USF Confederacy by Zarkon - Model Shipways - 1:64 Scale

[Ronald-V]

That looks really nice with the treenails and staining! Well done! Just a few thousands to go  

[Paul Le Wol]

Beautiful work Jeff. Your build log is excellent! Really enjoy reading it.

[RossR]

Nice job on the tree nails.  I think you did a great job on the scale and making them subtle.  I think sometimes people make them too big and too much of a contrast to the planking.

 

 

[Zarkon]

Thank you everyone for the likes and positive responses!  They inspire me to do my best and help to push me to be a better Modeler!

 

The first thing i did before starting to plank the top wale strip, was to build a jig to help bend the planks.  The instructions showed an example of one, which was very helpful.

 

I first copied the curve of the bow onto a piece of paper from the plans and cut it out.  I then 3D printed 8, 1" tall cylinders to help with the curvature of the planks.  I then glued the top of the curve first.

 

Then I took a strip and positioned the others below them and glued them into position using the width of a strip as a guide.  Once it all dried,  I placed 6 strips into water for 5 minutes and carefully bent them one at a time into the jig.

 

I then waited until I was sure they were completely dried before moving onto actually planking.

 

I have to say;  it worked!  I removed the top strip from the jig, and had very little spring back.  It then took me 30 minutes to try and make sure it was in the correct position. Once I was satisfied,  I added the simulates caulking and cut the piece shorter since this strake will have a second layer (The wales).

 

 

Once satisfied,  I glued it onto the model

 

I then test fitted the next strake and realized there was a dip in one of the bulkheads that I missed earlier.

 

 

 

Notice the gap between the strip and the bulkhead. It looked really bad so I had to fix it!

 

 

To fix this,  I marked the start and end of where the gap was.  I then cut and formed a strip of basswood that was the same width of the bulkhead and glued it onto the bulkhead.

 

I then sanded it down to match the curvature of the hull.

 

 

It looked a lot better after adding this small piece.

 

I then continued with planking the first strip.   It took me a while with the second piece as I was trying to make it curve correctly.

 

Please let me know if it looks good and in the right place hah!

 

That took a while for me so I'll start the other side tomorrow.

 

Thanks everyone for the likes and responses!

 

Jeff

Edited September 16 by Zarkon

[Paul Le Wol]

Jeff, nice fix on that rogue bulkhead 

[CiscoH]

thats exactly how i fix wonky bulkheads too.  looks great

[Zarkon]

Thanks all for the kind words and likes!  I do appreciate them!

 

Continueing with the first step of the planking which includes the 2 first rows ( the top of the wales and black strake),  I was able to finish both those rows of planks.

 

How I plank each row was to only glue the strake to up to 4 bulkheads at a time.  For me, 4 is about the limit I can comfortably hold correctly as the glue dries.  I use super glue as that's what Chuck usually uses for hull planking. It sure saves me a lot of time!  I do NOT use much glue per bulkhead.  These basswood strips take to the glue very easily and so not much is needed.  Also putting less glue on the strip helps me personally not get the glue on the outboard side.  Like what Chuck says, even if you sand off the glue, it does change how porous the wood is and can lead to blotches if staining and varnishing.  Thanks for the tip Chuck!

 

After gluing the strip to say the first 4 bulkheads, I checked the curve of the strip compared to the lines I marked like so.

 

This is very important for the first strake as it really defines the shape of the hull planking.  The hardest part for me was to keep the correct curve from the first strip to the second on the same row.  If that makes any sense.  I had to take off the aft strip on one side and re position it after the glue had dried because the curve from the first strip to the next didn't flow correctly.  Most of this though, just applies to the first strip on each side of the ship.  I had other challenges on the second strip which I will get to.

 

Here is the bow with both first strakes on the ship.

 

I think that looks pretty even.

