Fair American by JLong - Model Shipways - 1:48

[JLong]

This will be my first wooden ship model; I completed a Revell HMS Victory plastic model ship a few years ago, and I really liked it. It sparked my interest in wooden model ships, and I wanted to build one of my own.  My father bought this kit for Christmas in 2019, and I really like the overall shape of the hull.  Even though this is my first wooden model and the kit doesn't have them, I'd like to add sails. It will be a challenge, especially the rigging, but I believe I can do it.

 

I started this model at the end of December 2019, and am currently working on the bow section, so maybe ~1/2 way done. I will share photos and construction details up to this point, and then continue to post progress as I go. I work full time during the day, so I only have  a few hours a week to dedicate to the build, so my progress after a year and a half is SLOW.

 

I have seen a lot of other builds/ships with high quality planking.  I hope that mine will be good enough to leave unpainted, since I really like the look of the hull planking

 

As with other builders of the MSW's kit, the keel is short ~1/4".  I used a piece of extra wood to shape and glue the missing portion. Not awesome, but acceptable. I also purchased a Bulkhead Mounting Kit from a local hobby shop.  After reviewing the plans, I cut the bulkhead frames loose, sanded and transferred the bevels with a compass. 

 

The rabbet was a pain....chiseling didn't do well, so I ended up sanding. A lot of sanding.  In hindsight later on, I should have sanded deeper.   I shaped the bulkheads and glued to the frame using the Mounting Kit. I squared them to the model with C-clamps on each end, and slowly tightened until I measured the distance between bulkheads was the same on both sides. 

 

The Filler blocks took a while to shape right, and even after they were glued, they needed more sanding to get blended with the bulkheads. Next time I might leave the bulkhead bevels ''thick'' and sand together with the blocks for a better transition.

 

More photos and progress tomorrow

 

 -Jason-

 

 

[JLong]

Continuing with the progress on the Fair American.  I saw other builders add blocks between bulkheads, and it makes sense, however I didn't have spare wood to use and I felt the gun port framing and waterways would strengthen them sufficiently, so I moved forward without. I soaked the waterways for a few hours in water, then clamped them to the bulwarks to shape.  I decided to omit the covering boards, as they proved too difficult to shape properly.

 

I really had to stare at the plans for the transom, to understand the exact shape. The transition from the counter into the filler block and lower hull was tricky, but I figured it out. The cap rail was cut and clamped to the transom after soaking, it kinked, I left it on the table, re-soaked and clamped again, broke and re-glued together, then glued to the framing. I should have gone slower with the bending, but I got impatient - it eventually turned out okay, but I learned!

 

The thick fancy rail was really difficult to shape. Bending to the curve of the hull wasn't bad, but the top flexed outward after gluing. Looking from the stern, you could see it bow outward, so I attempted to sand it back to follow the tumble of the bulwarks - not fun.  I also had to add a bunch of wood filler to smooth different sections out. One other issue was that I had to 'chock' some filler wood above stern frames #1 & #2, in order for the main and fancy rail to continue straight back. The frame wasn't ''tall'' enough for some reason; I think I fixed it OK.

 

I decided to use 5 windows, and not 7.  The outer windows would be for decoration anyway, if present - they don't serve any real purpose, so I omitted them.  The transom planking was next. I made sure the transom framing was sanded parallel, checking with a thick piece of wood along the counter so that all planks would be flush without dips. 

 

Its starting to look like something!

 

More progress soon

 

- Jason -

[JLong]

More progress on the Fair American:  Most of these pictures were not originally for a build log in mind, but more for my own little story, so I pieced together what I had and described best I can remember.

I also am big on building by-the-book.  Since I have no experience with ship building to know of any inaccuracies with the model, I will be following the instructions and plans very closely.  Things like door height, gun port size, etc. I will not be altering.  Complete historical accuracy is difficult to hold to, since this is a model of a model.  

 

 The main rail was a challenge for me.  I first tried cutting it based off the plans, but the actual model bulkhead curvature and positions weren't the same. Instead I had to place/clamp a sheet of wood over the actual bulkheads on the model, and draw an outline underneath the sheet.  From there, I measured the rail shape, with dimensions inboard/outboard that way.  Even still, I wasn't happy with the result, once I clamped the rail and glued.  Some bulkheads had more rail inboard than outboard, others vice-versa.  Scarfing the pieces together was also tricky.  I didn't know how big to make them, so I approximated. Once sanded smooth and painted, the junky edges were hidden.  However, the planking will be uneven at the edges of the rail, because of the aforementioned problems with its shape.

 

I am not planning on double planking, so when I got to the house front, I had the idea to use the walnut plank to create molding.  I think it looks pretty nice, actually. I made a hand sketch and used its dimensions to fit to the model. In hindsight, I should have offset the house front up, so the deck planks wouldn't cover the bottom molding - another learning moment. The same thing was done with the hatches - sketched, measured and built per-sketch.  The hatches are a focal point when I look at the model, so I spent a lot of time on these.  

