Fuji Posted December 30, 2022 Share #1 Posted December 30, 2022 (edited) After taking a few weeks off after building the Calypso I'm off on a new build! I'm going to tackle building the plank on bulkhead model of the Pride of Baltimore (POB) II by Model Shipways, inc. In preparation of this build, I read the book Pride of the Sea by Tom Waldron. This book gave me insight into how the original Pride of Baltimore was conceived and built by the city of Baltimore, and the tragic sinking during a sudden squall on May 14, 1986. More to follow! Fuji Edited January 22, 2023 by Fuji Deleted unnecessary reference yvesvidal, BobG, Prowler901 and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
halituzun Posted December 30, 2022 Share #2 Posted December 30, 2022 Hello Fuji Good luck with your project. I finished POB II a month ago and posting a retrospective blog nowadays. It took me 27 months but believe me , I enjoyed every step of it. Please feel free to check the posts which might give you some ideas on 'how I did it' and 'what must not be done' . Best regards Halit yvesvidal 1 Quote Halit Uzun Bodrum, Turkiye A happy retired surgeon, active scale modeler and bird photographer Finished Models Pride of Baltimore II (finished photos) https://www.facebook.com/halit.uzun.5621 https://www.instagram.com/khalituzun/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fuji Posted December 30, 2022 Author Share #3 Posted December 30, 2022 10 hours ago, halituzun said: Hello Fuji Good luck with your project. I finished POB II a month ago and posting a retrospective blog nowadays. It took me 27 months but believe me , I enjoyed every step of it. Please feel free to check the posts which might give you some ideas on 'how I did it' and 'what must not be done' . Best regards Halit Hi Halit - I'll check it out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fuji Posted January 5, 2023 Author Share #4 Posted January 5, 2023 (edited) Now the Holidays are over it is time to hit the bench again! Separated the center keel and sanded the edges where the false keel will be attached. Transferred the bearding line onto both sides of the center keel and chiseled/sanded 1/16" below the face of the center keel towards the bottom of the center keel on one side. This wasn't too easy for me as I've didn't chisel the bearding line on my last build. I chiseled/whittled small sections at a time and sanded the larger area towards the aft. Maybe I made it harder for myself, but I didn't trust that I would be able to whittle the surface down 1/16" over such a large area in a controlled manner. So here are the results... a before and after photo if you will! Now on to the other side of the center keel... More to come! Fuji Edited January 5, 2023 by Fuji Knocklouder, berhard, BobG and 4 others 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fuji Posted January 8, 2023 Author Share #5 Posted January 8, 2023 Made some progress this weekend. I have a sick cat at the moment that requires my attention throughout the day, but I was able to grab some bench time in-between medicating and feedings. I completed carving the rabbet joint on both sides of the center keel, then cut out and installed the sternpost, false keel pieces and the stem pieces being careful not to get glue where the rabbet joint meets the pieces. I also used the same photocopy template that I created to define the bearding to define where the WL (wale line?) is. Going to start cutting out the bulkheads next and will dry fit the bulkheads to the center keel once I give the wood glue time to cure. More to come! Fuji Prowler901, BobG and berhard 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fuji Posted January 11, 2023 Author Share #6 Posted January 11, 2023 (edited) Got some bench time in this evening! I was able to place the bulkheads to the center keel. Quite honestly the hardest part was gently filing the bulkheads so they were perfectly perpendicular to center keel. Takes a lot of patience and a good machinist's square. Overall, I am happy with the results. Only one bulkhead isn't perfectly perpendicular to the center keel, but it is quite odd why that is. On the starboard side the bulkhead is perfectly perpendicular to the center keel, but on the port side it is out about 1/16". Both the center keel and the bulkhead appear to be flat and true, so I really don't know what happened... but I figure that 1/16" difference once the bulkhead is shaped to match the hull contour won't make a much of difference! Next, I'm going carve the stern filler block. Doesn't look too complex, but then again, nothing seems to complex until you get into the task at hand! More to come! Fuji Edited January 22, 2023 by Fuji Deleted unnecessary reference ccoyle, BobG, Knocklouder