 

On the second strip,  i had to be careful at the bow near the stem.  This is because it's very easy to have that big bend at the bow either over bent, or under bent compared to the first strake.  For the bow, I really glued the strake to the stem and the first bulkhead first so I could try and match the curve between the strakes.  I then glued the strake to the next 2 bulkheads.  After that, it was more about making sure the top strake was beveled properly to fit ontop of the first planks to make sure the seams looked alright.

 

Here are some pics of the completed 2 rows of planking.

 

I think it turned out pretty well!

 

Next up are the 5, 1/8" rows of planking.  I have put some strakes into my strake jig and I'll start planking tomorrow since they will be dry.

 

Thanks all!

 

Jeff

 

[RossR]

Looks like a great start to the planking.  

[Zarkon]

I thought I would give an update to the build.  I have to say, framing the sweep ports takes a LONG TIME! Well, for me anyway haha.  After thinking about it,  I know framing ports isn't my strong suit.  I seem to have better frame planking if I have the ports to frame around.

 

So for better or worse, I made the sweep ports before I planked the sweep port frames.  The instructions say to plank the frames first, then quite a bit later, make and place thr sweep ports.

To create both bigger ports,  I glued four strips together.  The instructions said to make sure and match the hull planking with these ports.  I'll show a pic later how well I was able to match the planking.

 

I then created a lot of sweep ports based upon the size of them on the plans.

 

After making them, I outlined them with a pencil.

 

I then started to plank up the hull getting close to the sweep ports.  When I got close to the ports, I glued on the sweep ports before planking around them.

 

 

How i plank around them is pretty straight forward. I would first mark where the sweep port is on the plank.

 

Then I woukd cut out the ports on the strip.  This took a long time as I tried my best on them.

 

I installed the bigger ports slightly differently since the plank pattern needs to match according to the instructions.  I didn't glue the port on first.  Instead I placed a strip where the port was and measured how much strip I need to show for the port.

 

I temporarily placed the port in place.  I then cut the shape out of the plank and installed the plank.

 

So after planking the port, it looks like this.

I think I matched the planks with the ports pretty well.

 

I finished planking the 1/8" strips and did some VERY light sanding.  I took care not to sand the top nor bottom strip edge so I wouldn't accidentally sand too much.

 

I noticed on the stern, the planks needed to be sanded down to match the lower counter.  I was very nervous about that.  So I decided to tape up the sides of the lower counter with painters tape (shaped the tape with scissors to match the curve of the hull)

I then slowly sanded with 220 grit sandpaper using a rounded sander to help with the curve.

I was pretty happy with how this sanding turned out. I was able to sand the planks without sanding the lower counter.

 

I then continued the planking and now I am using the wider strips for the next set of wales.

 

Here is where I am right now with the planking.  I hope it looks alright!

 

 

Thanks everyone!

 

Jeff

 

Edited October 1 by Zarkon
Extra Pic on the bottom of the post

[Zarkon]

Just a quick update.

 

I finished planking the 5/32" strips to finish off the, I guess you would call it the sub-step.  I then lightly sanded the planks to help create a smoother run.  I noticed a few of my sweep ports were a little too low. Ugh!  But it's too late now! I will just have to deal with it. overall though, I am happy with how it turned out!

 

A few questions though before I show pics of my work.  I read ahead and on page 40, it states that a scraper is provided in the kit for the molding strips.  I looked throughout the kit and I did not find a scraper.  Is it suppose to be included in the kit?  If not, where could I get one?

 

Second, is the beakhead deck planking suppose to sit even against the outboard planking? This pic shows what I mean.

Should I sand the beakhead floor planking, or add a small strip to match its height?

 

 

Okay.  Here are some pics of what I have planked so far!

 

 

Thanks everyone for your likes and comments!

 

Onto planking the gunports!

 

Jeff

 

[Ronald-V]

Planking looking really good!

 

I have some scrapers from Artesania Latina:

 

https://artesanialatina.net/en/162-micro-tools

 

Not to expensive...Not sure if they are in your country easier available in some local webshop. But like you said...in the manual it says that's it's provided with the kit, so that's weird. I would contact Model Shipways about it. I've read that they a have good customer service.

