18th-Century Merchantman Half Hull Planking Kit by JacquesCousteau - FINISHED - NRG - 1:48

[RossR]

Thanks so much for providing so much detail on your process.  This really makes the process clear. 

[JacquesCousteau]

4 hours ago, Paul Le Wol said:

Jacques, your planking looks great. Lots of great tips too!

 

2 hours ago, RossR said:

Thanks so much for providing so much detail on your process.  This really makes the process clear. 

 

Thanks, glad to hear people are finding this useful!

 

The plank is now being glued in place after having the "caulking" added:

 

Unfortunately, I've run into an issue at the bow. I noticed that the uppermost plank isn't quite sitting on frame number five. Instead it's hovering just above it. This gap is small enough that it looks like I can fill it with glue without causing any problems, but I was worried about whether this would continue further up. So, I soaked and clamped a scrap plank to bend it to shape, and took a look. It's hard to see in the photo below, but the plank does indeed float well off from frame 5.

 

I'm not sure how I missed this problem earlier, given that I checked things pretty extensively with a batten when fairing. And as can be seen, it's not like I was especially aggressive in fairing frame 5, which still has a substantial amount of char that was never touched. I may have missed it due to the difficulty of fairing around the bluff bow, which broke a number of battens when I tried to check for fairness, and I may have placed the battens at different angles as I wasn't sure of the strake lines then. Perhaps I placed frame 5 too high, but I don't think I did.

 

In any case, I think I'll have to make a very thin shim, tapering to practically nothing at the current uppermost strake, in order to correct this issue. As can be seen below, a bit of 1/32‐inch thick scrap seems to correct the problem. I just hope I can add it with a minimum of re-fairing and re-working the planking belts.

[JacquesCousteau]

As it turns out, the shim was not very difficult to add. I used the scrap plank to determine how far it needed to extend and tapered the shim's thickness at each end and glued it in place. After it dried, I lightly sanded to fair things up, and then re-drew the belt and wale lines.

 

Testing shows that the planking will fit much more smoothly now.

 

Also, to finish up the earlier step-by-step post on planking: the plank is in place.

 

Apologies for the multiple blow-by-blow posts! I'll be quiet now until I figure out the stealer.

[mtaylor]

No need to apologize or be quiet.  Often times, we do details and later find out that those helped someone else.

[JacquesCousteau]

It's been a little while since my last post. I'd like to finish this before my move in late August, as the model will be much easier to pack if it's fully built and can be removed from the build board (or if the board can be trimmed substantially). It took some thought to figure out how to do the stealer at the stern. After considering different options, I decided to follow the example given in the instructions, rather than the other style of stealer shown in Toni's build log. First I marked it out on the hull.

 

And then cut it to shape.

 

It fit fairly well into the slot.

 

I then began adding the next strake. I also decided that I may as well add the wale now, so I began marking that out.

 

One issue I've been having is that it's been very hard to fit planks into the rabbet. I'm not sure if I didn't cut it deep enough. As can be seen, the bow plank ended up too short.

 

Fortunately, it came off easily enough with rubbing alcohol.

 

While I was redoing that plank, I also began cutting the first layer of the wale to shape. Fitting it was a little tricky due to the pronounced curve of the bow, which made it difficult to test fit. I ended up cutting the strip a bit oversize at first to bend it into shape, as seen below, so as to then do the final shaping afterward.

 

I've continued working and moved on to the next strake. As can be seen, the color variation between sheets of basswood has ended up nicely highlighting the stealer.

From this angle, you can also see another issue. Following the instructions, the stealer ends on a bit of backing that was placed between frames. Unfortunately, clamping the hull to that backing has led to a bit of a flat spot in the hull in that area. I'll have to see if sanding the hull helps, but I'm not sure it will. I'm also not sure if this could have been avoided--the only way I can think of would have been to add the backing piece much earlier in the build and fair it in place such that it followed the curve of the hull. In any case, this is a minor issue and I can live with it.

 

In any case, I painted the edges of the wales black, and have begun gluing them in place starting at the bow. As can be seen, I had to be a bit creative with the clamping. Sone of the frames are too thick for me to fit the clothespins around, so I had to use several bits of scrap wood to instead clamp to the spacers between frames.