 

As per the instructions and plans, I kept the gun ports 1/4" square. A lot of shaping and sanding so that they follow the shape of the rail and eventual deck, and still 1/4" square. A bit of paint, and we're moving right along

 

More progress updates soon

 

- Jason -

[JLong]

Question for other modelers:

What glue do you use?

I am sticking with Elmers 'Carpenters' Wood Glue Max, and Titebond Instant Bond Wood adhesive (medium).  Medium was thicker and slightly longer dry time, which made little corrections easier.

 

- Jason -

[JLong]

More updates on the Fair American Model Ship:

My workbench isn't as roomy as I'd like. Its basically a small desk in the garage corner, and lighting leaves something to be desired.

 

At about the 6month mark, working on it a few hours a week of course, I managed to get some paint on the transom, main and fancy rails. This was important now before any planking could begin, so that once the main and quarter deck are installed, I won't have to go back and worry about paint getting everywhere, especially the rails and waterways. 

 

A few weeks later, I got all the quarter deck planked. I used the supplied 1/8" deck planks, as per the instructions, even though the plans show 1/4" wide planks.  There wasn't a dramatic camber to the quarter deck, but still looks nice - I made sure to rub the sides of each plank with a brown colored pencil for caulking effect.  I used a small drill bit to make little pockets to simulate treenails holes, then just spun a 0.5mm led pencil inside a few times to darken them. I added a thin coat of clear poly and voila!

 

 For the transom windows, I took the cast frames from the kit, filed and then painted gold.  I saw another modeler come up with a neat trick to mimic glass: clear plastic from an envelope. Genius!  I used the same technique here. CA glue worked fine for the most part, but did smear in a few spots, and it isn't perfectly taut everywhere, but I like the effect. After they were glued in place, I added the counter molding, then painted with some more gold. It really pops!  I didn't do the lettering or the curtains yet, but I'll need to eventually, once the wales are installed.

 

Slow and steady progress....

 

- Jason -

 

[Gregory]

Very nice work so far..  FA Is one of my favorite kits, and on my to-do list..

 

I'm a big fan of un-painted wood, so I look forward to seeing how much bare wood you end up with.

[JLong]

More work on the Fair American model Ship: 

 

I shaped and glued the molding/false main rail under the quarterdeck, and used clamps to hold them in place. I wanted to start on the quarterdeck rail, so I pre-notched the stern and pre-drilled a hole for the timber heads. Thankfully, I didn't install anything, as the clamps wouldn't reach otherwise. I took the time to fabricate the timber heads, with the dowels and a slight taper. Leaving them stuck to the duct tape afterwards seemed like a good idea, so I don't loose these little guys down the road.

 

Not shown, but I did finish the inboard planking.  I think I mixed up some of the plank widths here, as the later outboard bulwark planking I didn't have enough 5/32'' width. I mixed in some 1/8" with it- more on that later. Apparently every 1/32" matters!  Measure twice, cut once...measure twice, cut once. After the inboard planking, I used Floquil Bulwark Red for the paint. Its a bit glossy, but sounds like the right shade, so I went with it.

 

Next was getting ready for some outboard planking! Dreaded and excited to start.

As stated before, the filler blocks at the bow were undersized. I followed the planking booklet, where it said to use a scrap plank to follow the shape of the hull/bulkheads to look for any dips or high spots.  Bulkheads 1 & 2 were two of those places.  To correct, I glued on a piece of walnut plank, then some wood filler, and sanded best I could.  Its ugly. It smoothed out the dip in the bulkhead, but its ugly.

[JLong]

Progress on the Fair American:

Chasing wales  - As described in the planking booklet, I drew the water line on the bulkhead frames, to indicate, what I thought, was the bottom of the lowest wale.  With my hull stand holding the keel level, as described, I measured SEVERAL times to make sure I had the height right. After measuring where the 2 wales would go above the water line, and the black strake, I found it would be extremely close to the gun ports. This wasn't correct.  I triple checked, and if the wales were any lower, they'd run back to the stern and end up in the middle of the counter somewhere - also not correct. To make the upper hull and gun ports not look squished, I made the decision to split the difference: Water line in the middle of the wales at Bulkhead 9. This looked much better.

 

 

I soaked the wales for a good couple hours, then clamped them to the hull. It wasn't indicated how to plank the wales into the rabbet - obviously too shallow, so I sanded in a little 'bump' to notch into the rabbet. Worked pretty nicely. I did the same for the black strake above the 2 wales. And, with my wale correction, the black strake doesn't crowd the gun ports.  Perhaps this is why I've seen other modelers raise the height of the bulwarks to give more room?

 

 

Lower hull planking is next!!!

 

- Jason -

[JLong]

The start of hull planking for Fair American model ship:

I had reviewed dozens of build logs, tips, tricks, videos and booklets on techniques of planking.  Most of the modelers here have done a far better job than I did on planking. I mimicked a lot of them with my build.