and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobG Posted January 11, 2023 Share #7 Posted January 11, 2023 You're off to a nice start on this beautiful model, Fuji! I have this model on the shelf so I'll follow along. Good luck! Quote Bob Garcia "Measure once, cuss twice!" Current Builds: Hms Brig-Sloop Flirt 1782 - Vanguard Models Pen Duick - Artesania Latina 1:28 Completed: Medway Longboat 1742 - Syren Ship Model Co. Member of the Nautical Research Guild Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fuji Posted January 14, 2023 Author Share #8 Posted January 14, 2023 On 1/10/2023 at 7:49 PM, BobG said: You're off to a nice start on this beautiful model, Fuji! I have this model on the shelf so I'll follow along. Good luck! Thank you Bob! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fuji Posted January 28, 2023 Author Share #9 Posted January 28, 2023 Had more time to work on the POB II since the weather turned cold and snowy. Cut and carved out the filler block at the stern and once I was done with that, I had enough stock left over to make filler blocks at the bow. After quite a bit of sanding I was happy with the curvature of the filler blocks. Did I tell you that I love my cordless Dremel tool? Next, I added scrap wood to cover the mast mortises on the center keel as per the instructions. Finally, I laid down a plank in preparation of adding the planksheer. This will have to wait until later as I need to figure out how to modify the planksheer to more accurately follow the curvature of the hull. More to follow! Fuji Prowler901, Knocklouder, yvesvidal and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobG Posted January 28, 2023 Share #10 Posted January 28, 2023 Nice job carving the stern filler blocks, Fuji. The complex curves on those blocks look like they would be challenging to carve in addition to getting them perfectly symmetrical as well. Knocklouder 1 Quote Bob Garcia "Measure once, cuss twice!" Current Builds: Hms Brig-Sloop Flirt 1782 - Vanguard Models Pen Duick - Artesania Latina 1:28 Completed: Medway Longboat 1742 - Syren Ship Model Co. Member of the Nautical Research Guild Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fuji Posted February 2, 2023 Author Share #11 Posted February 2, 2023 I have my cordless Dremel Tool to thank for that! BobG 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fuji Posted February 7, 2023 Author Share #12 Posted February 7, 2023 I was able to get some bench time, so I added the planksheer to the top of the bulkheads. I've read where some builders had the planksheer come up short, but for some reason my planksheer is long enough. Maybe Model Shipways fixed the tooling problem? After attaching the planksheer to the bulkheads I built up the wale planks. these were pretty easy to install although after I glued everything together I noticed some gaps between the wale planks. Nothing a little wood putty won't take care of! I will be planking the hull next, but I will need to hold off until my balsa cutter arrives since I need to trim down all the 3/16" wide planks down to 1/8". Yes, I could have trimmed all the planks down 1/16" the entire length, but between my eyesight and having mild arthritis in my hands I'd rather use a tool than trying to free-wheel something like this! More to come! Fuji BobG, Paul Le Wol, berhard and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fuji Posted July 30, 2023 Author Share #13 Posted July 30, 2023 (edited) Hello! Although I haven't posted much on my build, I have been progressing albeit slowly for the past few months! I struggled with the hull planking for a bit until I read about using dividers to more accurately divide up the spaces between the battens. Brilliant!! I took my time to make sure the planks on both the starboard and port sides matched up relatively close at the bow and stern. I even tore out a row or two when the difference between the starboard and port side was too visual! Side note: Boy is balsa wood hard to find nowadays! I even used stealers for the first time. Talk about a game changer! My only "Hmmm..." moment came when I was trying to lay the hull planks at the very top near the transom. I sanded and fiddled with those last two planks but eventually ended up with something I was happy with. After a bit I thought... well... that was a lot of work for something nobody would be able to see once it's completed! I need to use some wood filler on some of the planks to close the gaps and to help smoothen out some "dips" in the hull where the plank when placed sagged due to not having the plank long enough to properly bend to match the hull curvature. Next on the bench after that is to add the bulwark stanchion and battens! Wish me luck! Fuji Edited July 30, 2023 by