USF Confederacy 1778 by WalrusGuy - Model Shipways - 1:64

[WalrusGuy]

The lower counter of the stern is now planked! This was my first time trying edge-bending on planks (I had to bend to match the curves of the top of the frames). Here are some photos of the progress of this section:

 

Here, the red line shows where the edge of the plank should rest. The one I am holding here has no edge-bend. 

I used the ironing technique as shown by Chuck in his video.

Here, I glued in some of the first planks:

Cutting the notches out was a bit tricky, but manageable:

The excess planks on either side of the hull were trimmed and faired:

Then lastly, the gun ports were built. I had to align the planks to that of the lower counter. Another tricky procedure... After gluing them in place, the counter was sanded one more time. Here is how she stands currently:

Btw, I am finding this build to be more difficult than I thought (more difficult than the Syren I'd say). Small mistakes can stack on one another and lots of new techniques are needed. But all these translate to new skills, and overcoming the challenges is quite enjoyable! 🙂

Edited August 9, 2021 by WalrusGuy

[Wahka_est]

You are doing a good job! Keep it up.

This build is quite difficult-i wish there would be more photos of the prototype build but i guess for development some stuff you just have to sort out yourself

 

Do you have info what size is the wood strip between lower counter and hull planks? I cant find that info in the manual-its seems that some info is missing.

[WalrusGuy]

3 hours ago, Wahka_est said:

You are doing a good job! Keep it up.

This build is quite difficult-i wish there would be more photos of the prototype build but i guess for development some stuff you just have to sort out yourself

 

Do you have info what size is the wood strip between lower counter and hull planks? I cant find that info in the manual-its seems that some info is missing.

Thank you Wahka! Working on the build for only a few hours a week helps avoiding mistakes as I force myself not to rush steps (well, so far at least!)

 

I am not too sure on which strip you are referring to. 

All the ones in the A section are 1/8" x 1/16" strips

The one in B is just a filler strip so that the hull planking has some surface to attach to, so the size doesn't really matter for this one (will be hidden once planked).

 

I hope this answers your question! 🙂 

Edited August 9, 2021 by WalrusGuy

[Wahka_est]

Hi,

 

I was thinking about this strip here:

[desalgu]

Very nice work getting planking on gunports to align with planking on stern.  I know that's not easy and takes a lot of time.

 

I see on the picture of finished model, gunports are closed, so  it looks nice to have planks aligned.  Made me wonder if builders of the real ships worried about things like this, or to save time and effort made gunports with whatever they had.  Considering the decoration on the stern and the time that took to make, they probably had it all aligned.

 

This really is a step up in difficulty from Syren!

[abelson]

Nice work. Progressing well. For the gun ports, did you use the pieces cut from the bent planks? Did you plank over the ports and then cut them out?

[WalrusGuy]

18 hours ago, Wahka_est said:

Hi,

 

I was thinking about this strip here:

I went through the instructions quickly, and I also think the dimensions of the strip were not mentioned. I am not too sure what it would be. Maybe @Chuck remembers? I guess it just a 1/8" x 1/16" like the other ones?

 

8 hours ago, desalgu said:

Very nice work getting planking on gunports to align with planking on stern.  I know that's not easy and takes a lot of time.

 

I see on the picture of finished model, gunports are closed, so  it looks nice to have planks aligned.  Made me wonder if builders of the real ships worried about things like this, or to save time and effort made gunports with whatever they had.  Considering the decoration on the stern and the time that took to make, they probably had it all aligned.

 

This really is a step up in difficulty from Syren!

Thank you David! Yeaup it is a step up from the Syren. I am glad I didn't jump into this without some experience before!! I think the planks were also aligned in the real ship. Here is a photo of the HMS Surprise stern. The planks in the lids all look aligned:

 

6 hours ago, abelson said:

Nice work. Progressing well. For the gun ports, did you use the pieces cut from the bent planks? Did you plank over the ports and then cut them out?

Thanks Steven! I cut the notched the planks out before gluing the strip. This way I could have a bit of a rabbet around the gun port. It was a bit tricky though since all the notches had to be aligned nicely without any being messed up. I had some extra bent planks from which I used the pieces for the lids. But in these small sections even a straightened out piece can do fine!

[captain_hook]

Very nice. Are these the supplied woodstrips you are using? Is it basswood?

[WalrusGuy]

On 8/13/2021 at 3:22 AM, captain_hook said:

Very nice. Are these the supplied woodstrips you are using? Is it basswood?

Thank you Andreas! Yes I am using the supplied basswood for this ship. Reason being, I have not tried using the nicer woods yet, and I want to practice using them on a smaller build first (so I don't make an expensive mistake!).