I bought an electric plank bender from ModelExpo, but ended up not using it at all. Instead, my process was

•  measuring the gap left at each bulkhead
• divided by the number of planks left
• marked the strake width at each bulkhead
• drew a fit line along the marks
• cut with Xacto knife
• sanded edge smooth
• soaked in water for >1hr
• fit tightly against last strake on the model and clamped until dried
• glue to bulkheads and clamped
• repeat on opposite side

I wanted to soak and clamp each plank, so that it perfectly 'fit' to the real model it was going onto.  I should have done the planking BEFORE the main rail was installed, because trying to get clamps on there, was impossible - the rail was in the way!  I was following the instructions, so I blame them 😉

 

I tried to add planking belts/battens to the model, as per the planking booklet.  It said to divide the hull evenly, and lay the battens so they run naturally with the curve of the ship.  When I did this, they bent all over the place, and I didn't want to force them to go where I wanted. Especially at the bow, they pinched too tightly, when allowed to run naturally.  So I ended up doing 22 total planks, and measured that way.

 

I went WAY overboard (get it?!?!) with finding plank widths. As in, super overkill.  I made a strip of index card into a flexible ruler, and drew 1/32" marks up to 6" (no shown).  That way I could measure the gap left along the curve of the bulkheads.  I'd write that number for each one, for each side on an index card. 

 

I created this excel sheet to calculate the width left, by the number of planks left, at each bulkhead. I even made a tab for butt placement, so I can keep track of which one goes where. I went so far as to make the space between bulkhead #'s the same # of units wide for each cell, so that it looks appropriate.  

 

Planking width & Butts.xlsx

 

After getting the width for each plank at each bulkhead, I used a magnifier and a machinist ruler (to 1/64"), to get as close to the width as possible.  1/2 spaces between 1/64" counts as 0.008in!!

 

Next, I'd draw a best-fit curve between points - no sharp tapers, just smooth curves.

I'd cut the entire complete length of plank to size, not short planks. It became easier to soak and shape the entire plank to the hull, rather than little pieces.  Cutting with an Xacto knife went okay, but sometimes I ended up splitting the grain, or beveling the edge out. I attempted to sand it smooth as best I could, by running it back and forth over a flat file.

 

 

I would then glue the entire length of plank to the ship, clamping tight in spots. Once dried, I would simulate the planking butts, by slicing that plank at the locations from my Excel sheet down about 2/3 thickness. I know, its cheating. I wasn't satisfied with the first actual butted planks, because they didn't mount on the bulkhead without sticking up a little. I figured if they had to be sanded flush to each other, I must have done it wrong. So I decided on one long plank, glued and sliced the butts after-the-fact. 

 

The Garboard strake went in pretty easily, no real curvature yet.  The rabbet didn't offer anything here.  I used the clamps to fit it near the keel, but it sticks out about 1/32". I should have made the rabbet deeper. I'll have to sand it down later...which will be a pain. 

I used a scrap piece of Styrofoam to hold the hull upside down. I needed to chunk out a bunch of pieces to accommodate the bow, but it works nicely!

[JLong]

Continued planking the Fair American model ship. So far, it's going well. My process of measuring remaining gap, calculate width, cut, soak, clamp, and glue is working.  I'm still making planks in full length - it doesn't have the ''marbled'' look of different grain planks throughout, but I'm okay with that for a first build. Each piece butts up to previous strakes pretty tightly, so long as I clamp it properly, we're good.  

This is going to take a REALLY long time to finish, but I am not rushing.  Who cares if to get this far, took  a month?!?!  I only have so much time after work, to commit to building. Soaking and clamping on the model take the longest, but it will be worth all the time and effort in the end.

 

 

After the 5th plank row, I started to get some droop in the aft planks - the hull curvature was more pronounced now.  After reading the planking booklet, I still wasn't quite sure what the drop or stealer planks really did, or which kind to use.  It took me a bit of staring and re-reading to understand the idea of 'following the sheer''.  To me, it's the sweeping curve of the wales, when viewed from the side.  As planking continues, the outward curvature make the planks look sagged, giving an unpleasant appearance. The picture below is clamping a plank with a stealer notch cut in. This brings the sagging aft portion back up to follow the sweep of the wales again. In hindsight, I should have added a drop plank to the bow, as it started to do the same droop, but the booklet didn't really show how to do it, so I compensated with bow plank width a little bit.  - another learning moment

 

 

Another rookie mistake I made, was starting at the stern, and then working the plank toward the bow.  I should have fit the plank into the rabbet, although shallow, then work it aft. I was thinking that the extreme curvature under the transom would be the hardest to shape planks to, so I always started there.  I also should have ordered more blue squeeze clamps - they became invaluable later on.

 

 

You can see from the above picture, that right about bulkhead 12, at the bottom of the bulkhead it started to bulge out slightly.  The rest look okay.  During fairing, I made sure to check that planks sit flush along each bulkhead. This was just one spot that is hard to ''see'', but after more planking, I could feel a little hump right there.

Are there other suggestions on hump-hunting during fairing of the hull? I'm curious how other modelers approached this.

 

More planking pictures soon.

