Armed Virginia Sloop (AVS) by SkiBee - Model Shipways - 1:48

[SkiBee]

     I'm taking a break from building the New York Pilot Boat Phantom and going to start building the Armed Virginia Sloop by Model Shipways.  I chose this model because there are some great sources of information beside the kit instructions, there is a Practicum by Robert E. Hunt via Lauck Street Shipyard, and some great Ship Logs, especially CiscoH's. 

     Here is the normal start picture of the box,

I started by removing the laser char from the center keel, keel, sternpost and stem.  I might have removed to much from the sternpost notch, but I think I can work around that.

I'm going ahead and using the included walnut for the keel, sternpost and stem.  I'm trying to decide now if I only put one level of planking or do the two levels per the instructions.  I don't think I want to use the walnut since I plan to paint the haul but would like to keep the definition of the planks.  I would have to buy some additional planks if I went with two layers.  Not sure what wood is available and pre-cut for planking, especially at the thickness of the walnut planks, 0.02 inch.  Plus, I don't have a way to cut planks to width and thickness.

 

Any recommendations would be appreciated.

 

[aliluke]

Hi

I'll be following along. Except for the deck planking, I didn't buy any additional wood for my AVS and just followed the instructions plus Hunt's practicum. I painted the hull but scored the planks above the wales to give them definition. The only other kit upgrades I did were the ropes (Morope - which you can't get anymore but there are plenty of other providers, including Syren) and the blocks (again my source for those is gone but plenty of other providers are out there).

 

There are plenty of plank providers - milled to size - as well, among the sponsors of MSW. Boxwood is my favourite but it comes at a cost...

[SkiBee]

I traced the bearding line on the center keel.  I cut the rabbit using mostly a curved blade since it worked better for me.  I used a compas to draw my cut line on the bottom edge of the center keel.  I checked the depth of the cut with a piece of the base wood plank by itself since I decided to use a single plank layer. I did sand the rabbit a little to smooth it out and make as even as I could.  Then I glued the Stem and keel to the Center Kell.  Since the Center Keel and the Stem and Keel are the same thickness, I laid both down on some was paper and flattened them both out. All the pieces were flat with no noticeable curve. Then I spread some wood glue on the stem and held the pieces together just using my fingers.  Then I decided to use super glue on the keel and used a couple of adjustable clamps to hold the two pieces together.  I had to adjust the clamp so I would not get an angled joint.  I decided not to glue the stern post on at this time, it was a recommendation in one of the instructions I had read.

 

I checked to see if the rabbit was deep enough by using a piece of planking.  There is a little edge above the keel, so I'll try and sand the rabbit down a little later, but I wanted to see how the rabbit lined up with the bottom of the bulkheads.  But I found that the bulkheads would not readily fit into the center keel slots.  I broke bulkhead C in half when I was trying to take it out, to tight of a fit. So, I'm using a sanding stick to open up the slots until the bulkheads fit with some resistance.  I am making sure that the bottom of the slot is square, so the bulkheads seat all the way to the bottom of the slot.

[GGibson]

Hey SkiBee!  Great to catch up with you once again!  I'll be following along! 👍🏆

[CiscoH]

Finally another AVS build!  Looks good so far.  In terms of hull planking I used the thicker basswood base layer as practice.  the second thin layer went much better due to all the Learning that went into the first layer.  In Clayton Feldman's book (the original builder of this model) I believe he only used 1 layer of hull planking so you could simply skip the walnut.

either way I look forward to your progress.   

 

cisco

Edited October 3 by CiscoH

[SkiBee]

I used a curve blade and a sanding stick to get the Stem taper per the drawing.  It appeared the I should leave about a 1/16th of the stem edge as is.  I did have trouble at the cutting the tapper at the curve due to the grain of the wood, I gouged the stem a little.  I did an initial fill with wood putty; I’ll refine the tapper smoothness after planking.