[JacquesCousteau]

I'm continuing to make progress. The wales are now in place (or at least the first layer) and I'm midway through the second belt.

 

As can be seen, creative clamping is a must.

 

Further details of how I'm clamping at the bow:

 

And at the stern:

 

Unfortunately, with all the clamping material in the way, I didn't see until afterward that the bow plank somehow got weirdly twisted at the tip:

 

I found that it wasn't quite as bad as it seemed, though. There isn't actually much of a gap between the plank and the plank below it, it's more that the plank below it is standing slightly proud of the rabbet. Preliminary sanding helped a lot. I also used an exacto blade to carefully trim the top of the plank to get rid of the odd upward twist. It now looks more acceptable:

 

Meanwhile, I'm nearly up to the counter at the stern:

 

Overall, I'm pleased with how the planking is coming along. I can certainly see areas for improvement in future builds, though.

 

[Seventynet]

Nice job!

[JacquesCousteau]

On 7/15/2024 at 5:47 PM, Seventynet said:

Nice job!

Thanks!

 

With the wale in place, I've started planking above the wales while continuing to plank the bands below. First, I had to mark out the molding on the quarterdeck.

 

I was then able to mark out the planking widths above the wale. I also finalized the fairing of the transom's bottom corner, which I hadn't done earlier because I wasn't sure where the wale would end up.

 

By now, I've finished the third strake of the second belt, and started planking above the rail.

 

 

 

So far I'm enjoying this build a lot, it's very fun to see the hull take shape. There are a few things I want  to mention, though. First, I don't think I'll be doing a drop plank at the bow, as it looks like I have plenty of space to fit the full four planks there. I'm not sure what I did differently from the instructions, but I feel like a drop plank would lead to the planks in the last band becoming weirdly wide at the bow.

 

Secondly, as the bow becomes quite bluff by this point of the hull, I've been having a lot of trouble test fitting planks to properly shape them. I'm not sure if I didn't properly fair it or what, but a few planks have snapped when I tried to test fit them around the bow, as can be seen below. (Thankfully it wasn't disastrous for that plank, as I was actually re-using an earlier plank I had accidentally cut a hair too short, so I was able to just trim off the broken end and continue.)

 

What I've found works best is to get the plank approximately spiled, curve it to shape with hot water and clamps, and then finalize the shaping once it's properly curved and can easily fit around the bow.

 

Third, I've also had some trouble fitting planks into the rabbet at the bow and stern. If I were to redo this build, I would make them a little deeper so there was more to seat the planks.

Edited July 17 by JacquesCousteau

[JacquesCousteau]

I've now finished the second band and the first strake above the wale. Although there are still challenges, I feel like my planking skills have improved over time and the run of each strake is getting better with each band.

 

Now that the wale has been installed, it's becoming quite difficult to clamp the planks below it, as can be seen below. Thankfully I was able to slightly deepen the rabbet, allowing the bow planks to be much more firmly seated.

 

The stern is also tricky, given that the planking now ends against the counter. The haphazard arrangement shown below doesn't work all that well, as the clamp only is in contact with the scrap blocks at the build board. I'm considering adding at least the first plank of the counter's planking in order to form at least a small rabbet of sorts, which would undoubtedly help at least a little to hold the tip of the planks in place.

You can also see how the strake above the wale was left oversized at the end. Although I soon cut off the tip to bring it down to the transom, the plank is supposed to cover the ends of the counter planking. As can be seen, the wale also dips a bit, although I'm hoping the second layer of wale will cover this. In general, I'm not totally pleased with my counter and the end of the wale, which doesn't seem to have turned out quite like it should. This is an area where I feel the instruction manual could be clearer. That said, from the other build logs it looks like there's a lot of variation in this across builds, and they all look great, so perhaps it's not so much of a problem.

 

As others have noted, the planks above the wale are very straightforward to shape.

 

View from below:

 

View from the stern:

 

View from the bow:

 

View from the side:

 

I'm quite liking how the hull is coming together, even if I'm very unsure about how I'll clamp this last band.

[Paul Le Wol]

Hi Jacques, your half hull project is looking great. Your planking skills are second to none!

[JacquesCousteau]

On 7/19/2024 at 1:37 PM, Paul Le Wol said:

Hi Jacques, your half hull project is looking great. Your planking skills are second to none!

