18th-Century Merchantman Half-Hull Planking Kit by palmerit - NRG - 1:48

[palmerit]

Actually had to mark the topline - I used some 2mm tape. Will use my dremel to remove excess. 

[palmerit]

I’m trying to fair the hull with 220 grit sandpaper glued to a piece of pearwood from a sheet left over from my Sherbourne. It kind of acts like a batton and sanding stick at the same time. We’ll see how it goes. These frames are pretty thick, which is great for stability but makes for slow sanding. 
 

After using my dremel to even out the tops of the frames, I tried using it to start the fairing but I didn’t trust myself with it after it starting bouncing around. 

[Gregory]

Don't be afraid to use a bit more coarse for fairing.  180 or so.

If you think you will be doing more of this going forward , here is a great item to have.:

 

Soft Sanding Blocks.

 

I also really like Dura Gold adhesive backed sand paper.  It has virtually no clogging in a wide range of grits.

 

 

[palmerit]

12 minutes ago, Gregory said:

Don't be afraid to use a bit more coarse for fairing.  180 or so.

Yeah, I ended up switching to some 100/180 sanding sticks I have. They’re flexible, but not as flexible as a batton. Definitely more efficient. 

[palmerit]

Nearly done with the fairing. Need to fine tune a bit. Having thick frames meant more sanding but also meant I could really sand things down quite a bit. 

[palmerit]

Added the transom. It wasn’t clear to me how to orient it - I hope I did it right. I checked a bunch of logs and the way I did it matched a couple, but there weren’t a lot of photos to go by. 
 

The filler piece needed to be cut from scrap wood. I started with a manilla folder and cut a piece the right shape and then used that to trace out a piece I cut from the scrap wood. 
 

I used wood filler in some places to make an even flatter surface to lay the planking. 

Edited yesterday at 04:15 AM by palmerit

[palmerit]

The one part that’s a bit confusing is the placement, shaping, and fairing of the transom and counter. Part of that is because there are not a lot of photos of the stern of the hull. I’ve attached a few screen shots from some builds (so sorry I don’t cite the builders - I just did screen shots as I was reviewed several logs). 
 

The counter needs a fair amount of shaping to fit. The instructions note to leave an inset of 3/64” where the counter intersects with the transom because the counter will be planked. I’m going to assume the edge should be shaped to lay flat on the transom on one side and frame H on the other. 
 

I’m uncertain about whether to fair the transom with frames G-H. I’m going to assume so. 
 

I’m also uncertain how to shape H as in intersects the counter, except the note in the instructions to not sand the aft edge of frame H. 

[palmerit]

Here are some zoomed in screen shots from later in the @tlevine build, showing how the wale will intersect with the counter, the shape of the counter, and how the counter and frame H intersect. 

[palmerit]

So I followed the (small) recommendation to hold off on adding the transom and counter until later in the build because they might snap off. I probably should have left them on because I faired frame H too much. I’m going to have to add some wood and filler to build it up again. 
 

The instructions also said not to sand the aft edge of frame H but I think I have to. 

[palmerit]

So here’s my plan. In the photo I’m holding two toothpicks (using them like arrows)

 

The bottom one is pointing to where frame H intersects the stern post. I’m going to fair that down quite a bit after seeing how the planks lie in the @tlevine build (I’ve added a screen shot of a photo from her build). 
 

The top one is pointing to where the top of the counter intersects with frame H. You can see where I faired frame H too much. I’m going to use wood filler to build that up, let it dry, and then reshape. 
 

(Oh, and I haven’t yet glued in the counter - I’ve just laid it in place.)

Edited 18 hours ago by palmerit

[JacquesCousteau]

I think the counter is the most complex part of this model, and it doesn't help that the instructions are not very clear. I found it helpful to look at images of completed builds to try to reconstruct what the counter looked like. My sense is that the instruction to not sand the aft edge of frame H until the counter is added later in the build is a little bit of a simplification, because it's impossible to fair the hull without touching H, especially for the complex curves of the tuck stern. I think the main point is that the counter will form a horizontal line across rhe back of frame H, and the outermost edge (where the wale intersects) needs to not be sanded down. But I think it's ok to sand frame H closer to the sternpost in order to fair the stern curves. It might be useful to draw a line to mark where the counter will be placed, in order to not sand past it. Come to think of it, I don't really remember why the counter is supposed to be added later.

[JacquesCousteau]

I didn't see your post until I had already written mine, but I think that we're saying the same thing. My one suggestion is that, instead of adding wood filler to build the corner of Frame H back up, it might be easier to shape some scrap basswood. Very nice job of problem solving!

[palmerit]

13 minutes ago, JacquesCousteau said:

I think the main point is that the counter will form a horizontal line across rhe back of frame H, and the outermost edge (where the wale intersects) needs to not be sanded down

Right. I realize now it was referring to the whole area where the counter lays against frame H. I thought it was the corner against the sternpost, which in fact you need to fair quite a bit - and I faired the “top” (relative to the build board) that I shouldn’t have touched. 

[palmerit]

17 minutes ago, JacquesCousteau said:

instead of adding wood filler to build the corner of Frame H back up, it might be easier to shape some scrap basswood

I’ll try that. 

[palmerit]

I wetted three strips of basswood. Clamping them wet and I’ll let them dry. Then I’ll glue down, let it dry, and fair again. 

[palmerit]

One part of the instructions that’s easy to miss (since it’s at the top of the next page) is that “the outer face of the counter has been sanded to mimic the curve on the L- shaped piece”. I wondered why the @tlevine build (screenshot) had “counter” sanded off quite a bit while some other builds did not. 

[palmerit]

One thing I'm unsure about is whether it's more important for the location of the wale to match what's on the plans mounted underneath the Half Hull or to have the wale end on the stern at the counter. The instructions say "the wale terminates at the counter". I'm not sure if mine will exactly, but it should be close.

 

I'm assuming that it's more important for the top of the wale to line up with the top of the counter than to exactly match the plans, even if that means repositioning the location of the wale a bit, while keeping its line smooth across the hull.

[palmerit]

I created a separate post (under the "Building, Framing, Planking and plating a ships hull and deck" section) asking:

If anyone reading this Half Hull build log has suggestions on battens, please chime in. I'm going to try to use battens to create separate sections of planking (and to see how well the frame is faired). I need to buy some planks to use as battens since I don't have any in my small stash of scrap wood (the couple pieces of pear wood from my Sherbourne are not long enough and are too stiff I think).

[palmerit]

I was able to reshape the stern area to be closer to what it should be. I added three layers of basswood for the part close to the counter and added wood filler behind. I just added some more wood filler that I smooth out with a wetted finger. Will let it dry overnight and sand down tomorrow evening. 
 

For anyone else doing this, I’ll echo that the stern area is (so far) the most challenging part of this model. Definitely look ahead to see what the area should look like and how the planks will need to lay in the area. 

 

I’ll need to fair this stern area a bit more just to make sure the planks will lay flat. 

Edited 7 hours ago by palmerit

[JacquesCousteau]

3 hours ago, palmerit said:

If anyone reading this Half Hull build log has suggestions on battens, please chime in.

Good question! I've mainly just used basswood strips, 1/32-inch thick, cut from sheets or scrap, but I've also used 1/16‐inch thick strips as well. Usually I go with something fairly thin, maybe 1/8-3/16-inch wide, and at least 5 inches long or longer. I've also used coffee stir sticks, some of which are 1/32-inch thick birch. In general you just want the batten to be thin enough to flex around the curves. I broke a few battens trying to fair the bow of my half-hull, perhaps soaking them would have helped but in hindsight it was a sign that a bit more fairing was needed.