early in the build, and I just wanted to know if it is possible to disconnect a glued joint.

 

You say it is possible, with Iso Propyl Alcohol. Well, I don't have any of this, but I thought I give it a try with white spirit.

And that worked too! I don't know if it work as good as the iso, but nevertheless, it worked.

Again, not that good I had wished, but I can only learn to improve my skills.

 

First, I tried to remove the upper transom. That worked quite well, I had good access to the glued areas.

The lower transom was challenging, because I can't reach the inner glued areas. Tryed my best, but managed to slightly damage the last bulkhead. But in this area, that should not be a problem.

 

As you can see in the pictures, I have more lessons to learn:

Use less glue!

Be more carefull!

Be more precise!

Check more before gluing anything!

 

Here are the pictures:

During the ripp-off-process:

 

 

Lower stearn, heavy cleaning required:

 

 

The small frames, also in need for cleaning and removal of to much uesd glue:

 

 

Perhaps it had worked better with Iso Propyl Alcohol. Will buy some of this for the future.
Next task will be to clean up the ripped of parts and glue them again to the ship. Perhaps this time then in the correct positions.

Because the loosing of the parts with the white spirit worked good, I think about to glue the stern pice in place before I put on the two transom parts again. And afterthat de-join the sterm again.

Dunno at the moment.

 

Kind regards and agin thank you all very much for your help!
 

[Theodosius]

@SpyGlass: ok, thank's it is now on my 'to-buy-list' 🙂

Parts prepared for the next try:

 

 

Glued the sternpost in place, with only two very small amounts of wood-glue. Used two strips of wood to secure it is parallel to the kiel:

 

 

 

But for what exactly? For some reasons, wich I don't know yet, I came out through the false deck not exactly in the middle:

 

 

In the end I could have called the first try a day and worked from there on, because I will not build up the frames again to search this IMO very small imperfektion.

Or do you think I need to search the reason for this imperfection? I'm sure they will add up, but, I don't think I would be able to build with more precission now, I need much more practice to became more familliar with wood, but even then I'm not sure if I will do this better in the future. 

 

Thank you all for you help and kind regards!
 

[Theodosius]

@SpyGlass, thank's a lot for your help! Yes, something on my ship is crooked, even if I don't know exactly what, lol 🙂
Yeah, of course only blame on me, the kit is phantastic! :). You are absolutly right with your hint for the sanding of the afterwards bulwarks...

Glued the two-part-transom again to the ship:

 

 

 

 

It is not 100% symetrical and I don't know why, but I have to live with that now. Lerning courve of a first time model, I think, äh, hope 🙂 

Startet fairing(?) the hull:

 

 

 

Runt out of this cosmetic sanding stics. They work realy well for this, but they are used very fast.

So here is still plenty to do:

 

 

I wanted to check the upper part with the preformed bulwarks. To have some kind of a fix point to start with, I put the stem temporarily in place:

 

 

You see, that on the right side of the ship, I'm nearly at the rabbet with the bulwarks and fillers.
On the side I have sandet now, there is a bit more distance to the rabbet. Perhaps I have allready done to much with the sanding sticks?

 

And this is the photo because I made this entry in my log, even though I wanted first to build more, to show more, but I'm not sure if this is right!?

 

You see that big gap on the left side between the false keel and the upper stem part?

 

Can that be right that way? Is the 'air' just my rabbet, that I have to fill with planks?

 

Or does my inner stem peace (with the pre-cut rabbet) just doe's not fit right?

 

Thanks again for all your help!

 

Kind regards!

[Theodosius]

@SpyGlass: thanks for the pictures, and the link to your old log, that was of great help! 🙂

 

Stem-peace now fits as the instuctions. Problem I had: some bubbles of excess glue, where the stem should go in. That was great :).

 

Next, I sanded more, so that the planks will fit. Still dunno, if it is ok, but I will see I guess.

 

And here are the next problems:

 

I managed to break the steam-peace the second time now. Allways, when I fit the bullwarks in and bend them further to the hull.

So I have pictures of the actual dry-fit, äh, wet-fit, because the bulwarks are soaked with hot Water.

I did this without the stem-peace, because it is broken at the moment, I still did not glue it for the second time.