Thanks, that's very kind of you! That said, I can see a lot to improve upon in future builds.

 

It's important to note failures as well as successes, in order to (hopefully) learn from them. For instance, I trimmed this plank too thin while I was shaping it. You can see how several marks are well above the plank:

 

This was because I was using a dull exacto blade to trim it. Instead of cutting smoothly, I took a divot out of the wood. I feel like blade dullness is an issue that always sneaks up on me and I don't notice it until I have an issue like this.

 

In any case, I swapped blades and redid the plank. It's amazing how much better a fresh blade cuts. The plank looks much better now.

 

That said, while the plank looks good, you can still see a little bit of the marking on frame 4a. As far as I can tell, if I follow the markings perfectly, they'll all be a little wider on that frame than on those around them. I'm a little confused by how this happened--maybe my wale is slightly low there? The run of the sheer appears smooth when I check it, so I don't think I left the frame too high. I'll see how it looks once I get the other two planks on.

[JacquesCousteau]

Not much that's new, just continuing with planking. I've finished the band above the wale, and have started the second-to-last strake in the last band below it. Clamping has been difficult due to the narrow space.

 

 

And here's where it currently is:

 

 

 

Close-up photography really brings out all the errors at the bow:

 

In any case, I'm hoping to finish in the next couple of weeks.

[JacquesCousteau]

Continuing progress. By now I just have the "whiskey plank" left to do, then the quarterdeck, counter and transom, and trim/rail.

 

With the tight spaces as I got closer to the wale, I started "making" clamps by clamping two 1/8x1/16 inch basswood pieces (scrap from the Peapod model) around a 1/8‐thick core.

 

Overall I'm pleased with how the hull is coming along. I'm glad that I reshaped the lines of the planking belts back when I started, as the last strake looks to be pretty smooth and more or less consistent in width.

 

The unevenness at the counter will fortunately be covered by the counter planking. As can be seen, despite sanding there's still some unevenness on the hull planking, as well. Some of this I don't think I can really get rid of. The flat spot at the tip of the stealer, for instance, is due to the support that was added there, which was necessary to seat the stealer but which threw off the hull fairing there. In other places, the planking is uneven because I've only been gluing at the frames, so the planks sometimes just bend inward when I sand instead of staying even with the other planks. I will be running some watered-down white glue along the interior seams, and hopefully this will help.

 

Clamping the last strake was more difficult than clamping the second-to-last. I think pushpins would be a good option here for at least the ends of the planks--not pushing them through the plank, but placing them just to the side into the frame. However, I didn't have any. In part, I was able to clamp a long piece of scrap extending from the top of the planking down past the rail and to fit scrap wedges in there. However, this was a bit haphazard, didn't work very well, and bent in part of the already-planked hull where I was clamping, as my clamps weren't large enough to clamp on the frames. Fortunately I was able to wet the wood and place shims between the planking and the frame support to push the planking back into shape. I forgot to take photos, but here's a reconstruction:

Note: if you clamp like this, make sure to add supports to better protect the upper planking! I did earlier in the build when planking above the wale, but forgot about it this time.

 

Another photo of the process. 

 

I'm finding this final strake to be the trickiest planks to shape. I've had to remake each at least once. With earlier planks, if the plank didn't 100% match the markings of the upper edge, it wasn't necessarily a problem because I could just shape the bottom edge of the next strake to match it. Here, though, the gap between the strake below and the wale above needs to be precisely filled. For example, I thought I was all set to place the final plank. But as can be seen in the photo below of the dry-fit plank, there are some small gaps along the bottom edge (marked by the poorly-drawn pointers). 

 

So, it's back to the drawing board to remake the final plank. Here's how the hull looks so far:

Edited July 30 by JacquesCousteau

[JacquesCousteau]

The final plank is on!

I was very careful with trimming it down after cutting it oversize. First I focused on getting the lower edge right, repeatedly sanding parts down where necessary--you can see the markings on the tape of where I had earlier needed to remove material. Once the bottom edge seemed to smoothly match the lower plank, I began removing material from the upper edge.

 

Once it was close, I removed the tape (which can partially block the view of the edges) for the final shaping. At this point, it's a little too large still.