I sanded all the bulkhead slots so they would slide on the center keel with some resistance.  Also sanded and scraped all the edges of the bulkheads to remove the char, which took a while.  Fitting all the bulkheads to the Center Keel, a few stuck up a little over the top edge of the Center Keel, so I sanded the top and bottom of the slots until they did not stick up over the top edge.  There were 3 bulkheads that I will have to add a thin shim to get it even with the edge.

I did another trial fit of a piece of plank to see if the rabbet was deep enough.  I decided to deepen the rabbit using a curved blade, #22, and sand smooth.  Looks better butt the superglue left more of a bead that I could not sand off or cut off without deepening of the rabbet.  I’m going to leave it as is and look at tapering the edge of the plank to fit.

I decided to trim the aft 3 bulkheads and fwd 3 bulkheads per the drawings now.  I used a curve blade to cut the transom curve of bulkhead R and part of the angle of bulkhead P & Q, then sanded them to smooth out the cuts but not to the final angle.  The rest of the bulkheads I’ll get the proper angle by fairing them after installation, at that time I’ll check the thickness of the bulkhead extensions.  I will wait to trim the inside of the bulkhead extensions until after the planking is done to provide more stability & strength to them.

 

[SkiBee]

Made sure that the top of the bulkhead was even with the center keel by sanding the top of the slot a little more.  Then sanded the top of the slots where I added the shim until even with the center keel.  Started to glue in the bulkheads, back to front.  I’m going to just glue in the 4 aft bulkheads first and sand the top of them even, for the aft sub-deck. This way the I will have less of chance of breaking any of the fwd bulkhead stanchions.  I’m not sure but it seems like the Starboard side of the bulkhead is a little lower than the Port.  Once the glue dries completely, I’ll check it out.

I measured from a ground reference point to the top of the aft bulkheads, the starboard side is slightly lower than the port.  But I don’t think it will be enough to make a difference in the final product.  Placing a metal rule on the bulkhead tops, there was very little height discrepancies from fwd to aft bulkheads.  So I proceeded to sand them even from fwd to aft, not a lot of sanding was required, but I wonder if I should sand more since only the fwd half of each bulkhead has a flat slant.
I then proceeded to add in a small block between the bulkheads to provide some strength during the remainder of the build.  I also continued to glue in the remaining bulkheads

Edited October 12 by SkiBee

[CiscoH]

i had to add several strips and sand some bulkheads down to get them even.  the false deck and sterncabin plywood panels will hide a lot on the topsides but you do want a somewhat level base.  i did the same on the bulkheads lower portions to get a smooth run for hull planking.

moving right along

[SkiBee]

As I faired the deck, I found that my bulkheads were all 90 deg top to bottom, fwd and aft.  But I had a couple of bulkheads that were going to need shims and or a lot of sanding.  I determined the cause was I did not pay attention to making sure that the bulkhead was level port to starboard as I was gluing in the first 8 bulkheads.  There were two that were going to require a fair amount of shimming and sanding.  I thought about dissolving the glue, yellow wood glue, and redoing them, but I was concerned that I might cause other problems of brakeage, so I left them and will glue and shim.

In this pick the red circled bulkhead is that worst one, the starboard side was below the port side.  You can see that I shimmed the top of the bulkhead so it would be even fore and aft with the other bulkheads and side to side of itself.

The green is to show that the bulkheads are 90 degrees vertical, and the red is an example of level from port to starboard on the top.

[SkiBee]

I’ve been fairing the Port side, putting in a few hours. I guess Hunt, in his Practicum, says that it should only take 15 minutes, I guess that is if the parts are cut perfectly and you glue them in right. You can see the bulkheads I had to significantly sand down vs the ones I didn’t.  I shimmed the top of one bulkhead, and I might need to shim the ones that still show laser marks.  I also need to address the ends of the bulkheads, there are bulkheads on each side of the bearding line.