 

Nevertheless, here is my problem and question:

 

While I get a good fit at the hight of the deck, and on the upper-side of the bullwarks:

 

 

I have a gap at every of the first few bulwarks, when I look from the underside. Sure, they are curved, and the bulwark-ply is flat:

 

 

Buuut,  when I simulate nails with my fingernails, I become waves:

 

 

What is wrong, what can I do?

 

Thanks for your help

 

and kind regards

[Rik Thistle]

Theodosius,

 

Remember that your bulwarks will be planked, twice. So any 'waves' will be long gone by the time you have sanded the thick 1st planking, and then added the 2nd planking. Get a plank out of the box and place it on the bulwark to get a feel for what I'm talking about.

 

The 'waves' are perhaps caused by the bulkheads sitting slightly inwards of the deck. I guess you could flatten the waves out by adding thin wooden shims along the bulkhead edges...but to be honest it's probably not worth doing.

 

Note - You are dealing with wooden parts that are laser cut to a tolerance (eg +/- 0.05mm?) and that these parts sometimes mate up with sanded parts. So you will never get joints etc that are within 0.025mm accuracy.

 

Also, wood shrinks and expands during the day so, all in all, minor misalignments are not usually an issue, unless a later part needs to accurately slot in between two or thee parts that were glued together the previous week..... then some corrective action may be required, as when Spyglass recommended you may have an obstruction (excess glue?) sitting in a groove.

 

I think you're doing fine and asking lots of good questions...pretty similar to ones I was thinking about when I started my ship building hobby last summer 😉

 

Regards,

 

Richard

 

 

 

 

[DelF]

I was also concerned by 'waves' in the gun port pattern, but as Richard and SpyGlass said it turned out fine - see here.

[Theodosius]

@Richard, hello, thank's so much! Read your log again, and that gave me enough motivation to try it again
But I'm still not happy with that building step. For my taste the gunport-patterns are just to high. If they were just a little bit less high, it would not be neccessary to bend them round down the bulkheads.
I know that this is done, so it is strong enough to let you rip out the bulkheads above the deck without the chance to rip the strip out again.

@SpyGlass: thank you too! I had made another try to bend it further. Problem: once it is wet again, the old bend is all gone. But I used your hint with that additional strip to get a smother curve. More details together with the fitting pictures 🙂

 

@Delf: Also many thanks! So I decidet to just ignore the waves and just take them 🙂 
 

 

 

Well, I could bend the gunport-strips in some fancy way:

 

 

But because of the distance to the bulkheads, and also, the curve of the top is not nice, I decided to bend them again.

I could read in all your logs, that it is ok, to make more rounds until it is fine.

 

Problem: The moment I put one of the strips into the hot water, all old curve was gone emidiatly, and they were all flat again. Sh*t!

 

But now, in the water, the old bending gone, I need to go forward:

 

 

Nailed the down-side to the bulkheads, even though there were smal waves, as you said, that does'nt matter at all

On the upper-side, I added a stript of wood, to get a smoother curve:

 

 

Worked not out as intendet, there is still not a smoth curve on the upper side:

 

 

Now it is all dry again, I removed all clamps and the tape in the front:

 

 

 

 

Now I'm tempted to yust glue it in place as it is now, because I'm afraid that, if I remove the nails, perhaps after that it won't fit that close again? So, were it ok, to just aply glue now? Or did I need to pull it away to aplay glue more inbetween the joints?

 

But then I rely don't like how the curve at the top works out and I don't know how to fix that.

I read, perhaps, after it is glued and dried, wet it again, so that it can bend more naturaly, when I don't clamp it then.

I can ignore it now, but I'm sure, that the rail on top will not fit that way!

 

What do you think?

 

I'm a little bit frustrated, because when I read all your nice blogs again, nobody seems to had that much difficulty with that part. If the gun-pattern were just not that high, so that they did not need that curvatur when the bulkheads started to became realy round, it would be so much easier. At last for me, lol

 

Before the last wet-bending attemt, I looked in my workshop and searched for wood strips, I nearly had started to just plank that area with normals trips instead of the plywood-patterns. But that does'nt feel 'right' 😞

 

Again, thank's alot for your help, this is much appreciated!

 

Kind regards

[Rik Thistle]

Theodosius,

 

Regarding the 'waves', if you look at where the bulwarks follow the deck, there are no waves. But where the bulwark rests against the bulkhead tabs there are waves. This is particularly noticable at the foremost bulkhead tab.

Maybe that tab needs a bit more sanding - however, as you note, the tabs will later be snapped off so the bulwark waves will not be so prominant, and probably fade away over a few hours.

