Duchess of Kingston by Usedtosail - FINISHED - Vanguard Models - 1:64

[usedtosail]

I am joining the other Duchess build logs as I get started on this kit. I had ordered it a few months ago and I am finally ready to start it. I am currently building the frame but I won't go into detail here as it is very straight forward and many other build logs have gone through the process. I will add more content when I start planking or earlier if I run into problems.

Edited February 15, 2023 by usedtosail

[usedtosail]

Here is the first progress post. I am just about finished putting the frame together and had no real difficulties at all. Everything fit very well together and nothing got broken. The MDF is really easy to work with and all the parts came off the laser cut sheets with very little effort.

The next step is to add the lower deck but before I add it I cleaned it up by sanding it to remove some char, which did not affect the laser etching at all. I then gave it a coat of Golden Oak stain and a coat of wipe on poly, so it is now ready to install.

 

[usedtosail]

I glued the lower deck onto the frames and clamped the edges as it dried. I then wanted to test fit the upper deck and got it half way on by bending it pretty severely. At that point I didn't want to try taking it off, so I put glue on the frames and got it to sit the rest of the way on. It did snap nicely into place with no part of it away from the frames, but it is as scary as it seems. I did manage to break off one of the bulwark extensions so I glued it back on but it won't really be secure until I put the temporary beams across.

 

[usedtosail]

The framing is completed so its time to start fairing.

 

[usedtosail]

I gave the Duchess a little love this morning, although I have been focusing on the capstan project to get that finished. I finished fairing the framing (I think) and glued on the bow piece. That piece fit like a glove and I didn't use any clamps a they tended to pull the bow piece away from the framing.

 

 

Next up are the scary bulwark plywood pieces.

[usedtosail]

Those bulwark pieces turned out not to be too scary. I started with the port sidebar soaking the piece for a little over 30 minutes in hot water. I then wrapped the bow section around a Sanding Sealer can that seemed to be about the right diameter. I have had no success in the past trying to clamp something like this around the can so I can up with a jig using my drill press and some weights to hold the piece in place while it dried. I also used a hair dryer to dry the piece some but left it to dry overnight. This picture is actually the starboard piece in the jig, held upside down.

 

 

When it was dry I started gluing and pinning it to the frames. I used the pins supplied in the kit which worked great. I used nail insertion pliers after drilling a small hole through the bulwark with a Dremel. I did this frame by frame instead of drilling all the holes before attaching. I had to redo the front two frames because my initial attempt didn't have the bulwark piece all the way into the slot in the bow piece. Once I got to the stern I used a clamp to pull the lower part of the bulwark piece tight to the transom piece.

 

 

 

I did the same thing with the starboard side piece and attached it using glue and pins.

 

 

You can see another clamp being used to pull both the starboard and port bulwark pieces tight to the third frame. Next is the first planking.

[usedtosail]

I tapered the first planks on each side, soaked them in water and bent them for the bow using an electric plank bender. I clamped them to the bulkheads to dry. This morning I started gluing the port side plank to the frames, starting with the first three bulkheads at the bow.

 

[usedtosail]

After I glued the first planks on each side I used a batten to find the run of the planks about mid way down on each side. I measured the distance from the bottom of the first planks to the top of the batten on each bulkhead using a tick strip, then divided those distances by the number of 5mm planks that would fit, which in this case was 9 planks exactly from bulkhead 9 to the transom. For the bulkheads from the bow to 9 there is a taper, although slight after bulkhead 3. I cut the next few planks to these tapers using a jig to hold the plank on edge while I planed in the taper. I soaked the next planks on each side and bent them to the frames, then glued them on when they had dried. I am using wood glue for most of the frames and CA at the transom. I then soaked and bent the next frame on the starboard side, which is where the planks have a severe bend at the transom. I was able to put the bend in as I clamped the plank to dry as you can see here.

 

 

So now I will continue to plank to the batten line, then start planking up from the keel, starting with the garboard planks.

[usedtosail]

It has been a while but I am about half way finished with the first planking. I am going to stop here and add the garboard strakes, then plank up from them. I really like using the brass pins to hold those parts of the planks against the frames that need a little extra clamping, mostly at the bow and stern.

 

 

[usedtosail]

So I ended up going a few more planks down from the bulwarks, then I cut and glued on the garboard planks. I made sure they were not too far up the bow and where shaped at the front so I can sit the next plank up tight to them.

