Polaris by ibozev - FINISHED - OcCre - 1:50

[ibozev]

Hello everyone and greetings from Bulgaria! 🙂

 

    I'm really happy to be part of this huge community and for me will be a pleasure to share with you my first ever build log. Actually, I am a total beginner in this new hobby and I don't now anything about ships terminology and building techniques. In the past I've solved a lot of jigsaw puzzles (one of my other hobbies), LEGO and UGears kits, but I think it's time for something more difficult and time consuming. This new journey will be very challenging, but also interesting for me. Surely I will learn many new things and hope this won't be my first and last ship model.

    But enough talking about me, let's go to the actual build log:

    Initially I was decided to buy something huge and more difficult, with many sails and ropes, but after several days of research I found this great forum and read a few of the beginner topics. Now I am supper happy that I didn't make such a stupid mistake to buy an impossible (for me) ship model kit. So I chose the OcCre's beginner kit - Polaris. As I mentioned I am a total beginner, that's why I ordered bunch of tools with the kit (hope that's almost everything I need for the build).

 

    After I've sorted all of the wooden parts and I've started assembling the bulkheads to the false keel. One thing that I noticed during sanding, is that the false keel is a little bend. Maybe this won't be noticeable after the deck is mounted?

    For this reason I used two big clamps to keep the false keel straight when gluing the bulkheads:
 

    To keep the bulkheads in 90 degrees angle I used small metal plates (I saw this technique in another Polaris log). I could say this method was very helpful, because it wasn't necessary to hold each part with hands till the glue is completely dry:

    And this is the final result, again you can see the slight bend of the false keel:

 

    Next will be the decking. I plan to start it in the coming days. Unfortunately I don't have enough time to build after work and most of the progress will be done during weekends. But anyway, it's more important to me to build it well, rather than fast. 🙂

Edited February 7, 2023 by ibozev
Mark the log as finished

[cotrecerf]

Welcome Ibozev,

from the last 2 fotos of your build it looks like the spine (keel) tends to slightly curve to the right side seen from the bottom resp. left side seen from the bow. I hope it is only an optical effect from your camera. If not, I strongly recommend to immediately  ensure to have a straight spine right at this early stage of the build. I the the same problem with a kit many years ago and I did not manage to correct this mistake later on. So I really discarded the kit in the end after wasting a lot of time in fruitless repair.

 

best regards and thumps up

Joachim

 

 

[ibozev]

1 hour ago, cotrecerf said:

Welcome Ibozev,

from the last 2 fotos of your build it looks like the spine (keel) tends to slightly curve to the right side seen from the bottom resp. left side seen from the bow. I hope it is only an optical effect from your camera. If not, I strongly recommend to immediately  ensure to have a straight spine right at this early stage of the build. I the the same problem with a kit many years ago and I did not manage to correct this mistake later on. So I really discarded the kit in the end after wasting a lot of time in fruitless repair.

 

best regards and thumps up

Joachim

 

 

Hello Joachim and thanks for your reply! Is there any way to straighten the spine at this phase? I saw in other logs that this is a common issue with this kit. My thoughts are that when the deck is completely attached and fixed with CA in the corners (points between deck and bulkheads), the spine will be straight. 

[BikerMart]

I am not familiar with this kit. But, from what I can see in your pictures, attaching the deck should cure the slight bend. Perhaps you could draw lines down the centre of the deck, on the underside, to aid in ensuring that the keel is straight.

 

[BikerMart]

And perhaps use PVA glue in place of CA - gives you some time to make adjustments.

[BranPie]

I'm building a polaris myself and had the same issue with the bent spine. Attaching the deck won't cure the curve (I assumed that too ☺️) . That said, it isn't that bad that you can't just continue your build. Polaris is a good starter kit in the sense that it's relatively easy to build, but issues with material quality do sometimes make it frustrating. If you like I can post some pictures of how mine looks now; I'm almost ready to start second planking and (since I'm not following instructions anymore) have the keel already attached which makes the curve very visible. 

[cotrecerf]

Hi Ibozev,

 

have a look in this forum; there are some suggestions how to cure this problem. b. rgds

 

[ibozev]

Hello all and thanks for your advice! Here is the progress from today and yesterday:

    First of all I drawn straight lines on the underside of the deck, as BikerMart suggested:
 

 

    Then sanded the stern and tried to place the deck on the false keel just to check if the bend probably will be fixed after gluing. And this is the result. I can say that I am hopeful. 🙂
 

    Then I sanded all of the planks needed for the deck and began with the caulking. For this purpose I used 7B pencil - the softest and darkest I've found in the bookstore:

    I decided to follow the instructions (about this part) and chose to use contact cement for the deck, although many people wrote that PVA is the better solution. This is the result before sanding and trimming the excess:

    And this is the final result (before varnishing and marking the deck pattern):

Edited March 3, 2022 by ibozev
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[ibozev]

    Quick update from today. After I spent almost a day reading about the different deck patterns (actually I didn't like the one from the instructions), finally I've managed to made my deck. I am really happy with the final result:

 

P.S. I've used 3 butt pattern (1 - 4 - 2 - 3) with 12cm planks and 3cm distance between the beams. Here is a link to very useful topic:

 

[ibozev]

    The deck is sealed. I used OcCre's Satin Varnish and a brush. Although it dried very quickly I decided to glue the deck to the false keel on the other day, just to be sure the varnish is completely dry.