 

Richard

[Theodosius]

frustration and demotivation raises dramatically!

@Richard: thank's again for giving me good suggestions! I let the ply always dry completly in the clamped position, and then, the waves did not fade away if I snaped them in the stem-peace and clamp them only on the down-side, so that there is no force at the upper side.
Perhaps it can work to wet the upperside again, when it is glued to get the waves out. I read that in one of the Speedy/Flirt-Manuals here.

 

@SpyGlass: snap it in doe'snt help, it's a pitty, so I'm still at the wet-clamp-let-dry-again proccess. And when it is dry, and this is fascinating to see: the bulwark stay even in the most funny curvings :). The problem is easy discribed: clamp the wet wood exactly in the form you will need it...

1. Now I also managed to break one bulkhead above the deck becaus of all the ever again clamping, pressing and tugging to get a usabl fit. And as I can see now in the macro, the  position is to much inwards

 

 

2. Read all your nice blogs again, and also the instruction manuals. In the picture there, there are only clamps at every second frame.

I thought, I try that also, perhaps then I bekome a smothe courve at the upperside:

 

 

And again nails on the underside:

 

 

As you can see, where I did'nt drive the nail completly into the bulkhead, I have a gab, because there is so much pressure needet.

But, all in all, this, now fifths, attempt was not better than my others before:

 

 

Now the wafes at the top are even worse, and I'm not sure if I ever get the top-rail(?) fittet as intendet, with this line of my plywood:

 

 

What I can aim, at the moment, is this: I can get a workable fit at the upperside of the bly OR at the underside, but not on both because of the curves of the bulheads.

Unfortunatly I came to the same conclusion again: these plywood sheets are just to wide to get them confortable to the curve of the hull AND the curve of the bulkheads.

Well, at least for my actual nowlegde of wood-working

 

Kind regards!

[Rik Thistle]

Theodosius,

 

1) I see in this pic...

...that the Bow end of the bulwark isn't tight up against the deck level. I wonder if you need to consider doing a little more sanding of all the parts the bulwarks are glued to? I also wonder if the Stem Post isn't fully seated into the deck notch?

 

2) And as Spyglass has mentioned, you need to interlock the front ends of the two bulwarks before the glue has set hard so that the two bulwarks support each other, at least at the bow.

 

3) I suspect the bulwarks have become a bit warped with all the reheating, exacerbating the 'wave' appearance. The bulwark plywood , as you note, is made of three (?) thin veneers glued with their grains at 90 deg to each other. With all the reheating that glue will have softened and the veneers will perhaps taken up  different relative positions when cooled.  If you do decide to remove the bulwarks again perhaps try ironing them flat and letting them completely cool down so that they remain flat before trying to get them to curve with more heat.

 

4) I still feel that at the end of the day, once the planking that goes on the inside (one layer) and outside (two layers) of the bulwarks, the bulwarks will take the curve of the planking and the 'waves' will be insignificant.

 

And don't forget to take a break of a day or two here and there ;-)... a change of scenery works wonders for recharging the batteries and clearing the mind 🙂

 

Richard

[Theodosius]

Some progress and many thanks to all your patience with me!

@Richard: thank's again for your great tips and advices! Well, yes, the ply is not against the deck, you are right! Id does'nt hold this position without nails or clamps, and yes, in this picture the Stem Post is not fully snapped to the slot. The bulwarks press it out a little bit, because it is not glued in the picture.
I hope, that I have a 'ok' fit now, but both sides are not identical, I have seen now, after it was glued (of course...), perhaps I still shoud add some wood again, but I describe later in the post :).
 

Yeah, a break is always a good idear, that's so right! I also need to know what I want to try next, otherwise it will not work out anyway, but it is good, that you remind me of that :-). It should be fun an joy, otherwise something went wrong... 🙂

 

@SpyGlass: thank's alot for the pictures! As you said, I concentrated now on the top curve, and the bottom will be sanded out, that seems to be the way for me to get it sorted out

I think that I'm in the slot kompletly with the stem-post, but I might be wrong. On starboard it seems to be spot on:

 

 

Port sid, I might have already put away to much material:

 

 

I formed the gunport-strips more with my fingers, broke one on one gunport-opening and, last, glued it to the frames. If I can't get it to work, I can still ripp it apart again, can't I?