Edited October 4 by Ronald-V

[RossR]

I have the AL scrappers.  They are sized for metric dimension wood, so may not work great on non metric wood from modelshipways.   I would love to know if anyone has a source for a non metric version of the AL scrappers.    

[Ronald-V]

8 minutes ago, RossR said:

I have the AL scrappers.  They are sized for metric dimension wood, so may not work great on non metric wood from modelshipways.   I would love to know if anyone has a source for a non metric version of the AL scrappers.    

Oh...didn't think of that...yes that's a problem  

[Zarkon]

Thanks for the input!  You guys are right that it's more for metric, but it might not be a bad idea to pick one up anyway just in case I need one for another build if it doesn't work on this one.  Thanks for the idea Ronald of contacting Modelshipways and ask if it was suppose to come with one.

 

I'll let you all know what they say.  If it isn't suppose to come with one, i might have to make one myself lol!  (Good luck to me about that!)

 

Jeff

[Zarkon]

I found them!! I was looking in the wrong part of the kit box. Silly me.  They were on the complete bottom of the box within the precut brass sheet!

 

Doh!

 

Well I'm glad I found them. Not only that, it comes with 5 different scrapers for many different shapes!  So if you need a lot of standard sized scrapers, this is the kit for you hah!

 

This is a great kit I have to admit.

 

Jeff

[Zarkon]

Hey all!

 

Finally an update!  I've been busy planking one side of the gundeck.  Trying to get the 1/64" rabbet around each port is very time consuming. I can only imagine doing this on something like the HMS Victory! Haha...

 

Here is how I planked around the sheaves.

 

 

First I took a strip and cut out with a knife the shape of the sheave shell and used various sanding stick and files to make sure it has a good fit.  I didn't cut off the correct length of the strip until i knew it fit properly between the sheave shell and the previous row of planking as shown.  This is so that if I do not get the shape correct around the sheave shell (which happens quite a bit honestly!) I can easily cut it off the strip and try again.

 

 

So after it fits, I then marked the correct angles for each side of the strip and cut/ beveled the strip to the correct shape.  This takes a long time because it is very easy to over sand by accident and make the strip too short.

 

This pic shows me testing the angle of the strip for the gunport.  What I normally do, is plank the gun port one at a time.  I would get the correct angle for thr gunport (shown in the pic), then make 2-3 more strips with the same angle and tested all 3 together on the gunport to make sure the angle is correct.  To make the bevel correctly, I would set my disk sander to the correct angle and sand all 3 strips.  This saved me time and material as I didn't want to measure the angle for every strip.

 

I would then do the same thing on the right side of the strips in the same manor.  I think it worked out pretty well.

 

I planked the gunports bow to stern on one side at a time.

 

Maybe I'm really slow, but for me, I could plank about 2 gunport frames (not counting the tops of them) every night.  This is a out 6-8 small strips between the gunports per day.

 

I hope these next picture look good as it took me almost half a month to complete this much.

 

Please let me know what you guys think!  I need to order more glue, so I might take a day off of planking.

 

I still have the quarterdeck gunports to go too!  But at least these do not need the 1/64" rabbet.

 

Thanks all!

 

Jeff

 

 

[Ronald-V]

Looks good! I can imagine that it is a precise job that cannot be rushed.

 

I am not the fastest builder myself compared to others, but then I try to work on the model only when I really want to.

Previously I sometimes wanted to "finish something" and then it was not really relaxing anymore and it also looked less nice.

[Nearshore]

Hi Jeff,

 

Looks very neat and clean. I am not familiar with the USF Confederacy from Model Shipways. Is this going to be a single planked hull? Either way, you are doing a great job.

 

Cheers

Nearshore

[Zarkon]

Ronald, I agree with you.  I feel the same as to not rush things.  This is a hobby to relax with.  Not only that, rushing only makes my work look sloppy ( I know from my own experience!)