 

 

    Mounting the deck was a bit tricky, that's why I called a friend for some help 😄. I think we did a great job and happily we also managed to straighten the spine! I used OcCre's White Glue and a standard super glue just for fixing the deck on place.

 

 

 

    The reinforcements were also glued.

 

 

Edited March 3, 2022 by ibozev
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[Cathead]

Nice work so far! You made a good choice for your first build.

[ibozev]

24 minutes ago, Cathead said:

Nice work so far! You made a good choice for your first build.

Thanks! 😁

[ibozev]

A lot of sanding these days 😅. I am happy that I bought OcCre's sanders, especially the curved one - it was much easier to do the job on the stern. I totally recommend these tools to other beginners like me!

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 3, 2022 by ibozev
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[ibozev]

    Started bending the bulwarks. Actually it wasn't very difficult for me. I used a bottle with hot water, an empty can and an iron. First I soaked the wood for about a minute, then bent it couple of times on the can and dried it with the iron. After couple of repetitions the shape was really good and fit to the deck with almost no force. After first soak you can wet the wood just with a finger, it isn't necessary to soak more time. I recommend this as a bending technique, because it is fast and the wood doesn't burn.

    I learnt this technique from Chuck's third video about hull planking and will try to bend the same way all planks for the hull.

 

 

    Mounting the bulwarks to the deck was a quite tricky, but with PVA and a couple of nails I think I did the job. Happy with the final results 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

    Next I plan to start the first layer of hull planks, but I need to read a little bit more about tapering and bending.

Edited March 3, 2022 by ibozev
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[BranPie]

Looks great. You're making good progress. 

[Rambo]

I just ordered this kit, I want to avoid this curved keel, Can I straighten the keel som how with weights and set  it  on granite?? perhaps a quick dpi in hot water then lay weights on it??

[ibozev]

Hi Rambo and welcome to MSW!

 

    As Joachim mentioned above, you can check in the forum, there are useful suggestions in this topic:

 

    Personally I think if your curve is similar to mine you can fix it when you mount the deck to the false keel. Actually in the beginning I tried to straighten the spine with drops of hot water and two clamps, but unfortunately without any success. Perhaps I didn't do it right 😞. Maybe you can try to use the bending method I used to bend my bulwark - soak the wood in hot water for about 30 sec and then use an iron. I am not sure if this method works for thicker plywood parts like the false keel, or it is recommended only for planks and other parts that are supposed to be bent.

[ibozev]

Hi all and Happy New Year 2022!

 

    Quick update from today. In the last few days I read about hull planking and bending techniques. For me "Planking primer" from David Antscherl and "Lining Off your hull for planking" from Chuck Passaro were the most useful and understandable materials. You can find this and another planking documents here. And of course Chuck's videos about bending and tapering are a great addition to his pdf.

    I decided to use Chuck's lining technique from the document, but the bending and tapering techniques from the videos, because I think this is the better and easier solution for my ship. Also I think there aren't enough extra planks in this kit to apply the spiling methods from Chuck and Antscherl's documents.

    The bending station and the planking fan template are done. I cut the template wood parts from fiberboard. Tomorrow I will start the actual work on the first layer of planks, hope everything will be okay 😄.

 

 

 

Edited March 3, 2022 by ibozev
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[ibozev]

    Slowly moving forward. The Christmas break is over and I came back to the old schedule - build mostly during weekends...

 

    First I made the hull lining. It took me much longer than I expected, but I hope the final result is worth it. I followed Chuck's instructions from "Lining Off your hull for planking".

 

 

 

 

    I've managed to put the first planks on each side and I think they fit quite well. First of all I made the tapering, then bent the planks with hot water and an iron and glued them with PVA. Also I used nails as per the instructions just to fix the planks in place. I am happy that I cut off the heads of the nails before pushed them in.

    Here is the dry fit for one of the planks, after tapering and bending, I think it looks good:

 

    And this is the final result for both sides:

 

 

Edited March 3, 2022 by ibozev
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[Dazliare]

Awesome to see this thread - I ordered this kit yesterday and it will be my first build, so reading through this will be so helpful!

[ibozev]

 So far so good! The first belt is done, two more left (on each side).

 

 

 

 

 

 

P.S. Stole the "Build by..." idea from Havelock's log 😆

Edited March 3, 2022 by ibozev

[ibozev]

Both keel belts are done! One more to go!