 

- Jason - 

 

 

[dvm27]

My method of fairing is to apply pencil marks to the edges of the bulkheads and use flexible sanding sticks across them until the pencil marks disappear. The low spots will retain pencil marks so keep reapplying lead until all the marks are gone. I start with 80 grit and work up to 150 for planking.

[JLong]

That's a really good idea. The lead acts as it's own self-indicating  spots to sand.  I'll definitely try that in the future.

What flexible sanding sticks did you use?  Just curious.

 

Thanks!

- Jason -

[dvm27]

Get a couple of paint mixing sticks from Your local paint store. I usually cut them to about 6” lengths. Cut some sandpaper strips of different grits #80 to 240.  Use white glue or 3m adhesive to join them. Trim excess off the edges with a blade. Make sure to label them with a Sharpie.

 

FA was my first kit bashed model. Do you have the monograph by Clayton Feldman?

[JLong]

Greg,

I would have completely forgotten to label them afterwards!! Much better than my ''keep the coarse one next to the one on the left of the bench'' - type of organization.

No I don't have the monograph, I'll have to take a look.

 

- Jason -

[JLong]

Planking progress for the Fair American Model Ship: 

Still doing the 'glue one long plank'  and 'cheat by slicing plank butts later' method.  It does work, but takes a long time to make progress. I want the shape of each band to flow naturally with the hull. You can see I start at the stern, clamping into the stern post, then using the plank holder screws along the length towards the bow. I leave the bow end of the plank loose and long, and then use a binder clip to hold it to the stem, in the second picture.

 

 

 

I still don't understand how other modelers are able to fit the plank into the rabbet, without it popping out.  This was a challenge for me. It'd have to 'notch' into the rabbet somehow, be bent laterally without popping out, and glued in place without moving. The squeeze clamps were okay, but sometimes left an imprint, which I'll have to sand out later.

 

 

I followed the rules for butt placement as closely as I possibly could (don't laugh). I went through several iterations of where butts should go (stop laughing), on the excel sheet I created. I always maintained the minimum 3 unbroken strakes rule to the letter. On my model, I was forced to shift my butts to make the next row of planks correct (now I'm laughing). I couldn't keep to rule 2 or 3 perfectly: sometimes it was more like 3.5ft between, or less than 5ft in neighboring strakes.  I made it work the best I could.

 

The planking is starting to look good. And yes, I am sanding a little along the way as I'm planking - it erases imperfections during the build. Also I can't help it - sanding is rather relaxing.

 

I have seen other builders add treenails to their models, and was/still am considering it.  If I do it, it will be my drill + pencil approach, and one wrong move and it'll stick out like a sore thumb! I didn't do anything to the edges of the planks to make them stand out either - I wanted the light color of the wood to stand on its own.  Maybe I should have darkened the edges???

 

 

 

Its now been about 5 months since I've started planking! Wow!  I want to go faster, but I also don't. For my first wooden model ever, I want it too look as good as I can.

 

I can see the finish line!

 

 - Jason -

[JLong]

Another point to make about my planking - I'm only using the Elmers Wood Glue, not CA glue.  I don't feel the CA glue will hold strong enough, even though the planks are soaked and pre-shaped beforehand.  I wait 2hrs for the glue to be dried enough to remove the clamps.  That might end up being one plank on one side that night, if I'm lucky. This is why it takes me so long!

 

- Jason -

[ERS Rich]

Hi Jason,

 

Just noticed your log and the way the work is progressing, for a first project, is remarkable.  Good for you.

 

Coming late into this as the planking as almost complete.

 

Going forward take a look at proportional dividers for measuring plank widths.  Fast and autocorrects for errors.  Checkout my USS Constitution build log.  The dividers are a huge time saver.  

 

When planking I like to use a dot of CA on the bulkhead, and elmers carpenter glue on the edges, this gives a quick hold without clamping.

 

Planks should lay easy along the bulkheads with very little if any edge bending required - if edge bending is necessary or a clamp is needed to force the plank against it’s neighbor most likely the plank is too thick at one bulkhead or two - there is a tapering issue.

 

Your experience with the butt joint spacing is par for the course, the “correct” spacing is a goal, but in practice it’s not possible to maintain across the entire model.

 

Obviously you have a high standard for your work.  Notice though, when the model is upright that lower hull minor imperfections will not be noticeable.

 

Anyway, hope this helps.  Again, nice job, looking forward to following along. 

 

[glbarlow]

I built a different version of Fair American, it’s a great ship to model. You can see it via the link in my signature if you’re interested. 
 

I have planked 10 models with CA, several are over 10 years old, it is more than strong enough and how you get planks to hold in the rabbit. You’ll find CA verses PVA an ongoing debate on this forum, I’m in the CA camp. I’d add not all CA glue is equal, common store brands aren’t the best for modeling, try Bob Smit Industries, you can find it on Amazon.

 

I use CA for most things, White PVA for a lot of things, and Titebond only for the initial framing to answer your glue question earlier.

