Jacob314 Posted June 16 Share #1 Posted June 16 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. SiriusVoyager, kgstakes, Altduck and 4 others 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccoyle Posted June 16 Share #2 Posted June 16 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! Paul Le Wol, mtaylor and Jacob314 2 1 Quote Chris Coyle Greer, South Carolina When you have to shoot, shoot. Don't talk. - Tuco Current builds: Brigantine Phoenix, Salmson 2, Speeljacht Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiriusVoyager Posted June 17 Share #3 Posted June 17 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 and mtaylor 1 1 Quote - Eric In the shipyard: San Francisco Cross Section Finished: Norwegian Sailing Pram, Lowell Grand Banks Dory, Muscongus bay lobster smack, OcCre Palamos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacob314 Posted Monday at 06:17 PM Author Share #4 Posted Monday at 06:17 PM 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 and mtaylor 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiriusVoyager Posted yesterday at 01:04 AM Share #5 Posted yesterday at 01:04 AM (edited) 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 yesterday at 01:04 AM by SiriusVoyager Gregory and mtaylor 2 Quote - Eric In the shipyard: San Francisco Cross Section Finished: Norwegian Sailing Pram, Lowell Grand Banks Dory, Muscongus bay lobster smack, OcCre Palamos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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