Half Hull Planking Kit by Mike_In_RI - FINISHED - NRG - 1:48

[Mike_In_RI]

In dire need of planking & spiling practice before tackling the next project, I was so pleased to come across NRG 18th-Century Merchantman Half-Hull Planking Kit .

 

Actually, this project was started just after last Christmas as a present (to myself) and is now just about finished except for the mounting. I knew I would be dragging this one out because I would be experimenting  with different wood, adhesives, wood bending, finishing, etc. and wanted all that to be done on one model rather than one model at a time. That being said, there would be large gaps in posting the log of a relatively small kit.

 

 

 

Mike

[Mike_In_RI]

... 12-23-20

The completed half hull logs logs on this site were a huge help in avoiding pitfalls and I especially followed Toni's half hull log.

 

The kit wood and single sheet plan were great and the only real issue to deal with at the beginning was the laser burn through on the bulkhead bases that unavoidably cause an off square angle. In that the bases are to be glued to the plan, they will affect the outside alignment of the bulkheads. They were squared up on the disc sander taking off the least amount of wood possible.

 

Half bulkheads are awkward to stack up for a preview of their fairing. Frames E through 4 are aligned at the same level into the keelson. So (fingers crossed) 3m "permanent" 2 sided tape was used on the cutting mat to to get a first look at how the bulkhead base geometry will affect the outside of the bulkhead alignment. In this case the C D E group would need adjusting. 

 

 

 

 

The tape worked quite well for about 20 minutes before the bulkheads tipped over.

 

 

 

[Mike_In_RI]

...12-23-20

A similar method was used to check the top rail alignment with the plan without gluing the bulkheads to the plan and keelson just yet. Two rows of an easy release masking tape were put on the plans and two rows of 2 sided tape attached to that. This shot includes the  F through 5 bulkheads.

 

 

 

This method worked well for me. No shims were need on any F through 5 bulkheads bulkheads. However I apparently lifted E too high which caused a bulge near the top of the rail. Shims were needed on Gb, 5a and 4a which could not be included in this method.

 

Mike

Edited March 15, 2021 by Mike_In_RI

[Mike_In_RI]

... 12-24-20

The masking and 2 sided tape are now removed so ready to start work. The rabbet marked out, scored at the appropriate angles then cut in with a 1/4" sharp chisel.

 

... 12-25-20 Merry Christmas

The plan was spray glued to 1/4" MDF. I was worried that the hull detachment from the plan would be difficult so the stem, keel and stern post were only spot glued (PH neutral PVA) while the "base" contact area of the bulkhead to the plan was completely but thinly glued. The stiffening blocks and transom were added.

 

 

Of course, a few bulkheads were off and shims were needed at Gb.....

 

.... the lower part of 4a and 5a

 

Any tips, correction or comments are always welcome.

Mike

 

 

Edited March 17, 2021 by Mike_In_RI

[Mike_In_RI]

...12-30-2020

This was my favorite tool throughout the project. I made three different lengths. The thin edge is 1/32" wide and had 220 grit sandpaper glued to it. In this case it is used to sand the keel rabbet only on one surface at a time while twisting it a bit to blend the rabbit from the flat angle aft to more steep angles going forward.

 

Based on Toni's advice in his project, the garboard plank butt joint is placed at frame A.

 

A word about butt joints. I learned 6 or so planks too late that it's very easy to over sand the end of a plank and not notice it until after it is glued. When the next plank goes on top, there is that gap. From there on, I tried to sand dead even or a little high. Then, with the thin sanding plane, get it even with the joining plank.

 

To avoid the planking "smiley face" effect, the fore end of the garboard plank was place as shown.

 

Now that I'm zooming in on the shots, I see top of the garboard, just a little back from the stem, should have been shaved down to allow a little wider broad plank.... reinforcing  my choice to do a practice project. 🙄

 

Thank you guys for the likes.

Mike

 

Edited March 21, 2021 by Mike_In_RI

[Mike_In_RI]

... 1-1-21 Happy New Year! Thank you for the likes. I really appreciate your checking in.