 

This thing is taking much longer than I expected, but I hope the end result will worth it. I was one week outside of the country and didn't have time to build, so this is the progress till now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And as you see on the first two photos I used one stealer on the keel and maybe will use one more in the middle belt. Unfortunately I didn't succeed to plank the hull without any stealers, but I thinks it's not a big deal. I can live with that 😄

Edited March 3, 2022 by ibozev
Images alignment

[ibozev]

Finally the first layer is planked! It took me only 2 months... 😁

 

And this is the result, before sanding:

 

 

 

 

 

[BranPie]

Nice! Looks better than mine did. Take your time to sand it. Especially at the sternpost you’ll need to taken quite a lot of material off.

Edited March 3, 2022 by BranPie

[ibozev]

 Didn't have time to post during the last weeks, but however I've made some progress.

 

First I planked the stern and then began the sanding of the whole hull. Well... it took a lot of time and I'm not even sure yet if it's enough. This is the result after many hours of sanding 😁:

 

 

 

 

It was quite a challenge to sand the bow properly to fit the stem. Maybe I've made a mistake to leave to much material on the front during the first layer of planks.

 

 

At this phase I encountered another problem or maybe a mistake from my side. As you can see on the following images, the stem doesn't fit perfectly on the bow. There are three small gaps - between the stem and the bulwark, between stem and false keel and one between stem and keel. I saw that other guys have similar problems, so maybe it's a common issue with this kit or I've just made mistakes somewhere. But anyway, I will keep that in mind for my next ship. After all, that's the purpose of this ship - to take notes for the next one .

 

 

 

However, I think two of these gaps wouldn't be visible when the second layer is planked and the whales and the bowsprit are mounted. The gap between the stem and the next part of the keel I will try to fix with BranPie's approach from his Polaris log.

 

Edited April 7, 2023 by ibozev

[BranPie]

I have the same gaps. I'm also assuming they'll be hidden by second planking 🤞

 

All your prep looks fine, a bit better than mine at every step 😊

[Dantes Express]

 

 

Your build is looking awesome. I'm building the Occre Polaris as well and am just about ready to attach the bulwarks; however, I still need more sanding on the bow. It's great to have this forum for interacting with others for guidance. It makes the process so much easier! This is my 2nd build (first was a Chesapeake Bay Flattie by Midwest Products). Really enjoying this new hobby!

 

Rich

[ibozev]

    I was quite a lot busy with my garden in the last two weekends and unfortunately didn't build much on my Polaris. Happily today I've managed to plank at least the stern.

 

 

    I decided to use contact cement for this area, but I'm still hesitant if this is the best solution for the rest of the hull or PVA will be much better. My personal opinion is that for this particular kit contact cement is preferable for the second layer, because the planks are too thin (0.5mm) and the water from the PVA maybe will warp them somehow. But on the other hand you have only one try with the contact cement, it's much difficult to make any adjustments. For that reason I'm still thinking, if I decide to use contact cement for the whole hull, how I will taper the planks?

    In the meantime I spent some time reading about the second layer and came to the conclusion that the main principles here will be the same as in the first layer. Again I will use Chuck Passaro's lining and planking approach. The differences will be that this time I won't use an iron for bending and maybe I will use contact cement instead of PVA.

    I just want to check in one more place before moving on. This is my secret weapon (my birthday present) 😁:

 

 

    Very well written book I think, with a really good pictures and very useful nautical terms glossary. I started reading the book before couple of days and hopefully soon will get to the chapter about the second layer.

[BobG]

Beautiful planking, Ilia!

[ibozev]

    I finally started the second layer. After reading all of available materials in MSW (just kidding) I decided to use the same planking technique as for the first layer, without the bending part. And fortunately I gave up the contact cement just before starting with the first plank. I think this was my best decision so far. As many people wrote here: "just don't use contact cement, it is for shoes not for ship models".

    First I lined the hull, but this time I didn't separate it in 3 bands, instead I just measured the whole distance from bulwarks to keel at each bulkhead:

    Then I made mini clamps to handle the planks until the glue dries off. And this was my second best decision...

    These clamps are absolutely perfect! No forcing is needed, just tapper properly, use a brush to lay some PVA under the plank, pin the clamps where it is needed and go to take a coffee. This is the idea:

    When the glue is fully dried, use a sharp plank and pin them out. If there are any bumps somewhere, just put some PVA with a toothpick and pin a clamp again:

    Just one important thing if somebody decided to use this technique - remove any excess glue immediately after you pin the clamp. Special thanks to Olha Batchvarov, from which I learned about this wonderful method. You can check her YouTube channel here. I hope this information will be very useful for other beginners who will start building Polaris (or any other ship).

    And here are some photos of the progress till now (half way done):

    And one more thing - in the last images you can see that continued to plank towards the keel after 1/3 of the hull. For the second layer I decided to put all of the planks in one direction - from bulwarks towards the keel. One of the reasons is that maybe at the end there will be 2mm gap in the midships section, which I will fill with a wedge. And I want this gap to be as close as possible to the keel, not in the center of the hull. I think other guys have the same issue with this kit. Other reason why I didn't plank the hull from both sides (as I did with the first layer) is because it will be impossible to use my mini clamps for the last planks in the middle. I hope this won't be a bad decision and the end result will be worth it.