 

Nearshore, thank you for the compliment!  This Confederacy kit is single planked.  The only time in the kit where it's double planked are for the wales and molding strips.  That's why I'm really trying to take my time with it to get the best results I can with my skills level.

 

Thanks!

 

Jeff

[Zarkon]

Hey all!

 

I finally finished the side planking on one side! Well, other than the wales, painting, molding strips, etc.

 

While planking up the hull, I noticed the aft most quarterdeck gunport had a "hole" on the sill.  This is because it's where the laser cut pieces fit together, but not perfectly.

 

You can see from the picture above, there is a space between the sill and the frame that I needed to fill.  I took some wood filler I had from Occre and tried it out!

 

 

After applying and letting it dry, I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper.

 

 

I then repainted it, and here was the result.

 

I think it turned out really well!  I completed the same steps on the other side of the ship since it had the same problem.

 

I also had to sand down the other quarterdeck gunport which I had to cut the bulkhead out of.  I realized I didn't sand it enough and the bulkhead plywood was very visible through the gunport sill.

 

 

So as shown, I sanded it down.  I then applied some wood filler and sanded / repainted.

 

It now looks like this.

 

It looks lot better.  Again, I completed it on the other side as well.

 

I also wanted to point out that the instructions say there should be 15, 1/8" x 1/16" planks to reach the top of the bulkhead formers.  I had one area that took 16 strips. I'll show you below.

 

Maybe I had too much of a curve for the planks?  I don't know.  But to fix it, I didn't have much of a choice but to do 2 things. 

 

I first added another lintel strip above the first one.  The instructions do specify if need be, you can add another strip like this if your planking rises above the first lintel strip.  I made sure to get a good fit and glued the second lintel strip ontop of the first while also gluing it to the hull plank it touches.  I didn't need to make it very long.  I only made it long enough to match the planks that needed the extra support.

 

I then needed to make sure I had a good gentle curve so I taped a  batten to the 15th strip like so.

 

 

I then marked where I needed to take off the top plank and sanded it down to make sure it has a nice curve.

 

 

To make sure i had a good curve, i placed a strip where the cap rail would be and made sure there weren't dips or bulges.  I know it's not perfect, but it will be pained black anyway later in the build so I wasn't too worried about it.

 

Here is what the side looks like currently.

 

 

 

Please let me know what you guys think!

 

Now it's time to start the other side.

 

Thanks!

 

Jeff

 

[Ronald-V]

Nice clean work again! With some varnish it will look amazing  

[Zarkon]

Hey all!  Thank you for all your comments and likes!

 

I have finally finished planking the gun deck outer hull.  It really does take a long time to plank the hull on the gun deck.  Here is an example of a complex strip I have to create to plank around the gunports.

 

This piece was created for the top of the gun ports but also has to go around a sheave shell.  These pieces take a while to make!

 

The next pictures show how far I have gotten so far with the planking.

 

 

The planking will go faster until I reach the quarterdeck gunports.  At least the quarterdeck gunports do not require the rabbet as the gun decks gun ports do!

 

Whew!  I'm almost there! 

 

Thanks all!

 

Jeff

 

 

 

[CiscoH]

super clean planking Jeff.  Looks excellent!

[Zarkon]

Thanks all!

 

So I finally finished planking the other side of the hull.  This step takes so long as each piece must have the correct angle and length.

 

Whew.  This feels like an accomplishment!

 

Here are some pictures of the other side finished.

 

 

What I also did, was to make sure at the stern, the tops of the hull planking were as level as possible for both sides.  This should help make the ship look much more even when installing the cap rails a lot later in the build.  What I did, was to take a wide strip of boxwood (since it's heavier and harder so it won't bend with a level on top) and place it on different sections of the hull planking and sanded down the tops of the planks where needed to make it as even as possible.

 

 

After that, I tried my best to sand the hull as smooth as I could with 220 grit sandpaper.  This took a little while as there were lots of small spots to try and even out.

