Swift by Jacob314 - Artesania Latina - 1:50 - Virginia Pilot Boat - I’m only a kid and have minimal tools

[Jacob314]

Hello this is my first ship model and build log. I saw a few videos about wooden ship modeling and thought I would give it a try during summer break. I’m just a kid and I don’t really know what I’m doing. I have minimal tools and some normal titebond glue but I’m making things work.

 

I started with the frame which was fairly simple, I had no issue with the tools I had and finished it fairly quickly

 

 

My first problem I encountered was putting the deck onto the frame because of the weird curves on the ship not only long ways but the short way as well. I didn’t know how to bend wood so at the time I forcefully bent it using force. I had just regular wood working clamps which I was having trouble using on the model. I decided to use a piece of scrap wood I found so that the clamps could grip onto the model. I bent and glued the deck on over the course of 2 days because I had only 4 clamps and only could glue parts of the deck to the frame at a time. I eventually got it all glued and to my surprise it had actually worked and the curve is very nice.

 

 

Then I faced another problem, planking. I’ve been very worried about planking because it looks very tedious and easy to mess up and will probably make or break the ship depending on its looks. I decided I would do some research on how to plank and saw many people using water and irons.

Since I knew if my mother saw me ironing little planks of wood she would be furious I decided to heat up a measuring cup with water in the microwave and then press the bottom on the plank. I tried bending it the way everyone else did by attaching it to a “wood bending station” but I don’t think my measuring cup was hot enough for that. So eventually I just bent the wood into shape manually because the wood was super flexible now.

 

After that I needed to clamp the planks onto the ship because while they were bent, they were not going to stay on during glueing. My big clamps were not going to work this time so I researched on clamps you can attach to the hull.

I ended up using binder clips that held the piece above in place. The planks kept slipping out so I put safety pins through the binder clips for them to stay. And for the front and back end I used safety pins through the planks and into the frame to keep them in place rather than binder clips. For my first planks I think I did really well.

 

That is all I’ve done for now if anyone has any tips or noticed I’m doing something the wrong way please let me know, it would be much appreciated.

[ccoyle]

Hi, Jacob.

 

It looks like you have made a good start. A great skill for any ship modeler to master is the ability to come up with creative solutions on the fly, a skill you seem to be well on your way to acquiring.

 

Here's a link to the resources page at the NRG website. If you scroll down the page, you'll find some articles on planking.

https://thenrg.org/resource/articles

 

And here's the link to the list of local ship modeling clubs. If you live near one, I'm sure they would have members willing to help you out with your project.

https://thenrg.org/resource/clubs

 

Good luck!

[SiriusVoyager]

Props to you for jumping right in!  I wish I could have had the patience for this when I was a kid.  Don't let it get you too frustrated and keep finding creative ways to get things done.  As far as your mom and the iron, it may be worth asking.  Ironing wood should be no different than ironing cotton as far as the iron goes.

[Jacob314]

I have just gotten back from vacation so I have not done anything since my last post but I have a question about the directions 

my question is why do they plank the top part of the hull and then start planking the bottom part which bends to the first few planks on both ends, what is the benefit to this? Because I feel it would just be better to place each plank under the previous starting from the top instead of planking on the top and bottom and meeting in the middle

 

Im not sure if anyone will understand what I’m trying to ask but if you do please let me know and thank you to coyle and Siriusvoyager for the nice words and help 

[SiriusVoyager]

I understand exactly what you are talking about because I have wondered the same thing on a different model.  For me it made it very difficult get those last strips in because they had to be sized just right.  I suspect that the instructions do it that way because it allows full width planks to be placed for most of the length of the hull, while the center planks can be cut to fit without a lot of prior planning.   The next time I plank a hull I will be using the techniques found Here rather than following the instructions.

Edited June 25 by SiriusVoyager

[Jacob314]

Hello everyone, it has been a quick minute since I’ve posted here I’ve just about finished the hull of the ship besides painting. I didn’t take many pictures going through this but here’s the ones I have I continued to plank by soaking the wood in hot water which worked pretty well, it was a little tricky for some of the planks but I was able to sand down the mistakes mostly

 

After planking for what felt like forever I planked the deck which was a nice change of pace because the deck was mostly flat so it was pretty easy to not mess up. After the deck I did the upper siding which were to long pieces, one for each side, I placed the first one in, kept it until I placed the second one in and liked how the rims didn’t go outward so much so I took the first one off and re did it.

 

then I went to plank the back of the ship which wasn’t the most straight forward because I hadn’t sanded fully the end of the planks for the main part of the hull so they stuck out a little. I know I should’ve just sanded them down but I was lazy so I just placed the planks over it and making the planks thinner as I went down to fit the strip that holds the rudder.

 

I then basically finished the hull but was unhappy because there were some mistakes and a few holes from planking so I used gorrilla glue wood filler to fill those in without sanding the filler it looks quite awful and looks like I beached the boat but after sanding it looks quite nice.

 

Unfortunately I did not get many pictures of the building process but here are the photos of the progress I have so far. I am super happy with the outcome and am gonna go ahead and try to paint the boat next after some minor touch ups.

[SiriusVoyager]

Looks like you did just fine for a first time planking to me.  The nice thing is that AL kits use a second layer planking that will hide most of what you don't like.  Just make sure you get everything sanded nice and smooth.  Use wood filler if you need to fill any gaps.

[Dr PR]

Jacob,

 

You are doing great for a first build! You seem to have a knack for model ship building.

 

Don't sweat it if your model isn't perfect in your eyes. I started when I was a kid, working from scratch because I didn't know about ship model kits, and the results were far from perfect. I have been building ship models for at least 65 years now and none is "perfect" to me. After all, the builder scrutinizes the work much more than anyone else, and there is always something that could be improved. But I am satisfied with the builds.

 

If you continue with the quality of workmanship you have shown so far you will have a model you can be proud of.