 

The best way to make 3 mistakes is to do it all at once and get it over & done. Maybe I worked on this on New Years eve but when I looked at it in the morning I see a butt position is wrong, a bulge at frame A and giant flat area on the fore broad plank. Out comes the razor saw and the evidence is destroyed. No one will know. 🧐

 

Titebond is used only at the frames. I try to avoid glue squeeze out on adjacent planks so no collateral damage.

 

...01-06-21

The belts were laid out as closely as I could following Toni's project. The thread is tacked lightly to keep it in place. The white tape is cut to width for the wales. However, at this point I really didn't understand where and how the wales should intersect the aft most frame and the counter.

 

The wood used is from inventory. I'm trying to learn the working properties of bass, box and AYC regarding bending, shaping, finish, etc.

 

Before getting to the aft stealer, for my own clarity, I drew up my understanding of Toni's planking layout.

 

.. 1-10-21

I tried using thread to layout the aft stealer lines but did not get smooth curves. I decided to make one larger plank and split the stealer off.

 

Larger plank piece to be cut in two.

 

Some dressing up needed after cutting out the stealer.

 

 

Note the change from basswood to yellow cedar in the above shot.

 

Mike

 

 

Edited March 21, 2021 by Mike_In_RI

[Mike_In_RI]

... 1-11-21

 

The first belt is finished. The method i have used up now is the same that Toni used in his project. i.e. apply masking tape to the frames, mark the tape, apply the tape to the wood and cut out the plank a little large. Then, trim to finish. (Toni's Post #31). This method worked fine for me from stem to stern on belt one where the final quality of the fit became a matter of time (and wood) spent.

 

 

It's hard to see in this shot but gaps are showing at G & Ga in spite a Ga already having a shim.

 

... 01-14-21

I've yet to develop a good eye for fairing the tricky frames. 🧐

Note the last plank in this belt straddles the stern and counter.

 

Mike

Edited March 21, 2021 by Mike_In_RI

[Mike_In_RI]

1-15-21

Between the first and second belts, I practiced bending planks laterally instead of cutting them to shape. I like this method. As long as the upper edge of the lower planks have been smoothed, the lower edge of the next plank above can snug up nicely with very little pressure. Notwithstanding, there is a limit of how much a plank can be bent laterally.

 

For my electronics hobby, I use a temperature controlled heat gun typically used for soldering surface mount devices. A temporary jig was made to do bending tests of bass, box and AYC in the lateral direction. Side stiffeners were a must to prevent warping. The jig worked well enough to make version 1.1 for the next project.

 

This is just a simple bending test of DRY 3/64" x 15/64" x 6" bass vs AYC vs box in the above jig.

The dry bass and AYC bend about the same while the box is is less bendable.

The same pieces were bent again after a 5 minute soak in room temperature water.

All three pieces increased their bend when using water. Especially the bass.

 

Using heat bent bass with light clamping. For minor bending, just finger pressure is needed.

 

Mike

[Mike_In_RI]

... 1-19-21       Thank you Ryland for the like. Much appreciated.

The wale finally goes in. Still uncertain of the where/how the upper edge of the wale should align with the counter and transom, I took the ques from from Toni's project. In this case, right or wrong, the the upper edge of the wale is in line with the lower edge of the curved shape of the transom. Once the counter is planked, there should be enough material for the next plank up, to be blended in with the counter and transom planks.

 

Temporary battens were put in for the 3rd belt planks to land on.

 

Finally, the wale is in.

 

I held off marking belt 3 until the wale was in.

In this shot, I'm trying a different way to mark off the frames for use in the case of laterally bent planks. No measuring or tape is involved. The divider is adjusted/walked up the frame/re-adjusted to get the correct equal spacing. Then divider points are pushed in a little then sharp pencil highlights the hole. 

1

 

The plank is cut a tad larger than the largest space then re-marked with a divider/pencil at the frame positions. The markup looks like this. it's way oversized because it's a drop plank.... my first. 😬

 

Mike

 

Edited March 21, 2021 by Mike_In_RI

[Mike_In_RI]

.. 1-27-01

The stern planking went smoothly and the bending was not severe as Toni pointed out.

 

The upper hull belt is planked with AYC. My 1st attempt at the the stem drop plank used the tape/markup/cut out method which produces a steep curve over a short length. Is seems the AYC looses it's strength when bending at such an angle to the grain. The shot of the plank on the left snapped at the stem while test fitting. I switched to the lateral bend method for this plank.

