Norske Love by EdS - FINISHED - Billing Boats - 1:75

[PeteB]

that's the one 👍 happy building Cheers Pete

[EdS]

At home recovering from getting a pacemaker so thought I would do an update on the progress of the hull planking so far. I decided to start from the bottom so the first step was to fit the Garboard strake. This was very straight forward on Norske Love as it naturally fell along the keel with very little twisting or bending.

I couldn't  get a very accurate measurement with my cloth tape measure so I decided to use coloured tape on each frame, cut it to the exact distance between the upper strake and the Garboard strake then transfer the tape to a solid surface and then got the measurement.

The planking material provided in the kit is 7mm wide, this worked out to be five bands of five strakes at the middle six frames. From there I took the remaining frame measurements and divided them by five getting the width of each band at each frame. Next I lined off the hull with white-board tape and adjusted as necessary to get a natural looking flow to the bands. 

Using cut out cardboard strips, each frame at each band was measured and divided by five, this gave the width of each strake at each frame within all five bands. Once the distance for each strake was measured on the cardboard strip I then transferred these marks tot he frames. 

As with most model kits the Norske Love kit comes with wooden planking strips at one size. Unless you are willing to purchase extra material to fabricate the strakes this can make spiling a strake very difficult. I found an article from Model-Expo that uses a technique where you first cut the strake to size, then bend the strake edgewise then after this curve is set, you bend it for the curve of the bow. If I can find the link again I will post it here as it worked pretty slick for me and I can't do justice to the explanation on how to do it.

So in this fashion I completed all five strakes for the first band with very little fuss or swearing. Below is the untouched results, with a little sanding it should come out just fine.

Once healed up enough to get back at it I am going to start at the top and work to this bottom band. I am doing this because I want any strakes that need serious tapering to be in the painted portion of the hull.

 

Cheers for now.

[Bill Morrison]

Norske Love (Norse Lion) is a great kit and beautiful model. You are starting well! I will gladly follow along.

 

Bill Morrison

[BobG]

Really nice start on the planking, Ed. I like how you used colored tape on each bulkhead when laying out the tick marks.

[PeteB]

Looking good Ed. Got the planking set out nailed. Cheers pete

[EdS]

Eight weeks post surgery and cleared of all restrictions. I wasn't totally idle while recovering, worked on the guns. Airbrush came in real handy painting the gun carriages. Tried to use Brass Blackner on the cannons, hated working with that stuff so decided just to prime and paint them. 

Continued on with hull planking, finished the second of five belts. Slow process as each strake has to be shaped three separate ways. Lots of soaking and then blasting with a heat gun. 

 

Next belt number three continuing to work towards the keel.

 

 

Edited December 19, 2022 by EdS

[petervisser]

Hi Ed,

What a great buld log so far! You're certainly getting me excited about starting my own NL. However there's this pesky Cutty Sark on the bench that requires finishing. Thanks for posting your build log. Hope the recovery continues as planned!

Cheers,

Peter

[EdS]

13 hours ago, petervisser said:

Hi Ed,

What a great buld log so far! You're certainly getting me excited about starting my own NL. However there's this pesky Cutty Sark on the bench that requires finishing. Thanks for posting your build log. Hope the recovery continues as planned!

Cheers,

Peter

Thanks Peter, hope you start a build log for NL your work on Cutty Sark is excellent.

 

[EdS]

Well at times it seemed like this day would never come but at last the hull is all closed in. This is the first and last time I try to use full planking pieces bow to stern.

 

 

[petervisser]

First rate job on the planking Ed. She looks like a handful, size-wise. Looking forward to more entries in your excellet build log.

Happy New Year!

Peter

 

p.s. Is that a Polar 8 model in the background? I sailed with a Chief Engineer who was part of the design team a long while back.

Edited January 1 by petervisser

[EdS]

17 hours ago, petervisser said:

First rate job on the planking Ed. She looks like a handful, size-wise. Looking forward to more entries in your excellet build log.

Happy New Year!

Peter

 

p.s. Is that a Polar 8 model in the background? I sailed with a Chief Engineer who was part of the design team a long while back.

Hi Peter, not sure if it is Polar 7 or 8, the card model kit was a gift from a friend who was Chief Engineer on the Asterix project at Davie shipyard. 

[EdS]

Hull sanded, first four Whales fitted and trimmed up sides on quarter deck and poop deck. Some pretty rough spots that had to be filled but managed to keep these below the waterline where it will be painted white.

Edited January 23 by EdS

[EdS]

Quick update on progress, finished all the wales, painted the upper hull, fitted gun ports and then painted the bottom of the hull. Next it will be a final sanding and then stain the outer hull. Going to go with a dark stain as per the instructions. Based on quality of materials provide in the kit, display room and other projects waiting in the wings I have decided not to rig the ship with masts or sails. 

[EdS]

Been working on rails and the stern galley. Spent days getting frustrated trying to get the provided stern pieces to fit together. Even following the advice of PeteB the room was filled with some colourful language from time to time. In the end I just had to realized it wasn't going to come together as per the instructions and had to wing it a bit. Rails are coming along and should be finished soon, then on to the bow and hope it doesn't give me as much grief as the stern.

[EdS]

I don't think I will do another build log, I am incredibly bad at posting updates and describing my work. 😆 Finally got the stern gallery sorted out, turned out OK just don't zoom in too much. 

 

Next few pictures are of the work done on the upper decks and bow.

As a side note I just got back from working with the JMSDF in Kure Japan, this is were the Yamato was built. There is a great Yamato museum there and it has a 1/10th scale model of the battleship. It was very impressive.

[EdS]

I have gone as far as I plan on going in this build. It has been a great learning experience and a challenge. The Billings kit, although not what I would call high quality was at the right price point for my first big build. Thanks to everyone who gave input/help and stopped by, the following pictures are of the end product. If anyone wants to check out a short video of the build it can be seen here:  

 

 

 

 

[petervisser]

Congratulations Ed on your very fine build of the NL. She is a real beauty. And no less so without the masting and rigging. Something I will be considering when I build this model one day.

Cheers,

Peter

[ccoyle]

Handsomely done, Ed!

[kgstakes]

Your modeling is incredible in my book very nice work in deed!!

 

 Great job!!