Sloop Speedwell 1752 by baribeaujm (Jean-Marc) - Syren Ship Model Company - 1:32 Scale - POF Sloop

[Rustyj]

That is some very nice work!

[baribeaujm]

Hull Planking

 

I proceeded with the hull planking as per the instructions. The paper template is crucial for adjusting the position of the sweep ports and gun ports. The height of a few gun ports sills had to be corrected (never more than 1/32") to conform to the template. Some sweep ports were a bit off and this could be taken care of by tracing their exact position using the template. I guess these slight adjustments are unavoidable given all the possible variations in frame construction and positioning. 

 

Adjusting the upper wale height at the bow is a bit tricky. For this I positioned a 1/8" guide as shown here.

With the upper wale position established, I proceeded with the planking. For shaping the planks I used the travel iron and air dryer technique. I used a combination of CA and PVA for gluing. I typically would apply CA to 10 consecutive frames and ten PVA on the following 2-3 frames. The CA glued section is position carefully and once the glue is cured, the PVA glued buffer gives me easy access and time to apply CA glue to the next 10 frames. I found this approach insured that all frames were glued to the plank, avoided CA messes, and minimized the risk of opening gaps at the joints when CA is used at once over the whole length of the plank. 

 

Before planking above the wales, I checked the width of my 7/32" planks. My planks were a hair too thick (0.225" instead of 0.219"). I used my Varitas mini plane to narrow the planks down to the correct width. Slightly thicker planks would have led to complications when planking around the ports and shifted the position of the fancy molding.  I completed the first three rows plus part of the fourth. 

 

 A milestone has been reached. It is now time to remove the jig! 

[CaptMorgan]

Looks very nice.   Keep up the great work...   

Removing the jig is a fun step to get to.   Enjoy....

Steve

[baribeaujm]

Removing the JIGS

 

Before removing the jig, I decided like others to reinforce the frames by inserting fillers at the sheer. This is probably not needed, but should add some rigidity when fairing inside the hull.  Removing the jigs was straightforward. No issues here. As instructed, I used a long sanding sticks to create a smooth even sheer line. The hull template is useful here to tweak the sheer. 

 

The fairing Cap and Inboard Fairing

 

I added the fairing cap making sure I do not mix the two middle sections. Then came fairing inboard... This is a long process.  It took me several tens of hours to complete this. I used only sandpapers and sanding bars of various grits. Fairing at the bow is especially tedious because that section is quite concave and hard to reach. 

 

I also added the keelson as you can see. 

 

Planking Above the Wales

 

I completed the planking up to the 1/4" strake.  Here the planking template is very useful to shape the planks at the bow. I tried to follow the plan as much as possible trying to match the strake height with respect to the gun/seep ports. I found it important to check the exact width of my 7/32 planks and make adjustments where necessary. Errors are cumulative and it does not take much to deviate from the plan. A few photos follow:

 

 

The next step is treenailing. I will report on this in hopefully a not too distant future...

 

 

[Seventynet]

Looking really good! Nice clean transition of the frames into the deadwood.

 

Ian