HMS Winchelsea 1764 by glbarlow - FINISHED - 1:48

[Blue Ensign]

It's been a few weeks,  but wow what progress you have made Glenn, your planking is a joy to behold, and the whole model so pristine.

Beautiful work.👏

 

ps I'm feeling inadequate.

 

B.E.

[glbarlow]

1 hour ago, Blue Ensign said:

I'm feeling inadequate.

Thank you BE, I feel that way a lot when I see the work of some others, including yours. 
 

Side note, when my mini-chisels are too big I turn to the Swann Morton surgical chisel blades I picked up after seeing your use of them. They do come in handy. 

Edited April 26, 2022 by glbarlow

[DelF]

Wow. Just wow!

 

(That's me being speechless too)

Edited April 26, 2022 by DelF

[glbarlow]

4 minutes ago, DelF said:

Just wow!

Thank you Derek, I say that a lot with your work.

 

A side note, I use (and keep sharp) my Veritas chisels so much now, so thanks for both the lead on tools and the Kell sharpening wheel. I’d be lost without them. 

[WalrusGuy]

Some of the best planking I've seen 🙂

[Seventynet]

Lovely clean work Glenn.

[Edwardkenway]

The stern post transition is absolutely superb, I totally struggled with that part.

As has been mentioned several times, very clean, precise planking! Always a pleasure to read your updates Glenn

[glbarlow]

1 hour ago, WalrusGuy said:

Some of the best planking

Thank you for saying so, I appreciate it.

 

1 hour ago, Seventynet said:

Lovely clean work

Thank you, if only my work shop was remotely clean now 😄

 

1 hour ago, Edwardkenway said:

The stern post transition is absolutely superb, I

Thanks. I definitely struggled, now if I can only remotely match it on the port side.

[Trussben]

Yepper - very nice work indeed!

[FrankWouts]

Beautiful progress Glenn! Keep going like this!
Frank.

[glbarlow]

1 hour ago, FrankWouts said:

Beautiful progress

Thanks Frank. 

 

On 4/27/2022 at 10:38 AM, Trussben said:

very nice work

Thank you!

[desalgu]

I'm just getting caught up and echo all the previous comments.  Unbelievable work!!  

 

It helps to see how the bow and especially the stern counter should be planked.  I'll never get anywhere close to this good, but it gives me something to shoot for.   I absolutely love the look of Alaskan Cedar.  

[glbarlow]

19 hours ago, desalgu said:

see how the bow and especially the stern counter should be planked.

Thank you.  What I know I learned from others and improved by doing. I too have a lot to improve, especially with the stern. 

[glbarlow]

The slow work of planking continues, now with the first port side belt completed to go with 16 starboard rows. 

Just a couple of progress photos. No WOP at this point and only preliminary sanding. 
 

I’ll do the next port side belt then work from the keel up after that.  Here a plank here, there a plank there, everywhere a plank plank.
 

Thanks as always for your comments and likes

[Paul Le Wol]

Hi Glenn, your planking is incredible. In a couple of posts (171 & 194) you have more than one strake going at a time. Are there advantages to this  or is it just because she is just so big?

[westwood]

Nice progress Glenn!

Clean work, smooth lines, a joy to watch.

[BobG]

Perfection!!

[glbarlow]

1 hour ago, Paul Le Wol said:

you have more than one strake going at a time.

Although it may be more of a mental advantage it helps me make sure I’m keeping tight rows and that I’m keeping the plank shift pattern as I go up (or down).  Mostly though it’s so I can focus on the bow and the stern for a while to keep them consistent since both are different challenges. 
 

And it’s a really big model😳

Edited May 4, 2022 by glbarlow

[glbarlow]

1 hour ago, westwood said:

Nice progress

Thank you, I enjoy following yours as well. 

 

26 minutes ago, BobG said:

Perfection

I wish.. but thanks Bob. 

[glbarlow]

AND Planking Continues …

 

I started planking in early March, and I’m still and it and I’m still not done and I still have more planking to do and I’m having so much fun... I’ve now completed 16 strakes both starboard and port - with 8 more to go on each side.

It seems like these, plus my travel iron and craft hot air gun are the only tools I’ve touched in months, probably because they are. I do spend a lot of time with my Byrnes collection of saw, disc sander, and thickness sander so there’s that.

I’ve always been comfortable tapering planks with a metal ruler and a sharp object, with the longer planks required for Winchelsea I added a separate cutting mat along with double sided tape. I put a strip of the tape on the mat and stick the plank to the tape - it doesn’t move while I’m sliding the blade along the tick marks I’ve transferred from the ship.