 

You have struck on your own the process of Lining The Hull, good work on that. Chuck Passaro has a .pdf and some video tutorial on that and using heat for plank bending. It’s a good process and great that you basically discovered it on your own. The dividers mentioned are a good approach, I prefer tick strips, either way those and your approach the key is determining the taper needed to have a plank run stem to stern without fillers (no small feat). As Greg mentioned, though you’re past this now, the most important step in building a model is proper fairing, something many try to rush and pay the price later.
 

Generally I work down instead of up on planking other than fitting the Garboard and and a couple of bottom planks. That way any sins I might have cover are hidden on the bottom of the hull and by paint below the waterline. 
 

From your posts it seems you are only single planking the hull? It looks like it’s lime or bass wood generally used as a first planking which is then covered by walnut (most common in kits) or some other thin veneer. If you’re going to stay with the one planking I’d highly recommend against tree nailing. More often than not it turns out bad, I’ve seen some really nice models turned ugly with the measles. I’d also recommend using Wipe On Poly on your hull, it’s a great look and will provide some definition between the planks. Just wipe it on generously the immediately wipe all you can back off for a nice Matt finish. I probably put 5 coats like than on my Cheerful with light sanding and several days of drying time between. 

You’re doing a great job on your first model. I’m on my 11th now and still learn something new and better from the generous people in this forum all the time. You’ve come to the right place, and sharing a build log is the best way to learn. Congratulations on your progress. 
 

 

[JLong]

Thanks for the kind words and support. I'm really enjoying the build so far, pitfalls and successes alike!

Proportional dividers seems to be the way to go - next build, I'm getting them.

 

Glenn - I'm likely NOT going to treenail the lower hull, as you suggested.  The deck planks (eventually) turn out a little ''sprinkled with pepper'' in appearance, and I don't want that for the hull. I won't be double planking this model either. Once was enough for me!!!

 

- Jason -

[JLong]

Finishing the lower hull planking on Fair American.

 

Shaping the planks at the stern, around the filler blocks, was the most difficult. I had to be SUPER slow and careful to bend, after soaking, to prevent splitting and cracking. That happened once or twice. Of course, this is the supplied basswood, but I should have gone a little slower than extra slow.  You can see how I approached it below.   I used the hold down screws on the filler block to shape it - no other way to clamp it!

 

At this point, I'm running out of space.  If I kept going, I'd have no room for the hold down screws to go, without destroying my last plank. I got smart about it - I think.  I decided to Pre-form all of the remaining 6 rows, BEFORE gluing them. That way, I have room for the clamps to go, as needed to form them. After the previous strake was shaped, I left it clamped/held, and scribed a pencil mark along the edge to line up where the next plank should fall, and then do that row.  With all the planks pre-formed, I can glue them all in place.

 

Now we get to the last plank. The last lower hull plank, anyway. Only took 6 months - whew!

Up until this point, I was able to clamp, to some degree, each plank as it dried and glued. Now I am unable to  clamp; as I mentioned earlier, I should have done the main rail after planking, so I could clamp in that region, but too late now! I'm going to have to use CA Glue for this last one, as I'm not going to be able to hold it with my fingers for an hour, using Wood Glue. I made sure this plank was tight, but it turned out that I didn't cut it perfectly everywhere - there's some big ( 1/32" - 3/64") gaps in places.  Not ideal, but I have wood filler, so I'll be plugging the holes.

 

Also, I tried, I REALLY tried to keep the widths of the planks at the bow >1/2 nominal thickness. What happened was as the bow ''leaned'' out from bulkhead 1, I didn't have any plank measurements there. I just cut the plank long, and let the width taper out there. Bad idea.  Now its a little point, which is what I was afraid of doing. I also should have added a drop plank earlier, which would have reset the widths back to 'normal' again, and it may have gone better.  

 

 

 

Finished. Finally!  Of course up close, and to my eyes, I can see little imperfections and spots I don't like, but hey - It isn't bad! I didn't have to use that much wood filler, except at the bow and counter areas.  I like the final result, and the light colored basswood shouldn't need to be painted white. Just some clear Poly, and that's it!

 

 

 

 

As I mentioned before, I've been sanding as I go - I use sanding as an 'eraser' of sorts. Nothing left but smooth, clean lines.  Most of the sanding I did was by hand, 200, then final 400 grit - always the final swipes parallel to the grain. 

 

Again for a first time planking, anything, I'm proud of the hard work and time I put in.

My wife is happy I'm able to spend time with her now, for a change. 

 

 

Upper hull planking will be easy, since those planks are 1/32" thick and no bending or shaping.  I'm going to stain the upper planks, instead of painting. More on that soon.

 

Upper planking, here we come!

 

- Jason - 

[ERS Rich]

Nice job!

[JLong]

Upper hull planking on the Fair American Model Ship

 

Not as many planking pictures for the upper planking - it went pretty smoothly.  I wasn't sure from the instructions or plans when exactly the fashion piece should be done.  It was after the Black Strake was installed, on mine, which made it difficult to properly shape. I blended it into the curve of the transom as best I could, but I needed a bunch of wood putty to get things smoothed out. 