 

 

Next I will measure the gaps at the bulkheads and plan the planks to fill them.

[usedtosail]

I am almost finished with adding the first layer of planks. For the last two on each side I decided to add a drop plank at the stern as it was pretty narrow there. I first cut a plank to fill the gap then added a notch for the last plank. I had also glued a support behind the upper and lower planks so I had a place to land the end of the last plank.

 

 

I then cut the last two planks and bent them to the frames to dry. I'll finish trimming the ends when I glue them into the gap.

 

 

Then it's the so fun sanding, filling, sanding loop until I have a nice smooth surface for the second planking.

[usedtosail]

I have done a rough sanding of the first planks, then added wood filler a couple of times with more rough sanding in between. I then did some finer sanding of the whole hull. It is getting there but I used more wood filler than I would have liked. It is the first planking so I am not too concerned but I have got to do a better job on the second planking.

 

 

[usedtosail]

A little elective surgery today on the planks at the stern. As I was test fitting the stern post I had to trim the plank ends back more so it would fit between them. In the process I could see that I did not curl the planks up far enough to the counter and there would be a big gap between the plank ends and the counter piece. To fix this I removed the ends of the too short planks and bent new planks to replace the ends. I put a more severe bend into these planks using the center of my electric plank bender, which is a smaller diameter than the end of the bender. This burnt the inside of the planks at the bend but this won't be seen. I had a feeling I was going to have to do this as I was planking because I really couldn't figure out how far up to bend the planks and where they should end. I may have a small gap between the counter and the remaining planks but I can fill that with wood filler. I will be replacing these plank ends over the next few days.

 

[usedtosail]

I am happy to report that the patient has had a full recovery. I had pre-bent all of the planks I needed yesterday so today I was able to trim them and glue them in place. I used medium CA for this so that let me do all the planks in a few hours. Here is how the stern ends of the planks now look. If you look carefully you can see that there is a horizontal frame just under the plank ends that the planks need to cover vertically. Keep that in mind if you build this model in the future.

 

 

And here is the counter piece just taped across the stern. I have not bent it to fit the frames yet.

 

 

You can see that I could have extended one more plank on each side, but I'll just use some wood filler in those holes since this is just the first planking. I think the bottom of the counter piece stands proud of the plank ends and acts as a rabbet for the second planking.

[usedtosail]

I was able to bend the lower counter piece but not without a few breaks when trying to figure out how I was going to bend it. I was able to bend the individual pieces and glue them back together before installing it, which made it easier to align the pieces. I had to do a little more trimming of the plank ends along the sides of the transom to get it to fit right. I used the upper counter piece to make sure I had it at the right height on the transom. I then sanded the edges so they were flush with the planks, bevelled the upper counter piece and glued it in place, then sanded its edges. Here is how that all came out. I also filled the gap at the ends of the starboard planks with some wood filler.

 

 

Today I soaked the bow areas of the upper hull pieces and clamped them to the hull to dry. I heated up water in the microwave for 3 minutes then poured it into a coffee can and put the pieces in bow first for 30 minutes. They bent very easily after that. I will let these dry for a good 24 hours before I remove the clamps.

 

[usedtosail]

Yesterday I glued the bow portion of the port upper hull piece to the hull after sanding the front edge so the openings lined up. I have to say having those holes in the pieces so you can align them with the brass pins is just brilliant. Thanks @chris watton! It just makes aligning those pieces so much easier. Today I glued the rest of that piece to the hull. I needed lots of clamps, including longer reach clamps to make sure the bottom edge was held tight to the hull until the glue set. I had a couple and I modified some others with pieces of basswood which worked great.

 

 

When this dries I'll do the same thing to the starboard side piece.

[usedtosail]

Both upper hull pieces are now glued on. I glued them in thirds to make sure they stuck well all along the length. I then cleaned up the outer bow and keel pieces and have glued on the port bow piece.

 

[BobG]

Looking great, Tom!

[usedtosail]

Thanks Bob and for the likes.

 

After all four stem and keel outer pieces were glued on I took some time to clean up all the rabbets along the stem and stern post. I used chisels to thin down the first planks along the stern post so the second layer planks have room to fit into the rabbet. With that done I started the second planking using the provided pear strips. I usually soak my planks before I bend them, but since other builders have been having success bending them without soaking I thought I would give it a try. It worked very nicely. I am doing the second planking in three sections per plank. For the bow section I first do an edge bend then the larger bend for the curvature of the bow. For the other two sections I just give them a bit of an edge bend. The nice thing with dry bending is that the plank is ready to glue on shortly after bending instead of the next day. And I am using medium CA to glue them on so no clamps are required, although I use them when I can, and again I don't have to wait long for the glue to dry. I have the first two planks done and I am really happy with the result so far.