[WalrusGuy]

I started planking the ship. I can already tell, I'll be doing this for quite a while!!! 😅

 

I am enjoying the process though, and taking my time gluing each plank.

 

Here is the jig I used to bend the planks:

Then I started planking. The first two strips were held using these clips:

When reaching the stern, there were some tight corners which I had to manually hold for the glue to set. I put on a Netflix series and watched for 30 mins to help speed the process mentally 😁

 

While planking I noticed the starboard sweep ports were not positioned correctly, so I took out the template again and noticed a 0.5 cm difference! Good thing I was planking each side systematically to notice this. Also, the first two starboard sweep ports are positioned 2 mm above where they should be located. This will be an easy fix which I will resolve as I plank the 5th layer..

 

And here is where the ship is at currently; on the fourth layer of planks:

 

[WalrusGuy]

Just a quick note, I realized the two 1/8" planks at the stern are too long. The plans didn't show where the butt joint would be, but I noticed the photos that there should be two separate planks here. Also, one of the mid section plank joints is not in the correct location. So will do some minor deconstruction before continuing on... 

[Wahka_est]

Nice progress.

I finally chose plank length 12,5cm +\- depending on the location and tried to follow Chucks scheme. 
Above the wales its ok to follow the drawing but below it get interesting as i didnt understand clearly the scheme that was supplied but eventually i got it to work.

You are right-it takes time….a lot of time. And as it does not have 2nd planking you really cant make many mistakes. Only the ones that sanding would solve.

 

Lovely progress, hope to hear from you soon.

 

W

[michael mott]

Looks like you are doing a great job on the planking, not rushing is the key to most model-work I have found.

 

Michael

[BobG]

I just read over your build log and will be following along. I've always thought this is a great looking model.

 

Wonderful work so far and lots of progress in a short period of time!

[WalrusGuy]

On 8/16/2021 at 4:55 PM, Wahka_est said:

Nice progress.

I finally chose plank length 12,5cm +\- depending on the location and tried to follow Chucks scheme. 
Above the wales its ok to follow the drawing but below it get interesting as i didnt understand clearly the scheme that was supplied but eventually i got it to work.

You are right-it takes time….a lot of time. And as it does not have 2nd planking you really cant make many mistakes. Only the ones that sanding would solve.

 

Lovely progress, hope to hear from you soon.

 

W

Thank you! I think I will also follow what you did. I am very nervous for planking below the wales!! The curves seem very complex and there is no hiding mistakes in the planking unless I plan to paint it white.

 

On 8/17/2021 at 11:00 AM, michael mott said:

Looks like you are doing a great job on the planking, not rushing is the key to most model-work I have found.

 

Michael

Thank you for checking in, Michael! Going slow has helped me identify potential problem areas and gives me a chance to rectify before moving on.

 

On 8/17/2021 at 12:29 PM, BobG said:

I just read over your build log and will be following along. I've always thought this is a great looking model.

 

Wonderful work so far and lots of progress in a short period of time!

Welcome Bob! I also love the way the Confederacy looks! The hull is so beautiful. And thank you for the nice words!

 

Also, thanks all for the likes and for checking in! 🙂 

[WalrusGuy]

I finished planking up to the channel wales. After planking, I roughly sanded it. Here are a couple of pics:

 

Some of the sweep ports are not identical in size as the others, so I will fix that next before moving on to the planks above the channel wales.

[Tigersteve]

Looks very neat. I like it!

Steve

[WalrusGuy]

3 hours ago, Tigersteve said:

Looks very neat. I like it!

Steve

Thanks Steve! 🙂 

[desalgu]

Looks great!  I can't get over how big it looks, which probably shows my inexperience.  

 

[BenD]

This is going to be another masterpiece from you.  

 

The photo's look really good. What lighting are you using in your photos?  Soft box, LEDs, A bare bulb on a stick?  

 

 

[WalrusGuy]

20 hours ago, desalgu said:

Looks great!  I can't get over how big it looks, which probably shows my inexperience.  

 

Thank you David. She is massive!! It's hard to tell from the photos because there's nothing to compare it to, but the length of the hull is about 35". 

 

41 minutes ago, BenD said:

This is going to be another masterpiece from you.  

 

The photo's look really good. What lighting are you using in your photos?  Soft box, LEDs, A bare bulb on a stick?  

 

 

Thanks so much for the nice words, Ben! I just switch on all the lights around the house when taking the photos. And the white board beneath the ship also helps reflect the light. 

[Wahka_est]

How is the planking going?

[WalrusGuy]

Hi Wahka, the planking is still going slow and steady 😁.  I was actually going to wait till planking above the wales is finished to post an update. But this may be a perfect time to update the log since I just finished planking till the top of the first row of gun ports.