 

 

 

For the rear window frame, I simply glued it on - nothing fancy here. The planks were relieved to make room, but tight enough not to leave any gaps.

 

 

For the gun port holes, I tried to leave the 1/32" lip, but it ended up being 3/64, or 1/16", or 0, in a lot of places. I was not going to cut out the offset after it was on the model. I'd be worried I would slip and slice it accidentally.  So the result was inconsistent offsets around the ports.  The planking, otherwise, looks pretty nice.  

 

 

 

After both sides were done with upper planking, I was ready to add some much needed color!

I decided, after looking at the Syren ship from other builders, that I'd stain the upper hull with MiniWax Golden Oak wood stain.  Its yellow enough as the kit calls for, but I like the stain better. I'll use pre-stain to even out the color before the real stain is applied.

 

I did a test strip to see how the color would turn out with my brushes. It looks rich!  Now for the real thing...

 

 

Sorry I don't have more 'just stained' pictures along the way.  I do later, though.  I always start with the port side, as my 'bad side'.  What ever I learn there, I'll apply on the good/Starboard side.  What I learned was that even with the pre-stain, if I do more than a pass or so, it blotches the wood, and looks uneven.  So for the starboard side, I was careful not to over apply. Afterwards, I painters taped-off the planking in prep for painting the wales black.  I don't want to ruin the color with a bad paint job.

 

 

 

Next post will be after the wales were painted, and the upper hull planking stained.

 

Moving right along!

 

- Jason -

[JLong]

Hull staining and painting of the Fair American Model Ship:

 

After taping off the upper and lower hull, I painted the wales a semi-gloss black. I should have primed it first, since wood likes to soak up paint - it took 3 good coats, but its done.  I was worried peeling the painters tape off would pull the upper stain with it, but it didn't, thankfully.  Now with the black wales, stained upper planking, and gold trim - it pops!  I love the contrast.

 

 

 

I'll still need a bit more gold trim paint later on - just handling the model does wear it off some. I'm still not happy with how the gun port trimming turned out - its not a consistent 1/32" for all ports, but I'll live with it. I guess everything at high zoom/magnification looks bad up close, but I'm extra critical.  

 

 

 

I'm keeping the lower hull planking as-is - no treenails.  When I first added clear poly to the lower hull, it darkened the color a bit! Yikes! But after it dried overnight - it wasn't an issue. It stayed the light basswood color.  Also, I only added 1 coat, as I didn't want the hull to have a shine to it. Should I go with more or heavier coat than this?

 

 

As per the instructions, the next part is deck planking. I'll tackle this in my next post, before moving on to the beak and deck furniture.

 

Its been a year and a half of very on-and-off work, buy now it looks like a ship!\

 

More progress soon.

 

- Jason - 

[JLong]

Deck planking for the Fair American Model Ship:

This part was fun. More so than the planking: no bending required!  My goal was to employ the same ''false treenail'' approach I did with the quarterdeck, but I'll have to keep track of where the bulkheads are before they're all covered!

 

As per the instructions, I started with the deck pad (5/32" thick planks).  I made sure to add a thick layer of lead pencil rubbing on the edges, to simulate the caulked appearance.  And I even remembered to cut a hole hole for the masts to fit in.  The mast will ultimately be round, but as it fits in, I'll keep it square. The slight angle SHOULD be maintained, but the deck needs to be opened up a bit for the mast to seat properly, I'll do that. 

 

 

 

As the deck pad gets glued on, at the house front, the planks are pretty tall.  I can see already that it will cover the door from 'opening'.  I've decided that I'll cut reliefs into the deck pad in this region, so there's sort of a step-down to the door.  I've heard from many other modelers, that this door is not to scale, via the plans. Either a raised roof or different door size was used in their models. I'm keeping mine, as I like the overall shape. Hopefully it won't look too out of place in the end.

 

 

The deck planking moved along pretty easily. Now with the 1/8" thick planks, its starting to take shape.  I darkened the butt ends with more pencil to make it stand out. Sanding dulls it a little bit, but it's not bad.

 

 

I created a little scaled sketch to keep track of where the butts should go. It helped tremendously. After each row, I'd cross off that set on the drawing, then move onto the next. I followed a similar pattern to the first row of hull planking, since I already knew where the butts landed on the bulkheads.

 

 

Except for the deck pad, I used Titebond CA Wood adhesive for the deck planks, since they aren't load supporting.  Some spots, the deck planking drooped. It could be a bad spot on the bulkhead, or a thin spot on the plank itself. You can see this on row 5, port side, near the large hatch.  I couldn't fix it, once it was glued in.  But, again, the port is the less pretty side anyway. It'll be hidden by gun carriage tackle later on.

