18th Century Merchant Half Hull by Taygz - NRG - 1:48

[Taygz]

Hey guys,

So.. due to a case of COVID I finally made a start on my half hull; it's the first time I've ever done anything like this so I feel like it's going to be a little bit rough and a steep learning curve... But we have to start somewhere right?? I came across MSW a year ago while I was looking up some techniques for making a ship in a bottle which I was whittling at the time, & then I discovered this half hull project. I decided to give it a go because it appealed to me that it's the same basic techniques you would use for spiling on a full size vessel & I'd like to learn it. Any help & tips are always welcome! I'll back date the next couple of posts to get my log up to date. Happy Monday everyone.

[Taygz]

 

 

 

So Toni helpfully pointed out back in October where to put the build log, I then went out & purchased all my necessary materials & binded my instructions for easy reference, but then I was far too busy & the project has been sitting ready to go ever since... Which was good because I did some reading through the instructions & it took me some time to wrap my head around the idea of the rabbet. I've realised this is definitely not a fast moving process if you want a good end product! Especially not at my skill and understanding level... 

    I punched out the Keel, Deadwood, L-Piece, Sternpost, Keelson, Stem, Stemson & Fore Keelson & spent the next few weeks when I had time sanding & cleaning up the pieces of the laser burns. Then, I got a little ahead of myself and glued them down too early.. but it's ok I've managed to work around that so far.

    Last week I came down with a case of COVID so I'm housebound this week. So, I decided to keep moving on my project. I removed all the ribs and cleaned them up too, finally got my head around the rabbet, marked it out 

& followed instructions up until point below:

 

    I didn't have my machinist square with me in my lockdown room, so I improvised with a couple of squares, a ruler and some tape. I made a tiny little test plank (sitting on the deadwood) to help me gauge the depth of my rabbets & to make sure the ribs were down far enough to make the garboard sit nice & snug. Honestly, I'm not very happy with the rabbet going up the stem, it wasn't as tidy as I hoped to get it... but I'll have to remember to be more careful on the next one.

    As for the deadwood, I don't know if I properly interpreted the instructions for the bearding line & the shallow rabbet... Using the test plank I know its a nice gradient from the rabbet along the Keel & Sternpost to the bearding line, it just seems like alot of area? But again, I guess I'll find out soon enough!

    This is where I got up to as of late last night.

 

    Current worries & frets:

-I did get the ribs nice and square, but won't even a tiny discrepancy give you wobbly planking?

 

-I struggled in the instructions to see exactly how the L-Piece should be glued to the plan, whether it gets planking over the top etc. I thought I had it from the pictures, but further into the instructions, it looks like the top of the transom is swung another 5-8 degrees North of its current position which worries me a bit... I don't know if I should try & unglue it & redo it or if that's ok?

 

-My final piece, 5b sits nice & snug between 5a & the Stem Rabbet, but in the instructions it talks about fashioning another filler piece, if I'm already snug I guess I forego the filler piece as there is no room for one?

 

I'm going to start now on the next part which is the Topline & Fairing... I may be some time...

 

[Taygz]

    I’ve now got my Topline pretty good with some thin tape, I also found a flexy paddle pop stick to be pretty useful to make sure it’s smooth and fair.

    Fairing has been a fun process; I used an inch wide strip of tracing paper and wrapped it over sections of the ship, so then I could see where the planks will want to sit and sand accordingly.

 

    I noticed three ribs that were slightly dipped by about 1mm below where the natural fall should take the planks. It took me a while to work out why, but I think maybe I was a bit too enthusiastic in the cleanup on those three and the part of the rib that sits on the building board may have been accidentally shortened (I sanded them all by hand but I did trial the dremel, which might have been a bit too aggressive). I glued a shim onto those three ribs and continued fairing. I believe I’m now ready for the garboard! But I need to go back to work… so I’ll take the advice in the instructions and take a bit more time to make sure I’m happy with all my fairing.