          

 

The drop plank had to fit into 3 surfaces at one time at the stem so I glued that end in first and tried in-situ plank bending. It worked OK but I needed to add some water to the plank to help the bending.

 

 

 

If zoomed in enough, one can see the resulting angle in the two AYC planks.

 

Mike

Edited March 22, 2021 by Mike_In_RI

[Mike_In_RI]

... 1-30-21

Just found another bulge at the wale on frame B. I was able to detach the wale with no damage, sand down the frame and reattach... no harm done.

 

.. 02-02-21

The hull is finally planked up to the wales and sanded. Actually a little over sanded a bit at the lower stem.

 

The basswood was difficult to sand flat. These planks are not glued together at the edge so they are able to bend inwards in between the frames.

 

 

 

Mike

[Mike_In_RI]

... 2-4-21

The planks above the wales are made from castello boxwood. This area on Toni's project was nicely blended and belies the complexity of the joint. I held off shaping the transom 'till last and had the counter in and out three times changing its shape.

 

In any case, I made sure the lower edge of the first box plank would land on the transom and I would do whatever was needed to under fill that plank at the counter.

 

 

Out of curiosity, just experimenting with home made gap filler. ~ 2:1 H2O:PVA painted directly on sawdust that remains in the seam after sanding.

 

 

 

Mike

 

Edited March 22, 2021 by Mike_In_RI

[VTHokiEE]

You're doing an excellent job here! I recently took my partially completely half hull out after getting side tracked on a different model. I'm not quite as impressed with my work as when I put it away and now that I see yours I'm even less impressed with mine 😬. It was a learning tool for me so I'll have to see how I can recover and improve the rest of it.

[Mike_In_RI]

.. 02-25-21

All the boxwood planks are in. They were very easy to bend using hot air and hand pressure. The cap rail is made with walnut from some very old inventory.

 

The aft most plank of the counter is left wide to mate up with the lower plank of the transom.

 

... 02-28-21

Again, a trial. The second basswood strip was attached to the first in one go by gluing it at the stem, then wetting/hot air bending/twisting and gluing a little at a time. I would NOT do this again. It worked out OK but was just too risky if there were a problem along the way and needed to be undone.

 

Walnut trim finished.

 

... 3-8-21

Wale masked off for hand painting (gulp).... I usually air-brush. Two coats of sanding sealer was applied before painting. Also, tung oil applied to upper 3 planks of boxwood....  fingers crossed.

 

... 3-11-21

Wales painted and three coats of tung oil applied and polished out. I was surprised how nicely the tung oil brought out the seams of the planks.

 

On to detaching the model from the board.

 

Mike

[Mike_In_RI]

... 3-12-21

Detaching the model from the board was not too difficult.  I separated the stem, keel and stern from the paper first with two utility knife blades so the keel would not bend while releasing the frames.

 

One frame at a time, lever a chisel just enough to hear the paper partially separate. Then keep working it a little at a time.

 

Note the keel was glued more lightly than the frames.

 

A little clean up

 

Mike

[Mike_In_RI]

Thank you VTHokiEE for your kind comments. This one was a lot of fun. Well, not so much fun when deciding to toss a piece out for a minor defect or just glue it down and forget about it. 🤔

 

In any case she's finished. For me, I now have more knowledge about what materials and methods I like in certain situations and can build on that. No question, I would absolutely recommend the NRG half hull project to anyone.

 

 

Thanks again for looking in. Now, where to put it???

 

Mike

[PJG]

This certainly doesn't look like the work of a guy who needs planking practice...top-notch craftsmanship, as always. Looking forward to your next build...would love to see you tackle one of Chuck's beautiful kits!

[Mike_In_RI]

Thank you, I appreciate that. It was really good for me to go through that model. I channeled Thomas Edison ... learning 1000 ways to NOT do something. I'm going to build a doghouse with the scrapped basswood.

 

I do really like Chuck's kits. Along with that, I'm considering a yet to be determined scratch 😬 project. The Morgan's proximity to me is one or maybe the Katy which has local interest.

 

Thanks again,

Mike

[rshoker]

Thanks for taking the time post this.  -  Randy