 

 

 

After all the planks were laid, it was time to do the 'pencil treenail' trick!  Along each bulkhead, I drew a feint line to indicate the bulkhead, then I'd take a small pin vice and drill the holes by hand.  Maybe 1/2 way into the plank. Afterwards, I'd use a mechanical pencil, and bury the lead in the hole, and twist.  It leaves a nice mark behind. It's good enough for me, and gives the appearance I want. I also went back and traced the ends of the planks to make them more pronounced - sanding kind-of filled it in.

 

 

Near the bow, I must have messed up the bulkhead lines, since they are not straight on both sides 😕

I guess it's a good thing the deck will never be covered over with furniture, gun carriages, tackle or ropes, making mistakes all but hidden in the end. 😉 

 

 

 

 

 

All planking, deck and hull is now finished!  I'm not going to stain the deck, since I didn't stain the quarterdeck either, it would look strange.  Before the deck was fully finished, I took time to smear wood glue over the insides of all the hull planking, just to give it some extra hold:  I don't want any of them letting go and popping out later. After the deck was installed, there was no turning back! Fingers crossed.

 

More posts tomorrow, then I'm off for an African Safari for 2weeks!!!  If the rains come while I'm away, and floods the garage, I'm not sure she'll float!!

 

More progress tomorrow...

 

- Jason - 

 

[JLong]

Bow work, and Quarterdeck rail on Fair American Model Ship:

 

I enjoyed this portion of the build.  Mostly because from the plans, I can make all the measurements pretty easily, and transfer to the wood for shaping.  That's what I did.   I should have reversed the profile for the port side, to make things easier - another learning moment.  I transferred the cheek knee profile by drawing lines across and duplicating the measurements. 

 

 

Now comes the cutting and round file-work to carve the shape....A LOT of file-work, to get a straight walled profile.  After I glued on the bow-wrapping piece, I can sand down the taper and radius from 1/8" to 1/16", before installing

 

 

 

In the meantime from the bow work, I also completed the Quarterdeck Rail.  I had actually pre-carved the rail stanchions and the rail a while ago.  Its all ready and waiting for me.  I had to put some mind-space towards how to attach the rail.  I pre-drilled the holes for the stanchions dowels to sit in first, then glued them, while the rail itself was pinned to the tops. This held the stanchions from tilting while the glued, and ensured the rail would line up later.  Once the stanchions dried, I glued the rail on, keeping the pins in place. Once they were dry, I removed (with difficulty) the pins. 

 

 

 

This is basically where I am with the build, up until now.  I'm working on the rest of the beak at the bow, which is tricky, but manageable. Building the ship, so far, has been really rewarding and enjoyable.  It's amazing to think how centuries ago, people built these ships full-scale!

 

Once I get back from the African Safari in two weeks, I'll post some more progress!

 

Talk soon,

 

- Jason -

[JLong]

Bow work on the Fair American Model Ship:

 

Back after a wonderful safari, now able to post some progress on the bow. From my previous update, I glued and carved the cheek knees and head rails. These were the easiest pieces for me to build, since I could take the measurements off the plans.  For the head rails, the instructions say that they're actually ~1/8" longer than on the plans, due to them pointing towards the stem. I added 1/8" to the overall length on the wood piece, then drew lines every 1/4", then added 1/32" to each section to make up the extra 1/8" I needed. I sketched the profile from these sections.

 

 

For the Head Rail, the plans and instructions show the bottom half is beveled/twisted by 40deg forward.  Instead of adding this detail, I scribed a line, where that edge would go, followed with an Xacto blade, then a small round file to trace the edge. It leaves a nice molding line behind.  

 

 

Port and Starboard sides aren't exactly even, but the individual cheek knees were hard to mirror and glue. It'll do for now, I guess.

 

 

The Head rail knees were BY FAR THE HARDEST THING TO BUILD!  I really would have benefited from a front view of the bow on the plans, to see their exact shape.  This is what I came up with. They have multiple curvatures and tapers that I couldn't build with out endless test fit and fix.  The instructions give what one knee's shape might be, but no dimensions. Each one is a different height, shape, position and curvature.  Really challenging.

 

 

 

The head rail knees are horribly uneven. I did not enjoy this work at all.

 

 

The middle rail was also a pain.  I needed to cut reliefs in the knees and the back of the rail in order for it to fit properly. This took me several painstaking hours to finally fit.

 

 

 

After finally gluing the middle rails on, the port side looks more uniformly spaced than the starboard. But its finished, finally.

I took extra time to finely sand each piece before gluing.  I added a very thin coat of MiniWax Golden Oak stain, to match the upper planking color. I like the look of the bow, with the stained rails. I think the hard work paid off!!!

 

Oh, right - oops. I forgot the Gammon hole before I attached everything. Learning moment - pay attention to the little details. So I had to use a small drill to put that in, without scratching the rails already installed - not an easy task, but I got it done

 

  

 

You can see the hole now, ''just'' above the middle rail.  

 

 

I didn't install the Boomkin, so that might be next. Probably should be so I don't forget it. Then it'll be the channels, if I'm following the instructions to the letter.

 

I'd love to hear from other modelers how they tackled the beak/knees/rails/etc.  Is there a better way than the instructions spell out?

 

More progress soon.