 

According to the instructions, the next part was to stain and varnish the entire portion of the hull that was planked!  I took about 30 minutes to setup my stations.  I first used a pre-stain wood treatment coat.  I then wiped off the access after 5 minutes.  As it was drying, i mixed together a 1:1 ratio of Minwax Golden Oak stain and clear  polyurethane varnish.  I needed to thin out the golden oak stain to try and keep from blotching as much as possible.

 

After putting on the stain and varnish, this was the result.

 

 

In the pic above, there was some blotching near the top above the first few gunports. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think quite a bit of that will be painted black a little later in the build.  So I'm not too worried.

 

What I was surprised by was how well the pencile edging came through!  I made sure to only pencile one edge of the planks.  I am glad I didn't darken both plank edges that meet or it would be too dark!

 

 

Please let me know what you guys think!  It will look different once it's painted and the wales/ molding strips are added.

 

But I do feel I finished a huge step in the build and it feels very good! 😀

 

Thanks all for reading and for your comments and likes. I do appreciate them a lot!

 

Jeff

 

[Ronald-V]

Very nice result! Love the sharpness that comes through with the oil. Well done  

[Zarkon]

Thank you Ronald! I agree I really like how the edges are turning out!

 

I looked at it again today and noticed the stain has lightened some. I think that's great! Because later, I will need to add in all those tree nails and stain/varnished again.  I was a little worried that if I stained again, it would be too dark.

 

I'm going to take a break from her for a few days to allow the stain/varnished to finish drying and stop smelling.  In the meantime, I'll be working on my Cheerful build starting tomorrow. Going to start planking the first layer of the wales!

 

Thanks all!

 

Jeff

[Zarkon]

Hey all!

 

I completed the first layer of the wales and the first rows below it.

 

Here are some pics of my progrssion:

 

I hope you can see this in the photo above, but the last wale strake and the strake after that both go under the lower counter.  I hope this is correct.

 

 

I had to start edge bending the planks as i

I got lower onto the hull as they would not fit correctly near the bow.  This was more prevelant on the last wale strake and the one below that.  Here is an example:

 

Hopefully this comes out clear, but if you look at the bulkhead that is in focus, the top plank does not lay flat on the bulkhead at all.  Instead it juts out.

 

This causes a massive issue with trying to place the next plank above it as it will cause the next plank to form a gap between both it and the previous row of planks. No amount of sanding can fix this issue.

 

To fix this, I removed the badly placed plank.  I then laid a new plank on top as shown below.

I then marked where the center of the biggest gap was on the new strake and edge bent it using the mark as the center point.  After placing it back onto the model, the curve now looks like this:

Notice the top of the plank sits against the bulkhead. Whew!

 

I continued and finished both sides.  These next pics I thought was just cool because it shows off what we will never see again as we continue to plank. The underside of the gundeck and bulkheads and supports.

 

Finally, here are a few pics of it placed upright.

 

 

I hope it looks alright!

 

Lastly, I need to say I ran out of 5/32" x 1/16" strips!  I literally have 1 full strip left and some left overs.  I did not throw any out.  I used all of them that were provided in the kit.

 

So I have contacted Model Shipways ( Model Expo) to see if I can get 10 more strips so I can finish the second layer of the wales.  I did fill out their ordering form using their instructions.  We shall see!

 

So what I CAN  place on next are the 5/32" x 1/32" strips used for the channel wales and black strake.

 

So I will start on that soon while I wait for the new strips.

 

Thanks all!

 

Jeff

[CiscoH]

Get used to edge bending.  Most of the remaining planking will need to be bent or it will gap upwards, as youve found.  youre re-do looks perfect.

I found Chuck’s planking videos very helpful, along with reading his Cheerful planking directions.  He covers dividing the remaining space into Belts of planking that taper typically at the stem.   I think most people also recommend putting in the garboard strake early.  

your planking is spotless, keep it up

[Zarkon]

@CiscoH You are right. I'll have to get used to edge bending.  But at least it's only for the wales, for now!  Thanks for the kind words! I'm trying to take my time and not rush anything.

