Aurora by IllicitFive - OcCre - Brig

[IllicitFive]

I have been doing a bunch of "anonymous" following along on this site as I have gotten into model ship building around 2 years ago. I have built the Artesania Latina Drakkar Viking, OcCre Albatross, and OcCre Buccaneer. I thought now I'd try my hand at a build log since I don't see one for the Aurora yet. First time working on a model that is painted vs stained so this should be a fun learning experience. 

[IllicitFive]

Got the hull structure built, glued 2 pieces in swapped spots but luckily a heat gun released the wood glue enough to swap them around, no hard no foul on this one. First layer of planking on the 1 of the 3 deck parts done, using rubber cement has been such a life savor on this instead of trying super or white glue, apply to planks and deck, let sit for a few minutes and it dries nice and flat in my experience. Unfortunately not super tight so will do a little sanding and glue to fill in gaps before marking them up. Updates may be slow coming at times since I have a new baby taking up most of my time. (If I am not posting updates correctly please let me know how to do it correctly haha)

[IllicitFive]

Finished up the decking and bulwarks. I couldn't get the glue to hold so ended up using nail provided to attach the bulwarks. Once I placed the stanchions I realized I had forgotten to paint the bulwarks white (Downside of doing my first painted boat). Now I get to see how steady my hand is trying to paint between the stanchions.  Lessons learned. Once painted ready to start lining the hull.

[IllicitFive]

Got the painting between the stanchions on the bulwarks done, not as clean as it could have been had I done it correctly by painting first, but it will have to do. Looking for any recommendations on good brushes for acrylic paints that people have used in the past. When it comes to smaller pieces and the hull I will be attempting to use an airbrush for a good smooth finish. More on that to come when I get there haha. This model also has notches in the frame to guide the placement for lining the hull, but it is not the full depth of a board. I am trying to figure out if I should back fill down to the inset plank when smoothing it our using puddy or layer over the top and sand down to match the rest of the height then puddy the hull. Has anyone run into a model that has these?

[IllicitFive]

Finished up the first layer of planking, ended up layering a 2nd plank over the inset guide plank.  Not perfect but by far not the worst 1st layer that I have put on.  Nothing sanding and putty can't mask. Even with soaking the planks I had some snapping happen so hoping that can be smoothed out enough it will be hidden.

[IllicitFive]

Ah yes, everyones favorite part, mudding and sanding. Really makes me think I need to learn to do the first layer better , I over mudded and will sand it down significantly/

[IllicitFive]

Got the 2nd layer on but already seem to run into an issue of it bubbling. Try to use super glue to hold it down if the contact glue doesn't but cant quite seem to figure out what I am doing wrong. Probably trying to hard to bend/force together instead of back filling gaps. Sanding will hopefully take the ridges down some. I am debating another thin coat of mud since this will be painted but leaning towards not doing so thinking the paint and clear coat may help to balance some of the uneven points or small gaps that showed up if not taken care of by sanding.

[Thunder]

Hi, think might of been better to remove the pins before applying filler. Going to make it difficult to sand.

[IllicitFive]

2 hours ago, Thunder said:

Hi, think might of been better to remove the pins before applying filler. Going to make it difficult to sand.

I had tried that and it was pulling off the frame even with dried wood glue, I opted to try to file them down and for the most part the 2nd layer lied flat until I hit the curves, that's where I usually found it bubbling. Any recommendations on what I could do so the boards don't pop off when I remove the pins?

[JacquesCousteau]

I'm not an expert on planking, but looking back at earlier photos, I'm wondering if the bulkheads were faired enough. Not sure how that could be fixed now without pulling off all the planking, though. Also, are you soaking or heating the planks before bending them, and of so, are you letting them dry before gluing? If not, they can shrink and warp. Finally, are you beveling the edges of the planks around the curve?

[IllicitFive]

19 minutes ago, JacquesCousteau said:

I'm not an expert on planking, but looking back at earlier photos, I'm wondering if the bulkheads were faired enough. Not sure how that could be fixed now without pulling off all the planking, though. Also, are you soaking or heating the planks before bending them, and of so, are you letting them dry before gluing? If not, they can shrink and warp. Finally, are you beveling the edges of the planks around the curve?

I do soak, heat bend and let cool and dry prior to placement though I did not bevel the edges around the curve. The bulkheads I was curious about as others have been sanded down much more but as I layered the sander flat across the frame there were no gaps or bulging  so I took that as a sign they were sanded properly but may be mistaken.  I bet my issue is lack of beveling, had not thought of that before. I am mid process of another skim coat to level out and I think its hiding the mistakes at this point but adding beveling to my notes for future builds.

[JacquesCousteau]

That makes sense. I've found that its helpful to use not just the sanding stick, but a thin batten as well to check for fairing and to make sure that everything is smooth. Fairing the bulkheads a bit more can also provide more surface area for gluing and can help better hold down the planks. I've often read that you usually want to fair until the char on the edge of the bulkheads has been almost removed, leaving just a hint of a line. But there are a lot of useful resources on this site for planking, from people who know more than I do. Good luck with the hull, I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out!

[Thunder]

Hi, the bevelling, dependant on hull shape, can, on occasion, need to be quite severe. If the bulkheads have no char i will make the edge nearest the centre of the hull with black marker pen. This is a great 'tell tale' that you have not taken too much away and altered the bulkhead shape.

 

Worth remembering that on a real ship the bulkheads at the bow, and sometimes stern, would not be set square to the keel, but be at an angle, called cant frames, therefore, on real ships, would not need the extremes of bevelling you do on a model.