Funny thing: the perhaps half a mm misaligned broken bulkhead helps a lot to let the ply run more smoth on the upper side:

 

 

Slot at the Stem: as high as possible, still a very smal gap, but I think that's fine:

 

 

Underside, of course, still very warped:

 

 

 

And perhaps I should have added some wood to get it flush with the stem, but the stem is now glued in, and it's a bad position to sand.

Talking about that, because I need to file the waves away, and later on, I'm sure the planking will require also a lot on sanding, I'm thinking about to rip the stem just under the gunport-strips apar, to better sand in that area. But still don't know jet, if that is nessecary.

To ilustrate what I mean:

 

 

Ok, now the port-side is glued, buuut (I wait for my first post without a 'but', lol), because I was not able to bend the 'pipe' into that ply to follow the bulkheads, I have a small gab between the upper-side of the ply and all the frames:

 

 

At least, the curve following the hull is somewhat ok now...

Okay, I can glue the upperside of the ply to the bulwarks, in replace I get again some waves on the upper side.

But my question is this:

 

Will the ply not anyway snap again in the flat position, when I have to remove the bulkheads from the inside?

 

I'm sure, the ply would hold the 'pipe' if I had to apply one additional layer of planks to th outside, but that does'nt happen as per the instructions. 

There will be only planks up to the marks of the main wale, and this is not higer than the deck, so will be of no help.

Or will the ply hold also the 'pipe'-form around the bulwarks, if they are only long enough glued in this position?

If so, I'm sure will glue the pattern the whole way up to all the bulwarks!

Best part of it is, the upper-curve now is acceptable:

 

 

Kind regards

[Theodosius]

At least, I had some success 🙂

@SpyGlass: thank you! That's great, so I also glued the ply on the top, to get the 'pipe'-form around the bulkheads. This wil last until the first layer of planks is done, so I think this will be plenty of time 🙂

Sure, the aft-parts of the gunport-patterns do'nt need to be as much bend as the forward parts, but there is still the 'pipe', because of the bulwarks-form. In fact, at the last frames it is quite a curve, that is needed.

 

So I thought, this time, I will not only try to bend it on the framework with just nails and clamps, instead I try to apply the pipe-form with a heat-bending-tool, before I clamp and nail the parts:

 

 

 

 

Only clamped and nailed, not glued, to let it dry in the needet position:

 

 

 

 

 

I'm realy happy, that this turned out so well 🙂

Thank you all for your help and

 

kind regards!

[Theodosius]

Finaly, the gunport-patterns are all installed!

 

Not as good as I hoped, but they should work. There is a slightly cure at the end of the bulwarks, but that should be ok, when the frames are out, and the planks came in.

 

In retrospective, I should have sanded the upper transom a little bit more, so that they would have come a little bit more inwards at the top, then there would be no curve on the upper side of the bulwarks.

 

What I'm realy happy about is, that the aft ply follow the curve of the bulkheads. There is still too much respect for about everything, to make something wrong or to damage somethin. This should go away, the more I build and work with wood.

 

Some pictures:

 

 

 

 

Kind regards!

[Theodosius]

@SpyGlass and @whitejames: thank's a lot for your thumbs up! 🙂

Just in case I will sand the ply to much because of my waves, I glued some wood strips behind them. And you can see, that the nail in the first bulkhead hat split the mdf. So he could not hold the ply in it's position and there is a small gap to the bulkhead. But the planking stuff should be thick enough:

 

 

Then I prepared my very first plank with taper and twisting as per the instructions:

 

 

Glued in place. You can see from the shadows, how uneven my ply is:

 

 

The aft part is slightly better:

 

 

In fact, I was realy pleased how this worked out! And to see, if it was only by accident, and because I don't want to bore you with a single plank, I installed five for this post:

 

 

 

Not as good as I had wished, but after sanding, it should be ok. The macros showes the reality:

 

 

 

All in all, until now, I have fun with the planking process. Ok, the difficult places are still to come, but nevertheless there is a lot of motivation back :-).

 

I use to much glue, practice will help, and it takes realy a lot of time. Not so much the bending and shaping, but the soak process. 30 min by the instruction, and because I did'nt have a big enough vessel for the whole plank, I need 2x30 min for the front and the aft part.

To fasten this up, the last plank had a reduced time of only 20min per side, and that also works for me :-).