[SkiBee]

I installed the Stern Frames using the windows as a spacer, then the Transom and Filler Block and tried to blend the transom and filler to flow into the bottom of Bulkhead R , and form the curved counter.  Also sanded the top and aft end of the stern frame to ensure they all were even/curved the right amount for the aft deck and such.  The sternpost got in the way of evening out everything.  Glued in the aft deck.

Added the stern frame filler blocks.  When I was faired these blocks, I rounded them front to aft instead of continuing the line created by the outside edge of the last 4 bulkheads.  After I realized that I should have continued the line from the bulkheads, I had to add some additional wood strips and sand them to correct this.

You can see that I broke off most of the aft deck tabs between the bulkheads, glued them back in the best I could.  Continued to break those tabs as I built the bow filler blocks and did the final fairing of the sides and top of the bulkheads.  

 

NOTE: I wish I had waited until all of this work was done to glue in the aft deck, I’m glad I did not glue in the main deck.  Part of this is how I hold the boat by the bulkheads as I work on the boat.  I also broke off a few stanchions too.  I don’t think adding the deck would have prevented that, I think the block I added between the bulkheads added more stability than the deck would.
 

Edited November 18 by SkiBee

[aliluke]

I recall all of these issues. It's the nature of the thing. Keep going and it'll iron itself out in the end.

[CiscoH]

what Aliluke said.  i broke a bunch of the tabs off too

[SkiBee]

 

I was trying to figure out how the aft end gets planked, the transom (stern frames) and the counter (curved arch below the transom).  As I was laying out the planking it became apparent that center frames and keel piece were higher than the outer stern frames.  This cause upper deck to be more of a peak instead of an arch at the aft end, see picture.  What I’m afraid of is that the planks on the transom will not flow like a smooth arch.

I don’t know if I should remove the last part of the deck and sand the stern frame and keel piece down about a 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch so the aft part of the deck is more of an arch.  Or just leave it and make the top plank more of a peak with a taper to a point as it approaches the outer frames, like a roof truss.

 

Any comments / suggestions.
 

[CiscoH]

it does look like a bit of a peak in your pictures.  i think it will cause headaches planking the stern if it stays so pointy, so yes i would consider sanding it down like you said

[aliluke]

Agree with CiscoH. The deck needs to be an arch for the stern plus the finishing planking layer. Don't mean to hijack but you kind of want it to look like this in terms of shape:

 

 

[SkiBee]

Thanks to both of you.

Alistair; what color of stain did you use on the deck and the cabin overhead?

 

[aliluke]

No stains. The planking for the upper deck is matai - a New Zealand native species of red pine. I used a veneer sample to do it. Super thin. I think it is nice to distinguish this element. The main deck is holly I think? (I can't remember). The rest is straight out of the box. The main deck, which once looked white, has turned yellow/brown over time and looks better for it. Everything was just clear finished.

[SkiBee]

I formed the bow filler blocks by whittling and sanding so it fit the bow space and appropriate curve for planking and then glued them in.  I did notch for the timber head and knight head all the way down the filler and then glued in the 4 pieces.  Faired them in and had some gaps that I filled with putty.  Also, there were some areas that left funny gaps when I dry fitted a plank so I filled them with putty and faired them, so the planking was smooth.

Now I’ll use alcohol to soften the wood glue that is holding the back deck to the model so I can eliminate the peak, per last post.
 

 

Edited December 4 by SkiBee

[SkiBee]

I removed the Cabin Sub-deck, I first started with alcohol to soften the glue; but as I was trying to remove the deck it broke into a number of pieces.  I ordered a new sub-deck from Model Expo, just waiting for delivery.

 

I planed down the center rib (keel) and faired it and the stern frames. I laid an extra piece of decking material over the aft end and better matches the gentle curve of the forward frames.  The two pictures below are the before and after.

BEFORE

AFTER

[CiscoH]

looks much better and you will thank yourself when you put on the stern planking.  That Hump would have been very challenging to plank up to.

[SkiBee]

Go Navy beat Army