HMS GREYHOUND by Jackson7 - Corel - Collaboration With My Past Self

[Jackson7]

Hello everyone,

 

A little background. I got this HMS Greyhound from my parents when I was in high school. At the time, I knew little what I was doing and less how long it would take.

 

It didn't help to learn that whoever designed the kit seemed to be a few cannons short of a broadside when it came to plan drawing. 

 

Daunted by these difficulties, I did only the first few steps in putting together the hull, sanding it, and placing the first planks before I paused the project. Then I forgot about it for eight years.

 

When I got back to it, my skills were about the same but my patience and will to persevere were far higher. I offer my thanks to the people who answered my questions on this site back then. My apologies for forgetting about y'all for about a decade.

 

The bad news is that High School Me had made a few mistakes. Well, many mistakes. Mistakes that involved glue and delicate wood and couldn't be fixed. 

 

But with the right amount of planking, sanding, and perseverance, they could hopefully be hidden. Thus began my covert Corel corrections.

 

To begin, here's the earliest set of photos I can find of the model. The upside down one resists all editing.

 

 

 

[Jackson7]

As can be seen, I haven't gotten the frames down to a science. Although they're sanded so planks can smoothly glide up the hull, they're not expanded to form a smooth contour. Note the cracks and incorrect bend on the first few pieces of wood. It comes back to haunt me later. I think the keel piece is straight, but I can't swear to it.

[Tim Holt]

That sub-decking wood is quite interesting.  It looks like some of the maple I've pre-inherited from my father which was intended for violin sides.

[Jackson7]

Here's the first few planks of the first layer. I stuck them to the hull with a boil-bend-dry method to get the curve. After applying glue, I nail them in to hold them in place. When the glue dries, I pull the nails out. Since this picture, I've graduated to boiling them and curving them directly to the hull with nails, then gluing them later. If there are any better methods, I'd be glad to get advice on them. 

 

[Jackson7]

Note the general clunkiness of the hull area. This resulted from a lack of sufficient sanding to the ribs and a lack of good plank bending technique. As usual, I blame High School Me.

[Jackson7]

As can be seen, my skill at bending planks onto the front has improved. I also sanded the ribs on the inside of the front to get a better fit. Of course, this ended up having its own negative impacts too. The top of the hull in front now bulges out several millimeters from the bottom.  Once again, I blame High School Me. 

In the pictures below, you can see the stern starting to take shape well. It's probably the best part of the vessel.

[Jackson7]

 

With the exception of, well, everything above the main deck, things have gone fairly well. I'm learning here how to file planks down so they fit, as well as how to fit them closely to each other. Disconcertingly, the port side is slightly further forward than the starboard side. But that's a problem that I'll once again offload to Future Me. The stern plans now fit neatly into their little niche.

[Jackson7]

Here's where things get interesting. I realized while planking downward that although the hull is flat at the bottom, the planks are curved. Even if I got them perfectly straight, it would leave a space. To fix this problem, I carefully measured a sliver of wood to fill the space and correct the issue. It worked surprisingly well. 

[Jackson7]

 

 

With the edition of Long John Sliver, I continued planking down. By this point, bending a plank in three dimensions at once had rendered the old boil'n'bend method obsolete.

 

I now boil and bend all planks directly onto the hull with nails. Then I remove the nails, add glue, put the nails back, and remove them when the glue dries. The results leave some scarring, but a tight fit. 

 

The biggest problem now is the curvature of the aft part of the ship. Looking back, I probably should have padded the fourth and fifth rib from the stern, but it's too late. I blame (All Together Now) High School Me.

 

 

[Jackson7]

At this point, I'm almost done with the planks. I have a far better grasp of how to put them on. When I'm not wishing this layer was better, I'm thanking God that there's still another layer to put on. 

 

[Jackson7]

The planking is now complete. Obviously, the bottom plank is bent way out of shape. The stern planking fits together smoothly, while the bow has more than its fair share of trouble. The poorly-cast cannon ports unnaturally bulge from the hull. The hull itself bends in then out again at the transition from middle to stern. At this point, fixing it all will be a piece of work.

[Jackson7]

Here's Step One of my bold attempt to save the ship. 

First, I cut along the bottom with a razor until the whole plank was straight and level. I also took a razor to the bow to even out the planking on both sides. It seems to work well.

[Jackson7]

Step Two of the attempted ship rescue was sanding. Tons of sanding. 12 hours or more of sanding.

 

First, I tried to even out the curve toward the back of the ship. I think I mostly succeeded.

 

I also realized that the weak metal in the gun ports could be sanded down. They're now even with the rest of the ship and ready to be planked over by the second layer. 

 

Finally, I sanded the bow of the ship until it was all even. Although I completely lost one of the upper planks at one point, everything now smoothly fits together.  There used to be several planks that stuck out.

[Jackson7]

At this point, I have three quandaries. 

 

First, either the poop deck or the quarter deck are somewhat slanted. I'm not sure how to ascertain which one is off, or how to fix them. 

 

Second, I'm not sure how to proceed with the outer hull layer. The walnut planking seems more resistant to bending, and I'm not sure I want to use my obtrusive but effective nails on that delightfully beautiful wood.

 

Third, the bow looks somewhat uneven, but I'm not sure how much more sanding it can take. 

 

At the present, I'm taking a break to contemplate these issues. If any of y'all have advice, I'd be glad to hear it.

 

 

 

Edited August 14, 2021 by Jackson7

[Jackson7]

After a long time planning, I began the second layer of planking. This time, the technical part came from attempting to glue the board to the side of the ship without leaving nail marks.