I have the problem of being somewhat of a perfectionist and not being very good at my job - the result is a lot of wasted wood from rejected planks and excess. I was feeling bad about this until my wife walked in the shop, looked at the pile and said “We’ll have some great summer projects for the grandkids using these.” I looked up and said “Of course, that was my plan all along.” We’re going to Alaska on a cruise this fall, I plan to find an Alaskan Yellow Cedar tree and apologize for how much of his brethren I’ve wasted.

The port side bow has turned out ok so far, it’s nice because it’s more or less measure, cut, fit. It’s still 'every plank’s a project' with the bending, fitting, edge softening, and gluing - each plank can take up to an hour or so to make. Then of course there are the repeats when that doesn’t work … grandkid projects I now call them.

Remarkably both sides look more or less the same in this view I’ll likely never see or notice once the ship gets turned right side up, but still.

There was so much excitement at reaching this stage a guy with a mandolin came by to play a few tunes.

I’m not as concerned with the variances in the wood color, for one thing there are different number of coats of WOP, the port side has only one. The AYC soaks up the first coat like a towel.  There will be more light sanding and more coats of WOP before I call it done. Plus, as I see my Cheerful on its shelf everyday I know somehow this nice wood just evens itself out over time. I probably should have milled all the planks at once, thrown them in a pile and used whatever came out first, rather than try matching as I’ve done, and not done well. In fairness it changes a lot with that first coat of WOP.

Then there’s the stern - Planks at the bow make take an hour or two, midship less, but these stern planks starting at the turn to the stern post wore me out. I really struggled with the stern on multiple levels.  One plank might take me a day to get right. I’m fortunate these aren’t very heavy, so they didn’t do much damage when I flung the rejects against the wall.

In another macro view I won’t often see it’s somewhat a miracle both sides are near equal.  At least unlike the starboard side and the multiple rip and replace I didn’t have to repeat that for thr port side, so I must have learned something along the way. It is nice to know the counter will be covered by a frieze and a moulding strip eventually covers the seam.

I’m still not that happy with the stern, but I got there - it is in fact a stern. Even with wider planks and knowing I’m on the tick marks it looks like a lot of ground to cover at the stern post with just eight more strakes to go. I’ll make it work, that’s what wider planks are for.

More and more it looks like an actual ship.

With that it’s time to reverse course and start down from the keel, so next up are garboard strakes.  By my estimation (and no I’m not going to count them) with 32 strakes done below the wales and about 3.25 planks to a strake (depending on the butt pattern) I’ve added over a hundred planks and have about half that still to go…but who’s counting. Of course that’s not counting rejects, I mean grandkid summer project material. I’m just taking it slow, admiring build logs of those who have a deck, and working it a day at a time.

 

Thank you for the follows, likes and comments - it really helps keep me going - one plank at a time, then another plank, then another plank……

 

 

 

Edited May 24, 2022 by glbarlow

[Chuck]

That looks great.  Dont worry about the color of the cedar varying.  It will deepen and even out.  My winnie hull is a completely different color now vs when I finished planking.  It really mellows.

[glbarlow]

Thanks Chuck,

 

Yep, my Cheerful looks completely different, and better, than when I finished it.  

[Oldsalt1950]

Outstanding

[Seventynet]

Terrific job Glenn! That AYC sure is beautiful.

[DelF]

Truly a thing of beauty - even a perfectionist like you must be delighted at your achievements. The sweeping lines of those planks really enhance the beautiful shape of the hull.

 

10 hours ago, glbarlow said:

We’re going to Alaska on a cruise this fall

We're also cruising there in late July, early August. I'm taking a saw to bag me some of that cedar😁

[glbarlow]

13 hours ago, Oldsalt1950 said:

Outstanding

Thank you for saying so.

 

13 hours ago, Seventynet said:

That AYC sure is beautiful.

Thank you, it really is a great wood for modeling.  

[glbarlow]

5 hours ago, DelF said:

delighted at your achievements.

Thank you. I am happy with how it’s going, but can’t help seeing every flaw, no matter how small. Into my third month planking I’m kinda ready to be done though. 
 

5 hours ago, DelF said:

taking a saw to bag me some of that cedar

So you check one of those hard shell golf club carriers empty and bring it back full, no one will notice a thing🤣

[Edwardkenway]

Your planking is coming along absolutely gorgeously.

You'll soon be starting chapter 3 and then I can follow your example.

 

[glbarlow]

10 hours ago, Edwardkenway said:

starting chapter 3

Thank you, I’m looking forward to moving beyond planking. 

[scrubbyj427]

On 5/14/2022 at 10:12 PM, glbarlow said:

Thank you, I’m looking forward to moving beyond planking. 

Once you complete planking things really start moving quick, especially if you are still working on planking mode!