 

A lot of sawdust later and it was juuuuust about ready. At this point it mostly filled the space, just a few points still needed to be taken down a bit.

 

And with that, it fits into place and was glued down. Then the hull was lightly sanded.

 

With that, I think I'm in the home stretch.

 

I've seen people refer to the last plank as the "whiskey plank," so I decided to celebrate it (plus some very welcome news at my job) with a sazerac.

[robert952]

Cheers, Matey!

[JacquesCousteau]

On 7/31/2024 at 2:15 PM, robert952 said:

Cheers, Matey!

Thanks!

 

Next up, I made a 1/16x1/32-inch strip and painted it black to serve as the quarterdeck trim. This was very basic to do, so I didn't think to take photos. I haven't installed it yet, though, as I wanted to fully smooth the hull first. This was a bit challenging, given basswood's propensity to form a fuzzy surface. Part of my solution was to brush on watered-down white glue on the interior, which stuck the planks to each other between the frames and allowed for much more even sanding. Following Toni Levine's suggestion in her build log, I went up to 1500 grit, wet-sanding the hull with the finest grits. The results were mixed. On one hand, it did indeed get the hull quite smooth, which is nice. On the other hand, one of the basswood sheets was grainier than the others, and in several spots the sanding pulled up a "string" in the wood, leaving a small gouge. This can be seen in the photos below:

 

 

I'm not sure why this piece of basswood looks so different from the others and sands so differently. I do not think I will be sanding the hull any further, as I don't want to cause any further gouges, and the 1/32‐inch planking is quite thin.

 

I also began work on the wale, drawing a simple scarf joint onbthe first layer. Cutting the scarf was tricky and required some shaping to get a nice joint. However, when I finally got the pieces shown below to match up (note: they aren't glued, just resting on the curved hull, hence why they look off), I found that the aft wale section was now too short.

 

So, I'll be remaking the aft wale piece and leaving it long, so that shaping the scarf doesn't leave it too short.

 

[JacquesCousteau]

One step forward, one step back.

 

First, I marked out the size and shape of the rail, going a little wider than suggested in the instructions.

 

Next, I glued on the strip marking the quarterdeck. I also placed tape to again mark out the aft wale.

 

I decided that it would be easiest to get a good scarf joint if one end was pinned down, instead of having both parts of the wale free-floating, so I glued the fore part of the wale in place.

 

I have to say, the black wale against the natural wood looks very sharp.

 

Once it dried, I placed the tape over the end to mark the scarf.

 

Unfortunately, the stringiness that I noted above in some of the hull planking caused a serious problem. Although I'm using Tamiya masking tape, which is supposed to be not very sticky, it pulled a couple "strings" in the wood out with it, leaving very noticeable gouges in the hull!

 

This is definitely a bit frustrating. I'm not sure why this is happening, this seems very unusual. I was able to somewhat smooth it by sanding, at least, but I'm concerned about accidentally pulling out more "strings" from the hull.

[JacquesCousteau]

Incredibly, it happened again (although not as much of a gouge) when I pulled the tape off the new aft wale!

 

 

 

I'm trying to think of what could be causing this and I'm very confused. Is this just because it's been hot and humid in Chicago lately? If that's the cause, then I don't think I'll be able to finish until after I move to (drier, cooler) Mexico City. If anyone has seen this before or has an idea of what's causing it, I'd love to hear.

[Thukydides]

In all likelihood I would say if the masking tape is pulling it up then the splinters were already there waiting for something to pull them up. 

 

That is very frustrating. Maybe try sticking some tape to the uncut piece before cutting it to see if anything comes up. Then if not you can go ahead with cutting.

[JacquesCousteau]

17 hours ago, Thukydides said:

In all likelihood I would say if the masking tape is pulling it up then the splinters were already there waiting for something to pull them up. 

 

That is very frustrating. Maybe try sticking some tape to the uncut piece before cutting it to see if anything comes up. Then if not you can go ahead with cutting.

Thanks! I'll definitely test with the tape before marking anything out.

 

In any case, I was able to shape the aft wale. Clamping it to dry to the curve was tricky and I had to get creative with a rubber band at the aft end.