If you look at the above and imagine the cant frames as square to the keel, you will see how much bevelling you actually need to do.

 

If you have not bevelled at all then your planks are on point contact and that will be why they are pulling off.

 

Whether i soak the wood will depend on the degree of curve required and the wood's flexibility. I generally, taper the planks, soak, clip in place, let dry, glue in place. I only normally put a taper on the edge, along its whole length, for the second planking. Some times i will soak for a few minutes, shape with a hot iron, which also drys it, and then glue in place. 

[IllicitFive]

Got the layer of white paint on, definitely great at showing every little detailed flaw in the hull..... looks worse than previously thought it did prior to painting. Trying to sand paint has always made things look worse when doing other house projects so I feel like I am either needing to completely strip this down or just role with it, move forward, and embrace the mistakes hopefully looking back years from now when more experienced and watching how my skill grew. Leaning towards moving forward and embracing the imperfections of my modeling journey.

[Thunder]

Decision is, of course, yours, but the best way to use this kit for learning is to make it how you want it rather than just except what you have already done. I think, for the cost of some replacement wood, it is worth stripping and rescuing. Then you can be proud of what you have achieved.

 

I looked over your build and saw the below:

 

Looks to me that kit bulkheads wanted some work and did not help you from the start. The second and fourth being either placed too high, in wrong place or too short.

[IllicitFive]

5 minutes ago, Thunder said:

Decision is, of course, yours, but the best way to use this kit for learning is to make it how you want it rather than just except what you have already done. I think, for the cost of some replacement wood, it is worth stripping and rescuing. Then you can be proud of what you have achieved.

 

I looked over your build and saw the below:

 

Looks to me that kit bulkheads wanted some work and did not help you from the start. The second and fourth being either placed too high, in wrong place or too short.

When you say stripping and rescuing it looks like I have to go way back to the beginning and almost start it over to fix the issues or what would you recommend? Honestly bit disheartened by this at this point

[Roger Pellett]

I would suggest that you continue your sand, fill, paint routine and see what happens.  Sand using a backup block behind your sandpaper.  You can make special sanding blocks for concave surfaces from dowels, etc.  Use an open coat coarse paper and change it as soon as it clogs up or stops cutting. If you sand away most of your paint and filler that’s ok.  Once you have sanded, fill again, sand and paint.  You May have to repeat this process more than just a few times but the hull should begin to assume a shape with “fair” curves.

 

Roger

[IllicitFive]

Thanks, I think I will give that a shot, sand, refill sand and see what I can save. Heck while it may be more work than if I did it properly the first time it still may turn out.

[Thunder]

38 minutes ago, IllicitFive said:

When you say stripping and rescuing it looks like I have to go way back to the beginning and almost start it over to fix the issues or what would you recommend? Honestly bit disheartened by this at this point

I wouldn't be disheartened, don't you think that we have all been here. You can use the fill and file method as Roger suggests but depends on what you want to do. If you do that you will be in a similar place on your next kit or use it for learning, post on here for each stage and questions, make this kit great and then the next even better. Look at it this way - twice the value in one kit.

[JacquesCousteau]

I think it's still very salvageable, and the deck looks great so it would be a real shame to stop work on it. My one recommendation would be to apply the filler with a light touch. It's easy to add more if you need it, but sanding away excess might be tedious, especially if you've already done a lot of sanding.

[MajorChaos]

A good sanding block and 120 grit or 150 grit paper would be good. Years ago I bought a wood version of the block below, I found a good one just like it plastic. It has flats spots and round edges to make sanding and fairing easier. Use no slip back 3M 1/4 sheet. 

 

On my Dutchman I sanded over the nails, they smoothed out nice enough. The sand paper took down the high spots in the nails nicely. I used 120 or 150 I don't recall which. Just watch what your sanding so you don't go to far. 

 

The 2mm planking for OcCre was a challenge to get down good on the Dutchman. I had a few sharp bends like you did and the boards cracked. I left them. You can't really tell after its painted. The 2mm planks are forgiving and allow alot of room, or at least more than normal amounts of sanding to make it look good. 

 

It doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to be. You got this. (A small shop vac would be great for all the dust you need to make. 🙂 ) 

 

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HDDBCC2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_image?ie=UTF8&th=1 

[IllicitFive]

Just an update. I have not given up on this yet just had life take over recently, 7 month old, a bit of travel and work getting crazy. Planning on returning to this project soon and attempting to save it. I appreciate all the help and advice, planning on sanding it down and seeing if I can get a cleaner finish on this.

[IllicitFive]

Been quite awhile since I posted about this but pleased to say process has been made. I had taken photos on my old phone which then broke, and I hadn't backed them all up so lost a lot of progress pictures.  Through sanding, mudding, redoing portions of the hull I finally got it to a point of being acceptable. Not perfect but much better than where it was at. This was my first time using an airbrush as well and I am very happy with the results. Did some practice work and weirdly found the acrylic with a 1:1 with water worked best for my cheap airbrush.  Learned that standard blue painters tape does not work as well as I hoped. Will be investing in modelers tape for the next time.  I decided to use pine die on the lighter portions of the attached pieces to give it some more depth of color. Now to begin work on the masts and continue the journey of this build. Hopefully have a bit more time to work on it and remember to provide more updates. Thank you all for your advice above. It was greatly helpful in my times of frustration and allowed me rework this model to a point of moving forward along with learning a lot of new tricks for future builds.