 

 

 

I am using the planks full width except for a taper at the bow. I should be able to hold to that all the way down but I will recheck as I go. 

[usedtosail]

Second planking continues. I was having no problems with the bow planks lying flat until the sixth and seventh planks, but I found that if I edge bent them in the opposite direction then I bent the previous planks they laid down flatter. I have not seen that before. I am also just to the point at the stern that I need to add a bend up to the transom. So far that is going well. Here is the state of the planking so far.

 

[glbarlow]

1 hour ago, usedtosail said:

bent them in the opposite direction

This is fundamental to the edge bending method. 
 

I recommend you plan out your second planking using tick strips to taper them in order to prevent the problem you have with the first planking ending in the middle. 

[usedtosail]

Thanks Glenn. I have measured out the planks with tick strips - I just didn't mark them on the hull.

 

I added another row and again the edge bend changed direction. Very strange to me but it is working. I trimmed the planks at the transom and sanded them back to the transom. Here is how this area looks so far.

 

 

 

[usedtosail]

I was having troubles getting the right bend or bends on the next plank bow sections so I went back to first principals. Edge bending is really just spilling (spileing?) without using wider wood strips. To get the shape of a spiled plank you use clear tape to trace the edge of the previous plank, so that's what I did. I then edge bent to that curve and the plank section fit nicely. I now have ten rows of planks so I think I will check the remaining space and recalculate the remaining plank widths.

[usedtosail]

I remeasured the remaining distances at each bulkhead and adjusted the plank widths slightly going forward. I added the next row of plank sections using the new widths and all went well .

 

 

Happy New Year everyone.

[usedtosail]

I am getting close to completing the second planking. I currently have three rows left which includes the garboard strakes. I have again adjusted the widths of the final planks so that I don't end up with very thin sections of some planks. I cut 5 mm width planks from the edges of the 1mm laser cut pear sheets which I am using for the middle sections.

 

 

 

I had to replace my plank bender (again) but since I bought the original many years ago I replace them with regular soldering irons that have exchangeable tips and use the large round tip from the original plank bender. Works great. Not much bending at the bow needed now but still mostly edge bending.

[usedtosail]

I finished the second planking today, although I have only started sanding the upper planks. I also have some small gaps to fill. I was very happy with the fit of the final row of planks. I always have a hard time filling that last gap neatly. You can see I used some wider plank material near the keel but that area doesn't show much. It feels good to get the planking installed even if it is not sanded and finished yet.

 

[usedtosail]

I have been slowly sanding the second planking but we finally got a good snow storm last week and I have also spent a lot of time playing in it - skiing and snowmobiling mostly. I saved the saw dust from the rough sanding and made a thin paste with it to fill the gaps in the planking. I then sanded down the starboard side with medium and fine sandpaper. I was a little concerned with the color of the filler so I wiped a section with a tack cloth and rubbed on some wipe on poly. I was very pleased with the test section.

 

 

I now will sand down the port side and probably will have to do a little more filling before the final sanding. I am now pretty sure I will leave the hull clear below the waterline instead of painting it white.

[usedtosail]

I finished sanding both sides of the hull after using a little more of the sawdust in diluted wood glue in the gaps. I finished with 400 grit sandpaper and wiped the hull down with a tack cloth.

 

 

 

I then removed the bulwark supports and extensions. I used a chisel to remove the extensions at the deck level then finished up with files and sandpaper.

 

 

The inner bulwark pieces are soaking in hot water and I will clamp them to the bulwarks next to curve and dry.

[usedtosail]

The inner bulwark pieces came out fine but they will need some work to get them to fit when the time comes. The next step is to add the two laser etched birch deck pieces. I am using these although I could have planked the decks but the laser etched plank pattern looks really good. After dry fitting the aft deck piece I brushed wood glue on the plywood under deck, placed the aft deck piece. To hold it down I used clamps around the edges and weights in the middle.

 

 

When this dries I'll fit the fore deck piece and glue it in.

[usedtosail]

I removed the clamps and weights and the aft deck was held down well, with no bubbles I could detect. So I sanded the fore deck edges to fit and glued it in the same way.