 

I then painted the wale, sanding it smooth between layers of paint. Test fit below:

 

Clamping the foreward end in place was simple enough, but the aft end was tricky. The lower layer of the wale hadn't been quite long enough, so I had ended up needing to fill a slight hollow there. I used a dab of super glue at the end, which unfortunately slightly marred the finish of the hull but I think I was able to lightly sand it out. The photo also shows the counter planking. As can be seen, I mis-judged the widths so they're a bit uneven, although I don't think it will be very noticeable once the stern trim is in place.

 

Next, I made and painted the rail.

 

I did not glue it together off-model as I was worried about getting the angle slightly wrong. Instead, I glued the main piece in place first, then the fore end. Once again, clamping was necessary to hold everything in place, although due to a lack of places to put the clamps at the bow, I just held it in place by hand until the glue set.

 

Despite a few setbacks, I'm very happy with how this is turning out:

[RossR]

Your half hull looks fantastic.  You should be very proud.

 

 

[JacquesCousteau]

On 8/4/2024 at 6:02 PM, RossR said:

Your half hull looks fantastic.  You should be very proud.

 

 

Thanks!

 

I've officially completed the hull! I'll still be finishing the hull and making the display board, so I'll hold off for now on marking this log as "finished," though. 

 

Adding the quarterdeck planking was pretty straightforward. While the instructions say that it should have three strakes, that seemed to lead to relatively wide planks, so I followed the lead of a number of other build logs and went with four instead. 

 

As can be seen, I left the ends of the planks long so I could properly size them afterward. 

 

I used a razor saw to cut off the ends. 

 

Planking the transom was pretty straightforward. The instructions say something about it being curved, but mine ended up pretty straight. I probably over-sanded the top of the transom way back at the start of the build, which would be a problem if I were trying to replicate a specific vessel, but it greatly simplified finishing the transom. 

 

Adding the rail to the quarterdeck and transom, as well as the stern trim, was very straightforward. I should note that I added a small support beam at the front of the quarterdeck planking. After the photo below, I added a shim on the front end so that I had more surface area to glue the rail piece that covers the front of the quarterdeck. 

 

One last part to add! As can be seen, I pre-curved the piece of stern trim before painting it. 

 

After I glued it in place and trimmed, I just had a little sanding and painting to do, and with that, the hull was complete! 

 

Overall, I'm pretty happy with how this turned out. There are a few things that I  could definitely improve. This lighting really highlights how some of the hull planking ended up a little uneven, for instance. That said, this was my first curved hull to plank, and I generally like how it turned out. I'll write a more complete reflection on the kit later, but I feel it successfully taught me vital skills and has given me the confidence to tackle more complex models than the flat-bottomed vessels I've mostly been building so far. 

 

 

 

Next up, I'll be trimming the building board closer in size to the hull, wrapping everything in bubble wrap, boxing it, and moving with it back to Mexico City. Once there in September, I'll be applying some sort of oil or wipe-on poly to the hull, and mounting it to some sort of display board.
 

[Knocklouder]

Great looking planking , very nicely done !!!   

Bob M.

[Oboship]

Up to now I haven't paid too much attention to half hull models. But after I have seen your build log today I will certainly be following your progressing!

Very nice and accurate planking! Thanks for a great and detailed build log!

Uwe

[robert952]

Gorgeous model.  WIll look great hanging on a wall.  That's one advantage of half-hull models when it comes to displaying them. 

[Jorge Acevedo]

desde chile miro y aprendo

[JacquesCousteau]

Thank you, @Knocklouder, @Oboship, @robert952, @Jorge Acevedo, and others for the kind comments and likes!

 

No build progress just yet, but I am quite happy to report that the model survived the move to Mexico City. Given that space was at a premium--hard to pack everything accumulated over a decade of living somewhere into a few suitcases!--I trimmed the build board, leaving just enough to protect the hull.

 

The interior was then stuffed with cloth placemats, and the hull was well-wrapped with layers of bubble wrap and cloth napkins. I especially built up some layers just ahead of the quarterdeck, as it seemed to be the point most likely to break.

 

In hindsight, it probably would have been sturdier to add an extra layer of cardboard to further protect the hull, but the model survived the move intact in a hardshell suitcase, with a blanket stuffed around it (and other fragile items) to further cushion it. I have to say, the hull is much easier to pack than a fully rigged model. Given that I likely have more moves in my future, but would very much liks to build some rigged sailing vessels, I'm considering seeing if there's any way to build them such that the mast and rigging can be removed relatively painlessly for packing. 

