Henriette Marie by Mike905603 - Billing Boats - 1:50 - first build

[Mike905603]

Hello all,

 

So as my maiden model I've gone with the Henriette Maria by Billings Boats. No particular reason for choosing this kit other than wanting a plank on bulkhead model to cut my teeth on as opposed to a plastic preformed hull. 

 

Decking, albeit an arduous process, was completed by cutting individual strips to the requisite length, adding false nail heads with a pencil and blacking the edges with an artists charcoal pencil.

 

Planking the hull, I'm just going with the method of soaking the balsa strips in warm water, bending by hand over a candle before clamping and pinning into place. Once dried out, the strip is removed, checked for a good fit and then glued in place.

 

So far the planking is going on okay and at a steady pace. I'm in no rush so spend one evening shaping and then leaving it a day to dry out before glueing into place, always doing one strip on port and starboard sides each time.

 

I'm not sure how I'm going to form the shape of hull as it starts to join the keel. There is no indication in the kit instructions, but researching other pilot cutters, like the Bristol Channel cutters, shows the planking not seeming to come right up to the stern post. This appears to be the case when looking at models of cutters on the internet.

 

If the planking is kept neat I'd like to try and avoid fillering and painting the hull and losing the detail of the planking. It would seem a shame, after the time spent, to hide all the detail and make the hull look like one solid preformed piece.

 

Is this is a realistic hope I wonder? Would it be easier to second plank the hull to achieve this?

 

Hope you enjoy seeing the progress thus far and constructive criticism is, as ever, always welcome.

 

Mike

[ccoyle]

7 hours ago, Mike905603 said:

There is no indication in the kit instructions, but researching other pilot cutters, like the Bristol Channel cutters, shows the planking not seeming to come right up to the stern post.

 

It is quite common for wooden ships to require the addition of what are called stealers at either or both the bow and stern. There are guidelines for doing this. Check out this planking tutorial by David Antscherl.

 

Your model is coming along nicely to this point!

[vossiewulf]

3 hours ago, Mike905603 said:

If the planking is kept neat I'd like to try and avoid fillering and painting the hull and losing the detail of the planking. It would seem a shame, after the time spent, to hide all the detail and make the hull look like one solid preformed piece.

 

Is this is a realistic hope I wonder? Would it be easier to second plank the hull to achieve this?

 

 

I agree with you about painting a hand-planked hull, but it's pretty hard to get a really good result on a ship with just a single planking. And although it looks like you're doing pretty well, you have to remember this is your first first planking 😊 and that pretty much means oopses. I definitely had them on the first planking of Lady Nelson, but that allowed me to figure out all the things that didn't work for me so the second planking went very smoothly and neatly. You don't get that second chance here so considering this is your first hull to set a goal of just doing as neat a job as possible and making sure you as much as possible know what you are doing (as in, go watch the planking tutorial videos and go read some build logs in the planking stage to get an idea of different methods in use) and aren't just plunging ahead on instinct and basic woodworking skills. In this case it's important that you have a grasp of how it really worked so you can recreate it correctly.

[Mike905603]

2 hours ago, ccoyle said:

 

It is quite common for wooden ships to require the addition of what are called stealers at either or both the bow and stern. There are guidelines for doing this. Check out this planking tutorial by David Antscherl.

 

Your model is coming along nicely to this point!

Thank you for the help. Unfortunately the link didn't work but I've dug around in the forums and YouTube to get a better idea. I ended up going down a rabbit hole and watching a shipwright explain and demonstrate the method of using stealers on the full size prototype. Still, 15 minutes well spent 😁

[Mike905603]

41 minutes ago, vossiewulf said:

 

I agree with you about painting a hand-planked hull, but it's pretty hard to get a really good result on a ship with just a single planking. And although it looks like you're doing pretty well, you have to remember this is your first first planking 😊 and that pretty much means oopses. I definitely had them on the first planking of Lady Nelson, but that allowed me to figure out all the things that didn't work for me so the second planking went very smoothly and neatly. You don't get that second chance here so considering this is your first hull to set a goal of just doing as neat a job as possible and making sure you as much as possible know what you are doing (as in, go watch the planking tutorial videos and go read some build logs in the planking stage to get an idea of different methods in use) and aren't just plunging ahead on instinct and basic woodworking skills. In this case it's important that you have a grasp of how it really worked so you can recreate it correctly.

As you say, it will be a case of trying to keep it as neat as possible, even if it makes the later stages of fillering and sanding to achieve a smooth finish easier. I'm a engineering fitter by trade and I'm afraid that even if I can't see it at the end, if it's been bodged I'll know about it and it will annoy me 😁.

 

It just seems a pity to hide it all behind filler and paint. 

 

Thanks for the advice about the planking tutorials, I'll be spending some evenings having a read.

[ccoyle]

3 hours ago, Mike905603 said:

Unfortunately the link didn't work

 

Fixed now, if you're still interested.

[Mike905603]

11 hours ago, ccoyle said:

 

Fixed now, if you're still interested.

Still no luck with the link I'm afraid. I've attached a PDF screenshot of the error page I get. However a quick search turned up "A Primer On Planking" by David Antscherl at another guilds website. I'm assuming this is the same document your link was for?

broken link.pdf

[ccoyle]

3 hours ago, Mike905603 said:

Still no luck with the link I'm afraid.

 

Strange. It's working for me. Must just be another one of those software hiccups that my decidedly non-techie brain can't comprehend.