Fuji BobG, berhard and yvesvidal 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fuji Posted September 2, 2023 Author Share #14 Posted September 2, 2023 On 7/30/2023 at 7:00 AM, Fuji said: Hello! Although I haven't posted much on my build, I have been progressing albeit slowly for the past few months! I struggled with the hull planking for a bit until I read about using dividers to more accurately divide up the spaces between the battens. Brilliant!! I took my time to make sure the planks on both the starboard and port sides matched up relatively close at the bow and stern. I even tore out a row or two when the difference between the starboard and port side was too visual! Side note: Boy is balsa wood hard to find nowadays! I even used stealers for the first time. Talk about a game changer! My only "Hmmm..." moment came when I was trying to lay the hull planks at the very top near the transom. I sanded and fiddled with those last two planks but eventually ended up with something I was happy with. After a bit I thought... well... that was a lot of work for something nobody would be able to see once it's completed! I need to use some wood filler on some of the planks to close the gaps and to help smoothen out some "dips" in the hull where the plank when placed sagged due to not having the plank long enough to properly bend to match the hull curvature. Next on the bench after that is to add the bulwark stanchion and battens! Wish me luck! Fuji On 7/30/2023 at 7:00 AM, Fuji said: Hello! Although I haven't posted much on my build, I have been progressing albeit slowly for the past few months! I struggled with the hull planking for a bit until I read about using dividers to more accurately divide up the spaces between the battens. Brilliant!! I took my time to make sure the planks on both the starboard and port sides matched up relatively close at the bow and stern. I even tore out a row or two when the difference between the starboard and port side was too visual! Side note: Boy is balsa wood hard to find nowadays! I even used stealers for the first time. Talk about a game changer! My only "Hmmm..." moment came when I was trying to lay the hull planks at the very top near the transom. I sanded and fiddled with those last two planks but eventually ended up with something I was happy with. After a bit I thought... well... that was a lot of work for something nobody would be able to see once it's completed! I need to use some wood filler on some of the planks to close the gaps and to help smoothen out some "dips" in the hull where the plank when placed sagged due to not having the plank long enough to properly bend to match the hull curvature. Next on the bench after that is to add the bulwark stanchion and battens! Wish me luck! Fuji Ahoy! It's been a few weeks since I last posted, so here's an update! I've patched up some large flaws found with the hull planking with wood putty that surfaced after applying a light coat of gray primer. It's amazing how the gray primer paint pops out the surface flaws! Once the flaws were puttied and sanded, I started applying some test acrylic paints on the hull to make sure I was happy with the color hues picked. I'm pretty happy and gosh those paints from Folk Art at less than $2 a bottle sure helps! Instead of planking the Bulwarks I decided to plank the deck! I tried nibbing the deck planks but between my shaking hands and the small scale of the model I abandoned that idea and just sanded to shape the planks to butt up against the Nib Strake. Next, I'm going to sand down the deck to make sure it is relatively smooth then will add some stain to match the color of the deck of the actual ship. Speaking of the real ship did you know there is a website that you can visit that has a Google <Pride of Baltimore - Google MapsMaps presentation of the Pride of Baltimore II? For those of you building this model you'll love this as you can see up close and personal the real ship to get color scheme and details, you'd otherwise wouldn't be able to see! Here is a link to the Pride of Baltimore II website: Pride of Baltimore - Google Maps If the above link doesn't work, go to pride2.org, navigate to "Come Aboard", then "Guest Crew". Look for the link "Google 360 of Pride Topside and Below" and viola! Off to do some sanding, staining, and more sanding! Best regards Fuji BobG, ccoyle and JacquesCousteau 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yvesvidal Posted January 4 Share #15 Posted January 4 The magazine SAIL (Jan/Feb 2024) issue has some fantastic pictures of Pride of Baltimore 2 in action and an excellent story from a week on board the vessel. Yves ccoyle 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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