 

In any case, I'm now considering how to make the display board. We have a nice miniature Tecuani mask that came magnetically attached to a black backboard with wood trim.

I'm thinking that something similar might look good for the half hull. The hull might disappear against a wood-colored background, so I think a black background will focus attention on the hull, but the trim is a nice touch, and a magnet mounting so the hull can be removed would probably make things easier to pack. But we'll see.

[JacquesCousteau]

I'll be building the frame soon, but in the meantime, I started looking at finishes for the model. Although basswood is usually not considered a very nice wood to leave unpainted, other half-hull build logs show quite beautiful results from applying finishes like Danish Oil, Teak Oil, and Wipe-On Poly. Unfortunately, having just moved to Mexico City, I'm discovering that all of these finishes are substantially more expensive here than they were in the US, at least double the cost per unit, and generally only available in much larger quantities than I will need. So, casting around for options that won't break the bank, I found that plain Linseed Oil is readily available for cheap. Although the boiled variety is generally recommended due to the long drying time of the plain stuff, I am not in a rush.

 

I made a sample bit of planking out of scraps to test it. Although I don't have any scraps painted black like the wale, I included some painted brown to check how the oil would handle an acrylic painted surface. I also threw in a scrap of mahogany out of curiosity. I was also curious about the effect of multiple layers, so the left side only has one coat, while the right side has three. The results don't look bad, with the oil--especially three coats--adding some depth to the wood color (especially on the mahogany, which is good to know if I use it again on any future model or, perhaps more likely due to the prominent grain, stand).

 

The difference in color is much easier to see when compared with the untreated hull:

 

So, I think I'll be going with plain Linseed Oil for the hull treatment, just being aware that it will take a long time to dry. Thin coats applied at least a day apart seems crucial here.

[JacquesCousteau]

I've started applying the finish and it's mostly going all right so far. Most logs seem to go over this very briefly (e.g. "Then I applied Danish Oil/W.O.P./Shellac etc, and here's what it looks like upon completion). So as this is my first time applying anything other than a matte varnish as a finish, I thought I'd include at least some detail, as I've actually encountered some challenges.

 

I should also note: apologies for the poor quality images! I recently upgraded to a Galaxy S24 phone and can't seem to figure out how to take halfway decent photos with it,  especially as it seems to auto-adjust a lot of settings such that what I see when I click to take a photo isn't what the image ends up looking like. (So if anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears!)

 

I began by putting just a dab of linseed oil on my cloth--a chunk of an old t-shirt--and rubbing it into the hull, periodically adding more oil to the cloth. In the photo below, I've oiled the hull except for the quarterdeck. The oil really brings out the differences in color between planks! Personally I like the effect, at least on this model, as it draws attention to the planking (which is the whole point of this kit), but I'll definitely do a better job of color matching on any future builds that I'm leaving natural.

 

One challenge that I faced was that the oil really didn't get into nooks and crannies very well. There were lots of dry spots all along the wale, the trim, and the keel/stem, and even some at uneven points at the edge of planks. For these areas, after I rubbed oil into the hull as best as I could with the cloth, I used a brush to dab some one, and then used the cloth to remove excess.

 

Another challenge was that my seemingly lint-free cloth actually wasn't. It didn't leave a ton, but there were a few bits of black lint I had to get off the hull with a brush. I'll definitely be using a different cloth for future coats, but I'm not sure what would work best.

 

Finally, probably because the oil highlights details in the wood I otherwise wouldn't notice, I discovered some odd vertical scratching on the transom, below. Is it possible to buff this out? Or will I need to sand this down (which sounds like a bad idea while the oil is still polymerizing)?

 

Despite these challenges, I'm liking the look of the oiled hull--even if the phone's camera seems determined to make the photos look weird!

 

Finally, I've started taking a carpentry class, and my first independent project will be the frame/plaque for this hull. First, though, I'm learning to use a fretsaw, which is turning out ti be everything I had thought a coping saw would be. It should be extremely useful for cutting out bulkheads and frames on some upcoming builds. But first, a lot of practice cuts...

[Paul Le Wol]

Fine planking Jacques. Looking forward to your finishing updates