 

Since my last update, I still have not heard back from ModelExpo about a few more 5/32" x 1/16" needed to start and complete the second layer of the main wales.  I guess I haven't heard back yet because of Thanksgiving.  I hope to hear from them soon.

 

Because I don't have enough strips for the main wales, I instead added the channel wales and the black strake.

 

I have been able to finish adding both!  Here are some pics.

 

I first completed the channel wales.

 

 

After the channel wales, I then added the second layer black strake.  This was a little tough to try and make the strake run nicely down the hull.  I feel it's easier to spot a misaligned strake on bigger models than smaller ones!

 

Here are some pics of the ship after I added the black strakes.

 

I'm not sure exactly what to work on next.  Should I continue with the molding strips; painting/varnishing, then tree nailing?  Or wait for the wale strips and start planking below the wales?

 

I'm leaning towards adding the molding strips and paining / varnishing.  I really don't want to starting planking lower down the hull until all these steps including the wales are completed.

 

Thanks everyone for your likes!

 

Jeff

 

[Zarkon]

Hey guys!

 

It took me a little bit of time to decide what to do next.  I decided to do things are little out of order.

 

First, I placed painters tape where the lower molding strip will go and made sure it was a good even curve.  Then I marked it with a pencil.  I then took the tape off and re positioned it slightly below that line.  I hope the pic comes out ok.  The reason I placed it below that line, is so that the black paint will overlap the molding strip so it will look even.

 

 

I then proceeded to fill any gaps ( there were 2 very small gaps) and sanded it down smooth.  This was done for the planks above the tape.

 

After this was complete, I pained the planks black above the painters tape.

 

 

During this process, the wood strips arrived from Model Expo!  So I knew I was going to complete the main wales next.

 

There was a slight problem though.  I accidentally wrote down the wrong number of strips.  The main wales are 4 rows of 2 planks each. So that's 8 planks total. But I like 2 extra strips just in case. My issue was, I wrote down 10 strips when I needed at minimum 16 strips.  Yup. My bad.  But Model Expo was quick to take my order and deliver the 10 strips free of charge. So that was super nice of them.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do for the other strips I need to finish the main wales.  I'll figure it out.

 

Anyway, I then started the main wales on one side of the ship.

 

I'm the first to admit, I'm not that great with putting painters tape down and not having some paint run through the tape.  So before I placed the top main wale plank, I rounded the top edge then pained mostly just the top edges black.  This should hopefully make for a much cleaner look than placing the top wale strake on first.

 

 

This allowed me to not have to worry about painting the top edge and accidentally painting the black strake.

 

I continued down the 4 plank rows.  Since these will be pained, I applied some filler to smooth out any small gaps or ubeaven surfaces.

 

As i was planking the wales I noticed my lower counter tree nails weren't great.  What I mean is, I did not sand enough of the wood filler off the counter so it looks sloppy.  So I sanded the entire lower counter again to get off the extra wood filler.

 

Once all this was completed, I taped up the side for painting the main wales.

 

I then proceeded to pain the wales.  This was the result.

 

 

That was satisfying to see it with the wales pained.

 

I then decided to stain and varnish both sides of the ship.  This will include the channel wales, Blake strake, and the lower counter again.  I wanted to do both sides because it seemed like the right thing to do.  But before doing this step,  I had to get the molding strips ready.

 

I followed the directions in the instructions using the provided molding scraper.  This is how it turned out.

 

 

 

This third picture was important because to make a good clean run of the molding,  the bottom most requires 2 molding strips.  You have to be careful when picking and sanding both strips.  Some of the molding strips were wider than the others.  So you have to choose 2 which  had the same width or it will look off when glued on.

 

Then last night,  I stained and varnished both the ship and the molding pieces.  I stained/varnished the molding pieces before placing them on the model.

 

Here is what it looks like varnished.

 

 

It's currently drying so I can't work on it tonight.  The last thing I will need to do is add the molding strips.

 

Whew!  That was a lot.

 

Let me know what you guys think!

 

Thanks!

 

Jeff