 

Next post will take some time, I will at least half the hull or even more finished, before I post again. Unless, there are new problems, of course *lol

 

Thanks for lookin into this and

 

kind regards.

 

[Theodosius]

@SpyGlass: hell yes, my bath! a fresh load of boiling water and I can easely double the price of that model... *g

But you are right, if that *censored* corona-lock-down will dissapear, I will by me a sufficient vessel for this. A pipe might be a good idear 🙂

 

Halfway through the first planking, more ore less.

 

Until now, there are no new problems. 

But I have to fight with some bad preparation, mostly, bad beveling(?) of the bulkheads.
I can see that in the lines.

Then, I can realy manage to not bend a smoth curve into the plank but to have some kinks in there.
Ok, with the sanding, that should be to manage, but, the less afterwork is needed, the better it is, is'nt it?

 

I'm still not unhapy with my first attemps in planking, but it shows realy how importend the preperation of the bulkheads is.
Of course, I checked the lines with a plank during that process, but, obviously, that was'nt good enough.

 

Also I understand now, why you want to lay out your boat for planking. 
And it makes perfekt sense to me, that you better start with a more sientific approach and mark the numnber of planks to every bulkhead to get more exact data about how much taper a plank need at what point of its length.

Here, I did it all by eye, and the outcome is some kind of wavy lines of the planks and I will not encounter the kiel with parallel planks.

 

But, as a form of self-deception, I say to me, that most of this will be covered by copper plates. And of course, first it will be coverd by the second planking. But if that don't sit well enough, well, then it will be very prominent, that this was a first time builder's work...

 

Ok, enough ramblings, pictures of my now 14 planks:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I will start sanding first, when the planking is complete. Funny fact: there is already a chocolate-side, even when I switched inbetween the side to start, the chocolate-side remains the same *lol

 

Thank's for lookin in and

 

kind regards
 

[Theodosius]

@whitejamest: thank you very much for your thumbs up 🙂

 

@SpyGlass: I was thinking alot about your advice to look for a better fitting vessel to soak my planks :-). I came up with a thermos!

Water is longer hot, and then I found out, that the time I need to bend a plank with the electrical plank bender was normaly quite short. At least much shorter than the soaking took place. So, after about 10min of soaking time, I put in another plank into the thermos. Than one was fully soaked, when I finishid the first one.
Don't konw if anybody can understand what I'm saying here *lol*. At least, it speed(y)s up the process for me :-). And how's your second planking going? 🙂

Ok, I'm done with the first planking. In some aspekts it works better than I had hoped for, and in others it was worse than exprected. Classical newbi process, I think :-).

 

You can find one plank, that I have broken two times. I found out, that I can bend the planks with the electrical blank bender even without any soaking of water, just with the heat alone. IF I am careful. Well, I was'nt carefull enough with that one, but from there on going, was very fast.

 

And here are the pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Again, thank's a lot for lookin into this!
 

[Rik Thistle]

Theodosius,

 

That first planking is looking very good, and you've got lot of neatly tapered planks at the bow and stern...impressive.  I bet you got a nice buzz from looking at the that hull after all the hard work 🙂

 

When you are sanding that 1st planking in preparation for the 2nd planking make sure you thin down the stern 1st planking to almost nothing....that way the 2nd planking  will blend in to the keel thickness.

 

Richard

 

 

[Theodosius]

@AJohnson, @BenD: thank you both for your thumps up, much appreciated! 🙂

 

@Rik Thistle: thank you very much for your kind words! You are right, I was realy proud of my first planking, even though it has it's faults :-). 
I will keep in mind, that I need to sand it so much down! It's not only quite time consuming, but also very strenuous *lol*

During the planking, I discovered, that I have a fairly big dent on one of the frames:

 

 

 

You can see, that I don't sand that bulkhead to much, because there is still a lot of the lasering to see.

It is also full in the slot of the keel. Otherwise I would have had problems to fit the deck. And you can see from the side, that the distance to the top of the keel is the same as there is on the bulkheads left and right.

 

I think, that I manage to somehow get a twist in the whole structure during all my wett/dryfit processes of the forward gunport pattern. I had also some problems to fit the stern the right way.

Nevertheless, when I saw that problem, the next planks become a strip of wood on that bulkhead.

