African Queen by a49kid - Billing Boats - 1:12 - RADIO

[a49kid]

Yes continuing on with this build of the Billings African Queen, on a Very Cluttered bench.........
As I have discussed above, this was a steel hull boat, but I have decided to timber plank over the plastic vacuum formed hull.
I guess most smaller boats of that time were timber hulls anyway.
I’m using 0.5 x 10 mm strips, and this is the first time I have done ship planking. so a big learning curve ……..lol
But I’m probably not doing it in the correct or normal way.
But at least all my planks go the full length of the hull. No ‘fill in’ bits here, whatever you guys call those bits.
And yes I tapered the planks fore and aft. And as the planks also need to curve / bend up and down, I came up with my own solution for that.
I cut thru the 10mm planks about 7mm, on the opposite edge to that that needs to curve up.
But we still had the one full length plank.
And yes this leaves gaps that need to be filled, the wider ones with wood filler, and the very close ones just fill with the Sand & Seal.
Yes this method would be unsightly if the hull was going to be stained, But as this is going to be painted, all these expansion cuts will not be seen.
It has been filled and 2 coats of sealer on it here.
Will then Grey Primer it, and I suspect more imperfections will new show up, so a little more filler and primer.

 

Edited April 14, 2024 by a49kid

[a49kid]

Hi guys, and yes I also have a Build Thread on ‘Ships of Scale’.
That is a very active Forum, and they send me notification emails every day.
They are taking up a lot of my time, almost too much, can’t get any building done.
And every time I come here, it takes me 10 minutes to find my Thread, maybe at 74 I’m just getting forgetful on the procedure here.
Anyway I can’t spend time Posting on two forums, so I may have to end this Build Thread of the African Queen here.
But will stay as a member and check on other builds here.