 

Here are some pics after roughly sanding:

I also encountered a bit of a problem, not sure how bad it would affect the build later on.. I noticed the planking midship is not very symmetric. The sheaves in this location are very symmetric (I measured from the top of the rail and both sides have the same distances). So planking midship starboard side appear to be higher than the portside. Here is a pic showing what I mean:

 

Portside:

Starboard:

You can also kind of see this in the planks just below the gun ports. The spacing in the starboard side is smaller than the portside

 

I have no idea how this happened since the initial plank run was symmetric (or perhaps I measured wrong!). Maybe this is not too big of a deal and I am overthinking it, so let's see what happens! Any input would also be appreciated 🙂

[No Idea]

What a fantastic build your ship is looking great. I really like your attention to detail  - I’m in on this one 👍

[Wahka_est]

2 hours ago, WalrusGuy said:

Hi Wahka, the planking is still going slow and steady 😁.  I was actually going to wait till planking above the wales is finished to post an update. But this may be a perfect time to update the log since I just finished planking till the top of the first row of gun ports.

 

Here are some pics after roughly sanding:

I also encountered a bit of a problem, not sure how bad it would affect the build later on.. I noticed the planking midship is not very symmetric. The sheaves in this location are very symmetric (I measured from the top of the rail and both sides have the same distances). So planking midship starboard side appear to be higher than the portside. Here is a pic showing what I mean:

 

Portside:

Starboard:

You can also kind of see this in the planks just below the gun ports. The spacing in the starboard side is smaller than the portside

 

I have no idea how this happened since the initial plank run was symmetric (or perhaps I measured wrong!). Maybe this is not too big of a deal and I am overthinking it, so let's see what happens! Any input would also be appreciated 🙂

Looks really good. I also tried at first to get it symmetric but saw that its impossible. At least my strips provided in kit are with quite big tolerance thickness and width. Also im sure real ships are not so symmetric also .

It looks really good. I had tough time to get that "cutout" done around gunports. Finally i bought miniature chisels that worked perfect.

 

Next big headache is doing the hatches middle the wales. Its impossible to get them done after planking but i see that you also have left them open and do them afterwards. Would be so much easier to plank around them with hatches already glued to place .

 

Really nice job. Keep us updated

 

Vahur

Hobbymill.eu

[WalrusGuy]

10 hours ago, No Idea said:

What a fantastic build your ship is looking great. I really like your attention to detail  - I’m in on this one 👍

Thank you Mark, and welcome! I have been following your Rochefort build for a few months now, and am amazed at how perfect your work is. It's great to have you on board!

 

8 hours ago, Wahka_est said:

Looks really good. I also tried at first to get it symmetric but saw that its impossible. At least my strips provided in kit are with quite big tolerance thickness and width. Also im sure real ships are not so symmetric also .

It looks really good. I had tough time to get that "cutout" done around gunports. Finally i bought miniature chisels that worked perfect.

 

Next big headache is doing the hatches middle the wales. Its impossible to get them done after planking but i see that you also have left them open and do them afterwards. Would be so much easier to plank around them with hatches already glued to place .

 

Really nice job. Keep us updated

 

Vahur

Hobbymill.eu

Ahhh thanks Vahur! I feel relieved now that it should not matter if they are not completely symmetric. I found using a sharp X-acto blade helps in cutting out the notches neatly. Just wished the tolerances were nicer for the wood. Some of the strips are completely different in terms of sizing and color.

 

I did not think about planking around glued hatches, but was wondering maybe it is better to glue them in after (since we can align the planks nicely to the neighboring planks)? I will make the sweep port hatches once I finish planking till the top. And thanks again for the compliments!

[Gahm]

Your framing and planking looks really good to me. And I fully agree with Vahur - the little difference in symmetry is neither noticeable nor do I think that it will matter.

 

Thomas

[michael mott]

One can only see one side at a time so I would not sweat such a small discrepancy. Nice work all round.

 

Michael

[WalrusGuy]

17 hours ago, Gahm said:

Your framing and planking looks really good to me. And I fully agree with Vahur - the little difference in symmetry is neither noticeable nor do I think that it will matter.

 

Thomas

 

5 hours ago, michael mott said:

One can only see one side at a time so I would not sweat such a small discrepancy. Nice work all round.

 

Michael

Thank you for the words of confidence, Thomas and Michael. I'll carry on with the build without worrying about this discrepancy.

[desalgu]

Your planking is looking awesome to me!  Planking around gun ports looks very clean and neat.  You could certainly give me a lesson or two!

 

I agree with all the comments above about small differences between the two sides.  It would take strips of wood cut to extremely close tolerances to get both sides the same.  Only way to have a chance of doing that is to cut your own.  But I don't think it will matter for reasons pointed out above.