 

 - Jason -

[JLong]

Finally back to progress on the Fair American Model Ship:

 

Its been several months since my last post - work, the pandemic and holidays took up a lot of time and mind-space, and I didn't have a lot of time to dedicate to the build. So I'm into year 3 on this build overall.

 

After the bow work from last time, I was able to get the channels and boomkins going.  From the plans, the cap strip for the channels was a tapered piece, but for simplicity, I made it just one long strip. I took the dimensions from the plans and modified slightly to fit my model.

 

 

 

I was concerned about mounting these pieces, since they'll carry the load from the shrouds to the masts. I used toothpick shafts as pins, as dictated in the instructions.  Mounting them to the model, however, proved more of a pain.  Sometimes the pin holes were a little low or high, causing the channel to be tilted. I'd have to file the pins down, or adjust the holes to get them to look straight.

 

 

After fitting everything, they got stained with the Golden Oak stain, as before.  I like the oiled wood look, more than black. Ultimately, the deadeyes and shrouds will add nice contrast, once it's rigged, so that's what I'm doing.

 

QUICK TIP: Mark which channel and cap go to which side and location.  I ALMOST glued a port main channel on the starboard side.  Therefore, you can just make out "STB AFT'' on the insides of the stained channels.  

 

I wasn't really sure how to ''pin'' the boomkins, so they were glued to the hull, and to the head rail. I got them as symmetric as I could.  Now I just need to avoid bumping into them forever. The instructions say to wait to install, but I need to make some head way, haha, so they're on there!

 

 

 

 

I think next will be actually naming my ship, and adding a rudder.  They seem like important details....

 

More soon,

 

- Jason -

 

[JLong]

Continuing work on the Fair American Model ship:

 

Having a boat without a name is bad luck, so I added one that seemed appropriate! My freehand painting skills leave much to be desired, so I created a little laser-cut stencil to help with the lettering. I made some quick measurements of the molding 'gap' so the stencil would fit in snugly. I had to trim it just a hair, but i wanted the letters just offset from the bottom and top.

 

 

This technique didn't turn out too bad. Many of the letters were smeared, and the A's and R's needed to be blacked out.

 

 

Fortunately for me, a fine tip black sharpie worked perfectly for touch ups!

 

 

Next thing on the docket was curtains! This required some forethought. The counter isn't exactly a perfect arc, because it curves back and away from this view point. It's sort of flattened. I ended up measuring the length of the counter for vertical measurements, and simple port to starboard for horizontal.  I drew the shape of the counter on an index card, and it has a more pronounced arc shape.  When it gets laid onto the counter itself (3D), it will create the more 'smooshed' look that the plans have (2D).  

 

 

I took the stencil I drew and cut out small sections of curtains, then used a pencil to trace the overall shape.  A few bulwark red brush strokes later, and the finished product emerges. Is it perfect, and museum quality artistry? For Jason Long's collection of first-time-making-wooden-model-ships: YES!

 

 

Ships need to be able to steer, so this one might as well have a rudder. The gudgeon and pintle were easy enough to construct, but on this size scale, making it functional with pins, wasn't going to happen. So I opted for simply pinning it to the keel. 

 

 

Making small shallow drill spots in the brass after painting created a nice rivet appearance. This approach is similar to how I did the treenail look for the deck planks. I'm pleased with it!

 

 

More updates soon

 

- Jason -

[Dave_E]

Nice! Back that camera up a foot and you will see perfection. 👍

[JLong]

More progress on Fair American Model Ship:

 

Gangway steps were next on the list. I decided to carve these from a single piece of wood, making the middle and sides curved, using a round file. Tricky little pieces, but they turned out nice in the end.

 

 

 

The space between the gunport and the channels got a little close, but I'm happy with it. 

 

 

I then went to work on the timberheads and knightheads. I made them long to start, so they were easier to work with, before cutting to final length after they were shaped.  You can see the little pencil tick marks. The instructions indicate they are to be painted black, but I wanted to keep the wood-look, so I just added some clear poly to finish. I can always paint them later, if I change my mind.

 

 

The catheads didn't quite fit the inner bulwarks perfectly, without a small space, so I added a ''shim'', and sanded to fit. This will be somewhat hidden once installed, which is just fine for me!  I used a small drill and a tiny rounded file to create the ''look'' of sheaves in the catheads; that is to say I wanted them to look like there was a pulley in there - just a small detail I included.

 

 

All installed - now we're getting somewhere!

 

 

At this time, I filed a rounded slot in the bow rail for the bowsprit. I measured it to be about 1/4" at this section, so the cutout is a hair oversized to accommodate. I drilled the pin holes for the pin rails in the bulwarks, and installed the brass eyelets all round. There were a LOT of them on the plans, many of which didn't appear to be used, once rigged. I plan to add sails to my build, so I expect they'll be used for that additional running rigging.  

 

 

Once I get to it, the deck furniture will be made from wood. the castings aren't awesome quality. That'll be a fun challenge!

 

More updates soon,

 

- Jason -