 

For most of its length, office clips were enough, but by the end, the curve and the height of the highest rail were too much. 

 

To overcome this problem, I put bent nails into the ship above and below the board I was gluing to hold it in place. This plan worked, but I'm not sure if it will continue to work as I plank downward. Or upward. I hope that things get easier after the first plank.

[harlequin]

right I am with you now.......use these type of pins....they will leave no mark on your second plank as you remove them...push them through the first planking...use enough and let the glue set before removing them...you can see where i have removed them from the top plank...

 

Edited September 25, 2021 by harlequin

[Jackson7]

The second plank of the second layer is now on! Thanks to @harlequin for some excellent advice. Sticking the tacks into the plank above and below the one I was gluing worked like a charm.

 

I guess "tacking" is useful even when you don't yet have the wind in your sails.

 

Of course, the second plank on the outer layer just has to be more confusing. According to the instructions, it needs to be 1.5. mm by 5 mm lime, but the drawing seems to suggest a thinness that seems to imply it's turned sideways. 

 

If any previous Greyhound builders know what the kit actually means, I'd be fascinated to know.

 

 

 

Edited October 3, 2021 by Jackson7
Photos went in wrong first time

[harlequin]

hope these pics help

[Jackson7]

Thanks once again @harlequin. You did a magnificent job!

 

[harlequin]

greyhounds instructions are aweful.....keep cross referencing everything .....my greyhound build log was lost when this site crashed a few years back so most of the build isnt shown....keep asking if you need further help and i will try my best......i still think i have my instructions somewhere...

 

[Jackson7]

With a seemingly unending line of tacks, I have now secured the lime plank that comes after the walnut plank on the outside of the hull. I cut the original lime plank in half, trimmed the half slightly, then glued the edge of the plank to the hull. 

 

When I remove the tacks, I'll follow up with a closer trim, using the hull as a guide for my razor.

 

The most interesting part of this step was bending the end of the plank edgeways. To do so, I used my normal boil and bend technique, keeping the machine-cut edge of the plank against the nails.

 

A few small cracks appeared in the outer edge. However, because the plank is wider than I needed, I believe I will be able to shave away all resulting errors.

 

Sand and steel will serve their purpose.

Edited October 5, 2021 by Jackson7
Added photo

[Jackson7]

Today, I removed the tacks and added the other side. The end result is a nice straight line that will be easy to follow through the rest of the ship. 

 

On further reflection, I decided to trim the outcropping after gluing a few more pieces on. That way, it will be better supported. 

[harlequin]

just enjoy what you are building.....it doesn't have to be perfect or accurate....in fact all the little mistakes make your build more interesting.....I hate a build that is so perfect....there is no soul to it.....a robot may have well built it....I love the irregularities of a build...the scratches, the knife marks....i love to see these in a build...

[hamilton]

Looking through your build log is giving me flashbacks! This was initially a frustrating kit to work with for me, but ended up being very enjoyable and one of the models I'm proudest of. 

 

I also agree completely with Harlequin (with whom I've exchanged notes on this model and who was a great help to me when I was working on it). Each model is a learning experience and each time you can apply what you learned from the last one and improve. It's difficult when (as is almost always the case with my builds) things don't look exactly as pristine and clean and perfect as they do on the box or in more experienced modeller's hands. If you enjoy the process, then you will enjoy watching the results improve as you go.

 

And to the list of things Harlequin mentions above - knife marks, scratches I'll add - the modeller's own blood, which I've spilled on every model I've ever built! 

hamilton

[harlequin]

ah ha yes hamilton....blood......hope you are well....old greyhound was indeed a frustrating build.....glad you were there with me otherwise i think it would never had made it....cheers. 

 

Edited October 8, 2021 by harlequin

[Jackson7]

Yep. That's the spirit. 

 

It's a joy to see it take shape, and every step gives the chance to get the ship just a little bit better-looking. 

 

Y'all are right. Blood is the secret ingredient. As always, the X-acto knife and sandpaper will have their due, no matter how careful you try to be.

[Jackson7]

Update:

Last night, I put on the first plank underneath the lime piece. 

 

I held it on using the tiny nails provided with the kit. I couldn't get a close enough fit with the thumb tacks.

 

As you can see, the plank I put on is still being bent so it can curve.

[hamilton]

look how it improves with elbow grease!! The planking looks great! - Nice solid foundation for the next layer. Keep on!

hamilton

[hamilton]

looking back through your log, I wish I had stumbled on it earlier, as I might have been able to provide some assistance with the odd stern bulkheads. on my Greyhound kit, bulkheads 9 and 10 were WAY off - I had to add 3/16" x 1/32" to the edges of those bulkheads. I used a test batten across all the bulkheads to gauge how thick these extra shimming strips needed to be and to gauge the area of the bulkhead edge they had to cover. It was a very time consuming and frustrating process as i recall....anyway, this is definitely a manufacturer issue! And a big stumbling block for the modeller...despite many criticisms of them that can be found on this forum, I actually quite like Corel kits and have made a few - this one, though, had some problems! 

hamilton

[Old Collingwood]

I too built this kit along with  @harlequin and  @hamilton   we all experienced the same kit shorfalls  - the miss shaped  frames needing packing out  and the akward reear counter  and bending the first planking around both the stern and  bow.

 

Just keep at it  enjoy what you do  - its a learning curve  that we all go through  - evet inch forward is something oyu have learned for the next build.

 

OC.