Of course it would have been much better to faire the hull better in the first place, but then I was not able to do a better job. Just a learning process, I hope:

 

 

 

I stopped much to early with this, as I could see during the sanding:

 

 

I applied a few more strips of wood. I did this also on the aft gunportpattern, where I thought it would be helpfull:

 

 

 

And the same areas after some more sanding:

 

 

 

The additional strips could have been a little bit longer, and there is some more sanding required, but I think this will work! 🙂

In fact, I'm realy pleased with the actual look (only one side in process):

 

 

 

 

 

You see, I also needed to protect the stern with tape, as I alredy managed to sand it to much:

 

 

Don't know jet how to fix that the best way, will look at this again, when all the sanding is finished.

Thank's a lot for lookin in!

[Rik Thistle]

Theodosius,

 

 

Very practical and clever solution to the problem. I see you tried putting packing under some earlier planks but the pic above is the 'no messing about now' solution.

 

And the resultant sanded finish is perfect. And you've still to add the 2nd planking to make it even better 😉

 

You're on a roll now....well done.

 

Richard

 

 

 

[Theodosius]

@VTHokieEE, @Bend, @SpyGlass: thank you three very much for your thumbs up, comes just the right way now

@Rik Thistle: Richard, thank's for the now much needed motivation *lol*. Yes, I'm in a roll now, and I can see allready the next big steps

@SpyGlass: thank you too! Yes, I realise the 'very thin' problem, and at the moment, I struggle a little bit with this :). But, how's you're second planking going?

I fell like I'm a little bit exhaustet from the sanding!

 

Not the sanding generally, because the sanding to smoothen the hull is quite satisfieing, but the sanding to just thin down the stern!

I mean: the stern and deadwood(?) is 3mm wide. Add 2 times the planking stuff of each at 1.5mm.

Thats 6mm. Now, sand it down to 1.5... ??

 

I know I know, thats just model building 🙂

Also, I'm not a native speaker, so it's very easy for me to not hit the right sound.

And I don't want this to be a rant, I'm just a little bit tired of sanding the stern

 

That's how it looks now (my broken planks are now quite prominent :-)):

 

 

 

From keel to the point where it realy starts to get bulky, I ran from 1.9 to 2.5mm

The problem is, that I don't want a dent after a cm or so, just to get the 1.5mm. I want the lines to come down in the lines of the hull down to the 1.5mm. That means, I need to sand more length of the planks than just only the last short part. 

The whole area need to be thinned out, and, as you can see in the pictures obove, I allready left symetry. I am to inexperienced to get that right if I need to remove so much stuff.

 

Or, perhaps I'm just doin this the wrong way!?

 

Just out of curiosity, and I started collecting the dust not from the start, and no ply-dust:

 

 

 

 

Last picture shows a complete new plank. I needed 16 strakes and made the last of leftovers, because I thought this would be easier to adapt. So I have three spares.

Because I did'nt collect all the sawdust, I can say, I sanded 4 complete planks to dust, and I'm still not finished jet. I know, I added additional strips because of my bulkhead-problem.

 

I'm still enjoing to build the model, and I will add another sanding session sometime soon.

 

Thank you all for lookin in!

[Theodosius]

@SpyGlass, @CishoH, thank you both very much for your thumbs up! 🙂

@SpyGlass: again, thank you very much! It does'nt feel that great, but maybe the pictures are a bit on the postive 🙂

Hope you feel better now, and that you can go on with your own build! :). I have also used a flexible sandig strip, but not a self-made one, just the women-cosmetic ones. They work great, IMO.

Your idear how to check symmetry was great! I did this, and it seems to be ok now, but the real test still to come.

Started the second planking.

 

As usual, the stern-area first (stern-rudder?-post just for the look of it, not glued jet):

 

 

 

I see in the pictures, that there is some more sanding required. Why don't that wonder me? 🙂

 

And, and that also seems to be very common: the question of the questions:

 

to caulk or not to caulk... *lol

 

You can see, that my first try is with a caulking simulation, but realy, I'm undecided yet if I like it or not.

It is more prominent than I thought. But, that is not the final finish. I would like to apply linseed-oil on the pear-wood.

That would change the colour and the coulking a lot, I think. But I'm afraid, if I add the oil now, the glue on the sides will not work properly.

 

Best way would be to make a small plking example with caulking and oil, but I don't know how many spare-strips of the pear is in the kit, and how many I will kill during the second planking.

Perhaps somebody with a finished Speedy can give me a hint if I can spend one plank for tests!?

 

Thank's all for your help!